EDITORIAL: The 3MTT Cape Verde gaffe: When government policy undermines national sovereignty - ITREALMS

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The core mandate of progressive governance is consistency. When a government speaks with a divided tongue, enforcing rigid local-content laws on the private sector while flagrantly bypassing them in its own high-profile procurement deals, it does more than just breach its own rules, it erodes public trust.

The recent $10 million partnership between the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE) and Hello.cv under the flagship 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme is a textbook example of this institutional contradiction. 

Editorial - The "Dr." @Wars: Between Ego, Merit, and the Law - ITREALMS

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The prefix "Dr." has long occupied a space of reverence in the title-hungry theater of Nigerian society. However, a "mechanical failure" in our academic value system has seen this designation shift from a badge of rigorous intellectual labor to a commercial commodity.

The Federal Government’s recent directive banning honorary degree holders from using the title is not merely a policy shift; it is a Strategic Reset necessitated by the need for academic integrity and intellectual honesty.

Editorial: FG’s ‘No Work, No Pay’ Threat to ASUU: Misguided Fix To Deep-rooted Problem - ITREALMS

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The recent warning by the Federal Government to invoke the “No Work, No Pay” policy against the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has once again exposed the government’s recurring failure to engage meaningfully with one of its most strategic partners in national development, the education sector.

ASUU’s two-week warning strike, declared over unresolved issues such as unpaid allowances, poor welfare, and unfulfilled agreements, reflects the union’s growing frustration with the government’s inconsistency. Yet, instead of addressing these long-standing grievances, the government has chosen confrontation over conversation.

Editorial: Nigeria’s digital future: A colony or a catalyst? - ITREALMS

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When Dr. Mrs. Ibukun Odusote took the podium in Abuja this week, her words cut deeper than the usual keynote address. They carried the weight of lived experience, of someone who stood at the very birth of Nigeria’s digital journey.

“Richness without alignment produces waste, not wealth,” she said, pausing just long enough for the room to sink into silence.
It was a stark reminder. Nigeria has no shortage of bright minds or bold initiatives, broadband expansion plans, fintech creativity, data protection frameworks, and thriving professional societies. 

Editorial - IHS Impact Report 2023/24: The Missing Footprints - ITREALMS

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IHS Nigeria last week published its 2023–2024 Impact Report, presenting a wide-ranging account of corporate interventions in education, climate action, healthcare, and governance. 

The report, which spans January 2023 to December 2024, is framed as alignment with both President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Editorial: Leadership, red line of hate speech and Abike Dabiri-Erewa - ITREALMS

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In the 21st century, leadership is more than holding office it is about embodying the values of unity, justice, and inclusion. That is why the recent petition by Ogbako Ndi Igbo UK against the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, deserves serious national attention.

The petition, addressed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accuses Dabiri-Erewa of amplifying ethnic bigotry by reposting content on her X platform in which the Igbo ethnic group was described as “monkeys,” “bastards,” and “children of gorillas.” 

Editorial: Silence is complicity: Nigeria’s democracy under siege – ITREALMS

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“Democracy dies when citizens choose to be silent spectators to injustice.”

Those words, drawn from Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili’s recent memo to the Nigerian Senate, judiciary, and fellow citizens, are not mere rhetoric. They are a warning that Nigeria’s democratic project is now standing on shaky ground.

For six months, the people of Kogi Central have been denied their voice in the Senate following the unconstitutional suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. What began as a petition of sexual harassment against the Senate President has been converted into a tool of political vendetta, exposing once again how the powerful can bend laws to suit their convenience.

Editorial - Digital Nigeria: A call for homegrown innovation - ITREALMS

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The recent International Conference of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) in Kano, dubbed "Connovate 2025," was more than a gathering of tech professionals; it was a rallying cry for Nigeria's digital sovereignty.

At its core was a powerful message from NCS President, Dr. Muhammad Sirajo Aliyu, who declared that the nation's path to prosperity lies not in the endless adoption of foreign technologies, but in the cultivation of our own indigenous, intelligent innovations. This is a vital and timely intervention that must be heeded by every stakeholder, from government and industry to academia and the youth.

Marginalization of Ndigbo: Perilous threat to Nigeria's unity and stability - ITREALMS

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The digital petition by Chief Ben Ogbonna, now reverberating across the nation, is more than just a document of grievances, it is a critical system alert for Nigeria's leadership. 

From our vantage point at ITREALMS, we see this as an urgent test of our federation's commitment to equity and fairness. 

Missing Footage: Why digital evidence matters in aviation disputes - ITREALMS

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The recent altercation on an Ibom Air flight, which led to the controversial remand of passenger Comfort Emmanson at Kirikiri, has sparked a heated debate across Nigeria. 

The viral videos and passionate social media posts have painted a picture of a flight attendant assault, but conflicting accounts from other passengers have cast a shadow of doubt on the official narrative. 

LASG: Improving pedestrian bridges to boost usage - ITREALMS

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Last month, February 2024, the Lagos State Government (LASG) issued a warning to residents against crossing any highway in the geographical area where there is a pedestrian bridges, insisting its an offence and defaulters will be arrested and prosecuted.

Reiterating this on his official X handle, the Lagos State Commissioner of Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Philip Wahab, advised residents to use pedestrian bridges.

May: Editorial independence & shaping future of human rights - ITREALMS

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The importance of shaping the future of human rights within the media, especially on editorial independence, cannot be over-emphasised in a digital era, writes ITREALMS ' REMMY NWEKE.

What about May?

Yes, what about May? It’s no longer news that the month of May globally is recognised yearly within the media space for the upholding of media freedom of expression and invariably, which left most followers this year with some great expectations both from the practitioners and society at large.

Freedom of the press or freedom of the media, has been posited as the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely.


Editorial independence and press freedom:
An instance is editorial independence which is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication. According to Wikipedia, editorial independence is tested, for instance, when a newspaper runs articles that may be unpopular with its advertising clientele or critical of its ownership.

Experts at BusinessPerspective.org, posited an understanding that “еditorial independence” as full freedom of journals’ editors when making decisions on whether or not to publish, as well as make corrections in the papers or withdraw them; only based on their scientific value and without intervention of the founders and the publisher of journal or newsletter, the authors and their sponsors, any other institutions and persons.” Maintaining also that these institutions or persons cannot affect the timelines of papers’ publication.

With the above, shaping the future of rights, especially human rights have become a source of concern.

But just three days into the month of May, the World Press Freedom was held on Wednesday, of the fourth month of 2023, to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of press freedom principles issued by African newspaper journalists in 1991. The Declaration was a response to the oppressive media policies of the then Apartheid regime in South Africa.

After the initial Declaration of Windhoek, how has Africa and African media precisely fared?

Digital editor’s travails:
Recently a senior African media practitioner, identified as 'Lekan' narrated how a body of practitioners made a fuss over where an electioneering form dividend should go into.

According to Lekan, he was involved in organising a media-based professional electoral process and based on the constitutional requirement, it must be an online election to accommodate those who may not be immediately physically available, moreso in this digital era.

Being a member of a three-man Election Committee in the month of May, they decided to sale the forms to draw revenue for the association. Unknown to them, that was to create another chapter of albatross and the Executive Committee became interested in the potential revenue and began to interfere in the EC mandate instead of waiting for the Committee to execute their mandates and retire any inflow or even remains from their already approved budget.

Media ownership, political will & transparency:
Due to this pressure because of the token realizable from the form sales, Exco began to give counter orders against the direction of EC and Lekan ended up resigning from the EC to give peace a chance.

As if that was not enough, a few weeks later within the same month of May, Lekan, who used to edit and in fact pioneered an intercontinental newsletter suffered yet another executive interference due to some political interest of Exco of the intercontinental organisation whose newsletter he has pioneered in the past three years rather than allow Lekan a free hand to run the newsletter professionally.

For the newsletter, the leader of the intercontinental group had a member who was elected in a related global body and did not want that featured in the Newsletter due to opposition influence on him, despite that Lekan was the one who personally sourced the story and used same only to discover that the opposition at the "global body" were not happy and the overbearing leader wanted the story pulled down, while Lekan insisted that professionally, their politics in another association even though they were all members of the newsletter organisation should not be allowed to be a motivating factor, which assenting to such a request will spell doom.

To have his professional integrity intact, Lekan, once again decided to step aside.

As said by Lekan, he saw a lot of people especially professionals including in the media who visualise the best of things to happen to their world but don't have the political will to stand up for what they desire, either as an individual or for family sake, aside the political overbearing of media ownership upon the editorial leadership and politicization of editorial content or what some other folks observed as editorial weaponization.

Essence of freedom:
Generally, freedom is very essential as it offers us the right to be ourselves, which assists us to work together after maintaining autonomy. Freedom is quite significant as the opposite is detrimental to our own individual and collective well-being, which is inconsistent with human nature.

2023 theme and fulfillment of human rights:
This brings us to the theme of 2023, which is “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights.”

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This year, 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day. Yes, three decades have passed since it was proclaimed in 1993, in which we have seen substantial progress towards achieving a free press and freedom of expression around the world. The proliferation of independent media in many countries and the rise of digital technologies have enabled the free flow of information.

However, media freedom, safety of journalists and freedom of expression are increasingly under attack, which impacts the fulfillment of other human rights.

Media Freedom:
Britannica defined media freedom as the freedom of various kinds of media and sources of communication to operate in political and civil society, hence, “Freedom of the media is the fundamental right of various forms of media, including print, radio, television, and online media entities to operate freely in society without government control, restriction, or censorship.

In other words, freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle and do the right things even in a socio-economic situation like professional elections transparently within the media space.

Proliferation of disinformation:
Though the international community faces multiple crises not limited to conflicts and violence, persistent socio-economic inequalities driving migration, environmental crises and challenges to the health and wellbeing of people all around the world. Overtly, disinformation and misinformation online and offline proliferate, with serious impact on the institutions underpinning democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

Centre of discussion:
Therefore, it is to exactly counter these critical situations and threats that press freedom, safety of journalists and access to information have become the centre of discussion nowadays. The right to freedom of expression, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a prerequisite and a driver to the enjoyment of all other human rights.

This year’s special 30th anniversary celebration of World Press Freedom Day is, therefore, a call to recharge press freedom, as well as independent, pluralistic, and diverse media, as key to the enjoyment of all other human rights.

The internal workings of media environment depend on professional bodies to ensure entrenchment of what they preach. As they say, you cannot give what you do not have including ‘editorial independence’ if we must shape the future of human rights and especially in the media industry.

Why Labour Party must redesign its logo now - ITREALMS

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The Nigeria’s much talked about third force, the Labour Party (LP) may mess up the chances its opportunity in the forthcoming general elections if it fails to redesign its official logo.

EDITORIAL

A section of political watchers, informed ITREALMS that inability to redesign Labour Party logo formally for the 2023 general elections may cause the party to loose the elections and therefore cause the current ‘OBIdient and be Yusuful’ movement to the presidency and untold setback.

Africa Telecom & IT losses director, Monique Butt

ITRealms:

The Board, Management and Staff of Telecom and IT Business Limited; publishers of Africa Telecom and IT has announced the death of its Editorial/Business Services Director, Ms Monique Butt.

ITRealms reports that she passed on to eternal glory on Thursday, 17^th March 2016 in London, United Kingdom.

A press statement from the media out, signed by the Managing Editor, Mr. Olubayo Abiodun, described Ms Butt as a polyglot gifted in the excellent use of English, French, Yoruba and to some extent Hausa languages.

Also, Ms Butt had traversed the media landscape as a top flight marketing executive. She had excellent working relationship with some of the renowned icons in the African media industry; including Peter Enahoro popularly called 'Peter Pan'.

She was once a top executive of African Business magazine where she was in-charge of the development of the Nigerian market. Monique was a top shot in media relations, public relations, marketing communications, corporate communications, business strategy, marketing strategy, strategic communications, social media, business development, and event management.

She was a graduate of the University of Essex, United Kingdom. She would have turned 60 years in August this year. 

May her soul rest in peace.

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