World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated annually on 5 June and is the United Nations‘ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. First held in 1974, it has been a platform for raising awareness on environmental issue such as marine pollution, human overpopulation, global warming, sustainable consumption and wildlife crime. World Environment Day was established in 1972 by the United Nations at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (June 5-16, 1972) that had resulted from discussions on the integration of human interactions and the environment. Two years later, in 1974 the first WED was held with the theme “Only One Earth”. 

Also, as part of its efforts to help in safeguarding the environment the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD has for many years been organizing different kind of activities ranging from public lectures, town hall meetings, road walks, twitter chats and radio programs in order to enlighten the public about the importance of keeping their environment safe and clean in order to protect it from disaster, erosion, pollution and rising global warming and also to warn them about the danger to polluting it. This year, like every other year the Centre organized a roundtable discussion with its Executive Director, Engineer Yunusa Zakari Ya’u as the discussant and Malam Aminu Aliyu of the Department of Economics, Bayero University, Kano as the moderator. The tittle of this year’s lecture was Circular Economy in the ICT Sector. 

In his welcome remarks which served as the opening of the discussion, Engr. Ya’u focused his discussion about the importance of a circular economy and why Nigeria and Nigerians should adopt it in order to generate more jobs and avoid societal pollution. Part of the advantages of the circular economy as identified to Malam Ya’u are, the circular economy helps to improve resources’ performance and fight the volatility that climate change might bring to businesses. It has benefits that are operational as well as strategic and brings together a huge potential for value creation within the economical, business, environmental and societal spheres. However, during the discussion, Ya’u also lamented that over the years Nigeria has become a dumping ground of second hand ICT goods whether be it is electronics; refrigerators, televisions, radios, handsets, and also plastics waste which littered every corner of our environment.  Which according him is not healthy for the country. Going further, Malam Ya’u said experts are looking at this in three dimensions: a. Environmental Hazard: which health experts considered as harmful to environment; b. Job Creation: in many instance the waste is generating a lot of jobs and new business opportunities to teeming employed people who are going round to pick those waste and sale it to recyclers and the third dimension that is the Development Partners who see environment as part of the sustainable development goal, these category of people see waste as challenge to creating a sustainable development environment. In concluding his remarks, Engineer Ya’u identified two major challenges of creating circular economy in the country as lack of infrastructures and awareness he also called on the authorities to ensure the speedy passage of favorable policies for recycling in the country.

While making contributions, some of the participants at the roundtable discussion believe that with proper awareness creation and favorable policies circular economy especially in the ICT sector will boost the country’s economy, save the environment and reduce waste pollution. Also another contributor highlighted that recycling of ICT waste in Nigeria which are normally done in either China, Europe or America will create millions of jobs to Nigerians if government pay more attention to it and ensure a favorable environment where it can be done here.

At the end of the discussion there were unanimous agreements that awareness creation and intensive advocacy to relevant agencies and engagements with government need to be intensified in other to preserve, sustain and save our environment. 

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) on Wednesday, 9th June, 2021, held career talk on the computer profession for students of secondary schools.

The career talk which held at Government Girls Secondary School (GSS), Sani Mai Nagge, Gwale Local Government of Kano State is part of the ongoing programme of CITAD to enlighten school communities on the importance of ICTs as well as sensitize students to take career in the computer profession.

 

The event held at the school computer laboratory Hall. The key presentation was made by Muktar Sulaiman who in his speech stressed the need for girls to make effort to acquire ICT knowledge.

 

He said given the current educational backwardness of the north, only by embracing ICTs would we be able to bridge the gap. It is necessary for each and every one of you to acquire ICTs knowledge” Mukhtar Suleiman added.

 

On his part the Training Officer of Centre, Malam Kamilu Isa encouraging the secondary school girls to pursue ICT related careers and this will expose them to new trends in technologies that can be applied in various industry sectors.

 

He added that the application of ICT in learning enables girls and women to have equal quality education, which leads to personal development, allowing them to manage their lives.  There is the need to instill confidence among girls so that they can be as good as men in both using and improving technology.

 

The human resources of the Centre Halima, Sa’idu Nayaya, said that without doubt, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), sector remains a fast growing area with limitless possibilities for national and international development, and the sector offers enormous empowerment opportunities to diverse people across the globe.

 

He added that it is sad to note that despite the boundless opportunities it presents, fewer girls and young women are actually getting involved in the sector.

 

He also encouraged girls to take to careers in ICT, because it would help solve lots of socio – economic problems.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has presented hate speech books to journalists in Adamawa State to raise awareness on hate speech and corruption.

CITAD senior programme officer, Isa Garba, said the best way to tackle hate speech and corruption is for the society not to support the perpetrators.

The presentation of the two books: “Context and content in hate speech discourse in Nigeria” and “The compromised state, how corruption sustains insecurity in Nigeria” is in line with CITAD’s culture of documentation of development.

Garba lauded the role journalists play in advocacy and urged them to pass the message to the general public in a simplified manner.

He expessed worry that hate speech has been identified as major cause of religious and ethnic crisis especially among politicians regardless of its consequences on the society.

Garba noted that in order to guard against the intergenerational transfer of hate speech, CITAD adopted a system that crowd source what is perceived as hate speech which is analysed using hate speech monitors.

He said CITAD is championing sensitisation of the public on the effect of such negative tendencies, while urging NBC to intensify efforts and ensure punitive measure on defaulters.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has presented hate speech books to journalists in Adamawa State to raise awareness on hate speech and corruption.

CITAD senior programme officer, Isa Garba, said the best way to tackle hate speech and corruption is for the society not to support the perpetrators.

The presentation of the two books: “Context and content in hate speech discourse in Nigeria” and “The compromised state, how corruption sustains insecurity in Nigeria” is in line with CITAD’s culture of documentation of development.

Garba lauded the role journalists play in advocacy and urged them to pass the message to the general public in a simplified manner.

He expessed worry that hate speech has been identified as major cause of religious and ethnic crisis especially among politicians regardless of its consequences on the society.

Garba noted that in order to guard against the intergenerational transfer of hate speech, CITAD adopted a system that crowd source what is perceived as hate speech which is analysed using hate speech monitors.

He said CITAD is championing sensitisation of the public on the effect of such negative tendencies, while urging NBC to intensify efforts and ensure punitive measure on defaulters.

AN UNDEMOCRATIC AND UNACCEPTABLE ACTION

Text of Press Conference by the Executive Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Y. Z. Ya’u, on the government announcement suspending operations of Twitter in Nigeria, added on Saturday, June 5, 2021 at Kano

 

I will like to welcome you to this press conference and please accept our apology for the rather short notice we gave you. This is due to the subject of the matter and the urgency with which it deserves response.

Yesterday, the Federal Government, through its Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed announced the suspension of the operations of Twitter in Nigeria. This suspension followed the action of Twitter in deleting a tweet by President Mohammed Buhari which the platform concluded had violated its community standards.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) expresses shock with such an ill-advised action by the Government. We are surprised that the president could allowed himself to be wrongly advised. The quality of advice that he received shows an extremely level of ignorance of the working of Over the top (OTTs) in the world.

First, Twitter does not need to be in Nigeria for its business to strive. By suspending its operation in the country the government is not hurting the interests of Twitter but rather jeopardising the jobs of the Nigerian staff of Twitter and more fundamentally, derogating the right of Nigerians to freedom of expression which is guaranteed in both our constitution and in the Africa Peoples and Human Rights which Nigeria is a signatory to, among other covenants of human rights.

The platforms of OTTs are important component of the internet, access to which the UN has decided as constituting a fourth generation of rights that all citizens should enjoy. By shutting down access to Twitter for the millions of Nigerians, the government has totally curtailed the rights of Nigerians to this service.

Second, it shows the lack of understanding of the state of technology in the world. Many countries have unsuccessfully tried to block social media access for their citizens, but the increasing number of by-pass technologies means that such an action is fruitless and rather a drain on useful resource that could be used to support educating citizens on how to use the internet.

Third, when government argues that Twitter was selective in punishing misuse of its platform, it betrays a lack of understanding of the issues at hand. Twitter like, any other OTTs, has its community standards. Violating any of these standards elicits punishment which ranges from deletion to suspension and to even outright ban on the platform. One of the standards is that no message that is threatening violence against other people should be allowed on the platform. Clearly the President message was a threat to violence. It does not matter that he was responding to a violent situation. That other people had in the past made similar messages and were not so punished is not an argument for two wrongs do not make a right.

It only illustrates the fourth nativity of the government. When the Government or the President noticed that some people were spreading messages inciting or inviting violence, what they ought to do was to flag this off with Twitter. Once a message is flagged the relevant OTT (in this case Twitter) is duty bound to respond to it by taking action. When it is dissatisfied with the action taken, it can appeal the case and in the case of Facebook, it has a global Independent Board of Oversight which deals with controversial appeals and whose decisions or rulings are binding on the OTT.

The other aspect of the naivety of the government response is that it does not understand the nature of hate speech for which it has over a long period been pushing for a legislation. One of the key attributes of hate speech for it to catalyse into violence is that it should have a powerful speaker. That powerful speaker can earn his or her status on the basis of statutory power (such as a President) or love such as celebrity or cultural assets such respected community leaders or even religious capital in the case of religious leaders. What a powerful speaker does is that he makes the audience to commit the call to action embedded in his or her message. They could act the call to action either because they fear the speaker or love her or him or has institution of violence that could do his or her bidding. In the Nigerian context, clearly President Buhari is a powerful speaker who earned his status because of the office he occupies but also, additionally, because he has political and probably, ethnic followers. His message has a clear call to action which is to incite violence against his target. It is clear that his message, given his position as President has the potential to catalyse violence. It is entirely different from a riffraff ranting on twitter.

However, all these are by the way, the substantive issue for us is that we see in the act of the president a vicious intolerance of dissenting views. What Twitter had done was a mild criticism of the President but the president responded with an over kill. Clearly if President Buhari where the President of USA when twitter banned President Trump, he probably could have ordered the army to take over the company and dragged its management and owners to prison.

This intolerance of dissenting views is dangerous to democracy and unacceptable. It also is unnecessary and uncalled for given the situation that Nigeria is in, a situation that requires building bridges through effective communication rather than one of responding in kind.

We also fear that this act is preamble to the long ambition of the government to control access to the social media in the country. Over the last six years, it has tried to do this through legislation unsuccessfully and now it wants use the response by Twitter to start a piece meal effort. This is acceptable, undemocratic and unconstitutional.

We call on the government to withdraw its suspension and allow Twitter to carry out its legitimate business unhindered. The government should allow Nigerians unhindered access to the platform. What the Government ought to do is to begin to educate and enlighten citizens on how to use the social media and not how to prevent them from using it.

We join millions of other well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians in demanding an immediate restoration of access to Twitter and a proactive safeguard against similar action to other OTTs. We call on the National Assembly to declare the act of the president as illegal and unconstitutional and proceed to provide a legal clarify by enacting a law that prohibits presidents or any other authority from blocking any internet platform. As an organization dedicated to the use of information technology to promote development and good governance, we are prepared to help in the campaign for better use of the internet but even more, we are ready to help Nigerians reclaim their right to access to twitter, among other OTT platforms by building their capacity on by bypass technologies.

 

mujallar citad radio vol 1 issue 5

[gview file=”https://www.citad.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/mujallar-citad-radio-vol-1-issue-5.pdf”]

By Ismail Auwal

 

The Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) in partnership with the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has on Tuesday organized a two-day workshop on data protection in Kano.

 

The Program Officer of the PIN, Khadija Usman, in an interview with SAHELIAN TIMES, said that the data protection workshop was organised to increase awareness on data protection law and set the pace for calling for data protection law. This, according to her, will “help protect Nigerians and their data.”

 

Usman further highlighted that personal data is anything that can be used to identify an individual, which includes bank details.

 

“We want to ensure that this information is protected, and it can’t be accessible to those that can abuse it.”

 

“The workshop is about asking for competent data protection. We want to know who has this data? What are they using it for?” she added.

 

Ali Sabo, a staff of CITAD, told our reporter that the workshop aimed to enlighten the participants on the importance of protecting their data, explore the various ways in which personal data is being used, deliberate on how to pursue government to see the speedy passage of the data protection law in the Nigeria, and engage with the NIMC on digital identity ecosystem in Nigeria.

 

Khalifa Muhammad, a participant of the workshop, told our reporter that he has learned and understood data protection policy and what it means to have his data protected.

 

Participants of the workshop were drawn from the media, Civil Society Organization (CSO), and students.

A ƙoƙarin su na ganin ƴan Najeriya sun fahimci amfani tare da muhimmancin kariya ga bayanan sirri wato Data Protection, a yau Talata ƙungiyar Paradigm Intiattive Nigeria (PIN) da haɗin gwiwar Cibiyar bunƙasa fasahar sadarwa da cigaban al’umma CITAD, sun gudanar da wani taro na musamman ga ƙungiyoyin cigaban al’umma da ɗalibai akan muhimmancin lamarin.

 

Taron wanda a gudana a Otal din Bristol Palace da ke Kano, ya mayar da hankali akan wayar da al’umma akan alfanun kare bayanan sirri na mutane.

 

Jami’a a ƙungiyar a ƙungiyar ta Paradigm Intiattive Nigeria (PIN), Khadija Usman ta ce sun shirya taron ne dan ƙara wayar da kan jama’a akan dokar kare bayanai wanda hakan zai taimakawa ƴan Najeriya wajen kare musu bayanan su na sirri.

 

 

 

Khadija Usman ta ƙara da cewa akwai buƙatar kare dukkanin wani bayani da za a iya binciko mutum da shi, wanda ya haɗa da bayanin bankin da mutum ya ke amfani da shi.

 

Ali Sabo, wanda jami’i ne a cibiyar bunƙasa fasahar sadarwa da cigaban al’umma CITAD, ya bayyana cewa babban dalilin shirya taron shi ne a ƙara wayar da kan ƴan Najeriya akan muhimmancin kare bayanan sirri, wanda hakan zai taimaka wajen ganin ta yi gwamanati azama kan rattaba hannu akan dokar kare bayanai.

 

Mahalarta taron dai sun bayyana jin daÉ—insu a game da wannan taro da kungiyar Paradigm Intiattive Nigeria (PIN) da haÉ—in gwiwar Cibiyar CITAD su ka shirya.

 

Haka kuma taron ya samu halarcin kungiyoyin fararen hula da na É—alibai da kuma É—aiÉ—aikun mutane.

 

A Non-governmental Organization (NGO), Centre For Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has advocated for transparency in the process of counter-insurgency efforts in the country.

 

Mr Yunusa Ya’u , The Executive Director, CITAD made the call during the presentation of two books on corruption, insurgency and hate speech on Friday in Bauchi.

 

The two books presented are titled; The Compromised State, ‘How Corruption Sustains Insecurity In Nigeria’ and the ‘Context And Content In Hate Speech.

 

He said there was a need for transparency in all processes of the counter- insurgency efforts in order not to shield any corrupt practice.

 

“It’s imperative to investigate and prosecute all corrupt cases to regain citizens’ trust and reduce excessive.

 

“Prompt payment of entitlement and remuneration of security agencies should be looked into.

 

“Prompt response to information by Community members on suspected cases like activities of the terrorists would go a long way,” he said.

 

Ya’u also expressed dismay over prevalence of hate speech among the diverse people of Nigeria, adding that it has made it impossible for communities to collectively rise up and confront the challenges bedeviling the country.

 

He explained that the books were meant to highlight the challenges of insecurity, corruption and hate speech in the nation.

 

According to him, the three issues were the major constraints facing the country which the government has been unable to surmount.

 

He pointed out that all parts of the country experienced one form of insecurity or another, citing insurgency in the north east, banditry in north west, kidnappings and robbery in other areas.

 

“The second problem mitigating the development of the nation is corruption. Fight against corruption should be intensified so that things could improve for the better in Nigeria.

 

“Proliferation of hate speech has also led to crises and violence in the country,” he said.

 

He added that hate speech divided the country and prevented countrymen from addressing their problems as atrocities were attributed by hate speakers to some section of people instead of viewing them as national issues that should be tackled collectively.

 

He noted that the NGO intervened by highlighting the problems at stake and proffering possible and workable solutions to the problems.