Author: ITPulse

Digital Economy Media Support Volunteers’ (DEMS Volunteers’), an NGO tracking all development activities in the nation’s public and private sector on the digital economy, has assessed activities of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva since his appointment and gave him a pass mark. A report released weekend in Lagos on the reforms adopted so far by the ministry in the last couple of months have shown marked departure from the way and manner the operations of the nation’s oil and gas sector had been. The Director-General of the NGO, Prince Stan Okenwa noted that “Starting from…

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has given scholarships to 16 Masters degrees and one PhD candidates from Nigeria to advance their study in Information Technology related fields in Turkey. Addressing the students, who will be leaving Nigeria later today,  the Director-General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, urged them to not only be Nigerian ambassadors but NITDA’s and their various families as well. The DG, who was represented at the event by the Director, Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions Dr. Usman Abdullahi Gambo, admonished the students to consider themselves extremely lucky to be selected among the over two thousand…

Today, everyone is talking broadband. Everyone is talking about the advantages, the benefits and need to make it more available and accessible. The importance is becoming more evident each passing day. Indeed, it is becoming general knowledge that as access to broadband internet grows, quality of life improves, productivity increases and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expands. The significance is immense. Reports indicate that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration yields a 0.8 percent increase in GDP per capita. That is, increasing broadband penetration by 10 percent will automatically, almost double GDP per capita. GDP per capita is a measure…

The Nigerian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with International Business Machines (IBM) West Africa, for the development of digital skills in Nigeria. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, who signed on behalf of the Federal Government, noted that the partnership with the tech giant gives impetus to the digital, innovation and Entrepreneurship skills of the economic development plan of the Federal Government. He added the agreement is a quantum leap in the Digital Economy strategy of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. The MoU provides a platform to empower  Nigerian youths with…

Technology-driven vehicle hailing platform, PlentyWaka has launched new vehicles in a bid to expand its services to more routes in different parts of Lagos. This, the company has done by introducing the ‘Scan and Ride’ feature to allow its riders access to its premium services. The vehicle hailing service, which was launched into the transportation industry in September 2019 to provide hassle-free transportation to the everyday Nigerian at pocket-friendly rates, has also launched a new feature where both new and existing riders can simply take a ride, check-in and check out using the QR codes on the vehicles. This is…

The e-PIN of the 2020 UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination) and DE (Direct Entry) examinations are now available on the Quickteller platform. Thus, Parents and guardians of wards intending to sit for the examination can now obtain it  from the comfort of their homes. In a statement by Quickteller, Olawale Akanbi, Group Head, Quickteller Marketing, noted that The Quickteller platform simplifies the registration process and eliminates the previously cumbersome JAMB registration process faced by many candidates nationwide. “Quickteller, the consumer payment platform of Pan-African integrated digital payments company, Interswitch, has opened its platform for the sales of JAMB (Joint Admission…

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, yesterday in Abuja met with the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. The meeting, it was disclosed is a follow-up to discussions on how to address the issue of Right of Way (RoW) and other similar challenges confronting the telecoms industry. Recall that 14 state governors and their agencies increased Right of Way charges, which is pegged at N145 per linear metre by the Federal Government. The states,…

A new GSMA Intelligence research, has revealed in its latest report that though the smartphone will remain the  dominant consumer device into the new decade, the arrival of 5G will not guarantee a surge in device upgrades. A new report, titled ‘The Future of Devices’, also give a breakdown of what of described as smartphone ownership among adults in most high- and middle-income countries is at 85-95 per cent. It noted that  only 30-40 percent of survey respondents in significant markets such as the US, Europe and Australia said the arrival of 5G is likely to result in a smartphone…

A global leader in network and endpoint security, Sophos has announced the availability of Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR), a fully managed threat hunting, detection and response service. The re-sellable service provides organizations with a dedicated 24/7 security team to neutralize the most sophisticated and complex threats. These types of threats include active attackers leveraging fileless attacks and administrator tools such as PowerShell to escalate privileges, exfiltrate data and spread laterally, as explained in the SophosLabs Uncut article on Lemon_Duck PowerShell malware. Attacks like these are difficult to detect since they involve an active adversary using legitimate tools for nefarious purposes, and Sophos…

Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC has emerged as the Best Foreign Exchange Provider in Nigeria at the Global Finance World’s Best Foreign Exchange Provider Awards, which was held at the RSA House in London recently. Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC won the award having performed excellently in the following areas: customer service, the scope of global coverage, transaction volume, innovative technologies, competitive pricing and market share. The panel of judges at the Global Finance award also considered various inputs from industry analysts as well as corporate executives and technology specialists. Headquartered in New York, with offices around the world, Global Finance awards…