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.

TEXT OF PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THE NORTHEAST EDUCATION AND SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY CLUSTER ON THE 18TH MARCH, 2016 AT CENTRAL HOTEL, KANO, KANO STATE ON THE DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY ON EDUCATION SECTOR BY THE BAUCHI STATE GOVERNMENT

Dear members of the press. We welcome you to this press conference. THE
ACTORS
Members of the Press, we wish to welcome you to this important press conference. We are hereas members of the North East Social Accountability Cluster with the Centre for InformationTechnology and Development (CITAD) as its anchor. The cluster is established with the specialgoal of mobilizing all stakeholders towards improving Social accountability in the educationsector of the northeast with particular focus on promoting reforms that increase access to, andgovernance within the education sector in North East Nigeria.
PRELUDE
North Eastern part of the country is facing many challenges among which the poor state of education iscritical. The region has the worst education statistics in Nigeria. Male adult literacy rate is low with allstates in the region having lower than national average rates. In fact Yobe and Borno have the lowestnationally with 31.9% and 35.1% respectively. The corresponding figures for female adult literacy are14.9 and 18.0% respectively for the two states. The performances of the states in both NECO and WAEC have been the lowest of the country. A Survey showed that percentage of children between 6 and 16 who have never attended school has high prevalence in the following states: Borno 72 percent, Yobe 58 percent and Bauchi 52 percent. Only about 20% of all school age girls get to attend school. The North East zone of the country has certain peculiarities which are that it is the region with the highest rate of maternal mortality rate as well as at lowest on the poverty index. Such high mortality rate is an indication of the poor status of women. The region is also further adversely affected by conflict and insurgency.
Between July and September last year, CITAD commissioned a survey on the state of education in the sixstates of the northeast. The findings confirmed the comatose state of education in the region. The reportfor each state was presented to key stakeholders in the respective states. As part of the efforts to engageall stakeholders towards a collective agenda for the revamping of the education sector in the region, theCluster in December convened a national stakeholder event to present the reports in Abuja. This wasattended by Ministries of Education from all the states, members of legislature from all the states, othereducation related agencies from the states, parents/ teachers associations and representatives of civilsociety organizations. Following deliberation on the reports, participants agreed to, among other things,call on state governments in the north east to declare state of emergency on education. The Bauchi ExampleIt is in this light that we welcome the announcement of the Bauchi State government for declaring state ofemergency on the education sector and the inauguration of a committee that is saddled with theresponsibility of 1. studying and reviewing the existing policies on education in the state 2. to monitor and evaluate the implementation of these policies; 3. to make appropriate recommendations incidental to the assignment of the committee 4. To co-opt any officer that is relevant to the assignment. This committee has been given eight weeks within which to complete the assignment and submitits report to government for quick and immediate intervention in the sector.We commend the Bauchi State Government for taking this wise decision. This is an actionworthy of commendation and we pray that the outcome of the committee’s exercise will lead toimprovement of the education sector of the state. We will like to urge the Bauchi StateGovernment not to rest its oars by just making pronouncement and leaving it at that. Declarationof State of Emergency without bold initiatives and corresponding funding and the deployment oftransparent and accountable mechanisms for the utilization of the funds will come to nothing. We
equally call on both the Government and the State of Emergency Committee to engage all stakeholders such as civil society organizations, parent, community leaders, etc.
A CALL TO THE OTHER STATES
In the same vain we call on the other states of Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe totake the same step as that of Bauchi so as to release the educational sector of the region from the brink of total collapse. This call is necessary at this time considering the fallen standard of education in the region and the need to address that to free the region from other problems thatpoor status of education have given birth to.Signed:
1. Isah Garba, Bauchi Coalition for Improvement of Public Expenditure Management(BACIPEM), Bauchi. 08064867312
2. Kabiru Sa`idu Dakata, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD),Kano. 08064891110
3. Mohammed G. Wuyo, Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP),Borno. 08063309633
4. Enoch Raymond, Centre for Environmental Education and Development (CEED),Taraba. 07065550217
5. Rebecca Hassan, Association of People Living with Disability, Gombe. 08036582745
6. Aishatu Margima, Women and Youth Empowerment for Advancement and HealthInitiative (WYEAHI), Adamawa. 08025225194
\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

Kano Dep Gov Urges NGOs To Develop Critical Sectors

Deputy Governor of Kano state, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, has called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and notable development partners to join hands in developing critical sectors of the government for better result.

Speaking at a quiz competition organised by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) in collaboration with the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) held in Kano yesterday, Abubakar said  what was needed most in an ideal democratic setting was service to humanity and the ability to live above board.
The deputy governor, who was represented by the Special Assistant on Special Duties, Alhaji Idriss Hamisu Rogo, said the Ganduje administration had accorded top priority to education for the young school children to know their worth  in shaping the destiny of the nation.
On her part, the Programme officer , Centre for Democratic Development, Mrs. Abibatu Barry, stressed the need for creating awareness among school children for them to under the nitty-gritty of democratic leadership, adding that the quiz was conceived to ginger the resolve of the children academic pursuit in that regard.

He said the political class must be accountable to the electorate since they were given the constitutional mandate to lead people for everyone to enjoy the much pronounced dividends of good governance, stressing that the NGOs were indispensable partners in progress.
Also speaking, CITAD Programme officer, Malam Kabiru Dakata, said  the issue of election was not the end in itself, but concentrating on the required indices of development which  the political class must strive to uphold.
He pointed out that the quiz was an eye-opener to students willing to excel in their chosen field, affirming that non-government organisations, like CITAD, would be up and doing in creating easy avenues for young school children to forge ahead.

 

Source: http://www.blueprint.ng/2016/03/16/kano-dep-gov-urges-ngos-to-develop-critical-sectors/

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF CITAD-M4D PUBLIC POLICY DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support from Mobilizing for Development (M4D) has since September, 2015 been implementing a project entitled: ‘’Strengthen Local CBOs and Informal Institutions for Improved Access and Quality of Education’’ in some selected Local Governments of Kano State. The aim of the project is to improve access to and quality of basic education in the Dawakin Tofa, Sumaila and Garin malam Local Governments of Kano State.

Having carried out research, conducted advocacy and enlighten the Community Based Organizations, traditional leaders and the teeming local populace in the three local governments for six months, CITAD decides to hold a Public Policy Dialogue with respective relevant stakeholders in attendance, the idea is to further generate vital observations and recommendations in order to develop a roadmap for basic education as regards the finding and experiences of the three local governments. The event took place on 15th March, 2016 at Murtala Muhammed Library in Kano, Kano state. Below are observations, challenges and recommendations generated during the event. This communiqué hereby appeal to the concerned bodies to urgently take the necessary actions in order to salvage poor state of basic education so that the future of our younger ones will be bright.  

Observations

  • Education needs collective support
  • The southern states have gone far in establishing community schools, the north should the same and in order to fully support the education sector
  • PTA and SBMC should join hands and do more to rescue the decay in the education sector
  • Basic education is fundamental and lacking it invites social vices
  • Resolutions of the conference should be extended to the government, media, concerned bodies and the general public, that will help salvage the poor state of education
  • The Nigerian standard of Teacher-Pupil ratio is one teacher to thirty four (34) pupils, the study found varying degrees of alarming ratios e.g 1-73 as against 1-34
  • Three (3) local governments were selected for the study out forty four (44) LGs in Kano state, empirically the study ought to fully state that.
  • Are the findings applicable in all the local governments of Kano state, are there differences and why.
  • There needs to be reasons for enrolment rise and fall in order to back the data up.
  • In all the local governments, the out of school children are higher than those in schools, the study should give reason for that as well.
  • Teacher-pupil ratio helps ensure quality of education, the teacher can easily asses the students, interacts with them, supervise their homework, therefore teacher-pupil ratio is vital to education sector. How does the sampling goes and why. The study has found out 1-73 teacher-pupil ratio as against the official Nigerian standard of 1-34.
  • Poor state of infrastructure as found out by the study is also a major setback to education and unless necessary action is taken, the sector will witnessing backwardness
  • The world has advanced greatly in terms education and we are left behind
  • Any country that abandons education  sector will surely become slave among peers
  • Population should not be an excuse, because primary schools pupils in China are more than the Nigerian population yet they are provided with equipments to carryout experiment. The Chinese are what they are because of education, they produce and manufacture everything because they have education

Challenges:

  • Some pupils use mud blocks as desks to take lessons
  • Some parents could not give their pupils five naira break stipend
  • Fifty (50%) of teachers are not qualified which result in producing poor students
  • Some schools completely don’t function when it rains
  • Many teachers do obtain/buy fake certificates from educational institutions
  • Teachers unions are not supportive of government in terms of ensuring quality teachers because there was an incident when the government planned to conduct examination in order to sieve unqualified teachers but the union objected the move
  • Lack of many female teachers
  • The northwest was rated zero in education at a conference in Abuja last week (Prof. Diso)
  • Kano state SUBEB has more than 6000 schools and pay over N2bn monthly salary

Recommendations:

  • The society must fully support the education sector as well as move from holding conferences to implementing the resolutions of the conferences.
  • SUBEB needs to be organizing workshop to PTA/SBMC in order to enlighten and educate them on what is expected of them so that the sector will move forward.
  • Community leaders should pay regular courtesy visits to the wealthy and others that are willing to assist and solicit their intervention in the education sector
  • Government should create a joint account and provide autonomy on resources disbursement and the community must be watchful of how funds are spent.
  • The school curriculum should be reviewed to suit the changing needs and situations.
  • SUBEB must support the community groups and volunteers with structures, facilities and manpower where necessary.
  • Remuneration, promotion, annual increment and general welfare of teachers ought to be seriously looked at.
  • Ministry for local government affairs must be engaged in order to tackle problems from the grass root.
  • CITAD should expand their effort by engaging more development partners.
  • Reposition the thinking and mindset of the society, government, educational bodies and everybody in the society.
  • Overhaul the education sector and make it a participatory activity.
  • Basic education should be made free and compulsory for all.
  • Educational agencies must be accountable to the resources they are allocated.

Key Recommendations to the Government:

  • Government must ensure quality and welfare of teachers; enact law to punish parents who stop their children from going to school.
  • The government must equally cooperate, strengthen and work with relevant development partners on education.
  • It must also involve traditional leaders and community groups to help manage education at the grass root level.
  • Local government chairmen must also liaise with the community for annual budget and estimate on education.

REPORT OF THE WOMEN APP DEVELOPER JAM ORGANISED BY CITAD DURING THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN DAY IN KANO ON

REPORT OF THE WOMEN APP DEVELOPER JAM ORGANISED BY CITAD DURING THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN DAY IN KANO ON

 

Metrics

How many turned up in total     : 47

Male Attendees                            : 13

Female Attendees                        : 34

 

 

Summary:

women dev1
Introduction

On Saturday, 14th March, CITAD as part of its celebration of the International Women’s Day held a one-day training for girls on mobile apps development. The event, code named Women App Developers Jam held at the main training lab of CITAD and was attended by 34 girls from Bayero University, Kano and other nearly institutions.

Topics for the Event:

Introduction to android

History and architecture of Android

Android market share

Building App i: Android Make-up (App Fashionista)

Building App ii: Recipe App

Entrepreneurial Talk

Monetizing App: Google pay and ad mobs

Overall Objective:

As one of the leading organizations advocating for digital inclusion, we intended to bring more women into mobile apps development as their representation in ICT is so low that serious intervention is required. The event was thus to introduce them to android architecture and the potential marketplace for their android apps. As a way of exposing them to entrepreneurial component of App development, we gave them entrepreneurial talk during the event and also exposed them to the best way they can monetize their apps using ad mobs and android pay.

 

Success Highlights:

With this event, we were able to reach out to a reasonable number of female enthusiasts, raised their interest in IT (App development in particular), raised their level from mare technology users to technology inventor, and above all clear away the stereotype that women cannot be technologist /inventors. As an outcome, we were able to develop two Apps in an interactive mentoring style with them. A team of women enthousisast was formed with the aim of creating a forum for mentorship in app development.

women dev2

Challenges:

One major challenge faced was the background of the attendees, many of them were eager to learn, but they had no previous adequate knowledge that could be built on which made the core part of the programme sounded gibberish to them, making some leave before the end of the programme as such, making the programme not as successful as planned.

 

Key Learning:

One new thing that served as a lesson after the event was that it would always be a good idea to first sample the participants knowing their background in programming before actually going into it, so as to enable facilitators come lower to their understanding.

 

Follow-up Actions:

The two android apps developed during this event would be made available to the participants so that those interested could build on them and improve on them. We also intend to create a forum where participants could ask questions in order to solve problems they encountered during practice. In addition, CITAD is planning to have a more women centered apps development event series in order to further enlighten those interested in apps development.

 

 

Executive Director of WOFAN featured in CITAD Monthly Inspiring Lecture Series

CITAD’s head of HR Mr. Ado presenting the guest with some of CITAD work.

 

As part of the capacity building mechanisms of its staff and interns, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has an initiative of organizing a monthly Inspiring Leadership Reflection Session which normally hosts people of robust experience to have a direct interaction with the staff and interns so that they learn from their challenges, failures and successes.

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executive director of CITAD Dr. YZ Ya’u in his opening remark Left and Hajiya Salamatu Garba, the executive director of Women

 

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Hajia Asma’u of CITAD asking question during the session

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CITAD Senior Programme Officer during the session

This month, the organization featured Hajiya Salamatu Garba, the executive director of Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), formerly an academic and presently an advocate of youths and women empowerment who took a career in development work for the past twenty three (23) years. Passion, determination and commitment are the stepping stones to every zealous person, youths should be innovative, believe in themselves, be community development oriented, Hajiya Salamatu Garba said among other things.

Earlier, the executive director of CITAD Dr. YZ Ya’u in his opening remark observed that the monthly event is meant to serve as experience sharing as well as learning ground for the staff and interns, emphasizing that people like Hajiya Salamatu Garba who dedicated their lives to community service are the caliber of personalities who give inspiration and shape young peoples’ lives with the necessary essentials of excelling in their commitments.

The session which lasted for more than three hours has broadly discussed vital issues and allowed the participants to ask questions, comments and make observations, it finally ended with a presentation of publications of the organization to Hajiya Salamatu Garba and group photograph with the resource person.  It could be recalled that a veteran journalist Umar Sa’idu Tudun Wada (UST) was also featured for the same interactive session last month.

CSOs Express Worry Over Delay In Northeast’s Reconstruction

A group of civil society oganisations under the auspices of the North East Education and Social Accountability Cluster, being anchored by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has expressed worry over the failure of the federal government to commence the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Northeast region over 7 months into the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Cluster which was established with the special goal of mobilizing all stakeholders towards rebuilding and reconstruction of the North-east and with a particular focus on ensuring social
accountability in the education sector was dismayed over the failure of the region’s reconstruction to commence despite the President’s promise.

In a press statement made available to newsmen in Bauchi on Wednesday, amongst others, the Cluster demanded that the federal government “establish the necessary agency or structure that will implement government intervention programmes for the rebuilding and
reconstruction of the Northeast.”

It further demanded that the FG “facilitate(s) through the General T. Y Danjuma-led PCNI the immediate convening of the Stakeholders Conference On the Reconstruction and Rebuilding of the Northeast to help the government come up with a blueprint for that purpose as well
as give its support for the speedy passage and accent of the Northeast Development Commission that will eventually take over from the adhoc agency that government could establish as a stop gap.”
They also called on the Danjuma committee to become more proactive and engage all stakeholders in the search for ideas and resources for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the Northeast as well as reiterated their commitment towards working with all stakeholders to ensure that all resources meant for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the region were optimally, transparently and accountably utilised for the purposes they were meant.

 

TEXT OF PRESS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THE NORTHEAST EDUCATION AND SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY CLUSTER ON 2nd MARCH, 2016 AT THE NUJ CENTRE, BAUCHI STATE ON THE NEED FOR PRESIDENT TO ROLL OUT PROGRAMMES FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NORTHEAST

Dear members of the press, we welcome you to this important press conference.
About Us
We are here as members of the North East Education and Social Accountability Cluster with the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) as an anchor. The cluster is established with the special goal of mobilizing all stakeholders towards the rebuilding and reconstruction of the north-east with a particular focus on ensuring social accountability in the education sector.

Introduction
One of the issues that President Muhammadu Buhari prioritized both during the campaign and at the inception of his regime is addressing the insurgency in the north-east along with the reconstruction and rebuilding of the region. The President understood that without reconstruction of the region which has been devastated by the Boko Haram Insurgency, the humanitarian disaster that has resulted in the death of thousands of people and displaced millions of others can not be addressed. Indeed, without this, there can be no successful closure of the insurgency even when the insurgents are completely defeated. Consequently, reconstruction is not a follow up action that will commence following the defeat of the insurgents but a necessary priority that has to commence while the government is still rooting out the insurgents.
The President has on assumption of office promised to quickly come up with framework, strategic initiatives and mechanisms for the implementation of rebuilding and reconstruction programmes for the region. It was in that direction that he constituted the General T. Y. Danjuma led Presidential Committee on North-east Initiatives. The committee among other things was expected to provide the government with framework and mechanism as well as flagship programmes for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the region.
No Programme, No Action
The articulation of both the framework and mechanism is critical not only because there is a need for coordination and harmonization of the various efforts aimed at rebuilding and reconstruction of the north-east but also to provide government with a coherent plan and implementation strategy for its rebuilding and reconstruction programmes. In this respect, while the PCNI remained an advisory committee, is expected to midwife the necessary executing agency or structure that will execute the government’s programmes as well as coordination with other stakeholders on the rebuilding of the north-east.
We note that the military campaign of the government has been yielding positive results with many of the areas hitherto under the control of the insurgents, retaken over by the military and indeed in some places, IDPs are either being urged to return to their places or are themselves expressing interest to go back. However, is going back to void with no homes, no means of economic livelihood, no schools, no hospitals and indeed no any shelter for them. This means that if government insists in taking them back, they would be compounding their trauma through a new cycle of crisis.
It is in the view of this, that we members of the civil society working for the reconstruction of the north-east are worried that more than seven months since the president took over, the rebuilding and reconstruction of the north-east that the President has promised is yet to take off. In fact, it is even yet to be articulated. The General T. Y. Danjuma Committee appears to be comatose with it neither doing any coordination nor providing the government with a blue print for intervention in the north-east. The conference of stakeholders it promised to hold to assist in coming up with a blue print for the government has been shifted on more than two occasions and now apparently seemed to be even forgotten.
Our Demands
We wish to call on the federal government to:
Establish the necessary agency or structure that will implement government intervention programmes for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the Northeast
Facilitate through the General T. Y Danjuma led PCNI the immediate convening of the Stakeholders Conference On the Reconstruction and Rebuilding of the Northeast to help the government come up with a blue print for that purpose
Give its support for the speedy passage and accent of the Northeast Development Commission that will eventually take over from the adhoc agency that government could establish as a stop gap
We call on the General T. Y Danjuma Committee to become proactive and engage all stakeholders in the search for ideas and resources for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the Northeast. In particular, we the undersigned members of the Northeast Education and Social Accountability Cluster state as follows:
There is need for the Presidential Committee of the Northeast Initiative to start implementing its agenda
In the event that the existing members can not perform as expected on the ground of lack of time because of other patriotic engagements or lack of energy because of age factor, government needs to rework out the structure of the committee
As it is in the mandate of the committee, it needs to come up with strategies on how it will harmonize other governmental and nongovernmental initiatives aimed at reconstruction of the region.
As schools have started resuming in some affected areas two years after been closed down, the committee needs to pay special attention in schools reconstruction and security project so that access to education will not be an issue for the children of those areas.
The committee should involve local CBOs/CSOs in the implementation of its activities as that will promote transparency and accountability in the process

We also call on the State Governments in the north-east to re-state the earlier regional consultations with a view to coming up with a Regional Development Agency that can eventually clue in to the Federal Government own blue print.
Finally, we want to state our commitment to working with all stakeholders to ensure that all resources meant for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the north-east are optimally, transparently and accountably used for the purposes they are meant for. We urge citizens, their organizations and others to be vigilant around in this area.
Signed:
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 Organizations, Yobe.
Dauda Mohammad, Northeast Youth Initiative Forum(NEYIF), Yobe.
Asma`u Joda, Centre for Women and Adolescent Empowerment, Adamawa.
Ibrahim Yusuf, Society and the Future, Gombe.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)'s photo.

Boko Haram: CITAD urges FG to tackle unemployment

The centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has urged the federal government to address the issue of youth unemployment as they continued to provide the recruitment base for Boko Haram insurgents and urban violent gangs.

The programme manager of CITAD, Abdulganiyu Rufa’i stated this during a policy brief titled Beyond Winning the Minds: Youth, Peace Building and Entrepreneurship, held at Murtala Muhammad Library in Kano State yestyerday.

According to him, tackling the problem of unemployment among youth would prevent them from being recruited into joining extremists group or engaging in violent activities in the society, noting that engaging the youth would make them productive and legitimate economic actors in the society.

He said, “government should introduce mainstream entrepreneurship programme as part of winning away youth from extremists ideas. The government should also leverage the vast potentials of outsourcing an IT-based business to create jobs for teeming unemployed youths in the country.” He advised

He noted that the state governments need to review their youth policies in line with the modern democratic era.

Rufa’i also called on the civil society groups to advocate and monitor the implementation of the provisions of various youth related policies, adding that the NGOs should engage out of school youth in peace building and entrepreneurship.

PRESS STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE CENTER FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (CITAD ) AGAINST THE ATTITUDES OF SOME TELECOM OPERATORS OF BOTHERING SUBSCRIBERS WITH   UNSOLICITED TEXT MESSAGES ON 2ND OF FEBRUARY,2016

Gentle men of the press, civil society members and ladies and gentle
men here present we welcome you all to this memorable occasion. It is
a common knowledge that Nigerians have for long been making outcries
against the unethical attitudes of Some telecom Service Providers who
engage in unsolicited telemarketing by incessantly sending messages
and making network calls to their subscribers on daily basis .This do
not only constitute nuisance and encroachment  upon the privacy of the
telecommunications subscribers and cause different sorts of
inconveniences to them but  conflict with the spirit of the Consumer
Code of Practice Regulations (2007). Despite numerous calls by
Nigerian subscribers, civil societies and the national Assembly
against that. This attitude keep growing day by day. CITAD an
organization that is  an advocate of internet freedom and digital
inclusiveness ,we do hereby in the strongest terms condemn these
attitude and call for immediate seizure of these kind of services.
In our efforts to add our voice to the popular movement against these
exploitative tendencies, we have already Serve Reactions Notice to the
Nigerian Communication Commission in pursuant to Section 142 of the
NCC Act, CAP N97,Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2010).NCC
have already responded to our notice, the commission has already
brought to our notice that it is in the process of issuing a direction
to all networks operators requesting that a “Do Not Disturb” option be
available to on their networks to enable subscribers to opt out at any
time in respect of unsolicited text messages and calls. While
commending the welcome development from NCC ,we call for speedy
implementation of this directives .

Sign

Abdulganiyu Rufai Y

For Directo

CITAD hosts Journalist as February Inspiring Leadership Reflection Series Guest.

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Umar Sa’id Tudun Wada addressing participants

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E.D of CITAD Dr. YZ addressing Participants Umar Sa’id Tudun Wada

The monthly Inspiring Leadership Reflection and Interaction Series of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) this month featured prominent broadcast journalist and consultant Umar Sa’id Tudun Wada. UST as he is popularly known is an icon in the broadcast industry with 35 years experience in both local and international media. He has done remarkably well in his career and that made him stand tall among peers. UST has worked with many public, private and international media organizations which include NTA, ARTV, DW Radio, Voice of America (VOA), lastly as General Manager Freedom Radio Kano for 13 years. The nearly four hours interaction has given the participants chance to listen and ask questions on the achievements and challenges of the broadcaster. His vast experience, triumphs, challenges have no doubt taught and inspired the staff and interns of CITAD. Earlier in his opening remark, Executive Director of the center, Dr. YZ Ya’u noted that the purpose of the monthly session is to further develop the capacity of the staff and interns of the organization by inviting people who have exciting life and leadership experience to share so as the participants learn from them. It could be recalled that last month, historian and educationist Professor Haruna Wakili of BUK was also featured for the same lecture series. This is an important initiative and avenue for practical learning and it will as well improve our capacity and productivity in the organization, said a staff.

CITAD presents policy brief on youth, peace building and entrepreneurship.

CITAD charts a way forward for Nigerian Youth by Hamza Ibrahim, Media Officer, CITAD

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has formally presented a policy brief entitled ‘’Beyond Winning the Minds: Youth, Peace Building and Entrepreneurship. The brief presentation which took place on Wednesday 10th February 2016 at the American Corner, Murtala Muhammed Library Kano has addressed critical issues regarding youth, peace building and entrepreneurship. It recommended that the government, civil society groups and development partners, philanthropies and foundations take certain actions thereby positively engaging the youth in order to prevent their vulnerability to social vices which hamper societal progress.

Youth are arguably the bedrock of any society, their optimum utilization yields effective and lasting developmental outcomes while neglecting them invites and exposes them to all kinds of problems which normally leads to underdevelopment, too much burden on the governments, unemployment, recruitment base for thuggery, robbery and insurgency. These and other numerous challenges are the reasons why the youth demand a considerable attention from especially our governments, foundations/philanthropies and civil society organizations.

In her presentation entitled ‘’Beyond Winning The Minds: Youth, Peace Building and Entrepreneurship’’, Aisha Ahmad Is’haq of CITAD observed that the budgetary allocation to youth from 2013 to 2015 kept decreasing despite the growing number of youth in the country, this she said shows lack of commitment to the youth and therefore renders them to unwanted acts. However, the youth from their side need to understand that they don’t need to wait for the government to come to their rescue but should instead be as productive and entrepreneurial minded so that the society will be proud of them.

Peace is the driving force of all progress and development, therefore the youth and everyone in the society needs to shun all acts capable of tempering the existence of peace. And the youth normally suffer greatly the consequences of conflicts, the Boko Haram insurgency has claimed thousands of lives of youth which should have been in many sectors of the economy performing various important tasks. Therefore, as youth we should be mindful of the importance of peace in our lives and the role it plays in shaping our lives as well.

Entrepreneurship is also another critical area which youth need to massively venture into because there are unlimited chances and benefits, the government itself functions well with manufacturing industries, textiles, private companies, small scale businesses, agriculture which all are products of sound ideas developed by youth. And now there are many foundations, governments and individuals who are willing to offer take-up and support to youth with sound entrepreneurial ideas.

Aisha Ahmad concluded with appealed to governments at various levels to provide adequate budgetary allocation to education, health, agriculture and youth-related programmes, in particular, meeting the UNESCO, WHO and Moputo Declaration Benchmark, mainstream youth participation in governance including at both executive and legislative wings and also mainstream peace building as component of youth development programmes as well as mainstream entrepreneurship in peace building programme of government.

The Policy Brief presentation session was attended by United Action for Democracy (UAD), Northwest University Young Enterpreneurs Club (NUYEC), Mass Movement for Societal Development (MMSD), Mufarka Youth Association, Youth Mobilization Via Media, Center for Young Peoples Advancement and Community Development (CYPAC), Kano Youth Coalition for Advocacy and Development (KAYCAD), Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Social Vices (YOSPIS), students from BUK, FUK, SRCOE, FCE Kano, ABU Zaria, Kano Poly and the media (Blueprint Newspaper, Peoples Daily Newspaper, Freedom Radio, Express Radio, Rahama Radio, Cool/Wazobia FM).

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’Beyond Winning the Minds: Youth, Peace Building and Entrepreneurship is produced as part of the Peace Campaign that CITAD has implementing with support from MacArthur Foundation. This brings the number of policy briefs produced under the project by CITAD to four. Others include one on cattle rustling, one the Plight of IDPs in the Northeast, while the fourth is on the Government Strategy for ending the insurgency.