TECHDIGEST – President Muhammadu Buhari has felicitated with Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, on conferment with a Fellowship status by Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec).

President Buhari in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, congratulated the minister on the historic recognition, being first and only African Fellow admitted into CIISec amongst 89 other Fellows.

READ ALSO: Cybersecurity: Pantami Emerges first African Fellow of Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec)

“The President notes the passion, diligence and creativity that Prof. Pantami has brought into governance since assumption of office, enabling a convergence and synergy that takes security into full consideration, especially in the global cyber space.

“President Buhari also appreciates CIISec for the recognition to Prof. Pantami and the effort at providing a community of professionals that work towards protecting the interest and safety of global citizens on the internet,” the statement read in part.

CIISec is the only genuine information and cybersecurity institution granted the Royal Charter of Incorporation status in the United Kingdom since 2018, and saddled with the responsibility to raise the standard of professionalism in information and cybersecurity.

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TECHDIGEST – The constant advancements in technology have altered every aspect of our daily life. To remain competitive and satisfy client demands, firms must make every effort to stay abreast of the newest and most promising advancements.

Postal service has greatly improved the level of customer service it offers because of technological advancements. In terms of technology development, the postal service has concentrated on two things: mail innovations and data analytics.

Experts in the postal sector concurred that these developments will continue to drive change within the sector. The Internet of Things, blockchain, and autonomous vehicles are further cutting-edge technologies that haven’t yet had a significant impact on postal service. Even though the postal service has just been researching and testing these technologies so far, with the rapid growth of the industry I believe their impact will grow over the next few years.

The importance of all postal services and international mail systems has not diminished as a result of the increased use of electronic technology. Office administrators have the assurance that the documents or packages have been properly delivered thanks to the postal service’s certified mail and delivery confirmations. To speed up the professional process, postage costs and delivery times can be calculated online.

The postal and parcel sector has seen a significant transformation as a result of the growth of e-commerce, particularly cross-border e-commerce. At every stage of the customer journey, operators are putting a strong emphasis on customer involvement.

A basic element of success in any industry, maintaining a consistent and high-quality experience throughout the buyer’s journey is no longer considered a competitive advantage. The distribution of mail and packages can also be automated.

Postal firms can use shipment tracking data to plan and strategically allocate space in their distribution centers. This information includes movement, location, and idle hours. Depending on the occupancy of distribution centers, shipments may be diverted, or letters and parcels may be better managed in distribution centers.

Customers’ interactions with digital services and businesses have influenced their expectations for postal and package delivery. Minimum wait times, maximum customization, almost immediate response times, and completely transparent procedures are all requirements from shippers and recipients.

Postal services must prioritize the protection of their core business to transform. To do this, they must improve operational excellence, create new revenue streams with creative service offerings, and give quality e-commerce and postal service experiences to boost customer loyalty and public demand for postal services.

Postal workers’ jobs are coming under more and more strain. Global e-retailers may be converting last-mile delivery, the carrier’s primary service offering, into a commodity with no added value and vulnerable to fierce competition.

However, technology is having an impact on Used in a variety of postal industry functions, primarily in sorting and delivering operations, assisting in enhancing the general customer experience.

Various types of technologies are enabling postal and package delivery services to improve efficiency and provide services with value added. This is especially true in the parcel delivery industry, where volume growth necessitates more sorting, capacity, quicker handling procedures, and differentiation in quality.

The Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) has improved postal services by utilizing renewable energy throughout the years by rolling out terminals. This evolution has resulted in a major improvement in electronic mail services.

A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding technology-based delivery and self-service services was signed by NIPOST recently. Postmaster General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer, NIPOST, Dr. Ismail Adebayo Adewusi, said a strong technology system must be put in place as an efficient engine of digital economy growth.

He said this is a fact that has been recognized by the driver of the national digital economy policy and strategy of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami.

Although the Nigeria Postal Services is improved I believe for a better working system the postal and parcel services will need to completely rethink their last-mile delivery strategy and execution to increase efficiency and reduce emissions. They will put a lot of effort into either taking control of the customer relationship at the time of delivery or forming a partnership with those who do.

Fom Gyem writes from Wuye District Abuja

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By Zeenat Sambo

TECHDIGEST – The recent publication of two books by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, has once again accentuated the importance of technology in national development.

The books entitled, ‘Cybersecurity Initiatives for Securing a Country’, and ‘Datafication of Society to Foster an Internet Economy’ explored digital inclusivity and growth.

The books which were unveiled at the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on Emerging Technologies, organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in Lagos delved into the technological realm triggering the understanding of technology and the involvement of all in the fourth-generation technology for the digital economy.

It is fascinating that a book of 129-pages on ‘Datafication of Society’  could hold its readers spellbound on a journey to tech understanding in the simplest of ways traversing through numerous chapters particularly focused on datafication in the digital age, with Nigeria as the case study.

The first chapter relates how datafication has encroached into the daily activities of a person who is being assisted with technological accessories like smartphones, gadgets, emails, and others that can easily generate, encode, transfer and receive soft information for numerous purposes with the representation of binary digits called data.

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

With a focus on growing National Digital Economy, the book in its 2nd chapter foresees the improvement of Nigeria’s traditional economy into a digital economy by engaging in digital tools to upgrade the ecosystem, to enable it to be an active member of the Global Digital Economy in the future.

It also predicts the transformation of the traditional economy into a digital economy through the deliberate application of digital tools to ensure that the ICT sector has the highest growth rate in the nation’s economy, and visibly contributes to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Chapter 3 of the book revolves around the understanding of the power shift of Nigeria’s wealth transition from mineral and natural resources into digital resources and innovations. The expression “Data is the new oil” has become a new identity for a nation that has depended on oil and now globally delving into digital innovation in all sectors to transform and develop the economy.

According to the author, both oil and technology play a significant role in powering the economy. Oil powers the industrial economy while the data powers the digital economy but with big data analytics and artificial intelligence, data is being refined to create insight and create wealth for the nation.

While oil is finite, data is always progressively in infinite bits which can be reused for different purposes at the same time.

For instance, it was observed by the author that leading companies and the richest men in the world today are not the standard oil resources of yesterday rather they are tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Thus, Nigeria’s smart citizens must delve to harness the opportunities in tech to develop the nation.

Smartphones, smartwatches, and gadgets used to count daily steps and calories are examples of datafication being applied to everyday life. For digital convenience and inclusion, there are many Google family apps available, including Google Maps for navigation and directions, Google photos for archiving, and Google Drive.

In addition, it is fascinating to see how private and public data use has gradually influenced the generation of personal and public information. Nigerians are now directed to online registrations and complaints portals, while it is common to hear smartphone users say hello to Siri or `Hello Google’ whenever they are too busy to type.

Chapters 4 & 5 of the book further elaborate on the structuring of datafication as a way of using ICT to address unemployment in Nigeria. A new strategy was conceived in the book to further entrench ICT in tertiary institutions by funding the institutions and entrepreneurship education.

This initiative is to encourage Nigerians to have unfettered access to ICT competency programmes and acquire internationally recognised skills and aptitude to fit into ICT jobs across the globe.

The adoption of datafication for the benefit of society cannot be overemphasized as priority is often given to proven skills rather than paper qualifications.

This is why the Minister restated the need for digital skill acquisition and readiness of the government through its initiatives like the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (NDIEC), and the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) under the supervision of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

This is to ensure that Nigerians are equipped with standard skills in digital technologies and business operations to end the menace of unemployment. This is evident in datafication of entrepreneurship, a method of digitizing daily transactions of the economy that will yield profits through online sales, purchases, and services by archiving and boosting data of daily transactions.

Chapter 6 outlines how technology can be used to eliminate the traditional approach to determining the population of a country during national censuses every decade. Through this innovative approach, accurate data collection will be ensured.

In terms of digitalizing the Nigerian electoral process, startups like Wardchat are quite remarkable. With the use of smartphones, this innovative application would enhance the participation of voters in the electoral process and enhance their engagement.

Furthermore, datafication has improved the interaction between human to machine and machine to machine. Thus, chapters 7 & 8 explained how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, Blockchain, Big Data, and others have integrated into the industrial revolution to sustain a profitable output to develop the digital economy.

Indeed the major challenge confronting datafication is cybersecurity. Thus, the author in the final chapter restated that the ministry, Nigerian Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), and others be further strengthened to protect private and public data from falling into wrong hands.

Zeenat Sambo writes from Wuye District Abuja

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TECHDIGEST – The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), has said that the recently released Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries and Conditions for Operating in Nigeria will provide opportunity to protect the fundamental human rights of Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in the country, as well as defined guidelines for the interacting on digital space.

Prof. Pantami who was represented by the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE said this at the Nigeria’s First Content Moderation and Online Safety Summit organised by the Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API) with the theme “The Challenge for Content Moderation and the Opportunity to Improve Online Safety in Nigeria”, in Abuja.

Reiterating the importance of ensuring a safer platform for online users, he refered to Joe Biden’s request to the owner of Facebook, who pleaded that Facebook should moderate misinformation on the platform, and Nancy Pelosi’s petitions to the House of Representatives requesting Facebook and Twitter to take-down videos of her ripping the SOTU speech.

The Minister mentioned the great American patriot Benjamin Franklin’s response when asked upon his emergence from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 “What form of government the United States was going to have. Franklin answered succinctly, a Republic if you can keep It”.

Pantami clarified that Franklin’s response came 70 years before the emergence of the Republican Party, which means that he was referring to the true meaning of the word “Republic”.

He elaborated that the new democratic republic is not just a new form of government but a government that needs vigilance and at times actions to protect and maintain it.

Elaborating on Republicanism, the Minister explained that it is a political ideology connected to the Roman Empire and it means an ideology that opposes having a group, holding control of unaccountable powers, that is domination over others which means a few like the Kings, Emperors, or Military dictators, this he compared to the Big Tech Executives noting that today there is a strange power dominating human.

He narrated an incident that happened in New Zealand about a facial recognition system that refused to issue a passport to an Asian persons thinking that their eyes were closed.

Essentially, in a democracy, he stated, there are three key things to the development of every individual these are, Power, Freedom, and Justice. In the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we shouldn’t allow anyone have unaccountable power over others.

“Today looking at the social media incidence before the US election, indicated that Big Tech has more power than the Government. Users are compelled to obey the Big Tech rules because of the restrictions and sanctions in its usage. For example, if you use Twitter there is a limit of the words you can tweet,” he said.

He emphasized that in a democratic setting citizens should have representatives elected by people to write rules rather than a few, according to him “This causes challenges such as the recruitment system being gender biased, or the recognition system being racist, and so on.”

“While we need modern Software Engineers, there is also the need for Social Engineers to control our social justice.” The summit, therefore, is timely and is expected to prompt lead ways to protecting the ungoverned online space.”

“From the period of John Ballos declaration in 1996, which explains how he predicted a new cyber world without government, to Eric Smith’s comment that cyberspace is an ungoverned space; to 2018 when Mark Zuckerberg said that the real question is neither if there is need for regulation or not, but what is the appropriate regulation?”

He concluded that those who control the online space must therefore be held accountable. “We need to look at technology as a citizen, how it impacts our life? What the Big Techs should control, and under what conditions? Because we believe that today’s technology is central to our social, economic, and political lives.

In his welcome remarks, the Director Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API), Barrister Kasim Sodangi, outlined the harmful ways the internet is affecting people’s lives.

He said, “we are at a crossroads due to the abuse of freedom given by the internet. In rhetoric he asked, do we regulate and clampdown? Do we educate more? What are the tools needed to educate people? How do we properly tackle misinformation and disinformation? These questions leave us to ponder because as a shared resource, the internet is meant to be enhanced and not restricted, so we are left to consider how we can effectively maximize its general usage.”

Julie Owono, the Execuitve Director of Internet Sans Frontiers (Internet Without Borders) and the Executive Director of Content Policy & Society Lab at Stanford University, opined that to have stability for a whole society and safety of online spaces, stakeholders must come together.

She said, “The government bodies and agencies must create laws, guidelines, and online content regulations as well as partner with private technology companies, civil society organizations, citizens, and academia.”

She emphasized that the Tech world must not act in silos, but rather in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to be really effective.

Julie stated that the need for transparency is paramount in online spaces. Making example of Twitter suspending Donald Trump’s account due to Trump inciting street violence and unrest in the American society through his tweets. According to her, this form of regulation help prevent insurgence and protects the safety of the citizens.

She affirmed the need of a governance model to ensure proper review and seamless taking down of harmful content on the internet.

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TECHDIGEST – The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) has assured key industry players and indeed Nigerians of the Federal Government’s commitment to create and enforce regulations that will Fast-track effective utilisation of Blockchain technology for the development of the Nigerian digital economy.

Prof. Pantami said this while delivering a keynote address on the Applications of Blockchain Technology for Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement at the American Business Council event, in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The Minister who was represented by Dr Salihu Abdulkareem Arsh of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), alluded to the fact that the theme of the event: “Blockchain for IP Enforcement; More than Crypto and NFTs” is apt and timely especially at a time when crypto currency is presently the headlines of financial losses.

READ ALSO: Pantami Unveils Book On Digital Innovation For Economic Prosperity In Nigeria

The Minister noted that in today’s knowledge based economy, an increasing share of business value is derived via intangible assets, which means success often depends upon the ability to manage and exploit IP.

He stressed that for that reason, businesses require managers to effectively acquire, govern and commercialize copyright-and patent-protected content.

“You would all agree that, traditional businesses that rely on IP-protected material are confronting internal and external factors that pose several key challenges. Internally, unsynchronized IT systems do not enable data to flow, creating friction to locate and comply with copyrights under control. Externally, firms are recently operating in more complex, and diverse business networks with the need to validate multiple IPs within a single transactions model”, he said.

Prof. Pantami highlighted the benefits of Blockchain technology which he said represent a paradigm shift in how various companies protect their information exchange, adding that emerging technology provides a secure and fault-tolerant distributed ledger platform for transactions.

“No doubt, Blockchain technology has evolved greatly since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008, the first decentralized peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Today, innovators in various fields are realizing the benefits behind this great technology. From medicine to agriculture, finance to governance, education to transport and across global supply chain; many sectors are looking for ways to integrate Blockchain into their infrastructures”, he added.

While observing that governments and businesses all over the world are realizing the powerful usability of Blockchain, Prof. Pantami affirmed that the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy as well as its parastatals are not left behind, as they are inclined to employ the statutory responsibility towards innovative technologies, to develop corresponding strategies for a healthy ICT ecosystem that encapsulate emerging technology such as Blockchain.

He said, “It may interest you to know that one of the Agency’s under my supervision, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has developed a National Blockchain Adoption Strategy that seeks to facilitate effective utilisation of Blockchain technology for the development of the Nigerian digital economy. The strategy outlines the roadmap and schemes for the adoption of the Blockchain technology by government in its digital transformation agenda in a way that supports efficiency, transparency, and productivity”.

Although, it is an established fact that the technology drives new businesses and service models, the Communications and Digital Economy Boss made it known that there is need to equally create and enforce regulations to protect citizens and ensure fair markets while letting innovation and business flourish.

He went on to register the Federal Government’s concern on how the technology can be used to foster healthy growth of the nation’s digital economy and safety through the right regulatory instruments and implementation strategy that drive the adoption of the technology by both public and private sectors.

“In this regard, we directed NITDA to develop a national infrastructure for the deployment of Blockchain solutions that integrate identity and incentive platforms, promote research and development, in addition, to focus on the skilling of the workforce, and create a procurement process to enable government agencies to adopt Blockchain solutions”, he noted.

As a way of exploring ways to develop regulatory actions that would strike the right balance between facilitating innovation and mitigating new risks, the Minister confirmed that the ministry has further directed NITDA to introduce regulatory sandboxes that enable participants to test products and services on a small scale in a controlled environment, reducing innovation costs and barriers to entry. These sandboxes, Pantami emphasized will also allow regulators to collect important information about innovative products before deciding which regulatory action to take.

“Through sustained engagement with stakeholders like you and many others, implementation of these regulatory guidelines would be enhanced and in turn, would engender a conducive regulatory environment for all players in the digital economy to thrive and fulfill their potential for prosperity and national development,” he added.

Meanwhile, Prof Pantami enumerated recounted that many IT issues still remain unresolved, such as “the interoperability of different Blockchain platforms, and legal issues such as data ownership, privacy, liability, and jurisdiction”.

However, Pantami expressed his belief that with engagements such as the event, all business stakeholders and IP communities would reap the full benefits of Blockchain technology to promote innovations, support anti-counterfeit and anti-piracy operations; grow businesses, create jobs; entrench security, reliability, and transparency in all processes models.

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