Nigeria: Case for electronic voting and electoral reform before 2027 by Abajue, Chidi - Commentary@ITREALMS

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Executive Summary.
Nigeria’s democratic destiny stands at crossroads.
Despite two decades of continuous civilian rule, the question remains: Have our elections truly reflected the will of the people?

This paper calls on the National Assembly of Nigeria to enact the legislative will and moral courage required to institutionalize electronic voting (e-voting) and comprehensive electoral reform before 2027.

11-yrs after Chibok Girls: Lasisi makes case for remaining captives in his new poetry video - ITREALMS

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Performance poet and journalist, Akeem Lasisi, has called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders to intensify the search for the remaining Chibok Girls in the captivity of Boko Haram.

The award-winning poet does this in his newly released video of ‘Ẹyẹ Ìgbò: For Chibok Girls’, a track off his 2024 album titled ‘Òrèrè: A Gift of Poems’.

Corporate Blackmail: My story as case study by Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman Zinox Group - ITREALMS

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An end-of-year inspirational talk delivered on 14th December, 2024 to his select mentees of young entrepreneurs in Nigeria monitored in Lagos, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh advised them not to lose hope in the Nigerian economy, as he projects that the country shall start returning to a comfortable zone from the 3rd quarter of 2025, he also warned them to apply greater caution in transactions with persons and corporates of questionable character, stressing why due diligence and being local are both critical and an added advantage. Below are excerpts from the lecture.

The new fraud is corporate and Personal blackmail, which my companies and I have fallen victim to. I am sure you have read some in the newspapers where CEOs of responsible corporations in Nigeria are tagged fraudsters. This is the work of blackmailers, and they partner with a few blogs, engage some innocent respected law firms for hyping and a few government officials to achieve their set objectives to destroy your corporate and personal reputations. These negative online materials are then lifted by Google, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms so that when people search your organisation or personal names, you are seen as a crook. This is with the intent to destroy your brand and affect your credit rating globally.

ANLCA BoT Election: Not yet Uhuru, as court adjourns Dennis Okwu' s case - ITREALMS

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The case instituted by an Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Chieftain, Chief Dennis Okwu of Sweet Apple Nigeria Ltd challenging his disenfranchisement to contest the recently conducted BoT election by the ANLCA ASECO, came up on 16/12/2024 at the Rivers State High court.

Speaking to select journalists who attended the proceedings, the highly excited Chief Dennis Okwu who came with a good number of lawyers to represent him, restated his determination to ensure that justice is done.

GOCOP makes case against irresponsible online publishers @media roundtable - ITREALMS

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President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Ms. Maureen Chigbo, has admonished all genuine operators in the media industry to work together to wipe out charlatans masquerading as online publishers.

She made the appeal in Lagos, Monday, November 14, at the all-important one-day roundtable attended by chieftains of the media, including members of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN; Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria , BON; Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) as well as media-based Non-governmental organisations.

Business case against proposed two-Wheeler ban - ITREALMS

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Transportation, the movement of people and goods from one place to another, is a significant driver of human progress. In Nigeria, the three key means of transportation are road, air, and water. 

Road transport however dominates the means of transportation, especially in urban and suburban areas. Reports indicate that road transport makes up about 90 per cent of the movement of goods and passengers in the country.

Soludo makes case for women President-General in Anambra communities - ITREALMS

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The Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo has made a case for women to becoming President-General of communities in Anambra State, and invariably lead the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU), reports ITREALMS.

He made this case while receiving the Executives of ASATU led by Barrister Titus Akpudo (Ichaka) at the office on Tuesday in Awka, capital of Anambra State, asking precisely "Why can't we have women as Presidents General of communities?"

Fr. Timothy Ngwuta: Ebonyi State denies involvement, alleges criminal case - ITREALMS

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The Ebonyi State Government has finally denied any involvement in the viral news on social media platforms over the arrest and consequent detention of Rev. Fr. Timothy Ngwuta, who has been in detention in Abakaliki prison since last December, reports ITREALMS.

The Ebonyi State government also denied allegation that Governor David Umahi is behind the priest travial, insisting that it’s a case of criminal charge over the alleged complicity in aiding and abetting war and killings between Effium and Ezza Effium community in Ohaukwu Local Government Area.

COVID-19: Why NMA, NUJ rejected FG’s invitation to Chinese doctors - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) have adduced reasons why they rejected in totality the invitation of Chinese doctors by the Federal Government (FG) in the bid to curb ChineseVirus-19 also known as Coronavirus or COVID-19, reports ITREALMS.

NMA said its vehemently rejecting the invitation to Chinese Doctors into the country at this time in the case of COVID-19-related assistance in whatever colour which is suspicious.

“We are therefore profoundly dismayed to learn that the Federal Government ls instead is inviting the Chinese who from available accounts are not out of the woods themselves,” NMA president, Dr. Francis A. Fadnyile, said in a press statement available to ITREALMS.

The Association also noted with grate concern that the Government did not take into consideration the extant laws regulating the practice of medicine in Nigeria as enshrined in the Medical and Dental Council Act.

“This is one such circumstance were the Medica1 and Dental Council of Nigerian should be consulted to grant necessary approvals to foreigners to interact with Nigerian patients,” NMA insisted.

In a related development, the leadership of NUJ in a press statement endorsed by the National President, Chief Chris Isiguzo and Secretary General, Shuaibu Usman Leman, said the National Secretariat is alarmed by the decision of the Federal Government to bring Chinese Medical doctors to Nigeria to fight Covid 19, despite the fact that Nigerian doctors are doing exceptionally well in fighting the outbreak.

“We caution that it will be counterproductive to bring in Chinese doctors,” NUJ officials warned.

They pointed out while some have applauded the way and manner China contained the virus in Wuhan- the only Chinese city to be so affected, we hasten to note that there is more to this charade than is being let out by the Chinese authorities, and we reject a situation where Nigeria will be used as a Guinea pig for any experiment.

“It is pertinent to plead with the Federal Government to stop this Medical team from coming to Nigeria because of the Italian example where there was an inexplicable spike in Covid 19 related deaths when the Chinese doctors arrived the country,” they said.

The FG, NUJ leadership urged to be more proactive in dealing with emerging issues because any mistake made will be catastrophic.

Nenye Dom/Editor

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NUJ Housing fraud: Action Subscribers vs Deji Elumoye, Ifeyinwa Omowole case for hearing @Igbosere

ITREALMS:

The Concerned ACTION Subscribers of Abaren Land-PenJewel case against the former chairman of Lagos Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and incumbent President, Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs. Ifenyinwa Omowole & Co will come up for hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, February 20, 2019, at the Igbosere High Court, Lagos, reports ITREALMS.

Mr. Elumoye, Mrs Omowole and gang were dragged before the court over a multi-million Naira fraud orchestrated by them on members in the name of housing estate alongside Primewaters, even as Wednesday session will be the second hearing on the case.
ITREALMS recalls that the duo and their partners defrauded members of the Lagos NUJ council several millions of Naira and dollars in the name of providing housing scheme for them and relatives who subscribed in the project.

The counsel handling the case, Barr. Olayinka Olujimi confirmed this, assuring his team is prepared for Wednesday court session.

He charged all members of ‘Action Subscribers’ and entire affected members of NUJ to turn up enmass for the hearing.

Meanwhile, the aggrieved stakeholders of the Mowe-Abaren Land at the weekend in Alausa-Ikeja, urged members whose money were misappropriated by Mr. Elumoye and Mrs. Omowole under the guise of housing scheme to mobilise and attend the Alternative Dispute Resolutions at the Lagos High Court, Igbosere-Obalende with placards and later visit the ThisDay Newspapers and News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) managements where the two lead fraudsters currently work.

In addition, the ‘Hall of shame’ issue to be revisited on those responsible for the mismanagement of the funds at the February Congress.

Ayo Midele/Editor

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Pix: Ifeyinwa Omowole+Deji Elumoye, accused of defraud Lagos Journalists with fake housing scheme

Monsanto case reaffirms robotics is future of agrochemicals - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS:

Last week a US court held Monsanto’s glyphosate responsible for causing cancer in a ground keeper, awarding $289M of damages. This is a critical verdict in that it demonstrates that glyphosate - as one of the most popular non-selective herbicides worldwide- is on shaky ground. Indeed, for some time now, this agrochemical has managed only to just about retain its legal permits in the face of mounting concern over its toxicity. This verdict, even if subject to appeal, will have surely sounded the alarm bells in the board rooms of agrochemical companies worldwide.

You might wonder what the link between this verdict and agricultural robotics is? The answer is everything. In a previous article authored two years ago, I had argued that agricultural robots are the long-term future of the agrochemical business. This verdict only serves to reinforce this argument, demonstrating that agrochemical businesses need to urgently start reinventing themselves as being in the business of controlling weeds, and not just agrochemical supplies. Inevitably, robots, AI, and smart agricultural tools will come to form a major part of a weed control (not chemical) focused business.

To learn more see the IDTechEx Research report Agricultural Robots and Drones 2018-2038: Technologies, Markets and Players. This report analyses how robotic market and technology developments will change the business of agriculture, enabling ultra-precision and/or autonomous farming and helping address key global challenges. It also develops a detailed roadmap of how robotic technology will become the future of agrochemicals business and how it will modify the way we design agricultural machinery.

Precision agriculture has been around for decades. From its early days, this approach has sought to utilize imaging techniques to enable precision identification and thus precision action taking. However, at the time, the cost of data acquisition (via sensors and cameras) and processing was prohibitively high, both in time and money terms, to warrant any commercial implementation.

That has now all changed thanks to developments in other industries such as consumer electronics. Indeed, for several years now, companies have demonstrated robotics equipped with deep learning based advance vison technologies that can rapidly distinguish between crops and weeds and to rapidly take site specific action to eliminate the weed. One such example was Blue River Technologies which was acquired by John Deere in 2017 for $305M. Interestingly, Blue River Technologies counted amongst its investors some of the world’s largest agrochemical makers including Monsanto!

This approach is radically different from the glyphosate-based approach in which the non-selective herbicide kills everything apart from the genetically engineered seeds. This action is site- or even potentially plant- specific, requiring the use of customized weed control action which could be a precision sprayed selective speciality chemical. This technology also lays the foundation for doing more than just weed control, e.g., it can evolve to site specific fertilizer and nutrient deposition technique.

This technique is only set to improve. The algorithms will certainly get better with practise or more real data. The cost of data acquisition, management, and analysis will only further fall. And the fleets of unmanned small robots will increasingly become sufficiently productive to compete with large manned agricultural vehicles. All these technologies have significant upside potential whereas the existing technologies has long matured, making only small incremental gains.

So what will all of this mean for the agrochemical business? We believe that agrochemicals companies have no choice but to become intricately involved with robotics and AI. These two technologies will shape the future of their business. The advent of precision see-and-spray technologies will drastically impact on the volume and type of the chemicals employed, potentially transforming the business from one in which they sell bulk non-selective chemicals towards one in which they sell many specialized selective chemicals tailored to various plants. Furthermore, the value chain will become more digitized with data and intelligence capturing a more significant part of the overall value. This will inevitably enable new data-based farm management techniques in which agrochemicals are used differently than today.

This self-reinvention by agrochemical companies needs to start soon. It will not be as easy or an overnight transition. It requires that agrochemical companies build up new skillsets and establish new technologies and business models. It will also somewhat blur the boundaries between tool making and chemical suppliers as the two become intractably intertwined.

It might that incumbent companies become tempted to not act since today their current practise remains more productive and lower cost than emerging alternative technologies including robotic based solutions. But such companies forget the direction of technological travel at their own peril. Agricultural robotics will shape the long-term future of agrochemical business. This long-term future however may be upon us sooner if similar court cases put legal restrains on the current technology, raising its risk and costs, and if herbicide-resistant weeds continue their rapid march across areas in which such chemicals are heavily used.

To learn more read the IDTechEx Research report Agricultural Robots and Drones 2018-2038: Technologies, Markets and Players. It offers a detailed analysis of the short-, medium- and long-term future of agricultural robots and drones. This report includes IDTechEx’s most plausible forecasts based on their technology roadmaps, suggesting that the market will plausibly grow to $35Bn by 2038. It provides coverage of the key global trends, main players, and critical enabling technologies that will shape the future of this technology

*Contributed by the Marketing & Research Co-ordinator, IDTechEx, Charlotte Martin.

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Tinubu, Akande condemn court case against Fayemi - ITREALMS Online

ITREALMS:

All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in the South-west have restated their support for the party's gubernatorial candidate in the July 14 Ekiti Governorship election, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and condemned a court case allegedly instituted by one of the defeated aspirants of the party in the state, Chief Segun Oni, reports ITRealms.

They said the decision to support Fayemi was reached through a combination of persuasion, reconciliation, consensus- building and understanding on the part of all the stakeholders, pointing out that they as leaders held several intervention meetings in Abuja, Lagos and Ekiti with all the APC Ekiti gubernatorial aspirants where they resolved to support whoever emerges from the party's primaries.

Condemning the court case which they described as spurious, the leaders asked those behind the court action to withdraw their case immediately "if they are within our party and not agents of PDP".

They also called on Segun Oni to come out publicly to dissociate himself from and condemn the case and play active role in the APC campaign.

The statement was signed by APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Interim Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, the newly-elected APC Deputy National Chairman (South), Otunba Niyi Adebayo and the party's former National Vice Chairman, South-West, Chief Pius Akinyelure. 

Entitled "We Stand Behind Kayode Fayemi," the statement reads: "The Ekiti Governorship Election slated for July 14, 2018 is barely three weeks away and we all are committed to working for the total victory of the APC candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. 

"The decision to support Kayode Fayemi was reached through a combination of persuasion, reconciliation, consensus- building and understanding on the part of all the stakeholders. We led several intervention meetings that held in Abuja, Lagos and Ekiti with all the APC Ekiti gubernatorial aspirants where we resolved to support whoever emerges from the May primaries.

"We have stood behind Kayode Fayemi’s candidacy since he won the governorship primaries and when we all gathered in Ekiti for the Mega Rally on June 19, it was an emphatic declaration of support for his candidacy. Again on the night of June 19, we as leaders met with all stakeholders including all former aspirants and commended them for not defecting from the party. They all emphasized their commitment and suggested that Kayode Fayemi run an effective and inclusive campaign that will ultimately lead to an all-inclusive government."

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Egmont's suspension of Nigerai: A case for NFIC Bill

Commentary@ITRealms:

Three weeks ago, the hammer of the world’s watchdog on money laundering and terrorist financing, Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units fell on Nigeria for non-compliance with global best standards. The crux of the matter is the absence of autonomy for the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit-NFIU.

The suspension which was announced at the Egmont Group meeting held in China from July 2nd to 7th, 2017, was following the refusal of Nigeria to make NFIU autonomous in its funding, operations and management of financial intelligence. The failure of Nigeria to pass a law making the NFIU independent is the kernel of the matter.

If Nigeria fails to comply with the group’s demand for a legal framework granting autonomy to the NFIU by January, 2018, the country will be expelled from the global body, which provides the backbone for monitoring international money laundering and terrorist financing activities.

When expelled, Nigeria will no longer be able to benefit from financial intelligence shared by the other one hundred and fifty member-countries, including the United States of America and the United Kingdom, while the country’s ability to recover stolen funds abroad will be hampered.

Another major consequence will be the blacklisting of Nigeria in international finance, and this could affect the issuance of Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards by Nigerian banks. In fact, financial instruments from Nigeria may not be honoured abroad.

It could also affect the international rating of Nigerian financial institutions, restricting their access to some major international transactions. Nigeria’s membership of the Egmont Group ensured the removal of Nigerian banks from the blacklist of international finance. The blacklisting had prevented the banks from engaging in correspondent banking with foreign institutions and also denied Nigerians access to foreign credit cards.

Joining the Egmont group of FIUs was not easy for Nigeria. It is in fact, one of the greatest legacies of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. The suspension of Nigeria is a heavy blow; a major setback, and If Nigeria is expelled, then the country is in real mess.

Nigeria claims to have its FIU as an autonomous Unit in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; a situation that has exposed the country to international ridicule and embarrassment. Events over the years clearly show that there is no semblance of autonomy enjoyed by the NFIU.

The constant leaking of sensitive intelligence to Nigerian media, contrary to global best practices and the indiscriminate removal of FIU Directors by successive chairmen of the EFCC say it all.

In 2014, the Egmont Group warned Nigeria that it may suspend her if she refuses to enact a law granting NFIU autonomy. This warning never made any difference, as those opposed to the move worked very hard to suppress information and bend the rules. Now, that which stakeholders tried to avoid has finally happened. The worst- expulsion will certainly happen if we do not call the enemies of the country to order and do the needful.

There are four types of globally acknowledged Financial Intelligence Units. The first is the administrative type-FIU, which focuses on the traditional functions of an FIU- to collect, analyze and disseminate financial intelligence to law enforcement agencies and other authorized entities. This type of FIU does not engage in law enforcement or prosecution.

Next is the law enforcement type of FIU, which performs Police functions of arrest, detention, interrogation, investigation and prosecution; in addition to the traditional functions of an FIU, thereby becoming the custodians of Intelligence, as well as the end users.

The third type is the Judicial FIU, which engages in collation and analysis of financial intelligence, investigation, as well as prosecution of offenders; while the fourth is the hybrid type of FIU, which is a combination of the elements in the three earlier mentioned, depending on domestic preferences.

Nigeria joined the Egmont Group in 2007, opting for an administrative type of FIU. Having registered as an administrative FIU, it must be outside a law enforcement agency. The claim that we have our FIU in EFCC is indeed ridiculous. More laughable is that the EFCC Act describes the EFCC as Nigeria’s FIU.

The major advantage of an administrative-type FIU is that it focuses on the traditional functions of an FIU and not encumbered with police and prosecutorial duties. Indeed, the mandate of the FIU is different from that of law enforcement agencies such as the police and the EFCC. While law enforcement agencies carry out investigations and also prosecute, FIUs do not. This allows for specialization, separation of powers and responsibilities, checks and balances, transparency and accountability. Concentration of multiple responsibilities in the FIU beyond the traditional duties makes the FIU susceptible to abuse of such powers.

For example, in the United States of America, just like Nigeria, where there is more than one law enforcement agency, the FIU is located in the Department of Treasury/Finance. This is to separate the functions of intelligence collection from police duties (investigation) and judicial functions (prosecution), lest there will be over concentration of powers and abuse of such powers.

Similarly, countries such as Canada, Australia, Belgium and France have their FIUs located in their respective Ministries of Finance.

Of all the 14 countries in West Africa with an FIU, Nigeria is the only jurisdiction that currently domiciles its FIU in a law enforcement agency - EFCC, even when it is registered as an administrative-type FIU. This is a misnomer. Ten of the West African countries have their FIUs domiciled in their respective Ministries of Finance, while two others have theirs domiciled in Central Banks and one in Ministry of Justice.

The surest way out of the country’s present quagmire is the enactment of a law that grants autonomy to the NFIU. This is the exact thing the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Agency/Center Bill presently being considered by the National Assembly seeks to achieve.

The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Center Bill will ensure that the NFIU is not tied to any agency but will have adequate measures to build an independent financial intelligence system.

The Bill seeks to establish the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Center asthe central body in Nigeria responsible for receiving, requesting, analyzing and disseminating financial and other related information to all law enforcement, security agencies and other relevant authorities, as well as exchange of intelligence with over 150 FIUs globally.

NFIC is to serve all law enforcement agencies, regulators and other authorized agencies (EFCC, ICPC, DSS, NDLEA, CBN, CUSTOMS, POLICE, NAPTIP, CBN etc) and domiciling it in any of the interested agencies/parastatals will mean giving undue advantage to one over the others.

In Ghana, the FIU has an independent board and Executive Director. It is located under the Ministry of Finance. In Gambia, the FIU is located in the Central Bank; while in Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Togo, it is located under the Ministry of Finance.

More so, the mandate of an FIU is different from that of law enforcement; while law enforcement agencies carry out investigations and also prosecute, FIUs do not.

Nigeria opted for an administrative FIU when it registered with the Egmont group in 2007. Having registered an administrative FIU, the operations have to be outside a law enforcement agency.

Majority of the administrative FIU types all over the world are administrative and none, apart from Nigeria is domiciled in a law enforcement center. They are mostly domiciled in the Ministry of Finance, Justice or Central Bank.

In addition, it is a misnomer to have an independent Board for the proposed Nigeria Financial Intelligence Center within an EFCC that has a Board with an Executive Chairman. It will not work, as there will be conflict. There cannot be an independent Board within a parastatal.

Also, it is always best to separate the functions of intelligence collection from Police duties so as to avoid overconcentration of powers and the natural consequence of abuse. NFIC as being contemplated today will address inter agency rivalry.

It is on record that Nigeria applied for membership of the Financial Action Task Force and the FATF assessment team is expected in Nigeria in November, 2017, and without the NFIC law in operation, Nigeria cannot be admitted. The country remains disconnected from the secured Web of the Egmont group of FIUs. Only a truly independent FIU can guarantee a way forward for the country.

In the light of the international obligations and standards imposed by various international instruments, to which Nigeria has acceded to, it is imperative that steps are taken to properly define and establish the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Center, by clearly defining its mandates in the law.

As the National Assembly deliberates on the NFIC Bill, stakeholders must jettison every form of sentiment and support the move to align Nigeria with international best practices, especially, at this critical period of terrorism, which financing is mainly done through money laundering.

Only a truly independent Financial Intelligence Center can address the country’s security challenges through effective money laundering and terrorist financing checks.

Civil Society, Media and all sectors of the country’s economy must join the crusade to save the country by strengthening the legal framework against corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing.

All hands must be on deck!

Dr. Walter Duru is a Public Affairs analyst; Executive Director, Media Initiative against Injustice, Violence and Corruption- MIIVOC and Chairman, Freedom of Information Coalition, Nigeria- FOICN. Reach him on: walterchike@gmail.com

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Death of a nation: Trump and tragic case of Bridget Agbahime

Commentary@ITRealms:

Two weeks ago, while the world faced the frightening prospect of a Trump presidency in the US, an equally tragic event took place thousands of kilometres away in Nigeria. Except that in the case of Nigeria, the people did not elect—pardon the pun—to foist on themselves the cataclysm that may yet consume the nation. Both events—the emergence of Trump as president-elect and the “not guilty” verdict pronounced by the judiciary, and by extension the Nigerian state, on some vermin in human skin posing as God’s arbiters, bear uncanny similarities.

I don’t know if it is our proclivity for the gory and the absurd or the excitement of the US presidential election; but whatever the reason, that bizarre incident in Nigeria went unnoticed. Few people—certainly, not the mainstream media, the tribe of Internet trolls, our effete civil society or women’s organisations—raised their voice or queried that infernal judgement.

Now that the US election is over, perhaps Americans can return, in the words of the good old Dr. Damages of SaharaReporters fame, to those things that they care about most: the ability of Kim Kardashian and her clan to hold down the Internet. And the rest of us lesser mortals can go back to worrying about those things that are important to us. And in the case of Nigeria, how to make meaning of a nation that has lost its soul. But before I return to Nigeria, a slight digression on the election of Donald J. Trump as the next president of the US.

Mr. Trump seems to be on a charm offensive, seducing everybody who cares to watch that, not minding his destructive campaign rhetoric, he has the capacity for good. There are those—including our beloved Oprah—who are having a change of heart about Trump and are calling on the pessimists to give him a chance; that we should hold out hope that the self-confessed p---y-grabbing money man may turn out to be a better president than he is a businessman and entertainer.

Some have argued that candidate Trump had to maintain a bellicose persona and deploy demagoguery in order for his campaign to gain traction and for him to stand a chance against the entrenched and well-oiled political machine that was the Clinton campaign. Of course, what was frightening wasn’t so much what Trump said or did—as dangerous as they were—but the fact that half of American voters actually believed in him enough to give him the Electoral College vote.

There is another side of the Trump victory that observers seem to have ignored: the people. What happened two weeks ago in the US? In one sentence, the people happened! Whether they are right or wrong, only time will tell. Trump may indeed turn out to be a “good president”, but it does not vitiate the fact that he and his campaign stood for something. His xenophobic, misogynistic and divisive messages resonated with some voters, including religious bigots. It is not likely that those who supported his campaign messages will allow him to do otherwise or not take advantage of his victory. America is trying to heal post Trump’s victory. We can only wish them well in this healing process. The first step, we know, in the healing process, is to accept there is a problem; and in Trump, America has a big problem!

Back to Nigeria. Here are the facts of the matter for those not familiar with the case. On June 2, 2016, Bridget Agbahime, a 74-year-old Nigerian trader was savagely attacked and murdered at Kofar Wambai Market in Kano State, northern Nigeria, by a group of bloodthirsty fiends, ever desirous  of propitiating heaven. Her offence? Blasphemy! That age-old alibi that has allowed religious zealots to perpetrate evil. She was reported to have prevented a fellow trader from performing ablution—the act of washing oneself in preparation for formal prayers in Islam—in front of her shop.

Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, described the murder of Agbahime as “unjustifiable” and promised justice in line with the laws of the country. The Police arrested two key suspects, Dauda Ahmed and Zubairu Abdullahi.  Solomon Arase, the Inspector General of Police, deployed the Homicide Section of the Police to ensure proper investigation which led to the arrest of three more suspects, Abdulmumeen Mustafa, Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi. The suspects were charged at the Kano Magistrate court on a four-count of allegedly “inciting disturbance, culpable homicide, joint act and mischief”.

That murder took place in June. Fast forward to November, five months later, and the accused are free men, ready to prowl the streets of Kano for their next victim, thanks to Nigeria’s perverted justice system. 

On November 4, 2016, the chief magistrate, Muhammad Jibrin, acting on the advice of the Attorney General of Kano State, discharged the case and directed the release of the suspects on ground that, “Police investigation regarding the murder has not in any way implicated the accused and that prosecutors have failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused have indeed carried out the crime of killing Bridget.”

In what looked like a state sanction of the execution of Bridget Agbahime, the Kano State government went a step further, affirming that, “There is no case to answer as all the suspects are innocent.” 

So who killed Bridget Agbahime? It certainly wasn’t Donald Trump. For me, it is not so much the crime, as gruesome as it was. The real tragedy here is what appears to be the connivance of Kano State and its institutions, and by extension the Nigerian state, to uphold this death sentence passed on Bridget Agbahime.

The murder of Bridget Agbahime challenges all of us. It is beyond comprehension that a Nigerian would be so savagely beaten to death on allegation of blasphemy. It certainly is not too late to get justice for Agbahime and others who have suffered similar fate, to restore hope that ours is or could be a nation of law and order, of respect for human life and dignity of persons. By not bringing the killers of Agbahime to book, the Nigerian state is inadvertently telling us that us that ours is a lawless state; that Nigeria is Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia, where warlords rule and deranged zealots exert “justice” based on their demented vision of religious codes.

Agbahime’s murder wasn’t the first time and probably won’t be the last time that a citizen of Nigeria would be killed in the name of religion unless we reclaim Nigeria from the hands of these barbaric horde and their fellow travellers. By ignoring these telltale signs, we are destroying the very thin fabric that holds us together as a people. And there are many for whom this nation died a long time ago.

The words of Pastor Mike Agbahime who witnessed the savage attack on his wife are instructive. In a November 13, 2016, interview with Punch newspaper he noted: “The saying, ‘One Nigeria’ is just mere balderdash. I say this because the leaders’ mistake is a ‘leading’ mistake. To buttress it, if our leaders cannot keep the oaths of their offices and cannot respect the sanctity of life and our constitution, there is no need to talk about oneness in Nigeria. I also say this because even if the constitution condemns killing in one part of the country and declares other people who killed in other state innocent, I wonder what kind of constitution that is.”

Let’s for once assume this murder was not done in the name of religion. It doesn’t make it any less heinous and it deserves no place in a modern democratic society. Dauda Ahmed and Zubairu Abdullahi and their cohort should be re-arrested and made to pay for their crime.

By Chido Onumah | conumah@hotmail.com; Twitter @conumah

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Internet Governance: Tracking Governance on Social Media - Anambra State as a Case Study

Commentary@ITRealms:

Being the Text of the Address presented by Rtn Ifeanyi Aniagoh, the Senior Special Assistant on Social Media to Gov Willie Obiano of Anambra State at the 2016 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum hosted at Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Lagos on Thursday through Friday, June 2-3, 2016 by DigitalSENSE Africa in conjunction with Nigerian Communications Commission and National Information Technology Development Agency.

Excerpts:

Protocol:

It gives great pleasure to be in your midst at the moment, I want to say that I'm honoured.

We are all lucky to be born in a generation where the internet has become a tool for letting out and getting information.

We are in this unique gathering to talk about how the internet should be governed to create viable opportunities for Nigerians.

The term ‘governance’ refers to an encompassing set of guiding rules and norms that guide any area of human activity, rules that may be formal or informal, and are applicable to virtually any societal activity, whether ‘market governance', ‘political governance' or ‘internet governance.’

Internet governance covers a wide range of issues, from day-to-day technical and operational workings of the internet to public policy issues such as combating crime.

Social Media refer to the means of interaction among a people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas through virtual platforms.

Some examples of Social Media platforms include Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter, Digg, Blogs and Websites.

Tracking refers to approaches that allow the concerned to record and follow the progress of any identified problem or "issue" until the challenge is resolved.

Tracking of Governance provides us with a way to report issues, track progress and know how, why, when and who is responsible for resolving issues in our society as well as monitoring government activities.

There are a lot of persons interested in tracking governance; you and I, civil society organizations, donor agencies and government think-tanks.

My role in this conference is to do justice to the "Tracking of Governance on the Social Media using Anambra State as a Case Study"... How do the administration of Gov Willie Obiano bring "government" to the consciousness of Onye Anambra and other concerned persons?

Why Anambra?

While it's the duty of the organizers of this forum to make open their reason for choosing Anambra for this study, we are all witnesses to the fact that the eastern State known as the "Light of the Nation" is a state with many firsts.

Today, Anambra State tops the chart in terms of Nigerian states with appreciable engagement on the Social Media and e-governance.

This is as a result of ndi Anambra's unquenchable desire to find solutions through enterprises; and the governor's natural inclination to empowering young persons who are the major stakeholders in this internet age.

What do we do in Anambra State?  Here, "we" refers to Anambra State Government.

To ensure a full participation of ndi Anambra in governance and to help the people to keep track of what the government is doing, we run the following programmes:

1. WhatsApp Session - a novel network of 87,000 persons connected together with the rare ability to share information and receive feedback within 60 seconds;

2. Anambra Scorecard - a 2-hour per week online live programme anchored on Facebook where the political office holders and stakeholders are "put on the spot" for the people to ask questions directly from all over the world;

3. Social Media Hangout - a monthly offline gathering of online dwellers in Anambra State to interact, share experiences and learn new skills aimed at promoting the positive use of the Social Media... Here we discourage e-thuggery;

4. Public Court - a weekly online poll spread across Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc, to get direct feedback on the people's perception and opinion on government's policies, projects and programs.

In addition to these self-assessing programmes, we also maintain broadcast of the government's activities through Facebook, YouTube, Emails, Blogs and other Social Media platforms.

There are two important things to note:

1. These channels provide the people with the opportunity to be in the know about the governance of their State ... Giving them the privilege to ask questions and keep tract of the day-to-day running of their government;

2. You can only sustain these channels if you have quality programmes and achievements to show... An insincere or non-performing government cannot survive the volume of criticisms therein.

What do others do?  "Others" refers to non-government stakeholders in the Anambra State Project ... The CSOs, NGOs, critics, the citizens and the opposition.

The Social Media presence of Anambra State Government:

1. Gives the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)  and NGOs the time-saving access to relevant facts and figures enabling them to keep track of the performance index of Anambra State Government;

2. Gives the critics the open platform to constructively engage the government by sharing their opinions on how better the State can be run... Note that criticisms are not insults or online bullying;

3. Gives ndi Anambra and concerned persons secure and confidential routes to send feedback directly to the government of the State;

4. Gives the citizens an alternate and very reliable means of resolving emergencies.

Ultimately, the recognition of the role of New Media in governance which informed the decision of Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra State to engage a Senior Special Assistant on Social Media, has given Ndi Anambra, at home and in diaspora, the rare opportunity to partake in government of their State.

One may then ask ...  What are the advantages of tracking governance through Social Media? The unlimited list of these merits as being experienced in Anambra State can be summarised thus:

1. People-oriented Governance - A government like we have in Anambra State being aware that the people are constantly watching its activities endeavours to provide what the people need, listens to their demands and alleviates their plights;

2. Purposeful Leadership - A careful appraisal of the giant strides of Gov Willie Obiano of Anambra within 2 years in office explains this benefit... A government that consciously allows self to be publicly assessed at all times, as is obtainable in Anambra State, can only survives by providing purposeful leadership;

3. Job Creation - The programmes I enumerated earlier gives direct jobs to 41 young persons while Anambra Social Media Hangout trains at least 20 online entrepreneurs per month... Imagine the indirect jobs being created through the government MDAs and the CSOs/NGOs that follow the government on the internet to track its progress;

4. All-inclusive Democracy - What else will a democratic society like ours wish for than what we have in Anambra State, where everyone has the privilege to participate in the governance of the State and all citizens enjoy the right to Freedom of Information (FOI).

While e-governance is not a cure-all for modern challenges of governance, it is a powerful enabling tool that has aided governments achieve some of their development and administrative reform goals.

It has also helped major stakeholders of good governance to keep track of the progress being made by governments of the day.

Generally, many states in Nigeria are now realizing the need for e-governance in order to provide people-focused, cost effective, and easy to use services for citizens and enterprises and to improve the internal workings of government.

Similarly, many governance tracking applications have emerged rapidly (such as yourbudgit.com, tracka.ng, etc).

Thus,  it's very evident that if other states and the Federal Government can emulate Anambra State on the effective use of the internet in governance while allowing free tracking of government activities by interested persons, more Nigerians will be able to access and assess the government’s services without necessarily going to the government office or contacting by telephone.

The use of the internet will reduce the negative attitude Nigerians have towards government agencies because not many people enjoy interacting with their government; and delivery of government services from any place to citizens.

If well-orchestrated, e-governance can also bring an improved citizens’ access to information and services, increase efficiency in service and information delivery to citizens and other stakeholders as well prepare our nation for digital democracy which involves e-voting.

As a takeaway, I encourage every young person here not to stop at effectively using Social Media platforms but aim at developing better platforms ...

The e-government positions and the jobs being created by the need to track governance could be yours.

Thank you for listening.

Ifeanyi ANIAGOH, SSA to Gov Willie Obiano on Social Media.

@IfeanyiAniagoh

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Pix 1: Ifeanyi Aniagoh, SSA on Social Media to Gov. Obiano presenting his paper on Internet Governance: Tracking Governance on Social Media.
Pix 2: L-R: Domain Name Business Manager, UpperLink Ltd, Mrs Irieti Chukwujama; President, Cyber Security Expert Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), Mr. Remi Afon;  Executive Director Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke; Chairman of NDSF 2016 and President, Nigeria Computer Society,  Prof. Adesola Aderounmu; ;  Broadband and Converged Solution Manager, Phase3Telecom, Mr. Yemi Adedoyin, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Social Media, Anambra State, Mr. Ifeanyi  Aniagoh responding during question and answer session, at 2-day 2016 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum held at Digital Bridge Institute, Lagos.