The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), has officially commissioned a state-of-the-art IT Community Centre in Ibadan, Oyo State, as part of ongoing efforts to bridge the digital divide and empower youth and women across the state.

The centre, which was donated to Oladipo Alayande School of Science in Oke-Bola, Ibadan, Oyo State, was named in honour of Mrs. Onikepo Akande, a distinguished daughter of Oyo State, and is aimed at providing digital skills training, particularly for women and young people. It is expected to offer participants a competitive edge in the evolving global tech industry.

Her Excellency, the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu CON OON, delivered special remarks at the event, emphasising the centre’s role in achieving one of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s key priority areas which is to accelerate economic diversification through digitisation, industrialisation, innovation, and the creative arts.

She disclosed that the commissioning of the centre is a step forward in the collective mission to empower Nigerians, especially women and youth, with the skills needed to thrive in a digital economy.

“We are not stopping here. I am pleased to announce that ten more IT Centres will soon be commissioned across various states,” she added.

While noting that other digital economy centres have been fully equipped with computers and ICT materials in 5 other states, she urged members of the community to take full ownership of the centre.

She said, “The success of this centre depends on your active participation and utilisation of available resources.”

The Oyo State Governor, Engr. Oluseyi Makinde, who delivered a goodwill message during the event, praised NITDA and RHI for bringing the initiative to the state.

He highlighted the high standards of the facility and pledged the state government’s support to ensure its sustainability and maximum impact on the people of Oyo State.

“Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, that is the road to the future, and I am glad that under the Renewed Hope Initiative, you’ve brought this to Oyo State, and I can give you the assurance that we will take full advantage of it,” he promised.

In his remark, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani stated that the centre will serve as an avenue for youths to acquire globally relevant digital skills, build startups and create solutions that can compete on the global stage.

While giving his welcome remarks earlier, the DG NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, described the collaboration with the Renewed Hope Initiative as a strategic intervention to boost Nigeria’s digital talent pool.

He explained that the Ibadan IT Community Centre is equipped with cutting-edge technologies designed to provide a smart and personalised learning experience and lauded Senator Tinubu for her leadership and passion for empowering underrepresented groups.

“Your Excellency’s vision and commitment have been instrumental in actualising this initiative. You are giving Nigerians the tools to unlock their potential in the digital economy,” he said.

Noting that the newly commissioned centre is part of a broader national agenda to enhance digital literacy, reduce unemployment, and foster innovation-driven development across the country, Inuwa disclosed that the agency has worked with the Ministry of Education to develop digital literacy and skills curriculum that will be infused as part of the formal education in schools.

While encouraging the school administrators and community leaders to ensure its accessibility and sustainability, the NITDA DG said, “The centre is open to all, and we want to see a cross-pollination between the school and the community.”

Presidents John Dramani Mahama of Ghana and Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria have celebrated the Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., on the occasion of his 72nd birthday.

In congratulatory messages, both leaders praised Dr. Adenuga’s outstanding contributions to the economic development and growth of both Ghana and Nigeria. They commended his remarkable entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, and commitment to excellence.

President Mahama described Dr. Adenuga’s life as “a shining example of vision, resilience, and extraordinary accomplishment.” He noted that through his entrepreneurial endeavors, Dr. Adenuga has not only built enduring businesses but also contributed significantly to the socio-economic advancement of the African continent.

He noted that Dr. Adenuga’s leadership and philanthropic endeavour remain a beacon of inspiration for generations across Africa.

Also President Tinubu stated that Dr. Adenuga’s humility and diligence have enabled him to succeed in various sectors, including banking, telecommunications, oil, and gas. He praised Dr. Adenuga’s innovative approach to business, citing Globacom’s pioneering per-second billing, which expanded telephony and digital access to millions of Nigerians.

“In addition, Conoil has proven that an indigenous firm can compete with international oil companies, fostering energy independence and security for our country.” He added.

President Tinubu who expressed the gratitude of Nigerians to Dr. Adenuga for his immense contributions to the country’s progress and prosperity, also commended him for extending his investments to other African countries and Europe, “a bold effort which earned you well-deserved honours as Commander of the Legion of Honour (France) and Ghana’s Companion of the Star of Ghana”.

Most online services and apps require the user to create a password. Chances are many of those passwords are not being used daily and due to this overabundance, there’s a high probability that many of the passwords are being reused.

Poor password management is compounded by a reliance on common combinations of names, dictionary words and numerals. Not only are these passwords relatively easy to decipher, but if a cybercriminal gains access to a password on one site, that could result in access to a plethora of other sites.

People are urged to create unique, random passwords to counter the vulnerability posed by using the same password multiple times. However, password creation and management can be an arduous task.

To tackle the burden of password creation and management, people might be tempted to use large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Llama or DeepSeek to generate their passwords.

The appeal is clear. Rather than struggling to come up with a strong password, users can simply ask AI, “Generate a secure password” and get an instant result.

AI produces strings that look random, which helps avoid the human tendency to create predictable, dictionary-based passwords. But appearances can be deceptive, AI-generated passwords may not be as secure as they appear.

Alexey Antonov, Data Science Team Lead at Kaspersky, tested this by generating 1,000 passwords using some of the more prominent and trusted LLMs including ChatGPT (from OpenAI), Llama (model from Meta group), DeepSeek (newcomer from China).

“All of the models are aware that a good password consists of at least 12 characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. They report this when generating passwords,” says Antonov.

“In practice, though, the algorithms often neglected to insert a special character or digits into the password: 26% of passwords for ChatGPT, 32% for Llama and 29% for DeepSeek. While DeepSeek and Llama sometimes generated passwords shorter than 12 characters.”

In 2024, Alexey Antonov developed a machine learning algorithm to test password strength and found that almost 60% of passwords can be cracked in under an hour using modern GPUs or cloud-based cracking tools.

When applied to AI-generated passwords, the results were alarming, they were far less secure than they appeared: 88% of DeepSeek and 87% of Llama generated passwords were not strong enough to withstand attack from sophisticated cyber criminals. While ChatGPT did a little better with 33% of passwords not strong enough to pass the Kaspersky test.

“The problem is LLMs don’t create true randomness. Instead, they mimic patterns from existing data, making their outputs predictable to attackers who understand how these models work,” notes Antonov.