Author: ITPulse

  Internet giant, Google has announced it is extending the LaunchPad Accelerator Africa programme to include startups from a further 12 African countries of Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Cameroon, Botswana, Sénégal, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, Algeria. The existing countries of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda in the class 1 of the programme will be retained. Interested startups can apply here: https://developers.google.com/startups/regional/. Applications for Class 2 will close on 8 July. To qualify, startups have to be a technology startup, based in Sub-Saharan Africa, targeting the African market, and have raised seed funding. Google additionally considers the problem…

  Fellow scholars, it is important to highlight the existence of a genuine need for ICT systems for development in sub-Sahara Africa. In particular, we have to distinguish elections as the best opportunity to encourage political leaders to promote innovation in the polity. So, using ICT to elect credible leaders could motivate successful and satisfied politicians to encourage emerging governments to adapt the innovations to mainstream development and governance. As the 2019 elections draw closer, there is no doubt that putting in place relevant ICT infrastructure now for the application of adaptable technology in our electoral processes will go a…

  The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has again assured that the implementation of the Nigerian Content Development Program in Information and Communication Technology is on course. The Federal Government agency that co-ordinates general Information Technology development and regulation in Nigeria, said one of the ways it is implementing the policy is to set the local content as a criteria for qualifying for IT procurements in the implementation of the 2018 budget. “NITDA is vigorously implementing and enforcing the Nigerian Content Development Plan in ICT as a sustainable framework for the strategic development of ICT in Nigeria,” NITDA said…

  A new report by Business Insider has highlighted some of the challenges traditional media companies are presently contending with in the face of the highly competitive media landscape and the strategies they can deploy to remain relevant. For instance, the report titled ‘Beyond Cord-Cutting: The Strategies Top Media Companies are Employing to Forge Ahead as More Viewers Abandon Linear TV’, noted that consumers have been canceling their pay-TV subscriptions in favor of internet-delivered alternatives since 2010, reducing a record 3.4 per cent year-over-year (YoY) in 2017, and the rate of decline is expected to accelerate further in the coming…

  The newly elected National Executive Council of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), last week paid a visit to the corporate headquarter of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The aim of the visit, according to the President of ATCON, Mr. Olusola Teniola is to seek collaboration of the country’s telecom regulator in revamping Broadband penetration initiative in Nigeria. Olusola believes that revamping broadband will ultimately creates jobs for the teeming youths, enhance capacity building and training for the youths, by making concrete attempts to measure the state of broadband infrastructure of the states as well as to…

  The Multi-stakeholders Advisory Group (MAG) of the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF), has announced plans and arrangement for this year’s forum, schedule to take place next month in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. According to the organizer, the theme of this year’s forum is ‘Internet as Enabler for Good Governance’. The Honourable Minster of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu, is the Special Guest of Honour, and will declare the forum open. The forum will feature a Pre-NIGF Youths Workshop with the theme ‘Internet for Opportunities, Value Creation and Empowerment’. “Objective of NIGF 2018 is to facilitate stakeholders’ intervention on the use…

  Carrot Technologies Limited, a fintech company has berthed in Lagos with a vision to be a dominant digital estate planning player in Africa. The new Company is on a mission to simplify access to estate planning online for everyone, everywhere starting from Nigeria. Explaining the concept, the Founder/CEO of Carrot Technologies Limited, Luqman Balogun, said “Life is full of uncertainties and risks. We all face these challenges irrespective of social class, ethnicity, religion and other factors. These are the realities of life. Those who succeed in life are those who acknowledge these uncertainties and hence, arm themselves with a…

… drum support IPv6 Roundtable   The IPv6 Council Nigeria  and Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), have commended the management of DigitalSENSE Africa Media, for the consistency in providing Internet stakeholders in Nigeria the platform to evolve and align with the global eco-system, describing DigitalSENSE Africa as ‘fore-bearers’ of good news on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D).   Speaking at the 9th edition of the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) and Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable, as part of the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum (NDSF) series, at the Cooperative Hall, Oshodi-Isolo Secretariat, Oshodi-Lagos, the chairman of IPv6 Council Nigeria, Mr.…

  By Martin Ekpeke A 2017 Cyber Security Report has disclosed that over 81 percent of cyber security incidents in Nigeria are either unreported or unresolved, leaving room for the proliferation of cybercrime activities, which the report estimated to have cost the country $649 million in 2017. The report, ‘Demystifying the Africa Cyber Security Poverty Line,’ which was launched in Lagos earlier this week by Kenya based Serianu Limited in partnership with the United States International University (USIU Africa) and Demadiur Systems Limited, also disclosed that over 90 percent of Nigerian organizations are operating below security poverty line. This, the…

  By Martin Ekpeke The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has reiterated that it is actively involved and committed to the implementation of the Federal Government’s National Financial Inclusion target of 80 percent adult Nigerians by 2020. The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta stated this today during a presentation at this year’s Digital PayExpo event in Lagos. Danbatta, who was represented at the 3-day event by Bashir Idris, Deputy Director, Policy, Competition & Economic Analysis of the Commission, argues that NCC’s commitment towards financial inclusion is evident through the participation and collaboration with the Central Bank of…