Implementing partner, Centre for Information Technoloy Development(CITAD) has collaborated with Actionaid Nigeria to train over 200 youths and women in Dakwa and Tunga-Ashere communities in Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory on digital skills.

The training is part of Actionaid Nigeria’s Partnership and Local Rights Programme for the hard to reach communities.

Participants in the beneficiary communities were also offered mentorship on how to start, grow and sustain their businesses and access laons.

Participants in group photograph with CITAD representatives and Actionaid Nigeria Partnership for Local Rights Advisor, Hajara Opaluwa Adamu(2nd on the front row from the left) on Tuesday, during a meeting in Dakwa community.

Speaking in an interview with journalists after a meeting with participants in Dakwa and Tunga-Ashere communities on Tuesday, Programme Assistant, Gender and Internet Advocasy at CITAD, Salma Abdulwahid, said the essence of the programme was to build potential entreprenuers and develop digital entreprenuership skills in women and youths.

She said the visit to the communities was to acquaint participants of the programme with agencies and organisation to enable them acesss opportunities, grants and loan facilities to set up and expand their businesses.

“We have trained over 100 students- young boys and girls here in Dakwa as well as over 100 youths in Tunga-Ashere on digital skills to empower them. We decided to bring business support clinic to them to mentor them on how to go about their business.”

“Our ICT centres in 5 area councils in the FCT, including the two in Dakwa and Tunga-Ashere are man by interns, and remain open everyday from Monday to Saturday. We encourage students in the local communities to take advantage of these centres to learn,” she said.

On her part, responding to questions from journalists, Actionaid Nigeria’s Partnership and Local Rights Advisor, Hajara Opaluwa-Adamu said the organisation was partnerng with CITAD under her Partnership and Local Rights Programme to deploy the interventions.

The Actionaid Nigeria’s representative said the programme is presently ongoing in 11 states and the FCT.

She said Actionaid Nigeria works with groups in hard to reach communities in the area of educate, governance, women’s right, humanitarian services, food and agriculture.

On what informed the ICT training, Opaluwa-Adamu said students in the communities had no access to ICT facilities and have had to travel long miles to register for their examinations.

“In line with the SDG gaol of leaving no one behind, we have established 5 ICT centres in the FCT which is not only for the youths but for women who are interested. We equipped the centres with laptops, chairs, cameras, internet moden, printers and we have trained participants on photography, videography and use of Microsoft,”added Opaluwa-Adamu.

She was confident that with the training, participants will be able to compete favourably with their counterparts outside the communities.

Also speaking, a representative from the Economic Services Department of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Patricia Ukana, told the women in the community that the ministry was concerned about their social economic wellbeing.

She urged them to key into the empowerment programmes of the ministry for women to improve their lives.

She advised them to form a cooperative groups and register the group in their area council and with the ministry to enable them benefit from it’s empowerment programmes.

Onbehalf of the participants, the women leader of Dakwa community, Hafsatu Shuaibu thanked CITAD and Actionaid Nigeria for the interventions to better their lives.

Implementing partner, Centre for Information Technoloy Development (CITAD) has collaborated with ActionAid Nigeria to train over 200 youths and women in Dakwa and Tunga-Ashere communities in Abuja Municipal Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory on digital skills.

The training is part of Action Aid Nigeria’s Partnership and Local Rights Programme for the hard to reach communities.

Participants in the beneficiary communities were also offered mentorship on how to start, grow and sustain their businesses and access loans.

Speaking in an interview with journalists after a meeting with participants in Dakwa and Tunga-Ashere communities on Tuesday, Programme Assistant, Gender and Internet Advocasy at CITAD, Salma Abdulwahid, said the essence of the programme was to build potential entreprenuers and develop digital entreprenuership skills in women and youths.

She said the visit to the communities was to acquaint participants of the programme with agencies and organisation to enable them acesss opportunities, grants and loan facilities to set up and expand their businesses.

“We have trained over 100 students- young boys and girls here in Dakwa as well as over 100 youths in Tunga-Ashere on digital skills to empower them. We decided to bring business support clinic to them to mentor them on how to go about their business.”

“Our ICT centres in 5 area councils in the FCT, including the two in Dakwa and Tunga-Ashere are man by interns, and remain open everyday from Monday to Saturday. We encourage students in the local communities to take advantage of these centres to learn,” she said.

On her part, responding to questions from journalists, Action aid Nigeria’s Partnership and Local Rights Advisor, Hajara Opaluwa-Adamu said the organisation was partnerng with CITAD under her Partnership and Local Rights Programme to deploy the interventions.

The Actionaid representative said the programme is presently ongoing in 11 states and the FCT.

She said Actionaid Nigeria works with groups in hard to reach communities in the area of educate, governance, women’s right, humanitarian services, food and agriculture.

On what informed the ICT training, Opaluwa-Adamu said students in the communities had no access to ICT facilities and have had to travel long miles to register for their examinations.

“In line with the SDG gaol of leaving no one behind, we have established 5 ICT centres in the FCT which is not only for the youths but for women who are interested. We equipped the centres with laptops, chairs, cameras, internet moden, printers and we have trained participants on photography, videography and use of Microsoft,”added Opaluwa-Adamu.

She was confident that with the training, participants will be able to compete favourably with their counterparts outside the communities.

Also speaking, a representative from the Economic Services Department of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Patricia Ukana, told the women in the community that the ministry was concerned about their social economic wellbeing.

She urged them to key into the empowerment programmes of the ministry for women to improve their lives.

She advised them to form a cooperative groups and register the group in their area council and with the ministry to enable them benefit from it’s empowerment programmes.

Onbehalf of the participants, the women leader of Dakwa community, Hafsatu Shuaibu thanked CITAD and Actionaid Nigeria for the interventions to better their lives.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), with support from ActionAid Nigeria commence business support training programme for women of Dakwa Dantata and Tunga Ashere communities in the FCT.

to bring potential entrepreneur and beneficiaries of the digital skills to mentor them and to show them pathway in which they can gain financial support in their businesses and their day to day activities.

“The rural communities are left behind in and most of them are rural women that stays in the community don’t know the way to access loan or grant. “So we decided to bring agencies to talk to them to be able to show them the pathway, and mentor on what to do in their business and those that are having challenges in their businesses to show them how to counter this challenges and also how to build their business”.

The essence of the programme is to talk to the local women on how to go about the training they’ve learned.

Between last year and this year (2018/2019),we have trained over 200 student on digital skills so they can empower themselves.

“With support from ActionAid, we have been able to establish five ICT centres in different area councils; these are facilities that we have created for communities to come together to discuss community problems”.

The communities are Pasipa under Bwari LGA, two in AMAC, kwali, Tunga Ashere, Dakwa Dantata,Lele Gwari and Gaube communities are connected to the ongoing program.

She called on government to support the rural communities with start up capital because this people are potential entrepreneur that want to do something for themselves and their communities.

“We do not want anybody to be left behind and we want everyone to be carried along in the digital world
the centre of ICT drive is to provide efficiency in terms of service delivery and productivity in terms of convenience.”

On start up capital, she said are aware that some of agencies give start up soft loans to start up business that is why we invited the agencies to show them the pathway for those that have already established business and for that does not on how to access this loans.

On the part of the women they said they want to open a business centre,some want to start a small scale business but the challenge they have is absence of capital for start up”.

The representative from Women Affairs, Economic Service Department, Patricia Ukana, said first thing is to register their business with the ministry as a group from there they would be able to call them if they have other support that they do to support rural women it has to come as community based organisation.

On her part,Hajara Opaluwa Adamu,ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), acknowledged and appreciated the council and all members of staff for embracing the initiative.

ActionAid, partnership and local Right Programme runs in 11 states including FCT making it twelve.

We work with local communities and our area of coverage include education, governance, humanitarian,food and agric.

We are not into service delivery but into capacity building and strengthening in which we build up their capacity to be able to meet up with with their demand.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), with support from ActionAid Nigeria has commenced business support training programme for women in communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The women are drawn from Dakwa, Dantata and Tunga Ashere communities in the FCT.

The Sponsorship Officer for CITAD, Salma Abdulwaheed, said the organisation decided to bring potential entrepreneur and beneficiaries of the digital skills to mentor and show them pathway in which they can gain financial support in their businesses and their day to day activities.

She noted that the rural communities are left behind, adding that most of the women in the rural community do not know how to access loan or grant.

She further said; “So, we decided to bring agencies to talk to them to be able to show them the pathway and mentor on what to do in their businesses while those having challenges would be shown how to counter such challenges and also how to build their business”.

“The essence of the programme is to talk to the local women on how to go about the training they have learned. Between last year and this year (2018/2019),we have trained over 200 student on digital skills so they can empower themselves.

“With support from ActionAid, we have been able to establish five ICT centres in different Area Councils. These are facilities that we have created for communities to come together to discuss community problems”.

“The communities are Pasipa under Bwari Area Council, two in AMAC, Kwali, Tunga Ashere, Dakwa Dantata, Lele Gwari and Gaube communities are connected to the ongoing program. CITAD is ever ready to increase the number of beneficiaries and extend it to other communities.

She called on government to support the rural communities with startup capital saying the people are potential entrepreneur that want to do something for themselves and their communities.

Some of the beneficiaries said they want to open a business centre while others said they are interested in starting small scale business adding however that the challenge they face is absence of startup capital.

The representative from Women Affairs, Economic Service Department, Patricia Ukana, said the women would be registered based on their business with the ministry for easier identification as a group.

On her part, Hajara Opaluwa Adamu of ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), acknowledged and appreciated the council and all members of staff for embracing the initiative.

She said that ActionAid partnership with local Right Programme runs in 11 states including FCT making it twelve, adding that they work with local communities adding that its area of coverage include education, governance, humanitarian, food and agric.

She fruther said; “We are not into service delivery but into capacity building and strengthening in which we build up their capacity to be able to meet up with demand.”

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By

Sagiru Ado Abubakar

The Inspiring Leadership Reflection Interactive Series (ILERIS) of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has on Saturday 18^th May, 2019 hosted Prof. Muhammad Tabi’u, Department of Islamic Law, Bayero University, Kano as Guest Speaker of the month. Professor Muhammad Tabi’u, SAN is a Professor of Law at Bayero University, Kano, and has extensive expertise and experience in the fields of law and development. He has also provides high level consultancy services to DFID and EU for the management of its justice reform programme in Nigeria (from Access to Justice [A2J] to Security Justice & Growth [SJG], Justice for All [J4A]) and Managing Conflict in Northeastern Nigeria (MCN). In his opening remarks, the Executive Director, Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Engr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u welcomed and thanked the Guest Speaker for honoring the invitation in the holy month of Ramadan saying that we are banned in the holy month for drinking and taking food items but not ban from taking knowledge. He then said that ILERIS is youth development program initiated over the last 3 years and serve as an avenue to provide youth with skills, ideas and inspiration. It requires bringing people who are successful in life to interact with staff, interns and associates of the organization with intention to learn from their own life style.

In his presentation, Prof Tabi’u said that he was born in Gumel over 60 years ago and recalled that they started their primary education under shade tree almost a year, then later classroom was constructed with cornstalks. For Prof. Tabi’u, going to primary school was not negotiable as first male child in the family and his father was then responsible for taking children to school. This led to his father to set an example from his own child at early years.  He was one of the smallest children in the school but inspired a lot of people in term of performance. He was a monitor since in primary school and appointed secretary of the Young Farmers Club, the position he held due to his ability to write and read English Text Books. He was appointed Science Prefect in secondary school, the position invented purposely for him and served among senior colleagues. Prof. Tabi’u said that he doesn’t like to be a leader, but pushed and forced to be appointed.

Prof. Tabi’u encouraged the participants to be truthful. He empathized that in every leadership positions he held he tries to inspire trust. According to him, you must adopt and inspire people to know that every position of leadership you hold is for the people not thinking that the credit is for you alone. He added that leadership is one word with different understanding. From political background it seems a chance for accumulating more wealth and by any means.

Prof. Muhammad Tabi’u highlighted some of the challenges he faced when he was Antony General and when he held the position of Executive Secretary, National Human Right Commission under a military leader.  With mindset people like him they took the law that setup the commission and drew the attention of the government concerning human right violation in the country. With this effort, during the administration of General Abdussalam Abubakar they were able to liberate in a period of month over 10,000 people in detention across the country especially political prisoners.

Lastly, Prof. Tabi’u charged the participants on teamwork, admitting that all his achievements in life came under teamwork. In his closing remarks, the Executive Director thanked the guest speaker and said that he has two things to take back home from the presentation. One, you never get tire with engagements. Without engagement you will not make progress. Secondly, result doesn’t actually come in a day, it takes some many years.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has commenced an intensive two-week training for staff of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The Director of the centre, Mallam Yunusa Zakari Yau, yesterday in Abuja, said  the essence of the training was to enhance the ICT skills of AMAC staff to perform their duties effectively and efficiently and serve Abuja citizens professionally.
Mallam Yau said CITAD was undertaking the training as part of its civic responsibility and building relationships with governmental institutions.
He said, “CITAD is ever ready to increase the number of beneficiaries. With support from Action Aid, we have been able to establish five ICT centres in different area councils; these are facilities that we have created for communities to come together to discuss community problems. “Therefore, this task is a crucial part of our skills that are required in the 21st Century. We do not want anybody to be left behind and we want AMAC to become the centre of ICT drive to provide efficiency in terms of service delivery and productivity in terms of convenience.” On his part,  Joseph Augustine of Action Aid Nigeria (AAN), acknowledged and appreciated the council and all members of staff for embracing the initiative.
Augustine said this showed that AMAC was involved in progressive initiative as it was no longer news that ICT was gradually revolutionising the world in business, economic, social arena and even in politics. He said, “ICT is no longer knowledge for luxury, but a necessity to human existence, especially at this particular time that we are in.” The AMAC Chairman, Alhaji Abdulahi Adamu Candido, represented by the council Secretary, Rahmat Abisola Abdullahi, commended the CITAD and assured that the opportunity would be judiciously used by the council workers to serve the people better. Also, the Special Adviser on ICT/Donor Agencies and Civil Societies to the AMAC Chairman, Abiodun Essiet, urged other organisations to emulate CITAD.

Culled from DailyTrust: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/centre-trains-amac-workers-on-ict.html

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) trains the staff of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), to develop on ICT for a more conducive work environment.

He further said that the world is fast growing in technology adding that, Nigeria should make haste to embrace the initiative.

“We are gradually moving to the e-government almost everything is migrating online and therefore this task is a crucial part of our skills that are required in the 21st century which Nigerians should embrace. We do not want anybody to be left behind and we want AMAC to become the Centre of ICT drive to provide efficiency in terms of service delivery, productivity, and convenience.

“We are empowering them especially through the utilisation of digital knowledge so that they can achieve self reliance in different business areas such as digital entrepreneur skills that one can use to provide  good and services.

“Citad is ever ready to increase the number of beneficiary.

With support from action aid we have been able to establish five ICT Centre in FCT in different area Councils, this are facilities that we have created to use them as center as a community to come together to discuss community problems,” he added.

Culled for Blueprint: https://www.blueprint.ng/citad-trains-amac-staff-on-ict/

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