TECHDIGEST – The Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to address the issues surrounding the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS).

In March, Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), had said UTAS — the union’s proposed payment solution — failed three integrity tests.

But ASUU had insisted that UTAS scored 85 and 77 percent, which it said are “high-class grades in any known evaluation”.

Also, the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) chapter of ASUU had criticised the NITDA DG over his comments on UTAS and threatened to withdraw his degree certificate.

Reacting to the development in a statement signed by Yomi David and Adeniran Taiwo, TADI executive director and director of public relations, respectively, the group urged ASUU to review the proposed software and make the necessary adjustments for excellent performance.

“It should be noted that NITDA has a constitutional right as the only agency with the mandate to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardisation, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of information technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria,” the statement reads.

“In 2016, the agency issued Software Testing and Quality Assurance Framework and Guideline and furthermore, Section 10 of the Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT, 2019 provides detailed guidelines and expectations for Indigenous Software Development and Software Enabled Products and Services.

“Therefore, the rule of law and due process should not be jettisoned in the bid to get better service solutions for our university system. The testimonial of competence of NITDA in discharging her vital constitutional role over the years speaks for itself with the level of NITDA’s commitment and professionalism exhibited in carrying out its responsibilities.

“Several other indigenous software solution patents have enjoyed the verification and certification process through these quality assurance guidelines as stipulated by NITDA.

READ ALSO : ASUU Threatens To Withdraw NITDA Boss Degree Certificate

“It should be noted that quality assurance testing of any product is done to ensure the delivery of a high-quality end product and assures that the product is glitch-free before it is released. In view of this, we found out that the agency had to carry out 3 out of the 8 tests specified in the Software Testing and Quality Assurance Framework and Guideline.

“These tests are User Acceptance Test (UAT), Stress Test, and Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test (VAPT) in which a total of 687 test cases were generated with which 529 passed, 156 failed and 2 cautionary warnings were the outcome. However, this alone reveals that, for a payment solution platform which should be near 100% in default, has several loopholes of high risk vulnerabilities and informational risks that were identified.”

The group added that ASUU as an organisation is known to comprise personalities of high academic excellence and standards, and as such, the union should seek to embrace diligence in all its actions.

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TECH DIGEST – The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has said that digital technologies are facilitating the Anti-Corruption crusade of the administration of  President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, in Nigeria.

The minister, who was represented by Mrs Abimbola Alale, Mananging Director, Nigeria Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT), said this at the 2021 Pre-Democracy Day Conference with the theme “Appraising the Impact of President Muhamadu Buhari’s Anti-Corruption Fight on the Nigerian Economy since 2015”, organised by Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN) in collaboration with Transparency Advocacy Development Initiative (TADI) in Abuja.

Dr Pantami said government policies, such as; Treasury Single Account (TSA), Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Government Information Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Bank Verification Number (BVN), among others, are good success stories of ICT adoption to combat corruption. He stated that the implementation of TSA and IPPIS/BVN is saving the country billions of naira every month, and had facilitated the elimination of ghost workers in various MDAs.

“In Nigeria, ICT has supported the fight against corruption by raising accountability and transparency through online services, transparency or open data portals, crowdsource and online corruption reporting, service automation and digitalization”, he said.

While presenting a paper at the same event, The Director General/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, said, innovative ideas will help in curtailing corruption in Nigeria.
Abdullahi said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s commitment at the global level, led to Nigeria joining the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in July 2016 as the 70th country. The OGP is an international multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving transparency, accountability, citizen participation and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation.

The DG, who was represented by Usman Gambo Abdullahi, Director, IT Infrastructure Solutions at NITDA said, the administration has shown its commitment by launching the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS 2020 – 2030) for a Digital Nigeria.

He said, the goal of NDEPS is to promote the use of digital technologies to enhance transparency and anti-corruption, which is at the heart of the digital economy.
He noted that IT Projects Clearance Process of NITDA facilitated unprecedented improvement in IT Projects delivery in Federal Public Institutions, which resulted in saving over 22.5 Billion Naira for the Federal Government.

The IT Regulator’s CEO cited the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS 2017-2021), which is anchored on 5 Pillars namely; Prevention, Engagement, Ethical Re-orientation; Enforcement, Sanctions and Recovery; and Management of Proceeds of Crime. Adding that; “in each of these, efforts were made to ensure adequate utilization of ICT towards their realization”.
He also stated that the shift in funds from resource-based and physical economy to a digital economy requires a supply-demand matching approach to digital resources and market-creating innovations as mentioned earlier.

“On the aspect of supply, we are working to ensure government services are digital, end-to-end. We are working with National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), to increase enrollment drastically. The identity enrollment database has grown to 54 million. We want to ensure all Nigerians have a digital identity in the coming years. We are providing an enabling environment for last-mile broadband penetration. There are about 150 million internet users with about 42.93% broadband penetration,” the DG said.

“On the demand side, we are focusing on digital literacy and the skills required to uptake digital services across different levels of the masses. We are creating activities that will increase the demand for digital content and services by the citizens. Our strategy is to focus more on market-creating innovations that would impact the economy, create massive jobs and lift many Nigerians out of poverty. Ultimately, this principle will reduce corruption in our systems and help us develop as a country,” he added.

The Conference Coordinator and President of GICN, Barr. Edward E. Omaga, during his welcome address said the essence of the conference was to painstakingly appraise the effort of President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration towards combating the menace called corruption.

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TECH DIGEST – A civil society group, Transparency Advocacy For Development Initiative, has stated that the ongoing National Identity Number registration and linking with the SIM cards nationwide must continue and the government must not allow foreign and domestic elements to frustrate the process.

TADI on Monday in Abuja added that some “criminal elements” who were working to frustrate the process were behind the travails of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami.

Embattled Pantami has been in the eye of the storm for about a week over his controversial Islamic teachings which reportedly lent credence to terrorism activities and killings – a stance which has forced a cross-section of Nigerians to demand for his resignation.

TADI, in a release on Monday by its Director, Ambassador Yomi David, stated that it was aware that some elements were working hard to frustrate the NIN process and linking to SIM cards and were presently fighting hard to have the minister removed from office.

The civil society said, “We find it so outrageously demeaning for the unscrupulous elements fanning embers of discord to implicate the United States for credence to their allegations of links with terrorist organisations simply because the minister initiated measures towards curbing the trends of digital malfunctioning and insecure census system that works in tandem with the security architecture of the nation.

“Hence, this is causing the malicious attacks from those benefitting from a near-zero data bank of all inhabitants in the country, whether indigenes or foreigners. Without mincing words, it suffices to state that it emanated from the collaboration of criminal elements whose activities had being seriously combated by the ongoing compulsory linking of NIN to SIM cards of all mobile communication networks operating in the country.

“We are also compelled to call on the international community to disregard this campaign of calumny by the whims of the multinational communication companies whose nefarious activities are being checked by the recent policy introduced by the minister.”

On Sunday, the Peoples Democratic Party had urged the Department of State Security to invite Pantami for questioning and investigation over his alleged affiliations with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda

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