News
IBM Research Focuses On Big Data to Tackle SDGs in Africa
As the world today, May 17, 2017 observe ‘World Telecommunication and Information Society Day’ with the theme “Big Data for Big Impact.” ITU and the members are exploring how Big Data can help solve the world’s biggest challenges with special focus on IBM’s research on Africa.
IBM Research Africa is currently working on a wide range of development projects across Africa, using Big Data to make headway towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
IBM has launched research facilities including one in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013 and another in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was officially inaugurated in August 2016.
The innovation labs conduct research in conjunction with academia and offer education and internship opportunities to talented students.
The innovation hubs are not only making big strides in Big Data research, but also in skills development.
“The big motivation for us is addressing Africa’s grand challenges and bringing skills to the continent… both generating skills locally and encouraging Africans to come back to the continent and to contribute to its growth and transformation,” Chris Sciacca, EMEA Communications Manager at IBM Research, said in a report by ITU News.
The labs are helping to boost skills development, including recruiting young talent and promoting an online learning platform.
The company invested $70 million to launch a Watson-powered platform for 25 million African youth. The online learning platform will offer free skills development programs on topics including big data analytics and cloud computing.
And IBM Research Africa is doing innovative work to address some of Africa’s biggest challenges in areas such as healthcare, environment, entrepreneurship, and urban ecosystems.
Groundbreaking Research on Cancer and Malaria
Geoffrey Siwo, a research scientist at IBM’s lab in Johannesburg has recently been recognized as a 2017 Quartz Africa Innovator for his work to develop an algorithm that can potentially help identify the gene variant, more common among Africans, that encourages metastasis in cancer patients.
The lab is also conducting research in malaria and has successfully used the model and data from World Health Organization (WHO) to analyze and measure “sensitivity” of malaria. The findings can help the government to better predict malaria incidence and control spread of the disease base on the data of climate and environmental conditions of the region, in terms of implement preventative measure deploy medical resources more efficiently.
Tackling SKA’s Big Data Challenges and Bringing New Skills to Africa
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope co-located in Africa and in Australia, is expected to be operational by 2024.
The volume of data that the SKA telescope will generate is much larger than what is on Internet today. The challenge is to store these data as cost- and energy-efficiently as possible.
IBM is helping SKA-South Africa to tackle the Big Data challenge and is opening up new opportunities for young talent.
“IBM scientists and SKA-South Africa are training students to develop machine-learning techniques to filter out the useful data from the noise,” said Sciacca, “these skills will eventually be applied for more than just searching for E.T. but also big data challenges in healthcare and finance.”
Foster Entrepreneurship and Transform the Economy
IBM’s Nairobi THINKLab is committed to transform the business environment in Kenya. For example, in collaboration with Kenyan government, the lab helped simplify the way entrepreneurs start business in the country.
Using machine-learning technologies, researchers have successfully simplified the process of starting a business by reducing the number of interactions with government from 11 to 3 steps.
The effort has helped Kenya advance on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking, from 136th in 2015 to 92nd. It is also ranked the world’s third most-reformed country in starting business. Currently, the lab is resuming the joint effort with the Kenyan government to reach the Top 50 by 2020.
Digitize the urban ecosystems – wildfire assessment and traffic-light infrastructure
Unreliable traffic infrastructure is one of the main causes of traffic congestion in the city of Johannesburg, IBM Research has develop a technology using data extracted from Twitter and TomTom to develop a traffic optimization recommendation tool to solve that problem.
It allows city officials to be more informed about traffic incidents and more efficiently dispatch volunteers to take care of the problem.
Another example of IBM Research’s Big Data solution to urban challenges is Cape Town’s wildfire assessment system. Due to its unique topography and vegetation, Cape Town is one of the most fire-prone cities in South Africa.
IBM lab has designed a cognitive dashboard that uses data from The Weather Company and Cape Town’s open data portal to assess fire incidence risk and severity.
The technology has assisted government officials to advance the city’s emergency response and deployment system.
Union Bank of Nigeria has secured certification under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) version 4.0.1, a global standard for protecting payment card data.
The certification took effect on August 11, 2026, confirming that the bank’s systems for storing, processing and transmitting customers’ credit and debit card information meet stringent international security requirements.
PCI DSS certification is designed to reduce the risk of payment card data breaches and financial fraud while strengthening customer confidence in electronic payment systems.
The assessment covered key areas of Union Bank’s operations, including network infrastructure, card issuance, ATM and POS transactions, payment processing, reconciliation, settlement, chargebacks, dispute resolution and retail banking.
Union Bank was assessed and certified under the Service Provider category.
The certification process lasted a full year and involved quarterly assessments, with support from departmental, business and functional heads across the bank. Digital security firm Digital Encode supported the process, while the final independent audit was conducted by CyberCube, an accredited Qualified Security Assessor.
Yetunde B. Oni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, said the certification demonstrates the bank’s commitment to protecting customer information.
“The security of our customers’ information is central to everything we do at Union Bank. This certification reaffirms that our payment systems and processes meet a rigorous global standard, and it reflects the discipline of colleagues across the Bank who work every day to keep customer data safe.”
The renewal also ensures that Union Bank maintains continuous PCI DSS certification, in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s requirement for banks to sustain compliance without interruption.
New data from CFA Society Nigeria is reshaping how the country’s financial sector thinks about talent development, with Access emerging as the single largest source of CFA candidates in Nigeria, distinction industry watchers say signals a deeper shift in how leading institutions are building investment expertise from within.
In its Where Nigeria’s Finance Professionals Work series, published in a national daily, CFA Society Nigeria placed Access first among employers of CFA candidates nationwide, with 82 candidates enrolled in the programme, more than double the 38 recorded at the next-placed institution and well ahead of every other bank or financial services firm on the list.
Access also ranked second among employers of CFA charterholders, with 11 professionals who have completed all three levels of the Programme and met its experience and ethics requirements.
For an industry that has long measured itself by balance sheet size and branch count, the rankings point to a different kind of competition: one over who is building the deepest bench of certified, globally credentialed talent.
CFA Society Nigeria compiled the data from its Salesforce Membership Database as at June 2026, and described the exercise as a way of recognising employers whose people “bring rigour, integrity and global best practices into the workplace every day.”
Analysts following the sector say the outcome is notable less for the ranking itself than for what it suggests about talent strategy across Africa’s financial services industry. A single institution developing more aspiring charterholders than the rest of the market combined raises the floor for professional standards nationally, not just within one balance sheet.
Every candidate who advances through the CFA Programme adds to a shared pool of ethics-trained, analytically rigorous professionals that Nigeria’s capital markets, pension funds and asset managers all eventually draw from.
Access Holdings Group Chief Executive Officer Innocent C. Ike, commenting on the rankings, framed the achievement in terms of institution-building rather than recruitment: “Every candidate on that list represents our commitment to building institutions and professionals that endure.”
The remark echoes a broader thesis increasingly voiced by market observers, that talent depth, not scale alone, is what will determine which African financial institutions earn lasting global credibility.
That distinction sits at the centre of Access’s stated ambition to become the World’s Most Respected African Financial Services Group. If the CFA numbers are any indication, the Group’s route to that goal runs less through square metres of branch network and more through the calibre of the people sitting inside it, a bet that Nigeria’s finance professionals, and the institutions that will one day hire them, are already placing alongside Access.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology across domestic and international airport terminals to tackle the growing problem of delayed, misrouted and missing luggages
Michael Achimugu, director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, disclosed this at a stakeholder engagement forum in Lagos.
Achimugu said the RFID-enabled system would replace the traditional barcode-based baggage tracking framework and provide airlines and passengers with real-time visibility of checked luggage from check-in to final collection.
According to him, the technology would improve baggage traceability, reduce mishandling and strengthen accountability across the baggage-handling chain.
Unlike conventional barcode systems, RFID technology allows baggage to be automatically scanned at multiple points without requiring direct line of sight, enabling real-time tracking of luggage throughout its journey.
Achimugu said issues involving short-landed, missing, lost or damaged baggage had remained among the major complaints from air travellers, alongside flight delays.
He said the introduction of RFID technology was therefore aimed at improving baggage-handling standards and restoring passenger confidence in the aviation sector.
The NCAA said the initiative also aligns with IATA Resolution 753, which requires airlines to track baggage at key points during the passenger journey.
The authority expects the technology to provide more accurate information on the location of luggage, facilitate quicker resolution of baggage-related complaints and improve the overall passenger experience.
The NCAA said the initiative would also strengthen accountability among airlines and other stakeholders involved in baggage handling at Nigerian airports.
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