The Awakening Radio Programme of South Sahara Social Development Organisation June 2020 Summary
The Awakening programme of South Sahara Social Development Organisation is a youth-focused civic enlightenment programme for democracy and good governance. It helps young people to understand democracy, rights and responsibilities.
In June, the Awakening Programme looked at The Role of Technology in Civic Engagement.
Civic engagement involves working to make a difference in the day to day life in one’s community, and developing a combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that desired difference. Technology cuts across bringing change in the way we live work and relate with one another. It is a new chapter in human development. There is a need for young people to harness the various opportunities that technology offers to create an inclusive human-centered future.
The first discussion on this series was on Dismantling the Rape culture. The discussion explored the contribution of gender and attitudes around gender to the rape culture. And also the need for youth leaders and responsible agencies to begin to take precise actions to curb the menace. This was in the wake of a wave of rape cases across the country. The guests were Ebere Okoye, co-founder, CEO, iNSPARK Enterprises, and Barrister Goodness Esme Ibang, the Media and Communication Specialist with Women Aid Collective (WACOL).
The programme stressed that on the positive, more people are now out to talk about rape. The culture of silence is wearing down. The lockdown period made, in many cases that the victims are locked down together with their abusers. Barrister Ibangha differentiated between rape, sexual harassment and defilement. They also argued against blaming the victim on the grounds of what they were wearing, the time of the day they were out, etc. There are also cases of children being defiled in their homes. They also stressed the ill of shaming the victim, as they have psychological trauma on the victim.
They advocated policies like restricting sharing pornographies, including those of children, using the technology to map the areas of sex offenders, the speedy trial of the rape cases, having the list of sex offenders in an area electronically accessible. They also advocated reviewing the age of consent from th current 11 years to 18 years, which the age in the Child Right Act.
June 11th session was on Tackling Police Brutality and Misconduct Using Technology. The guests were Ugoo Okogeri, IT Consultant and Dr Emma Iroegbu, Chairman PCRC Thinkers Corner division, Enugu. The discussion was around the youth-centeredness of police misconduct and brutality, which includes extrajudicial killing, extortions, intimidation, false arrest and imprisonment, falsification and spoliation of evidence, police perjury, witness tampering, brutality, unwarranted surveillance, bribery, misuse of power, etc.
They explained that by training, every policeman sees the other person, including his colleagues, as a criminal. They explained that there needs to be a conscious and conscientious reorientation and retraining of men and officers of the police force to make them more people-centred on their approach. They also were of the conviction that the country should invest more in forensics in police investigations. They also mentioned the use of body cams by the police to submit more authentic evidence. On the positive side, they stated how the use of social media has allowed the citizens to capture and publicize police brutality, shedding more light on the scourge.
On June 18th, the discussion was on E-Democracy: Good Governance and Accountability. It was anchored by Ajuluchukwu Edechiene, a Digital Communications Strategist Michael Ukwuma Founder, SERVICES a Social Change Advocate. The session looked at how the use of technology can translate to bringing governance closer to the people.
They explained that by employing appropriate technology, there can be a healthy interface between the government and the governed. They cited the use of such media like twitter to reach the government. This has a quick reach and feedback mechanism, and its potentials can be maximized to the benefit of all. This will allow people to be part of the policymaking and policy monitoring processes. They also advocated the use of more transparent technology for all elections in Nigeria,
The June 25th session was on Capacity Building and the Future of work. Emmanuel Ujam, a Business Development Strategist and Iheanyi Igboko Co-founder, Inspark Enterprise Social Development Advocate were the guests. They explained that the future of wealth will be driven more by automation, than by electricity or by extraction of minerals. We are now in the 4th Industrial Revolution, which is a fusion of man and computers.
They advocated that the youths should strive to acquire this knowledge, see problems as opportunities, and carve a niche for themselves in using technology to solve these problems. They decried the scenarios that people from outside et country come in and cash in on these opportunities that we fail to see.
They stressed that there is no policy around it, nor should there be. It is left for the young people to jump into the ring, as technology sweeps across, leaving many behinds. According to them easy wealth creation through Ponzi schemes are not sustainable, but many young people fall for them. However, they said the government can create a platform that will make the transfer of knowledge possible while developing manpower for national development.
The winners of The Awakening Contest for the Month of June are:
Twitter
First prize @Icreed9, while the second price went to @cheelayi
On Facebook,
the first prize went to Chibueze Obi-George, while the second prize went to Izuchukwu Ezeokoli
The Instagram
the first prize winner was @official _fedroh, while @monsieur.izuu won the second prize
