The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and The Future Project (TFP) in partnership with YNaija.com, the online newspaper for young Nigerians have launched the ‘YNaija Accountability Project’.

Tagged the Y! Monitor, the YNaija Accountability Project highlights crucial accountability issues as it relates to governance on various levels. It is set up to track public issues, provide accurate information through the media and generate actions that influence governance outcomes.

“The goal of the project is to have more involved citizens with access to information about the government’s commitments and to ensure that government is open in all its dealings,” said Bukonla Adebakin, Project Lead, The Future Project.

To bring governance and accountability issues closer to the digitally connected citizen, the project launched a web portal (http://YMonitor.org/) to track data, identify trends, aggregate stories that encourage active citizenship, and stimulate the government to make better and more inclusive choices.

“We all have questions about the government and this project will provide answers to pressing issues or questions posed by citizens while empowering them,” said Isime Esene, Managing Editor, Y!/YNaija.com.

Driven by NED and TFP, the goal of the Project is to empower the next generation of leaders through sustained policy monitoring and civic mobilization in Nigeria through quality reporting.

Follow @Y_Monitor and @tfaafrica on Twitter and Instagram to follow the conversation or/and send an email to [email protected] to be part of the project.

The Industrial Training Fund of Nigeria (ITF) announced Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. as the “Overall Best Contributing Employer in Human Resources” for the year 2015. The innovative financial institution was presented with the award by the Deputy Director, ITF on Monday, August 8, 2016.

Selected over 8,000 contributing employers in the Lagos Island Area, Union Bank spends an average of 200 million yearly to train its employees in addition to consistent intake of interns and students on industrial training. The financial institution also carries out regular safety training for its people with accordance to the ITF training standards.

“Union Bank started its transformation drive 3 years ago and an integral part of that transformation is looking after our people. Training is definitely a critical part of the wellbeing of the employees of any organization and therefore, we ensure to invest a lot in the development of our people so it is great to be recognized for the effort we put in.” said Kandolo Kasongo, Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer, Union Bank.

Congratulating Union Bank on its effort, Mrs. Dorothy Aroloye, Deputy Director and Area Manager, Lagos Island, Industrial Training Fund, said “For about 3 years of being the Lagos Island Area Manager, Union Bank has shown consistent interest in the development of its workers. The Bank has contributed 6 solid training programs that generated over 6 million Naira to the Industrial Training Fund alone. I salute the training arm of the Bank for their dedication and ITF remains committed to helping Union Bank in the most positive way to further develop their Human Resource.”

“We appreciate ITF immensely for this honour, this is indeed an evidence that the Bank’s transformation is working. Usually, when the economy gets tough, employers are quick to discontinue training, but that is not what we do here at Union Bank because we believe that the human capital of the bank is the backbone of our success.” said Oyinkansade Adewale, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, Union Bank. “We promise to continue to partner with Industrial Training Fund to take both Nigeria and the Bank to greater heights through the development of its people.”

Also commenting on Union Bank’s human development strategy, Miyen Swomen, Head of Human Resources Union Bank, said “Continuous Learning and Career Management are the two key elements of our employee value proposition. We are passionate to work with ITF to continue to train our employees because we believe that what makes an organization successful is what its people know and how it is developed to enable growth.”

Established in 1971, ITF is responsible for raising training consciousness in the economy. It has generated a corps of skilled indigenous manpower which is responsible for managing various sectors of the economy.

Facebook is hosting a ‘Facebook for Developers workshop’ for Nigerian engineers, product managers and partners in Lagos on Wednesday 31 August, 2016 to help them build better applications and monetise them more effectively.

The session will be jam-packed with valuable practical advice and detailed information about how developers can take advantage of the latest features on Facebook platforms, Bots on Messenger and Open Source development tools.

Speakers at the event will include: Ime Archibong, Director of Global Product Partnerships at Facebook; Christine Abernathy, Developer Advocate on the Open Source team at Facebook; Chukwuemeka Afigbo, Strategic Products Partnerships Manager at Facebook and Jon Heaton, Partner Engineer on the Facebook Messenger team.

Ime Archibong, will share the company’s ten-year roadmap and the important role of Africa in achieving the mission.

“Nigeria is known across the world for having a booming, creative tech scene. It’s always good to get back and interact with the people who are at the forefront of this ecosystem” says Archibong.

“Facebook aims to be a great partner to the creative and entrepreneurial community in Nigeria, providing them with ways to build and grow their audience both in Nigeria and beyond.” He concluded.

The event will be divided into three workshop streams:

1.    Reaching your audience with Bots on Messenger

2.    Building fast and reliable login flows with Account Kit

3.    Making your apps globally accessible with React Native

“I love coming home, experiencing the creativity and energy of the country. Facebook is passionate about working with Nigerian developers and entrepreneurs to deliver experiences that meet the needs of their community. This workshop is all about empowering them with the tools and expertise they need to create solutions and services that are powerful, engaging and relevant.” Says Emeka Afigbo.

“It is also an opportunity to listen to our developers and learn more about how we can work with them to better serve the Nigerian community and we are very excited to have Ime Archibong, our Global Director of Product partnerships, at the event who will be laying out Facebook’s ten-year product roadmap and answering questions on the crucial role that Africa will play in achieving this vision.” He added.

The Facebook Product Partnerships and Engineering teams will provide attendees with hands-on instruction via code-labs, tech-talks, and updates on the latest Facebook Platform products, all designed to help developers build and grow a successful business.  The talk will conclude with an open Q&A session.

Registration is free, attendance is strictly by invitation, and limited to 60 participants. Click here http://bit.ly/2aDC1mF to apply for an invite. Application closes 11 August 2016.

The “33” Export Premium Lager Beer, Nigeria’s Number 1 Friendship Beer, hosted friends across the country to an evening of games, food, good music and all-round fun ‎‎at the ‘“33” Export Beer ‘Friendship Parties’, with guests also winning prizes for themselves and their loved ones.

The events, dedicated to friends all over Nigeria to celebrate the noble feeling of friendship, were held in twenty locations across five cities in Nigeria on the 30th of June, 2016. The brand joined friends all over the world to celebrate the World Friendship Day.

“The “33” Export Beer brand, which is the code of friendship, is about increasing the bond between friends and loved ones”, said the Brand Manager, Mr. Mfon Bassey. “The World Friendship Day is a day that defines the special moments that brings the world together to acknowledge and foster the feeling of mutual understanding and solidarity. As a brand that celebrates the special bond between friends, the “33” Friendship parties are about celebrating those wonderful moments and days in the lives of our wonderful customers.”

The parties held simultaneously in bars, restaurants, and clubs in Uyo, Benin, Port Harcourt, Osogbo, Badagry, Calabar, Eket, Agbor, Surulere and other locations in Nigeria. To share the insightful knowledge that Nigerians have about friendship, participants took part in challenges where they had to provide answers to intimate and personal questions about their loved ones at the event.

The competitions allowed participants to make calls to their unwitting friends who were meant to save them from ‘trouble’ in specified locations. Those who showed up to save their friends were subsequently rewarded with various gifts and cash prizes.

Heineken, the world’s leading international premium beer, in its ongoing attempt to enhance the cities of the world, brings the third edition of its Cities campaign to Nigeria. This year’s campaign tagged “Shape your City” is aimed at transforming great cities while broadening the imagination of the new generation city dwellers, inspiring them to
contribute their quota to improving their cities.

To achieve the #ShapeYourCity campaign, Heineken Nigeria partners with  City Shapers, individuals known for using their skills in creating one-of-kind experiences to make their cities more enjoyable for dwellers. They are urban visionaries who have by small actions of their own, contributed to shaping cities across Nigeria.

The selected City Shapers include: Bolanle Austen-Peters, Founder of Nigeria’s foremost cultural hub, Terra Kulture; Theo Lawson, Architect of the acclaimed Freedom Park and Kalakuta Museum; and Kenneth Gyang, Director of award winning films Confusion Na Wa and Blood & Henna.

“Globally, Heineken is committed to making great cities even greater and we are glad to include Nigeria in this movement.” said Ngozi Nkwoji, Senior Brand Manager, Heineken Nigeria. “This year’s theme of shaping cities is focused on encouraging people to contribute to their city as Heineken believes that the smallest of gestures have the potential to bring about unexpected transformation to our Nigerian cities.”

As part of the campaign, Heineken has also launched a series of limited Heineken City Edition bottles and cans, each bearing the name of renowned cities across the globe including 10 Nigerian cities namely Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Enugu, Benin, Warri, Kaduna, Aba and Onitsha.

Heineken, is reaching out to city dwellers across Nigeria to share their ideas for improving great cities. At the end of the campaign, the winning idea(s) will be executed by Heineken Nigeria while engaging City  Shapers and other passionate urban explorers across the country to help make the project a reality.

To participate in the Heineken #ShapeYourCity campaign, Nigerians can visit the website http://bit.ly/2aJfpCR to submit city shaping ideas.

Using the hashtag #ShapeYourCity across all social media platforms, participants can also contribute their ideas towards transforming cities in Nigeria.

The second episode of Untold Facts will air today with host, Moses  Omoghena, engaging guests in a discussion focused on the damaging  effects of the anti-gay law and other forms of discriminating laws in  Nigeria.

Guests on this episode were Ijeoma Akwiwu, a legal practitioner, and Ayo  Sogunro, a legal practitioner and human rights activists.

Together, the trio discussed how the same sex marriage prohibition law  (SSMP), an eight section law which is not part of the Nigerian  Constitution, got accelerated hearing and was passed into law without following due process.

When asked about her perception of the SSMP law, Ijeoma said, “I think  it was just a bunch of mischievous individuals who sat down to put  together the law.”

While citing her displeasure on how lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender are being treated, she said that “one act can change a lot  of things”. “As Nigerians, we shouldn’t just wait till the cases are  many before we do something about it, it starts from the everyday act,”  she added.

In his words Ayo said, “For me, any form of social injustice is just wrong, the society should be a place where everyone is equal before the  law irrespective of your positioning, your status, your family or your  background.”

He urged every Nigerian to understand that their rights as citizens and how important it is to pay more attention to this.

He further added, “Democracy should be balanced by rights, it shouldn’t  be a tyranny of reality, the majority and minority should have their  say, there should be a balance.” Watch full show HERE