Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Connect with us

Telecom

RCCG Holds First Faith-based Hackathon

Published

on

Team Credital, winner of the RCCG Young Adults and Youth Affairs Maiden Hackathon " Kingdom Hack" held recently at the Youth Centre, Redemption Camp.
Kindly share this post

The Redeemed Christian Church of God, a trailblazer and a frontrunner in driving innovation that is positioning the Church and Africa as a global stakeholder in solving one of the greatest global epidemics – poverty, through its Young Adults and Youth Affairs has successfully held the first ever faith-based hackathon in Nigeria and second of the few in Africa.

 

The event tagged ‘Kingdom Hack’ was held from November 1st till 3rd 2018.

 

The objective of Kingdom Hack is to drive social change through technology.

 

This year’s focus was on addressing the challenge of poverty through redistribution of wealth.

 

Hackers from different parts of the country came together and were tasked with the responsibility of developing tech products and innovations that will enable redistribution of wealth and greater generosity.

 

Nine teams mentored by experts competed for the ultimate prize and at the end of the three-day event, Team Credital won the Hackathon ahead of team LinkUp and team Wagro. The three top teams were trailed by the six other teams.

 

Team credital developed a peer-peer lending platform aimed at exploring the lending market place in Nigeria with a bid to help accelerate the growth of small and medium scale enterprises and in turn, create a chain reaction of wealth redistribution and fight poverty in the process.

 

Speaking earlier at the beginning of the event, Bayo Adekanmbi, Chief Transformation Officer, MTN Nigeria, spoke about the dangers posed by poverty and its effect on national productivity as he challenged participants to position themselves as the game changers in driving the change of narrative.

 

He also took the participants through an inspiring session which focused on how to develop innovative products that can address the subject matter with many eye opening case studies.

 

Pastor Precious Akingbade, The National Young Adults and Youth Pastor of RCCG, spoke about the strength of the Youths and Young Adults as a major tool that can create wealth and reduce poverty if properly harnessed as the Redeemed Christian Church of God is currently doing.

 

In his remarks, the International Director of Programs, RCCG Young Adults and Youth Affairs, Pastor Oluwadamilare Adeboye congratulated the participants whom he described as the pioneers of a landmark initiative focused on solving a problem that has held the world in ransom for too long.

He further stressed that Kingdom Hack is one of the major initiatives through which the church is living up to her responsibility as a key stakeholder in driving social change.

 

The event also featured judges who are experts in various subjects’ matter in the tech community within and outside Nigeria.

 

Busola Oyefeso, CEO Tailorbricks, Kayode Adeyinka, Co-MD Jumia Ghana, Babajide Asegbeloyin, Techspace Ecosystem Business FCMB all added colours to the event as they employed their expertise and experience to determine the winners of the event.

 

At the end of the event, the winner, Team Credital walked home with a whopping sum of One million naira, while the first runner up, Team LinkUp walked home with seven hundred and fifty thousand naira while the second runner-up, Team Wagro, smiled home with five hundred thousand naira.

 

 

 


Kindly share this post

Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

Telecom

PAT Taps Osi as CEO

Published

on

Kindly share this post

Pan African Towers (PAT), a Nigerian infrastructure provider serving 9mobile and Spectranet, has appointed Echezona Osi as chief executive officer.

PAT Taps Osi as CEO

Echezona Osi

Adefolarin Ogunsanya, company’s, board chairman,  explained in a statement that Osi would succeed Oladipo Badru, whose tenure lasted nine months in acting CEO position. Osi has more than 28 years of experience in the telecommunications sector across various regions of Africa.

Prior to his appointment as CEO, he had served as the head of network deployment at Airtel Nigeria, operations director and chief technical information officer at MIC Tanzania, chief technology officer roles at IPT PowerTech Nigeria, Rhino Niger Networks and Biswal Nigeria.

He obtained a degree in electrical/ electronic engineering from the University of Benin and a postgraduate diploma in data science and business analytics from the University of Texas.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Telecom

NCC Introduces N10m Licence Fee for Bulk SMS Service

Published

on

Kindly share this post

Companies sending bulk international text messages, also known as Application-to-Person (A2P) messages, will now have apply for a licence that costs N10 million.

NCC Introduces N10m Licence Fee for Bulk SMS Service

This is part of new rules introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) aimed at cleaning up the system, fighting fraud, blocking spam messages and stopping money from leaving the country unchecked.

These A2P messages are the kind customers get from banks, online stores, hospitals and political campaigns, automated texts sent from apps to their phones.

According to the commission, the bulk international text message system has been poorly regulated, allowing misuse and invasion of privacy.

“The International SMS Service Ecosystem in Nigeria has not been fully brought under regulatory control. It has been observed that the excessive use of the Short Message Service has led to fraud, spam and illegal activities,” the NCC said.

The regulator warned that without action, the problem would worsen as more people use mobile phones and digital services.

To solve this, the NCC is creating a central platform, or gateway, through which all international bulk text messages must pass through.

The agency said this would help to monitor messages in real time, ensure proper fees are paid, and make sure the money stays in Nigeria where it can contribute to the economy.

As part of the incoming change, service providers must follow strict rules, including strong data protection, spam filters, and message encryption.

Also, they must also work with local mobile networks and make sure all messages come from a verified sender

The NCC warned that any message without a proper sender ID will be blocked and not delivered to users.

To protect users from unwanted texts, the new rules say companies must get clear permission before sending any promotional content.

The rule also says people must also be able to choose whether they want to receive such messages or not.

Companies are now required to keep records of all messages for at least six months and must clearly state all charges involved.

The NCC said fees for help requests, cancellations, or service info must be transparent and not include hidden charges.

The commission will issue licences to several providers to encourage healthy competition but may limit new licences if needed.

Only companies that show they can stop fraud and safely deliver messages will be allowed to operate. They must also regularly report their message traffic and finances to the NCC.

It warned that any company that breaks the rules risks getting fined, suspended, or having its licence revoked.

Offences like charging illegal tariffs, ignoring security rules, or avoiding taxes will be punished, the NCC said.

The commission added that the new rules follow the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023 and support the federal government’s goal of strengthening cybersecurity and controlling Nigeria’s digital space.

The framework will also be reviewed from time to time to keep up with new technology and market trends.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Telecom

MTN Nigeria Targets $1Bn Cloud Market with Largest Modular Data Centre

Published

on

Kindly share this post

MTN Nigeria has launched what it claims is the country’s largest prefabricated modular data centre, marking a bold push into the country’s fast-growing cloud market and taking aim at global giants such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

MTN Nigeria Targets $1Bn Cloud Market with Largest Modular Data Centre

Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.

The shift comes as demand for cloud services in Nigeria soars — driven by the uptake of mobile apps, fintech tools and e-learning platforms — while foreign providers have become costlier in the wake of the naira’s sharp devaluation.

“This is one of the biggest data centres in West Africa and probably one of the biggest in Africa,” said Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.

He described the new Tier III-certified facility, with locally hosted cloud services, as “transformative for the technology ecosystem in Nigeria and very supportive of the federal government’s agenda”.

MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecoms provider, has so far invested $120m in the first phase, delivering an IT load of 4.5MW. A second phase, set to double capacity to 9MW, is budgeted at $135m.

“We already have data centres that are running our existing capacities,” Toriola said.

“We will go to 9MW in short order, possibly 14MW, and we can expand even further.”

He said the facility would allow local hosting for tech developers, large enterprises including banks and oil companies, and government agencies — markets long dominated by foreign cloud providers.

“Multinational companies such as Netflix, Facebook and Instagram can also host a lot of their data here. That improves the quality of service and reduces the cost of storage,” he added.

 


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Trending