Author: ITPulse

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has opened a global competition platform for innovators and ecosystem builders to present their ideas and projects, empowering them to transform their communities into thriving digital societies. Tagged ‘Innovation Challenges 2020’, the platform is part of efforts by the global telecom body to mitigate the challenge of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has continued to wreak havoc across the globe, threatening lives, putting increasingly more stress on global value chains and testing countries’ resilience and readiness for digital transformation. Thus, the ITU Innovation Challenges, which is unique in bringing together all stakeholders needed to nurture an…

After over six weeks of shutdown due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the management of PlentyWaka, Nigeria’s premier bus-hailing platform today announced the resumption of full operations from Tuesday, 5th of May 2020 from 6:00 am – 6:00 pm daily. The announcement was made in the light of the recent announcements made by the Federal Government on the controlled easing of the lockdown starting from Monday, 4th of May 2020, coupled with the Lagos State Government’s directive on the mode of operations for transport businesses. According to an email, the resumption will attract a 20-25 percent increase in regular fares this…

The global smartphone shipping in the first quarter of 2020 has recorded a sharp decline of 16.8 percent on the year-ago total, with Apple decline being the least out of the big three. According to Strategy Analytics, the unprecedented decline, where total shipments of 274.8 million units were recorded in the first quarter, is been attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Strategy Analytics revealed that no vendors were spared the austerity, disclosing that Xiaomi atleast managed to tread water thanks to its Indian presence. “As expected, the global smartphone market delivered its worst performance since records began. Demand for smartphones slammed…

Employees of Interswitch Group, integrated payment & digital commerce players has raised a whooping N75 million to complement the company’s N230million as part of a coordinated effort from public and private sector perspectives to address the spread and mitigate the negative impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria. The employees were inspired to make a difference as far as playing their part in fighting the scourge. Thus, a voluntary contribution in an employee-led effort that will amount to N305million that Interswitch has contributed towards the COVID-19 response. According to the Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, Mitchell…

Pan-African Information and Communications Technology company, CWG Plc has highlighted the role it is playing to support the Federal Government’s Digital Economy quest, which is being promoted by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami. While commending Dr. Pantami for the novel idea which he says will ultimately lift Nigeria from being dependent on Oil & Gas, CWG, touted as the largest system integration in Nigeria, disclosed that as an enabler of business and economy growth, will be able to provide an enabling ICT Infrastructure to drive the Government’s Digital Economy. “The fundamental part of any institution,…

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), through its subsidiary, Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), has called on Nigerians, especially software developers, to apply for opportunities to participate in the “Nigeria COVID-19 Innovative Challenge”. Making the call in a statement signed by Mrs. Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, NITDA noted that the Nigeria COVID-19 Innovation Challenge is an online innovative challenge set up to meet the challenges mankind is facing as a result of the Coronavirus. The Challenge is organized as part of NITDA’s strategic initiatives, which is aimed at identifying and showcasing innovative technology…

Those who know have predicted that the Nigerian telecommunications sector will continue to keep the country afloat in the post Covid-19, despite the negative impact of the virus on the economy. Specifically, they fingered three factors, which include investments made pre-covid-19, social media culture and data growths and ultimately, listing of MTN and Airtel on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, which they attributed to the foresightedness of the Nigerian Communications Commission, led by Prof. Umar Danbatta. First to point this out is Nairametrics Financial Advocates, a financial resource company, with special focus on investor advocacy and business intelligence. According to Nairametrics,…

KPMG Professional Services, one of the ‘Big Four’ recently held its Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Forum as a Webinar, themed “Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic – Lessons from China”. The forum was hosted on the internet, with William Gong, Partner & Vice Chairman, KPMG China covering the Wuhan Province as a keynote speaker. The webinar kicked off with a warm opening address from Kunle Elebute, Senior Partner, KPMG in Nigeria and Chairman, KPMG Africa as he highlighted that the impact of Covid-19 on most African Countries will be a twin shock on the economy due to a fall in demand for…

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has licensed Digital Encode, a management and security of business-critical networks provider as a partner under the Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCO) With this license, Digital Encode is recognised by NITDA to provide training, auditing, and consulting services throughout the country in line with the NDPR principles. Explaining the role of the license, the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Digital Encode, Dr. Peter Adewale Obadare, thanked the management of NITDA led by Malam Kashif Inuwa Abdullahi, for the confidence reposed in the organisation. He said as a DPCO, Digital Encode is expected to verify…

As an attempt to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government has promised the creation and protection of one million jobs in Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology sector before the end of this year. The jobs, according to the government will be created mainly through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The Director-General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, who disclosed this during a virtual submission of the report of the NITDA Advisory Committee on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Technology and Innovation Ecosystem also known as Tech4Covid19, stated that the jobs will be created based…