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Osun Trains 20,000 Youths on ICT

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Osun State Government said it has engaged several youths in productive venture through its various empowerment programmes, especially, the training of about 20,000 indigenes in Information Communication Technology, ICT.

This was revealed over the weekend during a briefing by Mr. Abiodun Fesobi, Project coordinator of Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme Technology (OYESTECH), in Osogbo, the Osun state capital.

According to him, the programme is designed as an exit plan for OYES volunteers in the state and also to serve as support base for other interested participants to be self-reliant.

He hinted that the objective of the programme is to impact participants with required skill which will enable them to be employable by any organisation and become business owners.

“OYESTECH is an information and Communication Technology branch of the widely accepted Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme, OYES which is aimed at impacting the participants with required skills so as to enable them employable and become business owners.

“The scheme is all about skill acquisition through knowledge transfer with 10 training centres across the state which gives training on various sections such as phone repairs, electronics computer assembling, computer usage and entrepreneurship.

Aside 5,000 participants trained in the first batch of the scheme, additional 15,000 have been trained in different aspect of applied technology and they also re-trained many others.

He said, “Some of our graduates have also gone ahead to train over 150 persons; with success stories in their businesses.

“In order to achieve this set objectives, the government, through its investment arm- Osun State Investment Company Limited, OSICOL- embarked on selection of technical partner- RLG- and through signing of memorandum of understanding and admission of 5000 trainees per batch in four batches and at the end of it certificate were issued to participants.

In separate interviews, the beneficiaries said that the programme has enhanced their living condition and that of their families by making them productive and enable them to give back to the society.

One of the beneficiaries identified as Oseni Ibrahim, said, “I am one of the beneficiaries of the OYESTECH, the government have tried by giving us the best and also sending us to Ghana for training. We were trained on information technology and at our return; government equipped us with necessary tools which we are all satisfied with.

Another beneficiary who is now Mr. Abdul-Hakeem Babatunde, Director of Bayotek Computer Service, relaying his experience, said, “Bayotek computer service was founded after I graduated from the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme Technology in 2011 and we were given a mandate to empower other youths so as to complement government’s efforts at reducing unemployment among the youth.

“I have one of my centres at Federal Polytechnic Ede, Osun State and also have a Cybercafe as an extension where I also train students on how to work on software and hardware of computers. I have trained over 100 youths.

Also speaking, Anthonia Ogundare lauded the state government for the opportunity given her and many others to be part of the scheme adding that the scheme has made youths in the state productive.

“I have been a beneficiary of this programme; I was privileged to be chosen among 150 beneficiaries who were sponsored to Ghana by Osun state government for a month internship and at our return I was employed and I have since been working at Adulawo Technology City in Ilesa.

“This is one programme that has helped the youths in securing jobs to help their family and future. I have been learning a lot and gaining more knowledge every day”.

It would be recalled that the scheme which is aimed at job creation through ICT was inaugurated by the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in 2011.

OYESTECH is one of the components of Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) which has recruited over 40,000 youths.

The programme now in its sixth year, has successfully scaled down youths unemployment and profitably engaged them in various areas of ICT.

Also, the United Nations in its latest Global multi-dimensional poverty index report on Nigeria ranked the state of Osun as the 2nd state after Lagos with least poverty amongst the 36 states in Nigeria.

This is due to the several empowerment programmes of the government which has successfully moved hundreds of thousands away from the poverty line.


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Trump Threatens More Strikes in Nigeria

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President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could carry out further military strikes in Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed, reigniting a sensitive debate over religious violence and foreign intervention in Africa’s most populous nation.

Trump Threatens More Strikes in Nigeria

President Donald Trump

Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times, published on Thursday, while responding to questions about a US military strike carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day.

At the time, the US military said the operation targeted Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria and was conducted at the request of the Nigerian government.

Nigeria, however, described the operation as a joint counterterrorism effort, stressing that it was aimed at armed groups designated as terrorists and “had nothing to do with a particular religion”.

“I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” Trump was quoted as saying. “But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”

Pressed on comments by his own Africa adviser that extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria, Trump acknowledged that Muslims were also victims but insisted that Christians were being targeted disproportionately.

“I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly raised alarms about the safety of Christians in Nigeria, beginning in late October when he warned that Christianity faced what he described as an “existential threat” in the country. He has accused Nigerian authorities of failing to adequately protect Christian communities and has openly threatened US military intervention if the violence continues.

Nigeria has firmly rejected claims of systematic persecution of Christians. The government maintains that the country’s security challenges are complex and largely driven by insurgency, banditry and criminal violence rather than religious targeting.

With a population of more than 230 million people, Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Christians, who are concentrated mainly in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north. Islamist insurgencies, particularly Boko Haram and its offshoots, have plagued parts of northern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands and displacing millions.

Nigerian authorities have repeatedly pointed out that militant attacks have claimed the lives of both Muslims and Christians, arguing that framing the violence along religious lines oversimplifies the crisis and risks inflaming tensions.

Following Trump’s earlier threats, the Nigerian government said it was willing to continue cooperating with Washington in combating terrorism but rejected language suggesting that Christians alone were under threat.

The latest comments are likely to strain diplomatic relations further, as Nigeria balances its partnership with the United States against concerns over sovereignty, security cooperation and the portrayal of its internal conflicts on the global stage.


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OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health

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OpenAI maker of ChatGPT is rolling out a health-focused feature to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that’s used by nearly a billion users.

Named ChatGPT Health, the new feature aims to provide users with health and wellness information. This, as health is one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT, according to OpenAI.

In a blog post, Microsoft-backed OpenAI says de-identified analysis of conversations show that over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness-related questions on ChatGPT every week.

ChatGPT Health will also “securely” connect medical records and wellness apps to ground conversations with a user’s own health information, making responses more relevant and useful.

“Designed in close collaboration with physicians, ChatGPT Health helps people take a more active role in understanding and managing their health and wellness – while supporting, not replacing, care from clinicians.”

According to OpenAI, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs, and medical notes making it hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own.

“ChatGPT Health builds on these so responses are informed by your health information and context. You can now securely connect medical records and wellness apps – like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal – so ChatGPT can help you understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with your doctor, get advice on how to approach your diet and workout routine, or understand the trade-offs of different insurance options based on your healthcare patterns.”

According to the company, ChatGPT Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care, adding that it is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. “Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time – not just moments of illness – so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations.

“To keep your health information protected and secure, Health operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data. Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models. If you start a health-related conversation in ChatGPT, we’ll suggest moving into Health for these additional protections.”

OpenAI adds that access to ChatGPT Health has started with a small group of early users to learn and continue refining the experience, adding that users with ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans outside of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK are eligible.

“As we make improvements, we plan to expand access and make Health available to all users on web and iOS in the coming weeks.

“Medical record integrations and some apps are available in the US only, and connecting Apple Health requires iOS.”


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Kaspersky Shares AI Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026

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Kaspersky experts outline how the rapid development of AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape in 2026, both for individual users and for businesses. Large language models (LLMs) are influencing defensive capabilities while simultaneously expanding opportunities for threat actors.

Deepfakes are becoming a mainstream technology, and awareness will continue to grow. Companies are increasingly discussing the risks of synthetic content and training employees to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to it. As the volume of deepfakes grows, so does the range of formats in which they appear.

At the same time, awareness is rising not only within organisations but also among regular users: end consumers encounter fake content more often and better understand the nature of such threats. As a result, deepfakes are becoming a stable element of the security agenda, requiring a systematic approach to training and internal policies.

Deepfake quality will improve through better audio and a lowering barrier to entry. The visual quality of deepfakes is already high, while realistic audio remains the main area for future growth.

At the same time, content generation tools are becoming easier to use: even non-experts can now create a mid-quality deepfake in just a few clicks. As a result, the average quality continues to rise, creation becomes accessible to a far broader audience, and these capabilities will inevitably continue to be leveraged by cybercriminals.

Online deepfakes will continue to evolve but remain tools for advanced users. Real-time face and voice swapping technologies are improving, but their setup still requires more advanced technical skills. Wide adoption is unlikely, yet the risks in targeted scenarios will grow: increasing realism and the ability to manipulate video through virtual cameras make such attacks more convincing.

Efforts to develop a reliable system for labelling AI-generated content will continue. There are still no unified criteria for reliably identifying synthetic content, and current labels are easy to bypass or remove, especially when working with open-source models. For this reason, new technical and regulatory initiatives aimed at addressing the problem are likely to emerge.

Open-weight models will approach top closed models in many cybersecurity-related tasks, which create more opportunities for misuse. Closed models still offer stricter control mechanisms and safeguards, limiting abuse.

However, open-source systems are rapidly catching up in functionality and circulate without comparable restrictions. This blurs the difference between proprietary models and open-source models both of which can be used efficiently for undesired or malicious purposes.

The line between legitimate and fraudulent AI-generated content will become increasingly blurred. AI can already produce well-crafted scam emails, convincing visual identities, and high-quality phishing pages.

At the same time, major brands are adopting synthetic materials in advertising, making AI-generated content look familiar and visually “normal.” As a result, distinguishing real from fake will become even more challenging, both for users and for automated detection systems.

AI will become a cross-chain tool in cyberattacks and be used across most stages of the kill chain. Threat actors already employ LLMs to write code, build infrastructure, and automate operational tasks.

Further advances will reinforce this trend: AI will increasingly support multiple stages of an attack, from preparation and communication to assembling malicious components, probing for vulnerabilities and deploying tools. Attackers will also work to hide signs of AI involvement, making such operations harder to analyse.

“While AI tools are being used in cyberattacks, they are also becoming a more common tool in security analysis and influence how SOC teams work. Agent-based systems will be able to continuously scan infrastructure, identify vulnerabilities, and gather contextual information for investigations, reducing the amount of manual routine work.

“As a result, specialists will shift from manually searching for data to making decisions based on already-prepared context. In parallel, security tools will transition to natural-language interfaces, enabling prompts instead of complex technical queries,” adds Vladislav Tushkanov, Research Development Group Manager at Kaspersky.

 


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