Africa’s leading financial and human capital technology powerhouse, SystemSpecs, has revealed the list of inspiring personalities who will serve as judges in this year’s edition of its annual Children’s Day Essay Competition. They include Bayo Adekanmbi, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Transformation Officer; Jumoke Lawoyin, techpreneur and Chief Executive Officer at Lucy.ng; and Emeka Okoye, Chief Semantic Architect and Knowledge Engineer at Cymantiks Nigeria. The submission of entries into the essay competition has been extended till April 30th, 2021 in response to requests by schools and students affected by the irregular school terms regime across Nigeria to enable them to participate in…
Author: DigitalTimesNG
By Elvis EROMOSELE A week is a week. This is almost true in every part of the world regardless of the season. Every week is also unique. The activities, the happenings and the stories define each week. This week has been epoch-making in every sense. This week, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the death of George Floyd. The verdict was unanimous. He was caught on camera kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over 9mins. George in pleading for his life kept saying “I can’t breathe.” After the verdict, Philonise Floyd, George’s brother said that he’s “able…
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has commissioned the Emergency Communication Centres (ECCs) established by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Ogun and Enugu states. The two NCC projects were part of the seven projects inaugurated by the Minister during the virtual commissioning of batch nine of digital economy projects for a Digital Nigeria which took place at the Communications & Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, Abuja on Friday, April 23, 2021. The ECCs are deliberate projects embarked upon by the Commission pursuant to its mandates, enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, to…
By Folashade Blessing Olugbogi The creation of powerful apps and the growing need for multi-device experiences have completely altered how people apply technology in today’s digital environment. Designing for a single platform, which was once customary, is no longer feasible. On wearables, smartphones, PCs, smart TVs, and even on upcoming platforms like voice assistants, AR/VR headsets, and devices, consumers desire smooth, integrated experiences. The finest illustration of this change is found in ecosystems known as “Super Apps,” which combine multiple services into a single application. Platforms like WeChat, Grab, Gojek, and Alipay have completely transformed digital convenience by providing everything…
Tecno Mobil, a Chinese smartphone brand has bested Korean giant, Samsung for handset sales in Africa in 2020. Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor service announced this week that the Transsion Holdings-owned brand’s launch of handset models in the affordable segment and continued market spending has allowed it to make significant inroads on the continent. Tecno Mobile managed to achieve this despite a 6.7% year on year fall in Africa’s smartphone shipments in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker had already placed the company first in Africa for Q1 to Q3 last…
Thousands of e-cab drivers spread across Lagos State have embarked on strike action since Monday 19th April 2021, which has in turn, affected people’s mobility in getting to their respective places of work and destinations. The e-cab drivers are lamenting poor conditions of services by their coordinating body, Uber and Bolt Nigeria, according to a report by The Source. The drivers in enumerating their demands stated that they want proper profiling of all drivers patronizing the services, upward review of the fares to meet the current economic reality, review of all accounts blocked unjustifiably, adequate welfare packages for drivers and…
Bitzlato (BZ), the latest P2P Crypto Exchange to enter the African market, has added Lemonade Finance, a borderless payment platform for Africa as a payment method to its platform. Lemonade Finance provides a 100% digital payment experience for Africans to seamlessly participate in the global economy from anywhere in the world without any hassle or regardless of where they are from. The partnership will enable users on the BZ platform to buy and sell bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies on the marketplace at zero cost. Users in Nigeria will now be able to send Nigerian Naira (NGN) to MPESA at 0%…
Airtel Africa, a provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, has announced the successful signing of a new $500 million loan facility with a group of relationship banks. The new committed facility consists of a combination of a revolving credit facility and term loans with tenor of up to 4 years. The facility will be used to partially refinance the Group’s €750 million denominated bond (c.$880 million) due 20 May 2021. The balance of the Euro-denominated bond will be repaid with existing Group cash to reduce gross debt and associated interest costs.…
FIS, a financial technology company, has announced that it is expanding its payment processing capabilities into the rapidly growing markets of Nigeria, South Africa and Malaysia in continuation of its efforts at building its footprint as a global acquirer. In South Africa and Nigeria, FIS is offering domestic payment processing services through its previously announced agreement with the payments technology company, Flutterwave, a 2016 graduate of the FIS Accelerator program. Through its Worldpay product portfolio, FIS processes billions of transactions annually across 146 countries and more than 300 payments types in 126 currencies. As part of its growth strategy, FIS…
Report has shown that mobile users in Nigeria have been impacted by mobile malware during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new report by mobile technology specialist, Upstream, and its full-stack anti-fraud platform, Secure-D titled “A Pandemic On Mobile – Mobile Ad Fraud and Malware,” has revealed. Nigeria, which has low mobile internet penetration at 35 per cent, has tremendous growth potential but is also a prime target for threat actors. Insights for Nigeria come from a three-month sensor campaign that aimed to determine fraud levels in the country from November 2020 to January 2021. During the study period, 415,000 mobile transactions…