HumAngle Selects 9 New Fellows For Accountability Programme

Following a rigorous evaluation period, HumAngle has selected nine young men and women from Nigeria’s BAY states to participate in the second cohort of its Accountability Fellowship.

The programme, which is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, was started to prepare young early career professionals to develop local projects around accountability in the security and humanitarian sectors, climate security, education, sexual and gender-based violence, and transitional justice.

The participants are from various senatorial districts in Nigeria’s northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe. HumAngle will provide resources, training, and mentorship for them to build their capacity to promote accountability in their respective communities.

Here are the fellows and their projects:

ABUBAKAR MUKTAR ABBA

Abubakar Muktar Abba is a journalist committed to making a positive impact in his community. Throughout his career, he has consistently contributed to the growth of his community through volunteering in schools and educative radio programmes. 

Due to the decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria, Borno state has witnessed a high influx of humanitarian aid and special government intervention, especially in the education sector.

However, some of the funds and other aids had not been reaching the communities’ end users, thereby creating gaps in accountability. He will investigate such gaps through podcasts and short educative audio-visual content in Kanuri, Hausa, and English to be promoted across social media platforms.

AISHA TIJJANI JIDDA

Aisha Tijjani Jidda is a development and humanitarian worker with over three years of experience supporting humanitarian and development projects for indigenous NGOs in Northeast Nigeria. 

Her work has contributed to promoting girls’ rights and gender equality, reflective learning for evidence-based and inclusive community development, and strengthening organisational systems. 

She holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Public Administration and is a strong advocate for youth involvement in P/CVE and peacebuilding while extremely active in community-based peacebuilding efforts.

Aisha seeks to promote the rehabilitation of victims of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) who have been both victims of the causes and effects of the insurgency in Northeast Nigeria. She believes that through identifying, training, and empowering victims of GBV, they will be liberated and empowered to speak up against the many cases that never get to be reported in her community.

AISHA UMAR FAROUK

Aisha Umar Farouq is a good governance and social accountability advocate in Yobe, with over six years of professional experience with national and international humanitarian organisations on education and livelihood programmes.

In 2022, she received her B.Sc. in Education Chemistry from Yobe State University, Damaturu. She is currently working with Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative as a Programme Officer. It is an organisation working to empower marginalised communities with access to information, targeted advocacy for social change, and capacity building for citizens to hold the government accountable through tracking government expenditures in education, health, and WASH in rural communities. 

She will be working with local partners to promote accountability at the grassroots in Yobe.

ALIYU USMAN DAGONA

Aliyu Usman Dagona is a humanitarian worker, activist, advocate for good governance, data analyst, public commentator, grassroots community mobiliser, and stakeholder engagement specialist with creative writing skills.

He has, over the years, committed himself to improving good governance, community sensitisation/awareness, citizen participation in budget dialogue, public sensitisation on GBV, PSEA, VAC, and PSS, and training of youths at the grassroots level for general inclusion and participation as critical stakeholders. 

He has worked with several youths and humanitarian organisations. During this fellowship, he will use citizen-led tracking to strengthen accountability at the local government levels in Yobe.

IJASINI IJANI

IJasini IJani is a radiographer, who is passionate about social change with a specific interest in peacebuilding, storytelling, and community development.

The past decade of insecurity in Northeast Nigeria has fostered more wrongdoings in the southern part of Borno state, especially Gwoza and Biu, necessitating findings towards tracking humanitarian activities. 

Further, how security agencies are involved in extorting money from commuters along the Gwoza-Maiduguri and Biu-Maiduguri road is a grave concern. The diversion of humanitarian aid by aid workers is also growing each day, with the security agencies involved in corrupt practices. Ijani will be researching these during the fellowship.

MOHAMMED NAZIR

Mohammed Nazir is an online media enthusiast and a firm believer in the power of the media as a tool for social change. He is a Postgraduate student of Peace and Security Studies at Modibbo Adama University, Yola. 

Conflicts have a huge impact on the socio-economic/social relations of most Nigerians. In Adamawa, people in Guyuk/Lamorde communities are traumatised by the continual conflict between Waja and Luguda over the farming land. The conflict has adverse effects on social relations, stability, and integration of the people. It persisted in 2017 around the rainy season. 

He will thoroughly investigate the impact of ethnic conflict in Guyuk/Lamorde communities to provide a clear ground and basis for comparative analysis and explore peacebuilding measures to resolve the conflicts.

NAJA’ATU ABUBAKAR SULEIMAN

Naja’atu Abubakar Suleiman graduated from Yobe State University, where she studied Education Biology.

She will be tracking and reporting access to education in Yobe South.

A major problem regarding access to education in the region is the financial limitation. Some people cannot afford to send their children to school, as they are unable to afford learning materials. Another factor is negligence and a lack of awareness about the importance of education.

Some abandoned projects by the government also exacerbate the problem of education at the grass-roots level, like school feeding, the provision of uniforms, and writing materials. She intends to build her capacity to bring more awareness of these issues.

SADUWO BANYAWA

Saduwo Banyawa is a graduate of the department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri. She is an indigene of Numan, Adamawa. She is an author, ghostwriter, blogger, and graphics designer.

She seeks to challenge and change the attitudes and behaviours that allow sexual and gender-based violence to prevail. Taking the human rights approach, she intends to educate community members on the subject matter. 

This will be achieved through local stakeholder engagements. She will also be interviewing survivors of the violence, following ethical standards that respect people’s right to safety, dignity, and privacy. She will report and promote financial independence among community members, particularly women groups.

YASMIN MUSTAPHA BUBA

Yasmin Mustapha Buba is a young advocate for girls’ and women’s rights. She has over four years of experience in advocating for adolescent girls and teenage mothers’ sexual and reproductive health, especially those living in rural communities.

As a volunteer with various international and national organisations, she has been part of discussions centred around sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, girl child education, family planning, and maternal health. Some of her activities include outreach programmes to school girls on access and barriers to contraceptives and personal and menstrual hygiene.

She was a 2019 ONE Campaign Champion, 2020 YALI RLC Fellow, and a 2021 Margaret Ekpo Fellow on Women’s Rights. She is currently the social media facilitator at Youth Social Media Advocates Adamawa (YSMAAD).