AIIB, Gavi join forces to power sustainable health, immunization in developing nations - ITREALMS

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In a powerful move to strengthen global health security, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have entered a groundbreaking partnership aimed at scaling up and sustaining financing for vital health and immunization systems in low-income and lower middle-income countries, reports ITREALMS.

The landmark letter of intent, signed by AIIB President Jin Liqun and Gavi CEO Dr. Sania Nishtar, lays the groundwork for concrete collaboration on strategic investments within AIIB member nations that also qualify for Gavi support.

NIBSS, PFS join forces on innovation, unveil NACS

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The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and Precise Financial Systems (PFS) have joined forces to unveil a new National Automated Clearing System (NACS), which allows all the Deposit Money Banks in the country to clear cheques within hours, reports ITRealms.

The banks, ITRealms gathered, have been test-running the infrastructure for 11 weeks and a total of N5 trillion  worth of cheques from 10 million transactions has been processed through the new platform.

At the post go-live session in Lagos with representatives of the banks, Managing Director of NIBSS, Mr. Ade Shonubi, explained that the institution had been on the project for over 18 months. He added that the infrastructure would allow all the banks to achieve several payment and non-payment transactions.

NIBSS’ boss said that as at today there are four clearing sessions. According to him, the advantage of having multiple clearing sessions was that the net amount against each bank is smaller so that risks are managed.

“With the new system, a cheque can be cleared within six hours, four hour or at whatever duration we agree”, he said.

The Managing Director of PFS, the software firm behind NACS, Dr. Yele Okeremi at the session said the process of clearing cheques in all Nigerian banks has been simplified with the launch of NACS and that the successful completion of the project has the door for more Nigerian firms to take on more national challenges.

Okeremi commended the collaborative effort that exists between NIBSS and PFS, saying that the partnership has given birth to the new system that “allows bank customers to experience the benefits of shorter cheque clearing cycles, as it reduces operational cost of the banks because the clearing departments of the bank can work smarter and close earlier”.

Expatiating on the reasons for the innovation, he said NIBSS needed a future proof system that would help the institution to realize its vision of a faster and more efficient clearing system that would be less resource intensive and accommodate various new requirements and practices in the clearing system.

“NIBSS wanted a system that can be incorporated with the Bank Verification Number [BVN]. They also wanted a situation where they would have a session-less system that would always be online such that banks could transmit their transactions as soon as they happen rather than a batch system that opens up at specific times and closes after stipulated time frames”, he said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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NCC, law enforcement agencies join forces against telecom offences

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The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, Wednesday sought the support of law enforcement agencies to put out every assault and criminality undermining telecommunications operation in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Danbatta spoke through Efosa Idehen, NCC's Head of Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement who represented him at the South East Zonal Workshop for Law Enforcement Agencies holding in Enugu.

The workshop was attended by Hosea Karma, AIG Zone 9, who represented Mr. Ibrahim Idris, the Inspector General of Police; Mohammed Danmallam, Police Commissioner, Enugu State; Dr. Benito Eze, Commandant NSCDC Abia State; and many personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, Nigeria Customs Service, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The Inspector General of Police in his remarks called on all stakeholders in the security sector to enlist in the partnership solicited by the NCC because it is noble and also significant considering the strategic role telecommunication services play in the growth and sustenance of the economy.

Former Inspector General of Police, Dr. Solomon Arase; and Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN are among resource persons at the event which featured many presentations which include: ICT - An Enabler for Effective Policing; Telecommunication Offences in Nigeria: The Challenges of Diligent Prosecution; and Enforcement Processes, Procedures and Regulations.

Participants at the workshop commended the NCC for this initiative, convinced that its outcome will help to address some of the challenges facing telecommunication service provision in Nigeria. The South West, North West, South South Zonal Workshops held earlier in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt respectively. The workshops for the North Central and North East Zones will take place in Minna and Yola respectively.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE 

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National cybersecurity awareness month: NCC, NITDA join forces with CECAD

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have committed to work with the media stakeholders for the adoption of October as the annual celebration of the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NASCAM), reports ITRealms.

The two key agencies under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications also commended the media group working in concert with other stakeholders for the adoption of October as the Nigerian National Cyber-security Awareness month.

At separate meetings with officials of NCC and NITDA last week, the media group operating under the aegis of the Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development (CECAD), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), was given the nod to convene a stakeholder meeting in the last week of October.

Director of Communications, Mr. Olubayo Abiodun said in order to underscore the importance of the advocacy campaign to Nigeria’s national interests and its assets, the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari has been contacted on the initiative.

According to him, the involvement of the NSA is pivotal to the advocacy campaign because of the rising tides of cyber-security challenges ravaging the entire socio-political, economic, military and technological ecosystem of the global community.

He said that the initiative is a Public Private Project because all government Ministries, Department and Agencies as well as the private sector will be involved. According to him, the real sector of the economy where the private sector is playing active roles including the banking and finance, manufacturing, maritime, aviation, educational, transport, telecoms and ICTs, Oil and Gas, broadcasting and stockbroking institutions will be prominently engaged. In the public sector, he said the military and para-military institutions and other security services, educational institutions, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), hospitals, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NIMASA and other key government institutions susceptible to cyber-attacks will be involved in raising the bar on the awareness campaign.

Mr Abiodun said that the week-long event would help raise the bar on the multi-stakeholders awareness across government, corporate institutions and private citizens through the principles of the Public Private Partnership (PPP). Justifying the need for the advocacy programme, the group hinged its position on the increasing threats of cyber-attacks to national security, economic crimes, political instability and social insecurity as a result of the vulnerability of national, corporate and private databases via identity theft.

The week-long programme, he said, will involve series of daily activities delineated to accommodate sectorial emphasises on every facets of the lives of the nation and its people, stressing that the daily line up of events will include awareness focus on government and its agencies, banks and financial institutions, telcos, tower companies and ICTs, education, health, tourism, transport, military/security communities. 

The central theme would be on how to enhance safer connections to the Internet without compromising corporate and individual safety. Families will also enjoy primary attention in the course of the awareness programme in order to ensure the safety of all and sundry, particularly children from dangers inherent in the uncontrolled access. On the last day of the event, there will be a stakeholders meeting to round off the weeklong activities with a Presidential declaration of the adoption of October as Nigeria’s celebration of cyber security awareness in line with global best practice.

As said by Abiodun, the NGO noted that criminals, terrorists, and countries now use the Internet technology to wreak havoc in countries ill prepared for the cyber-attacks because of the increasing adoption of digital platforms in national frontiers. 

"Nations are increasingly deploying e-government, e-commerce, e-health, cashless society, e-learning, digital entertainment, and e-agriculture among other electronic engagements in all spheres of life," he said.

Pointing out that this has resulted in getting sensitive data stored online, consequent upon of this development is that cyber-attacks have become more profound with unauthorised access to the data stored online. The increasing incidences of identity theft and e-fraud are consequences of the plurality of Internet technology across the national climes. 

As a consequent of this, he said, the Nigerian nation and its citizens have been under increasing threat from cyber-attacks following the proliferation of digital platforms in the rapid integration of its social, political and economic facets into the digital economy.

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