Category: Science & Technology

The Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), has launched a CubeSat, with the code name NigeriaEdusat-1, into space from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States.

The Nigerian Cubesat is a component of the Birds 1 satellites, comprising of four other CubeSats belonging to Japan, Ghana, Mongolia and Bangladesh. They were launched from the SpaceX Falcon9 Rocket.

Mr. Ibukun Adebolu of FUTA’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is the representative of Nigeria on the project. It is the first ever university satellite to be launched in Nigeria.

According to a statement from the Head, Media and Protocol Unit of the university, Mr. Adegbenro Adebanjo;

“The Nigerian CubeSat is designed, built and owned by the Federal University of Technology, Akure in collaboration with the National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria, and the Kyushu Institute of Technology Japan.

The CubeSats will be launched and docked to the International Space Station where the satellites will be deployed into lower orbit during the last week of June 2017.

The satellite technology development in the long run shall have spillover effects on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education that is an essential tool for a country industrial development.’’

Five (5) Nigerian women; Carolyn Seaman, Damilola Anwo-Adehave, Olamide Ayeni-Babjide, Ijeoma Vincent-Akpu, and Petra Nnamani have been selected to participate in the 2017 TechWomen Exchange Program.

Carolyn Seaman is using technology to empower girls through her Girls Voices Initiative, while Damilola Anwo-Ade is mentoring the next generation of coders, including young women, through her initiative CodeIT.

TechWomen is a U.S. initiative empowering and connecting the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

The program will bring together 100 women leaders in technology fields for a five-week professional mentorship and exchange program at leading technology companies in California’s Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Abocoders Nigeria has emerged the 2016/2017 winner of the $5,000 Miss.Africa Seed Funding for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Programs.

Abocoders is a startup that provides secure and sustainable livelihoods for young women in Northern Nigeria through ICT training, focusing on software development as a means of empowerment.  The initiative of Aspilos Foundation is headed by Simi Olusola.

Abocoders will use the $5,000 grand prize to reach more lives and open more opportunities.  The Bahir Dar University STEM Incubation Center, Ethiopia and Ubongo Game Lab, Zambia each won $1,000 in the second round of the $7,000 fund that received more than 200 applications from 24 countries across Africa.

Miss.Africa is an initiative of the DotConnectAfrica (DCA), a charitable organization that promotes the advancement of IT education to the African society.

Its pan-African campaign STEM for Girls avails grants to launch or expand the initiatives of women and girls to increase digital opportunities in IT training, jobs and leadership roles on the continent.

Nigeria had the most Miss.Africa Seed Fund applications at 33%; Kenya was second with 11%; and third Ghana with 9%. Tanzania and Cameroon followed with 5%; and South Africa, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe tallied at 4% each.

The third round of the Miss.Africa Seed Fund 2018 will be announced in July 2017.

A personalized learning tutoring app Tuteria developed by 27-year-old Godwin Benson has won the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation awarded by the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering.

Tuteria is a platform that links qualified tutors to student in their area and within their budget. The app has a ratings system, and allows students to book lessons using an upfront online payment system which solves the problem of access to quality, personalised learning and helps people earn income from sharing their knowledge.

Tutors are then paid once the lessons have been confirmed and Tuteria takes 15 to 30% commission for each paid lesson. Mr. Benson however  plans to use the prize money to widen Tuteria’s offering “even beyond Nigeria” and to include online classes and video courses as well.

According to Mr. Benson,

“It is something that solves the problem of access to quality, personalised learning and helps people earn income from sharing their knowledge.”

Mr. Benson emerged top over other 16 participants to clinch the $32,000 prize money.

Other entries in the competition includes a system that reduces the amount of energy used to heat water, an app that controls water consumption and a smart jacket to identity pneumonia.

The engineering innovation award was launched in 2014 and rewards innovators in sub-Saharan Africa.

The NiRA Awards 2017 recognises and acknowledges companies and organisations contributing to the growth of the .ng domain name registration.

NiRA is the registry for Nigerian Internet Domain Names (.ng) which maintains the database of names registered in the .ng country code Top Level Domain.

Winners

Best Primary school portal – Ifako International schools, Lagos

Best Secondary school portal – Shepherd International college, Nasarawa

Best Tertiary institution portal – University of Uyo

Digital innovation in local government – Amuwo odofin

Digital innovation in state – Lagos state

Digital innovation in federal government – Federal Road Safety Commission

Public sector star – National Bureau of Statistics

Making the internet a better place – National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

Best print media – The Guardian Nigeria

Best media online website – Pulse Nigeria

Best electronic media (television) – Iroko

Best electronic media (radio) – Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria

Most valuable youth organisation – National Youth Service Corps

Startup company of the year – Eazyhire

Best payment website – Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System

Best Insurance company – Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund

Best banking website – Bank of Industry (BoI)

Most innovative service provider – Jiji Nigeria

Company of the year – Google Nigeria

Youth Development award – Startuparewa.ng

Women Development award – Saferinternet.org.ng

The Best Local Hosting Company – Garanntor for garanntor.ng

Supporting  media partner – Guardian newspaper and Technology times

Special recognition of outstanding board members award – Mr. Biyi Oladipo

Special recognition award – Mrs. JAF Olushola

Winners: Best .ng registrar (four categories)

1. Silver- netorb media ltd

2. Gold- Icecool ltd

3. Platinum- McReal online networks

4. Standard level- Whogohost ltd

The Beacon of ICT awards recognises organisation and individual contribution to the development of ICT in Nigeria, is an annual event organised by Nigeria’s Communications Week, the country’s leading and respected information and communication technology news medium.

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) won the “Regulator of the Year” award for the contributions of Information and Communication Technology to the economy.

Simach Technologies emerged the “Best Indigenous Software Company of the Year”.

Inlaks Computers won “ICT Company of the Year”.

Cornerstone Insurance got the “Best Use of Technology Insurance Company of the Year”.
VDT Communications was awarded the Broadband Company of the Year.

Spectranet as the Best 4G LTE Provider of the Year.

Rack Centre as the ICT Infrastructure Provider of the Year.

The Enterprise Solutions Provider of the Year went to Vodacom Business.

Priority Communications got IT Services Provider of the Year.

Tradeways Limited was awarded the Most Innovative Courier Operator of the Year.
The Managing Director of Sidmach Technologies, Peter Arogundade was the “Man of the Year”.

Biodun Omoniyi, MD of VDT Communications Limited, got the ICT Personality of the Year award.
The ICT Entrepreneur of the Year award went to the MD of Inlaks, Femi Adeoti.

Chairman of CNSSL Group, Gbenga Adebayo, was given the Life Time Achievement Award.