Category: Science & Technology

Winners of Titans of Tech Awards 2017

Established by Technology Africa, the Titans of Tech Awards is a platform where the most influential players in West African ICT markets interact for the purpose of exchanging ideas and positively influencing and promoting ICT agenda for the optimal good.

The Titans of Tech award held at the Oriental Hotel in Victoria Island Lagos, recognizes stakeholders presently contributing to the advancement of technology in Nigeria.

  • ‘Titan of Tech Merit’ award – Wale Olaoye (CEO of Halogen Security)   Honoured for his commitment and dedication to the integration of technology and its application to the Nigerian security landscape.
  • Outstanding Government Agency of the Year – National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
    In recognition of the Agency’s recent drive at ensuring IT Compliance among MDAs and effecting a high level of professionalism in the industry.
  • E-government solutions provider of the year – Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) Plc

NIPOST Adopts What3words

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has announced its adoption of the innovative global addressing system, what3words.

Nigeria is the seventh country to adopt the module globally and third in Africa. The system is already in use for mail delivery in Mongolia, Sint Maarten, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Tonga and Solomon Islands.

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FEC Approves Mandatory Registration of Practicing Foreign Professionals

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria has approved a new policy that bars foreign professionals from practising in Nigeria unless they were registered and certified by all the necessary regulatory bodies.

This is even as the Federal Government has declared a state of emergency on science and technology to boost technological acquisition for the industrial growth of the country.

According to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu:
Some of the highlights will involve where we have bulk purchases. Those who normally would have supplied from outside the country will now come to Nigeria and establish their factories to produce in Nigeria.
By doing so, they will offer job opportunities to our people, tax will be paid to government, wealth will be created and most importantly, Nigeria will now acquire the necessary technology that will help us build capacity.”

Bamidele Adetayo and Suleiman Nadabo develop Entertale

Bamidele Adetayo and Suleiman Nadabo, have developed a free TV, movie streaming web app, Entertale to give TV audience in Africa and the world quality experiences.

According to Mr. Bamidele Adetayo:

“It allows users to watch multiple live TV stations for free. The story of Entertale begins due to lack for African valued TV contents to enable people connect with what are happenings and watch movies and TV shows with friends they are already connected with. The App which is set for launch later in the month does not require monthly subscription, and the live channels would comprise international and African TV stations.”

Also speaking, the co-founder, Mr. Suleiman Nadabo said that in the app is a feature called “Co-Play’’, which give users the options to watch movies they rented with friends irrespective of location.

In his statements:

“Using the App is like watching television in an alternate reality where you do not recognise any of the shows, while evolving a new space that has been lacking in the African entertainment industry. “Cord cutting” might be getting another kin but this time it is driven with a social experience – a free service that mimic the cable box with Internet channels instead of traditional ones and cinematic experience. The app is still in its web versions where much of the content comes from YouTube; in its movie model cases, Entertale also makes direct content deals with big independent studios to access their latest library.”

Mr. Nadabo stressed that the web service, which solely focused on TV, allow users to also rent movies that they were only interested to watch. He said that users would also get notifications on what their friends were watching, follow and chat with them.

Team Nigeria Emerge Victorious At 2017 FIRST Global Robotics Olympiad

A team of seven students, who represented Nigeria (Team Nigeria) in the maiden edition of the FIRST Global Robotics Olympiad (GRO) in Washington DC, U.S. have emerged victorious with their impressive performance.

The team sponsored by Faysal Jarmakani came third out of 41 African countries that participated in the competition and ranked 25th out of 162 countries. They also got two other awards.

FIRST is the acronym of ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology’ and the goal of the competition is to expose students to collaborate on techniques to solve global problems.

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ABU (IAR) & IITA Develop 3 New Maize Varieties [2017]

The Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has secured approval to release three new high-yielding nutrient maize varieties for planting in Nigeria granted by the National Varietal Release Committee at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology in Ibadan.

The maize varieties were developed by IAR in collaboration with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.

The maize varieties tagged: SAMMAZ 52, SAMMAZ 53 and SAMMAZ 54 were offshoots of extensive “on-station, multi-locational and on-farm’’ evaluations with strong farmer participation.

According to IAR:

“SAMMAZ 52 is an improvement over previously released varieties as a result of bio- fortification with pro Vitamin A.

This Vitamin A bio-fortified maize variety has yield potential of 6.0 ton/ha, about 24 per cent higher than earlier release varieties in the same category.

It has medium maturing of between 110 and 120 days, tolerant to maize streak virus, rust, leaf blight and curvularia leaf spot.

The SAMMAZ 53 and SAMMAZ 54 varieties are bred for high grain yields up to 7.6 t/ha and 7.2 t/ha. Both varieties are extra early maturity (80-85 days) and resistant to maize streak virus, rust, leaf blight and curvularia leaf spot.

They perform very well in northern Guinea and Sudan savannah environments where climate changes are manifesting in the form of droughts, dry spells and in ecologies where parasitic Striga hermonthica attacks are severe owing to declining soil nitrogen.”

The varieties were produced to strengthen farmers’ resilience in coping with the changing production environments in which irrigation water and rainfall had become increasingly scarce.

The commercialisation and adoption of the varieties is expected to significantly improve food and nutrition security as well as the livelihood of actors along the maize value chain.

‘Africa’s Best Premium Microsoft Products & Services Company of the Year 2017’

Information Technology Company and Microsoft Cloud solutions provider, IPI Solutions Nigeria Limited has won ‘Africa’s Best Premium Microsoft Products & Services Company of the Year 2017’ award at the 2017 edition of the Brand Leadership Merit Awards.
IPI Solutions was singled out for the award because of its strides and innovations, which all contributed in building a brand that identify with international best practices.
IPI Solutions Limited has evolved over the years to become preferred Microsoft cloud solutions provider and systems integrator with several awards and recognitions in its trove. Some of its notable awards include: Africa’s Most Reliable Business Technology Solution Provider 2016, Microsoft Partner of the Year Competency Award 2016 and Top 100 Most Promising Microsoft Solution Provider 2016 among others.
The African Brand Leadership Merit Awards is an annual fiesta that celebrates brands excellence in Africa. The brand award celebrates leadership, innovation and creativity in Africa. It also showcases the brilliant minds and institutes that deliver positive change and shapes Africa’s future.