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Computer Brains Club’ Drives IT Awareness for the Future – Onashoga

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Dr. Saidat Adebukola Onashoga (Mrs.), a Chartered IT Professional (CITP), is the chairman Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Ogun State Chapter. She holds N.C.E in Mathematics/Computer Ed. She later proceeded to University of Agriculture, Abeokuta to study Mathematical Sciences with an option in Computer Science. At the recent Applied Information Technology (AIT) Conference 2015 held in FUNAAB, Ogun State, she spoke to peter ugwu on the essence of igniting computer education (right from the kindergarten) for national development.

New IT Techniques
Currently, Big Data analytics is a new method that tells us gone were the days data are not easily harnessed. Software now exists and other data mining tools for harnessing data.
The interesting thing about BIG DATA is that you may not necessarily use all the data before reaching a conclusion, rather with software or data mining techniques, you can extract the data that concern your study or meant to aid your work.
Today, we are looking at Telemedicine; there are technologies that aid medical practitioners to make prompt responses to cases, evaluating cases and in making informed decisions about patients. If you are looking at e-Governance, there are mobile technologies that can combine several indices.
In fact, we ought to be developing m-Governance techniques by now, because of the vast ways Nigerians are accessing the tool. Greater percentage of the people access the internet using (smart) mobile phones, that is what pervasive computing entails.

Theme for Conference 2015
Well, if you are considering conference tagged as applied information technology, it isn’t that people do not have knowledge of how they can apply IT, but looking at the trend IT is headed now, we thought of considering the modifications and disruptions on the old IT techniques. The emphases are on current trends, methods and Insights of IT application.

Universities’ Role on Deepening Technology Development
Yes, in the recent past, the academic, especially public universities have been charged the responsibility of producing graduates who are capable of competing with their counterparts either in the private universities or those abroad.
There are various ways to look at it. When an institution fails to align the undergraduates with the practical know-how, or shield them from tapping the technical competencies of the practitioners in the field, such cannot be ruled out, because the students will be missing a lot.
When there is an accord between the universities and the industry, such will widen the learning scope of the students.
There are differences between theoretical and applied computing. Applied computing knowledge should be gained from the professionals in the industry.
One thing we can do in this era is to integrate some professionals into the academic world, instead of allowing the students to base their orientation or knowledge on the theoretical aspects of computing. It is good to involve them.
The way we are going, it is good to involve the practitioners. The practical should not be limited to during project-writing or thesis, rather from the first day a student enrolls in school, he ought to start learning ‘hands-on’ computer.
For instance, in FUNAAB, the students’ industrial (training) attachment has been extended from three months to six months, to avail them the opportunity to get more knowledge of the industry.

IT Practitioners in Government Agencies
As a nation, we can’t rule out the importance of research. Research adds fresh impetus to whatever we are doing. Government may not be able to appreciate the importance of new trends in ICT unless they are expatiated on.
In the ‘80s, only the multinational corporations had access to certain tools, but developments have broken down the borders, bringing technology in the hands of even small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
For example, cloud computing has room for both large, medium and small enterprises. So, the best approach is to engage the academics to thinker on the templates for the tools through research and allow others who are practitioner to develop the output.
If we take our minds back, a company like Google was developed through research. The difference between our approach to technology and developed nations is just that the academia and the practitioners mingle.
The reason is that as the schools are researching, the results are forwarded to the industry for implementation. Government cannot shy away from involving the critical stakeholders in this regard, because technology is like a radio message which is transient; it waits for nobody.

Need to Review Educational Curriculum
There is definitely need for a review of so many things; the educational policy, the curriculum, among others. However, we are not waiting on the Government to do everything.
Recently, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Ogun State Chapter launched a ‘Computer Brains Club’.
The large turnout of people on the day it was launched pointed to us the fact they have the urge to know about the computer and its usage. We have a plan to develop a curriculum that is a bit different from what the children learn in schools. It is our urge to see the limitation they have are eliminated.
The programme is targeted at pupils from Primary 3 up to senior secondary 3. Without ‘disruptions’ in our educational curriculum, we might not witness such ‘disruptive’ technological advancements acumen inculcated in our students. There should be a five year review of our curriculum and must accommodate opinions of professionals during the policy-making processes.

Areas in IT Needing Governments’ Attention
If I were to be asked the nexus between us and IT development, I will refer us to the grassroot fact: Education. To power the nation through the youths is only possible when we get the educational sector right.
Today, we see a three-year old operating an iPad. Such a child appreciates the seamless in flipping through the iPad. He might not understand the technology behind it. Now, how many of Nigerians-developed applications are in the iPad.
We tend to feel fulfilled when statistics are released on number of smartphones, tablets, computers or phablets imported into Nigeria each.
What is our gain, content-wise as regarding the technologies? We ought to have moved beyond where we are now in IT development. I believe so much in training and re-training, therefore, every government officials should be trained to be ICT compliance.
About 75% of our activities in NCS Ogun are geared towards training to encourage people to embrace IT. If the crop of government appointees believe in IT culture it would have been easier to get some things done.
They don’t really think technology should be relied on, rather their focus has been oil and gas, but we know the messy state of the oil and gas sector.
We have to encourage aggressive compliance to e-banking or e-commerce. In a country like America, it is taboo for one to use personal emails to government related emails, but in Nigeria a body like the Nigeria internet Registration Association (NiRA) has been advocating for .gov.ng domain names among government establishments and their officials. There are still others, yet to comply with, because they do not really understand the gains.

The Viable NCS Chapter
The pious leadership we witness in NCS Ogun State Chapter was borne out of passion among the executives.
The agenda we set at first have helped in directing our programmes and ideals. NCS Ogun, as an Association, is driven by the inspiration and programmes targeted at enhancing the nation’s technological development.
We cannot continue to play the second fiddle in the comity of IT nations; we must not be that dumping ground for all manner of IT gadgets, consuming everything and developing nothing.
When you are passionate about a course, even challenges cannot deter you. For example, if we are exposed to more funds, we can then embark on numerous programmes; but event sponsors are not forthcoming as it should.

Women in IT
It is important to enlighten our girls in schools: if someone wants to study computer science, you cannot run away from mathematics.
That is on one of the principal reasons the American Government is emphasizing ‘STEM’- Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The best thing is for the parents to start encouraging their girls in learning mathematics from the cradles. IT is money, IT is life, IT is dollar, IT is whatever you need. Forget about the rigorous processes, rather focus on the end-gains.
IT is a profession with a future, so, ladies should not shy away or be discouraged from the industry which is relatively men’s world at the moment. Women are moving into it too.
The first Minister of Communication Technology was a woman, we have women CEOs in the ICT industry. We have women CIOs, engineers, and others who are doing us proud, we expect others to join the moving train. 

 


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Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. So since 2007, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and how they affect lives.

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EAIF Commits Additional US$30M to Support Indorama’s Expansion with Third Urea Plant in Nigeria

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The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), a Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) company, has committed a US$30 million senior debt facility to Indorama, a leading producer and exporter of fertiliser.

The investment enables the construction of a new plant, port terminal, handling stations, and storage facilities in Nigeria, providing a major boost for the country’s agricultural sector, which is a crucial driver of the country and region’s economic growth.

EAIF acted as a co-lender within a broader debt financing package arranged by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), mobilising US$1.25 billion from a syndicate of impact investors, development finance solutions, and commercial banks.

EAIF’s investment increases the Fund’s lending to the company to $111 million, reflecting a joint-ambition to accelerate Indorama’s growth strategy and Nigeria’s aspirations for diversification and industrialisation.

The new funding unlocks fresh capital to enable the construction of a dedicated port terminal and state-of-the-art urea fertiliser plant, anticipating an increase in its current capacity from 2.8 million metric tons to 4.2 million metric tons per annum.

The expansion leverages the company’s strategic location as a freight-competitive supplier serving the needs of significant urea markets in the southern Atlantic, including Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, as well as West Africa, South Africa and the USA.

The facility bolsters Indorama’s capacity, extending its complex beyond the current two urea fertiliser plants, which is well poised to meet the entire demand of the Nigerian market.

The third urea plant aims to maximise output to meet the food demands of growing populations as disruptions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis affect food security around the globe.

Global crop production is reliant on the international supply of fertiliser. The landmark project is expected to position Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, as a leading producer of urea among the top 10 producers worldwide.

Contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 on Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, EAIF’s loan forms part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) objective for new infrastructure to drive action on climate and nature.

The construction of the port terminal and third plant is set to begin in 2024, with commercial operations expected to commence in 2026. During the construction phase, it is estimated that over 500 jobs will be generated, further contributing to economic development in Nigeria and beyond.

Commenting on the transaction, Olivia Carballo, Managing Director, Emerging Market, Fixed Income at Ninety One, the fund manager of the EAIF, said: “Our continued support for Indorama demonstrates EAIF’s commitment to harnessing the region’s significant economic prospects.

Africa’s potential for industrialisation is tremendous, and this landmark project is a testament to Nigeria’s enhanced ability to produce and export competitively priced, high-quality fertiliser to farmers in regional and international markets, which will remain a priority for years to come.”

Munish Jindal, CEO, Indorama, said: “Indorama will utilise state-of-the-art technology and adhere to stringent environmental standards to ensure optimal efficiency, product quality and sustainability.

We believe that the establishment of this fertiliser will position Nigeria as a key player in the global agricultural market. We are committed to maximising the potential of this project to benefit farmers, communities, and stakeholders across the value chain.

The involvement of esteemed lenders like the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund will not only help Nigeria’s in becoming one of the largest exporter of the fertilisers in the region but will also address the issues of global food security. We extend our sincere appreciation to all our partners, lenders, and stakeholders for their unwavering support and dedication to our shared vision.”

Sérgio Pimenta, IFC Vice President for Africa, said: “Reliable access to high quality fertiliser is essential for food production and food security around the world. IFC’s investment in Indorama, along with African, Asian, European, and American partners, signals our joint commitment to support the agriculture sector, Nigeria’s economy, and the expansion of Indorama, an important supplier in the global food chain.”


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Lifi.net Achieves 500mbps Speed to Rank among Fastest Internet Providers in Nigeria

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Lifi.net, a fast-growing internet service provider, has attained internet speed that is many times faster than the documented average internet speed in Nigeria as at January 2024.

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Latest disclosure by LIfi.net shows that the company now delivers up to 500 megabits per seconds (mbps) internet speed in unlimited services provided to homes and offices. This is higher than the country’s average internet speed of 26.74mbps.

As internet subscriber base increases in Nigeria and hit 161.68 million in January, the quality of internet service provided by operators to their users still constitutes concerns as 2G network which has limited speed dominates the space by covering 57.78%.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) revealed through its latest data that while 3G is responsible for 9.36% of internet users in the country, 4G covers 31.75% of internet access and 5G internet only serves 1.11% of internet users in the country.

This combination explains why Nigeria ranked 93rd on the global mobile internet speed test out of 144 countries tested by Ookla, a U.S-based internet speed analysis firm, in January, putting the country’s median internet speed at 26.74 megabits per second (mbps).

However, Lifi.net (NT/007/22), a licensee of NCC, is among few Internet service providers (ISPs) that deliver fastest internet speed in Nigeria with up 350mbps for homes and 2500mbps for offices while assisting new ISPs with speeds over 5000mbps at the data centre and delivering the capacity to their various hubs at no extra cost.

“For over five years Lifi.net has been a leading network company, providing quality internet solutions at the speed of light and at affordable rates. We have highly technical and hard-working personnel and partners. We are very skilled at managing Cisco and Mikrotik Routers’ deployment, configurations, and integrations, fibre laying, and splicing,” says Abraham Oluwambe, Chief Operating Officer of Lifi.net.

He added that as operators attract more subscribers to their respective networks, they should equally place a premium on upgrading the quality of services to deliver broadband at the fastest internet speed possible.

“Our services are not only widespread but also affordable. We believe in making quality connectivity accessible to all. We understand the importance of budget-friendly solutions. Our cost-effective broadband plans ensure you get the best value for your investment without compromising on quality.

“While providing high-speed and reliable broadband connectivity, operators may choose the floor or the peak performance of its service. At Lifi.net, we always go for the latter,” he said.


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Our 2023 Ads Safety Report

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By Duncan Lennox, VP & GM of Ads Privacy and Safety

Billions of people around the world rely on Google products to provide relevant and trustworthy information, including ads. That’s why we have thousands of people working around the clock to safeguard the digital advertising ecosystem. Today, we are releasing our annual Ads Safety Report to share the progress we’ve made in enforcing our advertiser and publisher policies and to hold ourselves accountable in our work of maintaining a healthy ad-supported internet.

The key trend in 2023 was the impact of generative AI. This new technology introduced significant and exciting changes to the digital advertising industry, from performance optimization to image editing. Of course, generative AI also presents new challenges. We take these challenges seriously and will outline the work we are doing to address them head-on.

Just as importantly, generative AI presents a unique opportunity to improve our enforcement efforts significantly. Our teams are embracing this transformative technology, specifically Large Language Models (LLMs), so that we can better keep people safe online.

Gen AI Bolsters Enforcement 

Our safety teams have long used AI-driven machine learning systems to enforce our policies at scale. It’s how, for years, we’ve been able to detect and block billions of bad ads before a person ever sees them. But, while still highly sophisticated, these machine learning models have historically needed to be trained extensively – they often rely on hundreds of thousands, if not millions of examples of violative content.

LLMs, on the other hand, are able to rapidly review and interpret content at a high volume, while also capturing important nuances within that content. These advanced reasoning capabilities have already resulted in larger-scale and more precise enforcement decisions on some of our more complex policies. Take, for example, our policy against Unreliable Financial Claims which includes ads promoting get-rich-quick schemes. The bad actors behind these types of ads have grown more sophisticated. They  adjust their tactics and tailor ads around new financial services or products, such as investment advice or digital currencies, to scam users.

To be sure, traditional machine learning models are trained to detect these policy violations. Yet, the fast-paced and ever-changing nature of financial trends make it, at times, harder to differentiate between legitimate and fake services and quickly scale our automated enforcement systems to combat scams. LLMs are more capable of quickly recognizing new trends in financial services, identifying the patterns of bad actors who are abusing those trends and distinguishing a legitimate business from a get-rich-quick scam. This has helped our teams become even more nimble in confronting emerging threats of all kinds.

We’ve only just begun to leverage the power of LLMs for ads safety. Gemini, launched publicly last year, is Google’s most capable AI modeI. We’re excited to have started bringing its sophisticated reasoning capabilities into our ads safety and enforcement efforts.

Our Work to Prevent Fraud and Scams

In 2023, scams and fraud across all online platforms were on the rise. Bad actors are constantly evolving their tactics to manipulate digital advertising in order to scam people and legitimate businesses alike. To counter these ever-shifting threats, we quickly updated policies, deployed rapid-response enforcement teams and sharpened our detection techniques.

  • In November, we launched our Limited Ads Serving policy, which is designed to protect users by limiting the reach of advertisers with whom we are less familiar. Under this policy, we’ve implemented a “get-to-know-you” period for advertisers who don’t yet have an established track record of good behavior, during which impressions for their ads might be limited in certain circumstances–for example, when there is an unclear relationship between the advertiser and a brand they are referencing. Ultimately, Limited Ads Serving, which is still in its early stages, will help ensure well-intentioned advertisers are able to build up trust with users, while limiting the reach of bad actors and reducing the risk of scams and misleading ads.

  • A critical part of protecting people from online harm hinges on our ability to respond to new abuse trends quickly. Toward the end of 2023 and into 2024, we faced a targeted campaign of ads featuring the likeness of public figures to scam users, often through the use of deepfakes. When we detected this threat, we created a dedicated team to respond immediately. We pinpointed patterns in the bad actors’ behavior, trained our automated enforcement models to detect similar ads and began removing them at scale. We also updated our misrepresentation policy to better enable us to rapidly suspend the accounts of bad actors.

Overall, we blocked or removed 206.5 million advertisements for violating our misrepresentation policy, which includes many scam tactics and 273.4 million advertisements for violating our financial services policy. We also blocked or removed over 1 billion advertisements for violating our policy against abusing the ad network, which includes promoting malware.

The fight against scam ads is an ongoing effort, as we see bad actors operating with more sophistication, at a greater scale, using new tactics such as deepfakes to deceive people. We’ll continue to dedicate extensive resources, making significant investments in detection technology and partnering with organizations like the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and Stop Scams UK to facilitate information sharing and protect consumers worldwide.

Investing in Election Integrity

Political ads are an important part of democratic elections. Candidates and parties use ads to raise awareness, share information and engage potential voters. In a year with several major elections around the world, we want to make sure voters continue to trust the election ads they may see on our platforms. That’s why we have long-standing identity verification and transparency requirements for election advertisers, as well as restrictions on how these advertisers can target their election ads. All election ads must also include a “paid for by” disclosure and are compiled in our publicly available transparency report. In 2023, we verified more than 5,000 new election advertisers and removed more than 7.3M election ads that came from advertisers who did not complete verification.

Last year, we were the first tech company to launch a new disclosure requirement for election ads containing synthetic content. As more advertisers leverage the power and opportunity of AI, we want to make sure we continue to provide people with the greater transparency and the information they need to make informed decisions.

Additionally, we’ve continued to enforce our policies against ads that promote demonstrably false election claims that could undermine trust or participation in democratic processes.

Overall 2023 Numbers

Our goal is to catch bad ads and suspend fraudulent accounts before they make it onto our platforms or remove them immediately once detected. AI is improving our enforcement on all these fronts. In 2023, we blocked or removed over 5.5 billion ads, slightly up from the prior year, and 12.7 million advertiser accounts, nearly double from the previous year. Similarly, we work to protect advertisers and people by removing our ads from publisher pages and sites that violate our policies, such as sexually explicit content or dangerous products. In 2023, we blocked or restricted ads from serving on more than 2.1 billion publisher pages, up slightly from 2022. We are also getting better at tackling pervasive or egregious violations. We took broader site-level enforcement action on more than 395,000 publisher sites, up markedly from 2022.

To put the impact of AI on this work into perspective: last year more than 90% of our publisher page level enforcement started with the use of machine learning models, including our latest LLMs. Of course, any advertiser or publisher can still appeal an enforcement action if they think we got it wrong. Our teams will review it and, in the cases where we find errors, use it to improve our systems.

Staying Nimble and Looking Ahead

When it comes to ads safety, a lot can change over the course of a year: the introduction of new technology such as generative AI to novel abuse trends and global conflicts. And the digital advertising space has to be nimble and ready to react. That’s why we are continuously developing new policies, strengthening our enforcement systems, deepening cross-industry collaboration and offering more control to people, publishers and advertisers.

In 2023, for example, we launched the Ads Transparency Center, a searchable hub of all ads from verified advertisers, which helps people quickly and easily learn more about the ads they see on Search, YouTube and Display. We also updated our suitability controls to make it simpler and quicker for advertisers to exclude topics that they wish to avoid across YouTube and Display inventory. Overall, we made 31 updates to our Ads and Publisher policies.

Though we don’t yet know what the rest of 2024 has in store for us, we are confident that our investments in policy, detection and enforcement will prepare us for any challenges ahead.


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