BD Insider 124: 🛑 FGN ban on certain YouTube channels

BD Insider, Letter 124 covers the Nigerian government's request to YouTube to bar proscribed groups and Kenya's stance on meme copyright.

A happy new month to those that missed our last newsletter, BD Insider, Letter 123. For everyone else, you are welcome to our second Monday of August where we will be sharing Letter 124 with you.

For this newsletter edition, we will examine:

  • how payment systems are a cause of strike in Nigerian public universities
  • why Nigeria's government wants YouTube to bar proscribed groups
  • Kenya's stance on meme duplication for commercial use
  • Amazon Prime Video's launch in Nigeria
  • the latest African Tech Startup Deals (in PNG and an interactive format)
  • job opportunities, events, and more.

We don't want to be paid via IPPIS, ASUU to the FGN

ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities) has been on strike for almost six months (170 days), yet no one has come out to give us a coherent and balanced reason why this might be the case.

To uncover this, we spoke to members of ASUU and a Nigerian journalist that is actively covering the issue and they explained to us that one of the reasons for the strike is a war over the choice of the payment system, IPPIS vs UTAS.

Although the Nigerian government insists that these lecturers should enrol on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the striking lecturers have insisted that the payment system does not accommodate the peculiarities of payments in the Nigerian university system.

What are these peculiarities? An example of this peculiarity is the payment of allowances. For instance, if Professor A lectures at UNIJOS, he is entitled to allowances even when he is on a sabbatical leave at another university within the country. IPPIS does not recognise this, as well as other earned allowances that lecturers are entitled to.