Internet of Things: Catalyst for Nigeria’s smart cities

Futurists have long painted a vision of the revolutionary “smart city,” a gleaming metropolis of clean streets and punctual public transport, where issues of crime, congestion and pollution have been engineered into irrelevance. A great deal of people believes that building the smart city will be extremely disruptive, but the Managing Director of Vodacom Business Nigeria, LanreKolade, has a different perspective. Kolade explained at the recent Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting that governments did not have to tear down the towns of today to build smart cities, which would improve services and the quality of life for their inhabitants. He said that by using the Internet of Things technology, a host of intelligently connected services would become possible. According to Kolade, about 48 per cent of Nigerians are living in urban areas and this proportion will continue to grow as urbanisation continues. With the number of people living in urban areas around the world predicted to rise to 6.4 billion by 2050, cities like Lagos need to adopt IoT technology to meet the rising challenges of a mega city. He maintains that governments have a central role to play in making towns and cities run effectively but that with constrained budgets and a growing population, issues such as traffic, pollution and public safety are becoming more difficult to manage. Authorities must adopt technologies that will improve sustainability, ease congestion, help citizens and attract new businesses to their towns and cities. “An IoT-enabled city can reroute traffic around congestion in real time, automatically schedule repairs for failed infrastructure like street lighting or bridges, and intelligently manage energy use and pollution right across the environment. It can also protect citizens and businesses from crime more effectively, and safeguard vulnerable inhabitants in their homes,” Kolade said.

Invest in ICT and create new billionaires, Zinox boss tells FG

With the right kind of investment in technological platforms and the overwhelming support of the government in providing the requisite enabling environment, Nigeria can effortlessly produce global billionaires from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. This much was disclosed by Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group, in an interview feature with renowned media outfit, Cable News Network (CNN) which has received significant mention since it was first aired in the first week of January 2017. Serial digital entrepreneur, Ekeh who has built arguably Africa’s most integrated ICT conglomerate – the Zinox Group – is confident that with significant investment in ICT, the challenge of youth unemployment, inadequate opportunities and growing restiveness among the youth can be arrested. For this to happen, however, the government has to actively engage the youths by investing massively in ICT which, in his opinion, has become the fancy of young people. Ekeh is a firm believer in the numerous opportunities which abound in the rapidly evolving ICT-driven future – a knowledge economy in which wealth is no longer the exclusive preserve of a privileged few. “The miracle of ICT is that it is the only profession in the world today that can make the child of a poor man the richest man in the world. The challenge, however, is that majority of our youths are in a closed community in which the standards are still poor so they cannot exhibit their innate intellectual strength. As a result, they are seen as defeated and a lot of them are unemployed. “We are doing our bit to correct this situation but government support will go a long way in helping the country achieve more. Presently, Zinox is building digital training centres and tech hubs across the country and empowering many of our youths. We have also committed some significant investment in a number of tech start-ups. Recently, we invested in an Ibadan-based software company – Xputer. Interestingly, some of the apps being created by the young chaps Xputer are driving the business processes of the major e-commerce outfits in the country. All they needed was a bit of exposure and support to help them scale up. “The same situation applies to many of our youth. Today, if you give these youths the right platforms, which I must say is not expensive, Nigeria can produce a minimum of 10 billionaires from the ICT sector in the next few years.” “Ninety percent of youths today want to go into trending professions; lifestyle professions and that is what ICT really is. If government invests in this sector as it should, Nigeria is capable of producing several billionaires straight out of the technology space”, he added. Ekeh is the founder and chairman of the Zinox Group, a technology company based in Nigeria that manufactures and distributes computers at home and abroad. Zinox employs 1,800 Nigerians and Ekeh thinks the company can play a role in improving the tech economy, while tapping into Nigeria’s young population.by pioneering several successful technology start-ups and taking them to the zenith of marketplace competition.

Five things you need to know about artificial intelligence

Article The next big thing in the technology world is artificial intelligence (AI). Big tech organisations like Apple and Google are aggressively investing in AI. Google has been partnering Oxford University to expand Artificial Intelligence. Some examples of everyday AI include iPhone Siri and Microsoft Windows 10 Cortana. Before going further, it will not be out of place to define AI. Wikipedia simply describes AI as ‘intelligence exhibited by machine”. It further explained that the term AI is applied when a machine mimics cognitive functions that humans associate with other human minds such as learning and problem solving. Now AI is trending. Therefore, Jumia Travel shares five things you should know about AI as it would soon become an important part of our daily life just like social media. AI was coined in 1956 The first ever mention of AI was in 1956. John McCarthy was famously quoted at a conference at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire as saying: ‘As soon as it works, no one calls it Artificial Intelligence.” Since its mention, AI has pretty much been evolving to become a popular phenomenon today. Robots will do your job Perhaps the time is here when human presence will not be required to provide services. It will be the job of Robots to provide the service. A good example of this is the Henn-na hotel in Japan which is the first ever robot-staffed hotel in the world whereby the reception desk is staffed by Robotic Dinosaur. So, be prepared. Autonomous vehicles will be the poster tech of AI The overall functions of autonomous vehicles are premised on Artificial Intelligence. If Google and car companies eventually perfect their driverless car's technology, it will be a huge boost thus making AI commercially viable. This may even encourage more companies to embrace AI. In fact, driverless cars are already being tested in the United States. There will no more error in saving lives This is important in the area of medicine. There are reported cases in which fatal mistakes by doctors have led to the death of patients. For example, in Vietnam recently, a man had a pair of surgical scissors removed from his stomach left during an operation 18 years ago. With machine performing surgery, there will be nothing like error or mistakes in saving lives. So the fear of world famous astrophysicist, Prof Stephen Hawking that the development of AI means the end of humanity is unfounded. Computer will be as smart as humans If you think computers are smart now, you have to reconsider your stance. It is projected that by 2040, computers will be as smart as humans. Thanks largely to Artificial Intelligence. Leave your comment.

HACKER HACKS INTO LINKEDIN AND SELLS PEOPLES INFORMATION

According to a report on Motherboard, a hacker known as “Peace” is selling account information of about 117 million LinkedIn users. This information includes login data like emails and passwords. According to Motherboard, Peace confirmed this information was stolen during the 2012 LinkedIn security breach where Russian hackers leaked 6.5 million passwords online. At the time, LinkedIn tried to downplay the gravity of the situation but this shows it was a big, serious issue. Right now, the stolen details are on sale on illegal dark web marketplace, The Real Deal for 5 bitcoin (about $2,200). So far, 90% of the encrypted passwords have been cracked and this took 72 hours. Cybersecurity is a big issue with social media and email accounts being under threat on a regular basis, and it doesn’t just happen on a personal level. Businesses also get hacked resulting in confidential information being leaked and customers losing a ton of money. Must be why most sites have outrageous standards for passwords to be approved. LinkedIn has 433 million registered users meaning this breach affects approximately 27% of its users. You may be thinking you don’t have anything to lose, but it’d be wise to change your password now to prevent identity theft.

Nigeria’s AppZone, U.S. tech firm in smart card alliance

Nigerian software company, AppZone says it is combining strength with Prime Factors, a U.S. developer to provide smart card solutions for the Nigerian market. AppZone says the partnership will enhance its card issuance platform to ensure that potentially functional cards that are not yet linked to customer accounts are transported between personalisation companies and banks According to Nigeria’s AppZone, the card issuance module will take card issuance to “a whole new level” by enabling the entire spectrum of card production and personalisation activities to be automated and occur instantly upon customer requests in bank branches. Under the plan, Prime Factors will provide AppZone with a core component used for the creation and management of cryptographic elements required during the secure personalisation of integrated chips found on modern payment cards. Appzone further says that with this development, banks on the platform can instantly issue fully functional cards to requesting customers in branches instead of having same customers wait for days or weeks to collect their requested cards. The introduction of its instant personalisation solution eliminates all the manual processes involved during card issuance and replaces them with complete automation, according to AppZone. Traditional card issuance requires customers to visit branches twice to get a card i.e. to make card request and to collect the card a few days or weeks sit uncollected at bank branches”, the Nigerian technology company says. “AppZone’s card issuance platform automates relevant card operations thereby reducing the need for banks to develop or outsource expertise required to manage EMV data preparation and card personalisation.” According to AppZone, “key features of our instant in-branch card personalisation solution include generation of Magnetic stripe and EMV chip data, instant personalisation of physical cards, instant PIN selection and instant linking of cards to customer accounts. There is also support for card blocking requests initiated at branches.”

Tech+ 2016, Nigeria’s top tech showcase event registration now open

Organisers of Tech+, Nigeria’s top technology showcase say registration is now open for interested exhibitors for this year’s editionscheduled to hold July 22-23, this year in Lagos. According to Connect Marketing Limited, organisers of Tech+, over 10,000 participants are expected at the conference ranging from top level government officials, policymakers, innovators, developers, young and adult consumers, among others. “Expectedly, the outlook, attendance and engagement for TechPlus2016 are sure to be advanced and topnotch, providing extensive value for exhibitors including access to over 10,000 event participants, top level government officials and policymakers, customers and consumers alike”, the event organisers announced. Exhibition booths are available for small, medium and large scale organizations and multinationals interested in leveraging the power of technology to project their brand value as well as connect with a vast array of tech and non-tech audience, with potential clients drawn from governments, policymakers, innovators, developers, global and local brands, young and adult consumers amongst others,” the statement adds. TechPlus2016 exhibition booths are categorized into Small (3m x 3m) and Medium (3m x 6m), and exhibitors can have their booths customised based on request and conditions. TechPlus, in its second year, has evolved to become one of the most authoritative gathering of everything tech in Nigeria and Africa at large, convening over 6,000 participants, 300 exhibitors and 1,000 gamers at its maiden edition last year. MTN, Samsung, Beat FM, Huawei, Ferarri, FCMB “and a host of other multi-sectorial brands” are already listed as parts of the exhibitors from TechPlus last year. To book your exhibition stand at the tech event, you can contact Michael on +234 703 359 4090 or michael@techplus.com.ng. You can also visit the website www.techplus.ng for more details or download the 2016 Brochure

NCS wants Nigeria’s young IT professionals ‘recognised’

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has called for the recognition of young Information Technology (IT) professionals to enable them to attain higher heights in their career. Mr Mike Olajide, the Publicity Chairman of the NCS recently made the call in a statement made available in Lagos where he urged young IT professionals to key into the programme of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) to enhance their potential. Olajide noted that IFIP had instituted an award for 2016 to adequately encourage the young professionals at global level in recognition for their achievements. He however explained that the award which was being organized by InterYIT, the International Young IT Group of IFIP, would be a recognition scheme for IT industry. He listed the categories of the award to include; IFIP International Young IT Professional of the Year, IFIP International Young IT Entrepreneur of the Year and IFIP International Best Student IT Project of the Year and he urged interested applicants to send in their forms before June 30 to info@ifipinteryit.org