General News
We Don’t Need Foreign Software to Drive IM – Fambegbe
Folarin Fambegbe, director, Golden Scepter, a company dedicated to become a one-stop shop in records and archives management, is a civil engineer turned banker.
He worked in the defunct City Bank for 17 years.
Fambegbe believes that ICT is a critical force that can help meet the records management demand anchored on providing market-leading levels of trust, security and reliability. He spoke to peter ugwu.
Overview
Golden Scepter is a product of vision. In the course of my working in the bank, records management formed part of my duties.
I discovered that most of the banks in the country do not have good records keeping system; therefore retrieval of documents poses great challenge.
There are cases where directors were been chased by the economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC), not because they do not have the documents, but they could not present documents required during one investigation or the other hence the main problem is that the processes of management of those documents were haphazard in nature.
So, you see managing directors of banks and insurance companies running out of the country. Meanwhile, I and my partner saw that is a problem that must be addressed. So, the starting point for Golden Scepter was when we left the bank in 2003; they later invited us to come and help them out in organizing their archives management system.
However, after the bank capitalization we discovered that other banks have similar problems too. We thought it wise to set up a platform that will serve as a model in organizing institutions’ records management system.
Consequently, other banks expressed interest in us ensuring that their records keeping systems are in other.
GS Phenomenal Growth
The point is that there is a vision and there is a need. Institutions are really concerned on how to keep adequate records management system.
And we as service providers leveraged on that to come into the system.
Even when heads of different companies meet they discuss this among themselves and some of them would always want to maintain proper records keeping knowing the importance.
Today, we have helped a number of banks maintain their records department, bringing them to contemporary practices.
Industry’s Viability
Yes, the industry is viable, but Nigerians orientation towards records management is very low. Some companies would ask you the immediate gains they will generate from such project that is maintaining an updated archive.
The truth remains that when you have adequate document, it will be difficult for anybody to lay false claims, defraud you or take things for granted.
We should ask ourselves what constitutes the bottom-line: when you have increased revenue or decreased expenses then you have bigger profit.
Now, when you have even bigger profit with leakages through outrageous payments due to the fact that you cannot substantiate certain claims or through the injunctions of the law courts following your inability to present certain document(s), the somewhat a big revenue will start to depreciate. What you need to do is to block such leakages.
And it will ensure efficiency in service delivery. Helps in achieving company’s goals, and customer services are better met when you have every bite of information available for use.
How about job creation?
Today we have over 30 staff. So, this is an industry waiting to be explored. With more companies coming on board, definitely we should be expecting that records management industry will add value to the Nigeria’s Economy.
This is just an aspect of the industry, when you talk of document control; it is a very large setting traversing areas like construction, oil and gas, government institutions, etc. is such large because we are referring to documents that are still in use; where you have different strokes of projects going on almost at the same time and in the chain all the parties have to be involved.
Lack of Professionals
The first step is awareness creation. That is why a non-governmental body – Records and Information Management Awareness Foundation (Rima) is doing a great job.
But on our part we train people. We have trained personnel of 44 companies including schools, all within our four years of existence.
Interestingly, the more people are becoming aware of the profession, more companies are willing to absorb, all points to the fact that Nigeria is not an Ireland on its own.
We must embrace the opportunities exiting in this area by encouraging our young ones to embrace the discipline.
The Place of Records Management in Data Security
We highlight the importance of security that is why when we help companies in setting up their archives we advise them to train their staff alongside.
In setting up an archive is not just about the papers, you have to consider the security control measures.
More so, we advise institutions to have documents management policies.
The essence is to stipulate who handles what. There have been cases where companies lose valuable documents due to porous means by which its document bank is handled.
Fight against Corruption
Corruptions are not done from heaven. They are done with documents. So, document control or records management is quite apt in checkmating corruption because if you can trace the document, it serves a large purpose in tracing perpetrators of certain acts.
And in court system, they don’t deal with stories; rather the substantive facts and figures give you an edge over your opponents as the case may be. So, one way to fight corruption is my ensuring that records are kept, well controlled and it can be retrieved when needed; anything short of that is a mirage.
In other words, it will help see justice is neither delayed nor denied.
Government’s Support to the Industry
In the developed countries, the industrial standards are set by the government, thus other have to follow suit.
Apart from that, government needs to intervene by upgrading existing infrastructure in her centers like the National Archives of Nigeria (Nan) just like the Lagos State Government is doing by creating the Records and Archives Bureau.
When the infrastructures are in place, they will motivate our people to study this discipline. At a time we thought of collaborating with different state governments, but we discovered that most of them are not ready to embrace the change and we are also not interesting in becoming part of the corrupt systems; even the government that decry unavailability of employment opportunities for the teeming youths. Why can’t they leverage on this platform to do so?
Now that we are looking at revisiting the 1999 constitution, there is a need to repeal the National Archives Act, for instance, to reflect contemporary practice; come up with something that can assist economy of the country.
Pending that, because government things are very slow, institutions can set up their framework or policies. Once that is done, it will be easier to register Nigeria’s presence in the comity of proper records keeping nations.
Is ICT’s a threat to Archives Management?
No! When people say that the evolution of information communications technology spells doom for the archives management, I would say, we are limiting the scope of the profession.
Although it is not just about filing physical papers or documents, then the electronic documents show that ICT is a complement and can never.
Currently, we are going beyond physical archiving system; therefore, users can seat anywhere and have access to certain document, because information transmission nowadays runs on a speed of light.
If you want to be relevant then have the relevant document that can be accessed 24 hours. ICT has made Archiving become cheaper.
Hence the software is there, there is nothing to fear about, because security can be assured as well.
However, in Golden Scepter we hold the view that records digitization is not a direct substitute to a well organized physical archive.
Remember everybody needs information as contained in a document to operate, but not everybody is connected to the ICT yet, which makes the relevance of physical archives paramount in our day to day activities.
People make a mistake by thinking that electronic records management means there is no paper. What ICT does is to reduce the paper, thereby helping the eco-system.
Today, in Nigeria, what does the court accept as written evidence if not physical documents, like bank statements which is different from original documents that is scanned.
Protection of Physical Archives
When you are talking about physical archives management, there are a lot of things that must be in place for security purpose.
Fire extinguishers are very important. Perhaps, you are not going to sleep in the archives; how do you secure the place from fire? So, there is need to install self-triggered apparatus that will ‘fight’ the fire even with no body present.
The sensitivity of archives demands that you fix CCTVs as well, to monitor movements, which is still IT complementary role.
These are part of the key safety measure that will complete efforts of skilled manpower to ensure the place works optimally.
We have a mechanism to dry wet or flooded documents. For instance, after the July 10, 2011 flood disaster in Lagos, many government and private companies’ documents were drenched. Those who contacted us have better stories to tell.
Professionalism
When we talk of International Standard Organisation (ISO) set standards it depends on the organization that engages in the practice.
Meanwhile, some companies parading themselves as ISO certified are not real. They are certified on papers, but in practice they are below every reasonable standard.
It is in every profession, people cutting corners.
Is not about the certification, but what is behind. Having said that, it is important to embrace the stands; by doing that companies can save cost and protect sensitive projects during executions.
Career
I support the school of thought that our educational curriculum should be revisited to include records and information management.
I have come to understand that not all who studied Library Science can easily practice this. There is still a divide.
You find out that people don’t actually have confidence in their discipline. In developed countries like in US and UK, people are making input to the economy and academic through courses like this.
We can follow suit. Recently, a particular university invited us to come and address that problem for them to cue-in to the modern practice.
Software
Ostensibly, there is no need we looking outward to purchase software for our applications, because what we are looking for are here in Nigeria.
We are now part of the global village.
Meanwhile, when you go to other place, South Africa, United Kingdom, etc, there is a way they keep their records, we should have our template.
Therefore, we can’t fuse their model into our system. So, we are trying to build our standard here, bring it up to meet international standards.
NLNG and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have commenced the construction of a research and innovation centre at Rivers State University, aimed at strengthening indigenous capacity in computer and electrical engineering.
The NLNG Research and Innovation Centre for Computer and Electrical Engineering (RICCEE), which was inaugurated yesterday, is the company’s largest Human Capital Development Institutional Strengthening project to date.
The centre is expected to provide specialised training, advanced research facilities and technological solutions for challenges in Nigeria’s energy and industrial sectors.
It will also house a professorial chair and operate as a research and development centre where industry-focused solutions, particularly for NLNG, can be developed and potentially commercialised.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, NLNG’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Adeleye Falade, described the project as a strategic investment in the country’s future and evidence of the company’s commitment to sustainable human capital development.
Falade, who was represented by NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, said the facility would improve the university’s ability to produce highly skilled professionals while ensuring that research responds to industry needs.
He said the centre would also help bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical industry requirements by creating opportunities for researchers and professionals to work together on innovations with commercial and developmental value.
Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, represented by the Director, Capacity Building, Abayomi Bamidele, said the project marked an important step in advancing the Board’s Human Capital Development objectives.
According to him, the centre is part of the Board’s Institutional Strengthening Programme, which seeks to build lasting partnerships with higher institutions through infrastructure that supports teaching, research, innovation and practical skills development.
Ogbe challenged the centre to emerge as a hub for discovery, creativity and technological advancement, where students can develop innovative ideas, researchers tackle real-world problems and industry can find reliable research and development partners.
The Vice-Chancellor of Rivers State University, Prof. Isaac Zeb-Obipi, said the project aligned with the institution’s 2026–2030 strategic plan, particularly its focus on research collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship.
“We envisage the Centre as a world-class hub where researchers and students can develop practical solutions to engineering and technological challenges, where university-industry collaboration can flourish, and where innovative ideas can be transformed into useful products, technologies and services,” he said.
The centre will occupy about 9,336 square metres within the university and include specialised laboratories for electronics and signal processing, robotics and embedded systems, software engineering, and digital forensics and cybersecurity.
The facility will also feature solar energy provisions, energy-efficient lighting and other environmentally responsible systems designed to reduce operating costs and support reliable research activities.
RICCEE is one of NCDMB’s Institutional Strengthening Projects designed to improve learning institutions through modern infrastructure, research facilities, technical equipment and training aligned with industry needs.
General News
NITDA Seals Strategic Deals with Goose FL and Fireflies AI to Power $1 Trillion Digital Economy Vision
In a significant step toward expanding Nigeria’s tech footprint on the global stage, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed strategic Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Canadian tech companies Goose FL and Fireflies AI.
The signings took place during the Nigeria–Canada Investment Forum and the Nigeria Investment Economic Conference in Toronto, Canada, witnessed by NITDA’s Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
The strategic partnership centers on three core pillars designed to accelerate the nation’s digital roadmap:
- Expanding Financial Inclusion: Developing innovative technology solutions to broaden access to digital financial services and create sustainable economic opportunities for underserved communities.
- Deploying Local AI Infrastructure: Establishing indigenous Artificial Intelligence infrastructure and services to strengthen Nigeria’s internal capacity to build, manage, and benefit from AI technologies locally.
- Building a Stronger Digital Economy: Driving long-term economic growth through strategic global partnerships, technology transfer, innovation, and digital capacity development.
This international collaboration directly aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s vision to grow Nigeria into a $1 trillion economy by 2030, anchored by innovation, digital technology, and human capital development.
By forging key global ties, NITDA continues to position Nigeria as a rising leader in the digital economy, ensuring that emerging tools like AI deliver real, tangible value for local citizens and businesses.
Anambra State Government says it is exploring partnerships with the Federal Government and other stakeholders to extend digital connectivity to underserved rural communities across the state.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State ICT Agency, Mr Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, disclosed this during a virtual media engagement with journalists on Thursday.
Agbata said rural connectivity remained a major challenge because telecommunications operators were often reluctant to invest heavily in communities where network deployment might not be commercially viable.
He said the state was willing to explore opportunities to leverage Federal Government infrastructure and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to extend connectivity to underserved communities.
“We understand what digital inclusion means because we are dealing directly with these communities,” Agbata said.
According to him, the objective is to ensure that rural residents are not excluded from the benefits of digital government and the wider digital economy simply because of where they live.
Agbata said the effort formed part of the state’s broader digital transformation agenda, which is targeting deeper digitalisation of government services and a more digitally enabled business environment by 2030.
He said the second phase of the agency’s digital transformation agenda would focus on e-governance, digital infrastructure, smart government and the use of emerging technologies to drive development.
“My core vision is that we would have digitised every single government entity in Anambra State,” he said.
The ICT boss said the digital transformation agenda would extend beyond government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to businesses and residents across the state.
He said the agency was already developing websites for government MDAs and transforming them from mere information platforms into channels for delivering government services.
“We are building websites for all the MDAs. We are also automating them to be able to carry out services and give government support and government services through their websites,” he said.
Agbata said the initiative would reduce the need for citizens to physically visit government offices to access basic services.
He said the Smart Anambra platform had already demonstrated growing demand for remote access to government services.
According to him, the platform recorded about 14,000 visits between July 9 and July 29, averaging approximately 700 visits daily, despite limited publicity.
He said the data indicated that residents were interested in accessing government services online, including applications, permits and identification-related processes.
“What the data is already showing us is that we really need to build a system that allows people to actually get government services remotely,” Agbata said.
He explained that the objective was to allow residents to initiate processes online, complete forms remotely and only visit government offices where physical presence was eventually required.
This, he said, would reduce the time and cost citizens spend travelling to Awka or other government offices to access services.
Agbata said services in areas including hospitals, schools and other government processes were being connected to Smart Anambra.
Anambra Targets 2030 for Digital Government
Agbata said the state’s 2030 target was to deepen the digitalisation of government services and create an environment where businesses could increasingly operate within the formal digital economy.
He said the agency was working with the Ministry of Commerce to promote the formalisation of businesses, particularly SMEs and businesses operating in major markets.
“One of the biggest challenges that we have is that SMEs are not formalised enough,” he said, adding that the agency was exploring partnerships to address the challenge.
The ICT agency boss said the transformation would be gradual because major government initiatives required the necessary approvals and resources.
On the possibility of making Anambra completely paperless, Agbata disclosed that the State Executive Council was already operating a paperless system.
He, however, said the entire civil service might continue to operate a combination of digital and paper-based processes for some time because of the complexity of government operations.
“What might happen is a dual situation,” he said, adding that selected MDAs could be used as pilots for deeper digital transformation.
Agbata also disclosed that the Anambra State ICT Agency had commenced the deployment of a locally trained artificial intelligence (AI) system to automate its operations and explore applications in governance, revenue management and public-sector productivity.
He explained that the agency did not develop a frontier large language model from scratch because of the huge computing and financial resources required.
Instead, he said, it adopted an open-source model, modified it and was training it for specific local use cases.
“We have started doing our own local AI system. It is an open-source system, so we didn’t build our own frontier model. We basically looked at open source and modified it, and we are training it,” Agbata said.
He said the system had already been deployed to automate the agency’s operations end-to-end.
“We have used it to automate our agency end-to-end. Everything that we do now is currently automated,” he said.
Agbata said the agency was exploring how the model could be applied across other areas of government to improve productivity, address revenue leakages and strengthen governance.
He said the AI initiative formed a major part of what he described as the agency’s “2.0” phase following his reappointment by Gov. Chukwuma Soludo.
According to him, the second phase would build on achievements in infrastructure, capacity development, e-governance and smart government while placing greater emphasis on AI and emerging technologies.
Agbata also said the state’s free public Wi-Fi initiative remained operational, stressing that the programme was introduced before the electioneering period.
“The free Wi-Fi didn’t start as a political thing, a campaign thing. It started way before the campaigns,” he said.
He explained that the strategy was adjusted during the campaigns to enable residents to follow the governor’s activities and participate in live engagements while on the move.
According to him, existing Wi-Fi locations, including facilities at the state Secretariat, remain operational, although occasional downtime occurs, particularly during periods of adverse weather.
“There are downtimes now and then because with the rains and all of that, these things have their uptime and their downtimes, but it is still very much available,” he said.
He disclosed that there were currently no plans to establish additional Wi-Fi locations, noting that existing sites were still providing services.
Agbata said the state would continue to develop digital skills and education programmes, including Smart Schools and other capacity-development initiatives.
He also called for stronger collaboration among government, technology companies, telecommunications operators, local technology manufacturers and other stakeholders to accelerate the state’s digital transformation.
He cited the procurement of about 2,000 computers supplied by indigenous technology company, Zinox, as an example of the state’s engagement with local technology providers.
Agbata said the agency would remain open to partnerships capable of supporting Anambra’s technology agenda.
He said the ultimate objective was to build an Anambra where residents and businesses could increasingly interact with government digitally, while technology becomes a central driver of economic development across the state.
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