The Centre for Information Technology and Development with support of Lenovo Foundation had on
the 23 rd of June, 2022 organized a One Day Round Table Forum on the Challenges of Seeding and
Nurturing Creativity and Innovation among young Women in Northern Nigeria at Hall B, CITAD. The
Discussion which was chaired by Professor Asabe Sadiya Muhammad, Provost, Aminu Sale College of
Education, Azare had Dr. Sana Muaz of the Department of Software Engineering, Bayero University,
Kano, Aliyu D. Aliyu, an Independent Consultant and Malama Aisha Bako, Managing Director/Chief
Executive Officer, Onyx Investment Advisory Limited, Abuja as the panellists. The discussion is part of
the Centre’s project titled Digital Creativity and Innovation for Girls (DICIG) that will work towards
empowering girls to have access to digital skills in order to address the gender digital divide in
Northern Nigeria with aim to: Provide digital skills training for 200 girls (100 per year), to produce 80
digital entrepreneurs (40 per year) and create 160 new digital jobs for girls (80 per year)
Selected participants were: girls between the ages of 18-30 who have a minimum secondary school
education and are from Bauchi, Gombe and Kano States in addition to having an interest in building
and running their business.
Giving an update of the project at the forum, the program officer of the project, Engineer
Kamaluddeen Umar said the three main objectives of the project are to: Provide digital skills training
for 200 girls (100 per year), to produce 80 digital entrepreneurs (40 per year), and create 160 new
digital jobs for girls (80 per year). Speaking about how the project will be conducted, Engineer
Kamaluddeen stated that the program will be conducted on phases. The phase one of the project
will be on the Basis Digital skills which will last for one month and it is expected that the participants
will undergo a 20-hour basic digital literary consisting of Introduction to Windows, Microsoft word,
Excel, PowerPoint and internet application while the phase two of the project will concentrate on
advance Digital Skills which will also last for another one month. Participants at this stage will
undergo another 30-hour module of advance digital skills. The phase three of the project will look at
business ideation which will take participants two months. He went further to state that the phase
four and five of project will give the participants the opportunities to learn business development
support services and Transition to market.
At the end, he mentioned that a second level of selection will be conducted at the end of the digital
basic skills training where participants will be selected based on the followings: performance at the
digital skills training phase, interest to continue and preparation and submission of a business idea.
Speaking at the panel of discussion, one of the panelists, Aliyu D. Aliyu, an Independent Consultant
started by lamenting that there are a lot of challenges with regards to socio- economic and cultural
role in society, he went further to say that over 70% of businesses in the country are controlled and
owned by men and there are small number of women role models in the society which is affecting
the development and creativity of young women in the society.
Speaking about problems solving, Mr. Aliyu stated that women are very creative and good problems
solvers, all the young women needed now is thinking outside the box. He mentioned that to be
successful nowadays one has to be creative using digital devices, get inspired by others and have a
mentor. Mr. Dahiru said getting a mentor will help one to realize his dreams and bring out his

creativity. Citing an example at the discussion, the speaker said there are a lot of young women who
are making huge amount of money by using their talents and creativity online; what one needs is
just to sit and think outside the box and come up with new innovation.
Advising the young women at the forum, Mr. Dahiru said young women need to use their time in a
way that will better their lives, use social media in an effective and rewarding way, set their priorities
and know how to achieve them. He also advised that in doing business one needs to know that what
matter most is herself only, think of the way to get grant and create a great business.
Also speaking at the forum, Dr. Sana Muaz of the Department of Software Engineering, Bayero
University, Kano started by narrating about her own life, Dr. Sana said she grew up in an area where
girls are given less priority and attention. Dr. Sana also said that she met with many obstacles while
growing up but passion and zeal to excel made her to keep going. Speaking about the importance of
ICT, Dr. Sana stated that for women to be economically independent they need to embrace ICT, and
for this to happen young girls need to be nurtured. Discussing on starting new and innovative
business by young women in the society, Dr. Muaz said starting a new business is not the challenge
but how to sustain it and bring good vision into it. She stated that the issue of competition needs to
be looked at; young entrepreneurs needs to be creative and innovative in starting their businesses,
don’t just go into business because others are making profit out of it, create your own brand. She
added
Advising the young girls at the forum, Dr. Sana said this society is a male dominated society but
women need to work hard to penetrate into it, however, in trying to penetrate, she advised the
participants not lose their women self because one day they will be role model to other women. Do
not be discouraged by failure and what people will say about you, focus on what you believe is good
and work tirelessly towards its success.
In her contribution, Malama Aisha Bako started by lamenting that most of the apps being created
are being developed by men which made the applications to be women biased and not addressing
most of the women needs. By this Malama Aisha said women need to be involving themselves and
equip themselves with better ICT knowledge in order to compete in this competitive world. She
went further to say women can make a lot of money on social media if they utilize the platforms well
instead of creating nuisance and making the platforms for chatting and fun. According to her,
platforms like TikTok and Instagram are paying and bring huge amount of money to those that know
how to use them well. Speaking further, Malama Aisha said there are many young women who are
selling their products using technology tools. Giving an example, Malama Aisha mentioned that she
knows of a woman that is selling tomatoes in a modernized way, where she package it in a crate to
send it to her customers in Lagos and the products are being purchased on social media page she
created.
Closing the discussion, the chairperson of the forum, Professor Asabe S. Mohammed commended
CITAD for coming up with this initiative, she stated that even though this is not the first time CITAD is
organizing this kind of program but this one is unique looking at the approach of the program and
the different components its contains. She went further to state that nurturing young girls and
women is key to the development of women nowadays and this particular one is timely looking at
how young women are being abandoned in the society. At the end she urged the participants to
seize the opportunity and the challenge thrown at them to better their lives and the society at large.

Introduction.

The centre for information technology and development CITAD have organized pair to pair meeting on 27th of june 2022 with some Itas youths Groups at Itas, Itas/Gadau local government area, bauchi state, to discuss matters concerning the community network project and other business related issues .

The meeting
The meeting had kicked up with very fewer participation, although alot have been discussed and meaningful advises were brought out.
It has began with seven (7) agendas as follows:

1) opening prayers – Volunteer
2) Purpose of the meeting – Muneeb Yusuf
3) Recap of the previous consultative meeting which has the presence of ED and CN project coordinator. Muneeb Yusuf & Gambo Idris
4) Request for patronizing with CITAD at international democracy day – Muneeb Yusuf.
5) structure of community network (CN) advocacy – All
6) AoB – All
7) closing prayers – Volunteer

Mal. Ahmad Abdullahi from CENTRE FOR ADOLESCENTS HEALTH AND RIGHT (CAHAR) opened the meeting with prayers wich was followed by the purpose of the meeting by muneeb.

Muneeb had stated that CITAD wants to create a cordial relationship with each and every youth groups/organization of itas community and all it’s neighboring community organization in order to make impact in the use of digital technology and it’s applicable.

He added that; “that is why centre for information technology and development (CITAD) and association for prograssive communications (APC) are always taking a heap steps forward in Connecting the unconnected communities by coming up with this project called community network, it has come to our notice that the federal government had a research anylisys that there are about 1.5 million people in Nigeria who doesn’t have internet connectivity and even access to network entirely.

Hence, we want you to be our counterparts in an advocacy and any possible way of actualizing this project of community network for the benefits of this community” he then at the end thank all those who make it possible to be present here today.

Alh. Gambo Idris (D.O) from CITAD board of trustees, had also spoke about structuring the community network (CN) advocacy, he made mentioned of opening an organizational bank account for Itas community network as first step forward, and he says “Itas CN might even request for loan from bank in actualizing this very project i.e(CN project) were necessary.”

He says there’s need of taxing ourselves to in order to fences our piece of land to show concern and a straight way forward for donors (local champions) to donate, because no one could be serious about donating if there are no any tangible progress towards the establishment so far .

CITAD is going to celebrate an international democracy day in itas this year, were muneeb had spoken about patronizing and publicizing the event as much as possible please. Yusuf Ahmad from itas youths associations (IYA) has advised to design a branded 👕
T-shirts with P-caps for that international democracy day, wich could be written “CITAD” boldly from the top back of that shirt and “International Democracy Day 2022” from the front, this will really make the appearance of the event condussive and will be very serious event.
He then says that who ever is interested in that attire shirt should pay and get, that could make it historocal and it will publicly speak it self and CITAD as a whole as the name implies.

During the AOB, Gambo Idris had also appeal that, any of the CITAD capacity building should now henceforth turn physically instead of virtual for what he calls better comprehending.

Lastly, Auwalu magaji who’s a media and publicity for Itas Youths association (IYA) had declare his stepped down from his position, because he doesn’t have smartphone, therefore he shouldn’t deserves to be residing in the position as it requires social media participation which could not be done with out standard smartphone.

Task and comitee.
1) Muneeb is given a task to go and investigate how much will it cost to open an organizational bank account in zenith and first banks, this is to be ready on or before 17th July, 2022.
2) Muneeb and Nuraddeen have also ask to draft an advocacy structure an calendar of it

3) Next meeting would be for only the executives of those youths Groups, before the general congress meeting on 17th July, 2022.
3) Everybody have agree on Mandate of monthly meeting wich should be at the end of each month.
4) Abdumumini Zakariya who is the program coordinator, itas youths association would bring a quotes of the branded 👕 T-shirts and caps.

Muneeb Yusuf
Technical assistant and CITAD-Itas Training officer

Centre for Information Technology and Development

ADVERT FOR THE SECOND NIGERIAN SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY NETWORKS (NSCN)

 

Introduction 

The centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support from the forum commonwealth and development office (FCDO) through the association for progressive communications (APC) is accepting applications for the second iteration of the Nigerian School of Community Networks (NSCN). The Nigeria School of Community Network (NSCN) is composed of students that are passionate about supporting the establishment of community networks in their respective localities. The school in its efforts to get qualified students is also careful in obtaining applications that will meet the required classroom number for the school. There is an admission limit to guide how many students the school can accommodate with emphasis on those that can potentially display some level of competence in terms of IT skills, community mobilization, resource mobilization and inclusion amongst others. 

Basic information: 

All applicants must be from within the seven communities of (Itas, Jama’are, Kafanchan, Tungan Ashere, Dakwa, Pasepa and Leleyi Gwari). Applicants can be male or female but must be between 18 to 35 years of age. Females are particularly encouraged to apply. The school will run in three phases: 

1. A physical session for two weeks (conventional setting) – lectures and practicals will be conducted 
2. An online session for two weeks 
3. Mentorship for two months (hybrid) 

 

Educational background and age: 

Applicants must obtain a minimum certificate of secondary school, a basic computer appreciation course and be able to operate computers. Higher qualification is another advantage.   

 

There will be attendance to serve as a metric for performance evaluation upon which a certificate will be issued at the end of the school. A student must have 75% attendance in all three phases of the school. 

 

In addition, the applicants must meet there following criteria:

1. She/he must have been involved in the activities of any of the seven micro-organizations (submit a letter of attestation from the head or coordinator of the micro-organization concerned)
2. She/he must not have attended a previous edition of the School of Community Networks 
3. She/he must submit a what contribution she/he will offer to the community networks in their community 
4. The applicant is ready to transport himself/herself to the venue of the school (the fellowship covers accommodation, feeding and cost of training)
5. She/he is ordinarily resident in the locality of the micro-organization that he is coming from

 

 Application procedure: 

Interested applicants should submit their applications to the following email (haruna@citad.org).   All applications are to reach the coordinator of the school on or before 6/07/2022. No application will be considered at the end of the stated date.

 

Policy of the school: 

1. NSCN shall provide admission equally to all students of the communities irrespective of their colour, gender, religion or disability, to all the rights, privileges, activities and programs offered by the school 
2. NSCN will comply with the guide and directives provided by the advisory committee of the community network project regarding limitations on total enrolment 
3. All admission policies and criteria for admission are consistent with the school’s documents including the curriculum and other study materials approved by CITAD and the advisory committee  

 

Timelines for admission/selection:

Applications open from 22/06/2022, close on 06/07/2022, and a list of successful candidates will be released on 10/07/2022.

 

General requirement: 

1. The candidate must submit a letter of recognition from a community leader as a basis for consideration 
2. Students will be asked to make an undertaking at the end of the school for shared commitments to sustain the community networks   

 

For more details about the school, visit ww.citad.org/nscn

As part of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) engagement with people living with Disabilities, on Friday 17th June, 2022, CITAD conducted one-day panel discussion on ICTs and People Living with Disabilities. The objective of the panel discussion was to initiate and contribute in mobilizing and amplifying voice of people living with disabilities to demand accountability on issues that affect them. A research has shown that there are over 20 million people living with different types of disabilities in Nigeria. Digital migration of basic services threatening to leave them behind, many people living with disabilities, especially those with hearing and vision impairments, are facing challenges, as there are limited spaces for them to learn, access and use ICTs. One of the tools for demanding accountability today is social media. Of course using social media requires skill. The forum titled ‘Disabilities, ICTs and the Quest for Inclusive Development’, held at CITAD Annex, Women Development Centre, Court Road, Kano discussed challenges that people living with Disabilities face in accessing and using ICTs and attended by about 40 people living with different types of disabilities from across the state.

Malam Ali Sabo, CITAD Media and Communication Officer welcomed the participants on behalf of CITAD Executive Director Engr. Yunusa Ya’u. He extended the warm greeting of the Executive Director to the participants and informed that the panel discussion is part of CITAD wider project on accountability and good governance in Nigeria titled ‘Mobilizing and Catalyzing Citizens Actions for Accountable Election and Governance in Nigeria’. The wider objectives of the project were as follows:

1. Galvanizing citizens’ voice to demand accountability from both candidates and parties, including mainstreaming gender, disability and other diversity inclusion in our electoral system 
2. To activate citizen agency for change to act towards rewording accountability and punishing corruption through the electoral process 
3. To generate critical mass of citizen active engagement with issues of accountability and anti-corruption in the context of the elections

He informed that today’s activity was not a one off activities but part of series of activities including radio programs for people with disability to be discussing issues affecting them and raising accountability. There is also training on how to use social media for accountability and how corruption is affecting the lives of some of their members in  short video documentaries, and series of advocacies. He finally encouraged the participants to feel free and speak out on issues that affect them as CITAD focuses on how to support and amplify their voice in order to demand for accountability, especially on issues that affect them directly.  

Professor Jibrin I Diso Department of Special Education, Bayero University, Kano, chaired the panel discussion. He thanked CITAD for organizing the panel discussion and admitted that CITAD is the only organization that cares about People living with Disabilities in the state. He added that in his experience beside CITAD, Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) has been trying to support and improve public services for Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria and PERL is not an indigenous organization. Prof. Diso expressed his satisfaction with mixture of the participants in the panel discussion. He stated that the most common categories of people with special needs included the following, People with vision impairment, People with hearing impairment, People with speech difficulties, People who are physically challenged and there are some with multiple disabilities. Adding that from the general introduction the panel discussion has representation from all these groups. 

Phar Tech. Auwalu Adamu Abdullahi is an interpreter from the department of Special Education, Bayero University, Kano made the first presentation. He presented paper titled ‘Understanding the Challenges of People Living with Disabilities in Accessing and Using ICTs’. In his paper, people of differing abilities face diverse challenges in accessing the Internet. The same Web site can offer opportunities for one group and excludes another. For example, regarding Web-based distance education, it has opened opportunities for persons with physical disabilities to take courses online, but if such persons also have weak or limited function of hands and fingers, their participation in the course may be limited or impossible. Similarly, a Web-enabled mobile device with a touch screen is wonderful to a user with a hearing impairment and yet horrendous to a user with a visual impairment, if it is not designed to provide alternative methods for interactions. He mentioned the following as major challenges that affect PWDs directly and indirectly. Lack of fund, insufficient of the ICTs devices, inappropriate chosen of the ICTs devices for PLWDs, installations of the softwares and calibrations of the ICTs devices.

The second presentation was made by Bilkisu Ado Zango, Zonal Coordinator, National Association of People with Physical Disability, Kano. She made presentation on ‘How People Living with Disabilities Use Digital Technology to Create Voice on Issues Affecting Them?’ She explained that PWDs can use technology especially social media to create voice because technology can lower barriers that people with disabilities encounter in their daily lives, such as speaking, travelling, reading, and writing. It can allow them to participate and enjoy the benefits of the digital society, with the same access to information as everyone. She added that social media allows people with disability to tell their own stories on their own terms, as well as feel connected to a community. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the potential for making significant improvements in the lives of persons with disabilities, allowing them to enhance their social, cultural, political and economic integration in communities by enlarging the scope of activities available to them. 

Malam Isyaku Garba, CITAD Program Coordinator made the last presentation. His paper addressed the training needs of People Living with Disabilities and highlited the possible solutions. He categorized the challenges according to the categories of people living with disabilities as follows: 

1. Institutions are struggling with relevant personnel such as sign language readers and interpreters and cannot afford to have a set for each faculty or department. Hence they have as pool in the department of special education. 
2. Institutions have structures, including libraries, laboratories, lecture halls, that have been built without consideration for the needs of students with disabilities.
3. The lack of policies on disabilities and or policy on ICTs for Disabilities means that many lecturers do not know how to integrate students with special needs in their classes 
4. Institutions are lacking staff who have been specially trained to lecture and guide students with special needs.

Challenges with respect to vision impaired students

1. Like physically challenged, they have the problem of mobility and therefore of physical access to digital resources.
2. No training facilities and programmes for such students in the computer centers of the institutions.
3. There is no sufficient number of sign language interpreters of the institutions.
4. Digital resources such as e-books, e-journals etc have no appropriate voice interface for students with vision impairment to use them.
5. There are no training facilities or programmes for this category of students to learn to use digital system in the institutions.

Challenges to digital inclusion with respect to Visual impairment includes:  

1. When projectors are used in lecture rooms, students with vision impairment cannot see what is being projected on the screen.
2. There is no braille equipment ( except in the departments of Special Education. Consequently, examination and assignment questions have to be read for them and even when there is braille support (mostly on a personal basis) most staff, except in Special Education, and do not know how to read braille.
3. Lack of policy and poor appreciation of needs of these students have seen a number of lecturers preventing or stopping vision impaired students from recording lectures, which they need as they cannot write lectures when there are no supported systems for braille recording ( except on personal basis).

4. Digital resources do not have appropriate interface for this category of students, and therefore, even if they have physical access, they do not have terms of using the systems.
5. There are no training facilities or programmes for this category of students.
6. As admission and registration portals are disability friendly. Such students have to be assisted to register and in some cases the people assisting them with the registration make mistakes on the courses of study and this cannot easily be found out.   

The paper then proposed the following:

Governments:

1. Review the National Disability Policy to include provision to address the challenges of people with special needs in accessing and using digital system in the country.
2. Encourage all institutions of higher learning to develop and implement a disability policy that address the digital needs of students with special needs.
3. Articulate and Implement National Digital Inclusion Agenda that addresses, among other thing, the digital marginalization of people living with disabilities.
4. Direct relevant ICT-related authorities, such as NITDA, USPF etc to support initiative aimed at addressing the barriers of people living with disabilities from accessing and using ICTs.
5. Support the production of devices and software for people with disabilities to access and use digital system for educational purposes.   
6. Encourage the Joint Matriculation Board (JAMB) to establish more special centers for people with disabilities to sit for UME.
7. Enforce the implementation of the National Curriculum of Education which makes computer studies compulsory at the secondary school level and make sure that children with disabilities are catered for.
8. State government to ensure that all schools for children with special needs and those in conventional schools have access to ICT training facilities.

 

Institutions of Learning:

1. Develop and implement the ICT policy much in the line that the Gender policy was promoted to protect the students living with disabilities from discrimination and abuse and ensure that they properly incorporated into academic process by making available all the necessary disability assistance in teaching and study aids.  
2. Review their ICT policies to incorporate the needs of students (and staff) living with disabilities, such that they can have to and use ICTs as tools for academic work.
3. All admission and registration portals / website of institutions of higher learning should be disability friendly and compliant by providing for content to be accessible for students with vision and hearing impairment.
4. Institutions should not derail the ambition of people living with disabilities by deny them the courses they are interesting (discrimination). Rather, they should seek for innovative ways that should cater for the need of different disabilities. 
5. Academic staff of institutions should be made to understand the needs of students with special need and be trained on how to handle them in classrooms.
6. Provision should be made for the necessary interface for students of higher learning to engage with digital systems in their education work in the institutions.
7. Institutions should make provision for language interpreters as well as braille equipment and make this widely available across the departments and courses.
8. Improve the design of structures, lecture halls and laboratories to make them accessible for students with special needs.
9. Establish special libraries for the use of students with special needs and ensure that such students access and use all e-books and other digital learning materials. 
10. All institution ICT centers should create space for training students with special needs on digital skills as well as let them access and use the Internet for academic work.
11. Given the people with disabilities constitute about 10% of the national population, all institutions should endeavor to about 10% of their admission space to people with disabilities.
12. Institutions should accurately capture data of the disability at the point of registration and use that data for planning and provisionary purposes
13. There should be uniform practice with respect how people with disabilities admitted into institutions of higher learning in the country. This should relate to the sitting of UME and post-UME examinations. Where institutions are not able to provide facilities for the candidates with disabilities to sit for these examinations, they should wave them or provide alternative test for them. 
14. There is need to sensitized both staff and students inhigher institutions to understand the special needs of students with disabilities and therefore, make staff and lecturers more sensitized to think on how they should mainstream them into their teaching.

Others 

1. ICTs and telecommunication companies should devote a substantial part of their corporate social responsibilities and commitment to support social inclusion of people living with disabilities educationally in schools.
2. CSOs should mount a substantial advocacy for national digital inclusion agenda that will that will mainstream people living with disabilities in national digital space.
3. CSOs should monitor the extent to which institutions of higher learning implement digital inclusion programmes.
4. CSOs should support digital skills provision for people living with disabilities at all levels.
5. Philanthropist should establish centers for people living with disabilities on digital skills.

During the general discussion, participants made the following comments:

• PWDs must learn how to use social media platforms. If PWDs could not make the use of social media it could be difficult for them to attain and achieve their goals as social media platforms are major tools for the demand of accountability everywhere in the world
• CITAD should continue with its engagement with PWDs especially on internet and ICTs
• The issue of PWDs bill is still hanging around in Kano State, CITAD should spearhead for its actualization
• There is need for organizing step down training to larger society of PWDs in Kano to bring everyone involve particularly with regard to the issues raised at this panel discussion
• We shouldn’t limit ourselves on ICTs, there are other challenging issues that affect PWDs in the State
• We must part of Budget processes since from the planning, implementation and monitoring not limiting ourselves to the budget hearing.
• There is PWDs ICT special Center in Zaria, Kaduna State, Kano doesn’t answer her name in this regard. We must stand and see the establishment of such center in Kano state
• I was part of CITAD Digital Livelihood Training, CITAD should organize such training for PWDs
• PWDs used to encounter challenges since from home, I couldn’t be enrolled in primary school in 1976 because of my disability. As part of the polio victims, my parent sent me to beg for money and food on the streets and sent my siblings to school. We must wake up and challenge and change this narration.
• Inclusive education helps and motivates those that are physically okay when they see us among themselves. 
• Ja’iz Bank is the only financial institutions that provides ATMs services for PWDs in Kano
• In developed countries, people with vision impairment can be able to separate monies in contact.

In closing remark, Prof. Jibrin Diso thanked CITAD for giving room for such kind of discussion. He also thanked the participants for their time and words and urged them to be in touch and join hands with CITAD to demand for accountability on issues that affect them.

 

 

 

DATE: 27th MAY 2022
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 112 CHILDREN
Centre for information Technology and Development (CITAD) is a capacity building civil
society organization whose activities covers research, advocacy, training and publicity in all
areas of ICTs. It is geared towards promoting digital inclusion and positioning young people and
women to leverage on information technology for a just society.
Children's day is annually observed in Nigeria on May 27. Statistics has shown that about 42%
of the Nigerian population are children and 1/3 of children aged from 6-14 don't go to schools.
Many children leave schools for different purposes and children's rights are often violated on a
daily basis. More also, 70% of children live below the poverty line. Children are also exposed to
kidnapping, street trading, lack of qualitative education, malnutrition and a host of others.
Due to the above statistics, Centre for information Technology and Development (CITAD) with
funding from Action Aid Nigeria organized a memorable children’s day celebration at FCT rural
communities of Kuchibuyi and Guto in Bwari area council of the FCT.
The objectives of the day’s celebration include: To promote and celebrate children's rights, to
reflect the importance of Children's education, to spread awareness for the parents and ask to
give them an environment where they can thrive and to discourage differentiation between a girl
and boy child. The International Children Day which is celebrated every May 27, aims to create
awareness on their rights, issues that affect children, importance of education and help us
appreciate that they are the future of our societies.
To begin the activity, CITAD programme Officer Yesmin Salako introduced the team to the
community and the community leader, explaining the purpose of the day’s celebration and why
the communities were picked. After which she spoke to the children on the importance of
education in their lives and career paths they want to seek in the future, most of the children were
thrilled listening to the words of advice offered to them. After which fun activities began, to
include dancing, playing and running as it was a fun filled event.

CITAD celebrated 2022 children day by planting hundred (100) tree seedlings (mango, orange,
cashew, and guava) were planted together with hundred children in response to climate change
and contribute to increasing Nigeria’s forest cover. The children are engaged in the tree planting
exercise, in order to make them love and protect trees providing an opportunity for community
engagement and empowerment which improves the quality of life in the neighborhood. The
conservation efforts and efforts to reduce climate change should be extended to the younger
generation,
Highlight of the activity include children fun activities like dancing and playing, after which 100
trees were planted in the community by the children together with their community leader and
CITAD team. The activity was successful because all the hundred trees were planted
successfully and children fun fair, dancing competition was all a success and there was increased
protection and love for trees by the children in the community. The leaders of the communities
took the lead in the tree planting exercise, they were happy CITAD visited their community, to
encourage them on their special day, while admonishing them to be conservative. The leaders
also requested the children to love and protect the trees, as it was a great opportunity.
To bring the day to a close, Mubarak Ekute gave closing remarks by appreciating the community
leader and community facilitators as well as the children who made the day colorful with their
participation and co-operation, as it would not have been possible without them. He also advised
the community to see that most of the plants are watered daily for proper growth, as that was the
purpose of planting the trees.
Most of the children were excited to celebrate the day in a different way and also plant trees in
their surrounding by themselves. As a child at Guto community, Saudat said “I feel happy about
the children’s day because it is my day. I am happy to plant a tree by myself because I have
never planted before”
Speaking to another child, Abu Sufyan also said “I am happy because it is children’s day and I &
my friends planted orange and mango trees in my school. I will always water the tree”.

Challenges; Celebrating the Day in two different communities was tedious, as the time was not
enough to cover the second community extensively.

Introduction:
The meeting was part of the resolutions reached during peer meeting held on 28/4/2022 where the
need to meet with all the seven organizations became necessary, after observing the slow pace, weak
commitments and inadequate understanding of the project by many of them. Apart from the micro-
organizations, similar meeting was conducted with the technical mentors while another with the
advisory committee members will be convened. The essence is to deepen the understanding of the
project and also to get some concrete commitments from the organizations toward delivering the
project’s goal.
It is expected that the outcome of the meeting with these micro-organizations will provide insights for
CITAD to identify possible gaps and prepare ahead of year three of the project. The Executive Director,
coordinator of the SCN and CITAD staff of both Itas and Jama’are attended the meetings.
Objectives of the meeting:
1. To share some successes recorded, challenges and way forward by and for the micro-
organizations
2. Update participants on CITAD’s support to micro-organizations around CNs project
3. To get commitments from the micro-organizations on how they intend to sustain the project
The meeting started with Itas community at about 11;10am. The Dan’masani of Itas and also Board of
Trustee member, Itas Community association Mall Idris opened the session with a prayer. Thereafter,
the training officer CITAD, Itas office Muneeb gave a brief welcome remark.
Jointly, Muneeb and Sani explained some of the achievements made from the commencement of the
project to date as;
1. Step down trainings on social marketing to other community members
2. Organized sensitization on CNs to other community members
3. Conducted evidence-based advocacy to various stakeholders in the community including the
LGC. Here, they were able to obtain a piece of land donated to the organization to serve as a
place to set up the digital center. Approval letter was also obtained from the LG.
4. Successfully attended the NSCN organized by CITAD in Kaduna and equally stepped down the
training to other members
In Jama’are, some of the successes mentioned include the following:
 Successfully stepped down the SCN trainings to other community members
 Secured plot from local government for the CNs project
 The project brought marketers together and learnt more about social marketing which exposed
them to e-marketing
Some of the challenges highlighted by Itas include;
1. Difficulty in getting the attention of community members to understand the need for CNs
Some challenges also shared by Jama’are were:

 Difficulty in getting allocation/approval letter for the donated land (due to bureaucracy)
 Some communication gaps between the micro-organization members and the advisory
members
 On-line meeting challenges (network issues). CITAD is advised to reconsider its online meetings.
Most of Jama’are members missed the one-month online meeting due to network challenge.
 The appointed board of directors are yet to understand the concept of CNs. They require some
tutorials to carry them along
Way forward:
1. The organization agreed to sustain sensitization on CN to larger community
Other comments/observations made includes –
 CITAD urged to conduct a high-level meeting with the state government for their buy-in into the
CNs project
 Source of financing the CN was raised??? Here, CITAD ED explained that, the community is
expected to work/collaborate with the identified champions to in the community to mobilize
resources (technical, finance, human, etc).
Update from CITAD:
CITAD’s executive Director Engr Y Z Ya’u drew the attention of the participants that, CITAD is only
serving as an intermediary on getting CN in Itas and not provider. Also, he explained the following as
part of what CITAD had done and other issues that require clarification;
1. CITAD is collaborating with other partners such as the Infratel and earlier result has shown that,
the company has seen some economic viability of the area and may therefore, wish to venture
into service provision in the area.
2. CITAD has secured registration with CAC for the micro-organizations
3. CITAD is currently working with the national regulatory body (NCC) to register the micro-
organizations as ISPs to access license for practice
4. Community members are encouraged to have the basic skills especially technical on CNs
5. CITAD is also working with other partners such as the ITU, others on follow-up for the approval
of national policy on CN and other supportive activities to create awareness among the policy
makers
6. The community members were made to understand that, the proposed CNs is to serve as
“digital center” beyond internet provision to others such as “empowerment for youth”.
7. A board member of Itas (Dan’masanin Itas, Mall Gambo Idris) pledged to sustain sensitization
and will convene meeting with other CBOs on CNs
The next steps:
COMMUNITY ACTION BY WHO
ITAS Step down to other CBOs on outcome of this
meeting and on the need for CNs generally

Dan’masani to convene the
meeting with support of
Muneeb – CITAD to follow-up

JAMA’ARE CITAD will develop a flier on CNs and distribute
to organizations as package to be used during
advocacy on CNs

CNs project team – Haruna to
follow-up

CITAD To consider training of board of directors of
Jama’are Community Network Limited

CNs project team- Haruna to
follow-up
Itas & Jama’are Use social various media platforms to advocate Itas & Jama’are

for CNs and its policy

Lessons learnt:
 From the two meetings it was observed that, there was assumption by the organizations that
CITAD will deploy all the necessary requirements/equipment to set up a CNs
 The micro-organizations still need aggressive trainings and mentorship over resource
mobilizations
 There is also need to strengthen their skills on advocacy

Identified result:
 After attending the physical school in Kaduna one of the beneficiaries (Nura Muhammad Sani)
influenced by the acquired skills from the project, set up a community-based service center in
Mashema community of Itas local government. The center serves as a place for preparing
students to register for JAMB and other business transactions such as the provision of POS
services.
Closing remarks:
The meeting was closed with a vote of thanks by Mall Gambo Idris. He appreciated CITAD for siting its
office in Itas community where he said more than 500 students were trained on computer to prepare
them for JAMB examinations. The Baraya and Dan’masani of Itas pledged to convey the outcome of the
meeting to the district head.

(SERIES ONE)
By
Sagiru Ado Abubakar
In its effort to provide students with knowledge and skills to fight corruption and contribute in
raising young people who will assist and contribute in the fight against corruption Nigeria, the
Centre for Information Technology and (CITAD) has on Thursday, 2 nd June, 2022 conducted the
first of its four series Training Workshop for the 36 secondary school teachers from 18 senior
secondary schools across Kano state. The workshop served as Master Training to build the
capacity of the selected teachers which in return will step down the training to the anti-corruption
clubs formed in their respective schools.
CITAD has been implementing a project titled ‘Engaging Students of Secondary Schools for
Raising Awareness about Corruption and Accountability’ supported by MacArthur
Foundation, with the following objectives:
1. Inculcate in the minds of the students an early understanding of the negative impact of
corruption on the society
1. Use the opportunity of the engagements with the students to raise public awareness about
corruption and how to fight it
2. Encourage students to think critically on how to address the menace of corruption in the
society.
In his opening remarks, the Executive Director, Centre for Information Technology and
Development (CITAD), Malam YZ Ya’u said today in Nigeria corruption has become a major
hindrance to the development of the country. We have seen in daily basis corruption cases in the
country and we have to widen our knowledge to understand that corruption is not only about
public sectors, it is about what is wrong and what is right. To fight corruption, we must teach our
young ones good values and ethics especially the rule of law. This is to show young people that
there is law against corruption. Malam Y.Z continue to say that, we must ensure anti-corruption
agencies are above everyone with no exception and no one is above the law. As mentors,
CITAD expects you to go to the wider society to say no to corruption and teach them how to
learn to fight corruption. It is a big challenge that CITAD throws to the mentors but it is the only
way we can rid this menace out of our society especially if we succeed in integrating the fight
against corruption in the school curriculum. He then informed the participants that the workshop
is a pilot campaign to see whether we can convince school administrators that there is way we
can include anti-corruption fight in the way we teach our students. He finally mentined that the
activities of the project are to conduct inter-secondary schools quiz in the State, build the

capacity of some students and to update knowledge and skills of teachers in the area of fighting
corruption in secondary schools. One of the expected outcomes of the project is to support state
government to incorporate anti-corruption knowledge in the curriculum of secondary schools as
part of the Civic education syllabus.
To assess the participants’ knowledge about the workshop and establish what participants
already know, the participants were asked to write on sheet of papers their expectations of the
workshop. The following information was generated from the participants:
 We expect to learn ways to prevent our students in participating in form of corruption in
and outside schools
 CITAD as an IT organization, we expect to be taught the technological ways of fighting
corruption
 To understand why corruption offenders are not been punished
 To learn how to avoid taking corruption
 To provide us with new ideas and logic that we can use to address the danger of
corruption to our students and other people in our society
 To know the root of corruption and its types
 Expecting to jointly eradicate the issue of corruption in the country
 Through the help of EFCC and ICPC to be oriented about the consequences of corruption
 To teach us the method and techniques to tackle corruption
 To enlighten our students to read hard and shun away from all corruption practices
 To add voice on the negative effect of corruption
 To listen from the reliable source corruption related issues
In his remarks, Malam Umar Muhammad Yakasai, Director Training and Recruitment, Kano
Senior Secondary Management Board (KSSSSMB) said managing secondary schools requires
partnership and they are happy to have CITAD as their partners. He said that just last two weeks
teachers under his board were at CITAD for Guidance and Counseling workshop. He then added
that corruption is a theme that disturbs everybody and the country. He finally thanked CITAD for
bring them on board in this journey and mentioned that CITAD poetry publication on corruption
NGausa has been in circulation in their schools.
The first presentation was taken by Alh. Dalhatu Abdallah, Assistant Superintendent,
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on
understanding the work of ICPC. Abdullahi said that ICPC receive and investigate complaints
from members of the public on allegations of corrupt practices and in appropriate cases,
prosecute the offenders. Also examine the practices, systems and procedures of public bodies
and where such systems aid corruption, to direct and supervise their review. Duties of the
Commission include section 6 (a-f) of the ICPC Act 2000 sets out the duties of the Commission
as paraphrased in the following:

 To receive and investigate complaints from members of the public on allegations of
corrupt practices and in appropriate cases, prosecute the offenders.
 To examine the practices, systems and procedures of public bodies and where such
systems aid corruption, to direct and supervise their review.
 To instruct, advise and assist any officer, agency, or parastatal on ways by which fraud or
corruption may be eliminated or minimized by them.
 To advise heads of public bodies of any changes in practice, systems or procedures
compatible with the effective discharge of the duties of public bodies to reduce the
likelihood or incidence of bribery, corruption and related offences.
 To educate the public on and against bribery, corruption and related offences.
 To enlist and foster public support in combating corruption.
 With respect to the prosecution of cases, the Corrupt Practices and Other Related
Offences Act 2000 provide that every prosecution for offences under it shall be deemed
to be done with the consent of the Attorney-General. Furthermore, it is provided that the
Chief Judge of a State or the Federal Capital Territory shall designate a court or judge to
hear and determine all cases arising under the Act. Presently, there are two such
designated Judges in each State of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory
• Malam Haruna Adamu made the second presentation titled ‘Understanding the Various
Dimensions of Corruption in Nigeria’. The presentation focused on the role of Anti-
Corruption Club Mentors with a view to identify and discuss less technical ways to
reduce corrupt practices in secondary schools. As a social environment, schools are the
best places where corruption can be analyzed and mitigation strategies taught for future
use by the future leaders (students). Haruna Adamu set the objectives of his presentation
as follows
• To identify the role of mentors on delineating Corruption and its effect on society to
secondary school students in Kano
• To strengthen the capacity of Anti-corruption club mentors on reducing corrupt practices
in the society
• To identify new mentoring strategies for Anti-corruption mentors in Secondary Schools
of Kano
• Develop a more realistic work plan for mentoring on Anti-corruption for secondary
schools in Kano
While talking about forms of corruption, Haruna said that corruption in Nigeria happens in
several ways and in different dimension. He criticized the law makers in the country who
according to him tried to institutionalized corruption. Adding that even lobbying from the law
makers can be a form of corruption. Other forms of corruption include, Extortion, Cronyism,
Nepotism of favoritism, Patronage, Graft and embezzlement, Bribery, receipt of illegal proceeds

(extortion, kickbacks), Theft and privatization of public resources and funds, Illegal
appropriation (forgery, falsification, embezzlement, misappropriation of money, property),
Abuse of state funds, waste, Nepotism, favoritism (appointment to the posts of relatives and
friends), Collusion (granting preferences to individuals, conflict of interests), Taking gifts to
speed up problem-solving, Protection and covering up events, Electoral violations (buying votes,
rigging election results), Extortion (civil servants illegally set a fee for services or artificially
create a deficit), Clientelism and patronage (politicians provide material services in exchange for
citizen support), Illegal contributions to election campaigns (transfer of gifts to influence the
content of the policy), Abuse of power through (intimidation or torture) and Manipulation of
regulation (falsification of elections, decision-making in favor of one group or person).
He finally urged the school mentor to play the following roles in the ANTI-corruption Clubs:
• Develop and implement the Anti-corruption modules for students
• Demystify all Anti-corruption terms to students for ease of understanding, ownership and
sustainability
• Facilitate partnerships among students and
• Create interface between Anti-graft body and the students
Malam Idris Isyaku, Head of Public Affairs, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) represented EFCC Zonal Commandant at the workshop. He talked about the work of the
commission. He explained that Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a
Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud
(419 fraud) and money laundering. EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to
pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which named
Nigeria as one of 23 countries non-cooperative in the international community's efforts to fight
money laundering. The agency has its head office in Abuja, Nigeria. Adding that while the ICPC
targets corruption in the public sector, especially bribery, gratification, graft, and abuse or misuse
of office, the EFCC investigates people in all sectors who appear to be living above their means,
and is empowered to investigate and prosecute money laundering and other financial crimes.
Ali Sabo, CITAD Communication Officer, presented paper titled ‘Assessing the Ant-Corruption
Efforts in Nigeria Since 1999: Challenges and Prospects’. At the end of his presentation, he
divided the participants into three groups and asked each group to:
1. Identify some potential policy-related sources of corruption in Nigeria and proffer
possible solution
2. Ways use to curb corruption at grassroots level

A Non-Governmental Organisation, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), in Kano state has called on victims of sexual assault, abuse, and domestic violence to always speak out against their experiences.

The gender desk officer of CITAD, Zainab Aminu made the call on Friday, during a monthly press conference on gender based violence in the state.

Aminu explained that in CITAD monthly report on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) said there was about 150% increase in reporting Gender-Based Violence in Kano in the month of May.

She said due to increased awareness and advocacies, victims have been reporting different types of violence using GBV App specifically designed for the purpose.

“In comparison with the data obtained in previous months, GBV cases are still on the increase. 85 cases were reported via our GBV App for the month which includes sexual harassment, online harassment, sexual abuse, and wife battering,” Zainab said.

According to her, GBV thrives only when all stakeholders keep quiet and allow it to fester.

While appealing to parents, relatives, and guardians to always report cases of GBV to relevant authorities or NGOs, she called on the government to ensure that laws are enacted to bring the perpetrators to justice.

She, therefore enjoined the general public to regard online violence just as any other violence that has negative consequences on the victims.

Zainab, therefore called on the government and relevant stakeholders to unite in the fight against crime by strengthening laws that will protect women and children against such heinous acts.

The gender desk officer equally enjoined women to break the silence by speaking out and reporting their cases to the appropriate authorities for necessary actions.