Chris Uwaje is acclaimed as the pioneer of the National Information Technology Policy for Nigeria and also a founding member of Africa Emergency Technology Response Forum. (AETRF). Uwaje was recently appointed Africa Chair for IEEE-World Forum on IoTs. He is the founder and Chairman of Mobile Software Solutions as well as Connect Technologies Limited.
Recently, his first daughter, Mrs. Nkedilim Beigho was celebrated as an Achiever with other youths by Lords Gin for her contribution to ICT in Nigeria and Diaspora. Uwaje, a proud father told the large audience that evening the importance of using passwords in our local languages. Effects spoke with him afterwards.
At an event recently, you spoke on the importance of local language as password, how possible could this be?
With respect to national security, we need to understand that life is data. Information technology is data. Productivity is data, governance is data and education is data. All these are wrapped around the national security. Now, coming to why we should use local language where applicable with respect to information technology and communication, the data that is captured about you today or about me can be reused in many formats. So it is very important for us to guide against this. The surest way, is to ensure that digital privacy is protected through local dialect. This is necessary because of the mentality and psychology of the hackers. When they want to hack, they have a mental frame of you that is engaging on the internet. The common language that is used is English, if we reverse or the nation reverses this entire digital slavery attitude, it will go a long way protecting us.
And we should try to teach our children from five years old our languages and how to use it effectively in the digital atmosphere, which is why issues of data in local languages are very important. Just imagine, if you translate all your banking activities, the real core processes of banking in Nigeria into local language; it will reduce the hacking potentials by 50 percent. Chinese banks in Chinese language, Russian banks in Russian language, German banks in their language. Can you go to German bank and try to digitally hack them if you don’t understand German? It is difficult.
We have enormous advantage, of the 1.3 billion Africans, we have over 3,000 dialects: Zulu, Yoruba, Efik, Ibibio, Ibo, Hausa, Arabic, if you name them, automatically it becomes an issue. Our digital survival resides in local language utilization. As I said, not only for us but for our children. Going forward, they are the custodians of the future and we must be able to educate them on the digital dangers within that play. You can’t understand the bible than the people who wrote the bible. Imagine if the people who wrote the bible are now given Efik, Ibo or Yoruba bible, they will be stunned. Where did you get this, what did this mean? You now become the teacher and take control of those data that have been originated through the narration of the scripture.
This is a lofty idea. Have you spoken or written to appropriate authorities on this?
I have done that in my lectures, severally. I have said that in Nigeria.ng who are the custodian of internet domain name. I have said a lot in my lectures as the past president of the Institute of Software Practioners of Nigeria. It is extemporary thing, you don’t really have to write paper on that but I have done that. I have papers in digital security that had been published, I have a comprehensive book, warning Nigerians about nine years ago over the dangers of the e-economy, e-education, e-government, and it was published and launched at the Institute of International Affairs. I think that is the real aspect and we have really not seen a critical intervention in that direction. NIDA (National IT Development Agency) is doing a lot to ensure that regulation is put in place. NIDA is my brainchild. In 2000/2001, I pioneered the National Policy for Information Technology for Nigeria, which created the government agency. We are also trying to make sure that we can have an office of the IT General of the Federation to move forward, to have a national e-government academy because the workforce needs to be retrained. And the more the workforce is retrained along local content line, the more we are solidifying our sovereign ability in the digital space. It is a very serious issue; we need to take it very seriously within the context of policy, within the context of strategy and within the context of even covert digital app.
Has it been IT for you all the way, where else have you worked?
Yes. I would say probably all my life. I have not done any other thing except Informatics. My initial dream was to be a pilot. The map is still on my head. I love science and technology. I used to work in St Finbars College, Akoka, Lagos. I was there for two years. I worked in the Ministry of Justice, Marina, and from there I went to Germany. All through, it has been informatics and when I came back home it was informatics. I have never done any other thing in my life. That was why I was able to influence my children, especially my first daughter to be able to swim in the ocean of digitalization.
You relocated from Germany in 1982, then InfoTech was not popular, how did you cope?
Yes, InfoTech was not here at all. That brings back the nostalgia. In those days, the IBM pc, (the notebook era was not there,) the pc that came was disc less; it was a floppy disc that you slot in to the system. I was trying to teach software, but when I set up my company I didn’t have a client, no one to teach. People were asking, what is software? I kept explaining that, if you teach your children information technology, I can assure you in the next 10 years they will be up there in the banks, and up there in government. It was an oblivious statement, imagery they can’t perceive what I meant. Even the government was worse. People in government didn’t know what computer was, they didn’t have computers.
Were you not frustrated that you studied what is not known or accepted in your country when you got here?
No, if you can see the future then your passion to ensure the future is actualized becomes more potent. My duty is, if they don’t understand, I will teach them. At a point, there was a National IT Development Unit and I was called to be a director of that unit. I said No. I can’t work in government. I told them I’m a technocrat. Prof. Olalere Ajayi from Ife was the chairman of the committee and I told him about my commitment to my family. I have a foreign wife; I can’t leave her for any golden treasure in the world. I have to go to Abuja and she is in Lagos. I think that is a very good decision of my life. I would have been a sad man today, if I didn’t have my family intact. I have been married to my wife now for about 45 years and God has blessed us and we are happy, contented, we have good children who listen and could stay on their own anywhere in the world.
Your first daughter was honoured recently, how did you feel at the occasion?
I want to say that most of the glory really goes to the mother for two critical things. One, she left a very lucrative job in Germany to follow me to Nigeria. She used to work in a chemical research Institute. We decided we are not going to have a child in Europe because of racial discrimination. Racism eats up your soul and also, eats up your brain if you are not strong. I don’t want my children to experience that. People have to understand that to escape racism you need to be educated, you need to own your own, you need to be confident , you need to probably work ten times more than the other person to earn respect. My last daughter is Nkiruka. She still has the nine-point agenda I wrote for her on how she should hold herself as a student in UK. Today, she is the lead project manager for DELL in UK. Nkemdilim (the one honored) is the first daughter of the house, the words you can use for her is Magical. She has about two companies that she runs and an NGO. During her youth service in Lagos State, she was able to raise N9.2 million on her own with her friends to build toilets that did not exist in Ipaja, she bought 3,000 mattresses because she saw bed bugs and she’s never seen bed bugs in her life. She has been an achiever. She was named one of the 10 ICT women by Forbes Africa. She has been appointed by the Board of World Summit award in the United Nations, she co-ordinates Africa. She’s done a lot for children too. She’s very passionate about human being in general. She’s done a lot for Lagos State Remand Home, Children Remand Home, and Old Women too. She is not rich but she has the aura to ask ‘can you help, this is what we want to do?’ Recently, ADB listed her as one of the speakers with Okonjo-Iweala. I started to teach her softwares at age 9. So they are on top of the game.
What’s your favourite music?
Music for me is almost everything. We grew up listening to Jazz music, Fela music, Sunny Ade and other good music. There are music we got acquainted to in Germany that take you into another realm of exploring nature, exploring knowledge realm and all that. Classical music for instance, is fine for me. There is a way music relaxes your body. Again, I love local music. My town’s local music, Okanga has no instruments but the lyrics and the dance flow appeals to me.
Your wife is German and loves Fela music, how?
Yes. When we came back I had to take her to Fela’s shrine many times. She likes Fela’s music even up till now. She plays digital games too. The glory of our children success goes to her. When they were young, she taught them to play digital games. That is her world. I’m not gifted. She’s the only female child. They are two. One boy and a girl. The brother is late now.