12092018 - APC PRIMARIES: Gov kick against conditions for consensus candidate

Telcos co-locate for financial inclusion
…target 90 million Nigerians by 2020
By Prince Osuagwu
Telecom operators, MTN
Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel
and 9Mobile, have formed
a surprising partnership to
deepen the financial inclusion in
the country.
The telcos clearly indicated
interest to providing Nigerians
with access to a range of
affordable financial services.
Following the issuance of
Nigeria’s first mobile money
licences in 2009, the journey
towards financial inclusion has
been slow. Current financial
exclusion levels stand at over 40
per cent. There is a significant gap
to be covered in order to meet
Nigeria’s target of 20 per cent
financial exclusion by 2020. In
Nigeria, telco’s are excluded from
accessing mobile money licences
directly under current guidelines,
while in most sub-Saharan
African markets where mobile
money is successful; Telcos are
given a level-playing field.
The meeting was facilitated by
Academic Director and Senior
Fellow, at Lagos Business School,
Yinka David-West, who said: “Far
beyond financial inclusion rates
in Nigeria, we also have to
examine how people currently
considered to have access to
financial services stack up when
evaluated against the criteria for
true financial inclusion, that is,
access to a full suite of quality
financial services, provided at
affordable prices, in a convenient
manner. When evaluated against
this definition, it is clear that as a
country, we have to work, not just
to drastically increase the number
of financially included persons,
but also to increase the quality of
inclusion and access we give,
especially if we hope to positively
impact the economy and the
quality of the lives of Nigerians
in any meaningful way.”
The telecommunications industry
recognises that with an issue as
critical as financial inclusion, it is
important to focus on sustainable
solutions. This requires
inclusivity and collaboration of
varied solutions providers in
order to achieve real results. The
telecommunications industry has
the capabilities, technology,
infrastructure, distribution
network and subscriber base that
can quickly be leveraged to
provide these solutions.
According to the Nigerian
Communications Commission,
NCC, the industry has a reach of
86 per cent of the country, with
162.3 million customers (the single
largest customer base of any
industry in Nigeria).The industry
players have a combined presence
in 773 local government areas
across the country further
emphasising their ability to reach
especially hard to reach areas of
the country in a bid to deepen
access to financial services. They
also have 1,000,000 unique agents
already in place selling airtime
across the country, creating a
strong distribution network that
can quickly be converted to
established mobile money agent
networks.
Our commitments as an Industry
As the largest investors in telecoms
in Nigeria, we have come together
to deliver a concrete commitment
Rack Centre latest certification
to give it competitive edge
By Blessing Okoroafor
Co-location Data Centre,
Rack Centre, has achieved
the ISO 22301:2012, a Business
Continuity Management
Certification.
The latest certification which is
globally recognised by British
Standard Institute, BSI, has made
the data centre to stand side by
side with other centres across the
world which have attained such a
feat.
Speaking on the certification,
Managing Director, BSI Middle
East and Africa, Theuns Kotzé,
said: “In today’s volatile world,
understanding what it takes to
ensure the survival and prosperity
of an organisation can be more
challenging than ever. By
achieving ISO 22301:2012
Certification for Business
Continuity Management, Rack
Centre demonstrates its
commitment to improve
information resilience and
minimize the operational impact
of disruptive incidents. On behalf
of BSI, I would like to
congratulate Rack Centre for
achieving ISO 22301:2012
certification and for your ongoing
commitment to continual
improvement.”
Delighted in securing such a
coveted certification, Managing
Director, Rack Centre, Ayotunde
Coker, said "this is a key milestone
for Rack Centre and underpins
our commitment to excellence
and business continuity.''
To obtain the certification, Rack
to Nigeria - a promise to
materially improve financial
inclusion rates and to deliver
access to financial services to 90
million customers over the next 30
months: 1. By the 6th month, we
commit to bringing access to
financial services to 15million
customers, serviced by 100,000
agents. 2. By the 12th month, we
commit to bringing access to
financial services to 35 million
Nigerians serviced by 250,000
agents. 3. By the 24th month, we
commit to bringing access to
financial services to 70 million
Nigerians, serviced by 600,000
agents.
•Tunde Coker
Centre partnered with Deloitte,
the internationally recognised
professional services firm which
provided consulting,
implementation and certification
services.
In his congratulatory message,
Deloitte said: “We understand that
this marks a turning point in Rack
Centre’s journey in maintaining
the competitive edge and
customer’s delight. It had been a
tremendous learning experience
for us all and it is heart-warming
to see all the hardwork resulting
in this success.”
The ISO 22301:2012 certification
is designed to protect a business
from threats to business
continuity and proactively put
plans in place ahead of time to
prevent such threats impacting on
the smooth running of that
business or to keep the business
running during crises and
improve recovery time.
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 — 25
Anambra Technovation Girls:
Deriving maximum impact
from their award
BY CHRIS EGBUNA
THE surge in technological revolution across the globe
has its base on human capital development. It results
from uncommon commitment to quality education and skills
development among few nations, which has elevated modern
society to a higher stage of creative ability. This is the case
with Anambra State where five students of the Regina Pacis
Model Secondary School, Onitsha, received gold medal at the
recent World Technovation Challenge held in Silicon Valley,
in the United States.
The Nigerian contingent comprising Promise Nnalue, Jessica
Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai, Adaeze Onuigbo and Vivian
Okoye was led by their instructur, Mrs. Uchenna Onwuamaegbu-Ugwu.
The team knocked off contestants from the
USA, China, Spain, Uzbekistan and Turkey – considered miles
ahead in technological development. Our girls emerged tops
for developing a mobile application called FD Detector to tackle
the lingering problems of circulation of fake pharmaceutical
products in Nigeria, suggesting they understand their environment
and its challenges.
It is noteworthy that the victory was secured amid global
condemnation of many Nigerian girls engaging in human
trafficking and prostitution in some parts of North Africa and
Europe. The team has changed the narrative and has proved
that Nigeria is not all about negative news. Also remarkable
is that the feat was achieved in a contest that involved
participants from technologically advanced environments.
Called Team Save-A-Soul, the group explained the reason
for the problem they chose to solve:
“Leveraging technology to save lives is our utmost priority;
that is why we have decided to maximize this opportunity to
solve the incessant rate of death caused by fake drug.”
Coming from the part of the world notorious for the circulation
of fake, expired and sub-standard drugs, with attendant
damage to lives and health of innocent citizens, the team could
not have made a better choice.
“These young ladies in Junior Secondary School developed
a mobile application called FD Detector to tackle the problems
of fake pharmaceutical products in Nigeria. Congratulations!
We are very proud of you,” then Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo
said in a Twitter post. Anambra State Governor, Willie
Obiano, who personally sent the girls off to the US at a brief
ceremony during the weekly executive council meeting where
he charged them to put Nigeria and Africa on the global technological
map with their rare talent, said: “the girls deserve
some accolade.”
In a competition that featured over 2,000 entry-apps, the
win at the Technovation contest could not have come easy.
Technovation is an ICT development initiative aimed to offer
girls around the world the opportunity to learn the programming
skills required to make them tech-entrepreneurs and leaders.
The 2018 World Pitch Summit held at San Francisco, was
the final ‘pitch’ of the programme. It followed more than seven
months of hard work, innovation, and problem-solving tasks
by more than 19,000 girls in 115 countries supported by over
5,000 mentors.
The programme is designed to be empirical-based and problem-solving
specific. Every year, Technovation invites girls from
across the globe to identify problems in their communities which
they are challenged to find solutions to by developing Android
applications that would practically address those problems.
In the course of the programme, participants are exposed
to problem-solving challenges involving field trips meant to
give them the benefit of participating in life-changing workshops
and engaging in a networking session.
With such extensive exposure culminating in a problem-solving
outcome, the government should spearhead the deployment
of the Team Save-A-Soul towards technological advancement
in Nigeria, beginning with Anambra State. The
world is watching and we cannot afford to have the story of
the girls’ exploits shared in the past tense without evidence of
concrete application of the result. The project should be integrated
with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration
and Control, NAFDAC, to perfect the process for statutory
patency.
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, should also
be involved. That way, Nigeria’s major trading partners especially
China and other Asian countries, will be put on notice
concerning exporting fake, expired and substandard products
which government has combatted over the years with little
success. It is estimated that Nigeria loses over N50 billion annually
through importations of fake, expired and substandard
products. It also contributes to high entrepreneurial mortality
across various sectors, especially among the small and medium
enterprises, SMEs.
Anambra State Government should be involved in this project
to ensure proper handling of the process. A project plan should
be developed by the appropriate MDA(ministry, department
or agency) towards deployment of the FD Detector towards its
objective of combating the spread of fake, expired and substandard
pharmaceutical products. Associations of pharmacists
and related traders as well as environmental experts should
be involved.
•Egbuna, a development analyst, wrote in from Nnewi.