My #FIFAfrica18 Experience

Arriving the Kotoka International Airport around 7.58a.m on Wednesday a day before the main event was with a lot of enthusiasm and expectations. Greetings of Akwaaba! filled the air and I was sure I was in for a memorable event considering the level of engagement and preparation of the CIPESA team (Thanks once again guys!).

I kicked off my activities with the digital tools localization sprint where I helped with the translation of glossaries, style guides in Yoruba and gained more insights on the importance of the project from Dragana Kaurin of localization lab team. I intend to continue to support the dream of making digital security resources available in my local language. As part of the pre-event activities I also attended the Media Legal Defense initiative (MLDI) session hosted by Pádraig Hughes the legal director of the NGO . This was a very interactive session and many topics on digital rights were discussed, analyzed and far reaching solutions proposed. I was particularly interested in issues around internet shutdown and website blocking, considering my background in the telecommunications infrastructure space, constructive arguments on how to differentiate genuine shutdowns and failures on fiber cables were examined.

The two day event was packed with very good topics and resource persons that I was sometimes confused on what to attend and wished I was at two locations at the same time. The highlight of the two days  was attending the session on the Universal access indicators as part of the  International Day for Universal Access to Information moderated by Hu Xianhong and Abdul Hamid Yakub of UNESCO. Understanding the R.O.A. M  (Rights, Openness, Access and Multi-stakeholder) principle on how it can help measure policy decisions, regulatory actions and freedom of expression to make the internet more open safe and affordable was a key take away for me.

Photo Credit: CIPESA,UNESCO

Asides continuing my work independently on issues around internet affordability, broadband penetration and Internet shutdowns etc, I and a group of like minds just recently  launched a civic advocacy organization the "Center for Internet Access and Affordability - C4IAA.Org" in Nigeria , with the sole aim of providing relevant qualitative research ,continuous engagement with government, civil societies  and the technical community on how the aforementioned issues can continue to receive the right attention and solutions.

Oh! Did I mention I enjoyed Ghana ? Yes it is a very peaceful country and our brothers and sisters are very welcoming. I finally had the Ghana Jollof and yes it was very nice but the Nigerian Jollof wins any day 😊! I also tried the banku and definitely I would be visiting Ghana again.

Thanks once again for the opportunity, let`s keep the fire burning and see you in #FIFAfrica19