CITAD with support from Embassy of the USA, Abuja held a sensitization workshop on Thursday, 14^th December, 2018. The workshop was meant to mark the commencement of the project Creative Space for the Development of Young Women Innovators which the Embassy is supporting as well to serve as an orientation programme for the beneficiaries. Held at Mambayya House, Kano State, it was attended by over 97 people including the selected 80 women (candidates). Among the dignitaries were His Excellency Deputy Governor/Commissioner of Education Kano State represented by Prof. Mukhtar Atiku Kurawa (Kano State Polytechnic Rector) and Zahraddeen Mukhtar SMEDAN representative. Isyaku Garba, Project Director who represented the Executive Director CITAD gave the welcome remarks. He mentioned that CITAD was going to train 80 women and girls on ICT and Entrepreneurships. This was one of the projects in Nigeria selected by the Embassy of the United State Office Abuja. He noted that the focus of the project was to support programmes that would involve more women and girls in IT-related opportunities. He added that this sensitization would also serve as an advocacy on the need for all stakeholders to support efforts to promote the inclusion of women and girls in leveraging ICTs for their economic empowerment, a key requirement for addressing unemployment among women and female youth. He called on government at various levels to embark on initiatives and programme that will make ICTs available, accessible and affordable to the citizens and in particular the marginalized groups such as women and PWDs.

Prof. Mukhtar A. Kurawa expressed appreciation to the organizers, both CITAD and Embassy of the USA for the initiative, and especially for selecting Kano to be the host state for the beneficiaries. He assured of the readiness of the Kano State Government to support this type of initiative and also added that the Ministry’s door was always opened to assist the participants on the ICT skills.

Alhaji Zahraddeen Mukhtar of SMEDAN spoke on the services available at SMEDAN like Business support and opportunities and promised to offer any assistance that the beneficiaries would require for them to access the services of the agency.

Some of the presentations made at the event are:

• Business opportunities in the ICT sector for small scale entrepreneurship by Maryam Haruna
• Requirements and procedure of setting IT-Based businesses Engineer Kamal Umar of Bayero University, Kano
• e-mentoring for your entrepreneur Ibrahim Nuhu of CITAD.

Participants were availed opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification and also encouraged to follow up even after the event.

At the end of the workshop, Training officer Ibrahim Nuhu explained how training was going to be conducted and announced the commencement date as Tuesday 2^nd of January, 2018.

He stated this while declaring open a 3 day workshop organized by PeaceTech Lab in collaboration with CITAD and Journalists tagged ‘PeaceTech Exchange for combating hate speech in Nigeria” held at Ventures Park Abuja.

Momoh expressed optimism that the project will go a long way in countering hate speech in Nigeria particularly on social media which has been a major challenge to the country as well as impact on the lives of young people who need a better life.

John Momoh

He thereby cautioned media practitioners in the country to avoid using offensive words that is capable of leading to violence.

He said, “We have been accused several times of not reporting accurately, for example, we should stop using the word Fulani herdsmen in our reportage because other criminals that are not Fulani engage in cattle rustling.”

He said that Nigeria has been divided due to political, ethnic and religious differences instead of using religion and culture to bring people together.

“Hate speech hurt and can destroy country. Lack of understanding, misinterpretation, intolearnce are causes of conflicts. Misguided broadcast also causes problem in the  society.”

In his remarks, Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, the Executive Director of CITAD, stressed the need to engage media practitioners and CSOs in peace building by focusing on tracking, monitoring and combating hate speech online.

He said CITAD  has been working with other partners to combat hate speech among young people.

According to him, Nigerians youth are doing wonderful work, hence the need to disabuse  their minds from hate speech on anything capable of causing violence.

Ya’u who described hate speech as catalyst for violence in Nigeria said the use of technology tools in combating  hate become necessary following the damage hate speech has done to the country especially during election.

He said no country can witness peace and development where there is hate speech.

“Hate speech is everywhere in the Sociaty so we need to be Innovative to be able to identify it because if you don’t know it, you cannot counter it.”

Ya’u urged participants to come up with project ideas that will change the situation of conflict in the country thereby reducing hate speech online and in the media.

He said the project is aimed at linking CSOs to easy ways of using technology tools to do their work better by combating hate speech.

Also speaking, Theo Dolan, Director Peacemedia and Peacetech Lab Africa said the aim of the workshop is to train participants on how to use media technology and data in preventing violence and building peace in Nigeria particularly as the 2019 general election draws nearer.

Internet has become an indispensable part of our daily life. We need it to communicate study, organize, advocate, carry out financial transaction and engage in community life. Embedded in it are perils that pose threat to our privacy, safety, confidentiality and even endanger us both as individuals and as a nation if we do not know how to navigate and avoid these perils.

In view of this, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) have been organizing workshops to enlighten and educate the general public about the dangers that are associated with internet and how individuals can protect themselves from being harm either financially or their integrity. On the 23^rd of November, 2017 the Centre organized similar workshop in Dutse, Jigawa state to Journalists, CSOs and students of tertiary institutions in the state.

The workshop was facilitated by Engineer Kamal Umar of the Training Department, Centre for Information Technology and Development and Hamza Ibrahim, Research and Media Officer of the same centre. In his opening address Engineer Kamal informed the participants that the aim of the workshop is to equipped the participants with necessary and prerequisite knowledge/information on how to stay safe online, know the various techniques used by the hackers, how to identify fake sites, why strong password and also how to shop online if necessary.

Three papers were presented at the workshop; General Online Safety Tips and Internet Safety and Privacy Issues by Engineer Kamal and Understanding Internet Security and Safety by Hamza Ibrahim. The facilitators took the participants deeply in explaining the various threats that are associated with internet such as Hacking, Spread of malicious virus, Internet shutdown, Data corruption, Sites jamming, Data and Documents thefts, Phishing, Email spoofing/spam bots, National security threats. In his explanation, Engineer Umar mentioned that people/countries are no longer using weapons in attacking their enemies rather they turn to cyber war where countries/people are stealing and interfering with other people/countries sensible information and use it to disrupt or harm them, he gave an example with what happened during the last American presidential election where Russia interfered and changed the result to its favorite candidate.

Towards the end of the workshop passwords testing session was conducted, where participants tested their passwords in order to know how strong or how long it will take a hacker to hack their accounts. Some of the participants that bragged their passwords were strong found out that the reverse is the case which made them to change it instantly.

At the end of the workshop questions and comments were entertained. One of the participants asked the facilitators on how someone can make his password strong, in his respond Hamza Ibrahim answered that by using different characters; numbers, block letters, small letters (mixer of different characters) etc. in his comment, Malam Khalifa said he never thought putting password on his devices is very important and necessary but with today’s workshop, he has seen and also known the importance of doing it. Basirka also commented that before he never knew the necessary and important sites to visit on the internet but now he can differentiate between fake and genuine websites and also how to make his password strong.

Finally, a vote of thanks was given by Mr. Ali Sabo, CITAD Coordinator in the state where he thanked the participants for answering the invitations and urged them to put in place what they have learnt at the workshop and to also extend the knowledge and share it with their colleagues, friends and families.

By Maryam Ado Haruna

 The Director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Africa Office, Dr. Kole Ahmed Shettima, expressed that Nigerian youths should become today’s leaders not tomorrow. He explained that the deceptive statement, “leaders of Tomorrow” should be debunked by the youths as they supposed to be the ones leading the nation presently.

The Director made the statement during the monthly Inspiring Leadership Interactive Reflection Series (ILERIS), organised by Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD).

While giving an opening remarks, the Executive Director of CITAD, Yunusa Ya’u explained that the purposes of ILERIS is to inspire young Nigerians to become better leaders. He added that people are not born with success, they struggle to achieve it.

While narrating his profile, Dr. Shettima explained that talent is a universal gift that is given to everyone by nature, but the opportunity to explore it is the major challenge especially to the northerners in Nigeria. He therefore urged the mentees to make effort in creating opportunities for others, adding that creating a system in which people could remedy themselves is very essential in a society. He further said that people can impact the lives of others with the little they could offer.

During the interaction, the Director lamented that the main goal of the university as universal civic society is missing today as students unionism is been divided. He added that one of the major drawbacks to the younger generation is localization of universities. He also lamented that talent will stop coming from the northern Nigeria as 75% of the children in the north are malnourished, and therefore their brain cannot grow and function effectively.

Dr. Kole has also stressed that if every Nigerian will keep his or her own little corner clean, the whole Nigeria will become cleaned as well, but today, people run away from their responsibilities and criticize the government for things own responsibilities.

In his presentation, Dr. Kole advised the mentees that it is always good to take a risk if it guarantees a better future. He further explained that the only constant thing in this life is change and that people should not copy others; rather, they should try to bring the best in them.

At the end of his presentation, he advised the mentees to be responsible and accountable as well as hard workers, and should not struggle for immediate gratifications. He added that wealth that is made from hardworking and long term struggle is the most beneficial.

Some of the mentees asked the director whether the MacArthur foundation has provisions for  People with Disabilities, the Almajiris and the police widows. Another mentees asked whether the director is interested in leadership due to the qualities he possesses.

While responding, Dr. Kole explained that the Foundation makes very difficult decision in deciding who gets its grants due to  limited resources, plenty  proposals as well as the objectives of the foundation. But he expressed his satisfaction that at least many organisations and individuals benefit from MacArthur’s indirect grants through other organisations like CITAD.

Upon the question whether he will like to contest for a political office, Dr. Kole agreed that he could make more impacts if he was in the government, but he explained that Nigeria lacks leadership recruitment process in form of mentoring and training the potential leaders on the system of governance.

At the end of the interaction, Engineer Kamaludden Umar, the coordinator of the Digital Summer Institute for Young Women in the Northeast and Northwest, which took place at Abuja and Kano, presented the Prize of Tablets to three winners of the summit including Shema’u Adam Imam from Kano, Aisha Ismail from Kaduna and Fusam Shettima from Borno state.

Referring to the statement made earlier by Dr. Kole, the coordinator said that these tablets are opportunities for the beneficiaries to explore their talents in the digital world.

By Ahmed Jada:-

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has advocated for the establishment of a Ministry or body responsible for peace building which it said, the country is now lacking.

The centre, a non-governmental organization noted with concern that there is no central organ as a body that is able to coordinate and create synergy in terms of conflict resolution or mitigation.

CITAD Executive Director, Yunusa Z. Ya’u told a press conference in Bauchi Thursday that the Plateau and Kaduna states Peace Commission set up few months ago and last month respectively lack gestation period to assess what they have been doing in peace building.

Ya’u, who was addressing the press shortly after CITAD conduct of a two-day meeting tagged, “Youth In Peace Building Conference”, noted that there was absent of a responsible body at either state or federal level to steer the cause of peace building.

He observed that the challenge facing the youths in peace building is largely of a negative tendency of politicians of instigating the youths or mobilizing people to intimidate opponents, thus describing politicians as actors in instigating conflict or violence in communities.

The CITAD director therefore stressed the need for politicians to be accountable to not only the mandate given them by the electorate, but accountability in terms of what they say as, according to him, words that are coming out of their mouth often ignite violence.

“So we like the politicians to be aware of the words coming out from their mouth that can be more dangerous than guns, they must be careful in how they deploy words”, Ya’u admonished.

According to him, many of the hate speech that populate the social media and other forms of media are largely connected to political activities.

To this end, CITAD called on relevant government agencies, particularly the National Human Rights Commission to ensure that politicians do adhere to the rules of law, pointing out that INEC guidelines on campaigns are explicit about banning provocative speech.

“We have seen where politicians going about inciting violence and nothing is done about it. We urge law enforcement agencies to take proactive steps to ensure that people who break the law are brought to book and made to pay penalties”.

He attributed the hate speech bombarding the social media sites and other conventional media to weak or poor regulatory framework due to poor political will at leadership level, and outmoded framework and policies.

Alhaji YZ Ya’u therefore called for the review of NBC code in conformity with model or global trend, saying the NBC code prescribed sanctions for inciting speech.
​

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in conjunction with the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum with support from MacArthur Foundation held the North Central Zone Internet Governance Forum with the theme “Making the Internet a Safe Place” on 12^th October, 2017 at Doko International Hotel, Minna Niger State. The objective of the Forum was to raise public awareness about the dangers of hate speech on the internet which has the potential to catalyze into violence. The forum which was attended by over 40 representing the executive and legislative arms of government, civil society, academia and media from all the six states of North Central Zone of Nigeria held against the background of the increasing spread of hate speech and disinformation in the Nigerian cyberspace.

Organized in three sessions, the Forum took presentations first on the governance of the internet in the country and how to deal with cyber security and a second session devoted on hate and dangerous speech, starting with a presentation on understanding of hate speech, followed by trends from the 2016 monitoring of hate speech by CITAD and finally an examination of gender based hate speech while the third session, titled open mike was devoted to discussing crossing cutting issues relating to hate speech and how they could be addressed nationally. The keynote address was delivered by Prof U. G. Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) with title “Promoting Regulatory Framework for Safety and Security on the Internet”.

In his welcome remarks, the Executive Director of CITAD, Y.Z. Ya’u explained that IGF engages different stakeholders; government, private individuals, media, CSOs and any other person(s) who feel the internet is essential to their life. He identified the internet as the major source of information, knowledge and a platform for economic activities. As important as it is, the internet he said has its own negative sides hence, the need to create an enabling environment that will make it a safer platform for all. In particular, of recent, the cyberspace in Nigeria is undaunted with the hate speech and fake news. It was this that decided the choice of the theme of this year’s zonal IGF that was Making the Internet A Safe Place for Development. He said, the zonal IGF which is so far the only sub-national IGF globally and recognized by the global IGF secretariat as a special component of the national IGFs (NIGFs) hold yearly, rotating among the different zones of the country.

Speaking on the topic “The Nigeria IGF and the Journey from Mexico to Switzerland: Between Guadalajara, Mexico to Geneva, Switzerland: The Journey to Inclusive and Sustainable Growth”, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Chair of the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum provided a detailed report about the outcome of the last global IGF that held in Mexico and set the expectations for the next IGF that will hold in Geneva, Switzerland. Her paper also highlighted the relevance of the IGF in directing global internet governance and gave a concise overview of the IGF meetings from 2006 to 2016 both globally and nationally at the level of Nigeria as well as the proposed December meeting this year.

Malam Isah Garba, the Coordinator of the Hate Speech project at CITAD presented report of the 2016 hate speech monitoring by CITAD. The report showed among other things that over 90% of the hate speech items related to religion and ethnicity and about 92% in English language, implying that those who practice hate speech were educated Nigerians. His data also indicated that Facebook accounted for about 66% of the items captured.  Another speaker, Ms. Salma Abdulwhaeed examined gender-based hate speech which he said made it difficult for many women to make effective use of the internet

During the sessions participants observed that:

1. There is high proliferation of hate on the platforms of our social media
2. There is low sensitization by government agencies on the dangers of hate speech
3. The agencies responsible for creating awareness on hate speech and its dangers and other issues of national interest especially the National Orientation Agency is underfunded and incapacitated to face the challenge
4. There is low sensitization at community and family levels on the need for both religious and ethnic tolerance in the country
5. Youth are allowed to spring to the use of internet without proper guidance either at school or family level on its positive usage.
6. The internet is a major source of information, knowledge and a platform for economic activities but as important as it is, the internet has its own negative sides such of which is the use as medium of dissemination of hate speech.
7. Low utilization of the internet, especially within government at state and local government levels
8. Child pornography and gender-based sexual harassment are concerns on the internet that are make it difficult for some people to feel safe using it
9. There is much being done in the area of developing framework to deal with cybercrime and other negative uses of the internet by especially the NCC, however there is little coordination among the different stakeholders

On Hate and Dangerous Speech, the Forum recommended that

1. Religious and traditional leaders should fully be involved in the campaign against hate speech, hence should be targets of the sensitization programmes
2. All stakeholders should be engage in sensitization programmes on the positive use of internet
3. That women and children as vulnerable groups should be accorded special protection to insulate them from gender-based violence online, child pornography and human trafficking that are through the use of the internet.
4. That youth who are the major users of the internet should be sensitized on proper use of internet.
5. The Legislature is urged to develop and enact legislations that will help to curb hate and dangerous speech.
6. To overcome the impacts of hate and dangerous speech, people should be sensitized to not engage in hate speech and not be provoked by it.
7. CITAD and other CSOs working in the area of ICT should direct their efforts towards reinvigorating Youths Initiative of the NIGF as part of the global IGF with a view to developing strategies for youth empowerment through the internet to address rising tide of youth unemployment.
8. Urge the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to take up the mandate of public sensitization to raise awareness about the dangers of hate speech
9. Government cyber security initiatives should take on board the issue of hate speech without however, unnecessary intrusion and undermining the privacy of individuals and organizational users of the internet in their lawful conduct.

Among the key recommendations of the Forum with respect to internet access and regulation, participants urged that Government cyber security initiatives should take on board the issue of hate speech without however, unnecessary intrusion and undermining the privacy of individuals and organizational users of the internet in their lawful conduct. Participants also urged that women and children as vulnerable groups should be accorded special protection to insulate them from gender-based violence online, child pornography and human trafficking that are through the use of the internet. On attempt by government to regulate social media, forum felt that Government should not engage in unproductive efforts aimed at controlling the social media is since this is an open platform where people who commit crimes using the internet can easily be tracked and brought to books.

The meeting ended with a call that there is need to drive the processes of the IGF so that citizens input in shaping the policies that governs the internet are harvested and placed before relevant platforms for decision making on this.

By Ahmed Jada

Bauchi State Government has pledged to increase Education budget allocation to 26% United Nations Education Cultural Organizations ‎UNESCO recommendation to boost the sector next fiscal year.

The Special Adviser to Governor Mohammed Abubakar on Education , Comrade Sabo Mohammed made the pledged when members of the Bauchi State Coalition for the Improvement of Public Expenditure Management paid him a advocacy visit in his office yesterday in Bauchi, which was supported by Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD).

Sabo said Governor Abubakar is passionate about education sector. “If you will recalled our last year 2016 budget was around or 13% this year 2017 is 18% and next year will be increase to 26%, to meet up the UNESCO standard. H.E is working assiduously on implementation of the recommendation of report submitted by the tasks force committee on Education ” he said

‎S. A to the Governor pointing out that the present administration does not compromise the issue of transparency, accountability, quality of teachers, toward improving the education sector in the state.

Mohammed Sabo pledged his readiness and the ministry of education partnering with Civil Society Organizations to improve education challenges in the state.

‎

‎Earlier speaking the leader of the delegation who is also the Acting Chairperson of BACIPEM Mrs Mary Ann Emmanuel stressed the need for Governor Mohammed Abubakar to implement the recommendation which would address the challenges facing the education sector in the state.‎

“Implementation of the recommendation made the by task force committee on total overhauled of education sector would make a lot of impact on education” she said

“The term of reference of the committee included monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the policies as well as giving appropriate recommendation on how to improve access to and quality of education in the state.” she said

According to her, one year after the submission of the report which has innovative and interesting recommendations not much have been heard on the implementation of the recommendation which will make education sector vibrant in the state.

Mary Ann however called on the Governor to increase the budgetary allocation to the education sector from 18% to 26,% and strengthen the relationship with CSOs and government to allow free flow of information that will support monitoring and tracking of education projects.

It could be recalled that in 2016 the Governor declared state of emergency on education by setting up a 26 man task force committee on education under the chairmanship of deputy Governor Engineer Nuhu Gidado and was given 8 weeks to submit it’s report, which had since July 2016 submitted it’s report to Governor Mohammed Abubakar.

By Balarabe Alkassim, Bauchi |

Bauchi State Coalition for Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM) has called on Governor Mohammed Abubakar  to implement recommendations by task force committee on education sector in the state.

The Acting Chairperson of BACIPEM Mary Ann Emmanuel made the call in Bauchi during an advocacy visit to the Special Adviser to the Governor on education, Sabo Mohammed in his office.

BACIPEM was being supported by the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD).

She stressed the need for  Governor Mohammed Abubakar  to implement the recommendations of the committee which she said would address the challenges facing the education sector in the state.

Emmanuel called on the Governor to increase the budgetary allocation to the education sector from 18% to 26 percent and strengthen the relationship with CSOs  and government to allow free flow of information that will support monitoring and tracking of education projects.

Responding, the Special Adviser on Education, Comrade Sabo Mohammed said that Governor Abubakar is passionate about the development of the education sector in the state and is working on the report and implementation of the recommendation of the committee.

By Mustapha Usman, Kano.

The Centre for Information Technology And Development, CITAD, has condemned the comments made by the Senior Special Assistant to the Kano State governor on Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, Zulyadaini Mustapha on his Facebook page.

Mr Mustapha has made an open call for political violence against opposition politicians in the state, a day after an attack on the former governor’s close associates during Sallah durbar.

The governor’s aide, in a series of Facebook posts, urged for a tit-for-tat response to anyone who seems to be an opponent to the government.

Consequently, a statement signed by its Programme Assistant, Curbing Hate speech in Nigeria Project, Shazali Sulaiman and sent to DAILY NIGERIAN, CITAD described the comments as peace-threatening.

The IT promoters also condemned the bloody clash between the supporters of the incumbent governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje and supporters of his predecessor and long political ally, Rabi’u Kwankwaso during the Sallah durbar in the state on Saturday.

Read the full statement below

Press Statement

ZULYADAINI SIDI MUSTAPHA SHOULD STOP HIS INCITING AND DANGEROUS COMMENTS ON FACEBOOK!

While we regret the unfortunate incident that happened during the Kano Durbar in which some people were seriously injured as a result of clash between Kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya political blocs, we strongly condemn the reckless and peace-threatening comments of Zulyadaini Sidi Mustapha, the Special Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state.

Friends and followers of this Special Adviser on Facebook might have noticed the series of dangerous and threatening posts the government official has been making since the incident occurred.

It is disheartening especially at a time when respected elders of the state are determined to proffering a formidable understanding and solution to the lingering political tussle between the two sons of the state, a government official with media background is venturing into comments that may not only deepen misunderstanding and cause chaos in the state, but will also create further uncertainty.

In view of this, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) condemns in strong terms these posts and its content and  further call on the:

1. Special Adviser on SDGs Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state, Zulyadaini Sidi Mustapha to immediately withdraw and condemn  his dangerous comments.

2. Kano state government to call it’s official to order and discipline him on his reckless remarks on Facebook.

3. Security agencies to use their stipulated power to summon and prosecute the said Zulyadaini Sidi Mustapha on his call to action remarks.

4. Supporters of both Kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya to ignore and stop reacting to the posts.

5. The general public should as well be vigilant and resist to provocative statements that can lead to break down of law and order. They should equally say #No2HateSpeech.

By Mustapha Usman, Kano.

The Centre for Information Technology And Development, CITAD, on Tuesday said it recorded success in its campaign against hate speech.

Addressing journalists in Kano on its monthly report of July on Monitoring and Countering of Hate and Dangerous Speech, the programme officer of CITAD, Isah Garba, expressed delight that their call to governments to check the menace had started yielding fruits.

According to him, the routine campaign against hate speech by the non-governmental organization had made the citizens, especially the authorities to begin clamoring against the illicit practice.

Mr Garba cited example with the acting president, Yemi Osinbajo’s statement against hate speech at a seminar organised by the Institute for Security Studies recently.

Mr Osinbajo was quoted to have said “every major crisis in history was preceded by hate speeches. Media, especially the social media has often been used to spread such hatred.”

Mr Garba then called on Nigerians to embrace the Mr Osinbajo’s statement to check the menace.

He also revealed that their monitoring result showed that out of 601 hate speeches on 6 issues in July, 309, representing more than 50% hate speeches were on ethnicity, adding that religion took the share of 202 hate speeches.

Mr Garba added that there were 46 hate speeches on issue of Biafra in the period under review, noting that the issues of farmer/herders had reduced in the month to only 11 speeches.

The programme officer also expressed optimism that if governments at all level would rise up to contain the scourge of hate speech, the problem would be reducing month by month.

“The governments should learn lesson from the McArthur Foundation that has been for years supporting CITAD and many other organisations in Nigeria to conduct activities that will help in mitigating the menace, including this press conference through which we reach out to public in the country,” he said.

Mr Garba therefore called on the general public to contribute their quota in fighting hate speech through peer sensitisation and shunning of the hate speakers.

By Mustapha Usman, Kano.

The Centre for Information Technology And Development, CITAD, has called for the enactment of law against hate speech in Nigeria.

The call was made Monday by the programme officer of the NGO, Isa Garba, at a press conference in Kano.

According to Mr Garba, lack of specific law was the reason for the prevalence of hate speeches among Nigerians.

“The lack of any specific law on hate speech in the country leads to a situation whereby the hate speakers use their identity and plain language in making their statements without the use of coded language as the experience of other countries has indicated,” Mr Garba said.

CITAD, an IT-based NGO, also condemned Pastor Johnson Suleiman for inciting statement against Fulani tribe over the Southern Kaduna crisis.

The group said Mr Suleiman’s remarks were unbecoming of his status, just as they were against the teachings of Christianity.

Mr Garba called on religious leaders to stop using hate speech as a tool of expressing their grievances, political or social misunderstanding with others.

He also revealed that religion has topped the CITAD’s January hate speech monitoring report with 444 statements, adding that ethnicity got 347, issue of Biafra had 18, while farmers/herders crisis had 11 statements.

He expressed concern over the ubiquitous nature of hate speech among Nigerians, calling on all an sundry to rise up against the ugly trend in order to achieve lasting peace in the polity.

By Sagiru Ado Abubakar.

The right to participate in election through voting and being voted for is one of the most visible dividends of democracy that civilized societies facilitate to every politically matured individual, eighteen years and above, without prejudice to his or her socio-political status and condition of disability. This right is recognized and expressly provided for in the Nigerian Constitution alongside key international human rights instruments, such as the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Person with Disability (CRPWD) and the UN Charter on Human Rights to which this country is a signatory. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, due to poor management of the political process and particularly the voting day machinery, majority of People with Disabilities (PWDs) are often excluded from participating in the election processes. Since the attainment of political independence there has been an apparent dearth of data on the participation of PWDs in elections as the numerous electoral bodies have not thought it wise to maintain such information at any level. Notwithstanding, various cluster of PWDs have consistently participated in election and presented diverse forms of challenges at polling stations from one election to the other. But more importantly, these electoral supervisors, political parties and voting public have not been able to fashion any form of response, no matter how rudimentary, to expand the political space to include PWDs in the election processes in Nigeria.Representing Northwest Zone of the country, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) under a project that has been implementing since 2015 titled “Strengthening Citizen Engagement in the Electoral Process” with support of ACTIONAID, Nigeria and the UKAID Department of International Development (DFID) engaged a consultant and hosted an interactive workshop with representatives of People with Disabilities (PWDs), representatives of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Political Parties, Ministry of Youth and Social Development (MYSD), the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Civil Society Organizations (CBOs), Local Government Authorities (LGAs) and National Orientation Agency to harness the felt needs of PWDs for full participation in the electoral processes in the Northwest part of the country, and how those needs might be actualized. The aim of this is to articulate the recommendations obtained from the consultation and the workshop into a demand charter that the disable communities, development practitioners, policy makers and other stakeholders could leverage on to advocate for their enhanced participation in all phases of the election processes in Nigeria.On Wednesday 16th August, 2017 CITAD organized another workshop with the same stakeholders at Nassarawa Guest Inn, Kano with purpose of presenting the PWDs Charter that has been produced by the consultants across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones to the stakeholders. Malam Isyaku Garba, CITAD’s Project Coordinator made the opening remarks at the workshop. Then, in the local language, Malam Umar Muhammad summarized the PWDs Charter. He said that this charter seeks to expand the opportunities for mainstreaming all clusters of PWD into all aspects of the electoral processes. He said that the charter recognizes two levels of challenges, general and specific.
The general were as follows:a. INEC should employ qualified PWDs and saddle them with the tasks of ensuring the participation of this constituency in the political processes, in electoral preparatory process, as election observers and mobilization of PWDs to participate in elections.b. INEC and the political parties should develop clear and simplified voting guidelines for PWDs; made into Braille for the visually impaired, audios for the blind and television-based sign language for the deaf. PWDs should be engaged to perform these roles.c. INEC should ensure that polling stations are visible and accessible for the all PWDs. d. INEC should ensure that the name of all registered PWDs are verified on the voters register and printed in bold for easy identification during elections. e. INEC should endeavor to make the voting process easier by sorting out their logistics issues to ensure prompt arrival to the polling stations with voting materials on election daysf. INEC should, before the elections sensitize its staff that they would encounter PWDs and prepare them for the type of voting-related challenges they might have to help them surmount; there are skilled PWDs that INEC could use as facilitators.g. Political parties should ensure that PWDs are appointed into their administrative structures and offered opportunities to contest and be voted for on their platformsh. Political parties should include members of all PWD clusters in their campaign teams for electioni. Workshop should be organized regularly to enlighten the government, political parties and relevant stakeholders on strategies for integrating PWDs into electoral processes of Nigeriaj. INEC should ensure the amendment of section 56 of the Electoral Act 2015 to include individuals with other form of disabilities as a matter of urgencyk. INEC should ensure that all categories of PWDs are always contacted for their contributions before changes to the electoral processes are affected before  and during elections l. INEC should convene workshops for a review of the electoral provisions to further respond to the needs of PWDs as need arisesm. INEC should provide for the nature of disability on the voter registration cards of PWDsn. INEC should ensure that PWDs are not charged any form of fees to register with political parties and be eligible for electionso. Security agencies should ensure for the protection of voters at polling stations, especially for PWDsp. Security agencies should not allow themselves to be used to harass and intimidate PWDsThe specific challenges were:

a. People with physical disabilities further required that: in Nigeria, some PWDs clusters as people with leprosy live as communities, therefore, INEC and political parties should endeavor to identify and site polling station within or around these communities to improve access to voting.

b. People with Albinism further required that:

1. INEC should conduct research on how to make polling stations friendlier with a view of providing people with albinism with the best voter experience

2. INEC and the political parties should consult members of this cluster for advice on colors that are appropriate for design of voting materials and party logos respectively to enhance access to voter information.

c. People with visual impairment further required that: 1. INEC should ensure that Braille ballot papers are provided for this cluster during elections. The Braille materials can then be deployed to several other locations within a local government areas for members of this cluster to once for all available offices (namely: State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, the Senate and the President, etc) in one fell swoop.

2. INEC and political parties should design special voter education for the visually impairedd. People with leprosy further required: INEC should provide this cluster with specialized ballot boxes or equipment to capture their votese. People with Hearing Impairment further required:

1. INEC should carry out research to ascertain the commonly used sign language in Nigeria and engage/train people to provide that sing language at polling stations.

2. Electronic media should provide for sign language interpreters while broadcasting on INEC and political parties IEC materialsAfter reading the challenges, participants were allowed to make observations during the event. Malam Najib Bashir Musa, representative of the Director Kano State Independent Election Commission (KANSIEC), drew the attention of the participants that only the Senates, Members of the House of Representative and their counterpart at the states level have the right to make amendment in the constitution and the Electoral Act.  He urged the participants to make regular follow-ups to these bodies for the articulation of the PWDs charter.  Hajiya Suwaiba Adamu Salisu, representative of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), expressed her gratitude to CITAD for supporting the development of the PWDs charter and assured that their agency will include the PWDs charter in their report and forward to presidency as they are working under the presidency. Malama Hauwa Buhari, Desk Officer, INEC, Kano Office, said that she has been assigned to take incident reports from PWDs on election in person or over the phone in order to address their request and complaints but none ever confront her office with such claims. Yahya A. Yahya member of the PWDs from Kano municipal cluster, complained about the nature of work of the NOA and INEC. He said that the work of these agencies is not penetrating the PWDs communities as far as election is concern. He thanked CITAD for helping them to speak out their mind. Maimuna Uba Dala, a female PWD member, said that when employing PWDs in the election related activities female members of PWDs should be included. Yahya Adamu Uba challenged KANSIEC that, in 2014 our members were asked to apply for the KANSIEC job but after sending the application letters we were denied given the opportunity. Suleiman Abdullahi Rano, member of the PWDs cluster from Rano local government regretted to see INEC PWDs Desk Officer was not a person with physical challenge, saying that PWDs communities have people with different skills that can serve the job. Malam Aminu Amadu, lamented that it is that they are shunning away from election activities because they are allow to wait for long under the sun and everybody knows that the nature of their body does not endure excessive heat condition. Bashir Muhd Bashir, Senior Correspondent, Blueprint Newspaper, described the media as fourth realm of the estate and assured the PWDs communities for their support in all their endeavors. In response to next step of action concerning the PWDs Charter, the participants agreed to establish a powerful PWDs cluster with representation of members from six project local governments and conduct two hours meeting with the consultant, (Malam Ibrahim Abdulkarim) at the end of today’s workshop for the way forward. Malam Ahmad Abdullahi Yakasai made the closing remarks and vote of thanks at the end of the workshop.