General News
Affordable Smartphones, Tablets Answer to Broadband Penetration
Two recent polls by independent international ICT agencies have confirmed long held views that Nigerians are very resilient and are moving towards meeting global competitiveness inspite of government’s indifference towards upgrading the nation’s poor IT infrastructure. A survey by Zoomsphere shows that South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt top Africa’s LinkedIn subscription put at about 5.7 million. Statistics from the agency shows that there are lots of opportunities for growth for LinkedIn in the continent. LinkedIn statistics put figures from the countries on the professional social networking site as South Africa 1, 700, 672, Nigeria 656, 528 and Egypt 543, 699. Perhaps viewed against the backdrop of factors like literacy level and infrastructure adequacy, one would surmise that Nigeria was making giant strides in citizen education. At the 2011 Microsoft’s global Imagine Cup competition, Nigeria didn’t fare as much as Egypt and that despite the latter’s social upheaval that led to deposition of long term president Hosni Mubarak. In an earlier survey by Alexa.com, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria also topped the continent’s facebook user account. Egypt registered 9 million users on the social networking site which continues to be a favourite in Africa. South Africa ranks second with 4.8 million users and Nigeria 4.3 million. But it is evident that with the mobile broadband explosion in the country, it is just a matter of time before Nigeria overtakes both nations using its huge population advantage as evidence in the mobile phone revolution. According to Alexa.com 3.2 million Users in these three countries were added to their combined 18.1 million in the last six months alone. Nigeria faces huge infrastructure challenge including public power supply, broadband penetration amongst others. Despite the huge mobile phone customers base put at over 110 million and the landing of two submarine fibre optic cables to the country in 2010, Nigeria still lacks in critical telecom infrastructure development in much of the country. For example, the two privately owned undersea cables, MainOne and Glo1 systems are only effective in Lagos commercially. “There has to be a government assistance to take the fibre up country from Lagos. We have landed the fibre in the shores of Lagos, but it will cost huge financial investment to take this infrastructure to the hinterlands,” said Ms. Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne. Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director of Bharti Airtel noted that for countries in sub-Saharan Africa like Nigeria, the answer lies with cheap tablets to spur adoption of the fast evolving technological trends. Mittal who spoke at last weeks’ mobile world congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain advocated that OEMs should focus on bringing down cost of tablets and smartphones to enable access in emerging markets like Africa and India. The Airtel chief recommended retain tablet price range of about $50 to give these markets access. He was speaking from a position of customer point of view from a poor market economy, not necessarily as an operator who aims for the profit alone. Both the India sub-continent and sub-Saharan Africa have a common bond of poverty and Mittal understands. While stating that smartphone market penetration in India accounts for about five per cent, he lamented that the need for affordable access to mobile broadband was even more pressing in Africa than on the sub continent. He believes cheap and affordable devices would increase mobile penetration and capacity building in both markets. “We are seeing tremendous uplift in the data usage in the developing world. The problem is on the devices side. We need to be able to build very affordable smartphones.” “The cost of operations in Africa is very high. We can’t bring the tariffs down yet. In India the first dollar goes on phone and then the next goes on telephony. In Africa, any savings on telephony will go into food.” The high point of Mittal’s speech was his recognition of the fact that Africa lacks the critical transformational middle class. India, he stated has a subsidized middle class which takes the heat off the wealthy. This contrasts with Africa where you are either very poor or wealthy! The advantage of mobile broadband was quite evidenced in the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions that witnessed age hold political dynasties dethroned in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Nigeria had a taste of this new media ascendency last January when masses of people converged on major streets across the nation in carnival moods and shutting down the economy over a period of seven days following government’s announcement of increase in fuel pomp prices. The government was forced to backpedal midway when it became apparent the people would precede to totally shutdown the entire petroleum production process if it did not soft pedal. The outcome was hailed as victory for people’s power and triumph of democracy. But more than democracy and people’ power, what took place in Nigeria last January was a triumph of the emerging mobile broadband evolution in Nigeria. Due to the dearth of critical telecom infrastructure in the country, much of the acclaimed 40 million internet subscriptions are mobile driven. And here the call for cheaper tablets and smartphones becomes even more critical. The Nigerian PC OEMs have been challenged by no other than the Qualcomm managing director for West Africa, Alex Dadson to begin the process of producing tablets locally. He believes local production of tablets would drive down cost, generate employment and fast track the learning process in the education sector. Again, nobody talks about what government could do because the government isn’t just responsive to the people it claims to govern.
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, plans to dedicate one-third of his wealth to charity as part of his succession plan, Halima Dangote, his daughter, has revealed.
Aliko Dangote
Halima, a trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg published on Tuesday, saying the billionaire had secured the support of his family to commit 33 per cent of his estate to philanthropy.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote’s net worth is estimated at $35.1 billion, meaning one-third of his current wealth would be worth about $11.7 billion if his fortune remains at that level.
Halima explained that her father views philanthropy as a key part of his legacy and has incorporated it into the family’s long-term succession plans.
She said Dangote had structured his estate to ensure that charitable giving continues across generations, particularly in areas such as healthcare and education.
“He sort of put all the structure in place whereby we focus a lot on health and education. He actually donated 25 per cent to the foundation. If you look at it, it is what we call in Sharia Code in Islam; it means he has donated 33 per cent of his whole inheritance to his foundation,” she said.
Halima added that Dangote believes giving back is central to the success of his businesses and the family’s values.
She said the billionaire asked her, her two sisters, and his mother to sign the agreement allowing 33 per cent of his inheritance to be dedicated to humanitarian causes.
The planned donation builds on Dangote’s longstanding philanthropic activities through the Aliko Dangote Foundation, which was established in 1994.
According to Halima, the foundation received an endowment of $1.25 billion about a decade ago and has since received an additional $700 million in funding.
She said about 70 per cent of the foundation’s spending goes to programmes in Nigeria, while 20 per cent supports projects across Africa, with the remaining funds directed to initiatives in other parts of the world.
The foundation’s interventions focus on healthcare, education, nutrition, and humanitarian support, including partnerships that contributed to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa.
Dangote’s planned charitable commitment adds to increasing global attention on billionaire philanthropy.
Although the proposed 33 per cent allocation is below the 50 per cent commitment associated with the Giving Pledge, it would rank among the largest philanthropic commitments announced by an African billionaire.
Earlier this year, Dangote was named among the world’s most influential philanthropists by TIME magazine’s inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy list, recognising the impact of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, which reportedly spends more than ₦50 billion annually on programmes across Africa.
Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), has said that there are plans for Nigeria to begin to generate electricity from nuclear sources.
Mr Anthony Godwin Ekedegwa, chief executive, NAEC stated this when he recently visited Mr Umar Yusuf Girei, acting managing director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA),in Abuja.
He was at NIWA’s office to solicit the support of NIWA in achieving the numerous advantages of using nuclear energy technology in the country.
According to him, the partnership of critical stakeholders in Nigeria will position the country well in developing and maintaining its nuclear power plant.
The NAEC chief said Nigeria intends to begin the generation of electricity from nuclear sources instead of fossil-based power plants and hydro-based power plants, stressing that for Nigeria to develop, there is a need for the country to diversify its energy needs.
In his remarks, Mr Girei assured NAEC of his agency’s readiness to collaborate on the advancement of a nuclear power plant in Nigeria.
He promised the full support of NAEC for the success of a nuclear power plant in the country, saying that as the organisation saddled with the responsibility of regulating and developing Nigeria Inland Waterways, his entity is strategically positioned to play a critical role in the federal government’s quest for sustainable energy through the new technology.
In a powerful call for continental solidarity, Ralph Mupita, Group CEO of MTN, has asserted that the future of the African continent depends on the dismantling of xenophobic barriers.
Speaking at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation (KMF) Winter Seminar, Mupita framed migration as a fundamental characteristic of the African identity, urging South Africa and other nations to embrace integration over exclusion.
He emphasised that the survival of African enterprises depends on a borderless approach to trade and talent. “The digital economy we’re fast moving to knows no borders.” Mupita declared, noting that the mindset of exclusion is an outdated relic that hinders the continent’s ability to compete globally.
He argued that for Africa to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the psychological barriers of xenophobia must be eradicated.
Providing a stark financial justification for this stance, Mupita highlighted MTN’s own operational reality as a blueprint for Pan-African success. “We earn about 80 to 82% of our earnings from outside South Africa,” he revealed, illustrating that the prosperity of South African-born entities is inextricably linked to their success across the rest of the continent. This figure underscores the interdependence of African economies and the danger of isolationist policies.
Mupita’s stance was strong advocating for unity: “The future of Africa will not be determined by the borders that separate us, but by the economic opportunities that connect us. Governments must set predictable policy and regulations.
Businesses will follow and allocate resources and capital. Together, we can build a continent where opportunity is more evenly shared and prosperity is more widely created.”
Analysts observing the seminar noted that Mupita’s remarks come at a critical juncture where economic volatility often fuels nationalist rhetoric. By tying the fight against xenophobia to the balance sheet, MTN is positioning Pan-Africanism beyond the moral imperative to its function as a business necessity. The CEO stressed that “Migration is part of who we are,” suggesting that the movement of people is the primary engine for the movement of capital and innovation.
Fact-Check: Elon Musk’s “Tesla Pi Phone” is Internet Rumor
Dangote Plans to Donate One-Third of Wealth to Charity as Legacy
NDPC Directs DCPMIs to Register with Agency or Face Legal Consequences
Malpass, Ex World Bank Chief Raises Alarm over Nigeria’s Secretive Debt Structures
How and Why Apps Deplete Data – ALTON
NRC, Ponzi Scheme Collapses Resulting Loss of Billions of Naira
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
Tokenization, Blockchain Technology will Transform Financial Institutions – IMF
From Scarcity to Scale: What Africa Can Learn from India’s Agricultural Transformation
BON Establishes Six Ad Hoc Committees to Modernize Broadcasting
News3 days agoSee Verified 20 Countries Nigerian Passport Holders Can Travel Visa-Free
E-Business3 days agoReport Says Cybercriminals Deploy Malware to Hijack Crypto Wallets, Monitor Browsers Telegram
Telecom3 days agoNCC, REA Partner to Cut Telecom Costs with Renewable Energy
Telecom3 days agoSubscribers, Telcos Warn FCCPC over Airtime Lending Enforcement
E-Business3 days agoNPC Opens 131 Births, Deaths Registration Centres in Anambra
General News3 days agoAfDB, Nigeria Urge African Control of Mineral Resources
News2 days agoHistory as Lagos Becomes First Nigerian State to Launch Greenhouse Gas Registry
Telecom2 days agoAI Investment Gap Threatens Africa’s Future Growth