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Kashifu Inuwa: Three Years of Changing the Fate of IT in Nigeria

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Kashifu Inuwa: Three Years of Changing the Fate of IT in Nigeria

Kashifu Inuwa: Three Years of Changing the Fate of IT in Nigeria

By Mubarak Umar

Three years? Yes, three years as the Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and it is heartwarming to note that growing corps of well-educated, world class technocrats are coming to the public domain to help change the narrative in public service.

In these three years, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE defines diligence, hard work and dedication. His penchant for IT growth and vision-driven initiatives to see Nigeria grow its economy through digital technologies are unprecedented. He has demonstrated the purpose of encouraging Nigerians to embrace IT and use it as an enabler for their economic activities. He believes that IT as a source of inspiration, can be harnessed to develop new business value propositions.

As the Director General of NITDA, Inuwa has proved that Nigeria can be Africa’s largest digital economy. Since ascending the leadership of NITDA in August 2019, there has been an impressive implementation of the Agency’s Strategic Roadmap for the development of Nigeria’s IT sector envisioned by Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, as well as implementation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s core vision of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) through Information Technology.

Kashifu has been steadily building upon the foundation laid by the previous occupants of that office, driving the Agency to fulfil its core mandate in consonance with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) of the Federal Government.

To put Nigeria on a path to effectively operate a digital economy, NITDA, under the stewardship of Kashifu Inuwa mapped out a Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024), identified by the Agency as the fulcrum digital economy development.

In his numerous public presentations, Inuwa has spoken extensively about the pillars captured in the SRAP, namely Developmental Regulation; Digital Literacy and Skills; Digital Transformation; Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Cybersecurity; Emerging Technologies; and Promotion of Indigenous Content.

Undoubtedly, his achievements as Director General of NITDA especially in implementation of IT Regulation in the sector in the last three years are unprecedented. He walks the talks by ensuring that Nigeria maintains an automated IT Project Clearance (ITPC) and creation of user accounts for Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), thus, saving the Nigerian Federal Government billions of naira.

It is on recorded that Kashifu continued with the visionary leadership of Prof. Pantami of facilitating the implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), which resulted in the establishment of the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB). This action further introduced NITDA to international stage thereby earning the Agency the position of Vice Chair of the African Union Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA).

Inuwa knows the ICT global terrain deeply and he is very aware of the challenges, limitations and constraints keeping Nigeria – a nation of about 200 million people – lagging behind in the evolving world of digital economy. Against all the odds Nigeria’s IT sector faces, the NITDA DG has shown his indefatigable vision and passion to take Nigeria into the comity of nations, running on digital economy.

Under his watch, the Agency has developed several regulatory frameworks for IT development, majority of which have been published both in hard and soft copy.

The Agency embarked on the development of two regulatory frameworks for Information Technology development in government establishments. The project is to give rise to digital skills in educational institutions and rural areas of the country. In addition, Information Technology (IT) knowledge is integrated into the underserved areas and cities so as to develop human capital and provide universal access to knowledge with the aim of creating a knowledge-based economy.

Early 2020, just few months after his appointment, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic presented a major challenge to Nigeria and other countries across the globe, and the distinguished strategist faced the challenge by constituting a Tech4Covid Committee that explored measures to be deployed in cushioning the economic effect of the Pandemic on Nigeria’s digital enterprise. The Committee crafted a strategy that would later ensure the retention of about 100,000 ICT jobs and the creation of additional 30,000 jobs in the Post COVID-19 era.

With the needed strategy in place, the Agency has succeeded in programming, developing and mapping out digital processes to cushion the effect of Coronavirus since it is outbreak globally; the Nigeria COVID19 Innovation Challenge, an online innovation challenge that was set up to meet the challenges our society faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Creative minds across the country came together, experimented and built software solutions that helped address this crisis.

Furthermore, NITDA developed various digital educational contents that can be accessed remotely by thousands of Nigerians who were on lockdown, as well as strategies to assist the government in continuing its daily activities virtually. With all the challenges posed by COVID-19, Kashifu continues to provide able leadership to NITDA in discharging its duty of regulating, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and development of the growth of the Nigerian IT sector and digital economy.

In these three years of Kashifu’s reign as Director General, the Agency uncovered unfolded the potentials in Nigerian farmers through Federal Government’s initiative of National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA), a project aimed at changing the face of the agricultural sector in the country.

The National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture is an ecosystem-driven digital platform envisioned for the transformation of the agriculture sector in Nigeria. It is designed to help farmers and other agricultural ecosystem players navigate their journey across the agriculture value chain. This journey cuts across farm production to management, processing, harvesting, storage, marketing and consumption. Farmers were trained and empowered with digital devices and seeds funding, which also created direct and indirect jobs in the country.

NITDA also launched the National Adopted School for Smart Education (NASSE) to promote digital literacy and skills. 500 students and 30 teachers at Junior Secondary School Karshi benefited from the pilot scheme. The Agency also supervised the training of thousands of Artisans across the 6 Geo-Political Zones on digital literacy and phone repairs.

The Agency trained women on ICT and Entrepreneurship, People Living with Disabilities, each provided with Laptops (with pre-installed e-learning & graphics Software), Internet Dongles & Bag-Packs, direct jobs and indirect jobs were created; trained hundreds of Nigerians on Software, Mobile App & Web Development, and Entrepreneurship.

In addition to making an effort in IT development as well as enhancing the IT capacity of the citizenry, hundreds of IT Hubs, IT Parks, and Community ICT Centres were established, furnished and equipped with world class facilities across the states of the federation. The Agency, through its strategic relations with Tecpreneurs, supported start-ups, IT hubs and ecosystem builders through Nigeria ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Vision (NIIEV). In the process, NITDA’s programmes have created employment for Nigerian youths.

To ensure Nigeria’s pool of talents were not left behind, the Agency under his watch, established National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), to drive and support research, development, and adoption of Emerging Technologies in Nigeria.

The Centre is creating the required environment for Nigeria’s teaming youths; encourage innovation and indigenisation of technologies to help address the continuous reliance on foreign products and services which has negative impact on the country’s economy. It serves as a bridge between the government, industry, and the academia in providing research environment for creativity, idea integration, collaborative environment, development of ICT policies, processes and strategies.

Kashifu commissioned Digital Fabrication Laboratory (Abuja FabLab 1.0), a unit within the Centre that serves as one of its revenue-generating components. FabLab offers training and capacity-building programmes for the Centre’s staff and external Agencies requiring such services. While the FabLab serves all the entities within the ecosystem, it also maintains an open-door policy to the public, hence encouraging all digital innovators and makers to drive their ideas from inception to impact. It maintains an open access policy to allow the laboratory to serve as a digital innovation accelerator for all innovators and makers. It allows open-production and public access to aid innovation and entrepreneurship activities.

As a result of Kashifu’s commitment, Nigeria made history when it the Agency hosted the Key Generation and Handover Ceremony for Root Certification Authority (RCA) for Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA) and Country Verification Certification Authority (CVCA) of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI), signaling the commencement of Public Key Infrastructure Service Provision in Nigeria.

As a results of NITDA’s high productivity, performance, excellence in service delivery and impact on the nation IT sector, the Agency received the prestigious National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) Award from the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR. The honour is for the Agency to do more in getting all Nigerians on board the digital journey of the Federal Government. Interestingly, NITDA is the only government Agency that was honoured with this award.

These successes, certainly, have been achieved through the efforts of this distinguished personality who against all odds, leads his organisation to greater heights. As he celebrates three years in office, I join millions of Nigerians in congratulating him for these achievements. I also pray that the Almighty continue to guide him as he leads NITDA to greater heights and facilitates Nigeria’s transformation into a leading digital economy where citizens use digital technologies in creating wealth and prosperity.

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Africa

Customs hands over illicit drugs worth N117.59m to NDLEA

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Customs hands over illicit drugs worth N117.59m to NDLEA

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ogun Area 1 Command, has handed over illicit drugs worth N117.59 million to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The Comptroller of the command, Mr James Ojo, disclosed this during the handing over of the drugs to Mr Olusegun Adeyeye, the Commander of NDLEA, Idiroko Special Area Command, in Abeokuta, Ogun, on Friday.

Ojo said the customs handed over the seized cannabis and tramadol tablets to the Idiroko Special Command for further investigation in line with the standard operating procedures and inter-agency collaboration.

He said the illicit drugs were seized  in various strategic locations between January and November 21, 2024, in Ogun State.

He added that the illicit drugs were abandoned at various locations, including the Abeokuta axis, the Agbawo/Igankoto area of Yewa North Local Government Area, and Imeko Afton axis.

Ojo said that the seizure of the cannabis sativa and tramaling tablets, another brand of tramadol, was made possible through credible intelligence and strategic operations of the customs personnel.

“The successful interception of these dangerous substances would not have been possible without the robust collaboration and support from our intelligence units, local informants and sister agencies.

“These landmark operations are testament to the unwavering dedication of the NCS to safeguard the health and well-being of our citizens and uphold the rule of law,” he said.

He said the seizures comprised 403 sacks and 6,504 parcels, weighing 7,217.7 kg and 362 packs of tramaling tablets of 225mg each, with a total Duty Paid Value of N117,587,405,00.

He described the height of illicit drugs smuggling in the recent time as worrisome.

This, he said, underscores the severity of drug trafficking within the borders.

“Between Oct. 13 and Nov. 12 alone, operatives intercepted a total of 1,373 parcels of cannabis sativa, weighing 1,337kg and 362 packs of tramaling tablets of 225mg each,” he said.

Ojo said the seizures had  disrupted the supply chain of illicit drugs, thereby mitigating the risks those substances posed to the youth, families and communities.

He lauded the synergy between its command, security agencies and other stakeholders that led to the remarkable achievements.

Ojo also commended the Comptroller General of NCS for creating an enabling environment for the command to achieve the success.

Responding, Adeyeye, applauded the customs for achieving the feat.

Adeyeye pledged to continue to collaborate with the customs to fight against illicit trade and drug trafficking in the state.

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Economy

Customs intercepts N30m worth of PMS in Operation Whirlwind

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The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on Friday said that it had intercepted 849 kegs of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), worth over N30 million in retail price from Operation Whirlwind.

The Comptroller of Customs, Hussein Ejibunu, made this known during a news conference in Ikeja.

“Today, we have another seizure of 849 kegs of PMS containing 25 litres each. This translates to 30,225 litres with duty paid value at N30.225 million only at the NNPCL retail price.

“Today marks yet another success recorded by the operatives of Operation Whirlwind, Zone “A” Lagos/Ogun Axis.

“About five weeks ago, same PMS products were displayed before you here on the parade ground of the college where several seizures were made,” Ejibunu said.

“On this note, we wish to thank the National Security Adviser and the Comptroller-General of Customs for their unwavering support,” Ejibunu said.

The coordinator of the Operation Whirlwind said that two vehicles of means of conveyance were intercepted along with the seizures.

Ejibunu said that they evacuated 80 Jerry Cans each from a vehicle.

He assured the public that Operation Whirlwind remains steadfast in its efforts to clamp down on PMS smugglers, ensuring no room for their illegal activities nationwide.

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Africa

Ann-Kio Briggs Faults Tinubu for Scrapping Niger Delta Ministry

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Prominent Niger Delta human rights activist and environmentalist, Ann-Kio Briggs, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s decision to scrap the Ministry of Niger Delta, describing it as ill-advised and detrimental to the oil-rich region.

Briggs expressed her concerns during an appearance on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television.

“The Ministry of Niger Delta was created by the late (President Umaru) Yar’Adua. There was a reason for the creation. So, just removing it because the president was advised. I want to believe that he was advised because if he did it by himself, that would be terribly wrong,” she stated.

President Tinubu, in October, dissolved the Ministry of Niger Delta and replaced it with the Ministry of Regional Development, which is tasked with overseeing all regional development commissions, including the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), North-West Development Commission, and North-East Development Commission.

Briggs questioned the rationale behind the restructuring, expressing concerns about its feasibility and implications. “But that’s not going to be the solution because who is going to fund the commissions? Is it the regions because it is called the Regional Development Ministry? Is it the states in the regions? What are the regions because we don’t work with regions right now; we are working with geopolitical zones,” she remarked.

She added, “Are we going back to regionalism? If we are, we have to discuss it. The president can’t decide on his own to restructure Nigeria. If we are restructuring Nigeria, the president alone can’t restructure Nigeria, he has to take my opinion and your opinion into consideration.”

Briggs also decried the longstanding neglect of the Niger Delta despite its significant contributions to Nigeria’s economy since 1958. “The Niger Delta has been developing Nigeria since 1958. We want to use our resources to develop our region; let regions use their resources to develop themselves,” she asserted.

Reflecting on the various bodies established to address the region’s development, Briggs lamented their failure to deliver meaningful progress. She highlighted the Niger Delta Basin Authority, the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), and the NDDC as examples of ineffective interventions.

“NDDC was created by Olusegun Obasanjo…There was OMPADEC before NDDC. OMPADEC was an agency. Before OMPADEC, there was the Basin Authority…These authorities were created to help us. Were we helped by those authorities? No, we were not,” she said.

Briggs further described the NDDC as an “ATM for failed politicians, disgruntled politicians, and politicians that have had their electoral wins taken away from them and given to somebody else.”

Her remarks underscore the deep-seated frustrations in the Niger Delta, where residents continue to advocate for greater control over their resources and improved governance.

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