The ICT Awareness and Sensitization team from CITAD on the 11^th of August, 2009 proceeded to Government Girls Arabic Senior Secondary School (GGASSS), Albasu in Kano State. To an ardent Observer the trend would be that CITAD’s awareness and sensitization campaigns seemed focused on Girls Schools because from recent statistics; of the last four schools that has been visited from June till now, all had been Girl schools. The trend is not surprising, with CITAD’s resolve to promote more female participation in the ICTs especially from the young age.

The team on arriving at the school met with the Staff Officer and Teacher; Master Muhammad Nura Yusuf who organised the girls to be seated before time for the session. Master Abdulrashid Sadiq who was the presenter of the session started by livening up the girls with some lively ICT jokes before coming to the reason for being here. He said they have been waiting for the students for three hours so that they could eat and rest before the session proper. It was because of the importance of the session that they had to wait all this while just to convey the ICT message. He further went to tell them what a Computer is, its components, and their functions. He also discussed the importance of Computers to our daily lives; how they can ease processes and with them. The session was an interactive one with the students telling the stories they have heard about computers and Master Abdulrashid acknowledging some and correcting the misconceptions.

Master Abdulrashid afterwards introduced Farouq who indicated the team’s pleasure to be at the school and stated because of the pleasure derived they were going to invite the school to CITAD’s Annual National ICT quiz for Secondary Schools, he said an invitational letter would be sent to the school and they should then prepare adequately for the competition. He also urged the students who were about to graduate to study computer courses at school and for those who had other ambitions, to inculcate ICTs into whatever profession they were going into. Students were also advised to make use of their holidays by enrolling for short computer courses during such breaks. Master Abdulrashid then proceeded to the quizzes, questions were asked and the successful students were given prizes in the form of computer books and magazines

Isyaku Garba, Programmes Coordinator

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) as part of its Unlimited Potential Programme flagged off the ICT Youth Training in Gasau, Zamfara State on Saturday 4^th July 2009. The flag off which took place at Women Multipurpose Center, Gusau was done in partnership with Future Hope Foundation (FHF). The Unlimited Potential Programme is a social corporate responsibility offering of Microsoft which aims at driving technology into communities to

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Group picture of participants

empower them transform their lives.

Future Hope Foundation FHF, which is based in Gausa Zamfara State is the host organization for the youth training programme in the state. In the partnership developed between the two organizations, FHF was responsible for recruiting of the youth to be trained as well as providing venue for the training. Under this arrangement, 34 youth would be trained and provided with opportunity to serve internship period with some organizations in the state.

Over 63 people attended the flag off ceremony held at the Women Multipurpose Center Gusau Zamfara State. Guests at the occasion included the Special Adviser to the Zamfara State Governor on NGOs who was represented by the Director NGOs (representative of the SA. NGOs, Alhaji Sunusi Gummi), the commissioner of youth represented by Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar, Director, Ministry of Youth Development and commissioner of Women affairs represented by Director, Women Affairs, Hajia Zara’u Shehu Gusau, and the PRO Nigeria Civil Defense Corp Zamfara State command.

Executive Director of the Future hope Foundation Alhaji Adamu Abubakar Kwatarkwashi explained that the partnership to deliver this training was the contribution of the partners towards reducing youth unemployment. He said 30 youth have been selected to undergo the 40-hour programme that would be delivered in two weeks. He expressed appreciation to CITAD for opting to partner with FHF in the state and hope that this was the beginning of a long partnership and cooperation.

Training Session

In his speech, the Executive Director who was represented by Isyaku Garba (Program Coordinator), gave the objectives of the training which included the preparing the youth for the workplace by equipping them with ICT and employability skills and support them with career development opportunities he called on Zamfara State government to support the youth and embrace the application of ICT for development because of its importance and opportunities in transforming societies and economies. He thanked FHF for agreeing to partner with CITAD and promised that CITAD would roll out more ICT related programmes in the State.

An example of a good partnership

He explained that under the Unlimited Potential Programme, CITAD had already trained 98 and 103 youth in Kano and Jigawa State respectively, trained 12 journalists in Kano as well as 27 Directors of Planning, Research and Statistics of Jigawa State Local Governments. Currently the organization was training 20 members of the Kantin Kwari Market Traders Association in Kano and that it was making arrangement to train journalists as well as Director of Personnel Management in Zamfara. He called on the state government to support the initiative.

While offering his goodwill message, the Director NGO encouraged the participants make the best use of this golden opportunity which had come to them free courtesy of the three organizations involved in the partnership. He said the state needed more of these efforts to extend ICT knowledge and skills to others. He commended CITAD for undertaking the training in the State which if far from its office. Similarly, the Public Relation Officer of the Nigeria Civil Defense Corp called on the participants to utilize this opportunity, and highlighted some of the important uses of ICT in today’s economic activities such as on stock exchange services.

Isyaku Garba

Mallam Yakasai addessing students of GGASS Birniwa

Once again the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has conducted a one-day Career Talk at Government Girls Arabic Senior Secondary School, Birniwa, Birniwa Local Government of Jigawa State. Mal. Ahmed A. Yakasai delivered the lecture on Tuesday, 30 June 2009, at the School Assembly Hall. The occasion was chaired by the Vice Principal Academic, Mal. Shehu Sani. Also in attendance was the Islamic Studies and Arabic Language Master, Mal. Hassan Abdullahi as well as other staff of the school.

Mal. Ahmad Yakasai stressed the importance of computer especially in our modern society, emphasizing that that it is incumbent upon each and every one of the student to learn how to use the computer and therefore get enroll actively into an IT community. Ahmad Yakasai described Nigeria as being left behind in terms of Modern Information and Communication as compared to the Western part of the world. “It is a challenge to youth, especially in the Northern Nigeria to wake-up and engage in the race of IT acquisition in what Mal Yakasai described as “Dole ne mu tashi mu farka, musamman ma mu ‘yan arewa don samun ilmin kyamfuta…”

The entire students who have the privilege of attending the lecture were educated about the significance of the IT knowledge. The event helped to raise their interest in pursuing career in ICT-related field which was apparent from the enthusiastic way the students responded to the questions asked at the end of the talk. Four out of the eighty students received gifts having answered the questions Mal. Yakasai set for them.

In his speech, the Vice Principal Academic, Mal. Shehu Sani, described the career talk as one of the most impressing and comprehensive lecture he ever witnessed. He commended Mal. Ahmad Yakasai for his excellent method of imparting knowledge to the participants, saying that “Even I myself have learned a lot from this career lecture” Additionally, the Vice Principal urged CITAD delegation to come back again for more lectures in the school so that a larger career talk comprising of more students could be organized.

The career talk has greatly benefited the entire Students and the Teachers in general. The staff of the school expressed their satisfaction with CITAD’s effort in educating their students on IT, stating that CITAD was always welcome to GGASS Birniwa for further educational activities.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) on Tuesday, April 2, 2009 flagged off its Information Technology Training for youth in Kano under the Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential (UP) scheme. At a ceremony held at the auditorium of the School of Technology, Kano State Polytechnic, CITAD disclosed that with support from Microsoft Corporation it intends to train 400 youth across the North West zone of the country this year. The ceremony was chaired by the Director-General of the Kano State Directorate of Social Reorientation, Dr. Bala Mohammed who was represented by Alhaji Sani Mohammed Usman, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Adaidaita Sahu while the Guest Speaker was Dr. Bashir S. Galadanci, the State Commissioner for Science and Technology.

In his welcome remarks, the Director of CITAD explained that the participants for the programme were drawn from different local governments of the state. He said that aim of the programme was to imparts IT skills on the participants that would make them either employable or to be self-employed. He disclosed tat last year under the Employability Programme jointly supported by Microsoft Corporation and the USA Government 200 youth were trained and that many of them were now working as interns and volunteers with different organizations in the state.

In her remarks, the Corporation Citizenship Programme of Microsoft, Mrs., Nana Adjoor Mintah said that the Unlimited Potentials is the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility engagement aimed at driving technical into the communities. She said this was the third year of the UP in Nigeria and provides training in all the six zones of the country. She later presented set of the Local Language interface software packages to the Hon. Commissioner of Science and Technology.

In his lecture, Dr. Galadanci expressed appreciation with both CITAD and Microsoft for the initiative which he said has significance to the Kano State’s ICT Park project. He explained the essence of the project which he wais aimed at using ICTs as an economic sector to provide jobs and create wealth in the state. He revealed that already the project has reached an advanced stage and that the park would soon be commissioned. May companies, with employment spaces running to hundreds have already shown their commitment to move into the park was soon as it as complete he added. He explained that with this development there would great demand for IT skill people and this was he was urging the beneficiaries to make good use of this opportunity as they would be needed in the ICT Park.

In his own goodwill massage the President of the Kano State Chapter of the Association of Local Government Chairmen and Chairman of Tarauni Local Government said that he was happy that the participants were drawn from different local governments and that they were ready to support the initiative. He revealed that all the local governments have been directed to set up computer centres in their local governments and hoped that many of the participants would be available to work at these centres.

Other guests at the occasion were the Director General of Directorate for Youth Development, the Chairman of Bagwai Local Government and the Chairman of the Kano State Council of Youths as well as representatives of development partners in the state.

Organized by the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) the competition was attended by twenty nine secondary schools, from Kano, Katsina, Bauchi and Jigawa States.

Each school was represented by two students. Winning school for this quiz was Government Girls Science and Technical College Kano, while Government Technical College Wudil and Hauwa Memorial College Funtua came second and third respectively. Announcing the winner the managing Director Midwat computer Institute Kano Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim Nashe also said this year overall best student was Maude Yusuf from Government Technical College, Wudil while Nusaiba Ibrahim Rabi’u from Government Science and Technical College, Kano emerged as the best female student. Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim Nashe announced the prizes for the outstanding participating schools and students.

The winning school, Government Girls Science and Technical College Kano won a brand new Laptop computer donated by Microsoft Nigeria, the second best school Government Technical College, Wudil won a brand new desktop computer while Hauwa Memorial College, Funtua, Katsina which came third won a new LaserJet Printer. Other prizes included Television Set for the best female student; refurbished PC was given to the best male Student, wall clocks were given to the winning schools’ teachers. Computer text books were given to all staff and students who participated in the competition.

Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim Nashe, the Proprietor of Mediwat School of Computer Sciences announced donation of computer to one of the participating schools from Kano State, GSS Sharada. He said the donation was to signal his enrollment to the Old Student Personal Computer (OSPC) scheme of the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN), which was launched two days earlier in Kano.

In his speech the representative of the Kano State Commissioner for Education who is also the Director for Education Support Services, Alhaji Rabi’u Yusuf Alhaji congratulated the winner and commended CITAD for the wonderful initiative which he urged other IT organizations to emulate. He said the Ministry was fully prepared to support this programme.

Alhaji Rabi’u Yusuf Alhaji then asked the organizers to seek for government support of for this very useful initiative. Also speaking at the occasion, the representative of the Education Committee Chairman of House of Representative Hon. Farouk Muhammad Lawan, Alhaji Sani Mukaddas pledged to support such educative efforts focused towards upcoming generation.

During the two day quiz competition, the Kano State Special Advisor to the governor on education and information Technology, Dr. Bashir Galadachi, who declared it open, delivered the keynote address during which he urged the students to take the use of IT very seriously and therefore make effort to learn. The Special Advisor was accompanied by Hajia Maryam Sulaiman Ahmad and Alhaji Ahmad Maizube, both staff from his office. Also represented at the occasion was NIIT Kano Center by Mr. Martin and Miss. Peace Ajawuile.

In his closing remark the Executive Director of CITAD, Y. Z. Ya’u expressed appreciation at the support and the assistance given towards successfully conduct of the quiz competition. He thanked the students, their teachers and the principals of the participating schools for honoring the invitation to be part of the quiz competition.

Y. Z. Ya’u appreciated the support and the general good will of the public and private sectors as moral boosting to the CITAD. He pointed out that the donation made by the largest IT company in the world, Microsoft to the competition had shown how far the initiative has gone in IT world. He also thanked the Nigerian Communications Commission and the Office of the Special Adviser to the Kano State Governor on Education and Information Technology for their support to the quiz programme.

The Executive Director then commended the Kano State Government dynamism in educational pursuit, assuring that CITAD will continue to be committed to producing self-reliant and patriotic up-coming generation of the youth. Other organizations that assisted according to the Executive Director were the Intersystem Computer Services Limited, Kano, the Mediwat School of Computer Science, Kano, Freedom Radio, Kano, Jigawa State Hotel, Dutse, Horizon Telecommunications Limited, Kano, Directorate for Social Re-orientation, Kano State, APCON and the School of Technology, Kano State Polytechnic. He also acknowledged the contributions of many individuals, too numerous to mention in making the event a success.

Mallam Aminu Beli

Chairman ICT Quiz Committee

After the opening prayer, a welcome remark was made by the representative of the Executive Director of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Isyaku Garba (Project Coordinator). In his remark, he said the objective of the quiz was to raise awareness among Secondary School students and to encourage the study of computer education in secondary schools. He also mentioned that the program would assist the government to understand the level of ICTs education in Secondary Schools in the state. After the remark, a paper was presented by the Head of IT Najeeb Gambo. The paper addressed the relevance of ICT in achieving students’ academic excellence.

Out of the fifteen schools that were invited seven attended the quiz competition. The schools included Government Day Secondary School, Bulangu, Government College, Binin Kudu, Dutse Model International Secondary School, Dutse and Government Girls Secondary School Jahun. Others were Government Computer Girls’ Secondary School, Roni, Federal Government College, Kiyawa and Government Technical College, Hadejia

At the end of the quiz competition three schools emerged winners. Girls Secondary School, Roni which came First to take a home a computer set. Federal Government College Kiyawa which came Second winning a printer while Government College Binin Kudu placed third with a prize of a scanner. The overall best student award of a television set went to Abdurrahman Mustapha of FGC, Kiyawa and the best female participant of a stereo set was won by Khadija Abdulkadir of Government Girls Computer Secondary School, Roni. The prizes were distributed to the winners by the Special Adviser to the Jigawa State Governor no Information Technology, Alhaji Bala Ibrhahim and Hajiya Zaiba Uba Ringim of Radio Deuche Valle

About 50 schools from different parts of the nine states will be competing for the various prizes to be won at the competition. These include a new laptop for first place position, a new compute set for second place position and a refurnished computer for third place winners. Other prizes are a television set for the overall best student, a radio set for the best female participant and a scanner for the teacher of the best schools. Additionally, all participants will get a participation prize of two computer books each other are also other supporting prizes such flash memories, scholarships for training for both teachers and students of the participating schools

Last year 30 secondary schools from Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi and Katsina States took part in the competition which held in from 7-8, December 2008 at the Murtala Mohammed Library Complex, Kano.The top three winners last year were by Hauwa Memorial, Funtua, Katsina State, Government Girls Computer Secondary School, Roni, Jigawa State and Government Arabic Secondary School, Jama’are, Bauchi State, first, second and third respectively.

The two day event will start with an opening session to be chaired by Dr. Bala Mohammed, the Director of Kano State Social Re-orientation Agency which the Special Adviser to the Sokoto State Governor on IT will be Guest of Honor. The keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Bashir Galadanci, the Special Adviser to the Kano State Governor on Education and Information Technology. Other Guest include the National President of the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN), the Citizenship Manager of Microsoft Nigeria, Hajia Jummai Umar-Ajibola, the State Commissioner for Education, the Zonal Controller, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Alhaji Adamu Amshi who will chair the second session , the Vice Chancellor of the Kano University of Science and Technology, Prof. Ibraheem Shehu Diso who will chair the final session and the Chairman House Committee of Education, House of Representatives, Hon. Faruk Lawan.

The Speaker was Dr. Yusuf M. Adamu of the Department of Geography, Bayero University, Kano who made his presentations on “ICTs in Healthcare”. He thrilled the listening audience with indebt analysis of the subject matter. Among some of the points mentioned by him were: how ICTs have helped in Learning and Research, how Diagnostic Software help Doctors in consultations, how JIS help Geographers to know endemic areas and how it helps to manage the diseases dictated in such arrears. He also talked about how ICTs help in Medical Record Keeping. The challenge faced by ICTs usage according to him is lack of will power by our policy makers to put enabling environment for the usage of ICTs. He also noted that misplaced priorities are part of the problems that we have among the Policy Makers.

The session was chaired by Dr. B. A. Grema, Chairman Nigerian Medical Association, Kano State Branch, who made his keynote address on the Importance of ICTs in Effective Healthcare Delivery. He also highlighted some challenges facing ICTs usage in the Health Sector. He gave an instance where heavy HiTec instruments are lying unused due to lack of power supply that would power them.

The Lecture was attended by over 40 participants drawn from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Government Health Sectors, Academia, Labour, Media and Community Based Organizations (CBOs).

The program was attended by over 60 students and teachers. In his welcome remarks, the principal of the school Muhammad Furya Abubakar thanked CITAD for selecting his school to be among the beneficiaries of its famous Career Talk, which according to him came at the right time when the school is in dare need of the program. In his own part, the representative of Hadeja Zonal Education Office, Musa Ibrahim called on CITAD to partner with Jigawa State Ministry of Education so as to organize a bigger event that would create wider awareness on ICTs among schools in the State.

The program was facilitated by a CITAD Team consisting of Mallam Ahmed Abdullahi Yakasai, Mr. Scott Reed of the GIIP, University of California, USA., Haruna Adamu Hadejia, Abdullahi Isma’il and Yusha’u Sani Yankuzo.