Author: ITPulse

  By Kester Omu The Nigerian government has spent a whooping N208.8 billion on the collection of data from its citizens in the last seven years. A breakdown of how the money was spent, according to a report in the Guardian Newspaper shows that the Banks in Nigeria as instructed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has so far spent N45 billion to issue Bank verification Number to account owners. Others are SIM Registration, a project of the Nigerian Communications Commission and Mobile Network Operators, which has gulped N46.1 billion. The National Identity Card from the National Identity Management…

  By Kester Omu Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is set to work with the Phones and Allied Product Dealers (PAPDAN) at the Ikeja Computer Village towards curbing influx of sub-standard mobile products in the country. This is just as the standard organisation gave importers 30-day window to commence proper registration of their IT products with SON. This was the peak of discussions at a stakeholder meeting held at the Information Technology market to create awareness on the importance of electronic product registration. Speaking at the forum, Director General of SON, Mr. Osita Aboloma, said there has recently been influx…

  Leading Information Communications Technology services provider, CWG Plc has inked a 5-year partnership contract with the Enugu State Government to help transform the Enugu State Gaming Commission. This contract, which is said to be the first of its kind in Nigeria, has been designed to reposition Enugu State as the National Leader in the effective management and regulation of gaming activities in Nigeria. Speaking about the partnership deal, Mr. James Agada, Group CEO, CWG Plc, noted that the partnership with Enugu State falls neatly in line with the company’s strategic intent and fits into its new business model, which…

  By Kester Omu The implementation of the technology solution such the Treasury Single Account (TSA), has been able to help the Nigerian government to save N11 billion every month, the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, has disclosed. DailyTrust reports that the AGF stated this at the Lunch Term Seminar on “Common Challenges in the implementation of the TSA in the Nigerian Public Service” organised by the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) in Abuja, where he argues that if not for the TSA, the money would have been paid as interest on overdraft, account maintenance cost…

  By Martin Ekpeke The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it created the Department of Research and Development at the Commission to consolidate all the research activities in the country’s telecom industry. This disclosure is contained in a remark by Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC at the inauguration of the inter-agency committee for the evaluation of 2017 research proposals from the academia at the NCC’s Corporate headquarter in Abuja. “Going forward, research activities will attract priority attention at the Nigerian Communications Commission,” Danbatta declared. He said the creation of the department becomes very necessary because telecommunications…

  The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN) Dr. Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, has posited that though the Nigerian healthcare needs bold and disruptive innovative approaches to transform the sector, as a result of inadequacy of current health programs and stagnated results. Umar-Sadiq took this position during a presentation at the just concluded Nigeria Innovation Summit (NIS) in Lagos He noted that sector has received billions in grants, but nothing cogent to show for it, adding that the epidemiological transition and population growth projected in the country exacerbate the need for scalability of effective…

  The Nigerian tech ecosystem is getting more interesting by the day, with local and international tech experts, exploring ways of staying relevant in the industry. I recently came across Jessica Hope, Founder, Winbart, who has spent the better part of the last 5 years, working with emerging Startups, such as Iroko TV, Konga and a few others. Our discussion centered on her thoughts on ways to position the African tech Startups on the international scene. Jessica is of the view that, most tech Startups should have mainly, one narrative. The idea, she stated, is to be basically known for…

  By Emmanuel Osie The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given reasons why it decided to review daily mobile money wallet transaction and balance limit, as well as the Bank Verification Number (BVN) requirement for mobile money wallet holders. The apex bank said the review will afford users of Mobile Money Services more flexibility in the country. “In line with the initiative of the bank to enhance access to financial services through the Mobile Money Services, the daily transaction limit and balance limit on mobile money wallets have been reviewed to afford users of Mobile Money Services, more flexibility…

By Martin Ekpeke Key takeaways from the 2017 edition of the Global Mobile Trends, published by the GSMA show that five billion people across the world, which represents two-thirds of the world’s population are now connected to mobile networks. The Global Mobile Trend report, however, noted that the growth is slow as it took four years to move from 4 billion to the 5 billion subscribers, worrying that the next billion subscribers will take a longer period. Other notable key takeaways from the report is the explosion of 4G network, which is forecast to account for two-thirds of global…

  By Juan A. Ketterer What is the most important thing that smart cities and smart banking have in common? Both need (and have managed to acquire) plenty of data to become smart. Without data to test how good your models are, nobody can learn and become smart. Smart cities hold the key to improving access to finance for SMEs and unbanked individuals. Not only are they host to novel technological solutions for sustainable urban development, but they exemplify the power and pace of digital innovation and data. Limited access to finance has traditionally resulted from the lack of perfect…