By Oko Ebuka

The Comptroller General of Customs, CGC strike force, Zone ‘A’ of Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, has remitted over N118 million to the federation account between May 14, 2018 up till June 30, 2019.

The Zone during this period, made a total of 68 seizures of different kinds of contraband goods with Duty Paid Value, DPV of N118m, this is in tandem with the federal government’s quest to consolidate and create a booming market for the local manufacturers and producers in the country.

The items seized by the zone include; 6,580 50kg bags of rice with DPV of N87.2m, 1,607 cartons of frozen poultry with DPV of N15.4m, 17 bales of second hand clothing with DPV of N1.2m, 2 vehicles with DPV of  N2m and 292, 25 liters kegs of vegetable oil, with DPV of N12.2m.

In a press release statement disclosed by the Co-coordinator, CGC strike force, zone ‘A’, DC Yahaya, U.B, said that the seized items was the intense effort of the custom officers on parole whom were defiant to make sure the smuggling activities are permanently silenced.

According to him, “I commend my highly dedicated officers on field for not being deterred by the various antics and threat from smugglers and economic saboteurs in carrying out their duties to their fatherland.

“For the smugglers, I can only advise them to stay clear off zone ‘A’ and embrace federal government business policy, which they will have us to contend with in failure to do so. We shall continue to engage them in the battle against illicit trade until they turn new leaf.

“I want to use this opportunity to thank our CGC Col Hammed Ali and his management team for their support, as they have continue to give us moral boost as well as working tools which have so far made our job easy.”, he concluded.

In addition to the above mentioned seized items, the unit in confronting the unrepentant smugglers irrespective of their hide out or terrain, the team of eagle-eyed officers led by Chief Superintendent of Customs ( CSC) Esiet while combing the creek along Lagos-Badagry through a reliable information, intercepted and seized five (5) trucks fully loaded with contraband foreign rice (50kg each).

The operation was carried out along Alibaba Street at Iyana-Sash waterside in Agbara-Badagry Axis on June 30, 2019 and the total bags of rice in them after counting is 981, aside 140 that is bad as it drenched.

The registration numbers of the trucks include AGL665XL, AAA534DU, GGE427XU and LXR27XV, while most of the trucks were reconstructed and reinforced to withstand pressure, with the capacity to convey large quantities of smuggled goods and easily access the marshy terrain.

Similarly, the unit made another set of contraband rice seizures involving two (2) mini trucks that conveyed a total of 543 bags of 50kg of the products on the 3rd of July 2019.

However, the total number of seized rice from the seven (7) trucks is 1,524 with N20.1m of Duty Paid Value, DPV.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes.

Many software developers don’t understand that developing software to interact properly with humans involves a whole lot of critical thinking and unforeseen interactions. Through the process, valuable insights could be deduced, anchoring on the perception of use of the software. By doing this, new improved features are implemented, and in this era, leveraging data Science and artificial intelligence.

Three cases:

1.) Take for example the ride-hailing platform Gokada; to build its software properly, the backend developers have to understand a bit of how the human psychology works and relate it properly to the methods of software development. Take for example, Ifeanyi has been using the Gokada system continuously and constantly for 6 months to pick a ride at 4p.m, as a software developer who understands the concept of the psychology of software development. I would incorporate two features based on data mining and artificial intelligence; one data mining to extract useful insights on continuous usage by each user and derive a pattern based on their time, locations and destinations. Then, I will incorporate algorithm to automatically contact them up and enquire if they would like to have a personal ride assigned to them or have a ride automatically come pick them up.

It could be something like this:  hey it’s 5 minutes past your usual official pick up time and you still haven’t booked a ride yet today, should you send a Location so we could come pick you up, or you satisfy our curiosity and tell us why you haven’t booked a ride today? This not just only indicates that the system is smart, but also indicates deductive futuristic reasoning based on User Generated Content.

2.) We need to leverage on subscription models, and how humans perceive them. I once used an AdWords application and while filling it they offered me a lifetime bidding on keywords for a very reduced price based on subscription model. With these incentives they make more money on the long run because more people are going to subscribe to the lifetime membership platform.

3.) Gestalt perception principles. Perception is the process in which people are aware of objects and events in the external world. Perception occurs in five stages: stimulation, organization, interpretation-evaluation, memory and recall. It plays an important role in user interface related to the psychology of human interaction to software development. Imagine a simple good morning smiley, happy birthday pop-up text or reminders could go a long way in increasing the interaction and usage of a particular app. Take for example myself, due to my business nature, it got to a point where I only logged in to Facebook just to view the “birthday happening today” reminder notification.

Hence it’s imperative we understand and incorporate the concept behind the Psychology of Human Interaction to Software Development.

By Mutiu Iyanda

In the United States of America, letters have been written by the outgoing Presidents to incoming successors despite political and ideological differences. As a tradition the letters are not made public until a few years after the exit of the former presidents. Whether in the USA or other countries, where former presidents deem it fit to write notes to the new presidents, the contents have always been on national issues and possible challenges for the new presidents throughout their tenure.

One fact that is difficult to disregard is that most ex-presidents cannot resist the urge to stay relevant.  This has been the main reasons for the former presidents to use any avenue to express their feelings about the state of their countries, especially when critical issues are raging and threatening national unity and security. Beyond contributing to the socioeconomic and political discourse, many ex-presidents have devoted their time to charitable works.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is one of such ex-presidents who have used and still employing various means to express his feelings about the present and future conditions in Nigeria. Within a year, Nigerians have had the privilege of reading three open letters from the ex-president to the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

In January, 2018, Nigerians read political and economic uncertainties expressed by the former President. On January 20th, 2019, Nigerians were also flooded with the news of a new letter from Chief Obasanjo, comparing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari with the former military Head of States, General Sani Abacha. On July 15th, 2019, a new letter emerged, calling on President Buhari to speedily address insecurity in the country.

Analysis of the first two letters shows that the level of happiness of Chief Obasanjo reduces by 4%. In 2018, he was contended by 59%. Fifty-five percent was discovered in 2019’s first letter. His unhappiness about the state of the country is largely connected with the 2019 general elections. While happiness and sadness dominated the previous letters, the new letter is full of fear (64%) and more than half of the expected percent of happiness (56%) and sadness (54%). From the beginning to the end of the new letter, analysis reveals that ex-president was analytical in his construction of sentences and paragraphs, establishing his usual ‘constructive criticism’.

Expressing his fear about the state of the country, ex-president notes that “I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to hold danger at bay. Without being immodest, as a Nigerian who still bears the scar of the Nigerian civil war on my body and with a son who bears the scar of fighting Boko Haram on his body, you can understand, I hope, why I am so concerned.”

Chief Obasanjo was sad that Boko Haram remains a daily issue of insecurity because of the approach being used by the security forces and the government. “Say what you will, Boko Haram is still a daily issue of insecurity for those who are victimised, killed, maimed, kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and forced into marriage and for children forcibly recruited into carrying bombs on them to detonate among crowds of people to cause maximum destructions and damage.

The former president believes that the failure of the government to address the herdsmen and farmers crises have snowballed into banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and killings all over the country. According to him, the indifferent attitude to the public calls regarding the holistic solution will continue to be at the expense of Nigerian unity and possibly its continued existence.

Source: The Punch, Obasanjo’s Letter, Infoprations Analysis, 2019

Public Interest: Fear and Insecurity in 15 States and FCT

Do the ex-president’s feelings translate into public interest?  Answers to this question were sought using real time data. From 15 to 16, 2019 (till 4pm), people in Benue, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Rivers, Ogun, Imo, Delta, Anambra, Oyo, Lagos, Edo and Abuja developed interests in insecurity and fear. Analysis reveals that the interest in fear was higher (75.29 score) than in insecurity (49.56 score) during the period. However, with the consideration of the severity level, interest in insecurity (29.500) was higher than in fear (28.437). This signifies that people were more concerned about insecurity than the fear expressed by the ex-president. This does not mean that people are not aligned with the issues that led to the ex-president’s fear.

For instance, analysis further indicates a 27.5% connection of the level of fear in four avoidable calamities and overall fear in the letter with the public interest in fear in the last 24 hours. This is on the high side for the insecurity. Analysis reveals 32.2% link of the level of fear in four avoidable calamities and overall fear in the letter with the public interest in insecurity during the period.  This also establishes that one percent of ex-president’s fear increases public interest in insecurity by 32.2%.

From the insights, it is obvious that governments and security forces need to address insecurity without fear or favour. It has reached a stage where groups or individuals’ interests must be abandoned for the good of every citizen.

Source: Google Trends, Infoprations Analysis, 2019

By Oko Ebuka

Sequel to the second quarter 2019 report on piracy attack released by International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, International Maritime Bureau, IMB, which placed Nigeria as the headquarter of piracy attack in the world, a specialist in Maritime Security, Captain Alfred Oluwasegun Oniye, affirmed that the report is true as the crime is continuously perpetrated by maritime experts who are unemployed in the maritime industry.

Disclosing this in a chat with Vanguard Maritime Report, Captain Oluwasegun said that the report is authentic because Nigeria is currently leading the Gulf of Guinea in the activities of piracy.

According to him, “Nigerian waters are not secured. And I must tell you, Nigeria is still the headquarters of sea pirate activities in the Gulf of Guinea and why this is increasing is because we have more unemployed seafarers. These boys are back to the creek. They will survive.

“As an Intel Officer, I already have over 50 recorded piracy attacks as a proof of these attacks in our water. If they said the reports are faults, they should give us proof because those who made this report have evidence. The whole world cannot be lying against Nigeria. We sail this water and we know what we are passing through every day”, he said.

On the issue of NIMASA

Captain Oluwasegun also calls for the total overhauling of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, by appointing marine professionals who know the rudiments of maritime business to enable the country actualize the potentials that are wasting.

“The industry is in serious mess. It needs overhauling. We need the right people. If you want to appoint a NIMASA DG, appoint a master mariner who understands the job perfectly. So when you don’t have the clue of what is going on in the industry, how do you want to manage it? Or you bring a historian to be the NIMASA DG, what does he know about maritime, he can’t feel the seafarer’s pain.

“We need master mariners or marine engineers. We need the professionals and we need the ministry of shipping or ministry of marine. If we can have ministry of aviation, we need ministry of marine if we only want to get it right in the country because the economy of the industry has not being tapped”, he explained.

Establishing Ministry of Shipping

The Captain equally suggested the removal of maritime industry from the auspices of Ministry of Transport to enable the industry properly manage of the blue sea economy.

“I still find it difficult to believe that at this stage we still have marine under Ministry of Transport. I don’t see any reason why this government cannot create a ministry for shipping. If aviation can stand on its own, then marine should stand on its own. We shouldn’t be under ministry of transport because marine is strictly a professional field which takes someone time to understand the depth before it can be managed.

“This industry controls 90 percent of the Nigerian economy, if they shut it down in a day, in the next 20 years Nigeria will not recover from it”, he concluded.