TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is committed to creating and stimulating the ecosystem for Blockchain technology and indeed Nigerian innovators to thrive.

The Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, reiterated the Agency’s stance on emerging technologies during the 2022 Blockchain Developers’ Summit held in Abuja.

While speaking passionately on “Blockchain Technology Supports Digital Transformation and will facilitate the Development of Nigeria into a Digital Economy” to the over one thousand five hundred participants, Inuwa enumerated the multiple benefits and prospects of the tech.

The NITDA DG highlighted “trust” as one of the critical components of Blockchain.

“There are a lot of opportunities in Blockchain and it is critical in every business”, he noted.

The DG encouraged the participants who were mostly Youth Corp Members to upscale their talents and contribute their quota towards nation building.

“Talent is the human component of technology. When you talk about any innovations, especially Blockchain and emerging technologies, it is about the new solutions one is bringing onboard; so you need to task yourself to know which solutions or offerings the industry requires”, Inuwa advised.

Inuwa who stressed the fact that anybody can be an innovator or entrepreneur, irrespective of their academic standing, religion, and ethnic group, as innovative ideas cannot be monopolized, averred that the time for Nigerian youths to leverage on the growing digital sector to tackle the myriad of challenges facing the nation is now.

“Innovation is beyond invention, it needs to get to the point of commercialization. Untill you can pitch your idea to someone to pay for your solutions, the innovation would sadly only be just an idea. So, we are building an ecosystem that will enable you to hatch your ideas from conception to realization”, the DG said.

The NITDA Boss also emphasised on the need for the participants to have venture capitalists who would invest in their innovative ideas.

He further noted that although the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration has exhibited a strong political will to continually make the right policies and create an enabling environment for tech innovation ecosystem to suceed, the Federal Government however, cannot possibly give out grants or seed funds to everyone at the same time, hence, the need for them to engage with both local and International. investors.

Inuwa recalled that in 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari renamed and expanded the mandate of the Ministry to cover digital economy which has necessitated the now Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to create value, wealth and prosperity via the digital economy.

The DG again recalled that in the same year, the President unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria which was formulated by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami.

The policy, he affirmed has eight pillars, one of which is Digital Society and Emerging Technologies; an apparently related subject matter: “All paralstatals under the Ministry have keyed into implementing the policy, NITDA inclusive”. Inuwa maintained.

On the part of NITDA, the Director-General seized the opportunity to enlighten the crowd that the Agency had developed a Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) in line with the policy, which has seven pillars with three of them, such as Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Emerging Technologies directly addressing the theme of the summit.

“We have so many initiatives: Under “Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, we established the National Centre for Artificial intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR); The Office of the Nigerian Digital Innovation which works with the ecosystem to help come up with policies that will enable you thrive in what you do”, the DG recounted.

READ ALSO: Pantami Unveils Books on Datafication and Cybersecurity at Emerging Technologies Forum

The DG also mention other initiatives, including iHatch, Digital Fabrication Lab, TIE (Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship) Support Scheme which he said identifies people with promising ideas and places them in IT hubs across the country for training as well as help turn their ideas into realities.

“We developed the blockchain adoption strategy basically to help stimulate the adoption of blockchain in the country and we have identified six initiatives we are going to implement to achieve that; firstly is to establish the Nigerian Blockchain Consortium which this summit is helping to do that; Secondly, is to strengthen developmental regulation and law; Find focus areas; Promoting Literacy and Blockchain; Digital Innovation Incentivization and the Startup Bill which has passed through the third reading in the National Assembly”, Inuwa added.

Inuwa charged the Youth Corps Members to take advantage of the opportunity and start a business before the end of their service year and possibly always ensure to be among the first movers in any digital related endeavours.

He expressed the hope that participants at the summit which was themed: “Stimulating Blockchain Adoption in Nigeria”, organised by BSV-Blockchain at Base University, and powered by NITDA would make relevant contributions to the Adoption Strategies which he said is dynamic and open to new ideas.

Other speakers including the National coordinator, National Centre for Artificial intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), Eng. Ya’u Garba and some International Inventors alluded to the promising future that awaits Nigeria upon the successful adoption of the tech.

Meanwhile, the DG also inaugurated the Baze AI/Blockchain Laboratory in company of some international innovators.

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TECHDIGEST – Hours after the Federal Government lifted the ban on Twitter, details of the negotiations and how Nigerian government officials made the microblogging site to accept strict conditions, have emerged.

The ban was lifted on Thursday after  Twitter proved beyond reasonable doubt that it has accepted the terms put forward by Nigeria.

The announcement was made by the Director General, National information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.

“The FGN has asked Twitter to fulfil some conditions before restoring its services. These conditions addressed legal registration of operations, taxation, and managing prohibited publication in line with Nigerian laws. Twitter has agreed to meet all the conditions set by the FGN. Consequently, the FGN and Twitter have decided on an execution timeline, which has started this week.

“Our engagement with Twitter opens a new chapter in global digital diplomacy and sets a new operational template for Twitter to come back stronger for the benefit of Nigerians,” Kashifu said.

“The following are the resolutions agreed with Twitter. Inc. :

“Twitter has committed to establishing a legal entity in Nigeria during the first quarter of 2022. The legal entity will register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). The establishment of the entity is Twitter’s first step in demonstrating its long-term commitment to Nigeria.

“Twitter has agreed to appoint a designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities. The Global Public Policy team is also directly available through a dedicated communication channel.

“Twitter has agreed to comply with applicable tax obligations on its operations under Nigerian law.

“Twitter has agreed to enrol Nigeria in its Partner Support and Law Enforcement Portals. The Partner Support Portal provides a direct channel for government officials and Twitter staff to manage prohibited content that violates Twitter community rules. At the same time, the Law Enforcement Portal provides a channel for the law enforcement agencies to submit a report with a legal justification where it suspects that content violates Nigerian Laws. Taken together, these represent a comprehensive compliance apparatus.

“Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built and work with the FGN and the broader industry to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries.

“Therefore, the FGN lifts the suspension of the Twitter operations in Nigeria from midnight of 13th January 2022.

“We encourage all users of the Twitter platform to maintain ethical behaviour and refrain from promoting divisive, dangerous, and distasteful information on the platform. As patriotic citizens, we need to be mindful that anything illegal offline is also illegal online and that committing a crime using a Nigerian Internet Protocol (IP) is synonymous with committing a crime within our jurisdiction,” Kashifu added.

The federal government had on June 4  announced the indefinite suspension of Twitter. The suspension came after the microblogging site deleted tweets from President Muhammadu Buhari’s account.

The President had tweeted that the country will treat the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the “language they understand”.

Defending the decision, Lai Mohammed, the information minister, condemned the deletion of the president’s post and accused Twitter of “double standards”.

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TECHDIGEST – Twitter users may soon have access to the social media platform which has met the six conditions imposed on it by the Federal Government.

The Technical Committee raised by the government to resolve the impasse between the two parties is fine-tuning the offers by the micro blogger before making a final recommendation to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The President is also awaiting the report of the committee to lift the ban it imposed on Twitter on June 4, last year.

It was learnt that the President has agreed in principle that Twitter’s social networking operation be restored in Nigeria.

There were, however, indications yesterday that the government plans to amend the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act to include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media platforms

Investigation by The Nation revealed that Twitter has complied with all the terms given by the government to restore its services.

The conditions agreed to by the firm are:

Open an office in Nigeria

Have a country representative

Register with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)/get National Broadcasting Commission’s licence

Payment of fair taxes

Sensitive to national security and cohesion. It must not undermine the nation’s security

Train Nigerian IT personnel and strategic intelligence officers on how to report twitter abuse /infractions noticed by the government.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “From the records, Twitter has finally met six conditions set by the Federal Government for the lifting of the ban on its service in Nigeria as at the close of business in 2021.

“The operation of Twitter will now be fully regulated, including opening of office and deployment of a Country Representative. We can now hold an officer responsible for any infraction.

“Twitter only requested that the Federal Government should allow it to open the office in 2022 because there was no provision for it in its last year’s budget. Since we are in a new year, we are expecting that the office will take off soon.

“With payment of taxes, we are hopeful that the government will earn enhanced revenue from Twitter. This ban has helped to correct the lapses of the past. For instance, Twitter has been raking huge cash from Nigeria without legal backing and compliance with our revenue laws.

“Although it was alleged that Nigerians have lost over N6billion to the ban but the Federal Government has lost much more in revenue.

“In spite of recourse to VPN by some users in Nigeria, Twitter revenue slumped considerably because this alternative does not fetch income to it.

“Now, the era of impunity is gone. Twitter must register with CAC and operate in Nigeria as a business concern which it is in other parts of the world.”

Source: The Nation

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TECHDIGEST – The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) known as the eNaira has taken off with over N500m of the currency minted so far.
Speaking at the launch of the digital currency in Abuja on Monday, Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, explained that 33 banks have been fully integrated and live on the platform disclosed that over 2.5 million people visit the website daily.

He said another N200 million has been issued to financial institutions and over 2,000 customers have been onboarded and 120 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform.

Immediately after the launch, Emefiele revealed that “customers who download the digital currency Speed Wallet App will be able to perform the following: onboard and create their wallet; fund their eNaira wallet from their bank account; transfer eNaira from their wallet to another wallet and make payment for purchases at registered merchant locations.”

“will continue to refine, fine-tune and upgrade the eNaira” and he assured that “Nigerians should expect to see additional functionalities in the coming months”.

Some of the additional functionalities include: accessibility and onboarding of customers without BVN and the use of the eNaira on the phone without the internet to further drive financial inclusion, making Nigeria one of the first countries in the world to deploy the CBDC via USSD on phones without relying on internet connectivity.

Another feature that will be deployed by the eNaira is the “onboarding of revenue collection agencies to increase and simplify collections and the creation of sector- specific tokens to support the Federal Government’s social programmes and distribution of targeted welfare schemes in a bid to lift millions out of poverty by 2025”.

The central bank over the bank said that President Muhammadu Buhari was scheduled to formally unveil the eNaira, on Monday 25 October 2021, at the State House, Abuja.

The launch of the eNaira is a culmination of several years of research work by CBN in advancing the boundaries of payments system in order to make financial transactions easier and seamless for every strata of the society.

In a statement on its website, the CBN said: “following series of engagements with relevant stakeholders including the banking community, fintech operators, merchants and indeed, a cross section of Nigerians, the CBN designed the digital currency, which shall be activated on Monday, October 25, 2021

“The eNaira, therefore, marks a major step forward in the evolution of money and the CBN is committed to ensuring that the eNaira, like the physical Naira, is accessible by everyone.

“Given that the eNaira is a journey, the unveiling marks the first step in that journey, which will continue with a series of further modifications, capabilities and enhancements to the platforms.

“The CBN will continue to work with relevant partners to ensure a seamless process that will benefit every user, particularly those in the rural areas and the unbanked population.

“Since the eNaira is a new product, and amongst the first CBDCs in the world, we have put a structure to promptly address any issue that might arise from the pilot implementation of the eNaira.

Accordingly, following Monday’s formal launch by the President, the Bank will further engage various stakeholders as we enter a new age consistent with global financial advancement. The theme of the eNaira is: “Same Naira, more possibilities”

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By Bashir Nasir Sani

TECHDIGEST – It is usually said that a decision made out of haste, with little to no deliberation will often have unforeseen and perhaps even irreversible repercussions. By nature, the hastier the decision, the more adverse its effects. Well, before we go deeper into this conversation, permit me to refresh your minds a bit.

It may be recalled that, on June 5th 2021, the Nigerian government placed an indefinite ban on Twitter from operating in the country, after the social media platform deleted a series of tweets made by the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari. The tweets were aimed at secessionist agitators and the criminal components of society.

While we won’t go into the ethics of the aforementioned ban, one thing we can all agree on was its rash nature, coming just days after the deletion of the president’s tweets. As mentioned above, the hastier a decision, the more adverse its consequences.

One such adverse consequence was the immediate impact on the country’s economy, as Nigeria was reported to have lost over 6 billion Naira just 3 days after the ban. This is quite a huge sum of money to lose in a few days, especially when you consider the fact that the nation is currently the poverty capital of the world, with an unemployment rate of 32.5 per cent as of 2021.

Granted, this amount was speculative and has never been officially stated by the federal government. Of course, it would not be far-fetched if the figures were indeed accurate. Seeing as how almost every government agency has a Twitter account, and how a huge chunk of businesses in the country, from small enterprises to large scale companies also have Twitter accounts.

There are also certain individuals, often referred to as influencers, that manage a sort of ad-hoc online marketing agency. Such agencies are often run exclusively on Twitter.

Thus it’s not an understatement to say that we are all breathing a collective sigh of relief as news has surfaced signifying an end to this stalemate.

According to the minister of information and culture, Lai Muhammad, the government’s committee negotiating with Twitter would soon come to an agreement and make recommendations to the government on the issue. He expressed confidence that everything will be ironed out with Twitter within “a matter of days or weeks”.

Well, whether in a matter of days or weeks, it does look like the end of the ban is indeed in sight. However, what are the economic effects of this move? What positive impact would it have on the country? And how can it be regulated so that such problems do not resurface?

Contrary to popular belief, Nigeria is not the first country to have placed an embargo on Twitter, In fact, Nigeria is currently the sixth nation to have blocked access to the social media platform.

While each one of these other five countries has its motive for doing so, Nigeria’s main reason, apart from the deletion of the president’s tweets, of course, is to curb the unbridled spread of misinformation.

Although this might be a good motive, as mentioned above, suddenly banning with little contemplation had a major impact on the country’s economy.

So, how can the government control fake news while not entirely blocking access to the social media platform?

First and foremost, the Federal Government could control the spread of misinformation simply by educating the masses. Fake news usually feeds on ignorance. As the popular saying goes, “a man who stands for nothing, will fall for everything”. Thus proactive disclosure of information to citizens can enable them to spot false information long before its eventual escalation.

The government could even create Twitter accounts dedicated exclusively to educating Nigerians, especially on sensitive issues that usually attract merchants of misinformation.

Another way to limit false information from spreading is through the employment of fact-checkers. Unbeknownst to most, another popular social media platform Facebook has partnerships with independent fact-checkers whose sole purpose is to debunk all forms of misinformation on the social network.

Not only will the use of fact-checkers provide employment opportunities for Nigerians, especially the youth, but since the government is currently in discourse with Twitter, they can work closely together to improve the efficiency at which misinformation is controlled.

It is worth noting that while the lifting of the Twitter ban in itself might not undo the damage inflicted on the country’s economy, and while the points mentioned above might not completely stop the spread of misinformation, they can both lay the groundwork for future developments.

As we all know, every journey begins with a single step, and these might be very promising first steps.

Bashir Nasir Sani writes  from Abuja.

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TECH DIGEST – Civil society organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project; and 176 concerned Nigerians have filed a lawsuit against the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja over the government’s suspension of microblogging platform, Twitter.

The suit No ECW/CCJ/APP/23/21 was filed on Tuesday by Solicitor to SERAP and human rights activist, Femi Falana, SAN.

SERAP also argued that the “suspension of Twitter is aimed at intimidating and stopping Nigerians from using Twitter and other social media platforms to assess government policies, expose corruption, and criticize acts of official impunity by the agents of the Federal Government.”

In the suit, SERAP and the concerned Nigerians sought, “An order of interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from implementing its suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, and subjecting anyone including media houses, broadcast stations using Twitter in Nigeria, to harassment, intimidation, arrest and criminal prosecution, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.”

The Plaintiffs also contended that “if this application is not urgently granted, the Federal Government will continue to arbitrarily suspend Twitter and threaten to impose criminal and other sanctions on Nigerians, telecommunication companies, media houses, broadcast stations and other people using Twitter in Nigeria, the perpetual order sought in this suit might be rendered nugatory.”

Last week, the regime of the President suspended Twitter operations in the country citing the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

The Buhari regime has since come under fire for what many termed as a restriction of the right of expression. The international community including the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, amongst others have since knocked the Buhari regime for the action but the Federal Government has been unyielding in its stance insisting that the sovereignty of the West African nation must be respected by the tech giant in San Francisco.

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