The Nation Newspaper

Category: Technology

  • Oladipupo immortalised as a Certified Global Tech Hero

    Oladipupo immortalised as a Certified Global Tech Hero

    Oladipupo Bolaji has been immortalised as the 260th Certified Global Tech Hero, a recognition honoring a rare combination of technical mastery, product leadership, and enduring commitment to ecosystem development.

    Across more than two decades of sustained contribution, Oladipupo’s career traces a steady arc from systems development and project delivery to shaping platform products and payment infrastructure that move money, enable commerce, and empower teams at scale. This induction celebrates product launches, engineering wins, and a sustained pattern of translating technical vision into commercial outcomes and multiplying impact through mentorship and capacity building.

    Beginning his professional journey building bespoke systems and enterprise applications, Oladipupo delivered practical software solutions that addressed institutional needs in academic administration, payroll automation, and result management. Early projects automated grading and result processing for tertiary institutions, and later work supported nationwide computer-based testing initiatives that served more than a million candidates across multiple countries. These foundational achievements established a pattern that identified an operational problem, designed a pragmatic system, and delivered reliable technology that endures under scale and complexity.

    That aptitude for solving real problems matured into leadership roles where product strategy, engineering coordination, and stakeholder stewardship became impact levers. As a product and project leader, Oladipupo took ownership of complex delivery cycles, creating product roadmaps, defining scope and budgets, and leading teams through technical execution. Between hands-on systems development and senior product roles, he developed a rare fluency across technical architecture, product economics, and customer-facing outcomes.

    At global and regional organisations, Oladipupo brought that synthesis to bear on products with a far-reaching footprint. During his tenure at a major technology company, he contributed to commercializing spatial collaboration artifacts and marketplace constructs, which connected product vision to monetization pathways and millions of users worldwide.

    That global exposure was followed by senior product stewardship in fintech, where he architected and launched payment infrastructure that directly addressed the needs of African markets, such as multi-currency collections, cross-border flows, automated compliance, merchant onboarding, and developer-friendly APIs. In these roles, he balanced the exacting demands of compliance and fraud mitigation with the pragmatic need to reduce integration friction for partners and merchants.

    The measurable outcomes of his work strengthened the case for this recognition. Product initiatives under his leadership achieved material transaction volumes and commercial traction; agent banking and point-of-sale platforms reached weekly gross merchandise volumes in the hundreds of millions of naira. At the same time, virtual account integrations processed significant value through digital channels. He led the introduction and scale-up of lending and microcredit products with commercial accountability for business unit performance and growth. These results demonstrate that products conceived to solve structural problems were executed with operational discipline and generated tangible economic value.

    Beyond organisational delivery, Oladipupo has been intentional about multiplying impact across the tech community. He has taught and mentored, transforming practitioner knowledge into practical skills for the next generation of product leaders. As an instructor and mentor, he has guided product managers, college students, and early-career professionals on career readiness, professional networking, and workplace excellence. This devotion to capacity building, teaching product skills in formal courses, and offering one-to-one mentorship in global and local programmes, amplifies the value of his work by equipping others to build resilient products and organisations.

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    The recognition also rests on a foundation of continual learning and formal preparation. Advanced study in information technology and business administration, professional project management certification, and ongoing platform-based learning reflect a commitment to both depth and relevance. These credentials, combined to a long history of successful product delivery, constitute the practical scholarship that underpins his leadership in academic rigour translated into production systems and measurable outcomes.

    Innovation in Oladipupo’s practice is pragmatic and outcome-focused. He has introduced mechanisms that improve payment security, automate compliance workflows, and enhance developer experience, ideas implemented as part of broader platform thinking rather than as isolated experiments.

    In immersive collaboration products, he helped shape reusable artifacts and marketplace approaches that extended monetization pathways. In payments, his emphasis on ISO-compliant flows, fraud detection integrations, and seamless API experiences reduced friction for merchants and partners while improving operational resilience. These innovations are structural improvements that elevated product-market fit and reliability.

    The portfolio of projects spans national education systems and examination delivery, enterprise payroll systems, large-scale point-of-sale ecosystems, digital banking features including virtual accounts and lending products, and platform work that served hundreds of millions of users. Alongside technical execution, Oladipupo has been a reliable steward of cross-functional collaboration, aligning engineering, and compliance, marketing, and customer operations to deliver end-to-end solutions on time and to expected quality.

    To celebrate this immortalisation, Qazeem Oladejo, founder of The Connected Awards, reflected on the broader meaning of such recognition: “This induction is a celebration of leaders who build with purpose and who share their knowledge freely. What makes this moment special is the choices to turn technical success into collective progress, empowering others to learn, launch, and lead. That is the kind of legacy we must honour.”

    Today, as the 260th Certified Global Tech Hero, Oladipupo Bolaji exemplifies how focused technical craft, disciplined product practice, and generous mentorship can transform industries and uplift communities. This honour recognises a career that has produced tangible economic impact, deepened institutional capabilities, and invested in human capital, the very qualities that define leadership in technology today. 

    The certification immortalizes a professional journey that remains unfinished in its ambition; it affirms that the work done so far matters, and that the influence of those efforts will continue to ripple through products, teams, and users for years to come.

  • The Role of Technology in Strengthening Democracy and Transparency

    The Role of Technology in Strengthening Democracy and Transparency

    Every generation’s politics are shaped by the tools it uses. The printing press carried ideas farther than any messenger. Radio and TV changed how leaders spoke to the public. Now it’s digital tech, and the tempo is different: faster, messier, louder—and potentially more democratic. Used well, these tools draw citizens and governments closer. Used badly, they fray trust. The difference comes down to choices, safeguards, and the culture around them.

    A new civic toolkit

    The most obvious shift? How easily people can reach those in power. Filing a complaint once meant letters, queues, or town-hall nights. Today it might be a service portal, a tagged post, or a virtual forum with a real-time transcript. When government makes space for this—feedback forms that get a response, open APIs, service dashboards—it shrinks the distance between policy and everyday life.

    In places where information is tightly fenced off, that access matters even more. Activists and NGOs lean on practical workarounds, tools like a Chinese IP VPN to test services safely and keep conversations moving across borders. When citizens can still reach one another, secrecy loses some of its power.

    Sunlight by default

    Think about budgets and procurement. Not long ago, those lived in dusty binders and whispered meetings. Now line items can go online, searchable and timestamped. Spending trails can be mapped and shared. The effect isn’t magical transparency; it’s basic daylight. When people can follow the money, questions get sharper, and the answers have to keep up.

    Civil society has adapted quickly: election trackers, crowdsourced reporting, community dashboards that flag missing funds or broken promises. Each small tool adds weight to a simple idea—public business should be publicly visible.

    Expression, with guardrails

    Here’s the hard part. The same platforms that amplify civic voice can supercharge lies and hate. One viral rumor can swamp a week of good information. Democracies don’t get to pick between freedom and safety—they have to manage both. That means content rules that are clear and proportionate, fast corrections when mistakes spread, and a steady investment in media literacy so citizens can tell signal from noise.

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    Power through information

    Information has always been democracy’s oxygen. Tech multiplies its reach. Petitions gather thousands of signatures in a night. Grass-roots campaigns organize across neighborhoods with a simple link. Young people who would never step into a municipal hall show up in virtual ones—asking better questions because they arrived informed. The more citizens can see and understand, the more seriously they take their role.

    Institutions that earn trust

    Trust isn’t a slogan; it’s a pattern. Digital IDs that work, tax portals that don’t crash, procurement that leaves an auditable trail—each success deposits credibility into the public account. Automated steps reduce the space for favoritism or petty bribery.

    Here’s the catch: none of that sticks if people fear their data isn’t safe. Privacy protections, clear retention rules, and independent oversight aren’t extras; they’re the price of admission. Without them, even the best system feels like surveillance with a friendly interface.

    Elections, done right

    Few places show the promise and peril of technology like elections, as outlined in this reflection on governance in the digital era. Electronic rolls, biometric registration, and digital tallying can cut delays and reduce old-fashioned fraud. But reliability is everything. Systems need to be tested in public, observed by rivals and watchdogs, and explained in plain language. If citizens don’t understand how votes are captured and counted, speed doesn’t equal legitimacy.

    When tools bite back

    Let’s be blunt: the same innovations that lift democracy can be turned against it. Sophisticated surveillance can chill dissent. Coordinated propaganda can drown out real debate. Disinformation erodes faith not only in leaders but in the very idea that truth exists. Guarding against that requires vigilance—laws with teeth, platforms that take responsibility, and citizens who refuse to share what they haven’t checked.

    Shared work, shared standards

    Governments can’t carry this alone. Independent media, universities, civic groups, election observers, and everyday users all have jobs to do—teaching verification skills, documenting abuse, pushing for openness, and modeling better behavior online. Cross-border cooperation matters too: cybersecurity standards, election monitoring, and data-protection norms work best when they’re aligned across countries.

    Where we go from here

    Technology won’t save democracy by itself; it magnifies whatever we build. Point it toward openness, participation, and accountability, and it makes those values stronger. Aim it at control and secrecy, and it hardens those instead. The choice is active, not automatic.

    So the work is clear: design with transparency in mind, protect privacy like a public good, explain systems in human language, and keep a seat open for citizens at every table where digital rules are written. Do that consistently and the tools of this era won’t just make government faster—they’ll make it fairer.

  • T2 mobile subscribers groan despite roam deal with MTN

    T2 mobile subscribers groan despite roam deal with MTN

    Two months after Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator (MNO), MTN Nigeria and T2 sealed a roaming deal that would allow the subscribers of the latter leverage the infrastructure of the former to offer services, many subscribers complained yesterday that they are still battling with getting T2 signal back on their devices.

    A subscriber who gave his name simply as Bunmi, said the deal is not working as he has not been able to use his T2 number.

    “When the announcement was made on July 3, 2025, I was elated because 9mobile (now T2) used to be my favourite number. I got the line during the launch of the 080naija campaign. I was enjoying the line until the company ran into a turbulent storm that affected its fortunes. Service quality nosed-dived but when new investors were announced to bring life into the telco, I was happy,” Bunmi said.

    Another female subscriber, Esther Gabriel, said she also got the line as an undergraduate in the University of Lagos. She said she was enjoying the services of the MNO until trouble started that affected its service quality and subsequently, its subscribers’ trust. “I refused to port my 9mobile line because I had this emotional attachment to the youth-centric operator. Then as an art student, I loved the operator’s support for the arts. When I heard about the deal with MTN, I was happy that I will start enjoying my darling line again. But over two months after the announcement, I am still unable to make use of my line,” Esther said.

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    But reacting to the development, a source close to the company explained that there are procedures to take to enjoy the service. He said the fact that one has T2 Subscriber Identity Module (SMI) inserted into a mobile device does not make the customer to enjoy the service.

    “The active infrastructure sharing (AIS) tips to follow include:  For Android users, go to settings, tap network and internet or connections; tap SIM cards or mobile networks; select network operators; turn off auto-select; wait for available networks; select MTN 4G/3G/2G or 62130; then restart the phone. After that, you are good to go,” he added.

    A consumer rights group, Association of Telephone, Cable Tv, and Internet Subscribers of Nigeria (ATCIS-Nigeria), said some of its members have lodged complaints too about their inability to use their T2 line even after the deal with MTN Nigeria, the largest carrier in the country.

    ATCIS-Nigeria President, Hon Sina Bilesanmi, said T2 ought to have embarked on mass enlightenment of customers on what to do. According to him, T2 ought to have disseminated personalised information to all its customers on the network

    “Yes, we have received complaints too. From our findings, T2 didn’t do enough education to its customers. “It is their network, they should send text and audio messages in the three major languages spoken in the country (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) to their customers educating them on the steps to take to enjoy the roaming deal. The mobile space in the country is like a big elephant with enough meat for all. We want T2 to remain in the industry to deepen competition,” he said.

    He said if the customers are adequately informed, T2 will roar back to life because many customers have emotional attachment to the telco.

    A sector analyst agreed no less with Hon Bilesanmi. According to him, things are beginning to look good for the telco as the July data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has shown.

    T2 had posted its first gain of the year in July as it added 290,601 new subscribers in the month, spurred largely by the infrastructure sharing deal with MTN Nigeria.

    It was the first monthly subscriber gain in nearly a year for the carrier that had experienced steady decline in its customer base over the years due to obsolete network equipment that took toll on its service quality.

    For July, T2 also emerged as the only operator out of the four MNOs that gained subscribers in a month that saw MTN, Airtel, and Globacom shed weight.

    During the period under review, active mobile subscriptions dipped to 169.1 million from 171.5 million recorded in June this year.

    The decline was driven by the losses recorded by the three MNOs but most significantly by Airtel, which lost 2.4 million subscriptions in the month.

    The telco’s active subscriptions plunged to 56.5 million in July from 58.9 million it recorded in June.

    MTN also lost 106,345 subscribers in the month, which brought its database to 89.1 million in July, while Globacom’s subscriptions declined by 143,701 to 20.7 million.

    MTN remained the dominant player in the market with 52.70per cent of the market share, while maintained the second position with 33.42per cent share.

    Globacom’s market share stood at 12.26per cent, while 9mobile’s maintained its distant 4th position despite the gains recorded with 1.61per cent of the market share.

    With the decline in actively connected lines recorded by the operators, the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, also declined to 78.11per cent in July from 79.22per cent recorded in June.

    According to NCC, the teledensity is calculated based on a population estimate of 216 million.

    It would be recalled that on July 3rd, 9mobile (as it then was known) and MTN Nigeria officially announced a national roaming deal approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The deal allows customers of 9mobile will be able to access network service anywhere MTN’s network is available across the country.

  • ‘Lagos ready to drive regional digital transformation’

    ‘Lagos ready to drive regional digital transformation’

    The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has reiterated the state’s readiness to drive regional digital transformation and lead the continent in technological innovation.

    He spoke yesterday at the opening of GITEX Nigeria held yesterday in Lagos. The event was a follow up to the  Abuja programme,  where Government Leadership & AI Summit launched GITEX Nigeria on Monday.

    Sanwo-Olu also lauded the over $6 billion inflows in foreign tech investment to Lagos between 2019 and 2024, cementing the state’s position as the epicentre of Africa’s digital growth.

    He explained that the state today hosts hyperscale data centres and extensive fibre connectivity, accounting for more than 70 per cent of Nigeria’s total tech inflows. Already Nigeria’s undisputed innovation hub, Lagos is also home to 23 of the country’s 28 fastest-growing companies, according to the Financial Times report.

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    The programme has officially opened Nigeria’s to West Africa’s largest tech, AI, and startup show.  As local and international guests descended on the nation’s commercial and innovation capital for a potentially future-defining two days, anticipation was high for the conversations shaping Africa’s digital trajectory.

    According to Sanwo-Olu, Lagos remains ‘a launchpad for Africa’s tomorrow’ – ready to propel Nigeria’s quest for a data-driven government and digitally empowered population.

    Held under the patronage of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GITEX Nigeria takes place across Abuja and Lagos from 1-4 September.

    The programme is supported by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the event is endorsed by Lagos State Government and organised by KAOUN International, global producer of GITEX events.

    Elaborating on Lagos’s digital economy leadership credentials and quest to harness technological capabilities for the betterment of regional society, Sanwo-Olu stated: “Lagos is not just a city for today – it is Africa’s innovation nerve centre and a launchpad for Africa’s tomorrow. At the heart of our efforts to unlock digital transformation possibilities is an unshakeable belief that governance in the 21st century must be digital, inclusive, and data-driven.

    As Peter Drucker once said, ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it’. Here in Lagos, we are creating that future, building a data-driven government where policy decisions respond to real-time insights and inclusive connectivity empowers every citizen in one of the world’s most vibrant tech ecosystems.”

    Addressing GITEX Nigeria attendees, Hon. Minister Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, emphasised the essential nature of sustained digital economy development, insisting: “The digital economy is not just about mobile apps or platforms; it is about technical efficiency and delivering productivity gains that transform entire sectors.

    This is why President Bola Tinubu has placed the digital economy at the heart of the Renewed Hope agenda. His vision is very clear – that technology must not only grow GDP but also expand opportunities, reduce inequality, and create shared prosperity for all Nigerians. Under the President’s leadership, Nigeria has embraced the digital economy as a key driver of inclusive growth. We are not building just for elites; we are building for every Nigerian.”

    Reflecting on the significance of GITEX Nigeria making its way to Lagos, Director-General/CEO of NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi, said: “The energy is palpable, and the potential is boundless. Nigeria and Lagos in particular are a crucible of innovation, where raw talent meets the unshakeable will to succeed, a factory of unicorns.

    Lagos is the place where people use talent and come up with solutions without infrastructure. In other places, they use capital infrastructure to fuel innovation, while here, we use our resilience. Because we have no options, and we need to create the solutions. We are ready for it. As a nation, our vision is clear.”

    GITEX Nigeria is West Africa’s largest gathering of technology visionaries, industry leaders, and decision-makers overseeing digital transformation of non-tech sectors. The event also presents Nigeria’s largest and most globally diverse investor programme, facilitating concierge meetings between startups, investors, corporates, industry leaders, and prospective partners.

    Discussing the unique value proposition that Lagos presents businesses, Trixie LohMirmand, EVP of Dubai World Trade Centre and CEO of KAOUN International, organisers of GITEX Nigeria, said: “Lagos is a mega high-speed technology testbed that is dense, diverse, and demanding, where SMEs, startups, and entrepreneurs succeed not by conventional rules but by distinctiveness and necessity-driven innovation. Rising above power outages, currency fluctuations, and maturing infrastructure, they scale faster and endure longer. Survive and thrive in Lagos, and your products and solutions can compete and flourish anywhere around the world.”

    The event runs with support from partners AWS, Cisco, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Kaspersky, Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy; Federal Ministry of Youth Development, and Space42.

  • Why Nigerians should use their voices, technology to drive inclusive society, by Oley Dibba-Wadda

    Why Nigerians should use their voices, technology to drive inclusive society, by Oley Dibba-Wadda

    Founder and CEO of Gam Africa Institute for Leadership, Oley Dibba-Wadda, has called on Nigerians and Africans at large to embrace storytelling, technology, and personal accountability as tools for advancing gender and social inclusion.

    Delivering her keynote speech at the Gender Inclusion Summit (GS-25) held in Abuja from September 2 to 3, Dibba-Wadda stressed that inclusion is no longer about passive participation but about taking ownership, amplifying marginalized voices, and driving transformative change.

    According to her, women, non-binary individuals, and marginalized groups have moved beyond simply being participants in conversations to actively leading them. She noted that while progress has been made, traditional advocacy methods are no longer sufficient to tackle the complex inequalities facing society today.

    “We must take our power back and own our narrative. Our voices must be heard and our stories must be told for us, by us, and in ways that resonate with our realities,” she declared.

    Drawing from her personal experience of publishing a memoir in 2017, Dibba-Wadda said sharing her vulnerabilities helped her heal and inspired other women and girls to speak out. She urged participants to move away from a victim mentality and embrace self-empowerment through storytelling.

    “We are not victims. We are, and must be creators of our realities,” she said.

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    The keynote speaker emphasized the transformative role of technology and digital platforms in amplifying voices. She highlighted how social media has enabled Africans to mobilize, challenge governments, and share experiences globally.

    She pointed to examples from her home country, The Gambia, where youth, women, social media, and the diaspora were instrumental in ending 22 years of dictatorship.

    “Technology does not discriminate. It is a tool that can be used by anyone daring and willing to learn, to tell our own stories, to speak out, to accelerate and amplify our voices old and new, for an inclusive society,” she said.

    Dibba-Wadda also urged intergenerational collaboration, stressing the need for younger generations to learn from the wisdom of older ones while embracing technological innovations to build future resilience.

    She concluded by urging participants to use their voices boldly, leverage technology responsibly, and commit to building an inclusive society where no one is left behind.

    “Inclusion matters and no one individual should be an island. May we all, individually and collectively, step forward to embrace with confidence that first or next courageous and daring step to use our voices for the good of humanity,” she said.

  • NASENI launches InnovateNaija Nigeria’s biggest innovation challenge to empower youths

    NASENI launches InnovateNaija Nigeria’s biggest innovation challenge to empower youths

    The InnovateNaija to empower, and showcase the nation’s brightest minds, will be launched on Thursday September 4. 

    This initiative seeks to identify, empower, and support homegrown, game- changing innovations in science, engineering, or manufacturing across Nigeria. 

    To achieve this, the competition offers ₦250 million with the grand prize winner receiving ₦100 million to help bring their innovation to life.

    Launching on September 4, 2025, at GITEX Nigeria on the 10x Stage at Landmark Event Center, Lagos, InnovateNaija aims to drive innovation across all 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria by inviting young Nigerians to submit their most creative inventions and products through engaging video entries. 

    The competition will unfold over three months and will consist of two phases. In the first phase, the top 37 innovators, —one from each state and the FCT,—will be selected through a dynamic process that includes public voting. Each of these 37 winners will receive a grant of ₦2.5 million to help further develop their innovations.

    The top 15 innovators from the state-level competitions will advance to the grand finale pitch event at the NASENI Invention Fest in Abuja in February 2026. 

    They will showcase their products to a panel of expert judges and key stakeholders. The stakes will be incredibly high as the top three national winners are determined. The grand prize winner will receive a ₦100 million grant, providing a fantastic opportunity to elevate their innovation to the next level.

    InnovateNaija also marks the pre-launch of the NASENI Innovation Hub, designed to bridge the support gap for innovators, enhance collaboration, and accelerate the development of market-ready products in Nigeria’s tech and entrepreneurial landscape. 

    The Innovation Hub will provide critical infrastructure, mentorship, capacity building, and funding opportunities, serving as a launchpad for Nigerian innovators to transform ideas into scalable businesses.

    “As we gear up towards the launch of the InnovateNaija Challenge, which is set to identify, empower, and support Nigeria’s most promising young innovators in science, engineering, and manufacturing, we at NASENI are committed to fostering an environment where these innovations can thrive. 

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    “The InnovateNaija Challenge is an incredible opportunity, offering funding to 37 outstanding youths, to bring their ideas to life. To complement this national movement, NASENI has established an Innovation Hub in Abuja,Nigeria to serve as a breeding ground for transformative ideas and technologies, ensuring that the spark ignited by the InnovateNaija Challenge is nurtured into scalable and real-world solutions. 

    “The NASENI Innovation Hub strengthens research and development across key scientific and engineering disciplines, with a clear focus on advancing Nigeria’s technological capabilities and promoting homegrown solutions to our unique challenges, not just in Nigeria but across Africa,” Vice chairman /CEO of NASENI Khalil Sulaiman Halilu said. 

    “At AfriLabs, we believe in the power of homegrown innovation to drive Africa’s development, and InnovateNaija is a testament to this belief. 

    “By empowering innovators across all states in Nigeria, this competition not only fuels creativity but also strengthens the innovation ecosystem. We are excited to support NASENI in this groundbreaking initiative that will spotlight Nigerian ingenuity and provide the resources needed to scale impactful solutions,” Executive Director of AfriLabs Anna Ekeledo said..

  • Bitget expands RWA futures to include Google, Amazon, Meta, others

    Bitget expands RWA futures to include Google, Amazon, Meta, others

    Bitget, a leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 innovator, has expanded its Real-World Asset (RWA) Index Perpetual Futures, giving users access to Apple (AAPL), Google/Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), and McDonald’s (MCD) perpetual contracts starting Tuesday.

    The move builds on the success of Bitget’s earlier RWA futures launch featuring Tesla, Nvidia, and Circle, further strengthening its suite of tokenized equities. All contracts are settled in USDT, with up to 10× leverage and isolated margin mode available.

    Trading pairs now include AAPL/USDT, GOOGL/USDT, AMZN/USDT, META/USDT, MCD/USDT, TSLA/USDT, NVDA/USDT, and CRCL/USDT.

    Bitget CEO, Gracy Chen, said the expansion democratizes access to global stocks by tokenizing equity indices of industry leaders and making them available on a crypto-native platform without traditional brokerage barriers.

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    Trading runs 24/5 with composite indices from multiple token issuers ensuring fair pricing and robust liquidity.

    “Enhanced Accessibility for Global Audiences: This suite supports traders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and beyond, unlocking Tier-1 tech and consumer stock opportunities with simple, on-chain derivatives.

    “Institutional-Risk Architecture: Bitget’s RWA futures feature rigorous risk controls—isolated margin, capped leverage, insured ADL, and dynamic index rebalancing—designed to deliver reliability at scale,” she explained.

  • Expert charges journalists, media practitioners on data curation

    Expert charges journalists, media practitioners on data curation

    A language Technologist, Dr Tunde Adegbola has called on journalists and media practitioners to play active role in curating and preserving data in African languages to strengthen technological development on the continent.

    Adegbola, Founder of the African Language Technology Initiative (ALT-i), gave the charge on Monday while speaking on bridging gaps in human language technology and natural language processing.

    He said the vision is to make sure that Africans fully participate in the digital economy in their own languages, without needing English as a gateway.

    He added that ALT-i is on a mission to ensure that no African is excluded from the information age simply because they do not speak a foreign language, saying “language technology is central to artificial intelligence. Many people today only know AI because of tools like ChatGPT—that shows the importance of language. 

    “Our vision is to make sure that Africans can fully participate in the digital economy in their own languages, without needing English as a gateway.”

    Adegbola, who developed Yoruba Keyboard and machine translation solutions for Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa said ALT-i has produced PhDs and researchers in Nigeria, scattered abroad many of whom are making impacts globally.

    He said this was despite the absence of formal university programmes in human language technology in West Africa for over two decades; which the University of Ibadan began two years ago.

    On what the future holds, he said the priority was to encourage more universities to take the field seriously, while also building a pipeline from theory to practice in technology development.

    “Significantly, ALT-i partnered with Microsoft to localise Windows and Office (Vista through Windows 10) for Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa languages.

    “Despite limited uptake, the project marked a milestone in making technology linguistically accessible,” Adegbola said.

    He identified lack of data as the most critical gap, stressing that African languages are heavily used in broadcasting but not adequately archived.

    “When I was a broadcast engineer, I saw how news bulletins written in English were translated into Yoruba, handwritten, read on air, and then discarded. That paper thrown in the bin would be gold today.

    “I can access over 100 years of the New York Times daily editions, but the most consistent Yoruba newspaper, Alaroye, is only about 20 years old. This is a societal problem, not just a technology problem,” he said.

    Adegbola urged journalists, broadcasters and media houses to document and store African language content systematically so that it can accumulate into big data useful for technology development.

    Speaking on his personal experience with prostate cancer, Adegbola, who was grateful to God for attaining the age of 70, advised men over 40 not to ignore its early signs.

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    He stated that signs such as frequent urination or difficulty passing urine, should make them seek medical attention promptly.

    “I was fortunate because mine was caught at the nick of time. It may be a simple enlargement, but it could also be cancer. Don’t ignore the signs,” he said. 

    The don called for investment in research and documentation of African concepts and practices while cautioning against reliance on unverified herbal remedies.

    He however, noted the need for Africans and Nigeria in particular to begin to use their languages to understand technological concepts adding that there was nothing English about technology, adding, “technolgical concepts can be fully expressed in African languages.”

    The Nation reports that Adegbola, often referred to as a polymath, began a month-long exhibition to showcase culture and technology intersections.

  • Hasetins Commodities acquires two long-range unmanned aerial vehicles

    Hasetins Commodities acquires two long-range unmanned aerial vehicles

    Hasetins Commodities has announced the acquisition of two long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, to enhance its technology infrastructure. 

    Hasetins’ spokesperson, Sophie Hansen said, in a statement, that the strategic investment represents a significant step in augmenting the company’s exploratory activities, enabling faster, safer, and more precise data collection.

    Hansen noted that the new drones are equipped with state-of-the-art sensors, including LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), ultra-high-definition photogrammetry arrays, hyperspectral systems, and other proprietary technologies, to analyze signatures at the molecular level and locate potential resource sites. 

    She added that the UAVs’ long-range capabilities and Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) operational capacity will enable it to cover remote, high-risk, or environmentally sensitive zones where conventional ground-based surveys are limited or hazardous.

    Hansen also added that the technology offers a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly method for identifying new mineral deposits.

    “The data collected from these UAV missions is sent into Hasetins’ proprietary geospatial analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

    “The UAVs will be deployed immediately to support both current and future projects, to help streamline the exploration process and accelerate timelines for discoveries,” she said.

    According to her, Hasetins Commodities is a fully integrated mining and resource development company focused on the responsible discovery, extraction, and processing of high-value commodities. 

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    Hasetins Commodities’ Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Prince Jidayi said: “We are incredibly excited to add this cutting-edge technology to our operations.

    “These drones will give us a significant advantage in our exploration efforts, allowing us to gather critical data with unprecedented speed and accuracy. 

    “This move reinforces our commitment to leveraging innovation and sustainable practices to drive our growth and contribute to the global supply of essential minerals.”

  • Nigeria overdue for global pace-setting brands communications, says Ugbegua

    Nigeria overdue for global pace-setting brands communications, says Ugbegua

    The Lead Consultant at Dashboard Innovations, George Ugbegua, has said Nigeria’s creative industry is long overdue for global pace-setting in the creative marketing communications landscape.

    Speaking as Dashboard bagged the best Digital Creative Agency award at the just concluded Brand Handlers Summit and Awards organised by Marketing Space in Lagos, Ugbegua said, “We are very excited. We have been in business for about eight years, and during this period, we have worked with some of the top brands in Nigeria and consulted for some media and PR agencies both within and outside the shores of Africa.

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    “It’s good to know that people are recognising our work and see the need to appreciate what we do. This is why this award is dear to the company.

    “Like I have said before, the award was for us a wake-up call to step onto the global stage. It is long overdue.

    “Africa and Nigeria in particular can match head-to-head with Western creative gurus, and we are set to tell brand stories by using the African creative narratives.

    “I think it is important that brands see agencies as partners and collaborators for growth.

    “It’s time for Nigerian brands to begin to work with agencies as partners for growth and not for marketing purposes.”