The AUN Learning Community connected virtually to the November 26 Internet Governance Forum (IGF2019) held in Berlin, Germany.
Provost Muhammadou Kah, who participated with the AUN virtual audience from Yola, is hopeful that AUN will host the next National Internet Governance Forum.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the UN Secretary-General, HE António Guterres, addressed the delegates at the Berlin opening ceremony. Through AUN's video conferencing platform, students and faculty members observed the proceedings at the conference in real-time and were also able to participate through Slido.
"I am very proud, on behalf of our learning community that AUN did not hesitate to fully participate in IGF2019. I cannot wait for the day when we can equally host the national Internet Governance Forum (IGF) on this campus."
The remote hub at the AUN platform was organized by one of the Information Systems Ph.D. students, Mr. Auwal Alhassan Tata, who is also the Secretary-General of the Internet Society, Nigeria Chapter.
Prof. Kah encouraged the organizers and the students to establish an active chapter of the Internet Society open to all at AUN.
"You don't have to be an Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Science, and Engineering student to be interested or to participate in the diversity of activities of IGF and IGF issues."
Contributing to the forum, the Provost shared his thoughts on internet governance and data inclusion. He commended Mr. Tata for his leadership of the initiative to organize this important event connecting our learning community with the global audience participating in IGF2019 by thought leaders around the world.
"All great universities are made of brilliant students who are committed to taking ownership of their learning, continuously engaging each other and the faculty and not settle for anything but excellence and high academic performance. Universities are eternal, wonderful, unique environments and learning communities with a commitment to the creation, sharing, and acquisition of knowledge and relentless pursuit of truth and solutions to a diversity of society's challenges through collaboration and partnerships. And what makes them great are all of us and our collaborators beyond the perimeter of our campus."
More than 30 students participated in the high-level session on The Future of Internet Governance, which featured Tim Berner-Lee, one of the founders of the Internet and the worldwide web (www).
Mr. Tata informed participants that IGF is one of the avenues where people can discuss the challenges of the governance of the Internet.
Associate Professor in AUN's Information Systems program, Dr. Olumide Longe, involved his undergraduate students because "it is a global initiative that concerns everybody.''
AUN plans to take it to the secondary school level as part of its community development initiatives.
Reported by Omorogbe Omorogiuwa