Author: Rommy Imah

-To Boost Innovation & ‘Techpreneurs’ With 2021 ‘Accelerator’ Programme Africa’s foremost innovation hub, the Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF), has opened up its registration portal for the 2021 Accelerator programme. Being executed in partnership with Access Bank Plc, the initiative seeks to fast-track the growth of the best start-ups operating within the African technology ecosystem. DigitalTimesNG understands that The ‘Accelerator’ programme will fast track and assist the selected start-ups to navigate issues such as start-up pricing and competitiveness, creating endearing customer experiences, support and retention, hiring and people management, scaling for growth and product development cycle fundamentals amongst others. Daniel Awe,…

Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev) and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have signed a resilience training agreement to carry out the Basic Digital Literacy for Rural Clusters in Northern Nigeria. The programme, according to the promoters, is part of the efforts to empower vulnerable groups in rural clusters in Northern Nigeria with the digital skill-set required for the future of work and advanced learnings for the 21st century in Nigeria. It is also meant to introduce learners in underserved communities and vulnerable groups in Northern Nigeria to digital literacy, with the intent of equipping them…

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it generated the sum of N4. 952 trillion in total tax revenue in the year 2020. Abdullahi Ahmad, the Director Communications and Liaison at the FIRS, said in a statement Tuesday, that the figure represented approximately 98 per cent of the national tax target of N5.076 trillion set for the FIRS by the federal government, in the year under review. The statement quoted the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr Muhammad Nami, as describing the feat as “remarkable” when placed against the backdrop of several factors. He listed the factors…

uLesson, the African learning technology platform, has closed a $7.5mn Series A round led by Owl Ventures, with inclusion from existing investors, TLcom Capital and Founder Collective and participation from new investor LocalGlobe. The development comes as Tory Patterson, Managing Director of Owl Ventures, joins the uLesson board, further strengthening the education startup’s push to deliver affordable, high-quality and accessible education across Africa using technology. Having scaled quickly to 1mn app downloads since its launch in March 2020, the funding will be deployed to power uLesson’s expansion into Eastern & Southern Africa, as well as secure new talent and build…

Nokia Shanghai Bell has confirmed that it will provide Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) with a new, high-bandwidth, mission-critical Nokia IP/MPLS network, to support the digital transformation of its tower operations. Nokia Shanghai Bell will also support and manage the migration of legacy non-IP aviation applications to the new network, according to reports at itp.net. Mervyn Harris, Head of Air Traffic Management, Nokia Cloud and Networks Services said, “As we deploy this robust next-generation network, not only will we complete a flexible, seamless migration of legacy applications but we will also deliver Hong Kong International Airport wide-ranging benefits that include…

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it has created 35 new Tax Audit Units to combat illicit financial flow across the country. Muhammad Nami, the FIRS Chairman, made the announcement in a statement signed by the Director, Communications and Liaison Department, Mr Abdullahi Ahmad in Abuja on Monday. He also disclosed that Nigeria lost $178 billion through tax evasion of foreign multinationals between 2007 and 2017. FIRS said that the creation of the units was also in a bid to improve tax compliance in the country, citing the Chairman’s statements at a workshop in Abuja on Monday titled “Effective…

The management of Zinox Technologies, Nigeria’s leading integrated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Company has debunked allegations of its Chairman, Leo Stan Ekeh, being indicted by the Nigerian Police. This clarification was contained in a detailed statement released to the media on Tuesday, December 22, 2020. ‘‘Firstly, Zinox Technologies makes bold to state categorically that neither its Chairman, Ekeh, nor any of its staff or the staff of Technology Distributions Limited, including Chris Eze Ozims, Shade Oyebode, Charles Adigwe and Mrs Chioma Ekeh, were indicted by any investigative agency or facing any criminal trial in any court in Nigeria. Anyone…

The Federal Government has extended the period of registration for telephone subscribers without the National Identification Number (NIN) by six weeks. With the new development, the registration will now terminate on February 9, 2021. In addition, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and verification charges remain suspended during these extensions. These were some of the resolutions taken by the National Task Force on National Identification Number (NIN) and Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) Registration at a meeting on Monday, 21st December 2020. In a release signed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta and…

…As ICPC Inaugurates Commission’s Anti-Graft Unit  In line with the Federal Government’s efforts to entrench the culture of accountability and transparency in its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has pledged to continually maintain high ethical standards in all its regulatory activities. A statement signed by the NCC Director of Public Affairs and made available to DigitalTimesNG on Tuesday, quoted the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, as affirming this commitment at the inauguration of the Commission’s Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other…

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been giving reasons why it instituted and endowed Professorial Chairs to the tune of N40 million in two more Nigerian universities. The Commission explained that the endowment is in line with its ongoing initiative to ensure a sustainable telecommunications industry that is responsive to global technological changes as well as national consumer preferences. The two universities include the premier University of Ibadan, Oyo State and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Bauchi State. They were endowed with N20 million each over the next two years to embark on massive research to promote innovation to drive…