NITDA TRAINS, EMPOWERS 60 RURAL WOMEN ON ICT, TECHPRENEUR

NITDA TRAINS, EMPOWERS 60 RURAL WOMEN ON ICT, TECHPRENEUR

As part of efforts in bridging the digital divide in the country through the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has continued in its national-wide capacity building on digital literacy for the teeming youths and women across the country.

Digital literacy and skills, which is a key pillar in the Agency’s Strategic Road Map and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021-2024 have remained a key focus of the Agency’s Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, in ensuring the acquisition of digital skills across different works of life as well as support the goal of achieving 95% digital literacy level in the next ten years.

In implementing this strategic pillar, NITDA, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, has concluded a 4-day capacity building of Women on ICT Techprenuership in Dutse, Jigawa State capital, where 60 brand new HP laptops were presented to all participants who were drawn from various local governments within the state.

The Governor of Jigawa State, Badaru Abubakar who was represented by the Special Assistant on Economic Empowerment, Malam Muhammed Mujaddadi commended NITDA’s commitment to innovation-driven enterprises for micro, small and medium enterprises to thrive.

The participants were advised to make good use of the tools received from NITDA in collaboration with the Jigawa State Government in ensuring that they are self-reliant in the Digital world.

In his remarks, The NITDA Director-General, who was represented by the supervisory department’s desk officer, Folayan Michael Oluwasegun, admonished all participants to apply the knowledge gained in their various fields.

“The aim of the training is to equip the women on how to utilize modern ICT tools in doing their online businesses”, the DG averred.

The participants expressed their gratitude to the organizers of the laudable program and promised to make good use of the knowledge and materials received.


On their part, the participants thanked NITDA and Jigawa state Government for this laudable initiative.

DG NITDA Receives MTN CEO, Urges More Collaboration To Encourage Innovation

DG NITDA Receives MTN CEO, Urges More Collaboration To Encourage Innovation

The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE has today received the newly appointed MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr karl Toriola and his team at the Agency’s corporate headquarters.

Mr Toriola was at the Agency to familiarize himself with the activities of NITDA and to further strengthen the partnership already existing between the Agency and organisation
The DG NITDA while addressing the team stated that MTN is one of the supporting organisation that has helped the Agency in achieving some of its set goals. Adding that “as such, we need to find ways we can work hand in hand in terms of regulations and make sure what we do is in the best interest of the public.”

“The regulation we do is not to discourage innovation or to limit you rather our regulations are developmental regulations which helps to unlock opportunities and to also create an enabling environment for you and others players”, he added.

Mallam Abdullahi said that NITDA’s regulations are form in two ways either the Agency deciding on what and what to set as regulations or they sit with the industry players to decide on what kind of regulations can be made.

He said that human capital development is one of the key areas the agency is focusing on “as we need to train our people to understand the new technologies before we develop and use it.” In this regards, the DG NITDA urged MTN to collaborate with the Agency to train as many persons as possible.

“In terms of infrastructure, we have done a lot in that aspect as we have provide infrastructure to under served and unserved communities because you need to have infrastructure to be able to connect to the service. As business people, I urged you to create an avenue where people are easily and freely connected to the service as it will create more users and in turn generate more fund”, he said.

NITDA Boss applauded MTN for doing its best in the area of compliance and commended the company for the prompt payment of its levies.
Speaking earlier, Mr Toriola asserted that the MTN Nigeria Privacy and Data Protection service has been developed and adopted by the board. He said, “It has been deployed across our business and with constant engagement with NITDA officials who have provided us with necessary support and guidance, we have carried out an audit of our privacy data compliance practices with the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations requirements.

He stated that the data breach management has been developed and deployed adding that the company has embarked on a programme that will promote local content in Nigeria which includes ecosystem support to provide ICT innovation, STEM to accelerate local innovations.

Gov Badaru Calls For Youths’ Involvement In Critical Thinking, As Pantami Commends Jigawa For Digital Economy Drive

Gov Badaru Calls For Youths’ Involvement In Critical Thinking, As Pantami Commends Jigawa For Digital Economy Drive

The Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Badaru Abubukar, has urged Nigerian youths to key into the digital technologies and focus more on critical thinking in order to find solutions for Nigeria’s economic and security challenges, according him that is the only way to move the country forward.

Governor Badaru made this call at the 1st Jigawa Innovation Summit with the theme: ‘Creating a Viable Innovative Ecosystem for Economic Development’ organised by the state government in collaboration with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Youth Coalition for Development (YCD), an NGO that canvasses youth engagement in changing the status quo for the betterment of Nigerians.

The governor said it is only through critical thinking that the minds of Nigerian youths can be opened, so that they can look around their environment and see the opportunities around them that they can turn into business and create jobs, adding that the more problems are being solved, the more income can be generated.

He further said that the vision and focus is to bring world of innovations to the state, noting that oil economy is almost over because of what is happening around the globe – electric cars are on the rise, solar energy is becoming cheaper, wind energy becoming supportive, and the unknown fuel energy-drive currently ongoing can surely drop the demand of oil, and if this happens, national income will continue to decline and that will affect all the states of the federation, including Jigawa.

“We have to look at the areas where we have competitiveness and see how best we can make our economy work through those areas. Like I have always said, we can achieve this largely in Agriculture. We have vast land and water for irrigation in Jigawa. We will continue to focus on how to develop Agriculture and its value chain.

“I want to challenge this Summit to see how best we can to improve in what we are doing and how best we can to create jobs around the value chains in Nigeria digitally.

“We have Informatics Kazaure that produced so many IT professionals in the country. So I expect this Summit to bring to our table advises in our educational arena so that we can do more in developing our youth by making them employers, not just employee,” he added.

While delivering his speech, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), commended Jigawa State for its drive in Digital Economy, noting that the State Government showed its willingness to support the effort of the Federal Government and collaboration in order to develop indigenous digital economy in the country.

Dr Pantami said the rate of unemployment in the country motivated Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to think outside the box by focusing more on creating potential employers rather than potential employees.

He said, “If you enrolled people in university and they graduated without sufficient skills, they will never be self-reliant, they will always go around looking for jobs. But when you provide digital skills for your citizens, they will be employers of others, which Jigawa Innovation Summit should also focus on.

The minister cited Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, second richest person in the world, as the perfect example potential employer, who million of people are working under him.

He stated how Netherland used digital technology to boost its agricultural activities despite having lesser landmass compare to some states in Nigeria. He added that if Jigawa State deploy digital innovation to agriculture it will go along the way in creating many jobs and generating revenue for Federal and State Government.

On his part, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, while giving a Keynote Address, recalled that the journey to Innovation Summit is more exciting than the theme of the event, because the journey started in January last year when the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) commissioned Hadejia Community IT Centre.

He said, “While delivering his Keynote Address at the commissioning, the Honourable Minister explained potential benefit of Digital Economy in our country and Jigawa State in general. Our governor showed interest in Jigawa State’s readiness to embrace the initiative, and the Honourable Minister responded positively by directing me to engage all the stakeholders to ensure Jigawa benefit immensely from Digital Economy.”

“Whatever the state government, ministry and NITDA are doing are in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic diversification agenda, therefore all the credits should go to Mr President, because he campaigned before election and after he was voted to lead the country, he appointed my boss and mentor as minister, who also recommended me for this position,” he added.

Mallam Abdullahi opined that with new measures being put in place in regard to innovation and also what Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar is doing in the state, Jigawa is in the forefront of zero-oil revenue.

He explained that innovation has been generally defined as the processing and taking idea from inception to impact, adding that innovation is not all about Information Technology, it is also something that has to do with invention, in terms commercialisation, business model, customer experience and organisational structure.

The DG said the event organised by Jigawa State Government in collaboration NITDA and YCD, attended by IT experts, entrepreneurs, academia, private sectors and other stakeholders is put heads together and look for competitive advantage in Jigawa; look at what each local government has, and come up with a strategy that can help unlock opportunities and create prosperity for the citizens.

“Jigawa State has a lot of potentials in terms of agricultural resources. Jigawa is the largest producer of dates, hibiscus and gum Arabic in Nigeria, and largest producer of sesames in the whole of Africa. The state also stands third in rice production, and we are utilising less than 10% of our arable land. Recently, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Jigawa, Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar negotiated with stakeholders from Mexico to boost hibiscus production, which is a big plus for us as a nation.”

“All these can be achieved through digital technologies; this is why we are building IT centres across the country. So far, we have established 18 IT community centres out of 27 local governments, and we will build in the remaining ones. This is to prepare our future generation and create job opportunities, not only government jobs, but for youths to become self-reliant.

“We are coming with strategy where the state government can provide enabling environment that will unlock opportunities. In some countries, government job is the last resort, because you will make more money in business than in government; you will have more time in your private business than government,” he concluded.

TELECOMS QoS: DANBATTA REASSURES CONSUMERS AS HE SPEAKS AT THE FIRST VIRTUAL EDITION OF THE TELECOMS CONSUMER PARLIAMENT (VTCP)

TELECOMS QoS: DANBATTA REASSURES CONSUMERS AS HE SPEAKS AT THE FIRST VIRTUAL EDITION OF THE TELECOMS CONSUMER PARLIAMENT (VTCP)

The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communication Commission the apex regulator of the telecommunication industry in the country recently engaged the telecoms stakeholders especially the consumers in the first virtual Consumers’ Parliament, the first ever. The EVC understanding of the importance of consumers in the industry and what it means to have them satisfied speaks volume of his administration thrust. The Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) provides high-level engagement and interactions with consumers and other stakeholders in the telecommunications industry
In his opening remark, he welcomed the stakeholders and key industry players to the first ever virtual edition. In his words the EVC said “It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this important occasion, being the first-ever virtual edition of the Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission taking place here at the Commission’s Conference Room, Maitama, Abuja.”

“This event is organized, taking into consideration, the dynamics of the global pandemic and the directives from the Federal Government on social distancing and other measures thereof put in place to curb the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic”, he added.

In line with the Covid 19 and Social Distancing directives, the EVC said that the virtual meeting is in place of the customary face-to-face engagement in previous Parliaments in the past, is a testament to rapid change to our lifestyle occasioned by the Covid-19 Pandemic. This is making telecommunications and indeed ICT the major driver of growth in every sector now.
He posited that “Ladies and gentlemen, the theme of today’s event: “Impact of Covid-19 on Telecoms Service Delivery” is timely and could not have come at a better time than now. The focus of this parliament also provides us with an opportunity as industry stakeholders, to have a quick look at how the pandemic is impacting our service delivery in the telecommunication industry, which currently provides the digital platform for the economy to remain afloat.”

Adding that “According to a report released by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in May 2020, which examine the impact of the pandemic on the telecoms sector, “Covid-19 virus has presented a stress test for Governments worldwide with the Internet playing a crucial role in keeping critical infrastructure and resources connected and available.”

On the importance of internet, the EVC reiterated that internet and broadband is an enabler and will play a critical role in Covid Pandemic and Post Covid work environment. “Thigh-speed Internet is key to ensuring that hospitals and medical institutions have access to global information and resources necessary to fight the virus. Broadband connectivity is also absolutely crucial for educational institutions and businesses to continue to provide essential services. According to the report the unprecedented global health emergency is tasking mobile networks and digital platforms to the limit, with some telecom operators and platforms reporting demand spikes as high as 800% since the outbreak of the pandemic in their respective countries”, the EVC opined.

The EVC stated that the commission ensured that the quality of service never dwindled or reduced during or after the Covid lockdown. He reassured consumers that the commission is working hard with the industry stakeholders to ensure that QoS remains in line with global standards.

“As we all are aware, telecoms is highly capital intensive and as such, continuous network upgrade and expansion are very key to operators’ ability to deliver top-notch QoS to their consumers. For instance, if operators are not able to expand or they are incapacitated to expand and upgrade their network in the face of spike in traffic, as occasioned by the pandemic, it will definitely have potential grave impact on Quality of Service delivery” NCC Boss treasured.

He Added that “Despite the pandemic and the lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus, we on our part have also not relent to ensure that the quality of telecom services is sustained during and post Covid–19 period.”

Some of the critical steps taken by the Commission in conjunction with the supervising Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy towards mitigating the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on service delivery by the network operators are:

  1. The Commission have developed e-platforms where all licensing requests, consumer complaints and base transceiver station (BTS) investigation requests are channeled and also provided designated e-mail addresses to be used for such requests throughout the pandemic period.
  2. Similarly, the Commission approved and encouraged resource sharing among network operators. These shared resources include fibre optics cables and ancillary resources, the aim is to ensure that there is no destruction to service provision in the event of fibre cut and related incidence.
  3. The Commission also secured Right of Passage (RoP) for all telecommunications officials and staff for easy movement during the lockdown and movement restriction in order to be able to service their base stations and keep them active to provide services for telecom consumers who increasingly rely on their networks to work from home. In the same vein, the Commission also secured Right of Passage for suppliers that are involved in supplies of fuels, food and other essential services to telecom operators during total lockdown.
  4. With the intervention of the Hon. Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, state governors are now aligning their Right of Way charges to N145 as approved by the Federal Economic Council (FEC), reducing below N145 per linear of fibre laid by the operators in their states. Other state governors pegged their RoW charges below the N145 set by the FEC while some state governors have totally waived RoW charges in their states. All these are aimed at encouraging network operators to deploy telecoms/broadband infrastructure faster in their states with a view to deepening digital access. As Covid-19 evolves, a new world order where more activities are conducted online and robust broadband access is central is emerging. In effect, most of the state governors have appreciated the centrality of robust broadband infrastructure as work-from-home measures by government persists.
  5. The Commission is hopeful that with the reduction in RoW, which will automatically result in reduction in capital expenditure (CAPEX) by the network operators, telecom companies will sooner or later reciprocate the gesture by making their services in particular, data services more affordable to Nigerians.
  6. You would recall that one of the issues presented to the Honourable Minister when he assumed office is the need to strengthen telecom infrastructure protection. The Honourable Minister acted on this issue speedily by obtaining presidential approval directing Security Agencies to protect ICT and telecom facilities as critical national assets. It is pleasing that this action helped to safeguard telecom infrastructure for the greater role telecom has to play with the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

Umar Danbatta assured Nigerians that the commission is leaving no stone unturned towards ensuring that telecom service providers provide good quality service despite the covid-19 pandemic. He encouraged the Network operators on the importance of improved quality of services/experience for the consumers.

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU

Tambuwal: Funding Army, Other Security Agencies Shouldn’t Wait On Appropriations

Tambuwal: Funding Army, Other Security Agencies Shouldn’t Wait On Appropriations

Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto has advocated that a special provision should be made constitutionally to increase funding for the Nigerian Army and other security agencies in the country.

Gov. Tambuwal, who along with his Zamfara state counterpart, Bello Muhammad Mutawalle, was a special guest at the Nigerian Army Special Army Super Camp 4 at Faskari, Katsina state, also urges that the military be availed with sophisticated weapons.

“There is need for proper and structured funding of the army and other security agencies in the country to enable them procure superior weapons to that of their adversaries,. You need funding. Funding is key to combating insecurity in any country.

“There should be a special security funding not only that derived from routine appropriations,” the governor noted emphasizing that: “any constitutional means of getting funding for the army and other security agencies” should be explored.

Commending President Muhammadu Buhari for directing the effort to establish the Army Super Camp, Gov. Tambuwal, further noted that if more equipment could be marshalled for the Army, more resounding successes will be achieved.

He also gave kudos to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai for doing a great deal in ensuring that the operations of the Camp is seamless and “Sokoto has recorded more peace, which is an opposite of the weeks preceding the operation of Ex Sahel Safety.

He explained that now farmers and villagers who left their farms when banditry was raging are now back. The South-Eastern part of the state, the governor submitted, “is witnessing a return to normalcy.”

On the efforts made by the Northern Governors to complement those of the security agencies, the governor said agreed to pursue carrot and stick approach. “We in Sokoto state are still continuing with the non-kinetic measure. No matter how long it takes in a battle, you must come back to the round table. So, why wait until issues escalate?

“The kinetic and non-kinetic process are simultaneously going on in Sokoto,” he explained, adding that the state government has completed the reform of the obsolete laws, while the other Northern Governors are trying theirs to punish kidnappers and other perpetrators of crimes associated with banditry.

Muhammad Bello

Special Adviser Media and Publicity to the Governor

Sokoto

FINTECH GURU, SIMEON ONONOBI CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY

FINTECH GURU, SIMEON ONONOBI CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY

One of the few start-ups in the country that have shown promise over the years, Simeon Ononobi, as he celebrates his birthday, his strides in the ICT space must be looked at. Just like Biblical Simeon Peter whom Our Lord handed the keys of the heaven, Simeon Ononobi seems to have the key of serial entrepreneurial spirit and giving hopes to the youths and start up, in a country that is more focused on music, culture and everything apart from ICT, Simeon has shown that Nigerians can run and float a world class financial technology ( FinTech) firm and have foreign partners collaborating with him.

Having founded SimplePay from a humble place in Lagos, the organisation has grown to be one of the few fintechs in the country that has demonstrated resilient and hope. “I don’t believe that you can just borrow something from America and use it in this environment. You have to get into the psyche of the individual” In his words with Muyiwa of TechPoint.

Advice for Founders with Simeon Ononobi | by microtraction ...

This singular statement has been his watchword and a propeller that has made him build world-class solutions for Nigeria and Africa. According to Techpoint, “SimplePay was awarded “Best Nigerian Start-up” in the 2013 edition of Seedstars World Lagos. Ononobi went on to represent Nigeria at the global event where SimplePay emerged 1st runner up to secure $330,000 in funding. In the space of less than 2 years, the start-up has grown to upwards of 60,000 transactions a month, amounting to about 80 to 100 million naira.”

Not yet done, Simeon is the Co-Founder/CEO at ThankUCash! With thevision is to create sustainable solutions to help connect 10,000 businesses to 10,000,000 customers by the year 2023. Currently, the CEO at a great company called Connected Analytics Inc., a 500 Startup portfolio company and passionate about helping small businesses stay alive and grow using data analytics and rewards. A Software Analyst/Engineer in a previous life and product developer.

As Simeon celebrates his birthday in a quiet and humble way, considering the social distance, we wish to use this opportunity to felicitate with him.

Anthony Emeka Nwosu

MIRA TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED HOSTS NIGERIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY EXECUTIVES

MIRA TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED HOSTS NIGERIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY EXECUTIVES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANTHONY EMEKA NWOSU