The Network of Advocates for Digital Reporting (NADIR) has lauded the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for drafting a ‘Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Internet Intermediaries’.

At a briefing in Kano, the group said the code will not only strengthen press freedom and maintain the dignity of information but will also curtail fake news and hate speech before and during the 2023 elections.

The Coordinator, Dahiru Mohammed Lawal, noted the online space needed to be made comfortable for everyone to address issues that cause panic in society and infringe on laws.

“This wouldn’t have come at a better time than in the wake of the 2023 general elections when information disorder and illegal contents will have a field day; when businesses are going digital without paying necessary dues; when indiscretion in online activities is high.

“An unregulated online space remains a recipe for civil unrest. The need for an instrument that ensures our unity is not exploited for pecuniary gains, while guaranteeing freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, is incumbent on all patriotic citizens.

“Behaviours that increase tension along ethnic biases, interreligious incitements, blasphemy and even secessionist tendencies that threaten security and lead to violence and wanton attacks thrive in an unregulated media space,” he said.

Lawal pointed out that while the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) regulates broadcast stations, the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) ensures the maintenance of the highest ethical professional standards in the print media.

“Why should the online platforms, especially social media, be free from the regulatory scrutiny?”, the coordinator asked, explaining hat other countries have taken stricter measures to curtail excesses on online platforms.

NADIR recalled that on June 16, Meta (Facebook), Google, Twitter and Microsoft agreed to take a tougher line against disinformation, deep fakes and fake accounts, under an updated European Union (EU) Code of Practice or face hefty fines.

Lawal said more than 30 signatories including advertising bodies have signed up for the updated code on disinformation as disclosed by the European Commission.

“Even the United States Government – the self-righteous custodians of free speech – has announced that it was establishing an interagency task force to fight harassment and abuse online.”

On the socio-economic benefits of the code of practice, Lawal said with the digital space contributing about 18% to Nigeria’s GDP, compelling big techs to abide by local laws and pay the requisite tax would increase government revenue.

“Regulations will promote more local content, create jobs and breed more corporate and law-abiding citizens who are mindful of our collective sensitivities and unity.

“While NITDA has clarified that the code is a draft and subject to inputs, we urge stakeholders to contribute appropriately in order to achieve a mutually accepted code of regulations without recourse to the fear of tackling freedom of speech”, he added.

Out of the millions of banked Nigerians, only 8% use debit cards while the rest are averse to this technology due to high POS failure rates, delayed settlement periods, card fraud, low literacy levels, etc. Cash is still king as globally four billion people remain unbanked or underbanked. These people miss out on the benefits of making digital payments and building spending history to get access to credit.

Now, imagine not worrying about this as you can pay for groceries, lunch, fuel, etc with just your face, fingerprint, or palm. The past years have seen Africa embrace new ways to better their payment experience across the board and Nigerian-based startup Torche is answering to this development with its biometric-enabled solution.

Led by CEO Sisan Dorsu, Torche is giving the average African an opportunity for growth and financial inclusivity, as long as they can be identified. “The mission is to see a society where everyone can pay as themselves,” she says, “not everyone has a card, bank account, or high literacy levels but they do have faces, fingerprints, and palms.”

Before moving to the United States at age 7, Sisan was tuned in to the harsh realities of people around her as she vividly recalls “going to school and seeing children hawk instead of also going to school at that time of the day”. This would catalyze an unease that has followed her everywhere to dream up “building an Africa where all children have access to systems that allow them to not just live and survive, but to also be able to dream and achieve their full potential”. As an adult, her motivation had extended towards “worrying about what Africa will be like in the next decade if the downstream and unbanked population are never given access to financial services”.

Another lightbulb moment that would crystallize Sisan’s penchant for creating solutions for Africa could be traced back to an encounter with the former first lady of the US, Michelle Obama in 2009, following a visit to the Children’s National in Washington D.C where Sisan battled kidney failure. “I watched carefully as she signed my pillow – ‘Dream Big Dreams’,” she muses, “since that day, I’ve always reflected on how my fate of recovering might not have been so lucky if I was treated within our broken health systems back in Nigeria.” This would spur Sisan’s engrossment in Pan-African initiatives from high school to this moment where she’s taking the reins to champion Africa’s first biometric-enabled payment solution, “I think when you overlook a massive population, instead of digging deeper into building solutions for their problems, we won’t be able to uncover many situations that will also apply to the rest of the world.”

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While Nigeria’s tech startup ecosystem is awash with visionaries who’ve dreamed up and created world-class solutions that are impacting the lives of many, female founders consist of only a small fraction. Sisan joins the growing number of women taking the helm in Nigeria’s burgeoning tech scene, as she ushers Africa into an era of cardless payment. She is audibly intentional about journeying this course alongside other women. “It’s my priority to have strong female talents on this journey,” she says, welcoming Tomi Omowole, who will wield her 9-year stint to lead marketing efforts at Torche. Being in the driver’s seat for an uncharted product, in a male-dominated industry and largely patriarchal society, is no walk in the park, and Sisan has admittedly been “scared some moments than others”. “How many black female-led fintech startups have attempted to build proprietary biometric payment technology?” she quizzes but however maintains that “building for the everyday African who goes to sleep and wakes up thinking about how to survive despite their fears” is enough to keep her going.

In April, Torche was enlisted as part of the Techstars NYC Spring 2022 cohort, where the founding team spends the intensive 12-week program working alongside other entrepreneurs, mentors, and coaches to strengthen their business. They’ll also join an ever-growing Techstars network of global founders, leaders, and investors. This is not just a feather in the cap for Sisan and her co-founders Gbenga Oni and Fawaz Abaniwonda, it also bolsters Torche’s long game of edging the present POS technology. “I learnt that good survivors aren’t immune to fear; do they move forward or do they freeze? What matters is what they do next,” Sisan recounts applying and not making even the first stage last year.

Being the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Torche, Sisan is only an inch into building the Africa of her dreams, starting with biometrics as she promises to “keep going to sleep every night and waking up every day thinking about how we continue to move forward towards achieving our vision of financial access and industry for every African on the continent”.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently conferred the prestigious National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) Award on the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). It was in recognition of productivity, hard work and excellence through impressive achievements that have led to the facilitation of a sustainable digital economy.

The award could not have come at a better time. Public service delivery remains crucial to dispensing dividends of democracy to the populace and NITDA, without doubt, stands out among Nigeria’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The institution, led by Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has transformed the Nigerian economy to the extent of contributing the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the history of Nigeria. In the past three to four years, no public institution has arguably beat this performance.

As the apex regulator of Information Technology (IT) under the supervision of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Pantami, NITDA has entrenched digitization in the ecosystem including MDAs. It is nurturing digital startups to be globally competitive, promoting local content and ensuring data protection.

Created in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and coordinate IT development, the agency derives its mandate from the NITDA Development Act (2007).

On August 20, 2019, President Buhari appointed Kashifu as the DG after Pantami was nominated as a member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and assigned the Communications and Digital Economy Ministry.

Kashifu has been steadily building upon the foundation laid by his predecessors, driving the agency to fulfil its core mandate in consonance with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).

The official is responsible for leading the implementation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development programmes that advance IT related operations within the public and private sectors.

Kashifu, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) trained strategist, is the first Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) in Nigeria’s public sector. He undertook leadership and management courses at Harvard University, United States, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and IMD Business School in Switzerland.

He assumed various positions in technology engineering at the Galaxy Backbone and later worked as Technology Architect at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2014. While there, Kashifu doubled as Technical Assistant to the then NITDA chief, Pantami.

The DG is working towards the actualization of the Digital Nigeria project, the commencement of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) for Root Certification Authority (RCA) for Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA), and Country Verification Certification Authority (CVCA).

The agency has launched programmes such as the Nigeria Digital Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startup Policy (NDIESP), NITDA Digital Innovation Entrepreneurship Centre, and the state-of-the-art Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR).

The NCAIR is a special facility for the promotion of research and development on emerging technologies and their practical application to provide solutions to Nigeria’s domestic problems.

Along with its modern fabrication laboratory, the innovation and research facility is focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Drones, Internet of Things (IoT) and other emerging technologies, targeted at fulfilling the objectives of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).

Under Kashifu, NITDA has held capacity building schemes for thousands of artisans, IT centres managers and journalists, apart from periodic innovation contests such as Future-Hack, where participants receive funding and mentorship to develop marketable products and services.

The agency also set up a Virtual Startup Clinic, mostly for young people to meet with mentors, successful entrepreneurs, investors, industry specialists, business consultants and hub operators to solve challenges faced during the pandemic.

NITDA also floated the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) initiative to take small scale farmers to commercial level using a performance-based approach.

The parastatal has demonstrated quality leadership as affirmed by the presidential honour; its strides and notable impacts are laudable. The NPOM award will be the first of many, going by outstanding technology-driven initiatives.

• Dahiru M Lawal, Coordinator, Network of Advocates for Digital Reporting (NADIR), writes from Kano

BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organisation committed to transparency and accountability, has conducted a data analysis training for selected journalists in Lagos.

The training aims to equip them with critical skills in handling, interpreting, and presenting data-driven stories.

The intensive four-day training, led by the Project Manager at BudgIT, Folasayo Onigbinde, focused on empowering journalists to harness the power of tools like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets for impactful journalism.

The training, which took place in collaboration with FITILA, introduced participants to the full spectrum of the data analysis process from collection and wrangling to visualisation and storytelling.

“The goal is to help journalists move beyond anecdotal reporting and use data as a tool for advocacy, public education, and accountability,” Onigbinde said during the opening session.

Topics covered included database creation, use of key Excel functions such as VLOOKUP, INDEX MATCH, SUMIFS, and pivot tables, as well as data cleaning, validation, and dashboard building.

The final day focused on visual storytelling with charts and dashboards, culminating in a capstone project where participants were asked to develop a dashboard relevant to their beat or newsroom needs.

To ensure practical learning, hands-on sessions ran throughout the course, and participants were given access to practice datasets and post-training support for one month.

The programme will conclude with a group presentation session where trainees will showcase their individual data projects.

One of the participants, a health journalist, described the training as “transformational,” noting that “being able to clean, analyse, and visualise data opens up new storytelling opportunities that can drive policy conversations.”

FITILA, the technical partner for the programme, has previously collaborated with international bodies including the British Council, UKTech Hub, and WAVE, in conducting research and training projects across Nigeria.

Recently, at the National Students Security Summit 2022, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami reiterated the use of emerging technologies as veritable tools which Nigeria can capitalise on in combating insecurity and enhancing economic developments.

He stated that Emerging Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Quantum Computing, Augmented Reality, Internet of Things and Robotics are exponentially growing and finding new applications in an ever-increasing number of sectors, including the way people receive, exchange and process information for security activities.

Blockchain and other emerging technogies as the next available options can help reduce the scourge of insecurity and enhance economic development in the Nigeria.

Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that makes it easier to record transactions and track assets in a business network. An asset can be either tangible (such as a house, car, cash, or land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding).

On a blockchain network, virtually anything of value can be tracked and traced, lowering risks and costs for all parties involved. This technology enables cryptocurrencies (digital currencies secured by cryptography) such as Bitcoin to function in the same way that the internet enables email.

Blockchain is more than just a database. It is a new technology stacked with ‘digital trust’ that is revolutionizing the way we exchange value and information across the internet by eliminating the ‘gatekeepers’.

The technology is ideal for delivering information because it provides immediate, shared, and completely transparent information stored on an unalterable ledger that can be accessed only by permitted network members.

A blockchain network can track orders, payments, accounts, production, and much more. And because members share a single view of the truth, you can see all details of a transaction end to end-to-end.

Fraud and cyberattacks can exploit record-keeping systems. Data verification can be slowed by a lack of transparency. And, with the advent of IoT, transaction volumes have skyrocketed. All of this slows business and depletes the bottom line, implying that we require a better solution.

As a member of a members-only network, you can trust that you will receive accurate and timely data from the blockchain and that your confidential blockchain records will be shared only with network members to whom you have specifically authorized access.

All network participants must agree on data accuracy, and all confirmed transactions are sacrosanct because they are permanently recorded. A transaction cannot be deleted by anyone, not even the system administrator.

The technology is going to change the world around us. So, we have to understand what it has to offer.

Blockchain is a network that runs on nodes. The blockchain’s quality is determined by the quality of the nodes. Bitcoin’s blockchain, for example, is robust and encourages nodes to join the network.

The same cannot be said for a blockchain network in which nodes are not compensated. This indicates that it is not a distributed computing system in which the network is not reliant on the nodes’ activity and cooperation.

A distributed computing system, on the other hand, works to ensure that transactions are verified according to the rules, that they are recorded, and that they have the transactional history for each transaction. Each of these actions is analogous to the blockchain, but none of them have the same level of synergy, mutual help, or parallel.

However, while blockchain is a distributed network, it lacks the characteristics that make a distributed computing system so advantageous to businesses. Unlike their centralized counterparts, blockchains are not scalable.

If you have ever used the Bitcoin network, you are aware that transactions are delayed due to network congestion. This issue stems from blockchain network scalability issues. To put it another way, the more people or nodes that join the network, the greater the likelihood of it slowing down!

The way blockchain technology works, on the other hand, is changing at a rapid pace. Scalability alternatives are also being incorporated with the Bitcoin network, thanks to the appropriate progression of technology. The solution is to conduct transactions outside of the blockchain and only store and access data on the blockchain.

One of the blockchain’s most significant drawbacks has always been data immutability. Multiple systems, such as supply chains, financial systems, and so on, clearly benefit from it. However, if you think about how networks work, you will see that immutability can only exist if network nodes are dispersed evenly.

For instance, if an entity owns 50 percent or more of the nodes in a blockchain network, that entity can control it, making it susceptible. It also has the issue of data that cannot be erased after it has been written. The right to privacy is guaranteed to everyone on the planet. If the same person uses a digital platform based on blockchain technology, however, he will be unable to delete the trail from the system when he no longer wishes it to be there.

In other words, he will never be able to completely erase his traces, therefore jeopardizing his private rights.

It is difficult to implement and manage a blockchain project. Going through the entire procedure necessitates a deep understanding of the business. They must recruit various experts in the blockchain industry, which creates an issue and is thus considered one of the blockchain downsides.

They must hire a large number of professionals in the blockchain industry, which creates a problem and is thus considered one of the blockchain’s downsides. Not only that, but they must also train their current employees on how to use blockchain, as well as guarantee that the management team comprehends the complexity and results of a blockchain-based firm.

In comparison to the initial generation of blockchain technology, there are newer blockchain solutions that provide superior solutions.

For example, Ethereum addressed inefficiencies by migrating to a more advanced blockchain technology solution that includes smart contracts for automation. It also implemented Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which is more efficient than Proof-of-Work (PoW).

There is also Hyperledger, an open-source movement spearheaded by The Linux Foundation to bring all blockchain technologies under one roof.

This will make it easier for businesses to implement blockchain technologies, such as frameworks, tools, and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Fom Gyem writes from Wuye District Abuja