News
State of Emergency: Growing Army of Half-Baked Graduates
The future of over 80,000 computer science students in the county look bleak unless something urgent is done to underpin the educational curriculum and halt the spiraling decay in the system, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
These students are about to join the growing army of half-baked graduates who are victims of the mess in the current curriculum in Nigeria’s schools because it lacks information and communications technology (ICT) ingredients.
Problems ranging from lack of political will on the part of the government; brain-drain; and poor facilities have all joined hands to prevent Nigeria from producing graduates who can contribute to the creation of knowledge driven economy or so called new economy.
Chris Uwaje, president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (Ispon), described the situation as dire while expressing worries that the country is unwittingly exposing itself to unregulated and unwholesome deployment of foreign application software in key, critical and sensitive areas of the national economy, especially in Federal Government operations.
He said that students under the aegis of Nigerian Association of Computer Science Students (Nacoss) must be bequeathed with laboratories, software incubators and integrated into governments’ contracts execution, as major economic players.
Uwaje also called for a national software development policy and conscious IT legislation to mitigate the negative impact of dearth in infrastructure and bridge the digital divide.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Nigeria’s several attempts to develop a comprehensive blueprint for the ICT sector have failed because they are either short in prescription or deficient in outlook.
Engineer Florence Seriki, managing director/CEO, Omatek Computers, at the recent the stakeholders meeting on the ICT draft policy captured it aptly when she said that the document did not have any incentive to grow ICT based institutions for on-ward manufacturing.
Seriki said that “No ICT document will be such flourishing if it fails to recognize the importance of manufacturing revolved round ICT, diversification of manufacturing.
An ICT based institution may not be fruitful without manufacturing, particularly in SME level. The need for a concerted effort to ensure local content, or locally based manufacturing blueprint cannot be over emphasized.
As it is the draft policy is in short of this aspect economic development, especially as we are targeting vision 20:2020.”
But Uwaje said that Nigeria can still rebuild the economy if it can galvanize the teeming youth into the economic transformation agenda through IT master plan that incorporate software development.
“Nigeria can (in collaboration with her science and technology Diaspora knowledge base) build large software development entities and factories and consequently reduce the nation’s unemployment index by creating abundant employment of about 10 million Nigeria youths, who currently harbour uncountable software factories in their heads; willing to explode and be converted into national wealth, but currently wasting away and forced to sell nothing but pure water” he added.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Uwaje’s call is not new to the government which has consistently ignored compelling need to raise a new generation of ICT driven graduates.
Nigerian leaders still pay no attention to the complete makeover of the schools’ curriculum.
When they pretend they pay attention, it is too little to make any impact and that why the country has continued to produce semi educated school leavers.
Particularly disturbing is the fact that most Nigerian graduates leave institutions of higher learning without even touching a computer, leaving them without requisite skills to integrate into the ICT driven business environment.
It is still common place to find the traditional chalk and duster approach in school pedagogy because most school teachers from primary to tertiary lack the skills to fully utilize technology in curriculum implementation.
It is so bad that 80per cent of the Nigerian universities and polytechnics, offering Computer Science as a course still include obsolete topics in their curriculum.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek had in recent editorial urged the government to develop an effective curriculum that includes communications, numeracy, information technology, and social skills units, with specific, specialized teaching of each.
The newspaper also urged to government to important to attract and retain qualified and experienced IT lecturers as well as build state_of_the_art laboratories.
This is because education is widely seen as one of the fastest ways to promote development.
The argument is that education empowers people and provides them with skills that stimulate all facets of development.
Union Bank of Nigeria has secured certification under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) version 4.0.1, a global standard for protecting payment card data.
The certification took effect on August 11, 2026, confirming that the bank’s systems for storing, processing and transmitting customers’ credit and debit card information meet stringent international security requirements.
PCI DSS certification is designed to reduce the risk of payment card data breaches and financial fraud while strengthening customer confidence in electronic payment systems.
The assessment covered key areas of Union Bank’s operations, including network infrastructure, card issuance, ATM and POS transactions, payment processing, reconciliation, settlement, chargebacks, dispute resolution and retail banking.
Union Bank was assessed and certified under the Service Provider category.
The certification process lasted a full year and involved quarterly assessments, with support from departmental, business and functional heads across the bank. Digital security firm Digital Encode supported the process, while the final independent audit was conducted by CyberCube, an accredited Qualified Security Assessor.
Yetunde B. Oni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, said the certification demonstrates the bank’s commitment to protecting customer information.
“The security of our customers’ information is central to everything we do at Union Bank. This certification reaffirms that our payment systems and processes meet a rigorous global standard, and it reflects the discipline of colleagues across the Bank who work every day to keep customer data safe.”
The renewal also ensures that Union Bank maintains continuous PCI DSS certification, in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s requirement for banks to sustain compliance without interruption.
New data from CFA Society Nigeria is reshaping how the country’s financial sector thinks about talent development, with Access emerging as the single largest source of CFA candidates in Nigeria, distinction industry watchers say signals a deeper shift in how leading institutions are building investment expertise from within.
In its Where Nigeria’s Finance Professionals Work series, published in a national daily, CFA Society Nigeria placed Access first among employers of CFA candidates nationwide, with 82 candidates enrolled in the programme, more than double the 38 recorded at the next-placed institution and well ahead of every other bank or financial services firm on the list.
Access also ranked second among employers of CFA charterholders, with 11 professionals who have completed all three levels of the Programme and met its experience and ethics requirements.
For an industry that has long measured itself by balance sheet size and branch count, the rankings point to a different kind of competition: one over who is building the deepest bench of certified, globally credentialed talent.
CFA Society Nigeria compiled the data from its Salesforce Membership Database as at June 2026, and described the exercise as a way of recognising employers whose people “bring rigour, integrity and global best practices into the workplace every day.”
Analysts following the sector say the outcome is notable less for the ranking itself than for what it suggests about talent strategy across Africa’s financial services industry. A single institution developing more aspiring charterholders than the rest of the market combined raises the floor for professional standards nationally, not just within one balance sheet.
Every candidate who advances through the CFA Programme adds to a shared pool of ethics-trained, analytically rigorous professionals that Nigeria’s capital markets, pension funds and asset managers all eventually draw from.
Access Holdings Group Chief Executive Officer Innocent C. Ike, commenting on the rankings, framed the achievement in terms of institution-building rather than recruitment: “Every candidate on that list represents our commitment to building institutions and professionals that endure.”
The remark echoes a broader thesis increasingly voiced by market observers, that talent depth, not scale alone, is what will determine which African financial institutions earn lasting global credibility.
That distinction sits at the centre of Access’s stated ambition to become the World’s Most Respected African Financial Services Group. If the CFA numbers are any indication, the Group’s route to that goal runs less through square metres of branch network and more through the calibre of the people sitting inside it, a bet that Nigeria’s finance professionals, and the institutions that will one day hire them, are already placing alongside Access.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology across domestic and international airport terminals to tackle the growing problem of delayed, misrouted and missing luggages
Michael Achimugu, director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, disclosed this at a stakeholder engagement forum in Lagos.
Achimugu said the RFID-enabled system would replace the traditional barcode-based baggage tracking framework and provide airlines and passengers with real-time visibility of checked luggage from check-in to final collection.
According to him, the technology would improve baggage traceability, reduce mishandling and strengthen accountability across the baggage-handling chain.
Unlike conventional barcode systems, RFID technology allows baggage to be automatically scanned at multiple points without requiring direct line of sight, enabling real-time tracking of luggage throughout its journey.
Achimugu said issues involving short-landed, missing, lost or damaged baggage had remained among the major complaints from air travellers, alongside flight delays.
He said the introduction of RFID technology was therefore aimed at improving baggage-handling standards and restoring passenger confidence in the aviation sector.
The NCAA said the initiative also aligns with IATA Resolution 753, which requires airlines to track baggage at key points during the passenger journey.
The authority expects the technology to provide more accurate information on the location of luggage, facilitate quicker resolution of baggage-related complaints and improve the overall passenger experience.
The NCAA said the initiative would also strengthen accountability among airlines and other stakeholders involved in baggage handling at Nigerian airports.
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