Featured Member for the Month of August: Qasim Olalera Akinreti

Qasim Olalere Akinreti is a Nigerian Online and Broadcast Journalist with the Voice of Nigeria; working as the Chief News Producer and the Assistant Director of News. He's head of Reportorial and Chairman of Education Committee, Lagos State Council, Nigeria Union of Journalists.

He graduated from the University of Ibadan with a Bachelor of Education degree in 1991 after which he pursued a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism (Broadcasting) from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos in 1993. Still in academia, Qasim earned a Master's Degree in Online Journalism from the Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK, in 2003 before pursuing a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Mass Communication – Broadcasting from Babcock University in Nigeria in 2015.

Qasim Akinreti has a wealth of experience spanning over a decade in service as a Journalist holding various roles which include chief news producer (foreign desk) at Voice of Nigeria in Lagos, writing and reporting news on the international scene.

In 2006, he won the Davis Foster African Journalists Award; one given to outstanding journalists in Africa for (news stories, features articles in previous years). This was followed by a three week fellowship programme at the Poynter Institute of Media Studies, USA.

He has undertaken a number of projects that included providing consultancy services for the UNDP/DGD media outreach for the 2011 elections. He was also a consultant for the media advocacy programmes for the 2011 elections.

In October 2012, Qasim worked on the memorandum on media independence, freedom of expression and access to information submitted to Nigeria’s national assembly on behalf of the media network on the review of the 1999 constitution.

As an Author, Qasim Olalere Akinreti published a book titled: “The Secrets of Online /Multimedia Journalism- A manual for African Journalists” in 2011. The book teaches and highlights all that a journalist or Journalism student need to know and be equipped with to become a 21st century Journalist. For an experienced journalist, the publication harp on the essentials of online Journalism skills needed for the trade.

Police should not ban social media - Penplusbytes

The Police Administration has been urged to consider setting up a social media monitoring centre, to police social media activities on election day instead of a total ban.

“A total ban of social media  on election day would increase suspicions and create an information gap that can easily be filled with more misinformation and rumours,” Mr  Kwami  Ahiabenu II, Executive Director of Penplusbtye, an ICT based Organisation, has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a social accountability forum held in Accra, Mr Ahiabenu II said social media had become a very important ICT tool with most of its contents being very useful to the society.

He said despite its excesses, social media had contributed to entrenching democracy, especially in most African countries, monitoring of elections as well as serve as a major source of diverse information in the world over and therefore for Ghana to ban social media on election day would not be too good.

“Many citizens and stakeholders rely on social media to monitor elections, and this give them confidence of knowing what is going on, therefore a ban of it will create problems and jeopardise elections outcome,” Mr Ahiabenu II said.

Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, Vice-Chair of the National Development Planning Commission, who chaired the function said: “We shouldn’t move away from social media but we should use it to promote governance and accountability, especially in this election year.”

Meanwhile, the Social Accountability forum, attended by various stakeholders including heads of civil society organisations, state actors on the social accountability front as well as donor organisations, created synergy and avenue for information sharing while building a concerted advocacy drive to ensure resources allocated for development are used to alleviate poverty and improve the standard of living of citizens at the grassroots.

The overall goal of the platform was to increase the contribution of civil society in promoting accountability and effective public service delivery.

The Social Accountability forum forms part of the implementation of the Penplusbytes’ two-year "Tech Driven Social Accountability for Results" project which is being funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.

It seeks to equip ordinary citizens with usable information via online platforms mashed-up with social media and mobile based platforms to promote their purposeful participation in demanding accountability and responsiveness from decision makers for effective public service delivery.

GNA