The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mobile phone

  • Mobile phone and driving

    The rate at which men and women, young and old use mobile phones while driving is alarmingly high and this portends great danger on the roads.

    The use of mobile phones while driving is a high level of distraction which takes the driver’s attention away from the path of travel for more than one second. Professionally speaking, whatever takes the attention of a driver away from the path of travel for more than one second can cause a crash and fatalities. Hence the global campaign against the use of mobile phone while driving.

    I always remember the accident caused few years ago by a woman using mobile phone while driving along Lagos Road in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. While using the mobile phone, the woman suddenly lost control of her car and crossed the low road median to the other side unconscious of an oncoming fully loaded 911 (Molue bus) on the other side of the road. In a bid to avoid crushing the woman’s car, the molue bus driver ended up in the swamp and about 30 people died with several injured. It was the woman herself that was crying and asking God to forgive her for causing that accident through the use of her mobile phone.

    Despite all the reported cases of the road traffic crashes and fatalities caused by the use of mobile phones and the previous public enlightenment programmes, the use of mobile phone while driving is still on the increase in Nigeria.

    The use of mobile phones while driving has a lot of devastating and costly consequences which include the following:

    • It takes the attention of the driver away from the path of travel.

    • It takes the mind of the driver away from driving.

    • It distorts the eye – mind connection in driving and fuels neglect of traffic signs and road markings.

    • It reduces the coordination of the organs of the body involved in driving. That is, it promotes uncoordinated driving.

     

    1. It makes the Driver unconscious of the happenings and traffic around him.
    2. It reduces the visual search and hazard perception ability of the Driver.
    3. It reduces the readiness of the Driver to judge and react to emergencies.
    4. It makes the Driver susceptible to driving errors and accidents.
    5. It changes the mood of the Driver negatively if the news, message or distraction is negative and this is dangerous to safe driving and relationship with other road users.
    6. It changes the mood of the Driver positively if the news, message or distraction is positive and this is also dangerous to safe driving because excitement fuels distractive meditation.
    7. It may eventually lead to loss of lives, valuable properties and costly litigations.

     

    It is now time to take the campaign against the use of mobile phone while driving to a higher pedestal. It is now time for EMPLOYERS to design a policy against the use of mobile phones by their Employees while driving. It is now time for the Employers to specially educate their Employees against the use of mobile phones while driving. Not just the professional Drivers in their employment alone but all the Staff.

     

    It is time for CHURCHES to dedicate special Sermons to preach against the use of mobile phones while driving.

     

    It is time for MOSQUES to dedicate some of their Sermons to teach their members against the use of mobile phones while driving.

     

    It is time for Clubs, Social Organizations, and other Networking Organizations to regularly share among their Members, the message against the use of mobile phone while driving.

     

    The time has come for ALL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS to dedicate some Seminars and Lectures to teach their Teachers, Staff and Students against the use of mobile phones while driving.

     

    It is time for Traffic Management Agencies to commence the prosecution of people using mobile phones while driving in the Law Courts.

     

    It is time for the LEGISLATURES to promulgate Laws against the use of mobile phones while driving.

     

    It is time for the JUDICIAL Courts to expedite action in the prosecution of people arrested for using mobile phones while driving.

     

    Irreparable lives and valuable properties are being lost daily on the roads due to the use of mobile phones while driving.  Both hand-held and hand-free telephone conversations are dangerous to driving, because they all affect attention, emotions, actions and reactions.

     

    It is time to act and everyone must be involved in this crusade which we must win for the safety of lives and properties in Nigeria.

     

     

     

  • Nigeria expands mobile phone market

    The chief executive of Tingo Mobile Phones, Dozy Mmobuosi, has said Nigeria has the capacity to produce mobile phones of international standard.

    He spoke recently in Lagos, during the launch of Tingo mobile branded phones, stressing that it would not only meet local consumption but export to other countries.

    Mmobuosi said 80 per cent of components used in the manufacture of Tingo mobile phones are sourced locally. He explained that Tingo products came into being as part of efforts to complement government’s technological drive to launch Nigeria among comity of nations in communication technology.

    He stated that the phones range from single to dual sims, noting that apart from their durability, they are equally cost-friendly.

    He said the inbuilt system allows information to be passed in Nigeria three major languages; Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.

    According to him, Nigerians who do not understand English language can make use of it because of the local language devices in the phones.

    The CEO stressed: “The phones can even assist you to locate your family members, pets and important things. This can be done by ensuring that they are properly documented.

    “Should your relations be kidnapped or held in danger, your car stolen, you can easily notify the appropriate authority for immediate action.”

    He urged Nigerians to take advantage of the new product to express themselves. “It is all about your style, your personality and the Nigerian image. They are basically designed to conform with your life style.”

     

     

  • Mobile phone marks 40th anniversary

    Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the first mobile phone call. The first call was made 3 April 1973. That day, Martin Cooper, a senior engineer at Motorola, called a rival colleague at another telecoms company and announced he was speaking from “a ‘real’ cellular telephone.”

    Nigeria joined this super-highway in 2001 when operators were issued licences that ushered in the era of global system for mobile (GSM) communication. Currently, the nation has a subscriber base of 113 million, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). In 2012, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) did a report which showed that while global population stood at seven billion, there were six billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide.

    Cooper, now aged 85, is renowned as the “father” of the mobile phone, said his vision for a mobile phone was first conceived in the late 1960s when the car telephone was invented by AT&T.

    He wanted to create “something that would represent an individual so you could assign a number not to a place, not to a desk, not to a home but to a person,” he said.

    “It pleases me no end to have had some small impact on people’s lives because these phones do make people’s lives better. We envision that some day, the phone would be so small that you could hang it on your ear or even have it embedded under your skin, ” Cooper was quoted as saying.

  • FG to distribute free mobile phones to 10m farmers

    FG to distribute free mobile phones to 10m farmers

    The Federal Government on Friday said it was planning to distribute free mobile telephones to 10 million small holder farmers to fast track access to farming supports.

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    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina disclosed this at the ongoing 2012 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Arusha, Tanzania.

    He said the initiative was designed to start from 2013 and five million women farmers would benefit from it.

    Adesina, who was formerly the Vice President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the organisers of the event, said that financing was imperative if the agricultural sector must work.

    He said that within 90-days that he assumed office as minister, the corruption of four decades in fertiliser distribution was stopped by the removal of government from direct procurement and distribution.

    He said that a Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) was established under which small holder farmers were getting partial support for accessing improved seeds and fertiliser.

    “To ensure that only legitimate framers get inputs, a bio-metric database was developed with electronic wallet system for the first time in Africa through which farmers obtain support from agro-dealers and input suppliers.

    “The system involved 25 seed and fertiliser companies, 25 banks, 900 agro-dealers, 700 redemption centres nation-wide, which generated a database of 4.5 million farmers,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the minister as saying at the forum.

    Adesina said that the system cuts out middlemen and political farmers.