IEEE has launched the IEEE Continuous ED initiative for professionals

IEEE has launched the IEEE Continuous ED initiative for professionals

 

 

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization, has launched the IEEE Continuous ED initiative to make its online courses for continuing education and professional development more affordable, accessible, and relevant to engineers and other technical professionals in Africa.

Eligible businesses, industries, and organizations, in both the public and private sectors in Nigeria and Ghana, can enroll in the IEEE Continu>ED pilot project for a four-month free trial to a selection of eighteen of IEEE’s premium course programs. Topics included in the IEEE Continu>ED pilot program include Digital Transformation, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, 5G, The Smart Grid, Power Safety Standards, and more.

“This is an exceptional opportunity for companies in Africa to give their employees access to high-quality technical content,” says Vincent Kaabunga, former chair of the IEEE Africa Council, “that will impact productivity and keep organizations competitive in today’s rapidly changing technological world.”

Do you wish to develop and advance the educational level of your staff? Do you want the kind of professional education that will transform and change the way your employees work and contribute to the organization’s growth? If you answer yes to these questions, take advantage of the IEEE Contniu>ED pilot project to improve the technical knowledge and skills of your employees at no cost. This opportunity will be available for only a limited time.
To learn more, and sign up for the four-month free trial, visit; www.ieee.org/education/continuing-education-africa.html or contact Nneoma Ofodile: nneoma@ieee.org.

NCC Commends Ondo Govt Broadband Plan through Odua Infraco, Sets up Committee

NCC Commends Ondo Govt Broadband Plan through Odua Infraco, Sets up Committee

 

 

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has commended the Government of Ondo State for its commitment to deployment of broadband infrastructure through the Odua Infraco, urging other states to come on board the efforts to make the service available to their citizens.

 

A delegation of Ondo State, led by the Chairman of Ondo State Information Technology Agency, SITA, Olumbe Akinkugbe, had visited the Commission to seek advice on the best ways to enjoy seamless deployment of broadband in the state, taking a cue from the recent Broadband Technical Awareness Forum (BTAF) organized for State Governors in Abuja by the Commission.

 

Director, Legal and Regulatory Services of the Commission, Josephine Amuwa, who received the delegation on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, commended the visitors for their timely pursuit of the programme and assured them of Commission’s commitment to achieving milestones in broadband infrastructure deployment in the State.

 

“We consider the meeting a watershed in our efforts at transforming Nigeria into a major digital hub in Africa, through transforming all the states of the Federation. We are particularly elated by the fact that your request for this engagement came on the heels of the Broadband Technical Awareness Forum (BTAF) organized by the Commission, for which we received a very positive scorecard from you,” she said.

 

Amuwa listed the challenges impeding the progress of broadband infrastructure deployment to include Right-of-Way issues; indiscriminate charges and levies; hostilities by local communities; among others.

 

Consequently, a tripartite committee to discuss the Ondo State Government plan with the Odua InfraCo, and the Commission, was set up to deliberate and harness mutual benefits; and to recommend the best ways to drive the actualization of such mutual benefits to the nation, the State and citizens. The committee is to report to the Ondo State Executive Council through NCC’s EVC on monthly basis.

 

The collaboration particularly targets how to use Information Communication Technology (ICT) to deliver more government services and simplify government operations.

Why Zoho CRM is an Essential Tool For Businesses Aiming for Success- Ogundare

Why Zoho CRM is an Essential Tool For Businesses Aiming for Success- Ogundare

 

Zoho, a software company, providing solutions for various segments of products clients, has said that its flagship product, the Zoho CRM, is an essential product for businesses that are desirous of recording huge sales, scaling, and optimizing their business processes.

Mr. Kehinde Ogundare, Country Manager, Zoho Technologies Limited disclosed this last Wednesday while making a presentation at the Africa Tech Alliance Forum (AfriTECH 2.0) held at Oriental Hotel, Lagos.

CRM (Customer relationship management) is a technology application for managing all of a business organisation’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers.

Ogundare said that the Zoho CRM can be used in different ways, including using it as a customer relationship management tool that businesses can use to communicate, send email, receive email, do automation and all other things.

According to Ogundare, “You can also use a CRM as a data-based and repository hub if you activate it. A lot of businesses use one or two applications if you want to do your marketing, you want to do finance and all that.

“Our CRM will allow you to connect all these applications together and you Can also integrate with third party applications .”

He stated that Zoho CRM can also be used as a sales management pipeline, noting that salespeople are very key to any organisation as they are the backbone of any company, adding that for them to work well, you need somebody to tell you what you are doing, track your tractions, how many people you are engaging, activities he said Zoho CRM will allow you do.

“On our unified platform,  which is Zoho One, it brings together all these applications for you to run your business.

“As of today, you don’t have to pay for them separately; you can just buy Zoho One, which will give you all the tools you need to run your entire organization with one subscription.

Zoho One is a bundle that gives you access to about 40+ products which come with Enterprise features.

These include; Sales, Marketing, Finance, Support and Human Resources management tools; most of these applications are synced together to ease your business processes.

 

“You want to connect your sales department, your online marketing platform like Facebook, Instagram; you will be able to connect that with your Sales department, then your finance team that will invoice the customer. What we are doing is that we are providing you the software that will bring everything together for you on the same platform,” Ogundare further explained.

 

The Zoho Country Manager further disclosed that for the marketing department of businesses, Zoho has a series of applications like the Zoho Campaign for email marketing or newsletter in addition to the Zoho SalesIQ for live chat application, Zoho Social for social media marketing.

 

In his words, “Sales IQ would give you the opportunity to actually engage your customers to be able to know where they are chatting from, the kind of OS they are using, their geo location. And these are data that are very essential and crucial for your business. It will allow you to make informed decisions.

 

“Take for instance, you are doing a lot of marketing activities in Lagos and you are not getting the traction in Lagos, however, in some other states where you don’t have marketing activities going on, the platform can provide you information that there are opportunities there you can go and explore.”

 

Ogundare said that Zoho has sets of collaborative applications that were built and developed for ease of business and specifically mentioned the Zoho Mail, which he described as one of Zoho’s best-selling products in Nigeria.

 

“Zoho Mail is a beautiful email for any organisation to have. I personally recommend it for organisations running any size of business. I encourage customers to sign up for Zoho Mail because it gives you some level of credibility.

 

“One good thing about Zoho Mail is that if you are an SME with less than 5 members in your team, you will get to use this product for free for life. The moment you scale up to 6, 7, 100, 1000 and above, that’s when we start billing you to pay. And you can get the Zoho Mail domain name easily from anywhere in the world.

 

“You can also use our invoicing application for free and get quality and brilliant service for the invoicing software. Zoho Invoice is an online invoicing software that helps you craft professional invoices, send payment reminders, keep track of expenses, log your work hours, and get paid faster. All these are for free,” Ogundare stated.

 

Zoho has more than 12,000 customers in Nigeria that are running their operations on Zoho applications, with over 500,000 customers using its products globally, on a daily basis.

Sophos 2023 Threat Report: Criminals “Follow the Money” by Commercializing Cybercrime, Launching More “Innovative” Ransomware Attacks and Doubling Down on Credential Theft

Sophos 2023 Threat Report: Criminals “Follow the Money” by Commercializing Cybercrime, Launching More “Innovative” Ransomware Attacks and Doubling Down on Credential Theft

Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, today published its 2023 Threat Report. The report details how the cyberthreat landscape has reached a new level of commercialization and convenience for would-be attackers, with nearly all barriers to entry for committing cybercrime removed through the expansion of cybercrime-as-a-service. The report also addresses how ransomware remains one of the greatest cybercrime threats to organizations with operators innovating their extortion tactics, as well as how demand for stolen credentials continues to grow.

Criminal underground marketplaces like Genesis have long made it possible to buy malware and malware deployment services (“malware-as-a-service”), as well as to sell stolen credentials and other data in bulk. Over the last decade, with the increasing popularity of ransomware, an entire “ransomware-as-a-service” economy sprung up. Now, in 2022, this “as-a-service” model has expanded, and nearly every aspect of the cybercrime toolkit—from initial infection to ways to avoid detection—is available for purchase.

“This isn’t just the usual fare, such as malware, scamming and phishing kits for sale,” said Sean Gallagher, principal threat researcher, Sophos. “Higher rung cybercriminals are now selling tools and capabilities that once were solely in the hands of some of the most sophisticated attackers as services to other actors. For example, this past year, we saw advertisements for OPSEC-as-a-service where the sellers offered to help attackers hide Cobalt Strike infections, and we saw scanning-a-service, which gives buyers access to legitimate commercial tools like Metasploit, so that they can find and then exploit vulnerabilities. The commoditization of nearly every component of cybercrime is impacting the threat landscape and opening up opportunities for any type of attacker with any type of skill level.”

 

With the expansion of the “as-a-service” economy, underground cybercriminal marketplaces are also becoming increasingly commodified and are operating like mainstream businesses. Cybercrime sellers are not just advertising their services but are also listing job offers to recruit attackers with distinct skills. Some marketplaces now have dedicated help-wanted pages and recruiting staff, while job seekers are posting summaries of their skills and qualifications.

 

“Early ransomware operators were rather limited in how much they could do because their operations were centralized; group members were carrying out every aspect of an attack. But as ransomware became hugely profitable, they looked for ways to scale their productions. So, they began outsourcing parts of their operations, creating an entire infrastructure to support ransomware. Now, other cybercriminals have taken a cue from the success of this infrastructure and are following suit,” said Gallagher.

 

Indeed, as the cybercrime infrastructure has expanded, ransomware has remained highly popular—and highly profitable. Over the past year, ransomware operators have worked on expanding their potential attack service by targeting platforms other than Windows while also adopting new languages like Rust and Go to avoid detection. Some groups, most notably Lockbit 3.0, have been diversifying their operations and creating more “innovative” ways to extort victims.

 

“When we talk about the growing sophistication of the criminal underground, this extends to the world of ransomware. For example, Lockbit 3.0 is now offering bug bounty programs for its malware and ‘crowd-sourcing’ ideas to improve its operations from the criminal community. Other groups have moved to a ‘subscription model’ for access to their leak data and others are auctioning it off. Ransomware has become, first and foremost, a business,” said Gallagher.

 

The evolving economics of the underground has not only incentivized the growth of ransomware and the “as-a-service” industry, but also increased the demand for credential theft. With the expansion of web services, various types of credentials, especially cookies, can be used in numerous ways to gain a deeper foothold in networks, even bypassing MFA. Credential theft also remains one of the easiest ways for novice criminals to gain access to underground marketplaces and begin their “career.”

 

Sophos also analyzed the following trends:

 

  • The war in Ukraine had global repercussions for the cyberthreat landscape. Immediately following the invasion, there was an explosion of financially motivated scams, while nationalism led to a shake-up of criminal alliances between Ukrainians and Russians, particularly among ransomware affiliates.

 

  • Criminals continue to exploit legitimate executables and utilize “living off the land binaries” (LOLBins) to launch various types of attacks, including ransomware. In some cases, attackers deploy legitimate but vulnerable system drivers in “bring your own driver” attacks to attempt to shut down endpoint detection and response products to evade detection.

 

  • Mobile devices are now at the center of new types of cybercrimes. Not only are attackers still using fake applications to deliver malware injectors, spyware and banking-associated malware, but newer forms of cyberfraud have been growing in popularity, such as “pig butchering” schemes. And this crime is no longer just affecting Android users, but iOS users as well.

 

  • The devaluation of Monero, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies for cryptominers, led to a decrease in one of the oldest and most popular types of cryptocrime—cryptomining. But mining malware continues to spread through automated “bots” on both Windows and Linux systems.

 

To learn more about the changing threat landscape in 2022 and what it means for security teams in 2023, read the full Sophos 2023 Threat Report.

 

The Sophos 2023 Threat Report consists of research and insights from Sophos X-Ops, a new, cross-operational unit that links three established teams of cybersecurity experts at Sophos (SophosLabs, Sophos SecOps, and Sophos AI). Sophos X-Ops includes more than 500 cybersecurity experts worldwide uniquely equipped to offer a complete, multi-disciplinary picture of an increasingly complex threat landscape. To learn more about daily cyberattacks and TTPs, follow Sophos X-Ops on Twitter and subscribe to receive current threat research and security operations articles and reports from the frontlines of cybersecurity.

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IFIC’22: NIBSS to join industry stakeholders to discuss financial inclusion

IFIC’22: NIBSS to join industry stakeholders to discuss financial inclusion

The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) is set to join other industry stakeholders to examine the opportunities, identify concrete solutions, and interventions that would ensure the achievement of the nation’s financial inclusion objectives at the International Financial Inclusion Conference on the 24th and 25th of November 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria. Themed “Financial Inclusion for all: Scaling Innovative Digital Models”, the conference is the first to be held since the country launched its National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) in 2012.

NIBSS, in collaboration with other Financial Services Providers has made huge investments to provide affordable Digital Financial Services (DFS) to the unbanked and financially excluded members of the Nigerian population. In line with the National Financial Inclusion initiative, the timely delivery of financial services through Agency banking has also revolutionized the economy, as this has boosted job creation through Financial Entrepreneurship, Skills Acquisition, Digitalization of the Society and Increased GDP, as each state’s economic activity is increased with a multiplier effect”.

.Speaking on stakeholders’ contribution towards the National financial Inclusion objectives, the Managing Director/CEO of NIBSS, Mr. Premier Oiwoh, reiterated the role of technology in the provision of financial and payment innovation. “ we are aware that Digital financial inclusion enables access to financial services and advance the economic progress in underserved market segments, In ensuring that the financially excluded are efficiently and effectively catered for within the ecosystem, we have created a platform-based payment system to enable the players in the ecosystem innovate and thrive.” The industry over the years has leveraged cutting-edge technology to design and deliver financial products and services to drive financial inclusion, he added.

As the National Financial Inclusion Steering Committee and the industry prepares for the upcoming two-day International Financial Inclusion Conference (IFIC2022), scheduled to hold in Abuja, research has shown that Financial Inclusion stimulates the growth of the local economy while empowering the citizens. It provides access to basic financial services for the unbanked to be served in a manner that is sustainable and affordable, as it is aimed at enhancing growth and development.

Among other innovative payment solutions created for financial inclusion, the introduction of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform transformed the way Nigerians choose to pay for goods and services at all levels. Leveraging on this, NIP has provided more opportunities for Financial Services Providers and other players within the ecosystem to innovate and provide more options to drive financial inclusion.

Also, through the initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Bank Verification Number (BVN) was developed to harmonize the financial services sector, improve banking operations and encourage financial inclusion. With strong collaboration across the ecosystem, NIBSS has over the years facilitated the growth and proliferation of BVN with the commencement of remote offline BVN Enrolment by Agents for a wider reach. This is in addition to the recently launched ‘iGree’ BVN Consent Management Platform, for expanded financial inclusion and consumer protection.

In addition to the successful deployment of Biometric Scanners at no cost to financial services providers, inclusive of DMBs, Super Agents, MMOs for the purpose of remote BVN enrolment, NIBSS has implemented 100% increase in monetary incentives paid to BVN enrolling Agents to incentivize them for every new BVN successfully enrolled in a bid to drive sustainable Financial Inclusion.

Through the use of cutting-edge technology innovation to drive micro-payments and a cashless economy across the Nation, below are other areas through which NIBSS has supported the Nation’s Financial Inclusion strategy:

• Introduction of the NXPay Platform, an affordable industry Local Money Transfer financial inclusion initiative, with token value redemption at agent locations.
• Development of New Quick Response (NQR) for affordable, contactless, digital payments.
• Launch of the NIBSS Easy Pay for instant transfers for non-bank Financial Service Providers (FSPs).
• Development of an Industry Centralized Dispute Service (IDRS) for dispute resolution across the industry.

FINTRAK E-CHANNEL SOFTWARE ADDRESSES BANKS’ DRAWBACKS IN DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS

FINTRAK E-CHANNEL SOFTWARE ADDRESSES BANKS’ DRAWBACKS IN DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS

Fintrak Software, an indigenous Fintech solution and software development firm in Lagos recently brought to fore their electronic channel (E-Channel) solution for various  tiers in the banking and other financial space. The product is designed  to address many challenges and drawbacks bankers face in various forms of electronic banking transaction, such as data collation and analysis in their various electronic channels. The software has been lauded as a welcomed development by industry players and bankers.

Speaking on the importance of the solution, Bimbo Abioye, the Group Managing Director of Fintrak Software Limited said” Fintrak E-Channels solution aims to aid financial institutions to extract and create insights from data obtained from all the electronic channels customers carry out transactions through. These electronic channels include ATM, POS, USSD, Agency Banking, Mobile Banking, AND Internet Banking.”

BHe also added that “The solution that banks and other financial institutions need, must be able to quickly and accurately collect data of all electronic channels and other data sources (where applicable), analyse and visualize them in order to enable stakeholders easily make informed decisions to increase sales or boost other performance matrices on those channels. These are the core things that Fintrak e-Channel solutions are addressing.”

With the new E-Channels solution, Fintrak has been able to create a one-stop solution, where- in clients can easily monitor the performance and transactions being carried out on all electronic channels. The solution cleanses and consolidates data which exist in different forms and formats in all the sources, making analysis much easier for users and managers.

Made up of different modules such as ATM module, POS module, SSD module, Agency banking, Internet banking, Mobile banking and debit/credit Card business module. The software is designed to specifically addresses these drawbacks in one platform.

In line with the uniqueness of the software, Olakekan Adewale, Unit Head, Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence, Fintrak said “The Fintrak E-CHANNELS solution is a highly scalable and robust management solution, An E-CHANNEL solution that provides all the functionality needed. There are many modules in the e-Channel solution, including ATMs, POSs, USSDs, Agency banking, Internet banking, mobile banking, and card business modules based on what channels the client offers.

Adewale added that “Unlike most of the solutions in the market currently, Fintrak e-Channel solutions has many objectives such as the ability to monitor and reconcile the activities of the various channels in the Bank which includes ATM, Mobile Banking, Internet banking, USSD , Cards Management”

“With various scope of the software such as Data Extraction, Data Integration, Data Cleansing, Data Analysis, Report Building and Visualizations, Volume and Value Monitoring, Transaction Management, Revenue Analysis, Budget Analysis and all other Reporting Requirements as needed by client. E Channel software helps organizations in cleansing and analysis of data, each module provides reports such Transaction Count and Value by branch, region and customer. Successful versus Unsuccessful transaction summary. Also reports on other transactions such as Actual ATM (volume and value) versus budget, Transaction Failure rate analysis, Transacting Customer Analysis, Active Ratio analysis and Predictive Analytics”,Adewale concluded.

Described as a one stop shop for all forms of banking. The new Fintrak e-Channel can manage all channels under one platform, from agency banking to card banking. These software solutions were developed for banks to help them collect and manage data. It can be described as a one stop shop for all forms of banking.

5G Auction Driven by Pursuit of Better Quality of Life, Not Revenue – Danbatta

5G Auction Driven by Pursuit of Better Quality of Life, Not Revenue – Danbatta

 

 

Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, has said in Lagos, Tuesday, that the efforts by the Commission to timely auction available spectrum for 5G services in Nigeria, is primarily driven by the pursuit to join the global community to advance digital services and enhance quality communications infrastructure for the benefit of the citizenry, and not by the need to attract revenue for government.

Danbatta, who spoke to a cross section of industry players at the Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, during the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on the Draft Information Memorandum for the 3.5GHz Spectrum Auction hosted by the Commission, said there is need for stakeholders to understand the genuine vision of the Commission to equip the nation with the latest technologies and services which is the focus of the efforts to deploy 5G services nationwide.

“I want to disabuse the mind of those who feel that the objective of the NCC to auction the first and the second rounds of the 5G spectrum bands is to generate money for the Federal Government. This is not correct. The overriding consideration is not to generate money for the Federal Government but principally to ensure deployment of 5G services that enhance better life for Nigerians and the growth of the nation’s economy as a whole through provision of qualitative high-speed Internet services that increase productivity and efficiency across sectors.

“For those who are conversant with developments in the industry, the proactive regulatory approach of the Commission in transiting Nigeria from 1G, to 2G, 3G, 4G and now to 5G has brought remarkable socio-economic developments, transforming lives and businesses. This clarification is very important at this stage to put to rest the insinuations and misconceptions being bandied in certain quarters. Our intent is purely to digitally transform Nigeria and Nigerians towards becoming a leading digital economy not only in Africa but globally and where telecoms continue to be a major enabler and contributor to the nation’s economic growth,” the EVC said.

Danbatta also explained the rationale behind the need to conduct an auction on the second round of the 5G spectrum sale. According to him, following the successful auction of the initial two lots of the 5G spectrum in December 2021, the Commission had received requests to administratively licence the remaining lots at the exact fee the initial two lots were auctioned.

However, the Commission, in exercise of its powers under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, has decided to licence the available lots in the 3.5GHz band through the Auction Method which is a transparent and efficient approach that can open opportunities for new entrants as well as deepen competition in the industry.

“The Commission has committed enormous resources to ensure that harmonized Spectrum is secured and released in a timely manner for present and future rollout of services that will unleash the potentials of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), including International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT-2020) services. We have kept ourselves abreast of developments at international fora, including ITU-R Study Groups to enable the allocation of strategic Spectrum to IMT services especially the IMT-2020 which has been on the front burner in the last two ITU-R Study Cycles”, the EVC explained.

“Hence, it is important that we ensure the timely release of the Spectrum bands necessary for 5G deployment to the industry to enable us reap the immediate and envisioned benefits of 5G technology and facilitate the development of Nigeria’s Digital Economy to foster national growth,” he said.

Representatives of telecoms companies, media and other stakeholders made additional inputs into the Draft IM in addition to the comments and inputs already received via correspondence before the forum commenced. The NCC’s Executive Commissioner Technical Services, Engr. Ubale Maska, who is also the Auction Adviser, also reminded stakeholders at the forum that Commission will still take comments up to close of business on 17th November 2022 just before the final IM that will guide the auction process is published on 18th November 2022.

The Commission has developed a draft Information Memorandum (IM) for the Auction of the 3.5GHz band which has been published on its website on 21st October 2022, to enable stakeholders review and make inputs and comments. The Tuesday, November 15, 2022 forum in Lagos, was to deliberate on the draft document and take contributions from stakeholders to enrich the quality of the document for auction process and towards the efficient management and utilization of this important spectrum resource in line with global best practices.

 

NITDA WORKS WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO CREATE IRREVERSIBLE TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGES — DG

NITDA WORKS WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO CREATE IRREVERSIBLE TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGES — DG

 

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE has said that his Agency is working with other stakeholders towards creating an irreversible transformative change in the way people live and work in the country, especially with the widespread of Evolution and adoption of the 4th Industrial Revolution globally, which ushers in the fusion of the Physical, Digital and Biological works, the
Inuwa said this at the 7th College of Fellows Roundtable Symposium of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), held in Abuja.

Represented by the Director IT Infrastructure Solutions Department, Dr Usman Gambo Abdullahi, Inuwa noted that 4th Industrial Revolution has created opportunities for most existing Engineers and people to stand out in their respective fields, with a view to becoming drivers of innovation, creating new inventions to press global challenges.

“In the past decade, as large projects require more companies and stakeholders to work together across time zones around the world, new ways of workings are demanding more seamless connections and faster access to real time information, that ushered in the next significant transformation which is cloud”.

“NITDA, as the nations apex I T regulatory body, believed that it will be difficult for Nigerians to catch up with its developmental pursuit without developing engineering and technology professions,” he said.

He added that, “Our Scientists, Engineers and Technologists are critical to solving our societal problems and challenges.

“The focus of Engineering is the making of things and work efficiently and effectively by applying the theories and principles of science and mathematics to research and develop economic solutions to technical problems” he maintained.

Inuwa also averred the role of Engineers as critical to the well being of human existence, cognizance of their innovative, maintaining of products and system equipment, thereby making a country habitable for the citizenry.
He also commended the resilience of Engineers, Architects and the construction industries in the last 41 years in changing the narrative towards attaining the accelerated Digitally Transformed sector.

“It started with Digitalisation, which is transition from paper drawings and analogue processes to digital tools and later computer system designs.

“As Digitalisation was ongoing, Architects encountered increasingly complex design problems, such as global growing population, urbanization and climate change”, he noted.
Inuwa admonished participants the imperative of keying into the current realities of the Digitalisation agenda, as the process needs holistic evaluation and approach by relevant actors, so as to make it more beneficial to the future.

“On the Digitalisation agenda, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) has been strategically set towards transforming the country into a leading Digital Economy; providing quality life and digital economies for all. And also, a mission of building a nation where digital innovation and entrepreneurship will be used to create value and prosperity for all,” he added.

The NITDA Boss enumerated eight pillars on which the policy/strategy is anchored, which are; Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills, Solid Infrastructure, Service Infrastructure. Other pillars are Digital Services Development and Prevention, Soft Infrastructure, Digital Society and Emerging Technologies and lastly Indigenous Content Development and Adoption.

He added that, “these pillars apply to Engineering sector and every other sector in Nigeria. Digital Technology is at the heart of the engineering sectors, regulations and Engineering Literacy and Skills should be driven by digital technology.”

On the challenges the Engineering sector may face, Inuwa identify the demand for new skills in place, for the 4th Industrial Revolution, as some jobs including Engineering will disappear and new ones will emerge.

He urged the Enginners to constantly update themselves with new trends such as Big Data, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, as the future remains unpredictable, as digitalisation has provided businesses and organisations with a better view of what the future could look like, with the endless possibilities offered by technology.

The DG was amongst recipients of NSE Honorary Awards conferred on selected individuals and corporate bodies, for their contribution to the development of the highest Engineering regulatory body in the country.

Minister Seeks Collaboration Among Three Tiers of Govt To Develop Creative Industry

Minister Seeks Collaboration Among Three Tiers of Govt To Develop Creative Industry

 

 

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has called for collaboration among the three tiers of government towards the development of the creative industry in Nigeria.

The Minister made the call in Lagos on Wednesday at a special session of the UNWTO Global Conference on Linking Tourism, Culture and the Creative Industries tagged “A Day With Nollywood.”

“It is customary to put every blame on the doorsteps of the Federal Government but we don’t have a unitary system of government. We have a federal system where states and local governments also partake in the revenue the government makes. .

“What I’m saying is that why is it impossible for local governments to have at least one community cinema house? If every local government has one, we will have 774 cinema houses in Nigeria,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed described the Asaba Film City developed by the Delta State Government as one of such commendable effort toward the development of the creative industry.

He said on the part of the Federal Government, it has enacted several policies and regulations to enhance the growth and protection of the creative Industry in the country.

The Minister said the Broadcasting Code has been amended to give Nigerians preference over others in terms of modeling for advertisements.

He said the Federal Government has also made regulations to break the monopoly of powerful companies holding on to broadcasting rights in order to ensure that Nigerian broadcasting stations also benefit from the advertising revenue accruing from such rights.

“We also made regulations in the Broadcasting Code to discourage a situation where a powerful company will buy any series and hold on to it. Smaller companies should be able to approach the bigger company to sublease the series on terms agreed to by both parties. Where they fail to agree on the terms, the regulatory Nigerian Broadcasting Commission will step in,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He also said the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria Act was amended to compel advertisers of products consumed in Nigeria to use Nigerian models to market the products.

The Minister said the Audience Measurement System being introduced by the government will be a game changer in advertising, as it will evolve an objective and scientific way to determine how many eyeballs watch a particular programme in order to drive advertising revenue.

“Audience Measurement System will put more money in the pockets of producers because they will be able to negotiate with advertisers what to charge and they will be entitled to royalties on every episode of their series that is shown,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed commended the Bankers’ Committee for not just investing $100 million in refurbishing the National Theatre but also for the plans to establish four hubs for ICT, fashion, music and film with each being a one-stop shop for processing the entire content or product.

He described Nollywood as the authentic and unique avenue to promote Nigerian culture and image to the global audience.

In his remarks, the UNWTO Secretary General, Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili, said the UN body will work closely with Nollywood to develop a roadmap on how to use the cinema to promote African culture, stressing that cinema remains the best tool to promote African culture.

He said an MoU will be developed in order to concretize the partnership between Nollywood and UNWTO towards the promotion of African culture, which will in turn attract tourists to the continent.

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CHUKWUMA SOLUDO: THEY HAVE DECEIVED YOU LIKE THE DID TO OTHERS –  EKPENYONG ISAIAH 

CHUKWUMA SOLUDO: THEY HAVE DECEIVED YOU LIKE THE DID TO OTHERS –  EKPENYONG ISAIAH 

 

 

Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Nwa Mgbafor, please permit me to address you this way because that is what you told us before to call you and the way you wanted to be addressed. You said instead of adding His Excellency to your name, we should just address you as Soludo Nwa Mgbafor. To your admirers and those currently clapping for you to dance, please, know that it is not an insult addressing you this way, but obeying the instructions you gave to us during your electioneering campaign and after you won the elections. I pray that everybody from now henceforth will not forget to address you the way you wanted to be addressed.

Soludo Nwa Mgbafor, Prof., you have proven a practical example why there is a big difference and gap between knowledge and wisdom and the superiority of wisdom over knowledge . You may have graduated with first class in all your degrees and had the opportunity to work in high level institutions, sir, your current position as the governor of Anambra State and your recent comments and positions on national issues and as it concerns the Igbo race, your tribe, has exposed a lot about you, a clear showing that something is grossly lacking in you and that is, WISDOM, sir, pray for it.

I pray that God will grant His Excellency, Peter Obi, his spokespersons or party, the Labour Party the wisdom not to respond to your recent tirade against Peter Obi, which is what you are looking for to suit the demands of those playing the drums, I am now currently convinced that, may be, the problem of the Igbo man in Nigeria is made in heaven, having read all what you said and realized that it came out from an Igbo Professor, and having also been a witness to what happened in the early 2000s where Igbo Senators conspired with Senators from other places to replace at regular intervals, Igbos who were Senate Presidents then , the very act that brought to fore the renowned saying, that Igbo do not love themselves.

Soludo Nwa mama, let’s get down to the points you raised.

On your paragraph one, you talked about you saying the truth about Peter Obi’s investment of about $11million in Anambra State that is worth not more than $3million now and went further to say that the investment was in a company Peter Obi has interest in, directly putting the decline on investment on the investor, Peter Obi. Sir, I will call this your truth The illusory truth effect (also known as the illusion of truth effect, validity effect, truth effect, or the reiteration effect) which is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure. Soludo Nwa Mgbafor, in trying to talk down on Peter Obi and that investment, as an economist, you have failed to tell the world the worth of $11million as 10 years ago when Peter did the investment and the worth of $3million today even as the investment declines.

Again Soludo, how will you put blame on an investor who left for about 10 years ago and no longer incharge of the investment, instead of those who took over from him and were in position to take decisive actions for or against the investment if they believe the investment was not doing well? Soludo Nwa Mummy, should I put my personal blames on you? As Central Bank governor, Bank Executives under you encouraged most of us to buy shares as we were told that was the easiest, safest and most reliable way to make wealth then and we did. Sir, few years down the line, the shares we bought became worthless and we all lost out because of the mismanagement of the Nigerian economy, should we blame you for overseeing such failure then?

Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, will you rather invest in your enemies company or that of your friends if both were to bring same returns on investment? Sir, will you tell us any investment company then that did better than the one Peter Obi invested Anambra money, citing clear examples of other States whose investment did better?

Chukwuma Soludo, I am not an Igbo man, but it is sad that an Igbo man of your pedigree believes that almost 50 years after the civil war, that the Igbos are not ripe to become president of Nigeria unless they come back to join you to start the process now. Some of your reasons is that the Igbos may not have built enough political structure and reached out enough. This your reason gives me a lot of concern because you are currently acting the real Igbo man that can be bought and used against his brother. Sir, may I remind you that Alex Ekwueme in 1979 was Vice President to Shehu Shagari and won a re-election with him before Major General Muhammadu Buhari and his group struck in 1983. May I also remind you Soludo, that even when the Yorubas rejected President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, the Igbos stood by him and voted him. Sir, have you forgotten that in 2007 when majority of northerners rejected Umaru Musa Ya’arua and instead went for Buhari, the Igbos did not vote their own Odumegwu Ojukwu and Edwin Umezeoke who was with Buhari and rather voted Ya’arua who contested with Jonathan, an Ijaw man as running mate. What else do you think the Igbo man should do ?

Sir, there was a time PDP controlled all the five South East States of Imo, Achike Udenwa. PDP ; Anambra, Chiwoke Mbadinuju, PDP? Enugu, Chimaoroke Nnamani PDP; Abia, Orji Uzor Kalu PDP; and Ebonyi, Sam Ominyi Egwu, PDP. And of recent, the South East had remained the lifeline of PDP, but the makers of Nigeria have refused to give the Igbo man PDP Presidential ticket. If after sacrificing all this for PDP and the Igbo man is not given ticket in PDP, how many years do you think Prof., that the Igbos will join you in APGA for the party to be seen as a National Party and be allowed to rule Nigeria? Again let me say this, Bola Ahmed Tinubu only led part of the Yorubas in 2015 to form alliance with the North and 8 years down the line, he is being rewarded with Presidential ticket. But the Igbos have been in this alliance since 1999 with nothing to show for it, don’t you think that it requires thinking out of the box, may be, like what Peter Obi is doing now?

It is really sad that you Prof. Chukwuma Soludo have assumed the role of God in the affairs of men and the duty of voters by convincing yourself and those urging you on, who may have promised you the presidency, that Peter Obi will not win and can never win; creating an impression that because you are the governor of his State, he has already lost out in Anambra.

That you also raised irrelevant issues like how you called Peter Obi to come and contest under APGA not for winning sake, but to create better future chances for the Igbo man is not just ridiculous but an urgent call for prayers for you by those surrounding you for God to grant you little wisdom. Soludo Nwa Mgbafor, who can predict what will happen tomorrow ? Let me again remind you that when President Muhammadu Buhari contested in 2015 to become president under APC, his home State, Katsina was controlled by the PDP and his governor was Shehu Shema. We never saw Gov. Shehu Shema come out this way to condemn Buhari for going to contest election under APC the way you are doing.

Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, it is sad that you are not different from the nominal Nigerian Politician who believes the young people in this country have no right to condemn or express dissatisfaction about the way Nigeria is runned over the years, the very reason you see them as mob that has no brain to think. Soludo you have proven who you are, the fear of not being allowed to loot the way others did is all over you and we can see it that is why you have suddenly decided to join enemies of Nigeria to condemn the hope of the masses.

Soludo Mgbafor, in Paragraph 15 of your long essay condemning Peter Obi, a man that has in no way attacked you or your government, you said and I quote, “government exist to save lives and not money” explaining that you cannot save when poverty is high in your state, but went further to tell us that as governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, you encouraged Nigeria to save and even saved and grew our foreign reserves from $10million you met it to $63million. Sir was there no poverty then in Nigeria while you were saving for the country, or were you able to eradicate poverty all in Nigeria before you started the saving? I am asking this question because your condemnation of saving by Peter Obi could be a precursor to you planning to loot Anambra dry and not save shishi like your predecessor, Willie Obiano.

Prof. Chukwuma Soludo Nwa Mgbafor, let me end here first by telling you that those that promised you presidency if you will constantly attack Peter Obi who is not in anyway publicly attacking you or your government are deceiving you, they have lied to you and how could you allowed that at this your level with all the knowledge you have except wisdom? If you think I am lying, ask Rotimi Amaechi, Dave Umahi, Rochas Okorocha, Orji Uzo Kalu, Hope Uzodinma, Ogbonnaya Onu and many others who fell for that cheap promise of “we will make you president, attack your brothers” they may tell how far it has been because you seems to be a johny just come, JJC in the game.

Nobody says you and Peter Obi as “brothers” cannot be in opposing political camps, but we just want to remind you that Shehu Shema and Muhammadu Buhari are brothers and were in opposite camps in 2015, Seyi Makinde and Bola Tinubu are brothers and in opposite Political camps now , yet, what Shehu Shema and Seyi Makinde has to handle the situation that is lacking in you Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is wisdom, seek for wisdom.

Ekpenyong Isaiah-isababa
Commander, Infantry Pen Battallion
isacool4good@yahoo.com