OWING to the increasing danger that media professionals encounter in the course of bringing news and information to the public, news organisations around the world have been urged to step up safety measures.
At the February 5, 2016 conference at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, about 300 media leaders shared ideas on how to enhance the safety of journalists and end impunity for attacks on them. President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Alhaji Abdulwaheed Odusile represented the country at the one-day conference with the theme, News Organisations Standing up for Safety of Media Professionals.
The concrete actions news organizations can take include: adopting safety protocols for newsrooms, taking advantage of safety training provided by NGOs, conducting risk analysis, and supporting freelancers. Other ideas raised were the use of mobile apps for journalists to report attacks, and coverage to raise awareness and show solidarity.
The Paris conference, which also involved dialogue with UNESCO Member States representatives, witnessed active participation of media leaders, unions and social media. It helped strengthen the media as a key actor in providing safety for journalists and tackling impunity.
Participants at the Paris meeting also highlighted the importance of strengthening solidarity between media, from local and community radio to mainstream media.
“One of the important points of the conference is that we saw that the whole world was supporting us,” said Jesus Dureza, Publisher of the Mindanao Times and President of the Association of the media owners of Philippines (PPI). “ And you can’t underestimate the importance of this feeling.”
A smaller follow-up meeting on 6 February gathered 25 participants from the conference who explored additional steps such as setting up national mechanisms to monitor and report on safety and impunity. It also gave further attention to the status of freelancers in dangerous areas and improve their safety and protection, with bodies such as the Global Safety Principles and Practices for Freelancers developed by the ACOS (A Culture of Safety) alliance.
During the 5 February conference, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, stressed in her remarks the importance of “building broad base co-operation, to enhance safety of journalists and end impunity” in the framework of the UN Plan of Action of Safety of Journalists. The Director General also announced that she “agreed on the importance of the proposal for a special representative on journalist safety, within the Office of the United Nations Secretary General”.
Amongst the participants were senior representatives of The Associated Press; the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Thomson Reuters, France Media Monde, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, European Broadcast Union, Prisa, AMARC and the Inter-American Press Association.
Sessions were moderated by Chanel 4’s Siobhan Sinnerton, BBC’s Zeinab Badawi, and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour who is also UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and Journalist Safety.
Jim Boumelha of the International Federation of Journalists called for greater action by governments and the UN to protect journalists, while Erik Bjerager, of the World Editors Forum, said the media itself could do much more.
President of RAI, Monica Maggioni highlighted that the nature of conflict is changing and it is becoming more dangerous for media companies to decide to send their reporters to report from the battlefield, since some extremists “consider journalists to be an instrument in war”. Doug Jehl, foreign editor at The Washington Post reiterated that journalists are being persecuted, not only because of what they write but what they represent.
Director General of Swedish Radio and Mustafa Souag, acting Director-General of Al Jazeera, Cilla Benkö reiterated that democracy needs journalists to be alive, but that in recent years they observe that the number of attacks is growing. Veran Matic from Serbia’s B94 pointed out that the morale of the professional community suffers if the murder of fellow colleagues is not solved.
Deputy editor-in-chief of Russia’s Sputnik news agency, Pavel Andreev said: “The problem starts with the newsroom. Unless we start reporting on these issues ourselves nobody will pick it up for us. There is an issue of selective reporting – we cannot allow ourselves to report one death but not others. We have to cover all killings and wrongdoings against journalists no matter where, leave aside double standards. We have to stop talking about journalists deceased in the line of duty as martyrs but as heroes.”
Deputy Director General of UNESCO, Getachew Engida said in his closing remarks: “Governments must do more. The UN must do more. Civil society must do more. And the media industry must do more.”
UNESCO’s Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development, Guy Berger spoke of the symbiotic relationship between press freedom and safety of journalists. The conference was organized under the auspices of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication, and supported by six media groupings, a foundation and six Member States.
ON the occasion of February 5, 2016 conference tagged ‘News Organizations Standing Up for the Safety of Media Professionals’ at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, Reporters Without Borders and UNESCO launched the latest edition of the Safety Guide for Journalists: A Handbook for Reporters in High-risk Environments.
The 130-page guide offers essential information and practical advice for journalists to assist them before, during and after an assignment in dangerous areas. The publication comes in a context of developing threats against media professionals, with more than 700 journalists killed in the past decade for reporting the news. In 2015, more than 105 journalists were killed, while many more were threatened, imprisoned or kidnapped for simply doing their work of bringing news and information to the public.
The Safety Guide for Journalists contains a wide range of essential information to enhance the safety of journalists. It stresses the importance of well-prepared planning before taking assignments in dangerous missions and gives essential tools for journalists. The guide is useful for all those who work in news and information and who report from hostile environments, such as conflict zones, violent demonstrations, riots and terrorist attacks.
The first edition of the Safety Guide for Journalists was produced in 1992. Since then, it has been updated and translated into several languages and widely distributed. The new version, available in Arabic, English French and Spanish, addresses new threats and challenges to an increasingly dangerous profession.
In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Eric Hoffer (writer and philosopher)
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING In the 21st Century also termed the Century of the Fourth Industry Revolution (4IR); the role of the social media cannot be wished away or watered down. With the world population put at 7.4Billion and China’s population put at 1.357Billion, the social media statistics which are available online are more than enough for all to ruminate on.
Social media users globally for 2015 were put at 1.96billion. 2016 is projected to be 2.13billion. 2017 is projected to be 2.29billion. Whilst 2018 is projected to hover about 2.44Billion users. At the juncture, you should know that as at 2012, global active social media users was just 1.4Billion.
How many people use Facebook monthly? Global figures put it at 1.59Billion. Totla number of Facebook daily active users? 1.038Billion.
Twitter has about 320 million users. Twitter’s monthly active users is put at 1billion. And active Twitter users on mobile devices is put at 3.9Million
China is a nation with a population of 1.357Billion and has about 600Million Weibo registered users. Weibo is a microblogging platform commonly referred to as the “Chinese Twitter”. China is a goldmine for Twitter but Beijing has so far denied Twitter entry into China for now when you consider that out of the 600Million registered Weibo users; 222Million are active. And around 100Million are daily users.
The enormity of social media’s influence is still evolving and transcends individuals, cities and borders. One undeniable grandiloquent truth standing out with unblemished immaculacy is that social media is such a powerful tool for people, politicians, corporations, institutions and governments to disseminate awareness or information. To be Nostradamus-like and forecast the futuristic trajectory of this digitalised revolution would be foolhardy. Guess work would be the order of the day because social media is still evolving, changing lives(crowd funding from good Samaritans to pay pressing tuition and medical bills etc) to cutting bureaucracies(interacting directly with government officials etc) to awareness and enlightenment (NGOs breaking down state policies into simple to read and understand literature). And accountability (keeping governments and corporations on their feet by asking tasking but necessary questions.) The list is endless. But not many welcome this change. A change they are not comfortable with. A change that puts one on the stage and the audience is the global community.
THE ERA OF DIGITAL REVOLUTION The potential and influence of social media manifested during the 2008 American Presidential campaigns when Barack Obama’s chief blogger; Sam Graham-Felsen who is a veteran social media strategist, technology analyst. As the blog director of the New Media committee, Sam wrote for and oversaw BarackObama.com/blog, worked with key national and state bloggers to promote the campaign’s message, helped direct the campaign’s online rapid response operation, and produced and collaborated on dozens of online videos for the campaign. The result was the use of social media to source for over hundreds of million for dollars for the Obama campaign. Millions donated by the public. Sam who was in Lagos in 2011 now writes books as he informed me in 2015.
Another example was the unrest in Iran some years ago. Social media and internet services were shutdown during the unprecedented unrest. A Persian lady was shot by the police and a video showing her pass away went viral. The citizens who refused to kowtow to the whims of the then government, found a way around the ban. They began utilising the power of the Bluetooth. As you would know, files can be shared and transferred between Bluetooth devices within a specified radius.
The Egyptian phase of the Arab Spring was said to have gathered momentum online via Facebook. The crackdown on the administrators of the Facebook page didn’t impede the galvanisation of Egyptians to Tahrir Square; who were fed up with the Mubarak regime. As usual, the government shut down social media platforms but it is known that a top American IT expert who was with his Egyptian colleagues in Cairo at that period; got in touch with his close friend-a founder of one of the popular social media platforms for assistance; in providing an alternative to the shutdown; an alternative, some now refer to as a proxy. It was done and the rest is history. Even though, on a BBC documentary the administrators of that Facebook page and organisers of the Tahrir Square protests are now saddened by the turn of events in Egypt.
SPEAK, SILENCE, SOCIAL MEDIA With all candour, the attempt to restrict the use of social media is a fallacy of hasty generalisation by governments not comfortable with the perspicacious and politically aware electorate who are becoming IT savvy. The world is changing. The old ways of banning the press or rather the old ways when governments sunk their fangs into the jugular of the press and the vocalised masses will not do. A lot of leaders globally would prefer to be ruined by praise rather than saved by criticism. Social media amplifies that plethora of constructive criticism to digital decibels which cannot be controlled. And this lack of control is what governments not loved by their citizens or governments who are up to political mischief to their benefit; are wary of.
Social media vocalizes the collective criticism and political predicaments of a society usually churned out by a sangfroid politically aware people. When a government bans or shuts down social media platforms; it implies that officials cannot prognosticate or forecast the outcome of a present predicament (most times it is usually a popular unrest which they aren’t comfortable with or the likelihood of not winning an election). A case in point, is the Ugandan election of Thursday February 18, 2016; when the government shutdown social media with the official statement that it was for “security reasons and that full access would return on Monday, the 22nd”. But Ugandans found proxy channels to bypass the social media ban and still posted pictures, results etc using #UgandaDecides. MTN Uganda which shutdown service must have counted the cost of not operating her MTN Mobile Money Service; for on the evening of the Election Day; the mobile money service resumed.
When a government arrogates to itself the monopoly of wisdom and bans social media especially during a “perceived crisis” (which is usually to retain control); the same social media the government must have utilised to her political advantage; usually this brazen move completely befuddles the citizens who begin to think outside the box and creatively find smarter ways to circumvent the ban. The result is a collective effort by like-minded individuals online; who might have had only an interest in governance but now a commitment. No thanks to the restriction of social media.
Montesquieu (1689-1755) said, the deterioration of a government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded. Social media trumpetizes a government’s decay and its attendant decadence like no other platform. In his book (The Principles and Benefits of Change); the late Dr Myles Munroe stated that the old ways of leadership have lost their effectiveness and must yield to the new equation of the 21st Century leadership.
Let me add that 21st Century leadership must embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) which the social media is a part of. Connoisseurs of media (Print, TV, Radio, Digital and Social) know that restricting social media is the genesis of political hara-kiri by any government. Social media is evolving; the magnitude of its influential power cannot be quantified due to its rippling or domino effects. And with anything taking its natural course, restricting what should be on social media would be a collective effort resulting in societal good and not for political advantages; which seems to be the case in several global instances; cloaked as accountability for statements made whilst simultaneously delegating freedom of speech.
GEOFF IYATSE writes on issues arising from the management of social media accounts left behind by dead people
Have you ever asked yourself: “What happens to my social media accounts when I die?” Do you think yourTwitter handle or Facebook page is valuable enough to be treated as an item on your testament? Or you never thought about what happens to the content that you create on a daily basis? If you have over 40 million Twitter followers as Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid Football Club does, would you expect your family to take down the account when you pass away?
Initially intended for leisure, digital media have transcended the primary objectives of their founders. People now make money based on the number of the followers they have. With a constantly expanding entrepreneurial base, digital media accounts are now used to measure some individuals’ financial worth.
Yet, many experts do not find posthumous digital life a comfortable subject to discuss. However, a few admitted that they could not run away from it for too long, especially now that social media are mainstreaming into other aspects of lives.
The fact that digital media have value that could be monetised, issues around who has the right to control them when the original owner dies, may not be something the society would continue to ignore. Expectedly, they will form part of the social tension that the future generation will contend with. Perhaps, what will make the issue more interesting is the fact that digital pages have the potential to outlive their users and that their value could grow over time.
Akunyili
Deji Bankole, a Lagos-based social media expert, acknowledged the need to examine the matter. He noted that many users of social media died without transferring their passwords to those they left behind.
He said, “Social media platforms have different policies on deceased accounts. For instance, a deceased’sFacebook account can be turned into a memorial page if proved that its user has actually died. The family of the deceased could, in the alternative, request a de-activation of account.
“But, in many cases, relatives of deceased persons can’t have access to their social media accounts. The login details are often taken to the grave. Unless the password of a deceased person is known by someone else or the deceased didn’t remove the login details from his/her computer, the account could be left dormant.”
Bankole described the decision to will a social media account as a personal one. He, however, said he would rather “take his account details and the content created with him to the grave” than transferring them to a relation. He also made a distinction between social media and other physical estates, saying they could not be given a similar treatment when writing a will.
“How a person uses his/her social media account is personal. The energy that runs the social media sphere is conversational and what generates a conversation is a thought. No one can possibly know what another person is thinking about. Can you know what a dead person is thinking about? Obviously, the dead have no thoughts. So, when a social media subscriber is dead, their social media pages should be considered as dead,” he argued.
A partner at Development Diaries, Tayo Elegbede, shared this opinion. He said privacy should be the most important issue during discussions on ownership transfer. If privacy could not be protected, he argued, social media accounts of the dead should be frozen. Should another user consider an account of a dead relation useful, he said, such person should take caution to avoid potential abuses such as privacy violation.
Elegbede said, “Digital accounts of the dead should either be frozen (memorialised) or, at best, transferred to a close relation to manage; howbeit, with some restrictions. The restrictions can be ensured by digital media companies who should insist that users document their choices of relations or friends who should have access to their digital accounts when they pass away. This could be dubbed ‘digital next of kin’.
Kefee
“At least, one relation of the dead should have access to a digital asset. But, this should be done with some restrictions. There will probably be a need for someone to break the news of the death and announce funeral arrangements.”
Unlike other assets, digital media assets are extremely personal. Hence, Elegbede suggested that users of inherited networking platforms should be compelled to notify the public of a change of ownership. According to him, a notification should be published before the new owner begins to exercise the full administrative right.
On how the living should treat the accounts of the dead, the analyst said attention should be paid to online etiquettes that reflected the character of the dead, in addition to compliance with privacy rules.
“With the growing indispensability of digital tools and platforms, writing a will on digital assets should be important to individuals and legal practitioners. Digital assets are growing, and they could be subjects of conflict if not properly managed. They should be part of contemporary will documents,” he said.
As for Dr. Pius Onobhayedo, an expert in digital communication and lecturer at the School of Media and Communication, the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, the issue could also be approached from the perspective of intellectual right. This, he said, made it a complex issue.
“The question is: who owns what? This is because what is included in your will is what you own. Whether you can ask Facebook, for instance, to give your account to somebody when you die should depend on whether the content is yours or not,” he noted.
The indifferent attitude with which many Nigerians have attended to writing Wills, according to him, will affect how issues arising from digital estate ownership transfer will be treated. He pointed out the growth of digital space and the tendency to monetise platforms as major reasons why users could not continue to ignore the subject.
He said, “It is a serious issue, considering that some people who are late may have left behind a repository of knowledge that is valuable. In that context, there is a right which nobody must ignore. So, what is important is to define ownership.
“Imagine that somebody who signed up on Blogger is dead. The content on the person’s blog is in the public domain. The person or his heir has a right to the content created. And if the deceased monetised the blog, the income it continues to generate belongs to his representative unless there is an agreement withGoogle, saying ‘My right to the income ceases on account of death’.”
Douglas
As observed by Onobhayedo, right to digital content is not like a straight line. And the fact that online presence appreciates or depreciates (sometimes at an alarming rate), depending on how it is handled, makes right determination a convoluted matter. For instance, how will you determine the value that an admin manager, who runs a digital platform on behalf of a minor, adds to the digital estate?
According to him, both the minor who the asset is willed to and the individual, who manages it in the meantime, can hold claim to the future right as the latter could be deemed to have sustained the appeal of the platform through regular updates.
In an earlier article, Sola Fagorusi, another digital communication analyst, had observed that the commercial disruption of the hitherto pastime would expand the job description of copyright lawyers in the coming years.
He noted, “The growing social media enterprise is enough call to reflect on the future for individuals and organisations that are making a fortune from online business nowadays.
“As it stands, my profile pictures on Facebook would outlive me, believing that Facebook will exist for many more years to come. If Twitter stands the test of time and decides to preserve its content, our tweets would be there for our grandchildren to peruse. Even if they never meet us, they would have an idea of what our thoughts and interests were while we were here.”
Even the most conservative users, Fagorusi observed, would soon realise that the new digital culture had a deeper root in the socio-economic life of an individual when they began to see posters and newspaper adverts inviting them to a “digital death summit”.
Still, there are social media experts who do not think this issue should be given prominence. Soyem Osakwe, a social media branding consultant, is in this category. According to her, a late celebrity’s page could be used to advance the cause the late user stood for. Otherwise, she said, “Private social media profiles should be allowed to rest in peace.”
Similarly, Amara Njoku said such accounts should be allowed to operate for some weeks so as to allow people to pay tributes to the dead after which they should be taken down.
Goldie
But a lawyer at Indemnity Partners, Chuks Nwachukwu, said a Twitter or Facebook user had no ownership right to their pages or contents. He likened a social media post to a letter to an editor, wondering how anybody could lay claim to such a document.
“If there is right of ownership, it should be exercised by the service provider, that is, Facebook, Twitter orInstagram as the case maybe. So, the content or the account cannot be willed to one’s representatives,” he said.
The legal expert made a distinction between social media accounts and websites, saying only the latter had the character of personal possessions and could be willed.
The dead, their inactive accounts
Within the short period of time that Nigerians have paid a serious attention to virtual networking, not a few pages have been abandoned on account of death. They are neither taken down nor memorialised as advised by experts. Indeed, in a world where business organisations are looking for ‘priced’ social media pages to buy into, families of popular social media users could make money from such pages.
Before her death in February 2013, Susan Harvey (popularly known as Goldie) had grown her Facebookand Twitter pages up to a point where many would consider as commercially-viable. Almost three years after her death, Harvey’s @GoldieHarvey still occupies its space on Twitter network.
After the death of the singer, the Twitter page was operated for a few weeks. During that period, the handle was used to announce her death and subsequently, publicise a new movie. But it stopped publishing on March 5, 2013. The initial posthumous posts suggested that it had been memorialised. But now there is an indication that @GoldieHarvey has been abandoned.
Goldie’s Twitter page retains the majority of its followers. As of Wednesday, the late star’s page had 53,100 followers, including top showbiz personalities and celebrities from different parts of Africa. Thus, the page could still serve as a memorial platform should the family choose to reactivate it.
Apart from @GoldieHarvey, Goldie was associated with several other social media pages, one of which (@Goldiegagafans) is currently being used by a gossip site to tweet blogs.
Unlike Goldie, the family of the late Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Dora Akunyili, has kept her Facebook page alive. Akunyili’s relations may not have continued the cause the late pharmacist’s fight. But, the world, through the page, can track what diverse groups are doing to keep her memory fresh.
Going to two years after her death, the late singer Kefee Momoh’s photographs still adorn major social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook, many people may have unfollowed Kefee, but her page has yet to be taken down. Occasionally, her fans drop tributes on the timeline.
One can still follow Oronto Douglas, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide, on Facebook. Notwithstanding his death, Douglas’ timeline still keeps collections of the statements he made on national issues. But, since he passed away, not a word has been published on the page which Douglas visited last on March 8, 2015. And his profile has not been modified since his passing.
Douglas’s Facebook is one more social media profile that has ‘refused’ to die with its user though it has not been memorialised either.
‘Sorry, my husband passed away seven months ago’
Imagine the above is the response you get on dialling a number belonging to a friend or an associate. It has been a while you spoke with the person who could be a friend, associate or anybody in a formal position. The fact is that you did not contact him in the past months. When you, however, telephoned him, it was the wife who broke the ‘news’.
While this is the experience of a Lagos-based journalist, Adeyeri Samuel, who wanted to request an interview with a lawyer, not knowing he had passed on, there are many instances when members of the family of a deceased person continue to use his phone and number. Often, this happens when the husband is dead and the wife continues to operate the phone. What needs to be unravelled is the legal implication of such a development.
But findings have also showed that the telephone lines of many late subscribers are being abandoned by their relations. For instance, True Caller, on Wednesday, identified the late Kefee as user of her MTN line. But those who are close to the late singer said the line had been inactive.
Another line belonging to an Ibadan, Oyo State-based businessman, Philip Saka, has been abandoned by his family members. One of his relations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the family did not consider it necessary to reach out to the service provider to deactivate the line, as they had more important issues to worry about. There are several other dead telecoms subscribers who are in the category of Saka.
For now, there is no policy on how lines of dead users should be handled. Funsho Aina, spokesperson for MTN, said such lines were handled in line with the stipulation of the Nigerian Communications Commission on inactive lines. According to him, every line, whether the user is alive or dead, is retrieved and relocated to a new customer if it remains inactive for 90 days.
Aina, however, said an intending user, where the death of the original subscriber was reported, was required to re-register the lines before use. He added that such a person was required to convince the telecoms provider why the line should be reassigned to him.
A source said Globacom also adopted the NCC policy in handling phone lines of deceased customers. The source said there was yet no “special policy on how such lines are treated”, stressing that the firm would not deactivate any line unless it was inactive.
The dead can actually ‘live forever’
Interestingly, techies are thinking ahead of users as regards the right to the use of social media pages.Google, for instance, has introduced a new product called Inactive Account Manager. It enables subscribers to give an instruction to Google on how they want their digital accounts to be managed when they depart. With Inactive Account Manager, users can submit a request on whether the tech company should close their accounts; who could request funds from monetised accounts; who could obtain data from them and how potential hijacking could be resolved.
Google’s initiative is based on the fact that “many people pass on without leaving clear instructions about how to manage their online accounts.”
As part of the after-life deal, the tech giant says it is working with immediate family members of the deceased and representatives to close online accounts in some cases once a user is known to have died. Under certain circumstances, according to Google, family members could also be assisted to obtain content from a deceased user’s account as long as such action does violate the late user’s privacy.
“Users have a strong and reasonable expectation of privacy and security when using Google’s products. We believe that the trust placed in us by our users requires us to make sure that their information is safe, even in the event of their death,” states Google’s policy statement.
Facebook has also started treating digital pages like physical assets. As part of its policy, the site memorialises an account once it is aware that its owner has passed away. Hence, users have the option of choosing legacy contacts. Legacy contacts, as in the case of physical assets, are individuals with rights to manage memorialised accounts.
However, memorialised account manager, according to the rules, does not retain all the rights a diseased user had.
New users can accept or reject new friend requests, change profile/cover photos and share new updates. But they cannot remove past posts, photos and other contents that are shared. Also, they cannot read messages the late user exchanged with friends or remove old friends.
Facebook and Google’s restrictions appear to have addressed the concerns that memorialisation could violate the privacy of original users.
Unfortunately, these restrictions only apply when users adopt a former process in transferring their digital ‘wealth’.
Where admin right is given to a friend or relation without engaging the service provider, privacy and safety issues are at the discretion of the new users. Statistics on the rate at which users are embracing formal transfer are rare. But an informal method and unauthorised use of admin right, according to experts, are the prevalent trends at the moment.
It is refreshing to note that the Muhammadu Buhari anti-corruption effort is up and running. If the war succeeds at the end of his regime, it will certainly be a plus to the ordinary persons in Nigeria who have been living below $1 daily.
In our country with an estimated population of 180 million people, ordinary persons come in the region of about 90 percent, while the middle class and the super rich make up the remaining 10 percent. This is an unfair deal if you ask me.
Therefore with looted funds returned by past and present corrupt politicians and leaders, it is expected that the Buhari-led regime would be able to re-channel the funds to the provision of some democracy dividends like good road network, electricity, hospitals, schools, water, affordable houses, jobs, transportation and education among others.
With his statements and body language of Buhari since he came on board, May 29, 2015, it is clear that his regime has zero tolerance for corruption in whatever form and under any guise.
Talk is cheap and time will tell if Buhari is serious about fighting corruption to a standstill in the country. In our country, most politicians and leaders talk more and do less.
They promise heaven on earth during political campaigns and deliver poverty after being voted into their various offices.
I foresee those alleged to have collected various sums of money from the Sambo Dasuki $2.1 arms procurement deal fighting back in the days, weeks, months and even years ahead.
The president is over 73 years old and the anti-corruption war heat may likely overwhelm him and possibly make nonsense of his determination to clean-up the country of corruption and other social vices.
Dasuki, former national security adviser, during the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan could not like to go down alone.
He is naming names of powerful individuals and companies that benefited from the funds meant to procure arms to fight Boko Haram, which was instead used to service politicians to work for the second term presidential dream of Jonathan.
However, let me pause at this point to draw the attention of our president to the existence of the Freedom of Information Act, signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan on May 28, 2011.
This is a universally acceptable law, which empowers anyone to use it as a legally enforceable tool to obtain records or information from any of the more than 800 federal ministries, departments and agencies operating in Nigeria.
Records from the Media Rights Agenda, a non-governmental organization based in Lagos, South-West Nigeria, show that Jonathan who signed the FOI Act bill into law, thus becoming an act, was hailed and praised for his courage.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was supposed to sign the bill into law after it was passed by both houses of the national assembly, simply ignored it.
The Goodluck Ebele Jonathan regime however did not score high in encouraging federal institutions to ensure that people and groups that request for records and information are attended to promptly.
Buhari has a duty to encourage ordinary persons in the country to request for specific records and information from federal, state and local institutions.
This opens up governance, ensures transparency, credibility and accountability in his regime that is already seen by some persons and groups as being selective and witch-hunting.
In Nigeria, where the civil service rule says no government worker at the federal, state and local level is allowed to open-up and speak on record with regards to information concerning his or her agency, it is obvious that the FOI Act will continue to meet stiff resistance.
I have the feeling deep down that though the beginning may be tough for the FOI Act in our country, we will eventually get to the promised land.
However, while the heat on the Buhari anti-corruption war is building-up and corrupt and powerful politicians, technocrats and past and present leaders are sharpening their arsenals in readiness for a tough fight, our president, who seems to be a man of the people, should pitch his tent with the common men and women in Nigeria.
He must walk the talk and deliver on his campaign promises or else be rubbished by same persons in our country who shouted Sai Baba, Sai Buhari, while he was plotting to unseat Goodluck Jonathan as president of Nigeria.
Buhari should break this jinx of secrecy and bureaucracy that has existed in Nigeria for ages and which provided a cover-up for corrupt politicians and leaders to loot the country of billions in local and foreign currencies.
Christian Journalists demand more visibility for women
Dayo Emmanuel
Christian journalists under the aegis of Journalists For Christ (JFC) Nigeria, have made a demand on media managers in the country on providing adequate reportage of women and issues about them.
The media group, which recently published the report of its one-month-long media monitoring of six newspapers in Nigeria also held two media workshops for journalists in Lagos.
The publication, ‘Mainstreaming Gender Reporting on Affirmative Action of Women and Girls Right Issues,’ was published by JFC with support from the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC).
As part of raising support for gender balance with the media, JFC has also commenced a media visit of the six media houses it had monitored to generate the report. The media organisations include; The Punch newspaper, The Guardian, The Vanguard, The Nation, Daily Trust, and The Sun newspaper.
Speaking at the visit to Daily Trust newspaper, Coordinator of the project, Gbenga Osinaaike, said, “The project is an eye opener to the assumption that women have not enjoyed enough representation in the media.”
Osinaike, a former Assistant Editor at The Punch newspaper and Publisher, Church Times Nigeria, however enjoined Daily Trust newspaper to continue to advance the course of women and girls with its brand.
Also on the team of JFC to Daily Trust was Assistant Director, News, at the Voice of Nigeria, Mrs. Ugonma Cokey, who enjoined media managers to always give more space to women issues.
“More spaces should be created and given to women issues. Women have achieved a lot in other areas apart from fashion and children desks in the newsroom and should be given opportunities according to their competence.”
“We are here at Daily Trust because it was one of the papers we monitored to generate the report. We are however advocating, if possible, we could have women desk because we hardly find men reporting women issues,” she said.
Responding, General Manager, Southern Operations, Daily Trust, Kamaldeen Ademola Oladosu, appreciated JFC and the noble efforts it had exhibited in bringing about the project.
“There are two things that are making me show interest in this project. Number one, we have a pull-out we publish every Sunday called Tambari, which is a woman oriented paper,” he said.
Oladosu continued that, “Our moral standard at Daily Trust is high. Tambarihas its own editor, a female, Amina Alhassan and we have fashion, health and other beats in the pull out, and there is always room for improvement.
He also revealed his organisation’s plan to celebrate women during the International Women’s Day coming up in March.
“As part of our support and recognition for women, we are preparing to celebrate them in March at the International Women’s Day in Abuja. It is going to be a big event. Wife of the President and some governors’ wives are attending the event holding at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja,” he revealed, stating further that, “Several topics are going to be discussed. The issues you have raised would be addressed as critical issues affecting women. Wife of the South African President Zuma is the Chairperson at the event.”
Oladosu added that, “We also publish an annual magazine called, ‘Women in Power’ magazine, this is a magazine that brings women issues to the fore.”
Talking about women that take to crime, he said, “We have to look at the aspect of women taking into crime. If we want the society to do well, we have to look into this aspect. We have ladies that are doing very well, women need to be challenged to be the best they can be.”
Expressing his concern for women getting involved in crime, Oladosu wants women in the country to condemn such acts in order to minimise the trend.
“The woman that killed her husband in Ibadan had attempted the murder once, until she eventually succeeded. If it was the other way round, some women would have carried placards. If we want a better society, such wicked acts must be addressed.” He said.
Others on the team of JFC at the media visit were the Project Consultant, ‘Sanmi Falobi, Admin Secretary, JFC, Dayo Emmanuel and Damilola Adeoye.
ARTICLE 19 has been joined by more than 50 other leading international and national civil society organisations in calling on the UN Human Rights Council to consider serious concerns around certain initiatives around “countering and preventing violent extremism” (PVE). Some of these initiatives risk significantly negative impacts on human rights, particularly the right to freedom of expression.
Through the letter and submission, ARTICLE 19 and others “recognise that PVE initiatives that are based on a clear definition of the phenomenon being addressed, have a proper evidential basis for harm reduction, and that respect human rights and civil society space, can play a potentially positive role.” However, the experience of many organisations is that, as with “counter-terrorism” measures, not all PVE initiatives meet these standards.
The letter and submission argue that the lack of an agreed definition for “violent extremism” opens the door to human rights and others abuses, compounded by the danger of conflating the phenomenon itself with “terrorism” and thereby leading to the overbroad application of “counter-terrorism” measures.
While packaged as positive measures, the letter and submission state that “many PVE initiatives have a significant potential to threaten the human rights to equality and freedom from discrimination, the right to privacy, and the freedoms of expression, association, and religion or belief.”
Governments routinely label their political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders as “violent extremists” simply for exercising their rights: PVE initiatives may provide some governments with further grounds to stifle freedom of expression, and crush dissent.
The letter and written submission also question the evidential basis for many PVE initiatives, which tend to alienate the very communities they seek to help, and are perceived as stigmatising and discriminatory and as a form of “soft surveillance.” While PVE initiatives are often framed not as addressing a particular religion or ideology, ARTICLE 19 and others note how they overwhelmingly target Muslims, with some programmes specifically targeting and stigmatising Muslim women.
There are also serious concerns that certain PVE initiatives target individuals’ access to the Internet or specific online platforms, to block lawful online content, and create blanket restrictions on access to specific platforms or encryption services. Increasingly, governments are enlisting private companies in these efforts on a “voluntarily” basis, circumventing procedural safeguards for the rights of users. At the same time, States too often overlook the enormous potential of a free and open Internet to enable robust debate in making a contribution to PVE.
HRC resolution 30/15 on “human rights and countering and preventing violent extremism”, adopted by vote after substantial oral revisions, called for the panel discussion on this issue. The resolution is criticised in the letter and submission for failing to “properly capture the danger for abuse of PVE initiatives”, and for “providing inadequate language aimed to protect human rights”.
In December 2015, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon launched the UN “Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism”. Though this all-encompassing agenda acknowledges several of the concerns that civil society have highlighted to the UN Human Rights Council, it largely fails to resolve them. There are concerns that it will lead to a proliferation of PVE initiatives that do not contain sufficient safeguards to protect human rights.
ARTICLE 19 calls on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and all States to carefully consider the concerns raised in the joint letter and submission at the PVE panel discussion at the 31st Session of the HRC.
SIGNATORIES
The Joint Letter and Written Submission are endorsed by:
ARTICLE 19
American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
Association for Progressive Communications
Human Rights Watch
International Commission of Jurists
International Federation for Human Rights - FIDH
International Humanist and Ethical Union
International Press Institute
International Service for Human Rights
PEN International
Privacy International
World Association of Newspapers - WAN-IFRA
Access Now
ActiveWatch Romania
Afghanistan Journalists Center
Australian Privacy Foundation
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism - ABRAJI
Cambodia Center for Independent Media - CCIM
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
International Cartoonist Rights Network
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility - CMFR
Charity & Security Network
Committee to Protect Journalists - CPJ
Council on American-Islamic Relations - CAIR
English PEN
European Digital Rights - EDRi
Federation of Nepali Journalists - FNJ
Free Media Movement (Sri Lanka)
Freedom Forum
Fundamendios
Globe International Center (Mongolia)
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
Human Rights Network for Journalists (Uganda)
Independent Journalism Center -IJC (Moldova)
Index on Censorship
International Federation of Journalists - IFJ (Asia-Pacific)
La Quadrature du Net
March Lebanon
Media Foundation for West Africa
Media Institute of Southern Africa
Media Rights Agenda
Media Watch Media
Entertainment & Arts Alliance (Australia)
Mizzima News
Muslims for Progressive Values
National Union of Somali Journalism - NUSOJ
Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms- MADA
PEN America
PEN Canada
Social Media Exchange - SMEX (Beirut)
South East European Network for Professionalization of Media
Southeast Asian Press Alliance - SEAPA
Vigilance for Democracy and the Civic State
West African Human Rights Defenders' Network - WAHRDN
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters- AMARC
