National Conference and Us!

On behalf of Spaces for Change, we specially invite YOU to the above-named web-conference aimed at deepening consultations and engagement with national conference delegates. About 6,635 online participants will directly participate in the web-conference with 5 out of the 492 national conference delegates drawn from diverse backgrounds cutting across natural resource management, law, labour, environmental justice, community activism and human rights.

S4C Files FOI Request to Verify Job Creation Statistics

Spaces for Change (S4C) has filed a request to inspect public records and statistics of jobs created in Nigeria between 2011 – 2013 to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the National Bureau of Statistics and the Office of the Chief Economic  Adviser to the President. 

The FOI request seeks to inspect or obtain copies and public records of the official statistics regarding the number of jobs created in Nigeria between 2011 – 2013 in addition to copies of enabling policies, executed and ongoing projects and programmes for bolstering job creation and youth employment.

IWD 2014: Inspiring Change to Overcome Domestic Violence

1WDIWD

Each year International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Inspiring Change is the 2014 theme for International Women’s Day (IWD2014) which saw thousands of advocacy groups hosting various events around the world to lend their voices and support for women's advancement everywhere in every way. 

 

In commemoration of IWD 2014, Spaces for Change’s S4C’s Funmilayo Fakeye featured on a radio program on Thursday, March 13, 2014 on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM, Lagos to discuss domestic violence and the road to justice. The one-hour program, including a phone-in session urged women and victims of domestic violence to break the barriers of silence as a way to inspire positive change.

Rights of Citizens under the Petroleum Industry Bill

Being part of the paper presentation delivered by Spaces for Change's executive director, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri on Consumer Rights Day at an event convened by Consumer Rights Project on March 14, 2014

Since its introduction over 4 years ago, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) continues to face persistent setbacks to its passage despite its enormous prospects for improving the technical, operational and regulatory efficiency in Nigeria's oil industry operations. If passed into law, the PIB would obligate the government to make its oil deals and revenue earnings more transparent and accountable, ending decades of corruption that has diverted billions of dollars of oil revenue that could have been used to clean up oil-devastated poor communities and create employment for restive youths. 

What the Rights of Citizens and Consumers of Petroleum Products under the PIB?

PHOTOSPEAK: PROTEST MARCH AGAINST THE MYRIAD INJUSTICES IN NIGERIA

Spaces for Change.S4C coordinated a protest march on Friday, February 28, 2014 involving mainly young Nigerians embittered by the unpralleled official corruption, non-stop violence, abduction and massacres of citizens across the country, most of whom are young people. Compounding the $20B oil revenues allegedly missing from the national treasury, 50 students of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State were massacred by gun men suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents. The killings occurred days after 20 young female students were abducted from Government Girls Senior Science Secondary School and Ashigar School of Business and Administrative Studies.

Protesters gathered at the popular Tai Solarin statue at Yaba Bus Stop, Yaba Lagos where they took turns scribbling words of rage on their paper placards and card board sheets. Most of the protesters were Facebook friends, and were meeting each other for the first time. Warm hugs, tight embraces and handshakes melted into organized street action and communication of diverse protest messages in very strong terms. 

#StopBornoMassacre #20AbductedBornoSchoolsGirls #WhereIsOurMoney #YV2015

WE SAY NO TO THE MYRIAD ATROCITIES IN OUR NATION!

 

#StopBornoMassacre #20AbductedBornoSchoolsGirls: A dark curtain hangs across the nation! So much blood has been spilled in the last few days in unrestrained terrorist attacks and bombings that have disproportionately targeted young Nigerians in the north-eastern region of the country. Two days ago, 50 students of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State were massacred by gun men suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents. The killings occurred days after 20 young female students were abducted from Government Girls Senior Science Secondary School and Ashigar School of Business and Administrative Studies. Till this day, no one knows their whereabouts or what has happened to them.

Spaces for Change, (S4C), Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), Tiny Beating Hearts Initiative (TBHI); Centre for Patriotic Leadership Initiative (CPLI), Centre of Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE), Network of Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), Slum-Ed, SkyTrend News and a network of youth associations, non-governmental organizations and citizens’ movements strongly condemn the continuing acts of brutality visited on innocent citizens at a scale rarely seen elsewhere.  These wanton killings are abhorrent, barbaric and constitute a systematic violation of the immutable rights to life, education and human dignity guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.

Sack Diezani, Iweala Now! - Civil Society Groups

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (SR) held a meeting in Abuja on 25^th February 2014 to review the State of the Nigerian Nation. The SR comprising more than Sixty Nigerian Civil Society groups reached the following decisions:

1.    NIGERIA’S MISSING 20BILLION DOLLARS

SR calls on the National Assembly to convene an independent Judicial Commission of inquiry to investigate allegations that 20billion has been stolen from public revenues at the NNPC. Situation room notes that 20billion dollars would make a huge and significant difference to the lives and living conditions of the ordinary Nigerian and significant impact on collapsed infrastructure, generate millions of new jobs, and revive industries and indeed  address several problems confronting the country.

Angry Reactions Trail Missing $20 Billion Unremitted Oil Revenues

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi appeared before the Senate’s Investigative Public Hearing on unremitted oil revenues, where he alleged that $20 billion is still unaccounted for. He also provided a detailed explanation about the irregularities in the accounting system of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), presenting evidence showing that NNPC, has in violation of the law and constitution, been diverting money from the Federation Account, and involving itself in activities that warrant full investigation.

In his 30-paged memorandum, Sanusi claims that:

“That NNPC, in paying what it calls kerosene subsidy, is confessing to a number of serious infractions. First, I have shown, based on NBS data, that kerosene is not a subsidised product, and, therefore, the so-called subsidy is rent generated for the benefit of those in the kerosene business. Second, I have produced evidence that President Yar’Adua had issued a presidential directive eliminating this subsidy payment as from July, 2009. Third, these huge losses inflicted on the Federation Account have not been appropriated”.

The latest revelation of massive corruption and financial malfeasance in NNPC provoked a heated debate in the 6,100-member Spaces for Change’s (S4C’s) discussion forum, generating over 300 comments. On February 4, S4C admin published the blow-by-blow account of the Committee hearing, including the CBN Governor’s memorandum and other evidential materials on its online portals and discussion forums. Reactions poured in from young Nigerians across the country and in the diaspora both in support and against the CBN’s governor’s spirited steps to entrench accountability in oil sector governance.

Here are the excerpts from the conversation:

Open Data Initiative Launched

Spaces for Change’s Funmilayo Fakeye participated in Nigeria’s first-ever open data clinic held on January 30-31, 2014 in Abuja, Nigeria. The Clinic forms part of a series of initiatives led by the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Ministry of Communication Technology, the World Bank, the new Code for Nigeria, Hala Nigeria initiatives and global partners to help the country better use technology to drive the national digital and information transformation agenda.