On 16 January 2026, members of the Wikimedia community, students, and open knowledge advocates came together in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria, to celebrate 25 years of Wikipedia as part of the global Wikipedia@25 campaign.
The event combined celebration with hands-on learning, focusing on strengthening the connection between Wikipedia and Wikidata while improving references and data quality.
Celebrating 25 Years of Free Knowledge
The event opened with a brief ceremonial session to mark Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary. Participants reflected on Wikipedia’s impact in expanding access to free knowledge and the importance of local communities in sustaining the Wikimedia movement.
A birthday group photos, and informal conversations helped create a welcoming and collaborative atmosphere, setting the tone for the day’s activities.
Strengthening Wikipedia–Wikidata Connections
Following the celebration, participants took part in a practical workshop on linking Wikipedia articles with their corresponding Wikidata items. Using tools such as Duplicity, editors identified missing or incorrect article–item links and worked collaboratively to fix them.
The session highlighted how structured data improves content reliability, discoverability, and multilingual access across Wikimedia projects.
Improving References and Article Quality
A guided editing sprint using Citation Hunt focused on improving article credibility by identifying missing citations and cleaning up references. Both new and experienced editors made contributions, strengthening articles related to local and national topics.
The sprint demonstrated how small, focused edits can significantly improve the quality and trustworthiness of Wikipedia content.
Community Reflections and Looking Ahead
The event concluded with a group discussion on the future of Wikipedia in Nigeria, particularly in North Central regions. Participants shared ideas on onboarding new editors, supporting local-language contributions, and using Wikidata to enhance the visibility of underrepresented knowledge.
Wikipedia@25 in Lafia showed that celebrating milestones can go hand in hand with building skills, strengthening community bonds, and contributing meaningfully to the global Wikimedia ecosystem.
Acknowledgements
This event was organized as part of the global Wikipedia@25 celebrations with support from the Wikimedia Foundation. Special thanks go to all participants, volunteers, and Wikimedia community members whose contributions made the celebration impactful and memorable.
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