FOI in Nigeria’s Digital Governance: What law allows citizens to ask by Remmy Nweke - Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS

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This edition of Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS, by REMMY NWEKE, examines how the FOI Act empowers Nigerians to access information on telecom regulation, pricing, broadband rollout, and digital identity systems; reinforcing transparency as key to consumer rights and national digital development.

Strategic pillars of modern economy:
When conversations on transparency and accountability emerge in Nigeria, national attention often focuses on elections, budgeting, and public procurement. Yet the telecommunications and digital governance sector; one of the most strategic pillars of the modern Nigerian economy, and remains comparatively under-examined. 

This is despite the fact that decisions in this sector affect how Nigerians communicate, access financial services, participate in governance, learn, work, and interact in the digital world.

Sexual Assault: EU-IIDEA, FG call for law enforcement, protection of vulnerable citizens - ITREALMS

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Participants made of the Federal Government (FG) agency, the European Union, International IDEA, and other stakeholders have emphasized the need for the enforcement of laws and policies addressing sexual offenses and gender-based violence, reports ITREALMS. 

They also stressed the importance of protecting vulnerable Nigerians.

Right to Information: MRA condemns citizens harassment by DSS - ITREALMS

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The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has condemned the harassment of the leader of a citizens group by the Department of State Services (DSS) for exercising their fundamental right to request information from the government under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011, describing the act of intimidation as unlawful and aimed at undermining the very principles of transparency and accountability that the Act is designed to uphold.

The DSS in Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos State is reported to have called one of the conveners of Ibeju-Lekki Peoples Forum, Mr. Jamiu Olayinka, on telephone in the morning of September 12, 2024 and asked him to report at the DSS office in Ibeju-Lekki at 10am that same day.

Boko Haram: Borno communities emphasise citizens engagement - ITREALMS

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Communities in Borno State have narrated their ordeals at the hands of Boko Haram terrorists while calling for more citizens' engagement in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts in North East Nigeria.

This was the outcome of consultative meeting and recent engagements led by Neem Foundation and as part of The Truth Alliance, which is a group of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) committed to unmasking the atrocities of rhe terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Your Voice Matters: Why eligible citizens must vote - ITREALMS

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Voting is an essential aspect of democratic governance, as it is the only way through which the people can exercise their power to choose their leaders and shape their future. Nigeria, a country blessed with abundant human and natural resources, is poised for another democratic exercise as her citizens head to the polls to elect their leaders. It is time to get it right with a leader that will ensure that ALL citizens partake of the country's blessedness.

As we approach election day, every eligible citizen must come out and vote. Voting is not just a civic duty; it is also a right and a privilege that must be exercised. Every vote counts, and every vote matters in determining who becomes the leader of our great country.

Citizens with disabilities and the rest of us - ITREALMS

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The discrimination against persons with disabilities is a global phenomenon. However, most countries of the world have moved from such discriminatory practices to an inclusive society for persons with disabilities. The population of persons with disabilities in Nigeria, which is about 30 million, is higher than the entire population of five countries in the West African sub-region. Unfortunately, Nigeria is one of the major countries in Africa where little or no attention is paid to the plight of persons with disabilities, hence their exclusion from governance, electoral process, healthcare, education, employment, and social and community life.

With a plethora of legislations at the international, regional, and national levels for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, one would have expected persons with disabilities in Nigeria to be on the same pedestal with persons with disabilities in other countries in terms of access to healthcare, education, employment and political process. Nigeria signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and Optional Protocol as far back as 28th May 2007 and 27th October 2008 respectively, but the level of compliance is not significant to alleviate the sufferings of persons with disabilities.

5th NMCG confab gets November date - ITREALMS

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BudgIT, Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE Nigeria) and Paradigm Initiative (PIN) will hold the fifth edition of the bi-annual Pan-African New Media, Citizens, and Governance Conference (NMCG) on November 17, 2022. 

The organisers made this known in a press statement issued on Monday, August 22, 2022, three months to the conference.

PMB: Law-abiding citizens abroad must be defended - ITREALMS

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President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday, June 2, met with some selected Nigerians living in Spain on the sidelines of his official visit, pledging that Nigeria will continue to defend the interests of its nationals living abroad.

According to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the Diaspora team, which met with the President included John Bosco, President of the association, his deputy, Richard Omoregbe, Super Eagles player who plies his trade with Leganes FC, Madrid, Kenneth Omeruo, Obinna Okafor, a football agent, Mohammed Bashir, a student of Aviation, Segun Adedoyin, studying Global Affairs, and Bright Omorodion, a businessman.

FG urges citizens to link NIN to SIM without delay - ITREALMS

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The Federal Government (FG) has urged citizens to link their National Identification Number (NIN) to the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) without further delays, reports ITREALMS.

FG, ITREALMS recalled had approved an extension of the NIN-SIM linkage deadline to the 31st of March, 2022.

Save Our Elections: Enough-Is-Enough group urges citizens - ITREALMS

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Nigeria-based civil society organizations, the Enough-Is-Enough group has called on citizens to save the nation’s democracy and election process precisely by speaking out against what they called disturbing discrepancies in the Electoral Bill 2021, reports ITREALMS.

This bill is to repeal the Electoral Act No. 6 of 2010 and is expected to be passed within the next two weeks, barring any changes, urging Nigerians to resist this dangerous manipulation of the future elections.

NDSF2021: Citizens participation enhances digital cooperation in digital economy says Uzor - ITREALMS

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Citizens’ participation in digital cooperation for enhanced multi-stakeholder governance in a digital economy, would engender public policy designs and inclusion of citizenry, according to chief executive officer, Wisdom Computer Technologies, Mr. Francis Uzor, at the 2021 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum series on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D), which held weekend at the Golden Tulip Essential Hotel, International Airport Road, Lagos, reports ITREALMS,

Uzor who led discussion on “Citizens Participation in Digital Cooperation for Enhanced Multi-stakeholder Governance for Digital Economy” noted that it would help immensely when citizens participate in the designing of public policies, in addition to facilitating their participation and inclusion, even from the regions, which enables systematization and integration of citizen demands, just as it would help in generating new communication channels between the government and citizens in a fast changing digital world.

Chinese Virus: Nigerian govt lacks citizens cooperation, blames religious leaders - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Nigerian Government has lamented that citizens are not cooperating at this moment in combating the Chinese virus also known as Coronavirus or Covid-19, reports ITREALMS.

This is coming as the most populous nation on the continent is on the verge of community spread of this scourge.

The Federal Government through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed gave these indications on Thursday in Abuja, blaming some Nigerians for not complying with relevant government directives at this time, especially religious leaders.

“The government is not getting the kind of cooperation that this moment deserves from Nigerians,” he decried.

In addition, he said some Nigerians defied orders to stay away from large gatherings while some religious leaders willfully flouted the directives to ensure social distancing.

As said by Lai Mohammed, the government is doing its best but Nigerians equally need to do their best as well.

“We need the citizens to do their best too,” he said.

Emphasising that Nigeria has now gone past the stage of persuasion, unto to “time for strong enforcement,” the Minister maintained.

Nigerians, he insisted, need to support the authorities in this regard.

“We are on the verge of reaching the level of community spread,” Lai Mohammed warned.
As at 10:28pm on Thursday, March 26, 2020, ITREALMS gathered that Nigeria has recorded 65 cases across 8 states; 14 new cases of #COVID19 have been confirmed in Nigeria: 1 in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 1 in Bauchi and 12 in Lagos.

According to NCDC update available to ITREALMS, “of the 14, 6 were detected on a vessel, 3 are returning travelers and 2 are close contacts of confirmed cases.

Chuks Egbune/Editor

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FG insists, ‘we don’t play politics with security, welfare of citizens’ - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Federal Government (FG) has said, there is no playing of politics with the security and welfare of citizens, reports ITREALMS.

The FG made this remark through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Katsina on Tuesday at a Special Town Hall Meeting on Security (Banditry, Cattle Rustling and Kidnapping).

“Today's Town Hall Meeting is very unique. Since we started in 2016, this is the first time that we are having Governors from the APC and the PDP as panelists.

''This is first a testimony to the fact that this Federal Government does not play politics with the security and welfare of citizens and secondly, a reflection of the patriotism, commitment and nationalism of the Governors, irrespective of their party affiliations,'' he said.

The event had in attendance the PDP Governors of Sokoto and Zamfara, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and Alhaji Bello Matawalle respectively, as well as the host Governor Aminu Bello Masari of the APC.

The three Governors joined the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohamed; Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi (Rtd) and the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as panelists.

Alhaji Mohammed said even though a lot of successes have been recorded in tackling the unique security challenges in the North West, such efforts have not been receiving much publicity in the media.

“Unfortunately, the progress that has been made in combating banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping has not made the kind of headlines that the security challenges were making at their peak. It has therefore become imperative for the Federal Government, working with the affected states, to provide a platform for the Governors of the front-line states to highlight the successes they have achieved in their various states in tackling these cases of insecurity, as well as for relevant Federal Government Ministers to highlight the efforts that have helped to drastically reduce the level of insecurity in the North West,” he said.

The Minister expressed delight that the unrelenting efforts of the Federal Government as well as the determination and innovative efforts of the governments of the affected states have yielded positive results.

He said the Federal Government will continue to use the Town Hall Meetings to regularly give account of its stewardship to the people, in addition to getting a feedback as well as input from them, thus enhancing citizens’ participation in governance.

In his remarks, Maj.-Gen. Magashi (Rtd) said three of the nine special military operations in the country are concentrated in the North West, in order to most effectively tackle the security challenges in the region.

For his part, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Aregbesola, said 6,000 personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps are currently operating in the North West, with six hundred of them deployed as Agro Rangers to tackle farmers-herders clashes.

There was consensus among the participants at the event that there has been a tremendous improvement in the security situation in the North West.

A number of suggestions were made to further enhance security in the region.

Uboshe Uboshe/Editor

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Pix: From left: The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Bello Masari; Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Bello Matawalle; Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and the Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Salihi Magashi (Rtd) at a Special Town Hall Meeting on Security in Katsina on Tuesday.

3 CSOs partner on New Media, Citizens & Governance Confab - ITREALMS Online

ITRealms:

Three civil society organizations namely, Enough is Enough Nigeria, Paradigm Initiative and BudgiT will hold the third edition of their New Media, Citizens, and Governance Conference in Abuja in October. The organizers made this known as registration for the conference opened, reports ITRealms.

According to ‘Yemi Adamolekun, the Executive Director of EiE Nigeria, “the conference will shed light on how new media leverages technology and platforms to connect, curate and share information in innovative ways.  As a subset of new media, ‘social media’ requires interaction and it is this element that opens areas of risk – security and privacy challenges.”  

“Social media has continued to play a crucial role in the political landscape of the world. Political office holders (elected and appointed), political office campaigners, government departments and agencies have utilized social media as a tool to lure and engage the constituents who benefit from their services,” Adamolekun added.
 

Chidi Odinkalu, the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, will present the keynote address, while the conference is expected to welcome leading thinkers from across Africa as guest speakers.
 

It would be recalled that the 2nd edition of the conference was held in October 2016, 18 months after Nigeria witnessed the peaceful ouster of an incumbent president through the ballot; the first time in Nigeria’s democratic history. The conference served as a follow up to several discussions on the use of new media in elections and as a tool for holding government officials and institutions accountable. The 3rd edition of the conference will happen in Abuja, Nigeria on October 24 & 25, 2018.

Speaking on the development, Oluseun Onigbinde, the Co-founder of BudgiT said, “The conference creates an avenue to discuss rights and responsibilities of citizens and government in using new media in mutually beneficial ways. NMCG would include an array of panels on national security, social media conduct, national orientation and technical sessions, with experts and prominent voices in Africa invited to speak at the 2-day conference.”

Tope Ogundipe, the Director of Program of Paradigm Initiative called on active citizens to register to attend the conference to ensure their voices are heard. “Governance in the 21st century is a citizen-led affair. The office of the Citizen is the most important office in contemporary politics, and we must all play our part in ensuring good governance by leveraging our citizen power. The NMCG Conference is another opportunity to devise better ways of deploying citizen power for the good of our society“, she concluded.  

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Plateau State to subsidize Set-Top Boxes for citizens

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The Plateau State Government is to subsidize the cost of Set-Top Boxes for its citizens as the Digital Switch Over (DSO) in broadcasting so as to spread adoption from the state capital, Jos, to the entire state, reports ITRealms.

Governor Simon Lalong disclosed this subsidy plan in Jos on Tuesday while responding to a request to that effect by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who paid him a courtesy visit along with members of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on DSO.

He also said the state is prepared to take full advantage of the DSO for the benefit of the citizenry.

“On our part, we are taking this seriously and we have advised the Commissioner for Information to also start processing for the advantage of the citizenry here on the Plateau, because even if they cannot afford (to acquire the boxes), we are preparing to subsidize for them,’’ the Governor said.

He described the pilot launch of the DSO in Jos as a welcome development, coming at a time when peace has been restored in the state.

Earlier, the Minister thanked the state government for its support for the DSO programme and expressed satisfaction with the progress so far recorded since the launch of the pilot phase on 30 April 2016.

“After one month, we have decided to come back and see how far and how well and I am happy to report to Your Excellency that we are very satisfied with the progress that has been made so far,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the stakeholders would continue to improve on the distribution and activation of the Set-Top Boxes, while also working to correct any lapses that may occur.

He urged the state government to take full advantage of the DSO by assisting the citizens to acquire the boxes, without which they cannot enjoy the benefits of the DSO.

“Given also the net benefit that the state will derive from this process, because part of the advantages of the Digital Switch Over is interaction and the government can put on the platforms information and enlightenment programmes on its policies and programmes, we think it will also be in the interest of government to assist citizens to acquire these Set-Top Boxes which will further help in deepening democracy and will further help in bringing governance nearer to the people,” he said.

As part of pilot phase, the Federal Government has provided 200,000 Set-Top Boxes free of charge for the residents of Jos.

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Taylor advises CTO member countries to centralize databases

ITRealms:

The Secretary-General, Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Mr. Shola Taylor has advised member nations to centralize their databases in the urge to increase trust of the citizens, especially in a developing economy like Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at a press parley of day-one of a three-day Digital Broadcasting Africa Forum 2016 in Lagos, Taylor said that centralizing databases of the government, mostly in Africa has tendency to earn citizens trust.

Stressing that the less of the disjointed database are harmonised, the more trust a country gets from the citizens.

In addition, he said, CTO is concerned that most African countries lack the expertise, so the organization is providing training to affiliate countries through some institutions on cyber security.

This, he said, helps the benefiting countries to have a structured framework to combat cybercrimes.

ITRealms recalls that the forum, which commences Wednesday at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, would last till Friday this week, with focus on “The pan-Africa transition: Achieving digital migration success.”

While some of the highlights include session on “Broadcast Technology Trends, Next Generation, Entertainment, Creation of Local Content, Digital Migration and Spectrum Allocation, Financial and Business Considerations, The consumer Perspective, Digital Radio, Achieving Digital Inclusion, and Financial and Business Considerations.”

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Security alert: U.S. Mission in Nigeria warns citizens to avoid areas frequented by Westerners

 ITRealms:

 

The United States (US) Mission in Nigeria has warned its citizens in the country of security report indicating that terrorist are targeting areas frequented by Westerners for possible attack, reports ITRealms.

A press statement from the mission available to ITRealms, US has confirmed that it received information that groups associated with terrorism may be planning to mount attacks against hotels in Nigeria that are frequented by westerners. 

“No further information is available regarding the timing or method of attack,” part of the statement read.

US Mission which maintains close contact with Nigerian security service also said advised all U.S. citizens to be vigilant when at hotels and around areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers such as churches, mosques and other places of worship; locations where large crowds may gather; and government facilities. 

Security measures in Nigeria, US said, have remained heightened due to threats posed by extremist groups, and U.S. citizens should expect additional police and military checkpoints, additional security, and possible road blocks throughout the country.

The mission further urged citizens to review their personal security plans; remain aware of their surroundings; and monitor local news stations for current information and updates. 

“Maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance your personal security,” US warned citizens.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 

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