Capacity Building Programme on the onboarding of Institutions onto the Nigerian Research and Education Network Identity Federation

23 Jul 2026, 08:30 → 30 Jul 2026, 18:00 Africa/Lagos

NgREN Secretariat (Peter Okebukola Building. National Universities Commission. No. 26 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, FCT)

This two-day capacity building programme is designed to equip technical personnel from participating institutions with the knowledge and practical skills required to onboard their institutions to the Nigerian Research and Education Network  Identity Federation (NgRENID). Participants will receive hands-on training on Identity Provider (IdP) deployment, federation requirements, authentication, metadata management, and best practices to enable secure access to NgREN services and global research and education resources.

Programme of Event.pdf

Thursday 23 July

08:30 → 10:00 Arrival & Registration

Participant check-in, credential verification, and participant introductions.

10:00 → 10:10 Welcome & Opening Remarks

Opening address by the Programme Coordinator outlining workshop goals and expectations.

Speaker: Dr Joshua Atah (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN))

10:10 → 10:30 Introduction to Identity Federation (NgRENID) and eduroam.

An introduction to NgRENID and eduroam, covering the fundamentals of identity federation, secure federated access, global connectivity through eduGAIN, and the benefits for Nigerian research and education institutions.

Speaker: Mr Abdulkarim Giwa Suleiman (Nigerian Research and Education Network)

10:20 → 10:30 System architecture primer: Shibboleth IdP and OpenLDAP.

This session provides an overview of the core components of an identity federation infrastructure, focusing on the roles of Shibboleth Identity Provider (IdP) and OpenLDAP. Participants will learn how these technologies work together to authenticate users, manage identity information, and enable secure, federated access to services within the NgRENID ecosystem.

Speaker: Mr Chinedu Otuya (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN))

10:30 → 12:00 Lab 1: Deploying & Structuring OpenLDAP

Deployment: Installing OpenLDAP on institutional server instances, creating DNS records, and installing SSL certificates.

Speakers: Mr Femi Ogundele (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN)), Mr Oluwatobi Fowora (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN))

12:00 → 12:15 Coffee Break & Quick Troubleshooting

Refreshment break and informal Q&A / catch-up session for Lab 1 setups.

12:15 → 15:30 Lab 2: Shibboleth IdP Installation & LDAP Binding

Core Environment: Installing Java and Jetty web server; downloading Shibboleth IdP software.
Security: Generating institutional cryptographic keys and SSL/TLS certificates.
Attribute Release: Configuring the IdP to safely release attributes.
Directory Integration: Pointing ldap.properties securely to LDAP and mapping attributes via attribute-resolver.xml.

Speakers: Mr Femi Ogundele (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN)), Mr Oluwatobi Fowora (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN))

15:30 → 16:30 Lunch Break

Networking and lunch.

16:30 → 17:30 Day 1 Wrap-up & Metadata Exchange

Customizing the institutional IdP interface.
Generating institutional IdP metadata XML.
Submitting metadata to the NgRENID Staging Environment Registry.

Speakers: Mr Femi Ogundele (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN)), Oluwatobi Fowora (NgREN)

Friday 24 July

08:00 → 09:00 Arrival an Signing in

09:00 → 09:30 Day 1 Recap

Review of key takeaways, troubleshooting
outstanding IdP issues, and day two agenda review.

09:30 → 10:30 Lab 3: Deploying FreeRADIUS for Institutional Authentication

Architecture Deep Dive: Understanding hierarchical RADIUS proxying (Local → National → Regional/Global).
Installation: Setting up FreeRADIUS.
LDAP Auth: Configuring FreeRADIUS to authenticate local users directly against the LDAP directory built on Day 1.

Speaker: Mr Femi Ogundele (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN))

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

Refreshments and informal networking.

11:00 → 13:00 Lab 4: Upstream Proxying & eduroam Integration

Registration: Creating institutional accounts on the eduroam Switchboard platform.

Proxy Routing: Configuring proxy.conf and clients.conf to seamlessly route
unknown/visiting user realms to the NgREN National Top-Level RADIUS (TLR) servers.

Speaker: Mr Femi Ogundele (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN))

13:00 → 14:00 Lunch Break

Midday meal and networking.

14:00 → 15:30 Lab 5: Wireless Controller (WLC) Config & Testing

SSID Provisioning: Configuring mock Wireless LAN Controllers (WLC) or Access Points (AP) to broadcast eduroam via WPA2/WPA3 Enterprise
Testing & Debugging: Using tools like radclient and the eduroam Configuration Assistant Tool (CAT) to test and debug user logins.

Speaker: Mr Femi Ogundele (Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN))

15:30 → 16:30 Open Clinic: Troubleshooting & Production Onboarding

Speaker: Mr Femi Ogundele

16:30 → 17:00 Closing Remarks