www.spacesforchange.org

With great excitement, we unveil our new website to YOU! Our aim is to have an accessible, dynamic, top quality website that provides up-to-date service information that can be easily accessed by the public, and from anywhere in the world. 

On the new www.spacesforchange.org site, you can now easily sift through our portfolio of projects, programs and activities, making it easier for you to navigate and better understand our wide range of services and capabilities. A variety of icons on the top right corner of the header will take you directly to our online portals on the social media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn and issuu.com. 

The Kim Kardashian Lagos Misadventure

By Emeka Ibe

On Sunday, 17 February, 2013, the “Love Like a Movie” event held at the Convention Centre of Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos. The show was anchored by Nigeria’s renowned musician, Darey Art-Alade. Other top-rated artistes like 2Face Idibia, 9ice, Flavour, Banky W, Jozi, Waje, etc., also featured at the much publicised event for which individual tickets sold for as much as N100,000.00. The promoters of the event had earlier gone to town with the news that Miss Kim Kardashian, an American reality TV star, was coming to Nigeria to co-host the show with Darey Art-Alade. This particular angle put a lot of hype on the event, as teeming Nigerian fans of the reality TV star could not wait to have a personal encounter with their idol. There were very high expectations amongst her fans, particularly after Miss Kardashian herself confirmed on twitter that she was coming to co-host the red carpet of the show with Darey Art-Alade.

CHOLERA-RAVAGED KULA COMMUNITY CRY OUT FOR HELP!

A February 27, 2013 Facebook post by Adesoji Adebisi, matched with a photo evidence, alerted members of Spaces for Change (S4C) network about the conflicting reports of a cholera outbreak in Kula community in Rivers State caused by the lack of potable drinking water. Adesoji's post provoked intense debate and discussions among concerned members  generating over 80 comments full of proposals for mitigating the reported water crisis. To begin with, two members of the network, Penshd Ibiminji Darego and Oraye St Franklyn voluntarily undertook to visit the community to verify the claims of a health crisis, and document the actual water quality situation on the ground. The Rivers State government had in a statement, categorically refuted the story about a cholera epidemic within the community. 

EYEING THE FUTURE...

Today marks one full year of Spaces for Change’s full scale physical operations, and the second year of a strong online presence. What started out in May 2011 as regular blogging, daily Facebook and twitter postings, and a coordinated online network of change-seeking youths unassumingly, metamorphosed into a structured advocacy group, Spaces for Change (S4C), in March 2012. Today, S4C is famed for leveraging technology, employing crowd sourcing concepts and the social media to conduct high-profile researches and to facilitate public engagement on the policy and legislative processes in the oil and gas, energy, environment, housing and security sectors in Nigeria. 

It is now common for key policy makers, lawmakers and development experts to regularly join in, and participate in webinar sessions, e-conferences and moderated discussions in S4C’s online platforms to communicate important updates and enlightenment regarding government social and economic policies and programs to the public. Our online exchanges have also enabled critical stakeholders to exchange information, forge alliances, build consensus around possible solutions to complex social and economic issues connected to the reform programs in key economic sectors. 

PIB: Protect Host Communities, and the Environment - Ogoni Chiefs

It is no news that oil producing communities bear the brunt of oil exploration and production. Decades of unregulated oil operations have left communities devastated and in many cases, totally stripped of their sources of livelihood, coupled with the destruction of their environment.  Among several pioneering provisions, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) introduced initiatives aimed at increasing the participation of oil producing communities in the oil and gas sector, as well as promoting environmental sustainability in the areas where oil exploration and production take place. It recognizes that oil operations (including seismic operations, mining, oil spill resulting from equipment failure, human error, corrosion etc) can cause damage to private property rights such as lands, buildings, economic trees, crops, fishing rights and equipment, water sources and venerated objects. 

PHOTOSPEAK: PIB CONSULTATIVE MEETING IN PORT HARCOURT

Host Communities Should Co-Sign FG-Oil Company Joint Venture Agreements - Ledum Mittee

Host communities should become parties to joint venture agreements between the federal government and oil companies. This view was expressed by one of the participants at Spaces for Change (S4C) Consultative Meeting on the PIB held in Port Harcourt yesterday, Monday, February 25, 2013. The meeting aimed to generate critical reflection and input from a wide spectrum of citizens and professionals, the civil society, industry experts on provisions of the Petroleum Industry Bill relating to the environment and community participation in the oil and gas industry.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING: Relationship Intelligence & Workplace Productivity

“Increasingly, the best of breed lead not by virtue of power alone, but by excelling in the art of relationship.” – Daniel Goleman, PhD- Leadership Expert, Author

First introduced by Bernard G. Guerney in the 1960s, Relationship Enhancement (RE)  has for over forty years, proven to be an effective productivity booster  in the workplace and in the home. RE is a skills- based training model that focuses on empowering the individual to excel in their personal and professional relationships.

  

On March 27, 2013, Spaces for Change will be convene an RE training and coaching class targeted at young professionals and entrepreneurs, unemployed graduates, including young school leavers to bolster their employability skills, leadership capabilities and productivity in the workplace. Recognizing that today’s youth can be at the forefront of social change, this training is specifically designed to empower young people to learn new approaches to high performance, sustain corporate and personal relationships, build social capital and become catalysts for change.

Here Comes Another Slap-on-the-wrist Judgment!

By Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri 

Last Wednesday, a self-acclaimed pension fund thief, Mr. Yakubu Yusuf was grandly ushered into the infamous Country Club of Corruption. This time around, a Nigerian court was the usher!  In a bizarre judgment totally bereft of shame, logic and good conscience, a man who pleaded guilty to stealing a whopping N23 Billion Naira ($203 million) was given a two year prison sentence, with an option to pay a N750,000 ( $1,500) fine in lieu of the sentence. So brazenly, Justice Talba Abubakar Mahmud of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja spewed out a shiny incentive to loot, and loot, and loot according to one’s power and official might.  So cruelly disgorged into the nation’s judicial annals is a precedent legitimizing the rape of public treasury provided the lootee is willing to pay a tiny tithe offering – called “fine” – to evade punishment!