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SGF: Nigeria did not request for Madagascar herbal medicine

The Nigerian government has said it did not request for COVID-Organics, a herbal medicine used by Madagascar to treat COVID-19 patients. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, made this known at the daily Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing on Thursday. Mr Mustapha said the medicine was offered as a general gesture of ‘brotherly love’ from the Malagasy government to all African countries. “Nigeria did not ask Madagascar for any solution, the Madagascar government decided to airlift quantities meant for African countries. ”It was taken in the spirit of African brotherly love to Guinea Bissau and we have asked our ambassador there to establish the location, the quantity and he has done that,” he said. Mr Mustapha, at a past briefing, had noted that t...

Chatbot Uptake to Remain Robust in Nigeria

Sourced from UC Today. Nigerian firms that offer extensive customer support on their platforms are eagerly snapping up chatbot solutions to improve Customer Experience (CX) and drive down costs. This technology is becoming simpler, cheaper to deploy, and can be integrated across various chat channels. Chatbots are rapidly changing the game for many businesses, as AI-driven bots start to communicate more efficiently and effectively with end-users while giving organisations better insight into their customers. What’s more, this technology provides organisations with cost optimisation by decreasing operating expenses, in addition to offering scalability without impacting quality. As a result, this frees up resources for the organisation in order to pursue other opportunities. /* custom css */...

5G Critical to Nigeria’s Development, Claim Engineers

Sourced from PC Mag Engineers in the field of electronics have thrown their weight behind the need for Nigeria to deploy 5G technology. This comes after the country’s communication commission announced that, despite news on social media, it had not given out any licenses for network operators to begin to deploy 5G technologies. These engineers, under the umbrella of the Nigerian Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE), say that despite false claims that have impacted the deployment of the technology globally, the development potential for the country is massive. Keeping with this, the body says that Nigeria should not be left out of the opportunities that come with 5G technology. Speaking at a Zoom meeting on the topic “Expert Insights on 5G Concerns,” the national chairman ...

NCC says No 5G Licenses have been Issued to Network Operators in Nigeria

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is adamant that it has not yet issued 5G licenses to any of the countries operators – despite rumours spread via social media platforms that claim the local telecoms industry would switch on 5G networks in Lagos this week. In an official statement, the NCC says that these rumours couldn’t be further from the truth – “there is no deployment of 5G in Nigeria at the moment”. The commission – which insists that the rumours come from “faceless sponsors” – told The Vanguard that it had approved 5G trials in November 2019 for a three-month period, ending January 2020. The trials have since been concluded and installation decommissioned. “The trial among others was to study and observe any health or security challenges the 5G network might present. Rele...

AirtelTigo and Opera Offer Free Data and Browsing in Ghana

Sourced from Comms MEA Ghanaian telecom operator, AirtelTigo has announced its partnership with popular mobile web browser Opera Mini to offer free data and browsing on the Opera Mini browser and Opera News App for three months. Through the partnership, both new and existing AirtelTigo customers will automatically receive free 50MB data every day to access the latest local and global news anytime. The Opera Mini and Opera News Apps work on all Android mobile devices. Both mobile applications incorporate the unique data compression technology of Opera, capable of pre-processing and reducing the amount of data from a website before it reaches the users’ phones, saving up to 90 per cent of mobile data. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_7b3.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_7b3.td-a-rec-img img{ m...

Nigerian Man Receives Death Sentence via Zoom – A Look at the Future of Correctional Systems?

Sourced from Innovation in Politics. A man in Nigeria was sentenced to death via the popular video conferencing app Zoom this week – this after courts in Nigeria turn to video-conferencing platforms as the country struggles under nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19. CNN reports that in a virtual court hearing on Monday, Olalekan Hameed was found guilty of murdering his mother’s employer in 2018 and had been sentenced to death by hanging, a practice still prevalent in the country’s penal system. A judge at a court in Lagos delivered the ruling to Hameed, who appeared remotely from prison via Zoom, along with his lawyer and prosecutors who also joined the hearing remotely, justice ministry spokesman Kayode Oyekanmi told CNN. Hameed has since denied the charge and remains in prison, says Oyek...

Remote Connections Up 44% During Lockdown in Nigeria

Sourced from AFP. Many organisations across Africa are finding themselves transitioning their workforce to remote work at home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. IT departments are re-architecting their environments on the fly to allow for remote access. Now, according to a report by Serianu, Pan-African based Cybersecurity and Business consulting firm, “in Nigeria, remote connections have increased by around 44% since the onset of COVID-19 with the highest increase realized in March 2020 after the president declared lockdown in key cities. Lagos is, by a vast amount, the most affected state, hosting over 40% of the identified vulnerable connections put at over 4,500 vulnerable connections.” The Guardian Nigeria goes on to note that the report marks increased usage of these services cau...

Ivory Coast’s Guillaume Soro faces war crimes lawsuit in France

File Photo Ivory Coast’s former prime minister Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader before he entered politics, is facing a lawsuit in France for war crimes, torture and murder, lawyers told AFP. The plaintiffs say the case is being filed in France because Soro has been living in the country since 2019. Late last month, he was handed a 20-year jail term in Ivory Coast for embezzlement, money laundering, and buying a mansion in the West African country’s main city Abidjan with public money. The Abidjan court fined him nearly seven million euros ($7.6 million), ordered the confiscation of his Abidjan home and barred him from civic duties for five years, which effectively eliminates the 47-year-old from contesting presidential elections due in October. Soro denies all accusations. The latest lawsui...

Gozem Benin Integrates Etisalat Moov Money into App

Gozem has officially integrated Etisalat Benin’s mobile money capabilities to its app.  Essentially, the integration means that Gozem customers can now use Moov Money to safely top up their Gozem wallets and take trips without cash. This move could see hundreds of Gozem users in Benin benefiting from the simplicity and security of Moov Money at a time when the need for a cashless society is a growing trend and a global strategic imperative. “In addition to existing payment options offered in our app, Gozem users can now alsobenefit from the security and convenience of paying with Moov Money. We are proud tocontinually improve our service offering and work alongside Moov Benin to offer ourcustomers more choice and convenience,” says Pierrick Houée, Country Manager for GozemBenin. Moov ...

PDP rejects N108 ex-depot fuel price, insist on N70 pump price

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has rejected the new ex-depot price of N108 per litre of the Premium Motor Spirit insisting on a new pricing template that must accommodate a pump price of between N60 to N70 per litre to reflect the crash in the price of crude oil and petroleum products in the international market. The party described the N108 ex-depot price as fraudulent and a far cry from the appropriate pump price template that should not exceed N70 given the prevailing situation in the international oil market. In a statement issued by the national publicity secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP maintained that the N108 ex-depot price with a projected additional N9 per litre Expected Open Market “completely unacceptable to Nigerians.” The statement read: “The federal gov...