UNIPORT lecturer receives 2024 Cisco Premier+ award for cybersecurity impact

A senior lecturer in the Electronic Engineering Department at the University of Port Harcourt, Dr. Daniel Ekpah, has been honoured with the 2024 Cisco Premier+ Award for Cybersecurity.

The award, presented at the Cisco Networking Academy Partner Conference in Dubai, recognises Dr. Ekpah’s outstanding contributions to cybersecurity education and digital capacity development in Africa and beyond.

This marks the second time Dr. Ekpah has received this honour, which celebrates individuals and institutions making transformative impacts through Cisco’s Networking Academy (NetAcad).

Dr. Ekpah’s influence, however, extends to other parts of Africa and even globally, with students from countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States enrolling in programmes he helped develop.

“Hard work truly pays! I received the 2024 Cisco Premier+ award on behalf of my institution for the second time. My special thanks to Mr. Ahmed Elkabbany, Mr. Imoh Akpan, and Mr. Karim Ebeed for their continuous support to NetAcad in MEA,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

In his recent interview with The Guardian, he said that this award is the result of years of dedication and innovation. Over the past year, his team trained more than 16,000 individuals across West Africa, Europe, and other regions, while also donating essential networking equipment to support IT education.

In addition, his efforts certified over 200 cybersecurity instructors, vastly expanding the region’s ability to combat growing digital threats.

“At Cisco Networking Academy, we provide IT training to students and individuals interested in opportunities in cybersecurity and computer networking and so on, both at the associate level to professional levels,” Dr. Ekpah explained.

The award, he noted, reflects not just the scale of their training programmes but also their lasting impact, saying, “So the award came as a result of an impact in capacity building and our outreach—the number of individuals who are trained and the success stories of those we’ve trained. So all that put together gave us this award.”

He was also instrumental in integrating Cisco Networking Academy programmes into the curricula of several major Nigerian universities, such as Igbinedion University, the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), and Ignatius Ajuru University. This initiative ensures that students graduate with practical, industry-relevant IT skills that prepare them for success in the digital economy.

He also noted plans to collaborate with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to offer free cybersecurity courses to corps members. This partnership is expected to broaden the programme’s reach and provide more young Nigerians with access to valuable digital skills.

Dr. Daniel Ekpah also expressed gratitude to Prof. Owunari Georgewill, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, and Prof. Iyeopu M. Suminialaye, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, for their support in providing the facilities and infrastructure necessary for the programmes to thrive.

Established in 1997, the Cisco Networking Academy has been instrumental in bridging the global digital skills gap. To date, the program has trained 24 million learners across 191 countries. It aims to empower 25 million people with digital skills by 2032 and train 200,000 U.S. students in cybersecurity by 2025.