TECH DIGEST- In order to combat insurgency activity and other security concerns in the nation, the Nigerian Army has worked with the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

On Monday in Abuja, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya, said the country was going through one of its most difficult periods in history. He was speaking at the seminar’s opening ceremony.

The seminar, according to Yahaya, who was represented by Maj. Gen. Charles Ofoche, Chief of Transformation and Innovation, was designed to increase attendees’ understanding. He emphasized the importance of interagency cooperation and the application of technology to national security issues. In light of the numerous, intricate security difficulties that plague Nigeria, he claimed that the nation was experiencing insecurity problems.

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Additionally, he said that acts of terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, and insurrection by the BHT, ISWAP, IPOB, ESN, and other terrorist organizations were prevalent in the security situation. The activities, he continued, had consistently presented serious risks to the nation’s security and unity. He asserts that it is impossible to address the complexity of these threats without utilizing the capabilities of our security agencies.

However, he said that both the federal government and several state governments had embraced a range of policy alternatives to solve the security issues.

“The emphasis has been more on kinetic approach. However, there is a huge requirement for non-kinetic efforts which include use of technology and whole of government and society approaches.

“There is this a compelling requirement to explore the utilization of modern technology and leverage more on inter-agency collaboration towards addressing these challenges,” he said.

The head of the Army advised security commanders at all levels to make conscious efforts to encourage effective cooperation and coordination by their staff during operations. He claimed that without instruction in inter-agency cooperation, this could not be accomplished. He emphasized the requirement that security agencies adhere to human rights legislation and constitutional obligations when carrying out operations.

The seminar’s main goal, according to Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab (ret.), Director General of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), was to bring together security agencies and other stakeholders to discuss strategies to combat insecurity. Technology use should be taught, according to Wahab, who also added that because the Army has been using it, there was no need to avoid it.

In order for us to have a stronger platform and mindset for combating insecurity, he said, other security organizations needed to employ technology in information collecting. Dr. Collins Agwu, the NITDA’s Director of Research and Development, claimed that insecurity in Nigeria was a challenge for all, adding that every effort must be put in place to curb the menace.

Agwu claimed that despite significant investments made in the security sector, the government had been unable to resolve the issue that had been threatening the country’s well-being for a considerable amount of time.

“The growing challenge of insecurity in Nigeria was a concern to all and every effort must be made to curb the challenge.

“Moden Technology has been introduced and we believe this will go a long way to avert this menace.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), NITD and the Nigerian Army Resource Center collaborated to organize the session.

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TECHDIGEST – An Information Technology firm, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) says it has opened its first office in Lagos, Nigeria.

A statement on Tuesday by Ms Amrote Abdella, the firm’s Regional Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa, said the office was to reinforce its commitment to Africa.

Abdella said that the new Lagos office was part of AWS’s support for the growing number of customers and partners in Nigeria.

AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon, offers website hosting, backup, digital marketing, analytics, application integration, blockchain, networking, and other related services to clients worldwide.

READ ALSO: How NITDA’S Blockchain Strategy will Catalyse Digital Economy Transformation

“With a local presence, AWS will support new and existing customers looking to use AWS products and services to innovate, lower their information technology (IT) costs, and grow their organizations in the cloud.

“We are excited to open our first AWS office in Nigeria, Lagos offers a highly skilled and creative talent pool, and the area is home to many fast-growing startups and notable Nigerian enterprises leading the way in digital innovation.

“We look forward to fostering the country’s pioneering spirit and helping our customers accelerate their digital transformation as they deliver innovative new products and services to the Nigerian community,’’ Abdella said.

Abdella said AWS Activate provides startups with the resources they need to get started on AWS, including up to $100,000 in credits, training, support, and contact with incubators, accelerators, and venture capital firms.

According to her, AWS Academy helps university students and educators develop knowledge and skills about AWS Cloud computing, to accelerate cloud-related learning.

The regional manager said that AWS Academy member institutions in Nigeria included the University of Benin, University of Jos, and Igbinedion University. (NAN)

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TECHDIGEST – The Federal Government has created 750, 000 jobs for youths to close the unemployment gap in the country.

The Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Mr Dasuki Arabi made this known at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum, on Sunday in Abuja.

Arabi, who is also the Chairman, Technical Working Committee on Youth Employment, said the intervention followed an interface with the Nigeria Economic Summit Group.

“We did some research works with the Nigeria Economic Summit Group to look at unemployment in the country and we came out with the policy.

“The summit came up with the idea of the 750,000 jobs that have been adopted by the Federal Government for the youths and the unemployed.”

Arabi said the establishment of Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs was part of government’s effort to provide succour for the unemployed and down trodden before they finally got engaged.

“We are working with the Central Bank of Nigeria and SMEDAN to provide alot of support for the unemployed.

“It is also the reason why the government is introducing entreprenurship at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

“The idea is for youth to be engaged while in school before the time for employment comes.

“As you are working or schooling you are learning a skill, when you come out you don’t have to rely on government for employment.”

He said alot of work was being done to support small and medium enterprises to make it easier for citizens to access the support and assistance given to them.

“The registration of business for certain groups is almost free and is supported by CAC and related agencies.

“These are some of the things that we have done and these are some of the things government is doing to fight unemployment.

“And the bottom of all this is, government is doing quite alot to provide an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive, so they can provide additional space of employment,” Arabi said.

On data generation for proper planning, the DG said the private sector had been empowered, registered and given license to generate data for a fee.

“We can see that with the privitisation of PHCN, DISCOS have been created, we have vendors selling units for charging meters.

“A lot of things were done for the private sector to thrive, expand and provide support to Federal Government for growth in the economy,” he added.

Arabi said the aim was for the private sector to provide quite a number of spaces for jobs.(NAN)

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TECHDIGEST – The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) on Wednesday launched a software designed for pensioners in the Northeast region of the country tagged: ‘I am Alive’.

The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, disclosed this to newsmen in Gombe shortly after the PTAD stakeholders’ forum for Northeast region.

She said that the software would enable pensioners have easy access to confirm their living status from the comfort of their homes using either a smartphone or a computer system.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 250 pensioners from the six states of the region – Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Taraba were in attendance.

She said with ‘I am alive’ confirmation would relieve them the field verification they had been carrying out all year, thereby, reducing stress of travelling long distances.

“’I am alive’ confirmation is convenient and virtually everybody has a mobile phone even though not all are smartphones and not all of the pensioners are computer literate, but a member of their households will have a smartphone to help out.

“Also the pensioners can use a trusted person in their communities to be of assistance.

“But I want to advise the retirees not to give their BVN to anybody because PTAD does not require it.”

Ejikeme said that after completing the exercise across all the geo-political regions, PTAD would go back to the drawing board to determine how the exercise would be useful either after six months or yearly.”

She said the directorate was also training the pension union executives and desk officers in case of any challenges to enable them to verify through the recognised unions.

Alhaji Ahmed Gazali, the NUP Assistant Secretary-General, while speaking on behalf of the pensioners, commended PTAD for the innovation of ‘Iam Alive’ confirmation software.

He said that the new development would go a long way in easing the hardship of pensioners, considering the security challenges in the country.

He called on the pensioners to always patronise the representative of the union instead of involving third party to avoid fraud.

“Even if it means involving third party, do not give them your BVN because the moment you release you BVN, you have subjected yourself to another problem,” he warned.

Gazali appealed to governors to consider the plight of retirees because “one day, they will join us”.

He also emphasised the need for private sectors and other relevant organisations that were yet to join the contributory pension scheme to do so.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highlight of the event was presentation of papers by various speakers and demonstration of ‘Iam alive’ confirmation software. (NAN)

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TECHDIGEST – The Katsina State Government says it will lift the ban on telecommunication services in the remaining seven affected local government areas (LGAs) before January 2021.

The governor, who disclosed this during a media parley with journalists on Tuesday in Katsina, urged residents to do their best to protect their areas from bandit attacks.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that recently the state government lifted the ban on telecommunication services in 10 out of the 17 LGAs in the state which hitherto suffered from banditry.

He commended the efforts of all security agencies, especially vigilance groups, for fighting bandits.

Masari noted that the vigilantes travel from one community to another with the aim of protecting the communities.

The governor also advised people to defend their communities and to also give the securities all the necessary support, especially by providing them with correct information on criminals.

The governor urged the people in the various communities to support the local vigilance groups with the necessary weapons so that they could defend them in the event of any attack.

NAN also recalls that recently the governor said that banditry must be defeated collectively across the affected northern states before 2023 when the tenure of the various administrations will come to an end.

The governor, who gave the assurance while signing the state’s 2022 approved appropriation bill, said no going back in the fight against bandits.

According to him, the bandits are well known in their communities and should be fished out.

“We must prepare to fight back as individuals, to fight the bandits because they are evil and they represent evil. We should not retreat in this fight.

“We took over under serious threat of security in 2015, and by God’s grace we will not handover this country to the next generation of leaders under this condition. We must restore normalcy.

“We inherited the government with the security challenges and we must end it and handover the state to our successors without the same problem.

“We must control and dominate our environment.

“There are two advantages that we have, numbers and technology. When you put the two together, we will restore normalcy. It is not beyond us to do that,” Masari said. (NAN)

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TECH DIGEST – The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Monday said it was developing a Tertiary Institutions’ Entrepreneurship Scheme, TIES, to re-orientate, train and finance entrepreneurship ideas by Nigerian graduates.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated this in a goodwill message to the 35th Conference of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, holding at the Kano State University of Science and Technology, KUST, Wudil.

Represented by Adebowale Olabimtan-Idowu, CBN Deputy Director, Development Finance, Emefiele said there was need to re-orientate youths from waiting for white collar jobs to entrepreneurship.

He said that the scheme was designed to support the development of entrepreneurial mindsets and culture, through the introduction of a platform that provides seamless access to affordable finance by graduates.

It would also assist in creating employment for many youths graduating from various institutions of higher learning in the country annually, he added.

“An estimated 600,000 graduates from our tertiary institutions enter the labour market annually, after participating in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, seeking the already thinned out white collar jobs.

“The situation has contributed significantly to the rising youth unemployment across the country,” he said.

Mr Emefiele said that the proposed scheme would also provide a platform for building digital skills relevant to Nigeria’s broader developmental goals.

He explained that efforts were ongoing aimed at addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on production sectors and dwindling oil revenues in the country.

“Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) portend great opportunities for addressing these gaps and accelerating economic growth by leveraging our vibrant youth population,” he said.

NAN

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TECH DIGEST – Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) says malpractice and indiscipline are some of the board’s major challenges yet to be fully addressed.

The Registrar made this known when members of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education visited the board’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja on Monday.

Oloyede said that the challenges, unfortunately, were mostly with regards to parents trying to bend the system by all means and get their wards or children into schools, irrespective of their performance.

“Our challenge remain examination malpractice, especially with regards to parents who keep calling me to favour their wards or children wether they meet the requirements of the system or not.

“There’s also indiscipline from the tertiary institutions who admit against the Federal Government’s policy guidelines as mandated by the Ministry of Education.

“At the end of the day, after admitting outside these policies, they put pressure on students at the final moments towards graduation to come back to us for what they call regularisation.

” We also have same challenge from some private sectors and dubious Computer Based Test (CBT) centres too and we are really putting efforts to curb this.”

The Registrar said that the number of registered candidates for 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination (UTME) was not up to 1.4 million, a low figure, when compared to 2.2 million in 2020.

He noted, however that the mandatory use of National Identity Number (NIN) helped the board to curb some of the malpractices usually encountered during the UTME registration.

Oloyede said the malpractices included multiple and fraudulent registration by candidates with irregular credentials.

He said that during the 2021 examination, the board’s challenge shifted to security operatives attached to some of the centres, whom he said allegedly smuggled fraudulent candidates into the examination hall.

“Even after they dodge the verification process where of course the system would have identified them through their pictures, the cameras at the centres immediately picked them and we were able to apprehend them.

“That was when some of them said either their parents gave the security operatives money to let them in or the candidates themselves bribed their way in.

” So whether we like it or not, NIN helped us curb some of these challenges at both the registration and examination exercise.”

On JAMB’S budget performance for 2020, the Registrar noted that the board remitted N4.1 billion to the Federal Government confers, stating that staff welfare was paramount and they were adequately taken care of.

He said that the board adopted some secondary schools in its host community, alongside other pet projects in some schools to enable it make the desired impact in Bwari communities.

A monitoring committee, he added, had been set up by the board to ensure that the monies disbursed for the projects was properly used.

Oloyede said that plans were underway to complete a 2,500 capacity centre with global standard that would give room to CBT or process of exercises like the NIN registration and other exercises from across board.

Speaking on behalf of the committee, Sen. Akon Eyakenyi, Vice Chairman of the committee said that the members were on an oversight visit to check on the board’s appropriation as approved by the National Assembly.

Eyakenyi said the committee was also at the board to assess the just concluded UTME and find out what was behind the performance with regards to results of the candidates.

“The interaction with the registrar today revealed alot of truth that Nigerians do not know as it relates to conduct of the UTME.

” I appreciate the registrar and his management team , indeed, he is a round peg in a round hole who knows what it takes to run an institution like this.

” Most of the revelations we saw are not what is to be exposed to the public in terms of conduct of the examination.

” JAMB stands as a bridge between the secondary and the tertiary and if it continues with what we have seen so far, definitely, the education sector in the nation will be improved.”

Eyakenyi said that the committee had identified two major areas that might need to go into the process of amending the Act establishing JAMB, which would be the committee’s support to the board.

She said that the committee would also look into and advise the way forward on the issue of appropriate age for candidates to enroll for tertiary education.

Eyakenyi, while commending the efforts of the board, also urged it to from time to time, go public in educating Nigerians on what was expected of them generally, especially parents of candidates. (NAN)

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TECHDIGEST – The vehicle was designed to eliminate carbon emissions associated with internal combustion engines, as well as minimise acoustic noise when in operation.

The University of Lagos is test-running its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) it initiated in 2018.

The institution’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Academics and Research), Oluwole Familoni, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

According to him, the production is an invaluable addition to the university’s efforts at preventing the release of toxic emissions to the environment.

He said the initiative was also to encourage indigenous engineering innovation.

According to Mr Familoni, UNILAG ZEV is a 63 per cent hardware and 100 per cent software home-made (Akoka content) mechatronics automobile device.

He noted that the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, had inaugurated the UNILAG Zero Emission Vehicle team in 2018.

The team is led by Samson Adeosun, a professor in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.

Mr Familoni, a professor pf Chemistry, told NAN that in line with the universal drive to minimise global warming, the vehicle was designed to eliminate carbon emissions associated with internal combustion engines, as well as minimise acoustic noise when in operation.

”In concept, the UNILAG ZEV team developed an adaptive and reprogrammable power train (drive) system.

”Although the drive train functionality is presently exhibited with six-passenger Sport Utility Shuttle Van platform, it can be reconfigured to support 18-seater commuter bus.

”In its exhibition form, the drive train Energy Management System (EMS) is programmed to deliver ultra-low-power supply to realise maximum range per battery charging cycle at campus shuttling speed of less than 20km//hour

”On highways, during intra or inter–city transits, the EMS is programmed to adaptively overwrite the shuttling mode and still minimise energy consumption.

”These user-specific features are absent on assembled imported Completely Knocked Down (CKD) components of electric vehicles that have been reported in Nigeria to date,” Familoni told NAN.

He added that the UNILAG ZEV came with an on-board auxiliary power supply system.

The professor of chemistry said the energy backup was available to the driver via a ‘please take me home switch’ on the dashboard.

According to him, the vehicle runs on an improvised refurbished Nickel Hydride battery that delivers up to five-kilometre range per charging cycle when operated in Campus Shuttle mode.

”The range is extendable to 350km at optimum average speed of 110k/hour at highway mode, when appropriate lithium ion battery is installed.”

Commenting on the development, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Mr Ogundipe, said the product was proof that the institution was neck-deep into demand-driving research.

He said that if given more support, the university would do more.

”We need more support for funding research,” he said.

Other members of the team that assembled the ZEV include Akinfenwa Fashanu of the university’s Systems Engineering Department, Mohammed Usman (Chemical Engineering), and Adeola Balogun (Electrical and Electronics Engineering. (NAN)

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TECH DIGEST – The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has directed candidates who sat for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), to check their results through its portal as the USSD code 55019 has some challenges.

Dr Fabian Benjamin, Head, Protocol and Public Affairs of the board, stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that the board had on June 25, directed candidates to check their results by sending UTMERESULT to 55019 through the GSM number used to obtain profile code.

Benjamin, however, said that the USSD method had been suspended because of the challenges.

According to him, “Candidates can check their results from anywhere there is internet access, checking by USSD code 55019 is suspended.

“It has come to the attention of the Board that the result checking on USSD code 55019 is saddled with some challenges.

“Consequently, the Board hereby directs all candidates to visit the JAMB portal to check for their 2021 UTME result.

“Each candidate is to follow these simple steps: Visit https://www.jamb.gov.ng, on the menu bar, click on efacility, on the page that shows up, click on UTME 2021 Main Results Notification Slip.

“Enter your registration number and click the button Check My Result,” he said. (NAN)

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TECH DIGEST – House of Reps member representing APC-Ebonyi, Chinedu Ogah, on Tuesday stated that if the law regulating social media had been implemented, the activities of micro-blogging site, Twitter, would have been checked.

Rep. Ogah who is a member of the House Committee on Information said; “For example, in China, social media is being regulated and such a thing is not in Nigeria, and we have all those agencies that are capable of the regulation in the country”.

Also, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism, said that the Federal Government’s ban on Twitter’s operations was in the country’s interest.

The minister, who stated this when he appeared before the House Committee on Information on Tuesday, in Abuja, cited various sections of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in support of the action that was officially taken in the light of the security challenges facing the country.

Mohammed said the Federal Government had begun talks with the micro-blogging site to resolve the matter, adding, however, that until then, the platform remained banned.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on June 4, the Federal Government placed a ban on the operations of Twitter, on the grounds that the social media platform was being used as a tool for destabilising the country.

Rep Shaba Ibrahim (PDP-Kogi), a member of the committee, observed that anything would pale into insignificance where national interest and security were at stake.

He said that the minister did a good rendition of the legal framework that supported the steps taken, adding that allowing such infractions by Twitter to go unchecked, until the President’s tweet was taken down, amounted to a disservice to the country.

Another committee member, Fatuhu Mohammed (APC-Katsina), called for the regulation of social media because the time had come for the country to face up to the real issues confronting it.

He added that if the Minister had not banned Twitter, with the permission of President Buhari, the kind of insults to the sovereignty of Nigeria, coming from its users, was worrisome.

(NAN)

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