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Tag: Technology

  • TCN deploys new technology to improve national grid

    TCN deploys new technology to improve national grid

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has deployed a high technology scheme as a stop-gap solution called Internet of Thing (IoT) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) to improve the national grid.

    Malam Yusuf Bako, Lead, Advocacy Team, Nigerian Power Consumers Forum, in a statement on Thursday , in Abuja said that TCN made this known in a forum with the group.

    Bako said that the technology was for real time grid operations and management to National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo, Osun.

    According to him, the technology will improve real-time operations of the national grid, pending the deployment of a long-term network automation system.

    He quoted the Managing Director of TCN, Mr Sule Abdulaziz, as describing the feat as a quantum leap.

    Abdulaziz said that this was coming at a time when the Minister of Power, M Abubakar Aliyu, has tasked agencies on innovative ways to improve electricity supply to Nigerians.

    “Thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Power that the Nigerian power sector is steadily receiving historic attention with a quantum of investments that would redefine the sector for the best.

    “We have gone far with the procurement of new Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)/Energy Management System (EMS)schemes but we felt as a responsible company that are waiting for the new SCADA, we can deploy a stop-gap technology.

    ”Which we have understudied in other countries to be very efficient in boosting real-time electricity grid monitoring,” he said.

    The TCN boss said that with the improved collaboration of other players in the electricity value chain, the company had been able to reduce cases of system collapse.

    He said that this was done through real time monitoring of operations at the various power transmission substations nationwide, and live interaction with operators at the power plants and Distribution Companies injection substations.

    Abdulaziz said that TCN was building two new National Control Centres in Abuja and Osogbo.

    He said that control centres would further improve the robustness of the Nigerian electricity grid.

    According to him, the National Control Centre and other technology systems will improve the stability of the national grid.

    ”The government is doing a lot to improve the power sector and that is why we always encourage Nigerians to support us by helping to guard critical national infrastructure.

    “We believe that as more of the investments and our transmission expansion projects materialise, Nigerians will experience more improved electricity supply.

    “This is the goal of TCN and I strongly believe that we are not resting on our oars to deliver on this mandate.

    “This preparation is coming at a time when Nigerian power operators are gearing up to take part in electricity export as soon as the Regional Electricity Market (REM) of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) is launched,” he said.

    Abdulaziz, who is also the Chairman, Executive Board of WAPP, said Nigeria, through TCN, had been exporting electricity to Niger, Benin and Togo under a country-to-country arrangement.

    He said that the regional market would further enable GenCos to export power to more West African countries which will be evacuated by TCN transmission infrastructure.

    He said that through this exportation of power, the Federal Government could earn more foreign exchange from that for national development comment on the TCN’s remapping of its investments in the power sector.

    The General Manager, NCC, Balarabe Abdullahi, said that with the stop gap solution, TCN can now access some stations and substations that were not captured in the last SCADA World Bank Project of 2004 on real time.

    “Today, with TCN’s stop-gap solution the grid operators can monitor a wider part of the grid. This is making grid operations and management a lot easier, ” he said.

    Mr Micheal Okoh, Convener of the Nigerian Power Consumers Forum (NPCF), said only such critical power transmission grid investments, backed by a matching strength at the DisCos’ end can bring succor to power consumers.

    Okoh said in analysing the feat, said the stop-gap solution has been existing in some countries like Benin Republic, and that it was better than late for Nigeria.

    “This has been long overdue, because if the grid or system operator does not have comprehensive operational data of the entire power grid, it is difficult to manage the fast-growing system.

    “The existing inadequate SCADA System cannot provide adequate grid visibility and we know that the SCADA system is not yet ready.

    ” I commend the management of TCN led by Abdulaziz for this innovative move. It shows that the current crop of TCN managers is actually thinking well to improve services,” he said.

    Okoh also called on the DisCos and other actors in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to take similar actions that have collective impacts on the national grid.

    According to him, what consumers need is adequate power supply and they will pay the right tariff.

    ”We also call on the DisCos to match this technology, so that faults can easily be cleared and service delivery optimised,”.

  • STEM learning gets a boost with launch of GetBundi

    STEM learning gets a boost with launch of GetBundi

    Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, experts say, is the bedrock of any meaningful or sustainable economic growth and development. Yet, Africa lags behind the rest of the world in STEM education, with less than 25 percent of African higher education students pursuing STEM-related career fields.

    In a bid to change this narrative, a new educational technology platform has launched with a focus on equipping African youths with high quality, accessible and affordable Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning (education) and STI digital skills.

    The platform, GetBundi, a product of Wings of Justice Limited, was unveiled in Lagos targeting to refocus Africa’s education towards STEM and digital skills as a way to lift millions out of poverty.

    Osita Oparaugo, CEO/founder of GetBundi, said at the launch that the idea of the platform came from an understanding that only countries with STEM-enabled citizenry can achieve meaningful development as STEM learning encourages creativity, innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills needed in the 21st century world.

    “Singapore used science and technology in turning from a developing country to developed country. China went from having a no-flush problem to being a global leader in science. These countries have flourishing economies as a result of the critical role scientific and technological advancements have played,” Oparaugo said.

    “What China and Singapore have achieved in less than 50 years, Africa can also attain using STEM Education and STI Skills acquisition, especially when one considers the abundance of human capital and the resilient nature of Africans, especially the youths,” he said.

    GetBundi, Oparaugo said, currently hosts over 1,008 hours of audio-visual content covering six years of secondary school work using the West African curriculum and covers subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, ICT, Data Processing, English Language, etc. There is also revision for competitive examinations, such as WAEC examinations, for up to three years with monthly live question and answer sessions.

    He emphasised that GetBundi is not intended as a replacement for the traditional method of teaching or physical secondary school but as a supplement that can be used as a teachers’ aid, to support continuous learning in-school students and as a study guide for out-of-school students/homeschoolers.

    GetBundi is also working to include three years of JAMB, IELTS, and TOEFL revision classes, as well as Science, Technology and Innovation skills in its next product deployment, he said. The STI skills would include video editing, digital marketing, graphic design and coding courses, and users who successfully complete a course and its accompanying assignments would earn a diploma.

    “Acquiring digital skills is a must for anyone in the 21st century, especially in Africa. STEM-focused remote jobs are in high-demand and are well-paying, and with so many people willing to make the switch but not knowing where to start, GetBundi is the one-stop shop for you,” he said.

    The GetBundi founder projected that the platform would support and upskill 10 million Africans in the next 10 years through STEM and STI digital skills acquisition via a strategy tagged ‘The GetBundi Vision 2032’.

    He urged the African Union and regional economic organisations on the continent, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to key into the GetBundi vision.

    Juliet Ijeh, programme coordinator of GetBundi, said the motivation for the project is to get STEM learning across as many youths as possible irrespective of their location, especially with the high level of insecurity across Africa which has made learning in schools more difficult.

    “This product will make innovative learning attractive to young minds such that even after secondary school, some of them can decide to be entrepreneurs, or go into creative and productive activities,” Ijeh said.

  • Here is New Craze for Middle and High-end Phone Users

    Here is New Craze for Middle and High-end Phone Users

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    In this present day that emphasizes fast pace communication, you might have been stuck at different times carrying the wrong charging cables or barred from access to electricity. Or worst yet faced with the frustration of battling your entangled charging cables at your tired moments.
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  • Tecno unveils RAM expansion technology on Spark 8C smartphones

    Tecno unveils RAM expansion technology on Spark 8C smartphones

    Africa’s leading smartphone brand, TECNO, has confirmed the full rollout of its virtual Random Access Memory (RAM) expansion technology earlier announced in December 2021, available for Over The Air (OTA) update on all Spark 8C smartphones.

     

    This allows Spark 8C users to increase the RAM capacity of their smartphones for optimal efficiency and processing power.

     

    PR Communications and Media Manager, TECNO Nigeria, Vincent Uzoegbu said, “one of our goals at TECNO is to continue to improve the experience of consumers using our smartphones, and the RAM is one important feature that enables this since it is mostly responsible for a seamless transition between apps.

     

    “The technology behind the Memory Fusion has before now, only been available to high and mid-range smartphones, but now TECNO Spark 8C users can experience this feature and enjoy to the fullest the smooth and immersive experience their device can offer.”

     

    MEMORY FUSION TECHNOLOGY

    Memory Fusion Technology was designed to make use of unused read-only memory (ROM) and channel them for RAM operations. With Memory Fusion, for example, a typical 3GB + 64GB Spark 8C smartphone can be optimized to an enlarged onboard RAM of up to 6GB + 64GB.

     

    By allocating more storage to RAM, the Memory Fusion Technology enhances a device’s multi-tasking capacity, allows for seamless switching between applications that are running concurrently in the background, and stabilizes the phone’s systems for more sustainable performance and longer battery life.

     

    Simply put, the Memory Fusion feature allows you to expand the RAM (Random Access Memory) of your device, which is responsible for your smartphone’s ability to multitask, i.e., smoothly run multiple apps simultaneously, and quickly retrieve frequently accessed files and apps.

    With memory fusion, the RAM on your Spark 8C can be expanded by as much as 100% and what’s more interesting is that you could do this right within the comfort of your home.

    Compared to a phone without Memory Fusion, a Spark 8C smartphone updated with the technology allows for an increased number of active applications running in the background, a more time-efficient warm reboot process, and a shorter load time for frequently and recently used applications.

     

    Specifically, on the 3GB + 64GB variant of the Spark 8C, which allows for up to 3GB increase of RAM, devices saw a 45% increase in start-up speed of actively running applications and improvement in the time it takes to load frequently used applications.

    One can conveniently locate and toggle the Memory Fusion setting on TECNO’s user-friendly interface before selecting a preferred expansion capacity. Expansion of RAM storage capacity varies across different models. TECNO’s Memory Fusion Technology allows expansion of up to 3GB on the Spark 8C.

    To enable memory fusion on the Spark 8C, there are two OTA (Over the Air) update versions – v.032 & v.034, one would need to download and install. The device would typically notify the user on available updates; however, they can also be manually checked for in “system update” located in the smartphone’s settings.

     

    The memory fusion function comes with the v.034 update, hence you would need to first download and install v.032, after which update v.034 will be available for download/install.

  • Technology: The shape of things that are here – By Okoh Aihe

    Technology: The shape of things that are here – By Okoh Aihe

    It would have been pure entertainment or at best a comedy of errors if the issues being discussed did not have the capacity to elicit a tragedy of epic proportions if allowed to unfold uncontrolled. As in their manner to intervene in matters of national interest, members of the National Assembly were venting their spleen on the near epidemic failure of the aviation sector, delay in flights, postponement or outright cancellation of flights, and then pouring salt on injury, the price hike that came – a flat N50,000 as baseline for a one way flight.

    Emotionally, the airline operators could be guilty as charged. Even the body language of the lawmakers evidenced the guilt. But for me, it was the story of the snake looking at the stick instead of looking at the person holding the stick to snuff out its venomous life.

    What will the air operators do? Charges at the airport are annoyingly multifarious. Have you ever tried to do an analysis of a ticket to determine how much really goes to the operators? Plus all that is the cost of aviation fuel that has flown up to the geostationary orbit, nothing is likely to bring it down except there is divine intervention up there. And I would never say here that God has abandoned us as a people because without Him this nation, in my opinion, would have been long gone.

    I started with the story of the aviation industry because that is one field I have always prayed should not fail. Now reality stares us in the face and the auguries are horrible but the lawmakers want the airline operators to offer services with tears and sorrow and still remain safe in the skies! That is not the way it works. Even magic works for those who make determined efforts to achieve results.

    As we drove out from my little end of town into the city of Abuja this fateful night, a couple of nights ago, it suddenly dawned on me that the aviation pain is only a poster but painful externality of the failure in nearly every strand of life in our nation, and there doesn’t seem to be anybody worrying enough to continue to shout about such failure which effects are paralytic.

    This night, as in previous nights and the others that have followed, there was no light anywhere, except the audacious intrusion in the dark, of those who could go to the filling stations to rough out a fight and buy diesel for their generators at a cost that has joined the aviation fuel in the geostationary orbit. And people are struggling up there to buy and run a life a way from a government that would never stop to inconvenience them with despotic incompetence.

    It suddenly occurred to me that we could wake up one morning and find out that Nigeria has achieved a state of nihilism, a scandalous retrogression to the age of darkness, from which our heroes past have tried to redeem us.

    It occurred to me that one could wake up one morning and find out that AIT and Channels TV stations are off the air because they could not continue to buy diesel at nearly N700 a litre to run their operations. When I made this observation, my friend told me that such development would titillate the morbid sensibilities of a government that wouldn’t want the people to have alternative channels to talk about its crass incompetence and a seeming apathy to the pains besetting the people.

    At this rate only the NTA, the government station, would be on air because it gets subventions from government. But in there is the painful irony. Should the nation get to that degree of failure, even NTA will not be on air for too long a time because the budget it receives from government can really not buy more than sandwich in a TV market.

    The signs are not good and the politicians are shopping for the next fellow to go to the seat of government where, it is whispered in hush tones, that a foreign construction company fuels the generators. Where the leaders, when they are around, live in surreal bliss, when the people fight for life or fight each other in pitch darkness, manifesting transferred aggression manufactured in the unfeeling hearts of their leaders.

    Just as I was thinking about this article, the power grid collapsed totally leaving the entire nation in total darkness. This is the other thing that troubles my heart. You could wake up one morning and discover painfully that your phones cannot work because the mobile operators – MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9MOBILE could not continue to run their base stations on diesel. The phones are the most important pain relivers for most Nigerians, as they bury their pains inside the contents and pretend, like the ostrich with head buried in the sand, that the world out there is euphoric.

    Even with the co-location policy put in place by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), making it possible for service providers to run as many base stations from a unique site, there may still be at least 50, 000 base stations operated by co-location service providers like IHS, American Tower Company (ATC), and SWAP, among others, to provide services to operators across board. Of all the major operators in Nigeria only Glo still runs its base stations independently. But the point at issue, is that since the Nigerian government failed in its promise to provide power to mobile operators at the dawn of a telecoms renaissance in 2001, the base stations spread across the nation, except in states where there are serious security challenges, are powered by generators. There are two generators per site. Just do the little math of buying diesel at N700 a litre to power the generators, the amount could be humongous.

    So, it is not impossible to wake up one morning and all the networks are down. The operators are unable to power their equipment because of the cost of diesel, and they too will be agitating for a raise in tariff. Unfortunately for them and very fortunately for the subscribers, the telecoms service providers operate in a deregulated market where the regulator has a strong voice. Tariffs don’t just go up that way. The regulator will have to do a determination before setting a baseline tariff for the industry.

    I am afraid to conclude here that the socio-economic fabric of the nation is fractured and salient voices are going into perplexing acquiescence of evil. It is wrong to continue to harp on the elastic endurance of Nigerians in the face of oppressive conditions or even evil. The rope is getting too tight. We shouldn’t wait for a wrench before waking up from a satanic sleep to do the needful and provide a little relief for the people, a comforting baseline to validate their humanity.

  • How technology can ease stress of ‘back to school’ rush

    How technology can ease stress of ‘back to school’ rush

    Google on Monday highlighted five ways technology could ease the stress of students, teachers and parents go through the rush of back to school and getting back into the swing of things.

    Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google Communication Officer said in a statement that tools such as beat traffic with a map, setting a reminder with an assistant, complete homework with the search among others were tools that could ease the back-to-school rush.

    Kola-Ogunlade said that it could be overwhelming for parents to balance their own professional endeavours with the demands of their children’s rigorous education, but technology can sometimes help to lighten the load.

    He said that parents, settling back to work after the restful holiday, face multiple tasks such as beating morning traffic to get their children to school on time, making sure that daily school supplies were lined up and ready to use among others.

    According to him, a tool such as Set reminders with Assistant is a smart way to remember all things that are important for school from lunches to school events.

    “One can get real-time information about traffic jams and delays using Google Maps, helping to plan better routes for school runs.

    “Not all parents are subject matter experts, but they do often have to play the role of designated tutor, or help out with homework.

    “YouTube is great for watching explanatory videos that are fun, informative, and educational, that can help parents tutor children who wish to learn more beyond their school work.

    “Children today spend more time online than ever before, as such, it is important to help them develop healthy online habits and make sure they are protected from ills such as online predators and cyberbullies,” he said.

    The communication officer said that Family Link allows parents to set digital rules to help guide their children as they learn and explore online.

    He said that the app helps children make good decisions about what they do on their devices and even shows teacher-recommended apps that can be added to their devices.

    Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

  • For technology, the men who saw tomorrow and their dream – By Okoh Aihe

    For technology, the men who saw tomorrow and their dream – By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    For nearly two years the global digital ecosystem has altered drastically. Social relationship has taken a tumble, leaving solitude and individualism as necessary evils to accommodate. Education services delivering are oscillating between online and in-person, a nuanced hybrid that puts so much pressure on digital tools and network build out. Businesses are searching for new approaches to regain verve and speed, away from the chaos they were thrown into. The airline and hospitality industries suffered a knockout punch and are still reeling to regain some little pride and little of the prestige they were once associated with.

    COVID-19 and it’s mutated variants has hit the world so hard, that even now, the fear of the pandemic is more real than the actual disease, forcing governments, policy makers and corporates, among others, to endure some incontinent arbitrariness in decision making and policy formulations.

    I have found myself in solitary moments trying to contemplate what the situation would have been if the nation didn’t have the good fortune to pry open the telecommunications industry in 2001, when the tipping point of the sector began? A friend has told me that the media is always looking back at that particular year to project the good things that have happened in our telecommunications industry ever since.

    My little response was inspired by some elders in my village in Edo State who would always say that when you continue to talk about the dead before the living, you are only reminding the living that they are not doing enough to rival the performance of the departed.

    I will restrict myself only to the telecommunications industry where some great things happened at the time, and the momentum is such that the present is a beneficiary. My question lately is whether the leadership of the telecommunications regulatory agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), of Engr Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and late Ahmed Joda (Chairman) saw tomorrow by setting up some of the programmes that would live proudly into the future?

    In their time, they set up the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), structured to train manpower for the telecommunications industry, the Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI), aimed at bridging the digital divide existing in the academia with the provision of computers and other ICT tools to equip lecturers and other ICT experts, and the Digital Awareness Programme (DAP), which is a special intervention programme to address the digital information knowledge gap in the country, especially among the youthful population. This was directed mainly at the high schools.

    Call them the basic tools we should have in our institutions but we didn’t have them. Nobody contemplated that a few years down the line that the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations would be computer based. Nobody projected that pedagogy would be online and that corporate executives and workers in various offices would have to work from home. My little friend never contemplated that she would be living in Atlanta and be going to work every day in California, a flight time of nearly five hours. Welcome to the new world where COVID-19 regulates the activities of humanity.

    But some gentlemen saw tomorrow in Nigeria and tried to prepare the nation for a life of the future which would come soon enough.

    This is a good story which may be suffering some momentary impairment. One can almost say that there will be so many computer boxes in schools across the nation that can hardly come alive when powered. It means the purpose of their deployment may have been damaged willy-nilly.

    What would have been if these projects were never put in place and what would also have been if the implementation has been faithfully followed?

    An industry source told me that those projects were developed with very good intentions but sustainability has been a problem. There are duplications of efforts by different agencies of government, so that on one site there could be so many boxes that wouldn’t work. The source also informed that bandwidth has become a big problem because when computer boxes are placed in locations without connection to the internet, they can be used only for training purposes. There is also a suggestion that the schooled-based computer projects should be taken over by individuals of goodwill in other to effectively manage the cost of maintenance.

    This writer will want to suggest an auditing process of the various initiatives to determine their functionality and usability. An impact analysis is necessary to ascertain whether anybody is benefiting apart from those who supply the tools.

    In a world where COVID-19 is a bizarre reminder of the bleak life awaiting countries without requisite investment in information technology, it may be necessary to ask whether Nigeria is doing well. One is aware that in October 2019, the Nigerian Government renamed the Ministry of Communications as the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, saying the action was taken in order to “properly position and empower the ministry to fulfil its digital economy objectives”.

    Apart from the usual bravura of blowing one’s trumpet, has any impact been made? Wiley Digital Skills Gap Index (DGSI) 2021 has an answer for us.

    Wiley leveraged on its global network and expertise in education and workforce development to compile the Digital Skills Gap (DSGI) 2021, which ranks 134 economies based on a battery of global indicators reflecting how advanced and prepared an economy is with the digital skills needed for sustained growth, recovery, and prosperity.

    The Digital Skills Gap Index 2021 was built on six pillars; Digital Skills Institutions,

    Digital Responsiveness, Government Support, Supply, Demand & Competitiveness,

    Data Ethics & Integrity, and Research Intensity.

    Put on this scale, Nigeria came out at number 103, far behind some other African countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt, Tunisia, and South Africa, just to name a few. What is clear is that in terms of digital tools and infrastructure, usage, acquisition, application and pedagogy, among others, Nigeria is not doing well at all.

    There is the need to shed this billowing spirit of arrogance and retool for a better future for the nation and her people.

  • For technology, 2021 a year of the silver bullet – By Okoh Aihe

    For technology, 2021 a year of the silver bullet – By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    For technology, 2021 was the year of the silver bullet. When every little flash in the pan idea was expected to resolve every problem, no matter how intractable or deep-seated. But the fact that the flash even came at all means that government was aware of certain challenges and was desirous of resolving them.

    So, this year as insecurity continued to trouble the nation, government had to take some drastic decisions, including suspending the use of mobile phones in parts of the north, spanning some states – Bornu, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna. It was the first time ever for such idea to be contemplated. It was reasoned that once that happened, the bandits or to use the appropriate despicable appellation, terrorists, would have problems communicating with each other and that would mark the beginning of their end and the end of the problems they had caused this nation. Lots of people dying and the economy of a vast section of the country being devastated. Nobody caught or punished.

    Now they would be stopped from coordinating their activities with telecommunications tools and their end would come. Everybody complied – the regulators of the telecommunications industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the subscribers and even agents, except the terrorists themselves who devised other means of escaping that punishing decision. At the end it became pretty much clear that everybody paid too much of a price and got punished inadvertently, because once there was security breach the people couldn’t make immediate report or contact with authorities because, they too, have been truncated from the rest of the country. The collateral consequences, methinks, were hardly anticipated.

    Another brilliant idea preceded this, and it also had to do with telecommunications, being the superstructure of infrastructures. December last year, phone users woke up one morning to the news that they would have to sink their phone registration with their national identity number (NIN) in a process captured as SIM/NIN registration. It would take only two weeks to do so, they said. It didn’t matter that there were nearly 200m phone lines in Nigeria that would be registered within the two-week window. It didn’t also matter whether the parties involved – the NCC and the National Identity Card Management Commission (NIMC) had the facilities to carry out the assignment that must be executed with extreme speed.

    But here is the other story. The NCC commenced SIM Card registration on March 28, 2011. At the time it envisaged that all existing 89m connected lines in Nigeria would have been registered by June, 2013. That didn’t happen. The process looked easy but it turned to be much more difficult than policy statements, work plans and job schedules. At the same, NIMC was also carrying out enrolment and issuing of ID cards to Nigerians. NIMC enjoyed off season in doing this job, no attention from anybody, no special expectations.

    It took the genius of Dr Isa Pantami, the Communications and Digital Economy Minister, to convince Nigerians that these two convoluting jobs could be done within the little window of two weeks and everybody walking the streets of our nation would bear a digital identity. There comes the silver bullet. It would resolve all the security problems, and Nigeria would be on the move again. Voila. A philosopher king is born. The only problem is that Pantami has a questionable background apropos religious fundamentalism, and he does his job with the excitement of a fellow engaged in an animated experiment whose outcome is as sure as the stupendous wealth always associated with our country. Unfortunately, he is experimenting with the lives of millions of Nigerians whose only fault is trusting an official of government.

    So from April 19, 2021, two weeks have stretched into months and the months could become a year and years. One thing became clear. The idea was never really thought through. And it shows clearly that the Minster has little knowledge of the intricate workings of the industry but masks this pervasive ignorance with sheer braggadocio. The result is that were the SIM/NIN registration to be enforced today, nearly two thirds of phone users would still fall hapless victims.

    But as the year hobbles to an end quite a few thoughts crowd my being to obviate the dreariness just listed above. Looking at the figures I get the stirring that there is no need to look back in anger except to feel disdain for those who make us look small in the eyes of the world.

    I am not too dampened by the fact that Nigeria is tumbling down the ladder of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa, slipping down from top five to nest very ignominiously at number fourteen. Some other figures give a lot of hope and encourage the reason to anticipate a better tomorrow.

    For instance, a seeming innocuous story in Vanguard on November 1, 2021, came with the headline, Foreign investors stake N412bn on 35 Nigerian startups in 10 months, with Ambassador Ayo Olukanni, Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), declaring that such level of investment reflects the capacity of Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.

    Some of the figures include: Opay – $400m, Andela – $200m, Flutterwave – $170m, Kuda Bank – $80m, $Decagon – $26.5m, Mono – $17m, and Autocheck – $13.1m, just to list a few.

    The tech sector continued to tell a good story. Early December, Equinix, a California based company splashed $320m on MainOne, a foremost undersea cable operator helmed by tireless telecoms proponent, Funke Opeke. The MainOne cable has landed in some countries of Africa, even as the organization has laid fibre cables across some states of the federation.

    Without doubt a lot of sunshine has come upon the Fintech sector from the international community. This attention may have magnified the failure of government in breathing life into The National Financial Strategy (NFIS) which sought to ensure that over 80 per cent of the bankable adults in the country had access to financial services by 2020. Initial licensing achieved very little results. Early November the Central Bank had to correct its earlier mistake by awarding MTN and Airtel Payment Service Bank (PSB) licenses. It will be interesting to watch what happens in that sector in the days ahead.

    Final crown of the year would go to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the successful auction of 2 Lots of 100MHz in the 3.5 GHz band, ranging from 3500 – 3600MHz and 3700 – 3800MHz. Each Lot cost $273m. The band is for the operation of 5G technology.

    The fact that MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications were ready to splash such monies on the country’s telecoms sector is clear indication of the huge confidence on the nation.

    But don’t be deceived. This is no mark of achievement or something to regale about. If the nation was not adrift, seemingly in an unannounced war, with its huge population and untapped economic potentials, Nigeria would be the honey pot for foreign direct investment.

    This writer is not looking back in anger. This is only a concerned call for the government to do the right things that can give the nation a better life in 2022.

  • For Technology, 2021, a year of the Silver Bullet, By Okoh Aihe

    For Technology, 2021, a year of the Silver Bullet, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

     

    For technology, 2021 was the year of the silver bullet. When every little flash in the pan idea was expected to resolve every problem, no matter how intractable or deep-seated. But the fact that the flash even came at all means that government was aware of certain challenges and was desirous of resolving them.

     

    So, this year as insecurity continued to trouble the nation, government had to take some drastic decisions, including suspending the use of mobile phones in parts of the north, spanning some states – Bornu, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna. It was the first time ever for such idea to be contemplated. It was reasoned that once that happened, the bandits or to use the appropriate despicable appellation, terrorists, would have problems communicating with each other and that would mark the beginning of their end and the end of the problems they had caused this nation. Lots of people dying and the economy of a vast section of the country being devastated. Nobody caught or punished.

     

    Now they would be stopped from coordinating their activities with telecommunications tools and their end would come. Everybody complied – the regulators of the telecommunications industry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the subscribers and even agents, except the terrorists themselves who devised other means of escaping that punishing decision. At the end it became pretty much clear that everybody paid too much of a price and got punished inadvertently, because once there was security breach the people couldn’t make immediate report or contact with authorities because, they too, have been truncated from the rest of the country. The collateral consequences, methinks, were hardly anticipated.

     

    Another brilliant idea preceded this, and it also had to do with telecommunications, being the superstructure of infrastructures. December last year, phone users woke up one morning to the news that they would have to sink their phone registration with their national identity number (NIN) in a process captured as SIM/NIN registration. It would take only two weeks to do so, they said. It didn’t matter that there were nearly 200m phone lines in Nigeria that would be registered within the two-week window. It didn’t also matter whether the parties involved – the NCC and the National Identity Card Management Commission (NIMC) had the facilities to carry out the assignment that must be executed with extreme speed.

     

    But here is the other story. The NCC commenced SIM Card registration on March 28, 2011. At the time it envisaged that all existing 89m connected lines in Nigeria would have been registered by June, 2013. That didn’t happen. The process looked easy but it turned to be much more difficult than policy statements, work plans and job schedules. At the same, NIMC was also carrying out enrolment and issuing of ID cards to Nigerians. NIMC enjoyed off season in doing this job, no attention from anybody, no special expectations.

     

    It took the genius of Dr Isa Pantami, the Communications and Digital Economy Minister, to convince Nigerians that these two convoluting jobs could be done within the little window of two weeks and everybody walking the streets of our nation would bear a digital identity. There comes the silver bullet. It would resolve all the security problems, and Nigeria would be on the move again. Voila. A philosopher king is born. The only problem is that Pantami has a questionable background apropos religious fundamentalism, and he does his job with the excitement of a fellow engaged in an animated experiment whose outcome is as sure as the stupendous wealth always associated with our country. Unfortunately, he is experimenting with the lives of millions of Nigerians whose only fault is trusting an official of government.

     

    So from April 19, 2021, two weeks have stretched into months and the months could become a year and years. One thing became clear. The idea was never really thought through. And it shows clearly that the Minster has little knowledge of the intricate workings of the industry but masks this pervasive ignorance with sheer braggadocio. The result is that were the SIM/NIN registration to be enforced today, nearly two thirds of phone users would still fall hapless victims.

     

    But as the year hobbles to an end quite a few thoughts crowd my being to obviate the dreariness just listed above. Looking at the figures I get the stirring that there is no need to look back in anger except to feel disdain for those who make us look small in the eyes of the world.

     

    I am not too dampened by the fact that Nigeria is tumbling down the ladder of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa, slipping down from top five to nest very ignominiously at number fourteen. Some other figures give a lot of hope and encourage the reason to anticipate a better tomorrow.

     

    For instance, a seeming innocuous story in Vanguard on November 1, 2021, came with the headline, Foreign investors stake N412bn on 35 Nigerian startups in 10 months, with Ambassador Ayo Olukanni, Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), declaring that such level of investment reflects the capacity of Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.

     

    Some of the figures include: Opay – $400m, Andela – $200m, Flutterwave – $170m, Kuda Bank – $80m, $Decagon – $26.5m, Mono – $17m, and Autocheck – $13.1m, just to list a few.

     

    The tech sector continued to tell a good story. Early December, Equinix, a California based company splashed $320m on MainOne, a foremost undersea cable operator helmed by tireless telecoms proponent, Funke Opeke. The MainOne cable has landed in some countries of Africa, even as the organization has laid fibre cables across some states of the federation.

     

    Without doubt a lot of sunshine has come upon the Fintech sector from the international community. This attention may have magnified the failure of government in breathing life into The National Financial Strategy (NFIS) which sought to ensure that over 80 per cent of the bankable adults in the country had access to financial services by 2020. Initial licensing achieved very little results. Early November the Central Bank had to correct its earlier mistake by awarding MTN and Airtel Payment Service Bank (PSB) licenses. It will be interesting to watch what happens in that sector in the days ahead.

     

    Final crown of the year would go to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the successful auction of 2 Lots of 100MHz in the 3.5 GHz band, ranging from 3500 – 3600MHz and 3700 – 3800MHz. Each Lot cost $273m. The band is for the operation of 5G technology.

     

    The fact that MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications were ready to splash such monies on the country’s telecoms sector is clear indication of the huge confidence on the nation.

     

    But don’t be deceived. This is no mark of achievement or something to regale about. If the nation was not adrift, seemingly in an unannounced war, with its huge population and untapped economic potentials, Nigeria would be the honey pot for foreign direct investment.

     

    This writer is not looking back in anger. This is only a concerned call for the government to do the right things that can give the nation a better life in 2022.

  • AnambraDecides2021: Ngige, Soludo blasts INEC over failed technology

    AnambraDecides2021: Ngige, Soludo blasts INEC over failed technology

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, and the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Saturday, faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the malfunctioning of the Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS).

    According to reports, the machines failed to work in many units, leaving thousands of voters stranded.

    The machine could not capture Ngige in Alor Ward 1 Polling Unit for over an hour.

    The minister feared the failure of the technology could disfranchise over 35 per cent of voters in his ward.

    He said INEC should not keep such equipment for too long in the warehouse.

    The situation isn’t any different with Soludo in his polling unit.

    As of 1pm, the candidate was yet to cast his vote.

    He alleged that the situation was similar in many parts of the state.

    However, he called for his supporters to exercise patience, describing himself as a “process person”.

    “Voting is yet to start in most of the polling units in the state. And for the few places where they are doing, I understand that accreditation that is supposed to be done in seconds, takes up to 30 minutes,” Soludo said. “With the crowd here, you don’t need a mathematician to know that people standing here, will not be exhausted.

    “So this raises fundamental questions about the technology. I’m quite a bit shocked. And this is all over the state. I’ve been getting calls from virtually every local government without exception, about the glitches, and the fact that people are not voting. Places where you have about 800, 900 people there you probably have about five, six that have voted so far.

    “The fundamental problem is the failure of the technology that is being tried in Anambra; it just hasn’t worked up to till this minute.”

    Soludo also lamented the paucity of INEC staff in many polling units.

    “There is hardly any ward that there are INEC officials in all the polling units,” he said.

    “There is one at Uke that is supposed to be 17 polling units, but you have INEC officials in only five.

    “Also, the security. As you can see, there is no police official here. And that is also widespread across the state. In Ihiala local government, the latest report I have is that the materials haven’t even left the local government, let alone get to the polling unit.

    “I’m a diehard optimist. I’m still hoping to see if we can have water out of the stone, so to speak. I believe I’m a process person. I’m very confident about the process. The INEC Chairman assured us of the robustness of this new technology, that they tried it somewhere for a rerun of the state assembly; but that’s a small location, depending on how the network is in place. Now, the fundamental thing they are complaining about is the network. It’s 1pm, it hasn’t worked.

    “My message to all our supporters, millions of them across the state, that have enthusiastically looked forward to this day, I say to you: let’s be patient. They told us it’s going to work. And I am patient.”