Can Nigeria Overturn the Tide Against Decline in Reading Culture?

By Y. Z. Ya’u

Sunday, December 27th, 2020 was another exiting day as the duo of Mujahid Ameen Lilo and Alee Lawal, both teenage authors conducted the Twin Hills Writing Workshop for young aspiring writers. Held at the America Corner, Kano State Library, the workshop had two tow tracks: a short story writing track facilitated by Lilo himself and a poetry section, facilitated by Alee lawal. The closing session featured speeches by prominent Kano–based writers, including Dr. Bala Mohammed of the Faculty of Mass Communications, Bayero University, Kano (and a Weekly Trust back page columnist); Ismail Bala, a leading poet from the north who has many anthologies to his credits, Dr. Maryam Ali, a prominent novelist, Mal Auwalu Hamza, a pioneer in the novel writing culture in Kano and the Bilingual poet and cultural writer, Khalid Imam whose poems have been translated in into many languages and currently the curator of the All Poets Network (APNET).

In a way, all the speakers were united by three things. First, as teachers, they have a keen interest in developing the talents of young people. Second, all are passionate about writing and in which they have done more than their due share in promoting a culture of creative writing in Kano. Both Hamza and Ismail were ex-chairmen of the Association of Nigeria Authors (ANA), Kano Chapter while both Khalid and Maryam were equally state officials of the association. Maryam was, in addition, a one time national official of ANA.

Dr. Bala Mohammed it was who undertook the task of trying to transform the love genre early Hausa novellas into a broader spectrum of concerns when he was the Director General of the Kano Social Reorientation Agency, Adaidaita Sahu, many years back. Third, they are all successful and experienced writers. Listening to them this afternoon was, therefore, more than a semester worth of classroom lectures.

They all made the case about writing, not just as a hobby but also as a vacation and profession from which young writers could earn a living, although Maryam was sensitive enough to put a caveat here that they should not look up to writing as a substitute for a job! This point led to my reflection which was on the very point that Maryam left: whether writing can sustain young people in Nigeria?

Writing in Nigeria face many problems, one of which is the observable decline in reading culture. Because would be writers need to read in order to perfect their crafts, they have to rise up to the challenge of a culture that de-motivates them from reading. But it also de-motivates the writers from writing because the products are ignored by the potential market.

I was born in the “LeaderRoom” days. “LeaderRoom” I later understand to be the way children in my community in my childhood time used to pronounce “Reading Room”. In those days, every community with a primary school had a reading room at the centre of the community where both pupils and members of the public could go and read in the evenings or weekends. There were a few collections but we had opportunity to read. People often came with their books. So, it was not a library in the classical sense but a place where people met people who were interested in reading. It was a major point in laying a foundation for a reading culture that nourished many a generation.

Compare that to what obtains today: first, the reading rooms have disappeared, with many converted into private properties. The libraries outside state capitals have become extinct. Community libraries are laughable structures actually, full of cobwebs. In the state capitals, the libraries have been turned into glorified event centres, hosting more dancing and wedding events than reading activities. It is something to be thankful that we still have the American Corner to meet in the case of Kano. Even in the libraries of the academia, those books are old, rotten, full of dust, with missing pages and parts of pages while the librarians are much younger than any of the books in their collections. But even old books are useful except that people hardly go to read the dinosaur of books.

Last month, I spent a couple of hours at the beautifully set National library in Gombe without seeing a single person walking into the library to consult the books in the shelves. For the past three years, we have laboured to set up a community library in Jamaare, Bauchi State. Each time I visit, the volunteer Librarian complains that no one visits to use the books.

So it is true, we are up against a monster called decline in reading culture. But this is a gross oversimplification of the problem. There is obviously a decline in reading culture but it is much more than a decline in reading culture. That visit to the National Library, Gombe afforded me an opportunity to address young aspiring writers like this group and to address one aspect of this decline of reading culture which I argued, was actually a change in our reading culture. And so today I want address another aspect which is that the thing we see as decline in our reading culture includes a change in our reading culture but also more fundamentally, a profound change in our value system.

The infrastructural anti-thesis to a reading culture across Nigeria, from the Northeast to Niger Delta

All hopes not lost?

Let us start by recalling the past. In the past, the three most important persons in any community in Nigeria were the traditional leader of the community, the Imam of the Friday Mosque or the Head Pastor of the community and the Headmaster of the community school. This is again oversimplification, because in a multi-religious community, you could have two or more religious leaders but I count this as one person because they perform essentially the same functions. In those years, secondary schools were few and mostly boarding, meaning that their students, teachers and principals were accommodated outside the community. Being at the periphery of the community, they were not considered as fully integral part of the community so the status of principals of the secondary schools was indeterminate.

In those days, the most respected of the people were not the richest but the more knowledgeable ones or people who could be relied upon to address communal problems with their wisdom. Usually, the preparation for princes required elaborate training in learning and character so that they could lead their people. In the same way, you did not become an Imam or Pastor or even Headmaster without learning. Each of these three was distinguished by their possession of knowledge. They were not the richest people, often they were poor or just not rich. But they were well respected and their voice carried an authority whose power and command was never doubted.

Communities valued knowledge. Money was useful but it was not valued over and above knowledge. It was needed but it was not the basis of respect in the society. Knowledgeable people were valued for the very reason that they possessed knowledge. For this reason, people who wished to be respected had to acquire knowledge. When you acquire money and you have no wisdom, they derisively dismiss the person as “money missed road”.

Today the table has turned against knowledge. The most important basis for respect in society now is money and more money. Rich people, no matter how foolish, are now the most important voice in their communities. They decide who gets elected or appointed to what position, what issues to be tackled and those to be ignored. In short, they make all the decisions for the community. The community leader is respected only to the extent that he has money. As for the religious leaders, they are tolerated but not respected. Teachers are seen as the dregs of the earth and no village girl wants to marry one.

There is only one way to acquire knowledge that is by reading and learning. Libraries are indispensable instrument for knowledge dissemination. But there are many ways in which you can make money: you can become an armed robber, a kidnapper or a cultist. You could be a heartless corrupt public servant or a politician. Whichever method you take to make your money, you can only amass money at the detriment of the people and the community.

If you are a corrupt civil servant or politician, you make your money by ensuring that the money meant to build schools is put into your private account for you to build mansions. If you are an armed robber, you waylay the parents of the children as they struggle to raise money for the school fees of their children. If you are a kidnaper, you plan and take away their children either on their way to school or on their way back home from school. Cultists kill children in school. The combined effect of all these roads to money making is to make the education system dysfunctional and prevent learning.

But there is also the taunting and exhibition: money makes it look like hard work does not pay, learning does not pay and knowledge is irrelevant in the scheme of things. In this scheme, there is no place for schools or libraries and no one cares about learning and knowledge production. Each new mansion that rises in the community is an assault on the education system and to reading culture. Who will read when it has no value? So we traded money for knowledge and the result is that education is at the bottom of our value system.

This is how we end up with learning infrastructures daily being destroyed. Teachers are ridiculed and laughed at. Libraries are considered more useful if they are converted to events centres. No space is being allowed for learning and reading.

If we are to rebuild a reading culture, we have to rethink our value system. I have no magic formula of how that can be done but I see hope in the work that young people like Mujahid Lilo, Alee Lawan and Adamu Usman Garko are doing. Interestingly, all of them are teens authors, working hard with determination and passion to raise even a younger generation of writers, for who we are here. This reminds us that there is hope and once there is hope we will always strive and in the end we shall overcome and triumph. For this this reason, I see every reason to support the work they do. Congratulations to the beneficiaries of this workshop. We hope you will also run several similar workshops to share what they have learnt here in what we in CITAD call ‘the Learn and Teach Others’ (LATO) paradigm. It is a paradigm that has served CITAD well in its early years, running many LATO computer training workshops for teachers of secondary who then volunteered to teach other teachers, a process that quickly saw the multiplication of ICT skills in and among teachers in our schools.

The author is of the Centre for Information Technology and Development, (CITAD), sponsors of the Twin Hills Writing Workshop, Kano.

Formal Commissioning of the Centre for Information Technology and Development Social Media for Accountability Lab and Radio Studio

Held On the 14TH OF DECEMBER, 2020

The Centre for Information Technology and Development on the 14th of December, 2020 formally commissioned its Social Media for Accountability Lab and Radio Studio. The two projects which have been established with support of Macarthur Foundation, aimed to train youth and students on Social media for accountability and give the university journalism students an avenue to practice what they have learned in the schools. The projects are also established to train youth on anti-corruption fight and accountability. Personalities at the event were Honorable Commissioner, Kano State Ministry of Information, Comrade Muhammad Garba who was ably represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Malam Usman Bala, Professor Habu Muhammad Fagge of the Political Science Department, Bayero University, Kano as the chairman of the occasion, Engineer Y.Z Ya’u, the Executive Director, CITAD and Mr. Oladayo Olaide, Deputy Country Director, Macarthur Foundation who joined the event virtually.

In his remarks at the commissioning of the social media lab and radio studio, the chairman of the occasion, Professor Habu Muhammad Fagge described the social media for accountability lab and the online radio as one of the most important event in the state. Prof. Habu stated that he was very delighted to serve as the chairman of the occasion as it was a history making event because whenever people talk about social media what first came to their minds was that it is a platform where all such of social nuisance is taking place. But today CITAD has changed the narrative and turned it into something very important; for knowledge production. Remarking further, Professor Habu stated that social media is a modern invention that links individuals with other groups, organizations with other organizations and organizations with state and non-state actors. He called on youth in the state to use social media for instrumental purposes and encouraged them to use it for knowledge production, communication, public enlightenment and research. He also described youths in northern Nigeria as the harbinger of transforming the society through modern techniques, innovation and technological development and social media encapsulate all of these. He stated that as many youth in northern Nigeria are everyday joining the social media without a proper knowledge on how to use it, this project commissioned by CITAD will help greatly in putting the youth in the right direction.

Speaking at the occasion, the Executive Director of CITAD, Malam Y.Z Ya’u stated that the reason behind the establishing of the social media lab was to train youth on how best to use the social media and to see to the creation of a New Nigeria where justice and accountability will prevail. He continued by saying that social media provided an avenue for people to inject their voice and many individuals are using social media without tapping its potentials and how best it will benefit them and their country. Also, the Executive Director stated that the Online Radio which has since started its transmission on internet was being established to promote accountability, good governance and democracy in the country, noting that democracy cannot and will not flourish without having fertile avenues where citizens will voice their opinions and this type of radio (online radio) has revolutionized the broadcast industry and given millions of citizens access to radio stations without spending much. The Executive Director also stated that the social media lab was always open to Kano state Ministry of Information for training it information officers and other staff.

In his goodwill message, Mr. Oladayo Olaide, the Deputy Director at MacArthur Foundation in Nigeria said he was very delighted seeing this project had become a reality. Mr. Olaide reiterated the importance of adhering to covid19 protocols as the Foundation is always encouraging its sub-grantees to respect the protocols. He also added that the Foundation was very delighted to be partnering with CITAD in this work because the essence of the social media lab and the radio station were to enhance citizens’ voice which is what the Foundation has been supporting for a very long period of time. He said the launching of the two projects were not just for the people to come and see the laptops in the lab or the journalists to witnessed the cutting of the tape in the studio but to create a platform for citizens to be able to better engage in the campaign for accountability, fight against corruption and contribute to consolidation of democracy in the country. Emphasizing that, the radio was being launched to create avenue to disseminate information and for the exchange of information between and among citizens, he added. He concluded that the success and impact of the launching of the two projects will not be judged by the number of attendees today but by the changes that the projects are able to catalyze through the information generated and the feedback that are transform into action points.  Finally, he called on social media users to be ethical and responsible on the way and manner in which they use to engage in good governance without throwing the country into further chaos.

In his commissioning remarks, the special guest of honor at the event, Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Information, Comrade Muhammad Garba who was ably represented by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Malam Usman Bala, mni expressed his happiness and commended CITAD for taking the lead in this important revolution. According to him, democracy is about engaging positively and these two projects are what they intend to do. He noted that social media is a tool for construction as well as destruction, he thanked CITAD for kick starting this project to sensitize youth on using social media to promote accountability. He expressed his ministry’s readiness to collaborate with CITAD in this project.

Kano: CITAD Commissions First Social Media Lab, Online Radio Studio in North

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has commissioned a social media lab and online radio studio in its headquarters in Kano state.
Speaking during the commissioning ceremony, held at the CITAD’s headquarters in Kano yesterday, Executive Director of the organization, Yunusa Z. Ya’u said the facility was first of its kind in Northern Nigeria.
He said the facility, which was commissioned for use by the Kano Commissioner for Information, Mallam Muhammadu Garba, would be used to promote social media entrepreneurship, accountability and good governance.
He explained that the social media lab, donated by McArthur Foundation, is equipped with 40 sets of state-of- the-art laptops and a modern radio presentation studio.
Ya’u however stated that CITAD is going to train 5000 social media users in Kano in the next three months on ethical journalism as a means of providing social responsibility, accountability and good governance in the country.
“We at the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) intend to train 5000 social media users on ethical journalism in the next three months” he stated.
He explained the need for the Social media to be utilised positively not only for entrepreneur but also for promoting transparency, accountability and good governance while explaining how it has broken all barriers and provided a platform for expression of voices of the public.
“Social media should be used to promote accountability, transparency and democracy.
“The social media did not only create jobs but also serve as means to check governance and fight against corruption.
“People will fight corruption when they understand why their children cannot go to school, why their are no effective healthcare delivery services, why there are no good roads or why they cannot travel from Kano to Kaduna due to insecurity. It is through ethical journalism that all these could be achieved” he stated.
In his goodwill message, the information commissioner, represented by Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Usman Bala, called for the establishment of an international or a regional framework for social media practices.

He commanded CITAD for the initiative, adding that the Non Governmental Organization had contributed immensely to the development of social media in northern Nigeria.

CITAD to Train 5,000 Youth on Ethics of Social Media

By Yakubu Salisu, Kano

The Executive Director, Centre for Information Technology CITAD, Yunusa Z. Ya’u has revealed that the Centre intends to train 5,000 youth in the next three years on the ethics of using the social media to promote accountability, fight corruption and consolidate democracy.

Ya’u made the disclosure on Monday during the official commissioning of the Centre’s social media lab and first online radio station in Kano.

According to him, the social media which gives the ordinary citizens avenue to express their opinions about governance as it concerns them, like every technology requires certain skills for professional utilization without which will lead to a the abuse of the platforms.

He said, “democracy is about voice without which there would be no democracy and progress and at CITAD, we believe that the voice of the masses matters.

Through the social media, we hope to reach out to more persons as it cuts down the cost of communication to engage them, educate and enlighten them on the need to transform into a mass movement geared towards making Nigeria a country where justice, security, education and hospitals functions amongst many other”.

Yunusa further stated that the radio station which will disseminate information as expected would also serve as a venue for students studying Mass Communication to practice what they have learnt in school just as the social media lab furnished with 40 new Laptops would be put into immediate use.

Declaring the lab and station open, the Honorable Commissioner of Information, Kano State Ministry of Information, Comrade Muhammad Garba commended CITAD for the revolution of bringing into perspective the societal need on the social media.

Garba who was represented by the Ministry’s Perm. Sec. Usman Balla stated that the initiative to train youth on ethical issues surrounding the use of social media is a move in the right direction and a frame work worthy of emulation.

” I commend the Centre for this move, being the first of its kind in the state and would further strengthen citizen/Gov engagement.

The initiative is remarkable one because the social media can serve as a tool for construction but at the same time, and a tool for destruction if not handled with care,” he added.

 

 

CITAD to Train 5000 Youth on Ethical Use of Social Media

By Abbas Yushau Yusuf

The centre for information Technology and Development CITAD says it will embark on the Training of 5000 Youth on the Ethical use of social media and for Accountability and fighting corruption in the next three years.

The Executive Director of CITAD Malam Y. Z Yau stated this during the commissioning of Social Media laboratory and Radio Studio provided by the centre with support from MAC Arthur Foundation.

Usman Bala Overseeing The Radio Studio 

Malam YZ Yau said the emergence of Social media has democratize information and the need for citizens to speak on how they are governed on social media becomes very necessary.

According to the Director, Social Media provided an avenue for people to inject their voice and many individuals utilised Social media without tapping how its used for good and the country.

He said CITAD will train 5000 youth on how to use social Media ethically for the next three years.

CITAD Charges Kano Secondary Schools On ICT Inspired Learning
The CITAD Director added that the reasons behind the creation of the social Media Lab is to train Youth on how best its used and to see to the creation of New Nigeria where justice and accountability will prevail.

He noted that the Social Media lab will also train Youth on using the Social Media for Accountability and fighting corruption.

Malam Y Z Yau added that the Online Radio Studio will be used in training Journalism students to practice what they have learned in Schools.

In a remark the chairman of the occasion Professor Habu Muhammad Fagge of the Department of Political science Bayero University Kano said Social Media is one of the modern inventions that links individuals to groups and groups to organisations.

The University Don further called on social Media users to utilise the all important medium for conducting research and public enlightenment..

Professor Habu Fagge also called on the user’s to exploit the Social media in doing away with societal ills and make people understand the problems bedevilling the society.

 

In a remark the state commissioner for information Comrade Muhammad Garba represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Usman Bala Muhammad congratulated CITAD for inventing the online Radio which is the first of its kind in Kano.

Winners Emerge for CITAD 19th Round Annual ICT Quiz for Secondary school

By Yakubu Salisu, Kano

Centre for Information Technology CITAD, yesterday, announced the winners of its yearly ICT quiz for secondary schools aimed at promoting computer literacy and ICT awareness among secondary school students in Kano State.

The quiz which took place at Kano State University of Science and Technology Wudil, also sensitizes the school communities on the need for
computers, encourage students to take computer studies seriously and
aid advocacy on the need for school proprietors and government to
provide computers in the various schools.

After the competitions among 26 schools, GTC Ungogo emerged 1st Place Position, MSSC Gaya emerged 2nd Place
Position and GTC Kano emerged 3rd Place Position with Malam Anas Usman
Aliyu of GTC Ungogo claiming the best teacher award.

Items won include; All in One Computer System for the First Position, Refurbished Desktop Computer for the second runner up, and a Printer for the third runner up while the Best Teacher went home with a 32 inch Plasma TV, and Participants of the winning Schools also got Techno Tabs Android phones each.

Chairman of the Occasion, Prof. Shehu
A. Musa, VC KUST, Wudil assured the university will continue to host the annual quiz which he believe will further create the desired goals amongst the students.

He also announced that the university will take responsibility of awarding the prize of First place Position, while his school will also give N20,000 to each participating School from
first to tenth positions and N50,000 for the best teacher.

Musa also announced to give from his personal pocket N20, 000 to the first place position, N20, 000 to the second place position and N10, 000 to the Third place position.

One Day Workshop for Online Journalists on Writing for Accountability and Anti-Corruption Issues Organized by CITAD with Support of MacArthur Foundation

Held on the 28th of November, 2020 Virtually

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support of MacArthur Foundation had on the 28th of November, 2020 as part of its Anti-Corruption and Accountability Project in Nigeria organized a one day virtual workshop to online Journalists on Writing for Accountability and Anti-Corruption Issues in Nigeria. The essence of organizing the workshop was to deepen the understanding of the journalists on accountability and anti-corruption issues and shift their attention to writing on the subject matter. The workshop also aimed to enhance the Understanding of the Dimensions of Accountability and Corruption, Sensitize the Journalists to Pay Attention to Issues of Accountability and Anticorruption in their Contents and Enlist Online Journalists to improve their Contribution in Exposing Corruption and Impunity through their Platforms.

Media being one of the pillars of democracy and institution that hold government accountable and report on issues that affect the lives of the ordinary citizens, CITAD found them to be partners in fighting corruption in the country. However, as the world of journalism is shifting to an online one globally and many of the traditional media are losing their readers and listeners, so the attention of organizations, governments and individuals most especially in the developing nations is shifting towards online journalists. This bring the need for organizations to focus on training and sensitizing these journalists on pressing issues that are crippling the economy and development of developing countries i.e. corruption.

At the workshop, experts in the area of Anti-Corruption and Accountability, Public Procurements and Human Rights enlightened the participants about the importance of writing on anti-corruption and accountability issues in their platforms. Dr. Jide Ojo, a Writer, Journalist and Development Consultant discussed on Corruption: Theoretical and Definitional Discuss. Dr. Ojo took the participants through the Definitions, Concept and Impact of Corruption on Good Governance. The second speaker, Dr. Aminu Hayatu, a Lecturer with Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano (BUK) discussed on Understanding the Many Dimension of Accountability. In his discussion, Dr. Hayatu emphasized on how to hold government officials accountable, Issue of Ethics and Legality for Journalists and how Journalists will avoid Writing Fake News. While Dr. Chris Kwaja from Modibbo Adama University of Science and Technology, Yola discussed on Human Rights Abuses as Corruption. Dr. Kwaja focused on the Relationship between Human Rights Abuses and Corruption, he explained to the participants how journalists are everyday being abused in the course of their duty by security agents and how those abuses are being categorized as corruption because in many occasions it led to suppressing of truth and denied the journalists the right to report things as they are. And finally, Dr. Aminu Aliyu of the Economics Department, BUK dwelled on how journalists will know if there is Corruption in a Project. In his presentation, Dr. Aliyu mentioned some elements that can help to understand whether there is corruption in a project like the Size of the Project, Uniqueness and Complexity of the Project, Public Sector Projects, Project with Several Sub-Contractors, Culture of Secrecy, lack of Transparency and due Diligence and High Cost of Integrity.

On his remarks at the workshop, the Executive Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Development, Engineer Y.Z Ya’u who was represented by the Programmes Coordinator, Ibrahim Nuhu stated that CITAD has for long being working with journalists to ensure transparency and accountability in the public sector and this particular workshop is unique looking at the nature of the participants who are mostly young people with passion to make change in the society. He urged the online journalists to use their platforms for promoting good governance in the country and not allowed themselves to be used by the politicians to suppress truth.

 

CITAD Urges FG to Soften Process of Accessing Loans for Young Entrepreneurs

By Mohammed Ahmed, Bauchi

The Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has called on the Federal government to soften the process of accessing loans by young entrepreneurs in the country.

The job placement coordinator at CITAD, Sagir Ado made the call on Wednesday, during an entrepreneurship career talk with students of Aliyu Mai Sango Junior Upper Basic Secondary School, Jama’are in Bauchi state.

He stressed the need for government to simplify requirements for accessing loan from lending financial institutions to young entrepreneurs.

Abubakar lamented that  entrepreneurship is facing challenges because young entrepreneurs were not finding it easy to strive.

“There are problems of sources of capital and even the lending institutions we have, make requirements difficult for a common entrepreneur.

“The high cost of doing business in Nigeria, make entrepreneurs take risks because they want to make profit.

“Where the expected returns from a venture is lower than the opportunity costs, it will act as a disincentive for the entrepreneur,” he said

Abubakar added that Lack of strong patent law is a serious challenge for young entrepreneurs, adding that the local entrepreneurs are not well protected by the Nigerian law.

According to him, another challenge was lack of knowledge in the basic sciences and technology.

He emphasized the need to encourage entrepreneurs to apply science and technology in their   entrepreneurial activities.

“Government should make provision of laws that will protect our local entrepreneurs and also give them the necessary support.

“Government should also put measures that can help to reduce the cost of doing business by ensuring steady supply of electricity, providing infrastructure such as roads, water, etc,” he said.

Abubakar however urged the students to embrace entrepreneurship to become employers of labour not job seekers.

Our correspondent reports that  entrepreneurship career talk was organized by CITAD to mark this year’s global entrepreneurship week with the  theme: ‘Open young Students’ Eyes to the Opportunities Offered by the Entrepreneurial Path’.

Responding on behalf of the students, Mr Imran Salihu and Miss Abdullahi said the training session would equip the students with the skills and knowledge to be self-employed.

They said it would provide skills for  starting and managing their own businesses as well as become employers of labour.

They also noted that the initiative would help in assailing the rising unemployment concerns among youths.

CITAD ICT Centre Itas-Gadau

SN Location / Community Number of Computers List / Type of Training Conducted in the Centre No of Trained Participants Accompanied Pictures with Captions
1 Itas/gadau 50 Diploma in information technology. 20  
2     Certificate in information technology. 30  
3.     I C T for kids’ computer training. nil  
4.     C B T  Training form JABM. 10  
           
           
           

CITAD ICT Centre Jama’are

SN

Location / Community Number of Computers List / Type of Training Conducted in the Centre No of Trained Participants Accompanied pictures with captions
1 Jamaare  114 Diploma in information technology. 500
2 Jamaare 14 Certificate in information technology. 25  

 

3. Jamaare 14 I C T for kids’ computer training. 1000
4. Jamaare 14 C B T  Training form JABM. 300

CITAD ICT Centre Abuja

SN Location / Community Number of Computers List / Type of Training Conducted in the Centre No of Trained Participants
1. Leleyi Gwari (Kwali Area council Abuja) 7 desktops Microsoft word, Excel, Power Point, core draw, Internet 30
2. Tungan Ashere(AMAC) 7 desktops Microsoft word, Excel, Power Point, core draw, Internet 30
3. Dakwa(AMAC) 7 desktops Microsoft word, Excel, Power Point, core draw, Internet 15
4. Passepa(Bwari Area council Abuja) 7 desktops Microsoft word, Excel, Power Point, core draw, Internet 50
5. Gaube(Kuje area council Abuja) 7 desktops Microsoft word, Excel, Power Point, core draw, Internet 50

Memory of Yima Sen As a Revolutionary Future By Y. Z. Ya’u

A deeply unfortunate emergency prevented Mallam Y. Z Ya’u from attending the Memorial Lecture for Dr Yima Sen Wednesday, November 11th, 2020. He was billed to speak for the pro-democracy community at the Memorial. Below is what he would have said. This must rank as the most succinct capture of the radical trajectory in the past three decades. But things must, indeed, be so bad in the country for a Mallam YZ to roll up his sleeves. Read on!

The author

By Y. Z. Ya’u

Memorials like this are important because they allow us to reflect and think about the future. Memory itself is an important resource. But often we tend to miss its significance. While paradoxically, it is about the past being recalled in the present, its uses actually lie in the future. It is within this context that I want to situate our dear departed comrade, Yima Sen. In doing so, I would like to apologize to his family, both immediate and broader, for I will like to appropriate him for us. The ‘us’ here is a group of highly patriotic, detribalized Nigerians who dare to dream of an alternative, better Nigeria where justice would flourish. They dream of Nigeria as a peaceful country where exploitation of man by man would be history. And they see Nigeria as a country capable of harnessing its endowment, both natural and human, to meet the needs of every citizen, irrespective of sex, tongue, faith or territorial placement. Yima Sen not only embodied the best of these ideas but also lived all his life struggling to see to the actualization of this vision.

When I first met Yima, I did not know his religion or tribe. I did not even know from which part of the country he came. I was not interested in those because, in him, I a saw a trusted soul mate, someone whose ideas and mine matched and we had our eyes on the same direction. He was just Comrade Yima. My first knowing of Yima was on a platform for justice, to end apartheid in Southern Africa. He was not our age, having been born a little earlier than many of us who eventually became his friends but we were shaped by the same generation of ideas. We had graduated from the university and reflecting on our activism on campus as champions for the struggle against apartheid, we thought we should continue until it was completely dismantled. So, we formed the Nigeria-ANC Friendship and Cultural Association (NAFCA). At the time, Yima was working in Lagos and he became a key figure in the movement, arguing that injustice in any part of the world was injustice to Nigeria.

About the same time, a radical feminist movement had resulted from a conference organized at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria on Women in Nigeria. Taking the name of the theme of the conference, that platform became known as Women in Nigeria, (WIN). WIN posed fundamental questions about oppression and liberation of women in the country. The obviousness of its central thesis was a Marxian credo of class oppression conterminous with gender oppression, resulting in the double oppression statement that women suffer, first as members of subordinate classes and second as members of subordinated gender. For WIN and its members, therefore, ending class oppression would not automatically end gender oppression. As such, a simultaneous struggle against both gender and class oppression was needed. It, therefore, thought to mobilize the collective agency of both women and men against patriarchy. This was why WIN was both unique and experimental: a feminist organization that had both male and female as members and both genders were eligible to play leadership role. Yima and Lona, his wife, were both members and played critical role in the movement which saw their house in Lagos as sort of secretariat for the organization. WIN was not an easy conversation, given that it carried along a tension between these who saw class agency as primary and those who saw gender as the most urgent task. In the end, the organization ran into a major ideological crisis from which it never recovered. But Yima remained faithful to the principles of the organization and continued to be an exemplary feminist to the very last.

The mid 1980s were heady years. They were defined by a collective search for direction and meaning for the country following the failure of the Second Republic accompanied by two military coups. The government of IBB had, against all popular opposition, imposed the Structural Adjustment Progrmmes (SAP) cooked by IMF and World Bank, which only served to destabilize the country. Millions of people lost their jobs, social services such as education and health suffered massive underfunding. The country’s currency was subjected to a free fall. The result was de-industrialization and contraction of the economy, increased impoverishment of the population and high unemployment. These generated protests, especially led by students across the country that came to be known as the anti-SAP protests. The authoritarian regime responded with crackdown and massive arrest and detention of student leaders and labor activists as well as other measures to destabilize unions. While the government was, to a large extent, successful in crushing traditional mass movements such as the student and the labour movements, there arose a new form of organization, first using the instrumentality and language of human rights but focused on democracy and national liberation, resulting in the formation of pro-democracy movements like the National Front and eventually the Campaign for Democracy (CD). The CD was like the absorption of all the energies in both NAFCA and WIN as well as the remnants of the student movement plus the left-wing constellation in the academia. Yima was a central figure in this history and the struggles that unfolded. The central demand of CD was to end military rule and therefore also campaigned against the military planned and controlled political transition programme which seemed to be interminable as IBB kept extending the handing over, internally subverting his own process. This very basic demand of CD could later return to haunt as it, imploding in a crisis, like WIN, from which it could not recover.

Faminmi Sen, Dr. Yima’s younger daughter reads his citation at the Memorial Lecture

Consequently, the IBB had no option but to finally allow elections to hold but only to cancel the result of the election at the last moment, refusing to allow the winner of the Presidential election to assume his mandate. This led to pro-democracy protests, led initially by CD and trade unions to be joined later by NADECO, which was a coalition of politicians who felt shortchanged by the military. The insertion of the CD into a struggle to reclaim the mandate of an election for which it had called for its boycott and the complication of the struggle by its apparent regionalization led to a tension in the pro-democracy movement and subsequently to a split. While the split was largely fueled by ideological disagreements, the immediate cause was the decision by the Beko-led leadership of CD to get involved with the military coup of Abacha. Superficially, a coalition of activists from the South West favoured collaboration with the Abacha military regime that supplanted the contraction the fleeing IBB left while the other, largely of activists from outside the region, felt that any accommodation with the military would undermine the very foundational demand of the movement which was to end military rule. This split led to the formation of the Democratic Alternative (DA) for which Yima emerged as one of its leaders. The DA had a dual character, as a movement and a political party and therefore it needed a front to carry out the popular struggles while the party needed to concentrate on the principal question of getting power. This was how the United Action for Democracy (UAD) was formed. Again, Yima was part of this.

While IBB was able to destabilize traditional mass movements, Abacha was largely successful in destabilizing the radical pro-democracy movement. From the late 1990s, our tribe began to disorganize and break into ineffectual fractions. Confusion set in and stories of betrayals became the order of the day. Some opted to find a space in the corrupt system we all had committed to fight. Some went to align behind their ethnic and religious lords, becoming in the process, either cranky ethnic chauvinists or bigoted religious lunatics. When some of us became either confused or turned to their inner cocoons of ethnicity and religiosity, Yima Sen remained solid. He did not become demoralized by the constant tales of betray. Instead, he was spurred to continue to use his energy, intellect and commitment to a course that he believed was right.

By the time we transited to civil rule in 1999, we had a movement that was caught unprepared for electoral democracy. As a movement, we had many bruises all over us. Our main platform, the Socialist Congress (SCON) was in crisis by itself. The fronts had fractured. Above all, we had no consensus on how to relate to electoral politics. Some thought it was best to join the mainstream bourgeois parties and influence development from within them and eventually some did. Others sought joining the burgeoning civil society advocacy to get reforms and again a number did that. Some thought that we should monitor the transition and later election so that we can help to create better election environment. Still others thought solace in isolation. A minority remembered we had a political party in the DA which had been dually registered and available to contest elections. Their electoral experience was a dismal failure. In the end, we lost the party and almost lost the core organization in the confusion. Yima was part of these debates but his sighs remined fixed far into the horizon, never losing hope, believing that in the end we would be able to overcome.

One of the paradoxes that often get confusing to people is the juxtaposition of peace and revolution, which is seen as bloody and antithetical to peace. Yima was both a revolutionary and a peace maker. There is no contradiction in this: you cannot have peace without social justice and revolution is about establishing social justice without which there can be no peace. In this sense, peace and revolution are two different sides of one coin. You need a revolution in order to make a lasting peace. Since the return to civil rule in 1990 and the increasing spade of ethno-communal conflicts, Yima has been part of many platforms searching for peace in the country. I remember one of the collaborations we had toward the end of the last year. We brought youth from Benue, Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, and a few other places to Abuja for three days, working with them on understanding how fake news and hate speech have catalyzed many conflicts. Yima gave one of the most striking narratives that transformed the perceptions of many of the participants of the conflicts that they had thought they knew better.

Yima spoke to Nigerians about our collective vision. He showed us how we could struggle to attain the vision he has dreamt. He dared us to walk along the path he imagined in attaining this vision. Yima is thus a promise for Nigeria and Nigerians, a promise that is a resource for our struggle to build a better society and country. He is no longer with us but he has left behind a legacy that will shape the tomorrow of Nigeria and Nigerians, the future that we all wish for. We can only do justice to his memory if we keep this hope alive and continue to struggle for a better Nigeria.

We are happy to celebrate Yima (yes, we cannot but celebrate him because his journey on this earth was a gift to humanity!) because he struggled with us, spoke with us and lived an exemplary life that we are proud of. But we can only do justice to the memory of Yima and make that memory the resource of tomorrow if we interrogate our dwindling strength, lack of coherence and clarity of our ideas. What is it that has made many of us to lose faith in the change that we have spent decades working for? Is it that we have become impatient that the change is not fast coming? Is it that the passage of time has seen us lose clarity on our ideas? Is it that age has meant that we are incapable of sustaining our passion for change and deploying our human agency for change?

Whichever it is, we need to rethink how to get back to our trajectory. Things have moved from bad to worse in the country. We have harvested a civilian rule but we have harvested the worse of its most unaccountable form. More than ever before, the question that always defined Yima, that is justice, is even much more urgent now. We cannot get justice with an unaccountable government and we cannot get an accountable government in the context in which class interest is the determining factor in what a government does or does not.

I will like to conclude by acknowledging one resource that Yima Sen has bequeathed for us. This is his love and commitment to ideas as building blocks of society. Having ideas is potential power, power not in the sense of an institutional repository of control but in a much more transformative sense, since power itself, that ability to transform society, is constituted by ideas. We have ideas; therefore, we have power to transform Nigeria to the ideals we imagine. That requires the deliberate, tactical and strategic deployment of that power, which is the ideas we all have been articulating. Rest in peace Comrade Yima, Sleep well!

Mallam Ya’u works at CITAD, Kano

How CITAD is Fighting Covid-19 in Kano State

 

YZ Ya’u Executive Director, CITAD

YZ Ya’u Executive Director, CITAD

In late April, precisely on 25th of April, 2020, Kano State recorded its index case of the disease. Prior to the reportage of the index case in the state, the state government had taken off with measures to prevent the spread of the virus, as it is believed that Kano, as one of the country’s centres of commerce and a major trading hub in the northern region, would be a catastrophe and difficult to control a pandemic of this kind of disease is allowed to escalate.

Even before the index case, as part of its contributions to ensuring the protection of the citizens, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) had issued series of press releases drawing the

attention of those in authority on the need to implement preventive

measures, like banning gathering of large number of people, proper monitoring of the state’s boundaries to stop indiscriminate entering of the state from neighbouring states, co-opting of civic groups to any committee(s) that would be formed, sensitising religious leaders on Covid-19, setting up a public awareness committee on Covid-19 and ensuring compliance with preventive measures outlined by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

At the peak of the prevalence of the virus in the state, CITAD intensified its efforts on awareness creation on the need for citizens to adhere to the Covid-19 protocols in the state. This was done using different social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Part of this campaign was the Twitter Chat with hashtag #CITADAgainstCOVID-19 initiated by the Centre conducted twice every week. In the twitter chat, experts from every profession i.e. health, media, policymakers, academicians, social influencers, etc. were invited to discuss specific topics in order to educate the public and raise awareness and enlighten the public on the importance of following the WHO and NCDC guidelines.

However, as the campaign continued to garner momentum, the Centre got a support from MacArthur Foundation and International Institute of Education where it expanded its interventions with training of 120 youth in Kano State on various ways in responding to Covid-19. Given the need to observe social distancing, the training was conducted online.

The youth during the training were taught how to develop messages, how to use social media to create awareness on Covid-19. They were also trained on community mobilisation, persuasion and how to identify key influencers in their communities. In the training, the youth were also exposed to methodologies on how to help members of their communities to fight and prevent the spread of coronavirus within the communities; the importance of observing social distancing, wearing facemasks and hand-washing.

At the end of the training the participants were asked to individually develop proposals and 41 of them who had promising proposals were given mini-grants to implement some activities in their communities. The most interesting thing about the mini grants was that youth from different communities in the state were being sub-granted and carried out the activities they proposed in their communities, this had given the sensitisation campaigns greater acceptance by the communities seeing that their sons and daughters were the ones doing the campaign.

The sensitisation campaigns reached huge number of people including people who in normal campaigns could not be reached, but due to the strategies implored by CITAD to train members of the communities and allow them to directly sensitise their people helped the campaign to achieve a lot. Some of the uniqueness of the campaign included Door-to-Door campaigns where some of the sub-grantees especially females entered house to house to sensitise women in their communities who would not be able to attend town hall meetings and other forms of gathering while others followed people to their religious gatherings like mosques and churches and trained them on the importance of adhering to Covid-19 protocols.

During the project, some of the sub-grantees produced different types of locally hand-made sanitizers, hand wash, trained women in their communities on how to produce hand wash and hand sanitizer and how to be resilient during the pandemic while others developed messages on fliers on Covid-19 protocols and distributed in their communities. At religious places, the sub-grantees distributed fliers produced banners containing Covid-19 protocols and posted them at strategic places. To ensure inclusiveness, three of the beneficiaries of the mini grants conducted their activities at People Living with Disabilities communities. While one of them was a disabled, the other two were trained sign language facilitators.

In order to ensure that the messages reached every nook and cranny of the state, the Centre also sponsored three different radio programs. Two were at Vision FM and Express Radio called “Yaki Da Cutar Korona” and Mu Kare Kanmu Daga Cutar Korona respectively. The third program ran on Arewa Radio, another popular station in the state. These programs were designed to enlighten the people about Covid-19 and all the necessary information people needed to know about the pandemic. The programs, which were aired weekly, had professionals invited to discuss specific topics each week.

Similarly, when schools resumed in the state, CITAD felt it was important to train the state’s teachers on adjusting to new normal and NCDC guidelines with regard to reopening schools. In this aspect, CITAD trained 180 teachers from Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board and Kano State Science and Technical Management Board who are expected to go back to their schools and step down the training to their follow teachers and students to ensure the safety of the teachers and students in schools.

To promote literacy and devise other ways in sending messages in the society, the Centre also supported and sponsored the publication of 1000 copies of selected poems on Covid-19 which is being developed into a book titled Corona Blues.

Other interventions made by the Centre include production of short campaign videos and serving as the Secretariat of Kano Against Covid-19 Committee. Kano Against Covid-19 is an initiative of Kano State Concerned Citizens and Civil Society leaders set up to mobilise support for the Covid-19 pandemic in Kano State

Ali Sabo is the Communication Officer and Coordinator of CITAD’s Covid-19 Project. He can be reached either by his email address: asabo@citad.org or his twitter handle: @a_sabo12

How CITAD Is Fighting Covid-19 In Kano State

By Ali Sabo

“Coronaviruses are zoonotic, which are normally transmitted between animals and people. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by a new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that has not been previously identified in humans. It was first reported to WHO on the 31st of December, 2019 in Wuhan, China.” (NCDC)

On 27 February, Nigeria confirmed its first case of Covid-19 in Lagos State by an Italian citizen working in Nigeria when he returned to the country on February 25th from Milan, a city identified as an epi centre of the virus then through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

In late April, precisely on 25th of April, 2020 Kano State recorded its index case of the disease. Prior to the reportage of the index case in the State, the state government had taken of measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Kano as one of the country’s centres of commerce and a major trade hub in the northern region would be a catastrophe and difficult to control a pandemic of this kind if allow to escalate.

Even before the index case of the virus in Kano State, as part of its contribution to ensuring the protection of the citizens’ lives in the state, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) had been issuing press releases to draw the attention of people in authority on the need to implement preventive measures in the state, like banning gathering of large number of people, proper monitoring of the state’s borders to stop others from entering the state from any border, co-opting of citizens groups to any committee that would be formed, sensitizing religious leaders on Covid19, setting up a public awareness committee on Covid19 and ensure compliance of the preventive measures as set up by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and World Health Organization (WHO).

At the peak of the prevalence of the virus in the state, CITAD intensified its efforts on awareness creation on the need for the citizens to adhere to the Covid19 protocols in the state. This was done using different social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Part of this campaign was the Twitter Chat with hashtag #CITADAgainstCOVID19 initiated by the Centre which is being conducted twice every week.  In the twitter chat, experts from every profession i.e. health, media, policy makers, academicians, social influencers etc. are being invited to discuss on specific topic in order to educate the public and raise awareness and enlighten the public about the importance of following the WHO and NCDC guidelines.

However, as the campaign continued to garner momentum, the Centre got a support from MacArthur Foundation and International Institute of Education where it expanded its interventions with training of 120 youth in Kano State on various ways in responding to Covid19. Given the need to observe social distancing, the training was conducted online. The youth during the training were taught how to develop messages, how to use social media to create awareness on Covid19. They were also trained on community mobilization, persuasion and how to identify key influencers in their communities. In the training also the youth were exposed on how to help their community members fight and prevent the spread of coronavirus in their communities; the importance of observing social distancing, wearing facemasks and hand washing. At the end of the training the participants were asked to write a proposal and 41 of them who had promising proposals were given mini-grants to implement some activities in their communities. The most interesting thing about the mini grant was that youth from different communities in the state were being sub-granted and carried out the activities they proposed in their communities, this had given the sensitization campaigns more acceptance by the community people seeing their sons and daughters were the ones doing the campaign. The sensitization campaigns reached huge number of people including people who in normal campaign could not be reached, but due to the strategies implored by CITAD to trained members of the communities and allow them to sensitize their people had helped the campaign to achieve a lot. Some of the uniqueness of the campaign included Door to Door campaigns where some of the sub-grantees especially females entered house to house to sensitize women in their communities who would not be able to attend town halls meetings and other forms of gathering while others followed people to their religious gathering like mosques and churches and trained them on the importance of adhering to Covid19 protocols.

During the project some of the sub-grantees produced different types of locally hand-made sanitizers, hand wash, trained women in their communities on how to produce hand wash and hand sanitizer and how to be resilient during the pandemic while others developed messages on fliers on Covid19 protocols and distributed in their communities. At religious places, the sub-grantees distributed fliers produced and pasted banners at entrances containing Covid19 protocols. To ensure inclusiveness, three of the beneficiaries of the mini grants conducted their activities at People Living with Disabilities communities. While one of them was a disabled the other two were trained signing language facilitators.

In order ensure the message has reach every corner in the state, the centre also sponsored three different radio programs. Two were at Vision FM and Express Radio called Yaki Da Cutar Korona and Mu Kare Kanmu Daga Cutar Korona respectively. The third program ran on Arewa Radio, another popular station in the state. These programs were designed to enlighten the people about Covid19 and all the necessary information people needed to know about the pandemic. The programs which were being aired weekly used to invite professionals to come and discuss on a specific topics each week.

Similarly, when schools resumed in the state, CITAD felt it was important to train the state’s teachers on adjusting to new normal and NCDC guidelines as regards to reopening schools. In this aspect, CITAD trained 180 teachers from Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board and Kano State Science and Technical Management Board who are expected to go back to their schools and also step down the training to their follow teachers and students to ensure the safety of the teachers and students at schools.

To promote literacy and devise other ways in sending messages in the society, the Centre also supported and sponsored the publication of 1000 copies of selected poems on Covid19 which is being developed into a book titled Corona Blues.

Other intervention made by the Centre includes production of short campaign videos and serving as the Secretariat of Kano Against Covid19 Committee. Kano Against Covid19 is an initiative of Kano State concerned citizens and Civil Society leaders set up to mobilize support for the Covid19 pandemic in Kano State

Ali Sabo is the Communication Officer and Coordinator Covid-19 Project, CITAD.  He can be reached either by his email address: asabo@citad.org or his twitter handle: @a_sabo12

How CITAD Is Fighting Covid-19 In Kano State

By Ali Sabo

“Coronaviruses are zoonotic, which are normally transmitted between animals and people. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by a new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that has not been previously identified in humans. It was first reported to WHO on the 31st of December, 2019 in Wuhan, China.” (NCDC)

 

On 27 February, Nigeria confirmed its first case of Covid-19 in Lagos State by an Italian citizen working in Nigeria when he returned to the country on February 25th from Milan, a city identified as an epi centre of the virus then through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

 

In late April, precisely on 25th of April, 2020 Kano State recorded its index case of the disease. Prior to the reportage of the index case in the State, the state government had taken of measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Kano as one of the country’s centres of commerce and a major trade hub in the northern region would be a catastrophe and difficult to control a pandemic of this kind if allow to escalate.

 

Even before the index case of the virus in Kano State, as part of its contribution to ensuring the protection of the citizens’ lives in the state, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) had been issuing press releases to draw the attention of people in authority on the need to implement preventive measures in the state, like banning gathering of large number of people, proper monitoring of the state’s borders to stop others from entering the state from any border, co-opting of citizens groups to any committee that would be formed, sensitizing religious leaders on Covid19, setting up a public awareness committee on Covid19 and ensure compliance of the preventive measures as set up by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and World Health Organization (WHO).

 

At the peak of the prevalence of the virus in the state, CITAD intensified its efforts on awareness creation on the need for the citizens to adhere to the Covid19 protocols in the state. This was done using different social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Part of this campaign was the Twitter Chat with hashtag #CITADAgainstCOVID19 initiated by the Centre which is being conducted twice every week.  In the twitter chat, experts from every profession i.e. health, media, policy makers, academicians, social influencers etc. are being invited to discuss on specific topic in order to educate the public and raise awareness and enlighten the public about the importance of following the WHO and NCDC guidelines.

 

However, as the campaign continued to garner momentum, the Centre got a support from MacArthur Foundation and International Institute of Education where it expanded its interventions with training of 120 youth in Kano State on various ways in responding to Covid19. Given the need to observe social distancing, the training was conducted online. The youth during the training were taught how to develop messages, how to use social media to create awareness on Covid19. They were also trained on community mobilization, persuasion and how to identify key influencers in their communities. In the training also the youth were exposed on how to help their community members fight and prevent the spread of coronavirus in their communities; the importance of observing social distancing, wearing facemasks and hand washing. At the end of the training the participants were asked to write a proposal and 41 of them who had promising proposals were given mini-grants to implement some activities in their communities. The most interesting thing about the mini grant was that youth from different communities in the state were being sub-granted and carried out the activities they proposed in their communities, this had given the sensitization campaigns more acceptance by the community people seeing their sons and daughters were the ones doing the campaign. The sensitization campaigns reached huge number of people including people who in normal campaign could not be reached, but due to the strategies implored by CITAD to trained members of the communities and allow them to sensitize their people had helped the campaign to achieve a lot. Some of the uniqueness of the campaign included Door to Door campaigns where some of the sub-grantees especially females entered house to house to sensitize women in their communities who would not be able to attend town halls meetings and other forms of gathering while others followed people to their religious gathering like mosques and churches and trained them on the importance of adhering to Covid19 protocols.

 

During the project some of the sub-grantees produced different types of locally hand-made sanitizers, hand wash, trained women in their communities on how to produce hand wash and hand sanitizer and how to be resilient during the pandemic while others developed messages on fliers on Covid19 protocols and distributed in their communities. At religious places, the sub-grantees distributed fliers produced and pasted banners at entrances containing Covid19 protocols. To ensure inclusiveness, three of the beneficiaries of the mini grants conducted their activities at People Living with Disabilities communities. While one of them was a disabled the other two were trained signing language facilitators.

 

In order ensure the message has reach every corner in the state, the centre also sponsored three different radio programs. Two were at Vision FM and Express Radio called Yaki Da Cutar Korona and Mu Kare Kanmu Daga Cutar Korona respectively. The third program ran on Arewa Radio, another popular station in the state. These programs were designed to enlighten the people about Covid19 and all the necessary information people needed to know about the pandemic. The programs which were being aired weekly used to invite professionals to come and discuss on a specific topics each week.

 

Similarly, when schools resumed in the state, CITAD felt it was important to train the state’s teachers on adjusting to new normal and NCDC guidelines as regards to reopening schools. In this aspect, CITAD trained 180 teachers from Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board and Kano State Science and Technical Management Board who are expected to go back to their schools and also step down the training to their follow teachers and students to ensure the safety of the teachers and students at schools.

 

To promote literacy and devise other ways in sending messages in the society, the Centre also supported and sponsored the publication of 1000 copies of selected poems on Covid19 which is being developed into a book titled Corona Blues.

 

Other intervention made by the Centre includes production of short campaign videos and serving as the Secretariat of Kano Against Covid19 Committee. Kano Against Covid19 is an initiative of Kano State concerned citizens and Civil Society leaders set up to mobilize support for the Covid19 pandemic in Kano State

 

Ali Sabo is the Communication Officer and Coordinator Covid-19 Project, CITAD.

He can be reached either by his email address: asabo@citad.org or his twitter handle: @a_sabo12