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Tag: National Information Technology Development Agency

  • Terrorists may disrupt 2019 polls, says NITDA DG

    The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Isa Pantami, has said the 2019 general elections may be disrupted if adequate information technology security measures were not put in place.

    He raised the alarm at the 10th annual conference organised by Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Abuja Chapter, on Tuesday.

    Dr. Pantami said terrorists may disrupt the national elections by hacking into the voter register database of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    He said: “If proper IT security measures are not put in place, terrorists may disrupt the national elections by hacking into INEC voter register database; they can disrupt the banking system by hacking into and taking over the Bank Verification Number (BVN) platform.

    Read Also: Army kill 3 Boko Haram terrorists in Borno

    “They can critically disrupt the national economy by cyber-jacking the Treasury Single Account (TSA) software, etc.”

    He said the agency has developed a Nigerian government enterprise architecture dedicated to securing the country’s information technology systems.

    “NITDA is developing a Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture and a critical part of it was dedicated to security of Information Technology systems.

    “This section specifies what security measures should be in place while deploying IT systems in Public Institutions,” he added.

     

  • Nigeria saves 20 Billion naira monthly on payroll system – Buhari

    Nigeria saves 20 Billion naira monthly on payroll system – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said about 20 billion naira is being saved on monthly basis from the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as well as the Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    According to the President the initiative has not only led to the elimination of the manace of ghost workers from the nation’s public sector, but helped to entrench transparency and accountability within the system.

    He also said through the policy on Treasury Single Account (TSA), the present administration has “so far consolidated over 20,000 accounts, resulting into about N4.7 billion monthly savings.”

    President Buhari made the remarks while declaring open a three-day eNigeria Conference with the theme “Fostering Digital Economy through Local Content Development and Effective Regulations” organized by the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

    Highlighting some of the achievements of his administration since inception with a particular reference to anti-corruption crusade, President Buhari said his administration leveraged on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) platform to institute about 31 reforms within the system, stressing that the reforms would no doubt bring the desired change to the way and manner the business of government is carried out in the country.

    Read Also: Lawyer to Buhari: tackle corruption in high places

    President Buhari who was accompanied by top government officials to the event among whom were the Ministers of Communications and FCT, Adebayo Shittu and Alhaji Musa Bello, the Chairman Senate Committee on ICT, Senator Kabiru Gaya and the Director General of NITDA, Dr Isa Pantami Ibrahim, maintained that ICT remains strategic in driving productivity and efficiency in all sectors of the economy.

    His words: ”   My presence here today is a demonstration of our commitment and strong belief in using ICT as a major driver of our developmental governance and economic reform plans aimed at bringing about the true CHANGE we promised our people.

    “ICT is strategic in driving productivity and efficiency in all sectors of the economy. Currently, almost all sectors of our economy leverage on ICT to increase efficiency, productivity and performance.

    “The sector has recorded huge investments and contributes over 10% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and we are making conscious efforts to see that this contribution continues to grow in the next few years.

    “About 80% of ICT hardware purchases are imported through local distributors of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) by MDAs and other government establishments.   This makes it difficult for us to benefit from the dividends of continuous procurement and consumption of ICT infrastructure and limited value retention within the country.

    “As the most populous country in Africa, there are huge opportunities for ICT manufacturing in Nigeria. This, when harnessed, will provide job opportunities for our teaming youths, enhance the quality of  locally produced infrastructure, reduce cost of acquisition and  increase government revenue.

    “There is, therefore, the need for deliberate efforts, both from government as well as the private sector to see to the realisation of this.

    “I urge you to come up with viable recommendations on how we can make the country an export hub for ICT hardware in Africa.   We have done a lot to transform our government especially in the areas of strategy, policies and digital infrastructure investments”.

    The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu in his address said ICT has being a major driver of the nation’s economy since the inception of the present administration, noting that the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has moved from 5 percent to 12 percent by 2016.

    Shittu maintained that through legislation , the present government wuld ensure that local ICT industries are protected, while lamenting the low patronage of local industries even by government agencies.

    According to Shittu the federal government has issued series of guidelines to protect the ICT industry and prevent Nigeria from becoming a dumping ground for all manner of ICT products and services, but enjoined all stakeholders to partner with the government to ensure sanity in the entire sector.

    The Director General of NITDA,  said the yearly eNigeria Conference was being organized by his agency to take stocks of development in the ICT industry with a view ensure effective regulation, job creation, improvement in services and products of ICT by local companies and ensure the security of the nation’s cyber system.

  • NITDA, EFCC forge alliance, tighten noose on IT procurement racketeers

    NITDA, EFCC forge alliance, tighten noose on IT procurement racketeers

    National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) have forged an alliance in order to strengthen the anti-corruption war especially on the procurement of Information Technology, (IT) products and service among the Ministries, Department and Agencies of the Federal Government.

    Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the director general of NITDA, disclosed this on Tuesday when he led the management team of the Agency on a working visit to  EFCC Headquarter in Abuja.

    Pantami stated that the alliance has become imperative in the face of the wanton corruption being perpetrated by MDAs especially in the procurement of IT products and services as most of the projects pass through less scrutiny during budget defense at National Assembly because of the expertise required to ascertain the needs and specifications of these IT requirements.

    “Many MDAs consider IT projects  as conduit pipes to siphon public funds and I believe partnering with EFCC will bring sanity to the sector and by then the commission will be empowering NITDA in strengthening its regulatory function through which it will also be developing  and promoting the local content in the IT sector,” the NITDA boss said.

    While suggesting the modus operandi of the partnership, Dr Pantami informed that the two organisations could form a working group which would also serve as a desk to deal with sharp practices in the IT procurement, adding that, “EFCC may help in asking MDAs to produce procurement clearance issued by NITDA during their investigations.

    He said NITDA as IT regulatory body in the country, the Agency is responsible for subjecting IT product to value-for-money analysis, reduce projects duplication, justify the spending of public funds on IT projects and to advise MDAs on the alternative options of IT products and service with a view of reducing cost especially on sharing of software among themselves.

    The DG who believed that the alliance would strengthen the existing relationship between the Agency and the Commission said: “supporting NITDA would go a long way in blocking loopholes in IT procurements.”

    In a press release signed by Hadiza Umar, head, Corporate Affairs & External Relations at NITDA, she said the DG commended the EFCC’s Acting chairman for his doggedness, fearlessness and outstanding performance which he has recorded in acting capacity saying the feat could take some people 20 years to achieve as substantive chairman of the commission.

    While assuring him of his prayers and goodwill, Dr Pantami stated that Nigeria needs people like Mr Magu who are fearless and do not think of the consequences of their action to move forward as a nation

    In his remarks, Mr Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Commission, who expressed his delight over the visit said that  EFCC as Commission “would be complying with NITDA’s request so as to bring some level of sanity to the procurement of IT products and services among MDAs in Nigeria.

    He described the partnership as timely especially now that the Commission is on the process of “completely digitalizing the operation of EFCC” adding that he now has place in NITDA to run to when he gets confused on  IT projects under investigations.

    Describing corruption as a threat to the unity of Nigeria, the EFCC boss maintained that the Commission cannot fight corruption alone without the consensus of all Nigerians, he pleaded to Nigerians not to  be discouraged on the recent corruption case judgments delivered recently

    Mr Magu stated that the cause of agitations from different quarters in the country today is because of corruptions that has ravaged the nation. “Absolutely there is a political will to fight corruption and this is not in doubt. This is the time to save this country from the shackles of corruption,” he added

    The two organisations agreed to nominate three officials each to constitute the working group and the desk with the term of reference of verifying the IT products and services to be procured with public funds.

  • FG Panel raises alarm over loss of 90 billion naira to cyber crimes

    FG Panel raises alarm over loss of 90 billion naira to cyber crimes

    A Federal Government Panel on National Cyber Security has raised the alarm over persistent cyber security threats and internet hackings across the country, saying that the country has been losing 90 billion naira every year to cyber crimes since 2014.

    At its inauguaral meeting in Abuja, the panel which comprises of representatives from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Nigeria Postal Service, NIPOST, NigComSat, Nigeria Computer Society, and CS2 called for concerted efforts to arrest the situation.

    The panel also known as the inter-ministerial Technical Committee on the implementation of the National Cyber security Strategy insisted that pro-active measures should be taken to address the problem.

    A statement endorsed by the Head of Corporate Affairs of NITDA, Mrs Hadiza Umar noted that the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami urged the panel to urgently address the misuse and abuse of access to the tools of Information Technology,

    Pantami stated that, “these Information Technological tools that have become vital in our critical activities are also avenues adopted by individuals and groups to carry out a range of malicious activities” adding that these threats could be targeted at national critical infrastructures, government/private institutions or individuals.

    “Today, information assets are very valuable and various sectors of the Nigerian government have come to rely on technological tools to carry out their processes both critical and non-critical. Financial services, Telecommunications, Navigation systems, Manufacturing Sector, Oil and Gas, Power and Energy, Food and Agriculture, Emergency Services, Public Healthcare, Water and Waste Management Systems amongst others now strongly rely on digital systems networks”, he said.

    The NITDA boss further disclosed that research findings indicate that “out of about 97 million internet users in Nigeria, 14% suffer cyber-attacks. In 2013, global payment giant, paypal.com disclosed that Nigerians lost about 159 billion naira to cyber security threats and more worrisome is the fact that since 2014, the country has been losing approximately 90 billion naira to cybercrime and in December 2015.”

    ” Nigeria was the 17th most attached nation in the world based on threat intelligence drawn from Check Point Software Technologies. Office of the National Security adviser (ONSA) recently disclosed that of the 2,175 Nigerian websites hacked in 2015, 585 were government owned”, he added.

    The scale and dimension of these threats according to Dr Pantami has compelled the Agency to develop and implement a new cyber security strategy for the Federal Civil and Public Service Sector with the approval of the Minister of Communications.

    He called for continuous collaborative efforts as information security is not a one – off programme, as according to him the threat landscape keeps changing.

  • Minister suspends NITDA DG

    Minister suspends NITDA DG

    The Minister of Communications and Technology, Mr. Adebayo Shittu has suspended the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack indefinitely for “misconduct”.

    The suspension in a statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Hon. Minister of Communications, Victor Oluwadamilare, took effect from Wednesday.

    The statement said the suspension became imperative on the strength of deluge of petitions regarding several alleged wrong doings in NITDA and subsequent preliminary findings of an Investigative Committee set up by the Ministry.

    It added that” the petitions against Mr Jack relates to illegal employments not approved by the appropriate authority and procurements carried out in direct contraventions of laid down rules and procedure unknown to Civil Service administration in Nigeria”.

    The statement reads:”Some of the infractions identified by the Investigative Committee made up of three senior Ministry officials include unauthorised illegal recruitment of additional staff totalling 245 within a spate of seven months.

    “According to the Committee’s startling findings, “as at 29th May, 2015, NITDA only had a staff complement of 74. But from May, 2015 to 31st December, 2015, additional 245 staff were employed in questionable circumstances despite clear instruction from the Ministry directing suspension of employment in the Agency”.

    “These disclosure were deduced from the records provided by Mr Jack, although he was unable to provide concrete information on whose authority he embarked on the massive recruitment and who granted him the authority for officials to be seconded to NITDA from other MDAs”, the statement added.

    “Prior to this development, the suspended DG was specifically directed by the Ministry not to embark on a recruitment exercise purported to have been scheduled for 17th December, 2015, but he defiantly went ahead to recruit without authority.

    “On the alleged financial misdemeanour, the Committee opined that the situation in the Agency would require a more detailed professional auditing of NITDA’s finances to determine the true state of the financial health of the Agency.

    “Consequently, Mr. Jack has been suspended from office as NITDA’s Director-General so as to allow for further independent investigations of his stewardship in the last three years.

    “Meanwhile, Dr. Vincent Olatunji has been named as the acting Director-General of the Agency with immediate effect, pending the outcome of the planned investigations.

    “Dr. Olatunji, until his appointment was the Director of Corporate Strategy and Research in the Agency. He joined NITDA in 2002”