The Headfort Foundation for Justice on Monday unveiled ‘Unleash Hack 2026’, an initiative aimed at promoting innovative, community-driven solutions to security and safety challenges.
The programme, themed ‘Innovating for Accountable Communities’, is organised in partnership with Civic Hive and Unleash.
Speaking at the event, Miss Oluwakemi Adenekan, Programmes Manager of the Headfort Foundation for Justice, said the initiative would engage young people in developing practical solutions.
She said the solutions would address gaps in community security, crime reporting and access to timely intervention by law-enforcement agencies.
Adenekan said the initiative was inspired by the foundation’s work on access to justice and institutional accountability.
“Looking at the work that we are doing regarding access to justice and institutional accountability, we realised that there is a gap between crime reporting and getting timely intervention.
“That was why we decided to put together this Unleash Hack in partnership with Civic Hive and Unleash to bring together young people to innovate,” she said.
She added that the initiative would help develop solutions to identified gaps in community security and safety.
Adenekan said the foundation remained committed to promoting access to justice and institutional accountability through initiatives that encourage citizens to address challenges within their communities.
Also speaking, Dr Ene Unobe, Executive Director of the International Centre for Human Rights, urged young creatives to use technology and collective action to address community challenges.
Unobe, who is also Principal Partner at E.S. Unobe and Co., Legal Practitioners and Solicitors, said citizens and civil society organisations should move beyond identifying societal problems.
She urged them to participate actively in developing solutions to the challenges confronting their communities.
According to her, not every community problem requires government intervention before citizens can take practical steps to address it.
Unobe cited rent increases as an area where civil society groups could form coalitions, educate residents about their rights and advocate against exploitative practices.
“For example, on the issue of rent increments, civil society groups can form a coalition, issue statements and educate people on what to do,” she said.
She said such collective action could help discourage practices involving the exploitation of residents through excessive rent demands.
Unobe also stressed the importance of emergency response skills, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, saying members of the public could become first responders.
She noted that trained community members could provide immediate assistance before professional emergency services arrived.
The human rights advocate said community safety should not be regarded as the exclusive responsibility of the police and other security agencies.
She urged Nigerians to adopt basic safety measures in their homes and online, including securing their premises and protecting sensitive personal information.
“Online insecurity has a way of affecting our physical security because sometimes we attract some of these security threats to ourselves,” she said.
Unobe further called for measures to prevent domestic violence, describing peaceful homes as essential to building safer communities.
She said parents had a critical responsibility to nurture responsible citizens, adding that safety education should begin at home.
According to her, children first learn respect, accountability and peaceful coexistence within the family before taking those values into society.
“Raising a responsible citizen is part of nation building. Part of being responsible means that everybody around you is safe,” she said.
Unobe said mutual respect among spouses and family members would contribute to safer communities.
She added that values practised within homes were often reflected in wider society.
“If we respect each other’s rights at home, we can only import what we have at home out there, and we have a better and safer community,” she said.
