Six Nigerians emerged as fellows at the just concluded African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG).

The African School on Internet Governance is a multistakeholder training initiative that gives Africans from diverse sectors and stakeholder groups the opportunity to gain knowledge and confidence to participate effectively in internet governance processes and debates nationally, regionally and globally. It contributes towards increasing the diversity, extent, quality and effectiveness of African participation in internet governance by creating a space that promotes multi-stakeholder learning and dialogue.

The six Nigerians are; Amina Ramallan, Olamide Egbayelo, Gabreal Odunsi, Amina, Musab Muhammad Isah, Tomiwa Ilori and Morisola Alaba.

The Seventh African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) which was held at N’Djamena, Chad, had 45 participants from 23 countries with a series of sessions, lectures and workshops on internet governance processes at the local, national, sub-regional, regional and global levels.

The school, which is usually colocated with the annual African Internet Governance Forum came to a wrap on September 12, 2019.

In a statement released by the alumni group in Nigeria, “The African school on internet governance represent the grooming place for future leaders on Internet governance on the continent and it is great that there are six Nigerians among the 45 fellows this year.”

Over the years, a number of young Nigerians from different stakeholder groups have been part of the AfriSIG building multidisciplinary cadre of expertise in internet governance on the continent through the participation of current and emerging leaders drawn from government, business, academia and civil society.

According to the Program Manager at Paradigm Initiative and member of the Nigerian alumni group, Adeboye Adegoke, “unlike the traditional governance process which is exclusive to the government, Internet Governance is a multistakeholder process and usually requires inputs from all actors.

“Given that people are not used to this approach, the AfriSIG represents a veritable platform to learn and understand how this works. Irrespective of your area of expertise, AfriSIG gives you an opportunity to see the Internet from the perspective of others and this is helping the resilience of the Internet and promoting the principle of an open Internet on the continent,” Adeboye concluded.

While commenting on the development, another member of the alumni group and coordinator of the Nigerian School on Internet Governance (NSIG), Caleb Ogundele, noted that “the school is part of the long term strategic plan to strategically drive additional capacity building initiatives to raise the Next Generation of Internet Governance thought leaders that will shape policies across the Internet Governance space in Nigeria and beyond.”

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