Insecurity: CODE to Launch Monthly Security Dossiers in Nigeria, Monitor Kenya Elections
- Nigeria is amongst the countries with the highest number of terror-related deaths globally at the moment
- Randomly, bandits attack communities - inflicting heavy human casualties; rustling cattle; destroying properties and social installations; etc.
- A CSO, Connected Development says those in charge of securing the lives of Nigerians need to get punished as a result of these deaths
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FCT, Abuja - A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Connected Development (CODE) is launching a monthly security dossiers that will serve as security advisories for policymakers and security agencies in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer of CODE, Mallam Hamzat Lawal revealed this during an interactive session with media executives on Friday, August 6.
Source: Twitter
According to Lawal, the monthly security dossiers will be regular and timely over time.
He added:
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“Through policy dialogues and media engagements, we look forward to forging a National CSOs Working Group on security and development and partnering with governmental actors on building sustainable peace.
“In the first edition, we recorded a total of 3,120 Nigerians were victims of security breakdowns across the federation. Furthermore, 465 persons were killed; 355 persons were kidnapped; 120 persons sustained injuries, and 2,000 persons were displaced.”
CODE to monitor forthcoming Kenyan elections
Lawal also announced that CODE has deployed international delegates to observe the upcoming Kenyan 2022 elections.
The delegates will be led by Njoku Emmanuel, Director, Democracy and Governance at CODE.
Lawal said:
“CODE in partnership with Ushahidi, a Kenyan-originated open source software application which utilises user-generated reports to collate and map data, developed a technology-driven election monitoring platform known as Uzabe.
“Uzabe, a real-time intelligence and mapping tool, enables situation and eyewitness reports from various polling units in real-time. With this tool, CODE aims to strengthen emergency response during elections that mitigate electoral violence and uphold the integrity of elections in Africa.
“We will deploy 20,000 observers in the upcoming Nigeria’s 2023 general election who will leverage the Uzabe technology to monitor and observe elections.
“Our approach is to improve intelligence gathering during elections by providing real-time reports, using technology.
“For this purpose we are deploying 20,000 observers who will work to monitor and authenticate reports from the field to ensure credible elections as well as establish early warning systems in rural and vulnerable communities in the 2023 general election.
“This will provide unique learning opportunities that can help inform election monitoring strategy for Nigeria’s upcoming 2023 elections.”
CODE had successfully observed elections back in 2013 in Kenya, Nigeria’s 2015 and 2019 general elections and the USA 2016 presidential election.
Speaking more on CODE's mission to Kenya, Emmanuel said:
“Kenya deployed technology in their electoral process in 2013 and it failed. It failed woefully which caused a lot of violence and deaths because of transmission of results.
“In 2017, they also deployed technology, just like Nigeria is about to deploy the same process of using biometric voter accreditation at the polling unit and transmitting results electronically.
“The biometric part worked, but the part where they were supposed to transmit results to their electoral commission portal, most of the results didn't drop.
“The other candidate then went to court. That is the failure of technology at that election. And for that reason, the election was upturned, their Supreme Court cancelled the election and declared a rerun.
“Their election coming up next week is literally the same thing Nigeria is doing that we are all excited about.
“It is important for us to see how this works. In as much as we are going to monitor this election as a CSO, we are hoping that the Nigerian government and INEC will be available to observe this process, because it is literally the same thing we are planning to do. They are already do.”
Health sector accountability - African tour
Mallam Lawal also stated that through the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP), CODE is tracking all resources from public sector, private, multilateral and bilateral donors committed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the project is being implemented in nine African countries and with a goal to ensure health sector accountability, I led the team to carry out community outreaches and high level engagement in some of the countries including Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Cameroon.
According to him, despite challenges posed by the pandemic and government clampdown, CODE recorded major impact in Cameroon, Nigeria, Malawi, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Hamzat Lawal appointed EPLF technical advisory member
Meanwhile, Mallam Lawal was recently appointed a technical advisory council member for the Emerging Political Leaders Fellowship (EPLF).
The EPLF is an initiative geared towards empowering young Nigerians for political leadership at the local, regional, and national levels with a view to improving the quality of Nigeria’s leadership pool and the impact of its developmental interventions.
The program aims at tackling the deep-rooted leadership problems faced in the country by exposing Fellows to the critical knowledge required for them to play in Nigeria’s political arena and thrive while in it.
Hamzat Lawal appointed as Israeli Honourary Ambassador
Recall that in December 2021, the Embassy of the State of Israel in Nigeria appointed Lawal as an honourary ambassador for the Innovation Fellowship for Aspiring Inventors and Researchers (i-FAIR) initiative.
Israeli ambassador, Mr. Yotam Kreiman, announced Lawal’s ambassadorship at the opening of the new phase of the accelerator program on Wednesday, December 8.
The initiative empowered participants with resources, materials, expertise, and mentoring at an ultramodern Innovation/Fabrication Center (Innov8 Hub).
Source: Legit.ng
