Telecom
Stakeholders At BoICT Awards Canvass Use of ICT to Foster Sustainable Development
Opinion molders in the Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector have drummed up support for the use of ICT to stimulate sustainable development in our institutions.
They disclosed this at the just concluded Beacon of Information and Communication Technology awards (BoICT) held on Saturday at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Delivering the first keynote address at the event, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Phd , DG / CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), represented by Hajiya Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, NITDA, stated that this year’s theme of “Leveraging ICT Value for building institutions” aligns well with the growing movement to use ICT to foster sustainable development in institutions.
He stated that our institutions and indeed our nation can experience a high level of sustainable development through the effective use of ICT.
In his words, “it is often said that data is the new oil and organizations can now use data to create wealth.
“Today, an average smartphone can have as many as 10 sensors. We have about 144million active mobile lines in Nigeria, a sizable portion of which are smartphones, potentially giving us access to large volumes of data.
“With Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics, such data can be translated into actionable insights for that would lead to sustainable development in the country.”
He encouraged captains of industries in the ICT sector to support ICT capacity building efforts both within their institutions and within the ICT Startup ecosystem, stressing that the future of the ICT industry depends on it.
The DG thanked the organizers for giving him the opportunity to deliver a keynote address of the 9th edition of the Beacon of ICT Awards.
Pantami noted that,” Over the years these Awards have celebrated the leading lights in the various spheres of the Nigerian ICT sector.
“They have also served as an inspiration to both the awardees and the general populace.
“I use this opportunity to salute the foresight and commitment of the organizers.” he said.
Femi Adeoti, MD / CEO Africa Operations- Inlaks Nigeria, who gave the second keynote address, said that Technology and Innovation will continue to be at the core of the operations of every Institution.
He added that, Mobile and digital payments technology is becoming increasingly significant, especially in the context of developing economies, where many low income households and microenterprises do not have ready access to financial services.
Adeoti stated that national identity management enabled by the biometrics technology serves as a foundation for the development of a country, noting that the use of biometrics have helped to strengthen the integrity of the country’s immigration and also help to prevent fraud during elections with the use of a National Identity Management System.
He noted that technology has not only made access to information easier but it has made learning easier.
He applauded MD of Systemspecs and his team for their role in ensuring that management Control Systems were created through the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“If a country has a fragmented system for handling government payments through the banking system, it is a critical Public Financial Management weakness that needs to be addressed.
“The TSA provided unified structure of all government bank accounts enabling consolidation and optimum utilization of government cash resources.
“TSA helped the Nigerian Government get a stronger hold of its finances and reduced fraud.” he stated.
Earlier, Dr.Ernest Ndukwe, Chairman, Open Media Group, who was the chief host of the event, thanked Communications Week Media for sustaining the awards for the past 9 years.
He noted that sustenance of the awards is important because the industry is such an evolving one, that always have something new that comes on every now and then in the industry.
He added that Nigeria is not bereft of new terms and new products in the ICT sector, adding that it has being a very good destination for many innovations that have been coming out from time to time.
He said “recently we started hearing about blockchain, and now we have moved to internet of things which is still evolving and there are just so many things that keep coming up all aimed at making our lives easier and creating an environment that makes it possible for us to live our lives in a more digitally enabled way.
“So I like to congratulate CommunicationsWeek team for the good work they have done over the years and the resilience in ensuring that we gather here every year.
“I am sure this evening promises to be a good evening as it has always been in the past and I will like us to relax, feel free and enjoy ourselves.“ he added.
Also, Dr LeoStan Ekeh, Founder/Chairman, Zinox Group and Chairman of the event said that, the ICT sector is a sector that has manpower deficits and at the same time the most progressive sector in the world.
He further extolled Nigeria Communicationsweek media’s role in building the ICT sector through their insightful reportage of the industry, adding that the knowledge CommunicationsWeek disseminate every morning shows the power of the media.
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Dr Ekeh, eulogized and encouraged young men in the industry to stay focus; adding that technology is the new money.
He said, “I want to encourage our young men to stay focus, there is only one factory here, that must open, it does not matter who is in government in the next five years but the reality is that technology is new money, we can’t hide about it, but the young people need energy, I see them, they lack energy, they spend before they earn.
He added that his drive in the industry is as a result that things will turn around in the sector in the next few years; that he wants to watch it happen.
Users of satellite internet service provider Starlink in Nigeria are being required to complete a biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) process as a precondition to continue enjoying their services, according to .biometricupdate.
According to local reports, more than 66,000 Starlink subscribers in the country had a December 31 ultimatum from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to complete the biometric verification or have their connection discontinued.
The process essentially entails linking a Starlkink account with the subscriber’s national digital ID.
The NCC, which is Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator, is said to have first issued the directive in August last year, setting a three-month deadline which was to elapse on November 19, TechCabal reports.
The body however later extended it to December 31 after consultations with industry stakeholders. The internet account-NIN linkage, the NCC said, is to enhance identity verification and strengthen security within the country’s telecoms space.
Just a few days to the December 31 deadline, Starlink’s Nigeria office sent an email to its subscribers reminding them of the KYC requirement, and warned that all those who fail to comply would be disconnected.
And that once disconnected, reconnection would depend on network capacity in the concerned area.
The service provider said in its email that the process takes less than two minutes and users can complete it by logging in to their account via an app.
One user, quoted by TechCabal, said one needs to upload their selfie biometrics, provide their national identification number (NIN) and then give their consent for the account to be linked to their ID information.
Starlink’s internet service is present in about 155 countries with nine million users, as of 2025. Its growth in Nigeria is said to be rapid, making it the second largest internet service provider in the country, according to The Traffic.
Biometric identification for Starlink subscribers could become a continent-wide trend given that some countries have expressed reservations in opening up their internet space to the company over security concerns.
There’ve been fears that jihadists in countries like Mali and Nigeria may have exploited Starlink terminals to coordinate terror operations, and cybersecurity experts have also warned of risks related to weak regulation, digital sovereignty and data breaches.
The requirement for Starlink internet users to have their accounts linked with the NIN is similar to the SIM-NIN linkage policy which the Nigerian government battled to implement for many years, with many deadline extensions.
In October last year, the NCC, which is was at the forefront of the policy implementation, announced that all active SIM cards across all network providers had complied with the directive which was issued in 2020.
The idea, the federal government argued, was to strengthen security and curb criminality such as kidnappings which are aided and abetted by improperly identified mobile phone numbers.
Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has urged Northern Nigeria to pivot urgently from traditional commerce to an innovation-driven digital economy for sustainable growth.
NITDA
Inuwa issued the call at the Future Map Foundation Roundtable 1.0 (North-West Edition) in Kano, attributing the region’s sluggish digital adoption not to talent deficits but to the lack of deliberate, coordinated strategies.
He stressed deeper collaboration across academia, private sector players, entrepreneurs, and government, positioning the private sector as the primary innovation engine while government supplies robust policies and an enabling ecosystem.
Inuwa advocated for people-focused, locally tailored innovations that tackle regional challenges head-on, enabling global competitiveness by transitioning from mere technology users to creators of homegrown solutions.
The roundtable convened policymakers, tech founders, and ecosystem stakeholders to forge a comprehensive roadmap for North-West digital transformation, yielding firm commitments to bolster regional innovation policies and public-private synergies.
Inuwa’s push dovetails seamlessly with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which sets an ambitious target of 95 per cent nationwide digital literacy by 2030, fostering inclusive economic empowerment.
Participants hailed the forum as a pivotal step toward unlocking Northern Nigeria’s tech potential, with NITDA poised to lead implementation through strategic interventions and partnerships.
Samsung Electronics plans to double this year the number of its mobile devices with “Galaxy AI” features largely powered by Google’s Gemini, its co-CEO said, which would give the U.S. firm an edge over rivals as the global race in artificial intelligence heats up.
The South Korean company, which had rolled out Gemini-backed AI features to about 400 million mobile products, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, plans to boost that figure to 800 million in 2026.
“We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Samsung Electronics co-CEO in November.
The plan by the world’s largest backer of Google’s Android mobile platform is set to give a major boost to its developer Google, which is locked in a race with OpenAI and others to attract more consumer users to their AI model.
Samsung seeks to reclaim its lost crown from Apple in the smartphone market and fend off competition from Chinese rivals not only in mobile telephones, but televisions and home appliances, all overseen by Roh.
It will offer integrated AI services across consumer products to widen its lead over Apple in such features, though the latter was set to be the top smartphone maker last year, according to market researcher Counterpoint.
AI Race
Alphabet’s Google launched the latest version of Gemini in November, highlighting Gemini 3’s lead on several popular industry measures of AI model performance.
In response to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal “code red,” pausing non-core projects and redirecting teams to accelerate development. The ChatGPT maker launched its GPT-5.2 AI model a few weeks later.
Roh expects the adoption of AI to accelerate, as Samsung’s surveys on awareness of its Galaxy AI brand jumped to a level of 80% from about 30% in just one year.
“Even though the AI technology might seem a bit doubtful right now, within six months to a year, these technologies will become more widespread,” he said.
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