May, Obioma, Olugbile emerge finalists @The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025 - ITREALMS

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The race for Africa’s most prestigious literary honour, The Nigeria Prize for Literature, has reached its climax as the Advisory Board on Thursday announced the three finalists for the 2025 edition of the competition.

In contention for the $100,000 prize, sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), are Oyin Olugbile, with her novel Sanya; Chigozie Obioma, with The Road to the Country; and Nikki May, with This Motherless Land. The eventual winner will be unveiled at a grand award ceremony scheduled for October 10, 2025.

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.

Nigeria: May our renewed hope not become renewed captivity - ITREALMS

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Forces that have kept Nigeria in chains are stronger than the Prince of Persia that withheld Daniel's answers for 21 days.

Tell me how else to describe the frustration faced by candidates who seek redress in court after INEC had declared winners in an election fraught with bare-faced irregularities and deliberate manipulations?

Zinox eyes Jumia for acquisition - ITREALMS

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One of the major e-commerce players in the African market, Jumia, appears to be battling severe headwinds after its share price – which once traded at record highs of $59.96 tumbling down and currently trading at less than $5 – prompting speculations of a loss of investor confidence and a surprise takeover by Sub-Saharan Africa’s leading tech conglomerate, the Zinox Group.

In April 2019, Jumia had listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with an eye-catching IPO which witnessed share prices opening at $14.5 and rising as high as $26. However, two weeks after, a damning report by Citron Research had accused Jumia of fraud, describing its stock as worthless. Specifically, the report had highlighted discrepancies in financials between investor presentations and SEC filings by Jumia, accusing its management of fraudulently inflating order numbers, while also labelling it a company burdened with inefficiencies.

'Joe Igbokwe: It may soon be your turn' - ITREALMS

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I just read Joe Igbokwe's mockery of Sunday Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu over their arrest. The one-time Publicity Secretary of APC in Lagos State and now special adviser to the Governor of Lagos on Water Resources and Drainage did not even wait for the ink to dry before shooting in self-congratulation over the arrest.

He not only mocked these men he also mocked the traditional culture of his own people in Igboland and Yoruba land: "Juju failed in Igboland and Yoruba land," he crowed. It is as if these men knew no other thing except Juju.

Picketing of MTN, vandalisation, ALTON may order network shutdown - ITREALMS Online

ITREALMS:

The Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has decried the attempts by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to disrupt network operations via picketing and vandalisation of critical network facilities, warning of likely shutdown if activities are not checked, reports ITRealms.

ALTON through its chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo made this known in reaction to the picketing of MTN office saying ALTON is very concerned about this unfortunate development.

According to him, picketing of such nature as reported to ALTON which led to injury to persons and damage to properties creates an unfortunate situation where employees are coerced to join unions and associations without respect for their individual rights of voluntary association.

“Damage to any telecom facilities will lead to the disruption of critical national security and economic services which will expose innocent citizens to great danger,” he said, declaring that employees of ALTON members are able to join or form associations and unions if they so desire.

Also, ALTON said, the practice is that membership of any associations and unions are voluntary.

They insisted that in line with fundamental human rights regarding freedom of association as guaranteed by the constitution, “individuals must not be compelled to join an association or union if they do not choose to do so.”

ALTON further urged the government and its law enforcement agencies to intervene expeditiously, otherwise “we will advise our members to consider preventive shut down in order to avoid further damage to network facilities.”

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Gmail awesome tips, tricks you may never know

TechTips&Tricks@ITRealms:

Preamble:

Between Labs, extensions, and settings, there's a plethora of ways that you can customize your Gmail experience and tweak how emails are handled. Below are some of our favorite methods for managing time and giving Gmail an extra boost when it comes to organization.

Send and archive in one step:

Here's a trick to save a lot of time. First, click the gear icon and choose Settings from the resulting drop-down menu. Find the Send and Archive section and check the box beside Show "Send & Archive" button in reply. This adds a new button when you're replying to an email. Clicking it will allow you to send your response and automatically archive the email, thus removing it from your inbox. It's a godsend for those who receive endless amounts of email, and one that keeps your inbox free of clutter.

Enable and disable tabs:

Gmail has three tabs -- Primary, Social, and Promotion -- and organizes your emails for you automatically. But did you know you can customize these tabs? If you want to do so, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner and choose Configure inbox from the drop-down menu. This allows you to add new tabs, such as Updates and Forums, or remove any tabs that you don't like or want. It's a handy bit of auto-organization for when you're feeling overwhelmed.

See more with compacting setting:

When you click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of Gmail, one of the first things you'll see in the resulting drop-down menu is an option to switch between Cozy, Comfortable, and Compact viewing modes. Switching to Compact eradicates a good deal of space, allowing you to see more email information on each line. It's a good setting to go with if you want to maximize your efficiency and see as much information as possible in a single glance.

Take back an unfortunate email:

Whenever you send an email in Gmail, you'll notice a yellow box that says the email was sent. If you catch it fast enough, however, you can actually cancel the email while it's in the process of being sent. If it has already been sent, this option turns in Undo Send, which allows you to correct your mistake with a couple of clicks. If you don't see the feature, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner and select Settings from the drop-down menu. Then, check the box beside Enable Undo Send in the Undo Send section. Here, you can also set a 5-, 10-, 20-, or 30-second cancellation period.

Send Money Instantly:

Whenever you start to compose an email in Gmail, you can hit the dollar sign -- or the pound sign, if you're located in the United Kingdom -- to use that email as a vehicle for sending money. It allows you to set an amount and input, or choose a payment method. When the recipient gets the email, they can "activate" the payment and the transaction will occur. Could you just use PayPal? Yes, but this option is just as useful when it comes to making quick, small payments.

Use smart reply to save time on responses:

In the mobile version of Gmail, there is currently a feature called Smart Reply. It uses some of Google's Artificial Intelligent (AI) technology to automatically create a few quick responses (somewhat modeled after your email behavior) that you can immediately send. These range from a basic "thanks!" to more complex questions based on the email you are responding to. It doesn't always work, but for simple responses, it can help you save a lot of time on your mobile device.

Save space with drive:

If you can't fit a file on an email or prefer not mess around with attachments, use Google Drive instead. Every Compose window comes equipped with a Drive icon, which allows you to quickly attach Drive files from within your browser. It's also handy if you need to share files that aren't stored on the device you're using... as long as Drive is one of the common storage options.

Synergize with LinkedIn:

One of the great extensions to use in the business world is Rapportive, a Gmail extension that links the sender's contact information with social media, specifically LinkedIn. Open an email from someone with a LinkedIn account and the tool will immediately show their profile information in a sidebar, along with links to their various social media accounts. It's one of the best networking tools available if you regularly use Gmail.

Use canned responses to save even more time:

Gmail Labs are experimental extensions that you can enable for free. Labs don't always stick around, but Canned Responses has been on the block for years, so we feel confident recommending it. Head over to the gear icon, choose Settings, and click the Labs tab. One of the labs should say Canned Responses. Enable it, and you can create email templates that you can immediately copy into an email and tweak as needed. It's ideal for customer service or tracking down leads.

Delegate some of your emails:

Gmail offers a service that allows you to set up a series of delegates. These delegates have the ability to read and respond to your emails, and even manage your contacts, although they can't chat or change your settings. Setting up delegates is useful if you are a busy professional and need an employee or team member to step in and check the latest responses when you simply don't have enough time.

Try IFTTT configurations:

IFTTT or "If This Then That" is a smart device platform that allows you to customize a variety of responses and scenes for your smart home. It also works with a lot of other things, including Gmail. Here are some examples of the IFTTT ideas already created by people and ready to be used. With the right recipe, you can save files directly to Drive, automatically sync Evernote and To-Do-List (Todoist), trigger notifications, and carry out a bunch of other useful actions. Find the options that are best for your life, and you can transform your Gmail experience into something twice as useful.

Courtesy: Tyler Lacoma @DigitalTrends

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NLC may go on strike Wednesday

 ITRealms:

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), at the weekend issued the Federal Government a 4-day ultimatum to revert to the old petrol pump price of N86.50 from N145 pronounced last week or risk a nationwide protest, by Wednesday, May 18, 2016, reports ITRealms.

  

The four-day ultimatum which is due to expire on Tuesday midnight, has put Nigerians into panic buying and stockpiling of food stuffs and daily needs.

NLC and its affiliates in a letter dated May 13, 2016 and addressed to all the state presidents, secretaries of labour unions, directed members to sensitise all their colleagues towards embarking on indefinite strike cum mass protest action slated to commence on Wednesday 18, May 2016 across the country till further notice.

NLC, therefore advised member unions including the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, to liaise with the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress in their states for further arrangements concerning the protest and give this directive a widest publicity it deserves.

ITRealms recalls that the Nigerian government last week proclaimed a new price of 145 Naira per litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise call fuel, on May 11, which has so far been rejected by the labour force in the country.

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Pix: NLC president ayuba wabba

Alert! Gov. Ayade surprises, pays May salary on workers day

ITRealms:

The politics of May Day workers celebration climaxed this year with the Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade surprised workers on the 1st of May, Workers Day, when he announced the payment of salaries for the month of May on the first day of the month, reports ITRealms.

This was obviously affirmed a slight drama when workers at the U.J. Esuene Stadium for the May Day celebration began to receive salary payment alert from their various banks.

Additional reports showed that the workers out of excitement started shouting 'alert, alert' as they commended the governor.

ITRealms gathered that hitherto, the governor had paid salaries between the 13th and 20th day of each month since assuming office.

Governor Ayade also told the workers, who named him the 'Best Labour Friendly Governor in Nigeria' that his administration had a duty to give workers a sense of dignity.

“We must create opportunities for labour to feel a sense of dignity. If you are truly a Christian, you must know that as you care for your kids, you must care for labour,” he said.

ITRealms equally reports that another goodnews is that workers in the Edo State civil and public got cheering news during the May Day celebration as their salaries were increased.

It was further gathered that workers' salaries were increased by 45 per cent, which is the minimum wage is now N25,000.

Vincent Okoli with additional reports by EkitiOnline/GEE

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