A 175-member continental organisation, the African Civil Society on the Information Society (ACSIS) has elected the Lead Strategist, DigitalSENSE Africa Media group, Mr. Remmy Nweke, as its Vice President for the next four years.

This is coming as another Nigerian, Mr. Akinremi Peter Taiwo emerged the West Africa sub-regional coordinator for ACSIS, alongside eight others to be led by Senegalese, Dr. Cisse Kane as President till 2020.

Others are Adjidjatou Barry Baud (Guinea) who was elected Treasurer; Tijani Mahamat Adoum (Chad) – Coordinator Central Africa; Evelyn Namara (Uganda) – Coordinator Eastern Africa; Christminfa Gbenou Sagbohan (Benin) - Coordinator African Diaspora; Aicha Jeridi (Tunisia) - Coordinator Northern Africa; and Chenai Chair (Zimbabwe) – Coordinator Southern Africa.

Disclosing the outcome of the 2016 elections, the Chairperson of the ACSIS Electoral Committee, and former president of ACSIS, Nana Delphine Mekounte, commended the sincerity of purpose, patience and cooperation throughout the electoral process which lasted for three days online to enable members across the African continent to exercise their civic rights.

“Thank you for your choice of leaders for the next four years, this is a citizen’s duty,” she declared, urging any member who may be in doubt to revisit their online ballot link earlier shared with them to see for themselves how and records of the exercise.

She also said that 175 voters were registered for the 2016 election, while the actual number of vote cast was 78, which amounts to 45 per cent participation.

Nana Delphine noted that earlier, majority of voters had agreed that the single candidate positions should not be placed in competition, which the Electoral Committee endorsed.

This, she explained left the Committee to place in contest the post of the Vice President and Treasurers, which had two and three candidates respectively.

She further said that for the post of Vice President, were Mr. Remmy Nweke and Mr. Michel Tchonang Linze, whereas the position of Treasurer had Ms. Addjidja Tou Barry Baud, Mr. Ade Bada and Ms Sende Dora. Eventually, she said, Nweke, was elected with the total of 49 votes against 25 votes garnered by Michel, just as Addjidja got 45 votes to emerge Treasurer.

At present, Remmy Nweke as the Lead Strategist cum Group Executive Editor, coordinates the information analytics at DigitalSENSE Africa Media, the organisers of the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum Series on Internet Governance for Development (NDSF-IG4D) and Nigeria Internet Protocol version Six (IPv6) Roundtable since 2011 and publishers of international multiple award-winning ITRealms, NaijaAgroNet and DigitalSENSE Business News.

The pioneer secretary, Lagos branch of the Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), Nweke, lately, served as Executive Board member of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) where he presided over the Communications and Publicity Committee as well as a member of the Local Multi-stakeholders Advisory Group (LMAG) of the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF); Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) - the social arm of the Catholic Church; and associate member, Nigeria Red Cross.

Nweke, a former Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and outreach sub-committee member of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), holds MA degree in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta and is a graduate of Advanced Journalism with over 19-year experience in media practice and online information management certifications from across the world.

A widely travelled professional, Remmy Nweke is the author of ‘A Decade of ICT Reportage in Nigeria … The Award-winning Series” and public speaker on new media, web 2.0+ and cyber information advisory to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) interest groups and companies, is also a member of Non Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) of ICANN and as a member, Civil Society Selection Committee for the High-level meeting on World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10) he affiliates with the African Civil Society on the Information Society (ACSIS) serving in various committees. He was recently named the chairman, Communication and Advocacy Committee (CAC) of IPv6 Council, Nigeria, among others.

The Africa Civil Society for the Information Society (ACSIS) was formed in June 2003, on the heels of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva to promote inclusive information society in Africa.

•Photo shows Remmy Nweke.

Update news