Again, Ethiopia shuts internet to prevent cheating in school exams

The Ethiopian government has shut down access to mobile internet in Ethiopia. The reason?- To prevent leakage of exam papers.  

Internet access was shut down around on Tuesday, and is yet to be restored. “The shutdown is aimed at preventing a repeat of leaks that occurred last year," says Mohammed Seid of the Office for Government Communications Affairs, to the Reuters news agency.

Ethiopia had earlier blocked the internet in July 2016, after university entrance exams were posted online, with another block following in August 2016

According to the BBC, it was unable to access websites belonging to the Ethiopian government and the sole communications provider, Ethio Telecom on Thursday. Preliminary data from Google shows a decrease in Ethiopian internet traffic to Google services since Wednesday afternoon.

Internet shutdowns seem to be a growing and worrisome trend in Africa. Algeria shut down its internet to prevent cheating in school exams in June last year. In other instances it has been for political reasons such as in Cameroon earlier this year.

Access to the internet is now recognised as a human right and on no account should it be shut down for educational, political or whatever reasons. There should be other methods to safeguard the integrity of exams. Shutting down the internet not only points to a willingness to stifle freedom of expression but also an admission of failure of government to tackle problems.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM A4AI NIGERIAN COALITION MEETING AND INTERNET FREEDOM FORUM (IFF) 2017

It was a great experience meeting, networking and deliberating with experts in ICT and Telecommunications on issues of internet access and affordability during the April 2017 edition of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4ai) Nigerian coalition meeting. The meeting held on the 25th April in Lagos. Key persons in the industry were in attendance such as the Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu and past Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Engr. Ernest Ndukwe. I was able to repeat the full potpourri of emotions during the IFF held on the 26th and 27th April Asides from the joys of gathering in a room full of ICT experts, key takeaways for me are as follows-

Nigeria ranks 3^rd in Africa in A4ai affordability index- Nigeria ranked third in A4ai’s Africa Affordability Drivers Index, out of 27 countries. A4ai’s Africa Regional Coordinator, Onica Makwakwa, made the disclosure at the unveiling of the Africa Affordability Report 2017. The report examines the policy and regulatory framework that allows some countries to make internet more affordable, accessible and universal.  Mauritius topped the table with 61.70 per cent, followed by Morocco with 57.75 per cent. Nigeria came third with 56.58 per cent.

According to the report, only five out of the 27 African countries have affordable internet– they are Mauritius, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Sudan. Affordable internet according to A4ai is one Gigabyte (1GB) of mobile pre-paid data for two per cent or less of average monthly income. In Africa however, 1GB of data costs an average citizen nearly 18 per cent of their monthly income.

African countries including Nigeria need room for improvement as we score less than five out of 10 in all policy areas

We need to be committed to more action and less talk- The honourable Minister emphasised on the need for his ministry to work with A4ai on the outcome and resolutions of the Nigerian coalition April meeting going forward. It also served as a call to action to me and other advocates for internet access and affordability to ensure that we make more concerted efforts to achieve our aims

The main barrier to access is locally relevant content and not affordability- From the Asia experience, the key challenge of ensuring internet access for all is the availability of locally relevant content and not affordability. This is a sign that we need to develop content appealing to the locals in order to encourage them to come online Access and affordability are equally important and should be advocated for simultaneously- While responding to an interesting question about whether we should push for access first before affordability, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe admitted that it was an interesting and valid proposal but that in reality for telecommunications and ICT, it may be impossible to have good access without making the internet affordable for most people. It is therefore imperative that we advocate for both to be achieved hand in hand Your voice on the internet doesn’t always lead to influence. We need to do more- We get caught up in the virtual world and discussions in online spaces about internet rights that we forget we may also need to respond offline to get make any real progress in campaigning for internet freedoms. Anriette Esterhunsen, Director of Alliance for Progressive Communications (APC) while revealing this at the IFF urged participants to be aware, Act, not get lost in the virtual world and to also use and enjoy the internet. It was also emphasised by a participant, Nnenna of Web Foundation that we need to also re-orientate people that internet freedoms is not about social media issues but includes issues of net neutrality and data protection Multi-stakeholder approach is important for effective ICT policy making – During the panel on policy and regulatory landscape at the IFF, it was concluded that we need an all inclusive multi-stakeholder approach to ICT policy making in Nigeria where relevant stakeholders are invited and consulted and issues taken to the grassroots to create awareness on how it affects them. Rather than presuming the locals are not interested and shutting them out, we should ask the locals s what kind of web they want We need sex disaggregated data to get a complete picture of ICT use- Gender disaggregated data is very important for a holistic picture of the gender divide and disparity in the use of the internet. We need to find out how internet shutdowns and monopolise in countries affect women and girls. We need to realise  Women also need to build their own army of supporters when they have issues

AFTER 93 DAYS OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, INTERNET SERVICES RESTORED IN CAMEROON

Internet services have resumed in two English speaking regions of Cameroon after a 93 day blackout. President Paul Biya ordered the restoration of internet services yesterday April 20. 

The internet was cut off in January in the north-western and south-western regions, following protest from English speaking community against alleged discrimination by Cameroon's French-speaking majority. The government had alleged that social media was being used to spread false information. The government pressured mobile operators like MTN to shut down the internet by including suspension of internet connectivity as part of their license conditions. No prior notice was given before the internet shut down

Various regional internet and digital rights groups like Internet Sans Frontiers and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) canvassed for a restoration of internet services in Cameroon using such hashtags like #bringbackourinternet and #keepiton. Top UN officials viewed it as a rights violation.

Sadly, African leaders are increasingly embracing internet shutdowns as tools to stifle spread of information on social media. Countries like Gambia, Congo, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe have all shut down the internet in their countries previously. Even though neighbouring Ghana did not shut down the internet during elections, its Police Chief advocated for it. According to reports, the internet in African countries was shut more than 50 times in 2016. This has spurred proposals to punish African governments if they shut down access to the internet

It is hoped that Nigeria would not join this negative trend

Nigeria has the 7th biggest mobile subscription in Africa, Chinese smartphones top sales in Africa - Study

Nigeria is now the 7^th country with the largest mobile subscription. This means, more people are using phones to stay connected. Nigeria’s biggest online retailer, Jumia, revealed this in its second white paper on African Mobile Trends 2016 released on 25^th May 2016. Egypt  is ranked 11^th and South Africa is 14^th, all within the top 15 of the top countries in the world for number of mobile subscriptions

The study also shows that Asian brands are leading the pack in smartphone sales in Africa. Chinese brand Infinix is the biggest smartphone seller on Jumia in Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Egypt. Other big sellers are Samsung and Xtouch in Egypt, InnJoo and Wiko in Kenya, Samsung in Morocco, Itel and Samsung in Ivory Coast and InnJoo in Nigeria. Even offline, Samsung remains the top smartphone brand sold in those 5 markets, monopolizing more than 50% of each market.

So for those of you who yab ‘chinco’ phones as being 2^nd class, you need to think again.  It seems they have brought variety and diversity thus making smart phones affordable in Africa. 

Facebook's FreeBasics in Nigeria receives some knocks

Its not yet uhuru for Facebook's FreeBasics in Nigeria which was launched earlier this month. Paradigm Initiative Nigeria(PIN), an NGO focused on youth and ICT development released a lengthy statement via twitter yesterday, about why Nigerians should not get very excited over the seemingly 'free' internet access just yet. As the saying goes, 'nothing is ever free even in Freetown'.

According to Facebook, Free basics is an open platform that makes the internet accessible for free those who cannot afford it. However, this free access is limited to partner websites and applications. In Nigeria, it is provided by only Airtel for now and has some apps and websites like Jobberman, OLX, BBC, the Guardian on it.  It was launched two years ago pre-dominantly in developing countries

PIN voiced out its concern as follows '...only subscribers on an Internet Service Provider Facebook partners with, will enjoy these free services to the exclusion of others – it is unfair to list some services and exclude their competition... Facebook is clearly using this as a marketing strategy so it’s not as much a social intervention as it is an opportunity to get more people to use their service and become part of their product offering...Free Basics is a strategy that segregates the internet space for commercial purpose and not as a social intervention initiative.' https://twitter.com/pinigeria

In other words, the motives of Facebook is not entirely altruistic but for profit-making by stifling competition by excluding other ISPs, Telcos, websites or apps. Interestingly, its been thrown out of India ont the basis of the “Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations" and i doubt if countries like the US that support net-neutrality (ie ensuring that all users have access to the internet on equal terms) will support this. Maybe Nigerian legislators and regulators need to pay closer attention to this 'Greek gift' than scramble for juicy positions

Makes me wonder then, what the essence of a free internet is when it is not totally free?