By Mustapha Usman, Kano

The Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, pending the completion of investigation on the allegations of corruption against him.

The SGF came under fire for allegedly awarding contract to his own company, RholaVision Engineering LTD, to clear ‘invasive plant species’.

Addressing journalists at the CITAD’s office in Kano on Monday, the Executive Secretary of CITAD, Yunusa Ya’u, alleged that the funds believed to have been diverted by the SGF were meant for the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.

According to Mr Ya’u, the ‘grass-cutting’ contract was awarded by the SGF at the expense of the IDPs who were dying on daily basis due to starvation.

He labelled the contract as a misplacement of priority and a clear case of misappropriation of funds.

A group, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has urged the Presidency to suspend the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Lawal Babachir, over alleged diversion of funds meant for the rebuilding of the North-East.

Executive Director of CITAD, Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, at a press briefing in Kano yesterday, said that the Presidency was not handling the corruption accusation within its kitchen cabinet with seriousness despite the weighty evidence against the SGF by the Senate.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has revealed that 6,258 hate speeches were recorded between June and December 2016, stating it is not a good development for the country.

The Senior Programme Officer of CITAD, Isah Garba, while giving the outcome of the 2016 Monitoring and Countering Hate and Dangerous Speech Project Report, noted that rumour was one of the most inflammatory and violence causing mechanisms.

He also noted that non-adherence to journalism ethics, especially on social media and its heterogeneous users, makes proliferation of rumor easy.

Garba observed that government appears to be slow in tackling drivers of hate speech in the society, which he listed to be unemployment, hunger and poverty.

CITAD Asks Buhari to Sack SGF Immediately

The fear that President Buhari has made the most mistake by trying to save his aides in relation to their perceived corruption appear to be catching on as a major civil society organisation at the heart of the reconstruction of the North East has asked President Buhari to suspend Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, from office forthwith so as to face thorough investigation. It has also called on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to hand over the file to both the EFCC and ICPC and implore Babachir himself to honorably resign until he has been cleared by competent agencies. The Kano based Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) told a press conference in Kano that President Buhari is acting out of character in the handling of the SGF’s case and called on him to rethink his handling of the particular case. Otherwise, said CITAD, it would be a self-indictment as far as the president’s words at his inauguration that “he belongs to no one” is concerned. “The indication now is that he belongs to some people who, by his action, can be shielded from consequence of their corrupt acts”, said CITAD which is running an observatory on the plight of IDPs and the reconstruction process of the north east.

CITAD is justifying its stand on how misplaced cutting grasses in the face of thousands of IDPs starving to death for lack of food was. Two, it says there is no difference between the misappropriation involved and that of the former NSA who allegedly diverted money meant for buying arms to fight Boko Haram insurgency to buying votes the second term bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan. “We think this alone is enough for a regime of probity and commitment to the reconstruction of the North East to show the SGF the way out”, insisted CITAD at the press conference addressed by Malam Yunusa Y’au, its Executive Director.

Beyond the comparison, the NGO listed the magnitude of money involved when compared to the purported work done and said a case of inflation of figure could be established that makes the SGF to, in its view, be involved in corruption proper. It, therefore, regrets that the president whose name has been associated with probity is shielding the SGF from prosecution, indeed rewarding him by retaining him at the office of the SGF.

Hanging its case on the above points, CITAD said any option other than asking Babachir to step down and wait until investigations cleared him sends a very strong wrong signal that the anti-corruption agenda of the regime is politically motivated rather than on national interests. Though leaving no one in doubt of its firm support for the anti-corruption war, it demands treatment of all corruption cases the same way. Contrasting the treatment of the SGF to the arrest, detention, interrogation and investigation by the EFCC of many people suspected of corrupt acts, it wondered why the President has simply opted not to do allow the same in this case. Arguing that the fact of the contract has been well established by the Senate Adhoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East, CITAD interrogated the president’s reasons why he could not go along with the Senate, saying that Babachir was not only given fair hearing, the report of the Senate Committee was signed by adequate number of persons. “It is curious that the same presidency that ordered the invasion of the houses of Judges suspected of corruption who were never given any hearing could now deploy the argument of fair hearing to protect Babachir”, it thundered.

In a retrospective insight, CITAD alleged that, for whatever reasons that became known only later, the SGF had stalled the inauguration of Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNE) and instead the office took it upon itself to directly run the humanitarian programmes that PCNE should do, using the money left by the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE). It further claimed that the Office of the SGF decided to go into a spending spree in order to exhaust the money available when pressure on the need to inaugurate PCNE mounted, saying that was when award of contracts described as frivolous started. “One of these was the over N200 million to clear ‘invasive plant specie’ in Yobe State to company belonging to the SGF, Lawal D. Babachir”, CITAD stated.

Going further, the NGO pointed out how it is now an understatement to say that a major humanitarian crisis has befallen the management of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Locating the assertion in the number of reports it says have surfaced in the last couple of weeks detailing the range of “calamitous starvation thousands of IDPS dying for lack of food”, the organisation traces what it calls avoidable calamity to three related factors: First, the country was ill prepared to handle a disaster of that magnitude, lacking in the necessary institutions and structures to attend to IDPs need. Second is the inhuman diversion of food and other humanitarian needs of IDPs by callow government officials. Third is the mega corruption in the massive stealing of money meant for addressing the needs of IDPs”. It, therefore, thinks that if corruption is not properly addressed, they whole Buhari Plan for the rebuilding of the north east would come to nothing.

Reactions to the clearance of Babachir by Presidential fiat would have shown the president that any perception of coloration of the anti-corruption war by politics or by double standard will ruin both the Buhari Presidency as well as the anti-corruption war. The world watches and waits for the next turn in the dynamics of the echoes of a war foretold

CITAD Asks Buhari to Sack SGF Immediately

THE SGF SHOULD GO

Welcome

I will like on behalf of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) to welcome you to this press conference on issues that has grave humanitarian consequences and serious implication to the national consensus to fight corruption. This is unsatisfactory mane in which the government is handling the accusation of corruption in the management of funds meant to address the problems and needs of internally displaced persons arising from the Boko Haram insurgency. CITAD which is running an observatory on the plight of IDPs and the reconstruction process of the north east thinks that if corruption is not properly address, they whole Buhari Plan for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the North East will come to nothing.

The Beginning

You will recall that towards the end of the Jonathan presidency, he set up the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE) charge with responsibility of coordinating the effort for addressing humanitarian needs in the north east. Although it raised money in addition to that appropriated by the Federal Government for its operation, PINE never really did much. Thus when the Buhari Presidency was inaugurated, he announced the established of the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNE) which was to supplant PINE.

However, for whatever reasons that only later people understood, the SGF stalled the inauguration of PCNE and instead the office took it upon itself to directly run the humanitarian programmes that PCNE should do using the money left by PINE. When pressure on the need to inaugurate PCNE mounted, the Office of the SGF decided to go into a spending spree in order to exhaust the money available and started to award all sort of frivolous contracts. One of these was the over N200 million to clear ‘invasive plant specie’ in Yobe State to company belonging to the SGF, Lawal D. Babachir.

The Humanitarian Crisis

It is an understatement to say that a major humanitarian crisis has befallen our management of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Several credible reports have surfaced in the last couple of weeks detailing the ranging calamitous starvation thousands of IDPS dying for lack of food. This avoidable calamity is the result of three related factors. First, the country was ill prepared to handle a disaster of that magnitude, lacking in the necessary institutions and structures to attend to IDPs need. Second is the inhuman diversion of food and other humanitarian needs of IDPs by callow government officials. Third is the mega corruption in the massive stealing of money meant for addressing the needs of IDPs.

With respect to the first issue we note that both the executive and legislative arms of the federal government have taken steps to address the lacuna. While the National Assembly has legislated for the established of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), the Executive has set up the Presidential Committee on North East Initiatives (PCNE), changed with the responsibility for the reconstruction and rebuilding the region as well as the resettling of IDPs. While the PCNE was slow in picking off, having been announced the since early days of the regime, we are happy that it has eventually hit the road.  We also hope the NEDC Bill be quickly assented to by the President.

On the second issue, both the Federal and Borno State governments have set up committees to investigate the diversion of food by government emergency officials. This is however where the problem lies. This second problem cannot be satisfactorily addressed without addressing the third which is mega corruption. This regime was voted largely on account of its promise to deal with corruption and must squarely this problem.

The Not Satisfactory Handling of the Case by the Presidency

The Presidency’s handling of corruption accusation in the within the government agencies as it is now leave much to be desired. Of greater concern is the accusation around the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Lawal D. Babachir who has been accused of awarding multi-million wasteful contracts to his company for grass cutting. While many people suspected of corrupt acts have been promptly arrested and detained while being subjected to interrogation and investigation by the EFCC, the President has simply opted not to do allow the same in the case of Babachir.

The fact of the contract is well established. This fact has been investigated by the Senate Adhoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East. On the Basis of this, the Senate requested the Presidency to remove Babachir from his post as SGF. The President in turn replied the Senate that he could not grant their prayer on the basis that one, Babachir was not given fair hearing, and secondly, the report of the Committee was not signed by all the members of the sub-committee. It is curious that the same presidency that order the invasion of the houses of Judges suspected of corruption who were never given any hearing could now deploy the argument of fair hearing to protect Babachir. In any case, the Senate did invite him and he deiced to not honor the invitation. We support the need to give all and sundry fair hearing, but in the circumstance that a person decided on his or her own not avail himself or her with the opportunity for fair hearing, that should not become an excuse for inaction.

The setting up of an administrative committee by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is totally out of character with the manner that this regime has been prosecuting the anti-corruption agenda. It has in many cases opened up the process to the public, providing the media with reports, almost bordering on media trial. But this all is ok for those that that are not in the loyalty book of the government. Loyalists require a different approach. This in itself can only be described as corruption of procedure and corruption of any type, is simply corruption to be fought. That is why the President has to rethink his handling of this particular case. We need not recall the words of the President at his inauguration when he said “he belongs to no one”. The indication now is that he belongs to some people who by his action can be shielded from consequence of their corrupt acts.

Why Babachir Should Go

There are three issues around the issue of the SGF. First is that cutting grassing in the face of thousands of IDPs starving to death for lack of food was a misplacement of priority and clear misappropriation of funds. It is no less different than from the case of the former NSA who diverted money meant for buying arms to fight the Boko to buying votes the second term bid of the former President. We think this alone is enough for a regime of probity and commitment to the reconstruction of the North East to show the SGF the way out.

The second issue is the magnitude of money compared to the purported work done. Clearly the case of inflating figure can be established. This is corruption proper. This money could have saved the lives of many IDPs who have sadly died because there is no food to feed them. But the president whose name has been associated with probity is shielding off this person from prosecution and indeed rewarding him by retaining him at the office of the SGF.

The third issue is conflict of interest. Babachir was a Director of RholaVision Engineering Ltd which benefited from the inflated contracts of over N200 million to clear ‘invasive plant specie’ in Yobe State. Even if had resigned immediately to his appointment as SGF, to have given Global Vision Ltd the contract is a clear case of conflict of interest since he is actually an interested party in the company. It is interesting to note that RholaVision Engineering Ltd is an ICT firm and not an environmental company and technically not competent for grass removal work.

On the strengths of these arguments we had expected the President to have along asked Babachir to step down and wait until investigations have cleared him of these before setting is legs into the office of the SGF. This he has not been done. The failure to do this has sent very strong wrong signal that the anti-corruption agenda of the regime is politically motivated and not anchored on national interests. This would be sad for someone who has made a name as a man of integrity, committed to fighting corruption wherever.

This has sadly thrown the anti-corruption agenda of the regime into disrepute. We believe the President can still retrieve it and there is only one way to do so: the immediate suspension of Babachir from office to face thorough investigation. We at CITAD strongly call on the President to do this.  We call on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to hand over the file to both the EFCC and ICPC and implore Babachir himself to honourably resign until he has been cleared by competent agencies.

We support the President’s declared commitment to fight corruption but we demand that he treats all corruption cases the same way. This is what can assure the public that he truly belongs to all, and not to some people and is committed to combating corruption wherever and by whosoever.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has revealed that 6,258 hate speeches were recorded between June and December 2016, stating it is not a good development for the country.

The Senior Programme Officer of CITAD, Isah Garba, while giving the outcome of the 2016 Monitoring and Countering Hate and Dangerous Speech Project Report, noted that rumour was one of the most inflammatory and violence causing mechanisms.

He also noted that non-adherence to journalism ethics, especially on social media and its heterogeneous users, makes proliferation of rumor easy.

Garba observed that government appears to be slow in tackling drivers of hate speech in the society, which he listed to be unemployment, hunger and poverty.

Report says Nigeria records 6,258 hate speeches in six months

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

Curbing Hate and Dangerous in Nigeria especially on social media is a project that Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) carries out, the project has components such as Monitoring and Countering, Forming Students for Peace Associations or Peace Clubs in tertiary institutions and secondary schools, Public Sensitization, Peace Competition etc. As the year 2017 began, the organization draws participants from Peace Ambassadors, Peace Advisers, Members of Students for Peace Associations and the media to review the challenges, share experiences, interact, explore new opportunities and the way forward towards strengthening the campaign against Hate Speech and peace propagation. The event holds at Oasis Hotel in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital.

During the evaluation meeting three presentations were facilitated by different presenters thus: What Has Been Done So far, Focus on Students for Peace (S4Ps): What Can We Do to Improve the Effectiveness of Peace Clubs and Curbing Hate Speech in Nigeria: How Do We Make the Campaign More Effective? The participants engaged in a General Discussion on the Implementation of the Project session where they brainstormed and deliberated on issues, problems, challenges and success stories around the project.

Some of the peace ambassadors and leaders of students for peace shared varied challenges and success stories as can be seen: we have strengthened our peace club with lectures to the students on social media particularly Facebook and Twitter, how they can campaign for peace, help resolve disagreements, our ICT center that the students use during training is not fully functional-Peace Adviser GSS Gulani. Our peace club has been functional, it normally organizes drama on peace from time to time with invitation to neighbouring schools in attendance, we equally came up with a periodic calendar that is peace based, in essence, our peace club preaches peace in a drama form-GSSS Kofar Nasarawa Peace Ambassador.

Part of the challenges we face at Bayero Univerty Kano Students for Peace is that the Students Union Government regard us as their opposition because of the increasing number of students joining the association, as the university resumes for the 20172018 session we embarked on a free registration for new and returning students with support from CITAD, again BUK-S4P raised money to pay for the registration of three indigent students, we are going to hold what we called “Peace Summit” where we scheduled to invite religious leaders from both Islam and Christianity also from within and outside the university to further sensitize students on peace, we also want to expand the horizon of the association to accommodate more Christians and traditional religious followers because at the moment most members are Muslims, there is an outreach we developed that will be mentoring students of secondary schools on peace and how they can find peace clubs when they get to higher institutions, we will start this shortly with Kofar Nasarawa Secondary School-leader of BUK-S4P. Peace Club in my school has made a lot of impacts on our students, now we don’t witness quarrel among students, a student once admitted to me that she used to be trouble maker but the peace club has transformed her to even becoming a mediator whenever there is misunderstanding among students. The impact is not only on students, I can say it also has impact on the teachers themselves, as a teacher I also used to be a hot-tempered person, whoever approaches me with a trouble I react aggressively and instantly whether I will regret it later, but coordinating peace club has made me more tolerant and understanding-Peace Ambassador of Government Girls Secondary School Bauchi, Bauchi state. We used to experience crisis between the school cadet members and prefects almost on frequent basis but the introduction of peace club now serves as the crisis resolving ground, because of the continuous mediation of the peace club members, we don’t witness crises anymore-Peace Ambassador of Commercial Secondary School Dutse, Jigawa state. In Government Secondary School Damaturu we sensitize our students on Hate Speech and Peace because our school was affected by Boko Haram insurgency, and created a Facebook account where our students post peace messages, we offer our students free data in the school computer center to post peace messages. The Hate Speech and Peace propagation issue really demands the support of the media, and I will discuss with the management of Yobe Radio Corporation as a correspondent to facilitate amplifying the voices of the peace clubs. Even though S4P is not officially commissioned in my school but I learned the membership keeps increasing every time we meet-Students for Peace member, Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare.

Giving a closing remark, Executive Director of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Dr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u observed that peace initiative is a self benefitting initiative because without peace there can be no development as such striving for peace should be a collective commitment, he appreciated the commitment of both teachers and students for making sacrifices towards peace. Ya’u said “we combine peacemaking with entrepreneurship skills so that the students will be more marketable and excel better in their various endeavours”.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in collaboration with the Center for Political Research and Development (CEPORED) have conducted a one day training in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), community leaders as well as citizens on their role in the rebuilding process in the North East and how to use the newly developed platform for reporting cases of corruption, abuses or threat to peace in the region.

Giving an opening remark, the Executive Director of CITAD, Dr. YZ Ya’u noted that the civil society organizations, community leaders and the media need to collectively play an important role in rebuilding the North East region, and non participatory process or efforts often lead to unsustainable development hence the need to involve relevant stakeholders, Ya’u cautioned that people should eradicate the culture of regarding projects as “government-owned” which makes them have no concern for it even where they are expected to help monitor and ensure it’s security. It is a responsibility of everyone to ensure that programmes and projects function because government cannot see everywhere; in essence citizens are the eyes of the government. On the platform developed by CITAD, Dr. YZ Ya’u said “what we intend to do is to create a platform where citizens can report problems, issues, security threats that they see in their communities so that relevant agencies can easily look at the reports and take necessary action, sometimes it is not that the government does not want to take action but because nobody cares to report what is happening, if there are no security alerts, security problems can become magnified”. Ya’u categorically maintained that it is an objective of the gathering that the cost of reporting and the time it takes for people to report is made shorter and virtually at no cost.

The chairman of the occasion Alhaji Tijjani Musa Tumsah who is also the Vice Chairman of the Presidential Committee on North East Initiatives (PCNI) gave an overview of the Planned Interventions for the North East, he began by acknowledging that engagement with CSOs is something that he always cherish because CSOs facilitate development. On PCNI he said it is the apex coordinating body, policy and guidance institution for all interventions coming into the North East, as a result of the insurgency in the region all human development index in the region appears to lag behind. Any intervention that is not owned by the people is not an intervention at all, PCNI is mandated to collaborate, coordinate, communicate and ensure that there is a participatory process for the civil society organizations and all stakeholders in the region, Tumsah added.  

Executive Director of CEPORED Dr. Abubakar Sadeeque Abba led the next session on “The Philosophy Behind the Take Action Platform at a Glance”. Take Action Initiative as Dr. Sadeeque put it is a platform of interaction between and among stakeholders in the re-building process especially in the North East and a citizen driven simple technology that addresses the relationship between the government and the governed in terms of policy ownership and implementation processes. He said Take Action Initiative (TAI) is meant to assist in the dissemination of the mission and vision of the Buhari Plan for people to claim ownership and to ensure value for money on all projects implementation.  

The platform developed for reporting issues and problems was demonstrated to the participants by Adamu Umar of CITAD who carefully explained all the necessary steps for submitting reports and how they can be submitted. Representative of Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA) gave an insight on Government-Civil Society Partnership on rebuilding the North East while representative of the Commandant, Nigeria Civil Defense and Security Corps (NSCDC) presented a paper on Tips on working in a Volatile Environment. The last session was facilitated by the Executive Director of CITAD Dr. YZ Ya’u on “The Role of CSOs, Community Leaders and the Take Action Platform in the Rebuilding Process”. After the session, participants engaged in a syndicate interaction where they discussed some anticipated difficulties in their communities or organizations and ways to overcome them. The training was attended by PCNI, NOA, NSCDC, CSOs, CBOs, FBOs, Community Leaders from the six North East states as well as the Media.

A Kano-based, NGO, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has called on religious and community leaders to desists from making hate and dangerous speeches in the country.

Mr Isah Garba, the CITAD Programme Manager, made the call while briefing newsmen in Kano on Saturday.

He noted that religious and community leaders have important roles to play in the promotion of peace and unity in the country.

“Religious and community leaders are close to the people and they can use their respective positions in the society to influence their actions.

“We appreciate the efforts of some religious and community leaders who have spoken against the culture of hate speeches,”he said.

Garba alleged that most traditional and religious leaders seemed to be quiet about the issue which is dangerous to the corporate existence of the country.

“The complexity of the problem is beyond the management of civil society organisations alone as other stakeholders have to lend their support so that together, we can curb the menace.

He said between June 2016 and December 2016 no fewer than 6,258 hate speeches were reported to CITAD by its trained monitors.

He said the organisation would continue to counter the hate speeches it comes across through public sensitisation, deployment of moral sanction and advocacy to enlist influential voices to the campaign against hate speeches.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/centre-cautions-religious-leaders-on-hate-speeches/181840.html#aWCZV1Jd3h8GiIde.99

By Bashir Mohammed
Kano

Senior Programme Officer, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Malam Isah Garba, has said that the Centre had made considerable inroad in stopping hate speech via the social media as it constitutesda threat to national security.
Speaking at its monthly press conference in Kano yesterday, Garba said in November alone, CITAD reported 942 hate speeches out of which religion and ethnicity took 837 with religion taking 432, while ethnicity taking 405, respectively.

Garba said the media was critical in the fight against hate speech and hate speakers, affirming that it was an abiding responsibility on the shoulders of media houses to enforce coverage and reportage of sanctions on well-defined hate speakers that “often do that to get relevance.”
He said CITAD observation had consistently shown that 97.9% of hate speakers in “Nigeria do not care to address their speech in coded language,” instead they used freely and plainly language indicating that no one cares to listen to what others were saying.
While commending the actions and support of other stakeholders for supporting the cause for eradicating hate speech, the CITAD Senior Programme officer condemned the “cavalier attitude of some prominent people who reduce themselves to becoming habitual hate speakers and perpetrators of inflammatory comments.”

By Najib Sani
Bauchi

A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has urged the Police to bring the former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, to order over his alleged persistent hate speeches in the media and social networks which, it believed, were capable of causing chaos and disunity in the country.
In a press statement signed by its Team Leader, Sagiru Ado Abubakar, in Bauchi yesterday, the NGO said Fani-Kayode “is a statesman and should, therefore, watch his utterances,” adding that “for some time now, we have been monitoring his speeches which are aimed at only defaming the character of President Muhammadu Buhari and inciting citizens against fellow compatriots.”
“While condemning his hate speeches, we urge the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and Department of State Security Service (DSS) to prosecute Femi Fani-Kayode over inflammatory statement she makes against President Muhammad Buhari,” the statement read in part.

It also recalled that Fani-Kayode in a recent article in some newspapers said President Buhari might either die or be overthrown as no core northern Muslim leader had ever ended well at Aso Rock.
The statement also quoted the former minister as saying: “The truth is that every single core northern Muslim leader that has ever ruled this country has either died on the throne or been removed from power in a military coup. None of them ended well. Whether the second coming of Buhari will end any differently remains to be seen. One thing that is clear to me, though, is that the whole thing is spiritual. It is being orchestrated and effected by the finger of God and not by any man. It is God’s way of saying that they were never meant to rule and be there in the first place and that He has rejected them. It is the work of the Ancient of Days and the Lord God of Hosts.”

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade

The Job Placement and Information Service (JOPIS) of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has organized a non residential workshop for youths around Kano metropolis with a view to sensitizing them on accessing and utilizing entrepreneurship and grants opportunities. It is obvious that the rising number of unemployed youths has been a problem that governments, well meaning individuals and foundations are struggling to address. With the high level of unawareness on entrepreneurship sources, supporting individuals and bodies even among the literate youths, JOPIS unit of CITAD deems it necessary to provide the youths with a platform to learn, benefit and become self reliant through entrepreneurship opportunities.

Giving a background on the activities of the JOPIS unit, it’s coordinator Sagiru Ado Abubakar noted that the event is organized in order to introduce the youths participants into the essentials of developing innovative ideas that can win them entrepreneurship support, “we carefully selected the speakers of the workshop on the basis of their sound knowledge of entrepreneurship and grants opportunities, because they have benefitted from startup grants for businesses recently and we hope they can offer a good advice on how our participants can also benefit from the scheme”, Sagiru added.

The workshop witnessed three presentations on the processes and techniques of acquiring grants and other youths supporting initiatives by different bodies, wealthy individuals, foundations and government schemes. The first session was facilitated by Sufyan Lawal Kabo (himself a beneficiary of both Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant and World Bank Grant) on the yearly Tony Elumelu Foundation Grants; he explained how the grant can be acquired, and extensively couched the participants on how they can initiate innovative ideas as well as develop successful proposals.

The second presentation on Youths Enterpreneurship Support (YES) Programme by Khalid Hussain who is also a beneficiary of the Bank of Agriculture loan scheme looked at loan scheme of the Bank of Agriculture, the requirements and the kinds of businesses it supports. Abba Muhammad Usman did the third presentation on the Federal Government’s N-Power Programme focusing on the criteria, process and the nature of the beneficiaries; he also addressed the difficulties and challenges involved especially on the technical aspect of the programme. The event ended with questions and comments from the participants and a closing remark by Senior Programmes Officer of the organization Kabiru Saidu Dakata.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

As part of it’s shaping and mentoring initiatives of the lives of young people to becoming great achievers, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has since last year been organizing a monthly Inspiring Leadership Reflection Series (ILERIS) with her staff, interns, volunteers, university students and other teeming young people around the civil society circle in attendance. Every month the center hosts a resource person for an interactive session with the young male and female participants with a view to making them learn directly from the experience and struggles of the resource person. This month the guest speaker is Prof. Amina Kaidal of the University of Maiduguri.

Giving an opening remark, the Executive Director of the organization Dr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u cautioned the participants not to just listen and forget the deliberations, but be attentively focused, learn and apply lessons that will take their lives to a greater height. He further said “this is our youths development programme, it is not a skill-based programme but a programme meant to inspire you (the participants) to discover your worth and to discover how you can work to achieve your own objectives, our objective in this is to inspire you not by promising you the best cars in town, the best house in the world, or the best wife or husband but by showcasing people who have worked hard in their lives and who have achieved greatness in what they are doing so that the inspire you to also think of excelling, and to even excel better than the people that we present to you here.”

Facilitating the session, the guest speaker for the month of January Prof. Amina Kaidal of the Department of Physical and Health Education of the University of Maiduguri began by expressing her joy for being given the chance to meet young people in order to offer her experience so that they emulate and excel too. Thereafter she stimulated the participants with a number of hints for managing or avoiding failures, challenges and struggles that life has to offer while pointing out the secrets of success and excelling in any activity. Prof. Kaidal emphasized the role of education in the lives of youths, noting that the youths of today needed education that exposes them to practical experience rather than ‘paper education’. Prof. Kaidal said “if you believe in something, pursue it with all sincerity, make yourself somebody so that you become somebody, don’t downgrade yourself so that you will not be downgraded by other people, an educated woman stands out differently even in a family setting”, therefore, youths need to explore all avenues possible to be able to excel too using determination as a driving force.

After the presentation by the guest speaker, participants made comments and asked many questions ranging from her major obstacles as a woman and housewife, academic challenge, how to handle tough moments, the need for elaboration on many quotes she used during the session etc, the presenter responded to all the questions and comments explicitly. The session ended with a closing remark by Senior Programmes Officer Kabiru Saidu Dakata and presentation of some publications of the organization to the guest speaker by Head of Human Resource Ado Shehu Yakasai.