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By Hamid Al-Hassan Hamid

To be honest, the poor reviews against the eNaira app are all valid negative reviews. As usual, policymakers must have rushed software engineers into developing the app in haste, obviously with poor analyses, and the software engineers do not have the balls to stand their ground and point out facts.

For example, how do you create an app that requires email tied to BVN while email was not a required field in BVN registration? This means that those working on the app did not consult other sectors related to the app, and just imagined the app to work in a certain way, developed the app, and now people are complaining.

I was called in by the Federal Ministry of Health on Wednesday to develop a mobile app that would be used to facilitate disease monitoring and control. They wanted to deploy the app on Thursday. I developed the app with the minimum requirements given, but I strongly advised them against putting the app into production without at least testing for a week. Policymakers were not happy about my stance, but I held my ground, and they are complying unwillingly and willingly. They have seen the app, I spent the whole night hacking it out, created the mobile, server backend, and desktop monitoring, then warned them against deploying.

Not everything has to do with rushing to the market to score points and make names. You must be brutally honest with yourself. If you must deploy such an app that serves such serious responsibility as the national currency, you should at least start developing a year ago, AT LEAST!.

ALWAYS TEST, TEST AND TEST!!!!

WRITE AUTOMATED TESTS, THEN RUN MANUAL TESTS, OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTIL YOU MEMORISE ALMOST ALL THE CODE!!

IT SHOULD NOT ALWAYS BE ABOUT HITTING THE MARKET. ALWAYS ASSIGN GREAT ENERGY TO ENSURE THAT YOUR PRODUCT IS ACTUALLY READY FOR THE MARKET!!!

Hamid Al-Hassan Hamid is a social analyst and expert in software development.

By Abdullahi A. Lamido

The renowned Muslim human rights activist and Director of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof. Ishaq Lakin Akintola, has called for exempting the Sultan of Sokoto from the “Deposition Clause” in the Nigerian laws.

Speaking as the keynote presenter at the formal opening ceremony of the 15th Anniversary of the 20th Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar CFR mni, Akintola noted that Sultan Sa’ad as the head of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) means well for Nigeria and his council has the potentials of solving several problems that Nigerian Muslims are bedevilling with.

“By the nature and composite of the NSCIA, anyone who occupies the position of governor in Sokoto State has the power to depose the Sultan. Unfortunately, the removal of the Sultan has the bandwagon effect of removing the President General of the NSCIA. This is because, Section 6 Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria empowers state governors to depose the Emirs and this includes the Sultan”, he said.

Akintola stressed that in addition, Article 7 of the NSCIA constitution stipulates that the Sultan of Sokoto shall be the President General of the NSCIA. “Here lays the dilemma facing the Ummah. The governor of a single state can depose the Sultan and leader of all Nigerian Muslims. This situation is capable of causing unmitigated embarrassment. It also has the capacity to trigger a religious crisis of unimaginable dimension”.

He pointed to the fact that: “Whereas even the president of Nigeria cannot interfere in the affairs of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), [but unfortunately] a state governor can interfere and even depose the Sultan and President General of the NSCIA. This has far reaching comparative disadvantage vis-a-vis the bargaining power as well as pressure group influence of Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.”

The solution to this dilemma according to Akintola is to secure immunity from deposing the Sultan. “The onus is therefore on the Sokoto State House of Assembly to set the machinery in motion for the repeal of Section 6 Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria in such a way that it will exclude the Sultan from the governor’s exercise of the power of deposition. It is a simple exercise which may not go beyond a motion in the House seeking to insert the phrase ‘except the Sultan of Sokoto’ in the dethronement clause.”

He reiterated that this is not about the present Sultan but about the progress of the Ummah and the freedom from undue executive influence.

Commenting after the speech, the Chairman of the Occasion, His Highness, the Emir of Argungu Alhaji Samaila Muhammadu Mera, stressed that this matter raised by Akintola is a serious one and Nigerian Muslims should give it utmost attention. The Sultan is the leader of the Muslims not of Sokoto. He is not the Sultan of Sokoto State but of the Sokoto Caliphate. As the leader of the entire Nigerian Muslims, the office of the Sultan deserves special provision in a manner that safeguards the overall interest of Muslim leadership.

Muhammadu Sunusi (II) was the recent emir in Northern Nigeria to be deposed by the Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje by alleging that the deposed emir interfered into the state’s political matters that almost caused him to lose his second election in 2019.

By Hussaina Sufyan Ahmad

It has been reported that security forces have killed several bandits and destroyed their camps during clearance operations at Igabi and Chikun Local Government Areas of Kaduna State.

The State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, on Friday, said the clearance operations were planned to conducted in Faka, Katuka, Barebari and Maguzawa general areas, spanning Chikun and Igabi LGAs.

According to him, an unconfirmed number of bandits were however later neutralised by a Nigerian Air Force attack helicopter after they were sighted on the high ground across the Maguzawa River.

By Hussaina Sufyan Ahmad

The former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the creation of state police while delivering his speech at a lecture titled, ‘Social responsibility in nation building,’ to mark the 78th anniversary of Island Club in Lagos, on Friday.

Obasanjo said Nigeria needs state police to efficiently tackle the insecurity challenges of the country. He said only a safe environment can guarantee nation building.

According to Obasanjo:

“I have said it before and I will say it again. Nigeria should have state police all over the various states so that insecurity can be tackled efficiently. uaranteeing citizens a safe environment and round security is one thing a government must do.

No nation can be built where peace, security and stability are not guaranteed and with reasonable predictability of the President and the future not enthroned.”

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

On October 25, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari officially launched the much-awaited Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) digital currency, the eNaira. The launch of the eNaira is a good and commendable initiative. The CBN said, “As technology evolves and advances, it is critical that Central Banks also evolve to continue to play their roles and the Central Bank Money adapts to take advantage of these opportunities provided by new technologies. Today is one of those moments where new technology offers the Central Bank an enormous opportunity to play its role even better, thereby improving the society and economy of the nation.”

The CBN is right in taking advantage of new technologies. However, there is a problem – many ordinary Nigerians are not aware of the eNaira and its benefits. The CBN has done well in enlightening the already-informed segment of the society on the advantages of the eNaira. The CBN boasts that the eNaira is secured, tamper-proof, processes verifiable transactions, simple and reduces the cost of transactions. But the majority of the common people are not aware of the eNaira and its advantages. So the big question is: What are the innovative approaches through which the CBN can enhance the acceptance and usage of the eNaira and e-transactions, generally among common people in Nigeria?

First, the radio. Radio plays a vital role in enlightening people, especially in rural and peri-urban areas. It is a significant source of information and news. The CBN can take advantage of the radio to create awareness on the benefits of the eNaira. Secondly, telecommunication service providers, with over 80 million users in Nigeria, the GSM creates a platform for the CBN to reach nearly half of Nigeria’s population on the advantages of the eNaira.

The CBN can collaborate with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHDSD) to create an e-wallet for all Federal Government social investment programme beneficiaries. Most of the beneficiaries are poor with prior low financial inclusion. The FMHDSD have ensured these people have bank accounts. Recently, through the Ministry, the Federal Government announced the launch of the Mobile Money Agent Programme and the commencement of training for 1,850 beneficiaries in Nigeria. These are viable means for the CBN to disseminate the advantages of the eNaira.

The CBN may collaborate with businesses that have daily interactions with common people. For example, collaboration with filling stations, market associations and transport unions to use eNaira in their transactions will help integrate more common people on the eNaira platform, as the people can use it with phones that are not internet-enabled. The eNaira should also be enhanced to allow banks to transfer it into a regular bank account automatically.

Bringing ordinary people on board will undoubtedly assist the CBN, and the government boosts the use and acceptance of the e-Naira. A columnist, Gimba Kakanda, wrote, “CBN needs to offer a layman’s explanation of the eNaira and break it down in various local languages to justify its usefulness, difference from cryptocurrency and what sets it apart from the electronic transactions Nigerians are used to.”

To bring millions of common Nigerians on the platform of the eNaira, the CBN should seek the help of experts in media, communication and public relations (PR) to develop programmes and models that will promote the acceptance of the eNaira.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja. He can be reached via zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

By Uzair Adam Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari has described the so-called tenure extension, “Tazarce” as unconstitutional, swearing to leave office as his time due.

Buhari made the disclosure at Makkah when he met with some Nigerians living in Saudi Arabia.

While giving his words to Nigerians at the meeting, Buhari was quoted saying “in the balance of eighteen months or so of my time left, whatever I can do to improve the life of Nigerians, I will do it for the country.”

“I swore by the Holy Qur’an that I will serve in accordance with the constitution and leave when my time is up. No “Tazarce’’ (tenure extension). I don’t want anybody to start talking about and campaigning for unconstitutional extension. I will not accept that.”

Speaking, the President promised to support efforts to increase the role of technology in the Nigeria’s elections.

“After the third so-called defeat, I said, ‘God Dey’. My opponents laughed at me but God answered my prayers by bringing in technology. At that point, nobody can steal their votes or buy them,” the president added.

However, talking about the development of the present security in Nigeria, Buhari expressed his grievances.

“My problem is the North West where people are killing and stealing from one another. I had to be very hard on them and I will continue to be very hard until we put them in line and bring back order,” he said.

By Uzair Adam Imam

One of the custom officers that had been abducted in Ogun State on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 was found dead, suspected to be killed by rice smugglers four days after his abduction.

His corpse was found in a river near Fagbohun village, in Yewa South Local Government area on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, suspected smugglers ambushed Custom officers on patrol and abducted two in the process.

Addressing newsmen on the latest attack, the Customs Controller, Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, Ikeja, Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, confirmed the incident.

However, Kehinde added that: “Two officers sustained machete wounds and luckily enough, they were treated and responded to treatment. As if that was not enough on Tuesday, October 26, in the same Ogun State suspected smugglers ambushed another patrol team in Yewa South Local government area of Ogun State and abducted two officers.”

“Two of the officers were declared missing as at Tuesday. Search for them continued till Wednesday morning when the body of one of the officers was found in a river near Ajegun-Iyaloosa village on Wednesday. His rifle was also found near the river.

“The search for the second missing officer continued till Friday, when the dead body of the second abducted officer was found. The strap of his rifle was still hanging on him as at the time his body was found but his rifle was missing.

“Those in authority should know that we are all their children and no life is more sacred than another. If it were to be the other way round the news would have been everywhere. This will be the last time I will come on air to discuss issues of attack and killing of Customs officer. I will be forced to evoke our Rules of Engagement. Officers will now defend themselves when an unprovoked attack is unleashed on them,” he said.

Muhammad Sabiu

According to the Verge Media “the company announced the rebranding during Facebook Connect. Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook’s new name will be “Meta.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday at his company’s Connect event that its new name will be Meta. “We are a company that builds technology to connect,” Zuckerberg said. “Together, we can finally put people at the center of our technology. And together, we can unlock a massively bigger creator economy.”

“To reflect who we are and what we hope to build,” he added. He said the name Facebook doesn’t fully encompass everything the company does now, and is still closely linked to one product. “But over time, I hope we are seen as a metaverse company.”

Zuckerberg owns the Twitter handle @meta (whose tweets are protected as of this writing) and meta.com, which now redirects to a welcome page on Facebook outlining the changes. The site previously redirected to meta.org, a biomedical research discovery tool that was a project of the Chan Zuckerberg Science Initiative. That’s part of the philanthropic arm Zuckerberg co-founded with his physician wife, Priscilla Chan, in 2015. In a Medium post on Thursday, the group says it’s sunsetting Meta.org on March 31st, 2022.

As The Verge first reported on October 19th, the rebrand is part of the company’s efforts to shift gears away from being known as just a social media company and focus on Zuckerberg’s plans for building the metaverse. In July, he told The Verge that over the next several years, Facebook would “effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”

Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Thursday that the company’s corporate structure would not be changing, but how it reports financial results will. “Starting with our results for the fourth quarter of 2021, we plan to report on two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs” he explained. “We also intend to start trading under the new stock ticker we have reserved, MVRS, on December 1. Today’s announcement does not affect how we use or share data.”