IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

The 250,000 IT, telecoms professionals in Nigeria, constitute only 40 percent of the actual figure needed, and are inadequate for a market and population of over 170 million people.

This was the summation of experts in business, legal and ICT sectors across Nigeria and India that gathered in Mumbai, India, at the 2015 Indian Nigerian Business Forum (INBF), organised by the law firm, Perchstone & Graeys in collaboration with the Federation of India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), last week

Information Technology experts have revealed that 68% of Nigeria’s population is currently still not connected to the Internet.

The statistics was made public, on Tuesday, August 18 at the launch of Androidone held at Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

MTN’s CEO, Mr. Michael Ikpoki, while launching the first of its kind collaboration between the telecom company, Infinix, Google, and online sale outlet, Jumia, said Nigeria, was yet to fully tap into the benefits offered by getting connected to the Internet.

City Hills, one of the fastest growing real estate firms in Nigeria, says it has acquired 100 acres of land within the border of Lagos and Ogun states along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to build “the most unique smart city in Nigeria.”

This is clearly a response to the call at the 2021 economic summit held in Lagos State tagged “Eghingbeti Lagos Economic Summit 2021: Setting the tone for a greater Lagos”, where local and foreign investors were encouraged to channel resources towards the development of economic infrastructure that would make Lagos State a smart city.

MTN Nigeria has finally turned on its 5G mobile connection services in 190 sites across West Africa including Nigeria. Since its rollout, mobile users have been reporting internet speeds greater than 1.4 GB per second.

The National Communication Commission was the one to announce that 5G will be available in the country on August 24 after preparing with the Federal Government for almost three years. It’s known that South Africa already has 5G since 2019 with Rain, so this was already due for a few years now in the Western part of the continent.

Nigeria’s Minister of Commu­nication and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Pantami, has com­mended the contributions of the country’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector towards boosting the digital economy and GDP.

The Minister stated this at the weekend during the in­auguration of the North-East Regional Office of Galaxy Backbone in Gombe, stress­ing that the project would benefit the entire six states in the region by improving the digital economy, providing job topportunities and enhancing cybersecurity.

Beyond the rage of electioneering politics, one of the most strategic facilities that hold the key to Nigeria’s escape from the doldrums of economic stagnation was recently launched in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

On 20th December, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the National Shared Services Centre (NSSC), which is to serve as a strategic resource to stakeholder organizations in both public and private sectors.

Dr ABC Orjiako, pioneer Chairman, Seplat Energy Plc, says Nigeria has the potential to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with digital transformation.

Orjiako said this while delivering the third Arthur Mbanefo Lecture series organised by the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre (AMDRC), University of Lagos, on Friday in Lagos.

He said that his mission as President of the 18th NEC of the NCS is to meet the demands of members and the dynamism of the time. Professor Adewunmi also pledged to expand the membership base of NCS by completing the establishment of NCS chapters in all states of the federation.

Nigeria’s on-going digital identification of all citizens and legal residents on a harmonized platform will be the largest database in Africa and only second in the world to the Aadhaar of India,

Osinbajo stated this on Friday while delivering the keynote address at the “Technology As A Catalyst Conference,” TAAC, held in Lagos on Friday

A statement issued by NITDA’s Head of Public Affairs, Mrs Hadiza Umar, in Abuja on Tuesday, stated that Jack made the assertion in a speech at the global media meet in Dubai.

Nigeria is taking proactive steps against the future so perversely predicted to be driven by new technologies.

The reasons are that these technologies are borderless, could mix up cultures and throw strange practices that may be developmental but also destructive, as well.

In order not to get caught up in confusion, proactive countries are beginning to tinker their policies and tweak their regulations in preparation for life in a new world that could be primarily Internet of Things, IoT-based.

Nigeria is set to regulate emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things as the nation enters a new phase of technological advancements.

At a Stakeholders Consultative on Emerging Technologies, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umar Danbatta, defined IoT as a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals, or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring any human intervention.

The Minister of Communication, Mr Adebayo Shittu, on Tuesday said Nigeria would launch two additional satellites to space to improve local communication capacity.

Shittu said businesses in Nigeria were skeptical of linking the only satellite Nigeria has presently for fear of any crash.

The minister said at a town hall meeting in Kaduna on the one year anniversary of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, that adequate legislation would be made to protect investment and patronage.

‘OBUNO IoT Engine’, a wholly made-in-Nigeria IoT board with sea of possibilities, has been unwrapped by an NGO – Innovation Habitat Initiative for Indigenous Technology, as a launchpad for the nation into the emerging technology economy.

The Board adopts a modular and scalable architecture that addresses challenges facing the IoT adoption, adaptation and deployment in Africa, especially in Nigeria; in diverse areas such as e-Government, eHealth, fleet management, telematics, banking & financial services, utilities & service providers, eAgric, eLearning, amongst others.

The Nigerian Communications Commission said that the number of internet users on the country’s telecom networks increased to more than 93 million in July.

The commission made this known in its Monthly Internet Subscriber Data.

The number of subscribers that surfed the internet in June was put at 92,816,572 but increased to 93,551,811 in the month of July.

Designed to curtail insurgency and other criminal challenges, this new objective will ultimately issue unique identity numbers to Nigerians, not unlike the Aadhaar program initiated by the Unique Identity Authority of India, which similarly aims to capture the biometrics of all of India’s 1.2 billion habitants.

Considering the country’s past record of biometric objectives, an election using the technology is not unlikely.

According to a report in ITWeb, the Nigerian Society of Engineers has recommended that the country’s electoral commission use the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat) e-voting platform, which hinges on biometric enrollment.

The Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, has said that the implementation of bio-metric authentication for Point of Sales (PoS) and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) will commence by 2015.

Mr. Sanusi, who was represented by the Abuja Branch Controller of the Central Bank, John Chukwudifu, spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the stakeholders sensitisation programme on the cashless policy.

The Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) is set to open 10,000 smart offices across the country in a bid to make post offices a one-stop-shop for diverse economic transactions and overcome the challenges faced as a result of the erosion of the letter-writing culture in line with the Federal Government’s digital economy policy.

The Postmaster General of the Federation, Dr Ismail Adewusi, made this known at the weekend at the General Post Office Complex, Dugbe in Ibadan, while inspecting facilities of the agency in Oyo State, adding that plans are underway to embrace technological development to give the best service to people in the country.

This year’s event will have in at­tendance, President Goodluck Jonathan as the Special Guest of honour just as renowned Nigerian lead concept Chevro­let Volt electric car designer, Jelani Aliyu has been confirmed to deliver the keynote address at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.