Nigeria can’t achieve development without peace – CITAD

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

Executive Director, Centre For Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Malam Zakari Ya’u Zakari has said that Nigeria cannot achieve sustainable development if peace is not prevailed in the polity, saying that the issue of social justice and blatant discrimination must be addressed for the prime objective to be achieved.

Speaking at a one- day evaluation meeting on peace organized by CITAD in Kano yesterday, Ya’u stated that the notion of social justice must be predicated on the premise of equality before the law, adding that the issue of addressing violent conflict could only be realistic with the citizenry being equal in the eyes of law.

According to him the spectre of hate speech and negative propaganda stunt on social media and other means of communication had taken a heavy toll on the quest to find a lasting solution to intractable conflicts, stressing that CITAD was up and doing in creating the much needed awareness for everyone to comprehend.

He said his organistaion had also undertaken a pain staking research on myriad cases of human right abuses stemming from the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency, affirming that the result so far recorded was impressive given the level of response received from those appalled by the alleged wanton violations of their right.

He added that CITAD was not able to reach out to the legislature at the federal level and the top military officers who were major stakeholders in ending the ongoing insurgency on the issue of advocacy and collaborative synergy, saying” This is the challenge we are currently facing.”

He maintained that many people were afraid to indulge in social media communication which serves as an effective means of disseminating information needed to engender peace, lamenting that there was low awareness and poor understanding of the medium to appreciably forge ahead.

On the issue of cattle rustling, Ya’u further revealed that CITAD had established the Cattle Rustling Information System to provide an on line documentation on the incidences of the problem in the country which had now become a major problem.

He opined that the organisation had also established network of volunteers against cattle rustling that was aimed at providing the much needed framework to fight the menace, stressing that the entrenchment of peace was a collective responsibility of everyone and that the task must not be left in the hands of the government to tackle.

Link http://www.peoplesdailyng.com/nigeria-cant-achieve-development-without-peace-citad/

Education in Northeast comatose – CITAD

The state of education in the northeast is in comatose, the executive director, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Mr. Yunusa Yau has said.
Briefing Daily Trust yesterday during the presentation of the survey report on the state of education in the Northeast in Abuja, he said the research conducted revealed that the educational development generally in the Northeast is presently less than other parts of the country.
“We know that there are problems, so we want to bring all the stakeholders, legislative, executive, civil societies and community representatives to discuss this problems so as to come up with collective agreement on how we can work together to reshape the state of education in the Northeast,” he said.
House of Representatives committee member on basic education, House of Representatives, Muhammad Usman lamented that the structure of education in the Northeast has collapsed completely.
He pointed out that out of the 10.5 million children out of school in Nigeria, 8.7million are from the North, adding that the Northeast states have the highest number.
He said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) law that stipulates that 26 percent of the national budget must be allocated to education is not implemented in the Northeast as 12 percent is the highest been allocated.
Link http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/education-in-northeast-comatose-citad/124760.html#xiHr2mm7jdSijZMu.99

CITAD, Bauchi State partner to improve IGR

A non-governmental organization, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has expressed its willingness to partner with the Bauchi State Board of Internal Revenue to improve the state’s internally-generated revenue (IGR).  The state coordinator of  CITAD, Mallam Isa Garba, stated this during an advocacy visit to the Bauchi State Board of Internal Revenue.
Mal. Garba said CITAD has arrived to support the board and advise it on ways that can help improve the state’s IGR for effective development.
He suggested that the board should conduct survey on the fees charged for vehicle particulars in neighboring states, specifically Jigawa and Kano, to ascertain any variation in the charges and take possible measures to motivate the citizens to renew their particulars in the state.
The CITAD coordinator also urged the board to create a data base for all vehicles registered under the board for keeping track of the times that vehicle particulars are due for renewal and be sending reminders to the owners via messages and emails.
Garba pointed out that there is the need to intensify media campaigns to enlighten the public on the economic, social and security benefits of the exercise.
He said that the board should also look for ways of reaching out to vehicle owners and liaise with transport unions for cooperation.
The acting Chairman of the board, Alhaji Yakubu Isa, commended the efforts of CITAD for the proposal of partnership.
“This comes at the right time. We will be glad to welcome a proposal from you that will guide and complement our efforts in generating revenue for the economic development of the state.
“I expect you to come up with observations and suggestions that will effectively contribute and made impact on the revenue generation drive in the state so the citizens can benefit from its economy,” he said.

Link http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/citad-bauchi-state-partner-to-improve-igr/119002.html

CITAD, NIGF Host First North West Internet Governance Forum

By  Adam Alqali

How, or perhaps, the need  to govern the net is increasingly becoming  ever pressing .And the debate appears to have gained momentum in Nigeria as well.

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), a nonprofit organization in conjunction with the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) has held the first ever Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in the North West geopolitical zone in Kano on Tuesday.

The event which took place at the Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training had as participants various stakeholders in internet governance including regulators, academics, cyber enthusiasts as well as members of the civil society and the media.

In his opening remarks, YZ Yau, the Executive Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) said the idea behind the forum was to create awareness as well build the capacity of citizens in the area of internet governance. “The Internet is now a critical resource which hosts some of the most important services for our growth and development, hence the need to properly govern it,” he said.

While Delivering the paper Understanding Internet Governance, Dr Bashir Galadanchi of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Bayero University, Kano defined internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet”

He added that our lives today were, more or less, dependent on the Internet infrastructure since communication networks, entertainment channels, financial transactions and most importantly free access to information depends on the internet.

Dr Galadanchi said everyone could contribute by finding out what’s at stake in terms of government policies and joining in on the debate. He described the internet as “the most important infrastructure today, we not only use it for countless day to day activities we depend on it, and it plays an influential role in the evolution of our society. So speak up and participate in the Internet Governance discussions,” he urged.

In her paper titled National and West African Regional Perspectives on Internet Governance, Mrs Mary Uduma, chairperson, Nigeria Internet Governance Forum said whereas the dialogue on Internet Governance in Africa had been on since 2002, it was until 2012 that the first multi-stakeholder meeting on internet governance issues called Africa IGF (AfIGF) began.

“The IG process started in Nigeria in 2006,” said Mrs Uduma “and it was spearheaded by the government. In 2012, the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) was reconvened as a multi-stakeholder initiative.”

She explained that the Internet Governance Forum in Nigeria was driven by a group of individuals representing various institutions and sectors under the name Local Multistakeholder Advisory Group (LMAG) adding that the NIGF, as a multi-stakeholder entity, amongst others, consisted of various stakeholders including NCC, NITDA, and NIRA whose collaboration she said was fully endorsed by the Government through the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology (FMCT)

She said the theme for NIGF 2015 conference was harnessing the Potentials of Internet Governance for Sustainable Development in Nigeria adding that contributions and input from the forum were presented to the government and other policy making organizations, to help ensure that the recommendations made were considered and possibly implemented.

Uduma said outcomes of such forums were usually sent to the global and african IGF secretariat which she said give them “a clearer picture of the happenings within the Nigerian IG system.”

In his presentation, Internet Governance in Nigeria: Nigerian Communications Commission’s Perspective, Prof UG Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) described internet governance as development and application of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs by government, private sector, civil society, academia, etc, that shape the evolution and  use of the Internet

By  Adam Alqali

How, or perhaps, the need  to govern the net is increasingly becoming  ever pressing .And the debate appears to have gained momentum in Nigeria as well.

Delivering paper  Government Perspectives on Internet Governance, Emmanuel Edet, who represented the Director General of the Nigeria Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA) at the event said the primary function of any government was to ensure the safety and security of its citizens as well as provide the foundation for economic growth and comfort after meeting their basic necessities of life adding that the interest of the government in the internet governance space was not different from this.

Of Paramount consideration to the government,” he said “Is the stability of the Internet. We recognize that the Internet is now a critical resource which hosts some of the most important services for our growth and development as a country.”

He added that security and privacy are issues which were critical in the use of the Internet adding that this must be given adequate and serious consideration since groups and nations were using cyberspace as the new realm for crimes, terrorism and warfare.

Amongst others, Edet identified as the way forward the need to encourage the Nigerian technical and academic community to participate in the international intergovernmental organization that set technical standards for the Internet; support innovations on the internet through schemes like the Incubation Centres and Demo Africa Projects of NITDA as well as promote access to the internet through encouraging development of infrastructure and considerable reduction in the cost of access to the Internet.

In his presentation, Reverend Sunday Folayan, President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) said in the past, security threats which spread relatively slowly were easy to pinpoint, eradicate and contain but now with the “Internet of Everything”,threats have reached unparalleled level of complexity.“Data security and privacy on the net must not be ignored,” he said.

“Protection of information must be top priority for individuals, organizations and the government. High profile incidents have exposed vulnerabilities in government, educational facilities, and corporate organizations.”

Like other countries of the world, he said Nigeria also has “The Cybercrime Act 2015” to protect its citizens and address some of the cybercrime issues adding that security data protection and information security should both be a priority. “Businesses must overcome data and privacy hurdles. Companies must address crucial issues around ownership and security if we are to capitalize on the benefits of a connected future,” he said

Source http://newsdiaryonline.com/citad-nigf-host-first-north-west-internet-governance-forum/

Group urges Police, DSS to prosecute FFK over comment

Femi-Fani-KayodeFrom Mustapha Adamu, Kano

A Civil Society Organisation has urged the Nigeria Police Force and Department of State Security Service, DSS to prosecute Femi Fani Kayode over inflammatory statement he made against Fulani herdsmen.

Speaking to newsmen in Kano yesterday the Programme  Officer Peace Project of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Abdulganiyyu Rufa’i Yakub, called on the law enforcement agencies to arrest, investigate and prosecute the former spokesman of Jonathan/ Sambo presidential campaign in 2015.

Kayode, had in an article published in the Guardian newspapers on Wednesday, 30th September, 2015, described Fulani herdsmen as the pest of Nigeria, African Tsetse flies, other derogatory statements, calling on people in the Southern region to unleash violence against the nomadic people.

The group also called on all stakeholders to recognise the danger the statement poses and act decisively to stop it before enemies of the country use the opportunity to drag it into chaos and confusion.

He said “ It would be recalled that FFK in a recent article on page 15 of the Guardian newspaper of 30th September, 2015, described Fulani Herdsmen as ‘pest of Nigeria, African Tsetse flies, blood suckers, leeches, destroyers and killers, terrorists’ and all sorts of names. He did not stop at these de-humanizing descriptions but heedlessly went on to call upon the people of southern Nigeria to unleash collective violence against the largely unprotected people.”

Continuing Yakubu added that “While we condemn this irresponsibly inflammatory article, we strongly demand law enforcement agencies, DSS and the NPF specifically, to investigate and prosecute him for such callous and inciting statements.”

The civil society group also urged the stakeholders to not just condemn the statements but insists that ‎law must take its course, noting that if appropriate punishment is taken against him it would deter those bent on destroying the country’s cohesion.

They however called on the people of the southern region to shun all calls for violence and embrace their fellow compatriots in order to sustain the nation’s peaceful coexistence.

We Can Track Stolen Cattle Online — CITAD Boss

Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, is the Executive Director,
Centre for Information Technology and
Development (CITAD), a non- governmental
organisation. In this interview with PATIENCE
OGBODO-IWUAGWU, Ya’u spoke on CITAD
programs, how information communication
technology can be used to track down cattle
rustlers, rehabilitation for internally displaced
persons (IDPs) in the north-eastern part of
Nigeria, among others. Excerpts.
Can you tell us some of the programs embarked
upon by CITAD?
In the last one year, our activities focused in
four different directions, which are all
complementary to each other. One area of major
important to us is the crisis in the north eastern
part of the country. Because we considered it
very significant, we have rolled out a couple of
programs, aimed at making our own
contributions in resolving these problems.
We have four different interventions in the
region. One is to document the crisis itself in
terms of human right abuses and efforts that
ordinary people and communities are making to
secure the environment.
And one of the outcomes of that effort was a
book that we presented about three months ago.
The other intervention within that project is to
mobilize citizens to realize that peace building is
not just the responsibility of government, but that
every citizen has a role and responsibility to
play.
The second intervention is that we realized that
crisis has relationship with the level and quality
of education in the region. If you look at the
developmental indices compared to all other
regions, north-east is the worst.
Some of the indices are: low enrolment figures,
low competition figures, low retention figures
and we taught it was important to intervene. So,
we have supports from USAID and commenced
major regional interventions in the area of
education.
This is about galvanizing for stakeholders to
come together and dialogue and see the way out
of the decay in educational system in the
country.
We also taught about accountability, because a
lot of resources are been put there, but there
are little to show. So, one of the things we have
done was to embark on research in all the six
states of the region in order to establish the
state of education in each of the state.
Our findings showed that in the region, we have
many schools that exist only on paper, but do
not exist in reality and I think this report will
soon be made available to the governors in each
state in the north-east.
We are also working in each of this state with a
number of civil society organizations and other
interest groups such as: Nigeria Union of
Teachers and the Teachers/Parents Association
to build structures that will demand for
accountability from government on the use of
resources that is meant for educational sector.
The third project in the region is what we called
promotion of safety and security in schools and
around internally displaced people camps, in
order to create space for the girl child to enrol
and continue her education.
You know that following insurgency, a lot of
schools were closed down especially in Bornu
State, where many of the schools are being
used as IDPs camps, but even more important
is that following the abduction of the Chibok girls,
many parents are hesitant to allow their
daughters to go back to schools.
This is because they feel that the schools are
not safe and secure, so we taught them that
there is need to get government to do something
to ensure that the schools are safe and more
secured.
We are also rebuilding the confidence of parents
and girls that schools will actually be safe and
secure for them and one of the ways you can
demonstrate that is to establish learning corners
and learning centres within the IDPs camps.
Therefore, CITAD alongside Women Right
Protection Agency and ADAPTA, which is an
association that specializes in working in the
camps, now work together to achieve our aims.
You see that we bring three different partners
with different synergies. ADAPTA knows how to
work in the camps; WRAPER is excellent in
terms of gender issue and CITAD in terms of our
connections with authorities and other
stakeholders in the region.
So, that project is about getting our girls not just
back, but also back in schools. We have been
going round different camps. Our team just
came from Chibok yesterday and we gave been
visiting camps in Bauchi, talking to the
emergency officials on the strategies in terms of
upgrading learning space for them.
The Fourth project is monitoring and countering
of dangerous hate speeches. We realized that it
denigrate other people on the basis of either
ethnicity or religion among others.
It tends to catalyze into violence and we have
seen it in various places, like Rwanda, Kenya,
Somalia and so forth.
So, we think that Nigeria cannot afford such hate
speeches inspired violence, so we have been
doing a couple of things around hate speech.
We need to sensitize especially the media and
the general public about hate speeches, because
a lot of people are not even aware of what
actually constitute hate speech. They just think
it is freedom of expression.
We have been going round organizing
sensitization programs on hate speech. We had
one here in Bauchi and we also monitor the hate
speech on internet, we have developed
mechanism and a platform for monitoring on-
line hate speech in the social media.
In what ways do you think that your intervention
will help to restore peace in the North East and
give IDPs sense of belongings?
I think bringing peace is the responsibility of
everybody and CITAD is a none state actor that
do not have weapon neither do we have the
license to fight directly, but we can mobilize
citizens to contribute in terms of being security
conscious, understanding the dynamics of peace
building , trying to live peacefully with
neighbours.
We have produce two major policy brief
document , the first one was the strategy that
the former Jonathan’s government was using to
prosecute the anti-terrorism act and we thought
that they were a lot of gaps.
For instance there wasn’t much involvement of
the communities because communities are
made up of people who know the terrain, who
know the environment, who know who are likely
to be members of Boko Haram.
Therefore, you need to work with them hand to
hand. We also saw gaps in terms of the
relationship between the army and the
communities, the community on one hand are
victims of Boko Haram, who attack them and the
other hand they are victims of highhandedness
of the military and other law enforcement
agencies.
We issued a policy brief, outlining how we think
government should be able to address some of
these lapses. We also did a second one on IDPs
camp, we went round Yobe, Maiduguri and
Adamawa and accessed ways in which camps
were being run and we came out with a report
and policy on how we think that government
should respond to the plight of the IDPs
particularly in terms of health, accommodation,
feeding, and restoring the dignity because a lot
of them.
Victims of Boko Haram insurgency have
suffered and they have seen trauma and many
of them were running risk of mental breakdown.
For instance, we saw a girl in one of the camps,
this girl happened to witness the killing of her
parents and sibling, for all duration she has
stayed in the camp up till now the only thing that
she says is mummy, mummy, she has lost
every sense, her speech has gone away so
these are serious trauma and you need trauma
healers, people who are professionals in this
field.
But, unfortunately we don’t have many in
Nigeria, I know that the a sister organization in
Adamawa brought some from Rwanda to train
some local people in dealing with trauma
diseases and that is just inefficient because in a
case you come and train somebody in three
days, you are not sure whether he will really
acquire everything. So, we want to keep
Government on the right track and keep citizens
on the right track.
How can ICT be use to tackle the problem of
cattle rustlers?
Just like the tracking down of education, it’s also
building the platform where people report
immediately those cattle are stolen. They can
report in various ways. They can send sms,
send watsapp, web base platforms. We have
developed the site, its call www.catrist.ort, and
this is a simple platform to get all information
and display it in its special form.
If it happens in any location, you will see the
coordinate so immediately its reported, it get
also broadcast and also the relevant agencies
can pick it. They will know the location, they will
have the picture of surrounding places including
roads, waterways, forest and that way they will
be able to know how to arrange and rescue the
cow.
We have used students from universities to do
what we call the mapping of the forests. They
have data party, we bring students from higher
institutions and provide them with tools and
they map the different forests and put them
online.
We have also been training cattle breeders as
part of the sensitization on how to use these
tools to report particularly test messages and
watsap, we have done that training in Bauchi ,
Katsina, Kano, Kaduna and Zamfara. We
recognised that a lot of them are not literate and
so we just commission a couple of people to do
what we call library obsymbols so we give them
double of symbols that represent numbers,
location, state and so forth, if you don’t know
how to type all you need to do is to touch on
those symbols and once you touch it, the
person who is at the back end of the platform
would know that they have stolen your cattle in
a particular Location and the numbers of cattle
stolen.
If you are sending a text message, we also have
your number, somebody will verify, we don’t
want to broadcast an unsubstantiated report
because you need to be sure, and for us to do
that we build network of volunteers against
cattle rustling.
These are the people who will be on ground to
be checking, to make sure that the reports sent
are genuine. We also have discussion with cattle
breeders association and some state
government on whether it is possible to use
tracking technology on the cattle. So far Kaduna
state has made pronouncement on that, but it
was hasty pronouncement because it is an
extremely costly project to do at the moment
and I am not sure that the state government will
be able do it. I thought what they need to do is to
get professionals, get telecoms service
providers and think about developing more
appropriate application.

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2015/09/we-can-track-stolen-cattle-online-citad-boss/

CITAD Trains 85 Council Staff Members on IT

220312T.Computers-Network.jpg - 220312T.Computers-Network.jpg

Computers
Segun Awofadeji

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has trained 85 staff in four champion Local Government Areas (CLGAs) of Bauchi, Katagum, Ningi and Dass in the last two months, during which participants acquired knowledge and skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, power point, and the use of Internet.

Speaking during the certificate presentation ceremony to participants of computer training for staff of the Bauchi councils, the Chief of Party, RTI/LEAD International, Mr. Don Seufert, observed that the synergy between his organisation and its partners (CITAD and CLGAs) in Bauchi state was a convergent point for strengthening democratic local governance.
Seufert also observed that the training would motivate them to utilise the knowledge they acquired for effective service and self-growth.

“For LEAD and the partners (CITAD and CLGAs) it will improve local government operations and management system leading to increased transparency in the local governments operation which is of the LEAD programme objective”, he said at the event held in Bauchi.
Seufert, while describing the occasion as important for LEAD, the beneficiaries and CITAD, expressed optimism that the knowledge and skill acquired during the training would, when put to use, improve local government operations and management system.

Mr. Don Seufert explained that the mandate of CITAD is to develop the capacity of local government staff in information technology with the aim of improving LGA documentation, communication & information sharing, as well as retrieval of information.

CITAD Executive Director, Mallam Ya’u Zakariya Ya’u, had earlier in a welcome address noted that it’s only when the graduands use the knowledge acquired effectively that it would bear fruits, and justify the investments their organisations have made into putting the programme in place.
Ya’u described ICT as a dynamic sector and server change, as what CITAD did during the training was the introduction of participants to some ideas and skills, hence the need for them to build interests and update themselves so as to acquire new skills and keep up with the technology.

“We do not think that what we have given you is what you will remain stagnant wit, we believe that you continue to periodically update  up-grade, improve, and always be with the current ideas and knowledge in the field so that they can drive maximum benefit in it”, he  said.
He explained that technology offers to the people a lot of potential to improve governance, citizen participation, access to information, as well as improving documentation system which means that information is readily available.

The director revealed that CITAD has signed a partnership agreement with Keystone Bank for the purchase of computers to be loaned to the local government ICT trained staff to be paid instrumentally.

CITAD Create Platforms for Peace Promotion in North-east

Bauchi Information Commissioner, Salihu Ibrahim Halilu

By Segun Awofadeji

Bauchi Information Commissioner, Salihu Ibrahim Halilu has observed that social media has the potential to facilitate dialogue, exchange of information and ideas, and to organise and galvanise for collective action.
He also noted that social media networks are very active in defending social, environmental and political rights, freedom of the press, as well as denouncing human rights abuses.

In the same vein, Halilu said social media and mobile communication plays significant role in transforming virtual ideas into public action, as it also allows access to information not intended in corporate media in the preparation of peace in the society.

While declaring open a recent training workshop on the use of social media for peace campaign in Bauchi, he explained that social media sites and tools could be effectively and positively used for public mobilisation and campaign for peace and community integration, as well as for harmony and social cohesiveness.

He told the workshop participants drawn from civil society organisations (CSOs) and the media in the North-east that youth have the potential to build cross cultural links with other religious, ethnicities and backgrounds through the use of social media and popular means of interaction.

The commissioner also noted that social media has created spaces for more people than at any time past in history to become engaged with important issues of the present time.

“They have made a significant and enduring difference to the way people organise for social and political activism, create economic opportunities, facilitate disaster response, link networks across national divides, and share previously inaccessible information and knowledge”, he added.

Bauchi State coordinator of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), organisers of the workshop, Mallam Isa Garba, said his organisation looked at the insecurity challenge in the North-east and sought that social media can play important role in advocating for peace.
Describing technology as a double-edged tool, Garba said CITAD decided to train CSOs on how to use the social media for peace advocacy rather than allow people to use it in the negative aspect.

He said the workshop was designed to create a platform with the CSOs in trying to advocate designed policies with the government where peace can be created, maintained and promoted in the North-east sub-region.
Altogether, 32 participants from CSOs and the media across five states in the North-east, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba are attending the two-day CITAD training workshop.

Bauchi Internal Revenue on the Rise

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Governor Isa Yuguda

Segun Awofadeji 
in Bauchi


The Bauchi State Government yesterday said despite the security challenges being faced in the state, the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) had skyrocketed to a bearable level, when compared with how much the state was generating in the past.

Also, the state government revealed that it had perfected its financial status in conformity with world financial reporting system standard in order to boost the state’s financial status amongst the comity of other states.

Fielding question from journalists in Bauchi, the Chairman of the state Board of Internal Revenue, Alhaji Mu’azu Usman, said the state internal revenue had been increasing yearly due to the favourable economic policies formulated by the state government.

He enumerated the new policies to include reform in the tax laws and administration, automation of tax system, logistics, capacity building and motivation of tax administrators, saying they have gone along way in boosting the state internal revenue with satisfiable percentage.

“Since the implementation of these policies, our internal revenue in the state has continued to rise and by 2013, we are optimistic that it will go up with high percentage because we are always working on how to revitalise our economy in the state,” he said.

Usman, who explained that the internal revenues of the state come mainly from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) such as the Ministry of Land and Housing, Ministry of Justice, the state Water Board, judiciary, Yankari Games Reserve, amongst others, added that the state government had diversified its sources in order to generate more incomes to the state that can be used for developmental projects.

He said apart from that the economic activity of the people had also developed as a result of the numerous human empowerment programmes the present administration introduced in the state, which concomitantly increased the number of tax payers.

This is just as he stated that the Board has embarked on tax enlightenment programme to encourage people to be paying their taxes as at when due.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Liman Bello, while fielding questions on the state government’s financial status, “In fact, particularly the Executive Governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yuguda, is doing things the right way. We have to go by the normal World standard, the world is moving and we have to move with it otherwise we will be left behind.”

Bello, who was speaking when the Centre of for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), paid an advocacy visit to the ministry yesterday, said the state government was among the first states in the federation that enacted the Public Procurement and Fiscal Responsibility Laws in conformity with the directive of the Federal Government.

“As much as possible the Bauchi State Government try to go by the rules, the Due Process Office has been up and doing and things are done according to laws,” Bello told CITAD, a non-governmental organisation that ensures transparency and accountability in the management of public finance.

He recalled that Bauchi introduction of e-payment which had at initial stage characterised by technical problems but which, he argued, the civil servants have for the past few months been witnessing as the most effective and efficient system.

The permanent secretary explained that it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance to work with partners that are interested in ensuring prudence, transparency and accountability of public finance, stressing that it’s not business as usual as far as budget formats and processes are concerned.

Bello assured that public finance management in Bauchi is being done in the best interest of government and the people of the state, expressing confidence that such initiatives of CITAD and alike will energise and sensitise government to live up to its responsibilities in public finance management.

Earlier, CITAD Senior Programme Officer, Kabiru Sa’idu Dakata, had told Usman that the visit was to brief the ministry on the activities of the Bauchi Coalition for Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM).

He said it is also make suggestions on how to improve implementation of the Public Procurement and Fiscal Responsibility Laws, and present copies of the coalition Community Development Charter which contain recommendations on what communities in the state would like to see in 2013 budget with respect to health sector.

Dakata explained that BACIPEM was established last year when CBOs that shared the goal of promoting transparency and accountability in public expenditure management system in the state deliberated on how to enhance public expenditure transparency and accountability in the state.

He enumerated the objectives of BACIPEM as to promote the culture of transparency and accountability in the management of public resources in the state, and support government efforts at implementing the Public procurement and Fiscal responsibility laws of the state.

Other objectives, he said, are to advocate for the implementation of the two laws, facilitate the involvement of citizens and communities in budget processes, as well as monitor the implementation of budget in the state.

Dakata expressed optimism that BACIPEM observations and suggestions would propel the state further towards a more transparent and accountable public expenditure management system that would result in value for money and make it easier for citizens to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

Stop Reckless, Inflammatory Statements, CSOs Warn Politicians

By Abimbola Akosile

A group of 22 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the country have warned the various members of the political class to stop issuing reckless and inflammatory statements that are capable of over-heating the polity, ahead of the February general elections.

In a statement issued in Abuja, the coalition applauded the peace accord recently signed by the top presidential candidates, and called on all politicians and indeed all citizens to remain law-abiding and have faith in rule of law and due process; urging all politicians to address their grievances and misgivings through legally established channels.

Signatories to the statement include Y. Z. Ya’u of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD); Uche Wilson Dureke of Centre for Peace across Borders; Dr. Hussaini Abdu of ActionAid Nigeria; Dr. Abiola Akiode-Afolabi of Women Advocates’ Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC); Saudatu Mahdi of Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, (WRAPA); Isah Garba of BACIPEM, Bauchi; and Saludeen Hashim of the West Africa Civil Society Forum (WACSOF-Nigeria).

Others include Anya Okeke of State of African Union (SOTU); Auwal Musa Rafsanjani of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC); Ezenwa Nwagwu of Partners on Electoral Reform; Jaye Gaskiya of Protest to Power Movement; Idayat Hassan of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD); Lukman Adekunle of Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC); Dr. Godwin Ojo of Environmental Rights Action (ERA); General Ishola Williams of Pan-African Strategic and Policy Research Centre (PANAFSTRAC)

The remaining signatories are ZIK Ibrahim of Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civil Education (CHRICED); Bilkisu Yusuf of Advocacy Nigeria; John Odah of Abuja Collectives, Abuja; Ezenwa Nwagwu of Say No Campaign; Emma Ezeazu of the Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE); and Chido Onumah of the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy.

In the statement released by Miss Uche Madueke of WACSOF, the CSOs noted that “We applaud the signing of an accord by leading candidates in the elections to keep to the code of conduct already signed by all registered political parties in the country and be civil and courteous during the campaign. The value of such an accord is however not in the signing but in keeping to the letters and words.

APC’s new member, CITAD, in the words of a founder

07 August 2015 (APCNews)

Participants in a CITAD workshop. Source: CITAD.org

Participants in a CITAD workshop. Source:CITAD.org

Each member provides the APC network its unique perspective and experience, thus participating in the construction of a rich and diverse global community. Nigeria’s Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) comes with an enlightening vision: “A knowledge-based democratic society free of hunger.” As CITAD joins APC, read its story in the words of one of its founders, Yanusa Ya’u.

How was the the centre founded?

In the early 1980s when I was lecturing at Bayero University, Kano, we introduced a course unit called Information Technology (IT) for final year students. At that time IT was only a concept. I taught the course for about three years and the students liked it, but it was not generally understood as something useful by the education administration, so in 1987 following a national harmonisation of curriculum of universities in the country, the course unit was phased out.

As I was convinced that we could not run away from IT, I sought for an alternative platform to continue to teach information technology knowledge to people who were interested. This was what led to my teaming with some colleagues to establish the Computer Literacy Project (CLP), an informal platform devoted to providing computer training to students and others.

Gradually the demand expanded and this was when we then decided to introduce the Learn and Teach Others (LATO) principle, requiring all those who benefited from our training to also agree to become volunteer trainers.

A few years later we asked ourselves a key question: what was the purpose of the computer literacy we were training people for? Certainly it was not just for its fun, and the conclusion crystallised in the idea of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), meaning that we thought of a platform to push for ICTs as tools for development. CITAD became a space not only for ICT geeks but for activists committed to democracy, who saw ICTs as tools for democratisation.

Our goal since then has been to provide guidelines informed by both research and practice on how ICTs could be properly deployed in the efforts to promote sustainable development and good governance.

What’s unique about CITAD?

The uniqueness of CITAD is shaped by the circumstance of its founding that made it from the beginning to be driven by the spirit of volunteerism which finds anchorage in our flagship marker that is LATO. Using this approach, each alumnus of CITAD (for whatever programme) becomes a volunteer to give back to the organisation what he or she was given freely. This has enabled us to have limitless volunteers who are ready to offer time, resources, social networks and other services. This has made the centre not so much a centre in the conventional sense of a physical space but a centre of mass movement of people committed to the use of ICT to promote good governance and sustainable development.

What are you most proud of?

We feel greatly proud of our work using ICT to promote peace in the country. Over the last three years we have engaged in social media peace campaigns, mobilising citizens, government, community leaders and other organisations to realise that peace making is a collective responsibility. We have set up a hate speech observatory, monitoring and countering hate speech, especially in the context of the last general elections.

Why did you decide to join APC?

We feel that given our experience, networks and social placing, we can contribute in the furtherance of the objectives of APC while at the same time gaining from the experience, expertise and knowledge of the APC network to enhance the work we do.

We see also in APC a platform that can help us speak out to the global community on local issues. CITAD’s history as an organisation that provides services and does campaigns and policy advocacy means that it has a blend of experience that other organisations in APC could learn from. We think that given our social positioning, we could also leverage civil society voices to be a grassroots rooting for APC’s voice.

Fostering democratic governance in Bauchi grassroots

By Patience Ogbodo Correspondent, Bauchi

Democracy which has been described as government of the people, by the people and for the people is of paramount importance to all citizens especially those in rural areas in order to improve their standard of living.

It was in view of this that CITAD, a Bauchi-based non-governmental organisation collaborated with RTI/LEAD, a USAID-sponsored project in training people at the local government level on computer study as part of its effort in strengthening democratic local governance in Bauchi State.

The group in its effort to ensure that the rural populace is computer literate embarked on training of over 168 people in computer studies in four local councils of the state, namely Bauchi, NIngi, Katagum and Dass. Local Government staff, Civil society organisations, teachers from these four local councils received training on Microsoft word, excel, power point and use of Internet.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the presentation of certificates to 85 council staff that were among those trained in computer study, the CITAD Executive director, Mallam Ya’u Zakariya Ya’u said they were motivated to embark on the training to promote democracy at the council level.

He said: “Democracy encourage people to have access to information and local Government is the closest arm of Government for citizens at the grass root, we realized that the LG have very poor documentation system and If you have poor documentation system, there is no way you can provide information, so we decided to train these people at the local government on computer study so that they will apply this computer skills to the process of documentation and therefore build a quality information system at the local Government level.

“For one to be able to promote transparent and accountability, you need information, if local government do not organize these information, they can not be accountable, and there can not  be transparency ,mso we want to make sure that local government have information readily available that they can give to citizens which can promote democracy.

“We have  also train other CSO’s and teachers on computer becuse we taught there is need promote collaboration and partnership between civil society ad Government. So we thought while we are training the Government officials, we should also train the civil society people so that they can speak the same language, they attained the same programme and they have access to the same skills, apart from that we have also utilize our time during the programme to train teachers in both primary and secondary schools in some of the LG as well as staff of the zonal education department in different LG.

Speaking at the certificate presentation ceremony, Zakariya  Ya’u  advised the graduands to effectively utilise the skills acquired during the training saying “As it has been said knowledge gain is knowledge that you have, however if you do not make effective use of that knowledge, it is not necessarily effective knowledge. It is our hope therefore that you will put into practice the skills that you have acquired, the knowledge you have acquired, and the new ideas that you have come across during these past two months of engagement. Its only when you use them effectively that it will bear fruits, and justify the investments your organizations, like LEAD and CITAD have made into putting the programme in place.

“We will like to point out that ICT is a dynamic sector, saver changing. What we have done is to introduce you to some basic ideas and basic skills. It is important that you build the interest to regularly update yourselves so that you can acquire new skills and keep up with the technology as it keeps on changing. We do not think that what we have given you is that you will remain stagnant with. We believe that you continue to periodically update, upgrade, improve, and therefore be at where always with the current ideas and knowledge in the field so that you can derive the maximum benefit in it.

“Technology offers us a lot of potentials to improve governance, to improve citizens’ participation, to improve access to information. As it has been said, one direct benefit is to improve your documentation system.

Bauchi group faults last year’s budget implementation

By Patience Ogbodo, Correspondent, Bauchi

Bauchi State Coalition for the Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM) says budget implementation in 2012 was poor. The group attributed the poor show to overdependence on the Federation Account allocation.

BACIPEM led by the Centre for Information Technology & Development (CITAD) Senior Programme Officer, Kabir Sa’idu Dakata, stated this during a visit to the State House of Assembly Appropriation Committee.

He noted that the 2012 recurrent expenditure was favourably tilted to the capital expenditure in the ratio of 60 to 40.

Dakata stated that the 2013 budgetary allocation to the education sector including the State University is N9,584,197,686 or 7 percent of the total budget, representing 12.9 percent of the capital budget.

He  said it was far less than the 25 percent recommended by UNESCO and does not reflect the stated priority given to the sector.

Dakata further told the House Committee that the allocation to the health sector of N5,522,691,470 represents only about 7.5 percent of the capital budget which, he argued, is far less than the 16 percent recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

He added that  agriculture which, according to Governor Isa Yuguda is on the top priority, is allocated only N4,218,313,144 or 3.07 percent of the total 2013 budget which is less than 10 percent.

The Maputo Treaty mandates states to commit a total budget estimate to the sector. Malam Kabir Dakata therefore urged the House Appropriation Committee to improve allocation to the health, education, and agriculture to the respective international benchmarks to the sectors.

Dakata also urged the committee to conduct public hearing on the 2013 budget to get further inputs from the public, as he stressed the need for the state to diversify its revenue base to meet challenges of development.

He expressed optimism that BACIPEM suggestions would propel Bauchi State further towards a more transparent and accountable public expenditure management system that will result in value for money and make it easier for citizens to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

Responding, the House Appropriation Committee Chairman, Mohammed Dan-Abba Shehu, said the Assembly has also set in motion a body to collate the views and demands of communities across the state with a view to incorporate them into the budget.

He said, “They are already on ground, they have gone to all the local government areas of the state trying to find out what the people need, so already the state House of Assembly has set up a team that went out for the exercise and at the end of it the result will be incorporated into the 2013 budget.”

He explained that it is not the first time the House is setting up such a body as it has been doing it for the past three years, positioning Bauchi as the first state among the 36 states in the federation in the domestication of the Public Procurement and Fiscal Responsibility laws for the state.

‘Bauchi education ministry gets 26% allocation’

By Patience Ogbodo,  Correspondent, Bauchi

Bauchi State  Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Mohammed Aminu Ibrahim, says the education subsector in the  state has been getting the required 26 percent budgetary allocations under the administration of Governor Isa Yuguda.

Ibrahim stated this  when he received delegation from  the Centre for information Technology and Development (CITAD) during an advocacy visit in his office.                                           He said, “Bauchi State Ministry of Education in terms of budgetary allocation has got more than 26%, previously we were getting up to 30% in budgetary allocations, which is still on course in keeping with the required world demand,” the commissioner said.

He explained that  as a result of the improved budgetary allocations the ministry has been able to improve the lots of the people.

The commissioner also unveiled a collaborative plan between the state government and the World Bank to introduce a number of policies into the education sub-sector for which only three states in the federation namely Bauchi, Anambra, and Ekiti are found suitable for the programme.

“We are also working tirelessly to improve the strength and capacity of parents/teachers associations at the school level whereby the parents, teachers, and civil society organizations could be part of it”, he stated.

He  said the Ministry would soon introduce the School Management Committees whereby teaching will be step down to school level where parents, teachers, communities, civil society organizations, women groups would be involve in the management of resources at the school level.

He noted that it was not the first time the Ministry is collaborating with CITAD, stressing the need for more areas of cooperation with it especially in the area of capacity building and training for teachers with the approval of the 2013 budget.

Ibrahim advised CITAD to meet with the people at the Due Process Office where, he explained, a lot of changes have been going there for up-date on the happenings, stating also that all top government officials have attended one form of training or workshop on fiscal responsibility and procurement laws of the state.

Speaking earlier, CITAD Senior Program Officer, Kabir Sa’idu Dakata they were on advocacy visit to the ministry with members of the Bauchi State Coalition for Improvement of Public Expenditure Management (BACIPEM).

Dakata explained that the visit is to brief the Ministry on the activities of the Coalition, suggest on how to improve on implementation of public procurement and fiscal responsibility laws of the state, and present copies of the Coalition Charter.

He  also expressed CITAD’s willingness as an ICT based organization to partner with the Ministry in building the capacity of secondary school teachers on ICT, especially on current challenges such as training of examination officers on online registration and related matters.

Capacity building for media would boost Maternal Accountability in Nigeria –Rafsanjani

By Sylvester Enoghase  –   Lagos

Reviewing how the capacity building for media would helped to focus more attention on improving Maternal health accountability, especially the lives of the most vulnerable within the societies the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani   has declared that targeting investment in skills development of media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) would enhance their productivity in Nigeria

Rafsanjani, while calling on the three tiers of Governments’, the Federal, states and Local Government  to initiate policies toward strengthening the capacity of various stakeholders , especially the media through an enabling platform to engage maternal accountability in the country during a two-day roundtable on Maternal Health among CSOs, legislative, executive and the media in Kaduna and Kano States organized by CISLAC with support from MacArthur Foundation also stressed that Civil Society Organisations, Community Based Organisations and the Media, have benefited immensely from CISLAC’s efforts toward maternal accountability in the country.

Whilst recognising the nation’s health related diseases challenge could be brought to the front burner through a sustained capacity building for media and other stakeholders, he said the use of social media as tool would create visibility for maternal mortality. He stressed that such measure would not only ensure an increased focus on enablers of economic development in the three tiers of Government levels in the country.

Continuing, he said the “particular meeting is considered to be crucial because it is one of its kinds, in the sense that it provides stakeholders such as you the opportunity to deliberate on this burning issue on maternal health, with the hope of securing commitment from the various stakeholders to perform better towards safeguarding the lives of our women/mothers/ daughters/sisters and indeed securing our future.”

Rafsanjani lamentation a situation where in Nigeria, one in 13 women die in pregnancy or childbirth, and 12 per cent of children die before reaching the age of five without adequate publicity  to make the nation’s leaders come nearer to the mases

“A number of factors contribute on the poor maternal health services in the country. The challenges are complex and arise essentially from poor legal and regulatory frameworks, poor primary health care as well as economic and socio-cultural challenges”, he claimed.

Also, a dearth of infrastructure, health personnel and equipment, plague the Nigerian healthcare system going by records from the World Health Organisation (WHO) sows that in Nigeria, only 39 per cent of births take place with assistance of medical personnel.

“Coupled with the scarcity of skilled attendants, such absence of personnel impedes the effectiveness of health services by women”, he said.

Another major impediment to maternal health, he said, is attributed to corruption among the political class, or lack of political will to engage the process.

“It is in view of these that CISLAC, in partnership with MacArthur Foundation, seeks to advocate for proper actions as deemed fit by members in the National Assembly, members of the State executives, the CSOs and Media, that will enable us progress to eradicate maternal mortality”, he stressed.

He recalled the presentation by the Executive Director of CITAD, Mallam Y. Z. Ya’u describing the social media as shorthand for new communications technologies that use ICT media tools that are unique in three important ways to transcend time and space constraints.

The training, he said, “has made it clearer that ICTs are dynamic and fast changing, creating new platforms and services that have far reaching utility in social activism.”

He stressed that in the analysis of Mallam Ya’u, the adverse of social media in journalism has brought about the collapse of space and time; emergence of alternative media form; while eliminating borders in the dissemination of news. There is a growing demand, he said, for more open, accessible and informative news media, as well as the making of readers/listeners/audience as makers of their own news.

“Our ongoing capacity building that would take place in the six geo-political zones in the country would boost how the media would use the Social Media as a tool for news such as Smart phones, which allow for photograph, record audio and video and copy textual document that journalists can use to promote reporting of reproductive health issues in such ways as sending out tweets about news break or news items; use facebook to cultivate followers to assess and get feedback on how media can deliver digital content delivery: cuts cost and time”, he said.

Speaking on “The Role of Legislative Reporters in Repositioning Maternal Health within Kano State House of Assembly”, General Manager Operations of Freedom Radio Group, Kano Dr. Umar Saidu Tudunwada said “journalists and parliaments share some important roles that give them the capacity to impact on public life. They are whistle blowers, and because of their oversight functions, their words are taken seriously. A collective effort between the media and parliament, would surely guarantee a sustainable attention and appropriate priority placed on maternal health issues.”

He reiterated that the media engaged in parliamentary coverage, has the duty to disseminate information between the public and their representatives; just as trained journalists should help the public to better understand various laws passed by legislators, and how such legislation could affect them. The media, he noted, must continue playing their role of agenda setting by emphasising important issues covered in the media, until they become are registered in the sub-consciousness of the people as issues of priority importance.

Dr. Tudunwada said capacity building in the media could bring to the limelight how maternal health is the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and afterwards including the health care dimensions of family planning, preconception, prenatal, and postnatal care in order to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.

“It is sad to note that a woman dies every 10munities, on account of pregnancy or childbirth, giving a total of 53,000 deaths per year. About 800 women die in every 100,000 births. About 528 newborn babies’ dies everyday of neonatal mortality, one of the highest in the world.

“It is unfortunate that 1 million children die under the age of 5 years annually, more than a quarter of them during the first 28 days of life because from record out of each 100,000 live births in the North West, 1,026 mother die. The highest number of under five children (Under 5 Mortality Rate) is in the North West, where 269 children die out of every 1,000”, he said.

He recommended different models that can further help the media in its advocacy cause of maternal health, insisting that since journalism mirrors the society, “we should always consider the realities of the society in consonance with its norms and value in promoting its ideals”.

“In the case of maternal health, it is easy to use Islamic values, to show the position of women in Islam, the reverence of mothers over fathers in Islam, to reflect ,as the mirror does,  on the Islamic perspectives of health and longevity to draw the attention of the legislators and to put across, a case for maternal health in a more convincing way; Professional Model.

“As professional, it is the responsibility of the journalist to conduct all the necessary background research and get knowledgeable enough, to be able to speak competently on the subject, in this case, maternal health, and present it to the audience.”

He also stressed that “it is the responsibility of the government all levels to take care of the needs of its people, especially under political dispensation. Both executive and legislative arm of the government owe the society a responsibility to take care of their women and children”.