An ICT expert, Mr Kingsley Uwazie, has called on Nigerians to increase their knowledge of new technologies, to stay safe from cyber-attacks and crimes.
Uwazie made the call at the hybrid event to mark World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022, organised by the Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE).
The expert, while taking questions from participants, said that technology was daily evolving and the new trends required knowledge upgrade to be ahead of hackers.
He said that knowledge was needed for adequate cyber security which gives people opportunities to build the right firewalls around their digital information.
“Our knowledge of technology that we use will have to be improved on, the space of IT is becoming such a space that is not only for Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
“it is now for everyone, with 5G and all these technologies coming, we are getting to a point whereby people that are non-engineers will even have to understand use of technology to be able to adapt.
“With that will also come understanding on how to protect ourselves against cybercrimes.
“What happens is that, there are requirements for things like Big Data. You can’t just store information anywhere or any cloud, clouds have requirements and standards,’’ he said.
He called for responsible use of technology to grow various aspects of the nation’s economic and social lives.
According to him, positive use of technology is important for speedy national development.
Earlier while delivering his lecture titled “Digital Technologies for Older Persons and Healthy Aging’’, the C Level One Senior Telecommunication consultant enumerated benefits of leveraging technology for elderly citizens care.
Uwazie said the aging population who were about 55 years and the aged were an important demography needed for the nation’s economic growth, as such, should not be digitally excluded.
He listed various technology options that could be explored for elderly and aging people inclusion in the digital space while also using same gadgets to monitor their health and wellbeing.
The expert said that in Nigeria, there was a steady growth in access to internet connectivity in the rural areas with the outlook getting better with emerging tech which include 5G and IoT.
He said telecommunication giants were currently rushing for network options that support multiple connections and low power consumption.
Uwazie said 31 billion new IoT devices were installed globally in 2021, adding that 100 billion devices were estimated to get connected by 2025, with 152,200 connecting to the internet per minute.
This, he noted, would generate four to 11 trillion dollars economic value by 2025.
Uwazie reeled out statistics of how global corporations were improving internet accessibility applications and wireless connections to combine various ICT alternative towards speed and efficiency.
“Very soon, we will not need applications to run computers because everything we need, are in the cloud,’’ he said.
He listed emerging technologies to include IoT, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G as the icing needed to drive speed and efficiency.
“Big data is the gold and critical to the aging population,’’ Uwazie said.
He said the emerging technologies had made life convenient for older persons and improved healthy aging among elderly.
“We have technology called neuro-lab for physical therapy for the old persons that have gone through stroke, brain surgery, spinal cord injury and need to be rehabilitated.
“This virtual reality machine puts them through certain exercises that can improve their therapy,’’ he said.
Mr Akan Michael, the National Chairman, NIEEE, said only 2% of our aging population have access internet; digital banking, social entertainment and information through several social media platforms and others.
According to him, for a growing economy like Nigeria, the population must be economically viable for sustainable healthy living.
