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| L-R: UNICEF Chief of Health Section, Dr. Aboubacar Kampo; NUC Scribe, Professor Julius A. Okojie, OON; Mr. Chris Maiyaki,
Dr. Noel Saliu and Mal. Ibrahim Yakasai |
A delegation from U-Report,
led by the Chief of Health
Section, United Nations Children
Education Fund (UNICEF),
Dr Aboubacar Kampo, recently
visited National Universities
Commission (NUC), to seek the
Commission’s approval to introduce
U-report in all Nigerian
Universities to staff and students.
Welcoming the team, the Executive
Secretary, Professor Julius A.
Okojie, OON, thanked them for
taking the right step of seeking the
consent of the Commission before
embarking on such a project, saying
that U-Report would benefit
students, if well harnessed. He
called on them to think about deploying
the U-Report platform to
only things that would promote
the interest of the students and to
be sensitive to issues that would
benefit both staff and students.
L-R: UNICEF Chief of Health Section, Dr. Aboubacar Kampo; NUC Scribe, Professor Julius A. Okojie, OON; Mr. Chris Maiyaki,
Dr. Noel Saliu and Mal. Ibrahim Yakasai
7 Monday Bulletin
Vol. 10 No. 35 - 30 August, 2015 A Publication of the Office of the Executive Secretary
The Executive Secretary, who was
represented by the Deputy Executive
Secretary 1, Professor Chiedu
Mafiana urged the team to carry
the Commission along in all activities
on the platform by linking the
Commission to it. He also stressed
the need to avoid posting anything
that might offend the sensibilities
of the users of the platform
and the society in general.
To this end, the Deputy Executive
Secretary requested that
all materials to be hosted must
first be sent to the Commission
for scrutiny before being carried
on the U- Report platform.
Earlier in his speech, Dr. Kampo
informed the Commission that Ureport
was an innovation- based
and user-centred social monitoring
tool, which relied on volunteer
community members serving
as U-reporters on a free entry
and free exit basis, with the aim
of providing information on issues
in their communities such
as medical, health, social, among
others. This, he said, operated on
a simple Short Message Service
(SMS) by sending alert to key
stakeholders about issues their
constituents were facing and feeding
back useful information to the
U-reporters, who were empowered
to work for change and improvements
in their communities.
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| L-R: Director, Quality Assurance, Dr. Noel Saliu; Deputy Director, Students Welfare and Social Development, Mr. Alex Ewuruje;
National Coordinator of U-Report, Mrs Victoria Ndoh; Deputy Executive Secretary I, Prof. Chiedu Mafiana, UNICEF Chief, Dr
Aboubacar Kampo; Director, Protocol and Special Duties, Mr. Chris Maiyaki and Deputy Director, ICT Projects, Dr. Joshua Atah |
The UNICEF Chief of Health Department
said that, with the universities
being communities in
themselves, the U-Report would
thrive as there were many interest
groups within the environment
to relate with. He further
explained that the U-report was
all about a collaborative platform
focused on community members,
their views and rights and was
meant to address challenges identified
in any sector by amplifying
the voice of the communities.
Dr. Kampo further explained that
U-Report had the ability to ensure
that identified gaps were filled
through citizen’s proactive monitoring,
which makes all sectors
more visible to the public and provides
opportunities to strengthen
public discourse on social issues
in the public fora and through the
media. He stated that information
obtained through the platform
served as a solid accountability
system and was difficult
to be influenced by stakeholders,
as it was driven by citizens and
constituencies. He remarked that
the U-Report could not necessarily
provide scientific evidence,
but reflected the honest opinion
and thoughts of the citizens.
The platform served as what the
Team Leader described as a ‘trigger
pulse’ for further scientific
investigations or spot checks and
audits the platform. The U-Report
might be used to report the
outbreak of an epidemic, lack of
infrastructure in schools, poor Reproductive,
Maternal, New-born,
Child and Adolescent Healthcare
(RMNCAH) services in medical
facilities and lack of vaccines
in real time and help save lives
as well as improve livelihoods.
According to Dr. Kampo,
UNICEF in its programming and
work ethic had adopted community
engagement, involvement
and empowerment as part of its
core value and important working
principles. This, he added,
presented Nigeria with an opportunity
to have one of the
world‘s youngest population that
had high literacy level and well
spread in various communities.
He revealed that seventy percent
of U-reporters in Nigeria were
young people and UNICEF considered
them as the needed critical
mass necessary in establishing
linkages with communities to
stimulate the process of positive
change, through information exchange
and feedback. He further
said that U-Report, under the auspices
of UNICEF was currently
in partnership with the National
Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
and National Orientation Agency
(NOA), where it had helped to
promote social accountability.
In the delegation was the National
Coordinator of U-Report,
Mrs. Victoria Ndoh.
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