Nigeria United
Nigeria United was a campaign that aimed to unite young people against violent extremism by promoting peace through football in Northern Nigeria. There is a lack of understanding and trust between the different tribes and religious groups in Borno State, and extremist recruiters like Bokoharam use this to manipulate young men into joining their cause.
Unite through football.
There’s one thing that unites almost all young men across Nigeria; football. Footballers are heroes that cut through divisions of race, tribe or religion. Young men will drop everything to play or watch the game they love. A beautiful game where everyone is equal, and divisions are overcome in a spirit of fair play, teamwork and mutual respect.
Our campaign began with radio, promotional videos on social media, billboards, posters and flyers…
The Unity Cup
We invited all young men in Maiduguri to participate in The Unity Cup on the 8th of June
— a one day football event, to launch Nigeria United, featuring a skills camp and a unique football match. Players found out after the game that the team mates that they were playing alongside were made up of different tribes and religions and backgrounds. We showed that they can come together as one and used it as a way to open a dialogue between different faiths and communities. We ended the Unity Cup with a series of talks promoting interfaith tolerance.
We created a documentary about the Unity Cup and showcased the individuals from different backgrounds playing together and working together as a team.
This Unity Cup documentary was shown at 10 different road show events strategically timed to coincide with the The African Cup of Nations.
One Nation. One Team.
We launched our Nigeria United documentary at a roadshow event during the Nigeria vs Burundi AFCON match. The documentary features young Muslim and Christian footballers talking about the values of interfaith tolerance and the need for unity among Nigerians. We showed the documentary across ten viewing centres in Maiduguri.
We celebrated Nigeria in these road show events and showed the games Nigeria were playing in on the big screen, and showed the different communities of Northern Nigeria that we can come together as one team that embraces people of different religions, backgrounds and ethnicities. By harnessing the influence of professional players as role models for tolerance, we encouraged people to play alongside each other regardless of their background or religious beliefs.
We wanted to make sure the Nigeria United campaign used as much local talent as possible, so all the video production, photography, printing and t-shirts were all made in Northern Nigeria.