TECHDIGEST- With the continued implementation of the National Identity Number (NIN), SIM linkage policy in Nigeria, terrorists, and bandits are being denied access to telecommunication services users, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Mr. Ephraim Nwokonanya, Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, NCC, represented by Mr. Alkasim Umar, Head Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement, NCC, disclosed this at the Commission Headquarters in Abuja during a one-day capacity building for members of the Nigerian Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), Abuja Chapter. Speaking on the NIN-SIM linkage, the threat of Network Booster Devices, and other Commission Compliance, Monitoring, and Enforcement concerns, Mr. Umar stated that the NIN-linkage policy has made significant headway in addressing escalating incidences of insurgency, abduction, and banditry in the country.

READALSO:NCC explores Colocation, Infrastructure sharing to strengthen Market segment

Mr. Umar stated that the introduction of the NIN-SIM has shown to be an effective instrument in tackling the nation’s insecurity issues. While denouncing the illegal use of network boosters, Umar stated that the commission intends to prosecute Nigerians who use network boosters in their homes and offices at the expense of others.

“Yes, we are making progress,” he claims. The only problem we have now is that if they abduct you, I mean the bandits, they will use your phone number to contact you. They will never use their phones; instead, they will call the kidnapped person’s phone number and promptly turn it off. They have the ability to keep you at a separate location and create you somewhere else. There is no method to track a phone that is turned off. It’s a major undertaking. “Some people objected that if they use a person number to make calls, why can’t the Federal Government block the terrorists/bandits phone numbers?” “Even in the National Assembly, someone brought this up, to ban all kidnappers lines, some people objected that if they use a person number to make calls, why can’t the Federal Government block the terrorists/bandits phone numbers?” Then someone spoke up and said that there will be more killings because kidnappers are chasing the victims’ money, and that there is no way to stop it. However, progress has been made because they are no longer denied SIM cards,” he remarked.

Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC Director of Public Affairs, stated earlier in his welcome remarks that the capacity training is based on the Commission’s understanding of the essential media practitioners in its day-to-day activities. “Let me be quick to mention that the Commission recognizes the importance of NITRA as a strategic ally, which is why we have provided capacity building and trainings for members of NITRA on several occasions with the goal of providing the platform for equipping you as our stakeholders and partners from the media with the knowledge and skill required to do your jobs effectively, efficiently, and professionally,” the statement said.

In addition, Mr. Atu Sunday, Director, Policy Competition and Economic Analysis, NCC, who spoke extensively on the issues surrounding the International Termination Rate (ITR) for Voice services, explained that the Commission’s ITR policy is ultimately designed to cater for the interests of Nigeria and all telecoms stakeholders. Mr. Sunday explained that the commission used the best pricing algorithm to reach at the $0.0045 ITR rate floor price, which is why the rate is not too high or cheap. “So, if the rate is too high between portfolio Nigerians who are only interested in developing their pockets by being able to call, the rate should be fair so that it does not harm our balance of payments.” It will also have no negative impact on the operators’ profitability,” he added.

Mr. Usman Aliyug, the Head of Spectrum Administration at the NCC, gave a presentation about the Commission’s progress on 5G rollout in Nigeria. Mr. Blessing Olaifa, the President of NITRA, was represented by Mr. Emmanuel Elebeke NCC for the capacity training.

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TECHDIGEST – As the industry media body, the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), prepares for its stakeholders engagement event, NITRA ICT Growth Conference 2021, two industry regulators have indicated interest in supporting the event scheduled to hold on November 11, 2021 in Lagos, Nigeria.
The event has received the backing of the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the nation’s information technology regulator, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The event targets to bring stakeholders in the ICT industry, both from the public and private sectors, to discuss and find ways of accelerating growth in the industry as a means of achieving laudable federal government set targets and policies, including those recorded in policy documents by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, the NCC and NITDA.

These documents include NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024); The Nigerian Cybercrime Act of 2015; the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content (NPPIC); The National Telecommunications Policy; the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025; National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) among others.

While looking at policies and regulation around the sub-sectors, the event will further look into challenges such as multiple taxation and regulations, high cost of Right of Way (RoW), theft of telecoms facilities, Policy issues, Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) Bill and cybersecurity issues; and ways of tackling these challenges effectively.

Under its “NITRA ICT Growth Conference”, which seeks to bring a multi-sectoral development agenda, NITRA is organising a multi-panel interactive conference that will look at the theme: “Harmonising ICT Sub-Sectors Towards A Digitalised Nigeria”

Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, NITRA chairman, while commending the regulators for their support of the event and passion for the growth of technology in Nigeria, noted that the growth in the ICT industry will impact all other sectors of the economy positively.

“Specifically, the Forum will offer stakeholders the opportunities of reassessing and reinvigorating some policies to make maximum impact in the growth of ICT in Nigeria. This is a growth conference, and stakeholders will be allowed to speak out on what the growth indices should be.” he said.

Expected to be at the event include the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami; the EVC of the NCC, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta; the DG of NITDA, Mallam Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi, CEOs of other government and private ICT companies, the Media including the full membership of NITRA and other stakeholders in the industry, including COOs, CIOs, CFOs, CROs and CCOs.

As part of the event, special recognition awards will be given to some industry players that have played strong roles in the growth of ICT in Nigeria, and still contributing to the development of the industry.

The Awards will also be for those companies and individuals, who through their innovativeness have revolutionised the ecosystem they play in.

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TECHDIGEST – Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of the National Information Technology Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated a five-day capacity training programme for members of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) in Lagos, Nigeria.

The DG said the capacity training programme aims to upskill the members of NITRA, an umbrella body for journalists reporting information and communication technology in Nigeria; to develop the digital skills of the participants for the improvement of quality of news reportage.

Abdullahi represented by Chineyere Helen Nwanwko, manager, Digital Architecture at NITDA, said that the Agency is always looking for avenues to support the improvement of trust, confidence and security on the mode of media production and delivery in the country.

“The capacity training is also aimed to provide digital capacity for the management, storage and retrieval of digital information and content security for the NITRA members; and shaping the technological understanding of the participants needed in reporting the industry and the digital skills”, he said.

The DG believes that the training will help ICT journalists in news gathering and fact-checking in this era of fake news.

Abdullahi said, “In this our dynamic ICT world, several trends such as growing digitalization, interconnectedness and convergence are often discussed by experts as well as layman, information and communication technology (ICT) journalists play significant part in disseminating, explaining and interpreting these new technologies and in facilitating our understanding of future trends, education both their audience and the developers they cover.

“Digital literacy is now more important than ever, It includes areas like online security, online communication responsibility and digital ethics.

“As most positions today require technological knowledge, organisations must provide training and education on ICT, or risk having a workforce being left behind. Employees with digital literacy, skills are more competent in their work as they easily identify important information, data, patterns, and use them efficiently. This is important because we are constantly being disrupted by new information.

“Digital literacy skills also allow workforce to use technology to collaborate and connect with each other and thus strengthens teamwork.

“In the digital economy, the failure to upskill the workforce in digital technologies could lead to companies and workforce being quickly left behind. It is therefore vital that businesses invest in nurturing a digitally literate workforce, capable of adapting to evolving technologies.

The DG said that the initiative to upskill fifty (50) journalists from NITRA is in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and the mandate of NITDA on Digital Literacy and Skills and the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2021 to 2024: To intervene in the development of digital technology by supporting, promoting and facilitating digital skills and literacy programmes and the development of innovative solutions for adoption and use in every facet of national life.

He urged the participants to apply the knowledge and practical know-how garnered from the training in their news reporting activities.

Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, chairman of NITRA thanked NITDA for sponsoring the training.

He further urged members of NITRA to embrace the opportunity to learn, unlearn and relearn new skills to help them in carrying out their news reporting activities

“The essence of this capacity training is for us to upskill. We are aware that some of us have attended trainings within and outside Nigeria, however the dynamics of this industry where technology continues to evolve demands that we continue to train and retrain ourselves.

“We thought it wise to partner with an agency of the government on this project and NITDA being an outstanding agency deemed it wise to work with us.

“NITDA has been apt in its digital transformation strategy and from our observations; the processes are up to standards we see among private sector organisations”, Onwuegbuchi said.

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TECH DIGEST – As the industry media association, the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) prepares for its epoch event, NITRA TECHNOLOGY FORUM 2021, stakeholders in the Cloud Hosting servicer have started to line up in support of the event that holds on May 27, in Lagos, Nigeria.

The event has received backing from the nation’s information technology regulator, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Cloud services operator, Cloudflex and premier data center operator, Rack Centre.

NITRA Technology Forum 2021, which will be chaired by the Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Mr. Muhammed Rudman, has its theme as: ‘Achieving 30% Growth In Local Cloud Hosting By 2024’, and will x-ray growth potentials, challenges and benefits of hosting Cloud services and data centers locally. It will also look at policies and regulation around the sub-sector.

NITRA Chairman, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, while commending the partners for their support of the event and passion for the growth of technology in Nigeria, noted that over the years, the country has been grappling with the need to secure it’s data and further boost local content in all sectors of the economy, while key stakeholders are concerned about how the sector is faring in this area, and how it can achieve local hosting of our sensitive data. He insists that growth in every facet of the nation’s economy should be inside-out.

“Specifically, the Forum will offer Cloud service companies, data infrastructure companies and other stakeholders, opportunities to reach out to their target market with solutions that addresses their challenges and needs,” he assured.

NITDA was created in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and co-ordinate general IT development in the country.

National Information Technology Development Act (2007) mandates the Agency to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria.

Its role therefore is to develop, regulate and advise on Information technology in the country through regulatory standards, guidelines and policies. Additionally, NITDA is the clearing house for all IT projects and infrastructural development in the country.

Rack Centre is a carrier neutral Tier III Constructed Facility Certified data centre that focuses solely on providing best in class data centre colocation services and unrestricted interconnect between carriers and customers. This gives customers a technically superior, physically more secure and lower cost environment for their information systems.

Rack Centre’s carrier neutrality allows customers to manage traffic to get better value, lower latency and higher resilience, and creates an open market for partnerships between customers, networks, cloud and content providers, the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria and managed service providers.

Rack Centre clients include 40 telecommunication carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), global Tier 1 networks and pan Africa international carriers, including direct connection to all 5 undersea cables serving the South Atlantic Coast of Africa and every country on the Atlantic coast of Africa.

CloudFlex Computing Limited is Nigeria’s’ leading Enterprise local cloud service Provider. We are the first choice of Cloud Solutions and managed data services for local and Global businesses with great ambitions.

The company offers Information Technology as a service. The services range from Cloud services, Co-location, Managed solutions, Backup services, Disaster Recovery, among others; and support for diverse infrastructure need by providing Industry-specific Solutions.

The company is based on the principle of developing and delivering top of the line Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solutions to meet the need of our existing and prospective clients.

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TECH DIGEST – A cyber security expert, Dr. Adewale Obadare has asserted no company is totally immune against cyber attacks, going by the high dependency on the internet and adoption of digital transformation.

Mr. Adewale, who is also the Co-Founder and the Chief Operating Officer of Digital Encode Limited, a cyber security intelligence company, argued that the proliferaction of digital tools has led to the increase in cybercriminal activities.

“No organization is immune to cyber attacks as cybersecurity readiness and resilience is a journey not a destination,” he asserted at the 2020 National Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) Virtual Innovative Tech Webinar held recently.

According to Adewale, findings has shown that at every 11 seconds, businesses will fall victim to a ransomware attack in 2021, even as cybercrime damages are projected to cost the world over US6 trillion annually in 2021, up from US3 trillion in 2015.

More than 90 percent of successful hacks and data breaches steam from phising scams. Most frequent attack methods are social engineering, advanced persistent threats, unpatched ransomware.

Stressing that cybersecurity/fraud is a discussion topic for the board and not for the data center alone, he explained that 60 percent of small businesses that suffer cyberattack are out of business within 6 months.

He also highlighted that 53percent security personnel believed that their enterprise will experience a cyberattack in the next 12 months.

While urging vigilance, he said the survey revealed 87 percent believe that the rapid shift to work from home will increase the risk of data privacy and protection issues. Also, 54percent believe will take advantage of the pandemic to disrupt organisation. However, 51percent (only half) are highly confident in their security team to detect and respond to cyber threats during the pandemic.

Although much is at stake, the Digital Encode Boss lamented that the confidence level is low.

Speaking further, he urged and advised organizations to invest in people and process and not only in technology, in an effort to collectively combat the looming threat.

He therefore recommended that for safety in the cyberspace, organizations must address cybersecurity readiness and resilience on a number of dimensions so as to understand the big picture while integrating and coordinating all operational risk management activities.

In addition, he said it is important that the executive team develop a risk intelligence quotient and also build an Intelligent Security Operations Center (SOC) based on AI & Machine Learning.

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TECH DIGEST – The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, has commended its media stakeholders for their role in accurate, timely and effective reportage of the telecommunications sector.
Danbatta gave the commendation while declaring open a two-day media capacity building programme organised under the auspices of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Abuja.
“I must applaud every member of NITRA for working assiduously to provide coverage for our activities, as well as provide a platform for our narratives in terms of the various policy initiatives and actions taken to support the national economy. Without your continuous cooperation, understanding and professionalism, the Nigerian audience would not have been properly informed about the activities of the NCC,” he said.
Represented by the Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Danbatta stated that the ICT industry in Nigeria is, indeed, the most dynamic and most resilient, as it continues to evolve by the day.
According to him, with the shutdown of almost every sector of the economy since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, telecoms sector has continued to provide government and businesses the platform to operate and transact online to ensure that the country’s developing economy is sustained.
The EVC, however, noted that the advancements in ICT have reshaped every facet of human endeavour from learning, teaching and communication to other sectors of the economy.
He said the dynamic nature of ICT industry has, thus, informed the NCC’s decision to continuously train journalists, with a view to equipping them with the necessary skills they need to report the industry, adding that the misconceptions and misinformation that have trailed the proposed rollout of Fifth Generation (5G) network in the country is a case in point.
“Therefore, we will not relent in our quest for an improved ICT industry in Nigeria and in pursuit of this objective, we will periodically assemble seasoned professionals to educate and enlighten you on the latest trends in the global ICT industry,” he said.
He said while the training is in line with the Federal Government’s recognition of the important role journalism has played in the development of Nigeria’s ICT industry, it is also consistent with one of the critical pillars of NCC’s strategic plan on strategic partnership and collaboration with various stakeholders, including the media.
He urged the participants to take the training seriously and take advantage of it to expand their horizons of knowledge on the ICT industry.
“This is very necessary so that when you report events or activities relating to the industry, you are able to translate them into a language that the common man will readily understand for the overall development of the industry,” Danbatta said.
“It is our duty and responsibility to ensure that whatever we want to introduce to the Nigerian telecoms space is well understood by Nigerians and all those who make use of our telecoms services and the media forms a part of our critical external stakeholders to make this happen,” the EVC added.

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