By Rabiu Musa

HOTPEN – The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has organized a 2-days training for selected youths from Kano South Senatorial District on the use of Social Media for Accountability in Rano local government area of Kano state.

The training, themed; “Social Media for Accountability”, allowed the participants to acquire relevant skills on the use of social media for accountability and the areas of deploying various platforms for networking, political participation, holding leaders accountable, content creation, entrepreneurship, and a host of others.

During the training, the Centre’s Campaigns and Communications Officer, Mal. Ali Sabo who doubled as the resource person took the participants with lessons on social media best practices within the purview of global digital trends.

The participants also gained knowledge and learned the basic rudiments on the best practices on building and maintaining an online presence for monetary gain with an emphasis on YouTube. Mal. Ali has also taught the participants how to create powerful and captivating written and visual content, which according to him, enhances effective communication, particularly for businesses with their target audience.

The participants were also equipped and exposed to the various features of social media platforms and their usage, techniques of social media engagement, and how to lend a voice on governance by leveraging the technology and its trends.

In his remarks, the CITAD’s Admin and Documentation Officer, Mal. Buhari Abba, who is also the Project Officer, Journalists for Accountability said the Centre organized the 2-days training to educate the youth on the effective use of social media to seek accountability as well as for the improvement of personal and professional development.

A participant at the training, Mukhtar Lawal Abdullahi Rano commended the Centre for organizing the training which, according to him, has exposed them to the use of social media Instrumentalities to hold leaders accountable and improve their lives.

Another Participant, Binta Wada Abubakar acknowledged the giant stride of the organizers. She said the training has positively impacted her life with first-hand knowledge on how to use social media to demand accountability from leaders and participate actively in any issue of national importance on social media.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development had on 10 th of February, 2022 under
its project on Mobilizing and Catalyzing Citizens Action for Accountable Election and
Governance in Nigeria supported by MacArthur Foundation held its Second Dialogue on Anti-
Corruption Fight in Nigeria with three of its sub-grantees; Mu’azu Alhaji Modu, Executive
Director, Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability, Mustapha Bulama, Editorial Cartoonist
with Daily Trust and Joshua Alabi, Executive Director, KININSO KONCEPTS and moderated by
Kabiru Danladi, Lecturer with Department of Mass Communications, Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria. In the previous edition, CITAD hosted Abubakar Sadiq Mu’azu, Executive Director, Center
for Advocacy, Transparency and Accountability Initiative, Jide Ojo, Independent Researcher,
Writer, Public Affairs Analyst and Journalist and Chioma Agwuegbo, Executive Director,
TechHerNG, the session was chaired by Mukhtar Modibbo of Connected Development.
The aim of the dialogue is to give the sub-grantees under this project an opportunity to
regularly share their work with a wider audience in promoting accountability and fighting
corruption in Nigeria. The dialogue is also aimed at giving both the sub-grantees and young
people who have interest in the area an opportunity to discuss and share ideas.
Giving his remarks at the dialogue, the Executive Director of CITAD, Malam Yunusa Zakari Ya’u
who was represented by the Centre’s Communications Officer, Malam Ali Sabo said CITAD has
for many years been working in the area of accountability and fighting corruption in Nigeria and
empowering young people to demand for good governance in Nigeria. He further stated that,
the essence of organizing the monthly dialogue is to create a platform for the sub-grantees and
those who have an interest in the area to discuss ideas and learn from each other. “Corruption
and lack of accountability are the major obstacles towards the country’s growth and
development”. He stated. At the end, Malam Ya’u said, for citizens to effectively fight
corruption “we need one another, we need to collaborate with others working in area and
share our ideas.”
Sharing his experience on the different tools and mediums he uses in demanding for
accountability and fighting corruption, Mu’azu Alhaji Modu said in Yobe State his organization
selected 30 young people from 30 communities in six local governments in the state and
trained them on how to track Basic Health Care Funds. Also Mr. Modu said part of what they
are doing are advocacy visits to respective government agencies such as Yobe Primary
HealthCare Development Agency, Yobe State Contributory HealthCare Management Agency to
ensure what are being budgeted have reach the common people. Moreover, to ensure a robust

conversation between governments and citizens, Mr. Modu said they provided a platform
where citizens and government officials discuss issues affecting their communities.
Another panelist on the discussion, Mustapha Bulama of DailyTrust said there are many
informal ways that messages especially on anti-corruption could be sent to public, some of
these are through cartoons, illustrations and animations. Bulama said people find it hard to
read long articles on the internet, but when issues of corruption and fraud are simplified
through cartoons, people tend to understand it and appreciate it more. Bulama also said
creating awareness among people and reorientation especially on anti-corruption fight is very
important. The speaker also mentioned that using cartoons to display the negative affect of
vote buying is another way to sensitize the public about the importance of voting of competent
leaders in the country. At the end he mentioned that social media such Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram are some of the best platforms to reach young people and send messages to
government officials.
The last speaker, Joshua Alabi of KININSO KONCEPTS also discussed on the platforms he uses in
creating awareness on anti-corruption, accountability and electoral processes. Joshua said using
art and theatre for storytelling not in the way of entertainment but in changing the narrative of
the governance in the country is very important. Mr. Alabi said, as part of their efforts to
create awareness in the area of accountability and good governance they are transforming
stories into educative films around accountability and good governance. He further said,
collaboration with other stakeholders in the area such Nollywood Actors/Actress, Young people
and social media influencers is another way they are using to educate the public.
At the end participants asked questions and made comments.

The Anti-corruption and Accountability project supported by MacArthur Foundation, aims at deepening and spreading of anti-corruption and accountability in Nigeria through sensitizing and mobilizing citizens to voice their demands for accountability and anti-corruption and amplify these voices to get the buying of decision and policy maker in the country. On this project, CITAD is with 25 Social Influencers who use different platforms and strategies ranging from community/theater drama and poetry performance, radio, TV, use of online platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram WhatsApp, online news sites and offline newspapers as well as Journals to amplify the voices of Nigerians against corruption, increase demand for transparency, anticorruption policies and accountable government at national, state and local government levels

Report a Project Radio Program is part of a larger project of the same which is aimed at deepen accountability by getting students to document abandoned and poorly executed projects in the communities in a bi-monthly competition in which the top three reports are given prizes. Thereafter, CITAD works with members of the community to engage relevant duty bearers to address the issue. The radio program is meant to add voice to the demand also serving as feedback mechanism for the communities. It is a means of creating voice of anti-corruption among young people especially students in the tertiary institutions can be engaged and encouraged to be part of the fight against corruption in the communities and to also be reporting abandoned projects in their respective communities. The program is been aired every Thursday at Freedom Radio Dutse by 5pm

Held On the 14^TH OF DECEMBER, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

PREAMBLE

On January 15, 2018, the Social Influencers Cluster on Deepening Anti-Corruption and Spreading Accountability led by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and supported by MacArthur Foundation held it First quarter meeting. The participants were sub grantees working on anti-corruption and accountability project. Over 20 Social Influencers took turns at the meeting to speak on their experience on the project on anti-corruption and accountability. The meeting which held at Newton Park, Abuja allowed members of the cluster to review their work and reflect on the uptake of accountability and anti-corruption issues in the current campaigns by political parties for the 2019 General Election.

OBSERVATIONS

1. Participants noted with dismay that corruption has remained a major development challenge  in the country in spites of the efforts by all
2. That current campaigns by the major political parities are enmeshed in corrupt practices such as buying delegates, buying of PVCs, arbitrary replacement of candidates, etc
3. That parties are yet to come up with clear frameworks and strategies for deepening anti-corruption and spreading accountability  in the post-election period
4. That intrigues, competition and political calculations have rendered the government anti-corruption agenda ineffective,
5. That citizens are still largely onlookers for a fight that should be their

COMMITMENTS

The members of the Cluster reiterated their commitment to deploy creative and innovative strategies to campaign for the mainstreaming of anti-corruption and accountability issues in the electioneering campaign and in enabling citizens to hold elected governments accountable. In particular, the cluster members shall continue to work in their various spheres to:

• Sensitize and mobilize citizens to take anti-corruption struggle as theirs and therefore demand to play active role in it
• Create more opportunities for multiplying the grassroots voices against corruption and placing them before the table of candidates and their political parties especially
• Create avenues for candidates and parties to explain their strategies to the electorates on how they intend to tackle corruption and improve on accountability if elected
• To engage with all anti-corruption agencies and authorities in the country with a view to getting them to be more proactive, more effective, efficient and more rooted in in rule of law in the investigation and prosecution of proven cases of corruption
• To continue to monitor and provide evidence-based documentation about the impact of corruption on the lives of citizens as means for advocacy and engagement with other stakeholders

RECOMMENDATIONS

Participants agreed to the following recommendations”

1. That there is need for transparency in the prosecution of the Federal Government anti-corruption agenda
2. That all state governments that do not have state level anti-corruption agencies should do
3. That as part of the oversight function of the National Assembly, should have a robust and clear anti-corruption mechanism that will investigate and report corruption practices in the ministries, departments and agencies they oversight to relevant anti-corruption agencies
4. That there is need for inter-agency cooperation and coordination in the fight against corruption at all levels
5. That political parties should come out with clear anti-corruption strategies for the country
6. That political parties and candidates should make their themselves available to citizens’ forums to explain their manifestoes, especially aspects dealing with anti-corruption and promoting accountability
7. That civil society groups are urged to document campaign promises of candidates and parties with a view to using these as benchmarks for holding elected persons accountable in the post elections period
8. That parties and candidates are urged to focus on issues in their campaign than personality
9. That electorates are urged to carefully  scrutinize the manifestoes of the various parties and the candidates and make informed judgment on election days

CITAD: Dr. Tunde Misbahu Akanni (CITAD)

Danlami Nmodu (Social Influencer)

Ayo Obe (Social Influencer)

Richard Akinnola (Social Influencer)

INTRODUCTION

For over many decades, corruption has become the most destructive phenomenon which wearies away the economic growth and development of the entire Nigerian state. Corruption has penetrated to all levels of starting from the wards in local government areas and up to the federal level of government. Similarly, Nigeria is a state that is blessed with all forms   of resources including land, human and natural resources that could place the state in the top countries of the world and compete with first world countries. Unfortunately, the persistent political corruption and lack accountability in Nigeria have kept Nigeria backward with excessive embezzlement of public fund by political officers, election rigging, bribery etc in all sectors including health, security and education.

Fighting corruption and promoting accountability therefore is collective and a task for all. To discharge their responsibilities in line with this postulations, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), with support from MacArthur Foundation started implementing a project titled “Anti-corruption and Accountability,” where CITAD is working with 26 social influencers who use the influence especially on social media and other media outlet to influence citizens in Nigeria to stand against corruption and advocate for accountability at all level of government.

On January 15, 2018, the Social Influencers Cluster on Deepening Anti-Corruption and Spreading Accountability led by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and supported by MacArthur Foundation held it First quarter meeting. The participants were sub grantees working on anti-corruption and accountability project. Over 20 Social Influencers took turns at the meeting to speak on their experience on the project on anti-corruption and accountability. The meeting which held at Newton Park, Abuja allowed members of the cluster to review their work and reflect on the uptake of accountability and anti-corruption issues in the current campaigns by political parties for the 2019 General Election.

While giving an opening remarks at the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Tunde Misbahu Akanni who chaired the meeting, harped on the need for members of the cluster to adhere to the deadlines for the submission of quarterly reports, as such delays hamper the prompt release of subsequent tranches of funds.

This point was further adumbrated by Dayo Olaide, the representative of MacArthur Foundation, Dayo Olaide during general discussion who stressed on the importance of prompt filling of reports. He also emphasized the need for sub-grantees to avoid the issue of conflict of interests in the course of their work particularly as we approach the general election.

ACTIVITIES DURING THE MEETING

The Meeting was divided into three segments.

1^ST SEGMENT:

The first segment consisted of presentations; one on “Understanding the Human Cost of Conflict and Corruption in Nigeria,” by Chris Kwaja of Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola, Adamawa State. In his presentation, Chris Kwaja explained that despite the victimhood associated with their experiences with conflicts, many Nigerians lack the power to exercise their civic rights in relations to the demand for accountability and transparency as it relates to conflict related responses by state and non-state actors. He lamented that Corruption has become a dominant features of responses by these actors – monies appropriated, distributed and used under the guise of conflict related interventions are mis-applied, mis-used or stolen through official and unofficial means.

In his presentation, Kwaja also explained how corruption has killed Nigeria to a bottom line. He stated that corruption erodes public trust on the state and its institutions, thereby perpetuating a regime of impunity. Similarly, citizens are cut off from knowledge of what happens to the monies meant to address their problems, leading to social tension (Boko Haram emerged because the state is ‘corrupt’). In the eyes of the citizens, the state is also perceived as corrupt in way it allocates and uses resources to fight Boko Haram).

At the end of his presentation, he opined that empowering communities to demand social accountability through the availability of information as well as the right communication tools and channel for combating corruption is imperative and a collective responsibility. Another important point he made was to train key community actors on the monitoring and tracking of the distribution of budgeted funds and relief materials

The second presentation was on “Creativity in the Fight against Corruption” by one of the subgrantees, Diego Odoh Okenyedo (Splendors of Dawn), who uses creativity in poetry to deepen anti-corruption and spread accountability. Diego explained that creativity such as in Drama and poetry could be used to send messages on anticorruption and accountability in an entertaining manner. Citizens including young people as well as political officers could be connected with anticorruption and the need for accountability and transparency through poetry, pop culture, stage drama etc. This could be done by using imagination of original ideas to create messages on anticorruption and accountability. He explained that key elements in doing that involved associating by drawing connections between questions, problems or ideas from unrelated field; question by  posing queries that challenge common wisdoms, observing by identifying new ways of doing things, networking by meeting people wth different ideas and perspectives and lastly; experimenting by constructing interactive experiences and provoking responses to see new insights.

2^ND SEGMENT 2:

The Second segments consisted of issues relating to the activities implemented by each sub-grantee. 21 social influencers attended the meeting and shared their experiences on their various activities and their challenges. The activities carried out by the social influencers in the first quarter included poetry, documentary, drama, journals, radio programme, online news updates, daily tweets and researches etc.

Challenges as shared by the social influencers include:

• Getting across to the politicians and political stakeholders.
• People are not willing to engage themselves in matters that concerns their rights.
• People challenge some of the social influencers thinking that they are not neutral and or were being paid by some politicians to carry out the activities.
• Physical threats from people against some staff who went to public areas for shooting.
• Some Sub grantees made known that the project has been yielding positive results.
• In some locations in Nigeria no much is been said on anti-corruption and accountability, citizens in that region talk more on insecurity which is a challenge.
• The issue of feedback from the citizens is a challenge.

In this segment also, the CITAD team discussed on how to properly prepare report and retirement for each quarter. Aliyu Dahiru Aliyu who is the M&E officer, Spoke from the monitoring and evaluation perspectives and stated some guidelines on how to properly meet all its requirement. Maryam Ado Haruna, the programme officer also explained the guidelines needed to be followed while filling the quarterly narrative form. She also stated that there is need for monthly update of each sub-grantees activities, adding that a timetable would be developed and sent to them to know when they need to submit any required document. This was to enable timely submissions on time and avoid unnecessary delays as experienced in the first quarter. Abubakar Yusuf Auyo, the project accountant also stated requirements for the financial report including supporting documents of all transaction made with the project fund.

3^RD SEGMENT:

In the third segment which was the last segment, consisted of general discussion and observation on corruption in Nigeria. The outcomes were:

• The participants discussed that People on the ground who are directly affected by the conflict in the North East can sometimes see the international agencies themselves as beneficiaries of the insurgency and feel that they themselves do not always meet the highest accountability standards.
• Similarly, there is a backlash against those working on accountability issues when it come s to the fight against the insurgency in the North East or the provision of humanitarian aid.
• Again, the issue of production of fake news has aided toward deepening corruption in Nigeria.
• At the end of the meeting, the communique drafted during the meeting was presented and was signed by CITAD and the social influencers.
• It is important to collaborate with other social media influencers working on the anticorruption project, in the print media, the performing art and other socially conscious CSOs.
• Many Nigerians lack the power to exercise their civic rights in relations to the demand for accountability and transparency as it relates to conflict related responses by state and non-state actors.
• The Nigeria’s security sector remains one of the most visible actor in the country’s conflict landscape
• Security funds are outside the budget and financial reporting systems (they don’t account to anyone about how such funds were spent.
• The issue of diversion of relief materials by aid workers, government officials and diversion of humanitarian funds through fraudulent contracts
• There is practice of classified expenditure under the guide of security votes, which end up as slush funds that are spent without any iota of accountability.