Hate speech: Nigerians need more sensitization on ethnic, religious tolerance – CITAD

The Centre for Information Technology and Development CITAD has called on community and religious leaders to intensify sensitization within their domains on the dangers of hate speech to national development. CITAD’s Project Coordinator, Countering Hate Speech, Malam Hamza Ibrahim, who made the call in Kano while briefing the press, emphasised the need for religious tolerance and mutual respect for one another among Nigerians. Hamza urged the youths, particularly those using the internet, to always try to explore and leverage on social and economic benefits of the technology for personal development rather than use it to promote strife, hate and animosity. Analyzing the trends of hateful conducts on various social media platforms in the last few days, Hamza also expressed dismay over the increasing rate of violence against women on the internet, and appealed  to social media influencers to always rise against acts capable of creating disharmony in the country. He said CITAD had recorded 319 hate contents in January with ethnicity based hate speech dominating the chart with 27 percent followed by gender based hate speech against women with 18 percent.

Culled from: Daily Trust

CITAD offers ICT training to 24 directors of Ministry of Education Bauchi

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) offered free training on information Communication Technology (ICT) to 24 directors of Bauchi state Ministry of Education.

It could be recalled that the state Commissioner of Education  Dr Aliyu Tilde has issued directives that all management staff should be computer compliance  for easy communication and other transactions within agencies and schools.

The Programme Manager CITAD Mallam Isa Garba disclosed this during the presentation of certificates on ICT to the directors from three Directorates of the  Ministry on Tuesday.

He said the  24 directors have undergone computer skills training under CITAD free training programs that is inline with our mission that all should be ICT compliance especially in the North.

He said the 24 directors were selected from three directorates of Examinations, ICT and Quality Assurance of the state  Ministry of Education.

“The Ministry provides the computers and the hall for the training while CITAD provides the skills to the directors as part of social responsibilities to the State and the Society,” he said.

According to him, ICT plays a catalytic role in enhancing learning in the classroom and beyond, It enhances the scope of education by facilitating mobile learning and inclusive education.

“It facilitates research and scholarly communication, the Impact of ICT and its potential for the education field is manifold,” he said.

In his remarks, The state Commissioner Dr Aliyu Tilde  Commended Center for Information Technology and Development CITAD for offering free ICT training to directors of  three Directorates of the ministry to become Information Communication Technology (ICT) compliance.

He added this is in line with the directives of the ministry that all the directors and the management staff of the ministry and schools should be information communication technology compliance for easy communication across agencies and schools in the state.

“Therefore, before the end of this year, I assured that  all the staff of the remaining directorate of the ministry will be ICT compliance. He said,

CITAD da Cibiyar raya al’adun Birtaniya sun bukaci hanyoyin magance ta’addanci

Cibiyar Yada Fasahar Zamani da Ci gaban l’umma, CITAD, tare da hadin gwiwar Cibiyar Raya Al’adun Birtaniya a Najeriya sun yi kiran da a lalubo wasu hanyoyin na daban da matakan soji wajen kawo karshen yaki da Boko Haram – wanda ke neman kai wankin hula ya kai dare.

Cibiyoyin biyu sun tara masana da kwararru masu nazari domin lalubo dabarun da suke ganin in an yi amfani da su za a kawo karshen balahirar Boko Haram din da ta share shekara 10 ana fama da ita a Najeriya.

Babban Daraktan CITAD a Najeriya Dokta YZ Yau ya bayyanawa Aminiya cewa, masanan sun nuna amfani da karfin soji kawai ba zai kawo karshen lamarin ba, inda ya nunar dace wa sun hango cewa lokaci ya yi da dukkanin bangarori a batun su lalubo matakan da suka dace, da wadanda ba su dace ba wajen yakin da ake yi.

Kuma hakan zai sa a gano dalilan da suke sanya aka yi ta bata kashi tsakanin bangarorin biyu a baya.

CITAD sensitizes FCT citizens on girl child education, ICT

Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) organised a mentorship training for key stakeholders in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as part of efforts in ensuring that the Girl-Child has access to quality education and advance in ICT.

The mentorship session was held on Thursday, at the premises of the LEA Primary School in Tunga-Ashere in Jiwa Chiefdom, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

The objectives aimed at acquainting stakeholders on the importance of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the education of the girl child.

Speaking with journalists after the event, CITAD’s Sponsorship Officer, Mr. Mubarak Ekute said the training was put together to interact with stakeholders and sensitize them on how to leverage on ICT to improve learning and empowerment of the girl-child.

“The world has become a global village through ICT, so the idea behind this programme is to interact and hold a mentoring session with stakeholders that are concerned with education to enable them empower the girl child through ICT so that they can be useful to themselves, the society and achieve education.”

On the relevance of ICT to the beneficiaries he said, “with ICT, the girl-child can leverage on so many opportunities. For instance, in terms of the classroom, she can use it to enhance her learning skills, use ICT to acquire knowledge and information to carryout her assignments,” Ekute said.

The Special Adviser to the Chairman of AMAC on ICT/Donor Agencies and Civil Societies, Abiodun Essiet who made a cash donations of N50,000 for development of the school in the community, commended CITAD for granting beneficiaries in the communities access to ICT.

Earlier in a welcome address, the programme coordinator, Salma Abdulwaheed said in line with the Sustainable Development Goal agenda which emphasized that no one should be left behind, CITAD considered it a priority to take digital skills acquisition programmes to some remote communities in the FCT to empower beneficiaries.

Adding that the organisation has established ICT Centres in communities in five area council’s of the FCT, one of which is located in Tunga-Ashere.

A representative of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education at the event, Dr. Efi Anam said the ministry is happy that women and girls child in the rural communities are being carried along in a world where women are now occupying important positions. She stressed the importance of empowering the girl child with education to face the many responsibilities she is saddled with in the society.

“We are also interested in making progress in our small communities. We can only achieve this by making sure everybody, including girls, go to school. The women need to be empowered, trained to have skills to enable them assist their homes and be useful in the society,” Anam added

The village Chief, Sani Yakubu, who said he is one of the beneficiaries of the ICT training programmes, also lauded CITAD for improving the lives of members of his community. And also commending AMAC authourities for establishing the school in the community two years ago to address the problem of lack of access to education.

He appealed for expansion of the school to accommodate the teeming population of pupils, head Master’s office and convenience for the entire school.

Adding, he identified lack of hospital facility and electricity as some of the urgent need of the community.

Also speaking, the LEA Tunga-Ashere Head Master, Martins Zanyi commended CITAD for assisting the communities to improve their access to education. He ceased the opportunity to appeal to government to construct more classrooms for pupils in the community and provide more furnitures to aid better learning.

Last week, CITAD also visited Leleyi Gwari community, Kwali Area Council for same course.

Report of Inspiring Leadership Reflection Interactive Series with Wamban Dutse, Alhaji Mustapha Aminu

On Thursday the 30th of January, 2020 the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) held its first edition of 2020 Inspiring Leadership Reflection Interactive Series (ILERIS) in its Dutse office, Jigawa state which comes every two months in the state. The event is an initiative of CITAD aimed at enriching the lives of young people through mentorship and inspiration. Accomplished personalities from different backgrounds and professions are invited to speak to the participating youths about their lives, challenges, obstacles, successes, careers etc. with a viewing to unpacking some hints for the participating youths to copy and apply in order for them to also succeed in their endeavors.

It can be recalled that CITAD had last year invited Hajiya Hadiza Abdulwahab, Former Commissioner and former Permanent Secretary, Jigawa state, Professor Amina Bashir, Dean Postgraduate Schools, Federal University Dutse and Hajiya Fatima Widi Jallo who is also a former Commissioner ministry of Women Affairs, Jigawa. In this month edition the Centre hosted Alhaji Mustapha Aminu, mni Wambai of Dutse and former Head of Service, Jigawa state. Alhaji Mustapha who many described as an absolute reformer, technocrat, simple and jovial was the person responsible for reforming the Jigawa state Civil Service when he was the Head of Service in the state, a position he held for 8 years until the time of his retirement.

Wambai of Dutse who was born in Yola in the old Kano state did his Primary and Secondary schools in Yola from there he proceeded to Bayero University, Kano where he read Political Science. Speaking about his academic performance, Wambai mentioned that during his Primary Education he was the top of his class from form 1 to form 7 while in secondary school, it was either first, second or third positions throughout. Wambai was also the best graduating student of Political Science during his undergraduate studies. Explaining the journey of his civil service, Alhaji Mustapha stated that he started as a grade level 07 in the old Kano state before the creation of Jigawa state. He was an Admin Officer, Assistant Director, Deputy Director, Director then to Permanent Secretary Council Affairs and Government House. Alhaji Mustapha was also at one time Clerk of the Jigawa State House of Assembly before he roused to the position of the state’s Head of Service.

Alhaji Mustapha Aminu is a very simple and jovial person who believes that simplicity is one of the components of success in life. Advising the audience about the importance of simplicity in life, he said that if you are simple people you will do things to you that you never expected from them. He also stated that patience is the key to success in life, in whatever you do you need to be patient because there are things that do not come easily and as quick as we want them. He went further to discuss about the importance of education in life where he stated that whatever you want do in this life you need education. Emphasizing about the importance of education, he mentioned that women education is the key to any societal development because any society that its women are not educated that society will never progress. He advised that men especially in Northern Nigeria should support and encourage their women in the area of entrepreneurship and education as that is the only way they will liberate them from poverty. Citing an example with his mother, the guest said his mother used to shouldered many responsibilities in their family while they were growing up because she was an entrepreneur. Speaking about school unionism, Wambai said the students then were very organized, focus, fearless and have the country in their hearts while nowadays the students have turn to political dogs going from one office to another collecting money from politicians.

Discussing about his achievements especially when he was the Head of Service. Wambai said some of the legacy he left is the reformation of the Jigawa State’s Civil Service, the introduction of e-payment in the state which is the first in the country and most importantly its includes State House of Assembly Members and Judiciary even when they fought very hard not be included.

While talking about life’s challenges, Wambai mentioned that there is no life no matter how good it is that doesn’t have challenges. Narrating his experiences, Alhaji Mustapha mentioned that he used to trek from their house in Gwangwazo to BUK which is more than seven kilometers and he encountered many obstacles while reforming the civil service in the state from different angles.

Closing the session, the former head of service cautioned the youth to avoid money politics and laziness. He encouraged the youth to imbibe reading culture, to be resilience, hardworking and prayerful. He also called on government, wealthy individuals in the society to initiate more mentorship programs just like the one CITAD is doing.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of CITAD, who was represented by the Centre’s Senior Program Officer, Malam Isah Garba said that CITAD has been organizing this kind of lectures for long in its offices of Kano, Jigawa and Jama’are and the initiative comes as a result of Political Economy Analysis done by CITAD in Northern Nigeria and found out that majority of the youths are lacking in this area which made many of them to become redundant even after graduation. So, the essence is to create employers of labor, wealth creators, and entrepreneurs and have a knowledge driven youth society.

ICT Will Improve Girlchild Education, says CITAD

The Centre for Information and Technology Development, CITAD, said improving the girlchild education and the use of ICT can go a long way in bringing development in the local communities.

The Sponsorship Officer,CITAD, Mubarak Ekute, made this known during a mentoring session at kwali Area Council Tungan Ashere,Tunga Nasara and Leleyi gwari community with the hope of empowering the girlchild through ICT to help her achieve success in education.

Mubarak said,ICT plays an important role in students evaluation.it motivate students and to develop interest in learning.”
It also enhance communication by bridging the gap between teachers and students”.

The Sponsorship Officers, encouraged the members of the community to embrace ICT and use the opportunity to improve upon themselves, noting that with the knowledge of ICT there’s nothing that can’t be achieve through it.

“Looking at the world today it is fast becoming a world global village through ICT, the idea behind this programme was to use the opportunity to give a mentoring section to the stakeholders that has something to do education”.

“We are currently running an Advocacy campaign with the theme,”TAKE BACK THE TAKE”, gared towards encouraging the girlchild on her right to speak up for herself”.

Programme Officer, Abuja Office CITAD,Salma Abdulwaheed who lead the team said, the use of ICT can help the girlchild leverage on so many opportunities on the internet for learning and solving classroom assignment enhance her learning capacity.

The Village Head,Tunga Ashere,under Jiwa Chiefdoom, Sani Yakubu and one of the beneficiaries of ICT,said, children without education today is a risk.

Sani who listed some of the challenges the community is faced with expressed concern over the absence of health care centre and learning centre in the community.

He said though the fact chairman has approved primary school, but that the three block classrooms will not contained the over ninty six students and the school head.

He therefore appealed for another additional classrooms to be constructed to accommodate the growing number of students in the community.

On accessing health care centre, he said,it is a major challenge, saying that alot of children have been lost due to difficulty in accessing health care centre close to the community.

On the success story on ICT, he said the establishment of ICT in the community has helped shaped him and has boost his business as well.

“Most of us are predominately farmers,in the past we usually go far to get our farm produce sold but now with the knowledge we have acquired we have been able to advertise our products and with that people from the market now follow us to our community to buy our farm produce, is a huge success”.

The Women Leader,Hauwa Yakubu, said ICT is a blessing, because it has increase the learning of our children; in the past there was no school but now there’s school and the ICT centre has played a great role in the life of our children and community.

We don’t want our children to be like us.
We didn’t have such opportunity to go to school,in the past even if you have the interest, your father won’t allow you to. But now we are wiser,we want what will bring development to our community and to help our children excel in their education.

The Head Master, Martin’s Zanyi, complained that there’s no enough facility for a condusive learning environment for the pupils.

He said,lack of enough school facilities is a major challenge, he therefore appealed for more classrooms,seats to enhance the learning condition of the pupils.

CITAD, ActionAID Nigeria Sensitize Stakeholders, FCT Rural Communities on Importance of ICT for Improve Access to Girl-Child Education

Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and Actionaid Nigeria have organised a mentorship training for key stakeholders in the Federal Capital Territory ((FCT) as part of efforts in ensuring that the Girl-Child have access to quality education. CITAD is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that is committed to the use of information and communication technologies for development and promotion of good governance. With support from Actionaid Nigeria, the mentoring session which held at the premises if the LEA Primary School in Tunga-Ashere in Jiwa Chiefdom, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and Leleyi Gwari community, Kwali Area Council from Tuesday-Thursday, focused on ‘the role of ICT in Improving Access to Girl Child Education in FCT Rural Communities.’ TitanicMedia which covered the event, reports that the session aimed at acquainting stakeholders on the importance of Information Communication Technology in the education of the girl child. The programme was attended by young girls, their parents and other members of the communities. Participants also included representatives from the ministries of information and education in Nigeria, AMAC, the head master and other teaching staff of LEA Primary School in the beneficiary communities. Speaking with journalists after the event, CITAD’s Sponsorship Officer, Mubarak Ekute said the training was put together to interact with stakeholders and sensitize them on how to leverage on ICT to improve learning and empowerment of the girl-child. “The world has become a global village through ICT, so the idea behind this programme is to interact with and hold a mentoring session with stakeholders that are concerned with education to enable them empower the girl child through ICT so that they can be useful to themselves and the society and achieve education,” Ekute said. On the relevance of ICT to the beneficiaries, he said with ICT, the girl-child can leverage on so many opportunities. For instance, in terms of the classroom, she can use it enhance her learning, use ICT to acquire knowledge and information to carryout her assignments. “The teachers can also use it to improve educational system generally,” he added. Ekute further explained that girls who are not priviledged to be in school could also, carve a niche for themselves with ICT skills acquired. He said CITAD had mapped out programmes to sensitize the girl child on their rights and encourage them to speak for themselves. “We also sensitize their parents to allow their girls access to education. We have been embarking on advocacy in communities to make this possible,” Ekute said. Earlier in a welcome address, the programme coordinator, Salma Abdulwaheed said in line with the Sustainable Development Goal agenda which emphasized that no one should be left behind, CITAD considered it a priority to take digital skills acquisition programmes to some remote communities in the FCT to empower beneficiaries. According to her, CITAD has trained over 100 youths in the beneficiary communities on digital skills in the last two years. She said the organisation has established ICT centres in communities in five area council’s of the FCT, one of which is located in Tunga-Ashere. “It is better to catch them young, so it is important to teach the youths and elders digital skills” to be at par with their counterparts in the city, she said, adding, women and girls have also benefited from the trainings. The Special Adviser to the Chairman of AMAC on ICT/Donor Agencies and Civil Societies, Abiodun Essiet who made a cash donations of N50,000 for development of the school in the community, commended CITAD and Actionaid Nigeria for granting beneficiaries in the communities access to ICT. While also appreciating the communities for allowing their girls to be part of the trainings, she urged that them to utilize the skills acquired in a meaningful way to better their lives. A representative of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education at the event, Dr. Efi Anam said the ministry is happy that women and girls child in the rural communities are being carried along in a world where women are now occupying important positions.She stressed the importance of empowering the girl child with education to face the many responsibilities she is saddled with in the society. “We are also interested in making progress in our small communities. We can only achieve this by making sure everybody, including girls, go to school. The women need to be empowered, trained to have skills to enable them assist their homes and be useful in the society,” said Dr Anam. While also assuring CITAD of the support of the ministry, she said: “We are impressed by this effort and will support CITAD and other efforts that seek to develop and empower Tunga-Ashere.” In her presentation on the Importance of ICT to Girl-Child Education, Mrs Opeyemi Oliha of the Ministry of Communication, noted that with the knowledge of ICT, beneficiaries can acquire knowledge and skills without formal education, through the use of internet. “Our women and girls can be employed through ICT, they can sell their farm produce by utilizing ICT and acquire any kind of information that will be useful for their farming business,” she said. Also speaking, the LEA Tunga-Ashere Head Master, Martins Zanyi commended CITAD for assisting the communities to improve their access to education.He ceased the opportunity to appeal to government to construct more classrooms for pupils in the community and provide more furnitures to aid better learning. The village Chief, Sani Yakubu, who said he is one of the beneficiary of the ICT training programmes, also thanked Actionaid Nigeria and CITAD for improving the lives of members of his community.Yakubu thanked the AMAC authourities for establishing the school in the community two years ago to address the problem of lack of access to education. He however, appealed for expansion of the school to accommodate the teeming population of pupils. The village head identified lack of hospital facility and electricity as some of the urgent need of the community. On her part, the Women Leader, Asabe Yakubu also thanked the two organisations for the initiative. She lamented that they were at the level they were today because they had no such previlege, assured that with the sensitization and Kno enlightenment, women in her community were willing to encourage and allow their Girl-Child access opportunities to learn and become better in the society.

CITAD Mentors Stakeholders in Tunga-Ashere, Leleyi Gwari Rural Communities on Empowering The Girl-Child Through ICT

Cross section of some participants during the mentoring session at Tunga-Ashere on Thursday in Abuja.

In line with the Sustainable Development Goal agenda of leaving no one behind, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) during the week, took it’s mentoring programme on “The role of ICT in Improving Access to Girl Child Education in FCT Rural Communities” to two communities in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Pupils of LEA Primary School, Tunga-Ashere at the event

The mentoring session organised for key stakeholders in Tunga-Ashere in Jiwa Chiefdom, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and Leleyi Gwari in Kwali Area Council of the FCT and other relevant government ministries, is part of the efforts of the non governmental organisation in ensuring that the Girl-Child have access to quality education.

Representative of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education at the event, Dr. Efi Anam delivering a goodwill message

CITAD is a non-governmental and non-profit organization that is committed to the use of information and communication technologies for development and promotion of good governance.

The coordinator of the event, Salma Abdulwaheed addressing participants

Smartgist24 reports the event which held on Tuesday and Thursday, aimed at acquainting stakeholders on the importance of Information Communication Technology in the education of the girl child.

A member of the community at Tunga-Ashere interpreting some of the messages delivered to participants in their local dialect

The programme was attended by young girls, their parents and other members of the communities.

Participants also included representatives from the ministries of information and education in Nigeria, AMAC, the head master and other teaching staff of LEA Primary School in the beneficiary communities.

Speaking in Thursday with journalists after the event at LEA Primary School in Tunga-Ashere, CITAD’s Sponsorship Officer,  Mubarak Ekute said the training was put together to interact with stakeholders and sensitize them on how to leverage on ICT to improve learning and empowerment of the girl-child.

Mrs Opeyemi Oliha of the Ministry of Communication in a presentation on the Importance of ICT to Girl-Child Education

“The world has become  a global  village  through  ICT, so the idea behind this programme is to interact  with  and hold a mentoring session with stakeholders that are concerned  with education  to enable them empower the girl child through ICT so that they  can be useful  to themselves and the  society and achieve  education,” Ekute said.

On the relevance  of ICT to the beneficiaries,  he said  with ICT,  the girl-child can leverage on so many opportunities. For instance, in terms of the classroom, she can use it enhance  her learning,  use ICT to acquire knowledge and information to carryout her assignments. “The teachers can also use it to improve  educational system  generally,” he added.
Ekute further explained that girls who are not priviledged to be in school could also, carve a niche for themselves with ICT skills acquired.

Some participants in a group photo with the organizers of the event

He said  CITAD had mapped out programmes to sensitize the girl child on her rights and encourage  them  to speak for themselves.
“We also sensitize their parents to allow their girls access to education. We have  been embarking on advocacy  in communities  to make this possible,” Ekute said.

A structure presently used as a classroom for the KEA Primary School in Tunga-Ashere

Earlier in a welcome address, the programme coordinator, Salma Abdulwaheed said in line with the Sustainable Development Goal agenda which emphasized that no one should be left behind, CITAD considered it a priority to take digital skills acquisition programmes to some remote communities in the FCT to empower beneficiaries.

A two rooms building previously an Islamiyya centre for women, now used as a classroom for the LEA Primary School in Tunga-Ashere

According to her, CITAD has trained over 100 youths in the beneficiary communities on digital skills in the last two years.

She said the organisation has established ICT centres in communities in five area council’s of the FCT, one of which is located in Tunga-Ashere.

Work on this block of 3 classrooms mearnt to accommodate pupils of the LEA Primary School at Tunga-Ashere and being constructed by AMAC is said to be at a very slow pace. Community leader is demanding for more classrooms that can accommodate the 150 pupils of the school.

“It is better to catch them young, so it is important to teach the youths and elders digital skills” to be at par with their counterparts in the city, she said, adding, women and girls have also benefited from the trainings.

The ICT Centre deployed by CITAD in Tunga-Ashere with support from Actionaid Nigeria

The Special Adviser to the Chairman of AMAC on ICT/Donor Agencies and Civil Societies, Abiodun Essiet who made a cash donations of N50,000 for development of the school in the community, commended CITAD and Actionaid Nigeria for granting beneficiaries in the communities access to ICT.

Inside the ICT Centre deployed by CITAD in Tunga-Ashere with support from Actionaid Nigeria(Some of the computers in the centre).

While also appreciating the communities for allowing their girls to be part of the trainings, she urged that them to utilize the skills acquired in a meaningful way to better their lives.

A representative of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education at the event, Dr. Efi Anam said the ministry is happy that women and girls child in the rural communities are being carried along in a world where women are now occupying important positions.She stressed the importance of empowering the girl child with education to face the many responsibilities she is saddled with in the society. “We are also interested in making progress in our small communities. We can only achieve this by making sure everybody, including girls, go to school. The women need to be empowered, trained to have skills to enable them assist their homes and be useful in the society,” said Dr Anam.

While also assuring CITAD of the support of the ministry, she said: “We are impressed by this effort and will support CITAD and other efforts that seek to develop and empower Tunga-Ashere.”

In her presentation on the Importance of ICT to Girl-Child Education, Mrs Opeyemi Oliha of the Ministry of Communication, noted that with the knowledge of ICT, beneficiaries can acquire knowledge and skills without formal education, through the use of internet.

“Our women and girls can be employed through ICT, they can sell their farm produce by utilizing ICT and acquire any kind of information that will be useful for their farming business,” she said.

Also speaking, the LEA Tunga-Ashere Head Master, Martins Zanyi commended CITAD for assisting the communities to improve their access to education.He ceased the opportunity to appeal to government to construct more classrooms for pupils in the community and provide more furnitures to aid better learning.

The village Chief, Sani Yakubu, who said he is one of the beneficiary of the ICT training programmes, also thanked Actionaid Nigeria and CITAD for improving the lives of members of his community.Yakubu thanked the AMAC authourities for establishing the school in the community two years ago to address the problem of lack of access to education.

He however, appealed for expansion of the school to accommodate the teeming population of pupils. The village head identified lack of hospital facility and electricity as some of the urgent need of the community.

On her part, the Women Leader, Asabe Yakubu also thanked the two organisations for the initiative.

She lamented that they were at the level they were today because they had no such previlege, assured that with the sensitization and Kno enlightenment, women in her community were willing to encourage and allow their Girl-Child access opportunities to learn and become better in the society.

CITAD held a Multi-Genre Campaign for a Transparent Nigeria in Abuja

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support from MacArthur Foundation has today convened a Multi-Genre Campaign for a Transparent Nigeria, with it cluster members which consists of various social influencers across the country. The meeting was held at Grand Pela Hotels, Abuja.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Director of CITAD, Dr. YZ Yau explained that the purpose of the meeting was to assess the impact of what the subgrantees has been doing, to identify challenges and how the cohort can move forward in the already set campaign for Anticorruption, transparency, accountability and good governance in Nigeria. The ED also welcomed the new grantees who recently joined the cohort of the social influencers.

Dr. Dayo Olaide who delivered a Message on behalf of MacArthur Foundation, started with thanking the Cohort for their support and effort put in the project. He added that the influencers cohort is making incredible efforts in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Dayo added that this was the first time MacArthur Foundation granted funds to individual due to the influence they exalt in fighting corruption through their use of multiple mediums mostly social media, newspapers, magazine, radio and televisions as well as the theatre play. Others include workshops and community filming.

Dr. Tunde Akanni of Lagos State University who is also the Project Advisor explained that Nigeria occupies a more visible space and other climes are watching to tell their own story. He also explained that the subgrantees brilliant ways of fighting the corruption should not die off but be documented for future references. Documentation or Evidence is a crucial part of the review. It can serve the purpose of telling the story of all the work done. Social Media and Filming is a very important impact in fighting all forms. Dr. YZ Yau also added that the review will be a documentation that all the sub grantees all do, emphasing that it’s important we tell our stories which will serve as a compact to document MacArthur will use for the review.

The meeting continued with a brief review of the subgrantees progress report comprising of their activities, impacts made and success stories achieved, challenges, mitigation strategies as well lesson learnt.

Towards the end of the meeting, a session on Monitoring and Evaluation (ME) was held to ensure that the subgrantees are conversant with the ME process of their project for a proper evidence based reporting.

CITAD begins Training of Education and ICT Directorates of Ministry of Education Bauchi on the Use of Information and Communication Technology Facilities

As an ICT based organization that is committed to the use of ICT for development, The Centre for Information Technology and Deployment (CITAD) has over the years facilitated numerous engagements towards bridging the wide digital skills gab, these include series of campaigns, advocacies, trainings, stakeholders’ engagements among others. And today, the 15th of January, 2020 CITAD flagged up capacity building exercise on the use of ICT tools for the staff of Bauchi state ministry of education in order to better their work. In attendance were the Honourable Commissioner, Permanent Secretary, Directors and other senior officers of the Ministry.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Y.Z Ya’u, the Executive Director of the Centre ably represented by the Training Coordinator, Malam Ahmad Yakasai said the first phase of the project will focus on training Examination and ICT Directorate. Yakasai maintained that CITAD has been putting a lot of efforts that is aimed at bridging the wide digital skills gab; CITAD has gone to many remotest villages and established ICT training centres in Abuja communities and CITAD is now planning to launch ICT lab for people with special needs so that they will not be left behind. Now that ICT come to stay, one good thing about ICT is, it has neither gender nor age bias, which makes it a must for everyone to acquire the skills regardless of one’s gender or age.

In his remark, the Honourable Commissioner, Bauchi State Ministry of Education, Dr. Aliyu Usman Tilde showed appreciation for the gesture extended to the Ministry by CITAD. In his words, “ICT compliance is the most important aspect of the ministry’s reforms” There has not been much noise about it because it concerns about the staff not anyone else. Compliance to ICT makes cumbersome tasks easier. Dr. Tilde attributed his ability to developing frequent lengthy write ups on News Papers in the late 90s to the use of ICT. Saying; it would not have been possible for him without complying with ICT. The large size of education ministry makes most of our challenges in education, and ICT is in to help us reduce the burden to the minimal level possible. And there is no way one can avoid misinformation or communication gab when dealing with large number of stakeholders but when aided by tech the whole bunch of the trouble is resolve by just a single click.

Before he retire to his seat, the Commissioner made some announcements that made the gathering paid more attention these include, that henceforth, appointments into the ministry as ordinary staff or director will be based on ICT compliance, the ministry as from next year will not contract anybody to do NECO and WAEC examination registration; examination department will be responsible for all these online registration. Our plan is for everyone to be IT compliance in the next three years.

I urge you to take this training very serious, you are the pioneers, you have all the facilities here and sky shall be your limit, he added.

After closing prayers, pre-test was administered to the staff that will be trained to help ascertain the level of ICT knowledge; this will help the CITAD training department to design the package that will better suit the participating staff.