The program will engage participants in practical trainings on open-source investigative methodologies, interactive conversations on digital governance and tech policy with DFRLab’s fellows, and informal networking events.
All selected digital Sherlocks will be able to register for as many workshops as they wish, based on their interest and availability.
The Spring 2023 program will take place between March to May.
Journalists can participate in a series of free online trainings and investigative workshops.
The program is also open to students, members of the civil society, and academics.
The deadline for the submission of applications is February 15, 2023. Interested applicants can apply here.
The Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund is designed to provide financial assistance for Black journalists globally who are unable to pay for mental health support.
BJTRF will consider supporting black journalists globally who, are employed full-time, part-time, freelance, or as an intern, were laid off/furloughed due to COVID-19 or who quit due to harmful workplace practices, or are former journalists suffering from lasting emotional or physical trauma from their time in the field.
The IWMF’s Journalism Emergency Fund will also provide women journalists with small grants for psychological and medical care for incidents directly related to threats and crises caused by one’s work as a journalist. In the same vein, it will provide legal aid to counter threats of imprisonment or censorship, and more.
Black journalists in need can apply for these grants.
Requests will be reviewed as they are received. Interested applicants can apply here.
GUNMEN reportedly killed three persons during an attack on Maiyanga community in Bokkos Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State on Sunday, Febraury 5.
According to Punch Newspaper, two other persons were injured in the attack.
Bulus Sule, a resident of the Maiyanga neighbourhood, confirmed the attack to The PUNCH and stated that those hurt had been transported to a hospital where they are currently receiving medical attention.
Ilya, another resident, spoke out against the killings.
He said that the attack was reported to the security personnel who, he claimed, had arrived in the neighbourhood many hours after the gunmen have departed.
To prevent such assaults on the residents, he urged the government to step up security post in the area.
Attempts to get the comment of the spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred, were unsuccessful as he did not take his calls when reached. Also, he did not respond to a text message sent to his phone.
THE Supreme Court has declared Senate President Ahmed Lawan as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District in the 2023 general elections.
The apex court made the declaration in a judgment delivered on Monday, February 6.
In the lead judgment, Justice Centus Nweze criticised Lawan’s opponent, Bashir Machina, for starting the lawsuit at the Federal High Court, Damaturu, through an originating summons without providing oral evidence to support fraud accusations.
Also, three out of five members of the Supreme Court panel agreed with the APC’s position that the trial court suit ought not to have commenced via an originating summons since it contained allegations of fraud.
“The bedrock of the suit shows that there were allegations of fraudulent practices against the appellants,” the judge said.
The ICIRreported in November 2023 that the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal dismissed the suit filed by Lawan against Machina.
The court dismissed the appeal in a judgment delivered by a three-member panel led by Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, on Monday, November 28.
It held that a primary election conducted by the APC on June 9 – won by Lawan – was invalid as it breached the Constitution.
The APC had approached the Supreme Court to challenge Lawan’s disqualification from contesting the 2023 election as the APC candidate for Yobe North Senatorial District.
Machina had won in the party’s Senate primary held in May 2022.
Lawan did not participate in the primary as he was involved in the race for the APC presidential ticket. However, after he failed to secure the APC presidential ticket, Lawan decided to return to the Senate.
Machina was urged to step aside for Lawan, but he refused, insisting that he was the legitimate candidate.
The APC conducted another primary for the Yobe North senatorial seat, which was won by Lawan.
But Machina insisted that he remained the rightful candidate and proceeded to filed a lawsuit asking the court to recognise him as the legitimate flagbearer for the senatorial election.
THE presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has urged Nigerians to channel frustrations over the scarcity of naira and fuel in the country to vote out the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Atiku, in a statement, said Nigerians must not allow the results of the 2023 presidential election to be determined by ‘bullion vans’.
“The other side of the bargain is for us as Nigerians to use the power of our PVC to channel our frustration to vote out the APC in the forthcoming general election,” he said.
The former Vice President commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on efforts to curb the hoarding of the naira notes.
“A few days ago, I had cause to make a statement on the currency conversion policy of the Federal Government. In the report, I aligned my position with an upsurge of demands for a slight extension of the January 31 deadline.
“The frustration that we all go through at the moment can be corrected if the CBN continues to do its part and operatives of the EFCC and ICPC, too, ensure that people do not keep stacks of money out of reach of the public,” he added.
NIGERIA’S Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire has said the Federal Government immediately replaces senior medical doctors that resign to travel abroad.
This is coming against the backdrop of a report that Nigeria has lost nearly 9000 doctors to the United Kingdom (UK) and other countries in three years.
Speaking at the 2023 Annual Conference and general meeting of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) in Lagos, Ehanire said the Federal Government had resorted to “One for One replacement” to mitigate the effects of brain drain in the medical sector.
He noted that most of the medical doctors resigning their position to travel abroad are senior doctors.
Shedding light on how the Federal Government is replacing migrant doctors, Ehanire said; “There is something we are doing called ‘One for One replacement. This entails replacement of a doctor immediately he leaves. In the past, it was abused as departing doctors replaced themselves with relatives or others that added no value to the system.
“The ‘One for One’ ensures that it is strictly the same profession. And we have warned all medical directors to comply.”
The health minister at the weekend also disclosed plans by the Federal Government to halt brain drain in the health sector by improving conditions of service.
He added that plans were on to get medical and health professionals who have travelled abroad to visit home to work temporarily, or teach and train home-based doctors and nurses.
Speaking on revenue challenges faced by the government, Ehanire said “money needs to go into roads, electricity, transportation, water, security, and Nigerians don’t like to pay tax, whether individual or corporate”.
Earlier, HFN President, Pamela Ajayi said rather than focusing on challenges, the association was more concerned about solutions.
“So, we are having conversations around ‘Fiscal Framework for Promotion of Healthcare Sector Investment in Nigeria’, and ‘Healthcare Investment and Financing’. We are also talking about the new National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act,” she said.
Buni believed the move would also help spread banking services to rural areas of the state.
In a statement signed by his spokesperson, Mamman Mohammed, the governor said establishing bank branches in the LGAs would ease the sufferings of rural dwellers by providing banking services to their doorstep.
“The new cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria came with many challenges to our people in most parts of the state due to the lack of banks.
“Most local government areas do not have financial institutions and have to travel far distances with heavy risks to conduct financial transactions,” he noted.
AFRICAN governments denied about 300 million people internet access in 2022, according to a study by Surfshark, a privacy protection toolset.
The study said while 4.2 billion people were affected by internet censorship globally, “nearly a third of a billion Africans were denied internet access” in the year under review.
Out of 32 countries that experienced 112 cases of internet disruptions, five African countries – Sudan, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Siera Leone and Somalia – were listed as having banned internet 13 times in 2022.
Africa ranked second, with Asia recording the worst cases of internet disruptions.
Protests and political turmoil were identified as the leading causes of internet restrictions by the authoritarian governments.
“More than half of the world’s population was affected by internet censorship last year. Many of these cases involved full internet disruptions on a local or national level.
“These can be devastating and extremely dangerous especially during wartime, protests or violent government repressions, said Surfshark’s spokeswoman, Gabriele Recaityte-Krasauke.
With some of these restrictions still in place in 2023, the study feared that more Africans may be exposed to further oppression by their governments if they disagree with policies.
Nigerians experienced internet restriction when the Federal government on June 5, 2021 effected a ban on the use of Twitter in the country.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said the government banned the micro blogging site because it was being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”
The ban, which lasted for seven months, was, however, lifted on January 13, 2022.
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has condemned terrorists’ attack on dozens of vigilantes in Yargoje Forest, Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State.
On Friday, the vigilantes, mainly from the Bakori LGA of the state, had gone to recover cows rustled by terrorists when they were ambushed and gunned down.
Reacting to the attack today, Buhari, who hails from the state, extolled the deceased and commiserated with their families.
The President said in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu that “the sacrifices of the brave men who are working to prevent and punish crime in their communities will not be forgotten.”
The presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, also condemned the attack today in a message on his social media page.
Abubakar said the attack was “yet another ugly episode of the senseless killings of Nigerians on account of terror attacks.”
He called for a multi-sectoral initiative to evaluate how to decimate the terrorists.
“We must be ready to do all that it takes to put a stop to these attacks,” he said.
He condoled the deceased relations, including the people and government of Katsina State.
An activist and former senator who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, had taunted the president yesterday over the attack.
Buhari was in Lafia, Nasarawa State, to campaign for the presidential candidate of his party, the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.
Sani teased, “As the President visits Nasarawa state, I call on the governor of the state to take the president to the scene where 40 harmless herders were killed and meet with the families of the deceased.”
The ICIR reports that it remains unclear how the Buhari government will tame terrorists and other activities of criminals that continue to threaten the nation’s general elections scheduled for February 25 and March 11, 2023.
THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted large consignments of illicit drugs, especially cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and ephedrine, meant for export to Dubai, UAE and Europe.
The consignment was to travel through various disingenuous modes of concealment by desperate drug cartels via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
The NDLEA, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, February 5, said top on the list of those so far arrested in connection with the seizures is a Nigerian based in Athens, Greece, Iwuozor Edward Chinedu.
Chinezu was said to have disembarked from an Ethiopian airline flight on Friday, February 3, after officers in the tarmac team of NDLEA intercepted two bags during a secondary check exercise at the foot of the aircraft.
“When the bags were searched in the presence of Chinedu, and other airport stakeholders, two big pellets wrapped with foil papers and some sprinkles of pepper were recovered from each of the two sides of one of the bags. The pellets were used to construct false walls at the sides of the bag.
“The two parcels contained substances that tested positive to cocaine and heroin with a gross weight of 1.30kgs and 900grams respectively,” the NDLEA stated
The agency said that during a preliminary interview, Chinedu claimed he came to Nigeria three months ago to undergo surgery, which he was uncomfortable doing in Athens. He further claimed he was given the bag to deliver in Greece for a fee of N2 million.
Similarly, NDLEA said its operatives at the NAHCO export shed of the airport on Monday, January 30, arrested a pregnant woman, Sylvester Gloria Onome, after 800 grammes of skunk were discovered concealed in two small radio sets she was sending to Dubai, United Arab Emirate.
Sylvester Gloria Onome Photo credit: NDLEA
According to the agency, on the same day, operatives also intercepted a consignment going to Congo Kinshasa containing 111 bottles of body cream that were used to conceal 24.50kgs of ephedrine, a chemical precursor and active ingredient to produce methamphetamine.
The cargo was later traced to a trader at the Alaba Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos, Onyekachukwu Uduekwelu, after the initial arrest of two freight agents.
Onyekachukwu Uduekwelu Photo credit: NDLEA
Another housewife, Okpara Chizoba Victoria, was arrested at her residence at 37, Obashola Street, Ijesha area of Lagos, on Friday, January 27. following the seizure of 300 grammes of skunk hidden in a bag of crayfish she was sending to Dubai, UAE, through a freight agent.
