One of the top 10 digital changemakers in Africa and Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, Edetaen Ojo, would preside over the 2024 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development.
The Lead Consulting Strategist, DigitalSENSE Africa, a project of ITREALMS Media, Sir Remmy Nweke, made this known.
Nweke said Ojo, a renowned internet freedom advocate on the continent, has been confirmed to chair this year’s forum on the theme “IG4D: Innovative Digital Economy and Safer Civic Space in Nigeria.”
He also said that this year marks the 15 years of Internet and domain name advocacy in Nigeria by DigitalSENSE Africa and would be held at the prestigious Welcome Centre Hotels, along international Airport Road, Lagos.
As said by Nweke, the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) series on Internet Governance for Development, made a debut in 2009 and has remained a rallying point for Internet stakeholders and ecosystem in the country.
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Stressing that some recognition had been lined up for corporates and individuals who distinguished themselves in deepening Internet penetration across access, openness, affordability, connectivity, advocacy and empowerment of the citizenry on the use and application of the internet for good.
The NDSF series on IG4D, powered by ITREALMS Media group, is hosted by DigitalSENSE Africa, an At-Large Structure certified by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including Internet Society, Nigeria chapter, Nigerian Communications Commission, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, and Digital Realty Nigeria.
Nweke recalled that Ojo holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Studies from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and a Master’s degree in International Journalism from City University in London, where he was a British Chevening Scholar.
He also has a diploma in NGO Management from Galilee College in Israel and was a Visiting Media Fellow at DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism at Duke University, North Carolina in the United States of Nigeria.
Ojo currently serves as a member of the Advisory Network of the Freedom Online Coalition, a partnership of 39 governments around the world working to advance Internet freedom, a member of the National Media Complaints Commission of Nigeria, and Chair of the Board of the International Press Centre in Lagos.
He has sat on the boards and governing bodies of numerous organisations around the world.
He served as inaugural Co-Chair of the National Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership in Nigeria from 2016 to 2019 with then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
He has also been Chair of the Steering Committee of the African Freedom of Expression Exchange, a network of freedom of expression organisations in Africa; Chair of the Working Group of the African Platform on Access to Information; Convenor (Chair) of the governing Council of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, a global network of freedom of expression organisations based in Toronto, Canada; Chair of the Board of Directors of the Media Foundation for West Africa in Ghana; and Chair of the Africa Freedom of Information Centre.
He is a member of the Board of International Media Support in Denmark; member of the Steering Committee of the Global Forum for Media Development; member of the Task Force of the UN Economic Commission for Africa that coordinated the Strengthening Africa’s Media process; member of the Advisory Group of the Africa Media Development Initiative; and a member of the Steering Committee of the Web We Want, a global campaign for Internet freedom.
From 2004 to 2007, Ojo was UNESCO’s Technical Adviser to the Government of Liberia in the post-war reconstruction of the media sector in Liberia.
He was also the Coordinator of the International Partnership on Media and Conflict Prevention in West Africa, an alliance of UN agencies, international, regional and national non-governmental organisations.
In 2013, he was a member of the International Advisory Committee for UNESCO’s project on: “The Safety of Online Media Actors Doing Journalism,” and was also in 2013 named an Internet Freedom Fellow by the US Department of State.
Ojo received several honours, including the 2018 “Defender of Press Freedom Award,” by the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
In January 2024, Ojo was named by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa, based in Kampala, Uganda, as one of 10 digital rights experts across Africa who have played a pivotal role in shaping the continent’s digital and Internet freedom advocacy landscape over the past 10 years.