The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated in a briefing at the State House on Wednesday that the Twitter ban in Nigeria will be lifted soon.

Speaking to the State correspondents at the end of the virtual Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the First Lady’s Conference room, Presidential Villa, Abuja, The Minister who was asked to give update on the Twitter ban in Nigeria and the interface with the company said, “The end for amicable resolution is very much in sight.

‘We appreciate the patience of Nigerians. I want to assure you that we have made very tremendous progress. We have met with Twitter both physically and in writing. We are actually almost there.

” The engagement has been extremely positive without any acrimony. We have made it clear what we want from Twitter.”

Alhaji Mohammed stated that some of the conditions made by the Federal Government for Twitter operations to resume in Nigeria include that Twitter should establish legal presence in the country, register as a Nigerian company with an address.

It should also have a Country Representative that will serve as a liaison and must register with relevant regulatory agencies including the NCC.

The government is also demanding that Twitter must commit itself to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS. Also, the government is proposing an Ombudsman between Twitter and Nigeria.

“They (Twitter) have shown a lot of flexibility, the conversation has not been acrimonious,” Mohammed said.

He, however said that there were about three to four areas the two were yet to reach agreement which include opening of office in Nigeria with staff, adding that Twitter has agreed to open office in the country in 2022.

Nigeria is ranked 161st on the 2020 Global Youth Development Index which measures the status of young people in 181 Countries around the World.

Singapore ranked top for the first time followed by Slovenia, Norway, Malta and Denmark. Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Niger came last respectively.

The index further revealed that the conditions of young people have improved around the world by 3.1 per cent between 2010 and 2018, but ‘progress remains slow.

The Commonwealth Secretariat on Tuesday, released its triennial rankings of youth development in 181 countries, with 156 of them recording at least slight improvements in their scores.

While the data used in the index pre-dates the pandemic, report highlights the positive trajectory of youth development which the virus could reverse for the first time unless urgent action is taken to secure the pre-pandemic gains.

Key highlights

The index ranks countries between 0.00 (lowest) and 1.00 (highest) according to the developments in youth education, employment, health, equality and inclusion, peace and security as well as political and civic participation.

It looks at 27 indicators including literacy and voting to showcase the state of the world’s 1.8 billion people between the age of 15 and 29.

Afghanistan, India, Russia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso were the top five improvers, advancing their score, on average, by 15.74 per cent. On the other hand, Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Jordan and Lebanon showed the greatest decline in youth development between 2010 and 2018.

Global trends
Overall, the index shows ‘advances in youth’s participation in peace processes and their education, employment, inclusion and health care since 2010.’

According to the report, ”Health made the largest gains of 4.39 per cent driven by a 1.6 per cent decline in global youth mortality rates and a 2 per cent drop in each HIV, self-harm, alcohol abuse and tobacco use.

Sub-Saharan Africa made the greatest strides in improving the health of young people.”

”Levels of underemployed youth and those not in school, training or work remained constant. Advances in equality and inclusion are led by improved gender parity in literacy as well as fewer child marriage cases and pregnancies in girls under 20. Yet no progress occurred in women’s safety,” it said.

The global education score increased by 3 per cent, with South Asia making the largest improvement of 16 per cent followed by sub-Saharan Africa with 10 per cent. Peace and security improved by 3.41 percent, resulting from fewer young people dying from direct violence. Somalia recorded the largest gains in the peace and security of young people, followed by Colombia, Sri Lanka, Eritrea and Russia.

The report says ”Youth participation in politics is the only domain to record a decline in most parts of the world, reporting a deterioration in 102 countries. However, sub-Saharan Africa recorded a 5 per cent improvement in the average regional score.

Globally, Sweden leads on education, Luxembourg on equality and inclusion, Indonesia on political and civic participation while Singapore tops the employment, health, and peace and security domains.”

‘An empowered generation’

Speaking before the release, Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland QC said; “Young people are indispensable to delivering a future that is more just, inclusive, sustainable and resilient. By measuring their contributions and needs with hard data, our advocacy for their development becomes more powerful, and we are then able incrementally to increase the positive impact and benefits youth are able to add towards building a better future for us all.

“Our Youth Development Index is a vital tool which has already significantly enhanced our capacity to assess the extent to which youth are engaged to contribute beneficially in their societies, and empowered by enabling policies and tools.”

She added: “While the data used to compile the index was gathered before the pandemic, the findings indicate where progress was being achieved and where it was not, and that urgent action is now needed so that pre-pandemic gains are not lost but sustained and developed further, more broadly and more inclusively.

“As we work to recover and rebuild from the many consequences of the pandemic, we need to draw as fully as possible on the energy and idealism of youth so that fresh opportunities for social, economic and political development are opened up with present and future generations of young people equipped and empowered to fulfil their potential.”

Among its recommendations, the index calls for more investment in lifelong digital skilling of young people, mental health services, apprenticeships, road safety and youth participation in decision-making to reverse trends which adversely impact them.

It further urges governments to improve data collection on education and diversify how they measure digital skills and online engagement of youth.

In a pre-recorded message, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said: “It is an important index which offers empirical evidence as to the level of youth development within the Commonwealth. It establishes a baseline so that youth development can be monitored regularly and we can see how we are closing the identified gaps.”

The index, which draws on multiple data sources, was to be released at the now-postponed Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2020. However, with CHOGM being postponed again until 2022, it was decided to release the index this year.

The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria (CIFCFEN) is set to commence the College of Forensics and Fraud Examination Institute in Nigeria to prevent the country from the global threat of financial crimes.

According to the CIFCFEN President/Chairman of Council, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki, an estimated 10 percent of the global financial capital of $83 trillion, is believed to be under threat from fraudsters,

This necessitated the establishment of the Institute, he said.

He stated this in Abuja, at the induction of the first set of direct members into the Institute in Abuja.

According to him, the College will be a regional model which is expected to be a centre of excellence for forensics and fraud examination in the entire continent.

“The implementation committee for the establishment of the college has submitted its report and we are now in the implementation stage. Very soon, the college will be responsible for anchoring all our activities that have to do with capacity building, training and all related professional development within the forensics and fraud examination space,” Gashinbaki added.

The chairman, Professional Training and Standards of the Institute, Professor Michael Ayeni said it will have four distinct Colleges.

These are: College of Humanities, College of Forensic Sciences, College of Fraud Examination and College of Forensic Accounting.

“The College of Humanities will cater for other professional courses such as forensic etymology, forensic anthropology, forensic engineering, forensic dentistry, and forensic medicine,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the first direct induction of members by the Institute featured 25 eminent Nigerians drawn from security services, public service and corporate organizations.

The direct induction is targeted at highly experienced senior members either in public service or in the private sector that already have the residual knowledge and the minimum basic requirements in terms of experience and exposure.

“So the idea is to prepare them further, retrain them, upscale their skills so that they become truly and proper professional forensic accountants,” Gashinbaki explained.

The Federal Government has restated its commitment to provide and support women and girls living with disabilities across the country.

Alhaji Bashir Alkali, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, stated this at a one-day meeting on the development of strategies for care and support for women and children with disabilities in Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.

Alkali who was represented  by Alhaji Ali Grema, the Director of Humanitarian Affairs in the Ministry, said there were still significant gaps in operationalising the mainstreaming of gender and disabilities at field levels.

He said the specific needs and capacities of women and girls with disabilities were often under presented.

According to him, they are often excluded in decision-making processes as well as in coordination activities.

“Women and girls with disabilities have attitudinal barriers from community members, their families and service providers alike, as well as environmental and communication barriers.

“These barriers have not only reduced their voices and participation in programme planning, but also their access to essential services, including sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence.

“No single actor or stakeholder, working alone, can implement the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Prohibition Act of 2018 effectively.

“Thus, the Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq last year inaugurated the Coalition of NGOs for the care and support of women and girls with disabilities in order to promote and advance their rights and we are 100 per cent committed to that,” Alkali added.

Also, Nkechi Onwukwe, the Director of Special Needs in the ministry, said the meeting was aimed at evolving strategies on holistic care and support for women and children with disabilities.

Onwukwe said it was in line with Social Developmemt Goals numbers 1, 3 and 5, adding that the ministry would continue with its concerted efforts towards addressing issues that relate with persons with disabilities in Nigeria in general.

The Executive Secretary of the  Commission for Persons Living with Disabilities, James Lalu, in his remarks, said issues of women with disabilities were of priority attention to the commission.

He said he was aware that the minister was doing a lot to ensure that the commission had a huge budget next year to help take care of a lot of programmes for all persons living with disabilities in the country.

Lalu encouraged all persons living with disabilities to always report issues of harassment, discrimination and stigmatisation against them to the commission.

“We have about five lawyers who are always ready to take up any legal issue concerning persons with disabilities in the country.

“Also, our engineers have done assessment work in Uthman Dan Fodio University of Sokoto, ABU Zaria and others on disability friendly structures in the institutions. A lot of good things is coming to us soon,” he said.

Mariam Abbas, Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist (ESPID) of Save the Children, said the NGO had programmes to strengthen protection for children and women.

“Inclusion would enhance active participation of persons with disabilities. However, we need a legislation to support that,” she said.

Patience Dickson of Advocacy for Women with Disabilities, said she would want people to see and address them as Nigerians and not persons living with disabilities.