Some 150 experts conveyed in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital city to come out with an African regional strategy for the development of statistics, in the wake of an unprecedented demand for statistics in Africa.

The need for such a strategy has become more and more pressing, Mr. Ben Kiregyera, Director of the African Centre for Statistics, said in the opening remarks of the workshop, explaining that “Africa is embarking on an exciting and defining era, wherein demand for statistics has never before been greater than they are today.”

“Data planning for statistics development has become crucial and Africa is challenged to assess and prioritize demand and to produce better quality statistics with fewer resources”, he explained.

In a keynote address, the Deputy Executive Secretary for the Economic Commission for Africa, Ms. Lalla Ben Barka, told participants that the new focus on result-based management has put statistics on the front burner as an essential part of national and regional development infrastructure.

“It has also led to viewing statistics as a development issue rather than just a technical issue. Statistics are needed to inform policy, monitor progress and measure policy impact or results”, she explained.

Explaining the renewed focus on the need to accelerate the development of statistics in Africa, Ms Barka revealed that as part of a process that begin on 2006 within the ECA, the commission identified knowledge management and statistical development as one of its special sub-programmes.

It is part of a planned strategy to reposition the ECA to serve Africa better, but it is also a recommendation by the MGD Africa Steering Group, which calls for the scaling up of implementation of the NSDS to build sustainable statistical capacity in countries in support of MDGs.

The current momentum to accelerate the development of statistics in Africa is testified by the growing number of development partners willing and ready to inject funds into its development.

For example, the representative of the African Development Bank at the workshop, Mr. Mouyelo-Katoula, announced that the Bank has put aside some 30 million USD for statistical capacity building for an initial period of two years - 2009 and 2010.

To sustain the momentum of NSDS, Mr. Mouyelo-Katoula said that stakeholders must hold fast to the overall expected outcome and drive the objectives forward at upcoming events, such as, the Gender Statistics Workshop to take place in Accra, Ghana, in January 2009; we will emphasize the demographic aspects during the symposiums to be held in Luanda in February 2009 and Dakar in November 2009; and in Durban in August 2009 during the Annual Meeting of the International Institute of Statistics.

The three-day workshop is being organized by the African Center for Statistics (ACS), in collaboration with the Paris-based Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21); the German development agency, InWent; and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

It was preceded by a regional gender statistics workshop which was organized from 15 – 16 December 2008 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, to get data producers to internalize gender and mainstream it in national statistical programmes and activities.

Having passed through the tests of the Election Petition Tribunals, Appeal Courts and the Nigerian Supreme Court and confirmed by the Apex Court in Nigeria as winner in the 2007 Elections, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of Nigeria was today elected as the new Chairman of ECOWAS.

The President took over from the out-going Chairman and President of Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaore at the 35th Ordinary Session of the Authority of the Heads of States and Governments of ECOWAS on Friday December 19 in Abuja.


In a communique issued at the end of the summit held in Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital city, ECOWAS leaders called for a regional strategy that would minimize the risks on the regional economy and urged Member States to strengthen the management and structural reform of their economies.

Nigerian President Umar Musa Yar'Adua who was elected Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government for the next one year after taking over from his Burkinabe counterpart, President Blaise Campaore has promised to take ECOWAS to greater heights while he pledged Nigeria's commitment to the expansion and increased effectiveness of the sub-regional body.

The meeting approved the appointment of three new judges for the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice to replace those due to retire early 2009 from the Court. Justices Mrs Clotilde Medegan Nougbode from Benin, Benfeito MOsso Ramos from Cape Verde and Eliam Monsedjoueni Potey from Cote d'Ivoire will serve for a four-year non-renewable term.

The Heads of Government warned that the global financial crisis could undermine the region's economic recovery and precipitate a reduction in foreign direct investment, remittances from migrant workers and a drop in commodity prices, the mainstay of the economies of most of the Member States.

The summit also discussed the twin issues of regional peace and security, particularly the situations in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Cote d'Ivoire and Niger Republic. They also signed 10 supplementary Acts mostly in the areas of the environment, the management of water resources, community investment code, youth policy and the creation of the West Africa Regional Institute for Regional Integration.

Yesterday, on my way back to Lagos by road from Abuja, i picked up the dailies and i saw the new ministerial list in Nigeria and their portfolios.

To my consternation, i discovered that Professor Akunyili, who had turned NAFDAC around has been named Information minister.

I think i speak the mind of many Nigerians if i say that asking Professor Akunyili to be information Minister is putting a right peg in a wrong hole and under-utilising her skills and talents.

Nigeria is in a precarious position: Falling crue-oil prices, education and health standards at its lowest, energy and power in a mess, we have passsed the stage where we just name people as ministers and expect that they stumble and learn on the job.

With due respect to Dora, who has earned the admiration of all Nigerians for a job well done in NAFDAC, i think that she needs to reject the information minister position, as hse has made impact and would continue to make more impact as head of NAFDAC than as minister for Information.

Dora, please have a rethink

Yesterday was a day that most Nigerians would not forget. For some it looked like Independence, while for others it was a day characterized by injustice and the return of 'status quo' and for the majority of Nigerians, it was business as usual.

Whatever yesterday, was, it would be remembered as a day that the apex court in Nigeria (Supreme Court of Nigeria) delivered the judgment confirming President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Action Congress (AC) and retired Major General Muham-madu Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) had filled appeal to the court against the ruling of the Tribunal and Appeal Courts on the election of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua as president of Nigeria. The court in the majority judgement said the appeals filed by the two appealants failed and dismissed it in the favout of Yar'Adua.

The Chief Justice of the Federation, Idris Legho Kutigi, Justices Aloysius Katsina Alu, Niki Tobi and Dahiru Musdapher dismissed the appeal while Justices George Oguntade, Aloma Mouktar and Walter Onnoghe found merit in Buhari’s appeal.
Justice Kutigi read the lead judgment arising from the interlocutory appeal in a summary form and allowed the preliminary objection by the respondents, saying it lacked merit, was purely academic and an abuse of court process.

When I got Microsoft’s invitation to the Local Language Programme (LLP) in Abuja, I almost dismissed it because of the pressure on my time at the moment. but after speaking with the Citizenship Manager and reading the details of what was to be done, I gave it a thought. The last straw came when I saw the volume of work (close to 600 pages) that had been done with the glossaries!

Led by another Microsoft partner, Alt-i (led by one of my long-time mentors, Dr. Tunde Adegbola), the work that was presented by the Minister of Education at the Shehu Musa Yaradua Centre Board Room in Abuja included the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba translations of glossaries that have now laid the foundation for the integration of these local languages into the Vista and Microsoft Office environment. Imagine working on your machine and speaking Igbo to your machine when asking it to shut down. Or, click in Yoruba. How about caps lock in Hausa?

The minister’s keynote, which she clearly stated was coming from her as a research person and not as minister (I like that!), was quite insightful. She touched on Nigeria’s lack of a Language Policy and the fact that our National Policy on Education actually states that every child must be taught using their local language as language of instruction for the first 3 years of primary school. Such a brilliant way of keeping languages alive but our schools think it’s “local”. I look forward to the day that policy will be implemented, it’ll help many of us stay connected to the root. It is NOT cool to be unable to speak your local language!

Nigeria’s young people are everywhere across the world. I have met Nigerians in countries where I assumed there would be none! One major error, though, is the way we often consider our local language something meant for the back burner. Truth is that civilizations that were able to internalize technology in their local languages have been able to make more sense of it. Just imagine how much details are lost when you translate a proverb into English… While we master the language that would help us communicate on a global level, we must build content in our local language and extend the perimeters of innovation through that.

The glossary translations are available for download on PIN’s website through these links: Hausa | Igbo | Yoruba. Please feel free to provide feedback through nigeriallp[at]live.co.uk!

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The African Union Commission is deeply concerned over the devastating cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe that has affected close to 16,000 people, and taken the lives of nearly 800 within a few days.

In that regards, The Commission wishes to convey its sympathy and support to the Government and People of Zimbabwe, and has pledged a contribution of USD $100,000 to assist the Government in managing the crisis.

The Commission further appeals to Member States of the African Union and the larger international community to stand in solidarity with them and offer the assistance needed during this crucial period.

This a a great message for all Africans to support Zimbabwe and the African Union Commission has taken the lead.

Yar' Adua calls for abrogation of law sheilding self, govs, deputies
From Collins Olayinka, Florence Oretade and Funmi Awoyale, Abuja
TO ensure the success of the anti-graft crusade, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua yesterday called on the National Assembly to expunge the immunity clause from the nation's constitution.

The immunity clause in the 1999 Constitution shields the president, vice president, state governors and their deputies from prosecution even on alleged corruption while in office. Many citizens, groups and civil society organisations have criticised the clause, which they described as scuttling the nation's efforts at fighting corruption.

Speaking in Abuja at the launch of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) National Anti-Corruption Revolution (ANCOR), President Yar'Adua also urged Nigerians to shun what he described as esoteric approach to the anti-corruption war, calling on all to actively participate in the crusade.

President Yar'Adua spoke as the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola decried the nation's approach to fighting corruption, saying it was the wrong way.

According to him, the entire nation must see the elimination of corruption as "our" individual and collective responsibility, as that is the only assured way of ensuring success of the anti-graft war and ensuring Nigeria realises its full potential.

The President noted that official corruption had become endemic in the country because of the elite who had been placed in positions of authority and trust.

He said: "Corruption is endemic in this country and there is absolutely no way this country can achieve its potential until and unless this evil is confronted promptly by all Nigerians, and one of the steps and measures that we may have to take in order to entrench this fight against corruption is to look at some of our laws.

"I today call for the abrogation of the constitutional provision of

immunity for president, vice president, governors and deputy governors, and I want all Nigerians to join me in this call. The National Assembly is making efforts to review the 1999 Constitution, so this provision for immunity should be

expunged from the Nigerian constitution."

President Yar'Adua who cited the Governor of Illinois in the United States who was arrested for political corruption few days ago while trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, said nobody in Nigeria deserved to be protected by law when looting public funds.

"He was just released yesterday on bail but he was arrested and taken into custody and he is still the governor of a state in the United States, so why should we here, knowing clearly that we have a problem of corruption, official corruption, protect the offices of president and vice president, governors and deputy governors?

"So, I want all Nigerians to join me today to make this call. Let us expunge this provision of immunity from the 1999 Constitution."

The President also called on the Nigerian citizenry to stop cherishing and respecting people in position of authority who suddenly become wealthy, noting that the unnecessary respect being given to the looters was one of the things that encouraged Nigerian elite who found themselves in positions of authority to

become corrupt.

Yar'Adua reminded the EFCC of the need to be ruthless, and totally energetic in pursuing corrupt officials, prosecuting them, sanctioning them and bringing them to justice.

He commended the EFCC and other stakeholders for their timely initiative to launch ANCOR with the aim of widely "mobilising and galvanising our conscience to the evils and debilitating effects of unbridled corruption in our polity."

Governor Fashola called for a national strategic plan of action in a direction that would confront the causes of corruption and eliminate the monster in a gradual manner. According to him, fighting corruption by merely charging alleged corrupt people to courts would not help the country.

The governor, who spoke at a forum organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja, said the mere charging to court of people for corrupt offences could only address the problem on the surface.

"This approach cannot take us to our desired destination in the crusade against corruption. It is tantamount to the use of wrong medicine for an ailment. The ailment will simply continue and may get worse, " he said.

According to him, there is a connection between corruption and economic conditions. For the fight against corruption to produce results, the country must first identify the root causes and tackle them rather than concentrating efforts on prosecution.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned that the cloudy circumstances that surround the redeployment of the immediate past Chairman of the EFCC, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, may stall the fight against graft in the country.

In a letter to President Yar'Adua, a copy of which was made available to The Guardian in Abuja yesterday, the Abdulwaheed Omar-led NLC said though as human being, Ribadu may have made some mistakes in the execution of his duties as EFCC boss, he certainly did not deserve the treatment being meted out to him by the government.

Taking the President on memory lane, the NLC stated that the appointment of Ribadu as the EFCC helmsman in 2004 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo had undoubtedly raised the consciousness of Nigerians on the evils of corruption and the need to tame it in all its ramifications.

It added that Obasanjo's declaration of war on corruption, which was generally accepted by most Nigerians, may have been responsible for some of the over-zealousness on the part of Ribadu-led management of the anti-graft agency.

Labour explained: "There is of course no doubt that in the process, Nuhu Ribadu and the EFCC under him might have made mistakes. Some of these mistakes were considered to include his penchant to dispense with due process in his pursuit of suspected criminals, his disregard of court ruling, and his willingness to allow himself and the EFCC to be used as a tool for political witch-hunt. Slowly, but gradually, the perception grew that Ribadu was selective of his anti-corruption targets."

Labour further reiterated that Ribadu went into the anti-corruption crusade with zeal and determination to succeed.

The NLC letter reads in part: "When Malam Nuhu Ribadu was appointed the Chairman of the EFCC, he went about his duty with a single-mindedness of purpose, commitment and dedication to stem the tide of corruption in the country. In those early years, he demonstrated a rare courage and determination to track down corrupt people and practices in the country. He was successful in de-mystifying the criminal elements who took the nation hostage, economically and politically. To his credit, the fear of the EFCC became the beginning of wisdom. There was no more room for the impunity, which reigned before Nuhu Ribadu, and EFCC came into the public arena. No doubt some politicians might have continued to steal, but they had to spend more time thinking and planning about how to hide the proceeds of their crime."

Labour pointed out that during Ribadu's reign, many important corruption cases were prosecuted, including many 419 cases which had given Nigeria a bad image. This renewed the hope of many Nigerians that indeed it was possible to fight corruption and win.

"No doubt, some of these mistakes, indeed excesses, were the result of both personal shortcomings of Ribadu and the institutional weaknesses of the EFCC. These were the weaknesses the former President might have exploited in his political battles," it said.

The statement, which was jointly signed by the Acting President of NLC, Mr. Peters Adeyemi and General Secretary, John Odah, stated that since the recall of Ribadu from the EFCC and the appointment of a new chairman for the agency, Ribadu himself had become a subject of what many Nigerians rightly or wrongly perceive as a backlash by some of the politicians who were at the receiving end of his anti-corruption crusade.

By Theodore Ahamefule Orji


Dr. Theodore Orji, Abia State governor

Right from 1863 when the Irish Reverend gentleman, Henry Townsend, founded the first Nigerian newspaper called IWE IROHIN till date, the media have been in the vanguard of the crusade for the enthronement of a just, liberal and egalitarian society. Indeed, the period between 1926, when the prestigious but now moribund Daily Times was founded, and the mid 30's saw the media at its best. This period was when the agitation for Nigeria's independence assumed a more visible and vibrant dimension.

The media – electronic and print – have remained a focused, viable and reliable tool for social reengineering, political enlightenment, and economic development over the years, contributing robustly to the country's socio-political transformation.

In Europe and America, for instance, the media have been given a more recognizable role and fully integrated into their social systems as adjuncts for change and rearmament. Even in Asia, this role is becoming more significant as they gradually assert themselves more authoritatively.

The beautiful and functional role played by the media, especially the electronic media, in our nation's democratic development has elicited multiplier reactions from even unusual quarters such as the academia, the organised private sector (OPS), and individuals (technocrats, politicians and media personalities).. The result has been greater interest in the way the sector is run; especially, its funding and staffing.

Research has shown that establishing and managing electronic media is no mean task. Apart from their elegance and visibility, they are also quite capital-intensive.

The obstacles encountered by the regional governments in Nigeria, when they were authorised by the British Colonial Administration to establish private broadcasting stations, remain a reference point for those who later took to private broadcasting as a business.

The establishment of the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (WNBC), as the first broadcasting station in Nigeria, marked a milestone in broadcasting. The regionalisation of broadcasting in 1951 was also a precursor to the effort that followed later to popularize broadcasting in Nigeria.

The introduction of television broadcasting also started in the west with the establishment of the Western Nigeria Television Station (WNTV).

With it came a flurry of activities in that sector, culminating in the setting-up of similar broadcasting stations by the other regions in Nigeria.

It must be stated, however, that the western part of Nigeria has always set the tone on how the business of broadcasting should be advanced. This is why the region can boast of top-class broadcast stations that have cast themselves in a unique mould as focused, elitist, and, sometimes, aggressive. The vibrancy of politics in the west of Nigeria is accentuated by the aggressiveness and exclusiveness of its media.

The incursion of private individuals and organisations into ownership of electronic media was stimulated by the liberalisation policy of the Federal Government. Before the policy, it was difficult, if not impracticable, for any individual or private organisation, except the government, to invest in electronic media. This was why it took over a century, since Townsend pioneered newspaper business in Nigeria, for private persons and organisations to own and operate electronic media.

It is important at this juncture, to recall the role played by great statesmen and patriots such as Herbert Macaulay, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and, of late, Chief MKO Abiola in private media ownership. While Herbert Macaulay founded the Nigerian Observer newspaper, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe came back from Pennsylvania, United States in 1934, to establish the Morning Post in the then Gold Coast (now Ghana). Dr Azikiwe later relocated the Morning Post to Nigeria in 1937 and rechristened it the West African Pilot, which played a remarkable role in Nigeria's quest for independence.

Again, it was the West African Pilot that introduced the departmentalisation of newspapers as we have them today. Features, sports, fashion, foreign news and other such pages were introduced by the West African Pilot. It has to be stated, unequivocally though, that Chief Abiola made an impressive foray into private newspaper business in Nigeria with the establishment of the Concord Group of Newspapers that championed the cause of democracy in the country. Painfully, out of the four early pioneers that walked on the face of the earth, it is only Chief Awolowo’s Tribune, founded in November 1949, which has survived till date.

The success story of the Tribune and the extinction of the West African Pilot, the Nigerian Observer and Concord (caused by the demise of its founder) show an interesting milieu in the culture of newspaper ownership. Nevertheless, the founding of The Guardian, Punch, Vanguard, and, of late, others, has opened a new vista in media ownership in Nigeria.

I have made this brief reference in order to draw a correlation between the vision of early private newspaper owners and their counterparts in the electronic media. The truth is that the dogged spirits of the early newspaper proprietors catalyzed the creative endowments of the founders of private broadcast stations in Nigeria. It was not until May 1977 that the Federal Government, through the promulgation of Decree 24, established the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

Before this time, on January 1, 1962, the Federal Government established the Voice of Nigeria as part of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, which is a parastatal agency in the Federal Ministry of Information. After the setting-up of the NTA and its attendant success story the Federal Government on February 28, 1979 established the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). By the decree that established the FRCN, the corporation should engage in radio broadcasting on short wave or powerful Medium Wave for effective simultaneous reception in more than one state of the federation. At present, there is at least one FRCN station in each state capital in Nigeria.

As stated earlier, the Federal Government introduced the liberalisation policy to allow for private ownership of radio and television. This was to complement the existing press freedom at that time. Consequent upon this, the first private radio station in Nigeria – Ray Power – which operated on Frequency Modulated (FM) 100.5, was born. Owned by Daar Communications Limited, Ray Power quickly gained acceptability among radio listeners in Lagos and its environs.

Within a short time of the existence of Ray Power the first privately-owned television station, Africa Independent Television (AIT), was also founded. It is owned by Daar Communications. Worthy of mention is the fact that the two stations were owned by Chief (Dr.) Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, in whose honour we are assembled here.

Some other television stations such as Degue Broadcasting Network (DBN), Channels Television, Muhri International Television (MITV), Clapper Board Television, Minaj, and Silverbird followed suit.

Being the text of a keynote address presented by His Excellency Dr. Theodore Ahamefule Orji, Executive Governor of Abia State on the occasion of the conferment of a media award on him in Abuja on Tuesday, December 2, 2008.

In Umuahia, like across the nation and the rest of the world, Muslims celebrated Sallah, in rememberance of Prophet Ibrahim, whose obedience to the will of God proved enough to preserve them.

It is a day of drinking and eating of rams. I can say I eat my own part of my friends ram without limits.

Thank God for Sallah! Amen.

Male sex organs are allegedly disappearing with a simple handshake in the Town of Guidiguidi in the Mayo Danay division in the Far North Region, of Cameroon. Fear and confusion now plague the men in the country after repeated reports of this strange phenomenon.
It all started few weeks ago when three men alleged that their sex organs had disappeared mysteriously, pointing fingers at another gentleman.

The latter was brutally beaten until the Lamido of Guidiguidi intervened. The three men were immediately taken to the Guidiguidi Integrated Health Centre. After a series of tests carried by the Chief Medical Officer, no abnormalities were identified.

In the town of Maga and Puse, some other persons alleged that their sex organs had disappeared but medical examinations did reveal no abnormality.

The most dramatic incident took place on Velley. The incident involved six men who cried out for help after shaking hands with a stranger.

They complained that their sex organs had disappeared strangely. This engendered trouble in the locality.

The crown pounced on the accused, determined to have him pay the price of all the penises that had been snatched away.

The gentleman was almost lynched; thankfully, the Lamido of Yagoua intervened and summoned the victims. He ordered medical tests but the results, once again proofed no abnormality.

One of the six victims explained that he was ripped by a strange sensation when he greeted the accused.

He said he had goose pimples at that moment and felt like his sex organ had shrunk into his stomach.

In spite of these recurrent reports of sexual organs disappearing, modern medicine is yet to explain the phenomenon or else, it remains an unsolved mystery.

The panic-stricken population of the Mayo Danay Division is presently very vigilant; they take nothing for granted, above all no handshake, unless you don't care about your manhood.

from Solomon Tembang Mforgham, AfricaNews reporter in Limbe, Cameroon

Experts from the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) have reiterated the fact that land policy and land reforms are fundamental in addressing issues of poverty, food security and general stability in the African region.

They were speaking at the opening session of a three-day regional consultative workshop on land policy in North Africa. Officials from the AUC, UNECA, and AfDB underscored the urgent need to build solid partnerships for land reforms in Africa.

Dr. Josue Dioné, Director of the Division of Food Security and Sustainable Development at the ECA, said that “many parts of the continent are riddled with conflicts related to failures in systems for land governance, control and use”.

Mr. Peter Mwanakatwe of the African Development Bank drew a link with the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, including the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment and explained that they are interwoven with land use.

Dr. Abebe H. Gebriel of AUC spoke on behalf of Mrs. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture. He pointed out that “in order to ensure that land policy and agrarian reforms address pertinent issues in Africa, we must recognize the need for a policy framework that addresses issues related to state sovereignty over land; the unequal distribution of land resources, the dualistic nature of property systems, land tenure… and land issues in the post-colonial reconstruction”.

The Addis Ababa workshop is the sixth in a series of regional stakeholder consultations aimed at coming out with a consensus document to be tabled at the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government during its July 2009 Summit.

There have been regional consultations for Southern Africa in Windhoek, Namibia (29-31 August 2007); Eastern Africa in Kigali, Rwanda (16-18 January 2008); West Africa in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (15-18 April 2008) and Central Africa in Yaounde, Cameroon (6-8 August 2008).

The current workshop hopes to reach consensus on the revisions to finalize the regional background document on land policy in North Africa.

It will also discuss specificities initiatives that should be included in the continental framework.

The key outcome of the regional consultation will be an enhanced regional background document whose elements will enrich the draft continental framework and guidelines, and inputs to the development of relevant benchmark indicators.

The initiative started with a Continental Consultative Workshop in 2006 that discussed major land policy issues and has gone through several phases of assessments and stakeholders consultations leading to the drafting of the “Framework and Guidelines”.

It is supported by the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank.

On December 1, Development Generation Africa International members joined the rest of the world in observing the World AIDS Day 2008.

At the occasion, the organization launched the Primary ABIA Project against HIV/AIDS to look into the plight of young people living with HIV/AIDS especially in the areas of nutrition and empowerment.

Director of Health-HIV/AIDS of the organization, Christopher Ezemobi who addressed participants stressed the need for the World AIDS Day event to lead, empower and deliver young people from the grip of AIDS in the 21st century and promised that the project will go a long way to present their plight to the people and involve them in solutions.

He said some of the problems being highlighted by young people living with HIV/AIDS is an indication that “We must continue to speak up openly about AIDS. No progress will be achieved by being timid, refusing to face unpleasant faces, or prejudging our fellow human beings. In the ruthless world of AIDS, there are no us and them…and in that world, silence is death.”

Children, young people and civil society groups attended the event as well as government officials.

I am sitting in the eInclusion Ministerial Conference and Expo beginning in Vienna today, and I have very (very) mixed feelings. While I admire the obvious effort put into this conference and the entire eInclusion concept as driven by the European Union, I am wondering when African governments will quit the low-hanging fruit of “pot belly politicking” and focus on the real essence of governance — improving the lives of the people. This is the 21st century and the average African youth is increasingly becoming less competitive in a world that has obviously lost all its borders. But I am glad that even in the face of this obvious neglect on the part of African governments, there are people (and institutions) that are consistently bridging the gap between what is and what must be. They are my heroes!

I return to Lagos (tomorrow), happy about how my discussions have gone at the various preparatory meetings — and also with some renewed passion to catch up with the many demonstrations I have seen at the 2 different conferences I have attended here in Austria (in Graz and now Vienna) thanks to the Salzburg-based International Centre for New Media. My return to Lagos is made more exciting by the fact that in six (6) days, the Ajegunle.org project will be celebrating the first set of graduates who have now gone through the various phases of the project — orientation, capacity building, internship, peer training and consistent reports to PIN; another reminder of those efforts that dare to confront the status quo in order to take Nigeria (and her youth, especially) to the New Economy. The project is driven by a young man whose passion I am yet to fathom; he knows how to deliver even in the face of near-zero resources: Ugochukwu Nwosu.

Ugo started volunteering for Paradigm Initiative Nigeria even before we became a legal entity. At the time when PIN was just an online group that tried its best to connect youth to any possible ICT opportunities, Ugo joined others to contribute man-hours to make this possible. I was quite surprised that he chose to return to that same role of a volunteer when he completed his undergraduate studies, and he has since moved on from volunteer to intern and then full time staff. While I keep myself busy with the task of institutional development and also attend to the commitments that come with my service in a number of roles, Ugo is the one who keeps the engine of progress in PIN going. When PIN becomes the institution I’m working hard to build, it should not be a surprise to see Ugo play a role that many of his peers will consider lucky. It would have been duly earned. I am not afraid to celebrate you, Ugo, because you represent the generation of youth who are now leading the campaign I spent my last decade working on. Thank you!

Each time I look to the corner of my office where a good number of award plaques sit, I think about the people who have now taken the message and have turned it into a lifestyle. To Ugo and the many young people who still understand the principle of delayed gratification (and forge ahead to deliver change even under the least comfortable circumstances), I salute you. You are my heroes, I celebrate you!

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