News
A Dirge to the Nigerian Research and Education Network
By Austin Okere
There is no cheer about the recent pronouncements from the hierarchy in the education sector and the long-term impact on our youth.
“Nigerian government reverses resumption of schools, says no WAEC exam for now.” was the screaming headline in the Premium Times on July 10, 2020.
The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, announced during a media briefing on July 6 that the West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination will now take place between August 4 and September 5. In swift contradiction, the education minister, Adamu Adamu, speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari, said Nigerian schools will not reopen any time soon “until it is safe to do so because of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The situation at the tertiary level is not any better, as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) through an interview of their President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi with the Punch Newspaper on June 16, 2020 has declared that E-Learning cannot work in Nigeria. It seems that Prof. Ogunyemi totally overlooked Private schools in his pronouncement; many of whom have completed the syllabus for the current term through online classes at home.
The Ausso Leadership Academy (#ALA), foremost institution providing mentorship to Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs to scale their businesses geometrically has transitioned her models and frameworks online and continues to impact companies with game changing ideas to thrive now and beyond.
Far afield, both Harvard and Princeton have announced plans to bring back students for the fall semester, albeit, all course instruction will be delivered online, including for students living on campus. Coursera is partnered with 192 institutions from 43 countries and offering more than 3,200 online courses in 13 languages.
The irony is that Nigerian Universities would have had six years of leapfrog experience in online learning if we had taken the opportunity presented by the NgREN and consolidated on the budding shoots. But like most opportunities that come our way, we display gross unpreparedness and unprecedented nonchalance in the face of opportunity cost to our future generations.
The COVID-19 pandemic is real, and we have to take all necessary precautions and follow social distancing and other protocols advised by the Nigeran Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
But not knowing how long it will last, we cannot put our lives on permanent pause. We have to adjust to the new normal and get on with it. Companies like Zoom and Amazon have understood this and have ended up net beneficiaries.
I wrote this article four years ago when it seemed that the NgREN will become an abandoned project, and another of the many white elephant projects dotting our landscape.
What can we learn from this in order to forestall a reoccurrence?
One of the proudest moments in the history of the Nigerian Education sector was the successful implementation and commissioning of the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN).
Being the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, the pomp and pageantry that accompanied the unveiling event seemed justified and earned. The network which boasted 465mbps of internet capacity represented 20 times the average connectivity capacity leveraged by the universities.
This was a project conceptualized, deployed and managed by Nigerians under a consortium of indigenous companies including CWG Plc, Airtel, Medalion, Resourcery, and Phase 3; finally, a project for us by us.
The idea of the NgREN was conceptualized as far back as 2004. After a long period of dormancy, it was revived under the auspices of the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) and the Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC) in January 2010.
The objective was for a Research and Education Network that will connect all Higher Institutions of Learning together, and to the global Research and Education Network. The achievement made Nigeria the first in sub-Saharan Africa to join the league of countries in Europe and America that had functional Online Research & Education Networks.
A catalytic fund was secured from the World Bank as grant, and counterpart funding by the Federal Government of Nigeria in mid-2012 for the first phase of the project, while the procurement cycle was concluded in February 2013.
The first phase of the project which connected 27 Universities, the CVC and the NUC, with over one million users, delivered 155mbps capacity to each university and connected to the Multiprotocol Layered Switch core network, which had a 10Gbps capacity, as well as 465mbps internet capacity, providing high definition telepresence capabilities for real-time collaboration, voice over internet protocol, shared access to research content and joint experimentation projects.
The second phase was planned to cover five more clusters of about 100 institutions and five million users. Subsequent phases were to cover all higher education institutes numbering over 600.
The network was to be connected to the London Open Exchange via an international private leased circuit, and offer additional services such as web hosting, unified communication, digital library collection, video bridging and archiving services.
This indeed would have afforded Nigerian Universities the opportunity to take a quantum leap in online learning, and significantly improve their low ranking in quality and reach of teaching and research output, and thereby bringing them closer to their global peers.
But alas, this was not to be; as the much heralded NgREN has been shut down for over eleven months due to non-payment of the segment bandwidth fees. The consortium of local providers however, left all the equipment intact in good faith, awaiting the provision of bandwidth to restore services.
Apart from the immense benefit in value and global trends, the economies of scale of the project saved the universities immense costs, as embarking individually on such a project would be grossly sub-optimal and prohibitively expensive.
Nigeria has a long history of poor project execution and abandonment. According to journalists Chuka Uroko and Joshua Bassey, in the past couple of years alone, it is estimated that over 11,886 federal government projects with an estimated value of N7.7trillion have been abandoned.
Should we start singing a funeral dirge to a well conceptualized and implemented system as the NgREN, with all its benefits after spending so much tax payers’ money on it? By this action of omission or commission we would have inadvertently reversed the solid gains made in the broadband transformation agenda and shut our youth from critical online learning and the emerging digital economy.
The importance of broadband to online learning, the digital economy and social development cannot be overemphasized. This is underscored by the open letter from the Global Broadband Commission to the G20 leaders’ meeting as far back as 2012, wherein they enumerated the importance of broadband in moving the global economy onto a higher growth trajectory, and in generating sustainable, social and economic growth of all nations, especially literacy development to address inequity and deliver inclusive growth for all.
In particular, they argued that broadband enabled technologies are simulating fresh innovation and inspiring a new generation of digital entrepreneurs. The digital era will produce a whole new range of digital careers and industries of the future. Broadband reduces barriers to entry, offering opportunities for small and medium enterprises to challenge existing hierarchies, to innovate, compete and grow.
The targets of the NgREN were to make broadband universal among our youth in higher institutions and their surrounding communities, make it affordable, connect homes and businesses, and get more people online. In essence, it would have enabled our institutions to have the same opportunities to learning as those in the developed world, and impacted their communities as is currently witnessed in places such as Silicon Valley in America.
With such nonchalance to educational development in our country, it is no surprise that none of our local universities is included in the ranking of the world’s best 1,000. Tertiary education in Nigeria has suffered from long periods of neglect to the extent that parents would rather take their Children to countries like Ghana, UK, US and Canada.
It is estimated that Nigerians studying in British and American Universities have spent over N137billion on tuition and living expenses in the last two academic sessions. If the over 71,000 Nigerian students who pay tuition fees in Ghana were to contribute the N160billion they spend annually, they would account for about 40 per cent of the Nigerian education budget. According to Mr. Ian Stewart, a member of the British Parliament, there are about 30,000 Nigerian students in the UK alone.
In the wake of the expressed resolve of the Muhammadu Buhari led federal government to make public institutions more accountable and responsive to the needs of the society, it is expedient to immediately revive the NgREN project, and in the medium to long term properly situate it, including exploring Private, Public Partnership (PPP) to ensure that this laudable project does not die an avoidable death. We should as a nation learn to stop being wasteful in the face of acute scarcity and make the most of our scare resources.
Austin Okere is the Founder of CWG Plc, the largest security in the technology sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at CBS, New York. Austin also serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Business School Network, and on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Innovation and Intrapreneurship. Austin now runs the Ausso Leadership Academy focused on Business and Entrepreneurial Mentorship
China has announced the full implementation of a zero-tariff scheme for 53 African countries, including Nigeria, under the Changsha Declaration, further strengthening economic ties within the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
The announcement, made by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed a high-level meeting between Chinese officials and African foreign ministers in Changsha. The initiative stems from commitments made during the 2024 Beijing Summit of FOCAC, which focused on building a stronger China-Africa partnership in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
According to a statement released after the meeting, the representatives of China, 53 African nations, and the African Union Commission affirmed their commitment to creating an “all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.”
The declaration highlighted the rising influence of the Global South and underscored the importance of collaboration in advancing development, multilateralism, and equitable global governance. It also criticized growing unilateralism, protectionism, and economic coercion, calling on countries, particularly the United States, to resolve trade disputes through mutual respect and dialogue.
The ministry stressed that African nations face pressing economic and developmental challenges that demand urgent international attention. It urged for increased development assistance, rather than cuts, to support poverty reduction and infrastructure growth across the continent.
In a significant move, China committed to expanding zero-tariff treatment to 100 percent of tariff lines for all 53 African countries with diplomatic relations with Beijing, excluding Eswatini, which has no official diplomatic ties. This will allow greater access for African goods to the Chinese market.
For Africa’s least developed countries, the plan includes enhanced market access measures, streamlined inspection and customs procedures, and increased technical training and trade facilitation.
Additionally, China pledged support for the African Union’s Agenda 2063, with a focus on modernization and sustainable development.
The Chinese government also announced plans to implement the China-Africa Economic Partnership for Shared Development, deepen cooperation in green industries, e-commerce, science and technology, artificial intelligence, finance, and legal frameworks.
The statement also reaffirmed plans to strengthen people-to-people ties, including initiatives like the “2026 Year of People-to-People Exchanges.”
In September 2024, President Bola Tinubu signed five memoranda of understanding during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Speaking at the Beijing summit, Tinubu described the China-Africa relationship as a “true testament” to the strength of mutual respect and cooperation.
Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar later confirmed that the agreements signed with China are in various stages of implementation.
In a major leadership transition, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (DSR) has announced the retirement of Aliko Dangote, its founder and chairman, from the Board, effective June 16, 2025.
Aliko Dangote
The announcement was made in a regulatory filing with the Nigerian Exchange Ltd on June 11, highlighting the company’s commitment to sound corporate governance and structured succession planning.
In a statement signed by Mrs. Temitope Hassan (FCIS), company secretary and legal adviser, the Board praised Dangote’s extraordinary leadership and lasting contributions to the company.
“Alhaji Aliko Dangote is one of the founding Directors of the Company and has served with exceptional leadership, integrity, and vision since 2005,” the statement read.
“Under his stewardship, Dangote Sugar Refinery transformed significantly, navigated industry changes, consistently delivered value to shareholders, and upheld strong governance principles.”
Widely regarded as Africa’s most influential industrialist, Dangote led DSR’s evolution into a dominant player in Nigeria’s sugar value chain.
His strategic initiatives, particularly the Backward Integration Projects (BIPs) across Adamawa, Taraba, and Nasarawa States, advanced the company’s self-sufficiency goals and aligned with the federal government’s national sugar master plan.
While stepping down from DSR, Dangote will continue as President of Dangote Industries Limited.
His legacy at DSR is marked by industrial innovation, strategic foresight, and sustained operational excellence.
To ensure a seamless transition, the Board has appointed Mr. Arnold Ekpe, a seasoned independent non-executive director, as the new chairman, effective June 16.
Ekpe is renowned for his tenure as Group CEO of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, where he championed pan-African financial inclusion and institutional growth.
His extensive experience in banking and corporate governance is expected to strengthen DSR’s next phase of development.
The leadership change signals continuity of vision, with DSR reaffirming its focus on operational efficiency and long-term value creation in a dynamic market.
For shareholders and industry observers, Dangote’s exit from the Board marks the end of a transformational era—one defined by bold ambition and strategic execution—while opening a new chapter under Ekpe’s leadership.
Kaspersky Global Research & Analysis Team researchers have discovered a new malicious campaign which is distributing a Trojan through a fake DeepSeek-R1 Large Language Model (LLM) app for PCs.
The previously unknown malware is delivered via a phishing site pretending to be the official DeepSeek homepage that is promoted via Google Ads.
The goal of the attacks is to install BrowserVenom, a malware that configures web browsers on the victim’s device to channel web traffic through the attackers servers, thus allowing to collect user data – credentials and other sensitive information. Multiple infections have been detected in Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, India, Nepal, South Africa and Egypt.
DeepSeek-R1 is one of the most popular LLMs right now, and Kaspersky has previously reported attacks with malware mimicking it to attract victims. DeepSeek can also be run offline on PCs using tools like Ollama or LM Studio, and attackers used this in their campaign.
Users were directed to a phishing site mimicking the address of the original DeepSeek platform via Google Ads, with the link showing up in the ad when a user searched for “deepseek r1”.
Once the user reached the fake DeepSeek site, a check was performed to identify the victim’s operating system. If it was Windows, the user was presented with a button to download the tools for working with the LLM offline. Other operating systems were not targeted at the time of research.
After clicking on the button and passing the CAPTCHA test, a malicious installer file was downloaded and the user was presented with options to download and install Ollama or LM Studio.
If either option was chosen, along with legitimate Ollama or LM Studio installers, malware got installed in the system bypassing Windows Defender’s protection with a special algorithm.
This procedure also required administrator privileges for the user profile on Windows; if the user profile on Windows did not have these privileges, the infection would not take place.
After the malware was installed, it configured all web browsers in the system to forcefully use a proxy controlled by the attackers, enabling them to spy on sensitive browsing data and monitor the victim’s browsing activity.
Because of its enforcing nature and malicious intent, Kaspersky researchers have dubbed this malware BrowserVenom.
“While running large language models offline offers privacy benefits and reduces reliance on cloud services, it can also come with substantial risks if proper precautions aren’t taken.
Cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting the popularity of open-source AI tools by distributing malicious packages and fake installers that can covertly install keyloggers, cryptominers, or infostealers.
These fake tools compromise a user’s sensitive data and pose a threat, particularly when users have downloaded them from unverified sources,” comments Lisandro Ubiedo, Security Researcher with Kaspersky’s Global Research & Analysis Team.
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