Pulse.ng : YandyTech trains 30 youths on digital resilience in Kaduna

By Sani Idris

In a bid to counter the rising tide of online threats, an NGO, YandiTech Community, has trained no fewer than 30 youth activists and CSOs on digital resilience in Kaduna State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that others trained were community-based organisations in the state.

NAN also reports that the training was done under the digital democracy initiative.

It was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Danida) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), while being implemented by Civicus.

At a two-day digital security training on Wednesday in Kaduna, the Founder and Chief Executive of the YandyTech Community, Mohammed Yayandi, said that organisations and youth activities were vulnerable on social media and online generally.

Yayandi doubles as the Project Coordinator of Building Digital Resilience for youth activists, CBOs and CSOs in the state.

He told newsmen on the sideline of the training that it was to equip the participants with the skills to be able to detect and combat digital threats.

Yayandi emphasised the urgency of building digital resilience, adding that people were vulnerable to online attacks and spies which could undermine their work.

He added, “We want to foster a digitally resilient community by empowering the participants so that they can operate safely online, promote transparency, and hold those in power accountable.”

Yayandi, therefore, said they felt the importance to bring the participants together to build and enhance their capacity.

This, Yayandi said, was in the bid to make them digitally resilient so as to be able to fight their challenges digitally.

He explained that the training would enable the participants to know how to detect and fish out emerging threats in their organisations be it government or private.

Yayandi also said at the end of the capacity building, YandyTech would help the participants to develop an action plan for their digital security and provide technical support for them to implement the action plan.

The project coordinator equally said it would develop a digital tool kit with an artificial intelligence component.

He said, ”This will be hosted in the tech’s website where the participants could utilise by asking questions regarding digital security.

”At the end, we want the participants and other members of the public to advocate to the Kaduna State Government to domesticate the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.”

Yayandi explained that the state was a signatory to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) where people have access to information.

He, however, said the OGP doesn’t have any legal binding, where other governments could decide to pull out of it.

Yayandi added that domesticating the FOI Act would give the citizens access to all the information regarding the government’s spending excluding classified information.

“The FOI is domesticated at the federal government level, if the
Kaduna state follows suit, it will give the citizens access to information,”he said.

Yayandi advised Nigerians to have strategy and operate carefully online, stressing that digital footprint was key.

“People give their information like emails, account numbers and post pictures online.

”They are classified information, giving them out sometimes puts one at risk,”Yayandi said.

One of the participants, Yusha’u Abubakar, a youth activist, said youths were faced with online harassment and hacking attempts.

He said the training would help them protect themselves and continue their advocacy work, using the right channel in spreading their information and advocating for digital democracy.

“As online threats continue to evolve, YandiTech Community’s initiative serves as a vital step in safeguarding the digital space for us in Kaduna state,”Abubakar said.