The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has said it will collaborate with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a successful takeoff of the African Centre on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL) – a unit of the institution.
The Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Professor Abdalla Adamu disclosed this in Abuja at the inauguration of the ACETEL school.
He noted that when fully operational, the centre among other digital learning would focus on courses that can combat internet fraud.
Adamu said that the World Bank had earmarked 8 million dollars for the running of the centre, which is the first of its kind in West Africa where Doctor of Philosophy and Master’s Degree on courses related to ICT would be obtained.
He said: “We have programmes associated with degree and we have programmes for those doing Master and Phd in cyber security, artificial intelligence and Management Information System (MIS).
“But courses on internet fraud are targeted for just few months that people can read quickly and understand the basics of modern world technology and EFCC will be a facilitator on this.
“We have people called “yahoo yahoo” boys -internet scammers -who scam people and get a lot of money from them and do all sorts of things with it and it is critical to include EFCC as partners to develop a short course on ethical use of internet.
“Having EFCC as a partner to the process will be a very good message to those who are using technology for other purposes.”
The Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu had earlier requested that such course be introduced in the institution to fight internet fraud in the country.
Prof. Grace Jokhtan, Director in charge of the ACETEL, explained that the project is a World Bank ICT project in NOUN, adding that the activities of the centre would focus on development of digital tools and solutions, skills in software development and mobile-based applications.
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