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Tag: Isa Pantami

  • FEC Approves N24.2bn For Free Internet At Airports, Varsities

    FEC Approves N24.2bn For Free Internet At Airports, Varsities

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved free internet services at 20 selected airports, six markets and 43 universities across the country at the cumulative cost of 24.2 billion naira.

    The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, disclosed this after the FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.

    He affirmed that states like Lagos and Ondo in the South-West; Imo, Anambra, Enugu in the South-East; Rivers and Akwa Ibom for the South-South; Abuja and Kwara for the North Central; Kano, Sokoto and Kebbi for the North-West; Adamawa, Maiduguri and Gombe for North-East will enjoy the free broadband for passengers coming into those airports, particularly to ease the communication challenge and make online transactions.

    The FEC had earlier approved a similar memo for the provision of unlimited internet in 18 universities in the first phase of the project.

    Cumulatively, the 24.20 billion naira project is to be implemented by the Nigerian Communications Commission for five months.

  • 12.9m Cyber Attacks Recorded During Last Presidential, NASS Election – FG

    12.9m Cyber Attacks Recorded During Last Presidential, NASS Election – FG

    The federal government has said that 12,988,978 cyberattacks were recorded during the presidential and national assembly elections.

    Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, who disclosed this, said on elections day alone over 6.9 million attacks were recorded.

    Pantami said the attacks were successfully blocked owing to the sophisticated infrastructure on grounds by different agencies of government charged with the responsibility of protecting the nation’s cyberspace.

    The Minister thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for providing the enabling environment for agencies of government to perform their assignments without let or hindrances.

    He said;

    “It is worth noting that in the run-up to the 2023 general elections, threat intelligence revealed an astronomical increase in cyber threats to Nigerian cyberspace.

    “Generally, threats to public websites and portals averaged around 1,550,000 daily. However, this skyrocketed to 6,997,277 on presidential election day.

    “During this period, a series of hacking attempts were recorded, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), email and IPS attacks, SSH login attempts, brute force Injection attempts, Ppth traversal, detection evasion, and forceful browsing.

    “A total of 12,988,978 attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria. It is worth noting that the centres successfully blocked these attacks and/or escalated them to the relevant institutions for appropriate action.”

  • JUST IN: ASUU declares Pantami’s Professorship Illegal

    JUST IN: ASUU declares Pantami’s Professorship Illegal

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities has faulted the promotion of Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, as a professor.

    The union after its National Executive Council meeting declared the promotion as “illegal”.

    This was declared at a press conference addressed by the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, on Monday.

    He said, “You cannot be a minister and a lecturer in a university. It is an encouragement of illegality.

    “Pantami has to quit as a minister and be tried for doing double jobs within the same federal system. He is not qualified. Pantami should not be treated as a professor.”

    In September 2021, Pantami, alongside seven academics were elevated by the council of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri to the position of professorship at the council’s 186th meeting.

    The minister’s elevation has generated controversy, with many faulting FUTO on the promotion of the minister, who was not teaching in the university and whose highest academic attainment was reportedly a lecturer before he ventured into politics.

    “We have resolved to sanction ASUU members involved in his promotion and the VC of FUTO,” he added.

  • NIN-Sim linkage: FG Extends Registration till 2022

    NIN-Sim linkage: FG Extends Registration till 2022

    The Nigerian Government has extended the deadline for the linkage of the National Identification Number, NIN, to Subscriber Identity Module, SIM.

    Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy disclosed that the deadline was extended by three months.

    By Pantami’s disclosure, the new deadline is now March 31, 2022.

    Pantami’s directive was contained in a statement signed by Ikechukwu Adinde, Director of Public Affairs at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Kayode Adegoke, Head of Corporate Communications at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

    He said the extension followed requests by Nigerians, both home and abroad.

    The minister also said about 71 million Nigerians had obtained their NIN, with an average of three to four SIMs per NIN.

    The statement reads partly: “As of 30th December 2021, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued over seventy-one million (71m) NINs with over fourteen-thousand (14,000) enrolment centres set up across the country.

    “Following the request by stakeholders, including citizens, legal residents and Nigerians in the diaspora, the Federal Government has extended the deadline of the exercise to the 31st of March, 2022.

    “This extension would enable the Federal Government to consolidate the gains of the process and accelerate the enrolment of Nigerians in key areas like the remote areas, diaspora, schools, hospitals, worship centres, and the registration of legal residents.

    “The Honourable Minister has however implored Nigerians and legal residents to enrol for their NINs and link with their SIMs during this period of extension as more services will be requiring the NIN for identification.”

  • FG Introduces Virtual NIN Tokens to Protect Citizens’ Data Privacy

    FG Introduces Virtual NIN Tokens to Protect Citizens’ Data Privacy

    The federal government has introduced virtual national identification number (NIN) tokens.

    Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, disclosed this at a stakeholders workshop on the ‘NIN Tokenization Solution’ organised by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Wednesday in Abuja.

    The virtual NIN is a tokenised version of a person’s actual NIN which another party verifying the number cannot retain and use in a way that puts the individual’s data privacy at risk.

    It expires 72 hours after being generated.

    Nigerians can use the virtual NIN when verifying their identity with an agent or enterprise who needs to confirm their identity before offering them a service (banks, airports, shopping delivery, among others).

    Speaking at the event, the minister said NIN tokenisation is aimed at protecting the personal information of citizens.

    He stated that full implementation would begin next year.

    “The Federal Government has adopted the solution to ensure the privacy of personally identifiable information of individuals during verification transactions and to reduce incidences of illegal retrieval, usage, transfer, and storage of NIN. Full implementation commences 1st January 2022,” Pantami said.

    Represented at the event by Aliyu Aziz, NIMC director-general, Pantami explained that “the NIN Tokenization solution is a feature of the NIN Verification Service (NVS) which is aimed at providing enhanced data protection for the personal information of persons registered into the National Identity Database (NIDB) and issued a NIN.”

    “The resources for the protection of this sensitive data includes the Improved NIN Slip, USerID, MobileID, NIN hashing and the issuance of a unique virtual NIN by the ID holder to anyone who wishes to verify their identity.

    “The purpose of the NIN Tokenization is to provide a coded representation (“pseudonymization”) of the actual NIN for which another party verifying the identity of the registered person cannot retain and use in a way that puts the individual’s data privacy at risk.

    “Depending on the use cases, this may be via the hash contained in the Improved NIN Slip, the 2 varying hashes contained in the MobileID application, the UserID (which is available instantly to anyone issued a NIN, irrespective of whether they have a device or not), and of course, the one-time use Virtual NIN token.”

    Pantami said virtual NIN tokens are merchant specific and expire after a set period of time.

    This means that a token generated for company A cannot be used or verified by company B.

    Also speaking at the event, Tunji Durodola, technical consultant of NIMC, said the digital token was designed to replace the 11-digit NIN for everyday usage.

    He said NIN had been shared and stored by various entities mostly without the knowledge or consent of the ID holder or NIMC, the custodian of identity in Nigeria.

    To get the virtual NIN, a person must have a NIN issued by NIMC, a mobile number registered in Nigeria and linked to your NIN.

    It can be generated via the MWS: NIMC MobileID app or via USSD (*346*3*YourNIN*AgentCode#)

  • I don’t hate Christians or support terrorists – Pantami

    I don’t hate Christians or support terrorists – Pantami

    Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has said his past controversial comments on terrorist groups including Taliban and Al-Qaeda were misconstrued.

    The minister also said he has no issues with Christians, adding that his personal driver, secretary and technical assistant are all Christians

    In a viral video recorded many years ago which was later confirmed by his lawyer, Michael Numa, the Minister was seen engaging the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, in a public debate.

    Pantami, an Islamic scholar, according to Peoples Gazette, also once declared he was always happy when infidels were massacred.

    Peoples Gazette said Pantami’s comments were contained in three audio recordings of his teachings in the 2000s when he took extreme positions in support of the brutal exploits of Al Qaeda and Taliban elements on a campaign to obliterate the West and conquer other parts of the world.

    But the Minister said his statements were misconstrued, rejecting affiliations with terror groups.

    The hashtag #PantamiResign has since been trending online. The supporters of the minister have also come up with a counter-hashtag – #PantamiWillStay.

  • FEC approves N654 million to monitor frequencies in South-east, others

    FEC approves N654 million to monitor frequencies in South-east, others

    The Nigerian government has approved over N650 million (N653,886,584) for the purchase of hi-tech equipment to monitor frequencies in the country, especially in the Southeastern part.

    This was disclosed by the communication minister, Isa Pantami, at the end of Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, sort the approval of council for deploying hybrid spectrum monitoring system, most importantly to focus on the south eastern zone of the country,” he said.

    “From January to August 2020, within the period of eight months, we discovered 320 frequencies being used all over the country and of this 320, one hundred and six were illegal.”

    Mr Pantami said the need to buy the monitoring equipment was also informed by security considerations.

    “This is very worrisome because the usage of this illegal spectrum or frequencies will compromise our security and safety in the country.

    “It is because of the agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, on promoting security that we came up with this initiative of monitoring the usage of frequencies and uncover the legal and the illegal ones.

    “For the legal ones, it is to ensure they renew their licenses annually and for the illegal ones, necessary actions are being taken according to the gravity of the offense.”

    Mr Pantami said the focus on the Southeast was because it is the least monitored part of the country.

  • Pantami expresses delight as MTN budgets $1.6 bn to invest in Nigeria

    Pantami expresses delight as MTN budgets $1.6 bn to invest in Nigeria

    The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, has expressed delight as the Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) budgeted 1.6 billion dollars to invest in the Nigerian market within the next three years.
    Pantami disclosed this in a statement signed by Mrs Phil Oshodin, Director Press and Public Relations, on Tuesday in Abuja, when MTN paid him a courtesy visit in the ministry ‘s headquarters.
    He pointed out that Federal Government was committed to provide conducive and enabling environment for all Mobile telecommunications operating in the country to run their businesses without any hindrances in any part of the country.
    He assured that the government was working on ensuring that telecommunications infrastructure were protected in the country.
    The Minister said that President Muhammadu Buhari gave security agencies the go ahead to provide security to critical telecommunications infrastructure in different locations of the country.
    “I am glad to hear that you have a budget of 1.6 billion you plan to invest in Nigeria in the next three years.

    “Please, try to get your priorities right. Look at the areas that are underserved and invest.
    “I am happy that you also appreciated our modest efforts in addressing most of the challenges being faced by mobile Telecommunications firms in Nigeria. I believe every County has its own peculiar challenge.
    “We have achieved a lot in addressing most of the challenges: issues of vandalism, Right of Way (RoW) and several others,” he stressed.
    “We are working on strengthening the policy to ensure that telecommunications infrastructure are well protected in the Country,” he said.
    He noted that MTN had the largest market in Nigeria.
    He equally expressed concern at the untapped market and enjoined the telecommunications companies to exploit the market opportunities in the country legitimately.
    He urged all telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria to improve the quality of services in order to satisfy their customers.
    Earlier, Mr Rob Shuter, the MTN Group CEO, who spoke on behalf of the team, disclosed that MTN has budgeted 1.6 billion dollars to invest in Nigeria market for the next three years.
    Shuter noted that Nigerian investors’ shares in MTN were growing rapidly and as such the company needed to invest more in the country.
    Also on the team were the MTN Group Chairman, Mr Mabisi Jonas, who led the delegation, MTN Nigeria Chairman, Dr Ernest Ndukwe, Nigeria CEO, Ferdinand Moolman and Mr Anas Galadima, among others. (NAN)