Kano Bye-Election: NGO Cautions Politicians Against Violence

By Bashir Mohammed
Kano

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has cautioned politicians in Kano state to desist from creating chaos capable of scuttling the upcoming bye-election of the Minjibir local government House of Assembly constituency.
The position had remained vacant following the death of the member representing the constituency, late Tahir Hamisu Gurjiya, early this year and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) slated April for election to fill the position, but later declared it inconclusive after it was disrupted by fierce violence.

Hence, the electoral body had rescheduled the bye-election to be conducted on Saturday, July 30, 2016, the situation that drew the attention of government, security agencies, civil society groups and NGOs towards ensuring a violence-free poll.
CITAD at a press conference in Kano yesterday, called on the politicians in the state not to make the election an avenue for revenge on their grievances, advising them to preach free and fair electoral participation to their supporters.
Addressing newsmen, CITAD’s programme officer (peace and conflicts), Isah Garba, urged the politicians from all political parties to accept defeat and throw their weight on the back of the winner, noting that violence would not augur well to the nascent democracy the country and the state are enjoying.

He added that “the security operatives in the state should be more vigilant and have their ears to the ground to snipe any possible violence and address early warning signs to avoid recurrence of violence in the election.”
He also appealed to the INEC to ensure free and fair conduct of the election, calling on the general public, especially those in the constituency to learn from the experience of the cancelled election and fear the possibility of them not having a representative in the House of Assembly till the end of this tenure.

 

http://www.blueprint.ng/2016/07/28/kano-bye-election-ngo-cautions-politicians-against-violence/

GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO SPEAK AND EXPLAIN ITS ACTIONS TO CITIZENS

Being a Text of Press Briefing on Hate Speech for the Month of June Addressed By Isah Garba, Senior Programmes Officer (Peace and Conflicts), Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) On July 27, 2016, Kano


Introduction

Dear distinguished members of the press. I welcome you to the second of our monthly media briefing on hate speech. We will recall that CITAD has with support of our partners, notably the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) of DFID and the MacArthur Foundation been undertaking the monitoring and countering of hate speech online as part of the effort to preempt and prevent outbreak of violence that is ignited through the spread of hate and dangerous speech in the society.  Starting from last month, we commenced a month media briefing so as to draw attention to key and salient issues that we observe in the month.

This month we are particularly worried that with the increasing acrimonious campaign that is rolling up over the bye election for the member representing Minjibir constituency in the Kano State. We think it is necessary for all stakeholders to come to agreement on what needs to be done to prevent the reoccurrence of violence that terminated the first attempt at the bye election some weeks back.

The Results from July Monitoring Activates
Between June and July of this year; our monitors have documented 779 hate speech items. This brings the total of generated hate speech monitored to 1490 these are categorized as follows:
1. Access to resource related hate speech 82 items
2. Biafran agitation – 192 items
3. Terror recruitment – 27 items
4. Election related 25 items
5. Religious – 618 items
6. Ethnicity – 570 items

 

Observations

Two facts need to be drawn from this. One is that in July we recorded more hate speech than in June. This means that hate speech is increasing in the country. Secondly as we observed last month, this month also the bulk of the items are relate to ethnicity or religion. We also see the oversimplification of comet process such as rural banditry which is reduced to a conflict between herders and farmers, but which in the spread of hate either speech is cast as the attempt by Muslims to kill non-Muslim people especially in the south east.

 

With respect to our immediate environment there is repeated use of the Mu hadu a Minjibir and ‘Dan halalar ka fasa” both of which are threats of violence as different political factions prepare for the bye election.  

 

The languages that people are using are clearly language that even the most rapid inflammatory print newspaper would not use. This means that the anonymity and the sense of freedom of the social media is a fact in the generation and circulation of hate speech. Yet as our data, shown over 80% of the items are English. This means that the people are school educated.

An analysis shows that there are four keys underlying the spread of hate speech in the country. These include:

  1. The perception that the Government headed by a Hausa Fulani Muslim north is discriminating against the Igbos
  2. The counter perception that sections of the country were not happy with the outcome of the election and continuing the election contest by making it difficult  for the government to settle
  3. The fact that some propel who do not want the anti-corruption to be agenda of the government and will want do everything to scuttle it
  4. The increased economic hardship that has resulted following the collapse of national earnings and some decision of the government

In this situation, government has a responsibility to speak out to its citizens to try to explain things so that some with some others interest do not use the absence of credible information from government to manipulate opinion of the people. We note that in our broad categories of hate and dangerous speech, rumour is a key component. Rumour strives in the void where information is lacking or in the context of opacity where government officials horde information. In the items that we have captured we see number of rumours, some which could easily lead to confusion. Government has the onerous duty to make sure that rumour is not given free reigns by absent of substantive information from its officials.

 

Recommendations 

KANO POLITICS

  1. Politicians should not make the Minjibir election as avenue for revenging or paying back the grievances they have against each other
  2. Politicians should make sure they preach for free and fair electoral participation  to their supporters
  3. The candidates contesting the elections and their parties should emulate from the presidential candidates of the 2015 election particularly the then president for on knowing that he lost the election called to congratulate his opponent who won. This simple but difficult action not only makes him a hero in the eyes of the democrats but also saved the country from possible disintegration and blood birth.
  4. The Sojojin  Baka of all sections of the both intra and inter parties who serve as stimulants to the key actors in the process should know that  as they speak on the air it goes directly to heterogeneous audience that may have different perception and interpretation and finally act differently. In view of this they should guard their utterances and speak in the way that will not promote violence. Rather as they advocate for votes for those they promote they should also advocate for peace as the people they support can only be in office if there is peace, the election can only be conclusive and declared if peacefully conducted and concluded.
  5. The security operatives in the state should be more vigilant and have their ears to the ground to snipe any possible violence and address early warning signs to avoid violence occurrence. In addition they should keep pace with what is going in the media and other political scenes so as to call order any person or group that is about to derail.
  6. The electoral  commission should try as much as it can keep to the tenet of the commission in conducting the election and sensitize it adhoc staff on the need to be objective in all the process and the dangers attached to acting contrary
  7. The general public especially those in the constituency, should learn from the sad experience of cancelled April election and fear  the possibility of them not having a representative in the house should this by election went violence and declared inconclusive by INEC should INEC keep to its words that if the election is not successfully concluded the constituency will remain without a representative, to avid that they should coordinate themselves and not allow any external person to mar the future of their constituency.
  8. The Media on the other hand should keep to the ethic of the profession as they report political activities or run political programmes especially the live programmes

Government 

Since the last press conference, we have not seen government taking serious steps to address some the underlying factors that are leading to the spread of hate speech. In this connection, we would like to repeat the same call that we made earlier, that is:

  1. The Federal Government should step efforts promoting inclusive dialogues with a view to arriving at national consensus on national issues
  2. The Federal Government should hasten to roll out programmes that will address the hardship that citizens are experiencing which are providing the fertile space for the generation and circulation of hate speech
  3. Governments at all levels should promote inclusivity in access to decision making processes and to the benefits of governance programmes
  4. Governments should promote transparency and openness in the conduct of government and its officials so that citizens are carried along
  5. Governments should provide adequate information on all decisions taken so that the true circumstances of such decisions are understood by all

Religious and Ethnic Leaders

 

  • They should refrain from using inciting language and caution their followers from using hate speech to voice their grievances
  • That religious and community leaders must always condemn hate speech where it is made
  • That religious and community leaders should enlighten the public against hate and dangerous speech 
  • That at all times, they should promote dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts and support the promotion of inclusivity in all governance programmes and activities at all levels

 

Conclusion    

As a community we seem to close our eyes and assume that we do not see and hear hate speech. Yet the online channels that we youth engage with are becoming saturated with hate and dangerous speech.  This has two major implications. One is that youth who are most impressionable and  are still grappling with socialization issues are likely to get the wrong messages from this. Second we know that youth are often the major combatants in conflicts. That they are,kyr most likely to be mobilized for conflicts purposes are also the ones coming into contact with various shade of hate speech which with explicit call to action that includes not just discrimination of but killings also can spell danger to our country. We therefore urge people community leaders and indeed all people of influence to join the campaign against hate speech.

In this connection, we also call on the join to join the campaign by providing venue for enlightening and educating people against hate speech and also by deliberately refusing to provide space for the spread of hate speech and messages in their medium.

Thanks you.

CITAD, Action Aid Push For The Passage Of #NotTooYoungToRun Bill News

Participants at the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign
In a bid to stimulate public discussion around the rational and principles of the Not Too Young To Run Bill, currently under review in Nigeria’s National Assembly, as well as popularize the bill and mobilise citizens support for it, the Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, in collaboration with Action Aid Nigeria, hosted a one-day public debate with youth in Kano on Tuesday.
The debate was part of a series of public debates being organized across Nigeria under the platform of the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign.

The Not Too Young To Run Bill is seeking for the alteration of sections 65, 106, 131 and 177 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended) to reduce age qualification for the office of the president (from 40 to 30 years); governor and senator (35 to 30) as well as member of Federal House of Representatives and state house of assembly (30 to 25). The bill also seeks to mainstream independent candidacy in the electoral process.

“The youth constitute over 70% of Nigeria’s population,” said Nura Iro Maaji, a youth activist and lecturer at the School of Continuing Education of Bayero University, Kano who was guest speaker at the public debate. “Therefore, a peaceful and prosperous Nigeria is only possible when the youth are given the opportunity to participate in democratic governance processes by the passage into law of the Not Too Young To Run Bill.”

Maaji, who argued that youth inclusiveness will bring about “fresh ideas and cleanse the political process” urged the youth to seek for more knowledge and information about leadership and governance so as to be adequately prepared for the challenge of leadership.

Participants at the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign posed for a group photo
Participants at the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign posed for a group photo

Kabiru Dakata, a senior programmes officer at the Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, who was also one of the discussants at the public debate said the idea of the debate was to “sensitize and educate young people on the bill (Not Too Young To Run bill); seek for their support to ensure it dominates discussions on social media, our communities and households”.

“Historically speaking,” he argued “Leaders of the first and second republics led this country while they were still very young, moreover, youth of this generation are better informed. And we are not saying the older generations should completely leave the scene – they should accommodate the younger ones to participate in governance process more especially because the older ones have since independence been battling to get things right, unsuccessfully.”

Speaking to African Newspage, Vanessa Edhebru, a programme officer at Action Aid Nigeria blamed the youth’s lack of capacity to actively participate in governance processes on “the type of society we have, where youth do not think they have what it takes to engage in governance and electoral process beyond casting their votes”.

Female participants at the debate holding placards of the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign posed for a group photo shortly after the event
Female participants at the debate holding placards of the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign posed for a group photo shortly after the event

“Youth participation will bring about dynamism, innovation as well as cross-generational partnerships that will take Nigeria where it should be,” she said.

Kano legislators performing below average – Don

By Bashir Mohammed
Kano

A senior lecturer with the Kano state Polytechnic, Dr. Sulieman Hashim Rano, has described the performance of legislators representing Kano at both chambers of the National Assembly as woeful and below average compared with other states in the North.

Speaking to newsmen on the  Community Development Charter launched in Rano town at the instance of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) yesterday, Rano said the legislators were yet to convince the electorate that their stewardship is worth it name, adding that state like Katsina “can be proud of its representatives at the National Assembly.”
He said the issue of delivery in the name of  genuine legislative representation as far as Kano was concerned was quite abysmal as the legislators had nothing substantial to prove to the electorate that they had lived up to their billing, stressing that  their main mission was to serve humanity with diligence.

He said the issue of mediocrity had been grossly promoted to high heavens by those who felt that they can massage their ego by misguiding and controlling their moles at the National Assembly, lamenting that the application of merit in voting credible and intelligent people to power had been thrown to the dogs.
He however stated that the syndrome of amassing huge money in the name of holding a plum political office was doing a great disservice to the genuine concept and precepts of the nascent democratic system in the country.

The don point out that the stellar performance of the political elite in the first republic left much to be desired.
Speaking on the launch of the project, CITAD Programme Officer, Malam Isiyaku Garba Yakasai, said the programme was conceived to expose the rural populace to the nitty gritty of democratic rule and they should expect from the people leading them.
He said the programme was CITAD contribution in uplifting the status of the rural communities in Kano state to serve as a wake-up call to those leading them in the name of democracy to be fully conversant with the burden of proof that lies on their shoulders.

 

http://www.blueprint.ng/2016/07/04/kano-legislators-performing-below-average-don/

Hate Speech: ‘Nigerians Becoming Ethnically, Religiously Insensitive’, CITAD Warns

Kano-based  Centre For Information Technology And Development (CITAD) has warned that despite the efforts to curb hate or dangerous speech during the 2015 elections, Nigerians appear to have now  become ‘ethnically and religiously insensitive or even intolerant.’

The Centre’s finding were disclosed at a press briefing on Friday in Kano by Isa Garba, its Senior Programmes Officer (Peace and conflicts) .Analysing the Centre’s findings between May and June this year ,Garba said “It is seen that the two major sources of hate speech in the period are religion and ethnicity. In fact, the two contribute about 94% of the items captured. This means that Nigerians are becoming ethnically and religiously insensitive, or even intolerant. The co-occurrence of these to a polity that is multi-ethnic and multi-religious can very dangerous as past ethno-religious violent conflicts have shown.”

For a proper appreciation of the issues , we publish below excerpts of CITAD’s  briefing:

 

TEXT OF PRESS BRIEFING ON HATE SPEECH FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE ADDRESSED BY ISAH GARBA, SENIOR PROGRAMMES OFFICER (PEACE AND CONFLICTS), CENTRE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (CITAD) ON JUNE 30, 2016, KANO

Distinguished members of the press, I will like on behalf of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) to welcome you to this conference, the first of its series of monthly press briefing on our hate and dangerous Speech Monitoring and Countering Projects that we will be holding. The purpose of the press briefing is to share with public issues of concern that we observe over the month and suggest cause of action that will mitigate these issues of concern.
Dangerous or hate speech has been defined as speech act that denigrates people on the basis of their membership to a group, such as an ethnic or religious group that has a reasonable chance of catalyzing or amplifying violence by one group against another, given the circumstances in which it is made or disseminated. A Speech act in this context includes any form of expression, including images such as drawings or photographs, dance, films, cartoons, etc
While hate speech has been commonly used, there has over the years been an effort to differentiate between hate and dangerous speech, the former as a collection of all forms of inflammatory speech practices while dangerous speech is reserved for that specific category that leads to itself to inciting people to act or accept violence against others as normal. This distinction is necessary to allow for monitoring of speech that is capable of leading to violence.
In this context, it is also important to concretely specify what qualifies for hate/dangerous speech within the Nigerian context. In our context, we regard as dangerous speech any speech act that is aimed at inciting the audience to denigrate against people others of the basis of ethnicity, religion, gender, geography and any other socially conceived parameter with the purpose of marginalizing them or placing them at some disadvantage that is contrary to the provisions of the universal declaration on human rights as well as the international covenants on rights of the people. This does not include the peculiar joking relations that exist in some communities, practiced between two or more ethnic/linguistic groups that have historically been used as a conflict resolution mechanism. Substantively, we see dangerous/hate speech in the Nigerian context as speech act that:
1. Insults people for their religion
2. Abuses people for their ethnic or linguistic affiliation
3. Expresses contempt against people because of their place of origin
4. Disparages or intimidates women or girls because of their gender
5. Condones discriminatory assertions against people living with disability
6. Abuses or desecrates symbols of cultural or religious practices
7. Denigrates or otherwise ridicules traditional or cultural institutions of other people
8. Deliberate spread falsehood or rumours that demeans or maligns or otherwise ostracizes other people on the basis of religion, ethnicity, gender or place of origin for the accident of one form of disability or the other

Hate speech is major driver of violent conflicts as experiences in several countries have shown. Peace building efforts therefore have always included efforts to both reduce the circulation of hate speech and neutralize the likely impact of these that circulate. This is done through monitoring and countering programmes such as we do.
Nigeria is not immune to hate speech. In fact while from our work we found that after the peace accord was signed between the presidential candidates in the 2015 general elections there was reduction in hate speech, over the last months there has been a rise of volume of hate and dangerous speech in the country.
The Results from June
Between May and June of this year, our monitors have documented 393 hate speech items. These items are categorized as follows:
1. Access to resource related hate speech- 31items
2. Biafran agitation – 90 items
3. Terror recruitment – 16 items
4. Election related 13 items
5. Religious – 168 items
6. Ethnicity – 198 items

It is seen that the two major sources of hate speech in the period are religion and ethnicity. In fact, the two contribute about 94% of the items captured. This means that Nigerians are becoming ethnically and religiously insensitive, or even intolerant. The co-occurrence of these to a polity that is multi-ethnic and multi-religious can very dangerous as past ethno-religious violent conflicts have shown.
We are particularly horrified by some of the messages that people peddle, clearly calling for the killings of others, dehumanizing and demonizing others to create the condition for people to act the call to action. The dynamics of hate speech is that other gets provoked and retaliate in same manner and before you know it, some people take the action step to implement the specified call to action contained in the hate messages.
Recommendations
Many of the hate speech items rise from perceptions associated with action or inaction of government. Others are located within the complex contest of space and resources by various ethnic groups in the country. Not least is also the rise of new violent groups such as the Niger Delta Avengers as well as the continuing Biafran agitation. We feel that the country more than any other time is called upon to manage its diversity. This means that open up spaces for genuine conversation towards promoting national understanding is needed. Specifically, we would to call on
Government
1. The Federal Government should step efforts promoting inclusive dialogues with a view to arriving at national consensus on national issues
2. The Federal Government should hasten to roll out programmes that will address the hardship that citizens are experiencing which are providing the fertile space for the generation and circulation of hate speech
3. Governments at all levels should promote inclusivity in access to decision making processes and to the benefits of governance programmes
4. Governments should promote transparency and openness in the conduct of government and its officials so that citizens are carried along
5. Governments should provide adequate information on all decisions taken so that the true circumstances of such decisions are understood by all

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Religious and Ethnic Leaders
1. They should refrain from using inciting language and caution their followers from using hate speech to voice their grievances
2. That religious and community leaders must always condemn hate speech where it is made
3. That religious and community leaders should enlighten the public against hate and dangerous speech
4. That at all times, they should promote dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts and support the promotion of inclusivity in all governance programmes and activities at all levels

Individuals
Individuals must not only refrain from engaging in hate speech but must also refuse to be provoked by it. Once people do not react to hate speech, it loses its capacity to catalyze violence. We urge people to be valiant and to report hate speech rather than act on it.

 

http://newsdiaryonline.com/hate-speech-nigerians-becoming-ethnically-religiously-insensitive-citad-warns/

PRESS STATEMENT: REFLECTING ON THE 2015 WAEC MAY/JUNE RESULT AND THE NEED FOR STATE OF EMERGENCY ON EDUCATION IN EACH OF THE NORTHEASTERN STATES

One of the ways we can assess the commitment of the state governments in developing and promoting the state of education in their states is the performance of their indigenes in different National and Regional examinations. If this stands to be a reliable yardstick, then we can loudly say states in the Northeast need to be more committed so that we can begin to see appreciable performance of the indigenes of their states in those examinations.  For example, in the 2015 WAEC May/June result released in the first quarter of this year, Yobe State came last with only 646 (4.37%) candidates obtaining five credits and above including English and Mathematics out of the fourteen thousand, seven hundred and eight-four students, comprising 10, 807 males and 3,977 females, sat for the examination in the state. Apart from the disheartening performance of Yobe state, none of the Northeast states made it to the best 20 performing states in the ranking. This came at a time when Abia state (1st in the ranking) scored 63.94 per cent with 33, 762 of its 52, 801 candidates obtaining five credits and above including English and Mathematics.

Even with this poor performance of states in the Northeast, we can still commend states like Taraba (21st in the ranking) and Borno (25th in the ranking), specially for Borno State that has been bearing brunt of the insurgency more than any other state in the region. Out of the 21,695 that sat for the examination from Borno, 5,347 got five credits and above, including English and Mathematics. For States like Bauchi (31st in the ranking) and Gombe (34th in the ranking) the performance left us with a huge surprise given that these two states are less hit by insurgency but performing so poorly.

 

It is in view of the above situation that we, the undersigned members of the Northeast Education and Social Accountability Cluster wish to renew our call for state of emergency in the education sector of the states in the Northeast. We also urge that this should go beyond just mere declaration, requiring the states to come up with bold initiatives and corresponding funding and the deployment of transparent and accountable mechanisms for the utilization of the funds for the sector.    

 

While making this call, we as CSOs remain committed to continue exploring various strategies for promoting social accountability in the education sector in the Northeast so that resources deployed to the sector could deliver the desired results.

 

Signed:

  1. Kabiru Sa`idu Dakata, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano. 08064891110
  2. Mohammed G. Wuyo, Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP), Borno. 08063309633
  3. Enoch Raymond, Centre for Environmental Education and Development (CEED), Taraba. 07065550217
  4. Rebecca Hassan, Association of People Living with Disability, Gombe. 08036582745
  5. Aishatu Margima, Women and Youth Empowerment for Advancement and Health Initiative (WYEAHI), Adamawa. 08025225194
  6. Isah Garba, Bauchi Coalition for Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM), Bauchi. 08064867312
  7. Halimatu Laminu, Network of Civil Society Organizations, Yobe. 08025561637
  8. Dauda Mohammad, Northeast Youth Initiative Forum(NEYIF),  Yobe. 08035548664
  9. Asma`u Joda, Centre for Women and Adolescent Empowerment, Adamawa. 08032917070
  10. Ibrahim Yusuf, Society and the Future, Gombe. 08061153231

Group seeks state of emergency in North-East education sector

Dissatisfied by the continuous poor performance of secondary school students in the North-East region of the country in national and regional examinations, the North-East Education and Social Accountability Cluster yesterday urged state governors in the region to declare a state of emergency in the education sector.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Jalingo, the group also urged the state governments in the North-East to go beyond declaring a state of emergency and invest more in the education sector by making available enough funds and materials that would enhance teaching and learning in their states.

The group, which is drawn from various civil society organisations, said: “We also urge that this should go beyond just mere declaration, requiring the states to come up with bold initiatives and corresponding funding and the deployment of transparent and accountable mechanisms for the utilisation of the funds for the sector.”

They observed that “one of the ways we can assess the commitment of the state governments in developing and promoting the state of education in their states is the performance of their indigenes in different national and regional examinations.”

The statement added: “If this stands to be a reliable yardstick, then we can loudly say states in the North-East need to be more committed so that we can begin to see appreciable performance of the indigenes of their states in those examinations.

“In the 2015 WAEC May/June result released in the first quarter of this year, Yobe State came last with only 646 (4.37%) candidates obtaining five credits and above including English and Mathematics out of the 14, 748 students, comprising 10, 807 males and 3,977 females, that sat for the examination in the state.

“Apart from the disheartening performance of Yobe State, none of the North-East states made it to the best 20 performing states in the ranking.”

The statement was jointly signed by Kabiru Sa`idu Dakata, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano; Mohammed G. Wuyo, Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP), Borno; Enoch Raymond, Centre for Environmental Education and Development (CEED), Taraba; Rebecca Hassan, Association of People Living with Disability, Gombe; Aishatu Margima, Women and Youth Empowerment for Advancement and Health Initiative (WYEAHI), Adamawa; Isah Garba, Bauchi Coalition for Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM), Bauchi; Halimatu Laminu, Network of Civil Society Organisations, Yobe; Dauda Mohammad, Northeast Youth Initiative Forum(NEYIF),  Yobe; Asma`u Joda, Centre for Women and Adolescent Empowerment, Adamawa; and Ibrahim Yusuf, Society and the Future, Gombe.

Group seeks state of emergency in North-East education sector