Being 10 years in any business isn’t a walk-in park project. Ethnos IT Solution Limited recently celebrated and recognized their staff and loyal customers
The Nigerian Communications Commission has again given expression to its commitment to reach all categories of telecom consumers, with the launch yesterday in Benin, of a consumer-centric outreach programme tagged, “Shine your eyes, no fall mugu”, which literally translates to, “Be alert, Don’t be a victim of fraudsters”.
An initiative of the Commission’s Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), the programme is specially conceived and implemented using Nigerian pidgin. It’s intended for a segment of telecom consumer population who are more comfortable with localised communication that resonates with their reality.
The two-day programme, implemented in three phases, started with a road show yesterday. The Show featured local artistes and comedians who displayed musical and other performances to amuse and entertain people to create awareness and sensitise telecom consumers about how cybercriminals may use telecom platforms to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
Today, the last day of the two-day event, will feature a 20-minute radio talk in Nigerian pidgin, to further create awareness and like the roadshow, to invite telecom consumers to an enlightenment forum where presentations will be made about tricks deployed by cybercriminals to defraud people online. The presentations will also capture measures to be taken by consumers and members of the public in order not to fall victim of fraudsters who may use telecom platforms to perpetrate fraudulent acts.
Additionally, at today’s enlightenment forum, drama, audio narratives and other attractions thematised on the centrality of vigilance, alertness and caution in the cyberspace by all users, will be featured.
The programme is facilitated by a local partner who supports NCC, by mobilising critical segments of the public through opinion leaders and social groups to participate in the events, in order for them to be armed with the right information they may require to explore the Internet safely. These leaders and members of the public attending the forum, are expected to re-diffuse the messages to other members of the public and others in their socio-cultural groups.
This programme, coming on the heels of NCC’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (which occurred in October), and the annual National Cybersecurity Conference, which took place on 3rd November, 2021, is meant to reinforce the messages of cyber awareness, cyber vigilance, and cyber smartness to telecom consumers whenever they are online.
The roadshow yesterday commenced at Ekehuan Road, and the procession drove through Airport Road, to State Secretariat, Sapele Road and through round about to Ring Road, to Akpakpava, Dawson Road and back to Ugbowo and Uselu Market. The motorcade, the music, the displays by artistes and the underlying narration of the message of the outreach in Nigerian pidgin caught the attention of residents and passers-by who patiently listened to the messages. Information, Communication and Education (IEC) materials were also shared with the public at every neighbourhood the procession stopped to display and educate the public.
More mobilisation campaigns and awareness creation will be made during the radio component of the sensitization today, happening at Vibes Radio, 97.3 FM at 8.45 a.m. Thereafter, the Enlightenment Forum will take place at Obey God Events Centre at Nova Road, opposite Uwasota Junction, Benin.
…Microsoft ADC Disability Inclusion event is aimed at identifying the stereotypical perspectives affecting the employment of talent living with disabilities.
Microsoft Africa Development Center (Microsoft ADC), the engineering center for Microsoft is set to host a Disability Inclusion event across Africa focused on engineering and non-engineering talents living with disabilities on the 3rd of December, 2021. The event is diversity-centered and will encourage the inclusiveness of people living with disabilities in key career paths, while also raising awareness about the potential of talents living with disabilities. The event will showcase appropriate facilities, programs, and tools well suited for people with disabilities to achieve functional change.
The event will cover the Microsoft Accessibility- an essential tool used in delivering on Microsoft’s mission which is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and also unveil the next phase of the accessibility journey, our companywide commitment to creating and opening doors to bigger opportunities for people with disabilities and bring together every corner of Microsoft’s business while focusing on these three priorities: Spurring the development of more accessible technology across the industry and the economy, using the technology to create opportunities for more people living with disabilities to be included in the workforce; and building a workplace that is more inclusive for people living with disabilities.
Presenting the keynote at the Microsoft Disability Inclusion Event, Jack Ngare, Managing Director, Microsoft ADC- Kenya, noted ‘’More than one billion people around the world live with a disability, and employment rates are relatively lower and poverty rates are higher for people with disabilities than for those without disabilities. From our 25 years of work on accessibility at Microsoft, we at ADC have learned that people with disabilities represent one of the world’s largest untapped talent pools, and that inclusion of disabled talent is crucial to achieving our mission. Our employees with disabilities continue to be the catalysts of our innovations such as Learning Tools, live captioning in Teams, , Seeing AI and many more. We continue to actively work to hire and nurture people with disabilities to bring their expertise into our processes, products, and culture at every level.”
Speaking further about the importance of the Microsoft ADC Event, Sophie Okonkwo, Engineering Talent Sourcing Specialist, Microsoft ADC, added “Diversity in the workplace is an essential component of any highly inclusive organization like Microsoft. Organizing this event to engage people with disabilities and allies in the Africa tech ecosystem is imperative, as the awareness of disability and inclusion needs to be widespread. The Microsoft Africa Development Centre Disability Event aims to celebrate the ability in disability and bring to the fore, the limitless possibilities that people with disabilities can achieve in an inclusive world”.
The Microsoft ADC Disability Inclusion event is an open to all virtual event to commemorate the International day of persons with disabilities in Africa as well as reveal the ecosystem of Microsoft’s commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce and work culture. The event’s activities are backed up by organizations affiliated with Microsoft Africa Development Centre, and participants would have access to a wide range of mentors and speakers.
About Microsoft ADC
Microsoft Africa Development Center (ADC)represents Microsoft’s first-ever engineering offices in Africa, with locations in Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria. These centers were created by Microsoft to serve as a base for African industry leaders to create local solutions with global scalability as well as provide employment opportunities and further enhance technological innovations in the continent of Africa.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. For more information, news and insights from Microsoft, please visit Microsoft’s news center at http://news.microsoft.com and or Middle East & Africa News Center (microsoft.com)
Lately, the Christendom especially in Nigeria has been under scrutiny. Many true men of God have risen up to speak against the monetization and commercialization of the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of “pastors” have used the name of Christ and Christianity to fleece people their hard-earned money under different mode such as seed, offerings etc. having seen this, a true man of God, Ephriam Ononye, the General Overseer of Ephraim Ononye Ministry Worldwide has risen up and condemn these obnoxious acts many of these false prophets do. And they have come out to fight him from spiritual warfare to the physical warfare, this is to show how desperate these some of these called men of God can be.
Speaking to the media, Pastor Ephraim said” all these things are all happening because they want to get me down. They have done everything to ensure that I am down but God being with me has been vindicating me”
“I am a preacher and I have been in the ministry for twenty-four years; I have seen God do wonders and I must say, prophecy is real and miracle are real. But I find it hard why people are trying to blackmail me for exposing their tricks. They are bringing bad name to the Christian faith. How can you extort people in the name of prophecy and miracle and this ha made people weak to go to church and this is because they have been extorted, duped and distorted? “
He added “Because of their experience, people do not go to church these days. God mandated me to expose their tricks and this is what I have been doing in media for years. They have ganged up to silence me using blackmail and whatever. Their plans are to bring up cases that will make people see me as a devil and people would no longer listen to me. Their tools are rape case, murder case etc. they planted a young lady and made her confess that I raped her and the police invited me and found me innocent.”
He also opined that “They insisted that I should be charged to court and they are ganging up seriously and though, in their midst they have the Judas and this their Judas is the one giving me this information. They want to soil my name and they know that I do not have case but that is not their concern but that of media circulation. This is their concern. This is to show how desperate people are. I am using this medium to let the world know their plan.”
“I call on the general public to take over this investigation because I will always be available to assist the investigation. God gave us the grace to serve him and He never demanded money from any of us. I wonder why these people or pastors are asking money and deceiving people with fake and stage-managed miracles and prophesies and my work is to keep letting the world to know the truth. That is my mandate”, Pastor Ephraim concluded.
In its commitment to upscale Data Protection in Nigeria, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has begun the process of licensing and partnering with a qualified institution to set standards, prepare exams and issue certifications on data protection skill in the country. These processes are part of the implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), a subsidiary of data legislation in the country.
The Director General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, strongly advised on the need for Data Protection Officers (DPOs), during a hybrid Symposium organized for Lagos State DPOs, saying; “data protection officers should constantly keep themselves abreast of trending innovations in keeping their data credible”.
Inuwa, while admonishing DPOs to improve their capacities by adopting best practices for Data Privacy, stated that Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Services are essential elements in safeguarding data from breach thereby enhancing the integrity of data.
He argued that it was pertinent to incorporate artificial intelligence into data protection to enhance its accuracy and consistency. He further disclosed that there is need to sieve and categorize data elements which will determine the cloud adoption strategy to be used.
The DG also added that there is need to create professionals in the data protection ecosystem to meet global standards. “One of the ideas we are mulling is to have an industry association for DPOs and the proposed DPO Forum that would be a peer review mechanism and a point of contact with regulators to shape policies and propose standards for the industry”, he said.
According to Inuwa, since the issuance of the NDPR in 2019, NITDA has empowered DPOs by drafting, engaging the public, and publishing the NDPR Implementation Framework to shed light on the provisions of the NDPR for easy interpretation and application.
He further noted that the Agency’s partnership with the DPOs has created over 7,600 new job roles in the Data Protection sector. “We envisage that Nigeria would lead Africa by certifying 350,000 persons with local and global competence in data protection by 2024”, Inuwa averred.
The Executive Commissioner of Ghana’s Data Protection Commission GDPC, Her Excellency Ms. Patricia Adusie-Poku, in her remarks applauded NITDA for the laudable initiative in organizing the symposium to add knowledge value to DPOs.
She stated that DPOs are like risk managers in their organizations and it is their responsibility to ensure that all requirements are put in place to checkmate data breach and promote Data Protection.
The symposium had in attendance, Mr Ridwan Oloyede from TechHive Advisory, Mr Yaya Itai from First Bank Plc, Mrs Moyosore Jide-Taiwo from Airtel Nigeria, Dr. Alexander Anago, Mr Bharat Soni from GTCO and a host of other data protection officers from various organizations.
The Lagos State Government has commenced the celebration of Year 2021 Restorative Justice Week, which holds on the third week of November every year.
A statement released on Tuesday by the Lagos State Restorative Justice Steering Committee on behalf of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, said Restorative Justice is a method used for dealing with a crime that puts the needs of victims first while the offender takes responsibility for their actions.
According to Onigbanjo, the celebration of Restorative Justice Week, which is to amplify a practice that focuses on addressing conflict through participation and reconciliation, has the theme: “Protect and Empower the Person Harmed”.
His words: “The Week was set aside to create awareness about the role and importance of Restorative Justice as it relates to the promulgation of the ethos of justice based on putting victims first as well as giving them a voice. This year’s event is focused on Restorative Justice for victims, the benefits it can create for society as well as addressing injustices and harm in a humane way”.
Speaking further, he said the theme of this year’s programme is also apt given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on victims of crimes and the justice system as he reeled out the activities earmarked for the Week to include; sensitisation programmes, community outreach and a webinar for stakeholders scheduled for Tuesday, 30th November, 2021.
“The State is also set to launch the Restorative Justice Centre, which will serve as the coordinating hub for RJ referrals”, he said.
The Commissioner averred that deploying Restorative Justice as a tool for decongesting correctional facilities across the State will promote peaceful communities, transform the criminal justice system, heal wounds of crime and reintegrate offenders.
The Attorney-General noted that the Restorative Just Week is observed by diverse groups involved in RJ such as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Government Departments, Academia and other stakeholders in the justice system.
Pointing out that the Lagos State Restorative Justice Steering Committee was established by the State Criminal Justice Reform Committee to create awareness and develop policies as well as an operational framework for implementing Restorative Justice, Onigbanjo said that members of the Committee include representatives from the Ministry of Justice; Judiciary, Correctional Service, Police, Prison Fellowship Nigeria, Multi-door Court House, Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC) as well as the academia.
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ForAGreaterLagos
The Nigerian Communications Commission invites the Public to note that the submission of responses in respect of the 3.5 Gigahertz Spectrum Band auction was scheduled to close on Wednesday, 24th November 2021.
However, due to the challenges posed to air travels as witnessed recently and considering that it may have some impact on intending bidders regarding the submission of their bids, the Commission hereby extends the deadline for submission of bids and Initial Bid Deposits (IBDs) to 5.00 pm on Monday, 29th November, 2021.
All other events as scheduled in the Information Memorandum remain unchanged.
The trove of garlands for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for its role in enhancing digital transformation in Nigeria, has swelled with new awards conferred from an array of stakeholders.
It is two decades since the NCC midwifed the birth of Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM), to herald a new era of public communication in Nigeria.
The new awards were conferred on the Commission and its Management at different fora organised to commemorate 20 years of revolutionary digital communication in Nigeria.
Besides the serial honour attending the celebrations of two decades of the GSM revolution, the Commission also won awards at annual events organised by strategic stakeholders, including, the Nigerian telecom sector’s equivalent of Oscars, the Nigeria Tech Innovations & Telecoms Awards (NTITA), 2021.
At NTITA, NCC received the ‘Outstanding Telecom Regulator of the Year’ award, while its CEO, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman, was honoured with the ‘Telecoms Industry Leader’ award. The event took place in Lagos, on 19th November 2021.
A week earlier, at another event organised by the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), in collaboration with Digivation Network, the Commission had received, ‘The Premier African Regulator’ award. The EVC was also honoured with the ‘Regulatory Excellence Award’, while the Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management, Barrister Adeleke Adewolu, received ‘The Outstanding Digital Impact Personality’ award. The event, tagged 20 Years of Digital Revolution Powered by GSM, took place at the Nigerian Air Force Conference Centre, Abuja, on 11th November 2021.
The same day, at yet another event organised by E-Business Life Magazine at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos to mark the 20 years of the birth of GSM, the NCC also received, ‘Technology Transformer Award’.
Additionally, just over the weekend, the NCC also received the ‘Regulator of the Year’ award at the New Telegraph Awards 2021, organised at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, on Friday, November 19, 2021.
Meanwhile, at the event organised at NAF Conference Centre in Abuja, a panel representing shades of stakeholders in the telecom and ICT sector, took a retrospective reflection at the last 20 years of telecom liberalisation under NCC’s supervision. The panelists agreed that there have been irreversible, exponential transformation of the sector with visible impact on all other sectors of the Nigerian economy.
The panelists reminisced on developments in the sector in an inquisitorial manner, asking the audience to measure the dynamism in the telecom sector in terms of digital sophistication and digital literacy in comparison to what it was two decades ago.
The speakers, one ofter another, examined in objective contexts, how telecoms service availability, affordability and accessibility have benefited persons of all social strata, especially the disadvantaged segment of the society. The panel also took a stock of the general impact of the digital culture from a historical perspective in order to properly capture the milestones.
As Nigeria prepares for the launch of the Fifth Generation (5G) networks, the panelists agreed that there will be more benefits to harvest from the emerging technologies. Thus, they urged all stakeholders to heighten education of citizens and especially telecom consumers, in order to halt the misinformation about 5G.
The discussants also expressed confidence in the ability of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the NCC to rally stakeholders to deepen engagement at all levels and sectors to focus on the implementation of policies to ensure attainment of the set targets.
Meanwhile, the Director Public Affairs at the Commission, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, commended stakeholders, who gathered at various events where the Commission and its leaders were honoured, for their dedicated solidarity. He also thanked the various stakeholders who recognised the Commission with landmark awards, for the impeccable honours. Adinde stated that such number of awards to NCC in a fortnight testified to the strong collaboration between the Commission and the stakeholders and their conviction that NCC is fulfilling its mandate.
Adinde particularly told the audience at the E-Business Life forum that the recognitions coming to NCC will further encourage the Commission’s management led by Prof. Umar Danbatta and his dynamic team to do more to expand the frontiers of opportunities of digital economy to enable citizens and other investors to enhance their contributions to Nigeria’s growth and development.
As the three-day 2021 Board and Management Retreat (BMR) organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) comes to a close, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has re-emphasised the confidence of Management in the continuous support of its Board of Commissioners towards actualising the set targets and goals for advancing the growth of the telecoms industry.
On the heels of Danbatta’s declaration came a pledge by Chairman, NCC Board of Commissioners, Prof. Adeolu Akanade, ‘to go to the drawing table’ in ensuring the Commission is well positioned to deliver on its mandates. The Chairman promised that the Board will work on issues that will help strengthen the regulator to deliver more effectively on its mandates.
Speaking at the wrap-up ceremony of the Retreat, which started on Thursday, November 11, 2021, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and ended on Saturday, November 13, 2021.
Danbatta expressed confidence in the leadership of the Board of the Commission, noting that the support of the Board has been invaluable in the accomplishments of the Commission.
According to Danbatta, “I must commend the Board of Commissioners under the chairmanship of Prof. Adeolu Akande for their support. From the first day of assuming office as NCC Chairman, Prof. Akande has demonstrated his commitment to work with the management towards ensuring that NCC delivers its functions more efficiently and effectively.”
Danbatta stated that, as an effective, efficient and independent regulatory agency of the Federal Government, the NCC has been consistent in living up to stakeholder expectations and this is proven by the contribution of the telecom sector to the national economy.
“Without the staunch support of the Board for the Management’s vision and mission, it would have been difficult for us to achieve our goals. Therefore, I commend the Board for providing the necessary policy directions required to drive management’s daily activities,” Danbatta said.
Danbatta also appreciated the effective coordination of the 2021 BMR by the retreat consultants led by Prof. Pat Utomi, in ensuring effective facilitation of proceedings, deliberations and brainstorming sessions at the Retreat.
With the theme: ‘Expect More, Deliver Result’, this year’s strategic annual retreat of the Commission’s Board and Management, was attended in-person and virtually by Board members and Senior Management Staff of the Commission.
The retreat follows the unveiling of two key documents – the Strategic Management Plan (SMP), 2020-2024, and the Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), 2021-2025. The SVP is a streamlined version of the SMP, and the SMP took life out of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030), the National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) and the Federation Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
The SVP, which has five central vision, also has three supporting documents, namely: implementation strategies and timelines; monitoring and evaluation framework; and implementation responsibility matrix. The objective of the SVP is to enhance regulatory focus and efficiency in the delivery of NCC’s mandate.
Within this context, the Commission has focused this year’s retreat on taking account of remarkable successes recorded in the last one year and how the Commission hopes to innovate its way toward addressing industry challenges militating the consolidation of the growth of telecommunications sector.
At the end of the three-day Retreat, an eight-point communique was read out as a synthesis of all the deliberations for submission to NCC Board and Management to guide the regulatory activities of the Commission over the next one year. Implementation of the communique is expected to birth a new lease of expectations and dedication towards making 2022 a more rewarding year innovation and growth for the telecom industry.
Over the years the NCC, as a world-class regulatory agency, has held annual Board and Management retreats, affording it the opportunity to rejig its culture, processes and strategic objectives for enhanced operational efficiency and regulatory excellence.
In keeping with its commitment to continuously keep stakeholders in the country’s telecoms sector informed, educated and protected, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) wishes to, once again, notify the public of the existence of another hacking group orchestrating cyberespionage in the African telecoms space.
An Iranian hacking group known as Lyceum (also known as Hexane, Siamesekitten, or Spirlin) has been reported to be targeting telecoms, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Africa with upgraded malware in a recent politically motivated attacks oriented in cyberespionage.
Information about this cyber attack is contained in the latest advisory issued by the Nigerian Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT). The ngCERT rated the probability and damage level of the new malware as high.
According to the advisory, the hacking group is known to be focused on infiltrating the networks of telecoms companies and ISPs. Between July and October, 2021, Lyceum was implicated in attacks against ISPs and telecoms organisations in Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.
The advanced persistent threat (APT) group has been linked to campaigns that hit Middle Eastern oil and gas companies in the past. Now, the group appears to have expanded its focus to the technology sector. In addition, the APT is responsible for a campaign against an unnamed African government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
By the attackers’ mode of operation, Lyceum’s initial onslaught vectors include credential stuffing and brute-force attacks. So, once a victim’s system is compromised, the attackers conduct surveillance on specific targets. In that mode, Lyceum will attempt to deploy two different kinds of malware: Shark and Milan (known together as James).
Both malware are backdoors. Shark, a 32-bit executable written in C# and .NET, generates a configuration file for domain name system (DNS) tunneling or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) C2 communications; whereas Milan – a 32-bit Remote Access Trojan (RAT) retrieves data.
Both are able to communicate with the group’s command-and-control (C2) servers. The APT maintains a C2 server network that connects to the group’s backdoors, consisting of over 20 domains, including six that were previously not associated with the threat actors.
According to reports, individual accounts at companies of interest are usually targeted, and then once these accounts are breached, they are used as a springboard to launch spear-phishing attacks against high-profile executives in an organization. The report suggests that not only do these attackers seek out data on subscribers and connected third-party companies, but once compromised, threat actors or their sponsors can also use these industries to surveil individuals of interest.
However, to guard against this kind of threats, the NCC wishes to re-echo ngCERT reports that multiple layers of security in addition to constant network monitoring is required by telecom companies and ISPs alike to stave off potential attacks.
Specifically, telecom consumers and the general public are advised to:
- Ensure the consistent use of firewalls (software, hardware and cloud firewalls).
- Enable a Web Application Firewall to help detect and prevent attacks coming from web applications by inspecting HTTP traffic.
- Install Up-to-date antivirus programmes to help detect and prevent a wide range of malware, trojans, and viruses, which APT hackers will use to exploit your system.
- Implement the use of Intrusion Prevention Systems that monitors your network.
- Create a secure sandboxing environment that allows you to open and run untrusted programs or codes without risking harm to your operating system.
- Ensure the use of virtual private network (VPN) to prevent an easy opportunity for APT hackers to gain initial access to your company’s network.
- Enable spam and malware protection for your email applications, and educate your employees on how to identify potentially malicious emails.
For further technical assistance, contact ngCERT on incident@cert.gov.ng.
The NCC, as the operator of the telecom sector’s cyber threat response centre (CSIRT), hereby reiterates its commitment active surveillance and monitoring of cyber activities in the sector and will always keep stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector updated on potential threats within the cyber space. This is to ensure that the networks that deliver essential services are safe and that telecom consumers are protected from being victims of cyber attacks.
