

INTRODUCTION
On the 14 th of September, 2022 the Centre for Information Technology and Development held
the 4 th Women Internet Governance Forum as part of the 2022 Internet Governance Forum
activities. The event which is being held annually is part of the Nigerian Internet Governance
Forum (NIGF) pre-event activities., This year, the event theme was Making the Internet for
Livelihood, Love and Life: Tackling Gender and Child Abuse Online and was held online with a
limited physical attendance/participation in Kano. The theme was a well thought one, looking
at the global happenings around gender and child abuse online which has become a norm by
the perpetrators. Madam Marry Udoma, Chair West African Internet Governance Forum served
as the chair with Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, Chair, Kalu D Foundation as the Keynote Speaker while
Jan Moolman, Co-Manager: Women’s Rights Programme, Association for Progressive
Communications served as the Guest Speaker.
Also, two technical sessions were held on Gender Violence Online and Child Protection Online.
At the two sessions, distinguished personalities and experts on Gender Based Violence and
Child Protection spoke and shared their experience and knowledge with the participants. The
first session which was titled Dealing with Gender Violence Online was chaired by Professor
Amina Kaidal of the University of Maiduguri while the speakers at this session were Zainab
Aminu, CITAD Technical Officer, Mrs. Martha Alade, Founder, Women in Technology and Msen
Nabo, Digital Media Associate at Connected Development.
The second session which focused on Dealing with Child Protection Online, had Hajiya Suwaiba
Muhammad Dankabo, Programmes Manager at ActionAid International as chair while Aminu
Adamu Naganye of the Star Newspaper, Harira Wakili, a Gender and Human Rights Activist and
Barrister Aisha Mahdi of Green Edge Attorneys served as the speakers.
OPENING SESSION
In his opening remarks, the Executive Director of CITAD, Y.Z Ya’u started by explaining the
purpose of this year’s WIGF during which he stated that, the essence of organizing the forum
was to encourage discussion, especially among women, on internet governance and harvest
strategies for addressing issues that tend to reinforce the marginalization of women in the
digital space. Mr. Ya’u further stated that the WIGF focuses on two specific issues:
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the responses to Gender Abuse Online and the multiple questions to address bordering around
gender violence online, the keynote speaker said, there is need to develop campaigns messages
to counter the misusers of the internet and contributed to the current processes of developing
national strategy on child protection online. The speaker also stated that the essence is to find
ways on how to address physical and online abuse, and how to protect vulnerable people from
being harmed on the internet. For this, she said more budget need to be allocated to this area.
Mrs. Ibukun went further to state that under United Nations Charter for Child Protection, every
child is expected to have a fundamental right to education, a right to health and a right to
livelihood, children are supposed to be allowed to speak and to be heard, but a lot of
constraints are preventing them from being able to fully access their fundamental rights
especially in Africa due to the cultural issues. Speaking about the ample advantages of the
Internet, Mrs. Odusate said if there was no internet during the COVID-19 pandemic, many
people could have lost their lives. The internet had also served as school for many children
during the lockdown, however, it also came with many disadvantages where some people used
it to abuse children.
Buttressing child abuse further, the keynote speaker said child and women abuse is a daily
reality in Nigeria; six out of ten children experience one form of abuse or the other, one in four
girls, and ten percent of boys have also been abused according to UNICEF data. She said
Technology when use in the right way has a potential to broaden opportunities and reduce the
level of abuse if there are proper guidance. The keynote speaker also lamented that many
opportunities are still not fully explored, but people tend to use the negative side of the
internet, bullying others and amplifying hate speech on social media platforms.
On the negative consequences of child abuse on education, Mrs. Odusate said report has
shown that one in five children skipped school due to abuse, and of recent, kidnapping of
school children has also brought a lot of problem to children education in the country.
Discussing about the strategies to follow in preventing gender abuse and safety promotion
among children, the speaker said, for that, educational institutions must to be protected as well
as ensuring privacy of children online. For this, government must ensure all the necessary
regulations are in place and civil society organizations need to intensify advocacies to relevant
government agencies on the issues. Also teaching digital literacy and online safety skills will go
a long way in addressing the menace.
Moreover, there was need to articulate and introduce policies on how to prevent the abuses,
promote parental care education, enlightenment on online activities for the children and
women need to be properly educated. There is need for guidelines on installation of
appropriate technology and software to prevent children falling into the traps of their abusers.
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And creating trauma management techniques and advocacy for protecting young people online
will go a long way in finding the solution to the problem.
In her contribution, the Guest Speaker, Ms. Jan Moolman started her contribution by saying
that the journey for the improvement of women’s rights especially on the internet is a difficult
one, looking at how the internet impact the lives of women from the ICT to digital technology,
from the focus of ICT for D from the 1990s to 2000s and even in the contemporary discussion
regarding privacy, disinformation, misinformation, censorship and hate speech, the role of
women in influencing, shaping and benefiting from digital technology is getting much more
grounded, and this recognition is largely due to the consistent work of organizations and people
in the global south that consistently call for inclusion, diversity and bringing gender approaches
to all the work that concerned human rights, both online and offline. Information around
gender based violence has been at the core of this work and has duly serve in bringing different
actors into the same room to find solution, the speaker added. She went further to say that it
took many years of lobbying and advocacy and work within women movement, including
building knowledge, research, campaigning, sharing experience and finally getting a common
language to get recognition on violation women experience when they are online. And this
work and persistency led to the 2018 adaptation of the UN Human Rights Council first ever UN
resolution on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in digital context
and other different resolutions including the recent one in Africa has brought more relief to
women and girls in the continent.
Speaking on the issues APC and its partners pay more attention to when it comes to women
rights and digital technology, Ms. Moolman mentioned the followings:
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images and threats, such as non-consensual pornography. She gave another example with
another study which found that female college students (age 18-24) who were victims of offline
stalking were three times more likely to be stalked online than their male counterparts. The
study also found that “while particular variables influence victimization risk among females,
virtually none of the variables in the analyses produced statistically significant relationships
with victimisation among males”.
Moreover, Zainab said key distinction between offline and online gender-based cyber violence
is that it is significantly more difficult “to permanently remove abusive or triggering content
from the Internet, which obliges the survivor to re-experience their victimisation all over again.”
This can exacerbate the psychological impacts of these forms of violence, such as flashbacks of
the incident and/or perpetrator, as well as increase the victim’s isolation period.
Discussing on the long term negative impact of gender violence online, Zainab said the greatest
impact that women experience is self-censorship. Women start censoring themselves online.
And that is what the abusers want. Another impact she said is that online violence attempts to
keep women from major sectors of the public sphere because public only take physical violence
seriously. The third impact is that some women leave the online platform [after being
harassed]. The forth impact which is being associated with online violence is public health issue
and the effects which results in physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm, and erodes
self-esteem.
Offering some solutions on how one can protect selves online, Zainab Aminu mentioned the
followings:
• Creating a strong password
• Having different passwords for different accounts
• Downloading apps from authentication platforms and using two factor verification
• Logging out of accounts when not in use
• Not using public WIFI for sharing sensitive information
At the end the speaker said, to stop gender violence online, there is need for public awareness
in order for people to understand it consequences which in many cases metamorphosed to
offline.
The second speaker, Mrs Martha Alade started by quoting the 1993 UN Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women which defines ‘violence against women’ as an act of
gender-related violence (GBV) that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual,
psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion
or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life [or online].
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Discussing on the different types of Gender Violence Online, Mrs Alade said it includes; Doxing
(leaking unauthorized info to public), Sexist abuse, Hate speech, Threat to free expression,
Threat to privacy, Impersonation, Defamation, Gender-based discriminatory memes,
Cyberstalking, Online misogyny etc. On the category of people that experience Gender
Violence, Mrs Martha said women and girls from marginalised communities are the easy
targets and their voices are often unheard. Mrs Alade also said, in most of the times, girls in
local communities are being violated but they are not even aware they are being violated. She
gave a scenario on a case they worked on which happened to a small girl in a community they
are working in and the girl was abused but due to lack of proper awareness about the issue she
was not even aware she was abused until she was examined then it was discovered the girl was
violated.
At the end, the speaker said, to stop gender violence the followings need to be considered
The third at this technical session, Miss Msen Nabo, Digital Media Associate at Connected
Development said appealing to governments to take the issue of GBV more serious is
something its advocates need to take beyond social media and also people’s attitudes need to
be changed. Mss. Nabo also stated that Gender Violence especially online is something that
people come across everyday but most of the times the victims ended up being punished by the
society. The gender activist said when victims of gender violence try to speak out against the
violence mated on them they usually receive silent feedback or they are advised to keep mute
in order to protect their image.
Mss. Msen went further to say that a clear example where government is an accomplice to this
act is the case of Kano State where the State House of Assembly refused to domesticate the
Child Protection Act even though the state is ranked among the states with high rate of gender
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based violence and child abuse. According her, this need intense advocacies and awareness
creation.
Speaking further on how people violate others on social media platforms, Mss. Nabo stated
that sharing someone’s pictures, address, videos without his/her consent are all forms of
violence online and these types of violence can turn to offline. And for this, she suggested that
advocacies and awareness creation need to be carried out in order to stop it.
SECOND TECHNICAL SESSION: DEALING WITH CHILD ABUSE ONLINE
CHAIR: Hajiya Suwaiba Muhammad Dankabo
PANELISTS: Barrister Aisha Mahdi, Harira Wakili, Aminu Adamu Naganye
The second session was moderated by Hajiya Suwaiba Y. Dankabo of ActionAid Nigeria and the
Three (3) distinguished personalities and experts on Gender Based Violence and Child
Protection spoke and shared their experience and knowledge with the participants.
A Gender and Internet Right Advocate, Harira Abdulrahman Wakili started her presentation
with explaining the ample opportunities internet presents to young generations, Mss. Wakili
said that growing up internet offers limitless opportunities through computers, smartphones,
gaming consoles, and televisions, children learn, imagine and develop their social networks. But
she cautioned that these platforms need to be used in the right way, where she stated that
when these are used in the right way – and accessible to all – the internet has the potential to
broaden horizons and ignite creativity. She also said that with these opportunities come serious
risks. Harira added that cyberbullying and other forms of peer-to-peer violence can affect
young people each time they log on to social media or instant messaging platforms. Speaking
about what children can be exposed to on the net, Miss Wakili mentioned that when browsing
the internet, children may be exposed to hate speech and violent content – including messages
that incite self-harm and even suicide. According to her, what happens online reflects the
realities children face every day – at home, at school and in their wider communities. In
conclusion, Ms. Wakili emphasized that every child must be protected from violence,
exploitation and abuse on the internet.
The Second speaker at this session was Barrister Aisha H. Mahdi of Green Edge Attorneys, who
emphasized that with the widespread use of the Internet, the advancement in technology and
the proliferation of Internet-enabled devices have created borderless and unlimited access to
information. Barr. Aisha said progress brings by the internet has given the bad eggs in the
society the opportunities to exploit, put the children at risk, and make them vulnerable to
abuse. She said that there is an urgent need to balance the immense benefits of technology,
commercial interest and ensuring online safety of children with appropriate safeguards and
strong legal and institutional framework. Speaking on the safety on children online, the speaker
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said there is a growing concern about the safety and privacy of children online which is amongst
the problems identified by relevant stakeholders in Nigeria.
Discussing about the internet penetration in the country, Barrister Mahdi said as internet
penetration increases, more children are connected to the grid, and this gives the children
better understanding of technology than the average adult. The speaker also mentioned that
new phones, smart toys, computers, and privileges for using a device give birth to new
responsibilities. Speaking about the exposure of the children to social media, Aisha stated that
the increased use of social media and online services allows children to share and consume
tremendous volume of personal information online. And at the same time the children use the
Internet as a means to learn, share and participate in civic life.
The legal practitioner added that in Nigeria, Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 8
of the Child Rights Act provide for children’s right to privacy. And Section 23 of the Cybercrimes
Act 2015 punishes child pornography. The Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act also
criminalizes cyberbullying and cyber stalking that could affect children. According to her,
though the Act punishes consumption of such contents and provides for other offenses, there is
no other specific legal guidelines or direction to protect the online safety and privacy of the
Nigerian child. Giving recommendations on how to safeguard children online, Barrister Aisha
Mahdi said:
i. Nigeria needs an online privacy protection law for children which will seek to protect
the personal information of children on websites, online services and applications
and it should be binding on online service providers collecting the personal data of
children to ensure consent management.
ii. Service providers should require the consent of the parents or guardians if the data
collection affects a child below the established age.
iii. There is need to digitalize the Nigerian courts and repeal some laws to ensure
efficient and quick judgments related to children abuses
Sharing his experience at the forum, a Kano based journalist, Aminu Adamu Naganye of The
Star Newspaper said Internet Service Providers and Electronic Service Providers need to ensure
their platforms are secure and do not put children at risk. He added that Service providers
should implement privacy and security by design and default. Service Providers have to do
more in creating and ensuring age-appropriate contents by managing content and dealing
effectively with abuse, misuse of their platforms and illegal contact with children.
Aminu Naganye said the legal framework alone cannot guarantee complete protection for the
Nigerian child. Excessive regulation will stifle children’s participation and access to the immense
benefits of the internet. Speaking further, Mr. Naganye said there is need for increased digital
literacy for both children and their parents/guardians. According him, providing this will ensure
children implement best privacy preferences, understand the implication of oversharing, and
have good online behavior. Another recommendations the journalist gave was that
parents/guardians should ensure they always install safety tools on their wards’ devices which
will protects children from inappropriate behavior and laying their hands on inappropriate
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online contents. It will also prevents disclosure of personal information and assist parents and
guardians manage time spent on the devices.
CLOSING
Following the presentations, participants asked questions and made comments as well offered
specific recommendations that would help in making the internet safer for both women and
children. This segment also allowed the presenters to clarify on some of the issues they raised
and positions advanced as well as father interrogated some of the proposed solutions to the
challenges that women and children face online. Participants agreed that there was need to
carry both the discussion and the proposed solutions offline to reach more people and
especially engage government and other stakeholders to respond to these challenges so that
both women and children would use the internet safely and productive to ensure that it serves
their needs.
The organizers also promised to distill the recommendations and issue a communique as the
outcome of the Forum while exploring all possibilities to continue to engage both the
participants at this Forum as well as other stakeholders to mount a sustained public awareness
on the issues and an advocacy for action to address the problems,
The Centre for Information Technology and Development had on 21st of April, 2022 under its project on Mobilizing and Catalyzing Citizens Action for Accountable Election and Governance in Nigeria supported by MacArthur Foundation held its Fourth Dialogue on Anti-Corruption Fight in Nigeria with another three set of its sub-grantees; Jack Fidelis Vincent, Independ Journalist based in Maiduguri, Olumide Olaniyan of Lucidity of Absurdity (Poetry) and Fred Sam-Itepu, Head of Operation, Rise Networks while Dr. Kabiru Sufi Sa’id, Principal Lecturer, Kano State College of Education and Preliminary Studies chaired the Dialogue. As it has become tradition in the Centre that every month it’s conducting the dialogue, in the month of March, the Centre hosted Danlami Nmodu, mni, Publisher NewsDiary Online, Bikiya Graham-Douglas, Executive Director, Beeta Network and Dr. Tunde Akanni, Lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Lagos State University with Clement Adebayo as the moderator
The dialogue started with an opening remarks by the Executive Director of CITAD, Engineer Yunusa Zakari Ya’u. Engineer Ya’u begin his remarks with aim of organizing the monthly dialogue where his stated that; the aim of the dialogue is to give the sub-grantees under this project an opportunity to regularly share their work with a wider audience in promoting accountability and fighting corruption in Nigeria. He also mentioned that the dialogue is aimed at giving both the sub-grantees and young people who have interest in the area an opportunity to discuss and share ideas. Engineer Ya’u went further to state that CITAD has for many years been working in the area of accountability and fighting corruption in Nigeria and empowering young people to demand for good governance. Buttressing further on the essence of organizing the monthly dialogue, the Executive Director said is to create a platform for the sub-grantees and those who have an interest in the area to discuss ideas and learn from each other as corruption and lack of accountability are the major obstacles towards the country’s growth and development”.
Moreover, Malam Ya’u lamented on the set back fighting corruption is recording in the country where he gave an example with presidential pardon granted to two convicted former governors of Plateau and Benue States after being tried and found guilty of stealing public funds while serving as governors in their states. At the end he urge the participants not relent on their efforts in the fight against corruption as it takes time to rid corruption out of the society.
Speaking on the different tools and mediums he utilizes in demanding for accountability and fighting corruption, Mr. Jack Vincent said in Maiduguri he used to organized small round table meetings to hear the opinions of people on how they perceive corruption and the best way to tackle it, from the opinions gather, he organizes radio programs including phone in where people call to give their own contributions and air their grievances. Also, Mr. Vincent used to do Vox Fox where he sample the opinions of the public on how corruption and bad governance is affecting their lives. Other activities conducted by this sub-grantee include documentaries. In the documentaries, Mr. Fidelis focuses more on capital projects that are poorly executed such as hospitals, roads, schools etc. in the state. This, he said they aired on their live radio program and also share on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
On his part, Mr. Olumide said their work is targeting at people at grassroots where they are enlightening them about the effect of corruption through the use of poetry. He said what they normally do is to ask people questions on the post elections issues like what their representatives are doing to better their lives. Also, Mr. Olaniyan said they organize mobile dramas where they went to local markets in Abuja in collaboration with markets officials and perform dramas on corruption. In the drama, Mr. Olaniyan said they are using four languages such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin English. Another tactic they explore is reading poems to community people on anti-corruption and accountability. In this case, he said they allow the community people to read the poems themselves in order to internalize and make the fight against corruption a habit. At the end he stated that they are sharing the messages to larger audiences using social media platforms like Facebook to popularize the messages.
Moreover, the final speaker at the dialogue, Mr. Fred discussed mainly on the application they created in order to track corruption and fake news in the area of fighting corruption in the country called “Run Am”. He said, the application is created to mobilize citizens against corruption and discuss issues of accountability in Nigeria. Speaking further, Mr. Fred said, the application is trained to source information on corruption and election from credible sources by tracing the authenticity of images used like where they have been taken, who took them and what time they were taken. At the end, this speaker said using technology to fight corruption is the best and most efficient way to rid the corruption out of our society and instill good governance in the minds of Nigerians.
At the end, some participants made comments about the topic in discussion. One of the commentators at the dialogue stated that “the anti-corruption institutions in the country are just making fool of themselves considering the action of the president and his cabinets most especially with the recent pardon of the convicted governors”.
On Tuesday 1st March, 2022 the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) organized a virtual dialogue to deliberate issues around slow uptake of the COVID19 vaccine. The dialogue which took place via the Zoom platform hosted two public health experts-Dr. Hassan Shuaibu Musa, Principal Medical Officer and Lecturer at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi and Dr. Ma’awuya Aliu as speakers, Hon. Jafar Mohammed Zuru, Commissioner, Kebbi State Ministry of Health gave a keynote address while Dr. Mainasara Yakubu Kurfi, the Head, Department of Mass Communications, Bayero University Kano served as moderator.
The one hour thirty minutes virtual event titled “Discussing COVID19 Vaccine Uptake Series 2.0” began with goodwill message from Hon. Jafar Muhammed Zuru, Commissioner of Health Kebbi State who was represented by Haruna Abdullahi, Director Immunization and Disease Control in the Ministry, in the message he commended CITAD for organizing the dialogue adding that it is a timely effort as it brought qualified stakeholders to deliberate on the vaccination issue, he urged participants from various states to listen to the speakers with interest and make use of the strategies they will share during the dialogue.
Hindrances and factors responsible for slow uptake of the vaccine, hesitancy or non acceptance of the vaccine shared by the speakers during the dialogue included the following:
It noted was during the dialogue that hesitancy of the vaccine by healthcare workers is heavily and negatively impacting the vaccination exercise, it was also learned that for example in Bauchi state only 11% of the state’s healthcare workers took the vaccine, the concern therefore was how would the public have trust and confidence in the vaccine if healthcare workers are also reluctant to take it? Another issue raised during the dialogue was that many people COVID19 patients are asymptomatic and the public justify their misconception on the virus, for example again in Bauchi state 78% of COVID19 patients were asymptomatic. After intense deliberation on the above areas, questions and comments by the dialogue participants, the speakers recommended the following:
The Centre for Information Technology and Development had on 10 th of February, 2022 under
its project on Mobilizing and Catalyzing Citizens Action for Accountable Election and
Governance in Nigeria supported by MacArthur Foundation held its Second Dialogue on Anti-
Corruption Fight in Nigeria with three of its sub-grantees; Mu’azu Alhaji Modu, Executive
Director, Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability, Mustapha Bulama, Editorial Cartoonist
with Daily Trust and Joshua Alabi, Executive Director, KININSO KONCEPTS and moderated by
Kabiru Danladi, Lecturer with Department of Mass Communications, Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria. In the previous edition, CITAD hosted Abubakar Sadiq Mu’azu, Executive Director, Center
for Advocacy, Transparency and Accountability Initiative, Jide Ojo, Independent Researcher,
Writer, Public Affairs Analyst and Journalist and Chioma Agwuegbo, Executive Director,
TechHerNG, the session was chaired by Mukhtar Modibbo of Connected Development.
The aim of the dialogue is to give the sub-grantees under this project an opportunity to
regularly share their work with a wider audience in promoting accountability and fighting
corruption in Nigeria. The dialogue is also aimed at giving both the sub-grantees and young
people who have interest in the area an opportunity to discuss and share ideas.
Giving his remarks at the dialogue, the Executive Director of CITAD, Malam Yunusa Zakari Ya’u
who was represented by the Centre’s Communications Officer, Malam Ali Sabo said CITAD has
for many years been working in the area of accountability and fighting corruption in Nigeria and
empowering young people to demand for good governance in Nigeria. He further stated that,
the essence of organizing the monthly dialogue is to create a platform for the sub-grantees and
those who have an interest in the area to discuss ideas and learn from each other. “Corruption
and lack of accountability are the major obstacles towards the country’s growth and
development”. He stated. At the end, Malam Ya’u said, for citizens to effectively fight
corruption “we need one another, we need to collaborate with others working in area and
share our ideas.”
Sharing his experience on the different tools and mediums he uses in demanding for
accountability and fighting corruption, Mu’azu Alhaji Modu said in Yobe State his organization
selected 30 young people from 30 communities in six local governments in the state and
trained them on how to track Basic Health Care Funds. Also Mr. Modu said part of what they
are doing are advocacy visits to respective government agencies such as Yobe Primary
HealthCare Development Agency, Yobe State Contributory HealthCare Management Agency to
ensure what are being budgeted have reach the common people. Moreover, to ensure a robust
conversation between governments and citizens, Mr. Modu said they provided a platform
where citizens and government officials discuss issues affecting their communities.
Another panelist on the discussion, Mustapha Bulama of DailyTrust said there are many
informal ways that messages especially on anti-corruption could be sent to public, some of
these are through cartoons, illustrations and animations. Bulama said people find it hard to
read long articles on the internet, but when issues of corruption and fraud are simplified
through cartoons, people tend to understand it and appreciate it more. Bulama also said
creating awareness among people and reorientation especially on anti-corruption fight is very
important. The speaker also mentioned that using cartoons to display the negative affect of
vote buying is another way to sensitize the public about the importance of voting of competent
leaders in the country. At the end he mentioned that social media such Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram are some of the best platforms to reach young people and send messages to
government officials.
The last speaker, Joshua Alabi of KININSO KONCEPTS also discussed on the platforms he uses in
creating awareness on anti-corruption, accountability and electoral processes. Joshua said using
art and theatre for storytelling not in the way of entertainment but in changing the narrative of
the governance in the country is very important. Mr. Alabi said, as part of their efforts to
create awareness in the area of accountability and good governance they are transforming
stories into educative films around accountability and good governance. He further said,
collaboration with other stakeholders in the area such Nollywood Actors/Actress, Young people
and social media influencers is another way they are using to educate the public.
At the end participants asked questions and made comments.
In its effort to bring employers with trainers of prospective employees closer to it is services, the Job Placement Information Services (JOPIS) unit of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has on Tuesday 19th November, 2019 organized a one-day dialogue on the theme ‘Understanding Skills Supply and Gaps as Means of Employability in Kano State. The dialogue was held at Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training, Mambayya House, Kano in celebration of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). Global Entrepreneurship Week is a global effort to address problems of employers, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. During one week, each November innovators and job creators who launch startup that brings ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare gather to celebrate the week. GEW inspires people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators.
In his opening remarks, the Coordinator of the Job Placement Information Services (JOPIS) Unit of CITAD said that CITAD initiated JOPIS scheme to assist youth looking for employment and entrepreneurship opportunities by bringing information about jobsand entrepreneurship opportunities to them.The main function of the unit is sourcing job opportunities and collaborating with reliable sites advertising job opportunities such as Jobberman, Jobrapido, Myjob in order to connect people looking for jobs. Malam Sagiru Ado said that in celebration of the GEW week, CITAD has been organizing different activities such as public lectures, radio programs, advocacy visits career talks and entrepreneurship quizzes to students of secondary schools to sensitize them and inculcate the sense of entrepreneurship to them since at the grassroots level. He then briefed the participants about the history of the GEW, global activities on GEW and Nigerian activities on GEW.
In his remarks, the Executive Director, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), represented by the Program Coordinator, Malam Isyaku Garba, traced back to the history where he said in the early 80’s there was a lot of job opportunities and people did not cared and paid much attention on white collar jobs because of the number of educated ones at that time was not up to the number we have today. But as a result of increase of unemployed youth and graduate today makes it necessary to acquire basic skills since from university level. He then stressed that they are job opportunities in Nigeria just that we lack qualified personnel with required skills to fulfill the requirement.
Prof Mustapha Hassan Bichi of the Department of Civil Engineering, Bayero University, Kano made the first presentation. He presented on the Skills provided by the Nigerian Institutions. In his presentation, Prof. Bichi said that unemployment has become a major problem bedeviling the lives of youths and graduates causing frustration, depression, dejection and dependency on family members and friends.It is common knowledge that about 80% of graduates in most Nigerian universities find it hard to get employment every year. This is largely due to the curricula of the universities and other tertiary schools with emphasis on training for white-collar jobs. Currently, Nigeria like other developing countries is faced with a number of problems ranging from youth and graduate unemployment, high level of poverty, insurgency, conflict and diseases, insincerity, over dependency on foreign made goods, low economic growth and development, lack of capacity and required skills to move the economy forward and urbanization.Due to these and other reasons that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the National Universities Commission (NUC), introduced Entrepreneurship Education (EE), which is aimed at equipping tertiary students with entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and competencies in order to be job creators and not just job hunters.
Malam Adamu Ahmad, Regional Manager, Integrated Corporate Services (ICS), Kano made the second presentation. Malam Adamu explained that ICS Outsourcing is Nigeria’s leading Outsourcing provider incorporated in August 1994 and since then offering a comprehensive range of outsourcing services and provide bespoke business support solutions to all kinds and sizes of businesses. He then decried that the qualities they need, they don’t get from our people. The idea behind each business according to Malam Adamu is to survive and that is why if he does not employ quality people the company will not survive. He then finally said that communication skills and computer literacy are basic skills required by the employers. He made effort at different times to enlighten and sensitize northern youth through tertiary institutions but they failed to catch up.
Malam Baita Suleiman of Sharada Small Scale Industries expressed his worries about the attitude of most of the students sent to them for Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES). He said that most of them only do not want the practical knowledge, and concentrated only on theories. He drew attention of the Nigerian institutions on the importance of imparting knowledge through local languages as it happens in other developed countries. Engr. Jafar Suleiman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Kano Branch requested the second presenter to give them time on their mentoring program.
In his final remarks, the chairman of the occasion, Malam Umar Muhammad, Director Recruitment and Training, Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board (KSSSSMB) associated the problems with miss of priority, corruption and failure to continue with 433 educational systems. He then thanked and appealed to CITAD to keep on sensitizing and helping job seekers succeed at employment and entrepreneurship support opportunities
Participants at the dialogue were members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Kano Branch, Muryar Talaka, MSI Text Solution, Sharada Small Scale Association, Kano Chamber Of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KACCIMA), Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Board (KSSSSMB), media and Civil Society Organizations. Different issues were raised and discussed during the general comments, some of the issues were:
Hamza Ibrahim, Coordinator, Curbing Hate and Dangerous Speech Project, CITAD, made the vote of thank on behalf of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD). He thanked the speakers and the participants for honoring the invitation and said that CITAD believed that the contribution provided by the speakers brought the success of the event. He then appalled to the participants to have the same co-operation and participation in the future endeavors.
CENTRE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (CITAD),
WITH SUPPORT FROM ROSA LUXEMBURG FOUNDATION (RLF)
 Event: Dialogue on Social Media in Academic Environment
Date: Friday 3RD May, 2019
Time: 9:am
Venue: Boardroom, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Bayero University, Kano (Old Campus)
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Introduction
As part of a broader dialogue initiative on critical knowledge production in the university system, Centre for information Technology and Development (CITAD), with support from Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, held a one-day dialogue on youth activism in the era of social media to overcome detraction and leverage opportunities with the title, “Dialogue in Social Media in Academic Environment”
The dialogue was organised to engender discussion among stakeholders especially the academics as well as other key stakeholders on how to challenge pedagogical and epistemological practice and to proffer ways in which it can reconstruct and enable the academic space to become a robust environment for intellectual debates and advancing knowledge.
The dialogue brought together students, social activists, academics and scholars, civil society Representatives and journalists. Key profile s from the academia were also present at the dialogue including Prof. Adamu Tanko Yakasai-the Deputy Vice Chancellor of BUK who chaired the dialogue, Dr. Lawal Abdulwahab-the Dean Faculty of Information Technology, Prof. Habu Muhammad Fagge-HOD of Political Science and Dr. Nura Ibrahim-HOD of Information Media. The Executive Director of CITAD, Dr. Yunusa Ya’u and Mrs Angela Odah of Rosa Luxemburg Foundation were also present at the dialogue
a  Chairman’s Opening Remarks- Professor. Adamu Tanko, (DVC-Academic, BUK)
The chairman expressed his appreciation for the opportunity given to him to chair the event and also to make his contribution on this important motive. He added that he loves being among the youths and feel so happy when he’s in their midst. Talking about social media, the chairman exclaimed that all of our lives is interaction. One can only get something by coming in close contact with what he wants, understanding one another etc. Leveraging on social media is therefore critical and demanding on the academic environment.
In his opening remarks, the coordinator of the dialogue, Dr. Aminu Aliyu welcomed everyone who attended the dialogue and also expressed his gratitude to special guests of honours as well as Bayero university, Kano, which offered the venue pro bono and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation for supporting CITAD in organizing and carrying out the dialogue.
While presenting the objectives of the dialogue, the Executive Director of CITAD, Dr. Yunusa Ya’u, explained that the dialogue was organised to see how we can change the world using social media, how we can become possible users of the social media, and refuse to use it for negative purposes. The objectives therefore according to him was engage all relevant stakeholders including students, social activists, academics and scholars, civil society representatives and journalists to generate ideas on how to transform social media from a tool for communication to a tool for critical activism and self-actualization especially in the academic environment, to change the social media into positive force for societal development. It was to also change the mindset of students from just using the social media for communications, to positive use for academic as well as self-reliance purposes. Another objective of the dialogue was also to strategise on how to transform Nigerians from consumers and users to programmers, creators and developers of our own content, applications so that we can compete with the world.
A good will message was also issued by the representative of Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. She explained that the foundation has been in West Africa since 2010 and works around creating platforms for discussions and dialogues at international, national and regional levels on issues of development, political socio-cultural dynamics with civil society groups, academics, women and youths groups and other relevant stakeholders, to identify and discuss important issues and also provide alternative for development by ensuring that stakeholders within communities have a say in their community. She thanked CITAD for the effort the organization put in organized the dialogue and expressed that that RSL was so happy to be part of it.
We are the users of social media, but what is important is how we use it; either negatively or positively defines us, how we regulate it is equally important. We should use the technology to add value to our society. We should use it for job creation, not just job seekers. It is a great idea to have interaction like this for us to share our ideas.
ii- Prof. Habu Muhammad Fagge (HOD, Political Science Department)
This is a very crucial discussion. Social media is an evitable phenomenon not only to the youth, but to any serious minded person living in the age of globalisation. Communication is so essential that you can actually have the skills of engaging yourself in social media activities without technically related to the background.
iii- Murtala Ibrahim (Reporter, Vanguard Newspaper)
Social media has come to stay, there is nothing we can do about that. What we can do is for Nigeria to have policies that will regulate the use of social media like some other states where they don’t have ungoverned spaces, but the suggestion was rejected. Today we all know the positive and negative effect of the social media. We all know what fake news has caused this country. So there is a need to revisit the issue of regulations to ensure that the social space on social media is not polluted.
The first presentation was titled “Managing the Imperative in Academic Environment†by Sanah Abdullahi Mu’az from department of Software Engineering, BUK. She described that the essence of the presentation is to whether or not the social media is being under-utilised, whether the social media is being used the way it supposed to be from the perspective of the students as well as from the perspectives of the lecturers.
A panel discussion session was also held with four panelists; Aminu Ibrahim, Rabi’u Shamma, Maryam Ado Haruna and Sadiya Lawal Danyaro on the topic “Social Media Activism on Paradeâ€.
Points from the panel discussion:
The insurgency in the North-East has drastically destroyed villages, towns, cities or communities in general, insurgents launch attacks on communities they so wish especially at the peak of the insurgency, even though Boko Haram fighters use arms to attack communities, some communities stood against them and repelled the fighters motive of crippling their lives using resilient mechanisms. The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support from United States Institute of Peace (USIP) carried out a research to find out the strategies used by some communities during the insurgency to defend themselves in order to proactively encourage other communities to also adopt resilience so as to avert future occurrences.
After carrying out research in Adamawa, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kano and Yobe states, CITAD decides to hold Public Policy Dialogue in Gombe with various stakeholders in attendance with a view to allowing further deliberations and the need to address certain issues and for authorities to tackle challenges that hinder community resilience and improve or put in place what may strengthen it. Giving a goodwill message, the Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) represented by Hajiya Ummuna Ahmed commended the organizers of the dialogue for bringing relevant stakeholders to rub minds on community resilience that she added is integral to societal development.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman, Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative, Retired Lieutenant General T.Y Danjuma who was represented by his vice Alhaji Tijjani Musa Tumsah noted CITAD’s unending progress towards making better understanding and a better insight into the Nigerian society citing the recently launched “Take Action Platform†initiative in Damaturu which promotes accountability and evaluation of reconstruction efforts in the North-East region. Tumsah said the dialogue which provides an avenue for sharing ideas is of particular interest to the Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative adding that without community resilience the military would not have had so much successes in it’s war against Boko Haram, “we in PCNI are interested in reinforcing community resilience and support the architecture of security in all the communities that are resident in the North-East, I believe this gathering will help in no small measure to make that more achievableâ€.
Talking on the tasks before their committee, Tumsah noted that “you may be aware that the PCNI as a mandate, has collaboration, coordination, communication as it’s bedrock using The Buhari Plan as a strategic implementation framework for intervention in the North-East, in that respect, the PCNI in conjunction with the World Bank, the United Nations launched a dashboard which is a tool for monitoring much similar to the “Take Action Platform†to register all initiatives and intervention in the North-East for clarity and for the avoidance of duplication of efforts, in that regard we urge that CSOs and CBOs to seek to do their registration on the dashboard so that we can harmonize all activitiesâ€.
Unveiling the purpose of the research, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim said the idea of the research on community resilience was conceived within the context of framing what needs to be done to move the North-East region forward. On community resilience, Prof. Jibrin said “it is about the capacity of communities to respond to shocks, external shocks they have received, the reality is that when communities are very poor, underdeveloped, they have a structural vulnerability to shocks, and the specific communities we have been looking at in the North-East have had that structural vulnerability and what the insurgency did was to further deepen that vulnerability, what we looked at in terms of resilience is the capacity to bounce backâ€. What we set out to do was to see what are the strengths within societies, within communities that have been used and could be enhanced in future to enable those communities improve their lives, Jibrin added.
Researchers from the states presented highlights of their findings after which comments and questions followed. Dr. Y.Z. Ya’u presented on the “Key Findings, Lessons Learnt and Policy Recommendationsâ€, some of the recommendations proffered by YZ included addressing extreme social inequality, encouraging inclusive community leadership, addressing youths unemployment, encouraging community policing and enhancing local conflict management skills. Mr. Chom Bogu discussed on the Policy Recommendations. The Public Policy Dialogue was attended by a delegation of the Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative, academics, administrators, legal practitioners, state assembly members from the North-East region, women groups, civil society organizations, people living with disability, media and many other stakeholders.
The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support from Mobilizing for Development (M4D) has since September, 2015 been implementing a project entitled: ‘’Strengthen Local CBOs and Informal Institutions for Improved Access and Quality of Education’’ in some selected Local Governments of Kano State. The aim of the project is to improve access to and quality of basic education in the Dawakin Tofa, Sumaila and Garin malam Local Governments of Kano State.
Having carried out research, conducted advocacy and enlighten the Community Based Organizations, traditional leaders and the teeming local populace in the three local governments for six months, CITAD decides to hold a Public Policy Dialogue with respective relevant stakeholders in attendance, the idea is to further generate vital observations and recommendations in order to develop a roadmap for basic education as regards the finding and experiences of the three local governments. The event took place on 15th March, 2016 at Murtala Muhammed Library in Kano, Kano state. Below are observations, challenges and recommendations generated during the event. This communiqué hereby appeal to the concerned bodies to urgently take the necessary actions in order to salvage poor state of basic education so that the future of our younger ones will be bright. Â
Observations
Challenges:
Recommendations:
Key Recommendations to the Government: