A Tech Expert, Ms Confidence Staveley,  says Cybercriminal now leveraging on power of Artificial Intelligence, AI to wreak more havoc on soft target, urging businesses to improve their cybersecurity posture.

Staveley, said this at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) Tech Event/Graduation Ceremony on Thursday 20th July, 2023 in Lagos. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

The Founder, CyberSafe Foundation, charges businesses to scale-up investments in cybersecurity to guard against cybercrime and other technological threats.

The NBCC event that had as its theme: “Emerging Trends in Tech and its Impact on Nigerian Businesses: Cyber Security and Data Analytics.”

The tech expert noted that Artificial Intelligence (Al) was making it easier for criminals to create convincing targeted phishing emails leading to a lot more business compromise attacks.

She added that cybercriminals were unleashing problems using stolen credentials and causing havoc for Nigerian businesses by breaking into multiple accounts.

Staveley emphasised the need for businesses to have the right culture and empower employees to protect against cyber threats to implement essential cybersecurity controls.

“Businesses must have a cybersecurity strategy and budget in place and must ensure that their cybersecurity posture is independently validated.

“They must also know all their digital assets and which assets are most important to their business and incorporate best practices for cybersecurity into new product designs,” she said.

Staveley also urged individuals to be careful about phishing emails and malwares they log into, saying cybercriminals have found a way to hack human beings instead of systems.

“To this end, individuals and businesses must be trained to be immune to these threats and change their account passwords as much as you can to guide against account compromise.

“Do things like two steps authentication, data encryption, just do the barest minimum to prevent your information from hanging low for criminals to access.

“Also, hire a cybersecurity professional to analyse where you are now and where you ought to be and create a road-map to safeguard against cybercrime,” she said.

Ms Bisi Adeyemi, President, NBCC, noted that several emerging trends in technology had the potential to impact business, especially in the areas of cybersecurity and data analytics.

She listed some of these trends as AI, Machine Learning, 5G technology, Internet of Things, edge computing, blockchain, cybersecurity automation and orchestration, data privacy and compliance.

Adeyemi noted that these emerging trends could have profound impact on businesses, offering both opportunities and challenges.

“It is thus crucial for organisations to stay updated on these trends, invest in cybersecurity measures and adopt data analytics to remain competitive and secure, in an ever-changing technological landscape.

“It also gives me immense pleasure that we are today graduating 22 participants from the second cohort of the NBCC Tech Academy, after three months of intense learning.

“I congratulate all our graduands and wish you all the very best in your various endeavours,” she said.

Mr Abimbola Owoeye, Country Lead, Del Technologies, urged organisations to be aware that their business footprints were left to whatever platforms they subscribed to.

According to him, to be unaware meant exposure to risks.

Owoeye charged Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to leverage some AI tools to lower the costs of running a business.

“In doing this, you would need platforms that would consistently keep your data secure and you can subscribe to Enterprise Resources Planning software as better and cheaper entry for you,” he said.

Mr Steve Asemota, Chief Data Officer, FirstBank, stressed the need for SMEs to leverage data to know the profiles to target and how to price products in emerging markets.

Source: NAN

For effective delivery of farm inputs, the Federal Government said it had taken steps to leverage the efficient implementation of the rebranded National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-pocket, (NAGs -AP), .

Mr Ibrahim Arabi, National Programme Coordinator, Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

He said that the proposed technology would ensure that farm inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, and agrochemicals, among others, got to the farmers across the country.

Arabi said: “We are using an ICT platform delivery system to leverage the system of distribution, we are going to include the farmers and farm inputs in the system to make it an ICT treatment and transparent.”

He said that the recent NAGS meeting was organised to sensitise farmers and fashion out the way forward in the implementation of the scheme.

“This meeting is on the strategy to support farmers with subsidised inputs and also with the institutional capacity for increased productivity,” the coordinator said

On whether the inputs were affordable, Arabi said the Federal Government was giving out about 80 per cent subsidy of the commodity to the farmers.

According to him, the government is using the ICT platform to ensure that farmers have smooth delivery of inputs for the 2023 farming season.

Arabi said that delivery of the inputs would be perfected and the mistakes of 2022 corrected to ensure a seamless delivery of the farm inputs.

Also speaking, Mr Ishaku Buba, Deputy Director, Growth Enhancement Scheme in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the government was creating a system to evaluate its support to the farmers.

He said: ” We are creating a system whereby we will be able to see the impact of the government on the farmers.

”For instance, I supported you, I met you at this level, and I want to know the impact of what I have supported you with.”

Buba said the distribution of inputs would soon start, adding that the government was targeting the right time of farming activities.

On the cost of inputs such as fertilizers, he said that the cost was dynamic depending on the prevailing market price of the commodity.

“On cost, we look at the prevailing market price and put our subsidy based on that, we cannot fix the price in January and then use it now it is dynamic.

“We have looked at the climatic conditions, we know the procedures to follow for the planting season and we are targeting this period.

“The distribution of inputs will take two to three weeks, but we will start with the seeds. We’ll show the farmers how to apply the seeds very well so that we can get a better result from them,” Buba said.

Mrs Mary Afan, President of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation (SWOFON), said that the women were waiting for the Federal Government to distribute the farm inputs.

According to her, fertilizer which was bought in the market at the rate of  N27,000 or N30,000 a bag in 2022, had increased to N35,000 and N38,000 per bag.

She urged the government to consider giving more incentives to the farmers so that they could increase production.

Meanwhile, the Fertiliser Producers, Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) has blamed the current hike in the price of the product on foreign exchange.

Mr Gideon Nagedu, the association’s Executive Secretary, said almost all the blending materials for fertilizer were imported.

Nagedu told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that the current policy on forex had drastically affected the price of the commodity.

According to him, in June, the price of a 50kg bag of fertilizer was as low as N18, 000, adding that at the moment, it had risen to N25, 000 to N26, 000. respectively.

Nagedu said:  “Interestingly prices of fertilizer have been fluctuating as a bag of 50kg fertilizer that sold as high as  N29,000 last year, just a month ago came as low as N18,000 and in some places N20,000.

“ But, suddenly a change in foreign exchange eventually skyrocketed the price of the product. Most of the blending materials for fertilizer are imported.”

In another development, some farmers in Abuja have decried the high cost of farm inputs, saying this would have a negative impact on food security.

They said only a few farmers have the resources to buy fertilizers and pesticides to apply on their farms.

Mr Adams Dogo, a farmer in Bwari Area Council said the price of a bag of fertilizer was high, contributing to the low crop production yield.

He said: “Most of us local farmers in the rural areas find it very difficult to buy fertilizers and pesticides that we need on the farm, most times we use local means to help boost our farms”.

Mrs Victoria Yohana, also a farmer, appealed to the government to ensure that farmers at all levels got access to farm inputs.

The President of the Potatoes Farmers Association (POFAN), Mr Daniel Okafor, said his members were yet to get fertilizers from the government.

Source: NAN

Author Profile

Abdulrahman Obaje

Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.

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The Federal Government has launched the first FABLAB 1.0 in Nigeria in line with the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, NDEPS.

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi while commissioning the FABLAB 1. adsbygoogle || []).push({}); adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 0 on Friday in Abuja, noted that the FATLAB is part of the agency’s effort to make Nigeria an innovation hub.Abdullahi added that the FABLAB would encourage all digital innovators and makers to drive their ideas from inception to impact.

“The FABLAB maintains an open access policy to allow it serve as a digital innovation accelerator for all innovators and makers.

“It allows open-production and public access to aid innovation and entrepreneurship activities,” he said.

He added that the center engages in hands-on digital fabrication, skills training and capacity building for both in-house staff and external participants in line with the its policies.

According to him, to further boost digital innovation awareness among Nigerian youths, visitation and tour of the lab facility by schools, universities, and research centers is encouraged.

It would be recalled that the digital fabrication laboratory, FABLAB  is the engine of implementation of ideas, innovation which serve all the entities within an ecosystem.

FABLAB has a state-of-the-art equipment that includes Printed Circuit Board, PCB, production equipment, Computer Numerical Control, CNC, machines, 3D printers, servers, Graphics processing units, GPUs, and other things.

Author Profile

Abdulrahman Obaje

Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.

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