L'OBV des JNTIC 2012

 Les journées internationales des technologies de l'information et de la communication battent leur plein à Abidjan. Après 3 jours, soit on y est allé, soit, on suit sur les réseaux sociaux. Un petit mot de ma part.. pour relever ce que j'appelle l'OBV de ces choses. L'Orange étant pour des signes avant-coureurs des dangers, le blanc étant pour les parties plates.. ou bien mi-figue-mi-raisin et le vert pour "Yes"!!

L'ORANGE

 Il y a au moins 3 qui n'ont pas marché. Je ne sais pas exactement ce qu'il s'est passé, mais de l'arrivée à la possession de son badge.. en tout cas ça a foiré! J'aurais voulu le dire autrement. ICS, UNETEL, Sécurité.. je sais pas, moi.. mais. Le mardi matin, à 9 heures Il y avait toutes sortes d'explication. Sauf les badges des conférenciers sont avec UNETEL. Il faut aller au stand ICS. Le système d'ICS ne marchent pas. Entre temps, on doit gagner la salle plénière .. et là, il faut avoir son badge!

La connexion Internet!! Safroulaye!! Au début il n'y avait pas des réseaux détectables.. ensuite: MTN-JNTIC, Orange Wifi, MTN wifi, VISITEURS-JNTIC, EXPOSANTS-JNTIC.. Toutes ces ethnies là..Zéro Bi pointé.Meme mon 3G sur le portable aussi avait du mal à démarrer.. Après avoir fait tout un boucan autour de JNTIC 2012.. moi, je me croyais en droit d'espérer ce qu'on appelle .. "paradis de bande passante" mais que.. NON. J'étais annoncée pour Abuja.. et pour Genève. Je me disais qu'une fois connectée.. j'allais pouvoir gérer.. J'ai joué bidé!

Je me suis laissée convaincre qu'à l'ère d'ADOSOLUTIONS, on avait pris l'habitude de respecter l'heure.  Pour dire vrai, le gouvernement respecte l'heure. Nos ministres respectent l'heure.. mais.. pour JNTIC de cette année là.. je sais pas.  La chose n'était meme pas un lundi.. au moins on aura pu dire que les gens étaient en weekend.. Mais, pour moi, vois les gars d'ALLIGATOR monter les tentes devant moi à 9:30..  et toute la journée de mardi.. bon, bref!

LE BLANC

Les filles! Les filles ooooo!! Les filles. Les filles. Les belles filles. Les filles minces. Et comme le Dr  Antoine Mian me le dit, il faut préciser que ce sont les filles "minces minces". A mon arrivé le mardi matin.. je me suis demandée.. "Dis, Nnenna, tu t'es pas trompée de lieu? Parait que c'est un casting de JCS pour Star Tonnerre". C'est moi seule qui me suis déçue.  Je me disais qu'au moins cette année.. comme c'est "Les Femmes et les Filles  dans les TIC" on  les verra autrement..que dis-je, on NOUS verra autrement.  Mais non, les filles étaient là, pour servir de props, hotesses, décoration".. comme d'habitude.

INSECDAYS aussi. On y avait placé beaucoup d'espoir.  J'ai vu que pour sa plénière, la salle Christian Lattier était archi-comble. Même les  places debouts, on en trouvait pas.  Mais bon, les autres étapes n'ont pas très bien marchées. On y arrivera.. un de ces jours.  On  va tiré la léçon et mieux faire.

La pluie du mardi!! Comment!!? Comme le disait un participant, c'est le ciel "qui a versé sur nous quoi". Vraiment il a plu. Avec mannière! Vers la fin de la journée de mardi, tout le monde mettait son problème et son manquement du jour sur le dos de la pluie.

LE VERT

Il y avait du monde.  Du beau monde, oui. La mobilisation a été bien faite. Si on se plaind, c'est parce qu'on y était. C'est bizarre mais c'est vrai.  La communauté TIC, le réseau AKANDEWA, les blogguers, tout ceux qui étaient à Google Days.. les écoles.. tout le monde y étaient.  La "communauté internationale aussi. Les participants d'un peu partout dans le monde.. Verone Mankou de VMK avec sa tablette WAY-C.. Fatou de Sénégal. En tout cas, bravo.

Les stands et les exposants.  Il y'en avait  de tous bords.  Chaque année, la partie expo s'améliore.  C'est un plus. Mais pas seulement le nombre des exposants mais aussi le niveau de la technologie.  Ce sera important de garder l'oeil sur les nouveautés de chaque année.  Les JNTIC devront nous  servir à mesurer la croissance tech du pays.

La réconciliation. Pour ceux [ou nous autres] qui ne savent  pas, il n'ya pas eu JNTIC en 2011. Les banques venaient à peine de rouvrir, on pansait les plaies, on essayait de revoir les habitations brulées.  Je me souviens que j'avais tout un tas de facture  à payer.. après  6 mois d'exile forcé. La Cote d'Ivoire est de retour. Bien que le Ministre Koné Bruno soit venu, car il était de sa responsabilité, le Minstre Hamed Bakayoko est venu.  Laurent Dona Fologo aussi.  Comme j'étais assise devant, en haut là bas.. sur la table des VIPs.. j'ai pris un moment pour regarder les visages de ceux qui sont en face de moi.

Je n'ai pas vu la peur, je n'ai pas vu la haine.  J'ai vu un peuple réuni, un peuple qui croit en lui-meme.  Une Cote d'Ivoire    qui est décidée de se reconstruire. De se tirer de la guerre.. et de batir.. une nation forte, avec les TICS.

J'ai vu les jeunes.. garçons et filles. Les ainés.. les tanties, les tontons. C'était pas une affaire des TICs seulement.  C'est une affaire d'une nation qui se lève, qui se dit..

Oui, il y a encore des failles, 


des hauts, et des bas..


 mais nous y arriverons.

C'est pour quoi demain, je vais repartir.. et si le Bon Dieu m'accorde la vie..

Je serai aux JNTIC 2013!

MAG: To be or not to be?

I am reading Ginger's "actions call" for MAG self/nominations. And it is so spirited that I have decided to write down my "thoughts" here as a blog. Will be my third blog of the day.. Looks like I'm in a bloggy mood.. if ever such a word exists.

In reading the scoring, I see that I actually have a "BIG FAT" chance. Here is the way I see it:

1. I will get a 10% for being in Côte d'Ivoire, a country that has yet to be on the MAG

2. I will get another 10% for being from a developing country

3. And another 10% for not being male.

If I add that I have been active in my national IGICI and the West Africa IGF - WAIGF and also the AfIGF that is taking shape.. I sure will get some extra points.

Then I will add a 10 year history in WSIS and its related activities, and a formal training in International relations and linguistic diversity etc

So I think I will be around something like 70 or 80%

The question, therefore, that warrants this blog is "so why are you not nominating yourself or seeking someone to do so? Even despite the fact that you have received solicitations asking you to do so?"

To be or not be.

Here is my shot: Thanks, but NO, thanks. I will pass on this one. Why? Well for at least 5 reasons:

1. I am busy. I wish I could get 30 hours a day, but no, I dont have it. I am doing this blog at about 100 minutes to midnight! I would love to spare myself the MAG work.

2. I have downgraded ALL unpaid trips to anywhere outside of Africa. I cannot spend 3 days running visa, spend at least 200$ in the case of a Schengen one, and not get paid for that. Especially now that the ECOWAS passport is 32 pages instead of 48.

3. Anybody knows where a Nigerian living in Côte d'Ivoire will get a visa for Azerbaijan? I may probably need to do a trip to one other African country first.. Okay, enough with the visa thing..You only get a visa problem when THE FUNDING problem itself has been resolved. And the song around "civil society participation", "gender balance" and "participation from developing countries" is beginning to tire my Spirit.

4. I want to invest locally and if possible invest in action. I am a development-oriented African. Though words are of the legal profession and the whole of the "activism" thing is great.. but you know what? Over the years I have grown wider but also wiser. I want action, change, things done. At this age and weight.. I have a leaning for "less talk, more action"

5. I have 512 KBPS on wifi at home here. Add to that, that little tiny thing that if groomed well will come in handy for folks like me.. Remote Participation. I'd rather be reclining on my couch in my sitting room with this netbook of mine, eating my own kitchen food, enjoying the warm and airy Abidjan weather while connected remotely than to be trudging in any Geneva cold paying 15$ for ugly sandwiches!

MAG: To be or not to be?

Aint no question for me.. I will PASS! Maybe some time later, if/when things change.

Les 5 ivoiriens que tu dois croiser au quartier. 1 sur 5: Le titro-socio-politico-psycho-LOGUE

Il n'y a pas mal de temps que je comptais écrire ce billet de blog. Il s'agit des gens qui se trouvent dans nos quartiers, en tout cas, ici, à Abidjan.

Pour ma part, je suis issue de la belle commune de Cocody. J'en suis à ma 15è année. J'ai eu à faire plusieurs quartiers de la commune. Ces gens là, je le trouve dans chaque quartier. Pour ne pas nous éparpiller dans la conjugaison de il ou elle,(ce qui rend l'écriture d'un billet de blog difficile d'ailleurs) nous allon nous en tenir à un genre pour chaque personnalité.

Bon, découvrons:

Le titro-socio-politico-psycho-LOGUE

Ne comptes pas sur moi pour sa photo! Celui là, d'abord, il se croit un grand intellectuel. Il est le premier au carréfour pour faire la titrologie. Voila des années qu'il fait "ça". Il a bonne mémoire de chaque ministre, de chaque Dirécteur Général de chaque société d'état, de chaque Président de la FIF (Fédération Ivoiriènne de Football), de chaque Président du club au pays. Il les connais depuuuuuisssss!


Lui, il maitrise la politque de la France, du Nigeria, du Sénégal, de l'Oncle Sam, il a fini avec la Chine, le Japon, la Malaysie etc. Il te dresse un bon tableau de "pourquoi le Dubai est devenu ce qu'il est de nos jours". Il a son opinion sur Boko Haram, sur YENAMARRE,ETA en Espagne, la démocratie à la Poutine et l'état des choses en Birmanie.

Il faut tout de même reconnaitre que le type connait un peu. Il a une opinion sur tout et tous. Et comme il arrrive à peindre tout un tableau avec des mots et des chiffres, personne au quartier ne trouve assez de courage pour lui tenir tête. Et comme il a aussi fait un peu d'études, il arrive à confondre les gens avec les mots tirés de la psychologie,astrologie, antropologie, sociologie, et toutes autres logies que seul le Bon Dieu connait!

S'il commence une analyse politique et que tu t'arrêtes pour écouter.. ce que ta course de la journée est déjà foutue! Car lui, il est capable de démontrer comment Houphouet Boigny a vendu le pays à la France, comment l'UEMOA va s'écrouler sans la Côte d'Ivoire, pourquoi Barrack Obama sera re-élu, et où vont les Triples A de l'Europe.

Lui, c'est un "connaisseur" d'hommes de la politique et de la chose sociale..

Tu le connais?

AWUNSEM : Word-Weaving – An almost-extinct profession from the old Ashanti Kingdom

I spent a wonderful weekend in Ghana recently. I met Selina Amanquanor., who captivated me. Rarely do I fall head over heels in love with anybody.. but this time, I was really star-struck..

No, I did not fall in love with the Amanquanor woman herself, but with her work. She practices a profession that I know from the first minute I heard that “Hey! This is what I should have been doing for a living!”

So what is Selina's profession? I actually had to ask around.. then finally decided to gather my courage to ask for an interview with the lady.

AWUNSEM. That is the Akan word for it. It translates into English as “Poetry”. But no, that is not what it means. Selina said there is no other language equivalent for this Akan expression. Here is the way she expressed the meaning of AWUNSEM:

Awunsem is like weaving a basket. It is the use of words to make a humanity basket. If there is Kofi and there is Kwame, you must bring Kofi and Kwame to a moral, psychological and social equity, equality and humanity with the use of words. You must give existence, sense, focus, meaning and direction to human life in a poetic, rhythmic and harmonious manner!

Wow.. what a profession!

Since I met Selina during the funeral services of a certain key figure in Ghana, I asked if this is done only during deaths. She said no. You have Awunsem at all human events – deaths, births, marriages, every and all kind of human events and gatherings.

So what exactly does an Awunsem do? Here is what I saw:

On Friday night, there was laying in state of the body of the deceased at her residence. The body lay till Saturday morning when it was lifted to the church and a Christian service was held. All through the Friday/Saturday night, the Awunsem wove words. Some times, she spoke to groups of people, at other times, she spoke to the children of the deceased individually. Early Saturday morning, she changed clothes and sat in a very strategic place – between the gate and the room where the body lay in state.

She wove words.

And weave words, she did! She spoke in about 3 Ghanaian languages, and in English. She reminded us of who the deceased was, what she had done in her life time.. her likes and dislikes, her vision and her accomplishments. While she spoke about the deceased, I felt she was talking to me. I felt thoroughly woven in, I felt part of it.

Then I relaxed.. the sadness of mourning gave way into a more relaxed thinking. Awunsem puts death into its right perspective. It is not a tragedy, we shall all die. Awunsem questions your being, your motives, your raison d'être, digs deep into your very being and unearths hidden and fearful thoughts. Awunsem helps you confront your fears, links you to the others, gives you comfort, levels you into the sea of humanity and raises you on the waves of global brotherhood (and sisterhood).

At a point, you feel one with others, you surf on the wave of words, on the sea of humanity, ready to brave the storms of life.

In church, Awunsem made her entrance in a traditional flute which she was blowing herself! She read out a dirge in Twi, the native Akan language. I did not understand all the words, because they were deeper than the everyday Twi which I know. It was rhythm, harmony and rhymes. She read with voice inflexions worthy of a grand master in the art and science of phonetics. She spoke about the deceased in terms that challenged the living.. that challenged the lives of the living.

While the daughter of the deceased read out a biography, Awunsem stood by, playing that wooden flute in subtle tunes.. It was captivating. It was... a rare moment, a breath-taking rare moment.

After the interment, Awunsem came back with the family to the residence and exhorted the guests one more time. She praised God in His numerous names: Odumankuman, Tweduampon, arousing His greatness, His supremacy, His omnipotence. She praised God for the gift of the life of the deceased, a life she reminded us was a gift to us. She spoke about her birth, character, children, grand children, defunct husband, her friends, her favorite things...

By the time the Sunday service rolled round, hearts and minds were ready to actually do a thanksgiving service. It was dancing, it was offering, it was gratitude to God for the life of the one who has passed on. It was a clean fresh sense of a mission for most of us. A mission to lead a better life, to focus on what matters, to be reverent to Odumankuman, and to be part of the solidarity of the human race.

Yes. That is what an Awunsem does. That is what I would love to do. The profession is rare and almost extinct. With our native African languages on the decline and individuals embracing the literary profession far and few between, how many Awunsems will we have in 20, 30, 50 years' time?

You may have read of Prempreh, Son of Ashanti, the Ashanti kingdom, or maybe recently, of Kwame Nkrumah.

Here is a photo of Selina … one of the very last in a dwindling line of Awunsems. The Word-Weaving experts.

An almost-extinct profession from the old Ashanti Kingdom

The Nigerian Strike: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I came back from Nigeria yesterday evening, after some 8 days of stay. I arrived on Saturday the 7th.. in the heat of "there may be a strike next week" talk. And strike there was.. the whole week. By Saturday 14th, someone had named it "the mother of all strikes" in Nigeria. He is correct.

For me, the protests were on three levels. First, I was a complete stranger to the whole of it. Since I dont live in Nigeria.. and fuel costs 1.5$ in my residence country for a liter..it was interesting for me to watch the outcry. On a second level, as a Policy Adviser, I was listening a lot: about what my relatives were saying. I watched a lot of news on TV, followed the #OccupyNigeria and #FuelSubsidy tags on Twitter and tried to process all the public policy issues that were flowing through all of that. On a third level, when I had to hit the road from the Eastern part of the country to the Western part on the Thursday,despite expressed fears from my mother and close family members, then I became one of the actors.

From my end, here are a few of the things I saw as the good, the bad, and the ugly of the strike.

The Good:

The citizen mobilization. Oh yes! In Yinka's article, Social media was hailed as a magnifying force of the protests. The photo shot by Sunday (which I borrowed for this post) also shows how huge certain crowds got. Since the Arab Spring, millions of Africans having been desiring, hoping, scratching for a similar occasion.. to out their issues with the powers that be. In Nigeria itself, the OCCUPYNIGERIA movement had started before the fuel subsidy saga. So it was not a surprise that that the citizen mobilization was huge.

Corruption to the fore: Everybody says there is corruption in Nigeria. I am not in the secret of the gods and cannot say what strategy the Nigerian President - Goodluck Jonathan - may have put in place alongside the fuel subsidy removal one, but for once, the big question of corruption in Nigeria became a national agenda. Government says it wants to tackle corruption by removing subsidy and citizens insist corruption needs to be tackled while subsidy is maintained.. which ever way.. the strike has made it clear.. everyone in Nigeria agrees that corruption is THE problem and needs to be confronted.

Rise of critical questions: I listened to radio and TV programmes during the entire strike. I read the tweets and web posts. I have been impressed by the number of critical questions raised during the strike period. What happened to the subsidy money from diesel? Is kerosine subsidized or not? How does government spending in fuel subsidy actually add up? What are the exact costs? Where does the spending go? Who makes decisions in key energy issues? What about earlier promises made by government on energy-related issues? What is the role of the Bretton-Woods institutions on this? When are the refineries getting back to work? What does it take for Nigeria to get them started? What real mechanisms is government putting in place to REALLY tackle corruption? How come government is quick to remove fuel subsidy when it is so slow in fighting Boko Haram (The Militant Islamic group). So many questions..

Mutual respect: In the history of Nigeria, I am not sure that such a strong-willed confrontation has happened. The way the government took the citizens by surprise.. and the way the citizens reacted with a resilience that took decision makers by surprise as well. At first, the citizens thought the government will back out entirely after 2/3 days of strike.. and the government also thought that citizens will back off after 2/3 days of protests. It is now comfortable to say that there is that healthy respect; in which the government respects the power of the citizens and the citizens become aware that the present government has a strong will. Now that everyone is aware that everyone is aware.. things may never be the same again.

The Bad

The loss in productivity: This is the huge loss. There are figures that are flying around about how much the government was losing in productivity for each day of the strike. But the loss is incalculable. The economic, yes. But the social, the political and the personal. Simply put: Almost everyone in Nigeria lost.

No clear way out of the corruption quagmire: Though the question has risen to the fore and the need to tackle corruption has become a national agenda, the strike does not seem to have paved a way for it. Will the Nigerian government put more emphasis on transparency and good governance? Not sure. Will individuals adopt a less corrupt behaviour? No signs.. The strike may have been the "River Niger" of an anti-corruption move, but the "pacific ocean" of corruption remains cool, calm and undisturbed. Like the novelist Ayi Kwei Armah says: "The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born".

Issues with information: As in such cases, one thing was the strike, the other was the information management. It is not clear that the Nigerian government has put in place a strategic government information channel that takes into consideration the Web 2.0 era. Rumors had a field day. When I was setting off from Aba to Lagos, those in Aba had information that there was zero movement in Lagos and those in Lagos were under the impression that because Lagos was crippled for the major part, all parts of the country were. In truth, Aba and some other Eastern Nigeria cities were going about their businesses. Granted, banks were not open but transport was okay. In Lagos too, apart from the designated meeting areas, there was movement in town. If you add those to hackers who took the opportunity to hack key institutional sites.. the misinformation of both parties, and especially the international community was on "high level".

Lack of proper citizen education: In many of the responses to the fuel subsidy removal, almost all pointed to one key factor: there was not enough public policy education of the Nigerian population. The education of the mass did not happen. Some claim consultation did not also happen. Those who could quickly educate themselves "saw the point" in what government was "trying to get at" but not everyone can educate him/herself.

The Ugly

Greed. I think it should be called by its name. Owners of fuel stations who had products delivered at the initial price were happy to sell the same at the new price. In Aba, stations sold PMS for 150 Naira!! Somewhere in Lagos, people had to beg to buy at 138 Naira. It is easy to point at the corruption of others.. but for the owners of the fuel stations.. mhmm! There was also the "Okada" bike riders who doubled their prices. The airlines who were collecting 100$ each for ticket changes. The women at the market.. greed had a field day

Extortion: I had to send out a tweet when my driver panicked. He got news that youths armed with clubs were breaking windshields of vehicles at Ijebu Ode junction of the Benin-Abeokuta express way. On arrival, the sight that met my eyes was a very worry one indeed. At least 1000 youths had mounted road blocks at every 20 meters on either side of the highway and were collecting cash from every single vehicle that drove by. My driver paid in at least 12 points for a 500 meters stretch of road. It was sickening!

Deaths: Labour may have called off the strike, but the fact still remains that people died during the strike. Some from one kind of violence or another, and others as collateral. Like my mother will say, "it is only after the race that we will calculate the distance".

In years to come, Nigerians will look back to the second week of January 2012 and point at the many firsts..

I do hope that the good, the bad and the ugly of the week will serve us in a positive way.

For Nigeria, for Africa, for the world.