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Key Speakers, Topics Unveiled as #nitec2016 Begins Thursday
The much talked about Nigeria International Technology Exhibition & Conference (#nitec2016) holds this week, precisely, June 23rd and 24th at the Civic Center, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos, under the theme, “The Role of Disruptive Technologies in Catapulting the African Continent’s GDP”.
Crème de crème personalities in the Nigerian IT/ICT industry will be joining the Honourable Minister Of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, who is the special guest of Honour; Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, the keynote speaker; Acting Director-General of NITDA; among others, as well as other professionals who understand that disruptions in various industries worldwide are actually spring boards for our startups to showcase their entrepreneurial and innovative prowess.
There will be remarks by the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umaru Garba Danbatta; the President, Institute Of Software Practitioners Of Nigeria (ISPON),Olorogun James Emadoye, among others.
Day one: Yele Okeremi, Ceo, Precise Financial Systems will be moderating a session on “Disrupting the Disruptor”. Today’s world of technology is about disruptions and it has now come to the point where disruptors are now getting disrupted. How do you disrupt or get disrupted? How can African start-ups be positioned for disruption? Come to #nitec2016 to hear directly from men and women who are setting the pace in this regard.
The Country Manager, Google (Nigeria) Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, will lead a session on “Trends Driving the Future of Marketing & the Digital Landscape”. The e-commerce space in Nigeria is still nascent, no matter how we look at it. Now, how can they tap into the avid online shoppers, who make two or more purchases online, leading a retail revolution?
According to the fifth annual UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper™ study, published on its website last week, these consumers are shopping more with their smartphones and demanding a more seamless experience between virtual and physical stores.
Actually, this is the first time in the study’s five-year history that more than 50 percent (51%) of all purchases made by respondents are made online, up from 48 percent in 2015.
“Consumers are skilled at using technology to their advantage and thrive on gathering information when shopping,” said Teresa Finley, chief marketing officer at UPS. “This year’s UPS study revealed that 45 percent of online shoppers love the thrill of hunting for and finding great deals, and that physical stores continue to play an important role in that experience. The challenge is how to best engage with shoppers to fulfill their desires.”
The shift from traditional in-store shopping to shopping with multiple channels continues. Seventeen percent of consumers plan to shop less in store, shifting time to their electronic devices.
The use of smartphones is up 10 points (to 77%) over the past two years, and retailers are responding. Online shoppers report a better mobile experience with satisfaction up eight points (to 73%) since last year.
Social media’s influence on purchasing decisions is up nine points (to 34%) in the last year with nearly a quarter of respondents (23%) having made purchases through social media sites, we learnt from the UPS study.
Well, trends come and go, so fast you might add. However, you have little or no choice but to understand what the trends are and how you can stay ahead of the curve. It will be a refreshing moment for participants, as Google’s Country Manager, will share some Insights into digital marketing, especially, the necessary Google tools you can use to remain relevant in this digital marketing war.
The Founder SimplePay and MyAds Global, Simeon Ononobi, & the Founder of Yudala, Nnamdi Ekeh, are warming up for a session on how African start-ups can tap into addressing global challenges. What is the essence of a startup without balancing your local and global relevance. We would listen to what some start-ups are doing and/or should be doing to this regard.
It’s no secret that SimplePay has become a simply, payment gateway of choice, allowing any business or consumer with an e-mail address and a bank account to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively send and receive payments online or through their mobile phone.
On the other hand, Yudala has achieve, in less than three years, the status of Nigeria’s largest online & retail chain; offering you the best shopping experience in Nigeria. The duo, Ononobi and Ekeh will discuss “Disruptive Insights: Young African Visionaries Addressing Global Issues”.
There is a lot happening in the world of “IoT & Wearables, but “what are the threats and opportunities? So, Rev’ Sunday Folayan, the chief crusader for .ng domain name registration in Nigeria will take a holistic look at the concept of Internet of Things. We want to know if Africa will rise to develop its own local talents to take advantage of this trend? Or would it just seat down like the mobile revolution era and consume everything created from abroad? Key in this journey is leaving a remarkable footprint in the internet, which .ng is the opium. Folayan will do justice to this topic. Trust me.
There is no need scratching the surface, the panel session on harnessing the opportunities of cloud computing to be moderated by Yomi Adegboye, will expatiate on the efficacies of cloud computing.
No doubt, cloud computing is interwoven with cloud services offerable by data centres. Data centres are at the very core of technology advancement particular in a very unsafe world. Why is the majority of Nigeria’s data still located outside the shores of this country? What policies should be put in place to advance technologically and ensure that multi-nationals hosting our data situate some of their data centres within the shores of Africa and Nigeria in particular?
Tunde Coker, will be speaking on “How World-Class Cloud Services Accelerates A Smarter Society”? Coker who presides as the managing director of Rack Centre; equipped with a state-of-the-art, Tier III Design Certified data centre offering carrier-neutral colocation services, posses the intellectual milieu to answer these questions.
The data centre provides over 6,000 sqm (65,000sqft) of energy efficient and secure data centre space. The technology invested in provides clients guaranteed levels of uptime, power and service availability. He will explain how co-locating within Rack Centre allows companies to avoid fixed infrastructure investments and to leave the growing complexity of managing power and environmental issues to specialists.
Also, government and its agencies have come under intense scrutiny and are realizing that technology is helping citizens hold them more accountable. What will be the new economy that will be created as a result of digitalizing only 30% of Nigeria’s public sector?
Thus, on the second day, Kola Aina, Entrepreneur & Investor – Ventures Platform Ltd will tell us “What the Digitalization of Government and Public Sectors Means for the Eco-System”. This is topical, especially now Barrister Adebayo led Ministry of Communications have expressed utmost desire to drive e-Governance in Nigeria. We know that such gesture is capable of reducing wastes or inculcating transparency into government dealings by over 30%.
The Editor in-chief/ CEO, CommunicationsWeek Media Ltd, Ken Nwogbo, will lead the panel session on “The Role of the Media in Positioning the African Start-Up”; while The owner, Future Software Resources Ltd, Nkem Begho, will discuss “How Social Media, Analytics & Open Data Have Changed Marketing Paradigms”.
The Presenter, Tech Trends on Channels Television; columnist with Punch Newspaper and reputable blogger, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata jr. (CFA), will be among select startsups to.make presentations.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos recently introducing NITEC 2016, the Managing Director/CEO of Neo Media & Marketing, Ehi Braimah, explained the concept behind the event which is to showcase Nigeria’s technology ecosystem and promote innovative ICT solutions.
Braimah, while speaking at the event, admonished the public and private sectors particularly entrepreneurs to embrace technology and its disruptive nature.
This is why the slogan for what will become an annual conference and exhibition is “Trending Technologies”, a slogan that will ensure each year’s edition captures all the trending issues in technology around the world.
To this end, he said that NITEC 2016 is positioned to bridge the gap between the private and public sectors and the international technology community in re-engineering the African technological ecosystem for greater impact on the continent’s GDP.
Accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) adoption could increase Africa’s GDP by up to 4% over the next decade, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a report released on Tuesday, titled Africa Can Grow Faster With AI—If It Moves Now, economists from the IMF’s Africa Department say current levels of AI adoption and utilisation are expected to contribute just 0.2% to the region’s GDP over the next 10 years.
However, the report says stronger adoption, supported by the right infrastructure and policies, could raise the economic impact to about 4% by extending AI beyond today’s digitally connected firms.
Martin Schindler and other IMF economists say: “AI adoption in sub-Saharan Africa currently lags well behind every other region. If richer economies race ahead while African firms and governments lag, the productivity gap between the region and the rest of the world will only widen.”
Early signs of AI adoption are emerging across Africa, with countries including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Egypt and Nigeria developing AI strategies.
Telecommunications operators, including Vodacom, Econet, Africell and MTN, are also integrating AI into their operations and networks.
Other examples include chatbots supporting teaching and learning in Nigeria and the South African Revenue Service’s use of data analytics for targeted tax audits.
However, the IMF says AI adoption must extend beyond these early use cases to deliver meaningful economic benefits.
“For the region, AI’s main promise is not about replacing office workers, but boosting productivity across the economy—helping informal firms manage inventory, enabling farmers to increase yields, and supporting mid-sized firms to transition to formality and export readiness,” the report reads.
The IMF is urging governments to prioritise investment in reliable electricity, affordable broadband, data infrastructure and digital skills to support wider AI adoption.
Many African countries, including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, continue to face electricity shortages, while broadband services remain costly and coverage is uneven.
The Fund believes stronger investment in power, connectivity, regional data infrastructure and digital skills would help unlock AI’s economic potential.
National Population Commission (NPC) has commenced the nationwide digital registration of births and deaths under the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system to strengthen legal identity management and improve demographic data.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lokoja on Tuesday, Mr Afolabi Yori, federal commissioner representing Kogi, said the initiative became operational nationwide on July 1, through the VitalReg platform.
Yori described the development as a landmark in Nigeria’s civil registration system, noting that it would modernise birth and death registration through a technology-driven platform that meets international standards.
He said the digital platform would improve service delivery, strengthen data integrity and ensure that every birth and death occurring in Nigeria was accurately documented and securely stored.
According to him, civil registration is more than an administrative process, as it provides reliable statistics that support public policy formulation, resource allocation and national development planning.
“Nigeria records an estimated five million births annually, yet millions of births and deaths remain unregistered.
“Birth registration coverage currently stands at about 57 per cent nationwide, while death registration remains below 20 per cent,” he said.
The commissioner said that the commission had established 4,011 functional registration centres across the country’s 774 local government areas and was working to expand the number to about 8,000.
He added that the commission was strengthening collaboration with stakeholders to improve the capacity of registration personnel and ensure prompt documentation of vital events through the VitalReg platform.
Yori said the platform would provide faster registration services, 24-hour online access, digital certificate issuance where applicable, and reduce paperwork, waiting time and unnecessary travel.
He disclosed that the platform was being operated under a Public-Private Partnership with Barnks-forte Technologies Ltd. as the commission’s technical partner to ensure system availability, cybersecurity and continuous technological improvement.
He called on parents, healthcare institutions, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, development partners and the media to support the initiative by encouraging the prompt registration of births and deaths.
Earlier, Samuel Omonakpeme, director in Kogi, NPC State, described the commencement of the digital registration system as another milestone in efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics system.
Omonakpeme stated that the initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 16.9, which seeks to provide legal identity for all.
He appreciated the Federal Government, the leadership of the commission, UNICEF and other development partners for supporting the implementation of the initiative.
The state director also urged parents, guardians, health institutions, community leaders, religious organisations and the media to mobilise public support for the timely registration of all births and deaths.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that ICT personnel of the commission, led by Ehimoni Kolawole, conducted a live demonstration of the digital birth registration process using the VitalReg platform.
The demonstration showed that the registration process captures the biodata of both parents, while at least one parent must possess a valid National Identification Number (NIN) to complete the registration of a newborn.
Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) has alerted its customers to a fraudulent message circulating on social media, falsely claiming that electricity consumers can receive an additional 20 per cent bonus units when recharging their prepaid meters through unofficial channels.
In a statement issued by the company’s management on Monday, YEDC described the claim as false and urged customers to disregard the misleading information, stressing that it did not originate from the company.
According to the statement, YEDC does not offer bonus electricity units through individuals, agents, personal bank accounts, phone numbers, or social media contacts.
The company advised customers to purchase electricity tokens only through approved cashless payment platforms, including the YEDC Pay App, OPay, Interswitch, and other authorised vending channels, or to visit the nearest YEDC office for assistance.
YEDC also cautioned customers against sharing their meter details or personal information, or making payments to unauthorised persons claiming to represent the company.
The company further urged customers to rely exclusively on information disseminated through its official communication channels to avoid falling victim to fraud.
The management thanked customers for their continued cooperation and reaffirmed its commitment to serving them.
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