An NGO, YandiTech Community, on Monday advocated the domestication of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) in Kaduna state.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NGO, Mohammed Yayandi, made the call at a two-day digital security training on digital resilience for 30 youth activists and CSOs in a bid to counter the rising tide of online threats.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that others trained were Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) in the state.
Yayandi said the training was also aimed at building the capacity of the participants to advocate more open policies for the citizens to have more access to information on government spending and other documents.
He added that it was also to ensure data right and how youths can participate in advocating and using the digital space positively.
Yayandi, therefore, urged Gov. Uba Sani to synergise with the state’s House of Assembly to pass the FOI Bill, which was sent to it by the previous administration.
He said: “The FOI act was passed at the national level. Kaduna is a signatory to the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
”We want the state to have a legal backing to enable the citizens to have access to information even if the government chooses to opt out of the OGP.”
The CEO said that the government stood to benefit by being seen as transparent by the citizens, if it domesticates the act.
Yayandi commended the state government for trying to ensure transparency through budget town hall meetings and publishing many of its activities.
He, however, said the citizens would sometimes want to access information about some projects and happenings in the state, which could only be possible through passage of the FOI act.
Yayandi added, “The FOI act is passed, and can ensure that contractors on a project in a community are challenged to ensure they work inline with the standards and ensure adherence to the specifications of the project.
”The citizens can also access the tenders and bills of quantity to ensure compliance of project specifications by the contractors.
“The FOI act, if passed, will assist the government in monitoring projects in the communities as the locals will do that for the benefit of their communities.”
Speaking further, Yayandi said that organisations and youth activities were vulnerable on social media and online generally.
Yayandi, who doubles as the Project Coordinator of Building Digital Resilience for Youth Activists, CBOs and CSOs, said the training was to equip the participants with the skills to be able to detect and combat digital threats.
He emphasised the urgency of building digital resilience, adding that people were vulnerable to online attacks and spies which could undermine their works.
Yayandi added, “We want to foster a digitally-resilient community by empowering the participants so that they can operate safely online, promote transparency, and hold those in power accountable.”
He explained that the training would enable the participants to know how to detect emerging threats in their organisations be them governmental or private.
Yayandi also said at the end of the capacity building, YandyTech would help the participants to develop an action plan for their digital security and provide technical support for them to implement the action plan.
The project coordinator equally said it would develop a digital tool kit with an artificial intelligence component.
He said, ”This will be hosted in the tech’s website where the participants could utilise by asking questions regarding digital security.
”At the end, we want the participants and other members of the public to advocate to the Kaduna State Government to domesticate the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.”
Yayandi advised Nigerians to have a strategy and operate carefully online, stressing that digital footprint was key.
One of the participants, Mr Mubarak Abdulganiy, who serves on the state’s steering committee on OGP as the civil society co-chair, said importance of the project, which is centred around digital advocacy, could not be overemphasised.
He decried the dearth of resources from the government, adding that it took a level of resilience to have certain results that they were advocating.
Abdulganiy, therefore, said the training would build the capacity of the participants on how to stay resilient in terms of advocacy in engagement with the communities and government officials.
A youth activist, Bilkisu Gwabin, said youths were faced with online harassment and hacking attempts.
She said the training would help them protect themselves and continue their advocacy work, using the right channel in spreading their information and advocating digital democracy.
“As online threats continue to evolve, YandiTech community’s initiative serves as a vital step in safeguarding the digital space for us in Kaduna State,”Gwabin said.
NAN also reports that the training was done under the global digital democracy initiative.
It was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Danida) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), while being implemented by Civicus.
