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Tag: knowledge

  • Okebukola laments teachers’ poor content knowledge

    Okebukola laments teachers’ poor content knowledge

    Teachers in Nigeria need to up their skills in knowledge, pedagogic knowledge and pedagogic content knowledge, says former Executive-Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Peter Okebukola.

    Okebukola said three variables were key to achieving quality education delivery at a workshop by the Department of Science Education and Technology, Faculty of Education of the Lagos State University.

    “Current studies have shown that Nigerian teachers are very poor in the three variables, which include content knowledge, pedagogic knowledge and pedagogic content knowledge,” said Okebukola on the topic: “Teachers’ improvement workshop towards excellence in public examinations”.

    The workshop drew teachers and school managers from private and public schools in Lagos State.

    Okebukola said teachers could be blamed for shallow content Knowledge and lack of awareness of techniques for marking examination scripts by WAEC, NECO and NABTEB. He said students, the Federal Ministry of Education, examination bodies and parents, also share in the blame.

    The Professor of Science Education expressed optimism that the workshop would deepen participants’ knowledge in the three areas and also expose them to how scripts are marked.

    Acting Head of Department, Science and Technology Education, Dr Tunde Owolabi, said the workshop was designed to arrest perennial poor performance of students in core subjects.

    Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof Fidelis Njokanma, who represented the Vice-chancellor, Prof Olanrewaju Fagbohun, drew a distinction between a teacher’s content knowledge and his ability to deliver it well to learners.

    Njokanma said that the latter was more significant as it keeps learners’ interest alive.

    “The kind of result we expect from the teachers who attend the workshop and subsequent series, is for them to be able to say, before now I was achieving 50 per cent from my students in WAEC and NECO. But now, it has climbed to 80 per cent,” he said.

  • Zinox chief urges Buhari on knowledge economy, others

    Zinox chief urges Buhari on knowledge economy, others

    The Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo-Stan Ekeh has urged the incoming government of Muhammadu Buhari to build a knowledge-driven economy, invest in infrastructure and rebuild the ailing national economy to boost development and economic prosperity of the people.

    Ekeh, who spoke in Lagos during the official unveiling of the partnership between Technology Distributions (TD), a subsidiary of Zinox Technologies and EMC, global players in the data storage field, said the nation will witness technological explosion soon. According to him, with a population of 180million people without birth control, he said the nation is now breeding kids that are “digital from birth.”

    He assured the partners that the worst is over for the country as the new leadership will do the needful to oil the engine of the  economy, adding that the strategic initiative will go a long way in enhancing the profile of technology distribution and penetration on the continent for the benefit of all.

    Managing Director, EMC, Levant and Emerging Africa Region, Mr. Nazim Fraijat, said the addition of TD to EMC’s Global Business Partner Programme is in line with the organisation’s desire to deepen the pace of technological innovation in the West African sub-region and on the continent as a whole.

    He said: “We are happy to officially welcome Technology Distributions into our Business Partner Programme. Our delight further stems from TD’s status as one of the biggest and most structured ICT distributors in Nigeria and the West African region as a whole.

    “In view of our desire to make further in-roads into sub-Saharan Africa, we are confident that this partnership with TD will undoubtedly accelerate the rate of access to the wide range of innovative solutions that EMC is known for world-wide.”

    General Manager, EMC West Africa, Mr. Nicholas Travers, who delivered the keynote presentation, traced the organisation’s global trajectory and competence in the areas of storage, cloud computing, data security, content management and Big Data. According to him, EMC which is already a renowned global leader in the storage and information technology (IT) field, also has key interest in West Africa and Nigeria in particular.

    In his view, this interest is justified by the short space of time in which EMC has expanded its operations in Nigeria, going from having a single employee in 1999 to employing about 45 workers at present, while maintaining offices in Nigeria and Accra, Ghana.

    Ekeh said the pact with EMC serves to reaffirm TD’s prime position as the major driver of technological revolution in Africa. Ekeh, who commended EMC’s growth after just six years of operations in the country, also encouraged solution providers and resellers to take advantage of the unique opportunity offered by the partnership to grow their businesses.

    He said: “TD has maintained its position as the leader of the ICT distributor space over the years despite strong competition in the market place. This is why we see this partnership with EMC as strategic as it will go a long way to expand access to technology on the continent, especially considering the status of EMC as a major player in the global IT scene.

    “I wish to encourage all of our solution providers and resellers to take advantage of the unique partnership being officially unveiled, especially in view of the sheer scale of TD’s wide reach and after-sales support infrastructure which is unmatched in the sector as well as the innovative solutions in storage and data which EMC brings to the table.

    “Despite the current state of pessimism in the economy due to falling oil prices and the fluid state of the naira, I must reassure you that there is much to be hopeful about in Nigeria’s business space. We are Africa’s biggest economy and we have the right calibre of people in the incoming administration who will build on the gains recorded by the outgoing administration.”

    Managing Director, TD Solution, Mr. Etiene Etukudoh, who spoke about TD’s strong market presence and brand portfolio, also expressed delight at the partnership,  affirming its strategic importance as the company enters its 16th year of operations.

  • Quest for the knowledge worker

    In 1959, Peter Drucker, an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author wrote that “the most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity.” It is therefore not surprising that today’s world has so changed that catching up with change is proving a daunting challenge for nations, organizations and even individuals.  We are thus living in an era that makes mockery of previous eras. Making progress in an era like this requires skills that take time to acquire.

    Following the crash of oil price in the global market, there have been calls from many quarters for the diversification of the economy and the need to move away from our mono culture economic strategy. I am pleased with this development which is now forcing us to look inward and come up with strategies – immediate, short and long term – on how to survive in a terrain that is totally alien to us.

    The oil price crash opened up our flanks and showed how vulnerable we are. It has also brought into sharp focus the years of neglect of our varsities and polytechnics which are the incubators in which knowledge workers are produced. This crisis further shows that we already have our work cut out for us. How do we produce these knowledge workers with our dilapidated infrastructure? What do we do with the hundreds of thousands of half-baked graduates already churned out by our ill equipped institutions? We must grapple these and other tough and critical questions in 2015 and beyond.

    Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. They include scientists, engineers, academics, software engineers, doctors, architects, public accountants and lawyers. They are so referred because they “think” to earn their living. What differentiates knowledge work from other forms of work is its primary task of problem solving that requires a combination of convergent, divergent, and creative thinking.

    In the last two centuries, we’ve had two major industrial revolutions – the first and second industrial revolutions. The first Industrial Revolution was characterized by machines that extended, multiplied, and leveraged man’s physical capabilities. With these new machines, humans could manipulate objects for which muscles alone were inadequate and carry out physical tasks at previously unachievable speeds.

    On the other hand, the second industrial revolution is based on machines that extend, multiply, and leverage our mental abilities. A remarkable aspect of this new technology is that it uses almost no natural resources – a disadvantage to a raw material producing continent like Africa.

    Developed nations have already perfected Silicon chips which use small amounts of sand and other readily available materials. Indeed, software uses virtually no resources at all. The value of such technology lies primarily in the knowledge governing the design of the hardware, software, and databases that constitute our intelligent machines, and in the ability to continue advancing these designs.

    It is therefore not surprising that today a sector like manufacturing is dominated by its knowledge content, not by natural resources or labour. Modern factories now have delicately programmed robotic assemblers and material handlers to recognise the increasing dominance of knowledge as a cornerstone of wealth.

    This decreasing importance of material resources has allowed countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore which lack natural resources but rich in knowledge and expertise, to prosper. While the first Industrial Revolution increased the demand for and the value of natural resources the second industrial revolution is doing the opposite.

    In my article last week, I made reference to McKinsey and Company forecast on the potentials of African economies – including Nigeria – and how they will grow by 2020. But the sad part is that the forecast has already started emanating, however, it is foreigners that are reaping the benefits. A classic example is the e-commerce platforms in the country which are dominated by Asians. I had a discussion with an Asian e-commerce entrepreneur and he told me they made a whopping N1 billion in sales during the “Black Friday” shopping spree last month!

    This was made possible because of the rapid global expansion of information-based transactions and interactions conducted via the Internet. As a result, there has been an ever-increasing demand for a workforce that is capable of performing these activities. In North America for example, knowledge workers are now estimated to outnumber all other workers by at least a four to one margin, this statistics is still growing.

    It is becoming clear that knowledge workers bring benefits to organizations in a variety of important ways. These include: analysing data to establish relationships, assessing input in order to evaluate complex or conflicting priorities, identifying, understanding and interpreting trends, making connections and understanding cause and effect.

    If the knowledge can be retained, knowledge worker contributions will serve to expand the knowledge assets of nations, organizations and individuals. While it may be difficult to measure, this increases the overall value of its intellectual capital. In cases where the knowledge assets have commercial or monetary value, companies have been known to create patents around their assets, at which point the material becomes restricted intellectual property. In these knowledge-intensive situations, knowledge workers play a direct, vital role in increasing the financial value of the company.

    It is a fact that the comprehensive nature of knowledge work in today’s connected workplace requires virtually all workers to obtain special skills at some level; these comes with obtaining degrees and proceeding on professional courses thereafter.

    To achieve this and lay a solid foundation, there’s the need to overhaul our education curricula to enable us to focus on lifelong learning to ensure students receive skills necessary to be productive knowledge workers in this 21st century.

    It is interesting to note some trends: raw materials now comprise about 20 percent of the value of musical instruments (down from about 60 percent a few years ago). This figure is rapidly declining as acoustic musical instrument technology is being replaced with digital electronic technology. Inventors are now transforming musical instruments from the 19th-century acoustic technology to the digital electronics of the late 20th century. This means that more than half of musical instrument industry revenues are now from electronic products. If we look at the typical electronic musical instrument (a digital home keyboard, for example), it is basically a computer with at least 90 percent of its value based on its knowledge content. By the end of this decade, it is estimated that more than 90 percent of all musical instrument industry revenues are expected to be based on this type of technology.

    It is also estimated that the cost of raw materials for automobiles is now down to 40 percent of total costs. Again, this figure will continue to decline with the increasing use of computers and electronics as well as the replacement of expensive and relatively simple body materials such as steel with inexpensive, yet relatively complex alternative materials such as new high-tech plastics.

    Other routine products as tables and chairs have a rapidly increasing knowledge content through the use of new materials and automated manufacturing methods that use little or no labour. Increasingly, the value of a manufactured product is its design and the software controlling its automated manufacturing process, all are driven by knowledge.

    As population grows, man is beginning to master the ability to grow crops without soil. This will offer the opportunity to build factories that can create in large volume anything that grows. Since it will be possible to easily control pests in such an environment, insecticides and other chemicals will not be needed. Bioengineering has been creating genetically modified foods for years now. The same techniques will create varieties that provide optimal nutrition, taste, and other desirable properties. The process of cultivation and harvesting will be, of course, fully automated.

    This bioengineering ‘landless revolution’ in agriculture has taken firm roots in the west. Man is now beginning to feel the impact of bioengineering, a technology of momentous potential – both promising and perilous. By tinkering with the fundamental structure of life, man has the ability to create new materials and new life forms that can cure (or cause) disease, enhance (or spoil) our environment, and otherwise transform our lives. This technology is clearly knowledge based and knowledge driven.

    The big question to ask is where are we in all these?

  • Super Eagles job: Cooreman: ‘My Knowledge of Nigerian football gives me an edge’

    Super Eagles job: Cooreman: ‘My Knowledge of Nigerian football gives me an edge’

    Maurice Cooreman is a name that needs no introduction to football followers in Nigeria after spending over a decade coaching in the Nigeria league.

    The Belgian in this chat with SL10 spoke on his ambition to coach the Super Eagles, talked about  Stephen Keshi  and  Amodu Shuiabu as well.

    Is it true you are interested in the role off coach of the Super Eagles?

    Yes I am interested in the job, after all lot of coaches applied for the job, why not me

    What makes you think you stand a chance?

    I have the experience because when you have stayed so long in Nigeria, you understand better the Nigerian way and that is why I insist I’m the right man for the job.

    It was rumoured poor health made you leave Gombe United, Are you ready health wise for such a challenge?

    I don’t know where the reports claiming I’m  ill  came from and I can’t walk, I spoke with some media men and they saw me walk straight, I am not struggling to walk maybe when I get my next job they will see me on the touchline.

    You’ve won all the domestic trophies in Nigeria, but can I say this is your last shot at the Eagles job?

    I will say it might be my last shot at the job because whoever that is given the job might have a two-year deal and I’m not growing any younger but I believe I stand a chance to be given the job.

    If you are made coach of the Eagles what will be your first step?

    My first step will be to get a right blend of home-based players and foreign base to compete for spots in the team , I am in a better position to pick the best local legs in the league than anyone else, some have played against me others I have coached at a time.

    The foreign base will solely be selected on current home and a situation like Moses pulling out injured but playing for Stoke City last weekend is one I won’t tolerate, if you are injured you have to report first to be ascertain by our doctors, I will only use committed players who are the best talents in Nigeria.

    What do you have to say about Keshi’s Sack?

    Well Keshi did very well with the team, won the Nations Cup and qualified the team for the World Cup and that is as good as any African coach can aim for but results have not gone his way lately and maybe that cost him his job.

    What’s your take on Amodu Shuaibu?

    It’s a short term role and with just two games to go, I think Amodu Shuaibu will do well going by his experience, I expect him to salvage what can be termed as a bad situation and qualify Nigeria for next year AFCON.

    You have won all domestic trophies in Nigeria, which one is more memorable to you?

    Two are evergreen in my memories, winning the league with an unfancied Ocean boys team and the Federation Cup triumph with Kaduna United, both were special because lifted the title against all odds.

    Thank you for your time

    You Welcome.

  • Knowledge vital to competitiveness, says NCS

    Knowledge vital to competitiveness, says NCS

    For Nigeria to remain competitive in the global economic space, knowledge, driven by muti-stakeholders collaboration, is required, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has said.

    According to a communiqué at the end of its 25th Annual National Conference in  Enugu,   stakeholders and attendees agreed that ICT is an enabler for growth and national development, capable of being the highest employer.

    It was also agreed that competitive advantage in business has always been driven by knowledge adding that multiple stakeholders need to collaborate to build strong partnerships in the transformation of Nigeria from information society to knowledge-based economy.

    The experts also averred that a knowledge-based economy is predicated on the production and dissemination of ideas and that there is the urgent need to recognise knowledge as a resource that can be codified, registered and made tradeable.

    In view of this, it was agreed that there was the need for a well-concerted investment in knowledge production through ICT and to achieve this requires immediate domestication and localisation of Nigeria ICT policy through the various tiers of government and laterally across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the government.

  • Between certificate and knowledge

    I watched Mr. Suli Breaks as he mesmerized me with his articulated and carefully composed poem. The title, though very straight to the point, left me really speculative. ‘‘I won’t let my exam results decide my fate” were the chilling wordings contained in the body of his poem as he painted a picture of life as a student in a university right in the heart of London. As I watched, I noticed how grim he felt as he pointed out excruciating facts that push students into believing that their results were their only hope for a successful life, in a world where money rules over almost everything. He also enjoined students all over the world to stand firm and say with boldness, “I won’t let my exam results decide my fate”.

    I said those words. I repeated them vehemently as he made them sound so strong in my head. But I don’t know if I really meant them. I don’t know if I meant them because it’s very hard to believe that in a country like Nigeria where certificates are worshipped far more than the actual knowledge, I could boldly say, “I won’t let my result decide my fate”.

    The Nigerian situation is far beyond the belief of those words. In this country, majority of students are faced with rather no other option than to believe that going to school and coming out with the best of grades can provide them the only master key to a successful life. This is so because of the bizarre emphasis that is being placed on certificates.

    This rather outrageous prominence, which is laid on certificates, out rightly make students  go out of their way to get the results, either by hook or crook! Students no longer read to know. A greater number of Nigerian students read, or rather cram, to pass exams alone and acquire certificates they certainly cannot defend. Little wonder we have graduates who find it difficult to fill Nigerian Youth Service Corps (NYSC) forms.

    I recall an incident where a youth corps member, who is supposedly meant to be a graduate, was asked to fill in her sex in a form, and then she asked if they meant the number of times she has ever been with a man. This is absolutely ludicrous!

    Students of nowadays don’t read”, that is always the rant in the air when ever situations like this are being brought up amongst our fathers. Besides, the fault is not totally on the side of Nigerian students. In as much as I am not trying to encourage the apathetic and laissez-faire lifestyle of some of our students, I want to also put it to our fathers that the problem is partly as a result of the Nigerian situation. Some male students go as far as bribing lecturers while some other ladies offer themselves cheaply just to get the grades. What would the grades be used for if we are made to understand that they won’t actually take us anywhere if we don’t totally grasp what we are studying in school?

    I can vividly recount the agony of one of my friends in school when his ‘almighty’ Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) fell a bit short of 3.50. It was precisely 3.48. As a matter of fact, he was so scared of his future. He related his fears, qualms and doubts to me amidst shivers. This was due the fact that he understood the Nigerian situation, the status quo that accentuates the importance of our certificates over our knowledge. That is really pathetic!

    I wonder when this would change. When a Nigerian student, who understood the pros and cons of what he or she has read in a tertiary institution, would not be judged by his or her certificate. When adverts for job interviews will say, “we need a mechanical engineer that knows nitty-gritty of what mechanical engineering entails”, and not “vacancy for a mechanical engineer with either a first class or a second class honours (upper division)”. Are we actually meant to apply our certificate while working or the knowledge we have acquired? I keep pondering on this question every time.

    I know that one day, this whole perception would change. But I know the change is not so near. Maybe Mr. Suli Breaks should visit Nigeria one of these days. Maybe he should come around and spend some time in any tertiary institution in this country so that he would particularly get to understand the real Nigerian situation. This would certainly help him to redefine his poem with the perception that his theory cannot actually work here in Nigeria. Not now yet, maybe latter.

     

    Uchechukwu, 300-Level Industrial Technology, FUT MINNA

  • How Nigeria can move up the knowledge economy ladder

    Many countries are deploying information communications technology (ICT) tools in solving economic, political, social and cultural challenges. The World Bank says Nigeria ranks 118th on its Knowledge Economy Index (KEI). Experts at the national conference of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) canvass that  steps be taken urgently to address the situation for Nigeria to move forward in  ICT, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    The World Bank ranking is frightening. No African country made the list of its global ranking of countries by Knowledge Economy Index (KEI), which is based on the four pillars of the Knowledge Economy (KE). Not even the United States, Britain or Germany made the list of the first 10 leading countries.
    The global lender identified education and training, information infrastructure, economic incentive and institutional regime and innovation systems as the four critical requisites for a country to be able to fully participate in the knowledge economy:
    It said an educated and skilled population is needed to create, share and use knowledge while a dynamic information infrastructure-ranging from radio to the internet-is required to facilitate the effective communication, dissemination and processing of information.
    It argues that a regulatory and economic environment that enables the free flow of knowledge, supports investment in ICT, and encourages entrepreneurship is central to the knowledge economy. Also, it believes a network of research centres, universities, think-tanks, private enterprises and community groups are necessary to tap into the growing stock of global knowledge, assimilate and adapt it to local needs, and create new knowledge.
    The liberalisation of the telecoms sector has been both a blessing and a curse. While foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow is estimated to have reached $35billion, subscriber figures have passed 130 million, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). With this growth has come the challenge of data security which experts say is a pre-requisite for a knowledge economy.
    President, NCS, Prof David Adewumi, said the black race was in a deep slumber when the industrial revolution swept across Europe and America. He said it would be unfortunate if ongoing ICT revolution was allowed to elude the country. According to him, creating a knowledge based economy in the country requires the support of the IT sector, lamenting that insecurity of data and lack of awareness were some of the issues to be addressed by stakeholders.
    Manager, Cyber Risk Services, Deloitte Nigeria Funmilola Odumuboni, who spoke on Security issues in a knowledge-based economy defined Data Information Knowledge as “Information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education; Facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.”
    She explains: “One, where organisations and people acquire, create, disseminate, and use knowledge more effectively for greater economic and social development; an economy where knowledge is recognised as the driver of productivity and economic growth. As a result, there is a new focus on the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance.”

    Security issues in a knowledge- based economy
    According to her, piracy, data protection, identity theft, industrial espionage, platform interoperability are some of the challenges of a knowledge based economy.
    She said: “In the economy of knowledge, data is collected about everyone and it is a prime currency for activities and business. Protection of this information/data within the economy therefore, has to be of topmost importance.”
    According to her, the inability to know the people who has access to information; what information is being accessed; which information is flowing out of organisations and nation; and how this information is flowing out.
    The need to protect data from threat sources within and outside organisations and institutions is underscored by the importance of protecting the entire organisation.

    Piracy
    Odumuboni said one of the biggest security issues that would spring up from a knowledge-based economy is piracy. The reliance on knowledge as a means of exchange makes susceptibility to piracy a grand and growing problem.
    “Piracy is the act of illegally copying someone’s product or invention without permission. The BSA and IDC, global software piracy study revealed that the commercial value of unlicensed PC software installations totaled $62.7 billion globally in 2013,” she said.
    According to experts, piracy is not restricted to software alone, it covers several types of intellectual property including but not limited to organisational and aational trade secrets, movies, music, software source code and inventions products.
    Piracy will lead to loss of revenue, killing of innovation, reputational damage and loss of competitive advantage.

    Identity theft
    She described identity theft as a form of stealing someone’s identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity, usually as a method to gain access to resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person’s name.
    “In a knowledge-based economy where most information is digital, the challenge will be confirming the identity of each and every person. Although identity theft is not restricted to social media sites but social media can be a good place to harvest information. With a stolen identity, the attacker can perpetrate all kinds of activities,” she averred.

    Industrial espionage
    Industrial espionage is the act of attempting to obtain trade secrets by dishonest means, as by telephone- or computer-tapping, infiltration of a competitor’s workforce and other unwholesome methods.
    She said with the advent of knowledge as a means to corporate wealth, the race for a company’s knowledge-base takes the fight to a whole new level, adding that industrial espionage is conducted for commercial purposes rather than national security purposes (espionage) and should be differentiated from competitive intelligence, which is the legal gathering of information.

    Cases of industrial espionage
    Hilton and Starwood: In April 2009 the United States-based hospitality company Starwood accused its rival Hilton of stealing corporate information relating to its luxury brand concepts, used in setting up its own Denizen hotels.
    Opel vs Volkswagen: In 1993, car manufacturer Opel, the German division of General Motors, accused Volkswagen of industrial espionage after Opel’s chief of production, Jose Ignacio Lopez, and seven other executives moved to Volkswagen
    Microsoft vs Oracle: Larry Ellison, the head of Oracle was said to have involved bribing the cleaning staff at Microsoft’s Washington office in order to lay their hands on documents
    Gillette vs Steven Louis Davis: In 1998, Steven Louis Davis was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution for his theft of trade secrets from Gillette. He was sent confidential designs to various competitors of Gillette.

    Platform interoperability
    According to the Deloitte security expert, in a knowledge-based economy, reliance on infrastructure for data delivery is more emphasised than ever. Information may be accessed via different media and platforms that have different levels of security. At the point of interoperation and interface there is a wide gap that may be skilfully exploited by a seasoned attacker.
    “What appears to be a minor platform glitch may become a door for an attacker. When the knowledge cannot be confined to a singular location, it faces the risk of being misused by anyone who has access to it outside a confined physical location,” she said.

    Sources of threats to data/information
    Hackers: In the computer security context, Wikipedia, defined a hacker as someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or computer network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, challenge or enjoyment. The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground and is now a known community. While other uses of the word hacker exist that are not related to computer security, such as referring to someone with an advanced understanding of computers and computer networks, they are rarely used in mainstream context. They are subject to the longstanding hacker definition controversy about the term’s true meaning. In this controversy, the term hacker is reclaimed by computer programmers who argue that someone who breaks into computers, whether computer criminal (black hats) or computer security expert (white hats), is more appropriately called a cracker instead. Some white hat hackers claim that they also deserve the title hacker, and that only black hats should be called “crackers”.
    Script kiddie (also known as a skid or skiddie) is a non-expert who breaks into computer systems by using pre-packaged automated tools written by others, usually with little understanding of the underlying concept—hence the term script (that is a prearranged plan or set of activities) kiddie (that is kid, child—an individual lacking knowledge and experience, immature.
    Another source of threat to data is countries. In international circles, data protection is increasingly becoming vital as nations seek to take advantage of one another in the rat race to develop. The case of Ed Snowden, the American computer professional is instructive in this instance.
    Some of the mechanisms used to obtain confidential information include social engineering, phishing, malicious software, collaboration with insiders and rogue wireless networks.

    Way forward Dependable identity management

    She said identity management is a set of processes and supporting technologies for maintaining a person’s complete set of identity spanning multiple business and application contexts. Identity Management is the key to combating identity theft. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has started a project of creating an Identity Management System (IMS) for Nigerians, everybody’s information would be tied to their unique National Identity Number (NIN) that would be verifiable. This would make it harder for criminals to impersonate people.
    NIMC’s Director-General, Chris said: “When we conclude the integration for a national resource optimisation, based on a standardised process of data capture and management and sustain it, Nigeria will be a better place for all because it will unlock significant economic and employment potential; it will drive financial inclusion; it will stimulate demand and domestic production in a peculiar way and this will in turn impact on gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate. Most people did not believe the telecom sector will be transformed with the GSM revolution. It happened. Most people do not believe the identity sector will be transformed, by God’s grace, it will happen.”

    Resilient information security framework
    An Information security framework is the collection of processes and practices that are used to manage the definition and ongoing operation and management of the information security risks. It should address the following. The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commenced the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) project which it assures will make repudiation of online transactions impossible.

    Adequate legislation
    To promote the knowledge economy, people have to be assured they will get justice when there is abuse of knowledge. Therefore, laws should be enacted to address issues such as piracy, cyber crime, corporate espionage, identity theft, data privacy/data protection. The National Assembly should expedite action on the passage of the cyber security bills that have been gathering dust on its floors.

    Awareness
    Another important factor for a knowledge based economy is the need to create awareness for the people to protect their data to guide against its being used by criminals to defraud them.
    To her, this can be achieved via: government leadership: Raising awareness and setting the course for collaboration amongst entities( for example parastatals, private sector, academia, and the general public); Seminars, conferences: Can be used to facilitate engagement of particular segments of the community (e.g. small businesses and school children) with targeted specific messages; Assistance for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs): Some countries use a security health check for SMEs as a mechanism to raise awareness; and Collaboration: Ministries, regulators, organisations as well as multinational companies, academia and individual users have a role to play in awareness.

  • The crisis of knowledge Production in Nigeria

    The crisis of knowledge Production in Nigeria

    For the past 10 months or so, all the polytechnics in the nation  as well as colleges of education have been firmly under lock as a result of an industrial dispute with the federal government. The federal authorities carry on as if technical education in particular is totally irrelevant or surplus to requirement in their purported bid to transform the nation. But then even the federal universities get a fraction of what they need only after protracted closures.

    Yet at the root of the organic crisis that grips the nation is the crisis of knowledge production. A crisis of knowledge production occurs when the sum-total of knowledge available in a society can no longer guarantee meaningful and harmonious existence or serve as the solid basis for human development and self-actualisation.

    This is usually a period of darkness in which a society disabled by historic cataract gropes in vain for the answers which must come from its own exertions, or if all fail, from the antagonistic logic supplied by conquering invaders who must then cite their superior knowledge and awareness as the basis and justification for humane intervention.

    It is usually a time of dark superstitions and even darker mythologies. It is a time of murderous ignorance, with homicidal hordes on the loose. Ignorance of knowledge never leads to knowledge of ignorance. It leads to arrogance in ignorance. Those who prevail do so not because of superior knowledge or learning but because of superior brute force. Even in a society where the knowledge-order has collapsed, somebody must lead the way, if only by ignorant example.

    Leading in ignorance will not solve a nation’s problems. It can only compound them. Knowledge deficit is at the heart of the looming collapse of governance at every level in Nigeria. Yet that collapse is inevitable unless this country finds some fundamental answers to the fundamental questions plaguing its continued existence.

    Four years ago at the Convocation Lecture of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, yours sincerely addressed some of the contentious issues surrounding polytechnic education in Nigeria. This morning, we bring you excerpts.

  • Hungry for knowledge

    Hungry for knowledge

    Nigeria’s tertiary education crisis in perspective

    Depressing. That is the way to describe the three stories that appeared on pages 8 and 9 of this newspaper on Wednesday. “Lecturers, Amosun differ on OOU funding”, “OAU defends increase in school charges” and “LASU students’ protest grounds Lagos”. And, just about when this piece was being put together, news filtered in that University of Lagos students were demonstrating over school fees that have just been hiked in the school. I hear Obafemi Awolowo University; Ile-Ife, students too are having issues with their authorities. Perhaps what makes the matter the more depressing is the fact that this is not an exception; it is rather the rule. Such stories about tertiary education in the country are a daily feature. We are either having student unrest or lecturers unrest. Either case, the implications are grave: the quality of academic work suffers even as academic calendars become unpredictable. Many students have become ‘deans’, so to speak, in some of these institutions affected by these unrests due to no fault of theirs. At the heart of the matter is funding.

    Yet, Nigerians are hungry for knowledge. This explains the huge number of candidates seeking admission into our universities yearly. Yet, it is not that the country is not rich to make knowledge available to them at a relatively cheaper cost. The problem is the mind-boggling corruption. President Goodluck Jonathan alluded to the fact that there is no poverty in the land. But we have since told him he was dead wrong. Indeed, he spoilt his own case with the example of the number of private jet owners in the country that he gave to buttress his point. Thank God, President Jonathan’s aides had not seen the story published in The Punch of June 2, to the effect that “Nigerians own 70% of most expensive buildings in London”. They would have added it to the points to give the president to cite as evidence that we are a rich, blessed and potentially prosperous nation. The same way they would have told him that the fact that Nigeria is today placed third on the list of countries with the highest number of students studying overseas is evidence of our prosperity because studying abroad does not come cheap.

    Forget Boko Haram’s position that western education is sinful. Even if it is, it is a sin many Nigerians would be glad to commit. No family worth its salt wants to be without a graduate; at least in the southern part of the country. Even in the north, barriers are being pulled down that hitherto restricted especially the girl-child from going to school. Unfortunately, there are not enough places in the universities to accommodate the about 1.5million school leavers who sit yearly for compulsory entrance examinations into 150 public and private universities in the country whose approved carrying capacity is 600,000 students.

    It is this same insatiable quest for knowledge that has forced many Nigerians to look beyond our shores in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece. A study quoted by a national daily on Tuesday last week indicated that there are at least 75,000 Nigerian students studying in Ghana. What is happening is that those who cannot find space within naturally look for space without, hence, to Ghana and other African, European countries and the United States of America many of such candidates turn for university education; at least for those whose parents can afford it.

    And they pay through their nose.  In a public lecture Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed the numbers and cost implications for students. “Although there are no comprehensive data on the number of Nigerian students abroad, recent data have shown that there are about 71,000 Nigerian students in Ghana paying about US$1 billion annually as tuition fees and upkeep, as against the annual budget of US$751 million for all federal universities. In other words, the money spent by Nigerian students studying in Ghana with a better organised system is more than the annual budget of all federal universities in the country,” Sanusi said. He should know; because requests for overseas remittances, including students’ fees and allowances pass through the CBN.

    This is for Nigerian students in Ghana alone. If we consider our students in other parts of the world, the cost implications would be staggering. Now, the question we may ask is ‘if Nigerians are willing to pay this much for their students abroad, why can’t they pay half as much at home? The answer is simple: even if they do, what is the assurance that their wards will graduate to time, with all manner of strike and other issues which make academic calendar unreliable? Again, what will be the worth of their degrees?

    In the midst of this confusion, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) has advised the Federal Government to take over some ailing private universities in the country. Chief Babalola’s (himself founder of a private university, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti) talk will be good talk only if the Federal Government universities themselves are exemplars of what universities should be in contemporary times. The impression created by Chief Babalola is that it is only some of these private universities that are sick and require surgical operation. This is erroneous. Many of the universities owned by governments, federal or state, are chronically sick too; this is the truth. So, how can someone who has not been able to put his own house in order help somebody else do same? Isn’t it good that you look at what the person promising to give you a dress is wearing to know whether he is capable of fulfilling the promise? If the universities owned by the Federal Government are healthy, how come only one of them is in the list of the world’s first 5,000 universities? The premier ones were recognised worldwide in the past, but no more.

    When we consider what the governments, particularly the Federal Government is doing to education, we will see that it is the real Boko Haram; the difference is that it is not carrying bombs to kill education like Boko Haram. But it has its own ‘suicide bombers’ who are killing education with their mouths and actions. Since September 2013 that Professor Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa’i was removed as education minister, there is no substantive minister in charge of this important sector. Nyesom Wike, the supervising minister in charge of the ministry is more of a politician than education minister. How else could a government have killed education?

    Now, we are in a situation where universities are finding it difficult to pay their bills and they have to turn to the students who in turn must turn to their parents for an answer. Unfortunately, much as some of the parents would have readily embraced poverty if only to ensure their children get university education, the economy is unhelpful. At this point, the question that comes into mind is what has happened to the scholarship boards? Many of those who are now making things difficult for the younger generation of Nigerians enjoyed one scholarship or the other. As a matter of fact, some had the privilege of more than one scholarship in their time. Now, having emptied the treasuries, having messed up the various scholarship boards, having stashed so much ill-gotten wealth in foreign banks, having bought up the best of mansions abroad where even the ‘sons and daughters of the soil’ cannot afford the mansions, they are now singing that there is no money to fund education. What a pity!

    A situation where qualified people cannot go to university because they cannot afford it is as potentially explosive as the situation where graduates cannot find jobs. I cannot see much difference. The implication is too grave to be contemplated.

  • ‘Research vital to knowledge’

    ‘Research vital to knowledge’

    Indigenous undersea cable operator, MainOne, has identified National Research and Education Networks (NREN) services as a factor for the increment of knowledge development in the country.

    The firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Funke Opeke, listed transformation vehicle, innovation incubator, economic development engine and essential global platform for national and educational development as major features of NREN.

    Opeke was represented by Head, Public Sector Sales, Gbenga Osinoiki, at a forum held at the ICT Centre of Software Engineering, Ile-Ife, Osun State. She made the presentation titled “Sustainable national development through research and education networks: The MainOne advantage” at the forum with the theme, “Sustainable National Development through Research and Education Networks.”

    She commended efforts of the UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking schemes across Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Mozambique, South Africa and eight other NRENs, noting that though they were successful, there is still need for the provision of high speed internet connectivity to universities at even lower costs.

    She also acknowledged the efforts of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVC) towards the development of Nigerian Research and Education Network (NREN), noting that the network service would be beneficial for the development of e-education and social networking.