By Francesca Hangeior

In a renewed effort to strengthen professionalism and efficiency in investigative policing, the Kano State Police Command has launched a specialised capacity-building training programme for officers and personnel of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The training, which began on Tuesday, April 29, is part of a broader directive from the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to equip police personnel with specialised skills essential for effective investigation and prosecution.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the Kano State Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, said the initiative aims to create a well-trained and motivated police force capable of tackling modern-day security challenges.

Key presentations at the training included “Eliminating Corruption in the NPF,” delivered by Assistant Commissioner of Police CID, ACP Muhammad Wada Jarma; “Extortion and Other Unethical Conduct,” by ACP Mohammed B. Suleiman of the X-Squad; and “Cyber-security Awareness,” presented by Mr. Jessy John from the Cyber-Safe Youth Initiative Organization.

The sessions highlighted the importance of integrity, professionalism, and digital security awareness in modern policing.

In his remarks, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, PhD, praised the resource persons and urged the officers to take full advantage of the opportunity to enhance their investigative skills.

“This is not only a chance to learn but to refresh your knowledge and embrace new developments in the field,” CP Bakori said.

During the event, CP Bakori was honoured with an award by the Cyber-Safe Youth Initiative for his outstanding efforts in promoting digital security within the force. He dedicated the award to the hardworking officers and men of the Command, stating, “This award will further motivate our resolve to confront emerging security challenges and reinforce our commitment to protecting citizens in the digital age.”

He added that similar training initiatives would be held periodically across all departments to adapt to the dynamic nature of policing in today’s society.

The command emphasised that through such initiatives, it seeks to boost the investigative capacity of its officers, ultimately contributing to a safer and more secure environment for all residents.

By Francesca Hangeior

A data and AI expert, Abel Aboh, has urged the Nigerian government to embed artificial intelligence education into school curricula from the nursery level upwards, warning that the country risks falling behind global standards if it fails to act swiftly.

Speaking during an appearance on a national television station on Wednesday, Aboh, a Data Manager, AI leader, and board member at The Data Lab in Scotland, emphasized the importance of preparing young Nigerians to not just consume AI technologies, but to build and innovate with them.

“We need to start from the early years. When we talk about early years careers, we’re talking about people that are from nursery school. It’s crazy to say that, but countries like China are already starting from nursery and primary school,” he said.

Aboh argued that introducing AI and digital skills early in life is no longer optional but essential.

He stressed that schools without internet or computer access are no longer viable in today’s world, and Nigeria must catch up.

“Imagine a school without internet or without using computers. It’s not possible. We’ve got to embed artificial intelligence as part of the curriculum. This is not about an optional thing. This is a compulsory thing that needs to happen,” he said.

He pointed out that while efforts like the reported training of three million Nigerians in tech skills are commendable, the scope remains limited compared to the nation’s population and youthful demographic.

“You mentioned a number about 3 million, that’s a good number. But in my projection, we need to be targeting 10 million young Nigerian youths at the moment, not just 3 million,” Aboh said.

He called for AI integration across Nigeria’s roughly 200 universities and colleges, including secondary and primary schools.

“These institutions need to be using artificial intelligence as part of their curriculum; not just coding or data science, but how to develop and create those tools as well.”

Addressing concerns about the urgency of tech education amid widespread poverty and hunger, Aboh argued that AI could play a crucial role in addressing economic challenges by creating jobs and unlocking innovation.

“When someone is hungry, what the person needs is food. And food does not fall from the sky, you’ve got to create it. People are hungry because they’re not economically active. Artificial intelligence will help you earn money, create things you can sell, and feed yourself,” he said.

He stressed that Nigeria can no longer rely solely on traditional methods to address societal challenges.

“We can’t just go into the farms and keep farming every day. It’s not possible. We’ve got to apply artificial intelligence to everything we do.”

On government action, Aboh revealed that Nigeria’s national AI strategy remains in draft form, urging policymakers to formalize it and act quickly.

“We’ve got the national AI strategy, unfortunately, the strategy is under draft and that’s sitting in the shed. That’s not good enough. We need to move that from a draft to an active policy,” he said.

He also highlighted the importance of fast-tracking the Digital Economy Bill, which is still awaiting passage into law.

“Government needs to set the trajectory and the policy, and then the public sector needs to galvanize quite quickly,” he added.

By Francesca Hangeior

Asia’s front-runner for the papacy, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines is a charismatic moderate often dubbed the “Asian Francis”.

Tagle, 67, who shares with Pope Francis a history of advocating for the poor, migrants and other marginalised people, is known for his missionary spirit and pastoral focus.
Wearing glasses with a youthful air and ready smile, the cardinal nicknamed “Chito” is a popular figure among the fervently religious country’s more than 90 million Catholics.

Born into a working-class family near Manila, Tagle was ordained as a priest in 1982 and became archbishop of the nation’s capital in 2011, a politically influential post in one of the largest dioceses in Asia, where Catholicism is growing.

He was made cardinal by former pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

A fluent English speaker, Tagle has been mentioned as a possible papal contender since the last conclave in 2013, when Francis was elected, and his name is on everybody’s lips this time around.

Underscoring the close ties between the late Argentine pontiff and Asia’s most prominent bishop, Tagle was appointed in 2019 head of a key Vatican department, the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

After Francis reformed the department, he named Tagle “pro-prefect” in 2022, leading the section for “First Evangelisation and New Particular Churches”, with responsibility over new dioceses.

As a bishop, Tagle was known for chatting with the faithful after mass and even inviting beggars to dine with him at his residence.

The adjustment to life in Rome and the formalities of the Vatican was not easy — he told theology graduates soon after arriving in 2020 that he “makes the Italians suffer” when he speaks their language.

He also once forgot to wear his clerical collar to a meeting.

An eloquent speaker with a soothing voice, Tagle giggles at his own jokes and injects self-deprecating humour into his homilies.

But he is also known for being outspoken.

As archbishop of Manila, Tagle criticised the bloody war on drugs waged by Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ president at the time.

“We cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal. We cannot govern the nation by killing,” Tagle said in a pastoral letter in 2017.

Tagle has called for a humbler Church more open to the concerns of its members, and at a 2019 Vatican summit on fighting child sex abuse he pointed the finger at the Church’s top ranks.

“Wounds have been inflicted by us bishops on victims and in fact the entire body of Christ,” he told the delegation.

“Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, and yes even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people, leaving a deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve,” Tagle said.

However, he has been accused of failing to tackle the issue sufficiently in the Philippines.

Questions have also been raised over what he knew about the employment in the Central African Republic of a Belgian priest, Luk Delft, by the Vatican’s Caritas Internationalis charity.

Delft had previously been convicted of child sexual abuse and banned from contact with children for 10 years.

Tagle served as president of Caritas Internationalis, the world’s second-largest charitable association, from 2015 until 2022.

In 2022, Tagle and the rest of the leadership team were removed by Francis after a Vatican-led audit found “deficiencies” in management and procedures.

In June 2023, the pope appointed Tagle as his special envoy to the National Eucharistic Congress of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He carried out a similar role for the pontiff at the General Conference of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in Bangkok in October 2022.

The cardinal has said he never saw himself as a high-ranking man of the cloth.

“If I were God, I would not choose me to be a bishop or a cardinal,” he said in a 2018 interview.

“But since I’m not God, God sees something in me probably that I don’t see in myself and I just have to trust God’s knowledge of me.”