650 young people, one room: Canvas at Nigeria's National Diaspora Day

Canvas Institute started in Staten Island on a belief that has not changed in twenty years: young people do well when opportunity, trusted guidance and practical resources are close enough to reach.

Reaching is easier in some places than others. That is why Canvas works in Abuja and Lagos as well as on Victory Boulevard. Our founder, Hon. Bobby-Digi Olisa, draws on both his Staten Island roots and his Nigerian heritage, and that connection is not decorative — it is why Canvas has relationships with Nigerians at home and across the diaspora, and why those relationships turn into something young people can use.

What the day was for

On July 25, during Nigeria's 2026 National Diaspora Day celebrations, approximately 650 students and members of the National Youth Service Corps gathered in Abuja for the Youth Empowerment Summit.

They came to explore career possibilities, hear from people who have built those careers, and connect with the wider Nigerian diaspora. What the day offered is the thing young people almost never get enough of: direct access. Access to guidance, to encouragement, to practical resources, and to adults who are actually invested in what happens to them next.

Canvas Institute took part as a Gold Sponsor and programme partner, helping bring students, diaspora leaders, public institutions and private-sector voices into one shared space.

A conversation about paths, not platitudes

Hon. Bobby-Digi Olisa moderated the “Diaspora Champions” panel — a working conversation about health, career development, and what the global diaspora can realistically do to widen the range of options available to Nigerian youth.

The point was to connect what young people want with the experience, networks and pathways that already exist. Ambition is not the scarce resource. Access is.

National, business and diaspora leaders joined the summit to share what they know, among them Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator George Akume, Minister of Youth Development Ayodele Olawande, Channels Television Chairman John Momoh, ARCON Director-General Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, and NiDCOM Chairman/CEO Hon. Dr. Abike Dabiri-Erewa. For the students in the room, each one was evidence of a path that exists and can be walked.

Something to carry home

Inspiration that ends when the room empties is not much use. So the day put tools in students' hands.

Canvas Institute distributed 10 tablets to support learning and digital access. ARCON contributed approximately 7 laptops. Ejimofor “E.J.” Anosike presented about 20 customized bags to participants.

None of that is a large number next to 650. But a tablet is the difference between a young person who can research a course, apply for a programme and submit the work, and one who cannot. Multiply that by a few years and it stops being a small thing.

Recognition that belongs to more than us

Canvas Institute was honored with a National Diaspora Merit Award for its partnership and contribution to the programme. We take it gratefully and share it — with the schools, the partners, the volunteers, the NYSC members, and every young person who made the gathering what it was.

Why we do this here

The settings are different. The need is not. Young people benefit when trusted adults, community institutions and practical resources come together around them — in Stapleton and in Abuja alike.

Canvas works as a connector: strengthening efforts that are already led locally, and turning relationships into opportunities young people can actually use. Partnerships done carefully make every contribution travel further, which matters when you are doing more with less.

If you want to be part of what comes next in Nigeria, the conversation starts on our contact page.