By Abdullahi Haruna Haruspice

TECH DIGEST – A man who allegedly supported terror gangs is now using technology to wreck their Modus Operandi and we are fuming. Let him finish the job of helping us map a unified indigenous database then we can lead him to the gulag for his past atrocious sympathy for terror groups.

When you are too emotional to your tribe, belief and ideology you suffer the tragedy of parochialism. In life, moderate extremism should be the watchword especially when you have the target of presiding over the affairs of pluralism one day. Had Sheikh Isah Pantami remained solely an Islamic preacher, his unconscious and tacit sympathy for terror groups wouldn’t have fetched much interest like we now witnessed. The day he decided to extend his expertise and impact to the whole of humanity, the memories of his past disposition dangerously resurrects. Today, no one remembers his milestones in sanitizing the communication sector, his sparkling innovations in the sector is now buried in the furies of a past slight.

This Pantami storyx teaches one striking lesson; never be emotional when events happen- always tarry a while before you form your judgement no matter how enticing the urge. In life, emotional intelligence is very key in our aspirations. Who would have ever thought that those youthful motivated thoughts by Pantami will come hunting him today?

As for those all armed up calling for the head of Pantami, what exactly is your grudge? Aren’t we all emotionally attached to our beliefs that we look away when there is an infringement? The man just like us is a product of infallibility, he fell to the hubris of an ill- thought stance and like a honourable man, he has denounced his earlier opinion about the groups he once sympathized with. Time we move on and focus on what the man has brought to the table as a minister.

Indeed when they can’t touch who you’ve become, they try to dig up who you used to be. We all have our dirty stinking past jare. Judge Isah Pantami of today and leave his infantile past to rest in history. Jejely musing.

Abdullahi Haruspice writes from Lugbe, Abuja

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By Abdullahi Muritala

TECH DIGEST – Brewing political crisis and debates on Nigeria’s communications minister, if not managed properly, could have unintended consequences of derailing deradicalisation across the country’s northern region and the Sahel.

A series of publications targeted at an Islamic cleric and Nigerian government minister has led to scrutiny of his previous extremist rhetoric; but these tensed debates, if not managed properly can risk undermining efforts to promote deradicalisation and counter extremism.

Although the original story published on April 11 about Nigeria’s Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, was later retracted, it generated a storm, interest in his past sermons, and misrepresentation of his ideological debates with Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf.

The evolving conversation about his past and present status are important and should be from a prism of understanding the dynamics of Nigeria’s radicalist trends and potentials for advancing existing as well as emerging deradicalisation efforts, both government-led and irregular.

Understanding contemporary radicalisation
A narrow view of the ongoing debates will likely miss the multifaceted nature of the problem and the factors that inspired radical ideas of “quietist Salafis” and extreme Salafis in northern Nigeria and local perception of events in the middle east in the early and mid-2000s.

The ideological and geopolitical disposition of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where a majority of scholars received religious education played a role in influencing their views and sermons and had “unintended” consequences of opening the door for contemporary extreme Salafi radicalism in Nigeria.

The United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were widely seen to be a campaign against Muslim countries and the historic relationship between the U.S. and the Mujahideen that fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan were global events that had a localised impact.

An example is the support base enjoyed by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria during the period, despite its obvious Shi’ism, as a spectrum of the society were fond of the group’s anti-Semitism and anti-American messages. It famously shared conspiracies, including that the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. were a false flag operation to justify “occupation” of the Muslim world and that western countries had an agenda to secularise and convert Muslims to Christianity.

Professor of African Armed Movements Jacob Zenn remarked: “this rhetoric appeals to broad sectors of Nigeria’s Muslim population, including Sunnis. For example, at more than 10 IMN-led protests over the U.S.-made film Innocence of Muslims in August 2012, most participants were neither IMN members nor Shi’a and never saw the film, but were persuaded by the IMN’s message.”

He added that Boko Haram similarly exploited this rise in anti-American sentiment in Northern Nigeria to gain legitimacy and sympathy.

“We will be doing ourselves a disservice if we all pretend and turn a blind eye to the lectures some of our clerics delivered, particularly in the 9/11 milieu. Although most of our clerics have embarked on a paradigmatic reversal, there are archives of what they said in public lectures, which sadly might come back to haunt some of them,” said Abdulbasit Kassim, a US-based Nigerian researcher on Boko Haram.

Additionally, governance failure and the inability of the state to end the recurring ethnic-religious violence of the middle belt and ensure a resemblance of justice had a long-term impact.

Many hard-line scholars in northern Nigeria have since shifted or changed the course of their ideals and worldview and have participated in efforts to counter the doctrine of violent and extremist segments of the community, sometimes at great personal costs.

A HumAngle publication examined the ideological battles and shifts within Nigeria’s Salafi community and movement of Yusufiya towards Jihad.

Pantami on Saturday, April 17, spoke on his past mistakes as a young scholar and sermons, including his statement on the War and extrajudicial killings.

Could the current narrative roll back deradicalisation efforts?

The path taken by the current debates could negatively affect self and community-led deradicalisation or provide extremist elements with an opportunity to derail and discourage peacemaking.

Over the past years, the Nigerian government through the military and intelligence services has been running deradicalisation and reintegration programmes. HumAngle understands that some jihadists have personally taken steps to surrender to authorities or silently reintegrate into cities across the country.

Apart from these government-led efforts, the Salafi community has been an important factor in tackling the ideological doctrine upon which violent extremist groups in Nigeria rely on. The efforts of Jafar Mahmud Adam, Muhammad Auwal (Albani Zaria), and Ibrahim Birkuti, among several other clerics who at various times fell to the bullets of suspected Boko Haram members, led to the emergence of a local Salafi population that enrols in schools and participates in democratic processes.

Meanwhile, other Salafi clerics have been threatened by the terror group for their actions. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a statement released in Feb. 2020, for example, accused Pantami of working for infidels and sinisterly reminded him of what happened to Jaafar Adam, a Salafi cleric who was shot dead in his Kano mosque in 2007.

“Is it because you speak English? Islam is not in speaking English?” he asked. “My brothers in Africa, Nigeria or elsewhere, what happened to Jaafar is nothing, take action on Isa Ali Pantami wherever you find him.”

Pantami had in 2006 engaged Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf in a debate where he drilled holes in the latter’s rigid stance against secular education and working with a democratic government.

Scholars believe moderate, non-violent Salafis have a role to play in reversing the tides of Islamist extremism. There are also many examples where Quietist Salafists, who unlike others refrain from direct political participation, later shifted grounds. “Most recently, hundreds of thousands of quietists became politically active in parliamentary elections after the Arab Spring revolutions, perhaps the most famous example being the Nour party in Egypt,” notes Jacob Olidort, an expert on Salafism and Islamist groups in the Middle East.

But promoting a brand of Salafism as an antidote to extremism is a complex proposition considering, as fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy William McCants noted, “quietist Salafis speak the same theological language as the jihadis but reject their violent activism.”

Olidort, however, insists on the adaptability of Salafism. Assistant professor in politics and international relations Husnul Amin agrees that the sect is diverse and can be helpful in conversations about deradicalisation, using the case study of Pakistan.

“Through their inclusion in the de-radicalisation process, the Salafists will not only further moderate their radical positions but will also contribute to the intellectual and social resources needed for the de-radicalisation project,” he argued.

“The research, therefore, suggests that policymakers and implementers may look beyond the Salafi textual surface and militant-Salafist variety, and concentrate on competing social-political practices.”

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without proper attribution to HumAngle, generally including the author’s name, a link to the publication and a line of acknowledgement.

Murtala Abdullahi

Abdullahi Murtala is a researcher and reporter. His expertise is in conflict reporting, climate and environmental justice, and charting the security trends in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. He founded the Goro Initiative and contributes to dialogues, publications and think-tanks that report on climate change and human security. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Education from the University of Abuja.

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TECH DIGEST – Nigeria took a turn for an exciting and refreshing phase in November 2019 when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the 10 year National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, NDEPS 2020-2030.

The policy’s vision was aimed at transforming Nigeria into a leading digital economy, creating sustainable wealth and opportunities for all. This policy also saw the birth of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy with a responsibility to relentlessly pursue the country’s digital economy policy.

Strategically located and positioned between West and Central Africa, Nigeria is undoubtedly Africa’s business hub with easy access to other regions of the world. Nigeria offers many investment and business opportunities and advantages in the information and communications technology, ICT sector with about 65 per cent of its youths within the IT savvy.

Nigeria’s tech start-ups attracted over $83 million in funding to create solutions that solve everyday problems.

Official figures show that Nigeria’s foreign direct investment, FDI in the ICT sector rose from an aggregate of $50 million in 2001 to $32billion in 2015 and $38 billion in 2016. By 2017 and 2018 it was $3.5 billion and $99.6 billion respectively with a GDP of over $380 billion.

So far, the Nigerian ICT sector has attracted total investments of about $68 billion over the years thereby providing more than half of the country’s Foreign Direct Investments, FDIs.

Even the 2020 edition of the Ease of Doing Business report of World Bank acknowledged that Nigeria has taken a 15 leap step ahead of the previous year and appears as one of the top 10 countries that recorded significant improvement for the second time.

The contribution of ICT sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) witnessed considerable growth with digital economy contributing 17.83 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP.

Nigeria’s global rating as a global investment destination and the most strategic country for ICT in Africa was well deserved due to a number of concrete verifiable data.

It is, therefore, not in doubt that a data-driven economy is critical to addressing challenges

The accessibility and suitability of the geographical location, as well as availability of modern logistics and transportation services, are major factors encouraging the inflow of investors and investments into the country.

Added to these are economic and political stability in the environment, well-designed regulatory frameworks as instrumental to Nigeria’s tremendous strides in ICT. Others are enormous resources in minerals, ecological, agricultural and human resources some of which are yet to be fully exploited.

Progress in the ICT sphere is clearly visible in Nigeria. The status and potentials of the ICT market are good and promising. A number of investment opportunities abound in Nigeria’s software industry.

Concerned by the loss of billions of dollars to the importation of software and other ICT products and services, NITDA is poised to reverse the ugly trend.

Towards this end, NITDA has developed a strategy to promote partnerships between Nigerian and foreign software development firms for the promotion of knowledge sharing and capacity building to provide software and software-enabled services in Nigeria.

NITDA as the driving force in the country’s national IT policy has the mandate of the Federal Executive Council to serve as the clearance house for IT projects in government.

In specific terms, NITDA’s seven priority areas, in line with its vision and mission, is jobs creation, indigenous content, digital transformation, digital literacy and skills, emerging technology, cybersecurity and developmental regulation.

NITDA, in furtherance of the Presidential Executive order 001 expedited its services to the public and worked tirelessly to encourage a speedy turnaround for all its services related to its mandate with this order.

It is on record that in the last two years or so, NITDA witnessed unprecedented achievements and recorded milestones.

Notable among them is the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, which created innovation-driven enterprises, IDEs. These IDEs have the capacity of creating innovative solutions with a clear competitive advantage and high growth potential. The IDEs have attracted impressive capital investments into Nigeria.

Results of research commissioned by NITDA recently show that a data-driven economy is critical to addressing challenges confronting an emerging economy such as Nigeria, thus making personal data a catalyst for the digital economy.

In consideration of the importance of data protection, the government put in place some regulations and guidelines through the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, NDPR as contained in the 2020 Data Protection Bill to regulate and protect personal data.

Indeed, Nigeria has come a long way in its drive to change the fortunes of the country and her nationals into maximum utilisation of the opportunities offered by ICT for state and personal growth and development.

Indisputably, Nigeria has come of age as the global ICT investment hub courtesy of the PMB adminstration’s drive to diversify the country’s economy.

By Musa Ilallah, who lives in Abuja

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TECH DIGEST – Four days after commercial banks disconnected customers of MTN Nigeria from the use of the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code for airtime vending, the banks yesterday reconnected them following the intervention of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

The banks on Thursday night had disconnected only MTN customers from accessing the USSD code on airtime vending from all channels linked to USSD code.

According to the banks, they took the decision because MTN reduced the discount offered to banks on airtime sales from four per cent to 2.5 per cent.

MTN’s action did not go down well with the banks, who cited the cut making the cost of managing the infrastructure and other operational costs they incurred as being unprofitable for them.

TechDigest investigation showed that as at yesterday, the customers were reconnected and they could access the USSD code.

Majority of MTN customers who accessed the code yesterday bought MTN airtime from their bank accounts.

Both MTN and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, confirmed to THISDAY yesterday that the banks had reconnected all MTN customers that were disconnected.

Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, told THISDAY that the minister was upset with the disconnection, just like the telecoms operators, adding that he had to intervene by calling Emefiele, to a meeting yesterday.

According to him, the CBN governor and the minister addressed the commercial issue that led to the disconnection and directed the banks to reconnect the telecommunication company immediately, in order not to further disenfranchise MTN customers that were adversely affected by the disconnection order.

“Now that the customers have been reconnected, the telecoms industry is happy, MTN customers are happy and the banks are also happy,” Adinde said.

Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, had earlier expressed his displeasure over the disconnection and blamed the banks for taking such action without first discussing the issue with the NCC.

““If this is the way the banks want to react to the USSD issue between banks and telcos, by disconnecting innocent subscribers belonging to MTN, only time will tell, but I can assure them that their action will not lead to the N42 billion debt forgiveness because the telecoms industry will not overlook the N42 billion the banks are owing telecoms operators over the use of USSD code for financial transactions. The banks had claimed that they do not charge for USSD transactions, but report has it that the banks have been charging customers for USSD transactions,” Adebayo had earlier told News Media

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TECH DIGEST – Commercial banks have reconnected MTN customers earlier denied access to the unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) payment channels.

In a letter seen by TheCable, on Sunday, Karl Toriola, managing director and chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, announced a decision to revert discount offered to banks on airtime sales to 4.5 percent commission.

The mobile network operator (MNO) had reduced banks’ commission from an average of 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent, this led to a disagreement between MTN and commercial banks.

“Our virtual meeting between yourself (Wigwe) and Segun Agbaje (MD of GTBank) on the one hand and myself (Toriola) and Modupe Kadri (chief financial officer of MTN Nigeria) on the other refers,” the statement read.

“In an attempt to resolve the current USSD recharge impasse, given the interventions from our regulators, we hereby agree The Banks revert to the status quo of 4.5% commission.

“However, the banks and MTN Communications Nigeria Plc, shall sit to agree on various options that will result in the reduction in the costs on 6th of April 2021.”

Commercial banks had asked MTN to reverse its action to the old commission or would block MTN airtime recharge services in both mobile banking applications and unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) payment channels.

Due to MTN’s refusal to revert back the commission percentage, commercial banks except Zenith Bank, which is connected directly to the MNO, left many subscribers stranded and frustrated as they were informed to recharge their lines with physical cards.

On Friday, Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, had said the issue encountered by MTN users through the USSD channel will be resolved soon.

On Saturday, MTN had offered alternative channels for its subscribers to use in recharging their lines such as dialling *904# and *606#, and other electronic payment platforms.

The post Banks Lift Blockage Of USSD Transactions On MTN Customers appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECH DIGEST – MTN customers in Nigeria now have alternative electronic payment platforms to recharge their phones as the mobile network operator on Saturday announced that customers can recharge airtime through payment solutions platforms such as Flutterwave, Jumia Pay, OPay, Kuda, Carbon and BillsnPay.

MTN in a statement on Saturday by its Senior Manager, External Relations, Funso Aina, also said customers could recharge airtime by dialing *904# and *606#.

This is coming barely 24 hours after commercial banks on Friday disconnected MTN customers from banking channels including the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data and banking apps, leaving millions of MTN subscribers frustrated as they were unable to recharge airtime via USSD amid the Easter celebrations.

MTN, with about 77 million subscribers, making up about 45 per cent of the total telecommunication market share in Nigeria, is arguably the largest telecommunication operator in the country.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that the telco reduced the banks’ commission from an average of 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent which predicated the actions of the banks.

The banks had written MTN to revert to the old commission, otherwise, they would block MTN airtime in all their channels.

The banks, except Zenith Bank which was connected directly to MTN, subsequently blocked MTN from their banking channels, leaving customers stranded as they were unable to recharge virtually.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had said the matter would be resolved. “We have reached an advance stage of resolving the issues, for the services to be restored to our citizens,” he had said.

But in the statement on Saturday, MTN said, “It will interest you to note that for the benefit of our customers who have been greatly inconvenienced by the service suspension, we now have alternative channels of accessing MTN services electronically.”

Speaking exclusively with Sunday PUNCH, a source in the industry said the most important factor is that MTN was able to quickly come up with alternatives through fintech companies.

“There are so many possibilities through fintech. It is about being responsive and flexible to alternatives for customers to enjoy MTN services as they have been enjoying before the disconnection by the banks. It is about being solution-focused,” the source said.

Asked whether MTN might have used the fintech platforms as alternatives before the disconnection, the source, who craved anonymity, said the development was totally new and spontaneous.

The source could not, however, give an update on the discussion the minister started with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communications Commission to broker peace between the banks and MTN.

But the source stressed that even after the issue becomes resolved, it would be wise for MTN not to put its eggs in a basket. The source said it would be wise for MTN not to abandon the fintech companies because “if it happens today, who says it will not happen tomorrow?”

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