REPORT OF THE PUBLIC UNVEILING OF CATTLE RUSTLING DOCUMENTATION PORTAL

By Mamilu Isah and Sagir A. Abubakar

As part of its effort in contribution to find solution to the problem of cattle rustling across most of the northern state, the Center for Information technology and Development (CITAD) has established Cattle Rustling Information System (CATRIS) which is to provide documentation as well as real time alert system to relevant officials and agencies on report of cattle theft so that immediate steps could be taken to rescue them and apprehend the rustlers. On Tuesday 26th April, 2016 the center organized a gathering for the unveiling of the portal. The event gathered different Fulani organizations, media and civil society organizations took place at NISTF Hall and aimed to inform the participants about the take-up of the portal.  

Kamilu Isa Ahmed who the welcome remarks, he welcomed the participants and said CITAD was implementing a project that aimed at using technology to fight cattle rustling in the northern Nigeria. He explained that the platform was a geospatial, meaning once reports come in it gives you the coordinates of the place where the incident happened as well as the terrain. This would allow security agents to have an idea of the type of vehicles to use as well as understanding of the various road networks and foot paths. As an information platofm, its usefulness lines in the way the people that are supposed to act engage it. The platform is to provide information to security agencies, we will also provide the same information to local volunteers who can then activate local contingencies within their communities to try to recover and rescue the cattle that are stolen.

  1. Z. Ya’u, the Executive Director of the CITAD briefed the participants about the Cattle Rustling project that the center was implementing and the objectives of the portal. He mentioned that the cattle rustling project was an off-shoot of the peace project CITAD was carrying out in northern Nigeria with the support of Mac Arthur Foundation. He added that the objective was to mobilize all stakeholders to work collectively to promote peace building. He said that in the cause of the project, CITAD realized cattle rustling had become a major problem in northern Nigeria, particularly in the North West and North Central zones of Nigeria. CITAD realized that except for few newspaper publications which are not in-depth, there has not been much attention to this problem in the media. Within government circles, there had not been much efforts at developing strategies to deal with the problem. We realized that it was a big problem which if not carefully addressed, will end up being much bigger than Boko Haram, in terms of its area of operation.

He then said that, CITAD has established cattle rustling information portal and the objective of the portal was to provide documentation as well as real time alert system to the relevant officials and agencies. The system he said deploys an Ushahid based platform that provides a geo-referenced recording of the incidences and has alerts to people who need such reports. It also provides opportunity for using either text, phone, email or social media for people whose cattle were being stolen to immediately report to the platform such that such information will be escalated to the relevant authorities and broadcast to CITAD’s  own network of volunteers against cattle rustling for necessary action.

The second session was the practical demonstration of the portal and was facilitated by  Shazali Sunusi Suleiman from CITAD. He demonstrated how to send report either via text SMS and social media.

ASP Abubakar Amiru who represented the Kano State Commissioner of Police at the event told the participants that their men are doing their best to tackle the menace in and around the country. He said in each division there are personnel assigned to receive information on the cattle rustling. He gave the following phone lines as police hotlines on the issue of cattle rustling. The phone numbers are 08076091271, 08099999110, 08032419754 and 09053872286

At the end of the program, room for comments, questions and observation were given to the participants. Following comments were made:

  • Rabiu Shamma urged that the operation of the portal should be made easy so that the ordinary person will be able to upload reports.
  • Harira A. Wakili asked about the availability of GSM network especially in the forest where such incidences occur
  • Malam Usman Usman requested CITAD to widen its awareness campaign programs to reach the Fulani nomad as most of them are not aware about CITAD and its activities
  • Sunusi Ahmad Baffa commented that the Fulani have now started constituting team of volunteers in their ranches to provide security to their properties. But the major problem now is that the thieves use to slaughter the cattle immediately they have stole them and sell the meet so that even if you encounter them you will not be able to identify your cattle.
  • Alhaji Zubairu Ibrahim, secretary of Miyyatti Allah organization urged the media to be broadcasting such issues in the night when they Fulani are at home.

Lastly vote of thank was given by Sagiru Ado, the Entrepreneurship Officer of CITAD who thanked all the participants for honoring the invitation given to them and wished them safe journey.

Coalition urges northern governors to accord Northeast priority attention

By Adam Alqali,

As the governors of the 19 northern states converge for their next meeting, a coalition of CSOs working in the northeast, the Northeast Education and Social Accountability Cluster, has urged the Northern Governors Forum to make the reconstruction of the Northeast, and more specifically its education sector, a key-point in its agenda of the meeting scheduled for the 29th April of 2016, in Kaduna.

This was contained in a statement made available to journalists in Kano on Thursday by the group.

“Although we are yet to see commeasure impact of their past meetings, because the decisions of the meetings were hardly implemented, we remain optimistic that the future ones will be different and that the Governors would come up with mechanisms that would ensure follow ups and implementation of these decisions,” said the statement.

“It is now clear that northern Nigeria is faced with multiple issues that need urgent attention, and that might be the reason why the Northern Governors Forum schedules to meet in Kaduna. The forum has been meeting in recent times, all in their efforts of making the North a better and stronger region.”

The statement said the civil society and other stakeholders were this time more committed to advocate for the implementation of progressive decisions taken by the Governors’ Forum as well as to continuously monitor and track the implementation of these decisions.

“It is our belief that without addressing the educational sector, not much would be achieved in the other sectors. We therefore wish to see the governors take a dispassionate look at the sector and come up with bold initiative that will readily result in concrete outcomes in revamping the education in the region,” said the statement.

The coalition which commended the commitment of the individual state governors in the Northeast towards improving the quality of education in their respective states added that they hoped other states in the region would emulate Bauchi state, by declaring state of emergency in the education sector.

“As they meet, we extend our solidarity and hands of fellowship to them and hope, that they will respond positively by providing hope to ordinary people who queued in the sun and gave them their votes in the believe that they  (the Governors) will address the existential conditions of the people,” concluded the statement.

CITAD Hosts MD/CEO of SB Maisallah & Son as monthly Guest Lecturer

In continuation of its monthly leadership inspiring and interactive session for its staff and interns, the Center for Information and Technology and Development (CITAD) has hosted renown and successful trader Alhaji Murtala Bala Maisallah, the CEO of SB Maisallah & Sons Nig. Limited as guest lecturer for this month. Giving an opening remark of behalf of the Executive Director of the center, the senior programs officer Kabiru Sa’idu Dakata said the lecture is being organized monthly in order to boost staff capacity. The guest speaker also said the slogan of ‘nothing good comes easy’ is still operational in every human endeavor, as such determination yields result especially with regards to working in an active organization like CITAD. After taking the participants into his rich profile and responding to questions and comments from the staff, Alhaji Murtala enjoined the staff to embrace research and learning at all cost and every time because of the role they play in their career. The session ended with a presentation of some publications of the organization to the guest.  

CITAD Holds Policy Intervention Lecture on Kano Market Fires

Following the recurring fire incidence in Kano markets metropolis, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has organized a policy intervention lecture with a view to proffering tangible solutions to devastating fire outbreaks. The lecture which was themed ‘’GIS Based Fire Incident Emergency Response: A case study of Kano urban markets’’ draws various stake holders in order to develop a robust framework towards salvaging the markets from fire outbreak.

Giving his welcome remarks, Executive Director of the center Dr. YZ Ya’u noted that fire incidences especially of recent are quite alarming while ways of averting their occurrence can be effectively developed using technology and functional equipment, and geographical information system (GIS) can be utilized to achieve that. YZ Ya’u recounts how some relevant scholarly researches conducted can help prevent fire incidences but were not being used because either they policy makers did know about them or they were simply not interested in applying them. He added that this dialogue had purposely brought the research community, the policy makers, the trader communities and the civil society groups so that a collective strategy could be developed in preventing future occurrences of such devastating fire incidence.

Also commenting, the chairman of the occasion Prof. Mustapha Hassan Bichi of Civil Engineering Department BUK maintained that the lecture came at the right time saying fire incidence is one of the many natural disasters that requires emergency response, and to have a very good response you need to have a good plan, functional necessary tools, and make sure there are adequate trained personnel to execute the plan.

The paper presenter, Malam Nura Rabiu of KNUPDA observed that in the last five months Kano has witnessed four devastating market fires which included GSM Market, Kurmi Market, Singer Market and Sabon Gari the most recent and devastating in which 3,800 shops were burnt with properties worth N2 trillion. Nura Rabiu regretted that the loss suffered is touching and therefore requires collective effort as well as deployment of technology such as GIS to prevent future occurrence and provide quick emergency response. He said while southern states have been using GIS technique in terms of crime management and fire disaster, the north which has greatly suffered from fire outbreaks is yet to benefit from the technology. Application of GIS can simply give location of the fire, quick route to the scene, the available fire station around, hydrants to use and also sticking to the three minutes international standard response time, Nura added.

The presenter also noted that distribution of the fire stations within the metropolis has a higher concentration in the core city. However, it is clearly envisaged that the spatial relation between the markets and the fire stations is virtually nonexistent as only Sabon Gari Market is provided with the facility (fire station). He recommended that:

  1. Kano state fire service should build a database management system for effective fire incident emergency response and other rescue operations.
  2. Where the resources are limited to meet the international standard, fire hydrants should be provided. This covers reactivating the existing ones within the markets (e.g. Sabon Gari Market Plan).
  3. Planning authority should consider emergency issues for Market layout design to ensure quick response.
  4. Development control measures by the planning Authority should be more proactive so as to ensure compliance with the approved plans.
  5. Single Power Source should be provided and be controlled by market management.

Some of the challenges highlighted during the lecture included:

  • Barriers created either by the merchants or authorities which easy passage of the fire service vehicles.
  • Hydrants are no longer functional.
  • Fires are not discovered at the early stage.
  • Fire service lack adequate and up to date firefighting equipment.
  • Traders lack basic sensitization on fire occurrence and safety measures.
  • Some people smoke and drop cigarette filters within the markets.
  • Many roads are completely blocked.
  • Impunity on the side of KNUPDA by allowing illegal structures.
  • Absence of emergency and safety measure within the market vicinity.

Recommendations made during the lecture also included:

  • Government should use relevant researches conducted in the past aimed at ending fire outbreak and providing emergency response and safety measures.
  • KNUPDA should be impartial in the discharge of its duties, stop illegal structures accordingly.
  • Short emergency numbers need to created, made available as well as get well circulated or disseminated.
  • Traders need to be sensitized on switching off electrical appliances while closing their shops.
  • Sustainable plans must be in place and executed.
  • The model/lecture should be designed in native language and particularly Hausa in order to target a number of traders and the populace in general.
  • Fire service should have a unit dedicated to strategic positions/locations.
  • People must develop attitudinal change.
  • Fire service should stick to the three minutes international standard response time to fire outbreak.
  • Fire service should also develop a database, not wait for anybody to report fire outbreak but use GIS to monitor and receive alarm of fire incidence.
  • There should be collaboration between fire service, planning and development agency, and other related bodies.
  • Markets security personnel must be trained and go on daily/routine patrol to ensure prevention of sad occurrence.
  • Real nature of the markets need to be studied in order to develop functional solutions.
  • The markets need to be decentralized in order to ensure decongestion.
  • Politicians, civil servants should stop interfering in the operations of KNUPDA.
  • Traders must stop illegal and unnecessary extensions.
  • There should be strong laws on illegal extensions.
  • Every shop should have a fire extinguisher.
  • People need to be security conscious.
  • The water board should have a raw water network for firefighting, direct it to appropriate places like the hydrants in the markets.
  • Government should provide reservoirs that use natural gravity to get water into appropriate pipes.
  • Government should implement the necessary recommendations.

The lecture was attended by academics, civil society groups, traders form various markets, fire service personnel, SEMA, KNUPDA, media and many other guests.

 

 

Making Our Schools Safe, Secure

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade

Going to school is one thing life is happy with because in the long run the knowledge acquired will be its ingredient. It is therefore a necessity that we go to school. But going to school in the last five years has become a big challenge to students and parents or guardians for fear of the unknown especially in the northeast. This is brought by the insecurity situation in the country, or rather activities of the insurgents in the area. Northeast is where much of the panic stays, because the region has suffered from school kidnappings and attacks. That led to the closure of many schools that became vulnerable.

Parents then were left with no option than to have their children stay at home while their colleagues elsewhere attend classes. School children began a new life of having to be at home during school hours. The classes became dust-gathering rooms without their occupiers. This is a setback to the lives of our tomorrow’s generation and the government must do all it could to ensure that our schools are safe and secure, that is by putting efficient security apparatus to safeguard the students and their teachers from any attack or kidnapping, here the society must also be supportive and cooperative to the measures put in place.

Commendably, there has been a remarkable improvement in the security situation of the dilapidated northeast region especially when one considers the panic and frequency of recurring unfortunate incidences a year ago, it now takes a while before we hear of bomb blast, and many schools have reopened. But, while we appreciate the commitment of governments at all levels in ensuring school children go back schools, we equally want the governments to be more focused in terms exploiting sound initiatives that will further solidify the safety of the schools.

There are a number of considerations why the government should make our schools safe and secure. One, it is a responsibility of the government to provide security for its citizens and their properties, that is why we have the army, police and other paramilitary all around to ensure that we are safe wherever we go, as such the constitutional right of the citizenry should not be tampered with. Therefore security must be extended to our schools in order to place priority on education.
I wonder why security personnel are sent to guard banks and other places regarded as important but our schools rely on hired guards to be watchful of certain happenings-but that is even for private schools where only those that can afford send their children to, as for public schools no one cares to provide them with even the ‘’weaponless guards’’, all the government does is to get an old man who uses walking stick as ‘Maigadi’ and his job is to make sure nobody burgles into the premises. Public schools have been like that for quite a long time and the culture needs to change with the emerging trend of insurgency.

Two, our children need to be educated. Since it is generally agreed that education is the most tangible gift we can give our children as parents or guardians, no matter what, we must be supported towards achieving that objective, here the support I am referring to is removing obstacles and fear on their way, i.e  the government does that by making sure they are safe at schools. While in school, they should be made to freely undertake activities ranging from going to the library, classes, sport arenas, dining halls and hostels for boarding schools, they should be free from being attacked or kidnapped like the ‘’Chibok Girls’’ that still remain captives; we pray for their safe release soon!
We may decide not give our children other things and they will not be affected by it, but denying them education will never be an option.
Many parents struggle hard enough to send their children to school because they regard it as necessary and it will be the greatest disappointment if after doing their part the government cannot secure their children.

Campaigns of encouragement are everywhere that parents should send their children to schools but some may ask; can we send them without being guaranteed their safety? Government must as matter of importance make our schools safe and secure.
Three, regulating security is the sole function of the government. It must therefore perform its task because if it fails no one else could. Utilizing the security system in schools in order to make them safe shows how concerned the government is about education, while neglecting the schools in terms of security also portrays what is known as ‘I don’t care attitude’ from the government side. Some people have lost confidence on the schools due to number of attacks they suffered. Government can only restore their hope by ensuring safety of their children.
Four, safeguarding the schools will provide a better or conducive learning environment. Teachers will conduct their activities with full capacity, unlike when the absence of security makes them to either stay away from the schools or having to feel like risking their lives coming to schools. Government should completely erase that kind of impression by ensuring safety of the schools to teachers and students.

Five, the government should understand that the education sector as a whole is being weakened if schools are not safe and secure. When those in the profession begin to think their lives are at risk, it will eventually lead to some of them quitting which may cause loss of manpower to the sector. And those aspiring to build career in the sector are being challenged by the obvious lack of security. However, the government must realize that putting the lives of students in danger is a setback to national development, because these same students we risk are the future generation and leaders.

Chinade is with Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement (SACE) project at Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD,) Kano.