Again, Air Peace resumes flight operations to Benue

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Air Peace has commenced official flight operation in Benue State.

It should be noted that last year 2022, Air Peace had alsoflagged off its operation which was later grounded.

It was gathered that they failed to meet Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Nigeria Airspace Management Authority, NAMA and the

Nigerian Meteorological Agency,NiMET, amongst other regulatory requirements. Speaking at the event, Governor Samuel Ortom said his administration has invested heavily, (though he failed to mention the amount) in time, goodwill and financial resources to help to meet the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s rigorous requirements for the resumption of Commercial Aviation services here.

He highlighted government’s contributions to include: facilitating the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the NAF, FAAN, NAMA and NiMET for the use of the NAF Aerodrome for commercial services, procurement and provision of a NCAA-approved Digital Airport Rescue Fire Fighting,ARFF vehicle along with training, equipping and testing of over 50 Fire Staff; provision of a state-of-the-art

Ambulance and trained Health personnel for Emergency Rescue Services, facilitating the Geodetic Survey of the Airport to ensure the Airport is included in International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO maps so that pilots can rely on instruments (and not just their eyes) to fly into Makurdi, provisions of Airport Tarmac markings and related airside signages and provision of operational vehicle for NAMA.

Sanction REC, others involved in Adamawa show of shame, PDP Governors tell

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-GF, have called for the appropriate sanctioning and prosecution of the now suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, of Adamawa State, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari and others involved in the unilateral declaration of the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate in the state, Senator Aisha Binani as the Governorselect of the state, while collation of results was still in progress.

The PDP Governors Forum declared that such sanctioning should be swiftly commenced to serve as deterrent to others.

The PDP-GF made the call in a statement yesterday by its Director-General, Hon CID Maduabum in Abuja.

The forum equally enjoined all Nigerians to be on alert and brace up to emerging threats to the nation’s democracy and the struggle for good governance in Nigeria.

The attempted electoral heist and brigandage perpetrated by the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Yunusa Ari, according to the PDP Governors, was perhaps the lowest point of the 2023 General elections.

They however commended the immediate steps taken by the INEC as an institution to recover its battered image by nullifying the attempted coup and suspending the REC.

According to the statement by Maduabum, “The PDP Governors’ Forum, under the leadership of Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal

CFR, strongly condemns the show of shame in Adamawa State on the April 18 supplementary Governorship election.

“The attempted electoral heist and brigandage perpetrated by the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari is perhaps the lowest point of the 2023 General elections.

“We commend the immediate steps taken by the INEC as an institution to recover its battered image by nullifying the attempted coup and suspending the REC.

“The appropriate Returning Officer, Mele Lamido, should immediately conclude the collation and declare the result.

“One of the most important lessons of this election season is that the integrity of INEC personnel is crucial to free, fair, and credible elections as well as deployment of technology.

“Going forward, there should be a deliberate process of revisiting the appointments of National and Resident Electoral Commissioners to weed out corrupt and extremely partisan officials. “It is the partisan method of appointment of these officials that led to national disgrace in Adamawa State.

“Appropriate sanctions, including prosecution of all those involved, especially the former Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari should be swiftly commenced to serve as an example to others.

“We enjoin all Nigerians to be on alert as we brace up to emerging threats to our democracy and the struggle for good governance in Nigeria”, it said.

Why Nigeria needs homegrown cyber security solutions – Afolabi

The Founder of Eko Innovation Centre, Lagos, Mr Victor Afolabi, says Nigeria needs homegrown cyber security solutions that understand the challenges of its local environment.

Afolabi, also the Curator of Art of Technology Lagos, made this known during the grand finale of the Secure Hack 1.0 event powered by Eko Innovation Centre on Saturday evening in Lagos.

He said that one of the major challenges of technology adoption in Nigeria was cost barrier.

The founder said that most tech people in Nigeria today had to buy laptops and smart devices which are foreign to do their jobs, adding that the devices were usually very expensive .

“Looking at the cyber security solutions, anti-viruses that we buy, many of them are paid for in Forex and the sad thing is that they are ridiculously expensive because the dollar rate keeps going up.

“This cost element increases the vulnerabilities of organisations in emerging markets like Nigeria.

“When a cyber security solution is too expensive, only few would be able to afford it and that leaves many organisations vulnerable to cyber attacks.

“How do we protect ourselves when we do not have homegrown solutions,” he said.

Afolabi said Nigerians need solutions developed here either for cyber crime or physical crime that people could pay for using Naira.

He said that the way our cyberspace would be more secured because people would be able to afford the cyber security solutions.

Afolabi said that was why the innovation centre put together hackathons like the secure hack 1.0 to encourage young talents with innovative ideas.

The founder said that when solutions are homegrown, its maintenance would be easy and one would not have to start sending messages to the manufacturer unlike when it’s imported.

He said: “Hopefully as the Nigerian tech market matures, things would get better. 20 years ago nobody was building softwares in Nigeria, but today we are beginning to see foreign people using our talents.

“They are now taking our talents abroad and paying them a lot of money to build solutions for global use,” Afolabi said.

He noted that soon banks and other organisations would start using locally-developed cyber security solutions when the market matures.

Afolabi added that one day, Nigerian talents would build solutions that would be at per with international solutions.

Speaking on the Secure Hack 1.0, he said that the hackathon, which was launched in February, garnered over 400 registrations from participants to form 100 plus teams from 62 locations in four countries and across two continents.

He said that the teams were split into groups of four and were required to work together for three weeks, brainstorming and identifying new concepts based on their focus areas which include cybersecurity, physical security, and biosecurity.

Afolabi said that the best team would have the chance to win N2,000,000 prize pool and an acceleration programme investment to get their products ready for the market among other benefits.

NAN reports that some of the teams that participated are Cyber Hive Pitch Desk, a platform that offers cyber security education; Health Waka, a platform that provides seamless tracing and tracking of sick people; Team 9 and Team 18, among others.

After the pitching of ideas, team Health Waka was declared winner of the N2,000,000 pool prize by a group of Jurors.

Some of the Jurors were Dr Obadare Peter Adewale, Cofounder, Digital Encode Limited; Ayodele Olojede, Group Head, Emerging Businesses Africa, Access Bank, and David Ali, Chief Information, Security Officer, Airtel among others. (NAN)