UN picks 13-year-old Nigerian for International High Level Conference

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes has selected 13-year-old Blessing Eijindu, of the Battle Axe Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, to participate in the October 7 International High-Level Conference in Vienna, Austria.

Mr Marco Teixera, Senior Programme Officer and UNODC’s Global Programme Coordinator,  made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said Eijindu’s entry, “Educating for the Rule of Law, Inspire Change Together” was selected out of nearly 1,200 submissions, saying that it stood out for creativity and topical clarity.

He added that the UNODC greatly considered Eijindu, a Junior Secondary School three student’s commitment to promoting a culture of lawfulness for children, youth and adults.


He expressed optimism that the conference would further enhance Eijindu’s creativity.

Teixera explained that the objective of the event was to bring together, over 200 stakeholders, adding that participants were expected to explore how to build bridges between communities.

He said they were also expected to look at concrete ways to strengthen the global activities being undertaken to shape the values and skills of future generations as positive change agents.

Recall that in July, 11-year-old JSS 1 student from the same school, Naomi Oloyede, was selected to represent Nigeria at “The Education for Justice (E4J) Initiative High-Level Conference on Corruption in Vienna, Austria.