By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in collaboration with Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) has sensitized community members from Karaye, Kabo, Kano Municipal Council, Nasarawa, Gaya and Rano local governments of Kano state. It could be recalled that CITAD with support from ActionAid International Nigeria began implementing the Strengthening Community Engagement in Electoral Process (SCEEP) project in eighteen communities across Kano state before the 2015 general elections in an effort to equip the communities with knowledge of being part of governance process by way of making tangible inputs in the budgetary allocation of governments at different levels which in essence will positively reflect on their livelihood.  

Unveiling the objectives of the Open Budget Forum, the Executive Director of CITAD who was represented by Training Coordinator Malam Ahmad Yakasai hinted that part of the reasons for convening the forum is to help the government by educating citizens on how they can identify their needs and forward to government for consideration in the yearly budget as well help track, monitor and supervise projects in their different communities. When people are made to feel some sense of belonging in the governance process, the government will have no or less problems, because people can assist the government in checking implementation or otherwise of projects, Malam Ahmad added.

Also giving remarks, representative of ActionAid International Nigeria at the forum, Mr. Kenneth Okoeneme observed that coming together of people to talk about governance is very important for the development of the country and in particular for the development of Kano state, Kano state has taken a lead in the process of involving citizens and different stakeholders in the budgetary process and the process needs to be strengthened and institutionalized, and ActionAid will continue to support forums like these because of the role they play in engaging citizens.

Papers presented at the One Day Open Budget Forum are: Understanding the Concept of Open and Participatory Budget by Isah Garba of CITAD, Importance of Stakeholders Collaboration in Budget Process by Yunusa Hamza of Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), Role of CSOs and Community Members in Ensuring Successful Budget Implementation by Tayyib Isyaku Na’abba of Kano State Ministry of Budget and Planning and Analysis of Budgetary Allocation to SCEEP Communities by Kabiru Sa’idu Dakata of CITAD.

All the papers presented treated relevant concepts and engaged the participants in general discussion with questions, comments, observations and recommendations on the way forward which resulted in issuing a communiqué at the end of the event. Some of the participants observed that even though they have vital inputs to forward to the legislature they can’t get into its premises as policemen usually block access to the assembly, therefore the lawmakers should undertake periodic visits and consultations with their constituents on important matters such as budget preparation instead. To make the budget document easily accessible, some participants recommended that Kano State Government should upload a soft copy of its yearly budget on a publicized website and the Open Budget Forum should be held on a quarterly basis to provide a platform for continuous engagement between citizens and government institutions responsible for budgeting in the state. This would also serve as a platform to provide feedback on monitoring and tracking by citizens.

Giving a closing remark, Director, Community Development in the Ministry for Local Government Affairs Alhaji Mukhtar Isyaku Minjibir said the open budget forum has quite been a success considering the interactivity of the forum and promised to forward the proceedings of the event to the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs.

Preamble

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support from ActionAid International Nigeria is implementing Strengthening Community Engagement in Electoral Process (SCEEP) project with a view to enlightening and educating communities to participate in governance processes especially the budget as a tool that defines the development agenda of government.  An open and participatory budget ensures that communities are carried along in all areas and processes while its provisions represent the needs and aspirations of the people. Such a process provides room for citizens to make input, track and monitor implementation of the budget in their respective communities and provide feedback to the relevant institutions and agencies of government for adjustment and reviews in order to suit citizens’ demands. Today’s Open Budget Forum is a continuation of the project’s series of awareness and enlightenment trainings and forums that started before the 2015 general elections in communities across Kano state.

Papers presented at the One Day Open Budget Forum are: Understanding the Concept of Open and Participatory Budget by Isah Garba of CITAD, Importance of Stakeholders Collaboration in Budget Process by Yunusa Hamza of Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), Role of CSOs and Community Members in Ensuring Successful Budget Implementation by Tayyib Isyaku Na’abba of Kano State Ministry of Budget and Planning and Analysis of Budgetary Allocation to SCEEP Communities by Kabiru Sa’idu Dakata of CITAD. The forum was attended by the representatives of Appropriation Committee of Kano State House of Assembly and Ministry of Budget and Planning, religious and traditional leaders, community members from Karaye, Kabo, Kano Municipal Council, Nasarawa, Gaya and Rano local governments, CSOs, Senior Special Adviser to Kano State Governor on Intercommunity Relations, Media, etc. Some of the observations and recommendations made are as follows:

Observations:

• The yearly Public Hearing by Kano State House of Assembly needs to be extended for a longer period to allow for more inputs and broader participation. The present two days seems insufficient.
• Policemen at the entrance of Kano State House of Assembly normally deny people access to the legislature, therefore people hardly get to the assembly complex let alone give inputs.
• Most contractors operating in rural communities have no regard for the communities as such concerns raised by the communities are normally ignored even if they are important.
• Local governments should open up and let citizens participate in their planning and budgeting process.
• People Living with Disability presently do not have adequate channels to engage in most governance processes including the budget. The proposed board for PWDs should be constituted in such a way that they are made part and parcel so that their views will be projected.
• Lawmakers should undertake periodic visits and consultations with their constituents on important matters such as budget preparation.
• Assemblies normally deny citizens copies of the budget on the basis of not being passed into law while budget office also stop people from getting copies of the budget even though it may have been passed into law on the basis official confidentiality.
• Sometimes projects are designed and funds allocated but they don’t get implemented.

Recommendations:

• Kano State Government should upload a soft copy of its yearly budget on a publicized website to allow more people access to the budgetary document.
• The Open Budget Forum should be held on a quarterly basis to provide a platform for continuous engagement between citizens and government institutions responsible for budgeting in the state. This would also serve as a platform to provide feedback on monitoring and tracking by citizens.
• Community needs should be pursued by different communities and given priority by the legislature.
• Community associations should form a coalition and speak with one voice so as to make the cause they pursue easier.
• The media should widely sensitize the public on the need to pay tax when due so that they can credibly hold their representatives accountable.
• Communities should maintain pressure especially on abandoned projects.
• Budget discussions or forums like this should be translated in local languages and strategies for engagement deployed that takes into consideration the literacy level of the people in the rural areas.
• Communities should utilize social media and other means available to voice their concerns to their elected representatives.  

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) held the second round of Internet Safety and Security workshop series on Saturday, 2017.  The workshop which held at the NISTF Hall, Kano was attended by 55 people including journalists, civil society activists, teachers and leaders of student for peace clubs of CITAD in tertiary institutions. Explaining the objectives of the workshop, Abdulganiyyu Rufai, Programmes Associate, CITAD said that it had become necessary to raise awareness about internet safety and security as many people were increasingly falling prey to cybercrime through identity and personality theft while many had experienced terrible confidentiality breach.

The workshop was conducted in three sessions. In the first session, entitled University Internet Safety and Security, was facilitated by Y. Z. Ya’u, the Executive Director of CITAD. Started by noting that given that internet had become an indispensable part of our daily life, it was only logical that we insist that governments must accord it a formal recognition as a right. As a right and tool that we use daily, we must be able to navigate that various perils that could put as at risk he added. He observed that often the two are confused because they are related and some use them interchangeably but as they evolved, they are actually used differently. Internet security he said “refers to the protection of the internet as a system-its function, its data base, etc” while Internet safety on the other hand relates to the protection of the individual users from harm. He sees Insecurity itself as a threat to internet safely. He then took the participants through the various points of perils, the consequences of safety and security breach as well as the various dimensions and manifestation of insecurity online. The session also drew attention to privacy issues, including the right to forget, the possible implications of internet of Things to privacy and concluded by looking at emerging issues such as zero rating and net neutrality. He pointed out that Nigeria has no position on zero rating, which currently some mobile companies were providing and activists needed to respond to this emerging digital apartheid.

The second session was on managing cyber-security and privacy issues led by Abdulganiyu Rufai. Mr. Rufai explained some common threats and their consequences such as viruses, spyware, ect. He looked at different types of attacks on networks and their countermeasures. He said such attacks were usually aimed at affecting either one or combination of confidently, authenticity, integrity and system availability. He discussed how these attacks can occur including interruption which affects availability, interception that undermines confidentiality of transactions, modification which leads to lack of system integrity and fabrication that attacks system authenticity. He concluded by imploring participant to implement seven cyber safety procedures that will “protect yourself, others, and your computer from many common threats”. These seven safety measures include regularly update software, running anti-virus always, taking precaution to avoid identity theft, and turning on personal firewalls. The rest were avoiding spyware/adware, protecting passwords and backing up important files

In the final session, Engr Kamal Umar, Technical Officer in CITAD demonstrated various tips on how to surf the internet safely. Talking on the topic “General online Safety Tips”, Engr Umar started by drawing attention of participants to the fact that learning to browse privately, a special feature of most browsers was the foundation of safety online. He demonstrated how they can be done. He also explained the various security features of the browsers which users needed to pay attention to. He advised on installing add-ons that can steer you away from threats and took participants through steps that help in to protecting systems while downloading documents online. He discussed key safety and security assurance features that those doing online shopping should look for. For example he drew attention to the difference between the Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) and the regular Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) as something to look for. He said was also important to look at the website’s Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificate which is like a digital ID card that tells you that the website or web page is genuine. He reinforced some of the safety measures discussed earlier such as taking precautions for protecting your computer or mobile device, not conducting overly-private activities when using public Wi-Fi, not allowing other people to use your computer/mobile phone and making sure you format or delete computer/mobile phone content before selling it or giving it as gift. He also gave tips on how to stay safe on social media sites.

At the end of the questions and answers session, a participant recommended that CITAD should mainstream internet safety and security in its regular training programmes. Responding, the Training Coordinator of CITAD, Malam Ahmad A. Yakasai said that the suggestion was taken and that CITAD would look into how to implement it.

The next round of the workshop on internet safety and security will hold in April for government officials. The first workshop in the series which was meant for CITAD staff and associates was held on January 21, 2017.

By

Ali Sabo, Dutse Office, CITAD

In its efforts to carry everyone along into the digital world and empower youth through the use of ICT, the Training Department of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has trained 12 (10 males 2 females) Peace Club Advisors in Dutse, Jigawa State, two teachers from each of the schools that CITAD has established the Peace Club. The training took place from Monday 6th to Friday 10th of March, 2017 at the Training Room of CITAD, Dutse Office. The peace clubs is an initiative of CITAD, supported by MacArthur Foundation to engage school communities in the campaign for peace, and specially to counter hate speech in the country.

The essence of the training was to equip the participants with the basic knowledge of computer and how to use it, given that the computer has become paramount to our lives and the fact that we have been left behind in this area, it has become of utmost important to make sure everyone is computer literate especially our Primary and Secondary school teachers so that they can train students are expected to write computer based examinations such as the Computer Based Test (CBT) of JAMB. Such skills will also be useful for the students to engage in the social media campaign against hate speech.

The facilitator of the training, Abdulaziz Yunusa Ya’u started with fundamental of computer/windows on the first day of the training, during which he taught the participants the basic and components of computer. In the subsequent days the facilitator continued with Microsoft Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel and Internet respectively.

The participants asked critical questions concerning computer; how to operate, handle and get access to some of its facilities. The facilitator of the training responded to the questions raised accordingly.

The participating schools were:  Dutse Model International School, Government Day Secondary School, Shuwarin, Government Junior Secondary School, Shuwarin, Government Girls Day Senior Secondary School, Dutse and School for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Duste.

In his vote of thanks on behalf of the participants, Malam Shehu Sani of Government Day Secondary School, Shuwarin thanked the Centre for organizing this educative and enlightening training which has given them the opportunity to participate in the cyber world and also promised to make effective use of what they have learnt at the training and pass it to their students.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

The Job Placement and Information Service (JOPIS) unit of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has organized a workshop for the students of Alqalam University and Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Katsina on how they can secure loans or grants from either governments initiatives, Bank of Industry, foundations and wealthy individuals in order start their own businesses and become self reliant, the workshop also prepared the participants on how they can pass employment interviews alongside mastering the secrets of developing a winning Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Resume.

Giving his welcome remarks, Huzaifa Yakubu Musa of CITAD expressed optimism with the turnout of the participants and observed that the workshop is timely considering the present situation of unemployment and a growing number of graduates emerging from various institutions that he said government alone cannot accommodate as such engaging in entrepreneurial activities will be a way out as well as make the youths realize their potentials by initiating different businesses, he urged the participants to consider the workshop as a challenge and engage in various self reliant businesses.

Three presentations were made, the first being “Developing a Winning CV and Employment Interview Techniques” by Mr. Ahmadu Adamu, the regional manager of outsourcing company Integrated Corporate Services which is based in Kano, the second “Job Scams” facilitated by Sagiru Ado Abubakar, the coordinator, Job Placement and Information Service (JOPIS) and the third “Enterpreneurship Support Sources” by Hamza Ibrahim, a research assistant with CITAD. All the presentations treated various relevant concepts.

The participants have asked many questions and made comments and suggestions, some of them appreciated CITAD for organizing the workshop while others observed that the next time a workshop like that will be organized they want business proposal writing be included as many students have sound business ideas but to carefully develop a proposal for them is a problem. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks and a group picture of the facilitators and the participants.

As part of efforts to enable unemployed university and polytechnic graduates acquire skills that will make them employable and competitive in a changing world, Center for Information and Technology Development (CITAD), a non-governmental organization(NGO)organized a career development and entrepreneurship training for unemployed graduates.

The Research Assistant with CITAD, Alhaji Hamza Ibrahim Chinade,stated this at a one day workshop on techniques and employment/entrepreneurship opportunities at CITAD Conference Hall, Bauchi, last weekend.
Chinande said the purpose of setting up Job placement information services Unit (JOPIS) was for the unemployed graduates to acquire employable skills, stressing that the unit has demonstrated high prospects to unemployed graduates for job acquiring skills from Foundations, NGOs ,Government and wealthy individuals.

He disclosed that about 30 graduates were targeted to benefit from the training but over 40 turned up.
“Graduates from ATBU Bauchi, Fedpoly Bauchi and University of Maiduguri all turned up for capacity building exercise with sound business ideas of securing jobs and skills of becoming self-reliant ”

“As long as a number of graduates still remain unemployed, we will continue to improve the capacity of training more unemployed graduates to become employers of labour”, he said.

Chinade called on the unemployed graduates to work hard and create jobs for the next generation, adding that the attitude of waiting to be employed by government might result in the next generation not having any job.

He also noted that the main challenge in the country is that most Nigerian graduates lack the necessary skills that will enable them secure employment.

NGO Trains 40 Unemployed Graduates on Entrepreneurship Opportunities

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

After conducting Interview Techniques and Enterpreneurship Support Opportunities Workshop for graduating students of Bayero University Kano, Northwest University, Kano state Polytechnic, Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education, Federal University Dutse and Jigawa state Polytechnic, the Job Placement and Information Service (JOPIS) unit of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has organized another similar workshop for the students of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) and Federal Polytechnic Bauchi.

The workshop which took place at the Bauchi office of CITAD exposes the participants into various skills that help job seekers succeed at employment interviews and entrepreneurship support opportunities in form of loans and grants for startup businesses in order for the youths to become self reliant. Earlier in his opening remarks, JOPIS Coordinator, Sagir Ado Abubakar urged the participants to feel free and ask questions where necessary as the workshop is meant to prepare towards becoming innovative entrepreneurs or succeed at employment interviews.

Facilitating a session on Interview Techniques and CV Development, Mr. Ahmadu Adamu, the regional manager of Integrated Corporate Services encouraged the participants to always take their time to develop a “Winning CV” that will sell them before their prospective employers and prepare well and adhere to ethics and skills of attending an employment interview emphasizing that it is a foundation for securing a job.

Some people use the unemployment scenario to dupe gullible and desperate youths in search of employment, said Sagiru Ado Abubakar who presented on “Job Scams”. Sagiru identified several tricks used by 419ers such as asking for payment for appointment, interviews, lacking concrete and verifiable address by the scammers, using fake identity on social networking sites, having no websites etc, he warned the participants to beware of dubious people who normally lure job seekers with fake claims.

The last session on “Enterpreneurship Support Opportunities” was facilitated by Hamza Ibrahim. The participants were presented with series of entrepreneurial support opportunities sources as well as procedures and requirements for applying. The facilitator explained in detail the thousands of untapped business ideas that can be utilized by the participants and get some grants or loans to startup their own businesses. The participants asked many questions regarding the qualification of a business to win grants or secure loans, and whether or not graduating students of Urban and Regional Planning can establish estate management service and can have a grant to startup etc. The questions and comments were clarified by the facilitator. Websites of grants and loan sources were given to the participants and many of them indicated interest in developing business ideas and applying for grants or loans in order to become self reliant.  

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) through it’s Job Placement and Information Services (JOPIS) organized a one day workshop on Job Interview Techniques, Employment and Entrepreneurship Support Opportunities to Federal University Dutse (FUD) and Jigawa State Polytechnic graduating students. JOPIS is a department initiated by the organization to help teeming unemployed youths with skills of becoming self reliant. In his welcome remarks, the coordinator of the Center in Duste, Ali Sabo welcomed the participants to the workshop and urged them to listen to the presenters with interest and also pass what they learn to others who could not attend the workshop.

In his introduction, the coordinator of the unit Sagir Ado Abubakar stated activities of the unit saying that the main objective of the unit is to gather and sensitize the job seeking youths on the entrepreneurship opportunities as well as properly train them on how to be innovative and develop business plans so that they can benefit from loans and grants opportunities meant for startup businesses. He urged the students to start thinking on how to explore new ideas and be more creative. Hamza Ibrahim who took the participants on the importance of developing a good CV and Interview techniques while advising them to be truthful and state only what they can be able to do and depend in their resumes.

Three presentations were made at the workshop, namely: JOPIS Unit of CITAD and its activities by Sagir Ado of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Interview Techniques/CV Development: How to Excel and Sale Yourself during interview by Hamza Ibrahim Chinade of the same center, Job Scams and Entrepreneurship Opportunities also by Sagir Ado. All the papers presented dealt extensively with topical issues, and they revolved around pressing areas bedeviling the teeming unemployed graduates and at the same time exposed the participants to think beyond eyeing white color jobs.

The programme ended with vote of thanks by Usman Aliyu, President of Students for Peace, Federal University Duste, he thanked the presenters and the Center for organizing the educating workshop and at the same time advised the participants to start applying what the learned at the workshop immediately and wished everyone a successful journey back to their destinations.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

The training department of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has conducted a sensitization training for SS2 and SS3 students of fourteen (14) senior secondary schools in Kano state. The training is meant to prepare the students for the tertiary institution entry examination popularly known as Computer Based Test (CBT). Over one hundred and fifty (150) male and female students were trained on the necessary skills to properly and correctly attempt and answer the programmed computer examination.

There has recently been massive failure in the Computer Based Test especially among students that lacked computer literacy not only in Kano but in many states across the country, and this problem has resulted in many applicants not securing the required marks for admission into various tertiary institutions. Giving an opening remark, the Training Coordinator of CITAD, Malam Ahmad Abdullahi Yakasai advised the participating students to attentively listen and benefit from the training so that they can successfully write and pass the digital examination in order to gain admission into universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other tertiary institution of their choice in one attempt.

Practical CBT Orientation session was facilitated by Kamilu Isah Ahmed who gradually took the participants through methods and techniques of attempting the examination. Apart from CBT coaching, the sensitization also invited Malam Muhammad Tahir Isa of Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board (KSSSSMB) to facilitate a session on “Guidance and Counseling” on choice of course of study and how to face tertiary education. The participating students asked many questions and sought clarifications on issues raised by the two facilitators after which concrete responses were made.

Members of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of four of the participating schools also attended the training alongside other teachers. The participating schools are: S.A.S Kano, GSS Kofar Nassarawa, GASS Yolawa, GSS Goron Dutse, GGC Kano, GGASS Tahir, GGASS Goron Dutse, GGSSS Dukawuya, GSS Sabuwar Kofa, GSS Salanta, GGSS Hausawa, GSS Tarauni, GGSS Shekara and GGSS Wailari.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

Job Placement and Information Service (JOPIS) of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) is a unit that scouts for job and entrepreneurial grants opportunities and disseminate for the benefit of especially the teeming job-seeking youths in the society. The unit has today organized a workshop for the graduating students of Bayero University Kano, Kano state University of Science and Technology (KUST) Wudil, Northwest University Kano, Federal College of Education Kano as well as Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education, the participating students were selected from Peace Clubs in their various institutions.

In his welcome remarks, coordinator of the unit Sagiru Ado Abubakar noted that it is one of the objectives of JOPIS to gather and sensitize the job-seeking youths on the entrepreneurship support opportunities as well as properly train them on how to succeed at job interviews, “you may have the qualification but lack the basic knowhow to succeed at interviews, the public sector cannot offer everyone a slot for meal ticket, as such some of us have to establish their own businesses and eventually employ others too, that is why we have a session on grants opportunities in this workshop to guide you on how to initiate business ideas and access startup grants, Sagiru added.

Three sessions were facilitated during the workshop, namely: Interview Techniques: How Best to Succeed at Interviews by Adamu Muhammad of Integrated Corporate Services Kano Regional Office, Enterpreneurship Support Opportunities by Sufyan Lawal Kabo of Digital Film Base Kano and CV Development by Sagiru Ado Abubakar of CITAD. The three sessions have extensively treated essential concepts that are capable of adding value on the graduating students. Commenting, a medical student of BUK Khadija Aliyu Adam said before attending the workshop her perception was that medical students can hardly benefit from entrepreneurship support, but the workshop has completely changed her mindset, also commenting Ahmad Tijjani Zubair of Agricultural Economics and Extension (another BUK student) said the workshop really opened his eyes to start practicalizing the business ideas he has.

It could be recalled that JOPIS has organized a similar workshop on 19th January this year for interns and volunteers of the organization. A total number of sixty (60) students participated in the workshop from the five tertiary institutions, the workshop ended with a closing remark offered by Senior Programmes Officer Kabiru Saidu Dakata of the Center for Information technology and Development (CITAD).

THE SGF SHOULD GO

Welcome

I will like on behalf of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) to welcome you to this press conference on issues that has grave humanitarian consequences and serious implication to the national consensus to fight corruption. This is unsatisfactory mane in which the government is handling the accusation of corruption in the management of funds meant to address the problems and needs of internally displaced persons arising from the Boko Haram insurgency. CITAD which is running an observatory on the plight of IDPs and the reconstruction process of the north east thinks that if corruption is not properly address, they whole Buhari Plan for the rebuilding and reconstruction of the North East will come to nothing.

The Beginning

You will recall that towards the end of the Jonathan presidency, he set up the Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE) charge with responsibility of coordinating the effort for addressing humanitarian needs in the north east. Although it raised money in addition to that appropriated by the Federal Government for its operation, PINE never really did much. Thus when the Buhari Presidency was inaugurated, he announced the established of the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNE) which was to supplant PINE.

However, for whatever reasons that only later people understood, the SGF stalled the inauguration of PCNE and instead the office took it upon itself to directly run the humanitarian programmes that PCNE should do using the money left by PINE. When pressure on the need to inaugurate PCNE mounted, the Office of the SGF decided to go into a spending spree in order to exhaust the money available and started to award all sort of frivolous contracts. One of these was the over N200 million to clear ‘invasive plant specie’ in Yobe State to company belonging to the SGF, Lawal D. Babachir.

The Humanitarian Crisis

It is an understatement to say that a major humanitarian crisis has befallen our management of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Several credible reports have surfaced in the last couple of weeks detailing the ranging calamitous starvation thousands of IDPS dying for lack of food. This avoidable calamity is the result of three related factors. First, the country was ill prepared to handle a disaster of that magnitude, lacking in the necessary institutions and structures to attend to IDPs need. Second is the inhuman diversion of food and other humanitarian needs of IDPs by callow government officials. Third is the mega corruption in the massive stealing of money meant for addressing the needs of IDPs.

With respect to the first issue we note that both the executive and legislative arms of the federal government have taken steps to address the lacuna. While the National Assembly has legislated for the established of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), the Executive has set up the Presidential Committee on North East Initiatives (PCNE), changed with the responsibility for the reconstruction and rebuilding the region as well as the resettling of IDPs. While the PCNE was slow in picking off, having been announced the since early days of the regime, we are happy that it has eventually hit the road.  We also hope the NEDC Bill be quickly assented to by the President.

On the second issue, both the Federal and Borno State governments have set up committees to investigate the diversion of food by government emergency officials. This is however where the problem lies. This second problem cannot be satisfactorily addressed without addressing the third which is mega corruption. This regime was voted largely on account of its promise to deal with corruption and must squarely this problem.

The Not Satisfactory Handling of the Case by the Presidency

The Presidency’s handling of corruption accusation in the within the government agencies as it is now leave much to be desired. Of greater concern is the accusation around the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Lawal D. Babachir who has been accused of awarding multi-million wasteful contracts to his company for grass cutting. While many people suspected of corrupt acts have been promptly arrested and detained while being subjected to interrogation and investigation by the EFCC, the President has simply opted not to do allow the same in the case of Babachir.

The fact of the contract is well established. This fact has been investigated by the Senate Adhoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East. On the Basis of this, the Senate requested the Presidency to remove Babachir from his post as SGF. The President in turn replied the Senate that he could not grant their prayer on the basis that one, Babachir was not given fair hearing, and secondly, the report of the Committee was not signed by all the members of the sub-committee. It is curious that the same presidency that order the invasion of the houses of Judges suspected of corruption who were never given any hearing could now deploy the argument of fair hearing to protect Babachir. In any case, the Senate did invite him and he deiced to not honor the invitation. We support the need to give all and sundry fair hearing, but in the circumstance that a person decided on his or her own not avail himself or her with the opportunity for fair hearing, that should not become an excuse for inaction.

The setting up of an administrative committee by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is totally out of character with the manner that this regime has been prosecuting the anti-corruption agenda. It has in many cases opened up the process to the public, providing the media with reports, almost bordering on media trial. But this all is ok for those that that are not in the loyalty book of the government. Loyalists require a different approach. This in itself can only be described as corruption of procedure and corruption of any type, is simply corruption to be fought. That is why the President has to rethink his handling of this particular case. We need not recall the words of the President at his inauguration when he said “he belongs to no one”. The indication now is that he belongs to some people who by his action can be shielded from consequence of their corrupt acts.

Why Babachir Should Go

There are three issues around the issue of the SGF. First is that cutting grassing in the face of thousands of IDPs starving to death for lack of food was a misplacement of priority and clear misappropriation of funds. It is no less different than from the case of the former NSA who diverted money meant for buying arms to fight the Boko to buying votes the second term bid of the former President. We think this alone is enough for a regime of probity and commitment to the reconstruction of the North East to show the SGF the way out.

The second issue is the magnitude of money compared to the purported work done. Clearly the case of inflating figure can be established. This is corruption proper. This money could have saved the lives of many IDPs who have sadly died because there is no food to feed them. But the president whose name has been associated with probity is shielding off this person from prosecution and indeed rewarding him by retaining him at the office of the SGF.

The third issue is conflict of interest. Babachir was a Director of RholaVision Engineering Ltd which benefited from the inflated contracts of over N200 million to clear ‘invasive plant specie’ in Yobe State. Even if had resigned immediately to his appointment as SGF, to have given Global Vision Ltd the contract is a clear case of conflict of interest since he is actually an interested party in the company. It is interesting to note that RholaVision Engineering Ltd is an ICT firm and not an environmental company and technically not competent for grass removal work.

On the strengths of these arguments we had expected the President to have along asked Babachir to step down and wait until investigations have cleared him of these before setting is legs into the office of the SGF. This he has not been done. The failure to do this has sent very strong wrong signal that the anti-corruption agenda of the regime is politically motivated and not anchored on national interests. This would be sad for someone who has made a name as a man of integrity, committed to fighting corruption wherever.

This has sadly thrown the anti-corruption agenda of the regime into disrepute. We believe the President can still retrieve it and there is only one way to do so: the immediate suspension of Babachir from office to face thorough investigation. We at CITAD strongly call on the President to do this.  We call on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to hand over the file to both the EFCC and ICPC and implore Babachir himself to honourably resign until he has been cleared by competent agencies.

We support the President’s declared commitment to fight corruption but we demand that he treats all corruption cases the same way. This is what can assure the public that he truly belongs to all, and not to some people and is committed to combating corruption wherever and by whosoever.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

Curbing Hate and Dangerous in Nigeria especially on social media is a project that Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) carries out, the project has components such as Monitoring and Countering, Forming Students for Peace Associations or Peace Clubs in tertiary institutions and secondary schools, Public Sensitization, Peace Competition etc. As the year 2017 began, the organization draws participants from Peace Ambassadors, Peace Advisers, Members of Students for Peace Associations and the media to review the challenges, share experiences, interact, explore new opportunities and the way forward towards strengthening the campaign against Hate Speech and peace propagation. The event holds at Oasis Hotel in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital.

During the evaluation meeting three presentations were facilitated by different presenters thus: What Has Been Done So far, Focus on Students for Peace (S4Ps): What Can We Do to Improve the Effectiveness of Peace Clubs and Curbing Hate Speech in Nigeria: How Do We Make the Campaign More Effective? The participants engaged in a General Discussion on the Implementation of the Project session where they brainstormed and deliberated on issues, problems, challenges and success stories around the project.

Some of the peace ambassadors and leaders of students for peace shared varied challenges and success stories as can be seen: we have strengthened our peace club with lectures to the students on social media particularly Facebook and Twitter, how they can campaign for peace, help resolve disagreements, our ICT center that the students use during training is not fully functional-Peace Adviser GSS Gulani. Our peace club has been functional, it normally organizes drama on peace from time to time with invitation to neighbouring schools in attendance, we equally came up with a periodic calendar that is peace based, in essence, our peace club preaches peace in a drama form-GSSS Kofar Nasarawa Peace Ambassador.

Part of the challenges we face at Bayero Univerty Kano Students for Peace is that the Students Union Government regard us as their opposition because of the increasing number of students joining the association, as the university resumes for the 20172018 session we embarked on a free registration for new and returning students with support from CITAD, again BUK-S4P raised money to pay for the registration of three indigent students, we are going to hold what we called “Peace Summit” where we scheduled to invite religious leaders from both Islam and Christianity also from within and outside the university to further sensitize students on peace, we also want to expand the horizon of the association to accommodate more Christians and traditional religious followers because at the moment most members are Muslims, there is an outreach we developed that will be mentoring students of secondary schools on peace and how they can find peace clubs when they get to higher institutions, we will start this shortly with Kofar Nasarawa Secondary School-leader of BUK-S4P. Peace Club in my school has made a lot of impacts on our students, now we don’t witness quarrel among students, a student once admitted to me that she used to be trouble maker but the peace club has transformed her to even becoming a mediator whenever there is misunderstanding among students. The impact is not only on students, I can say it also has impact on the teachers themselves, as a teacher I also used to be a hot-tempered person, whoever approaches me with a trouble I react aggressively and instantly whether I will regret it later, but coordinating peace club has made me more tolerant and understanding-Peace Ambassador of Government Girls Secondary School Bauchi, Bauchi state. We used to experience crisis between the school cadet members and prefects almost on frequent basis but the introduction of peace club now serves as the crisis resolving ground, because of the continuous mediation of the peace club members, we don’t witness crises anymore-Peace Ambassador of Commercial Secondary School Dutse, Jigawa state. In Government Secondary School Damaturu we sensitize our students on Hate Speech and Peace because our school was affected by Boko Haram insurgency, and created a Facebook account where our students post peace messages, we offer our students free data in the school computer center to post peace messages. The Hate Speech and Peace propagation issue really demands the support of the media, and I will discuss with the management of Yobe Radio Corporation as a correspondent to facilitate amplifying the voices of the peace clubs. Even though S4P is not officially commissioned in my school but I learned the membership keeps increasing every time we meet-Students for Peace member, Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare.

Giving a closing remark, Executive Director of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Dr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u observed that peace initiative is a self benefitting initiative because without peace there can be no development as such striving for peace should be a collective commitment, he appreciated the commitment of both teachers and students for making sacrifices towards peace. Ya’u said “we combine peacemaking with entrepreneurship skills so that the students will be more marketable and excel better in their various endeavours”.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade.

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in collaboration with the Center for Political Research and Development (CEPORED) have conducted a one day training in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), community leaders as well as citizens on their role in the rebuilding process in the North East and how to use the newly developed platform for reporting cases of corruption, abuses or threat to peace in the region.

Giving an opening remark, the Executive Director of CITAD, Dr. YZ Ya’u noted that the civil society organizations, community leaders and the media need to collectively play an important role in rebuilding the North East region, and non participatory process or efforts often lead to unsustainable development hence the need to involve relevant stakeholders, Ya’u cautioned that people should eradicate the culture of regarding projects as “government-owned” which makes them have no concern for it even where they are expected to help monitor and ensure it’s security. It is a responsibility of everyone to ensure that programmes and projects function because government cannot see everywhere; in essence citizens are the eyes of the government. On the platform developed by CITAD, Dr. YZ Ya’u said “what we intend to do is to create a platform where citizens can report problems, issues, security threats that they see in their communities so that relevant agencies can easily look at the reports and take necessary action, sometimes it is not that the government does not want to take action but because nobody cares to report what is happening, if there are no security alerts, security problems can become magnified”. Ya’u categorically maintained that it is an objective of the gathering that the cost of reporting and the time it takes for people to report is made shorter and virtually at no cost.

The chairman of the occasion Alhaji Tijjani Musa Tumsah who is also the Vice Chairman of the Presidential Committee on North East Initiatives (PCNI) gave an overview of the Planned Interventions for the North East, he began by acknowledging that engagement with CSOs is something that he always cherish because CSOs facilitate development. On PCNI he said it is the apex coordinating body, policy and guidance institution for all interventions coming into the North East, as a result of the insurgency in the region all human development index in the region appears to lag behind. Any intervention that is not owned by the people is not an intervention at all, PCNI is mandated to collaborate, coordinate, communicate and ensure that there is a participatory process for the civil society organizations and all stakeholders in the region, Tumsah added.  

Executive Director of CEPORED Dr. Abubakar Sadeeque Abba led the next session on “The Philosophy Behind the Take Action Platform at a Glance”. Take Action Initiative as Dr. Sadeeque put it is a platform of interaction between and among stakeholders in the re-building process especially in the North East and a citizen driven simple technology that addresses the relationship between the government and the governed in terms of policy ownership and implementation processes. He said Take Action Initiative (TAI) is meant to assist in the dissemination of the mission and vision of the Buhari Plan for people to claim ownership and to ensure value for money on all projects implementation.  

The platform developed for reporting issues and problems was demonstrated to the participants by Adamu Umar of CITAD who carefully explained all the necessary steps for submitting reports and how they can be submitted. Representative of Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA) gave an insight on Government-Civil Society Partnership on rebuilding the North East while representative of the Commandant, Nigeria Civil Defense and Security Corps (NSCDC) presented a paper on Tips on working in a Volatile Environment. The last session was facilitated by the Executive Director of CITAD Dr. YZ Ya’u on “The Role of CSOs, Community Leaders and the Take Action Platform in the Rebuilding Process”. After the session, participants engaged in a syndicate interaction where they discussed some anticipated difficulties in their communities or organizations and ways to overcome them. The training was attended by PCNI, NOA, NSCDC, CSOs, CBOs, FBOs, Community Leaders from the six North East states as well as the Media.

By Hamza Ibrahim Chinade

The Job Placement and Information Service (JOPIS) of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has organized a non residential workshop for youths around Kano metropolis with a view to sensitizing them on accessing and utilizing entrepreneurship and grants opportunities. It is obvious that the rising number of unemployed youths has been a problem that governments, well meaning individuals and foundations are struggling to address. With the high level of unawareness on entrepreneurship sources, supporting individuals and bodies even among the literate youths, JOPIS unit of CITAD deems it necessary to provide the youths with a platform to learn, benefit and become self reliant through entrepreneurship opportunities.

Giving a background on the activities of the JOPIS unit, it’s coordinator Sagiru Ado Abubakar noted that the event is organized in order to introduce the youths participants into the essentials of developing innovative ideas that can win them entrepreneurship support, “we carefully selected the speakers of the workshop on the basis of their sound knowledge of entrepreneurship and grants opportunities, because they have benefitted from startup grants for businesses recently and we hope they can offer a good advice on how our participants can also benefit from the scheme”, Sagiru added.

The workshop witnessed three presentations on the processes and techniques of acquiring grants and other youths supporting initiatives by different bodies, wealthy individuals, foundations and government schemes. The first session was facilitated by Sufyan Lawal Kabo (himself a beneficiary of both Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant and World Bank Grant) on the yearly Tony Elumelu Foundation Grants; he explained how the grant can be acquired, and extensively couched the participants on how they can initiate innovative ideas as well as develop successful proposals.

The second presentation on Youths Enterpreneurship Support (YES) Programme by Khalid Hussain who is also a beneficiary of the Bank of Agriculture loan scheme looked at loan scheme of the Bank of Agriculture, the requirements and the kinds of businesses it supports. Abba Muhammad Usman did the third presentation on the Federal Government’s N-Power Programme focusing on the criteria, process and the nature of the beneficiaries; he also addressed the difficulties and challenges involved especially on the technical aspect of the programme. The event ended with questions and comments from the participants and a closing remark by Senior Programmes Officer of the organization Kabiru Saidu Dakata.

The monthly Inspiring Leadership Reflection and Interaction Series of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) yesterday hosted Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi MFR as the Guest Speaker for the month of December. In his introductory speech, CITAD’s Senior Program Officer Peace and Conflict Resolution, Malam Isah Garba, said that Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi is the administrative and programme head of WRAPA responsible for the general administration of the organization at the national level. She is responsible for programme design and sourcing funding for programme work. Isah said that Hajiya has to her credit published over 20 and unpublished presentations on violence against women.