Displaying items by tag: Nigeria

The Twitter Ghana/Nigeria team has met with Kunle Adeyanju, the Nigerian tourist who is riding bike from London to Lagos to raise awareness about the fight against polio in Africa and the rest of the world.

The team, led by Bernard Sokpe, senior partner manager at Twitter, met Adeyanju alongside two other members, Oluwamayowa Tijani and Nneka Chile at Susana Lodge in Accra, Ghana.

Adeyanju has travelled on two wheels from the United Kingdom to France to Spain to Morocco to Mauritania to Senegal to Mali to Burkina Faso to Cote D’Ivoire to Ghana, where he was received by the team and was presented with some Twitter merch.

The Rotarian biker said his trip would not have had as much impact, if not for the amplification it has gotten from social media.

He said without social media, it would be “like a pretty woman winking at a man in the dark — he won’t see it”.

The biker, who had detailed his trip on Twitter as he travelled, was verified on the platform a few days before his arrival in Ghana.

Here are some images from the welcome in Ghana.

[THECABLE]

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the lifting of the suspension on the Twitter operations in Nigeria.

The lifting, according to a statement signed by Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), will be effective from midnight, January 13, 2022.

In June 2021, the government announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter’s operation in Nigeria after the platform deleted tweets made by President Muhammadu Buhari, who had threatened to treat members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the language they understand.

Three months ago, the president said he had directed that Twitter suspension be lifted — only if the conditions are met to allow citizens to use the platform for positive engagements.

Some of the conditions include legal registration of operations, taxation, and managing prohibited publications in line with Nigerian laws.

While announcing the lifting of the ban, the government noted that Twitter has agreed to meet the set out conditions.

REGISTRATION OF TWITTER WITH THE CAC

One of the conditions given by the federal government is that the social media giant must register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Nigeria.

The statement added that Twitter has agreed to register with the CAC.

“Twitter has committed to establishing a legal entity in Nigeria during the first quarter of 2022. The legal entity will register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC),” the statement reads.

“The establishment of the entity is Twitter’s first step in demonstrating its long-term commitment to Nigeria.”

APPOINTMENT OF COUNTRY REP

The government also noted that Twitter would appoint a designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities.

The Global Public Policy team is also directly available through a dedicated communication channel.

TWITTER WILL PAY TAX

The statement noted that the micro-blogging platform has agreed to comply with applicable tax obligations on its operations under Nigerian law.

ENROL NIGERIAN OFFICIALS TO MANAGE PROHIBITED CONTENT

The federal government said the company also agreed to enrol Nigeria in its Partner Support and Law Enforcement Portals.

According to the statement, the portal will provide a direct channel for government officials and Twitter staff to manage prohibited content that violates Twitter community rules.

Additionally, the portal will provide a channel for the law enforcement agencies to submit a report with a legal justification on content that violates Nigerian Laws.

TO PLAY BY NIGERIA RULES AND CULTURE

The government said Twitter also agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws, national culture and history on which such legislation has been built.

The platform will work with the federal government and the broader industry to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries.

 

 

The leader of the umbrella body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, Professor Banji Akintoye disclosed that the yoruba patriots will ensure nothing unlawful or primitive is done to Sunday Igboho while in custody.

Recall that Igboho has been in detention since July 19, 2021 when he was arrested by Interpol at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou, with his wife, Ropo, but the Cour De’appal De Cotonou ordered the release of the Germany-based wife of the activist, saying there were no allegations against her.

The Department of State Service (DSS) had declared Igboho wanted after its operatives carried out a bloody midnight raid on his residence in the Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

The Federal government has made move on the different occasions to extradite Igboho to Nigeria based on gun running allegations.

Akintoye told Vanguard that he would not return to Nigeria until Igboho is set free from detention.

Speaking through his media aide, Maxwell Adeleye, Akintoye, said the process of securing the release of the Yoruba activist was ongoing.

He  said:“I will return to Nigeria immediately Igboho is released from custody.

“Yoruba nation agitators, both home and in the Diaspora, must stand strong. We have resolved Sunday Igboho will not be subjected to inhuman and dehumanizing treatment of any kind.

“Myself and other Yoruba patriots are working to provide the assistance necessary to ensure that nobody will be able to do anything unlawful or primitive to him in custody.

“My continued stay here does not mean I am afraid of the Federal Government of Nigeria. I have not committed any offence to warrant fleeing from Nigeria as some people were insinuating.

“We are fighting for our rights. Yoruba people cannot continue to be slaves.   We are going to shock the Nigeria government with our plans. But we are not going to make them (plans) public. It’s going to be strategic. We are going to deploy what we have to get what we want.

“Sunday Igboho is our son and we will defend him with our last breath. He deserves not to be in custody for fighting for the freedom of Yoruba people. I assure you, we will become victorious as plans are in top gear to get him released, but I will not disclose what will happen next.”

 

 

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed says Twitter chose Ghana as the headquarters for its African operations because Accra is the champion of democracy and there is rule of Law.

The Minister disclosed to newsmen that the tech giants chose Ghana over Nigeria because our the nation’s West African neighbours are champions of democracy and abide by the rule of law.

“The reasons cited by Twitter for citing the headquarters in Accra, Ghana is that Accra is a champion of democracy and there is rule of law in the country, among other reasons. This is what you get when you de-market your country,” Mr Mohammed said.

Mr Mohammed added, "The media is more to blame for this which most times exaggerate the challenges in the country.

“At no time was this worse than during the #EndSARS protest when Nigerian journalists both traditional and new media were trying to outdo themselves in painting Nigeria as a hell where nobody should live.

“When they all conspired to vilify not just the government but the people of Nigeria. We are not saying that you should not criticise the country but be fair and patriotic. When you destroy your own house, where are you going to live?

“You can imagine the kind of job opportunities that citing that headquarters in Nigeria would have generated, the kind of visibility it would have given Nigeria but we destroyed it. It is what the insiders say about their country that the outsider will use to judge and condemn the country.”

He urged Nigerians to be more patriotic, stressing that the continuous push to put the nation in a bad light has now cost a great opportunity that would have benefitted the youths and the nation at large.

The minister stated that the natural expectation is that Nigeria with a 25 million Twitter user population should have been the hub of twitter business in Africa, as against ghana with only eight million Twitter users.

After the Federal Executive Coucncil (FEC), Presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed disclosed to newsmen that Nigeria’s low rating on the Transparency International (TI) corruption perception index is due to certain gaps in the provision and analyses of data between the country and the anti-corruption agency. 

According to Mr Mohammed, “We took the ratings seriously, so we actually went to analyze the ratings, and we found that there have been some gaps; either we have not forwarded enough data."

He added that the government found it strange that the country’s rating has remained the same for a period of 10years.

however, he noted that the authorities are taking remedial measures so they can get the data in respect of those sectors.

Mr Mohammed emphasized that there is a bit of discrepancy with the outcome of TI.

He stated that, it is not possible for you not to improve, for you not to lose points for 10years.

He is of the opinion that the issue of TI’s low ranking of the country was not necessarily about stealing of public funds, arguing that the assessment has so far not correctly reflected the government’s effort to curb graft in the country.

The minister observed that there are some inconsistencies in the ranking by the global body over the years due to inadequate data, noting however that reforms are in the works to see that the nation’s corruption perception would improve.

Mr. Mohammed alluded past rankings where the nation was scored very low in the area of ease of doing business .

“That is why the Federal Government embarked on reforms, especially at the seaports. That is one area where we scored very low and you’ll see that in recent times, we’ve embarked on numerous reforms at our seaports so that our rating will improve.

“In addition, we are putting more emphasis on the preventive mechanism of corruption rather than prosecution. The preventive mechanism that we’ve put in place include the National Ethics Policy launched by the ICPC to address integrity issues in all sectors of the polity and is directly linked to the pillar of the national anti-corruption strategy,” the minister stated.

He added that “the Code of Conduct Bureau has put in place some preventive measures, especially in the area of energizing the code of conduct for public officers

“The Council for Ease of Doing Business recently launched the Nigerian Ports Process manual to hasten the processing of goods at the ports.”

 

Nigerian Music Stars Wizkid and Burna Boy have emerged winners at the 2021 Grammy Awards.

While Burna Boy’s ‘Twice As Tall’, his last year’s project, fetched him the ‘Best Global Music Album’ Category, Wizkid won his first-ever Grammy award for his role in ‘Brown Skin Girl’, a 2019 song by Beyonce.

‘Brown Skin Girl’ was nominated for the category alongside ‘Life Is Good’, a song by Future featuring Drake, ‘Lockdown’ by Anderson Park, ‘Adore You’ by Harry Styles and ‘Goliath’ by Woodkid.

This year’s edition of the awards was earlier scheduled for January but was postponed.

Details later…

Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has arrived Nigeria on a one week visit.

She arrived the country at about twelve pm via Ethiopian airways.

The Director General was received on arrival by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo.

She is to meet with the President, his Chief of staff as well as the Foreign affairs and finance ministers on Monday.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala will also hold talks with the presidential Task force on Covid19, the Central Bank Governor and captains of industry, during her stay.

Okonjo-Iweala told media reporters in Abuja, that her visit to Nigeria was to express appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for the support she recieved.

She also gave clues in her discussion on how Nigeria can leverage her position to benefit from trans-national trade formed part of her visit to the country.

The unacknowledged women social advancement has being a concern for women in normalizing power.

The international women’s day is a day for women to take stock of their progress in the society, identify the gaps and observe the progress to be made.

In an interview monitored by Abati Media, Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, Chief Commercial Officer at Mixta Africa, and Adia Sowho, Interim CEO at Thrive Agric expressed their views about the representation in the society.

Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani is of the view that it is important to capitalize on that momentum when a woman succeeds at the top.

Akinkugbe-Filani said that girls need to be encouraged to enter fields that are not typically for girls.

According to her, the key word is representation and modelling.

Adia Sowho mentioned that in our everyday life, people experience the reality of leadership by women.

She said that women do well when they have access.

“I think there is room for women to be highlighted in tech and creative spaces.

“The key for women doing well is access.

“Once that access is granted, it gives room for perspectives to change,” she said.

Akinkugbe-Filani added, “One of the things am trying to do is to amplify other women’s voices.

“It is important for most of us who are in the position of influence to embrace our platforms and embrace visibility because it send out a very important message,” Akinkugbe-Filani said.

Akinkugbe-Filani made emphasis on the need for female leadership.

According to her, Women have being much impacted by the global pandemic.

She highlighted the fact that women have a lot more work to do to fight for their seat on the table, advance women leadership and include them in the work place.

Sowho added that there is more opportunity created when you have a balanced work place.

According to her,” the equity for men and women in a workplace is equity for all.

“The inclusivity for women created in a work place, is inclusivity for all.”

However, Sowho acknowledged that men as allies in the corridors of power today still hold sway and it is important drive change and serve as a change agent.

 

 

Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State yesterday spoke to the State House Correspondents after a meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on his (Mr. President) position over the agitation among many stakeholders in south East that the “2023 Presidency should be zoned.”

He added that the decision of who flies the Presidential ticket rests squarely with the respective political parties.

He said that, it would be recalled that the Chief Whip of the Senate and the former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was recently quoted saying that anyone can contest for the Presidency under the All Progressives Congress (APC), since it has not zoned the 2023 ticket to a particular part of the country.

Uzodimma said, “Well, you know the position is not vacant now. There is a sitting President and we are practicing partisan democracy and not tribal democracy. So, the emergence of presidential candidate will come on party by party basis, not tribe by tribe basis.

“But if there are other internal factors that will form part of the considerations for parties taking decision of course, that will be entirely the job of the leadership of those political parties and I think that is the right thing to do,” He said.