CITAD Celebrates 2016 International Day of People with Disability

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in collaboration with Rights and Privileges of Persons with Disability Development Initiative have commemorated the international day of people living with disability where the disabled, governments officials, civil society activists, media, institutions, special education bodies, societal reorientation agencies and entrepreneurs were brought together as presentations on different topics were made.  In his welcome remarks, the Executive Director of CITAD who was represented by Training Coordinator Malam Ahmad Yakasai said ‘’like other people, people living with disability have a lot to offer and that is why every year CITAD find it necessary to commemorate the day with especially the people concerned in attendance and other relevant stakeholders so that their demands are deliberated and advocated for with a view to improving their lives’’. Also in his goodwill message, the chairman, Rights and Privileges of Persons with Disability Development Initiative Ishaq S. Ishaq maintained that disability is not inability as such the disabled need to be even treated more than the abled as there are a number of brilliant people among them who will make vital contributions to societal progress.

Three presentations were taken namely: Economic Inclusion of People with Disability by Adnan Daneji, Senior Special Assistant to Kano state Governor on people living with disability, Digital Inclusion of People living with Disability by Malam Ibrahim Umar Abdulkari, a teacher at Special Education Tudun Maliki and Educational Inclusion of People Living with Disability by Professor Jibrin Muhammad of the Special Education Department, Bayero University Kano. Malam Ibrahim Umar Abdulkarim regrets that the visually impaired are facing a greater challenge especially when they come to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as they don’t have Braille Notes, he said ‘’the visually impaired need to be taught how to use computers (Braille Note) to sit for UTME and I will be glad to teach my fellow visually impaired so long as Braille Notes will be provided anywhere’’.

To fight stigmatization for people living with disability and carry them along in order to realize their potentials, the Managing Director of L&Z Farms has informed the event that he reserved one employment slot for one disabled person and also made a donation of twenty thousand naira as a startup capital to another member of the disabled associations.

The United Nations has since 1992 set aside December 3rd of every year as a day for People Living with Disability, and each year a theme is set to be the guiding principle for the global campaign on improving the lives and empowering the disabled. The theme for 2016 is: Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want, which draws attention to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and how these goals can create a more inclusive and equitable world for persons with disabilities.

Several dignitaries have graced the occasion which included: Head, Department of Special Education, Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education Kano, representative of Honourable Commissioner of Agriculture, Hajiya Jummai Gawuna, Special Adviser to Kano state Governor on Disabled Women, Adnan Daneji, Senior Special Assistant to Kano state Governor on People Living with Disability, leaders and members of various associations of disabled people unions, media, civil society organizations and many other individuals.

NATIONAL LEVEL ENGAGEMENT: PCNI COMMENDS PROACTIVE EFFORT OF CITAD AS THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEES ON BASIC EDUCATION AND THAT OF IDPS, REFUGEES AND NORTHEAST INITIATIVE DESCRIBE CITAD AS THE RIGHT PARTNER TO TRANSFORM EDUCATION SECTOR IN THE NORTHEAST

In its continues engagement with the relevant stakeholders on the need to ensure accountability in the education sector of the Northeast, the North-East Social Accountability in Education Cluster which has CITAD as an anchor, paid an advocacy visit to some major stakeholders at the National level. The advocacy team led by Kabiru Dakata has on Tuesday; 29/11/16 visited the Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiatives (PCNI) at its office located in Maitama, Abuja. The team was received by the Vice Chairman of the PCNI, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsa and four other members of the committee. While presenting the advocacy message to the PCNI, Dakata made lights on some points that need to be inputted in the education component of the PCNI plan. He also advocated for transparency and accountability in the process of implementing the PCNI project. In his response, the vice chairman of PCNI, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsa commended the pro-active effort of the CITAD cluster in taking time to analyze the education component of the PCNI and made relevant inputs. He said the inputs came at the right time as the committee is planning to validate the Buhari Plan document that will guide the work of the PCNI. He assured the team that PCNI will work in partnership with credible CSOs like CITAD and its cluster members.Kabir Dakata's photo.

The advocacy team was at the National Assembly on Wednesday 30/11/2016. It first visited the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education where it was received by the vice chairman of the committee, Hon. Emeka, the clerk of the committee and others. The cluster briefed the committee on the research it conducted in the six states of the Northeast, the report of which proved beyond reasonable doubt that the region has worse education statistics than the other five region in the country. Some of the advocacy messages to the committee include the need for effective Oversight function to monitor school construction and renovation in the constituency projects, ensure proper utilization of funds released to states by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), increase National budgetary allocation to the development of the educational sector in the North-East, conducting public hearing on the budget allocation made for basic education, provide timely update in terms of funds disbursement and projects implementation, etc. Responding to the messages, Hon. Emeka said, “it is painful that, huge amount of money spent for educational development are not accounted for”. He assured the cluster of their readiness to partner in ensuring that money budgeted for education is spent for the purpose.

On how to improve the welfare of the IDPs in the Northeast, the cluster visited the chairman house committee on IDPs, Refugees and Northeast Initiatives, Hon. Sani Zorro. The cluster advocated for special attention to the education for children in the IDP camps and their general welfare. According to the representative of the cluster, Kabiru Dakata, “despite the huge amount of money the governments and other development partners are spending to improve the welfare of the people in the IDP camps, it is unfortunate that in most cases these monies are not accounted for, and the result of this is high level of malnutrition among children in the camps, abuse of girls in the camps, and other atrocities that further complicate the lives of people in the IDP camps”. The cluster therefore advocated on the need for the committee to set up monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that will ensure every one Naira allocated for the IDPs is spent for that purpose. Dakata also advocated for serious punishment against people found diverting resources meant for the IDPs. In his response, Hon. Zorro expressed appreciation on the commitment of the cluster in looking for ways to tackle the suffering of the IDPs. He therefore assured the commitment of the committee to partner with the cluster to come up with initiatives that will improve the welfare of the IDPs.

REPORT OF THE NORTHWEST REGIONAL SENSITIZATION ON DANGEROUS SPEECH

In its continues effort to address the proliferation of hate and dangerous speech in the country , the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) on 1th of November, 2016 held yet another regional Public Sensitization on Dangerous speech  for the Northwest Region, held at the Green House, Mani Road , Katsina Katsina state. CITAD team, at the occasion comprises M. Ibrahim Nuhu, Training Officer,  Hamza Ibrahim,  Shazali sunusi and Abdullahi Balarabe.

Hamza Ibrahim opened the programme with welcome remarks on behalf of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) and the MacArthur Foundation who support the project. He drew the attention of the participants to give maximum cooperation and participate actively in the programme so as attain the objectives of the  programme.

The first session was on the understanding of hate and dangerous speech which was also led by Hamza Ibrahim who led the participant to understand what dangerous speech is, means of identifying dangerous speech, coming down to specific local contextual definition of the hate speech as:

“To contextualize the concept, we regard as dangerous speech any speech act that is aimed at inciting the audience to denigrate against people others of the basis of ethnicity, religion, gender, geography and any other socially conceived parameter with the purpose of marginalizing them or placing them at some disadvantage that is contrary to the provisions of the universal declaration on human rights as well as the international covenants on rights of the people. This does not include the peculiar joking relations that exist in some communities, practiced between two or more ethnic/linguistic groups that have historically been used as a conflict resolution mechanism. Substantively, we see dangerous/hate speech in the Nigerian context as speech act that:

  1. Insults people for their religion
    2. Abuses people for their ethnic or linguistic affiliation
    3. Expresses contempt against people because of their place of origin
    4. Disparages or intimidates women or girls because of their gender
    5. Condones discriminatory assertions against people living with disability 
    6. Abuses or desecrates symbols of cultural or religious practices 
    7. Denigrates or otherwise ridicules traditional or cultural institutions of other people 
    8. Deliberate spread falsehood or rumours that demeans or maligns or otherwise ostracizes other people on the basis of religion, ethnicity, gender or place of origin for the accident of one form of disability or the other

COMMENTS/ SUGGESTIONS

The second ssession was on Strategies of Countering Hate/ Dangerous speech handled by M. Ibrahim Nuhu. He led the participants through ways and strategies of countering hate speech , giving example of some identified  hate speeches and most appropriate strategy for countering such.

After the two session participants were given the chance to make comments and suggestions on the proramme in general and these are some of the comments and suggessions:

  • Ahmad Salisu suggested that  CITAD should organize this type of sensitization lecture for printing and online newspapers, because  the news headlines of some Print Newspaper are  lead the audience to generate hate speech.  According to him our newspapers divide the Nation instead of uniting us; he also gave example of the some newspapers serve the interest of a particular ethnic or region.
  • CITAD should create a forum or campaign to sensitize public on the dangers of citizens taking laws into their hands in terms of accusations or misunderstanding.
  • This work is not for CITAD alone is for general public to campaign against, condemn, and also counter any hate speech that we come across our life till our country become free hate speech.
  • One of the Female participants asserted that:  “I’m fully sensitized on hate speech and also educated on how to counter it, to me I choose proactive action strategy, we thank CITAD for enlighten us” she further requested that next time if CITAD  wish to organize any event like this in Katsina  females should constitute the hghiest number of the participants  than male because they take things  serious than male, and lastly promise CITAD that Katsina State will be role model in this campaign against hate speech  over the nation.

Mal. Huzaifa of CITAD, Katsina gave the closing remark, he thanked the participants for the time and active participation throughout the sessions.

REPORT OF THE 15TH KANO ICT QUIZ FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS ORGANIZED BY CITAD AT SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY, KANO ON 24TH NOVEMBER, 2016

In its efforts to broaden ICT literacy, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has since 2001 been conducting Annual Information and Communication Technology quiz competition for secondary schools across Kano State. The annual competition was initiated to promote ICT knowledge among the secondary school students in order to ensure that they meet the growing demand for ICT literacy. This year’s quiz marked the 15th round in Kano State after its inception in 2001. 34 secondary schools participated which took place on 24th November, 2016 at School of Technology, Kano.
The quiz started with opening remarks by the representative of CITAD Executive Director, Malam Ahmad Abdullahi Yakasai who emphasized the importance of ICT education and briefed the audience about the aims and objectives for organizing the ICT quiz among secondary schools in Kano State. He then listed the following prizes to be won during this year’s ICT quiz competition.
1. First Position: Laptop and Refurbished Computer
2. Second Position: Laptop and 3-in-One Printer
3. Third Position: Laptop
4. Best Teacher of Winning School: Plasma TV
5. Teachers of the Winning schools: A Wall Clock Each
6. Contestants/Winners (6 students): 5 yards of Shadda Each
7. Participated Teachers and Students: Certificate of participation and set of books.
In his good will message, His Royal Highness, the Emir of Kano Malam Mahammadu Sunusi II who was ably represented by the district head of Dawakin Tofa, Madakin Kano, Alh. Yusuf Nabahahani Ibrahim acknowledged the developmental activities of CITAD in the state. He then stated that, the emir wishes to attend the ICT quiz competition himself in order to motivate the organizers and the participating schools in this worthy endeavor but due to certain reasons he assigned me to represent him. He finally thanked CITAD and wished them God Blessings.
The secondary schools that participated in this year’s ICT quiz included:
1. School of Arabic Studies
2. Government Girls Arabic Secondary School Albasu
3. Maryam Tijjani Governmnet Technical Collage
4. Government Girls Collage Kano
5. Government Girls Secondary School Kabo
6. Government Technical Collage Danbatta
7. Government Girls Secondary School Kura
8. Government Girls Secondary School Jogana
9. Government Secondary School Gwarzo
10. Government Technical Collage Kano
11. Government Secondary School Rano
12. Government Girls Collage Gezawa
13. Government Secondary School Shekara
14. Government Technical Collage Ungogo
15. Dawakin Kudu Science
16. Government Girls Secondary School Fatima Muhammad
17. Governor’s Collage, Kano
18. Government Girls secondary school Sharada
19. Government Technical Collage Bagauda
20. Government Girls Arabic Secondary School Maryam Shekarau
21. Government Secondary School Karaye
22. Government Collage Tudun Wada
23. Day Science, Kano
24. Government Girls Arabic Secondary School Tahir
25. Government Secondary School Sabuwar Kofa
26. Dakata Kawaji
27. Government Girls Secondary School Yar Gaya
28. Rumfa Collage, Kano
29. Government Girls Secondary School Hausawa
30. Government Secondary School Danbatta
31. Government Girls Arabic Collage Goron Dutse
32. Government Secondary School Bichi
33. Maitama Sule Science Collage Gaya
34. 1st Lady Collage

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The yearly quiz also was attended by important personalities which included His Royal Highness the Emir of Kano Malam Muhammad Sunusi II who was represented by Madakin Kano and District Head of Dawakin Tofa Alhaji Yusuf Nabahani Ibrahim Chigari, Vice Chancellor, Bayero University Kano, Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello also represented by Dr. Muhammad Ajiya, Director, Center for Information Technology of the university, Commissioner of Commerce, Tourism and Industry also represented by Alh. Danjuma Babawo, representative of the Regional Manager, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Alh. Waziri Ibrahim, representative of the Managing Director, Intersystem Institute of Information Technology, Alh. Muhammad Auwal.
Others were Mr. Kinsley Iwezulu from H&M Construction Company Limited, representative of the Executive Director School of Technology, Kano, Engr. M.M Kibya, Executive Secretary Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Hajiya Amina Hanga, Alh. Murtala Bala Mai Sallah, and Salisu M. Indabawa, representative of the Executive Director United Action for Democracy (UAD), Media Organizations and Civil Society Organizations.
Engr. Kamal Umar of CITAD who served as the quiz master declared the quiz open by stating the rules and regulations governing the quiz competition for the participating schools. First round of the quiz featured 17 schools on the first come first serve basis. The schools were: SAS, Kano, GGASS Albasu, MTGSTC, Kano, GGC Kano, GGSS Kabo, GTC Danbatta, GGSS Kura, GGSS Jogana, GSS Gwarzo, GTC Kano, GSS Rano, GGC Gezawa, GSS Shekara, GTC Ungogo, SBSC Dawakin Kudu, GGSS Fatima Muhammad and Governor’s Collage, Kano. The quiz master asked the schools to answer three questions each and each question carries 2 marks. SAS, GGASS Albasu, GGC Kano, GGSS Jogana, GSS Rano, GGC Gezawa and GGSS Fatima Muhammad answered only one question and scored 2 marks each. MTGSTC, GGSS Kabo, GTC Danbatta, GGSS Kura, GSS Gwarzo, GSS Shekara and Governor’s Collage, Kano answered 2 questions and scored 4 marks each. GTC Kano, GTC Ungogo and SBSC Dawakin Kudu answered all the 3 questions and scored 6 marks each. This means that GTC Kano, GTC Ungogo and SBSC Dawakin Kudu emerged victorious and able to secure a place in the final round.

The second round also featured 17 schools, the schools were: GGSS Sharada, GTC Bagauda, GGASS Maryam Shekarau, GSS Karaye, GC Tudun Wada, Day Science, GGASS Tahir, GSS Sabuwar Kofa, Dakata Kawaji, GGSS Yar Gaya, Rumfa Collage Kano, GGSS Hausawa, GSS Danbatta, GGAC Goron Dutse, GSS Bichi, MSSC Gaya and 1st Lady Collage. GGASS Tahir, GSS Danbatta and GGAC Goron Dutse couldn’t answer any question and got nil. While GTC Bagauda, Dakata Kawaji, GGSS Yar Gaya, Rumfa Collage, Kano, GGSS Hausawa and MSSC Gaya answered only one question and scored two marks each. GGASS Maryam Shekarau, GSS Karaye, GC Tudun Wada, GSS Bichi and 1st Lady Collage answered two questions and scored 4marks each. GTC Bagauda, Day Science and GSS Sabuwar Kofa answered all their questions and scored 6 marks each. This also means that GTC Bagauda, Day Science and GSS Sabuwar Kofa that answered all their questions and scored 6 marks each will meet GTC Kano, GTC Ungogo and SBSC Dawakin Kudu in the final round of the quiz.
The final round of the quiz competition was very excited because there was a tie. GTC Kano and SBSC Dawakin Kudu answered only one question in the round and scored 2 marks each, while GSS Sharada couldn’t to answer any question. The schools that had the tie with 6 marks each were GSS Sabuwar Kofa, Day Science and GTC Ungogo. In view of this, Alh. Muhammad Auwal of Intersystem Institute of Information Technology who served as the chief judge of the competition instructed the quiz master to give additional question to the schools that scored 6 marks each with purpose of getting 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place position. GTC Ungogo failed to answer its question in the additional round while Day Science and Sabuwar Kofa answered their questions. Automatically, GTC Ungogo emerged 3rd place position. Day Science, Kano and GSS Sabuwar Kofa were given another chance in order to have the 1st and 2nd place position. At the end, Day Science Kano that able to answer its question emerged victorious and won 1st place position while GSS Sabuwar Kofa won the second place position.
Before presentation of the prizes to the winning schools, Executive Secretary Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Hajiya Amina Hanga expressed dismay on the performance of girls secondary schools that took part in this year’s quiz. Stating that as an advocate of the woman rights she was not happy to see that no girls’ schools emerge winner of any position. She said that Girls Secondary Schools took 50 percent of this year’s ICT quiz but unfortunately they couldn’t succeed to even participate in the final round of the quiz. She finally urged them to try in the next year’s quiz competition.
Representative of the Regional Manager, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Alh. Waziri Ibrahim presented a laptop to the 3rd place position GTC Ungogo. While Executive Secretary Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Hajiya Amina Hanga helped to present a laptop and 3-in-one printer to the 2nd place position and Vice Chancellor, Bayero University Kano, Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello who represented by Dr. Muhammad Ajiya, Director, Center for Information Technology of the university presented a laptop and Refurbished computer to Day Science, Kano who won the first place position.

Malam Kabiru Sa’id Dakata, Senior Program Officer, Center for Information Technology (CITAD) made the vote of thanks. He thanked the representative of the Royal Highness the Emir of Kano Malam Muhammad Sunusi II who was represented by Madakin Kano and District Head of Dawakin Tofa Alhaji Yusuf Nabahani Ibrahim Chigari, Vice Chancellor, Bayero University Kano, Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello represented by Dr. Muhammad Ajiya, Director, Center for Information Technology of the university, Commissioner of Commerce, Tourism and Industry represented by Alh. Danjuma Babawo, representative of the Regional Manager, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Alh. Waziri Ibrahim, representative of the Managing Director, Intersystem Institute of Information Technology, Alh. Muhammad Auwal, Mr. Kinsley Iwezulu, H&M Construction Company Limited, representative of the Executive Director School of Technology, Kano, Engr. M.M Kibya, Executive Secretary Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Hajiya Amina Hanga, Alh. Murtala Bala Mai Sallah, Salisu M. Indabawa, representative of the Executive Director United Action for Democracy (UAD), media organizations and civil society organizations. He also thanked teachers, the students and those that assisted CITAD by giving different prizes and everybody that contributed in conducting the quiz directly or in directly.
He thanked the representative of the Hon. Commissioner Ministry of Education Kano State, representative of the Director General Kano State senior Secondary Management Board, representative of the Managing Director Abubakar Rimi Television, representative of the Chairman Parent Teachers Association, Members of the Press, Security Agents, Teachers and Students. He also thanked those that assisted CITAD by giving different prizes and everybody that contributed in conducting the quiz directly or in directly.

REPORT OF THE PUBLIC SENSITIZATION ON DANGEROUS SPEEECH FOR THE SOUTH EAST REGION HELD ON THE 29th OF OCTOBER 2016 AT HOTEL CORDIAL ENUGU

The programme started at around 11:00, it was started late because it was sanitation day in Enugu state. The participants were drawn from students, youth, women group, traditional titled holders, journalists and Civil Society Organizations.

It started with self-introduction by the participants, welcome remarks by Isah Garba, who welcomed the participants to the programme and took them through the background of the CITAD peace project in general, and specifically the monitoring and countering of hate and dangerous speech, its objectives, goals and activities. He also made the participants to know that the Enugu progarmme is the third in the series of the regional sensitization programmes that CITAD is conducting in the country with one programme in each of the six regions in the country, started from Damaturuin Yobe state for the Northeast and Jos in Plateau state for the North Central.

The next was a presentation on understanding Dangerous Speech, which was also taken by Isah Garba and he led the participants to define hate speech with specific focus on the contextual working definition, which is summarized to be  regarded as dangerous speech any speech act that is aimed at inciting the audience to denigrate against people others of the basis of ethnicity, religion, gender, geography and any other socially conceived parameter with the purpose of marginalizing them or placing them at some disadvantage that is contrary to the provisions of the universal declaration on human rights as well as the international covenants on rights of the people. This does not include the peculiar joking relations that exist in some communities, practiced between two or more ethnic/linguistic groups that have historically been used as a conflict resolution mechanism.

Another area torched in the presentation is the transition or difference between hate speech and dangerous speech. Dangerous speech is considered as speech that contains call to action such as, kill, loot, beat, discriminate, evict or riot. The participants were also made to understand that for any speech to be considered worthy for categorizing as hate speech, the speakers influence and position has be look into, the audience’s possibility of reacting to the speech and the level of the speakers influence on the audience plus the medium of disseminating the speech considering manipulation of the medium by the speaker and level of frequent repetition of the speech.

Ibrahim Nuhu took the second presentation which is Strategies of Countering Dangerous speech. He first lead the participants to appreciate the fact that for anybody to effectively counter hate speech ne needs to have full knowledge of what hate speech is. The participants were taken through varies ways o countering dangerous speech including means of preempting methodologies.

During the general discussions participants unanimously agreed on the existence of so many hate speeches cutting across religion, region and ethnicity, some as a result of misconceptions, others deliberate by either politicians or some so called religious leaders.

They also commended CITAD and MacArthur foundation for planning to sensitized the populous on this menaces and teaching ways of countering them to curb violence and promote peaceful coexistence in the country. It was also recommended that these sensitizations should be started from the scratch through catching children young right from the primary and secondary schools level since most of the distortions and inculcation of hatred among the people is mostly started there. The programme was closed at around 5:00pm and participants left for the various destinations.

COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUE AT THE END OF THE ONE DAY MEETING WITH PEACE CLUBS ADVISORS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SP4 FROM TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS HELD ON THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER 2015 AT KHAIRAN GUEST PALACE BAUCHI

On the 5th November 2016 peace clubs advisors from Bauchi, Gombe and Yobe states met at Khairan Guest Palace, Bauchi to deliberate on the proportions and expectations of the peace clubs and the students for peace clubs. During the meeting the participants appreciated  CITAD  effort of coming up with the initiative of engaging  youth  in the campaign against violence and promotion of peace in the country  and  thanked MacArthur Foundation for supporting CITAD to do the job.

The participants also recognized peace and stability as an imperative to development and youth especially those in schools as a better tool for promotion sustainable peace in country especially if the idea of tolerance, understanding and respect for diversity is inculcated in them at their tender age.

CHALLENGES

The participants identify the following challenges as impediments of effective running of peace clubs activities in most of the secondary schools and the tertiary institution.

  1. The academic engagements of the students of tertiary institutions that nowadays deter most of the tertiary institution students from participating in other extra-curricular activities.
  2. The economic situation that makes students to be combining studies with other income earning activities,  make some students to restrict themselves to  only studies and other financial activities and shun any activity that will not generate income for them.
  3. In Yobe state  there is restriction of any public gathering that will  be crowded  due to the insurgency, this will affect some of the sensitization programmes and peace campaign to be conducted by the clubs
  4. Lack of access to phone and restriction of phone usage by students in boarding schools will affect and exclude the student in engaging in the online campaign against hate speech and other peace promotion activities.
  5. Lack of internet services in some schools is another challenge for online activities

RECOMMENDATIONS

The participants recommend that if below measures are taken the clubs will be very effect:

  1. S4P members should use the orientation period in first semesters to sell the idea to new students as they come before been occupied by other academic activities.
  2. Banners to welcome students to the campuses should be provided to be fisted at strategic places on the campuses as a means of drawing the attention of new students on the existence of the clubs in the schools
  3. Students that are not allowed to use Cell phones in schools should be encouraged by the advisors to be doing the online campaign at home during holidays and in school the advisors to be collecting the peace messages from the students and share them online but the name of the students that designed the messages should put as acknowledgement
  4. The advisors should be more proactive through organizing activities such as quizzes, debate, cultural dances, drama etc to make the clubs more attractive to the students
  5. CITAD should provide identity for the members  especially  customized T shirts to make the students proud of their membership to the clubs
  6. Excursion and experience should encourage and support by CITAD among the schools where the clubs exist
  7. If possible noticed and banner should designed for the clubs for their meetings and notification of the existence of the clubs I the schools
  8. Advisors should get means of using the media in amplifying the activities of their clubs
  9. All advisors should send list of their members and minutes of their meetings to CITAD  on or before Friday 11th November 2016

Report of NorthEast Regional Meeting for Peace Advisors And Students for Peace (S4P) Leaders, Organized by CITAD with Support from MacArthur Foundation.

On 5th November, 2016 the Centre for Information Technology And Development (CITAD) organized a one day Regional Meeting for Peace Advisers and Students for Peace (S4P) Leaders held at Khairan Hotel, Bauchi, Bauchi State. The Meeting kicked up at 10:00AM with registration of participants, opening prayers by one of the participants and self introduction.

The session started with brief insight of the works of CITAD, Its missions and vision; this was done by Ali Sabo, CITAD. The floor was later preceded by the presenter of the day, in the name of Isah Garba, CITAD, he started with highlighting some of the key roles CITAD maintains as strategiesfor peacec campaigns. These include:

  • Social accountability
  • Free computer training for secondary school teachers (Sighting Bauchi as a case studty)
  • Computer quiz competitions for secondary schools
  • Open mind programs
  • Peace and  its campaign
  • Monitorung hate speech
  • Peace clubs and S4P

From there, he moved on with the presentation proper were he stressed the need to engaged youth in peace campaigns, he also pointed that there is strong need for  interaction between peace clubs in secondary and tertiary institutions, this will help in:

  • Raise awareness
  • Sensitize students in eradicating extremism
  • Provide training on the issue on peace
  • Serve as the security to stands firm on good
  • Makes them have confidents on the peace
  • Support them and encourage them to involve others too

Some activities of the activities of CITAD include:

  • Computer skills training
  • Entrepreneurship training
  • Social media ethnic training
  • Writing workshops

In the course of his lectures, he informed the audience that CITAD is ever ready to sponsor provision of publicity and IEC materials to any school in question.

He mentioned some of the basis the club should be run, among which are:

  • Targeting just 50  students in each school, for CITAD to chew selected schools well
  • The targeted states are Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Katsina though pressureis mounted on the centre to include Zamfara  

Some prizes are also reserved for outstanding clubs (Best 3) each term and year respectively.

Programs for the advisors are also highlighted.

Wider engagement programs of the center include:

Monthly social peace messaging competition, track hate speech on Facebook, Twitter and Istagram and tight engagements; touching many places.

At the end of the presentation, these questions were thrown to the floor members (participants)

  1. Deliberate on how to make the clubs more effective

The responses from the floor:

  • Using available facilities
  • Help the students to know themselves
  • Continue to sharing ideas (among the clubs)
  • Including debate, quiz and cultural displays will encourage more students to join the move
  • Missions and vision has to be pronounced well, this will help in making larger society embrace it all
  • Introduction of jingle
  • Encourage them to join using cash and kind
  • Call ministry of education to create time for peace clubs (This was addressed immediately by the presenter, saying that Wednesdays are selected for clubs, the issue here is with Yobe alone but Isah Garba assured him that his point is noted, actions will be taken soon)
  1. How the students can be more attracted
  • Peace advisors should be committed
  • Students are attracted by new things, use of banners, excursions and the likes (Isah Garba commented on this, one big constraint is with NGOs policies. On going out, each student has to be insured and some teacher leave when they got all the necessary know how on peace )
  1. Propose parameter for evaluating the performance of the clubs
  • Through regular visit
  • Following what each club does on their social media handles
  • In schools were phone are allowed, regular assessment on what they are expected to learn
  1. Contributions to how the activities we proposed can be delivered and suggest additional ones
  • Mentoring fresh students, right at the gate
  • Conniving with SRC, Registry, Dean Student Affairs
  • Involving high profiled persons will encourage others
  • Good communication between the students and advisors
  • Introduction of local languages, some people are poor in English

A question was raised by one of the participants from Gombe, Is there any provision for special schools (Disabled ones)?

She was answered YES by Isah Garba.

She went on to expatiate more on the need to include special education students in the circle.

The program ended at 3:00PM

 

CITAD marks 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Week #GEW2016

 

The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has joined the global community to celebrate the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship with series of activities part of which public lecture was organized for students of secondary schools in Kano state in order to install and broaden their entrepreneurial ability. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators, who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. Global Entrepreneurship Week was first formally announced in November 2007 by Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, and Gordon Brown, then the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and it provides a platform for thought leaders to work together in fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem—examining research, public policies and successful approaches to promoting startups and growth.

Three presentations were designed and delivered at the lecture by different speakers. The first presentation on the Concept of Entrepreneurship was delivered by Kamal Garba Alhassan, the second on “Enterpreurship Opportunities in ICT” by Sufyan Lawal Kabo of Digital Film Base and the third Entrepreneurship and Passion was delivered by Hajiya Maimuna Abubakar Anka, Managing Director, Glamour Fashion Design. All the presentations have triggered optimism in the participants. In particular Hajiya Maimuna promised to work with some of the students in her company as well help them realize their potentials upon after their zeal in tailoring, fashion and design.

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Male and female students from twelve secondary schools were invited alongside their teachers and members of Parents Teachers Association (PTA). The students made an exhibition of samples of the entrepreneurial skills at the lecture which include making perfumes, shoes and bags, beads, weaving, dying, catering, and even more striking was the virtual display of the multi interchange flyover bridge and Kano Government House beautifully designed by some students.

The event was attended by representative of Kano state Commissioner, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Special Assistant to the Governor of NGOs Dr. Abdulhadi Zuabairu Chula, representative of Mobilizing for Development, Northwest University Young Enterpreneurs Club, Civil Society Organizations, media, Fa’ida Women Multipurpose and other youths from several associations.

 

Link to our mentoring platform. http://mentoringatcitad.org.ng

Always Set Your Goals Early and Work Towards Achieving Them – Hajiya Aisha M. Bello (Accountant General, Kano State)

As the year 2016 gradually comes to an end, the monthly Inspiring Leadership Reflection Series (ILERIS) of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has featured Hajiya Aisha Muhammad Bello, the Accountant General of Kano state as November personality and guest speaker. The forum which normally draws participants from the staff of the center, volunteers and interns, civil society organizations, youths activists and students comprising male and female serve as an inspirational ground where participants listen to presentations by the guest(s) and subsequently learn and seek direction towards shaping their own goals, ambitions and aspirations by asking questions or making comments and observations.

In his opening remarks, Executive Director of the center, Dr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u noted that so far ten personalities from different backgrounds with robust experience, skills and expertise have graced the monthly event at various points. YZ Ya’u said “many people never think that the successful people they see are people who have risen through the rank, through hard work, through focus to specific goals, determination and so fort. Let people not be deceived by the fact that life is easy, life is a struggle and success comes through hard work, the monthly interactive session normally bring people who excelled in their career to personally talk about their challenges, failures,  and successes, so that the youths can get direction and reinforcement.”

Hajiya Aisha Muhammad Bello began her presentation by thanking Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) for coming up with the monthly interactive session saying it’s a privilege to be invited to share her experience especially with youths, she said guidance and counseling are very important particularly to leaders of tomorrow. Life is shaped by a number of factors and one has to be determined to be successful. Elaborating on the secrets of excelling in life, Hajiya Aisha said “always set your goals early, know what you want and work towards it, learn to earn trust, learn to keep it and always try to put a smile on the face of others”.  A woman can combine studies with work and home responsibilities, the secret according to the Accountant General is, first, a woman should never look at her mother-in-law as mother-in-law, but as a mother, treat her with the necessary respect, love and care, that will in return be of immense help to you as a housewife. Cautioning the participants on proper utilization of time, Hajiya Aisha said, “no time in life is late for anybody to do anything, there is always a beginning, what is important is planning, vision and projection”, at 30 years I had my Master’s Degree, became a Deputy Manger in the bank and had four children. The 51 year old financial expert has a 23 years banking industry background, she has held many managerial and administrative positions in First Bank and Habib Bank, until her appointment as General of Kano state by Governor  Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje administration, Hajiya Aisha Muhammad Bello was the Commissioner of Budget and Planning.

On finishing the presentation, the session turned highly interactive as participants raised many questions, made comments, some of the questions and comments were: how the presenter was able to handle family issues, studies and work as demanding as bank job, the major challenges she faced, how she overcome them, how best to choose a career etc. The Inspiring Leadership Reflection Series (ILERIS) ended with a vote of thanks by Training Coordinator Malam Ahmad Yakasai who thanked the speaker for finding time to share with the participants her invaluable experience and advised them to efficiently utilize the knowledge they acquire in the profile of the presenter. Harira Ahmad Wakili presented some publications of CITAD to Hajiya Aisha Muhammad Bello.  

Participants with the Executive Director Dr. YZ Ya’u and the guest speaker Hajiya Aisha M. Bello  in a group photo after the November ILERIS                         Courtesy: CITAD Media Unit

CITAD-#SCEEP: REPORT OF STATE TOWNHALL MEETING ON CITIZENS’ PARTICITION IN ELECTORAL PROCESS

The meeting was held at Nassarawa Guest house on the 28th of October, 2016 with many dignitaries from Civil Society Organizations, Religious Leaders, Politicians, Academicians and Security Personnel in attendance. Among the people in attendance include Professor Kamilu Fagge from the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano, Professor Aisha Isma’il of the same Department, Special Assistance to his Excellency the Executive Governor of Kano State on NGO’s, Dr. Abdullahi Chula, representatives of Kano State Commissioner of Police and Civil Defense Corps, and representative President of PLWD (Galadiman Sarkin Guragu)

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the process, successes and challenges of the 2015 election and the possibility of successful election in 2019 and discuss ways to enhance citizens’ participation in the electoral process among other things.

The first speaker Mr. Kenneth from Actionaid Nigeria gave the overview of the project, research conducted and the project’s plans for the fourth coming election. The second speaker professor Kamilu Fagge described the previous election as the freest ever conducted in the history of Nigeria and also said violence was very minimal compared to the elections conducted before it. The speaker commended AAN and CITAD for the research conducted but he raised some certain issues, the research is not in the local languages of the people, secondly, in terms of media balances there are many people and media that were not allowed to broadcast the oppositions’ campaign programs. Among the issues he highlighted at the meeting include the followings:

  1. Lack of funds: the money released to INEC was not enough for it to handle the election properly.
  2. There was fear in the country thinking that politicians will not accept the outcomes of the election.
  3. Another problem identified by him was that in some places it was reported that registered voters in some states had casted their votes 100% which in reality will not be possible.

Professor Aisha focused her discussion on INEC and beyond 2015 election. Among the critical areas she discussed includes:

  1. INEC must be an independent body free from any external influence if the country is serious about conducting free and fair election.
  2. Problems with Ad-hock staff; INEC is not given these staff adequate training on the new technology used in 2015 election.
  3. There is the need for people to have a proper knowledge on what election is all about and to also know their rights.
  4. INEC should define the role of security personnel and their limitations in order to avoid election rigging.
  5. All the electoral materials must reached their destinations on time.
  6. INEC must provide safe place for electoral materials to avoid any tempering.
  7. The country still has problem with electronic voting. There are a lot to consider like people living outside the country (Diaspora) and those in the riverine areas where it will take a lot of time, energy and resources before reaching such areas.
  8. There are problems with elected people, when they are elected they don’t want give chance to other people to also go there and give their contributions.

    

                         RESPONSES FROM THE PARTICIPANTS

The session was facilitated by Kabiru Dakata an activist and a staff with Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD). The flow was opened to the participants to give their contributions and their experiences in the 2015 election. Below are some of the responses:

  1. The first contributor mentioned that it was the community people that brought generator in his ward at Dakata and other materials needed by the INEC officials in his area in order to have a successful election at the centre.
  2. Another contributor mentioned that in Tunga, Karaye local government their card reader hooked which hindered the election activities.
  3. Voters’ education had helped a lot in Gaya because there was high turn-over of women at the town due to voters’ education.
  4. One contributor stated that security personnel have connived with some politicians and rigged election in his ward.
  5. In one village called Kunkuyi in Rano local government some parties shared the ballot papers among themselves.
  6. In Tudun Bayero violence erupted immediately after the announcement. Some mobs in the area felt that the person announced as a victor was not the one with highest votes casted.
  7. Most of the computers in some polling units were sub-standard which led to a lot of problems during the election.
  8. Still some people are in the habit of electing politicians based on what they will be given, a participant testified that he himself distributed money during the last election.
  9. Another participants mentioned that there was problem of turn-out in his area (political apathy).
  10. An emphasis was made about people refusing to cast their votes until they have been paid, INEC officials and security personnel contributed a lot in this area.
  11. The election arena was not conducive for women and people with disabilities.

Special Assistance to the Executive Governor of Kano state on NGO’s Dr. Abdullahi Chula in his remarks mentioned that delegates and party EXCOs are the major problem in selecting party’s candidates because most of them are very greedy and only voted candidates for his financial strength not credibility. Majority of the delegates made it business, instead of voting people that will bring changes and developmental works to their communities, they follow their greedy minds to control them and collect money from party candidates and at the end they ended voting incompetent people.

He also suggested that it will be a good idea if government will be given public holidays during voters’ registration so that civil servants and general people will be able to register.

                                       SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS

  1. INEC should merge accreditation and voting.
  2. There is the need for constitutional amendment in order to allow the executive to execute developmental works.
  3. There should be some special lectures on good governance/leadership to politicians especially those in power.
  4. There should be a time limitation for senators and representatives.
  5. All electoral bodies under states should be abolished.
  6. The dignity of the traditional rulers should be restored because they still have some role to play during election.
  7. Party candidates should be selected based on credibility not financial strength
  8. INEC should be recruiting people with computer skills to avoid problems.
  9. In selecting candidate people should make sure that any candidate selected has no criminal records or something like that.
  10. NDLEA should be included in the election activities, because most of the people that are disturbing election activities are usually on drugs.
  11. INEC officials should  send staff that understand the local languages of the communities
  12. Insufficient of the polling units
  13. None militarization of the Polling Units
  14. INEC should present Election Time Table on Time
  15. More Involvement of the Traditional/Religious leaders
  16. Adoption of Justice Uwais Report
  17. Independent candidature and not too young to run bill should be passed to encourage youth participation
  18. Independency of the State election commissions
  19. There is need to add political education apart from Voter education for politicians, INEC should introduce it in collaboration with some other institutions to make it part of the registration for party’s candidates

The closing was made by Malam Ahmad Yakasai from CITAD. He thanked both the supporters (AAN) and the participants for taking their time to deliberate on the electoral issues. He called on the participants to start sensitizing people on the electoral issues as nobody will come and solve our problems but we ourselves

A chance to win prizes by contributing to peace building campaign

Are you a peace campaigner? Here is a chance to win some prizes for your passion. Starting from November, CITAD is starting a monthly social media peace campaign competition for youth.  The competition will offer prizes in four categories namely:

  1. The Most Engaged Person  in Twitter
  2. The Most Engaged Person in Facebook
  3. The most Influential Message (Twitter)
  4. The most Influential Message (Facebook)

How to enter?

There is no special entry form. Once you have a twitter or Facebook account, you can join. All you need to do is as follows:

  1. Tweet or retweet anti-hate speech campaign messages making sure you use the hashtag #No2HateSpeech
  2. Post or share anti-hate speech campaign messages (post to Peace Now! Page and Group)

How to win?

At the end of the winners will be selected as follows:

  1. Most engaged person on twitter will be the person who posted the highest number of tweets that speaks to either against hate speech or support peace campaign
  2. Most engaged person Facebook is the person who has posted the most on our peace campaign platforms, The messages must speaks to either against hate speech or support peace campaign
  3. The most influential message (tweeter) is the single anti-hate speech message that has the higher number of likes and retweets during the month
  4. The Most Influential Messages of Facebook is the single anti-hate post with the highest number of likes and share on our platforms

Disqualification

Members of CITAD, Monitors and their relatives are not entitled to participate in the competitions.

The Prizes

  1. Each winner will be have  campaign branded t-shirt, campaign branded wall clock and certificate
  2. First runner up with a campaign branded t-shirt and certificate
  3. Second runner up with campaign-branded wall clock and certificate

Repeated Entry?

As each month is a fresh campaign, previous winners are qualified to continue to enter.

Report of Courtesy Visit to JAMA’ATUL NASARUL ISLAM Jos, Plateau State

Following the North Central Sensitization on Hate and Dangerous Speech which took place on 15th October in Jos, on Sunday 16th October, 2016 the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) which has been monitoring and countering Hate and Dangerous Speeches has paid an advocacy visit to Jama’atul Nasarul Islam (JNI) at its national secretariat in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

The advocacy visit team led by Isah Garba, (Senior Programmes Officer, Peace and Conflict) was received by Umar Faruk Musa, the Public Relations Officer of JNI, after self introduction and welcome remarks Umar expressed happiness for the advocacy and demanded that Mr. Nelson Ananze who is a contact person of CITAD elaborate on the purpose of the visit.

Mr. Nelson Ananze gave a preface about the visiting organization and purpose of the visit, “CITAD is our guest, they came and conducted a programme on Hate and Dangerous Speech and paid courtesy visits to influential people in our communities such as traditional and religious leaders, all in effort to solicit their support towards achieving a sustainable peace, that is why we are here today”.  

Expatiating, the Hate and Dangerous Speech Project Coordinator of CITAD, Isah Garba said “during the 2015 election we noticed that the percentage of online hate speech went up but after the peace accord by presidential aspirants was signed the level of hate speech came down, but unfortunately after election the online hate speech kept rising again with 97.4% falling within religious domain, and we believed religious leaders and bodies like you have an important role to play by educating people on the danger of violence and significance of peace as well encouraging them to desist from making hate utterances. We particularly want this blessed religious body to also make inputs that will help curb the menace”.

Also commenting, the Vice Chairman of JNI, Alhaji Danjuma Khalil regrets the level hatred being spread on social media which he said is unbecoming, “hate and dangerous speech is a reality and physical thing that circulate on social media or online, that is why I do not register with any social media. The level of abusive language and hatred actually stop me from joining. Jama’atul Nasril Islam will call the attention of all Imams, leaders of all CBOs and their platforms and all preachers to sensitize them on the topic so that they can also preach and sensitize against hate and dangerous speech. We are going to organize seminars for all our members on the topic and if there is need for you to be engaged we will contact you about it”, Danjuma Khalil added.

Also making input during the advocacy visit, Deputy Secretary Youth Group of JNI, Alhaji Garzali said Jos has suffered a lot from conflict which has stagnated development and displaced people, therefore any effort to boost peace of whatever kind will be warmly embraced by JNI, and social media now attracts mostly young people who need to be couched on how they can maintain lasting peace, therefore this course will have the maximum cooperation of all.  Garzali further added that the point on social media followers is funny, most of them are not after what is posted but who posted it, if you follow the comments you will notice that there is clear division into two categories, that is supporting and opposing, both categories are made based on tribe, religion, ethnicity or political party of the person who made the post.  He asked a question: if you come across hate speech, what are you supposed to do?

Isah Garba responded with relevant example of categories of hate speeches and urged the inquirer to counter by politely advising the speech maker to stop it. As part of their support to curb hate speeches, Garba urged all the imams and preachers to create accounts on social media so that they get to know what is happening and will be able to make vital inputs that will eventually reduce the quantity of hate speeches circulated online because of the wisdom and knowledge they have. He cited a reference to Amir of Kazaure who is now functional and even has a Facebook group.

The advocacy team of CITAD included Isah Garba, Abubakar Yusuf Auyo, Ibrahim Nuhu, Mr. Nelson Ananze, Zahra Yunusa Yau and Shazali Sunusi Sulaiman.

Report of Courtesy Visit to Emir of Bukuru, Plateau State.

On 15th October, 2016 Monitoring and Countering of Hate and Dangerous Speech team of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), paid an advocacy visit to the emir of Bukuru in Plateau State.

After opening prayer, Leader of the advocacy delegation who is the Hate and Dangerous Speech Coordinator, Isah Garba briefed the emirate on the purpose of the visit and solicited the support of the emirate saying “traditional leaders are important in any activity that deals with people, and especially this that has to do with campaign against hate speech, hate speeches have been the sources of so many unfortunate incidences which do nothing but always break the bond of mutual coexistence among people, as such people need to be highly sensitized on the dangers of hate speeches, in place of it they can be sharing peace messages among themselves which will enhance respect for one another and unity”.    

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Representative of the emir, Alh Ali S. Muhammed welcomed the advocacy team and said the emir is away and has asked him to convey his esteem regards to the team and pledge his support for the timely and vital project, social media is now everybody’s business, almost every category of people use it but unfortunately not as expected, instead of harvesting its true potentials some people misuse it for misguided reasons, but it is commendable that a project called “Monitoring and Countering Hate Speech” is initiated to check dangerous speeches online because if you look at what is going on online you will understand that something needs to be done to make people know the consequences of what they do and educate them on it so that they stop, otherwise the speeches may be posing danger to our peace, I assure you of our continued support to this project. We will subsequently sensitize our community leaders, youth groups and religious leaders on this, said Muhammed.

Alh Ali S. Muhammed requests that when next CITAD is visiting the palace it should please notify the palace at least one week before the visit so that they can invite relevant leaders and youth groups to also be present so that the advocacy becomes more interactive. CITAD advocacy team included Isah A. Garba, Abubakar Yusuf Auyo, Ibrahim Nuhu, Abdullahi Balarabe Yakubu Dotsa, Zahra Y. Z Ya’u and Ashshaza Sunusi Shazali Sulaiman

Report of North Central Public Sensitization on Hate and Dangerous Speech.

On 15th October, 2016 the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) organized a one day Public Sensitization Workshop on Monitoring and Countering of Hate and Dangerous Speech in Country Home Hotel, Jos, Plateau State.  The event started at 9:00am with registration of the participants, self introduction and then pretest session aimed at assessing the knowledge level of the participants about the concept of Hate and Dangerous Speech as well as Countering segment of it.  

As scheduled on the agenda,  Understanding Hate and Dangerous Speech session took the stage with Isah Garba, the Project Coordinator as facilitator who began by displaying images of what happed in Rwanda and gave a detailed background of the conflict to make audience understand the concept and danger of hate speech in order to clearly draw lessons that can be learned by the participants especially in a state that has experienced conflict between people of different tribal and religious backgrounds who lived for years in peace and harmony. Isah Garba said there is no single definition of hate speech which is accepted globally by all scholars but, any speech that fall under one of these baselines: discriminate, loot, riot, beat, forcefully evict or kill or put people to action against a particular group of people or person because of their tribe, religion, ethnicity, region, political party, gender, disability or resources, that can be regarded as hate speech.

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During the presentation Garba called on all the participants to nurture and fully consider their historical and traditional methodology of maintaining peace by cracking jokes among themselves, such jokes that exist between FULANI and BAREBARI, KANAWA and ZAZZAGAWA, KATSINAWA and GOBIRAWA/HADEJAWA or among occupations like BUTCHERS and CATTLE REARERS etc, that will further strengthen understanding and promote cohesion. After his presentation, the Project Coordinator entertained questions and the need for clarification on various points raised as can be seen below:

  • A participant Umar Farouq Musa asked: is it possible to have intra-religion hate speech?

Yes there are, hate speech within the Christian communities just because of different perspectives as far as Christianity is concerned with other groups. For example, it happened to me, a friend of mine who is a Christian invited me to an occasion, when we arrived there he saw another man who was also a Christian but he sent him away, and I told him that the man was a Christian also but he said he doesn’t regard him as a Christian at all, and the reason is because of their difference in perspective. So also among the Muslims, we have seen what happened recently with Shiites, they have been discriminated, injured, and even killed because of their difference with other Islamic sects. That is why in the definition we said a group and group can be inter or intra. So, there is no limitation in as much as segment of the people have been discriminated, degraded, subjugated, and considered as subject of humiliation, any speech against them can be considered as hate speech, I hope that is understood, Isah Garba emphasized.

  • How can you relate the earlier mentioned words with hate speech, Pem Stepen asked. When the speaker uses one of these words: discriminate, loot, riot, beat, forcefully evict, kill or call to action against a particular group of people because of their  membership of a particular tribe, religion, ethnicity, region, political party, gender, disability or resources, that is a hate speech, said Isah Garba.
  • Is criticizing government policy or programs, also a hate speech? Jirituwa Goyit asked. Let us be clear about criticism, criticism does not mean call to action but if the speaker uses a phrase or words that call people to action on other groups that is regarded as hate speech, Isah Garba responded.  
  • The politicians use the slogan of vote, wait, guard and escort to the collation centre till final announcement of result (a kasa, a tsare, a raka, a jira), can that be part of hate speech? Epraim  Emah asked.
  • Samuel Doris asked, is there any law that provide punishment against hate speech?

The next session focused on Countering Hate Speech and was facilitated by Ibrahim Nuhu, it mainly elaborated on countering mechanism and how countering can help douse the frequency of hate speech. Countering is differing from peace campaign but they have the same goal, vision and mission, i.e promoting and maintaining peace and harmony. We should also be careful using ambiguous phrases, statements or words. We believed in destiny  and we are Nigerians, so we don’t have any place better to live than Nigerian as such we have to respect our traditions, tribes, ethnicity and gender no matter what.

The event ended at 3:30pm. The Public Sensitization on Hate and Dangerous Speech team included Isah Garba, the Senior Program Officer and Project coordinator Hate and Dangerous Speech, Ibrahim Nuhu, Shazali Sunusi, Abubakar Yusuf Auyo Zahra Yunusa and Balarabe Yakubu.

Report of the Northeast Region public Sensitization on Hate and Dangerous Speech

On Tuesday 11th October, 2016, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) organized a one day Public Sensitization Lecture on Hate and Dangerous Speech  in NANNM Secretariat Damaturu, Yobe State,Nigeria.  

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The event started with registration of participants at 9:00am and participants self-introduction which was the next item on the agenda. . Thereafter, Isah Garba being the Project Coordinator and Senior Programmes Officer gave a welcome remarks on behalf of MacArthur Foundation and Center for Information Technology  andDevelopment (CITAD) who are the conveners of the event. Welcoming all participants to the event,  he  briefed them  on what  CITAD does  as an organization in general and specifically in this project which include monitoring of hate and dangerous speech online and a lot of peace promotion activities and campaigns. He further appealed to the participants to make the occasion participatory by  making their contributions and not only  listening to the speakers.

The first paper presented was  on Understanding Hate/Dangerous Speech which was facilitated by  Isah Garba who started  with a question to the participants: Can someone tell us what hate speech is? Yusuf Tijjani Ali gave syntax meaning of both words HATE & SPEECH and also gave example of Fulani word ‘KADO’ which refers to non-fulani tribe as well Kanuri ‘Kirdi’ to him it was insult word to downgrade the value of other tribes.

The facilitator showed the pictograph of what happed in Rwanda and narrated the story in brief to make audience understand the concept and danger of hate speech better and take lesson instead . There is no single definition of hate speech accepted globally by all scholars but any speech that fall under one of these based-lines:

 

  • Speech that denigrates people on the basis of their membership in a group, such as an ethnic or religious group.
  • Speech can harm directly or indirectly, or both.
  • Speech has a reasonable chance of catalyzing or amplifying violence by one group against another, given the circumstances in which it was made or disseminated, it is Dangerous Speech
  • A Speech in this context includes any form of expression, including images such as drawings or photographs, films, etc
  • Note dangerous speech is a part of hate which is capable of  mobilizing people to action
  • So an ordinary trader could say spiteful or inflammatory things to his customer or neighbor but because neither have the capacity to mobilize others into action it does not qualify for dangerous speech
  • We shall see that it is this capacity to catalyze people into action that is critical to the specific speech act we refer to as dangerous.

 

He called the attention of all participants to note or consider our historical tradition of jokes that have been in use as a means of resolving conflicts in our societies such as that which exist between Fulani and Kanuri ,   Kanawa and Zazzagawa, or among occupations like butchers and cattle rearers etc.  

He then explained how lack of means of verification and manipulation of source of information can make simple hate speech to escalate violence   citing example of what used to  happen before the  coming of  GSM or Internet Network where people use rumor to take action against other tribes or religion due to the  communication gap or lack of means of verification, but thank to ICTs development for closing that  space where anyone can verify any news by using ICTs such as GSM, Media Stations or Social Media before taking action even though it is also  seen as a medium for disseminating hate and dangerous speech

After  tea break, Strategies for countering hate speech session was facilitated by Ibrahim Nuhu who started by going back to the definition of hate speech  to refresh their mind the more and draw their attention to the fact that   before  you counter any speech you must understand hate and dangerous speech. : Countering is the general strategy to eliminate or reduce the potentials of a dangerous speech to catalyze into violence through counter speech, this may be to: neutralize the message of the dangerous speech item, Get the speaker to retract and possibly apologize and ensure people do not act on the basis of the message of the speech. Counter speech is any speech/act that seeks to neutralize or convert hate speech.

Countering is different from peace campaign, they but share the same goal and purpose. Countering is the general strategy to eliminate or reduce the potentials of a dangerous speech to catalyze into violence through counter speech.

GENERAL DISCUSSION,  COMMENTS QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS SESSION:

During this session, the forum  became very interactive with questions and comments received from participants some of which are noted below:

√ We want to know the procedure of technology-based reporting by using facebook? Monday Dala asked. Ibrahim Nuhu responded by showing the procedure.

√ What about if people perceived your message in wrong way? Asked by Ahmad BRC. Isah Garba responded by calling audience to be straightforward and cautioned against use of ambiguous words. And in the event you did that and got misquoted you need to immediately retract and explain in the most simple and easy manner for your audience to understand.

√ constitutionally there was freedom of information and expression, can CITAD protect me if someone retaliate or attack  me? Ahmad Usman Abdullahi asked.  You have to report him to social media he used or CITAD, if in the market report him to sarkin kasuwa, his union, traditional rulers or police. Isah Garba responded.  

Recommendations:

  • I have spent many years attending seminars and workshops but never  came across with most important one as this because it deals with peace building, saving lives and properties, my concerned here was the implementation of this project because it may solve the problems of Nigeria today. When it comes to religion or ethnicity area of the people use traditional rulers or religion leaders to sensitize their followers because it very sensitive_By Uche
  • The representative of Director School services called all participants to make sure they convey   the knowledge they acquire to their respective communities and entire seventeen (17) local government areas of the state. Youths at the  event really indicated interest in supporting the course of peace and staying away from hate and dangerous this workshop is a success_Dauda Hassan Katuzu
  • What I have to say was thank you because most of the things I don’t know them and the little I know I don’t even put consideration on them even when I was browsing but now it come to my notice that there are some things you have to notice/considere  every time one goes  on internet. So thank you for this opportunity-Joy Buba student from Federal Poly Damaturo.    

 

Lastly, Isah Garba  discussed with the Secondary School teachers  representing the invited secondary schools on the  establishment of  Peace Clubs in some selected secondary schools as  approved by ministry of education and that is why the teachers of those schools were here with us present. The ideology behind was to change the mindset of youth at adolescent stage to come up with peace ideas  by promoting peace within themselves in schools and to their respective communities at large. He also called the name of all schools suggested and the teachers  selected the patron of that Peace Club who will guide the students and lead them toward achieving desired goals.

When students graduate from secondary schools and gt get admission into tertiary institutions they  will join Student4Peace which  is  an  advance level of secondary school peace club normally found at the tertiary level. The major activities  are to help in peace campaign in their respective schools, communities, state and country at large by using social media, advocacy visit etc. the student 4 peace members have the opportunity to get connection with mentors who will guide him to achieve his target desire within the country and outside.      

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The total Participants were forty seven (47) in number; forty seven percent (47%) of which   were female while fifty three percent (53%) were male.

 

Report on courtesy call to Chief Imam Yobe State University, Damaturo

On the 11th October, 2016.  The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) Monitoring and Countering of Hate and Dangerous Speech team, paid an advocacy visit to the Chief Imam of  Yobe State University, Damaturo Central Mosque, Yahuza Hamza Abubakar Ph.D.

The objective of the visit was to engage religious and traditional leaders in promoting peace and campaign against hate and dangerous speech on social media platforms.

The team was led by Isa Garba, Senior Programmes Officer who is also the Project Coordinator, Hate and Dangerous Speech.  After general introduction and prayers, Isa thanked the chief Imam for accepting to receive CITAD. Then he briefed the Chief Imam about CITAD project of Monitoring and Countering of Hate and Dangerous speech online. He further traced history of dangerous speech insurgency of Rwanda which led to the death of hundred thousands of people within short period of time as a result of single hate speech.

In the previous project of peace campaign CITAD has successfully generated comments and contributions of religious scholars like him which CITAD published, that is the reason we want to reflect that in our campaign against hate speech. This is more serious than our previous monthly reports, we noticed that 90% of the hate speeches reported were religious/ethnic issues and that is why we focused paying courtesy visits to the religious leaders, as well as knowledgeable prominent influential people like you. We ‘believed that where we are today is a place to get more lessons to learn’ said Isah Garba.

In his response, the Imam expressed his happiness for the visit and for getting people that have concern to address such a vital but neglected issue especially at this moment. “We have lost the most important element of life which was modesty and morals that is why everyone is expressing his view about any religion irrespective of level of his knowledge.  The most shameful thing is to see was to see religious people fighting against each other”.

The Holy Quran warned against insulting idols of infidels so that they cannot in return insult Allah ignorantly. Then why should we insult others because we differ in our perception or understanding. The life of the Prophet is full of such good examples of how relate with the non-Muslims in all areas of life, respecting them and try to get them understand the truth, the Imam said. He called on Ulamas to register with social media because they have important role to play there especially in the areas of sensitizing and enlightening their followers about ambiguous issues but unfortunately maany of Ulamas refused to join the social media due to fear of intimidation, attack on their personality.

Being already on social media, the Imam pledge to join CITAD in the campaign against hate speech.    

At the end of the visit, the team presented some CITAD’s publications to the Chief Imam and had a group picture. The team included Isah Garba, Ibrahim Nuhu, Abubakar Yusuf Auyo,  Shazali Sunusi Sulaiman and Balarabe Yakubu.