…No Humanitarian Intervention for IDPs in Chonoko

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/6lmD4_TV7VA

In the last three years, no fewer than 10,000 people have been displaced in Kebbi State, a PRNigeria investigation has revealed.

The displaced persons are victims of ‘gruesome’ attacks launched by armed bandits, at communities within the Chonoko axis in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of the State.

The bandits, according to the PRNigeria investigation, killed over 200 villagers, and sacked 42 communities, in the carnage(s) they started perpetrating in 2019.

These communities are; Dan Kade, Warkata, Kurgiye, Ragam I, II & III, ‘Yar Kuka, Shangel, Tungan Dangula, Kahalmo I & II, Kadebo, Ched-Kubu, Yababa, Gimi, Ganyale I, II & III, Silabi and Digoga.

The long list also include; Bankunatare, Bawada, Zagami, Turame, Gyado, Tungan Kwando, Ktare, Sebzama I, II & III, Dhilo and Duru.

Others are; Tudun Wada, Digwengwe, Gaya, Saaki, ‘Yar Buga, Dilanko, Zuttu and Irgaa.

Two PRNigeria reporters who visited communities in Chonoko recently gathered that the bandits have since been occupying the deserted houses of their victims, with impunity.

While narrating his ordeal to PRNigeria, a 70-year old Mai Unguwa Maizuwa who was sacked from Zagami village stated that the bandits have been carrying out a series of attacks on their community for three years in a row, since 2019.

The bandits, he said, over time rustled all their cattle in the community and equally plundered their belongings, killed many people and recently sacked the entire village.

Apart from that, Maizuwa said that other items including many bags of cement and some monies he saved for business, about to N997,000 naira, were lost during the invasion.

Maizuwa, who has 20 children, is currently living in agony in an overcrowded IDP camp in Chonoko town.

Another victim who lost his son to one of the incidents at Kadebo village, Musa Sarkin Makada, had explained to PRNigeria how life has been difficult for them since their community was ransacked.

It was learnt that since the attacks were carried out, his community was deserted and turned into a ghost town as women, children, the elderly and even the disabled who could not run were evacuated to Chonoko town for safety.

Also speaking in the same vein, a respected community leader who pleaded anonymity even though he was recorded told PRNigeria that up to now the bandit-terrorists have continued to operate with impunity in the area thereby sacking more villages, burning down houses and valuable items including food supplies while many schools remained closed.

“Apart from attacking and abductions of villagers, they destroy farms and cottages in the vulnerable communities

“The looming food crises would surely consume many lives, as thousands of farmers were forced to abandon their vast hectares of land and this drastically reduces agricultural activities which serve as the only source of livelihood to the locals. Schools too have been closed down in all the affected communities increasing the population of pupils and students that abandoned education.

“Moreover, upon all these atrocities by the criminal elements, there is no presence of security forces to counter the banditry while humanitarian agencies including Red Cross, Refugees Commission and NEMA have not provided any support and intervention to IDPs, especially with relief materials and medications for the sick and traumatized citizens..

“The displaced people have lost of hope of ever returning to their ancestral homes. It is a terrible situation,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, in their responses to this report, NEMA and Refugees Commission promised to address the plights of the IDPs as soon as possible while a spokesperson of ICRC said that due to their active humanitarian engagements in North-East and North-Central, they are yet to focus on the North-West

Read the Full Report and Photos Here: “Untold Story of How Bandits Killed over 200 People, Sacked 42 Communities, Occupy Deserted Houses with Impunity in Kebbi State”

https://prnigeria.com/2022/05/03/untold-story-bandits-kebbi/

By PRNigeria

The post VIDEO/PHOTOS OF VICTIMS: Bandits Displace 10,000, Kill over 200, Sack 42 Kebbi Villages appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – He is a consummate writer and crisis-communicator par excellence. A distinguished public relations practitioner of sterling quality, his ingenuity has won him both local and international recognitions. While pursuing Islamic studies in the university, he took Mass Communication as an optional course – a decision that would later become pivotal to his career trajectory. Behind him are years of shining brilliantly as a public servant. The public relations expert and Chief Executive Officer of Image Merchants Promotion, Yushau Shuaib, tells Funke Olaode what spurred his interest in building a career as a publicist with a great panache.

He is one of the outstanding media professionals to emerge from the North. Through public service, he had distinguished himself and left with his head high. Yushau Shuaib, Chief Executive Officer of Image Merchants Promotions is renowned for his unique ability in his trade. Humble, quiet and unassuming, he has continued to be a shining light in his field.

Shuaib is a graduate of Mass-Communication from Bayero University Kano with a master’s degree in Public Relations from the University of Westminster, United Kingdom.

His foray into image making began in his university days, serving as the spokesperson of Mass Communication Students Association (MACOSA) and winning the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations Prize for the Best Student in PR 1992. From Bayero University where he had distinguished himself, Shuaib repeated the same feat in Asaba, Delta State where he did his mandatory youth service. Here, he won local, state and presidential NYSC awards with automatic employment as one of the most outstanding corps members of that period. He served as PRO Delta State Government House, Asaba and later became Press Secretary in various Federal Ministries including Information, Finance; Health; Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Outside the public service, several organisations have benefitted from his fountain of knowledge. He has provided advisory services to corporate organisations and consulted for critical institutions in the military, security, intelligence and response agencies, including the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), providing crisis communication services.

An author of repute, in the course of his career as a PR person and writer, he has published over 300 media articles and written books including `A Dozen Tips for Media Relations,’ ‘Financial Public Relations,’ ‘An Encounter with Spymaster and Award-Winning Crisis Communication strategies’ among others.

“Publishing has always been part of our business though we have different media platforms for different sectors e.g. PRNigeria, Economic Confidential, Emergency Digest, Techdigest, Politics Digest and Spokespersons Digest. After realising that our correspondents and desk officers cover specific sectors and projects, we find it necessary for the purpose of documentation and records to introduce the book project. Every book for the project is thematic on a central topic, subject, or message within a narrative. My recent books are also thematic especially, “An Encounter with Spymasters, Crisis Communication Strategies” and also the recent ones by our staff members, “Digital Innovation for Economic Prosperity in Nigeria” by Inyene Ibanga and “101 Fake News on EndSARS” by Dahiru M. Lawal. We currently have at least six books in the pipeline for presentation next year, God willing,” he said.

He is a recipient of several outstanding honours, especially in Public Relations. He was PR man of the Year of NIPR Kano/Jigawa Chapter in 1995, Outstanding Digital PR Practitioner of NIPR FCT Chapter 2019 and the prestigious NIPR Presidential award also in 2019.

A spokesperson with tentacles across the globe, his crafts, creativity and ingenuity have been recognised globally. For instance, through some of his initiatives, especially the PRNigeria and Economic Confidential magazine, his firm has consistently won the African PR Awards in South-Africa 2016/7, Morocco 2017, Botswana 2018, Kigali 2019 and Tanzania 2020. At the global scene, his firm remains the only PR agency in Africa to have consistently won the Golden World Award of International Public Relations Association (IPRA) on Crisis Management in Qatar 2016, Bulgaria 2017, Spain 2018, Armenia 2019 and 2020. The firm was declared the Most Creative PR Agency Worldwide 2020 by Global Creativity Index GCI and Statista, the world renowned statistics portal.

Shuaib and his outfit have continued to blaze the trail. In 2021, his firm was on a shortlist of five finalists for the “African PR Agency of the Year 2021.”

From public service to the private sector, Shuaib has remained true to himself to dealing with and solving image crises. Why did he choose this path you may ask? And why Marketing Communication? His response: “I come from a family of preachers who are advocates of moral conduct and good causes where communication is the vital weapon of persuasion through convincing narratives. Therefore, I have always admired public communicators who handle tough situations and solve problems.”

His father, an Islamic scholar and a PhD in Arabic Linguistics wanted him to study Arabic and Islamic studies so that he could also become an Imam like his grandfather. While pursuing Islamic studies in the university, he took Mass Communication as a subsidiary, optional course because of his love for writing and speaking at events on campus.

“In the process, I developed an interest in reading newspapers which my father bought every day. I later started admiring the writing styles. Even before I took Mass Communication as a subsidiary course. I was contributing articles to campus magazine before I later established Campus Voice Magazine monthly and Campus Express which came fortnightly whenever there are activities like politics, sports and events on the campus. So, I never had interest in Law, Accounting or any of the so-called lucrative professional courses because every organisation or profession needs a communicator. So to me, communication was, and is still, everything and I went for it,” he recounted.

Shuaib was in the civil service where he made remarkable success and at a time was referred to as a star boy, he quit to pursue his ambition. Restless and ambitious with a purpose, he admitted he had always wanted to be his own boss.

“I thank the Almighty for his abundant blessing on my career path,” he continued. I never thought of working in the civil service. I wanted to practice journalism and public relations. The NYSC honours including the Presidential award that offered me an automatic appointment in the public service changed my orientation. From 1993 when I was offered the initial appointment in Delta State Civil Service, I promised myself to spend only a few years and quit to pursue my passion.”

In 1996, when he became a press secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance, he was egged on by his friend at FAAC News magazine, where he began contributing regular articles. “Similarly, after I left the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in 2016, I supported my family in establishing another magazine known as Economic Confidential. I also established an online forum for Public Relations practitioners in Nigeria through a Yahoo Group known as PRNigeria,” he recalled.

Shuaib has a clear cut area of operation – reputation and crisis management services to corporate organisations and critical institutions in the military, security, intelligence and response agencies. His background in the civil service became an asset.

“Actually, the first set of clients that requested my services were in the security and intelligence sector. I am glad that I served them to the best of my ability. The contributions we made in that sector remain unprecedented till today,” he said.

A man of vision who is constantly on a mission, one of his initiatives, PRNigeria and Economic Confidential magazine, have consistently won the African PR Awards across Africa including the Most Creative PR Agency Worldwide. For him, the secret to those successes lies in the ability to face challenges and his approaches to solve crises.

“You want me to divulge the secret of the trade in crisis communication and reputation management. Pay the fees and I will do so (Laughs). The truth is that at Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), we like to take on bigger challenges. In fact we enjoy being approached to resolve crises through strategic communication. Most of the international awards are largely interested in problem solving case studies. For a crisis management outfit, it is easier to list the problems from the crisis situations that were presented to us and how we managed them. Our activities are not the routine event coverages, press release distributions etc. In strategic communication, for every event we organise and every statement we issue, there are a lot of factors and processes that must be considered before the communication campaigns.

“We were declared as the Most Creative PR Agency World in 2020 for the various campaigns we undertook that year with minimum budgets but with maximum result. Our campaigns have different objectives. Meanwhile, each of our campaigns followed the same templates from the summary on the challenges before we define the problem and list the Campaign Objectives. We have to identify the geographic location and target audiences which would guide on the tools to be deployed to achieve the best results.”

Marketing Communication in a digital world needs brilliant and talented individuals for it to survive. Shuaib is of the view that even with social media and digital innovation, organisations should ensure they have incentives that could attract and retain the best hands.

His company is huge. It has made a name for itself. To onlookers, having affiliations with foreign partners won’t be a bad idea. “We are very mindful of the potential benefits of affiliation in the PR industry. We may consider such in future. Currently we observe and operate the concept of globalisation by localising global best practices in our business that makes us compete favourably with the international PR firms and Global brands.”

Shuaib is a workaholic and he is still excited with many of the company’s recent campaigns.

“Our clients are out there. I find it difficult to pick any above others because they all have a common goal for success in their various and diverse campaigns we executed. Meanwhile, I must admit that our crisis communication campaigns are the most successful going by the dozens of awards we bagged at events hosted by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), African Public Relations Association (APRA) and International Public Relations Association (IPRA),” he said.

In recognising role models and aspiring public relations experts, Shuaib and his team recently established award presentations.

The award presentation is a component of Public Relations, especially event management strategies.

“Having covered some of the sectors with constructive editorial and in most cases with criticisms in ensuring that best practices are observed, the other ways of acknowledging and recognising role models for emulation are mostly through awards of recognition. We started with the Campus Journalism Award which is now more popular among student writers in Nigeria. Two years later, we introduced Security and Emergency Management Awards (SAEMA) for that sector and this year we launched the inaugural Spokespersons Awards for PR practitioners and strategic communications in various categories.”

No doubt, Shuaib eats, sleeps and breathes PR through writing and speaking. “It has always been my desire to excel in every branch of Public Relations practice.”

For him, his life is not defined solely by the career path he chose. Away from practicing PR, managing crises, he still enjoys playing badminton and savouring some mouth-watering noodles at his leisure.

Source : Thisdaylive.com

The post Yushau Shuaib: A Publicist with Panache appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECH DIGEST – In its commitment toward mitigating disaster risk in Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA is seeking the support and stronger collaboration with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on the use of ICT Infrastructure and Digital platform with a view to ensuring timely and lifesaving search and rescue operations.

This was discussed when the Director General and Chief Executive Officer, NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE, received Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmad, in his office.

Mallam Abdullahi congratulated the DG NEMA for his recent appointment, describing his task as onerous that requires sustained and strengthened partnerships for him to succeed in his duties due to its magnitude and impact on distress Nigerians.

The DG mentioned that NITDA as government apex IT regulatory body is saddled with the mandate of developing and regulating the use of ICT in Nigeria, is equally within its purview to deploy its expertise on virtually all aspects of human and operational endeavors that requires the application of digital technology which NEMA is not an exception.
He described NEMA’s operations as one that requires the application of modern technology, adding that “to work effectively and efficiently you need ICT, technology can help you get insight and predict a disaster even before it happens”.

He said modern technology will in no small measure positions agencies like NEMA to always be on their toes ahead of any emerging situation easily, quickly, and conveniently as well as providing useful information that will make the agency take proactive measures.

The DG assured them of NITDA’s unalloyed commitment to incorporating NEMA into its Digital Transformation Working Group (DTWG) to facilitate organizing capacity building for their personnel, to have a full grasp of the process, when where and how to deploy and apply the technology appropriately.

He is also confident that NITDAs readiness to key into providing technology guide on effective communication methods with their Zonal and State Offices for quick, easy and convenient information dissemination of locations for disaster.
On his part, the Director General of NEMA said the visit was to further intimate NITDA management on his Agency’s statutory mandate and seek for collaborative support between the two agencies.

He said, NEMA’s Act empowers it to manage human and natural disasters as well as support Nigerians in distress and mitigate the impact of such calamities, thereby building the culture of resilience on Nigerians, adding that the country is faced with wide ranging disasters such as insurgent activities ravaging the North East, communal conflicts, kidnappings and banditry, annual floods and most recently the COVID19 global pandemic.

According to the NEMA DG, “resources at the agency’s disposal no doubt has been over stretched and can barely meet the various disaster challenges across the nation”.

He stated that they resolved to seek collaborative ties with stakeholders which NITDA is critical to the realisation of mitigating disaster risk management in Nigeria being the country’s apex IT regulator.

One of the areas that requires NITDA’s intervention is to assist in making up NEMA’s Zonal Territorial and Operational offices more effective – to have real time and sudden onset disaster communication, video conferencing, collection of damage and loss assessment data to enable timely lifesaving search and rescue operations as well as deployment of humanitarian support in the right time.

On the economic downtown occasioned due to the dreaded COVID 19 pandemic, the NEMA Boss said it has become imperative for their agency to further explore and sustain cost saving methods in their operations.

By PRNigeria

The post NEMA, NITDA Collaborate on Disaster Risk Mitigation appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECH DIGEST – The Accountant General of the Federation, (AGF), Ahmed Idris has reportedly defied an order of the court and that of Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed on the payment of salary arrears to a former Spokesperson of NEMA, Mr. Yushau Shuaib.

The National Industrial Court in Abuja had on November 22, 2017 in a judgment ordered the federal government to pay salary arrears to Yushau from 2013 till the date of judgment when he was unlawfully removed from his job.

Justice David Isele in the judgment also ordered that Yushau be reinstated into the office without any loss to seniority, salaries, position and other emoluments while his salary arrears must be paid within one month.

In compliance with the court’s order, the Federal Civil Service Commission in September 2018, recalled Yushau from the unlawful sack while the salary arrears have since remained unpaid.

A contempt charge was subsequently filed against the Minister of information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, seeking his committal to prison for refusal to obey the judgment of the court.

However, in a bid to escape court hammer, the Minister in a letter dated March 1, 2019 and addressed to the court confirmed reinstating Yushau back to the office and computing his outstanding salary arrears and emolument and that the Accountant General had since been directed to pay the five years’ remuneration into the bank account supplied by the aggrieved worker.

The Minister’s letter to the Accountant General seeking the salary arrears payment was signed by the Permanent Secretary and the Director of Finance of the Federal Ministry of Information.

The letter expressed surprise that the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris was yet to comply with the directive.

However, in a strongly worded letter to the Accountant General by Yushau’s lawyer, Mr James Ode Abah, he was given seven days within which to comply with the court order on the salary arrears payment or be charged to court for contempt.

The letter copied Minister of Information, Attorney General of the Federation, Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission and the Chairman Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters maintained that the Accountant General is under obligation to obey a lawful court order that is not set aside, stayed or appealed against.

“We hold the office of the Accountant-General in high esteem and we anticipate the prompt compliance in the full payment of the outstanding salary arrears and emoluments due to our client from the year 2013 -2018 within 7 days from the receipt of this letter as computed by the Federal Ministry of Information and culture.

“If you do not accede to our clients demand within 7 days, we have the instruction of our client to institute contempt proceedings against you and to join your good office as a necessary party with respect to our contempt proceedings pending at the National Industrial Court” the lawyer’s letter said.

The case comes up at the National Industrial Court on February 3, 2021 before Justice Oyejoju Oyebiola Oyewumi.

Mr. Shuaib an award-winning writer and public relations practitioner was forced to retire from the service after an article he wrote against a Minister over lopsided appointments in public offices.

After he was reinstated in 2018, he retired voluntarily from the service on October 10, 2019, when he clocked 50 years of age.

By PRNigeria

The post Accountant General Defies Court, Minister’s Order on Payment to NEMA Spokesperson appeared first on Tech Digest News.