The Nigerian Research and Educational Network (NgREN), under the auspices of the National Universities Commission (NUC), has successfully deployed and implemented the eduroam service at the Bayero University Kano (BUK), Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Covenant University (CU), Ota, and the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
Leading a team of experts, Chief ICT Officer Mr Oluwatobi Fowora disclosed that this development aims to operationalise eduroam in Nigerian Universities, enabling secure and seamless wireless access for both academic staff and researchers, in line with NgRENID’s identity federation goals. According to him, they were in the institutions to also assess and support the readiness of each university’s institutional repository for integration with the Nigerian Research and Education Identity System (NIRIS), based on international standards and system compatibility.
He said the deployments were completed with high impact and strong institutional participation. Some of the activities carried out were initial site inspection of the university’s data centres, evaluation of internet connectivity and network architecture, configuration and deployment of eduroam infrastructure, testing connectivity and authentication over eduroam, technical training for ICT and library staff on OpenLDAP and eduroam credential population and meetings with university library teams to assess current DSpace installations and federated repository-readiness.
In some of the universities, concerns were raised by university librarians and explanations given regarding the policy direction, sustainability, and governance structure of NgREN.
At the OAU, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adebayo Bamire, expressed concern over and sought improved involvement of the University Librarians Association in NgREN-related engagements.
At Covenant University, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Timothy Anake, also sought improved stakeholder engagement by NgREN while emphasising the need to renegotiate subscription costs and exclusion of already available services from the NgREN bundle to reduce costs.
In a related development, staff members of the NgREN have completed an intensive Federated Identity Training Programme. This recent training, which was held virtually, was facilitated by GÉANT, the AfricaConnect3 Project, and co-funded by the European Union. This training was described by the participants as a major step towards the digital transformation of Nigeria’s research and education sector. “As a strategic move for Nigeria’s digital future, the training was specifically designed to equip NgREN staff with the knowledge and skills to deploy a national identity federation system and position Nigeria to become an active participant in eduGAIN, a global inter-federation service that connects research and education institutions worldwide.
“By implementing NgRENID identity federation and integrating with eduGAIN, academic institutions in Nigeria will benefit from secure and seamless access to global digital resources, enhanced cross-border academic collaboration, improved user management and digital identity assurance.
The programme featured internationally renowned instructors who shared both technical expertise and practical experience. They are:
• Mario Real from GEANT in the Netherlands, who delivered strategic guidance on using identity federations to enhance research collaboration.
• Marco Malavolti (GARR/IDEM, Italy) provided technical deep dives on federation architecture, including SAML, Shibboleth, and OpenLDAP.
• Andrijana Todosijevic (AMRES, Serbia) highlighted effective management strategies for federations and user support.
• Katarina Simonovic (AMRES, Serbia) demonstrated practical tools and user-friendly implementations of federated identity services.
