Groups to Host Governance Confab

BudgIT, Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE Nigeria) and Paradigm Initiative (PIN) would jointly organ is et he fourth edition of the bi-annual pan-African New Media, Citizens, and Governance Conference( NM CG ). The virtual conference is billed to hold October 20 and 21, 2020, the or ga ni se rs said in a statement recently. Africa’s civic space is evolving with the application of new technologies and methods to strengthen advocacy and foster active citizenship. The emergence of new media has also impacted on new organisations that are reaching out to citizens to demand accountability from the government with results and these three organisations have effectively used new media to drive social impact, creating societal change across different contexts. According to the statement, “With the COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging technology has become the norm and it’ s appropriate that a conference focused on new media will be virtual this year. The two-day virtual conference will hold with the theme :‘ New Media and Voice: Hash tags, Action and People .’ According to Bud gI T’ s Director, Ol us eu nO nigb in de ,“Our reality is changing, and the pandemic has led to the emergence of a new culture of engagement in all spheres of life including civic and political matters. There are other salient issues that are spin-offs from the pandemic. “One of these includes the recent gag on freedom of speech and expression by governments across the world, the rising cases of sexual and gender based violence across Africa have also become a‘ shadow’ pandemic ”.