News
Intel, ARM in Tug Of War Over Low-Cost Android Tablet Market
A tug of war has started between world’s largest chip maker Intel and ARM on who best will be patronised in the chip installation business for Android-based tablets, as Intel showed off with one of the first low-cost Android tablets with an Intel x86 processor at the Mobile World Congress, thereby putting ARM, whose processors go into most tablets today on the run.
As if that was not enough, Asustek released a 7-inch tablet running a single-core Intel Atom Z2420 processor code-named Lexington, which is targeted at low-cost smartphones and tablets.
Priced at $249, the tablet has 3G voice and data capabilities, and Asus claims it offers nine hours of battery life. The tablet includes multiple cameras and a 1280 x 800 pixel screen.
That tablet is comparable on price and features to low-cost 7-inch Android tablets with ARM processors. Hewlett-Packard recently introduced the Slate 7 with a dual-core ARM processor, which starts at $169 and offers 6 hours of battery life but does not have 3G capabilities.
Google’s Nexus 7 tablet starts at $199 with a quad-core ARM processor, but the price goes up with the addition of mobile broadband features.
Intel is just getting started in the low-cost Android tablet market. The company has so far offered the Atom Z2760 processor, code-named Clover Trail, only for Windows 8 tablets. Wanting to leave Clover Trail largely to Windows, Intel last year decided to develop Lexington, which is a variant of Intel’s Atom chip code-named Medfield.
Lexington chips are already found in low-cost smartphones like Kenya phone maker Safaricom’s Yolo, which is priced at about $125.
More Lexington-based smartphones are expected from companies like Lava International and Acer in developing countries.
Hermann Eul, the vice president and general manager of Intel’s Mobile Communications Group during an interview at MWC, in Barcelona said the low-cost Android device market is important for Intel, and more low-cost Lexington tablets and smartphones will be released going forward.
“The tablet market is important for us,” Eul said. “We will see all kinds of sizes.”
To gain an edge, Intel is also taking advantage of communications technology it acquired from Infineon, as exemplified by the Fonepad. There’s a big need for such devices, and Eul said that the company will focus on increasing its presence in the market by providing the chips required by device makers.
While Lexington for smartphones and tablets are viewed as for Android only, things will change toward the end of the year when Intel releases its latest tablet Atom chips, code-named Bay Trail, which are the successor to the Windows-only Clover Trail.
Eul said tablets with Bay Trail will be released simultaneously with Android and Windows.
That will effectively break up segmentations of Intel’s tablet chips based on OSes.
“Last year’s priority was Windows to catch the Windows 8 availability. Now we are pulling in all the Android tablets as well,” Eul said.
The Bay Trail chips will be based on an entirely new microarchitecture and are designed to be faster and more power efficient than their predecessors, according to Intel. The chip will be made on the 22-nanometer manufacturing process, and the 3D transistors will partly improve power and performance on the chips. Intel currently makes laptop and desktop chips code-named Ivy Bridge using the 22-nm process.
Eul could not say how Bay Trail tablets would be priced, and that device makers would define that. But the tablet markets develop very fast, and a year can change the scene, Eul said, adding that a range of form factors and OSes are redefining the space.
“How could we dare make a bet on what is going to be a winner two years from now? What is important is if you take the right steps, whatever pans out, we will still be in the game,” Eul said.
Federal government may lose $4 million from a World Bank loan after failing to get a pass mark on key audit standards in its revenue-generating agencies, such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service.
This is according to a World Bank restructuring paper dated June 2025.
The amount, which is the equivalent of around N6.2 billion with an exchange rate of N1,568 per dollar, could have helped to address one of Nigeria’s infrastructural deficits.
The fund formed part of the $103 million Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project, a public financial management initiative financed through a credit facility from the International Development Association.
Accordingly, the revenue assurance audit covering the FIRS and Customs for the 2018 to 2021 financial years was assessed as not achieved because the reports submitted did not meet international auditing standards.
“Revenue assurance audit of Main Income Generating Agencies, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigeria Customs Service for FY 2018–2021, with an allocation of $4m.
“These Intermediate Results to be implemented by the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation were assessed as not achieved by the Independent Verification Agent because the reports submitted for verification did not meet the requisite international auditing standards.”
Also, the unsuccessful audit was one of ten performance-based conditions under the project that the government could not deliver before the closing date of June 30, 2025. Consequently, the Federal Ministry of Finance formally requested the cancellation of $10.4 million in project funds.
“The FMF has requested cancellation of $0.9m of unused funds for technical assistance and $9.5m, which is the amount allocated to 10 performance-based conditions, which will not be achieved by the close of the project on June 30, 2025,” the document read.
Further analysis shows that $4.5 million was tied to the uncompleted Revenue Assurance and Billing System, while $1 million was allocated to the development of a National Budget Portal.
According to the document, the Budget Office of the Federation, which was responsible for the portal, did not submit any evidence of achievement. In addition, $0.9 million in technical assistance funding was left uncommitted and has also been cancelled.
Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) has warned job seekers to be wary of fraudsters circulating inappropriate recruitment information.
The warning came against the backdrop of social media publications that President Bola Tinubu has ordered massive recruitments into some government agencies.
The agencies listed in the report were the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) and the Federal Fire Service (FFS)..
The agencies are all under the Ministry of Interior, headed by Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
However, while responding to the reports, the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB) cautioned Nigerians against falling into the traps of job racketeers.
The Board acknowledged a Presidential approval for the recruitment of personnel in the four (4) Paramilitary Services under its purview, but insisted that due process would be followed on the matter.
Major Gen. Abdulmalik Jibrin (rtd), board secretary, said in a statement that “there are series of processes which leads to the actual recruitment exercise.”
“The Board wishes to reiterate that for all its recruitment processes, appropriate notifications would be done via adverts in the national dailies and it would be carried out in a fair and transparent process devoid of payment of any fee.
“To this effect, members of the public should be weary of the activities of recruitment racketeers who may want to take advantage of unsuspecting job seekers to rob them of their hard-earned resources”, Gen Jibrin said.
Adefowora Abiodun, one of the alleged promoters of the CBEX investment scheme, who voluntarily surrendered to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in April following a ruling by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, is still languishing in the custody of the anti-corruption agency.
Adefowora Abiodun, one of the alleged promoters of the CBEX investment scheme,
Concerned Nigerians who have been following the matter have urged the EFCC to release him unconditionally since he honoured their invitation without being arrested.
The court had approved the EFCC’s request to arrest and detain six individuals connected to the scheme, including Abiodun.
Alongside Abiodun, five other individuals—Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, Seyi Oloyede, Avwerosuo Otorudo, and Chukwuebuka Ehirim—were declared wanted by the EFCC for their involvement in the alleged fraudulent investment scheme, which was valued at over $1 billion.
Fadila Yusuf, EFCC’s legal counsel, had submitted evidence that led to their public declaration as wanted individuals.
After the announcement, Abiodun, who was shocked by the declaration, alongside his legal team, presented himself to the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, expressing his willingness to cooperate with the investigation.
Babatunde Busari, his legal counsel, explained that Abiodun’s decision to submit voluntarily was made in order to clear his name and address the media narratives circulating about the case.
Despite the return of investor funds and CBEX’s assurance that withdrawals would be allowed by June 25, Abiodun has been in detention for over a month, triggering speculation about the EFCC’s high-handedness and rights abuse.
His legal team is now advocating for his release on administrative bail, emphasizing that the ongoing detention is unwarranted under the circumstances since he submitted himself for investigation.
According to one of the family sources, “Keeping him in a cell for over one month would send a negative signal to other Nigerians who would be declared wanted by the EFCC in the future. It would discourage Nigerians who have clear cases from surrendering themselves voluntarily to security agencies if, at the end of the day, they don’t receive mutual respect for surrendering themselves.”
He added that CBEX is not a Ponzi scheme.
Reacting to the agitation by concerned Nigerians, Dele Oyewole , EFCC spokesman hinted that the agency obtained a remand order to keep him beyond 48 hours.
According to him, “Anybody that we are holding beyond 48 hours, be rest assured that we have a lawful remand order from the magistrate court to hold him beyond 48 hours.
“We are a law-abiding commission. Concerning that suspect, we are holding him on the basis of that remand order.”
FG May Forfeits $4m from World Bank Loan over Audit Flop
NDIC Begins Final Settlements to Creditors of Liquidated Premier Bank
CDCFIB Warns against Recruitment Racketeers
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Concerned Nigerians Ask EFCC to Release Abiodun, CBEX Promoter
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