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Author: Christiana.Fadare

  • 100% of SIM cards used in Nigeria locally manufactured – NCC

    SIM

    By Christiana Fadare
    Lagos, June 23, 2024 (NAN) The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says 100 per cent of the SIM cards used in the country are manufactured locally.

    Engr. Babagana Digima, the Head, New Media and Information Security, NCC, said this at a training for media executives in Lagos.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-day training had the title: “Upskilling Media Stakeholders on Trends in Telecommunications.”

    Digima attributed the feat to the commission’s commitment in encouraging local content and indigenous participation in the industry through the Nigeria Office for Development in Indigenous Telecommunications Sector (NORDIT).

    “The NCC by Section 1D to F of our Act has spelt out our function to encourage indigenous participation of telecom companies as well as the national policy for promotion of indigenous content in the Telecommuncations Sector which established NORDIT.

    “Indigenous participation is one of the key areas NORDIT has played a major role.

    “Previously, in the last two years, almost 99 per cent  to 100 per cent of SIM cards in Nigeria were imported.

    “And when NORDIT came, we made it one of our key low-hanging fruits that in five months to six months manufacture of SIM cards will be indigenous.

    “We directed all the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to source their SIM cards locally, and in fact, as at now 100 per cent of all the SIM cards used in Nigeria are manufactured locally, no importation,” Digima said.

    Digima, the former Head of NORDIT, noted that the commission through NORDIT engage in advocacy work to encourage indigenous participation of companies and people in all aspects of telecoms.

    He said that NORDIT had also provided grants and incentives to some companies to ensure the development of the industry.

    “For now, we are currently sponsoring the manufacture of Corrugated Ordinal Duct, and the company that will be established will be the first in the whole of Africa to manufacture such kind of product.

    “We also encourage tower manufacture, fibre manufacture and have been in touch with Coleman Cables, which are currently manufacturing fibre cables.

    “They have even overtaken the only company in Egypt in manufacturing capacity and they are expanding.

    “I am sure a lot of companies are very happy with what we have done,” he said.

    Also speaking, the Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, said the initiative to upskill senior media executives was borne out of the need to bridge the gap between the commission and how it was understood by its publics.

    Maida, who was represented by Engr. Abraham Oshadami, the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC, said the commission needed to develop a mechanism that would enable the consumers and stakeholders understand how things work in the industry.

    “These have led to the birth of this beautiful initiative. If our industry must succeed, there must be proper enlightenment and education.

    “So, your physical role cannot be overemphasised and that is why these are carefully selected executives from across all platforms including print, broadcast, and the online media.

    “It is to enable you understand the commission and to see the operational interventions that the commission has engaged in over the time, as well as challenges we are having.

    “This will enable us to work together to shape the landscape and also to help consumers understand what is really happening,” he said.

    He added that the aim of the training was to develop a reliable database of core partners within the geography of media systems and to cultivate a strategic relationship with media stakeholders. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
    COF/JNC
    ========
    Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

  • AI has introduced new challenges in Cybersecurity – Expert

    AI has introduced new challenges in Cybersecurity – Expert
    Security
    By Funmilola Gboteku

    Lagos, June 23, 2024 (NAN) Mr Olatunji Igbalajobi, the Executive Director/co-Founder of cyber security consulting firm, Cybercode Ltd., says that the advent of Artificial Intelligence into the cyber space has introduced new challenges in cybersecurity.

    Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Lagos on Sunday, Igbalajobi said that the advancements in AI was good but carried implications for the country.

    He said that Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered fraud was projected to reach 350 billion between 2023 and 2027 globally.

    Igbalajobi, who is also a member, Board of Trustees, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), was speaking about the implications of the growing knowledge and embrace of Artificial Intelligence around the world, with Nigeria not being left behind.
    Recently, June 10, 2024 precisely, a Nigerian-based company, Insolify invented and introduced Safi, an  AI tool, into Nigeria.
    The cyber security expert said that AI-driven attacks were more adaptable and could potentially bypass traditional security measures, adding that this evolution in cybercrime tactics made defending against these threats more complex and demanding.
    According to him, there are different methods of attacks within the AI application and environment, which includes data poisoning attacks and model evasion attacks among others.
    “AI poisoning attack occurs when threats actors injects malicious or corrupted data into training data sets, aiming to cause the AI to produce inaccurate results.
    “Model evasion attacks on the other hand is when attackers feed the AI with contradictory examples in order to create inaccurate predictions,” he said.
    The cyber security expert said that this showed that there was need to prepare for what was coming, noting that lots of cyber attacks were on the way and if care was not taken, it would result in financial impacts.
    He also noted that the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) had been calling the attention of organisations in the supply chain and manufacturing industry to consider cyber security as an integral part of their organisations.
    He explained that with this awareness, they were beginning to get info on how cyber attacks happened and how their industry could also be susceptible to it.

    “Now, most manufacturing industries are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of their machines and using less human labour.

    “A manufacturing company using AI has to know that the same way it is programmed to do a perfect job, a hacker could also carry out a malicious attack on the algorithm of AI.
    “This attack could destabilise the AI from doing what it was programmed to do before, hence, industries are beginning to see the need for cybersecurity,” Igbalajobi said.
    On reasons why cybersecurity adoption was slow, he said that Nigerians were more reactive than proactive, noting that most organisations waited to experience cyber attacks before doing the needful.
    The expert noted that the cost of mitigating cyber attacks were usually outrageous, noting that companies ended up spending triple the amount that should have been used to prevent it.
    Igbalajobi also explained that the public-private partnership sector-driven collaboration was still not where it should be, saying that the country had some international partnership with notable organisations around the world, who were trying to invest in Nigeria’s cybersecurity.
    The expert said these countries, which included the UK and U.S. among others were trying to see the opportunities Nigeria and Africa at large could present in the area of cybersecurity.
    He urged the government to look into the area of limited funds, access to skill and technology, skilled workforce in terms of talent shortage, continuous training and infrastructural limitations in order to bridge the gap in cybersecurity.

    Igbalajobi noted the effectiveness of cyber security companies in Nigeria, so far, but said that there were still challenges.

    He said that the few certified cybersecurity experts in the country are not sufficient to address the growing challenges that Nigeria faced in the area of cybersecurity.
    According to him, there is no doubt that Nigeria has a growing alignment of expertise, but the challenge in the country is losing most cybersecurity experts to the western world.
    “On a daily basis, we see cybersecurity experts who have been able to acquire relevant skills to be  professionals and mitigate cyber threats looking for an opportunity to leave the country for greener pastures.
    “Most of them opt to go abroad because the environment there is more competitive and favourable for the job.
    “It is quite unfortunate that we are losing our experts to the global community,” Igbalajobi said.
    He added that the number of cybersecurity professionals leaving Nigeria would increase as long as the economic, political, and social situation in Nigeria did not improve.
    The cyber security expert, however, said that there were a good number of alignment with government regulatory agencies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
    He noted that CBN had been helping Nigerians to grow cyber security wise, adding that if not for the regulator, the financial sector would still be scratching the surface in terms of cybersecurity.
    Igbalajobi noted that the regulation CBN had put in place had helped the financial sector to be on its toes and up-to-date in protecting its institutions with cyber security programmes.
    Speaking on what the Cybersecurity Experts Association of Nigeria had been doing, he said they had been fostering and championing cyber security education in terms of creating awareness.
    He added that the association had also been engaging the government on best approaches to go about cyber security projects and programmes in Nigeria.
    NAN reports that Nigeria has been identified with having one of the lowest numbers of cybersecurity experts, signalling a pressing need for enhancing digital security within the nation.
    According to a global report, as of 2023, Nigeria had a mere 8,352 professionals, adding that “with the increasing digitisation of various sectors and the pervasive use of the internet, Nigeria faces a range of cybersecurity challenges that need to be addressed effectively.
    “Cybersecurity is not a game of choice, it is the new normal. Unlike in the past, modern hackers are now coordinated, well-funded and operate like corporations.”
    The Central Bank of Nigeria also noted that Nigerian financial institutions are losing millions of dollars to cybersecurity-related frauds and threats. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
    FOG/COF
    =========
    Edited by Christiana Fadare

  • Why government should prioritise food science

    Why government should prioritise food science

     

    Food
    By Funmilola Gboteku
    Lagos, June 20, 2024 (NAN) Prof. Gloria Elemo, the Former Director-General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), has urged the Federal Government to give priority to food science in order to solve food security challenges in the country.

    Elemo made this appeal at the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) Lagos Chapter 10th Regional Food Science and Technology Summit/ NIFST Day Technical Paper presentation opening ceremony in Lagos.

    The theme of the event was, “Attaining Sufficient, Safe and Healthy Food for Nigerians through Food Science and Technology”.

    Elemo, who is also a Professor of Biochemistry at Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), said that the science of food must be given respect if the government wanted to surmount the issue of food insecurity in Nigeria.

    According to her, food science involves the application of scientific principles and techniques to understand and improve the production, processing, and distribution of food.

    Speaking on the theme of the event, Elemo said that the topic could not have come at a better time when Nigeria was experiencing food insufficiency.

    “Presently we are wallowing in unsafe food practices, because of the present skyrocketing inflation.

    “We are currently having reduced purchasing power to obtain healthy foods and this has led to acute hunger lingering in the air.

    “Food science plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges and ensuring food security in Nigeria.

    “This is a clarion call on NIFST to stand up to rescue our dear country Nigeria,” she said.

    The professor noted that there was an urgent need for action as food scientists to put out their expertise across the country to help the federal government.

    She also urged the government to implement some of the policies that researchers had come up with to make food security better in the country.

    “While I was at FIIRO, the institute came up with a lot of policy directions and many research results that could benefit the country, but the government is yet to implement most of them.

    “The science of food has not been put in its proper position in this country, if not most of the issue of unsafe foods and hunger could have been averted.

    “We need to make use of what we have to feed the nation and stop importing unsafe foods into the country,” she said.

    Citing examples, Elemo said that in American and Europe as a continent during economic crisis, they usually sustained themselves because there was always food, noting that they adopted policies to cushion the issue of food.

    The professor stressed that there was urgent need for collaboration between the government, industry and academia to solve the present food crisis.

    On other solutions, she proposed that the government should establish food and agro-allied processing and skill acquisition/training centres in universities and local governments.

    She said that the centres should address post-harvest losses, which would occur with massive food production.

    Elemo said that other areas the centre could address included proliferation of Small and Medium-scale Enterprises, job and wealth creation, food/nutrition security and waste management/value addition. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
    FOG/COF
    =========
    Edited by Christiana Fadare

     

     

  • App-based drivers urge Lagos Government to accept its collective agreement

    Transporters
    By Christiana Fadare
    Lagos, June 18, 2024 (NAN) The Amalgamated Union of App-based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON) has urged the Lagos State government to accept and adopt its Collective Agreement for Platform Workers in Nigeria.
    Kolawole Aina, the South-West zonal chairman of AUATON, said in an interview on Sunday in Lagos that the union made the collective agreement to ensure that its members would be regulated and have their welfare well taken care of.

    AUATON is a registered trade union under the Ministry of Labour and Employment and an affiliate member of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

    Its members include e-hailing or online transport drivers, app-based bike and bicycle food delivery and courier delivery workers (dispatch), app-based bike passenger workers, and app-based bus passenger workers in the online sub-sector of Nigeria’s transport industry.

    “As a union, we saw the problems, created solutions and presented the solutions to government. It was accepted by the federal ministries of transport and labour, but the Lagos State government did not give us a listening ear.

    “The document, which we call the collective agreement, is about how the government, app-based companies, drivers, and riders can have a fair share of responsibilities in the industry.

    “It will be a system where each ride can be monitored by all the four communities, and each community can mutually benefit,” he said.

    According to the AUATON executive, before the creation of the union in 2023, there had been a series of agitations among various groups of drivers, with many app-based companies alleging maltreatment.

    He recalled a conference held in Lagos with attendees from Oyo, Abuja and Ondo, stating that the agreement addressed insecurity, insurance and the app-based companies’ policies.

    “The issues of insurance and security have become very important. I cannot remember the number of drivers that have died on the job this year alone or lost properties to their customers or riders,” Aina said.

    He regretted that the association’s deputy president died of fatigue inside his car this year, also noting that “Criminally-minded customers, sometimes, order rides, and during the ride, they kill the driver and steal the car and sell it.”

    “This is where insurance comes in. All trips will be insured; the driver, riders, property in the cars and the car itself will be insured,” said Mr Aina.

    Mr Aina said the agreement also addressed low pricing, high commission, and the activation and deactivation of drivers at will by app-based companies.

    He decried algorithm management instead of human management in app-based companies, saying that machines are making decisions that humans should make.

    “The policies of app-based companies can sometimes be rather harsh,” the union leader said.

    The union leader urged the Lagos State government and app-based companies to partner with it to ensure the welfare of its members.

    He said any government regulation in the industry could only work if the union were properly carried along. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

    COF/IGO

    ==========

    Edited by Ijeoma Popoola

  • Food waste: NSPRI urges multi-stakeholder collaboration for solutions 

    NSPRI urges multi-stakeholder collaboration to curb food waste
    Waste
    By Oluwaseun Nubi
    Lagos, June 9, 2024 (NAN) The Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) says that food security can be enhanced, if the challenge of food waste is addressed.
    Prof. Lateef Sanni, Director-General of the institute, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that addressing food waste required collaboration between consumers, businesses, farmers and governments.
    According to the United Nations (UN), 17 per cent of the world’s total food production is wasted annually.
    The UN also says that the wasted food can feed 1.26 billion hungry people yearly.
    The NSPRI director-general had said at an earlier forum, that Nigeria suffered from alarmingly high post harvest losses, estimated at 20  to 50 per cent of total agricultural production depending on the crop.
    He said that the losses represented billions of dollars in economic losses annually, with growing food security implications for the nation’s ever- growing population.
    Sanni suggested that effective reduction in crop losses and waste would aid food security, adding that everyone must come together for the efforts to be  sustained.
    He added that technology was a big part of solving the problem of food waste.
    “Storage systems will help farmers such that when they finish harvesting, there will be somewhere they can store their produce,” he said.
    Sanni explained that NSPRI, which was established in 1948 as the West African Produce Research Institute by the British, had been in Nigerian control since 1960.
    According to him, taking a cursory look at storage and research, the institute has some level of successes in terms of research for storage.
    He explained that some of the NSPRI’s efforts included production of a packing crate for tomatoes, mostly used in the Northern part of the country currently.
    “It is like your egg crates to pack eggs. We now have plastic crates for tomatoes.
    “It is supposed to have replaced the use of baskets by now in the whole country.
    It reduces tomato losses by close to 20 to 25 percent during distribution, transportation and marketing,” he said.
    The don added that the institute had also come up with a dust non-chemical storage for maize, soya beans, cowpea and other grains.
     “This NSPRI Dust is a non-chemical treatment, which is very safe.
     “This treatment can preserve maize or legumes in the market for six months. It’s a research output, which is in powder form,” he said.
     Sanni said that the Hermetic Steel Drum was another storage research output.
    “This product is like the normal drum that people keep at home but which has been treated with chemicals.
    “The drum can be used to store agricultural produce such as cereals, legumes and others, for nothing less than seven months, once you seal it up, nothing will happen to it,” he said.
    The NSPRI boss disclosed that it had received orders for 1,000 of the drums from the Borno State Government and 210 drums from the association of farmers in Kano State.
    “The technology is ready-made; just give it to all our small holder farmers, they take it home and study the instructions there.
    “I want to call on our leaders and governors that they can key into some of these small, innovative technologies for their local government councils, to help the farmers, so that when they finish harvesting they have somewhere they can store their produce.
    “Otherwise they will not harvest, rather they will leave their crops on the farm and the implication is that they delay planting for the next season, then by the next planting season, they may not have enough of the produce to plant and they have to spend more money.
    “But, if the farmers are sure that they have storage facilities at their beck and call, it becomes easier for them to harvest on time and plant another one, because they know that once they harvest they can store it.”
    Sanni said further that NSPRI had another storage system comparable to the large silos.
    “We have large silos of about 130,000 tonnes in the country but these cannot assist our rural farmers.
     “We have developed what we call two tonnes, five tonnes, 20 tonnes inner atmosphere silos. These can help empower the youths in Nigeria,” he said.
    He urged each local government authority in the country to get these kind of silos, to empower their youths to venture into the business of food storage .
    “Farmers can then take their produce to  youths and store them. Five tonnes is not a joke in a local government.
    “This development is better and maintainable, and we can easily train so many people in the country to key into this kind of storage solutions,” the NSPRI boss said.
    He appealed for more awareness and training about these equipment for farmers by extension agents, and encouraged the private sector to show interest by approaching the institute for further discussion.
    “When it comes to food security and the need to scale up the best storage system, no matter how small the technology, it requires input from governments and the private sector.
    “With the global recession, I will call for private sector initiatives to create awareness about some of these downstream grassroot-oriented research output, which are useful for small holder farmers,” he said.
    Sanni stressed the need for farmers to have access to timely credit facilities, saying that it would assist them to procure some of these storage technologies.
    He added that the private sector and government could also partner to produce the storage systems in large quantities and sell them across the country.
     “This is also an area where the Bank of Agriculture or Bank of Industry can come in. With these two bodies collaborating with farmers, they can afford to procure these technologies easily.
    “The farmers definitely need these technologies. Individual farmers can afford some of these electric drums, but when it comes to the silos, they need cooperative groups, farmers’ associations and all those groups, to enable them access large storage facilities.
     “This is an area where they will need credit facilities, if we really want to help them,” he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
    NOD/COF
    ===========
    Edited by Christiana Fadare

     

  • NIPOST: Thinking outside the box of postal services 

    NIPOST: Thinking outside the box of postal services

    Postal

    By Funmilola Gboteku/Stellamaris Ashinze

    Lagos, June 2, 2024 (NAN) In today’s digital age, postal services face significant challenges in maintaining relevance and staying competitive in an industry that is rapidly evolving.

    With the rise of e-commerce, changing consumer behaviour, and advances in technology, postal services must adapt to meet the demands of an increasingly digital world.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday took a check on some posts about the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), a government-owned and operated corporation, on social media platforms, specifically LinkedIn and Nairaland, to gauge netizens’ perception about how the Service has fared with the evolution of technology.

    The general perception was that NIPOST had lost its pre-technology glory and was dying, and though blessed with human resources, its equipment, infrastructure and style of operation were outdated and antiquated.

    Commenting on a write up on NIPOST on LinkedIn, Ebenezer, a social media user, said that NIPOST, having lost its pre-technology past glory, would need to go back to the drawing board to embrace new technologies.

    He said that its mode of parcel processing, sorting and distribution could be very daunting and would require modern automated processing equipment.

    Ebenezer explained that “this will mean for it to scrap the old style of mail (package) sorting, processing and distribution.

    “Being 10 dance steps behind, NIPOST needs to re-map its service regions via Zip codes or Post codes, to include newly built up cities, streets, roads, spaces by working along with real estate developers, getting approval from authorities at city, local, state and federal levels.

    “Accurate mapping will be required to address gaps in both existing and planned infrastructure, to include updated codes.

    Also commenting, another netizen, David, said NIPOST and Africa’s logistics infrastructure generally needed about 15 million miles of roads to connect wards, with villages, towns with cities, and transnational trunk roads with neighbouring countries.

    Echezona, a LinkedIn user, on the other hand, said there was no need reviving NIPOST, adding that it should be allowed to die a natural death like the Nigeria Telecommunication Ltd. (NITEL).

    In his own view, Nsikak, another netizen, said NIPOST had the infrastructure, human resources and competence, adding that all it needed was an upgrade or the government leaving it to the private sector to handle.

    He said that last mile delivery was of utmost importance to the development of a nation.

    Similarly, Fadeyi, another person commenting on LinkedIn, said NIPOST was not as proactive as before because there were no effective postal code system.

    Innocent, on the other hand, said to revive the corporation, government should look for avenues to outsource the use of NIPOST infrastructure to private sector actors, who would add more value to the economy in the interest of the people.

    Commenting on Nairaland, Habeeb, said the Nigerian Postal Service was his most patronised public parastatal and every time he went there, he couldn’t help but feel like he had been transported back in time.

    “From the structure of the building, to the old staff, and the analogue and old equipment still in use; the post office screams of the nineties,” Habeeb said.

    However, contrary to the opinions of many social media users, The Postal Manager in Kaduna, Mrs Tabitha Tauna, said during a road show, that NIPOST services still existed, as the evolution of technology had only improved the organisation’s service delivery.

    She noted that some challenges, which included absence of street names and numbers in some parts of the state among other problems, were surmounted with phone calls (Technology), where one could be called to describe his/her location or go to the post office for collection of items.

    “With this, the mobile phone which is perceived as a technology that ousted postal services, has only made our operations easier,” she said.

    Tauna said that beyond delivery of letters and sales of stamp, NIPOST had diversified into some areas of e-commerce, which also had to do with internet and mobile phones.

    She said that people could order for items online and certainly it would not be delivered online, but the human factor would be engaged for delivery, adding that delivering such orders to their destinations was in the purview of NIPOST.

    The postal manager explained that NIPOST, which also engaged in agency services, was the regulatory body for all logistics services.

    A NAN check of the NIPOST website, www.nipost.gov.ng, further shows that the corporation has diversified into other areas asides postal and regulatory services to generate revenue for the government.

    The organisation said on its website that as part of its Commercial Business Unit registered by the Federal Government, most of its unused/underutilised spaces within and outside post office buildings in good locations nationwide had been leased out.

    It said that there were warehouses for commercial leasing and operational use, space rental for third party uses e.g billboards, wall drapes, electronic displays and other signages.

    The website also showed that the corporation had also gone into real estate consultancy/facility management services to the general public, such as estate agency, amongst other services.

    Another NAN check of the NIPOST Branch Office at Ijora in Lagos State, shows that the organisation has gone into workshop services like producing various wood and metal furniture, fittings like wardrobes, sofas/settees, beddings, kitchen cabinets.

    It was also producing dining furniture, office furniture and fittings, motor body building work, including truck cabins and tankers, doors and gates.

    Other services observed included electrical works, coil winding works, plumbing services, corporate gift items, roof works, aluminum works, fitting works and vocational training.

    Speaking to NAN in an interview, Mr Remigius Ihediwa, the Assistant General Manager, NIPOST Ijora Branch, said the vocational workshop was in top gear as it engaged in different wood works.

    Ihediwa said that like other federal parastatal agencies, it was mandated to use its excess capacity to generate revenue, therefore meeting public and NIPOST needs since 2004.

    “NIPOST workshop services include home and office furniture, metal works, chairs for students and church pews, among others.

    The official added that the workshop was also used for vocational training, where people applied to train for carpentry, upholstery and electrical works among other skills.

    “Individuals or organisations can also liase with NIPOST for training.

    “NIPOST has supplied students’ furniture to both the Lagos State Government and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    “We have also supplied pews to churches as well as carried out training for repentant militants during ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration,” Ihediwa said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

    FOG/SKA/COF
    =============
    Edited by Christiana Fadare