NITDA Partner NNPC On Digital Transformation In Energy Sector

NITDA partner NNPC. The collaboration is being championed through the research, technology and innovation unit of the NNPC.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced they are deepening collaboration to accelerate digital transformation in the energy sector.

The collaboration is being championed through the research, technology and innovation (RTI) unit of the NNPC.

The partnership was the focus of the engagement between the two organisations, where they explored strategies to leverage emerging technologies to reposition the nation’s energy industry on Friday in Abuja.

Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of NITDA, said this during a courtesy visit in Abuja on Friday by Olatomiwa Olaniyi, director, RTI unit of the NNPC.

He stressed the need for the NNPC to shift from its traditional dependence on oil and gas exploitation to a more innovative model.

According to Mr Inuwa, the innovative model will be anchored in the exploration of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics, among other emerging technologies.

Mr Inuwa said information technology had become a critical enabler across sectors, adding that innovation would play a key role in shaping the future of energy production, efficiency and sustainability in Nigeria.

He outlined NITDA’s strategic priorities, which include promoting digital literacy, nurturing local talent, strengthening research ecosystems, and advancing indigenous technology solutions.

According to him, reducing reliance on foreign technologies while encouraging homegrown innovation is vital to achieving digital sovereignty and sustainable economic growth.

The NITDA boss also said the agency would support NNPC in developing a robust innovation pipeline to connect the company with Nigeria’s growing startup ecosystem.

He said startups would be engaged through incubation programmes and innovation challenges to develop practical solutions tailored to the oil and gas industry.

Mr Inuwa further stated that NITDA’s initiatives aimed at fostering innovation among young Nigerians, including members of the National Youth Service Corps.

“Many of our corps members are already creating solutions to real-world challenges through the agency’s programmes,” he said.

Mr Inuwa also said that the effective implementation of the Nigerian Startup Act would be crucial in supporting emerging technology ventures and scaling ideas into commercially viable solutions.

Mr Olaniyi said the engagement was aimed at co-creating solutions and building a strong partnership framework to accelerate innovation across the energy value chain.

NNPC

He emphasised that collaboration among government agencies, industry players and the technology ecosystem remained critical to achieving sustainable innovation.

Presenting the mandate of the RTI unit, he said its focus was on driving excellence through innovation.

According to him, this will lead to improved operational efficiency, enhanced revenue generation and support sustainable growth across NNPC’s businesses, including upstream, gas, power and new energy.

FG Warns Against Illegal Use Of Ambassador Title, Fake Diplomatic Identities

President Bola Tinubu-led federal government has warned against the rising abuse of diplomatic titles in Nigeria, particularly the illegal use of the designation “Ambassador” by unauthorised individuals and groups.

The warning was contained in a statement issued on Friday by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, in Abuja.

“Some of the persons conferred illegally with the Ambassadorial titles unfortunately parade themselves as such in official communications and even in engagements with foreign embassies in Nigeria which has caused serious embarrassment to the federal government.

“The Ministry warns that individuals parading themselves as “Ambassadors” based on such deceitful conferment are engaging in impersonation, which is a criminal offence and therefore strongly cautions all persons involved in such illegalities or parading themselves as Ambassadors to desist forthwith,” the statement said.

The government also raised alarm over the use of fake diplomatic passports, identity cards, vehicle number plates, and other materials bearing the insignia of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by impostors.

Tinubu

According to the statement, some of those involved in the practice go as far as parading themselves as ambassadors in official correspondence and in dealings with foreign missions in Nigeria, a development it said has embarrassed the country.

It, however, stressed that only the president and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has the constitutional authority to appoint and accredit ambassadors for Nigeria, adding that no individual, group, or organisation has the power to confer diplomatic titles.

Unilorin VC Appaluds EFCC Boss Olukoyede On Impactful Fight Against Corruption

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Wahab Egbewole, SAN has commended the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede for his giant strides in the fight against economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption in the country.

He gave the commendation in Abuja on Friday, April 17, 2026 when he led a delegation of the management team of the university on a courtesy visit to the EFCC boss at the Commission’s corporate headquarters.

Egbewole, who noted that the success of the anti-corruption fight was central to a better Nigeria, praised Olukoyede for the massive recoveries of proceeds of crime and the channeling of such recoveries to result-oriented national ventures.

“You are doing a wonderful job in the EFCC. I have followed very keenly because I believe that if we are able to solve the challenge of economic and financial crimes in Nigeria, the country will be a lot better than we currently have it. One of the things that I’ve seen is that one of your cardinal programmes as the Executive Chairman is to ensure that we prevent crime. And of course raising over N500 billion from proceeds of crime means that EFCC is doing wonderfully well. More of the difference now is that when we get these recoveries we see them being channeled to more positive and developmental things. You will continue to make better strides,” he said.

He further noted that Olukoyede’s back-to-back election as the chairman of Network of Anti-corruption Institutions in West Africa, NACIWA is unprecedented and an additional testimony to his leadership qualities. He disclosed that the university authorities were motivated to visit the EFCC owing to the need to forge partnership and synergy with it in the fight against corruption as well as in the reorientation of the society towards ethical electoral behaviours.

“Why do we have to pay this courtesy visit? As a university, we have a Center for Peace and Strategic Studies and we believe that one of the challenges of our society is the fact that violence and corruption bedevil our electioneering process. And we believe that it is important for us to engage the stakeholders in a way that they will call attention of the Nigerian people to those preventive measures that we need to take. And we believe that one of the major critical stakeholders in ensuring that we avoid corruption in our process is the EFCC,” he said.

He expressed faith in the ability of the EFCC to provide the platform to get the critical stakeholders to rob minds “and ensure that never again should we get to that point in our electioneering process.”

Speaking further, he stressed that, “ as a University, we believe that collaborating with anti-corruption institutions will assist us in managing our affairs. Universities are expected to be the epitome of the best of everything in any society. But the roles that the university system plays today speak volumes. We believe that partnership and synergy between EFCC and the academia will also go a long way in reducing the challenges of corruption in Nigeria.”

The EFCC Chairman, who was delighted by the visit disclosed that his interest in the educational sector motivated him to convoke a roundtable with the Committee of Vice Chancellors in July 2025.

“We have other activities to also support the educational sector. From our recovery account, we supported NELFund. In fact it was our recovered funds that served as seed fund for it to take off. The same applies to Credit Corporation,” he said.

He reiterated that fraud prevention was the trajectory of his leadership in the EFCC. “We investigated some situations and I saw the trends, and I said look, it’s better we don’t always have to necessarily wait for money to be stolen before we act. But upon my assumption of office, I made prevention one of the hallmarks of my programmes. That was what necessitated my setting up of a new Directorate called Fraud Risk Assessment and Control.”

The EFCC boss noted that all was not well with the Nigerian university system, particularly with respect to behavioural outlook of the students.

“It’s so sad what is going on among our students today. I went on a working visit to my Benin Zonal Office yesterday and I saw that we had over a hundred inmates in our holding facility and that probably more than 80% of them are university students. More than 80% of them are young people, Yahoo Boys. I had to take almost 10 to 20 minutes to address them,” he said.

Unilorin VC Appaluds EFCC Boss

He pledged the readiness of the Commission to work with the university in the area of the enthronement of electioneering integrity and with the Vice Chancellor as the chair of Association of West African Universities.

“ It is very interesting and gladdening to know that you are currently the President or the Chair of the Association of West African Universities. It’s a good area for us to collaborate, knowing that I’m also leading the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa.

We now operate as one. Our protocol has been approved. Now, we can exchange intelligence, exchange information and be able to monitor money laundering activities across West Africa.

So if you look at what your mandate is and what our mandate is with respect to that, you would see where we can collaborate,” he said.