The Nation Newspaper

Category: Infotech

  • How to prolong smartphone battery life

    How to prolong smartphone battery life

    Batteries are essential for mobile phones to work. When the telecoms revolution began in Nigeria, what was common were feature phones essentially designed to make and receive voice calls and do short message service (SMS). But technology has since changed. Smartphones have taken over and they cost fortunes to acquire. LUCAS AJANAKU reports that improper charging could destroy a smartphone’s battery and compromise its efficiency.

    The advent of the global system for mobile (GSM) communication has transformed lives. With the telecoms revolution that happened over a decade ago in Nigeria, the preponderance of smartphones and the increase in the level of internet penetration have not only broken the fetters erected by distance, it has turned the world into a global village.

    With the challenge in electricity supply in the country and the need to “stay connected”, some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have come with ingenuous products such power bank and solar chargers. But in all these too are chargers to keep the mobile phones running.

    The functions the mobile phones perform have increased phenomenally over the years, with equally phenomenal increase in available mobile applications. According to Wikipedia, the Google Play Store or Google Play (originally as the Android Market) is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for the Android operating system, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android SDK and published through Google. According to AppBrain Stats, (an online platform for statistics on Android libraries, development and tool), there are over 1,400,000 applications available as of November 2014, of which over 1.2million are free and over 200,000 are paid. And on the Apple Store, there are over two million apps and an estimated 100 billion downloads for various iOS devices globally.

    The mobile phone has become many users’ personal assistant, companion, day planner, wallet, health instructor, pay television station, video/audio camera, photographer and so many others. All these functions are driven by applications that could drain battery life.

    But how diligent or otherwise the batteries of smartphones are charged can also affect its battery life, a new research by Battery University has shown. Charging smartphone’s lithium-ion battery in short bursts can improve its lifespan, while leaving the phone plugged in once it is 100 per cent charged is bad for the power source, the research warned.

    Battery University is a free educational website that offers hands-on battery information to engineers, educators, media, students and battery users alike. The tutorials evaluate the advantages and limitations of battery chemistries, advise on best battery choice and suggest ways to extend battery life.

    Its latest research provides insight on how to prolong smartphones battery life using the correct charging methods, which means the device can spend more time giving the user reliable performance.

     

    Optimising smartphones

    For smartphones users to optimise the battery life of the phones, the hints below will be of great use:

    Remove phone when fully charged

     

    The research states that leaving your device plugged in past the 100 per cent charge point is bad for its battery.

    Leaving it charging keeps the battery under high stress, which wears it down.

    Removing the device from charging when it reaches 100 per cent is like “relaxing muscles after strenuous exercise”.

     

    Regular charge at 100% unnecessary

    According to Battery University, lithiumion batteries do not need to be fully charged all the time, and doing so is not the best way to maintain the battery.

    “It is better not to fully charge, because a high voltage stresses the battery”, stated the report, which will wear it down over time.

    Multiple, short bursts of charging are advised over one long charge.

     

    Charge device regularly

    Smartphone batteries respond better to multiple stints of charging throughout the day instead of one long charge when the battery is running low.

    Battery University stated that charging your device every time its drops 10per cent of its battery life would be the best-case scenario.

    As this is not practical for many people, charging your phone when you have an opportunity is advised.

    This will keep your smartphone’s battery performing better for longer.

     

    Keep device cool always

    Smartphone batteries must avoid extreme heat to function optimally, and Apple advises users to remove phone cases if they notice their device heating up while charging.

    “It’s especially important to avoid exposing your device to ambient temperatures higher than 35°C, which can permanently damage battery capacity,” stated Apple.

     

  • Cutting cost in Internet of Things (IoT) era

    Cutting cost in Internet of Things (IoT) era

    When implementing an Internet of Things (IoT) application, a platform solution with the right partner can save users 33 per cent over self-built infrastructure.

    What if we took all the data coming out of our everyday devices and connect them? This means we can cook at home using our mobile phones while working at the office, turn on the heater before we get home, watch our children in playpens while we shop. We can have stock re-order levels for business programmed onto electronic shelves; we can have intelligent traffic lights that sync with ambulances on emergency response duty. Factories can run on autopilot and systems could replace fraught manual effort.

    Everything, everywhere, can be ordered intelligently on the Internet. Wired describes this situation thus: “In our houses, cars, and factories, we’re surrounded by tiny, intelligent devices that capture data about how we live and what we do. Now they are beginning to talk to one another. Soon we’ll be able to choreograph them to respond to our needs, solve our problems, even save our lives.”

    In some ways, the IoT is already happening on a small scale, but the global integration of small and big data is yet to happen. Many intelligent embedded systems sit in manufacturing lines, production tables, homes and offices disconnected from a symphony of sorts that could emerge, where they are all hooked to intelligent robotic controls based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the cloud.

    Every time technology attempts an advance by a new wave of learning, it is held back by some kind of fear, a fear with devastating consequences could befall mankind. That when the conscious web takes charge of lives, some ill-intentioned terrorists will crash a world wholly reliant on devices and the scare that devices will get a mind of their own and turn against man. Maybe, just maybe, it is the unpalatable concept of change, and the rigour that new thinking and ways of things will demand of humanity that irks.

    Trinity Telecoms said in spite of these, the IoT presents a tremendous opportunity for businessmen to exploit the monitoring, management and control of the ‘things’ in their business remotely.

    Forecasts from International Data Corporation (IDC) indicate that billions of things will be connected worldwide by 2020, and companies are citing “internal productivity and efficiency” as the primary drivers for this momentum toward IoT investments.

    However, there is a complex equation of factors to consider in a business plan, with unique challenges regarding Operations, Scale, Cost and Customer Service.

    Where do the major business cost contributors lie in IoT?

    Understanding the operational costs can help businessmen make smart decisions about the technology, processes and partners you need.

    This will help businessmen ensure that their IoT initiatives run at the lowest cost, highest availability and provide the best customer experience.

     

    Top operational costs

    • Connectivity: 19-43 per cent of the costs are associated with connecting devices to the Internet; most often via wireless networks in a combination of local networks (RFID, Wi-Fi, ZigBee and others) and the mobile network (private or public)
    • Administrative operations: 15-28 per cent of the ongoing costs are associated with the day-to-day management and operation of IoT assets and business processes; structured life cycle management
    • Support: 10-28 per cent of the costs are associated with identifying, troubleshooting and resolving field-reported issues with the IoT assets.
    • Time to market: not only for the first minimum viable product (MVP), but also ongoing updates/upgrades. Impacting these costs are implications associates with the time to provision devices with services and testing devices with services before deployment.

    These costs summed together make a strong case to leverage the benefits of a dedicated IoT platform solution using software as a service (SaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS) model.

     

    PaaS vs self-build

    infrastructure

    A self-funded developed platform can cost upwards of R2-3 million taken over then first 12-18 months to reach a MVP.

    Compare this to a value driven per device per month fee model, which could cost 10-15 per cent per annum less for a 1,000 device network over the same period; and can easily be operational in just a few weeks.

    “The opportunity costs lost in the self-build platform can never be caught up,” says Andrew Groves of Trinity, who works with customers to develop intelligent, connected IoT solutions.

    “Similarly, starting business operations on either a savings or new revenue model in month one can easily realise your business case objectives while the platform capabilties keep evolving too.”

    As such, a PaaS system can amount to 33per cent direct savings over self-build infrastructure, while allowing you to choose from multiple local and international mobile network operators (MNOs) connectivity networks.

    “Companies of all sizes, across industries, can use an IoT service platform to capitalise on IoT and get the most out of their ‘things’ by getting them connected,” Andrew added.

     

    Choosing IoT provider

    To choose an IoT provider, look for real-time based monitoring and control; past history and deep experience cannot be substituted when considering an IoT partner; know your core competency, and leverage a platform for supporting elements; and having tools for full life-cycle management on all aspects will simplify operations massively.

     

    Culled from Mybroadband Newsletter

  • Digital broadcasting: Dangers loom, warns NBC

    The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has warned that in spite of the limitless opportunities digital broadcasting will unleash on the nation, dangers lurk in the corner if the right contents are not developed and made available to the citizens.

    Its Director-General, Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, who gave the warning in Lagos during a summit on Broadcast Content and National Security, said broadcasting regulatory institution such as NBC must be at the cutting edge of developments in the challenging world of 21st Century broadcasting. He expressed the hope that Digital Switch Over (DSO) will be achieved by June, 2017, though it will immediately confront newer challenges that will task institutional abilities.

    He said: “Reflect on a broadcasting scenario with tens upon tens of new television stations (will open services); they will purvey all manners of content, challenging our sensibilities, in ways that we probably cannot even begin to imagine today. Yet, broadcasting in general is not just about the technical realities of studios, transmitters or even the personnel; at its heart is content.

    “But there are potentially negative implications too. In the extreme, there are anti-state forces willing to take advantage of the openings becoming increasingly available to all of us, to subvert national security. “Can broadcast content become an avenue to subvert national security? The possibilities are real, especially with what we have seen of secessionist groups in some parts of the country; they have set up radio stations broadcasting inciting and subversive content. There is also the terrorism of Boko Haram, and its recent efforts to even launch a radio station on the border between Nigeria and Cameroun, as reported in the past month, in the media. These groups are using the internet to post chauvinistic, unpatriotic and often subversive, content. They are contesting the spaces of our national history and seeking to win the minds of the young, with narratives and discourses that challenge our nationhood and wellbeing. As I said, these are the extreme ends of the broadcast content debacle.”

    According to him, the lower end of the stratum is how good old Not to be Broadcast (NTBB) materials have continued to shift in directions that will give the pause to old school broadcasters, adding that in the past content was everything because practitioners then were cultured into a tradition of respect for the ethos of broadcasting; values which seemed to have become increasingly eroded, sadly, as most values have given way at several levels in the country.

    Kawu said the NBC management realised the historic importance of the new phase of DSO; its exciting possibilities and the dangers that might be lurking in the process for national security stressing that the Commission is thinking of resourcefulness and insight that would deal with issues such as religion and ethnicity; family, the home and social well-being; the variety of cultures that waters the streams of national cultures. Others are diversity and mutual respect between individual citizens and people and communities; peaceful conduct; conflicts management; separatist agitations and insurgencies; the straining relations between sedentary farming communities and nomadic communities; problems of education of the young and the exposure to imperialist media content, to mention a few.

  • NITDA: People, process, tech key to e-governance

    The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has identified people, process and technology as key success factors in the deployment of electronic or e-governance tool in the country and the benefits therefrom.

    Its acting Director General, Dr Vincent Olatunji who spoke on: Information Technology- A Veritable Tool for Governance and Achieving a Corrupt Free Public Administration, at Nigerian Telecom Awards, in  Lagos said President Muhammadu Buhari has mounted a holistic anti-corruption crusade as one of the tenets of his administration, adding however that strong and transparent institutions are required to achieve good governance and a corrupt free administration.

    According to him, Information Technology (IT) provides a veritable platform for the development of such strong and transparent institutions as it supports reduction of waste and enthrones efficient service delivery which are two key areas of focus of this administration.

    He said IT allows for the identification of processes that lead to waste and inefficiency and also allows for the automation of processing that can prevent human error, both intentional and unintentional.

    On strengthening institutions and ensuring successful e-governance, said people are critical, stressing that they can either support the delivery of effective governance or serve as a clog in the wheel of progress, hence they require knowledge to perform optimally or otherwise.

    He said processes refer to a series of actions taken to achieve a specific goal.

    “Institutional processes can either strengthen or weaken governance in an institution. Technology can be used to speed up the processes and improve efficiency,” Olatunji said.

    On technology, he said it include hardware and software, satellite systems, and others leading to emerging technologies such as social networking, big data analytics, cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoTs).

    “e-Government is not only about ‘e’ but about government; e-government is not about computers and websites but about citizens and businesses; e-government is not about translating processes but about transforming processes,” Olatunji said.

    He said the key areas of the National E-government Initiative include Connected Government; Informed Citizenry (through the services.gov.ng portal) and Open Government/Open Data Initiative such as WAEC, JAMB, Customs, Immigrations, Schools, CAC.

    He said this has had a tremendous effect on the financial sector which witnessed over N4trillion worth of transactions last year.

    Other eGovernment Component of the Nigerian ICT4D Plan include the National e-Government Master Plan in collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) implementation which he said led Communications Technology Minister,  Adebayo Shittu, to lead a 14-man delegation to Korea for a 10-day High Level Capacity Building for e-Government in Nigeria. He said it was designed by KOICA.

  • Oracle pays $9.3b to acquire NetSuite

    Oracle has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NetSuite, a cloud company. The transaction is valued at $109.00 per share in cash, or approximately $9.3 billion.

    Explaining the rationale for the acquisition, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle, Mark Hurd, said: “Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever. We intend to invest heavily in both products – engineering and distribution.

    Founder, Chief Technology Officer and Chairman, NetSuite, Evan Goldberg, said:  “NetSuite has been working for 18 years to develop a single system for running a business in the cloud.  This combination is a winner for NetSuite’s customers, employees and partners.”

    “NetSuite will benefit from Oracle’s global scale and reach to accelerate the availability of our cloud solutions in more industries and more countries,” said Zach Nelson, Chief Executive Officer, NetSuite. “We are excited to join Oracle and accelerate our pace of innovation.”

    The evaluation and negotiation of the transaction was led by a Special Committee of Oracle’s Board of Directors consisting solely of independent directors. The Special Committee unanimously approved the transaction on behalf of Oracle and its Board of Directors.

    The transaction is expected to close in 2016. The closing of the transaction is subject to receiving certain regulatory approvals and satisfying other closing conditions including NetSuite stockholders tendering a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares in the tender offer. In addition, the closing is subject to a condition that a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares not owned by executive officers or directors of NetSuite, or persons affiliated with Larry Ellison, his family members and any affiliated entities, be tendered in the tender offer.

     

  • Controversy over telcos’ LTE deployment claim

    Controversy over telcos’ LTE deployment claim

    Right from the development of steam power to today’s highly digitalised world, technology has kept evolving. From the first generation (1G) analogue technology emerged the 2G networks, then 3G and, ultimately, the 4G long-term evolution (LTE). Some markets are said to be doing 5G already. While telcos in Nigeria have done well in 2G and 3G deployment, 4G LTE deployment appears largely efforts still in the works, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    According to a study by global telecoms body, the Global System for Mobile communications Association (GSMA) Intelligence, the number of 4G-LTE connections worldwide will pass one billion by next year.

    The group said LTE users consume 1.5GB of data monthly on average – almost twice the average amount consumed by non-LTE users.

    By next year, it is expected that LTE will account for about one in eight of the more than eight billion total mobile connections forecast by that point, up from 176 million LTE connections at the end of 2013.

    Nearly 500 LTE networks are forecast to be in service across 128 countries, roughly double the number of live LTE networks.

    GSMA’s Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Hyunmi Yang, said the acceleration of 4G LTE continues to increase across the world. “Since the launch of the first commercial 4G-LTE networks in late 2009, we are seeing deployments accelerate across the globe,” Yang said.

    GSMA calculates that about 20 per cent of the global population is  within LTE network coverage range. As operators continue to expand LTE coverage over the next few years, it is forecast that LTE networks will be available to half of the world’s population by next year.

    The United States (U.S.) accounts for almost half (46 per cent) of global LTE connections, while the U.S., South Korea and Japan combined account for 80 per cent.

    Asia, however, is expected to account for almost half (47 per cent) of all LTE connections by next year, as LTE networks are rolled out in major markets, such as China and India.

    According to the GSMA, in most cases, the migration to 4G-LTE is happening considerably faster than the earlier migration from 2G to 3G.

    However in Nigeria, the LTE momentum is building despite all the many obstacles along the way. Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Smile, Spectranet, Swift Networks, are already rolling out services on 4G LTE in some major cities in the country while e.Stream Networks has struck partnership with Bitflux Communications. No fewer than 28 African countries offer 4G/LTE services.

    For telcos, many of them claim to have started deploying the technology while their subscribers in metropolitan Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and other major cities, hardly get services on 3G.

    ntel, the fifth telco that emerged from the crumbs of NITEL/Mtel, also promised service delivery on 4G LTE. It even announced the commencement of its phased and paced commercial operations with bumper offers for ioneers and data users.

    The first 100,000 to redeem and activate their ntel SIMs will get free on-net calls for life while data subscribers will get three months unlimited data usage on select bundles.

    Its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kamar Abass, said the telco has started commercial activities on its newly commissioned 4G/LTE-advanced network. “Our very earliest customers will be able to buy and use these services in clusters, across Lagos and Abuja from sales outlets and agents featuring our bright new brand name: ntel,” he was quoted in a stateement.

    But MTN appears to have taken decisive steps in actually deploying the technology through investment in the purchase of spectrum. It has already launched LTE services in countries, such as Cameroon Rwanda and Uganda.

    Not too long ago, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta, awarded MTN the 2x30MHz slots in the 2.6 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band, following the payment of N18.96 billion ($96 million) licence fee.

    As customary of the regulator, the spectrum was offered on a technology neutral basis and can be used to provide any telecoms services.

    The need to deliver present and future generations of broadband services to subscribers in line with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan of 2013-2018 to raise broadband penetration by 30 per cent, necessitated the auctioning of the 2.6GHz spectrum.

    Earlier in 2014, Bitflux had beat Glo to win the $23.251million 2.3GHz spectrum licence to provide wholesale broadband services across the country. The 2.6 GHz, the regulator said, will complement the 2.3GHz, which is to expected offer retail services. Globally, about 108 networks have rolled out telecom services on the 2.6GHz spectrum to indicate its importance to the telecom industry, including Ghana.

    As was with the previous bid rounds, NCC said the award of the spectrum was through an open, transparent and competitive process in which all operators – local and foreign – enjoyed equal rights of participation in line with the NCC’s desire for transparency and ensuring a level playing field for operators.

    MTN secured a 10-year national spectrum licence on a state-by-state as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the spectrum band. This follows the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) decision to set aside the spectrum in the 2.6GHz band for the provision of Advanced Wireless Broadband Services (AWS).

    “In line with the provisions of the information memorandum guiding the auction process, having paid the fees specified for 2 x 30 MHz in the 2.6 GHz Spectrum, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited has been awarded the licence,” Danbatta said, adding that it is a significant fillip to the realisation of the Eight-Point Agenda of transforming the industry.

    The NCC said it will review the auction process that produced only MTN, adding that the remaining 40 megahertz (MHz) slots in the 2.6 GHz spectrum band will be put on sale.

    The acquisition of Visafone Communications Ltd with its 800MHz frequency band is another strategic step as it will allow MTN to rollout the 4GLTE across the country.

    Its CEO, Ferdi Moolman said the telco plans to have about 1,500 LTE collocated sites backhauled with fibre optics this year, offering 4G VoLTE by Q3 of the year.

    He said the 2.6GHz band guarantees superior performance for wireless networks, especially 4G LTE services.

    “With the 2.6 GHz band, we expect to roll out and provide the full range of LTE services to Nigerians, empowering Nigeria with the latest mobile broadband technology.

    “Our subscribers, especially those in clustered areas, such as the major cities, can expect distinct improvements in browsing speed, quality and experience. This means that they will have fast access to high definition video streaming as well as conferencing and calling, lag-free music streaming, and improved data uploads and downloads,” Moolman said, assuring that it’s, indeed, a new dawn for customers as services on the 4G LTE broadband internet services will be deployed across the country, beginning with major cities of Lagos and Abuja.

    MTN, which has deployed fibre optic cables (OFC) across the country to boost the transmission capacity on the network, argued that its success in the auction is a big boost to its desire to deliver high speed mobile broadband and LTE 4G services to over 63 million customers in Nigeria.  It also plans to use FDD networks in addition to its existing WIMAX over TDD networks, as this provides for greater consistency with existing 2G and 3G deployments.

    “As at October 2013, a total of 11,500 kilometres had been covered with OFC across Nigeria; this makes it the longest privately-owned OFC ever laid in Africa and definitely one of the most modern.

    “Our leadership position in the area of network investment, coverage, expansion and state of the art infrastructure is also evident – with more than $12 billion invested to date in fixed assets and facilities nationwide and an additional $3 billion investment to be ploughed into the network over the next two years (2013-2015),” MTN explained.

    In 2010, MTN Nigeria (in partnership with Ericsson) inaugurated the largest network switch centre in the world, capable of handling calls from up to eight million subscribers at a time.

    The MTN network is coordinated from 117 switches spread across the country with 25 in Lagos, 13 in Abuja, 15 in Asaba, 12 in Kano,  seven in Port Harcourt, 12 in  Ibadan, 13 in Owerri, six in Kaduna, nine in Enugu and five in Benin.

     

    Advantages

     

    In developing economies, operators have noted that LTE users can generate an average revenue per user (ARPU) seven to 20 times greater than non-LTE users. In developed markets, operators have found that LTE can generate an ARPU uplift ranging from 10 per cent to 40 per cent.

    Four out of five mobile operators that have acquired ‘new’ spectrum since January 2010 have been allocated airwaves aimed at supporting the launch of LTE networks.

    LTE will be a game changer in terms of how a significant number of Africans use their phones. NCC said the 2.6 GHz spectrum as a significant trigger for a broadband revolution that will unlock benefits such as greater coverage, access, affordability and innovation, with the customer at the centre of these gains.

     

    Pushing past obstacles

     

    Its implementation has been slow so far because of the many obstacles it faces: a shortage of devices, lack of appropriate spectrum and waiting to get return on investment (RoI) on 3G.

  • Bosch mulls manufacturing plant in Nigeria

    Bosch, a German global supplier of technology and services, isplanning to build manufacturing plants in the country.

    Its Regional Director, Benjamin Ofori, who spoke at a press conference/dealer’s summit in Lagos, said feasibility studies were ongoing, lamenting that unstable power supply and dearth of infrastructure remained the biggest challenges.

    He said the firm has introduced its professional power tools in Nigeria, geared at increasing efficiency in output and growth of businesses, adding that the tools will be imported and distributed through its dealers.

    Ofori said the firm has been doing business in Nigeria for 80 years through its trade partners who are mainly from the private sector, adding that it has opened an office in the country.

    He noted that the office which is expected to hit over 200 million Euro value growths before 2020, would serve and oversee market for the West African region.

    He said doing business with Nigeria is a step in the right direction for the company, noting that Africa offers great potential for business with Nigeria leading the pack as the biggest economy in Africa, with more than 170 million people and an emerging middle class.

    According to him, Bosch Group is renowned for its leadership in mobility solutions, industrial technology, consumer goods, energy and building technology, geared towards erasing low standard tools in the country.

    He said the company is determined to establish these four major segments in Nigeria and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa with offices established in Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique and Tunisia.

  • Nigeria’s ATM deficit hits 45,000, says CWG

    The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) automated teller machine (ATM) national requirement pegged at 60,000 has only been met with about 15,000, thereby leading to congestion at various points where they are available, the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) has said.

    It, however, said despite Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (NDIC’s) report showing that fraud cases perpetrated through the use of ATM and other card payment systems last year rose to 11.95 per cent, the percentage of users of the technology in the country far exceeded that of the United Kingdom (U.K.), and Ghana.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. James Agada, who shared the outcome of an assessment it carried out, said the average ATM in Nigeria dispenses thrice the number of notes in Ghana and 10 times the number of notes in U.K.

    Agada, who spoke at an ICT editors workshop organised by the technology firm at its Group Academy in Lekki, Lagos, added that though the number of ATMs deployed across the country fell short of the requirement set down by the apex bank, it has not deterred users.

    He said:  “By accepted proportion, according to the CBN, we should have at least 60,000 ATMs installed but only 15,000 ATMs are available to serve the teeming population.  The number of people with ATM cards keeps increasing by the day despite the shortfall in ATMs and Nigeria still ranks higher in ATM usage.”

    Agada, who agreed that ATMs come down with some issues, however, said these problems were overstated. “The core issue we have with the ATMs are that we don’t have enough of them and the few around are overwhelmed,” Agada added.

    The CWG chief, who spoke against the background of ATM related frauds in the country, said it is not peculiar to the Nigerian environment, but was a global challenge that was receiving attention from various quarters. He said there was more security in the country than the United States of America (U.S.A.).

    “As far as ATM security is concerned, Nigeria is more secured compared to places like the U.S.A. or U.K. In Nigeria we have many measures being deployed to curb the problem of ATM-related fraud. We also have PIN-Shield, security cameras, mirrors, encryption technology, anti-phishing devices fixed on the ATM and we are not resting on our oars.

    “There’s nowhere you carry out transactions without the risk of some likely fraudulent potential; recall that the Central Bank of Bangladesh was scammed and lost $80million to fraud which has gone untraced till date. So, if the system of a central bank could be compromised by these fraudsters, no one is spared.

    “Bearing this reality in mind, the truth is that there is no absolute security because these technologies keep evolving; hence it is key to ensure that the good technology solutions stay ahead of the bad,” Agada added.

     

  • ‘Data collation vital to economic growth’

    Nigeria needs to do more in its data collation to experience growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and create more jobs, President, Association of Economists and Statisticians of Nigeria (AESN), Dr Bayo Adedokun, has said.

    He decried Nigeria’s inability to exploit its data, called for increased investment in data management, to improve the quality of institutions, increase the number of people that will be engaged in terms of job and provide opportunity to plan properly, thereby improving organisations’ profit for the betterment of the country.

    At the group’s seminar/induction in Lagos, Adedokun said the government, the private sector, universities and other stakeholders should be more involved in data management. “We cannot leave everything to the government, but there can be a platform through which government organisations and the private sector participant can work together to produce and transmit data.

    “Today, we are talking about big data, in relation to data volume, variety and velocity. Data is now being transferred at the speed of light and if we have efficient data, our economy will be on the right path. Let’s stop focusing on crude oil that has failed us; let’s look at knowledge based capital, which is investment in people that understand how data works, to enable the nation move forward,” he said.

    Adedokun, who rated Nigeria 40 per cent in data management, noted that the government must invest in human capital development, including, health, welfare and formal education/ knowledge based education.

    He added that to ensure data management in the country, the association aims to have a private data bank  that will be reliable in many areas.

    He said it would require a lot of money and infrastructure to get the bank in place, adding that the association was ready to work with other groups to achieve this.

  • Technology revolution catalyst for growth, say Osinbajo, others

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has stressed the importance of technology to development. In his view,  service and technology are the differentiators between countries that have tackled poverty effectively by growing and developing their economies, and those that cannot.

    Speaking at Techplus 2016 in Lagos at the weekend, he said the extent to which developing economies emerge as economic powerhouses depends on their ability to grasp and apply insights from science and technology and use them creatively.

    Represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Job Creation/Youth Employment, Mr. Afolabi Imoukhuede, the VP said: “Innovation is the primary driver of technological growth and drives higher living standards. As an engine of growth, the potential of technology is endless.”

    He said technology is a major leapfrogging element to economic diversification; hence the Federal Government has developed a blueprint to key into the smart city initiative of Lagos State and come up with other initiatives to promote technology appreciation and adoption to an appreciable level with the multiplier effect on the economy.

    Also, former Communications Technology Minister and Chair, Alliance for Affordable Internet, Dr. Omobola Johnson, said developments in technology are altering the way people live, connect, communicate and transact.  These developments, she said, have had profound effects on economic development in Nigeria and Africa at large. According to her, to promote tech advancement, developing countries should invest in quality education for youth, continuous skills training for workers and managers for all stakeholders to understand the importance of the continuous revolution.

    She said technology has become a key driver to development, because technological revolutions underpin economic advances, improvements in business, health, education and infrastructure.

    “The technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely new sectors, based on micro-processors, telecommunications, bio-technology and nano-technology. Products are transforming business practices across the economy, as well as the lives of all who have access to their effects. The most remarkable breakthroughs will come from the interaction of insights and applications arising when these technologies converge,” she said.

    Chief Enterprise Business Officer, MTN Nigeria, Linda Saint-Nwafor, who represented the Managing Director, Fedri Moolman, highlighted the importance of the forum to technology promotion and adoption in the ecosystem, saying, it’s a gathering to debate, interact and share ideas that will benefit everyone.