Day: May 13, 2023

Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, the Solicitor General of the Federation says only a small fraction of cybercrimes is actually prosecuted and adjudicated.

Jedy-Agba said this at the closing ceremony of the ‘Training of Trainers on Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence for Judges and Prosecutors in Abuja.

The event was under the Global Extended Action on Cybercrime (GLACY+) in Nigeria, West African Response on Cybersecurity and Fight against Cybercrime (OCWAR-C), both EU funded projects in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice.

She noted that Nigeria acceded to the Council of Europe’s Budapest Convention on Cybercrime ETS No. 185 in July 2022 which is the most relevant close-to-global existing legal framework on cybercrime and one of the benefits for member states is capacity building in the area of cybercrime.

“It goes without saying that digital transformation has essentially redefined life, particularly in the post-covid era and while it has benefits, there are resulting challenges which include the increase in cybercrimes.

“Since accession to the convention, this is the first national activity under GLACY+ in Nigeria and it is a great idea to have it partner with OCWAR-C.

“Nigeria appreciates this partnership and support to create a national pool of trainers on cybercrimes and electronic evidence for Judges and Prosecutors.

She said that the global nature of this menace sometimes described as “phenomenon without borders” makes it imperative for countries to seek to build capacity to be able to effectively combat it.

“Hence, the efforts of the international organisations in cyber capacity building cannot be over-emphasised.

“The increasing reliance on electronic evidence not only for cybercrimes but even traditional crimes which may not be located in the territory where the case is investigated makes it even more imperative to build capacity on its use.

“Therefore, the continuous need to train and re-train criminal justice sector authorities cannot be overrated as it will enhance their ability to effectively apply cybercrime legislation and respond to the challenges it poses”, she said.

She said that as a commitment to the fight against cybercrimes and the capacity building of the criminal justice authority, the Minister of Justice inaugurated the Reconstituted Global Action on Cybercrime Extended (GLACY+) National Co-ordination Team with membership from key stakeholders.

She commended the Justices of the Federal High Court who took out time to be participants at the training and also the prosecutors from the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“This training will fundamentally be beneficial to the dispensation of justice in Nigeria.

“I urge participants to pass on the knowledge acquired to other legal practitioners as national trainers on cybercrime and electronic evidence”, she added.

The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court (FCT) Justice John Tsoho, represented by Justice Inyang Ekwo, expressed his delight at the training aimed at effective justice delivery in the country.

“When I received the invitation to nominate 10 judges, I was challenged and sceptical as approving ten judges to leave their respective desks for one week for fear that they might be affected bearing in mind the tight doctrine of the court.

“However, upon noting that the program is based on the global action on cybercrime and electronic evidence, I did not hesitate to

send the number of judges requested.

“I had taken out some time to go through the program and acknowledge that the judges have benefited greatly in the training and acquired the capacity to demonstrate the knowledge

gained in judicial proceedings and impart this knowledge to others”.

Tsoho noted that cybercrime is a global issue and he is convinced that building effective repositioning of knowledge will bring about skilled prosecution and effective judicial proceedings.

“I commend the organizers and participants of this programme and I am satisfied that the programme ran its course successfully.

“I also request for follow-ups for this programme as I believe that the interactions in the course of the programme were fruitful.

“I therefore salute everyone for a successful programme, and declare it closed”.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Egypt has indicated interest in Ogun’s Agro Processing Zone (APZ), Gov. Dapo Abiodun said in Abeokuta on Saturday.

The APZ is located at the Gateway International Agro Cargo Airport in Iperu-Ilishan in the Remo part of the state.

Abiodun told executive officers of the Ogun chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), at an interactive session that Egypt planned to have farm plantations in the zone.

He said the North African country planned to plant crops, process the harvest and export finished products to Egypt.

He added that representatives of the Egyptian government would visit Ogun soon to finalise details of the investment.

“I met with the National President of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria in Abuja. He is working with a team of farmers sent by the Egyptian government.

“Egypt has a food security programme and has identified Ogun as one of the states to partner with.

“Representatives of the Egyptian government in agriculture will be coming to Ogun on May 16.

“They have done their research and were convinced that Ogun is one of the states strategically located to invest in; to farm in; to process in and to export from,’’ Abiodun said.

He assured that his administration was determined to encourage foreign and local investors in agriculture.

He also assured AFAN that government would look into its proposal to start a state-owned Anchor Borrowers Programme.

The core of the programme is to provide loans in kind and in cash for smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production, create jobs, and reduce food import bills.

Abiodun also promised to also look into the possibility of appointing AFAN members into agriculture-related government agencies.

Earlier, AFAN Vice-President, Mr Segun Dasaolu, said there were lots of opportunities and grants available for Ogun to exploit for the commencement of its own Anchor Borrowers Programme.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has appealed to the Federal Government to withdraw the controversial National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) bill, before the National Assembly.

It is recalled that the 2007 NITDA Act is currently awaiting passage, following its amendment at the National Assembly.

President of the NCS, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, at a news conference in Abuja on Saturday said the bill lacked stakeholders’ input and was hurriedly put together by vested interests.

According to him, some stakeholders had condemned the bill for attempting to arrogate the powers of other government agencies to NITDA.

“Unfortunately, we got to know from the social media that the bill was being proposed and it had gotten to the advanced stage by the time we got our information.

“We saw that the bill was not good for us as a nation, we called on NITDA to arrange for stakeholders meeting.

“The meeting was held in some cities, but all our inputs, as stakeholders were not considered.

“We have asked questions, if the new bill is for all of us, we are all part of government.

“Even the operators in the digital space must make contributions, but we discovered our position was not considered by NITDA,” Sodiya said.

He said there was public hearing about two weeks ago on the matter, saying what the social media said concerning the bill remained the same.

Sodiya said even if the bill was to be upgraded, there was need to consider all stakeholders.

He noted with concerns, that the bill, if passed into law, would lead to multiple regulations for telecom operators and other service providers in the ICT sector.

Sodiya urged NITDA to focus on its core mandate of Information Technology development in Nigeria.

He said having NITDA as another regulator in the telecom sector would send wrong signals to investors, as they would be subjected to multiple regulations and fees, if they invest in the industry.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NITDA Act 2007, which established the agency, says its main objective was to use ICT as a tool in tertiary institutions, to drive the mechanism of the education sector in the country.

“As the agency of the Federal Government, responsible for developing Information Technology in Nigeria, NITDA is empowered by its enabling Act to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardisation, application, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of IT practices, activities, and systems in Nigeria”.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Health experts at a media training on Tuberculosis (TB) said that unexplained consistent weight loss in children could be as a result of TB.

According to them, other signs and symptoms suggestive of TB in children include failure to thrive or gain weight, persistent fever and cough of two weeks, and close contact with anyone with TB.

The training was organised by the Institute of Human Virology (IHVN) in collaboration with Breakthrough Action-Nigeria (BA-N).

Dr Babajide Kadiri, Lagos State Team Lead USAID IHVN TB LON 3 Project, spoke on the sidelines of the training.

According to him, children who are at risk of contacting TB include those living with adults with TB, those who are HIV positive and children who are malnourished.

On the challenges associated with control of childhood TB, he said: “ There is low childhood TB awareness among the general population.

“Also, poor health-seeking behavior, stigma and discrimination, limited media engagement in TB awareness creation, low index of suspicion for child TB by healthcare providers and low funding for childhood TB control.”

He proffered that regular sensitisation of the general population on TB in children and collaboration with the media would help in TB prevention, control and management.

Also speaking, Dr Joseph Edor, Senior Programme Officer II TB/RCCE USAID Breakthrough Action-Nigeria, said that tuberculosis was an airborne disease, more common in men than women in Nigeria.

He said that TB of the lungs ( Pulmonary TB), caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M tuberculosis), is the most common type.

Edor said that TB could occur anywhere in the body noting that four symptoms used to screen patients included cough ( of two weeks duration or more), fever, night sweats and unexplained weight loss.

He said that an untreated case could infect an average of 10 to15 people in a year, noting that only 25 per cent of Nigerians had correct information about TB.

He said that the diagnosis for TB was mainly the sputum test for pulmonary TB, Chest X-ray and Stool test in children.

Edor said that TB treatment included oral medications for a minimum of six months.

However, he said drug resistant TB ((MDR TB) could occur when TB treatment was not well adhered to and could also occur when someone was infected directly by someone with (MDR TB).

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

An Economist, Dr Biodun Adedipe, has urged the incoming administration to pay more attention to agriculture being the largest contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Adedipe, who is a Chief Consultant at B. Adedipe Associates Ltd, made the call on Friday at a virtual conference organised by CMC Connect LLP.

The National Policy Dialogue with the theme: “Setting a Fiscal Policy Agenda For the Bola Tinubu Administration”, was moderated by Mr Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, the Lead Partner at CMC Connect.

He said the incoming administration needed to provide incentives for infrastructure development to encourage all year farming.

According to him, the new administration should encourage large scale farming and linkage with smallholder farmers, adding that agricultural research and development was essential to boost the economy.

Adedipe also advised the incoming president not to come up with a big framework but accommodate the 12 pillars of productivity which included market size, labour market, business dynamism and innovation capability.

Others are: health, product market, ICT adoption, institution, skills, infrastructure, macro economic stability and financial system.

“In improving the ranking and performance of the economy, the incoming administration should also look into payment of taxes, training across borders, enforcing contracts, and protecting minority interests among others.

“We need to aggressively promote export to African countries and also strengthen domestic manufacturing which interrogates the nexus between import and export,” he said.

The chief consultant urged them to look at imported products that could be produced locally, stressing that this would be beneficial for the economy.

Adedipe, however, decried the state of the country’s economy occasioned by poor policy coordination, misplaced priorities, fiscal inefficiency and revenue leakages which discourages productivity.

He said with the inflation rate persistently trending upwards, the Central Bank of Nigeria had to raise the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR).

“Yet the economy was desperate for growth and the big number in Nigeria is food inflation which was at 24.35 per cent in March 2023 rising from 24.13 per cent in December.

“Food security should, therefore, come big in Nigeria’s economic development agenda,” he said.

On education, Adedipe said the incoming government should revamp the school curriculum to support future works in the 21st century and embark on massive capacity building of teachers.

He said that it was necessary to increase funding to improve infrastructure in the educational sector.

Similarly, on universal health care and enhancing life expectancy, he urged the government to redesign the integrated healthcare model and address brain drain in the sector.

“In the financial system, government needs to totally revamp the financial ecosystem, reset system regulation and supervision and accelerate capital market development.

“On Information Communication and Technology (ICT), they should offer incentives for ICT investors and align policies on ICT with the needs of the 21st century digital economy,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, a private security outfit engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has intercepted an illegal Crude Oil Barge and arrested six suspected crude thieves in Warri, Delta State.

The NNPC Ltd. security contractor and the Nigerian Security Operatives on Saturday also set ablaze the 1000 metric tonnes capacity barge used in conveying the crude oil at a final execution point in Oteghele, Delta state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the barge was destroyed shortly after an inspection of the sites of Mawe Service Limited and associated barge which allegedly housed illegal crude oil.

On the inspection were some officials of NNPC Ltd. and Tantita Security Services, Journalists, the Nigerian Army and Naval officers, among others.

The team visited the Mawe Services Jetty, illegal crude oil dump site and Fenog Jetty for Illegal Crude Oil Barge inspection.

Speaking, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, Executive Director, Operations and Technical, Tantita Security Services said

MAWE Services had an approval from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to provide services within the confines of lifting sludge.

Enisuoh said on the fateful voyage, intelligence reports received by Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd and Mason Engineering indicated that the MAWE Yard was being used for activities outside its approval limits.

He said further surveillance and intelligence also revealed that a 1000 metric tonnes capacity barge (FP AMANGWU) was coming to berth alongside its jetty, loaded with illegal crude oil declared as sludge.

The captain explained that the barge was towed by an unknown Tugboat into Mawe Services Limited’s Jetty and left.

“A team of Tantita Security Services Operatives continued to monitor the Jetty for suspicious activities. It was observed that a Sewage Truck with Plate No. JR7750XA visited the Jetty twice.

“During its third visit on May 12, 2023, the Truck was accosted by the Tantita Security Operatives keeping constant vigil over the area. Upon inspection, the substance found inside the tank was not sewage, rather, crude oil.

“The driver was arrested and handed over to government security operatives. The driver later revealed the destination of the contents, which took us to another yard inland, also operated by Mawe Services Limited.

“Within the Mawe Services Limited’s premises, there were two metallic cylindrical tanks of about 45,000 liters capacity, each. Both tanks were inspected and one was found to be filled up with Crude Oil.”

Enisuoh also said the driver of the Truck confirmed that he has been transferring the contents of the barge into the tank that was filled adding that inspection of the Yard Security Logbook showed that the Truck visited the location severally while the contents of the Truck were well spelt out as “CRUDE OIL”.

He explained that the perpetrators usually loaded the crude from the big barge in small gallons, batch by batch then transfer to illegal refineries.

“One new method they use now is that they obtain documentation and autourisation from the government to fool security agencies, then go on to do other illegal jobs,” the captain said.

The captain further explained that most times when the suspects were being interrogated, they would claim to be newly employed by their companies whereas they were already trained to operate in that line.

“At the same time I feel sad because the big players always hide behind them while the small errand boys are literally the victims.

“I believe the law enforcement agents will get to the root of the matter,” he said.

According to him part of the crude has been evacuated while the rest will go through combustion process.

Meanwhile, the suspects who were paraded by the combined security team said they were not aware of any illegal badge of crude oil but were sent by their companies to evacuate waste water with oil from the barge.

Mr Daniel Dickson, one of the suspects working with First Priority Research Resources International Ltd, the owner of the barge said the barge was hired through Petralon 54, located at Port Harcourt, Rivers State to cargo crude from Port Harcourt to Warri in 2022.

Dickson, who said that it was not all the compartment in the barge that contained crude said that it had about 700 barrels of crude oil but in the process of evacuation in May 2023, the security agents caught them.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Angolan Government is committed to redefining the communication strategy, to be closer to the citizen, stressed Saturday the Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, Mário Oliveira.

The minister was speaking to the press on the Executive’s Institutional Communication Methodological Meeting, underway since Friday, in Luanda.

Mário Oliveira said that the meeting is collecting contributions, in order to turn this thought into a fact.

He said that the messages on the execution of the Government’s programme, upheld in 2022 elections, must reach the citizen with rigour, clarity and speed, so that the people are informed about the achievements of those who rule.

Therefore, Mário Oliveira stressed that the meeting, which ends this Saturday, has been fruitful, highlighting the fact that there are also press attaches, who should take this communication strategy to citizens in the diaspora.

“We are committed to the cause of better communication, defined by the government, so that the interests of citizens, focused on socioeconomic development, are achieved”, stressed the minister.

The Executive’s Institutional Communication Methodological Meeting is being attended by representatives of the media, provincial governments’ institutional communication offices, ministerial departments and diplomatic missions.

The programme features topics such as “The Executive’s Institutional Communication Strategy 2023-2027”, “Organization, flowchart and functioning of the Institutional Communication Ecosystem”, “Government Logo and National Symbols”, “Institutional Advertising”, “Press Relations Techniques and relationship with medias”, are part of the event programme.

The programme also includes analysis of the themes, “Cybersecurity”, “Digital media, social networks”, “Fake news vs misinformation”, among others.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)