WEETS 2026: Akano urges women to build, own AI companies - ITREALMS

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, New Horizons Nigeria, Mr. Tim Akano, has challenged women entrepreneurs and executives to move beyond merely using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to building and owning technology companies, platforms, and intellectual property that will shape the global economy, reports ITREALMS.

Delivering the keynote address at the Women Entrepreneurs & Executives in Tech Summit & Awards (WEETS) 2026, themed “From Innovation to Impact: Women Leading the AI-Driven Future,” Akano warned that women risk exclusion from the emerging distribution of economic power if they fail to position themselves for ownership in the AI economy.

Exposed! How to create your own JAMBFun results - ITREALMS

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Nigerians woke up on Wednesday with some video trending on how to create result of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) for fun, reports ITREALMS.

Investigations by ITREALMS revealed that JAMBFun application (app) is a prank app which allows users to create fake JAMB results to fool your friends; You can impress people and fool your friends.

Nigerians urged to own FOI Act 2011 - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Nigerians have been urged to own the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act signed into law since 2011, says the chairman, board of Freedom of Information Coalition, Nigeria (FOICN), Dr. Chike Walter Duru, reports ITREALMS.

He spoke at a two-day Capacity Building Roundtable on the Provisions and Use of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, at Genesis Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, as part of the European Union (EU) funded Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (ROLAC) programme with representatives of non-state actors including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the Media, private Legal practitioners and mainstream Civil Society actors in the state.

Dwelling on “Freedom of Information Act: An Overview,” Dr. Duru said that FOI as a citizen-driven law should be accepted with two hands by Nigerians and run with it.

According to him until citizens decide the FOI Act will work, only then will it work.

He implore Nigerians who feel strongly about positive change in the country to explore the FOI Act, as it has all it takes to enthrone transparency, accountability and development the country so much desire.

“The only way to make FOI work is for citizens to explore it and ask questions,” he declared.

Duru, who also the Head, Department of Mass Communication, Madonna University, Okija Campus, Nigeria, also lamented on the fact that in the past seven years of this Act only 330 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have complied with the mandate of FOI for them to give institutional reports annually.

He listed some of the benefits of FOI Act 2011 signed into law on May 28, to enable Nigerians to access certain government information, in order to ensure transparency and accountability.

“FOI Act gives every Nigerian a legal right of access to information, records and documents held by government bodies and private bodies bound by the law,” he enthused, insisting that it applies to all arms and tiers of government.

On who is qualified to seek information, Dr. Duru said that any citizen of Nigeria irrespective of professional discipline.

“Any other person seeking clarification of public issues,” he declared.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Budget padding scandal: No-one should be a judge in his own cause

Commenary@ITRealms:

Very few Nigerians will be amazed by the way the House of Representatives handled the allegations of budget padding and abuse of office which Abdulmumin Jibrin, former Chair on Appropriation, levelled against a fraction of the House leadership including the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, as well as 10 other members of the House. To ensure that the issue remains on the plate, Jibrin has been consistent in issuing statements through both the traditional and new media which clearly identify Dogara, Lasun, Ogor and Doguwa as the main targets of his charge. And to press the point, he rightly labeled the clique the QUARTET. 

  

But even in this atmosphere of suffocating change, nothing seems to have changed in the National Assembly, at least not in the House of Reps. Instead of investigating his allegations, the House in its typical, ever-evolving Machiavellian antics that the Nigerian populace has witnessed since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, presented a dubious resolution summoning Jibrin, himself the hunter as Professor Olatunji Dare, the ace satirist, would have characteristically put it, to appear before an ethics and privileges committee. Talk of the hunter being hunted. It’s as if there are no more people with conscience in the green chamber.

And the “honourables” scheming to nail Jibrin at all cost executed their act with a well-choreographed carnival-like fanfare, prancing about the floor without shame, hugging and back-slapping, each brandishing green scarves with the inscription: I Stand with Dogara. In the end, what ought to be a solemn occasion for demanding answers to the issues raised by Jibrin in the interest of public good, was turned into a grand spectacle of pure self-service and reckless endorsement of corruption.

Though originally well-spoken of by the public, the lawmakers by determinedly choosing the option of closing their eyes to the accused and turning the heat on the accuser shot themselves in the foot. That ugly display on the floor of the House has further reduced their worth in the eyes of the people.

And Dogara should know better. An experienced lawyer that he is, the Speaker knows the meaning of the well-worn Latin phrase deployed in the second leg of the title of this piece. Translated in English it means that, “No one should be a judge in his own cause.”  It’s a legal principle that forbids any person from assuming the role of a judge in a case in which he/she has an interest. In this particular case of budget padding and corruption in the House, Dogara, the Speaker of the House is one of the accused persons; to that extent, he is an interested party.

If the House must then investigate as it should the allegations against him and others, the logical step to take is for him to step down from his position as Speaker and allow for a colleague to be elected as Speaker for the purpose of presiding over the investigation. If at the end of investigation he is acquitted he returns to his seat as Speaker. It’s such a simple process that anyone who is not aiming at covering up would easily accede to in order to preserve honour and integrity. But by refusing to step down and subject himself to investigation, the Speaker leaves one with no other option than to deduce that he has something to hide or, at best, that he is indeed guilty of the allegations against him.

Anyone would be forgiven for drawing this conclusion, given the desperation with which Dogara exploited his position as Speaker to finagle a resolution of the House glossing over the budget fraud and corruption allegations involving him, and instead recommending his accuser for a most ridiculous trial for all kinds reasons including “campaign of calumny and infringing on the integrity of the House as an institution.”

But rather than denigrate the House of which he is a proud member as claimed by his traducers, the former chairman of appropriation merely stated the facts. And countless times he has challenged any member of the House who has evidence of malfeasance, corruption or abuse of office involving him to make them public. Up till the time of writing this piece, no one has picked up the gauntlet. 

In fact, the Speaker being one of the accused worsened his case with the clear violation of a sacred legal maxim through that House resolution presided over by him, and directing his accuser to appear before an ethics and privileges committee made up of members appointed by him. There can be no better example of sitting as a judge in your own cause. This is against the principle of natural justice, equity and good conscience.   

Besides, there is no way Jibrin will not be found guilty if he appears before the committee headed by Nicholas Ossai, who on July 26 told Premium Times that it was wrong for Jibrin to claim that the 2016 budget was “padded.” According to the report, Ossai said the budget was only “amended.” He was also quoted as saying, “In legislature, you don’t talk about padding. Budget is an appropriation bill and is like other bills that you amend. You know in bills you talk about clauses. Every head in the budget is a clause. So, legislators have power to amend it.” How would he now get justice before a man who has made this one-sided statement?

Still, this country has Jibrin to thank for his unprecedented revelations. Now, the depth of the rot in the House of Reps is in the open. Rather than applaud and encourage those working to crucify him, it will serve this country well to focus on his message and squeeze adjustments from it. It is the way to go if Nigeria is serious about entrenching transparency and accountability in public governance.

*Godwin Onyeacholem is a journalist. He can be reached on gonyeacholem@gmail.com

 

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