The Founder of Eko Innovation Centre and Curator, Mr. Victor Afolabi, has said Nigeria needs homegrown cyber security solutions that understand the challenges of its local environment.
Afolabi made this known during the grand finale of the Secure Hack 1.0 event powered by Eko Innovation Centre in Lagos at the weekend.
He said one of the major challenges of technology adoption in Nigeria was cost barrier.
According to him, most tech people in Nigeria today had to buy laptops and smart devices which are foreign to do their jobs, adding that the devices are usually very expensive .
“Looking at the cyber security solutions, anti-viruses that we buy, many of them are paid for in Forex and the sad thing is that they are ridiculously expensive because the dollar rate keeps going up.
“This cost element increases the vulnerabilities of organisations in emerging markets like Nigeria”, he said.
Afolabi stated further that Nigerians need solutions developed lacally, either for cyber crime or physical crime that people could pay for with the Naira.
He noted that that way, the country’s cyberspace would be more secured because of the ease  to afford the cyber security solutions.
Afolabi said that was why the innovation centre put together hackathons like the secure hack 1.0 to encourage young talents with innovative ideas.
The founder said when solutions are homegrown, its maintenance would be easy and one would not have to start sending messages to the manufacturer unlike when it’s imported.
“Hopefully as the Nigerian tech market matures, things would get better. 20 years ago nobody was building softwares in Nigeria, but today we are beginning to see foreign people using our talents.They are now taking our talents abroad and paying them a lot of money to build solutions for global use”, he said.
He noted that soon banks and other organisations would start using locally-developed cyber security solutions when the market matures.
Speaking on the Secure Hack 1.0, he said the hackathon, which was launched in February, garnered over 400 registrations from participants to form 100 plus teams from 62 locations in four countries and across two continents.

According to him, the teams were split into groups of four and were required to work together for three weeks, brainstorming and identifying new concepts based on their focus areas, which include cybersecurity, physical security, and biosecurity.

He hinted on plans to ensure that the best team would have the chance to win N2,000,000 prize pool and an acceleration programme investment to get their products ready for the market, among other benefits.

The Tide’s source gatherd that some of the teams that participated are Cyber Hive Pitch Desk, a platform that offers cyber security education; Health Waka, a platform that provides seamless tracing and tracking of sick people; and Team 9 and Team 18.

Some of the Jurors were Dr Obadare Peter Adewale, Co-founder, Digital Encode Limited; Ayodele Olojede, Group Head, Emerging Businesses Africa, Access Bank; and David Ali, Chief Information, Security Officer, Airtel.

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) says information technology has become a crucial part of  people’s daily lives, hence, its decision to develop primary and secondary students on digital skills.
The President of NCS, Prof. Adeshina Sodiya, said this in an interview with The Tide’s source  in Abuja, Monday.
Sodiya  said technology is now considered an immeasurable asset in every aspect of human living.
“We will be launching a programme very soon, known as ‘Techminds’, to develop capacity in our kids. We want to start catching them young and let them know that technology is the way to go these days”, he said
According to him, young kids abroad were already exposed to coding and robotics as well as basic technological knowledge.
He said NCS was  doing a lot in trying to develop professionals to support students of tertiary institutions.
“Techminds’ programme would be implemented by state chapters in collaboration with the ministry responsible for Information Technology development.We want the programme to be as practical as possible”, he said.
He said kids in Nigeria are not interested in lectures, but in what they can do with their hands, and added that such was the kind of exposure they want the kids to have.
Sodiya called on corporate organisations and individuals to support the young ones to be able to compete well with their international counterparts.

An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expert, Mr Sam Adesoga, has urged governments and businesses to train their personnel in new technologies in order to improve their productivity.
Adesoga, Principal Coach at Valuehut Limited., gave the change in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, recently.
He said it was necessary for governments and businesses to develop, strengthen and sharpen their personnel’s skills and abilities to survive and thrive in a fast-changing world of technology.
“It is important to note that technology is a key driver of any country’s economy. It plays a significant role in solving many challenges facing businesses, governments and even countries.
“As such, training in technology is necessary as many innovations have been affected by disruptive technologies”, he said.
According to him, capacity building in technology will enhance innovation, provide opportunities for organisations, governments and young entrepreneurs to develop their potential.
He said tech skills, apart from helping businesses to grow, could help solve problems in critical governmental sectors such as health, education, and agriculture.
Adesoga said Valuehut limited had trained many organisations globally on how to use technology to solve problems and also empowered businesses with solutions to achieve their goals and targets.
“For us in Valuehut, our work has gone beyond tech to entire organisational needs, integrating business and technology as one unit’, he said.
He appealed to young entrepreneurs to explore technology in order to be abreast of new innovations to drive their businesses successfully.
The expert also advised them to build their businesses on trust and not engage in activities that could destroy their business goals.