In a hall that could conveniently sit 250 persons, as at 15 minutes past 10 AM, the total number of people in the Senate Conference Hall, room 0.22 of the Nigerian National Assembly were 22 [not excluding caterers and housekeeping] – Oh! None of the “high-table” members were present either.

By the time the hearing oragnised by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters commenced at 11:45 AM, the audience were no more than 70 thereabouts, mostly made up of news reporters, which is a shame really especially for civil society who champion their opinions and call for action using social media. The committee was chaired by Senator David Umaru

Let’s press the history tab, to acquaint ourselves with the Frivolous Petition Bill 2015 (SB. 143) –  before proceeding to the Public Hearing.

The bill, introduced by Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, is officially called “An act to prohibit frivolous petitions; and other matters connected therewith,” and has been nicknamed “Social Media Bill” by concerned citizens. The bill requires any person submitting a petition to the government to have an accompanying affidavit. However, the bill goes much further as we see in Section 3(4):

“Where any person through text message, tweets, WhatsApp or through any social media post any abusive statement knowing same to be false with intent to set the public against any person and / or group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction shall be liable to an imprisonment for 2 years or a fine of N2,000,000 or both such fine and imprisonment.”

The Senate Committee had in attendance Senator David Umaru, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Senator Chukwuka Otazie, Senator Bababjide Omoworare, Senator James Manager, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Senator Joshua Lidani; on the other end, the audience was composed of delegates who had made submissions to the committee on the Bill, social media champions, members of civil society, law practioners, news agents, national assembly staff and concerned citizens.

However, the absence of some key MDAs such as the Public Complaints Commission [PCC], The Nigeria Police, State Security Service, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC], Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission [ICPC], Voice Of Nigeria [VON], Nigerian Communication Commission [NCC], Nigerian Bar Association [NBA], Federal Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who will clearly be affected by the passage of the bill came as a huge surprise. It also begs the question, are these agencies working in the interest of the citizens or for a selected few?

In the course of the hearing, we were informed that the IG of police supported the bill.

In his opening statement, Senator Umaru cited Section 4(2) of the 1999 constitution, adding that the public hearing underscores the importance of the senate and citizenry in enriching legislative actions with the aim of ensuring peace of the Federation of Nigeria.

On behalf of the special guest of honour, Senate President Bukola Saraki who was absent due to other pressing matters, Senator Akpabio reiterated the intentions of the bill to make having an affidavit compulsory following claims made in the media space. He expressed concern on the anxiety of Nigerians over the bill and said that Legislature is here to defend the rights of Nigerians and not pass bills that will gag the media.

When Justice Clara Ogunbiyi of the Supreme Court made her presentation on behalf of the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, it raised a lot of eyebrows! The CJN supported the bill! “This is because by the very use of the word frivolous, it connotes unseriousness, ill-motivation and suggestive of bad faith which is not within the contemplation of the constitutional provision of freedom of expression.” – Justice Mahmud Mohammed. Continuing, Justice Ogunbiyi went on to read out some recommendations of the CJN which included writing any petition as a formal complaint (idenetifying WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and HOW), the use of personal home addresses and the inclusion of a time frame of 6 months for such complaints and grievances. On a side note, it is imperative to note how she kept hammering on the fact that about how peoples’ destiny and integrity had been affected by posts in the media sphere.

In a welcome contrast to the CJN, the Law Reform Council and Federal Ministry of Justice represented by Mr. P.C. Okorie and Mr. Francis Oyong respectively said the said the passage of the controversial bill will adversely affect media freedom and freedom of expression.

Mr Okorie noticed how “fluidly” the words petition, statement, complaints, inquiry and investigation are used, saying the bill was too open ended. He identified the other issues such as high illiteracy rate in Nigeria and the low number of high courts in localities as well as the current capacity of the judiciary.

“If such bill is passed, it would hamper internal investigations in MDAs” he said, noting that it would be impossible for staff to lodge complaints on issues in their offices, as the process would be more bureaucratic. Okorie added that if the senate saw a need to address excesses for petitions sent to law enforcement agencies, then the operating systems of the agencies should be reviewed, not necessarily proposing a bill.

Furthermore, addressing Section 3(3) of the Frivolous Bill, Okorie noted that various section in the Criminal Code [Section 60, 373] and the Penal Code [Section 391, 392] of the Nigerian Constitution had already covered the subject.

Mr. Francis Oyong representing the views of the Attorney General of Nigeria, Justice Abubakar Malami, said that laws are not made to be exclusive instead they are made in the interest of the citizens of a nation. Reading part of the AJNs submission to the committee, Oyong noted that Section 1 of the intended Frivolous Bill does not create a crime as there was no provision in the statement.

Mr. Oyong posed a critical question to the Senate committee on the issue of the affidavit – “Does an affidavit make a statement to be true?” As the general understanding of an affidavit, is that it’s a document made in the belief of the person swearing it. The proposed bill also violates the constitution & other treaties Nigeria is a signatory to.

The general consensus of both legal parties was that the passage of the bill will be an impediment to the current administration of President Buhari’s drive to expunge corruption as whistleblowing was integral and freedom of expression is key to democracy especially in Nigeria.

This bill seeks to threaten freedom of expression in a country said to practicing democracy – by the way, democracy is characterised by free speech and its objective to say that law as it is, where Divine or man-made, are subject to human interpretation]. Nigeria has 15 million Facebook users, the third most active African country on Twitter [2012] and over 97 million mobile internet subscriptions, a sizeable contribution to the technology sector. If passed as it is, the bill will only hamper further development of Nigeria’s internet and communication system.

Also, the feedback mechanism that is essential in communication would become non-existent as there would be an increase in lack of faith of law enforcement agencies in helping the populace. In a time where audiences are encouraged to send in eye-witness reports to news agencies, how would this law support information dissemination?

Senator Omo-Agege citied an instance of a false Avatar on Facebook posting that a candidate has withdrawn from election, on the eve on going to the polls and asked if the existing laws treat this?

It seems to be that certain individuals in the Nigerian society would rather not be talked about and so on, but with such ostentatious lifestyles in the midst of hunger and need in Nigeria, will questions and allegations not be raised?

A sentiment that was somewhat expressed once the floor was opened for civil society – the senate committee was barraged [well they had it coming *chuckles*]

Popular Twitter champion and Editor-In-Chief, 15 Past 8 Media Group @MrAyeDee identifies fragile egos and that the bill should be discarded ingloriously in the dustbin of history. He added that the dynamics of engagement on social media is quite different from physical human interaction, “People tend to gravitate towards known persons [people with identities] on social media and most times people do not the heed faceless”, adding that people could sue for libel and defamation as made available through the Nigerian constitution.

Gbenga Sesan @gbengasesan Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria did not mince words in expressing disappointment with the CJN and Supreme Court’s stance on the Frivolous Bill. He said the passage of the bill would be licence the death of whistleblowers in a country that hasn’t brought the killers of late Bola Ige, the Attorney General of the Federation since 2001! Sesan also called to note that anonymity cannot be removed from information sharing as its essential.

Yemi Adamolekun of Enough is Enough Nigeria addressed the erroneous impression that calling for Public Hearing is a favour to citizens, rather a responsibility of the Senate reacting to Senator Omoworare’s @jideomoworare comment that the Senate is not mandated to hold a public hearing. EiENigeria is currently running a campaign calling on Nigerians to add their voices and votes to stop the passage of the Frivolous Bill [You can get involved by calling 01–4408464]

Aisha Yesufu, @AishaYesufu who describes herself as an aggrieved mother of the kidnapped Chibok Girls’ who have been missing for over 600 days said if not for social media, where else would the agitation for the release of the girls come from? She identified some recent successes of social media #FreeEseOruru and #BringBackOurGirls. In buttressing Yemi’s point on the public hearing, Yesufu had these words: “As a citizen, I’m the highest office holder in the land & our senators are responsible to me.”

From the body language of the senators, it was obvious that they had a supportive stance on the bill even though both Senator Omo-Agege and Senator Lidani said that the public hearing is purposely for the collection of public opinion as Senator Omo-Agege said he was expecting comments on the issue of responsibility of persons on social media.

Only last month at the Social Media Week 2016 held in Lagos, the issue of the regulation of social media was brought up in a debate #BBCAfricaDebate [You can listen to the views here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03jxdyr]

We say #NoToSocialMediaBill as it’s not only freedom of expression and leadership that are on the line in Nigeria, but the very essence of democracy which social media has helped to shape. We will not be strangled of our oxygen!

The following blog post is reproduced from the Indigo Trust website. The original post can be found here 👇👇👇
[LINK] http://goo.gl/Bi49A5

Visitors to the Indigo site may already be familiar with the work of CODE in Nigeria (formerly Follow the Money). CODE, which uses data, social media and offline campaigning to press for more accountable and effective government, has previously received funding from us and has grown from a small start-up organisation into a much more ambitious and financially sound organisation over the last couple of years. It’s for that reason that we have awarded them with a grant of £37,492 towards core costs, including salaries and rent. We recognise the importance of supporting organisations’ core costs, realising that to do so frees them up from the day-to-day problems of covering next month’s rent and instead lets them focus on their programmes and just getting on with things.

Ever imagined there is a community in the Federal Capital Territory that never had access to electricity? You will be shocked to discover there is, and that community is Shere which is under the Bwari Area Council.

Shere is a community with an estimated population of about 3000 people in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory. For a community that is located just few minutes away from the Federal Capital, one would expect it to have access to basic amenities, but unfortunately this community never had access to electricity in its almost 200 years of existence, the roads are bad, no access to clean water, ill-equipped health care facilities, high rate of illiteracy and school dropouts.

Going to Shere from Bwari, you will be welcomed by abandoned road and power projects; upon arrival in Shere, your body will be covered in dust after surviving the 25 minutes bike ride on the bumpy roads. You will find a dilapidated building with the roofs torn off by the wind over 2 years ago serving as their health clinic; 14 classes, most of them with half roofings or no roofs accommodating over 1,000 students; 2 toilets serving over 14 teachers and 1,000 students; a well filled with sand-colored water which serves as the major water source of the community. That is the reality of Shere community; a community not far from the Federal Capital but far away from advancement and civilisation.

How does doing a community outreach in a state where a suicide bomber just killed so many lives sounds like? Yes we were in Kano, when the tragedy struck, but many times this would not distract us like someone said during our radio engagement “I think the Follow The Money team are a group of Nigerians that are never shaken, even in the light of insecurity in the North”.Maybe the next conversation, might be – “How do you manage it?”

We are typical Nigerians that follows not only money for good, but our passion pushes us, and so same passion took us to Kadandani in Makoda Local Government of Kano State. Estimated to have a population of 6,000 with one primary and secondary school each, only one source of water that  thrives on an alternative power – the AC generator;and a clinic that has only one midwife attending to patients.

                                            The Shelter Belt initiated by the Kano State Government two decades ago

Kadandani has a long stretch of shelterbelts, which made us think the community might be thriving on economical trees “Each woman in the community has four Date trees she nurtures, hoping that in future years, we will reap from each Date fruit”  affirmed Hajiya Mari the head of the women association in Kadandani who recently attended a 2 days seminar on the importance of the Great Green Wall project and they were directed to submit their registration and bank account details which they did. She mentioned that same project was initiated by the Kano State government and has been in existence 4 years ago. “The huge shelter belts surrounding our community is an initiative of the state government, it started decades ago, but what we hope for now is that the government can now provide processing machines for peanuts harvested by our women, as such we can make kuli-kuli in large scale” explained Mari

The Great Green Wall (GGW) project in Kadandani has lived to its expectation with awareness, trainings and shortcomings in unfulfilled promises of water and social projects. “The Kadandani inhabitants are much aware about the benefit of planting trees, owing to awareness and training programmes by the government, but it has had its own challenges, at the beginning of the GGW, we were promised water, an important amenity to us and our livestocks, but looking back, this is not the case if you visit the proposed site for this amenities” explained Adamu Abdullahi, community head of Kadandani

                                           The FTM team with key groups in the community – from top left is Hajiya Mari

100m away from the fences of their mud – thatched roofs, is located a “drying up” orchard  with a solar powered tank, which was meant to generate 10 water points for the community, and  a livestock water storage trough. “6 months after this was installed, it stopped working, and since then we have written to the federal government, but there has not been any response and the nurseries and orchards are getting dried up” – says Adamu. But one would have thought that the community would have invested or carry on the burden of sustaining the project, “When there was no response, I had to start using sprinklers and trying to raise new orchards, and I encouraged other community members to do as well, but we can only do a little” Shehu Ibrahim, the owner of one of the 5 hectares of land which the community offered to the federal government for this project.

Speaking with the Director, Forestry Department of the State Ministry of Environment, he clearly affirmed the situation in not only Kadandani “although we are trying to restore this water source for the plants, livestock and the people, its been challenging getting the contractors to fix the water tanks properly, and this is not peculiar to Kadandani, we have 5 shelter belts in other 3 other communities in Makoda, and we need to provide water at each communities for the GGW  to survive” explained Danusa Ibrahim, Director, Forestry Department.

                           The orchard and nursery site in Kadandani, just behind is the non-functional 10 water points

Little wonders, why laudable social projects in local communities gets abandoned at the height of hysteria, perhaps, no thinks about its sustainability, or projects are initiated to gain political integrity. “Although as a lead, I have been more enlightened about the benefits of projects like GGW, as we have seen in Zinder, Niger during one of our field trips, it is more important to consult the local communities first before starting social projects like this, also I will advise stakeholders such as lawmakers from these communities should take the lead in some of these consultations, this can help in the sustainability of the project” Miyaki said
So what happens to Kadandani afterwards? As these kind of stories interests us at FTM, we will be looking at every opportunity to get water to the 5,000 people that inhabits Kadandani; and not just to forget their livestocks and flora that exist in their community. If you are in Kano, and you think you want to join in tracking the 70 million Naira that was meant for Kadandani which might lead to getting back water to the 5,000 inhabitants, join us now!

This might be a good read for you, if you are planning to “activate” or partner with  us!

In the last three years, since Follow The Money  (FTM) started, we have had questions around what kind of money do we “follow” or track, and how can we approach your team to initiate a campaign (We refer to this as activation, and some of the questions are – how can we partner with Follow The Money; You Follow The Money people will you follow the 500 million Naira grant just approved by the World Bank; Follow The Money, you should track the billions going to SURE – P; Follow The Money, there is a new government, please follow every dime going to government officials.

There is a simple answer to this: Connected Development’s [CODE] Follow The Money tracks funds that are meant for infrastructures or inputs in rural communities eg health, education, and other social incentives (In essence, capital projects which includes provision of drugs, health facilities, environmental inputs such as water boreholes, incineration equipment, education incentives such as libraries, books etc. We are sorry to conclude that FTM does not track funds that are concerned with staff salaries, employee or employer’s benefits etc.

The kinds of funds we are interested in tracking at Follow The Money Nigeria

However, it should be noted that while the list above remains of top priority, there are other secondary considerations and priorities. The funds that FTM track must be in the area of Health, Education and Environment (HEE). At times, we can be interested in cross – cutting issues that emanated from any of these three. These three are most important for rural communities to exist and live sustainably.

Although, Follow The Money is a model of investigative journalism, it is not involved in funds that have already been disbursed, or should have worked in communities it was meant for. An example is a NGN 200 million that was announced by the government of Nigeria in 2013 to provide 10 boreholes in Adavi Local Government Area. Just because Two years has passed on that issue, FTM will not be interested in such, as it is already two years.Because, we hope to prevent corruption, we are interested in fresh fund releases, not more than one year from funds approval or release by either government or the aid agency.

When you have taught this through, you, your organization, your group can then send a mail to activations@followthemoneng.org; call our hotline at 09- 291-7545 or fill our activation form online at http://followthemoneyng.org/activations.html. We will notify you for further action after we have received your request for activation. It is not necessary that you should be able to provide resources for the project, but at times we have been activated by groups that are willing to provide resources, especially as in – kind contributions during the activation lifetime.

It’s then Way to Go! did you just read that some funds got approved to providing infrastructures or inputs in your rural community? reach out to us now, and we can quickly follow up! It might just be the little you can do for your local community. It might also interest you to know that the team are always involved in researching funds that have just been approved to local communities, as such we can dive into activation using our primary desk research and data mining results.

Earth Hour proved the movement is now stronger than ever, with the event observed in over 162 countries including Nigeria and over 7000 cities, creating magical lights off moments in every continent of the world. The symbolic hour has grown into the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, with beyond the hour activities and initiatives happening throughout the year.

In Nigeria, Earth Hour organised by Connected Development [CODE] was observed in 5 cities – Abuja at the Transcorp Hilton; Lagos at the “Earth Hour Garden” opposite the Lagos State House of Assembly; Taraba at the Kwararafa University in Wukari; Portharcourt at the LeMeridien Ogeyi Place and in Benin City at the Youth House.

“It’s always extraordinary to see cities and landmarks involved in the ‘lights off’ event, but the most exciting thing about Earth Hour this year is seeing the amount of projects and campaigns that are taking action beyond the hour. From crowdfunding to campaigns that are creating environmental awareness across the West Africa region, Earth Hour is harnessing the power of the crowd far beyond the hour,” said Oludotun Babayemi, Country Director for Earth Hour in Nigeria.

The Earth Hour Team in Gummi Local Government of Zamfara State

Last year alone saw thousands of Nigerians petitioned the president to pass the climate change bill into law to create a climate change commission to superintend over climate change activities in Nigeria. In 2014, the bill has been reintroduced and passed to the Senate for harmonisation. Likewise, the Walk to Mali campaign has started inspiring different communities across the West Africa region with the Kwararafa University pledging a 20km reserved forest for the flora and fauna.

WWF-Uganda began the fight against the 6,000 hectares of deforestation that occurs in the country every month by creating the first “Earth Hour Forest.” In 2012, Russians also petitioned to get legislative change protecting the country’s seas from oil pollution and now are striving to protect an area of forest twice the size of France.

These Earth Hour success stories illustrate the movement has become a global collaboration to show what can be achieved for the planet.

In Nigeria, the Earth Hour celebration 2014 began its journey in Wukari, Taraba where community events were held all over the community and at Kwararafa University. Moving across to Wukari town where hundreds of community members joined the team and held a community sensitisation and advocacy on environmental sustainability hosted by the Taraba state coordinator, Anthony Agbor. The event within the community was grazed by the Boys Brigade Base Band and the Skaters Club of Wukari

The Earth Hour team in Wukari Taraba State of Nigeria

The hour of inspiration then went back to its humble beginnings, as Earth Hour once again hit Abuja bringing to light the plight of one of the memorable hotels in the country with an environmental friendly atmosphere – The Transcorp Hilton. The Light out event anchored by Big Mo of Wazobia FM in Abuja, kicked off with the greetings to Nigeria cities taking part in Earth Hour, delivered by the FCT coordinator for Earth Hour, Oladotun Fadeyiye, while TED style keynote speech was given by Baaki John of the Women Environmental Programme (WEP) on environmental sustainability and women.

To drive action and support, a new exhibition waiting to be premiered as a movie “Walk to Mali” was screened during the hour, and the campaign also engaged people around the world to use their power and add their voice to protect vulnerable communities.

“To witness Earth Hour in Abuja for the third year in a row, the event makes a powerful impression on me,” said Hamzat Lawal, the Chief Executive of CODE. “To see people united in a single purpose of making our lifestyles less impactful on the planet, inspires me immensely.”

Continuing to the second home of Earth Hour, Lagos celebrated the event by empowering young school children with the message that people are the true everyday Super Heroes for the planet. Using none other than Spider-Man to join the global flagship event, the young stars from the Vicsum Private School were educated on  the value of efficient energy use. “How to Take Action” speeches were delivered by Olumide Idowu; Halima Baba –  Lagos State coordinator for Earth Hour and Babatunde Shodiyan from the department of Conservation and Ecology of the Lagos state ministry of Environment.

The Earth Hour team at Transcorp Hilton Abuja

“We hope the power of Spider-Man joining in the largest movement for the planet – Earth Hour will inspire this future generation in becoming super heroes for their various communities on environmental sustainability” Halima Baba said.

Right now, Earth Hour is moving across the globe, following the setting sun, sending billions of people around the world a message that each of us has the power to make a difference. Each of us can be a Super Hero for the planet,” Reiterated Baba said.

In Portharcourt, the lights off event then went to the Le Meridien Ogeyi Place at GRA. Hosted by Gift Godden, the city coordinator for the event, Earth Hour drew attention to the “Black Gold,” and the need to reduce air pollution and Oil Spills. The participants were encouraged to collaborate on ideas in order to inspire change towards healthier air and communities.

“It is pertinent to include every stakeholder in the build up to this popular environmental movement, it will help us in achieving our advocacy campaigns towards an oil spill free environment” said Okoduwa Sylvester of the Ofure Center for Peace and Development.

The Earth Hour team in Lagos

The management of the Le Meridien Ogeyi place was quite excited to be part of this movement again, having won a sustainability award for taki

ng part during Earth Hour in 2013. “This movement will forever live in our memory, as it inspires institutions like ours to join in and do more to save our planet earth. Next year again, we will be part of this movement” said Henry Orie, the Food and Beverage Manager at Le Meridien.

In tandem with the crowd’s enthusiasm at events across the world has been Earth Hour’s massive digital presence, including the recently launched Earth Hour Blue to drive digital engagement beyond the hour. The revolutionary platform for the planet allows anyone in any country to use their voice or their dollar to take action and support projects of their choice across the globe, and further encourages participants to use their favourite social platforms to engage in their favourite crowdfunding and crowdsourcing projects.

Le Meridien Ogeyi Place shutting down for Earth Hour in Port Harcourt

As a newcomer to the crowdfunding scene, Earth Hour Blue has launched with WWF projects from Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Nepal, India, Russia, Uganda, South Africa, Madagascar, Canada and Columbia which are now all live on the crowdfunding platform powered by Crowdonomic.