Dev Career: The Nigerian Company revolutinizing ICT in the world

 There are many ict companies in Nigeria but this one is with a difference. It is basically developmental and it is geared towards empowering the youths. It is empowering people to be software developers. Here is how the company began and how it is changing the world. This company is pioneered by Sultan Akintunde.

Coding is one of the most popular aspects of technology in Africa because of its low barriers to entry, but many infrastructural challenges still mean young people are unable to afford the resources to effectively learn to code.

“So it’s safe to say I saw a problem; lack of resources is the major factor hindering the making of excellent developers, and a good laptop is a major example of this,” Akintunde says.

With this revelation, Akintunde tried crowdfunding on Twitter to raise ₦1 million ($2,758) to get 10 laptops for 10 developers who could not afford them otherwise. The programme got off to a rough start. “Regardless of over 2,000 encouraging responses in the first week, I did not get a dime. Even a GoFundMe set up with a £5,000 goal got just a £5 donation in its first few days. It was rough,” he said.The crowdfunding eventually picked up and went on to raise £5,000, but the project hit  another snag. Akintunde says he worried that just giving young people laptops without any form of guidance and or follow up would  not be the best deal.

“I was speaking to one of our major sponsors at the time and he asked me, ‘what comes next after we give out these laptops?’ and that got me thinking.”

This led to the birth of DevCareer, a nonprofit dedicated to helping up-and-coming African developers. According to its website, DevCareer is a “A non-profit Tech organisation to support the rising Tech Ecosystem in Africa.” Akintunde and Chidi Okoye, another Lagos-based software engineer, kicked off the organisation in March 2019.

Currently in its first ever cohort with 22 participants, DevCareer goes beyond just giving laptops. After a rigorous process, Akintunde, and a few other volunteers, visited select towns to physically vet finalists.

An interview and orientation process for a DevCareer cohort

“It is easy to get someone to help do online code assessments, and people do this. We wanted to make sure these applicants had the skills they claimed and see them personally,” he said. The organisation then proceeded to give the selected candidates high-performance laptops, a coworking space, free online courses, and continued mentorship for a 3-month period. Participants in the cohorts are not restricted to any area of knowledge as current ones are equally divided between frontend and backend web development, data science, and Android development.

Developers in the program are also taught creative writing to be able to write good comments and documentations for their processes. For its expansion into other African countries, Akintunde said there is already physical support in Zambia and that other African countries will come on board in the nearest future. In the long-term, the programme wants to be more self-sustaining. “We are working on building a sustainable model that won’t need crowdfunding for every cohort. This is not a current challenge, but is very necessary in the long run,” Akintunde said.

Reach is also a major concern. DevCareers says at this rate it can produce junior developers in three months but also “needs to create a remote learning system that will require less physical interaction, enable an accelerated system, and run at least three successful cohorts yearly.” With all these, the organisation says it hopes to build a sustainable ecosystem that moves developers from beginner to intermediate levels of their career within the shortest possible time.

HOW BLOCK CHAIN CAN HELP SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF CORONA VIRUS

The sudden emergence and rapid but uncontrolled worldwide spread of the Corona virus shows us the failure of existing healthcare surveillance systems to timely handle public health emergencies.
To be sincere, most health systems around the world (even in developed countries) were not created to handle epidemics at the scale of coronavirus or any other type.

Anachronistic Health Surveillance systems

Many surveillance systems are used to track potential new diseases and control existing diseases. Though governments are doing everything in their power to contain the spread of the Corona virus, their fight is hampered by difficulties in the timely sharing of information with local and international health enforcement agencies on the ground.

Unfortunately, many of these systems are outdated, hard to access, or inaccurate. China’s current disease surveillance system for instance is an updated version of a system that is five decades old. And there is the privacy and security issue when using centralised healthcare surveillance systems. Time however is of the essence when dealing with outbreaks of this sort of deadly diseases.

HOW BLOCK CHAIN CAN BE OF HELP

Blockchain could be of help

The time to build borderless solutions based on decentralized technologies has come. Highlighting the need for numerous improvements in the health care sector, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology issued a Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap requesting ubiquitous, secure network infrastructure; verifiable identity and authentication of all participants; and consistent representation of authorization to access electronic health information.

Hereblockchain could offer ways to improve many public health activities associated with preventing and controlling diseases. Blockchain powered solutions could address and tackle various aspects of the issue. Blockchain technology has the ability to improve health, access to information, supply chains and many more.

These expectations are based on the key aspects of blockchain technology, such as decentralized management, immutable audit trails, data provenance, and robustness. Additionally, multiple nodes in a permissioned blockchain have the ability to share and report vital data instantly, while complying with data privacy and security regulation.

 

Blockchain use cases

Blockchain could be used to improve a variety of health care-related processes, including record management, healthcare surveillance, tracking disease outbreaks, management crisis situations and many more.

Record management: single source of information
Containing virus should be looked at as a data management issue. The biggest opportunity for blockchain in the healthcare industry is as a single source of truth for the data provenance, as the whole world is fighting against this outbreak. It could be used for record management purposes, to manage real-time data and importantly, to ensure its integrity, while identifying and eliminate misinformation about the Corona virus.

In emergencies like these, there are high numbers of incoming data, “with not many hands on deck to manage the same”. With the use of blockchain, data collection will become automated and immutability of the ledger makes it impossible to alter any of the records.

By using blockchain technology one could be able to securely manage health records, ensuring interoperability without compromising patient privacy and security. Those records could include patients’ data, treatments given, and any progress detected. Blockchain will also make sure that data are archived and protected by any unauthorised access, but still keeping it available for the whole healthcare system.

It will enable users to see all the data and trends on the virus in real-time including all information about confirmed cases of infected, death toll, recoveries, etc. The exponential growth of connectivity and the access to the wealth of data it offers  would allow health officials to quickly track the spread of disease, giving vulnerable populations vital information. All this information can be used by research labs working on a vaccine.

Blockchain healthcare surveillance systemBlockchain can also be used for surveillance purposes. A blockchain healthcare surveillance system can provide the means to prevent and control future outbreaks. A permissioned blockchain surveillance system would allow local and national health agencies to access the surveillance data.

A global blockchain surveillance system could easily reach areas where connectivity is poor, and costs must be kept low. Local practitioners can receive real-time information on surrounding areas, regardless of governmental or political barriers. In addition, global organizations like the World Health Organization could access the data. Because the system is decentralized and secured through blockchain, data remains secure and multiple organizations can report the data. 

Tracking infectious disease outbreaksBlockchain could be used for tracking public health data surveillance, particularly for infectious disease outbreaks. Increasing transparency will result in more accurate reporting and more efficient responses. They would allow for rapid processing of data, enabling early detection of infections before they spread to the level of epidemics.

Blockchain can help develop treatments swiftly, and help with management when pandemics do occur. This could enable government agencies keep track the virus activity, of patients, suspected new cases, and more.

They could also use the blockchain to track down where the virus originated, probably It could enable doctors to review patients’ symptoms and monitor diagnostic data in real time, integrating patient history information. Information can be collected in a distributed way and have that information available to different parties, including authorities such as the WHO.

Management crisis situationsBlockchain technology can not only help in keeping track of the virus and outbreak activity. Blockchain could also be used to better manage pandemic situations and the dissemination of treatment. It could instantly alert the public about the Corona virus by global institutes like the World Health Organization.

It could instantly recommend a course of activity should an outbreak be detected. Using blockchain could enable to provide governments with recommendations about how to contain the virus. It would offer a platform where governments, medical professionals, health organizations, media, and all the concerned parties can update each other of the situation and prevent worsening of the same.

Securing medical supply chainsThe blockchain could also be used for “track and tracing” of medical supply chains. Blockchain has already proven its success as a supply chain management tool in other industries. Blockchain-based platforms could be used to enable the review, recording and tracking of demand, supplies and logistics of epidemic prevention materials. As supply chains involve multiple parties (from donors and recipients, to warehousing and delivery logistics), the entire process of record and verification by each party is tamper-proof, while also allowing anyone to track the process.

It could help streamline medical supply-chains, ensuring that doctors and patients have access to the tools when they need them and preventing contaminated items from reaching stores. A blockchain-based system could ensure vaccines, testing equipment, and other relief efforts are sent to the right places at the right times and in the quantities needed, and have that recorded. Securing the supply chains of these valuable resources could have life-saving effects. Combined with a surveillance system, a blockchain supply management system could change the way the world responds to epidemics.

Prevent zoonotic diseases
Zoonotic diseases like Corona could be caught in animals before they make the jump to humans if veterinary field records were kept on a blockchain surveillance system. Because many animals are migratory – so not staying in the same area - a decentralized blockchain system would allow for greater collaboration and transparency across the world. Diseases could be “flagged” and eliminated in animal populations before they make the jump to humans. 

China and blockchain

Chinese organizations are trying to implement blockchain-based solutions to combat the Corona virus and reduce its economic impact on the country. They have rolled out a number of applications for immediate and emergency use, to fight the spread of the corona virus in public institutions, hospitals, universities and the financial sector. These are touted as performing a variety of different functions.

These blockchain solutions are already being used by local authorities to manage identity information and donation platforms. Additionally, multiple countries world-wide are employing blockchain-based tools to track patients diagnosed with coronavirus and identify the people who might have been infected. The apps are designed to ensure people’s privacy, identity, and medical records using the blockchain against Corona virus and other medical conditions.

HashLog      One of the interesting applications is HashLog, a solution launched by Acoer, a developer of blockchain-enabled applications for public health and global health organizations, to fight against the deadly coronavirus.

The HashLog visualisation engine interacts in real-time with Hedera Hashgraph’s distributed ledger technology to ensure real-time logging and data visualization of the spread of the disease. With the help of public data from the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Acoer’s Hashlog Dashboard is capable of providing real-time information for tracking this epidemic. For example, this application is tracing people traveling to and from the country, to pinpoint patients and prevent further infections.

“HashLog allows for the real-time visualization of coronavirus data and trends. This includes the overall number of cases globally, rates of deaths and recovery per infections (where we have reliable data), cases filtered by country, as well as Google trends by interest and region on Corona virus.” Acoer’s CEO, Jim Nasr

This should help epidemiologists verify the integrity of records that have been uploaded to their analytics systems. Each transaction is recorded through a verified hash reference on Hedera’s ledger, meaning epidemiologists can trust data to be legitimate. This allows researchers, scientists and journalists to understand the spread of the coronavirus and its trends over time through visuals presented on Acoer’s HashLog dashboard.

IBM Food TrustThis is not the first time blockchain is being applied to track diseases. There have already been a number of initiatives using blockchain and distributed ledger technology to track the origins of food, for example. The IBM Food Trust has been using blockchain to help improve food safety by managing and conducting food tracings in order to identify sources of contamination for occurrences of Salmonella. By being able to identify the cause quickly and effectively, it is much easier to contain the problem and treat it at the source.

Blockchain preventing pandemics: not yet?

Presently, the authorities all over the world are trying their best to contain the Corona virus as it has shown the potential of turning into a pandemic. And that is where blockchain can help. We have seen that disease outbreaks can happen at any time, anywhere on the planet, with little or no warning. These are natural events that have occurred in the past and will re-occur in the future.

Blockchain will not prevent the emergence of new viruses itself. But what blockchain can do is create the first line of rapid defense through a network of connected devices whose only purpose is to remain alert about disease outbreaks. The use of blockchain can help prevent pandemics by enabling early detection of epidemics, fast-tracking drug trials, and impact management of outbreaks and treatment.

All in all, i will suggest that this block chain technology should be adopted in Nigeria not only for the present coronavirus, but also to revitalize our health system.

Ministry directs schools to join FLL Robotics competition

The Federal Ministry of Education, (FME), has indicated that from next year all the 104 Unity Schools will participate in the First Lego League (FLL) national robotics championship competition.

FLL was brought to Nigeria by Coderina Education and Technology Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation and supported by SAP.
Now in its sixth edition in the country, the 2020 competition themed: “City Shaper” was organised by Coderina in collaboration with the ministry and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) with supports from SAP; National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA; Irish Aid and the Baze University in Abuja.

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, speaking through the Permanent Secretary, Sonny Echono, said the decision to allow all Unity Schools’ participation is meant to strengthen critical and computational thinking among students.

Children aged nine to 18 years numbering about 1000 and 50 teachers drawn from 60 schools participated at this year’s national championship with Metra 101 Team, an all-girls team from FGGC, Ikot Obio Itong, Akwa Ibom state emerged overall champions.

On his part, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, represented by the Director of eGovernment Development and Regulation (eGDR), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, earlier while delivering the keynote address said that NITDA is saddled with the responsibility of developing and regulating the use of Information Technology in the country, which has contributed immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said, “Building creative young minds will bring out the potentials embedded in the teeming youths, making them to have the basic Information Technology foundation at an early stage”.

According to the DG, “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the fundamental pillars and the next oil of the nation that will be playing a pivotal role in the growth of the economy.”

NIGERIAN SCIENTIST DEVELOPS CANCER DRUGS FROM AFRICAN PLANTS

Mansurah Abdulazeez discusses how her visionary plant research could help in fight against tumours
Mansurah Abdulazeez is a molecular biologist at the Center for Biotechnology Research, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. Her research aims to identify potent anticancer agents in African plants. Last November, the government of Spain awarded her their Science by Women Fellowship. And in June, she won a Nigerian National Research Grant of N31 million (US $86,000) from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. The journal Nature asked Abdulazeez about her life and research.

What can you tell us about your scientific background?
Growing up, I always enjoyed science. I originally wanted to become a medical doctor, but I ended up studying biochemistry during my undergraduate studies at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. I got my master’s degree, and then my PhD there, studying antihypertensive and anticancer activities of African plants. I was also a visiting scholar at Chiang Mai University in Thailand for six months as part of my PhD research.

What does your research focus on?
My research is aimed at identifying potent, safe and effective anticancer agents from Nigerian plants. We have screened and confirmed the cytotoxic activities of extracts of the drumstick (Moringa oleifera) and soursop (Annona muricata) trees as well as the native Nigerian shrub Peristrophe bicalyculata on cervical carcinoma and fetal lung carcinoma cell lines. We also studied what anticancer mechanisms these plants exhibit. We found that these plants act in the body through a variety of mechanisms — there is no single mode of action for all plants.

Why is the study of African plants important for cancer research?
It is well documented that these plants have an enormous, largely unstudied anticancer potential. Research into herbs such as Guiera senegalensis, which is used by traditional African healers and known as ‘Sabara’ by locals, has led to the discovery of several anticancer drugs. In my view, this demonstrates how the study of African plants can result in the development of valuable drugs.

What is your advice to young African women who want to pursue science?
Participate in local and international conferences that are relevant to your fields of study, so as to keep yourself updated on cutting-edge research tools, methodologies and funding opportunities. Always ask for support from senior colleagues — and family members — whenever you need it. Remain focused, tenacious and hard working.

NHIS to deploy robust ICT to drive reforms for rapid transformation- Prof. Sambo

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) says it will deploy a robust Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to drive fundamental reforms that will transform the scheme into a result-oriented public institution.

The Executive Secretary, Prof. Mohammed Sambo said this during when he visited the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe at the National Assembly complex, in Abuja.

Mr Ayo Osinlu Head, Media & Public Relations disclosed this in a statement, on Thursday in Abuja. Osinlu said Sambo, who assumed office on July 15, had continued to inspire internal and external support for the scheme, by series of consultations aimed at building consensus around the reforms.

Sambo, while intimating the senator of his reforms and strategy, said the deployment of ICT, would solve 80 per cent of unacceptable transparency challenges in the processes.
He added that such equipment would further afford the scheme the platforms for effective, real-time monitoring and evaluation.
“The process for the fundamental reforms will transform NHIS into a result-oriented public institution, well positioned for its mandate as a catalyst for socio-economic and human capital development.
“The reforms are anchored on the tripod of three-point Rebranding Agenda, including value reorientation, transparency and accountability, while accelerating the drive to achieving universal access to quality healthcare for all Nigerians,’’ sambo said.
He further highlighted ten action points from the white paper on Independent Fact Finding Panel, investigated during the recent crisis in the organisation as additional undertakings of government which aimed at repositioning the scheme.
This, he said, would particularly be in the areas of staff audit, financial management systems, procurement, internal audit and labour relations.
The NHIS Boss, however, requested the assistance of the senate committee on health, through legislative and advocacy engagements, for ongoing efforts to rebrand and reposition NHIS to operate effectively as the nation’s healthcare delivery system.
In his remark, Oloriegbe congratulated the NHIS executive secretary, describing his appointment as critical for the agency and the nation especially at this time.
Oloriegbe said there was mounting pressure for practical and quick results from the organisation under the new leadership.
He, however, promised the consistent support of the committee and the 9th senate, which he described as “a better assembly that works for the people.”
Oloriegbe advised the NHIS boss to give immediate attention to challenges of the scheme, particularly in areas of human resources, stakeholder interests and minimal coverage.

NEW LOCATION SOFTWARE TO FIGHT CRIME AND TRANSFORM NIGERIA’S LOGISTIC AND DELIVERY

The national adoption of a new addressing technology will resolve challenges faced in last mile delivery of different services, Managing Director of GridCodes Technology, Squadron Leader Adefola Amoo (retd), has said.

In a statement made available in Abuja on Friday, Amoo said the new software, known as gridcodes, that locate any place on earth with the aid of Geographic Positioning System patented by his company would transform the logistics and delivery industry when adopted by the country.

According to him, the Ministry of Science and Technology has already established an inter-ministerial committee that is considering the adoption of the technology on national scale.

He said with the new technology, organisations such as banks would also easily resolve the challenges inherent in proper identification and location of customers in an analogue environment.

Amoo said, “When adopted, Gridcodes will facilitate revolutionary expansion of many verticals in commerce, regulation and governance.

“It will support last mile delivery, logistics, transportation as well as all businesses that revolve around being able to navigate reliably to where people are. In governance, for example, the challenges around achieving full compliance with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s KYC policy will be drastically reduced.”

 He added, “This is about the first time in Nigeria’s history that the work of an indigenous inventor is being considered for national adoption. Without a doubt, this is an opportunity to showcase how President Muhammadu Buhari’s Executive Order Five can decisively solve a critical geo-infrastructural problem that has been facing the country for years.

“Gridcodes will solve this problem as quickly as the adoption is declared by the Federal Government and at a fraction of the cost and time it took advanced economies to do the same thing. This is the kind of near instantaneous, leap-frog solutions that promoting indigenous innovation can achieve.”

According to him, the digital addressing technology leverages GIS to provide citizens an address that makes it extremely easy to navigate to homes, offices, social gatherings, places of entertainment and trade even if such places have no physical addresses.

He explained that Gridcodes digital addressing technology “is delivered to the end user via a mobile app and an associated website.”

A former Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, had at the inauguration of the inter-ministerial committee said that Nigeria could effectively improve governance, boost commerce, fight crime and better manage intelligence through the adoption of Gridcodes.

Nigerian Tablet Computer Pioneer Saheed Adepoju

Saheed Adepoju, 28, is co-founder and chief visionary of the Encipher Group, a Nigerian-based technology company that has produced the country’s first tablet computer, ‘Inye’. The word Inye is derived from Nigeria’s Igala language and means ‘Number 1’. Here is an interview

What inspired your passion for personal computers?

My love affair started back when I was a mere 13 year-old in high school. I was fascinated by computer games. During my school days I met Anibe Agamah, who would later on become my co-founder at Encipher. We shared floppy disk drives with various games, and after our high school leaving exams we both set out to learn computer programming. We learnt how to code in C-language and Assembl. Anibe had a more artistic inclination and his web skills picked up and mapped out a year later. He also went on to study computer science and acquired an Msc in technology management while I ventured into software engineering.

What’s the story behind Encipher Group, and what was the inspiration for the INYE tablet computer?

Encipher was set up originally in the UK as a company which combined both strengths of the founders: Web application development and software development. This was back in June 2008. We actually set up shop when we got our first web application development job. As time went on, we decided to expand into new territories, hence our decision to branch out to making personal computers. The real inspiration for Encipher INYE is the Apple iPad. With the nature of the operating system the iPad had and its portability, we felt we had an entry point within the Nigerian market with a tablet. I had been having a look at the Android OS [operating system] since its launch in 2008 and I felt that a tablet PC running on Android OS with its open nature provided us an opportunity to get Nigerian developers building applications for it and also provided an alternative product for indigenous consumers.

Tell us about your flagship product-the Inye Tablet Computer.

The Inye tablet comes in 2 specs: INYE-1 was unveiled April 2010 and is a 7-inch resistive screen tablet. It runs android 2.1 and allows a user to connect to the internet using its inbuilt WIFI card and allows a user to also use an external 3G modem from GSM networks. It offers about 3hrs of battery life and allows HDMI output to HDMI capable devices (e.g. TV). It also allows a user to plug USB devices such as external flash drives and keyboards.

INYE-2, which was unveiled in May 2011, is an 8-inch capacitive screen tablet. It runs Android 2.2 and allows a user to connect to the internet using its inbuilt Wi-Fi card as well as using inbuilt SIM [card]. It offers about 8 hours of battery life. It also offers connection to other USB devices such as external flash drives, keyboard and mouse.

What’s your comparative advantage? Are there any special features Encipher tablets have that the iPad, Playbook or other tablets do not possess?

The comparative advantage to the iPad and Playbook is the nature of [operating system] our devices run. The Android OS is seen to be the fastest growing platform currently within the mobile space. The open nature of the OS allows third party developers to build relevant applications for vertical markets which are still relatively untapped at the moment.

How much do your tablets cost, and how many tablets have you sold so far?

Our tablets cost upward of $200 and we have sold close to 100 units of INYE-1. INYE-2 is yet to go into full production. Once we can clinch a funding deal, we will commence sales.

What are your future plans for the Encipher Group?

We are currently building applications for vertical markets as we believe strongly that the next scramble would be in this space for tablets. We are also working on Encipher TV, which is a setup box to allow broadcast of locally inclined programs over the internet.