The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE has assured that victims of sexual abuse in Nigeria through ICT will have the opportunity of presenting their cases without fear of stigmatization.

Abdullahi gave this assurance today while receiving the CEO of Shamrock Innovation Hub, a women and youth-centric tech innovation hub that developed HELPIO, an android based application used in reporting sexual abuse.

The support came as a directive from the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) liaise with the young startup, mentor her, monitor her progress and support the system under the stipulated regulation.

Abdullahi commended Shamrock Innovation Hub for the exciting and laudable development in creating sensitization and awareness to sexually abused victims with the aim of supporting them and eliminating any form of stigmatization while at the same time, bring perpetrators of the heinous crime to justice. He assured the hub of the Agency’s support, mentorship and monitoring of their progress in line with stipulated regulations.

He advised the hub to evaluate their internal infrastructure size so that the Agency can examine possible areas of assistance, connecting the hub with a vast service provider for a seamless integration and promised to provide solar panels to ease their operations.

With regards to awareness in rural areas, Abdullahi said that the Hub’s sexual abuse reporting application will be given adequate publicity on the Agency’s social media handles and the NITDA Impact weekly television programme, adding that the Agency will come up a with start-up innovation challenge to get the development of the application on iOS devices.

During the Hub’s presentation, Abdullahi considered that large amount of personal information will be collected in the investigation of sexual abuse cases and therefore advised that it was necessary for the Hub to align with the standards of the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations. He said that the Agency will link the Hub with a Data Protection Compliance Organization to ensure compliance with the regulations.

Miss Sa’adat Aliyu, the founder of Shamrock Innovation Hub who had earlier sought support from the Agency expressed delight and appreciation at the Agency’s assurances of support and cooperation. She said the HELPIO is a mobile application that provides a safe space for victims of sexual abuse and with the collaboration of relevant organizations like NITDA and other security agencies, the Hub will achieve its mandate of ensuring victims get absolute justice.

She sought support from NITDA for the provision of tools and resources which will help in the Hub’s training programmes and promises to give details of solar panels needed to enable the Hub get it’s maximum productivity.

Leading Fintech group, E-Settlement Limited has boosted consumer confidence and reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding its consumer data against privacy breaches and cybercrime by ensuring that all public access to sensitive data is blocked, double authentication systems put up and upgrade to a more secure server.

In an increasingly digital economy where technology is being used to solve the needs of even the non-digital savvy people as E-SL does, it is imperative that organizations protect consumer data and avoid instances of misuse, as well as and educate them on best practices. The company is PCI-DSS certified and has employed the services of a DAPT for Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) certification as well as performed several internal and external penetration tests.

Speaking on the move, E-Settlement’s CEO, Olaoluwa Awojoodu said, “E-Settlement Limited does not store, see or process card information, so there is no way unmasked card data that can be used to commit cybercrimes could have been found on any of our servers. We have always protected our database and adhered to the standards set by the Consumer and Data Protection Regulation Guidelines.”

Olaoluwa also stated that “to further assure our customers and stakeholders of our strong data protection policy, we engaged the services of leading independent cybersecurity auditors; Digital Jewels to run full penetration tests on our servers and the results confirmed that our servers are secure and our database is safe, we didn’t stop there, we also carry out regular security code training for our engineers and none-code staff.”

E-Settlement Limited is also engaging its agents and customers on safe data protection practices by periodically informing them of the dangers of sharing sensitive details with other people or posting them online.

E-Settlement is a financial technology company with a focus on increasing access to basic financial services to individuals and businesses in Africa. The Group has been at the forefront of innovative, easy to use, affordable, secure and inclusive payment solutions for Africa and the world beyond for years. The group currently has 3 products which are PayCentre Africa, CashEnvoy and PayPad.

“to further assure our customers and stakeholders of our strong data protection policy, we engaged the services of leading independent cybersecurity auditors; Digital Jewels to run full penetration tests on our servers and the results confirmed that our servers are secure and our database is safe, we didn’t stop there, we also carry out regular security code training for our engineers and none-code staff.”

Nigerian sky has received another brand new E195-E2 aircraft from the stable of Air Peace Airline. The second of the thirteen new E195-E2 airplanes ordered by Air Peace Airline, landed in Abuja today from Brazilian aerospace conglomerate, Embraer, amidst pomp and circumstance. It is a state-of-the-art aircraft to behold—an engineering masterpiece! With this latest arrival, Air Peace’s brand new E195-E2 airplanes in the country has increased to two and those being expected from abroad have been reduced to eleven airplanes, of which will be hitting the Nigeria’s soil in weeks intervals.

Air Peace Airline is indeed blazing a trail in the nation’s aviation industry as the biggest airline in West Africa and fastest growing indigenous airline in Sub-Saharan Africa. Air Peace is the first airline in Africa to enrich its fleet with this aviation “wonder” called E195-E2. It is nicknamed Profit Hunter for its low cost of operation vis-a-vis fuel consumption. It has latest technology in avionics to ensure maximum safety and comfort.

E195-E2 aircraft is a narrow-body; single-aisle and 124-seater jet with double-cabin demarcation. Unprecedentedly, Air Peace Airline is the first Nigerian airline to flood the nation’s airspace with brand new airplanes. This milestone is coming when the industry is still hemorrhaging from the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic. Like an eagle—which is symbolized in the Airline’s logo, Air Peace is soaring in the storm.

Outside the awaited E195-E2 airplanes, Air Peace’s firm order of ten brand new Boeing 737 Max is still intact. With the lifting of ban on Boeing 737 Max airplanes globally, Air Peace is rest assured to start receiving another set of brand new planes from Boeing in the nearest future. Few weeks from now, most of the seventeen aircraft of the Airline that went abroad for overhauled maintenance will be reintegrated in the fleet. This is silent revolution in the nation’s aviation industry.

A thunderous applause for Chief Allen Onyema: the aviation maven and quintessential entrepreneur for putting Nigeria’s name on the global aviation industry. He has proven beyond reasonable doubt that every great business institution rises and falls on leadership. I am proud to be associated with this trailblazer gifted with a heart of gold. 💕💕💪💪👏👏

The onset of Covid-19 had organisations across the globe scrambling to find solutions to the sudden and widespread shift to remote work. More than a year later, it is clear that the pandemic has permanently influenced perceptions and the employee experience of workplace culture, says Reynhardt Uys, Chief Experience Officer, Immersion Group, a global team of experience design experts.

According to Uys, organisations are looking for long-term solutions to embed employees within their satellite offices comfortably, with little disruption, where corporate culture is successfully simulated online. “The employee experience has undoubtedly changed. Covid-19 didn’t bring us anything new when it forced businesses to close their brick-and-mortar locations and move to a remote model – it merely accelerated an inevitable migration that may have taken months or even years to fully realise.”

In an effort to adapt and meet the challenges of the moment, some organisations have fully embraced the move to digital and remote working, while in other instances employees felt unsupported as they tried to navigate a new way of working and interacting with colleagues and customers. “Obviously, internal structure, communication, and company culture are more important than ever. Businesses that have seen the benefit of the transition have made long-term strategic decisions and implemented new digital first processes and systems to ensure the longevity of this new way of working,” notes Uys.

He adds that there has been a noticeable surge in businesses turning to digital experts to guide them through the digital migration process. “In addition, experience experts are also being called upon to weigh in on the employee experience; outlining improvements in the employee retention strategy, among others, and are proving to be a pivotal force in transforming organisations into favoured employer brands.”

Traditional structures and roles have been turned upside down, and while the psychological need for human face-to-face contact remains important, Uys explains there are definite upsides to the swift effect on workplace culture. “From collaboration to recognition, digital is making a show of potential as employers are finding that online working and virtual spaces are becoming a catalyst for innovation. By bringing in experience experts to help organisations navigate new strategies, they benefit from the immediate delivery of tried-and-tested methodologies as well as best practice and industry-aligned templates and processes – mitigating the need to attempt to figure it out on their own.”

“With employees not having to face the stress of morning and evening traffic, employers are finding them to be more focused and energised. With less anxiety, positive employee sentiment is on the rise,” says Uys. He cautions that while there are many positive aspects in mapping out a new workplace culture, it is vitally important to seek the advice of experts in employee experience to avoid pushing budgets toward unnecessary technology and solutions that could potentially become blockers of productivity and growth. “One of the major red flags we’re seeing already is that organisations who’ve migrated online, are spending more time trying to track employees’ productivity thereby creating more unnecessary administrative tasks that can be avoided through a smart and strategic employee strategy,” he adds.

As the road to a Covid-19 recovery draws closer, Uys predicts that organisational leaders will need to carefully consider and engage with the overall employee experience and how it should be designed and structured. “Even small adjustments to the employee experience will make a huge difference to business goals and outcomes. As more organisations move online, changes to the employee experience are inevitable as well.”

Ends.

ABOUT IMMERSION GROUP

Immersion Group is global team of experience design experts uncovering human insights to help deliver memorable experiences. By understanding an audience and how they interact, they design and deliver on engaging experiences that enable improved customer retention, and increased repeat and new customers.

•Says His Administration Will Not Condone Criminality

•Drug Scourge Now An Epidemic In Nigeria – Marwa

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has assured the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) that the State Government would continue to collaborate with it to address the scourge of drug crisis in Nigeria.

Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), at the Lagos House, Marina, Governor Sanwo-Olu said his administration has put in place some measures, among which is building a full-fledge mental health rehabilitation hospital to tackle drug crisis in the State.

He said: “Indeed we know that drug abuse is prevalent in our society in all forms and shape. For us as a government, it is not something we are sweeping under the carpet. We are not denying that it is there. Part of the things we are doing to tackle it is to ensure that we have functional and working rehabilitation centres and we are equipping them to identify real caregivers that will take victims through rehabilitation process.

“Beyond that, we are actually building a full-fledged mental health rehabilitation hospital at Ketu-Ejinrin in Lagos East Senatorial District. This we believe will not only have almost 500 beds but will also have a required expertise, medical and all of the complements to ensure that different categories of treatments required are available.

“We will collaborate with different commands of NDLEA in Lagos. We will try and strengthen our level of relationships for quicker response. All of us need to have a strong advocacy; parents, religious and traditional leaders need to be true to themselves and let us know that, it is only when we speak about it that we can indeed get proper solutions.

“We will not condone criminality coming out of this because that also portends a great danger to law abiding citizens. So, we need to define clearly between people that are just abusing it and people that are criminalizing it, and be able to deal with them accordingly.”

Governor Sanwo-Olu also assured Marwa, who was a former Military Administrator of Lagos State that his administration will continue to raise the bar of governance in the State.

“I want to welcome you and your team back home. On behalf of the people of Lagos State, we thank you for the blue print and all the innovative ideas as one-time Military Administrator in this State and for all the numerous and very laudable initiatives that you set up; that is what some of us are building on today and we certainly cannot thank you enough. We assure you that certainly we will not relent on our oars; we will continue to raise the bar of governance and make you proud,”

Speaking earlier, Marwa, who commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration for the efforts being made to address drug abuse in the State, called for integrity drug test for students and politicians, especially those contesting for public offices, noting that “running for public offices is a big responsibility. You shouldn’t be in this important assignment for the public and your head is filled up because of drugs.”

He said: “The drug scourge is now an epidemic in Nigeria. The prevalence is 15 per cent; three times the global average. One in seven Nigerians takes drugs. We have found out that there is nexus between drug use and crime.

“We know and commend Governor Sanwo-Olu for the efforts being made on the issue of drug abuse in the State. Lagos is first in Nigeria in some of the innovative ways. So, we felt that Lagos can show the way first with the integrity drug test for students because it is our youths that are affected mostly. So, students, especially those in tertiary institutions should do drug tests.”

Marwa also commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for providing effective leadership in Lagos State and for managing COVID-19 in the State.

“I want to use this opportunity to commend you for the excellent manner that you are running the affairs of the State. Quite a complex assignment and you are doing very well. In fact, it is because of your proactive nature on COVID matter that we are here today.

“In Nigeria, it would have been far worse but you picked it up with both hands and dealt with it and now, we are all benefitting in the country. We are grateful for this foresight,” the ex-Military Administrator of Lagos State declared.

LASG

ForAGreaterLagos