CS-SUNN urges Lagos to integrate MMS into Antenatal Care protocols, media on awareness – ITREALMS

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The Civil Society on Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has urged the Lagos State government to integrate the Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) in its Antenatal Care Protocol in health facilities, reports ITREALMS.

CS-SUNN also called on Nigerian media to continue to upscale public awareness about the benefits of MMS, especially in preventing anaemia and improving maternal outcomes in the country.

Civil society groups endorse Sanwo-Olu for 2019 - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Some civil society groups in Lagos State have endorsed the gubernatorial aspiration of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the 2019 governorship election in the centre of excellence, reports ITREALMS.

Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Humanity Services Project (HSP), Centre for 21st Century Issues (C2CI), United Action for Democracy (UAD) and Free Bond Labour Services (FBLS) were amongst the seventy (70) groups that gave their commitment to support Sanwo-Olu for victory in the coming election.

The groups said their decision to endorse the APC candidate was premised on the outcome of the integrity test conducted on all the gubernatorial candidates in the State, in which Sanwo-Olu trounced other contenders in all the parameters used by the organisations.

The leader of the groups, Comrade Rasaq Olokoba, speaking at an interactive session with Sanwo-Olu on Thursday, stated that the candidate symbolized the progressive thinking and yearnings of the generality of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Lagos State. He added that Lagos State was clearly on another journey of social justice, welfarism and good governance.

"There is a resolve that Lagos State will never fall in the hands of reactionary leaders. What we have witnessed is successive progressive government in this State. So we are very delighted that a great leader like Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu is the candidate of the APC. We know his contributions to progressive movement and the less privileged of the society, who are the major interests of all of us here. We want a government that will listen to and answer the cries of the people with little or no voice in the society.

"So we are very convinced that Sanwo-Olu is the answer. He has overwhelmingly surpassed other candidates in our integrity test. That's the reason we are openly endorsing him and giving our commitment to his victory in the coming election. Lagos State is certainly on another glorious journey of welfarism and good governance, " Olokoba said.

On her part, the Director, Centre for 21st Century Issues, Ms. Titilope Akosa, said it was important for Lagos State to continue to lead on all development fronts, adding that he was certain Sanwo-Olu was up to the task of taking Lagos to greater heights.

She, therefore, added that the candidate should work towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and renewing the government's engagement with the civil society community if elected.

"Lagos state must take leadership on the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the state must renew its partnership with the civil society community to help speedy achievement of many of its goals. So we humbly ask that, when you are elected, you will prioritise these areas which include improvement of the education system in the State and the empowerment of our women.

"The gender equality and opportunity bill has been lying idle all this while. We do hope that when you are elected you will help to give the necessary support and boost for this progressive proposal. Lagos State must continue to show an outlook of a 21st century state in all forms. A state that will give adequate support to the women, children and the needy in the society. We believe in you and we hope that you will perform beyond expectation", she said.

The governorship candidate, while acknowledging the presence and support of the various organisations, stated that the civil society groups were important stakeholders.

He said they were the eyes and ears of the vulnerable people in the society, adding that they were also the watchdog consistently putting government on its toes to perform optimally.

"I want to assure you that you've found a partner in me. I value your role in building a better society. That's why we are committed to opening access to government to achieve our dream of greater Lagos.

"I commend you all because not many people have the strength to get on this noble but demanding path you have chosen. With this partnership, I'm absolutely certain that we will reach the Lagos of our dreams sooner than envisaged", he said.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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CITAD rallies Civil Society on ‘Internet Code We Want’

ITRealms:

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) is rallying the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria to engage on the proposed Internet Code of Practice Development in the country, reports ITRealms.

CITAD Executive Director, Mr. Y.Z. Yau confirmed this to ITRealms saying that the theme of the contribution would centre on “The Internet Code We Want!”

He expected that the session will provide effort to harvest the contribution of significant group of stakeholders in the internet community.

The one-day event, he said, has been scheduled for Thursday, June 8, this year at the Yar Adua Centre, Abuja.

Stressing that given that the internet is critical development tools, he said, it is important that CSOs develop an appropriate national code on how to access and use it.

“The NCC’s invitation to stakeholder is a in the traditional of best practice in inclusive policy making,” he said.

Civil society, as said by Yau, is critical stakeholders and would being making input to the process.

“In order to generate this input, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has planned a Civil Society Consultative Forum on Internet Code of Practice for Nigeria,” he said.

The forum, he said, would bring different civil society organizations to deliberate on the issue and come up with positions that could be submitted to the NCC process.

ITRealms recalls that in effort to develop set of Code of Practice for Internet for the country, the Nigerian government, through the telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says this is in support of net neutrality and an open internet.

Among the objectives of the proposed code are:

1.      Protect the rights and interests of internet service providers and consumers

2.      Provide jointly agreed and effective solutions to the issues of discriminatory traffic management practices

3.      Ensure adequate safeguards are put in place by service providers against abuses such as unsolicited messages;

4.      Outline the obligations of Service Providers in relation to offensive and potentially harmful content for minors and vulnerable audiences

5.      Promote the safe, secure and responsible use of Internet Services with due regard to provisions in existing legal instruments;

6.      Establish best practices for Internet Governance in Nigeria, in line with emerging issues and global trends;

7.      Provide transparent rules for the assessment and classification of Internet content;

8.      Increase stakeholder satisfaction through improved consumer experience online;

9.      Improve competition by addressing issues of traffic management;

10. Improve operational efficiency.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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The death of Nigeria's civil society

Commentary@ITRealms 

Time was when the Nigerian civil society flourished with inspiring agility and genuine enthusiasm for public good. That was the period the group seized the national turf with commanding decisiveness, and galvanized the Nigerian people towards seeing themselves as the ultimate sovereign who must take charge of their destiny by deciding the type of country they wanted. One recalls with nostalgia those memorable days that are now locked in the deep, dark recesses of the past.

Anyone who is conversant with the historic role of the country’s pressure groups would very easily recall the vibrant activities of the civil society from the middle of the 1980s to the time the Fourth Republic was inaugurated in1999. That period would aptly pass for the golden era of Nigeria’s civil society. But for the steely resilience and compelling combat posturing of that group in the heady days of military dictatorship, one scenario would have been the reality: either of two military dictators would have simply changed from military uniform into civilian attire and, with telling impudence, presented himself to the world as a product of democracy. But it never happened, thanks to that virile, vigilant and well-appreciated civil society of yore.

With a cadre boasting accomplished professionals from every known field of human endeavour, it was able to organize itself into a formidable pro-democracy group that mobilized Nigerians from all walks of life for the showdown that eventually forced the soldiers to succumb to the popular demand for a government freely chosen by the people.

Personalities who formed the vanguard of that epic struggle are too numerous to mention but one could readily recall front liners who pounded the streets, filled the highways and packed the halls, parks and squares with fiery speeches denouncing military dictatorship and calling for a democratically elected civil government. They include Wole Soyinka, Alao Aka-Bashorun, Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Baba Omojola, Comrade Ola Oni, Ayo Obe, Dr. Segun Osoba, Idowu Awopetu, Clement Nwankwo, Frank Kokori, Chidi Odinkalu, Abdul Oroh and Richard Akinnola to mention just a few. For emphasis, it must be stated that this list is by no means exhaustive as a handful of activist students also played crucial role in the struggle.

At regular intervals, members of this civil society underlined its resolve with robust confrontation with the military forces, the police and some of the conniving individuals and groups in the society. One witnessed and indeed covered one of such confrontations at the conference hall of the old secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Yaba, Lagos, in the early 90s. That sombre evening the pro-democracy group had converged for a sensitization meeting with the public and had lined up some of the persons mentioned above as speakers.

Then, just suddenly, MKO Abiola (God bless his soul), who had by then assumed notoriety as a long-standing cheerleader of the military usurpers, breezed into the hall to the consternation of the entire gathering. As expected when he got the microphone, Abiola wasted no time launching into a spirited apologia for a wayward military regime. But between him and Gani, the match-up was complete. The hall exploded with fireworks to the delight of the audience as the feisty legal colossus and the dogged business mogul went eyeball to eyeball in a tense standoff between autocracy and freedom. It was a terrific evening of mind-blowing encounter. Trust Gani to always prevail in such situations.  

      

Most remarkable in that civil society was the solid involvement of the Nigerian Bar Association, then led by the inimitable Aka-Bashorun, who has been described as the greatest and most effective president of NBA in living memory. Aka, as colleagues knew him, was elected to the presidency of the NBA at a time the ruling military junta led by General Ibrahim Babangida seemed to have neutralized all forms of opposition to its dictatorship. Aka’s two year stint (1987-1989) at the helm of affairs rebuilt the foundation of that body and re-energized it as an active agent of public scrutiny to the applause of a vast majority of Nigerians.

He it was who evinced rare clairvoyance by deciphering at the very early stage of the junta’s eight-year fruitless transition to democracy that Babangida was not interested in handing over to anybody but to himself. In that strangulating atmosphere of unrestrained repression and persecution of voices of dissent, Aka was the one who mustered the nerve to coin the term “hidden agenda” and slammed it on IBB with reference to his merry-go-round transition programme. For his audacity he was labeled a “radical” by the military, while his multitude of admirers hailed him as “The Lion of the Bar.”

That era contrasts sharply with the state of today’s civil society. The activism of the NBA that ought to be one of the arrowheads of this critical segment of the society has progressively declined since Aka’s exit. Today the NBA tramples on the soul of the masses as it exists only as the legal department of the neo-colonial oppressors, romancing corruption by defending high-profile thieves and politically exposed politicians, and displaying horrific apathy as all kinds of impunities are visited on the land on a daily basis from all arms of government and beyond. An NBA that exists only for the rich. Surely by now, Aka and Gani must be turning in their graves.

Outside the NBA, it is no less disheartening and shameful. All shades of Non-Governmental Organizations parading under the rubric of civil society are set up to be hired by anyone who can pay the price. They will rent the crowd and kit them up with all kinds of paraphernalia to protest on your behalf. And only those who have looted this country blind have been able to continually engage their services.

Although there are genuine CSOs out there, one can hardly see the wood for the trees anymore. It is therefore not a surprise that Professor Itse Sagay, Chair of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), recently publicly lamented the death of civil society in Nigeria – a painful fact long acknowledged by honest observers of unfolding events in the country.     

*Godwin Onyeacholem is a journalist and could be reached on gonyeacholem@gmail.com; Follow him on Twitter @GOnyeacholem

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