Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Connect with us

E-Business

Wikimedia Calls on Nigerians to Write Wikipedia Articles.

Published

on

Wikipedia.jpg
Kindly share this post

Wikipedia has come a long way since it was established in January 15, 2001. At first, the founder of the encyclopedia, Jimmy Wales wondered if the project will survive.

The first version of Wikipedia was called Nupedia.

Initially, Wikipedia was intended to complement Nupedia, an online encyclopedia project edited solely by experts, by providing additional draft articles and ideas for it.

In practice, Wikipedia quickly overtook Nupedia, becoming a global project in multiple languages and inspiring a wide range of other online reference projects.

Today, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference websites, attracting 374 million unique visitors monthly as of September 2015. There are over 73,000 active contributors working on more than

38,000,000 articles in 290 languages including Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo language.

There are vital opportunities for Wikipedia to tap external expertise and enlarge its base of editors. It is also the most promising way to solve the considerable and often-noted gender gap among Wikipedia editors.

In 2011, less than 15 percent of Wikipedia’s editors were women. Africa is among the continents where Wikipedia recorded low number of active editors.

If Wikipedia ever hopes to be able to achieve is vision of providing “the sum of human knowledge to everyone, everywhere, for free” then increasing the size of the editing communities on African language Wikipedia is extremely important.

There is no doubt that larger and stronger community of editors will leads to more articles of higher quality, which in turn makes that language version of Wikipedia ever more useful and relevant.

Like most African countries, there are low number of people contributing to Wikipedia from Nigeria. This could be as a result of lack of awareness and lack of periodic training to new volunteers.

Currently, the Yoruba Wikipedia have few active editors, the Hausa and Igbo Wikipedia have no active editors. These appears to be a major priority to the Wikimedia Foundation’s affiliate in Nigeria, the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria.

“Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo language Wikipedia need urgent attention. These language versions of Wikipedia remain a topmost priority of our group. Over 90% of the contents in these language Wikipedia are written by bots and they are poorly written”. Said Olaniyan Olushola, a co-founder of the Wikimedia Foundation’s affiliate and the Team Lead of Wikimedia User Group Nigeria.

On 12 January 2016, a notable Wikipedia editor in Nigeria, and advocate for the improvement of Nigeria-related content on Wikipedia who is also the Manager of Wikipedia Education Program in Nigeria, Olatunde Isaac established the Yoruba language branch of “The Wikipedia Library”.

There is no doubt that this idea will improve the quality of contents on these language Wikipedia. Outreach to Nigerian universities is most likely to increase the number of editors from Nigeria.

Over 85% of Nigerian students and scholars Visit Wikipedia on a daily basis to source for information. Student use Wikipedia as a major resource for assignments and classwork.

A recent research suggests that student prefer a computer based assignment to the traditional paper-based assignment.

Nigeria’s Government, through the ministry of education could partner with the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) that owns Wikipedia through their affiliate in Nigeria to train academics on how to use Wikipedia as a teaching tool as well as to train students on how to edit and create articles on Wikipedia.

This will not only improve the students skills in reading, writing, researching, critical thinking, translation, communication, and collaboration but students will also gain information and media literacy; and deepen their understanding of copyright, plagiarism, citation, and digital citizenship.

In 2014, the Israel’s Government through the Ministry of Education and Wikimedia Israel, an affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation engaged in similar partnership.

Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron said, “It is important to us that the education system in Israel leads in innovation and cooperating with Wikipedia is a wonderful opportunity to think outside the box and enable students in Israel to do things that make a difference from which others can also benefit.”

The founder, Jimmy Wales, says; the mission of Wikipedia is much more bigger than just creating a killer website. That is, it has a larger mission of affecting the world in a positive way.


Kindly share this post

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.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Comments

E-Business

Galaxy Backbone, Rural Electrification Agency Commit to Deepening Digital and Energy Access Across Nigeria

Published

on

Kindly share this post

In a major step towards deepening Nigeria’s digital and energy infrastructure, Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a brief but impactful ceremony held in Abuja.

The MoU signals a collaborative effort between both agencies to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda by integrating reliable energy solutions with cutting-edge ICT infrastructure, especially in higher institutions, Government institutions, underserved and rural communities across the country.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director/CEO of Galaxy Backbone, Professor Ibrahim A. Adeyanju, described the partnership as “a landmark moment in Nigeria’s journey towards a digitally empowered, sustainably powered, and inclusively connected nation.”

“This partnership exemplifies what is possible when two visionary government institutions come together, united by shared goals and driven by the desire to improve the lives of Nigerians everywhere,” he said.

Professor Adeyanju emphasized that while Galaxy Backbone’s core mandate is to provide secure digital infrastructure that powers government operations, reliable and sustainable energy particularly in rural areas is essential to fully actualize digital transformation.

Major highlights of the MoU include:

  • Solar electrification of some of GBB’s Metro Fibre sites in Abuja by the REA.
  • Powering Hostels of Higher Institutions across the country through the Fibre to Hostel Project being driven by the Federal Ministry of Communications Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE).
  • Support for the rollout of the 774 Local Government Digitization Initiative, beginning with six pilot Local Government Areas.
  • Provision of LANs, access points, cloud services, colocation infrastructure, and temporary connectivity to enhance REA’s operational facilities nationwide.

The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency Mr Abba Aliyu, in his remarks, expressed optimism that this collaboration will further bridge the digital and energy divide across Nigeria. He noted that by combining REA’s achievements in expanding energy access with GBB’s robust ICT backbone, both agencies are poised to create lasting impact across governance, education, healthcare, and entrepreneurship.

This partnership is also in direct alignment with the Renewed Hope Digital Transformation Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, which envisions an inclusive digital economy powered by innovation and sustainable energy.

The ceremony was attended by top management from both organizations as well as members of the media.

With today’s signing, Galaxy Backbone and the Rural Electrification Agency have set the tone for stronger, smarter, and more inclusive public service delivery powered by strategic inter-agency collaboration.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

E-Business

NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

Published

on

Kindly share this post

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced the restoration of its National Identification Number (NIN) verification services nationwide.

NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

This, according to the commission, follows the completion of a system maintenance exercise.

In a statement issued on Friday, the NIMC confirmed that all previously disrupted services have resumed.

“NIMC wishes to inform the general public that the recent technical maintenance has been completed and all services have been restored,” the statement read.

The NIMC urged Nigerians seeking to enroll for NIN to visit the its official website to locate the nearest enrollment centers.

The agency also encouraged individuals to make use of its self-service portal for tasks such as data modification, including name changes.

To further ease the verification process, the Commission recommended downloading the NIMC NameAuth app (oath.app) from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for quick and secure NIN authentication.

NIMC expressed appreciation for the public’s patience during the service disruption, which had impacted banks, telecom providers, and government agencies that rely on NIN verification for their operations.

 


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

E-Business

Report Reveals African Organizations Dangerously Overestimating Cyber defences

Published

on

Kindly share this post

Many businesses are overestimating their defence against cyber attacks, which creates a significant human risk blind spot. A new KnowBe4 report exposes a worrying disconnect between what leaders think about their cyber security readiness and what employees experience.

According to the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025, based on insights from cyber security decision-makers across 30 African countries, despite high awareness, a critical gap exists in turning that awareness into actual readiness and resilient behaviour.

Key findings from the KnowBe4 Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025:

Confidence vs awareness: While cyber security awareness is high, leaders express uncertainty about their workforce’s ability to act on that awareness. Many feel employees may overestimate their capabilities in recognising, reporting and mitigating threats.

The need for adaptive and personalised security awareness training: Many companies fail to personalise security awareness training to specific roles or risk exposures.

Widespread BYOD usage: A large percentage of employees (between 41% and 80%) use their personal devices for work.

AI policy development is lagging: Many companies (46%) are still in the process of developing policies for using AI tools in the workplace.

Regional variation: Southern Africa trains more, East Africa governs AI better and West/Central Africa sees the most human-related security incidents.

This gap is significant because Africa has become an attractive target to cyber criminals, especially those that launch AI-powered attacks. A LexisNexis Risk Solutions study found 60% of South African organisations have seen an increase in AI-facilitated financial crime – above the 56% global average.

Kehinde Popoola, regional manager and key representative for West and East Africa at Rubrik, said digital transformation is gaining momentum in Africa and companies are more exposed to cyber risk. The Rubrik executive adds that amid an increase in threats, it is crucial that organisations adopt an assumed breach mindset.

The KnowBe4 research shows that cyber security preparedness and the actual structures required to support secure behaviour seem misaligned.

The report highlights that just 10% of cyber security leaders are fully confident that staff would report a phishing attack or other cyber threat, despite rating employee security awareness of cyber threats at four out of five or higher.

There is also a significant perception gap between decision-makers and general employees in Africa regarding security awareness training, with 68% of leaders believing that training is tailored to roles, compared to only a third of employees feeling adequately trained.

KnowBe4 asserts that many organisations only conduct annual or biannual training that is too generic to effectively change behaviour, contributing to uncertainty about its effectiveness.

According to another report, the KnowBe4 African Cybersecurity and Awareness Report 2025, which focuses on end-user based responses, only 43% of African respondents felt confident in their ability to recognise a cyber threat, and just one in three believed their security awareness training was adequately tailored to their role. This comparison suggests the development of a dangerous perception gap in many organisations.

“There’s a disconnect here – between what leaders think is happening and what employees are actually experiencing,” says Anna Collard, SVP content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. “The data shows that without procedural and cultural follow-through, awareness simply doesn’t translate into readiness.”

“The continent’s cyber security posture may be more confident than it is truly resilient,” Collard adds.

 


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Trending