My Internet Governance Journey

Hello! My name is Emmanuel C. OGU. I am Nigerian. In the Internet Multi-stakeholder Model, I belong in the Civil Society, Private Sector, and the Technical groups. I am in the Technical group because, as an active Internet User, I recently picked interest in active advocacy against (politically-motivated) disinformation and its implications for sustainable governance and progressive societies; and this led me to join the membership of the Internet Society and her Nigerian Chapter in 2019. In addition, as a stakeholder in the Technical Group, I have also received trainings and certifications in certain technical competencies pertaining to the Internet and related Information and Communications Technologies. Then, I am in the Private Sector group because in 2016 I founded EMINDA Konsults, a Nigerian Company that specializes in providing consultancy services and products in cybersecurity, information technology innovation, and development. I am also in the Civil Society group because I am a junior faculty member, academic, and research scholar in Computer Science and Information Technologies, affiliated with a private educational institution in my Country.

I would say that My Internet Governance journey began with my first encounter with a computer system in 2001-2002. The rest of my career was going to be committed to learning the internal working and capabilities of this device. In 2008, as an undergraduate student, I came to own my first computer; and a few months later, I was a victim of a cyber-attack that compromised my computer system and personal files, and forced me to wipe it clean since I had no backups. I came to know that this was the result of an infiltration by a metamorphic malware known as Conficker, and that millions of other computer users around the world had suffered similar fate as a result of this malware pandemic. This began my foray into cybersecurity. I was going to find out how this was even possible without any physical contact with my machine by the attacker; and how such infiltrations can be defended against. In 2011, I finished a BSc in Computer Science (Technology), then proceeded to complete an MSc in Computer Science (Networks & Telecommunications) with a focus on security for cloud infrastructures by 2014. In 2018, I finished a PhD in Computer Science, where my dissertation focused on developing an integrated machine learning detection solution for the likes of Conficker on the Internet.

As an Internet Actor, I have authored and co-authored a number of peer-reviewed research articles in core and transdisciplinary cybersecurity, and its intersection with security policy; these have been published in reputable international academic journals. I also aspire to be a voice for Web Literacy in my Country, in order to equip the most vulnerable (baseline) members of civil society with the basic knowledge and acumen that is needed to thrive in the modern digital era. In addition, I hope to become a leading stakeholder in discourses of security in Internet Governance, so that I could progressively contribute the technical competences that I have gained over the course of my career as a cybersecurity researcher and consultant, towards the advancement of global Internet Governance. Also, I was recently appointed to head a civil society development initiative – the Global Initiative for Cyber Peacekeeping (GICP) – and the goal of this initiative is to train and empower the next generation of Internet Users with the skills, and technical capacity to engage actively and relentlessly with the threats to digitalization in the modern information society;  particularly across the broad panels of digital rights, ethics, and security. By 2021, I hope to become a leader in open internet policy advocacy, and empowerment in my Country; especially with regards to Web Literacy and Security, as well as capacity building in Digital Competence.

Towards the actualization of my vision for Internet Action, I would partner closely with my local ISOC chapter and the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) (towards achieving Technical objectives); I would also organize civil society campaigns and community development meetups in order to foster the vision for Web Literacy, and engender civic engagements across various strata of Society in the broad discourse of Internet Growth and Development (Civil Society); then I would host workshops and academic events to enable other actors and stakeholders in Web Literacy to be able to engage progressively, share ideas, and forge a strategic path towards achieving shared goals.

The pursuit of this vision would rely on multi-stakeholder partnerships, grants, and funding support from global stakeholders: the Internet Society, Mozilla Foundation, and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), among others. This summarizes my roadmap to participating in Internet Governance.

If you are an enthusiast for Internet Governance as well, feel free to drop a few lines in the "Comments" section below; to share about your foray into Internet Governance too...