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

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

The author

By Y. Z. Ya’u

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mallam Ya’u works at CITAD, Kano

How CITAD is Fighting Covid-19 in Kano State

 

YZ Ya’u Executive Director, CITAD

YZ Ya’u Executive Director, CITAD

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

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

attention of those in authority on the need to implement preventive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How CITAD Is Fighting Covid-19 In Kano State

By Ali Sabo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How CITAD Is Fighting Covid-19 In Kano State

By Ali Sabo

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

THE 52ND Twitter Chat on Youth Efforts in Combating Covid–19 at Community Level in Kano Discussed on Thursday, 8TH October, 2020 with Abubakar M. Usman, Multimedia Journalist and A Beneficiary of CITAD’S Youth Leadership Training on Covid-19.

The strength of ICT amidst the global pandemic of Covid – 19 has been loudly spelt out as it remained unshaken ever since the emergence of this global pandemic but becomes the commodity for every home and organization as it stands the only unaffected medium to share information, transact businesses, entertainments and working as a team. This has no doubt pleased ICT advocates across the global for this supports their campaign and advocacy work for the world to embrace the use of technology tools for better performance and timely delivery of team tasks.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) as a non-governmental and non-for-profit organization has since continue to capitalize on its core mandate; using ICTs for development to initiate engagements to curb the spread of Covid – 19 pandemics. Twitter series is one of such engagements run by CITAD, it comes twice in a week; Tuesdays and Thursdays, lasting for an hour. Resource persons are invited to talk on the chosen topic and they also respond to questions by the participants.

Youth Effort in Combating Covid – 19 at Community Level in Kano is the topic discussed on Thursday, 8th October, 2020 with Abubakar M. Usman, multi media journalist and a beneficiary of CITAD’s youth leadership training on Covid – 19. He took the participants through the success stories youth effort recorded, taking Kano state as a case study, challenges encountered and what needs to be done to support youth effort to deliver more.

Below is the crude chat as extracted from the twitter flatform:

  1. Hello everyone, do join me to welcome our today’s twitter chat guest, Abubakar M Usman, a multi-media journalist and @ICTAdvocates beneficiary of #YLTonCovid19 who will discuss on Youth Efforts on Combatting Covid19 at Community Level in Kano? Thanks to everyone, am glad to be here today
  2. Please sir can you start by telling us the kind of activities you are doing at community level? Well, after been trained by @ICTAdvocates I designed my activities to reach 100 people in community for the Sensitization against
  3. What kind of activities did you conducted after the training, sir? Considering the kind of community am living in, I re-strategized my activities by inviting 6 youth association leaders for a step-down training.
  4. Because I believe using young people for the sensitization would help to reach a number of people at grass root level.
  5. After the step-down training, all of them gave me a set date for the step-down training on their various members at organizational level.
  6. My activities have been divided into four different days
  7. The first activity carried out at Ibn Yasar Islamiyya at Rimin Kebe area of Ungogo local government. 26 students were sensitized, while 4 hand sanitizers & 150 pieces of face mask were distributed to the school authority.
  8. While the second group involved 14 elderly men at Galula Primary health care.
  9. The third activity according to my work plan, held on 19th Sept. 2020 at Gadar-Katako area of Romin Kebe community, 20 young people were reached for the awareness on the danger of #Covid_19
  10. The last activity consists of two groups; the First group consists of 35 women which were sensitized at Galula Primary health care clinic in Rimin Kebe.
  11. These are the four different activities I carried in Rimin Kebe to convert the effect of #Covid_19   at the community level.
  12. so far how far have your impacts and success stories from the community as a result of the covid 19 awareness in the grass root? Initially, I can say majority members of my community doesn’t believe in the existence of #Covid_19, thanks to @ICTAdvocates intervention. Initially, my intention was to reach 100 people but at the end of the sensitization I reach almost 200 people, while many are asking for more intervention on the Corona pandemic. So, after the Sensitization, we have positive behavioural changes among the community members, like the use of face mask, observing social distancing and many more protocols of #Covid_19
  13. Can you tell us the perception of the community people when you started the activities and how you were able to changed their previous belief on the virus? Initially, people didn’t pay much attention on the program, but after I trained those 20 young people, they continue carrying the message to their family & friends, which I believe change their perception on the program.
  14. Mr @official_Rabab organizing such sensitizations requires some support, including the financial, materials and even the human resources. So how did you get funds to carry out such activities?
  15. what are some of the challenges you encountered at the course of your advocacy and please suggest ways you think, that need improvement? One of the challenges I faced during the sensitization/advocacy is that, the head of the town of Galula didn’t really give us maximum cooperation.
  16. I have to write a letter using @ICTAdvocates logo on it for him to allow us to carried out activities in his area, in the future a letter of advocacy or introduction should be given to sub-grantees by @ICTAdvocates because it will help to achieve desired goals.
  17. do you think there is still need for youth to do more in their effort to fight #Covid19 in Kano state and beyond? Of course, youth should be carried along to continue passing the right information on #Covid_19, because they have a big role to play in fighting the pandemic.
  18. What other external support do youth need to better champion the course of fighting this #Covid19 pandemic? For now, distribution of hand sanitizers and face mask will help a lot, because even after the Sensitization many people are calling me for hand sanitizers and face masks. #CITADagainstCovid19
  19. there were lot of misinformation and disinformation at early period of the pandemic, do you come across any in your community? how do you come about it? #CITADAgainstCovid19 Of course I did, some members of my community were saying #Covid_19 only affects rich people while others said NGOs are the one that brought the pandemic into the country.
  20. There are many misinformation about #Covid_19 so, government as well as non-governmental organization have to work on this.
  21. As we are approaching the end of this discussion, can you tell us the challenges you faced while doing your campaign and some of your recommendations to @KanostateNg and people to ensure we win this fight in the state

 

 

Towards Ending Digital Gender Marginalization, By Y. Z. Yau

Two days ago, a team of staff of CITAD went to Shara in Sumaila local government area of Kano to conduct a COVID-19 sensitization programme for teachers and students as well as parents of Shara Primary School, a community school that CITAD and the community established about four years ago.

Although enrolment had increased but we found a number of the girls had dropped out. In response to the unvocalized question of our team members, the Community leader said that they had been married off.

They were still to be functionally literate and painfully they had reached the end of their education pursuit. It also in a way marked the end of the chance for them to get formal entrepreneurship and vocational education. And today we here talking about digital gender inclusion in a context that girls horizons are not even given the chance to see beyond the primary school. These Shara girls have been digitally excluded because digital inclusion requires functional literacy. Without being literate, they cannot interact with the various devices (or at least many of them) as to get the best from access to information technology.

But Shara is only one instance at which you are painfully exposed to the trajectory that tells you how far behind women are left digitally. The lookdown presented another question. CITAD undertook a research and found a dramatic increase in incidence of domestic violence during the period of the lockdown. While technology provides a mean for victims to communicate to the outside world, for assistance, support, remedy, many of these women suffered, locked in their homes because they could not access technology to come to their aid.

Three key issues were responsible for this. First, like the Shara girls, women in general have lesser opportunities to acquire education than men. And as the point made earlier, without education you cannot make effective use of the treasure that is online. The second is that women are generally socially, economically, educationally and politically marginalized and therefore on are generally poorer. They constitute the great majority of the people living below the poverty line in the country. This is why a number of researchers around poverty say that poverty has a feminine face in Nigeria. The effective use of technology is dependent upon affordability. With more women poorer, they are less able to afford technology and hence end up unable to access and it us.

The third point is about social norms in the society. Social norms as articulated round the vestiges of patriarchy condition and frame the way in which technology in inserted in society and used by both men and women. Women are generally discouraged from using internet at two levels. At one level, women, especially married ones, are not supposed to communicate outside circles of people with who their husbands may not be comfortable with. This patriarchal social expectation in the communication scope of women expect them not indulge in “frivolous” communication and should therefore not be seen to using the social media and even the internet as a whole. If they must use the internet, they should use it sparingly. Stories, some of which may be anecdotal, have it that many marriages have collapsed on account of the wives using social media.

Patriarchy society does not expect a married woman to have a male friend, talk less of hundreds, if not thousands Facebook friends, many of how she probably does not know offline. She would have many “followers’’ on twitter and belongs to several chat groups on whataspp. All these would be frown at. This aspect of patriarchy is about control of the woman’s communication sphere by man.

The second level at which patriarchy operates is a mirror image of the control level which is that women are seen as objects of pleasure, lacking subjectivity of their own. This is at the root of gender based violence in society. Gender based violence is not limited to the physical space or offline relationships. It is also reflected in online behavior, giving rise to the concept of gender based violence online.

While social control seeks to place restriction on the use of internet by women, gender based violence online creates fears that make women to not want use the internet. Like gender based violence offline, online violence against women tends to be less visible. In fact it is less visible than offline violence, because it takes place mostly at the private level. For this reason, there is little attention about it and in some cases the resistance to accept that in fact it is a major problem.

But there is also an addition dimension that is often overlooked which is about access to policy structures in the society. These structures shape the ways we live, including the way we access and use technology. These structures act in such a way as to exclude women and their input in the policy making process. This has two effects on the types of polices we get. First, men who are dominant players in the policy making environment do not experience gender digital marginalization and therefore do not understand as to make effective policies to address it. Secondly, women who experience digital marginalization do have knowledge and experience of technology that could make them provide sound policies to address their exclusion. Either way we end up with inadequate policies that do not solve the problem,

One specific aspects of gender marginalization that is upon lost to men is about gender harassment online. As it is directed at women, men hardly see and is therefore invisible. You do not address an invisible problem. And so to the majority policy makers, this problem hardly merits attention. Yet, it is core to addressing digital exclusion of women for it works two ways. One, women fear the internet because of the online harassment and withdraw as well as internalize this fear to the point that it becomes instrumental for their distancing from technology. On the other hand, men use it to point to the need to protect their wives, sisters and daughters from this danger by erecting a barrier against the use of the internet by women. The result is that the two reinforce each other and serve to widen the digital marginalization of women.

As we mark this Media Day of Action against Gender Digital Exclusion, I would like to invite us to a handshake across the table to understand the pains of digital exclusion not just on gender lines about for the whole society, resulting from leaving women digitally behind. To do that, we must accept certain realities. One of this is that the exclusion of women in the policy spaces and other digital space spaces is not accidental. It is the construction and imagining of these spaces as masculine by patriarchy.

Second, acquiring ICT in itself does not in itself effectively contribute to addressing the gender digital divide without addressing the negative representation and portrayal of women online.
We have to engage in a handshake that has to bring both men and women into a mutual dialogue on technology deconstruct the myths around the internet. Men and women work together to discuss how the internet is a tool that can help rather than subvert family structures. Ultimately, men and women have to work together to overcome the constraints that patriarchy has placed before women in the use of technology. The handshake is not an easy conversation. On the part of males it signals acceptance to give up on some privileges while for women, it requires rethinking of normalized ideas.

A Two Day Sensitization Training to Kano State Secondary and Primary Schools Female Teachers by Centre for Information Technology and Development on the 12th And 13th October, 2020

Coviid19 is a world deadly disease that threatened the survival of every human being. From the start of the pandemic in 2019 in Wuhan, China, millions of people have lost their lives, jobs, livelihood and many more. In Nigeria, the pandemic has also affected many ways of our lives being it social, economic or academic with more than 40,000 infection and more than 1000 deaths which resulted to the lockdown of the whole country for many months. Similarly, in Kano state the story is also the same, since before the index case in April the state government has took many measures in order to protect the lives of its people by banning interstate movement.

However, on its efforts to help in eradicating the disease in Kano state, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has been conducting different programs to sensitize community members on the importance of adhering to covid19 protocols. These programs include online campaigns on twitter (Twitter Chat), Facebook, Whatsapp, production of online fliers, radio programs at different radio stations, writing of press releases and training of more than 100 youth on covid19 protocols online.

On the 13th and 14th of October, 2020 also the Centre for information Technology and Development with support of MacArthur Foundation and International Institute of Education trained Kano state secondary and primary schools female teachers on Covid19 Protocol. The aims of the training was to equip the teachers with all the necessary knowledge on preventive measures of Covid19 as school resumed; to sensitize the teachers on the importance of Covid19 protocol; educate them on how to take care of themselves and their students.

The training drew 60 female teachers from different schools in the state who are expected to go back and step down the training to their fellow teachers and students.

On his vote of thanks, the Director Recruitments and Training, Kano State Senior secondary Schools Management Board (KSSSMB), Malam Umar Muhammad Yakasai thanks Centre for Information Technology and Development for its tireless efforts in improving the lives of Kano state people. He noted that the Centre has on many occasions been training the staff of the Board on different ICT courses. He went further to call on the trained teachers to ensure they transfer the knowledge to the larger society.

51ST Twitter Chat Organized by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) On 6th October, 2020 with Malam Abdurrahman Iguda, Public Health Advocate and Climate Action Ambassador as a Discussant

On Tuesday, 6th October, 2020, on its 51st edition of twitter chat, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has hosted Malam Abdurrahman Iguda, Public Health Advocate and Climate Action Ambassador as a discussant. Malam Iguda discussed on the topic “Youths Effort in Combating Covid 19 at Community Level (II).”  Since the erupt of the Coronavirus pandemic CITAD embarks on organizing twitter chat discussions and has been inviting eminence people to discuss on different topics related to the pandemic.  Iguda was part of the CITAD’s Youth Capacity Building Training organized by the centre in collaboration with MacArthur Foundation and Centre for International Institute of Education to fight Coronavirus at community level in Kano State.

The chat dwelled deeply on the commitments and campaigns made by youths in Kano since the beginning of this Pandemic to address the risks associated with it in their communities.  The discussant recalled during the early days of the pandemic how friends from Kaduna called him just to hear about Kano and offered suggestions in order to prevent the spread of the virus.  Lots of rumors and misinformation circulated online, me and friends who are known to be social media influencers worked hard in converting the misinformation and share up to date and valid information on COVID19 in Kano state. The discussant stressed that actors should emulate from CITAD experience to support youth in order to do more to fight the pandemic.

 

  1. Hello everyone, Do join me to welcome our today’s twitter chat guest, Abubakar M Usman, a multi-media journalist and @ICTAdvocates beneficiary of #YLTonCovid19 who will discuss on Youth Efforts on Combatting Covid19 at Community Level in Kano? Thanks to everyone, am glad to be here today

 

  1. Please sir can you start by telling us the kind of activities you are doing at community level? Well, after been trained by @ICTAdvocates i designed my activities to reach 100 people in community for the Sensitization against
  2. What kind of activities did you conducted after the training, sir? Considering the kind of community am living in, i re-strategized my activities by inviting 6 youth association leaders for a step down training.

 

  1. Because i believe using young people for the sensitization would help to reach a number of people at grass root level.

 

  1. After the step down training, all of them gave me a set date for the step down training on their various members at organizational level.

 

  1. My activities have been divided into four different days

 

  1. The first activity carried out at Ibn Yasar Islamiyya at Rimin Kebe area of Ungogo local government. 26 students were sensitized, while 4 hand sanitizers & 150 pieces of face mask were distributed to the school authority.

 

  1. While the second group involved 14 elderly men at Galula Primary health care.

 

  1. The third activity according to my work plan, held on 19th Sept. 2020 at Gadar-Katako area of Romin Kebe community, 20 young people were reached for the awareness on the danger of #Covid_19

 

  1. The last activity consists of two groups; the First group consists of 35 women which were sensitized at Galula Primary health care clinic in Rimin Kebe.

 

  1. These are the four different activities I carried in Rimin Kebe to convert the effect of #Covid_19   at the community level.

 

  1. So far how far have your impacts and success stories from the community as a result of the covid 19 awareness in the grass root? Initially, i can say majority members of my community doesn’t believe in the existence of #Covid_19, thanks to @ICTAdvocates intervention. Initially, my intention was to reach 100 people but at the end of the sensitization i reach almost 200 people, while many are asking for more intervention on the Corona pandemic. So after the Sensitization, we have positive behavioral changes among the community members, like the use of face mask, observing social distancing and many more protocols of #Covid_19

 

  1. Can you tell us the perception of the community people when you started the activities and how you were able to change their previous belief on the virus? Initially, people didn’t pay much attention on the program, but after i trained those 20 young people, they continue carrying the message to their family & friends, which i believe change their perception on the program.

 

  1. Mr @official_Rabab organizing such sensitizations requires some support, including the financial, materials and even the human resources. So how did you get funds to carry out such activities?

 

  1. What are some of the challenges you encountered at the course of your advocacy and please suggest ways you think, that need improvement? One of the challenges i faced during the sensitization/advocacy is that, the head of the town of Galula didn’t really give us maximum cooperation.

 

  1. I have to write a letter using @ICTAdvocates logo on it for him to allow us to carry out activities in his area, in the future a letter of advocacy or introduction should be given to sub-grantees by @ICTAdvocates bcoz it will help to achieve desired goals.

 

  1. do you think there is still need for youth to do more in their effort to fight #Covid19 in Kano state annd and beyond? Of course, youth should be carried along to continue passing the right information on #Covid_19, because they have a big role to play in fighting the pandemic.

 

  1. What other external support do youth need to better champion the course of fighting this #Covid19 pandemic? For now, distribution of hand sanitizers and face mask will help a lot, because even after the Sensitization many people are calling me for hand sanitizers and face masks. #CITADagainstCovid19

 

  1. There were lot of misinformation and disinformation at early period of the pandemic, do you come across any in your community? How do you come about it? #CITADAgainstCovid19 Of course i did, some members of my community were saying #Covid_19 only affects rich people while others said NGOs are the one that brought the pandemic into the country.

 

  1. There are many misinformation about #Covid_19 so, government as well as non-governmental organization have to work on this.

 

  1. As we are approaching the end of this discussion, can you tell us the challenges you faced while doing your campaign and some of your recommendations to @KanostateNg and people to ensure we win this fight in the state

 

48TH Twitter Chat with Abdulazeez Musa on Covid19 Sensitization Campaigns at Community Level

24TH September, 2020.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), held its 48th Twitter chat on the 24th of September, 2020. The guest was Abdulazeez Musa Co-founder and programs Manager of WeCan Africa. He discussed on Covid19 sensitization campaigns at community level.

He started by answering the question on what sensitizing people at the grassroots is and how it is being done? Where he said sensitization means making people know about something and as it relates to Covid19, it means creating awareness about issues related to Covid19. He was further asked that as a young person who is passionate about development work and also working on sensitizing people on Covid19 in the community, how you are carrying your activities. He said he made a need assessment in his community and he discovered that the pandemic has had a huge effect on young people and women too because of their vulnerability. So he decided to train them on taking responsibility themselves through sensitizing and teaching them.

When asked on What tools he used during this training and how did he ensure Covid19 protocols are followed throughout the training and does he think community people despite some of them not believing in the existence of the virus are giving him maximum cooperation and to briefly give the effort that has been put in place to fight corona virus in the community level? He said, they trained 30 youth and 30 women and adolescent girls. For the youth, they held the training through the zoom platform to ensure adherence to #Covid19 safety protocols. For the women, they held a physical meeting but putting in place all the required measures Such as use of face mask, washing base, social distancing etc. And also provided them with what will make them develop interest in them and the message they have for them. So they didn’t only sensitize them, they also taught them entrepreneurship skills that will make them live good while also adhering to the safety protocols to stay safe. For all the women and youth trained, they will be certifying them soon with certificates and also have a one day physical training with them on how they can replicate all they were taught and teaching them entrepreneurship skill so that they can live good while staying and also, to mitigate their susceptibility to negative impact of the virus. The 30 women and adolescent girls in Kumbotso were trained on business skills in hand sanitizer and face mask making towards curtailing the spread and negative impact of the Covid-19 on the people of Kano. Supported by @ICTAdvocates @macfound and @IIEglobal, The trainees promised to utilize their learnt lessons on Covid-19 safety protocols and entrepreneurship skills towards living good while staying safe.

In conclusion, he recommends that the government should do more of meaningful engagement and not only media awareness, though it is important. The virus has affected people in different ways, while sensitizing them, they should also be taught skills and human capacity should be built for them and he also appreciates CITAD for given the chance to young individuals like him to inspire change in their communities and the society at large.

ENGAGEMENTS:

 

Mr @Etudaye_MA may we know what sensitizing people at the grassroots is and how it is being done?

@Etudaye_MA Sensitization means making people know about something and as it relates to Covid19, it means creating awareness about issues related to Covid19.

 

@_sabo12Replying to

As a young person who is passionate about development work and also working on sensitizing people on Covid19 in the community, how are you carrying your activities?

@Etudaye_MA I made a need assessment in my community and I discovered that the pandemic has had a huge effect on young people and women too because of their vulnerability. So I decided to trained on taking responsibility themselves through sensitizing them and teaching

@_sabo12 what tools did you use during this training and how do you ensure Covid19 protocols are followed throughout the training?

@_sabo12 and do you think community people despite some of them not believing in the existence of the virus are giving you maximum cooperation?

@Etudaye_MA provides them with what will make them develop interest in us and the message we have for them. So we didn’t only sensitize them, we also taught them entrepreneurship skills that will make them live good while also adhering to the safety protocols to stay safe.

@_sabo12 we are ending this discussion in few minutes sir, what are your recommendations to both government and people on how to reduce the spread of Covid19 in our communities.

@Etudaye_MA I recommend that the government should do more of meaningful engagement and not only media awareness, though it is important. The virus has affected people in different ways, while sensitizing them, they should also be taught skills and human capacity should be built for them.

Here we come to the end of this insightful discussion with @Etudaye_MA on Covid19 Sensitization at Community Level, on behalf of @ICTAdvocate E.D, we thank our guest most sincerely for taking his time & educate us on this topic. Thank you air

@Etudaye_MA I so much appreciate @CITAD for given the chance to young individuals like us to inspire change in our communities and the society at large. Thank you to @yzy to @_sabo12 and to the team. Thanks to@macfound and @IIEglobal. I am so much honored.

 

46th Twitter Chat With Muazu Alhaji Modu on Tracking Covid19 Palliatives at Grassroots

The guest was Muazu Alhaji Modu, an Expert in Budget Tracking & Mandela Washington Fellow, who discussed on Tracking Covid19 Palliatives at Grassroots

He started by explaining what tracking of Covid-19 palliative distribution means, he said, tracking Covid-19 palliative distribution in grassroots completely different from normal service delivery tracking. This is extraordinary tracking brought by extraordinary circumstance that require extraordinary measures

In the process of tracking COVID-19 palliative distribution we must ensure COVID-19 protocol & guidelines are been observed which includes social distancing, wearing facemask & restriction of movement & burn on large gathering to curb the spread of COVID-19.

He used Yobe State as example throughout the chat. To ensure compliance with the COVID-19 protocol and guidelines while tracking palliative, the guest stated that they recruited Local government volunteer observers across the 17 LGAs of Yobe State. To monitor distribution of the palliative and compliance with COVID-19 protocol in the distributions in the LGA with strict compliance to COVID-19 protocols. The observers in LGAs Monitored and documented methodology used in the selection of beneficiaries, number of beneficiaries in the LGAs, process of the distribution and compliance with the protocols in distribution across the 17 LGAs and shared with the team

To validate the primary data from LGA observers gathered in the field, he said they write Freedom of information act (FOIA) request to @sema_yobe as an agency responsible for the palliative distribution in the state, Yobe Task Force on COVID19, @officialNEDC office in Yobe State requesting breakdown of fund, food and non-food item donation received by state government, breakdown of palliative distribution and methodology.

He stated the importance of tracking palliatives at the grassroots as ensuring  that palliative reach right beneficiaries and to ensure that right beneficiaries are the once that received  the palliative.

 

When he was asked on the issue of ensuring protocols are being observed during the distribution looking at how hungry & desperate people are, he said, is the responsibility of government to ensure strict enforcement of the protocol while distributing palliative also, both government and citizens group strengthen advocacy and sensitization on the effect of COVID-19. He further said “there have been a lot of challenges tracking spending on palliative due to lack of authentic data to engage.”

He advised those willing to follow palliative spending to leverage on Freedom of information Act, to ask question around COVID-19 spending. To ensure that the palliatives are not abused or hoarded, effective use digital technology (social media) to put the distribution process in Spotlight. He emphasized.

Also he stated that they paid advocacy to the relevance authorities like the Executive Secretary @@sema_yobe which is at the same time Secretary of Covid-19 Palliatives distribution Sub-Committee where they further discussed COVID-19 palliative distribution in Yobe state.

 

At the end he started that the palliative don’t reach to the right people, he cited example with his community in Yobe state, he said, it was four pieces of spaghetti and half mudu of rice in Gwange community, polling unit called KULLOMA it was 19 persons were selected to benefit and these persons is the executive of unit was being selected.

 

Engagements:

  1. @a_sabo12

Hello everyone, Do join me in welcoming @Muazulittle4, an Expert in Budget Tracking & Mandela Washington Fellow to

@ICTAdvocates‘s Twitter Chat Series on Covid19 who will be discussing on Tracking Palliatives at Grassroots.

  1. @Muazulittle4

Tracking covid-19 palliative distribution in grassroots completely different from normal service delivery tracking. This is extraordinary tracking brought by extraordinary circumstance that require extraordinary measures.

As the speaker continues with his presentation  there were questions and comments from the participants, these are as follows:

  1. @a_sabo12
    So why do you think it so even important to track these palliatives at the grassroots, sir?
  2. @Muazulittle4 Replying to @a_sabo12

To ensure that right beneficiaries are the once that receive the palliative.

  1. @Muazulittle4 Replying to @a_sabo12

in the process of tracking COVID-19 palliative distribution we must ensure COVID-19 protocol & guidelines are been observe which includes social distancing, wearing facemask & restriction of movement & burn on large gathering to curb the spread of COVID-19.

  1. @a_sabo12to @Muazulittle4 @ICTAdvocates and 11 others

Sir, how can we ensure these protocols are being observed during this distribution looking at how hungry & desperate people are?

  1. @Muazulittle4

Government to ensure strict enforcement of the protocol while distributing palliative Also, both government and Citizen Group strengthen advocacy and sensitization on the effect of COVID-19

  1. @ChiromaHope

Replying to @Muazulittle4 and @a_sabo12 @Muazulittle4, there have been a lot of challenges tracking spending on palliative due to lack of authentic data to engage. What advice will you give to those willing to follow palliative spending?

  1. @teemerh_beekay
    how do we ensure the palliatives are not abused or hoarded sir twitter.com/muazulittle4/s
  2. @Muazulittle4 replying to @teemerh_beekay & @ChiromaHope

By Effective use digital technology (social media) to put the distribution process in Spotlight

  1. @Danmliki Replying to @Muazulittle4

How might we break the cycle of corruption in distribution of palliative to affected communities areas @Muazulittle4

J.@Muazulittle4 Replying to @Danmliki

Most efficient way of break a cycle of corruption is effective use of media (conventional and social) to the process in the Spotlight

  1. @alhajialimella1 Replying to unblock
    @Muazulittle4@a_sabo12and 12 others

Is the palliative get to the right persons?

  1. @Muazulittle4 Replying to @alhajialimella1

The answer is no. That why we are more concern with methodology of selection and distribution

  1. Replying to @alhajialimella1 @Muazulittle4 and 13 others

The answer is no no even if yes then it was four pieces of spaghetti and half mudu of rice in my community gwange my polling unit called KULLOMA it was 19 persons were selected to benefit and these persons is the executive of unit is being selected

  1. @Muazulittle4
    Data very is important in the tracking palliative without right data we unable to understand context
  2. Baaba Muhammad Isa Replying to @Muazulittle4

Sir. Is there any punishment set aside for diverting palliatives meant for vulnerables to VIPs?

  1. Muazu Alhaji Modu (Little)

@Muazulittle4

All punishment set for corruption, the diversion of palliative is another form corruption

  1. @alhajialimella1

Replying to

@Muazulittle4 and 13 others

So I don’t for them and I think is high time for us to be on our two legs to mitigate these act from happening because indirectly is affecting us cause we are part of the community.

  1. @Muazulittle4He is strong accountability advocate
    @alhajialimella1

adding some more advice!

  1. @ChiromaHope

Well done @Muazulittle4! On behalf of the E.D, @ICTAdvocates we sincerely thank you for the time and knowledge you shared with us. @YZYau @a_sabo12 @kamalkano #CITADAgainstCovid19

  1. Muazu Alhaji Modu (Little) @Muazulittle4

Thank you so much for hosting me

CITAD Disbursed Over N5Million to 31 Youth Trains on Covid-19 In Kano

By Salisu K Ismail

No fewer than 31 youth benefitted from the Covid-19 and leadership training organised by the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in Kano.
The program which was conducted with the support of MacArthur Foundation and the International Institute of Education selected the beneficiaries youths from among the 100 participants that were earlier trained in the center under the program which gulped about N5, 289, 375
Speaking to newmen shortly after the officials launching of financial grant to the teaming youths held at the office of the Center in Kano, The Communication officer of the Centre Malam Ali Sabo said, the beneficiaries were sensitised by CITAD on how to go about educating their community on Covid-19 protocols.
“Each of the 31 selected beneficiaries got N170,000 to go and sensitise people on the current Covid-19 pandemic in their respective areas,” Ali Sabo Added.
The Communication Officer also said that, the program was aims at enhancing the understanding of the participants on Covid-19 and how it can be curtailed and to provide tools within which the participants will support community efforts in their respective community to prevent spread of the virus.
Other aims according to him are to enable youth provide leadership in a situation of emergency in their community and to encourage the them carry out sensitization efforts via social media platforms.
However, the beneficiaries youths while receiving the grants were warned to focus strictly on the responsibility ahead of them and ensure that they justified what’s given to them through attainment of value for money, visibility, financial reporting, documentation and retirement among other.
On their part, the selected beneficiaries through Halima Sani promised to make good use of what’s given to them.

CITAD ta Tallafawa Matasa 31 da Fiye da Naira Miliyan 5 Domin Yaƙi da Cutar COVID-19

Cibiyar bunƙasa fasahar sadarwa ta zamani da ci gaban al`umma (CITAD) ta tallafawa matasa guda 31 da tallafin kuɗi fiya da naira miliyan 5 domin daƙile yaɗuwar cutar korona ko COVID-19 a cikin al’umma.

Jami’in yaɗa labarai na Cibiyar ta CITAD, Ali Sabo, ne ya bayyana haka a jiya litinin a gurin rufe horon da cibiyar ta bayar ga matasan, wanda za su koma cikin al’ummar su domin su yi amfani da abin da su ka koya wajen hana yaɗuwar cutar COVID-19 a cikin al’umma.

Tun da farko cibiyar ta CITAD ta bayar da tallafin ne da hadin gwiwar gidauniyar MacArthur da kuma International Institute of Education.

Ali Sabo ya ce sun baiwa matasa guda 120 horo na musamman, sai dai mutum 31 ne su ka yi nasarar samun tallafin bayan da su ka gabatar da tsari tare da kasafin yadda za su gudanar da aikin da ake buƙatar za su gabatar akan cutar ta COVID-19.

Haka kuma Ali Sabo ya ce za su sanya ido wajen ganin yadda matasan za su yi amfani da tallafin wajen yin abin da aka ba su domin su.

Labarai24 ya tattauna da wasu daga cikin waɗanda su ka amfana da tallafin inda su ka bayyana jin dadinsu tare tabbatar da yin amfani da tallafin a inda ya dace

  • “Babu shakka wannan abin alfahari ne la’akari da yadda aka samu matasa maza da mata da su ka samu horo na musamman akan yaÆ™i da cutar COVID-19, wanda kuma tabbas zamu yi amfani da shi a inda ya dace, domin mun samu horon da zamu je mu yi a cikin al’ummar mu” in ji Gazzali Haruna Ibrahim.

Haka shi ma Salim Sani Shehu ya ce tabbas wannan wani abin koyi ne ga sauran cibiyoyin da su ke rajin yaƙi da yaɗuwar annobar COVID-19.

“Wannan shiri da cibiyar CITAD ta yi ya zama abin misali kuma kwaikwayo ga sauran cbiyoyin da su ke rajin yaƙi da annobar cutar korona, domin tabbas CITAD ta yi rawar gani wajen yi mana horo na musamman tare kuma da bamu tallafin domin yin abin da aka bamu horo akai” in ji Salim Sani Shehu.

Isma’il Abdu Bichi, wanda shi ma daya ne daga cikin waɗanda su ka amfana da tallafin ya ce za su yi amfani da tallafin akan abin da aka buƙace su da yi.

“Mun samu horo akan yaki da bazuwar cutar Corona, kuma tabbas wannan horon ya ƙara mana ilimi akan cutar ta COVID-19, kuma za mu koma unguwannin mu domin ganin mun yi amfani da ilimin da mu ka samu akan cutar ta COVID-19” In ji Isma’il Bichi

Taron dai na tsahon kwanaki goma ne, kuma ya gudana ne a dandalin intanet na Zoom.

A ƙarshe Ali Sabo ya ce yana fatan matasan za su cigaba da yin aiki da abin da su ka koya ko bayan ƙarewar tallafin.

CITAD Supports 31 Youth with Over N5.28m to Prevent Spread of COVID-19

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has supported 31 youths in Kano with N 5,289, 375 for COVID-19 education of the populace so as to reduce spread of the disease.

CITAD Campaign and Communication officer, Ali Sabo  stated this on Monday after an intensive training on how the youth would go back to their communities to train others on COVID-19 preventive measures and ways to encourage testing for the disease in the society.

Ali Sabo said 120 youth were trained for 10 days out of which 31 were funded after submitting proposals on how they intend to train others in the communities and carry out other activities aimed at reducing spread of COVID-19.

‘’They were all encouraged to write and submit proposals on how they intend to step down the training out which 31 were selected and given sub-grant amounting to N 5,289, 375,’’ said Ali.

‘’The maximum of the sub-grant to individual is N170,625. Also we have put in place mechanism to guide them on how to carry out the training for effective goals achievement.’’

He noted that for every activity to be conducted by the youth to sensitize the community must be followed with a report so as to get value for money and reduce the disease.

Ali Sabo implored the youth to sustain the initiative even after the life span of the project.

CITAD, MacArthur Support Youth To Sensitise Kano Residents On COVID-19

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), with support from MacArthur Foundation, has aided 31 young people in Kano State with a sum of N5.3 million so that they may contribute to tackling the spread COVID-19 by engaging members of their communities.

Ali Sabo, CITAD’s communications officer, said on Monday that the youth had been trained on how to organise step-down training in the communities to encourage the public to present themselves for testing.

He added that 120 young people were trained online for 10 days and 31 were funded after their proposals had been reviewed.

“Participants were encouraged to write and submit proposals on how they will spread awareness in the society and 31 qualified. The maximum sub-grant to an individual is N170,000, and guidelines have been provided to guide the training,” Sabo said.

He encouraged the participants to work according to the mandate given to achieve significant results. He also asked them to sustain their advocacy and community engagement even after the training.

One of the beneficiaries receives the grant following a successful pitch
One of the beneficiaries receives the grant following a successful pitch

Speaking to HumAngle, some of the beneficiaries expressed their appreciation for the financial support.

“I feel very glad and overwhelmed. The sub-grant is a form of motivation to me that the world watches the impact I make in my own little ways and I should continue to do more of it,” enthused Abdul-Aziz Musa Etudaye.

“Being selected from a pool of applicants to be part of the over 100 trainees and, later, selected out of it to be part of the 31 sub-grantees is a huge reason to be happy and grateful.”

Etudaye said the pandemic has adversely affected many people in Kubomtso, Kano, where he is from, and he hoped to contribute to making life easier for them. His plan is to empower young residents of the community through training on entrepreneurship “so that their susceptibility to the negative impact of the pandemic can be mitigated”.

Another beneficiary, Isma’il Auwal, said the grant from CITAD and MacArthur has motivated him to work more effectively and promised to conduct follow-ups after his campaign in order to sustain impact.

42nd Twitter Chat with Ibrahim Nuhu on Health Workers Efforts to Living New Normal Amidst Covid-19 Held on The 1st Of September, 2020.

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), held its 42nd Twitter chat on the 1st of September. The guess was Ibrahim Nuhu a Health Professional and Program Coordinator, CITAD. He discussed on Health Workers Efforts to Living New Normal Amidst Covid19.

He started by talking about the New Normal with regard to COVID 19 Pandemic is looking into the way health professionals are recovering from the depth of challenges imposed by the virus and regaining back to normal working conditions and how difficult the situation was and many health professionals suffer from one form or the other ranging from the fear of stigmatization and economic loss, also the strikes in which unions embark on amidst the need of their Services by the public in some states, it reached a point where health professionals are avoiding to show themselves to the public and the government were not showing rightful concerns over their status, which he said led to threats where families and friends are afraid of coming close to us especially after work.

He was asked that during the early days of this pandemic there were a lot of fears among the citizens, as a health worker how did you manage that with your family & friends? He said we tried to manage that through counselling and awareness to our families for them to know and understand the real situation and accept it.

He added that all the health professionals are giving the fullest to care, prevent, cure, rehabilitate the victims of COVID 19 but the living status of us is not being recognized by the authorities, but now as we begin to resume to our normal life the situation is changing from the side of health workers and the government at all levels despite the challenges on ground.

He was asked on what measures they are putting in place to ensure the safety of their colleagues and general public. He said The measures they take are using the guidelines protocols given by NCDC like social distancing, using protective devices and frequent hand washing to avoid cross infection of the virus and with the New Normal they are advocating for wages increase, provision of PPE from side of the government and favorable working environment so as to get motivated and face the challenges squarely, Also they equally request government to recruit more health professionals in order to breech the gap of those we lost during the pandemic.

In conclusion, he recommended that, People should always abide by the NCDC protocols like using face marks in public spaces, washing hands frequently and Health workers should also use PPE at work and take good care of their clients with no discrimination.