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This is how COVID-19 will change us forever

This is how COVID-19 will change us forever

There is no doubt the wide-reaching impact that the Covid 19 pandemic has had on individuals, families, businesses, the global economy and social structure. However, history continues to demonstrate that the human populace is extremely adaptive and will eventually reach some sort of recovery from this pandemic. This recovery will not be “everything back to normal pre-COVID-19 days”. It will be a new way of living and working and social interacting. Post Covid 19 recovery will be defined by lessons learned and prioritization of the most important aspects of human motivations. Abraham Maslow demonstrated this in his theory of “Hierarchy of Needs”. At the bottom of the pyramid are the needs of food, water, warmth, and rest. Moving up a left, is safety and security. Moving upwards are the needs of belonging, relationships, friends. At the higher levels of motivation, we have needs of feeling of accomplishment, prestige and above all, self-actualization.

Being at the top levels of the pyramid is a luxury some are fortunate to have. During the pandemic, these people rapidly dropped a level or even several levels from feeling “at the top of their game” to finding that they cannot pay rent and have lost their source of income. Overnight, priorities shifted from what we considered normal to dire. We were used to hanging out with friends at the bar debating on if the new car from Corvette was better than a Porsche. Now we are struggling with isolation without friends and families, worrying about the overdue rent, and the rapidly dwindling bank account that may only last a month or even a couple weeks. The thought of going from not worrying about food to worrying if next week hunger and starvation will happen, is a scary one. Furthermore, the imaginative future visuals of civil unrest and potential violence from people suffering and acting out of desperation.

According to the World Bank, there are 734 million people living in poverty making less than $1.90 per day, which is about 10% of the global population. If the threshold was $5 per day, the number will be in the billions of people. These people in poverty are not spread out evenly throughout our planet, in many countries, the levels of poverty reach 30%, and some as high as 45%. The pandemic has pushed the global population down two levels. The low-income population already living in the bottom two levels and have nowhere else to go except dire life threatening hardship and must fight day and night to stay there on the bottom two levels.

With this being said, if you are one of the lucky ones at the higher levels, and have fallen a level or two, you are still above the newly created extreme and dire levels. You may think your new found concerns about food and safety are dire, please remember that you are maintaining yourself at multiple levels and can and must become creative in helping others. Self actualization can now be attained by sacrifices in an effort to help others in need, backup rainy day funds will go a long way to save the lives of families for several days.

I live in Nigeria, where income is one the most disparate of the world with 33% of the population living in poverty. Am I afraid of the pandemic? Definitely yes! I don’t know when and how this will end, but I do make it an effort to help others during a crisis. I have bought food packs for people that have reached out for help, I have also cooked some basic meals to distribute to people living in my neighbourhood  . I know it’s not enough, but if it everyone in a similar situation as myself steps up and does the same, then we will be able to hold up the under privileged until this storm passes. A small contribution of basic meals to 5, 10, or even 100 people will go a very long way. Many times, being kind and generous goes “unthanked” and without reward. Don’t worry. If only one person out of the 100 that you have helped returns the favor to someone else, then kindness will spread faster than a virus and will “infect” a billion people in no time.

Helping others and ourselves can only be effective if we are armed with the knowledge of what the future will bring. Although there are no clear answers or timelines of what and when the pandemic will be over, what we can be sure of is that the return to normalcy will be slow and gradual. Also, many aspects of the “normal” we have been used to will change for the long term. To assist with understanding what may change, I have come up with several predictions of life post COVID-19.

1) Education

The distinction between and school and home will blur. Many academic organizations will realize that a bulk of the learning can happen online. As a result, campuses will become less crowded, thus being able to support more students. There will be “odd / even” days where depending on the day of the week, you may or may not be required to physically be on campus. This will alleviate the fear of not being able to maintain enough distance between each student. I call this “thinning out” and will refer to the term frequently below.

2) Thinning out of pre-COVID-19 dense areas

We will begin to see a thinning out policy for any place of where people typically were in close physical proximity of. Several methods will be used. One method it to split a bunch of people into groups, e.g. Group A, Group B, Group C, or even “Odd” and “Even”. Then depending on the day or policy, only allow a certain group to come out. The second method is rate limiting the flow of people, so existing venues with a large capacity will reduce their capacity by 50% or even 80% so that when people are at the venue, they will have ample physical distance between them.

a) No movie theatres, arcades — As a place where more than 50 people are organized almost in arms reach of each other, these venues were the first to stop operating due to social distancing requirements. The movie theater of the future will shift to online world. The online world will have a solution where multiple people can watch the same film while having a social interaction of making comments and remarks about the film. For the people finding change difficult, and the for theaters taking their last “dying gasp” these theaters will be re-purposed so that a screen with a normal capacity of 400 will allow only 50 people spread evenly to maximize social distancing. Very quickly people will realize that what good is going to a theater without the social aspect. Generation Y and Generation Z are already consuming most of their content on computer, tablets and phones.

b) Restaurants — Will need to pivot their business model to a delivery service and for their existing seats, once lock down orders are eased, these restaurants will have to employ thinning out measures of having people physically distanced from each other. Very quickly people will realize that the value of going to a restaurant was social in nature and not being able to converse with people and friends at restaurants will become a deterrent of going. Some may only separate different groups of people. Some restaurants will start online dining areas using applications like Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Patrons can order online and join an online room while having their meals. This will bring a whole new type of experience to food. Some restaurant online rooms will be so popular that they will need to control who joins the rooms.

c) Airplanes — More than 50% of existing airlines will collapse this year. Airlines which survive will increase their prices by up to 2X and will now employ drastic measures of sanitization. Sanitization will be a differentiator even more valued than loyalty miles, or oven food on the plane. Economy class seats will have at least one empty seat between each seat. Airlines will retrofit HEPA filters throughout the plane or retrofit hospital grade air filtering systems for the entire aircraft. New certification bodies will emerge which can set standards for hygiene and sanitization, and period testing where passengers and transparently see the results of such testing.

d) Other public transit — These all will follow in lines with the Airline industry. Queuing for boarding and disembarking will follow a much more orderly process to maximize physical distancing. There will be increased technology based screening for passengers boarding and increased automation to prevent touching of buttons. There will be a massive increase on the use of facial recognition systems to automate personal preferences and choices.

3) Healthcare, Health Habits and Changes

a) Obesity and alcoholism becomes a problem — Lifestyles will change and many people will become used to the sedentary lifestyles of isolation. Those without prior exercise discipline will gain weight and be more prone to hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.

b) Everyone who can get COVID will get it by mid June 2020 — at the current trajectory exponential growth rate of infections, close to 40% of the global population will have been infected symptomatically or asymptomatically by mid June. At a worst case scenario without measures to slow the spread, by June, the growth will begin to naturally taper down, and potential infection hosts will have developed an immunity for the current strain of COVID-19 through past infection.

c) New strains of viruses will emerge and some people and governments will have to just continue with daily life instead of a another multi month lock down, and just deal with the potential impacts of infection as it happens.

d) Telemedicine huge advances, remote diagnoses — Patient to doctor ratios will increase out of necessity because of the lack of doctors. The shortage of doctors forces doctors to operate in a more efficient method. Experienced doctors will be able to share their knowledge and diagnostic capability to less experienced doctors through remote diagnostics over the Internet. A new class of medical professional somewhere between a doctor and nurse who has only specific knowledge on handling only specific infection related cases will emerge to handle the growing need for doctors. These new doctors will be trained rapidly from existing nurses. Remote diagnostic medical sensor companies will emerge and remote vital signs sensor hardware will become a norm for doctors providing remote diagnostics. Within 2 years 75% of most doctor interactions will occur through virtual consultations. Internet connected Vital sign sensors will become standards in every home, like bandages and blood pressure meters, and will cost less than $100.

e) Pharmaceutical industry will streamline drug testing/development cycle — Virus mutation rates will increase and although COVID-19 will have a vaccine, new rapidly emerging strains of the virus will occur faster than vaccines and treatments can be discovered. Pharma companies will completely change their methods for developing and testing new drugs and vaccines by using less human trials and more Artificial based deep learning methods to validate and test drug candidates to reduce the time to market. Realtime feedback from patients who have been administered the new drugs will immediately feedback into the AI algorithms to make minute manufacturing and formulation changes to adapt to a changing situation.

4) Social Interaction

The way we normally accustom friendship and leadership through physical touch will change. Handshaking will become a taboo, friendly taps on the shoulders and hugs will be deemed “insensitive” and “unhygienic”. Kissing will become a taboo equivalent of unprotected sex during the HIV / AIDS era.

a) Face masks will become the norm for many people in most countries. Masks are worn in weather conditions and by the young and old and even celebrities. Many people will enjoy the comforting feeling of being enclosed with a mask. In the age of facial recognition through cameras, traditional masks will prevent facial recognition, new nano materials will be used to create effective masks which allow a new generation of security cameras to “see through” these masks and continue to perform the intended facial recognition. People using legacy masks may be denied access to sensitive areas. Mask technology will advance to use nano hypoallergenic materials.

b) New ways of being social without physical proximity — We are already seeing social dynamics and cultures develop in the online world. Friendships are being made online. Online dating is the norm now. The next step humanity will take will be where human contact and physical proximity will be limited to only the extremely close social partners and will become a norm to be physically close to only a single person exclusively.

c) New culture developed around new social applications. The endorphins produced today by social interaction will be replaced and even eclipsed by the endorphins produced in the future by software applications which incorporate game dynamics. People will prefer the higher intensity endorphins from games and online social interactions rather than the “real thing”

d) Handshaking completely disappears. Western cultures adopt Asian “bowing” as a more hygienic means of greeting people in person. Some people “too cool” for bowing because of the stigma invent new non contact methods of greetings.

e) Larger disparity in knowledge — The population bifurcates into a group which uses the down time to educate and get smarter researching new knowledge on the Internet, while other group abstains from the pressures from daily routines and learning and begins to become accustomed to the sedentary lifestyle. Rich becomes associated with motivated and Poor becomes associated with unmotivated, the correlation becomes stronger over the years.

5) Focus on Biosecurity

Physical security is normal now, Cybersecurity is already a new concept to most, yet gathering constant coverage in the news. The next generation security is Bio-Security, typically reserved for commercial operations such as farms and laboratories, bio-security measures will make its way into domestic households and businesses.

a) New wave of biosecurity companies — Companies will emerge specializing in implementing methods and technologies for increasing biosecurity. Real time analysis of antibodies and even DNA will become possible for companies and civilians, at a cost so minor that bio-security checking at ingress and egress points at businesses and residences will become normal just like it is normal to have internet at every home.

i) Cameras intelligence — Cameras combined with Deep Learning based computer vision, will be able to identify potentially risky behaviors such as coughing and sneezing and immediately alert enforcement to remedy the situation. Coughing while outside and without a mask will be considered highly inconsiderate, the equivalent of urinating on a public wall.

ii) Intelligence gathered through cameras and smartphones will be used to track infected people, contacts of infected people and people demonstrating high risk behavior. This data will be visualized on real time heat maps of every major city indicating high, medium, low risk areas. Wearables are used to notify people when they are moving into an area with higher risk than their current location.

b) Businesses such as restaurants and hotels will be rated based on their adherence to strict biosecurity measures.

6) Food and Production

a) Food shortage — Within the next 5 years, there is a risk of food shortage because many cross border trade in food will be reduced. Many countries will need to grow their own food, and countries with a net import of food will have a shortage. New technologies in food production will need to be quickly implemented. Smart Agriculture technologies such as climate resistant agriculture, growth in green house based agriculture and indoor multi level hydroponics and aquaponics systems. If food supply does not increase with the demand of the population, large scale starvation will occur and even reduction of a country’s population thus its relevance.

b) Food safety / biosecurity — Restaurants will not only have a food safety score, but also a bio-security score, which is determined by their existing food preparation processes. Restaurants which cannot offer proof of a high level of bio-security will not be able to continue to successfully compete with other who do. At the highest levels of bio-security, food will be prepared by mainly robots and minimal human staff, who will live and work at the restaurant in and repeating cycles of work, isolation, rest , where each cycle can last up to 6 months.

c) Robotic farming — To reduce the risk of infection, people will prefer fruits and vegetables farmed by machines and robots instead of by humans. The price of human farmed products will be less than half of robotically produced fruits and vegetables since they will be less desirable due to infection risk.

d) “Ghost kitchen” businesses will grow — Ghost kitchens are large warehouses and buildings operating in a shared space concept, similar to a shared serviced office. A company in a shared office can start small, and scale large overnight. Since many sit in restaurants will wane in popularity due to biosecurity concerns, many existing restaurants and new ones will operate in a “take out only” fashion. Currently, there may only be 3 or 4 options for ordering a pizza, but with Ghost kitchens, these “virtual restaurants” will have dozens, if not hundreds of choices of selecting a pizza take out restaurants. Many of these restaurants will operate in the same shared “ghost kitchen” and may even be owned by the same owner. The price of take out food will decrease by more than 30% as these “Ghost kitchens” will not have as much overhead and can handle a larger amount of orders.

e) Smoking / Vaping — More and more people will wear face masks in public and will find it difficult to smoke while wearing a mask as the mask needs to be removed or moved to make way of inserting a cigarette or vape into the mouth. Knowing that touching a mask is a dangerous action to take when trying to prevent virus, these people will opt for an alternate way of stimulation, and will opt for chewing tobacco such as Snus used in the Nordic countries.

7) Energy

The shift of energy requirements will change globally. It will change from fossil fuel based to renewable energy based, more specifically the energy demand will be in the format of clean electricity and less of CO2 emitting combustion. Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) in cars will be used less. Many people have realized that it actually is possible to not use a car so much, and much of what was done using a car, such as commuting to work, can now be done remotely. Global fortunes have been spent on the projects focused on the production of oil, now that the demand of oil is significantly less, the price of oil can only drop, thus putting many oil producers out of business. Renewable and scalable sources of energy such as solar, wind, hydro electric will be consumed more. Many homes will be able to produce up to 50% of their peak load and during off peak times, they will be able to feed excess power back into the grid. This is not new, and is happening now, but what is new is the rapidly decreasing price of solar panels and batteries which makes the technology available to more and more people. In areas where grid power is intermittent, Solar and wind power will become the primary method of generating electricity and will allow for a fully autonomous energy generation unit where self generation provides 100% of the needed power in a home and also enough to operate an electric vehicle as the mode of transportation.

8) Transportation

Depending on the realizable levels of hygiene, there may be more or less cars on the road. Many people will be adverse to using ride sharing unless 1) it is fully autonomous 2) sanitation of the interior is automated or the driver compartment is completed sealed off from the passenger. These two challenges can be overcome. If not overcome, roadways will increase in congestion as people will want to ride in their dedicated vehicles. Many people now are purchasing electric vehicles due to cost savings from not having to purchase expensive fuel. If fuel prices decrease due to a lack of demand, there may be a resurgence in ICE vehicles, as the operating cost will be very minimal.

9) Sports and Outdoor Activities

This industry will experience a big change. Spectator sports such as basketball, football will prevent large numbers of fans to view the game in person. Viewing of games on TV and via the Internet will become the norm. Parks and beaches will become in high demand, and many parks and places of public gatherings will institute a “thinning out”. The supply of outdoor recreation areas will decrease and the demand will increase. Municipalities will convert these public places to revenue generating sources, similar to parking meters in congested cities. Contact team sports such as football, basketball, will decrease in popularity, giving rise to individual sports such as golf, and also the rapidly rising popularity of e-Sports such as multiuser online games. In e-Sports, hundreds and millions of players can interact in a virtual world without physical contact.

10) Real Estate Property and Migration

The population which harnesses and adapts to these new changes in society will grow and prosper, and unfortunately, the remainder will not. Crime and poverty will increase and a dystopian society may emerge from poverty. Many people will move away from high density large cities into rural areas to reduce the risk of being in close contact with too many people. As the demand for real estate will reduce in urban areas, the price of urban real estate will drop. Popular migration destinations will be areas of nice weather and plentiful beaches such as Hawaii.

11) Workplace

Only staff which have cleared bio-security requirements will be able to work from the office. Others will have to work remotely. Companies will realize that many staff who were seemingly “highly productive” pre-COVID-19 were mainly absent during COVID-19 and subsequently not required thus terminated. Rented spaced used by offices will shrink drastically. Factories will maintain their rental footprint.

12) Drones become more popular

Regulatory management of drones accelerates and makes many things feasible. More drones are being used to replace delivery services for smaller items. Some countries will have dedicated drone corridors which do not need to be coordinated with general or commercial aviation. Drones are not only used for deliveries, but for security, with AI based deep learning camera to surveil cities as well as private drones to surveil private businesses and residences. The game changer is the AI based computer vision on the drone which allows it to make decisions on how to react to various security events. Drones capable of carrying passengers will be used to move people rapidly and efficiently from their rural homes to other locations as an alternative to cars.

13) Communication Technology

Remote working and a levelling of population density away from urban areas and into sub urban and rural areas will increase the need for ubiquitous high-speed broadband. Mass deployments of fiber optic cables will happen into areas which were previously commercially not viable. New high-speed satellite based Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink will beam high speed internet to every corner of the planet. This will be useful for areas waiting for fiber to be deployed. The use of video chat / conference puts higher quality requirements for these calls. Users now demand much higher audio fidelity and video quality. Multi megapixel, Multi screen video calls with virtual / augmented reality become the norm. When multiple people are on a video call, the person on the right speaks, their audio is heard from the right, these audio technologies such as virtual direction audio will become common. Many business and homes will have permanent “windows” which are screens providing a 24×7 video conference feed to another location thousands of kilometers away. This will allow for a father working on one side of the world, have a window to his family on the other side of the world, to bridge the physical distance virtually. Although people will have to overcome the feeling of being surveilled. New types of etiquette from video conferencing will find its way into the real life.

14) Environment

Less fossil fuel consumption means less CO2 emissions damaging the environment. Leading to cleaner air. During this COVID-19 pandemic, many people noticed a much cleaner air and bluer skies. I have noticed a drastic decrease in micro dust Particulate Matter (PM2.5) decrease from 100 micrograms per cubic meter to less than 6 micrograms per cubic meter in less than a week. A clean environment and clean air will become the norm, and climate activists will have nothing to complain about, and people will stop caring about the climate change as it ceases to be a problem.

15)And Beyond

Lastly, we will realize that the world we live in on Planet Earth is amazing yet very sensitive. Fear of a potentially larger future pandemic will push technologists to advance research on interplanetary and even interstellar travel. Only 21 years ago, the thought of a space station orbiting the earth with people living on it was unreal and borderline ridiculous yet fascinating idea. After 21 years, living in space is a reality and feasible. Now the next step will be to prepare a future “Noah’s Ark” to preserve human kind in the event that a virus overtakes planet earth. Famous future words of the first person (maybe me) leaving planet earth to live on another planet,

“So long planet earth, we have learned a lot from our irreversible mistakes, and now, we have no choice but to start fresh on another planet.” …Yen Choi

Yen Choi

Only staff which have cleared bio-security requirements will be able to work from the office. Others will have to work remotely. Companies will realize that many staff who were seemingly “highly productive” pre-COVID-19 were mainly absent during COVID-19 and subsequently not required thus terminated. Rented spaced used by offices will shrink drastically. Factories will maintain their rental footprint.

Collaboration is key to the safety of Nigeria’s cyberspace – CyberDome

Collaboration is key to the safety of Nigeria’s cyberspace – CyberDome

Eyal Titinger is a Partner at CyberDome, an Abuja based cybersecurity company. In this interview with ANTHONY NWOSU , Titinger noted that while collaboration is key, the safety of Nigeria’s cyberspace also depend largely on disclosure of cyber attacks and data breaches. He also disclosed that Cyber Security Research shows that Nigeria has one of the highest levels of cybercrime in Africa and in the world.

How will you describe Cyberdome as a company?

CyberDome is a Cyber Security and research firm located in Abuja with branches in Israel and the USA. We provide bespoke cyber services such as  analysis, critical infrastructure and defense mechanisms, every cyber solution is tailored to the organization’s specific threat landscape, as well as their industry and market to enable them to anticipate breaches before they occur. The platform that we set up for each client provides them with the ability to respond quickly, decisively and effectively to confirm cyber-attacks and data breaches. CyberDome maintains an up to date threat intelligence database from all over the world and real-time discovery of cyber-attacks. We are constantly adding new technology and AI innovations to our portfolio to keep ahead of the curve. CyberDome’s Academy-Courses are certified; We provide Capacity Building and all trainings are customized based on the organization’s needs.

What is the acceptance rate of Cyberdome products and services in Nigeria?

The CyberDome next-generation Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) is currently the only facility in the country that is offering twofold; 24/7/356 security monitoring and advanced data breach prevention services and full-service solutions portfolio to meet all security risks. And also the complete installation of Cyber Security Operations Centres (SOC) at the client’s site or to enable  CyberDome to provide on-site services on the client’s behalf.

How is your impression of the Nigerian Cyberspace, is it safe?

There are many challenges in Nigeria for Cyber Security Research shows that Nigeria has one of the highest levels of cybercrime in Africa and in the world. There is a lot of work to do. Currently, we are forming an opinion about how important it is for organizations to disclose cyber attacks and data breaches as per the CyberCrime Act Section 21. It is never good to have secrets, they are hard to keep.

News - CyberDome

All over the world, collaboration is key to fighting cybercrime. What kind of collaboration do you expect from the government and the private sector?

Collaboration is key in cybersecurity. Our up to date threat intelligence database from all over the world is a testament to that. We are fortunate to be working with all stakeholders in order to make Nigeria safer. In terms of the broader picture of Nigeria as a nation, every person has a right to know that he has been breached, and there should be laws in place to support that. I also think that organizations that adopt a policy of disclosure – would build tremendous trust with their customers.

A recent cybersecurity report disclosed that 81 percent of cybersecurity incidences in Nigeria are unresolved. Do you agree with this report? What could be responsible for this?

I think that sadly it is. There are several components to Cyber Security. The first is to detect incidences the second is to resolve them. We prefer to be more proactive and not wait for the incidences to occur, but to ensure that we have covered all the bases. I know that when we go into organizations for the initial survey, it is possible to find many unresolved issues, things that cannot be seen by an untrained eye. Having a robust cyber policy and laws in place will certainly help bring this statistic down. We are not victims, we are protagonists.

Many people will argue that cyber security is more about creating awareness among the citizens. As a cybersecurity company operating in Nigeria, what level  of awareness you have created or creating?

At CyberDome, we do believe that creating awareness is only one factor in the larger cyber security picture. Our Cyber Academy offers awareness training, so that all employees at an organization can come on board with the cyber policy. But this has to be part of a broad cyber policy for every organization must have a system in place to detect, analyse and remediate cyber issues to keep raising the bar. This is our mission for every organization in Nigeria.

all over the world is a testament to that. We are fortunate to be working with all stakeholders in order to make Nigeria safer. In terms of the broader picture of Nigeria as a nation, every person has a right to know that he has been breached

MIRA TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED HOSTS NIGERIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY EXECUTIVES

MIRA TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED HOSTS NIGERIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY EXECUTIVES

Mira Technologies Limited, an indigenous information technology (IT) firm in Lagos recently hosted the executive members of Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) at their Lagos office. The visitation is in line with the NCS’ drive of engaging the IT sector and industry players. This visit also coincided with Mira Technologies’ 8 years in IT business in Nigeria. The exco members of NCS commended the company in the strides that they have made in the areas of capacity building and indigenous software development.

Prof. Adesina Sodiya, the president of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) highlighted the need for IT professionals and organisations in the country to be members of the organisation. He expressed pleasure that Mira Technologies Limited have done well over these years in the area of capacity building and project deployments. In his words “Our members are situated across the private and public sector. As of today, with over 15,000 members and close to 1,000 members in the country. The Nigerian Computer Society is on the drive to carry every IT professional along. The association has made interventions on behalf of many IT firms and is determined to ensure that local content policy is effective.”

Speaking to the media, the founder and Chief Technical Officer of Mira Technologies Limited, Ifeanyi Ifeabunike said “we are elated that the Nigerian Computer Society has recognised our strides in the IT ecosystem. It has shown that we are doing the right thing and we are happy to be associated with the highest body-association that is overseeing the IT ecosystem in the country.”

“Over the years, we have developed various solutions that are tailormade to Nigerian businesses. Having done business in the country, we started developing various indigenous software that organisations found very helpful. We looked at the challenges that businesses face in the country when they deploy over the shelf and foreign software, we tried as much as possible to bridge these gaps. We deployed these locally developed solutions to bridge these gaps and also, we have ensured that our support and after sales is top notch and in line with global best practices”, Ifeanyi added.

Mira Technologies Limited have developed and deployed robust solutions such as Mira HPro, this is an Enterprise Hospital Management System (EHMS). It is a web application that can run across multiple platforms. The System is designed to provide the best user experience and also provide the hospital with the capability to manage out-patients, in-patients, diagnostics, process inventory, accounts, consultation, dispense drugs and manage personnel. Next is Accsiss eBs. This is an accounting software, designed to run in multiple locations across different states, nations and continents, with complex network and diverse platforms. This version combines the functionalities of the small business version and more.

The firm looked at other sectors such as hospitality and tourism sector. The firm developed Accsiss hBs which is a hotel management software. Accsiss hBs is designed to make hotel management easier and seamless. It gives managers the power to manage booking and   reservation of rooms/accommodations, check-ins/outs, view accommodation status, manage accounts, inventory, sales, purchases and cashflow of the various departments of the hotel.  The firms developed other solutions such as Accsiss sBs which is a Student management software (SMS). Designed for creche, nursery, primary and secondary schools. It is a web application and can be deployed on a single computer, or on multiple computers across an intra-net (local area network).

“At Mira Technologies, we have experienced software architects and developers whose job is to design and develop Web applications. Our pool of developers is ready to develop whatever solutions you may need to get your business going. We ensure that clients get a robust support system from us”, Ifeanyi Ifeabunike concluded.

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

Our Focus Is On IT Capacity Building In Kebbi State – Abdul Magoro

Our Focus Is On IT Capacity Building In Kebbi State – Abdul Magoro

In an exclusive interview with Abdul Magoro, the Commissioner for Information Technology Kebbi State, he expresses his desire to build capacity in the information technology (IT) and also drive eGovernance across MDAs in the state. Abdul expresses his intention to build an army of IT startups by 2023. Segun Oruame, Anthony Nwosu and Yinka Fagbenle captured this.

Can we have a brief insight to your education and career background?

I have a degree in Business Administration, in London, United Kingdom (UK) back in 1998, then I have my master’s degree in information technology management in the UK also. I have worked with City Bank London and a couple of other places in UK before I came back to Nigeria to contribute to my quota in the development of the country. I did my national youth service (NYSC) at a firm called Ocean and Oil which was taken over by Oando. Then I moved to a private sector, a logistic firm also, I worked at the board in this capacity. I was there for about five years before been appointed as the commissioner for ICT by Governor of Kebbi State, His Excellency Atiku Abudu.

With this impressive resume, we can say that you have what it takes to pilot the ICT in Kebbi, what would be your thrust as a commissioner?

The most important thing is to reorganize the public/government sector. As you know, technology is a driver and we have to deploy ICT in the sector to ensure efficiency and productivity. These are the intention of the Governor of the state. We want Kebbi State to be a state that is being run efficiently, using IT as a platform. My role as a commissioner is to coordinate all the ICT activities in the state. My ministry is to ensure that there is coordination and synergy in this area. We are looking are critical areas such as revenue generation, capacity building and e government. We are just a new ministry less than a month old, but we are making a steady progress by coming up with a draft, policy document or a blueprint that would guide us in this area. We are also here to engage the stakeholders within the IT ecosystem to see how we can all work together and add value in Kebbi State.

With these strategies in place, the challenge is acceptability and cultural change, in the area of e Governance, public sector finds it a bit hard making this transition. How do you go about this?

Yes, you are right. Change has always been frowned upon, but it would be a work in progress and an opportunity for me. This is something that has been initiated by His Excellency, the governor of Kebbi State, Senator Atiku Abudu. We have his support and for him to create a ministry that is focused on ICT in the state, it means that the governor understands the importance of information technology and how it impacts on productivity and development of the state. He understands this, otherwise he would have just an adviser on ICT but he decided to create a ministry solely for ICT. With my access to the executive council, this would also give me an upper hand in creating a policy and having it presented to the governor directly.

How would you ensure that ministries and MDAs comply to this digitization processes that you have in mind?

Well, I would get them to buy into the idea by having a stakeholders meeting. With this process in place, they would be involved and everyone would have an idea or  clear path on where we are going and what we are meant to achieve.

Capacity building is one thing that is a challenge in the IT space, especially the North, how do you bridge this in a state that is trying to come to term with IT skills?

We have to look at passion and literacy, we have a lot of youths in the state that have these qualities, what they basically need is support. Ours is to train and retrain them on  the best ways they can use IT to better their lives. We are looking at hub, we would build hubs, those that want to be techprenuers, we would encourage them and support them, we would also take others into public sectors. We are looking at ecosystem that would be managed by youths of Kebbi. The whole essence is to empower these youths.

Abdul Magoro, the Commissioner for Information Technology Kebbi State

You said empowerment, most ICT startups have challenge in this area, especially with access to credit. How do you as bridge this gap and change the narrative?

Access to credit and market is what we are known in Kebbi state, today, we are known as one of the foremost rice production states, we are looking at agrotech and how they can use IT to drive higher productivity in agriculture. We have made tremendous strides in support of farmers in improving value chain in agriculture. With this experience, we would replicate this in the IT space.

Are you looking at private sector partnership here?

We are open to private sector partnership and international agencies. The areas we would be focusing for now is revenue generation. This is one area that we would love to engage private sector so that their expertise would be made available to us. We are very open to private sector engagement.

Kebbi State is one of the very few states that have commissioner for ICT in Nigeria. Why set up an IT ministry?

Setting up an IT ministry is due to the obvious reason that IT is a driver of any economy and also, we intend to play in the IT ecosystem not as consumers but also developers. We need to be futuristic in Kebbi and develop capacities that would play a major role in the IT driven economy.  We also want to make adequate use of technology to drive productivity from agriculture to startup ecosystem. We also want to change the narrative on how government agencies do things.

Back to capacity building, are you going to work with select education institutions in the state?

We are looking at that also. My ministry in conjunction with ministry of basic education and higher education would sit down and look at the present curriculum which we know its not up to date, we would look at this and know areas of interventions. We would also assist in equipment deployment and resource person that would drive the IT revolution in these schools. 

What are the three core objectives that you would be looking at achieving before 2023?

The first would be automation of government processes in the state, the second is capacity building of over 150,000 youths before the 2023 and the last one is to target the girl child in the appreciation of IT. We intend to create startups before 2023 and deepen the ICT capacity building in the state.

TANTA INNOVATIVE LIMITED HARPS ON THE NEED FOR PERIODICAL PEN AND VULNERABILITY TESTING

TANTA INNOVATIVE LIMITED HARPS ON THE NEED FOR PERIODICAL PEN AND VULNERABILITY TESTING

In an ever changing and highly digitalized marketspace, the need to have digital assets protected becomes more imperative. Countries and organizations have lost billions of dollars in cyber breaches lately, Nigeria inclusive. Having this in mind, Tanta Innovative Limited, an indigenous information technology (IT) and software development firm based in Lagos has encouraged firms in the country to invest into cyber security solutions with emphasis on penetration testing for Nigerian firms in order to limit their exposure and security breaches.

Over $270.22 million was spent in 2018 to prevent cyberattacks by organizations and government in 2018. This has prompted Tanta Innovation Limited by introducing cost effective penetration testing for organizations. Speaking on the importance of penetration testing for organizations, Abraham Tanta, the Chief Executive Officer of Tanta Innovative Limited said, “We strongly believe at Tanta Innovative that penetration testing for organizations in Nigeria should be a thing that corporates do on a periodic basis. It offers the organization insights on the areas of vulnerabilities and how they can protect themselves better against cyber breaches. We have made this pen testing a simple process and cost effective. “

“The importance of penetration and vulnerability testing is critical to us. We follow the laid down processes of penetration testing such as Planning and data gathering, Scanning, gaining access, maintaining access and more importantly Covering tracks. We also look at various methods which we might deploy such as External testing, Internal testing, Blind testing and Targeted testing. We apply a high level of skill to properly identify all of the exploitable vulnerabilities.”. Tanta added.

As the country has embraced digital payment, the need for periodic testing for organizations with online presence especially those with digital payment portals and gateway becomes increasingly inevitable. having partnered with reputable international firms, Tanta Innovative plans to bring the best global practices to Nigeria.

The company reiterated the need for Nigerians (Corporates and privates) to start looking inward for their software needs. Known to have developed robust software solutions for firms, Tanta Innovative Limited has promised Nigerians a bouquet of IT solutions to meet their specific needs. Solutions such as eHealth software, School Management Software and also ERPs that are bespoke. With a robust after sales in place, the company said that patronizing locally developed software would encourage the IT ecosystem and save the much-needed foreign exchange for other developmental projects.

“We are creating solutions that can change how people work and make life easier. With a lot of collaboration in place, we have a mission to bring to the fore indigenous robust solutions that would make people forget about all these foreign products and focus on locally made ones because we are trying to solve their problems better than the other ones they buy over the counter”, Abraham Tanta concluded.

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

Covid 19: Cuidad Broadband Brings Superfast Internet to Boost Businesses

Covid 19: Cuidad Broadband Brings Superfast Internet to Boost Businesses

Global economies, Nigeria inclusive this Post Covid 19 would be altered for good, workplaces and the way we relate will change and many businesses would tilt online and the need to have a robust connection this period has becomes more imperative for business scalability. Cuidad Infrastructure Limited, an indigenous internet service provider (ISP) based in Lagos is bringing an internet solution to Nigerian homes and businesses that would enable them to work better. 

Speaking to the media, Seun Olajide, the managing director of Cuidad Infrastructure Limited made this known to media. In his words he said “we are here to bring cheap, superfast and reliable connectivity to Nigerians. We understand that Covid 19 will alter the way we live and work, majority of these work would be either online or works would be done from home. Having said this, we are bringing world class internet solution. We have deployed services across the federation with connectivity in the most cities of the country.”

“To ensure that people can work from anywhere without the normal glitches and hitches associated with connectivity, we have partnered with reputable local and global telecommunication firms to bring this wonderful experience to these set of business. With reduced downtime and no buffering, SMEs, can fully utilize the digital economy that would power various areas of their businesses from the digital payment facilitation, e learning for schools and other online presence”, Seun Olajide added.

Government across the states of federation have encouraged Nigerians to maintain social distancing and as many businesses and organizations have encouraged working from home, this is in addition to embraced online shopping and delivery. Cuidad Infrastructure Limited will be bridging this gap with the deployment of superfast internet solutions for these categories of business at a very reasonable cost.

Cuidad Broadband is making businesses seamless and easier for SMEs. This would enable these set of businesses find customers through various digital communications platform, meet customers’ needs now that businesses are innovating this post Covid 19 era by deploying superfast internet at affordable rates. With a download speed of over 500Kps, and high coverage areas across the federation. Ciudad is an innovative internet solutions provider to public and private segments, delivering exceptional value to our customers, partners and shareholders.”, concluded Olajide.

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

ONE NUMBER DIAL ANNOUNCES PLAN TO INTRODUCE A FREE ELEVEN MONTH PERIOD FOR SUBSCRIBERS

ONE NUMBER DIAL ANNOUNCES PLAN TO INTRODUCE A FREE ELEVEN MONTH PERIOD FOR SUBSCRIBERS

One Number Dial, an indigenous information technology (IT) solution created to ease the way organizations communicate and reach out to staff, public and prospective clients in a cost effectively method has announced a free eleven-month period for subscriptions. Developed solely to bridge gaps experienced by organisations in reaching out, One Number Dial Solution is bringing an efficient way that firms disseminate critical information in a secure platform designed for smartphones and feature phones users in the country.

The coronavirus pandemic has irrevocably changed the way businesses globally operate and the need for investment in IT tools becomes more imperative today. Also coming at a time that the Government has encouraged Nigerians to work from home and limit their social interactions. Many users have described One Number Dial solution as timely and important for many organisations to function and work properly in a post Covid 19 workplace. The solution has also been described as being critical for bulk messaging needs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Churches, Mosques and Individuals. The regular Bulk SMS suffers limited delivery because of DND this “One Number Dial” is bridging this gap.

Speaking about the solution and the importance of One Number Dial, Shola Kusimo, the Product Manager said “We listened to the market for a local solution, when customers complained of being left behind from online meetings in Organizations and Churches, SMS wasn’t bi-directional and a lot of people still have feature phone. The solution is as an incredible tool with years of research and it has raised the bar in the way firms can reach out to the public and staffs working remotely”

“As an innovative and local solution that meets their need to stay in touch with customers, members and prospects. Highly simple, the solution allows one to record a voice message on phone, save it on the website and broadcast it just like bulk short messaging service (SMS) websites. The recipient gets a call with your One Number and listens to the message. If they choose to call back, the call comes to your line or any other provisioned line. You can provision up to ten lines”, Mr.Kusimo added.

 “The particular solution also empowers users advertise one number and gets calls on ten other numbers at the same time making it very useful for individuals with a “side hustle.” One Number Dial calls are professionally answered like a Call Centre with different departments in an IVR e.g. for inquiry press 1, for sales press 2, to speak with a customer representative stay on the line, and all these features are simple to configure on their portal. The One Number Dial is a simple solution for all Nigerians that are looking for an easier communications bridge to their customers, members and their prospects”, Mr. Kusimo concluded.

A Cloud based solution, One Number Dial is in tune with the current realities of our time by providing a robust platform that any organization can use to instantly call and send customized messages to hundreds of people at the same time which is great for clients and customers, this is coming with support team to ensure that organizations have smooth experience while using the platform.  They announced in a media parley that there is a promotion which is currently running because of Covid-19. Customers can get up to eleven months free when they pay in the months of June/July.

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

COVID-19 INTERVENTION: Agric for Food and Job Plan Kicks-Off in Katsina as FG Flags-Off Economic Sustainability Plan

COVID-19 INTERVENTION: Agric for Food and Job Plan Kicks-Off in Katsina as FG Flags-Off Economic Sustainability Plan

The Federal Government has launched the Agriculture for food and job plan AFJP), a major take-off for the agriculture component of the Nigeria Economic and Sustainability Plan (NESP) targeting smallholder farmers. The project would mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on the economy and livelihoods of farmers by creating more access to food for and the rapid emergence of competitive food production, processing and distribution in Nigeria.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono stated this during the official launch of the Agriculture for food and job plan(AFJP) in Funtua, Katsina State, today, Thursday 23rd July 2020. Alhaji Sabo Nanono informed that Mr President set up an Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC) chaired by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osibanjo to fashion out a plan on COVID -19 intervention.

Alhaji Nanono said ‘’one of the strategies adopted by the Committee is the Agriculture for Food and Job Plan (AFJP), stating that the Programme will aid the transformation of the Nigerian agriculture from its largely low yielding and subsistent state to a high yielding technology-based farming system’’.Speaking further, he said that the strategies would generate appropriate welfare gains consistent with the Federal Government’s Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP) and Green Alternative strategies.

The Minister said that the plan, “is also in tandem with the three-pronged action plan of the Ministry to deal with the impact of the pandemic on Nigerian agriculture and farmers’’. Nanono explained that ‘’these measures include among others, the life-saving humanitarian assistance to vulnerable households to buffer the impact of COVID-19, such as the release of about 100,000 metric tons of assorted food commodities from the National Food Reserve to several groups and communities”.

The Minister highlighted the deliverables of the AFJP as contained in the NESP in 12 months: ” creation of between 5- 10 million jobs in the agric sector, produce about 10,000,000 MT of food, cultivate between 20,000 – 100,000 hectares of land per State based on land availability to an aggregate of 2.4 million farmers tied to farmlands, input financing loan to farmers will be zero interest, land clearing and preparation support, among others “.Accordingly, the Minister, ” this symbolic launch represents over 1,100,000 smallholder farmer-beneficiaries in 36 states and the FCT on the Batch A list under 6 partners namely AFEX, BabanGona, Value Seeds, Universal, Thrive Agric and Oxfam. We will soon be announcing Batch B beneficiaries”, he averred.

He lauded the continuous support of OCP AFRICA Fertilizer Limited for its initiative “”in the provision of soil testing equipment and supply of 20 units of OCP branded Motorcycles, Android Tablets and safety of kits to support the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development meant to support Extension Services”.In his Goodwill Message, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, stressed that the Agric sector is the bedrock of the economy and appreciated the efforts of the Federal Government under the Leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari for his visionary policies in the Agric sector.

The Chairman, House Committee on Agric. Production Services, Hon. Muntari Danduste, during his Goodwill message, thanked Mr President for providing COVID – 19 Agricultural intervention palliative to the farmers in Katsina State which he said would cushion the effects of the Pandemic on 2020 farming season in the state and the nation at large.In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Abdulkadir Mua’zu, represented by the Director, Department of Agriculture Extension, Engr. Frank Kudla said that ‘’ your presence here is an indication of our recognition intervention of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the efforts of the Ministry to reposition Nigerian agricultural system and increase farmers’ resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated negative impacts. Your continuous support will go a long way in ensuring that the objective of the Agriculture for Food and Job Plan is achieved’’. Dr Mua’zu noted that ‘’our coming together is because we are determined to join forces for action against COVID-19 pandemic, hunger and poverty. I, therefore, implore you all, especially our partners, to work hard to ensure that the core activities of these Project are carried out to a logical conclusion in the coming months’

Source

USAID Partners with Imo to Improve WASH State to ‘corporatize’ Water Board for better performance

USAID Partners with Imo to Improve WASH State to ‘corporatize’ Water Board for better performance

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Stephen M. Haykin joined with Governor Hope Uzodinma in a virtual signing ceremony to formalize a new partnership with Imo State to improve the management and delivery of water and sanitation (WASH) services to help people live healthier lives through reliable access to clean water.

Today’s Memorandum of Understanding outlines commitments between USAID and Imo State to jointly develop a professionally managed, commercially oriented, and accountable state Water Board. This will be accomplished by improving the Water Board’s financial viability, and strengthening policy, institutional, and regulatory frameworks for better WASH service delivery.

“By strengthening the Water Board’s capacity to make solid investment decisions, improve billing and collection systems, and improve responsiveness to customer needs,” Haykin said at the ceremony, “USAID, through E-WASH, will help increase access to clean water and reduce waterborne disease in Imo State, feeding into our mutual goal of creating a healthier, more economically robust Nigeria.”

After formal declaration of corporatization of the new Imo State Water and Sewerage Corporation, Governor Uzodinma, promised to announce the board of directors at a later date said

In his remarks, Governor Uzodinma acknowledged that up to 85 percent of his rural constituents lack access to a reliable source of running water and expressed hope that within a year the activity could reach up to 100,000 residents of the state.

“This project is consistent with the goals of my administration to ensure that the welfare of my people is advanced and protected,” the governor said. “Therefore, I commit our cooperation to ensure this project is delivered.  We are [also] committed to running the Imo Water Board as a business to ensure its commercial viability.”

Through the $60.4 million Effective Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Services (E-WASH) activity, USAID will support Imo and five other states to increase access to clean water and reduce disease by strengthening their Water Boards’ capacity to make solid investment decisions, improve billing and collection systems, and ensure greater responsiveness to customer concerns.

Over four years, E-WASH will spur the mobilization of an additional $50 million from public and private sources. It will also provide access to piped clean water to at least 50,000 households.  Delta, Abia and Taraba have all signed similar agreements.

E-WASH is one component of a wider USAID effort to foster closer coordination with federal and state government agencies to advance broad-based economic growth and resilience in Nigeria through improved WASH services.

By U.S. Mission Nigeria 

USAID Partners with Lagos State to Develop New Electrification Plan

USAID Partners with Lagos State to Develop New Electrification Plan

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Stephen M. Haykin joined Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in a virtual ceremony to sign a Letter of Cooperation under which USAID will support Lagos to develop an electrification plan to improve power service delivery in the state.

Lagos will implement the new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) with support from the U.S. government’s Power Africa Nigeria Power Sector Program (NPSP) administered by USAID.  The IRP will serve as a roadmap to guide development of a comprehensive, long-term electrification strategy for the state to improve planning and decision-making on power sector investments that will lead to more accessible and reliable electricity services in Lagos.

“This new roadmap will assist the government and energy stakeholders to predict power system requirements and enable the effective and efficient management of energy resources to drive Lagos’ prosperity for decades to come,” USAID Mission Director Stephen M. Haykin said at the ceremony.  “It will support critical planning to meet consumer needs for electricity services in a way that satisfies multiple objectives for resource use.”

To support the IRP, NPSP will conduct a review and analysis of the state’s power sector to develop new planning mechanisms best suited to address its long-term residential, industrial, and public sector electricity needs, especially hospitals and health posts.   It will also engage public and private sector stakeholders with trainings on electricity generation planning and load forecasting, as well as demand-side management.

“To improve access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, there is no better place to start than in Nigeria,” Governor Sanwo-Olu said.  “This plan is a priority initiative for our state, which underpins our electricity strategy to ensure access and reliability to Lagos residents is a reality.”

The U.S. government-led Power Africa partnership brings together the collective resources of more than 170 public and private sector partners to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa.  Power Africa’s goal is to add 30,000 megawatts of new electricity generation capacity and connect 60 million new homes and businesses to power by 2030 on the continent.

By U.S. Mission Nigeria