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Slash Internet Licensing Fees for Affordability, Access- Oyedokun
Dr Oyewole Oyedokun, president / chairman, Governing Council at Institute of Information Management – Africa, started hi professional career in the late 90s .
He is also the president, RIMA Foundation (Nigeria & South Africa) and WM and managing director/CEO, Wolexdok Micro-processor.
Oyedokun has received different international awards for his contribution towards the development of the Information Management industry in Nigeria and Africa.
He spoke to peter ugwu on matters of urgent importance in the cyber space, national database, among others, in Nigeria.
Relevance of Information Managers in Big Data Era
The advent of Big Data has buttress the need for proper records and information management. What is the essence of us having data or information that cannot be utilized for better decision-making? How do we make the retrieval easy?
These are some of the issues that Big Data has brought to the table. Every company that want to make adequate usage of Big Data must have Good Information Governance (GIG); that is, you know what you have, where they are located, the person that is in-charge, the retention period, the corporate format to keep the information, these must be in place for individuals or organizations to have control over information they have.
Government and Proper Information Management
First, I will commend the Federal Government and the lawmakers for passing the Freedom and Information (FOI) Bill into law.
I can say authoritatively that the process has changed the game. In the past, most Government Institutions do not see the need for records management due to lack of openness in governance. This led to secrecy with certain information management.
The passage has sent a positive signal to workers in the public service as the law requires them not to stop the public access to certain documents.
But, on the implementation government is not doing enough. Beyond just ordinary training, information management training is an essential ingredient to ensure the FOI regime becomes a reality.
Without GIG, retrieval becomes an issue while individuals require certain documents.
The government has the largest part of information generated in the country. So, training of workers ought to be a continuous process.
Synergy between Information Management and Information Security
Well, information management an umbrella also caters for information security. When we refer to cyber space, it is just a medium.
Physical environment is another medium. So, if you have GIG in place, then you can have principles guiding the cyber space and the information physical environment.
At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that for you to have control over the cyber space; you ought to have developed a functional physical space.
It is what you have physically that will be transformed into digital content. Today, quite a number of organizations in Nigeria do not event have information management policy; they do not understand the specifications, standards, procedures, manuals.
If you have employee handbook, then you should a kind of manual that guide information management, so that you can get it right from the time data is generated through disposal which is regarded as information life-cycle.
For instance, there are information that are permanent in nature; in as much as such organization exists it must be there.
Hence you do use them regularly, they should be archived in an off-sight location, which could be physical or in the cloud.
Information Management Policy Negligence
By not having the policy in place, you will be exposing the organization to risks. The risks include information theft, penalties by regulatory authorities, legal tussles, and efficiency becomes a nightmare.
Such organization will discover that the staff spend time and resources searching for information they may end up not able to lay hands on.
It could cost the company a whole lot of revenue. When I was still in the oil & gas sector, there was a particular document that the company needed; they ended up spending millions of dollars to get a copy from the original designer of a particular project. It was just an A4 document.
The issue of storage becomes problematic too, because at a point you wouldn’t know which document to keep or dispose.
This is prevalent in public sector where rooms are designate for stack of old documents and files. Those spaces would have been put to use for other arrangements. They are even stored that retrieval is difficult; hence there is no classification or proper arrangement.
Message of InfoSecurity Conference 2014 And Nigeria’s Cyber Security Bill
It was a wonderful experience. Part of the sessions I attended the minister of Internal Affairs (UK), said something that drew my attention.
According to him, 10% of UK’s gross domestic earnings come from the cyber space. This is something we should be looking at.
We want to build or develop our economy, then, of what benefit has the cyber space been to us? How well are we taking the advantage?
A country like UK achieving 10% of their GDP through the internet, it means we can do better. Here, we have a lot of resources: human, natural resources and even the finance, and commodities we can invest online. The government could generate revenue from that.
To me, some of the take-homes from the conference actually came from that message, because, we are taking things with levity.
For the fact we have oil, we seem to be blindfolded in exploiting other sectors for employment generation, investment opportunities and increase in GDP.
Aside that, there are technologies trending presently that organizations in Africa should be tapping into. For instance, data analytics, I was stunned by some of the solutions I saw there, because there are so many things you could do.
We are emphasizing on cyber security, there are technologies that help in shedding off hijackers along the line. Even if they succeed in hijacking it, the hackers wouldn’t have access to the content, because they are encrypted.
There are some that even if I mistakenly send you an email, and discover it, I could swiftly block it from my end. You will receive it but with no access to the content.
There are software that could aide to track if your email was delivered or opened by the other party. In fact, there are several technologies that cloud has provided us with today, reducing stress on organisations’ infrastructure and resources.
Benefit from Cyber-Entrepreneurship
Foremost, government has a lot of works to do. They need to encourage local software developers. Secondly, the entrepreneurs need an environment that protects their interest before they can excel.
We have a number of them that with little support from government they will build amazing software. I have seen locally developed applications that you would never believe are developed in Nigeria.
If we were able to do that, other countries will subscribe to them, are we not earning foreign exchange by then? It will help our economy to blossom.
To individuals, the cyber space has created a lot of opportunities. If you have products or services, you could launch them online. Without restrictions, clients could be coming from different part of the world. It has really bridged the digital divide.
This innovation has even heightened with the cashless policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It is one of the major requirements for people to thrive in e-commerce.
Recently, Paypal came into Nigeria. To me, that was a major breakthrough for this economy. It has increased the confidence or trust level of outsiders with regards to Nigeria. Before now, transacting an online business has been a nightmare.
Then, you must visit the banks for transfers. Banks would also delay in approving certain conditions for the transactions to go through. But Paypal has come up with a very simple system where you just link your bank account even in local currency. It makes life easier and seamless.
Internet Availability and Affordability
To me, we still have a lot to do in that area. There is need for more companies’ participation in the sector.
To do this, the licencing fees should be slashed, because for any industry to thrive, we need competition.
By the time we have increased number of service providers, the cost will drop automatically. The monopoly few players are enjoying is responsible for the high subscription costs.
Should we have more investors, the country will be surprised with the kind of services they will roll out.
National Identity Management Project
It is a wonderful development, because we have been craving for this for a long time. And for the very first time, Nigeria will seem to be on track. But my major concern the partnership with the international organization.
Enactment on a policy for Information Protection & Privacy (IPP) is something that the government needs to take cognizance of.
As a country, we cannot entrust our data into the hands of corporate entity like the company they are partnering with. If they have to toe that part, it means our information are not protected. Before going into this, the government ought to have put a policy in place. Nigeria, as a country, do we have information privacy policy? It’s not in place. What do we think will govern our relationship with these international organizations?
What will govern the way and manner our government will entrust data in their hands? How well are we protected? Before they go into full implementation, I would want the Nigerian government to look into this privacy act. These are very key.
In line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to enhance governance for effective service delivery, and with NITDA asserting its mandate as the clearing house for all government Information Technology, (IT) projects, the Agency has taken the campaign on the imperative of scrutinizing IT projects of the Federal Public Institutions to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and Bureau of Public Procurement.
The visit focused on the presentation of NITDA’s Reviewed IT Project Clearance Guidance Document—an updated framework designed to standardise the planning, funding, and execution of IT projects in line with national digital economy goals.
The document, a revision of the 2018 Guidelines for Clearance of IT Projects, emphasises cost-effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and transparency, reinforcing NITDA’s role as the clearing house for all government IT initiatives under the National Information Technology Development Act (2007.)
During these visits, NITDA’s Director General emphasised that the Agency cannot work in isolation to achieve the Renewed Hope Agenda of transforming the economy digitally. “And we need to explore how we can strengthen our partnerships and collaborations in line with the President’s agenda.”
He averred that there is need to be more focused and intentional in the implementation of IT projects if the country wants to maintain its leading position in Africa. “56 percent IT projects failed to deliver on what were promised because we go for latest technology, and failure to design before building the technology and lack of consideration for the business value proposition we are trying to deliver with the projects, he decried.
Inuwa informed his hosts that in order to safeguard against that, NITDA has reviewed the IT Clearance Guideline because experience has shown that most Ministries, Departments and Agencies build IT projects based on the proposal submitted to them by the contractors who would design the projects, implement them and operate them which give no room for accountability and transparency and that has led to the failure of many IT projects.
“We are building a digitised government service; and government is one. We need to work together, work harmoniously, the same way IT system works to deliver these services. For us to achieve this, we need to be more intentional in the way we design, and implement. And if we continue to design and implement in silos, they will never worked together, he warned.
He maintained that the idea behind the reviewed guideline is to ensure that IT projects are designed in line in line with the mindset of interoperability in order for Ministries Departments and Agencies, (MDAs) to explore shared services and follow the best practices and standard.
“The guideline will guide MDAs on how to design, operate and how to maintain system because building of these systems is beyond technology but people, processes and key components of that are paramount.
According to the Director General, the proposed guideline has three steps of IT projects implementations which are; the Solution Design, the Implementation and Quality Assurance steps. He added that going forward; contractors are required to get license and certified employees on these three steps for their companies before government’s IT projects could be awarded to them.
“These measures are designed to eliminate corruption, prevent duplication, and ensure that government IT initiatives are structured to create meaningful change—fostering efficiency, equity, and fairness in public service.”
At the Bureau of Public Procurement, the Director General, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun stressed the significance of standardising IT Project Bidding Documents. He remarked, “It is disheartening that organisations misuse IT projects to siphon public funds—resources that could otherwise be channeled towards impactful initiatives that can transform the country.
He disclosed that MDAs come with IT projects that were adopted without standardisation and guideline “but with this new guideline our decision should pave ways for the development of the IT sector of the country.”
While describing the meeting as crucial to eradicate corruption in the implementation of IT projects, he noted that because most IT projects component are intangible, official leverage them to siphon public fund, adding that the Bureau has developed a standard bidding document for the IT procurement.
He said, “We have huge responsibility with NITDA to avoid corruption, duplication of IT projects and ensure transparency and accountability in the award of IT projects for the Federal Public Institutions. It is disheartening that we are consuming resources that can be deployed to meet other needs of the country and we need to stop this and say no to wastage.”
He tasked NITDA to reconsider service-wide procurement of licenses of organisations like Microsoft, Oracle and others, and also develop a template for IT Price Intelligence which the Bureau can rely on for costing. “We are not IT experts, if NITDA can help us with data on the prices of IT related products which can serve as benchmark for pricing, it will go a long way in our review.
Dr Adedokun equally canvassed for capacity building for the government’s staff in IT cadre so they would not be outsmarted by contractors.
Both NITDA and BPP agreed to constitute a working committee that would work out modalities for the realisation of the entire intended plan and sign a Memorandum of Understanding on its implementation.
At the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, the Auditor General of the Federation, Shaakaa Kanyitor Chira, remarked that NITDA needs to be commended for its thoughtfulness for bringing the guideline forward for its review and inputs.
He assured that once the policy becomes operational, the Office of the Auditor General will conduct a performance audit to assess whether it is effectively contributing to the betterment of the country.
Similarly, the Accountant General, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, commended NITDA’s efforts to standardise IT project implementation and expressed readiness to support the integration of the clearance guidelines into financial processes.
By presenting the Reviewed IT Project Clearance Guidance Document, NITDA aims to ensure that the AGF’s financial oversight aligns with its vision of a digitally transformed public sector. The collaboration is expected to enhance service delivery, curb inefficiencies, and position Nigeria as a leader in technology-driven governance.
It could be recalled that NITDA, in 2018 unveiled the Guideline for IT Project Clearance and the Agency has been able to save over N300 billion for the country in its effort at clearing IT project.
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained the MPR at 27.50 per cent, thus making it the second consecutive time in 2025.
The decision was announced by the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso following the Committee’s 300th meeting which ended today in Abuja.
The Committee equally retained the asymmetric corridor at +500/-100 basis points as well as the Cash Reserve Ratio of Deposit Money Banks at 50.00 per cent, that of Merchant Banks at 16 per cent and Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent.
The Committee reviewed developments in the global and domestic economies including the risks to the outlook.
All twelve members of the Committee were in attendance and were unanimous in its decision to hold policy .
The MPC noted the relative improvements in some key macroeconomic indicators which are expected to support the overall moderation in prices in the near to medium term. These include the progressive narrowing of the gap between the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) and Bureau De Change (BDC) windows, the positive balance of payments position, and easing price of PMS.
Members also noted with satisfaction the progressive moderation in food inflation and, therefore, commended the government for implementing measures to increase food supply as well as stepping up the fight against insecurity, especially in farming communities.
The MPC, thus, encouraged security agencies to sustain the momentum while government provides necessary inputs to farmers to further boost food production.
The Committee, however, acknowledged underlying inflationary pressures driven largely by high electricity prices, persistent foreign exchange demand pressure and other legacy structural factors.
The MPC noted new policies introduced by the Federal Government to boost local production, reduce foreign currency demand pressure, and thus, lessen the pass-through to domestic prices.
Given the relative stability observed in the foreign exchange market, Members urged the Bank to sustain the implementation of the ongoing reforms to further boost market confidence.
The Committee also called on the fiscal authority to strengthen current efforts at enhancing foreign exchange earnings, especially from gas, oil and non-oil exports.
The MPC, however, expressed concerns about the recent decline in crude oil prices, attributable to increased production by non-OPEC members.
Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the launch of four satellites aimed at strengthening Earth observation capabilities and improving national security, according to Uche Nnaji, minister of Innovation, Science and Technology.
Uche Nnaji, minister of Innovation, Science and Technology
Speaking at the 22nd National Council on Innovation, Science and Technology (NCIST) in Abuja, Nnaji said the satellites include three Earth Observation models and one Radar Aperture satellite. The council meeting was held from 12 to 14 May under the theme: “Research, Develop, Innovate and Commercialise: A Cycle for National Prosperity.”
“Just last week, the Federal Executive Council approved that Nigeria launch four satellites—three Earth Observation satellites and one search satellite,” the minister said.
According to him, the Radar Aperture satellite will be capable of capturing images under various conditions, including nighttime and rainfall.
“The search satellite is the one that will pick images both day, night, during rain, every time of the day, and that is technology in play. The military can use it effectively,” he said.
Nnaji noted that this will reduce Nigeria’s reliance on purchasing data and imagery for monitoring remote areas like the Sambisa forest.
On policy development, he said an inter-ministerial committee is reviewing the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and working on establishing a National Research and Innovation Fund.
“As a country, we can no longer afford to ignore the widening gap between research and real-world impact,” Nnaji said. “For decades, valuable research conducted in our universities and institutions has remained underutilised, disconnected from industries and policy.”
He pointed out the challenges faced by young innovators, including a lack of structured support and financing to transform ideas into marketable products.
“Let this 22nd edition of NCIST mark the beginning of a new chapter, one where every research has a roadmap to industry,” he said.
Nnaji called for sustained efforts from researchers, private investors, and regulators to ensure innovations are protected and supported. “The government must build and enforce regulatory frameworks that protect, support, and incentivise innovation at every level,” he added.
He said the council’s resolutions would be forwarded to FEC for formal adoption and reaffirmed the ministry’s plan to restore the council’s annual meeting schedule after delays pushed the 22nd edition into 2025.
Esuabana Nko-Asanye, the ministry’s permanent secretary, described the meeting as a platform to promote inter-sectoral collaboration and address challenges such as insecurity, unemployment, and climate change. She said 109 memoranda were presented, highlighting proposals on issues like commercialising research, boosting funding for innovation, and building capacity in emerging technologies.
“The richness and diversity of these submissions underscore the growing recognition of science, technology and innovation as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s sustainable development,” Nko-Asanye said.
George Akume, secretary to the Government of the Federation, represented by Morris Mbaeri, said building a resilient innovation ecosystem is key to national development. “This cycle is very essential in addressing real-world challenges and unlocking long-term prosperity,” he said.
Azikiwe Onwualu, president, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), urged the government to increase research and development spending to 3% of GDP and proposed the establishment of more RDIC clusters that integrate academia, industry, and startups.
He said: “We should operationalise the National Research and Innovation Council Fund to coordinate RDIC efforts as envisaged in the STI policy.”
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