By Patience Ogbodo Correspondent, Bauchi

Democracy which has been described as government of the people, by the people and for the people is of paramount importance to all citizens especially those in rural areas in order to improve their standard of living.

It was in view of this that CITAD, a Bauchi-based non-governmental organisation collaborated with RTI/LEAD, a USAID-sponsored project in training people at the local government level on computer study as part of its effort in strengthening democratic local governance in Bauchi State.

The group in its effort to ensure that the rural populace is computer literate embarked on training of over 168 people in computer studies in four local councils of the state, namely Bauchi, NIngi, Katagum and Dass. Local Government staff, Civil society organisations, teachers from these four local councils received training on Microsoft word, excel, power point and use of Internet.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the presentation of certificates to 85 council staff that were among those trained in computer study, the CITAD Executive director, Mallam Ya’u Zakariya Ya’u said they were motivated to embark on the training to promote democracy at the council level.

He said: “Democracy encourage people to have access to information and local Government is the closest arm of Government for citizens at the grass root, we realized that the LG have very poor documentation system and If you have poor documentation system, there is no way you can provide information, so we decided to train these people at the local government on computer study so that they will apply this computer skills to the process of documentation and therefore build a quality information system at the local Government level.

“For one to be able to promote transparent and accountability, you need information, if local government do not organize these information, they can not be accountable, and there can not  be transparency ,mso we want to make sure that local government have information readily available that they can give to citizens which can promote democracy.

“We have  also train other CSO’s and teachers on computer becuse we taught there is need promote collaboration and partnership between civil society ad Government. So we thought while we are training the Government officials, we should also train the civil society people so that they can speak the same language, they attained the same programme and they have access to the same skills, apart from that we have also utilize our time during the programme to train teachers in both primary and secondary schools in some of the LG as well as staff of the zonal education department in different LG.

Speaking at the certificate presentation ceremony, Zakariya  Ya’u  advised the graduands to effectively utilise the skills acquired during the training saying “As it has been said knowledge gain is knowledge that you have, however if you do not make effective use of that knowledge, it is not necessarily effective knowledge. It is our hope therefore that you will put into practice the skills that you have acquired, the knowledge you have acquired, and the new ideas that you have come across during these past two months of engagement. Its only when you use them effectively that it will bear fruits, and justify the investments your organizations, like LEAD and CITAD have made into putting the programme in place.

“We will like to point out that ICT is a dynamic sector, saver changing. What we have done is to introduce you to some basic ideas and basic skills. It is important that you build the interest to regularly update yourselves so that you can acquire new skills and keep up with the technology as it keeps on changing. We do not think that what we have given you is that you will remain stagnant with. We believe that you continue to periodically update, upgrade, improve, and therefore be at where always with the current ideas and knowledge in the field so that you can derive the maximum benefit in it.

“Technology offers us a lot of potentials to improve governance, to improve citizens’ participation, to improve access to information. As it has been said, one direct benefit is to improve your documentation system.

By Patience Ogbodo, Correspondent, Bauchi

Bauchi State Coalition for the Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM) says budget implementation in 2012 was poor. The group attributed the poor show to overdependence on the Federation Account allocation.

BACIPEM led by the Centre for Information Technology & Development (CITAD) Senior Programme Officer, Kabir Sa’idu Dakata, stated this during a visit to the State House of Assembly Appropriation Committee.

He noted that the 2012 recurrent expenditure was favourably tilted to the capital expenditure in the ratio of 60 to 40.

Dakata stated that the 2013 budgetary allocation to the education sector including the State University is N9,584,197,686 or 7 percent of the total budget, representing 12.9 percent of the capital budget.

He  said it was far less than the 25 percent recommended by UNESCO and does not reflect the stated priority given to the sector.

Dakata further told the House Committee that the allocation to the health sector of N5,522,691,470 represents only about 7.5 percent of the capital budget which, he argued, is far less than the 16 percent recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

He added that  agriculture which, according to Governor Isa Yuguda is on the top priority, is allocated only N4,218,313,144 or 3.07 percent of the total 2013 budget which is less than 10 percent.

The Maputo Treaty mandates states to commit a total budget estimate to the sector. Malam Kabir Dakata therefore urged the House Appropriation Committee to improve allocation to the health, education, and agriculture to the respective international benchmarks to the sectors.

Dakata also urged the committee to conduct public hearing on the 2013 budget to get further inputs from the public, as he stressed the need for the state to diversify its revenue base to meet challenges of development.

He expressed optimism that BACIPEM suggestions would propel Bauchi State further towards a more transparent and accountable public expenditure management system that will result in value for money and make it easier for citizens to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

Responding, the House Appropriation Committee Chairman, Mohammed Dan-Abba Shehu, said the Assembly has also set in motion a body to collate the views and demands of communities across the state with a view to incorporate them into the budget.

He said, “They are already on ground, they have gone to all the local government areas of the state trying to find out what the people need, so already the state House of Assembly has set up a team that went out for the exercise and at the end of it the result will be incorporated into the 2013 budget.”

He explained that it is not the first time the House is setting up such a body as it has been doing it for the past three years, positioning Bauchi as the first state among the 36 states in the federation in the domestication of the Public Procurement and Fiscal Responsibility laws for the state.

By Patience Ogbodo,  Correspondent, Bauchi

Bauchi State  Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Mohammed Aminu Ibrahim, says the education subsector in the  state has been getting the required 26 percent budgetary allocations under the administration of Governor Isa Yuguda.

Ibrahim stated this  when he received delegation from  the Centre for information Technology and Development (CITAD) during an advocacy visit in his office.                                           He said, “Bauchi State Ministry of Education in terms of budgetary allocation has got more than 26%, previously we were getting up to 30% in budgetary allocations, which is still on course in keeping with the required world demand,” the commissioner said.

He explained that  as a result of the improved budgetary allocations the ministry has been able to improve the lots of the people.

The commissioner also unveiled a collaborative plan between the state government and the World Bank to introduce a number of policies into the education sub-sector for which only three states in the federation namely Bauchi, Anambra, and Ekiti are found suitable for the programme.

“We are also working tirelessly to improve the strength and capacity of parents/teachers associations at the school level whereby the parents, teachers, and civil society organizations could be part of it”, he stated.

He  said the Ministry would soon introduce the School Management Committees whereby teaching will be step down to school level where parents, teachers, communities, civil society organizations, women groups would be involve in the management of resources at the school level.

He noted that it was not the first time the Ministry is collaborating with CITAD, stressing the need for more areas of cooperation with it especially in the area of capacity building and training for teachers with the approval of the 2013 budget.

Ibrahim advised CITAD to meet with the people at the Due Process Office where, he explained, a lot of changes have been going there for up-date on the happenings, stating also that all top government officials have attended one form of training or workshop on fiscal responsibility and procurement laws of the state.

Speaking earlier, CITAD Senior Program Officer, Kabir Sa’idu Dakata they were on advocacy visit to the ministry with members of the Bauchi State Coalition for Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM).

Dakata explained that the visit is to brief the Ministry on the activities of the Coalition, suggest on how to improve on implementation of public procurement and fiscal responsibility laws of the state, and present copies of the Coalition Charter.

He  also expressed CITAD’s willingness as an ICT based organization to partner with the Ministry in building the capacity of secondary school teachers on ICT, especially on current challenges such as training of examination officers on online registration and related matters.

By Sylvester Enoghase  –   Lagos

Reviewing how the capacity building for media would helped to focus more attention on improving Maternal health accountability, especially the lives of the most vulnerable within the societies the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani   has declared that targeting investment in skills development of media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) would enhance their productivity in Nigeria

Rafsanjani, while calling on the three tiers of Governments’, the Federal, states and Local Government  to initiate policies toward strengthening the capacity of various stakeholders , especially the media through an enabling platform to engage maternal accountability in the country during a two-day roundtable on Maternal Health among CSOs, legislative, executive and the media in Kaduna and Kano States organized by CISLAC with support from MacArthur Foundation also stressed that Civil Society Organisations, Community Based Organisations and the Media, have benefited immensely from CISLAC’s efforts toward maternal accountability in the country.

Whilst recognising the nation’s health related diseases challenge could be brought to the front burner through a sustained capacity building for media and other stakeholders, he said the use of social media as tool would create visibility for maternal mortality. He stressed that such measure would not only ensure an increased focus on enablers of economic development in the three tiers of Government levels in the country.

Continuing, he said the “particular meeting is considered to be crucial because it is one of its kinds, in the sense that it provides stakeholders such as you the opportunity to deliberate on this burning issue on maternal health, with the hope of securing commitment from the various stakeholders to perform better towards safeguarding the lives of our women/mothers/ daughters/sisters and indeed securing our future.”

Rafsanjani lamentation a situation where in Nigeria, one in 13 women die in pregnancy or childbirth, and 12 per cent of children die before reaching the age of five without adequate publicity  to make the nation’s leaders come nearer to the mases

“A number of factors contribute on the poor maternal health services in the country. The challenges are complex and arise essentially from poor legal and regulatory frameworks, poor primary health care as well as economic and socio-cultural challenges”, he claimed.

Also, a dearth of infrastructure, health personnel and equipment, plague the Nigerian healthcare system going by records from the World Health Organisation (WHO) sows that in Nigeria, only 39 per cent of births take place with assistance of medical personnel.

“Coupled with the scarcity of skilled attendants, such absence of personnel impedes the effectiveness of health services by women”, he said.

Another major impediment to maternal health, he said, is attributed to corruption among the political class, or lack of political will to engage the process.

“It is in view of these that CISLAC, in partnership with MacArthur Foundation, seeks to advocate for proper actions as deemed fit by members in the National Assembly, members of the State executives, the CSOs and Media, that will enable us progress to eradicate maternal mortality”, he stressed.

He recalled the presentation by the Executive Director of CITAD, Mallam Y. Z. Ya’u describing the social media as shorthand for new communications technologies that use ICT media tools that are unique in three important ways to transcend time and space constraints.

The training, he said, “has made it clearer that ICTs are dynamic and fast changing, creating new platforms and services that have far reaching utility in social activism.”

He stressed that in the analysis of Mallam Ya’u, the adverse of social media in journalism has brought about the collapse of space and time; emergence of alternative media form; while eliminating borders in the dissemination of news. There is a growing demand, he said, for more open, accessible and informative news media, as well as the making of readers/listeners/audience as makers of their own news.

“Our ongoing capacity building that would take place in the six geo-political zones in the country would boost how the media would use the Social Media as a tool for news such as Smart phones, which allow for photograph, record audio and video and copy textual document that journalists can use to promote reporting of reproductive health issues in such ways as sending out tweets about news break or news items; use facebook to cultivate followers to assess and get feedback on how media can deliver digital content delivery: cuts cost and time”, he said.

Speaking on “The Role of Legislative Reporters in Repositioning Maternal Health within Kano State House of Assembly”, General Manager Operations of Freedom Radio Group, Kano Dr. Umar Saidu Tudunwada said “journalists and parliaments share some important roles that give them the capacity to impact on public life. They are whistle blowers, and because of their oversight functions, their words are taken seriously. A collective effort between the media and parliament, would surely guarantee a sustainable attention and appropriate priority placed on maternal health issues.”

He reiterated that the media engaged in parliamentary coverage, has the duty to disseminate information between the public and their representatives; just as trained journalists should help the public to better understand various laws passed by legislators, and how such legislation could affect them. The media, he noted, must continue playing their role of agenda setting by emphasising important issues covered in the media, until they become are registered in the sub-consciousness of the people as issues of priority importance.

Dr. Tudunwada said capacity building in the media could bring to the limelight how maternal health is the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and afterwards including the health care dimensions of family planning, preconception, prenatal, and postnatal care in order to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.

“It is sad to note that a woman dies every 10munities, on account of pregnancy or childbirth, giving a total of 53,000 deaths per year. About 800 women die in every 100,000 births. About 528 newborn babies’ dies everyday of neonatal mortality, one of the highest in the world.

“It is unfortunate that 1 million children die under the age of 5 years annually, more than a quarter of them during the first 28 days of life because from record out of each 100,000 live births in the North West, 1,026 mother die. The highest number of under five children (Under 5 Mortality Rate) is in the North West, where 269 children die out of every 1,000”, he said.

He recommended different models that can further help the media in its advocacy cause of maternal health, insisting that since journalism mirrors the society, “we should always consider the realities of the society in consonance with its norms and value in promoting its ideals”.

“In the case of maternal health, it is easy to use Islamic values, to show the position of women in Islam, the reverence of mothers over fathers in Islam, to reflect ,as the mirror does,  on the Islamic perspectives of health and longevity to draw the attention of the legislators and to put across, a case for maternal health in a more convincing way; Professional Model.

“As professional, it is the responsibility of the journalist to conduct all the necessary background research and get knowledgeable enough, to be able to speak competently on the subject, in this case, maternal health, and present it to the audience.”

He also stressed that “it is the responsibility of the government all levels to take care of the needs of its people, especially under political dispensation. Both executive and legislative arm of the government owe the society a responsibility to take care of their women and children”.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in Kano State has produced a film in Hausa language on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for children.

CITAD Media Officer, Alhaji Sufiyanu Kabo, disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Kano.

He said the film, entitled: ‘Fasahar Sadarwa Don Yara’, meaning, `ICT for Children’, would enable children between seven and 16 years to learn ICT skills. He said the film was also produced to simplify the ICT jargons for easy understanding among children.

“In addition, the film will provide children with opportunities to use modern technology to enhance their learning in all subjects.

“It is meant to make children grasp the concept of the computer as an indispensable tool.

“Children will learn the history of computer; its different parts; functions; uses and the types of computers.

“They will also learn the various professional callings people can aspire for in information technology sector,’’ he said.

Kabo said the centre found it necessary to produce the film to encourage government and individuals to assist in deploying ICT equipment in both rural and urban schools.

“It is expected that teachers can use it as an active learning tool for computer studies in basic level of the education curriculum.

“It will also develop children who will be confident users and critical evaluators when interacting with ICT among others,” he said.

The media officer said the film, which would be distributed free, would be launched simultaneously in Abuja, Bauchi, Dutse and Kano in January.

By Patience Ogbodo, Correspondent, Bauchi

The Federal Government is currently building 109 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) community centres, one in each senatorial districts of the country as part of effort to make majority Nigerians ICT-literate.

Executive Director, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), a non-governmental organization, Mallam Yunusa Zakari Ya’u who disclosed this said the federal government ICT project is coming under the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) programme.

Ya’u who was speaking at a sensitization seminar on ICT in local government administration held at Dass in Bauchi State, explained that the ICT community centres project is being funded from the proceeds of income tax on communication companies.

He therefore advised local governments in the country and in particular Bauchi State to partner with community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations or the private sector to host the ICT centres in their respective domains.Mallam Ya’u said the local governments could also directly approach the USPF with proposal to directly partner in the setting up of community telecommunication centres.

Ya’u also disclosed that Galaxy Backbone plc is a federal government  telecommunication/bandwidth that donates USAT equipment to communities, local governments and other agencies for the establishment of community centre in either school or in under-served or un-served areas.

He said: “Local governments can leverage this to provide internet connectivity in their secretariats or in community centres and schools in the local government areas.”

He further explained that a number of organizations donate web space to local communities and communities grounds to establish online presence of local governments and their community efforts.

Ya’u said the gesture would not only help to attract assistance but also create visibility for the economy programme of the local governments that could attract foreign investment.

According to him, such websites could be used for local e-governance, e-commerce, e-learning and telemedicine programmes, among other purposes for community mobilization.

Ya’u pointed out that where local governments have problem accessing the relevant manpower, they can tap many of the online volunteer schemes which included individuals who are ready to provide technical assistance free of charge to community organizations from training to website building, and to other forms of online-based assistance.

He stated that local governments could therefore leverage to create online presence for themselves and their communities as part of the process of exposing their investment potentials to the world.

By Patience Ogbodo Correspondent, Bauchi

Bauchi State government has been urged to create internet website in all the 20 local government secretariats in the state.

The call was made weekend in Bauchi at the end of a four-week computer training organized by a Bauchi-based non-govermental organization, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in collaboration with RTI/LEAD, a USAID project.

The training was organized for Bauchi local government staff.

The participants, who commended CITAD and RTI/LEAD for the training, said this is the first time such gesture will be extended to council staff.

They expressed optimism that the creation of website in their secretariat would enable them access information on the internet.

They also enjoined government to provide more computers in their secretariat to enable them explore all they learnt during the training, noting that it was only few offices that have computers in the council, and empahsised the need for provision if more computer systems.

Speaking at the event, the Programme Assistant of CITAD, Abdulahi Barau, said the participants were trained on various packages which included Microsoft word, Microsoft excel.

He said the aim of the training is to ensure that council staff are computer literate as the world is a global village, adding that such training would enable them carry out their duties effectively.

Barau, who said CITAD and RTI/LEAD is working in four pilot councils, assured that the training is going to be continuous.