Day: July 5, 2024

The Federal Government has announced plans to develop a home grown blockchain technology to ensure protection of the national database for enhance security.

Malam Kashifu Inuwa, Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said this on Thursday when he received a delegation from the Law School of University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that part of the proposal of the group was engagement of the private sector to develop a home grown blockchain ‘Nigerium.’

Inuwa saud the agency had reconstituted the National Blockchain Policy Steering Committee (NBP-SC) in May this year, to domesticate the technology according to the country’s needs.

‘Blockchain technology is evolving and have increasingly transformative application and we are leveraging its dynamic potential.

‘We have the steering committee which you’ve consulted. It’s good you present this research to the steering committee, get their buy in for adoption and furthe
r implementation,” he said.

The Team Lead, Ms Chanu Kuppuswamy said that an indigenous blockchain technology system would ensure the interest and decisions about the country’s national database, were not compromised by foreign co-developers.

Kuppuswamy said an indigenous blockchain was like having a completely customised new product that is for the Nigerian terrain.

‘The product in this case happens to be a new blockchain itself, which you can either take an existing blockchain and do a smart contract on it.

‘In this case, the smart contract is controlled by Nigerian government on behalf of the Nigerian people.

‘In the situation where the underlying blockchain is not controlled by the Nigerian government or written with the interest of people at heart, it is basically a commercial product,” she said.

According to her, interest of the developer will always be considered to benefit the commercial developers.

She recommended for Nigeria to develop an equivalent of Ethereum, adding that, ‘we hope that NI
TDA can consider developing an indigenous blockchain whereby we can collaboratively enlist all the public service and the land registries of the 36 states and the FCT.

Also, Dr Bukola Faturoti, a member of the delegation, said that Nigeria was due for a data embassy to back up her national data.

Faturoti explained that a data embassy was a server hosted in third party country, likened to Nigerian embassies in different countries.

‘This time, Nigerian data is located in foreign countries, whereby the law of your country is what is operational in that place.

‘A data embassy will ensure digital continuity because the data of your country is susceptible to attack and it can also be affected by natural disaster and other activities such as cyber-attack.”

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), in collaboration with its partners has donated an ultramodern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre to the Sa’adu Zungur University, Bauchi.

The project was being implemented in collaboration with the NNPCL, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), TotalEnergies, Nigeria Agip Oil Company, and Offshore Lab. (TOL).

The ICT centre was sited at the university’s main campus at Gadau community in Itas-Gadau Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

Mr Bala Wunti, the Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPC Upstream Management Services (NUIMS), said the gesture was being executed under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), designed to advance IT education and human capital development to support oil exploration in the North-East region.

Wunti, who spoke during the inauguration of the centre, said CSR has been a hallmark of the NNPC-SPDC Joint Venture (JV).

Represented by Sani Kabo, Head of Business Management Services, NUIMS, Wunti sai
d the joint venture partnership had bern investing in impactful CSR initiatives for many years across the country.

‘Today; the joint venture is in Bauchi to celebrate the completion of a state-of-the-art ICT Centre at the Sa’adu Zungur University Bauchi, formally (Bauchi State University, Gadau). This is indeed no mean feat and a milestone worthy of celebration.

‘Education has always been a cornerstone of societal development, and in today’s world, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an essential pillar that supports this foundation,’ he said.

Wunti said the NNPC-NUIMS has rallied its partners to support host communities towards human capital development and talents that would aspire to be the future of the industry.

The project, he said, is a glimpse of the positive impact of the oil and gas industry on the fortunes of Nigeria.

According to Wunti, with the upcoming Kolmani Integrated Development Project, Bauchi and Gombe are set to become the first two states in northern Nigeria, to join t
he oil-producing states in the country.

He lauded the management and staff of NUIMS and the NNPC-SPDC partners for their contributions towards the successful execution of the project.

While commending the Bauchi state government, community leaders, the management of the university and host communities for their support, Wunti called for effective utilisation of the centre to achieve its objectives.

Also speaking, Dr Osagie Okunbor, the Managing Director, SPDC and Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, described the centre as ‘a very important social investment project completed by SPDC JV in the North-East region.’

Okunbor, who was represented by Mr Igo Weli, General Manager, Corporate Relations Shell Companies in Nigeria, said they had implemented live strengthening interventions aimed at improving the social and economic wellbeing of the people in the region.

The managing director listed some of the interventions to include unveiling of the Primary Healthcare Centre, Nangere in Yobe, and the comp
letion of two live strengthening programmes to support displaced families in Gujba, Jere and Mafa in Borno and Yobe, respectively.

He said that all the projects had been completed and inaugurated early this year.

‘The collaboration of joint venture partners and the Bauchi State University has resulted in the success of the project, which is a social investment project that demonstrates commitment toward improving access to quality education for every Nigerian,’ he said.

According to Okunbor, the establishment of the centre has been driven by a vision to enhance educational infrastructure, support access to high demand IT skills and inspire a greater IT ecosystem in Bauchi state and the North-East region.

The two-floor ICT facility, he said, was designed to visually stimulate collaborative workspaces that foster an environment where the students engage in group work, brainstorming sessions, ideation meetings.

He added, ‘This promotes a collaborative work style essential for innovation teamwork.’

‘During
its construction, we engaged the services of several local contractors, who played important roles in executing various scopes of work.

‘They ranged from supplies, craftsmanship, medical services, and scaffolding. This is a testar quality of experience in our host communities,’ he said.

Okunbor added that some 75 staff and students had been exposed to hands-on data science, embedded systems and hardware engineering, to grow in-house and ensure that the facility is put to good use as well as foster sustainable development.

He said, ‘It is our sincere hope that the facility will help to strengthen teaching and research at this university.’

According to him, SPDC and its partners are committed towards achieving sustainable development through viable education, shelter, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention projects.

Gov. Bala Mohammed, who inaugurated the project, commended the gesture, adding that it would augment his administration’s IT education drive.

Mohammed said the state government had e
armarked over N100 million in the 2024 budget to fast track implementation of ICT development projects.

The governor was represented by Tajuddeen Baba-Ma’aji, the Director-General, Bauchi State Bureau for ICT Development.

Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Fatimah Tahir, commended the gesture, adding that it would improve the quality of learning, teaching and research in the institution. .

She promised to ensure the effective utilisation of the facility to advance IT education in the country.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has continued to engage member-countries of World Customs Organisation (WCO) on tackling the menace of importation of illicit arms and ammunition into Nigeria.

Abdullahi Maiwada, the National Public Relations Officer of NCS, disclosed this at a news conference organised by the Strategic Communication Inter-agency Policy Committee (SCIPC) in Abuja on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) set up the committee, while the conference is hosted by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

SCIPC is a committee of the spokespersons of the military, police, intelligence and response agencies.

Maiwada said the NCS Comptroller-General had promised to resuscitate the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Nigeria and the Turkey Customs Administration.

The MoU was on how to curtail the menace of smuggling of small arms and light weapons into Nigeria.

Maiwada also said the NCS had recently signed an MoU with General Ad
ministration of China Customs, adding that most of the drugs they intercepted came from India.

‘We are working towards having what is called Customs-to-Customs Cooperation, between those of us that are within the WCO.

‘Customs-to-Customs cooperation is part of the strategy to ensure trade facilitation and cut illicit trade.

‘So, we are working together with those Customs administration, and at the higher level, there will also be diplomatic engagement which is above us now,’ he said.

NAN reports that the NCS recently intercepted nine containers carrying offensive items, including arms, ammunition and illicit drugs at the Onne Port in Rivers.

Also, a 40-feet container carrying a total of 844 units of assorted rifles, 112,500 pieces of live ammunition, among other contraband, were intercepted.

According to the NCS, the intercepted containers, laden with rifles and ammunition have a duty-paid value of more than N4 billion.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), has advocated stronger collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to ensure recovery of unremitted revenues to the appropriate government coffers.

The Chairman of the commission, Mr Muhammad Shehu, stated this during a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ola Olukoyede, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Shehu said such collaboration would help to discover the areas of revenue leakages and ensure effective recovery.

‘We are calling on EFCC for more collaboration, not only in the area of enforcement but also intelligence gathering and data sharing with respect to government revenue from any source.

‘The collaboration with your organisation in the area of enforcement served as an impetus to the success recorded in our recovery exercise.

‘It is therefore important to bring to the fore that the collaboration between RMAFC and EFCC is crucial in addressing the challenges of unremitted revenue to the federation accoun
t,” he said.

Shehu also sought the assistance of the EFCC in respect of capacity building for the staff of RMAFC, especially in the area of forensic investigation.

He said that his organisation had observed that many Revenue Generating Agencies, described as Government Owned Enterprises (GOE) by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation are allowed to generate revenue.

He added that, ‘such agencies also spend from it and remit the balance as operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

‘This is not known to the constitution as all agencies are constitutionally mandated to remit the revenues generated in gross to the federation account as prescribed in section 162 (1) of the 1999 constitution as amended.

‘The constitution states that the federation shall maintain a special account to be called, The Federation Account into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation.

‘Except the proceeds from the personal income tax of the personnel of the Arme
d Forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry or Department of Government charged with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

The chairman said that the collaboration between RMAFC and EFCC in 2013, helped the commission to recovered unremitted and under-remitted revenues.

He said that the revenues were collected and deducted from the third party by the banks to the federation account covering a period from 2008 to 2015, where N74 billion was recovered.

He also disclosed that in 2021, the RMAFC engaged another set of consultants in synergy with EFCC and expanded the scope of recovery to include the public sector as well as oil and gas sector for a period covering 2016 to 2019.

‘The exercise has so far recovered over N216 billion to the appropriate government coffers and it is still going on’.

He said the RMAFC was established to ensure effective and efficient management of the nation’s revenue.

Responding, Olukoyede stressed t
he need for effective collaboration between the two organisations to ensure proper management of government revenue.

‘Nigeria can only move forward, when there is transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business.

‘Nigeria will be better if the right steps are taken. There are things we have been able to do together within the scopes of our mandate and your mandate as well.

‘Transparency and accountability should be embedded in our public life as a nation. That’s the only way we can move forward.’

According to him, ‘one of the things the two agencies are supposed to focus on more now besides recoveries is our systems.

‘There is nothing fundamentally wrong with us as Nigerians but with the system that we run here, if you bring in the people that make things work in their own countries to our system here, they will be corrupt.

‘There is an entrenched system here that encourages people to steal and it will appear as if nothing will happen. Let’s look at our system of revenue generation,
the system that allows leakages in mobilisation and appropriation of funds.

‘If we don’t look at the system, we will continue to chase shadows. Let’s get our priorities right. I see no reason why a ministry that has no business with project execution will be awarding contracts.

‘We should look at these areas and scale up our surveillance. In all of these let’s support the President in all his efforts to reposition this country.

‘The president relies on you and me and all the people he has put in a position of trust and responsibility,’ he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Strategic Communication Interagency Policy Committee (SCIPC), says the law enforcement agencies have apprehended 2,678 suspects for various offences across the country in June.

SCIPC is a committee of the spokespersons for the military, police, intelligence and response agencies set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

The update was presented at a news conference by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Thursday in Abuja.

Adejobi said that 93 kidnap victims had been rescued unhurt and reunited with their families, while 144 firearms and 3,031 ammunitions recovered within the period under review.

He said a team of detectives from the State Intelligence Department (SID), FCT Police Command, apprehended six suspects specialise in sales of registered SIM cards to criminals on June 13.

According to him, the suspects operate with other people’s identity to avoid being traced or tracked, adding that more than 1,100 already registered SIM cards, three regi
stration machines and other gadgets were recovered from the suspects.

Adejobi said that operatives of the FCT command also apprehended one Ikechukwu Didi, 54, from Enugu State who specialises in gun running and recovered seven automatic pump action short guns and 1,000 rounds of live cartridges from the suspect.

He said the police made significant strides, arresting suspects involved in the Ekiti killings and the mastermind of the 2012 Ado-Ekiti jailbreak on June 26.

‘On June 30, one Nigerian and three Indian nationals were kidnapped by unknown kidnappers at Ikenne area of Ogun state under heavy firing.

‘They were later rescued unhurt by the Police while two of the kidnappers were neutralised after a fierce gun duel with operatives who stormed their camp.

‘Recovered items include: 109 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, five AK 47 rifles, eight AK 47 magazines, Two cell phones.

‘Equally, on June 13, operatives of the NPF-NCC arrested three suspects who hacked JAMB website granting fake admissions letters to ca
ndidates, which were used to secure admission into tertiary institutions and mobilization into NYSC illegally.

‘The arrest also led to the recovery of four domain websites used by the suspects.

‘The suspects have been charged to court while efforts are on to clamp down on other similar syndicate,” he said.

Adejobi said that four suspected illegal miners were arrested on June 17, in Anambra, showcasing the government’s unyielding efforts to combat illegal mining activities.

According to him, the Federal Government has unveiled 350 additional operatives on June 14, to bolster mining marshals, demonstrating its commitment to tackling illegal mining activities.

Dr Peter Afunanya, Director, Public Relations and Strategic Communications, Department of State Services (DSS), said the agency had been proactive in providing intelligence in tackling the security challenges confronting the nation.

Afunanya said the service had also engaged in several combat operations to deter criminals from committing mayhem in s
ome parts of the country, and urged Nigerians to support the fight against insecurity.

The Spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), ACC Abubakar Umar, dismissed allegations that the service had denied the detained Binance official, access to medical care.

Umar said the responsibility of the service was unique as a security agency by keeping away those who are in conflict with the law.

‘We don’t just dwell only on their reformation and rehabilitation, but we have a robust healthcare system because if you check the morbidity rate and the mortality rate in our custodial centers, I will say is 0.1 per cent.

‘For Binance chief, he is not under any serious health condition, he is fine with us, and he will continue to be fine with us,” he said.

On his part, the Spokesman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), Mr Dele Oyewale, said the planned protest by some groups had a potential of violence and underlying motives.

He accused those being investigated and prosecuted by the c
ommission of making efforts to discredit the anti-graft agency.

According to him, about 259 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have come out publicly to say that they are not going to support the protest, saying that their moral base was totally wicked. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria