TECHDIGEST – “Integrity,” which is simply defined in a dictionary as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” Integrity plus transparency and patriotism are some of the many traits of personal character every person should possess and apply in his everyday conduct, privately or in public life.

These sterling attributes guide leaders, or people in position of trust to always focus on genuine service delivery in a way most members of a given polity or community will benefit. The services are rendered selflessly, continously and in an inclusive manner.

It was clear that last week’s inestiture and presentation of a Badge of Honour as an Ambassador for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), by the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, to the Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, was in recognition of the later’s success in entrenching a culture of anti-corruption in the telecommunications industry.

Being an an agency established to fight corruption and irregularities in the country, it is significant that the EFCC found, recognised and showcased the Dambatta-born Professor of Telecommunications Engineering to the country as an honest person of real integrity.

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By presenting that Badge of Honour and making him its Ambassador, the EFCC has strongly validated the belief held by a multitude of Nigerians that the NCC leader is a true role model whose sincerity of purpose and sense of patriotic service to our country should be emulated.

It is appropriate for readers to know that the EFCC regularly monitors Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to assess and ensure that the government entities strictly comply with the provisions of the Financial Regulations and related circulars designed to curve misapplication of public resources.

It is certain that the EFCC through routine monitoring has appreciated that the Transparency and Anti-corruption Unit at the NCC was doing its job effectively. This was due to the total support given to the Unit by the EVC. Consequently, the anti-corruption orientation of the staff of the NCC has rubbed off on the professional and strict manner in which the NCC conducts its regulatory responsibility. This in turn ensured that operators in the telecommunications industry comply with the rules, proceedures, processes and regulations that govern the sector.

There are many examples which showed that the NCC management led by Professor Garba Umar cannot be compromised or induced to betray the trust reposed in them. This enabled the Commission to enforce the regulations strongly and penalised violators through fines. This impressed Nigerians and the EFCC.

Even though the NCC is not designated as a revenue generation agency for the Federal Government, it has nevertheless remitted more than N463 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation from 2015 to April 2022, thereby complying with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission Act 2007.

The EFCC was not the only agency involved in measuring good governance in MDAs that commended the managment of the NCC led by Professor Umar Garba Danbatta. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had in 2020 praised the NCC for its consistent compliance with the anti-corruption guidelines and the ICPC Act.

The ICPC ranked the NCC above other departments and agencies of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (MoCDE) in the intra-ministerial agencies’ assessment of ethics compliance and institutional integrity. The NCC outshined others with a score of 81.15 per cent. And in the year 2020, the NCC emerged as the most ethically-compliant in the ICPC’s Ethics Compliance and Integrity Scorecards (ECIS) among 24 regulatory agencies.

The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) in 2017 awarded the NCC its top Platinum Award in recognition for the institutionalisation of processes, robust organizational structure, policies and practices that facilitate efficient service delivery by the regulator of the Nigerian telecommunication industry.

Professor Garba Umar Danbatta has received dozens of awards in the course of his glorious public service career in the academia and now at the NCC. His office has a wall full of such testimonials. They are worthy of preservation as they were earned on merit and could inspire generations to engage in service of excellence.

Salisu Na’inna is a commentator on public affairs

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TECH DIGEST – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Wednesday, launched an App, Eagle Eye, designed to ease the process of reporting economic and financial crimes in Nigeria.

The EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said the app was a product of the ingenuity of a staff of the Commission, adding that it is the first of its kind by any law enforcement agency in Nigeria.

He said the app demonstrates his determination to run a technology-driven agency

“The Eagle Eye represents a new experience in information sharing and crime reporting between the public and the EFCC”, he was quoted in a statement issued by EFCC Media and Publicity.

According to a statement, “Apart from complementing the existing channels for reporting economic crimes, the unique advantage of this application, the EFCC Chairman further explained, is that it eliminates direct person-to-person interface in the reporting process and guarantees anonymity which is an added incentive to effective whistleblowing.”

Bawa was also quoted as saying, “With the app, those who hitherto were afraid to report corruption cases to the Commission either for fear of being identified by the culprits or having their identities revealed, can now do so with the assurance of full anonymity”.

The statement continued, “He emphasized that the Eagle Eye App, will go a long way in aiding the reportage of fraudulent activities of individuals particularly in the case of money laundering through Real Estate. With the Eagle Eye, Nigerians and Non-Nigerians can easily take a picture of a property suspected to have been fraudulently or corruptly acquired and report through the App seamlessly.

“He also said that as media practitioners, journalists occupy vantage positions not only in helping to bring the knowledge of the application to the public, but also making use of it and helping others to understand how it could be deployed to further the fight against economic crimes including corruption.”

“With the Eagle Eye, you have at your fingertips a device that will ultimately ensure that there is no hiding place for the corrupt in Nigeria”, he further explained.

On how it works, the EFCC Chairman said Eagle Eye is a user-friendly application, with features that can be navigated by any literate person.

The first step, he said, is to download it to a device from either the Apple or Google play store.

“For those who want to key into the Whistle Blowing Policy of the Federal Government and obtain reward for reporting corruption, the EFCC Chairman said such persons should indicate in the information they are providing; just as he said that there are penalties clearly stipulated in the laws, for giving false information that could mislead the Commission,” the statement concluded.

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TECH DIGEST – Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the commission has recovered $20million worth of cryptocurrency from cybercriminals.

He said the commission sees cryptocurrency as an “avenue where criminals launder proceeds of crime”.

He said this on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Tuesday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had issued a directive that banks should close accounts of persons or entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions within their systems.

“As it is today, there is nowhere in the world where cryptocurrency is being regulated. The EFCC is looking at cryptocurrency as an avenue where people are laundering their proceeds of crime,” he said.

“Where people are receiving proceeds of crime and that is our worry. We have seen again and again how cybercriminals are using it as an avenue to get their proceeds of crime.

“Before, it used to be through money transfer agencies like Money Gram and Western Union. Now they have gone E.

“They will defraud somebody and get gift cards, and exchange in dark webs, and use the proceeds to buy crypto. And then of course get it into their e-wallets and they can sell and get their money.”

“As it is now today, we have about $20 million worth of cryptocurrency because we also created our own crypto wallet to recover cryptocurrency. We are now recovering the proceeds of crime.

“We are in support of what the CBN has done because it has reduced the ease for which these criminals can get cryptocurrency and get naira for it.

“I believe we will not be left behind when it comes to ensuring that laws and regulations are put in place to checkmate the excesses of cryptocurrency.”

Bawa said within January to June 3, 2021, 1,436 suspected cybercriminals have been arrested across the country.

“From January to June, according to the statistics, the EFCC has arrested 1436 suspected cybercriminals across the federation,” he said.

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TECH DIGEST – The federal government has extended the deadline for the ongoing national identification number (NIN) and subscriber identity module (SIM) integration exercise by four weeks.

The new deadline is May 6, 2021.

In a statement on Friday, Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, said the extension was endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.

The minister said there are 189 million registered subscriber identification module (SIM) cards in the country.

Of this figure, he said 150 million have complete registrations while the remainder has problems of improper registration.

“Based on the updates of the NIN-registration process, over 51 million people have been assigned NINs. There are many people, who have enrolled and are in the process of being assigned NINs. With each individual having an average of 3 to 4 SIMs, the total number of SIMs tied to NINs would be close to the total number of registered SIMs in the country, ” a statement jointly signed Ikechukwu Adinde, director of public affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); and Kayode Adegoke, head of corporate communications, ​National Identity Management Commission, read.

“The current number of monthly enrolments has increased significantly to about 2.6 million registrations. There has also been a remarkable increase in the number of enrolment centres across the country with about 3,800 centres available for enrolments. There are also many more new centres in the pipeline.”

The extension was arrived at the Thursday meeting of the ministerial taskforce on NIN-SIM registration chaired by Pantami and also had industry stakeholders in attendance.

According to Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the NIN-SIM linkage would support the federal government in checkmating the activities of fraudsters and cybercriminals.

January 19 was the initial deadline, but it was moved to February 9, April 6 and now May 6.

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