The Main Planning Conference (MPC) for Exercise Grand African Nemo 2023 was held from June 26 to June 28, bringing together representatives from the Yaoundé Architecture and the 19 navies bordering the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), along with numerous regional, European, and international partners.

The conference, held in Châtenay-en-France, marked a significant step in planning the exercise aimed at addressing maritime safety challenges in the region.

The conference began with warm words of welcome from Rear Admiral d’Hébrail, Deputy Commander of the Atlantic Maritime Zone (ACZM), and Captain Bell Bell, Head of Information and Communications at the Yaoundé Interregional Coordination Centre (CIC).

Following the opening remarks, the navies, and partners were divided into working groups to focus on the meticulous planning of Exercise Grand African Nemo 2023. The main objective was to develop scenarios that closely aligned with the concerns of the riparian states and the prevailing maritime safety challenges in the Gulf of Guinea.

After two productive days of intensive work and insightful discussions, the participants finalized the themes for the exercise. The selected themes will encompass a wide range of issues, including combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing), addressing piracy, drug trafficking, illicit trafficking, pollution control, and legal proceedings. This multi-faceted approach will enable comprehensive training and preparedness to tackle various maritime security threats.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to convene, the conference participants also examined a recent case of piracy that occurred earlier this year aboard the Danish tanker Monjasa Reformer in Congolese waters. This practical case study provided valuable insights for enhancing anti-piracy measures and improving response strategies.

Exercise Grand African Nemo 2023 is scheduled to take place in the eastern Gulf of Guinea from October 10 to October 15, 2023.

About Grand African Nemo

Grand African Nemo is an internationally coordinated operational cooperation exercise that aims to foster the development and strengthening of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, supporting the Yaoundé Process. Co-organized by the Yaoundé Architecture and the French Navy, this significant annual regional exercise will involve the participation of countries in the Gulf of Guinea region, as well as allied navies.

France, as a key partner resulting from the 2013 Yaoundé Protocol, plays a leading role in co-piloting this ambitious exercise. The country’s involvement reflects its commitment to improving maritime safety in the Gulf of Guinea and supporting its African partners.

The Gulf of Guinea: A Key Maritime Region

Stretching over 5,707 kilometers of West African coastline, from Senegal to Angola, the Gulf of Guinea holds strategic importance as a key maritime region. Situated at the crossroads of major shipping routes, the area is rich in valuable natural resources, including oil, fish, and minerals, making it susceptible to covetousness and the development of illicit activities.

The African Nemo Exercises

Since the Yaoundé summit in 2013, the French Navy has been organizing joint African Nemo patrols three to four times a year, in collaboration with the Yaoundé Architecture and the navies bordering the Gulf of Guinea.

In addition to these regular patrols, a major annual exercise, Grand African Nemo, brings together a larger number of units and operational centers. These exercises, which alternate between different areas of the Gulf of Guinea, share a common objective: to enhance the capacity of neighboring and partner navies to cooperate and act jointly as part of government action at sea, aligned with the European concept of Coordinated Maritime Presence (CMP).

Honour, as the saying goes, is given to those who deserve it. For Amb. Professor Marcel Okechukwu Ezenwoye Ph.D, the CEO/President, Chattered Institute of Educational Practitioners (CIEPUK), it was indeed a time to feel appreciated as another feather was added to his ever-expanding dossier of national and international awards and honours.

This time around, the recognition of this exceptional philanthropist and avid lover of education came from the Arewa Youth Advocacy for Good Governance, a socio-cultural, non-governmental and non-partisan group made up of youths from the 19 Northern states of the federation and the FCT who honoured him with Icon of National Development Award.

While presenting the excellence award, Amb. Bashir Nasir, Secretary-General of the Advocacy group and leader of the delegation described the CIEPUK President as a well travelled and highly principled achiever whose lofty ideals the group is desirous of associating with.

The Arewa Youth Advocacy for Good Governance which is made up of youth leaders and Ambassadors also used the occasion to solicit collaboration and partnership with CIEPUK for a mutually beneficial relationship.

Receiving the prestigious award, Amb. Professor Marcel Ezenwoye thanked the socio-cultural youth group for the honour even as he touched on some of the awards and recognitions he had garnered over the years both locally and internationally.

The CIEPUK CEO also dwelled on some of the challenges faced by youths in Africa, both home and abroad, and some of the efforts he had exerted in the past towards providing assistance through his research institute coupled with the good reputation he had earned himself in the international arena.

Assuring the visiting group of an organic and strategic partnership, Professor Ezenwoye said the collaboration would further drive his zeal of having an inroad into the northern region of the country towards achieving his youth development agenda for the area.

He also promised to continue to work towards ensuring easy access to qualitative education among Nigerian youths in particular and Africa continent in general.
A highpoint of the event was the award of Ph.D Scholarship to the Secretary-General of Arewa Youth Advocacy for Good Governance, Amb. Bashir Nasir by the Educational Network Against Covid-19 (ENAC) on behalf of CIEPUK to study at the University of Nigeria, Nnsukka.

Chartered Institute of Educational Practitioners, UK is one of the largest professional bodies duly registered and accredited in United Kingdom. The Institute has been acting as the voice of the academic profession for several years through academic programs, and its sole mission is to empower intellectuals that have the vision to contribute immensely to educational growth and development.

More than 10 million people have signed up for Threads, Meta’s rival to Twitter, within the first few hours of its launch, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday.

The app went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 2300 GMT on Wednesday and will run with no ads for now, but its release in Europe has been delayed over data privacy concerns.

Threads are the biggest challenger yet to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace one of the world’s biggest social media platforms, despite its struggles.

“10 million sign-ups in seven hours,” Zuckerberg wrote on his official Threads account Thursday.

Accounts were already active for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post and The Economist.

Zuckerberg also offered a shot across the bow at Musk – the pair are known to be bitter rivals and have offered to wrestle it out in a cage fight.

In his first tweet in over a decade, Zuckerberg posted a Spiderman pointing at Spiderman meme in an apparent reference to the similarities between Threads.

On Threads, he wrote: “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully, we will.”

Twitter has said it has more than 200 million daily users.

– ‘Be kind’ –

Threads was introduced as a clear spin-off of Instagram, which offers a built-in audience of more than two billion users, sparing the new platform the challenge of starting from scratch.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri told users that Threads was intended to build “an open and friendly platform for conversations.”

“The best thing you can do if you want that too is be kind,” he said.

Zuckerberg is widely understood to be taking advantage of Musk’s chaotic ownership of Twitter to push out the new product, which Meta hopes will become the go-to platform for celebrities, companies, and politicians.

“It’s as simple as that: if an Instagram user with a large number of followers such as Kardashian or a Bieber or a Messi begins posting on Threads regularly, a new platform could quickly thrive,” strategic financial analyst Brian Wieser said on Substack.

Analyst Jasmine Engberg from Insider Intelligence said Threads only needs one out of four Instagram monthly users “to make it as big as Twitter.”

“Twitter users are desperate for an alternative, and Musk has given Zuckerberg an opening,” she added.

Under Musk, Twitter has seen content moderation reduced to a minimum with glitches and rash decisions scaring away celebrities and major advertisers.

He has angered Twitter’s most devoted aficionados by declaring that access to its TweetDeck product — which allows users to view a fast flow of tweets at once — would be for paying customers only.

– EU ‘many months away –

Meta has its legion of critics too, especially in Europe, which could slow the growth of Threads.

The company has been criticized for its handling of personal data, the essential ingredient for targeted ads that help it rake in billions of dollars in profits.

Mosseri said he regretted that the launch was delayed in the European Union, but had Meta waited for regulatory clarity from Brussels, Threads would have been “many, many, many, months away.”

“I was worried that our window would close because timing is important,” he told the tech news site Platformer.

According to a source close to the matter, Meta was wary of a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which sets strict rules for the world’s “gatekeeper” internet companies.

One rule restricts platforms from moving user data between products, as would potentially be the case between Threads and Instagram.

Meta was caught doing just that after it bought WhatsApp, and European regulators will be on high alert to ensure it does not do so illegally with Threads.

Globally, the Threads hashtag on Twitter has garnered over a million tweets, with many users jokingly suggesting people will return to Musk’s platform.

“10 mins into threads app. Me coming back to Twitter,” one user wrote, sharing a video of a man sprinting.

Others expressed privacy concerns.

“Meta loves to collect private information and I don’t trust the way it treats private information,” a Japanese user tweeted.

“I also have the impression that this is a company hated by EU, so I’m reluctant.”

But some said they would permanently move to Threads.

One Threads user wrote: “Now I truly can say goodbye to Twitter forever.”

AFP

In a keynote address delivered at the IoT West Africa Conference and Exhibition 2023, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), emphasized the importance of collaboration in harnessing Nigeria’s potential in the realm of Internet of Things (IoT) and its transformative impact on the country’s digital ecosystem.

The address was part of NITDA’s efforts to implement the Digital Transformation pillar of the Strategic Road Map and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024).

During his speech, Inuwa highlighted key challenges that need to be overcome in order to fully access the potential of IoT, including infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data protection. He noted that many IoT applications rely on cloud-based solutions such as Alexa and Google.

The NITDA Director General also highlighted the increasing capabilities of computer systems, surpassing human performance in various domains, particularly with the rise of generative AI and chat GPT.

Referring to a McKinsey report, Inuwa shared that IoT has the capacity to generate between 5.5 to 12.6 trillion US dollars in value across different industries by 2030.

He underscored the exponential growth of connected devices, surpassing the global population, as reported by Cisco. Inuwa pointed out that IoT could significantly contribute to sectors like agriculture, where automation and wearable plant sensors could enhance food production with fewer human efforts.

Citing the World Economic Forum, the NITDA Director General emphasized the need to increase global food production by 70% in the next seven years to address food security.

He highlighted the urgency for Nigeria, which is experiencing rapid population growth and is projected to become the third-largest country by population by 2050.

Inuwa stressed the potential of IoT in increasing Nigeria’s food production through precision agriculture, including soil moisture management and automated farming processes.

In addition to agriculture, Inuwa discussed the role of IoT in addressing security challenges. IoT devices can monitor activities, movement patterns, and enable geofencing to prevent incidents such as farmer-herder conflicts and kidnappings.

The NITDA Director General further emphasized the potential of IoT in enhancing oil theft prevention by monitoring pipelines and enabling quick security responses.

Inuwa also highlighted the significance of IoT in the healthcare sector. Wearable IoT devices that monitor vital signs like heartbeats and blood pressure can provide valuable information for telemedicine, benefiting medical practitioners and individuals with disabilities or the elderly.

While acknowledging the absence of locally manufactured IoT devices, Inuwa called for the development of necessary infrastructure, such as data centers and cloud solutions, to store IoT data. He emphasized the need to build local talent and promote digital sovereignty to ensure Nigeria’s independence in the digital sphere.

In his concluding remarks, Inuwa urged the collective efforts of the government, private sectors, and all stakeholders to develop tailor-made solutions, harness indigenous talents, and co-create IoT solutions.

He emphasized NITDA’s commitment to working collaboratively with the ecosystem, moving away from a top-down approach to policymaking.

The keynote address by Kashifu Inuwa at the IoT West Africa Conference and Exhibition 2023 provided valuable insights into the potential of IoT in Nigeria and underscored the importance of collaboration and innovation to unlock this potential.

The NITDA Director General’s call to action serves as a catalyst for stakeholders to work together in realizing Nigeria’s digital transformation goals and leveraging IoT to drive socioeconomic development in the country.

The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has disclosed that it recorded a 25 per cent reduction in the total number of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC), a 53 per cent decrease in people killed, and a 43 per cent reduction in the number of people injured in crashes that involved 522 people on Nigerian roads during the 2023 Eid-el-Kabir special patrol operations that held from 26 June to 01 July 2023.

In the special patrol operation that lasted for six days, the Corps recorded a total of 88 RTCs as against 118 in the same period in 2022, representing a 25 per cent reduction.

In the same vein, a total of 38 people were killed, against 88 in the previous year representing a 53 per cent decrease, while 211 people got injured in 2023 against 373 in 2022 representing a 43 per cent decrease.

These statistics were made known in a report by the Assistant Corps Marshal and Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, in Abuja on Wednesday.

A look into the report showed that the Corps also rescued a total of 273 victims without injuries in 2023 against 347 in the same period in the year 2022. More so, a total of 4,116 offenders were apprehended over 4,682 offences committed across 2,053 routes covered by the Corps.

The report noted that the reduction in road traffic crashes during the 2023 Eid-el-Kabir celebration period was a result of improved and rejigged patrol operations, robust public enlightenment campaign, injection of more operational vehicles for enhanced visibility, prompt rescue services, enhanced stakeholder collaboration, wider coverage of the national road network due to the establishment of more FRSC Commands, Outposts, roadside clinics and Zebra points among others.

“The positive changes in the reduction of offences and offenders and impoundments also captured above is attributable to an increase in public enlightenment, enforcement, traffic control, cooperation from stakeholders, and the fully automated process of obtaining driver’s licence which ensures that motorists must be trained in driving schools before they are qualified to apply for their licences” the report added.

Reacting to the report of the special patrol operations, the Corps Marshal, Dauda Biu, who expressed his delight over the success, pledged that the Corps will sustain the tempo and enhance its effort towards entrenching safety on all roads.

This was as he urged the motoring public to be disciplined and practice safe-road-use culture, by giving maximum cooperation to FRSC personnel and other traffic law enforcers on the highways.

He also called on the general public to always tune in to the National Traffic Radio 107.1 FM, as well as notify FRSC in the event of an emergency through its emergency line 0700-CALL-FRSC (0700-22553772) or toll-free number 122 for prompt response.