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MRA Inducts NIPOST into its ‘FOI Hall of Shame’ for Violating FOI
Media Rights Agenda today named the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) into its “Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame” for the institution’s failure to comply with its duties and obligations under the FOI Act, thereby violating the public’s right of access to information.
Announcing the induction of NIPOST, MRA said in a statement in Lagos that the institution was in breach of several provisions of the FOI Act, including failing to designate an appropriate official to receive requests for information from members of the public; and failing to publish the title and contact details of such an official as required by the Act and the Implementation Guidelines issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation.
MRA also accused NIPOST of disregarding its statutory obligation to submit annual reports on its implementation of the Act to the Attorney-General of the Federation; failing to proactively publish the categories of information which it is required to publish by the Act, failing to provide appropriate training for its officials on the public’s right of access to information, among others.
NIPOST was established by Act No. 18 of 1987 to provide and operate facilities for the collection, dispatch and distribution of inland and overseas mail at reasonable cost; provide and operate facilities for remittance of money through the money or postal order systems; provide and operate philatelic services in Nigeria; print and provide postage stamps for payment of postage tariff and payment of stamp duties and to represent Nigeria in its relations with other postal administrations and other bodies concerned with postal services.
Sadly, MRA said, despite these very critical information and communication services which the institution is mandated to provide to Nigerians and other members of the public, NIPOST has chosen to conduct its business in secrecy and has consistently violated the provisions of the FOI Act since its enactment in 2011.
Mr. John Gbadamosi, MRA’s Programme Officer, said in the statement: “NIPOST, which used to be a department in the Ministry of Communications, should ordinarily constitute a critical pillar in the effective implementation of the FOI Act and stands to benefit from the existence of the Act if it is able to overcome its institutional shortsightedness, the historical incompetence that has dogged its activities and operations for decades and if its management has the resourcefulness to tailor its services to take advantage of a huge opportunity at the disposal of an institution hurtling into extinction as a result of its increasing irrelevance to the society it was established to serve.”
He noted that in addition to complying with the provisions of the FOI Act, as it is obliged to do under the Law, it is also in the enlightened self-interest of NIPOST to promote the Act and its implementation by other public institutions which would result in additional resources for it.
According to Mr. Gbadamosi, “the services that NIPOST was established to provide make it ideally suited to convey applications for information from members of the public all over the country to public institutions in different parts of Nigeria and similarly serve as the vehicle through which public institutions can deliver their responses to such requesters for information at affordable rates that would make it a preferred option for those who currently have to deliver such applications and responses either by courier or through hand deliveries and dispatches.”
Besides, he said, “the money and postal order systems, which are now virtually moribund, could also be easily revived and could become the most viable instruments for members of the public seeking to make payments to public institutions for requested information, which would provide NIPOST with desperately need revenue streams.”
Mr. Gbadamosi noted that although NIPOST claims to have eliminated the incidence of mail theft, pilfering, tampering and other forms of fraudulent activities as a way of boosting customers’ confidence, there remains a lack of transparency and accountability in the provision of its service to the public, which have largely remained inefficient.”
He accused NIPOST of non-compliance with its obligation under the Law to proactively publish 16 categories of information that it is required to publish by Section 2(3) and (4) of the Act, saying “additionally, there is no indication whatsoever that the institution has designated an official to whom requests for information should be sent while it has also not proactively published the title and address of such an official as the information is not even available on its website.”
Mr. Gbadamosi also pointed out the institution’s failure to comply with its obligation under Section 29 of the Act, which mandates NIPOST, like other public institutions covered by the Act, to submit to the Attorney-General of the Federation, on or before February 1 of each year, a report covering the preceding fiscal year of its implementation of the Act.
He said there was no indication that the NIPOST has provided the appropriate training for its officials on the public’s right of access to information or records held by the Bureau or trained them to effectively implement the Act, as it is required to do by section 13 of the FOI Act.
Mr. Gbadamosi called on the management of the Service to redeem the institution’s image by ensuring that it complies with its duties and obligations under the FOI Act.
MRA launched the “FOI Hall of Shame” on July 3, 2017 to draw attention to public officials and institutions that are undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act through their actions, inactions, utterances and decisions.
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.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has introduced a crowd-sourcing initiative aimed at providing more accurate statistical information and data to policymakers and the general public.
According to a statement issued by Folorunso Alesanmi, head of Public Relations, the initiative, which commenced several months ago, involves compiling daily price data from a wide range of sources.
These include open markets, supermarkets, neighbourhood shops, bulk and discount stores, street outlets, and large retail shops.
Data collection has been conducted across all 36 States, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and every senatorial district.
However, the Bureau clarified that price data gathered through crowd-sourcing differs from the data used in computing the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
While CPI data is collected at specific, pre-determined outlets during the second and third weeks of each month, crowd-sourced price data is gathered randomly from different respondents daily.
By leveraging the power of crowd-sourcing, the Bureau has been able to gather a vast amount of data that offers a more nuanced picture of price trends in the economy.
“We are thrilled to release our first price data compiled through crowd-sourcing. This initiative represents a major step forward in our efforts to harness the power of technology and innovation to improve the quality and timeliness of our statistical data,” said Prince Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, Statistician-General of the Federation and NBS CEO.
The newly released data offers insights into the prices of essential food items commonly consumed by Nigerians, such as local rice, white beans, white maize, garri, yam, and more. It provides a daily snapshot of food costs.
The NBS plans to update this data on a daily basis, offering entrepreneurs, policymakers, and researchers a valuable tool for monitoring price fluctuations and making informed decisions.
The data is accessible to the public through a dedicated dashboard, where users can view, analyze, and download it in real-time—enhancing transparency and accessibility.
“To this end, the agency has implemented a range of quality control measures, including data validation and verification processes, to ensure that the data is reliable and trustworthy,” the statement added.
The release of this crowd-sourced price data underscores the NBS’s commitment to innovation and collaboration.
By working with citizens and embracing technology, the Bureau aims to provide more timely and accurate statistics to drive economic growth and development
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