INTRODUCTION

 

PIN graduated 106 trainees on the L.I.F.E training program in both Lagos and Abia States. A building  has been leased in Dakata – Kawaji Kano-State and is being prepared for the first L.I.F.E training  session to commence early 2016. On the TENT project, PIN reached a total of 257 students in secondary  and tertiary institutions in the quarter. PIN trained a total of 124 persons on online work in the quarter  and reached another 660 through its campaigns. 8 people were also rewarded with laptops, tablets and  smartphones among others in give-away contests aimed at improving awareness and equipping more  young people to work online. The policy office was fully represented at the NCC’s public inquiry on its  draft lawful interception of communication, and also wrote a letter to the presidency concerning a major  revelation into hacking activities of notable state actors in Nigeria, bringing into light the surveillance  activities of the Nigerian Government. It also partnered with Enough is Enough Nigeria and Budgit for  the Office of the Citizen Hackathon event. 

 

AJEGUNLE L.I.F.E

The L.I.F.E training program in Ajegunle continues to improve its curriculum in order to better prepare  the young participants for the world of work. In addition to basic ICTs, Entrepreneurship and Life Skills, all beneficiaries are now trained on ‘online work’ and ‘use of social media.’ A quarterly workshop  ensures that essential soft skills are further passed on to both students and alumni by industry experts  in a systematic fashion, while the daily morning drills present an opportunity for the students to have  practical sessions on communication, team-work, and problem-solving.  

40 students (of 84 who applied) were privileged to be part of the 2015C session. All 40 completed the  requirements of the training and were handed letters of completion at the end of eight weeks. The  first four weeks of training were focused on learning Microsoft Productivity and designs tools.  Students were also introduced to the internet. In the following three weeks, students were trained on  Entrepreneurship, Financial Readiness and Life-Skills. Among other things, the students learnt how to  write a business plan and were mandated to write one on a business they intend to begin immediately  following their training. The students also presented their plans to a panel of staff and volunteer  trainers who gave useful feedback for fine-tuning some of their ideas. These weeks of business  training were followed by online work and social media trainings at the PIN headquarters in Yaba,  Lagos.  

PIN’s Chief Operating Officer, Mrs. Tope Ogundipe presented the letters of completion to the  students at the end of their training, and urged them to come up with concrete goals beyond wishes and dreams and commit to day-to-day plans in order to achieve those goals. The team in the quarter  also doubled its effort to achieve stakeholder integration particularly in the host community. The  Ajegunle L.I.F.E team visited religious centres such as churches and mosques, the local government  office, community youth groups, schools, as well as military and para-military institutions resident in  the community. This has resulted greater awareness about the project, and an expanding stakeholder  database. The Ajegunle L.I.F.E Town Hall meeting which took place 16th September witnessed the  participation of some of these religious/community leaders, representatives of the local government  council, as well as parents of beneficiaries, PIN partners, students and alumni. The meeting reflected  on the milestones reached by the project in the community and how to take the impact forward.  Certificates were also handed by PIN’s Executive Director ‘Gbenga Sesan to deserving students who  had met the requirements of submitting monthly reports, and remitting 10% of their income monthly  for six months following the training.  

PIN also held a special appreciation day in the quarter to celebrate all her volunteers who continue to  give their commitment to making the project a huge success. Volunteers who worked with the  Ajegunle L.I.F.E teams to deliver Quarter 3 include; Ademola Adeoye, Femi Darabidan, Jide Adeyemi,  Babarant Familusi, Ogunkunle Niyi, Henry Okachi, Olaniyi Ogunmola, Godswill Nwosu, Joshua  Nwosu, Gabriel Jimoh, Gbenga Sooto, Olalekan Olayinka, John Maduforo, Ekundayo Ibiyemi and  Dakoru Favour. PIN is very grateful for their tireless effort. 

 

ABA L.I.F.E  

 

88 persons picked up application forms in Aba. All 88 went through interviews between the 21st and  23rd of July 2015. 70 most qualified candidates were selected, 57% of which were girls. Orientation  sessions for the parents and guardians of the selected candidates, as well as the candidates  themselves took place between 27th and 29th of July 2015, with PIN’S Executive Director ‘Gbenga  Sesan leading the sessions at PIN’s Innovation facility in Aba. He also met with the volunteers on the  project in order to personally appreciate them and gain feedback from them on how to improve the  program. Between 3rd August and 18th September 2015, the students had their ICT, Entrepreneurship,  Life Skills and Financial Readiness classes. Like their counterparts in Lagos, they learnt to use  Microsoft Productivity tools (Ms Word, MS Excel & Power-point), designs tools and were also  introduced to the internet. The entrepreneurship classes focused on identifying business  opportunities, starting and manage small businesses, raising funds, managing risks, as well as writing  a business plan. 18th of September, 66 of the 70 students who were admitted into the 2015C session  of training completed the program, having fulfilled all requirements received their completion letters.  The alumni meetings held 21st through 23rd of September 2015. These meetings serve the purpose of  follow-up with beneficiaries since 2014 on their progress following their training and as an occasion for  peer review.

 

DAKATA L.I.F.E. 

 

After based intensive baseline studies across seven states of the North-Western Nigeria geo – political  zone including Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kastina, Kaduna and Jigawa;. Paradigm Initiative  Nigeria chose Dakata Kawaji, Kano State as the first base of its intervention in North-West Nigeria.  

Kano State (Dakata Kawaji) was chosen because it was one of the states that reported the highest  state of youth unemployment, and it also had the highest potential for job and business opportunities  for the young people to leverage. Again, security is relatively stable. Dakata-Kawaji in particular is an  underserved community requiring immediate intervention, and is easily accessible to other urban poor  communities where teeming populations of unengaged youth reside. The communities and their  leaders have also shown willingness to support the project.  

A storey building has been leased for the purpose of the training within the quarter, and we are now in  the process of improving and furnishing the building. Training is expected to begin early 2016. 

 

TENT (Techie. Entrepreneurial. Nigerian. Talented)  

PIN in partnership with Codify Naija organized a 3-week coding and programming camp for secondary  school students in Kano State. The focus was to teach bright secondary school students interested in  technology how to code and write programming languages. Out of the 32 students who registered to  participate, 22 qualified and were selected. Only 17 of them however showed up at the camp. The  code camp held from July 27th to August 13th. During the 3 week long Code Camp, the youngsters  worked in groups and as individuals learning skills such as HTML, CSS, and some Jquery (a javascript  library). There were written tests in the final week of the code camp to test their knowledge. Each  student was also given an assignment to design a website from scratch. At the end of the Kano Code  Camp, the best 3 students received sponsorships from Codify Naija to learn coding in identified  training centres in Kano. The code camp came to an end on August 14th, 2015 with many of the  participants asking for more. PIN is hopeful to identify partners with which she can continue to  collaborate in bringing essential technology skills to youngsters in Northern Nigeria. 

 

TENT WORKSHOP UYO 

Paradigm Initiative Nigeria hosted the 2nd edition of the 2015 TENT Workshop at the University of  Uyo from August 13th – 14th 2015. The two-day event gathered a total of 305 students from the  University of Uyo and University of Calabar in the South South region of Nigeria. Day 1 of the  workshop took place at the Elf Lecture Theatre at the school’s permanent site and featured a keynote  speech from Mrs. Eno Ekpa- Director of ICT, University of Uyo; followed by an introduction to online  work by the PIN’s Project Manager, TENT/DigitalJobs; Debola Agbaje. The main speakers at the  workshop include ‘Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director at Paradigm Initiative Nigeria; Aniedi Udo Obong, Country General Manager at AfroCabs and Editi Effiong, Managing Director at Anakle.  

An additional 78 participants joined the students for the ideas exhibition on Day 2 of the TENT  Workshop which took place at the PTDF IT Lab of the University’s annex campus. The second day  kicked-off with a 2-hour practical session by Aniedi Udo-Obong, where the students had the  opportunity to ask questions ranging from the future of networking to combining academics with  building start-ups. Following demo presentations by the students, a group was offered a year’s  internship with Anakle. Another first year student, Bassey Etim along with a final year student,  Idongesit Usenideh were also extended the same offer. Victor Evans who seemed to be the most  exceptional student, won a Raspberry Pi from Aniedi Udo-Obong, a nomination ticket to the Budapest  competition from ‘Gbenga Sesan, and a show of interest in his project by Anakle. 

 

DIGITAL JOBS CAMPAIGN 

The Digital Jobs team continued to reach more people in the quarter with information regarding  online work and how young Nigerians can earn income through this means. In July, 2015Tech+ event  organized at the Eko Hotels and Suites from 24th-25th July 2015 featured an exposition of PIN’s online  work campaign among happenings in Nigeria’s tech industry. 183 people left their contacts at PIN’s  stand for more information about online work and PIN’s training support. PIN also introduced the  ‘#Elance1000’ in July, a give-away platform rewarding participants with N1,000 for every five persons  they sign up on the Elance work platform. Participation in this contest was limited to only those who  had been working on Elance from November 2014 until August 2015 . Offer was valid till August 15,  2015. The campaign saw a total of 235 new sign-ups on bit.ly/elancedja for the purpose of online work. 

There was also a success-story contest. Winners were Oluwaseun Malomo, Elijah Otor and Gbenga  Adebiyi who emerged in 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions and were presented with a brand new laptop,  Samsung galaxy tab and a smart phone respectively. The Digital Jobs team also introduced online  work to the 227 students present at Day 1 of the TENT Workshop at Uyo in August.  

Trainings have also continued throughout the quarter, with Customer Service and Writing &  Translation class taking place in July, as well as a special training on migrating from ‘Elance’ (as a  platform for online work) to ‘Upwork’ (which is the new platform). This class was handled by Femi  Bayode. In September, Elance fully became Upwork. PIN then employed the means of train-the 

trainer sessions to reach more people with online work training using the ‘Upwork’ platform. These  trainings took place on 8th to 10th and 18th September. Worthy of note is the fact that they were handled by Gbenga Adebiyi, who was once a trainee in the online work classes organized by PIN but  who had since become proficient.  

In addition, PIN debuted specialized classes in September. The first was a Digital Security Master  Class handled by ‘Gbenga Sesan, PIN’s Executive Director with 17 participants. The advanced  Microsoft class will take place in October while the Digital Marketing Class is scheduled for November  2015.  

 

ICT POLICY OFFICE 

PUBLIC INQUIRY ON THE DRAFT LAWFUL INTERCEPTION OF COMMUNICATIONS REGULATIONS 

July 7, 2015, The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) hosted stakeholders to a Public Inquiry  event on The Draft Lawful Interception of Communications Regulations at her Abuja office. PIN was  represented at the event by the ED, ‘Gbenga Sesan and Program Manager (ICT Policy) Adegoke  Adeboye. PIN took a strong position at the hearing in line with the letter she already wrote to the  commission to make a case for the rights citizen online and the implications of attempting to limit  such rights guaranteed by the Constitution by means of secondary legislation. 

THE NIGERIA INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM 

The Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NiGF) was hosted in Abuja, Nigeria from the 20th- 21st July  2015. The Theme of the forum was “Harnessing the Potentials of Internet Governance for Sustainable  Development In Nigeria.” Several sessions and discussions held concerning issues like Internet  Economy, Cyber Security and Trust, Open Internet, Critical Internet Resources, and E-learning  amongst many others. PIN’s Executive Director, ‘Gbenga Sesan made a presentation at the plenary on  Internet and Human Rights. He highlighted the importance of Internet freedom, and the Digital Rights  and Freedom Bill that PIN and the NetRightsNG Coalition are working towards. The PIN team also  took part in a break out session focused on Cybersecurity and trust.

OFFICE OF THE CITIZEN HACKATHON EVENT 

PIN in collaboration with Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria and BudgIT hosted the ‘Office of the Citizen’  hackathon event August 29, 2015. This was geared towards the launch of the ‘Office of the citizen  portal.’ The portal is to serve the purpose of effectively integrating efforts of active citizens and  activists across board in order to a produce well coordinated responses to identified issues. PIN for  instance through this platform, will be coordinating with other active citizens and groups to further its  activities regarding ICT Policy issues, especially digital rights and freedoms.  

PIN’s PETITION TO PRESIDENT BUHARI  

In response to an investigative report published by Premium Times alleging that Governors Akpabio  (Akwa-Ibom State), Uduaghan (Delta State), Dickson (Bayelsa State) and Amaechi (Rivers State) had  been carrying out spying activities on private citizen, PIN wrote a 2 paged letter to Nigeria’s President  Buhari to protest the violation of human rights of private citizens as well as abuse of power by some  Governors in Nigeria. Relevant agencies and offices such as the Senate President, the National Human  Rights Commission, Amnesty International, and Femi Falana Falana Chambers were copied in the  letter. According to the Premium Times report which quoted sources from the National Security  Adviser’s office and from some of the government offices indicted, the illegal practice of intercepted  calls and hacked phones and computers gave these public servants illicit access to many people’s  private lives at the expense of taxpayers. 

CIVIL SOCIETY CONVENING ON INTERNET PUBLIC POLICIES IN NIGERIA AND WEST AFRICA 

The ICT Policy office participated in a convening of civil society organizations and other agencies  working on Internet issues. The meeting which held September 22nd 2015 from 10.00am to 3.00pm  at the Ford Foundation office Banana Island, Lagos, with the objective of gaining perspectives on  emerging trends, opportunities and challenges regarding internet public policies in Nigeria. 

‘Boye, PIN’s ICT Policy Manager made the convening aware of the NCC draft lawful interception of  communication and the identified red flags among other things. He also opined that there is a need to  focus on citizen engagement and sometimes litigation in order to stem the tide of abuse and violation  of citizen rights by Government. 

DIGITAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOM BILL 

PIN is actively engaging Parliamentarians identified as potential sponsors for the Digital Rights and  Freedom at the National Assembly. At the moment, some lawmakers have indicated interest in  sponsoring the Bill, including the President of the Senate at the Upper chamber and the Majority  leader at the Lower House. The document has been shared with both parties and the last quarter of  the year will see the bill presented for first reading on the floor of both legislative houses. 

PIN will also host a Pan-African Internet Freedom Forum in December which will have Internet  Freedom Advocates, Journalists and policy makers from all across Africa. We will are also making  plans to co-host a side event in IGF in Brazil which will focus on ICT Policy issues in Africa.  

WOMEN’S RIGHTS ONLINE 

Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, with support from the World Wide Web Foundation and the Swedish  International Development Cooperation Agency, PIN concluded a country report based on a research  and advocacy project aimed at empowering women and girls through the web. The report seeks to  identify the barriers to women’s access to and use of the internet in Nigeria, and makes policy  recommendations to address and overcome those barriers. It incorporates the results of a household  face-to-face survey conducted in urban poor residential areas in Lagos, commissioned by the World  Wide Web Foundation and carried out by Ipsos MORI. A quota sample of over 1,000 face-to-face  interviews was completed with 307 men and 828 women between the ages of 18 and 60 living in urban  poor areas.

The report revealed that affordability continues to be a major challenge preventing women from  getting online in the first place – 67 percent of female respondents to this survey reported being  unable to afford access. The research shows that once women are online in Nigeria, they use the  internet to communicate and socialize, with 95 percent of both women and men who access the  internet using it to access social media websites. However, few women use the internet to access  information about health issues, including malaria, which is a major public health problem in Nigeria.  Only 10 percent of all women who participated in the survey had sought information on sexual and  reproductive health on the web, whereas 20 percent of men had. The report would be launched at the  Stockholm Internet Forum October 21, 2015.  

CONCLUSION 

PIN was represented in the quarter in such programs as the Aaron Ukodie’s 30 years in Journalism event, Awesome Treasures Foundation Summit, JCI UNILAG Conference, NCS Conference, Calabar  Career Fair, Bloom Leadership Week, Beyond Access Training for Librarians & Non-Profits, the Mega  Leadership Summit, the African Open Data Conference and the World Economic Forum, reaching a  moderate estimate of 6 296. We wish to specially appreciate all partners who continue to support in  many ways to sustain PIN’s projects, we say a HUGE thank you.