Nigeria as a country could currently boast of over ninety tech hubs across the federation, reportedly the highest on the African continent.

In recent years, Nigeria has apparently become an incubator for some of the continent’s biggest start-ups, including online marketplace such as Jumia and Konga; and these digital outlets are unarguably driven by tech expertise.

It’s noteworthy that Nigeria reportedly has the largest economy in Africa with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about $448.12 billion compared to its closest rival, South Africa whose present GDP is about $320 billion.

However, it’s worthy of note that the real wealth of any nation is calculated by its GDP per capita, and Nigeria ranks 140 out of 186 in GDP per capita global ranking.

Per capita GDP is a financial metric that breaks down a country’s economic value (output) per person, and is calculated by dividing the whole GDP by the country’s overall population.

In Economics, it’s widely accepted that technology is the key driver of economic growth of countries, regions or cities. Technological progress allows more efficient production of goods and services, in which prosperity depends on.

Technology brings skills, knowledge, process, technique, and tools together, toward solving problems concerning human existence, thereby making their life secure and happy.

It’s very pertinent in today’s world, because it is driving the global community as well as making it appear better. In fact, it is gradually becoming inevitable in our various homes, offices, and workplaces.

Nigeria’s tech patent has grown to be an envy of all who understands its real content. In terms of human and material attributes, it has over the years remains significant in the global society and market.

Take a walk round the world, you would comprehend that, most recent tech inventions and innovations across the globe were mainly as a result of contributions from Nigerians. Similarly, Nigerians remain the reason several countries’ tech sectors have grown beyond limits.

Ironically, Nigeria’s tech sector is presently nothing to write home about. As the days unfold, the sector continues to decline in its value, hence taking the country’s name to a state of ridicule.

Each day, the governments at all levels come up with empty promises and policies as regards tech-driven activity and innovation. The politicians at the country’s helm of affairs have unequivocally, over the donkey’s years, failed us in this regard.

The good news is that, in spite of the lingering hurdles and challenges, the prospects of the country’s tech value remain obviously great, perhaps owing to the fathomless resources lying fallow.

It’s worth noting that countless factors are behind the ongoing impediments in Nigeria’s tech sector. For us to get it right as a people, these barriers continually posing a threat must be severely tackled by the concerned authorities at all cost.

A certain tech-driven contract might be awarded by the government, in the long run, we would be greeted with a myriad of untold stories attributed to paucity of funds. In such case, it could be either the fund made available for execution of the project had been squandered or that insufficient fund was approved ab initio.

The steady economic fluctuation is another glaring factor that cannot be swept under the carpet. This particular plight has left Nigerians tech experts with no choice than to becloud their reasoning with uncertainties and fear of the unknown.

More so, those who – amidst the tough times – insisted on putting something together, would not find the apt market to sell their products or patents. This has continued unabated.

This could be as a result of infrastructural decay occasioned by lack of maintenance culture, or the required physical infrastructures have never been in existence from the onset. The cost of running a tech firm in Nigeria is too high, to say the least.

Poverty has also on its part really posed a great danger to Nigeria’s tech value. The individuals who have the zeal and ability to invest in their expertise might end up being frustrated, due to lack of capital.

This is why the country’s GDP per capita has to be fixed or elevated if she actually wants her tech sector to excel headlong. There are absolutely no two ways about it.

Nigerians do not trust made-in-Nigeria goods. The mentality of seeing foreign products as superior while branding domestically-made ones inferior, must be tackled. Aside from sensitization, apt policies can properly assist in eradicating the social menace, which could best be described as a cankerworm that has eaten deep into our collective bone marrow.

The governments must not necessarily invest in technology for their respective tech values to grow. In most countries where technology is seriously thriving, the individuals domiciled therein remain the key players, not the government. But such a phenomenon can never be witnessed if the enabling environment is conspicuously missing.

To fix this anomaly, we must be ready and determined to address the quagmire in the political system. The country’s political instability is so intense, and continues to skyrocket by the day, that one cannot possibly say what the nearest future entails for our indigenous tech patent.

The policies are so weak that they can’t even initiate a project, let alone accomplish it. To get things rightly done, we need to acknowledge that a country’s growth in any sector depends majorly, if not solely, on her extant policies.

To be on the same page with me, take a look at any nation that has grown in a certain sector, and then take time to painstakingly x-ray the policies guiding the area in question. Just a research and adequate analysis would make you understand where exactly I’m coming from.

Growth is not rocket science; it takes some processes. For such processes or procedures to occur, there must be existing principles. The moment the rules (principles) are thwarted, it marks the beginning of the end of the procedures. There are no two ways about it.

Lest I forget, we need to equally take into cognizance that the reason most of the needed policies cannot exist in countries like Nigeria is that our corrupt political leaders have realized that technology exposes corruption. Read my lips.

They are apparently of the view that if tech is deployed in any area, it would certainly expose their corrupt practices. Take for instance, a situation where technology is fully implemented in the country’s electoral system as well as using forensic audit patterns in the finance sector.

The above factors are the reason we ought to clamour for overhaul. The country is in damn need of total overhaul of the system. To achieve this, we need to realize the full benefits of investing in technology.

We are not here to reiterate the numerous merits of technology but to point out the goals and lapses in the said sector, in a bid to do the needful. If we spend time to highlight the outpouring merits, three editions of this column might not be sufficient.

Artificial intelligence is deeply gaining momentum on a daily basis, signifying it has come to stay. Ease of access to information cannot be overestimated. Ease of mobility is another overwhelming experience. Better communication means and improved banking have, beyond reasonable doubts, made the world seem not unlike a minute village.

Learning has been digitalized, thereby silencing any form of impediment, owing to the presence of technology. Cost efficiency and apt time management are being assured in all tech-driven activities. These are verifiable facts.

Countless innovations are springing up by the day in every facet of human endeavour. The ‘disabled’ are now abled, because of tech-driven tools, hence the urgent need for the Nigerian State to fast-track its efforts.

In a nutshell, Nigeria needs to rediscover her young talented ones, create an enabling environment as well as formulate and implement formidable policies to enhance the country’s tech system.

The electoral act was signed into law some weeks back after much back and forth between the legislators and the presidency but it seems the act was marred with a lot of inconsistencies with the constitution and in this regard, whenever a law is inconsistent with the constitution which is the ground norm; the fons et origo where other laws drive its validity and origin from, the law will be declared null and void to the extent of its inconsistency with the constitution. 

Section 1(3) of the constitution specifically provides for clause; If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.

This means that if a section of the law does not align with the constitution or a chapter or even a paragraph of law conflicts with a constitutional provision, that section, chapter or paragraph will be declared null and void for the reason of being in a clash with the constitution.

Is any section or clause in the electoral act inconsistent with the constitution? 

Analyzing the provisions of the constitution side by side with that of the electoral act of 2022 in this regard will be a herculean task since it is sub-judice. 

The Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State in a judgment delivered on Friday has stated that the provision of S.84(12) of the electoral act is inconsistent with the constitutional provisions of Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f), to this effect, the court in its wisdom held that this section can not stand and asked the Attorney General of the Federation to delete this section by the reason of its inconsistency with the constitution. 

Her Lordship, Justice Evelyn Anyadike based her ratio decidendi on section 66(1)(f) which states that if a person is employed in the public service of the Federation or of any State, the person must resign or withdraw or retire from such employment 30 days before the date of the election. In other words, public service appointees seeking to contest elections are to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election. 

By this constitutional provision, my Lordship deemed it to conflict with the electoral act but my Lordship did not cast her learned mind to the cases of DADA v. ADEYEYE (2005) 6 NWLR (Pt. 920) 1 at 19 ASOGWA v. CHUKWU (2003) 4 NWLR (Pt. 811) 540 OJONYE V. ONU & ORS (2018) LPELR-44223) which may serve as a locus classicus in this regard where the appellate Courts have held that political appointees or political office holders are not public servants as provided for under the Constitution and therefore there are not the ones S.66(1)(f) is referring to. The people this section of the constitution is referring are public servants duly employed into the governmental civil services and can be called civil servants in every sense of it and they are not political appointees like Commissioners, Ministers, Special Assistants, Advisers and every other category of political appointees that falls into this caliber. 

To this extent, my Lordship May have been persuasively deceived by the initiators of this suit, having made my Lord believe that political appointees come under those s.66(1)(f) was referring to. 

Therefore, s.84(12) cannot be declared null and void as it is not in any way inconsistent with any constitutional provision and it can only be said to be the handiwork of political gladiators who just want to bend the law in broad daylight for it to suit their political ambitions. 

Internet/computer hacking constitutes the most recent cybercrimes. The act, best described as a monster, has over the past decade been of great concern to the teeming cyber subscribers.

Prior to the invention of the internet, criminals had to dig through people’s trash or intercept their mails to steal their personal information. Now that all the required information is available online, criminals presently use the internet to steal people’s identities, either via trick or infecting their devices with malware.

Most cybercrimes are committed by individuals or small groups, though large organized criminal groups also take advantage of the Internet. These so-called professional criminals find new ways to commit old or ancient crimes. They treat cybercrimes like a business and form global criminal communities.

Criminal communities share strategies and tools and can combine forces to launch coordinated attacks. They even have an underground marketplace where cyber criminals can purchase and sell stolen information or identities.

It’s very difficult to track cybercriminals down, because the internet makes it easier for people to do things anonymously and from any location on the globe. Needless to say that, many computers used in various destinations have actually been hacked and are being controlled by someone far away.

For hackers who want to come clean and turn away from crime out of pretense, one option is to work for the people they used to torment by becoming their security consultants or employees. These sets of hackers are referred to as “Grey-Hat hackers”.

In the past, they were addressed as “Black-Hat hackers” who used their computer expertise to break into systems and steal information illegally while posing as a friend or dedicated employee/consultant.

But presently, some of them are acting as “White-Hat hackers” who specialize in testing the security strength of their clients’ information systems. If the interest of this set of hackers is to be paid, they will attempt to hack into a company’s network and then present the affected company with a report detailing the existing security loopholes of the establishment and how those anomalies could be tackled.

The advantage of the white-hat pattern is that they can use their skills for a good cause and help stop other cybercriminals, since keeping up with security and cybercriminals is a fulltime job and many companies can’t afford financially to have someone totally dedicated to it.

Another recent devastating aspect of internet hacking is the “social engineering” routine. Social engineering is a tactic used by cybercriminals that use lies and manipulations to trick people into revealing their personal information. The attackers under this pattern frequently involve very convincing fake stories to lure victims into their trap.

Some of these tricks include: sending victims an email that claims there’s problem with their account and has a link to a fake website, trying to convince victims to open email attachments that contain malware, pretending to be a network/account administrator and asking for the victim’s password to perform maintenance activity, as well as claiming that the victim has won a prize but must give their credit card information or bank account details in order to receive it, just to mention but a few.

The recent antics of cybercriminals, which are barbaric and inhumane, call for constant and consistent update of advanced anti-hacking computer software by software producers, and the adequate dissemination of the said software to the apt quarters.

Presently, most developing countries across the global community are less-privileged in regard to advanced anti-hacking or anti-malware software. In view of this, they are expected to act fast in this regard.

These mostly affected nations, such as Nigeria, could boast of world class experts on software programming. This set of professionals, especially the young ones, needs to be encouraged by the government by setting up an industry that would enable them to commercialize their expertise.

The Communication agency of the countries is supposed to have a thoroughly equipped internet-based communication unit comprising well experienced experts and consultants. Such a unit, meant to function as a spy, would help to checkmate activities being carried out by every internet user at all nooks and crannies of the country on a daily basis.

Legislation must equally be used to checkmate the daily ugly activities of the criminals. Hence, the legislators in the concerned nations are required to sit up towards doing the needful.

There would be a need to set up a special court to be made up of uncompromising judicial custodians to prosecute anyone accused of any form of cybercrime, particularly internet hacking that has hitherto countless countries a colossal economic loss.

Most importantly, every computer/internet firm owner ought to endeavour to engage an expert on Ethical Hacking. Our various schools at all levels, the tertiary institutions in particular, should on their part take teachings on internet hacking more seriously in the ongoing general studies on Computer Literacy.

The fact remains that if the relevant authorities commence from the foundation level to educate the young ones on the needful as regards the lingering Information Technology (IT) menace, when they eventually become in-charge of any enterprise in the future, they wouldn’t be taken unawares.

Above all, people either as individuals or entities are advised to set strict passwords, change them regularly as well as never endeavour to share any of the pass-codes with whosoever toward averting any form of regret or trauma.

Yes, the internet has hitherto done a great good to the wider society as we pass through the digital age, but the teeming users are rather advised to remain very mindful as they make good use of it on a daily basis.