Kabissa Gong Gong: October 2008 - Spotlight on Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria

A monthly newsletter for members of the Kabissa African civil society network

1. Dear Mimi: Internet Advice Column

Should I sign up for social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn?

As social networking sites gain in popularity, we will all start getting more and more invitations through them from our friends and colleagues to join up. So what are the benefits and risks of joining, and how do they compare with each other?

As Web 2.0 sites, social networking sites typically display what they are about directly on the homepage, and are very clear about the single most important service they provide. As you evaluate these invitations please consider carefully if they will move you personally forward in your personal life or professional career - if they do not then it is likely you are going to waste your time or possibly even cause yourself some harm if you start using them and suddenly find you can't delete messages you regret and find you can't delete or if you give your mobile number or email address and are suddenly inundated with unwanted calls and emails.

The two social networking sites I would give most serious consideration to are Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) and LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com) - which are both free to use and look similar, but serve a different purpose. Facebook is completely driven and paid for by advertising, while LinkedIn displays fewer obvious ads but has premium subscription services for job seekers and employers.

Facebook defines itself as a "social utility" that "helps you to connect and share with the people in your life." It is a network website that emerged out of a project to help college students to get to know one another (American universities typically have a "facebook" directory that help students to place names to faces and find common interest). Only in the last year or so did Facebook open up its website to people with no connection to a school. These roots are apparent - much of the activity on Facebook is oriented to finding people that you share something in common with and connecting with them for personal socializing. However, Facebook also offers campaigns and other more useful activities that can serve a bigger purpose, like promoting a cause or raising funds for a charity. Indeed, Kabissa has a Facebook group and two exciting Facebook campaigns promoting African causes are highlighted in this newsletter.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, is set up to serve professionals seeking to deepen their reputations and to connect them with jobs and opportunities. LinkedIn's mission statement is right on the frontpage of the site, which is to help you to:

Stay informed about your contacts and industry
Find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals
Control your professional identity online

Think of LinkedIn as a dynamic online curriculum vitae that you can update anytime, that has a likelihood of being found by people looking to hire you, and where your colleagues can post glowing recommendations of your work. You even get your own direct link on LinkedIn (for example http://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiaseigen) which you can use to link to from your own websites and online profiles (for example http://www.kabissa.org/user/1) and at the bottom of your emails.

For further reading, refer to Kabissa's Web 2.0 in African Civil Society wiki.

2. Under the Baobab Tree: News and Blogs from Kabissa Members

Mile 19 Community, 4th Leadership Retreat Follow-up Meeting, Tuesday to Friday, November 18-21, 2008. For more information see the website here.
From Fantsuam the People and Places Project: "The project is to be an ongoing photo diary involving schools in different countries. It has just started. If you subscribe to People and Places you will be notified each time a new photo goes up. New schools are still joining" If you are interested in knowing more about this and other ICT projects visit the LearnByDoing blog by Pamela McLean.
Access to Learning Award Lists 2009. Applications are invited from organisations with a mandate to provide public access to information to apply for the Access to Learning Award (ATLA) 2009. For further queries, please email atla@gatesfoundation.org.
Volunteer opportunites at RUDEC. For more information see their blog post on Kabissa.

3. Kabissa Matters

New members this month: This month has seen a record number of new members to Kabissa, 23 in all. We are pleased to welcome new members from Liberia, Zambia, Lesotho, Nigeria and Kenya. This bring the total number of civil society organisations in the Kabissa network to 1251.

Wrapping up the PanAfrican Localization Project

The PanAfrican Localisation (PAL) project, which ran from April 2005 until this past March, was a 3 year effort to promote development of localization of information technology in African languages. It was funded by the Canadian agency, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), administered by Kabissa, and led by Dr. Don Osborn of Kabissa member Bisharat, Ltd.

Localization is mainly the translation of software or internet content into diverse languages, and is part of developing the multilingual potential of information technology to serve people better. Computer technology and web content are being localized into many languages worldwide, and

The PAL project's accomplishments include: holding two workshops - one in Casablanca, Morocco in June 2005 and another in Tshwane, South Africa in November 2007 - and collaborating on other events related to localization in African languages; development of a resource website on African languages and information technology; and producing a research document on localization in Africa. The latter two are available online at www.PanAfriL10n.org.

The PAL project is succeeded by the African Network for Localisation (ANLoc), which is also funded by IDRC, but administered by an African organization, Translate.org.za. Bisharat is participating in that effort also. ANLoc has its site at www.AfricanLocalisation.net.
Kabissa members who would like to localize their content or find out what sort of software is currently available in African languages are encouraged to contact the ANLoc project lead, Dwayne Bailey, via the ANLoc contact page.

4. Technology News and Resources

5. Opportunities Pot

Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards - opportunity for Nigerians and South Africans
Can the new African foundations level the playing field? Article by Bhekinkosi Moyo of TrustAfrica, which first appeared in Alliance Magazine, a publication dedicated to philanthropy and social investment worldwide.
Curbing Cybercrime in Nigeria: Essay Competition for Students of Tertiary Institutions
20 Tips Every Strategic Grant Seeker Should Know. To obtain your free copy email the author Jonathan Peizer at jpeizer@internautconsulting.com for a copy. Please be sure to mention Kabissa!

6. Member Spotlight: Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria

This month Sokari interviews Tunji Buhari who is an Environmental Campaign Worker for Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria. He is based in Lagos and has been working with ERA on their Anti-Tobacco campaign.

Sokari: The Anti-Tobacco campaign in Nigeria is fairly new. Can you give us some background on the campaign? When it started and why at that particular time?

Tunji: Tobacco is the only known product that kills half of its users when used as prescribed by the manufacturer. It kills over 10,000 persons a day and 4.5 million people a year. Sadly, 70percent of this figure is from developing countries. If the current trends continue, the figure is anticipated to rise to 10million a year by 2030. In Nigeria, Commercial growing of tobacco started in 1934 when British American Tobacco (BAT) decided to source tobacco leaf locally in preparation for the establishment of a cigarette plant in Ibadan in 1937. BAT has been a part owner of the moribund Nigeria Tobacco Company(NTC). Tobacco cultivation first started in Ogbomosho, Iseyin and Ago Are, all in the old Oyo State, before spreading to the Northern part of the country. But before the BAT onslaught, tobacco growing in the country was at its lowest.

On September 24, 2001 at an event dubbed the Nigerian Investment Summit held at park Lane Hotel London, British American Tobacco (BAT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government of Nigeria to build a USD150 million ultra modern cigarette manufacturing plant in Ibadan, Oyo State, South West Nigeria At the event, the Nigerian government and the tobacco mogul reached a consummated agreement for the removal of all barriers to BAT's war on public health and the globalization of death, poverty and diseases.

In the calculation of BAT strategists, the Nigerian market is the most crucial in Africa for the company to survive. The anti-tobacco policies of its home country and those being introduced by the European Union were suffocating BAT. In their desperation to explore Nigeria's huge market possibilities, the tobacco giants have facilitated massive smuggling, introduced sophisticated advertisement and overnwhelming marketing gimmicks.

Tobacco, in addition to being a public health disaster, exerts negative impact on national development, the economy, environment and social well-being of persons. It is a purveyor of poverty by promoting irrational allocation of resources. It also compounds third world economic problems as the short term benefits of the whole tobacco trade go only into the vaults of western business moguls. The anti- tobacco project of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA) is a resistance to the contrivance of tobacco transnational led by British American Tobacco (BAT) to reduce Nigeria to a haven of rejected products and its people to pawns on the chessboard of corporations. The anti-tobacco campaign takes root in ERA's mission of exposing negative corporate practices and facilitating the enactment of effective policies for sustainable development. And in the tobacco case, policies that will create the needed supportive environment to enable Nigerians live healthy lives and be protected from the greed of global death merchants.

Sokari: What is the aim of the campaign and how does it relate to other environmental issues in Nigeria?

The aim of the campaign is to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke by promoting the national tobacco control bill in the parliament in order to reduce continually and substantially the prevalence of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke Every aspect of cigarette production is a contributory factor to environmental degradation. Clearing of land for tobacco farming , cutting wood to cure leaves and for making paper for packaging cigarettes, leads to deforestation and other environmental blight. For the production of the "Flue-cured" tobacco, BAT's Training and Demonstration Centre in Iseyin, Oyo State, huge mass of wood dot all the curing barns in the facility. In curing tobacco leaves, they are first stacked on poles, where heat from the wood is directed at them over a minimum of one week period. Cutting of trees for tobacco curing accounts for 1.6 percent of loss around the world with most occurring in developing countries. Also some of the chemicals used in the cultivation of tobacco like, methybromide destroy the environment by killing nematodes and other soil organisms. Recently the capital Abuja was declared a "Smoke free zone".

Sokari: How difficult has it been to achieve this - what sort of response did you get from the Federal Territory, the Federal Government and people respectively?

Tunji: On June 1, 2008, the Federal Capital Territory declared all public places smoke free. Abuja is going smoke free is as a result of our work and commitment over the past years to ensure that everyone breaths a safer air. The need to protect the non smoking public from the dangers associated with cigarette smoking makes it necessary for the enforcement of the ban on smoking in public places. There is evidence that shows that exposure to Second Hand Smoke can caused diseases and death. Second Hand Smoke is a combination of the smoke which a smoker exhales and the one that comes out of the burning end of a cigarette. This Second Hand smoke is also known as the Environmental Tobacco smoke (ETS) or Passive smoking. Tobacco is a complex mixture of about 4,000 cancer causing chemicals that are extremely harmful to the body. It has also been confirmed that for every eight smoker who die, one innocent bystander also dies from second hand smoke and if one is exposed to second hand smoke for about 120minutes, then the person must have smoked and equivalent of four cigarettes. Second Hand Smoke is as deadly as the real tobacco smoke.. Because of these negative effects of smoking on Non-Smokers the smoke free Abuja will put public health above profits made from selling cigarettes. It will reduce the rate of smoking especially among the young and underage people who are actually the target of the tobacco companies.. Smoke free public places will make the environment cleaner and residents can breathe safer air. The benefits of also going smoke free will help towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal(MDG) of halving poverty by 2015. Because money spent on tobacco products will help provide food and shelter for families.

So far so good, the responses and support from the Federal Capital Territory, Federal Government has been very encouraging. And also the massive media enlightment campaign to inform residents about the enforcement has also be commendable.

Sokari: What technologies such as the internet and mobile phones have you used in the tobacco campaign and how effective have they been?

Tunji: ERA have been using internet and mobile phones in campaign and launch her Anti-Tobacco Campaign goes on mobile phones last year.

The introduction of mobile phones into ERA tobacco campaign project came after the participation in a mobile activists workshop in Nairobi, Kenya on how to use ICT to press for a policy change. The mobile phone introduction is part of ERA's culture of providing hidden facts behind corporate maneuvers so that Nigerian policy makers can make informed decisions. It is to also create awareness about the hazards of smoking to Nigerians through SMS and also sending some tips to smokers on how to kick out the habit of smoking.

In the same vein, ERA has set up a hotline anti-tobacco campaign which is toll free for all Nigerians to ask question and receive feedback on the dangers of smoking.. The hotline is designed to answer questions on the dangers of tobacco use through SMS.

Sokari: What lessons have you learned about using mobile phones as a campaigning tool?

Tunji: Clearly, Mobile Phones have played a key role in the tobacco control as a means of communication about the tobacco epidemic in an accurate, realistic and less expensive way.

Mobile phone has been used to create awareness about the hazards of smoking to Nigerians through SMS a tips to smokers on how to kick out the habit of smoking. The introduction of Mobile Phones has had a huge impact on the populace and judging from the numbers of phone calls and responses we have been receiving.

Sokari: ERA has for many years worked in the Niger Delta with local human rights activists and communities against the environmental crimes committed by oil multinationals. Have you thought of using mobile phones to document environmental abuses such as oil spillages and fires?

Tunji: Yes. In 2007 ERA launched a toll-free GREEN LINES to report ecological disasters in any community. If there is any ecological threat in a community whether e.g i pipeline ruptures, fires, pollution or any activity that threatens the environment. The GREEN LINES are toll- free . What SMS platform do you use for your environmental campaigns and how effective are they?

We use 2cheapsms platform for our campaign, which provides the simplest and easiest way to send individualized bulk messages (SMS) to a group of people. What other sectors, besides tobacco control and the mining / petroleum sector, is ERA involved with.

ERA Programme areas include:

Natural Resources and Communtiy Conservation, Energy and Mining, Environmental Education and Mining, Tobacco Control, Democracy Outreach, Trade and Development, Gender, Genetically Modified Organisms, Legal Resources, Media and Publications Nigeria has a very poor infrastructure and electricity provision is a major problem. What are the technological challenges you face as an organisation and as a staff member on a day to day basis due to the poor infrastructure.

The cost effectiveness- I mean the outrageous tariff charges of the mobile network provider.
Lack of electricity which we use to charge mobiles phones for our campaign are not available, we run on generator most time.
Also network problem which make it difficult to reach some of our local people.
Illiteracy: Judging from past experience, a lot of people don't know how to use their mobile phones to send and read sms in English.

Sokari: Why did you get into working on environmental issues?

Tunji: I have been hearing about the environmental degradation going in the Niger Delta for so many years but I was totally committed to the environmental issues when I read a book titled: WHERE VULTURES FEAST: 40 years of SHELL in the Niger Delta by Oronto Douglas and Ike Okonta. The book revealed so many human rights atrocities committed by the multinational oil companies especially Royal Dutch/Shell who is the operating company of the largest oil-producing joint venture in Nigeria. Shell accounts for some 50percent of oil production in the country, the bulk of it in the Niger Delta where the company opened its first well in 1958.

If you would like your organisation to feature in the "Member Spotlight", please email Sokari at community@kabissa.org