09102019 - 2020: Buhari presents N10.33trn job creation budget to NASS

Vanguard, Wednesday, OCTOBER 9, 2019 — 27
2019 Power Nigeria:
How digitalisation of energy
sector can boost economy
L-R: Deep Karani, Exhibition Director, Power Nigeria; Gareth Rapley,
Group Exhibition Director, Informa Markets; Engr. Adeoye Fadeyibi,
Managing Director, Eko Electricity Distribution Company and Mr. Jitenda
Sachdeva, Group President, SkipperSeil at the ribbon cutting of the
2019 Power Nigeria Exhibition & Conference held at Landmark Centre,
Lagos.
By Prince Osuagwu
Key industry experts in the
energy sector have called
for digitalisation of
Nigeria’s energy sector, saying it
would further boost the economy.
They held that technology plays
a significant role in increasing the
access to clean and sustainable
energy resources thereby
building Nigerian economy.
Among the stakeholders who
made this summation were
leaders from the Eko Electricity
Distribution Company, EKEDC,
Cummins, PowerPro, Green
Power Utility, Kartel Energy.
Speaking at the 2019 Power
Nigeria Exhibition and
Conference, in Lagos, they all
agreed that technology is
revolutionisiing the energy
sector.
Power Nigeria is the largest
energy event in West Africa. It is
an annual hub for suppliers to
meet buyers, driving both the
West African and Nigerian
energy markets.
Some of the experts who spoke
to Hi-Tech after a panel session at
the event, said it was time to
E
By Juliet Umeh
lectronics manufacture, LG,
is bringing voice
recognition to customers via its
ThinQ mobile app. The app which
LG describes as the first mobile
application for smart home
appliance management, gives
users convenience to connect to
their appliances from anywhere.
It leverages the Google
Assistant’s voice recognition
technology to manage all Wi-Fi
enabled appliances including
washing machines, dryers,
refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers,
vacuum cleaners, air conditioners,
air purifiers among others.
According to LG, users will
enjoy the incredible ease of
controlling and monitoring their
appliances via conversational
voice commands as the app
provides real-time status updates
for all connected LG devices with
just one command.
It explain that users can
verbally ask the ThinQ app to
check the time remaining on the
washing machine cycle from the
office or adjust the temperature of
the air conditioner while driving
harness the power of technology
to drive the energy sector, even
as they charged government to
ensure deployment of digitized
infrastructure by entrenching use
of data management to solve
problems of energy consumption,
transforming existing grid to
smart grid and building a robust
and resilient grid .
For instance, MD EKEDC, Engr.
Adeoye Fadeyibi, said: “With the
current consumption of energy
in Nigeria, I believe that it is time
for energy systems to be designed
in such a way that optimisation is
guaranteed as well as
digitalisation of the grid.”
He however admitted that the
government has recognised the
need for a smart and flexible
energy system, as it puts plans in
motion to transform the way
energy, particularly electricity, is
produced, consumed and stored
in the country.
Also speaking on the panel
session, Country Director, Kartel
Energy, Ola Ogunsemowo, said
Nigeria could be about the only
country in the world spending close
to $14 billion on generators. He
described the situation as a reflection
of an inefficient energy system.
Ogunsemowo said: “The sun is
shining on Nigeria’s renewable
energy and as part of our strategy;
we understand that technology
plays a key role in accelerating
access to clean and renewable
energy in Nigeria.”
LG’s new ThinQ app helps users manage home appliances
home without having to stop what
they’re doing to look at their
phones.
Head of LG Home Appliance &
Air Solution, Alice Ryu, said: “The
ThinQ app provides helpful
information on product features
and functions and alerts the user
on suggestions for maintenance
and troubleshooting problems.
With the app, users can receive
prompt response on questions like
“What does the yellow light on the
refrigerator mean?”
The ThinQ app is said
to not only offer
answers for most of the
common questions
related to product
usage, but can also
generate a summary of
recent usage activity
and deliver useful home
living tips.
Ryu added that
“creating a smart home
experience that actually
makes our customers’
lives measurably more
convenient is what
drives us daily. With the
voice-capable mobile
app, we have created the ultimate
smart home ecosystem that puts
convenience first,”.
She also revealed that the
enhanced ThinQ app will be
available in Korea this month
followed by North America in the
fourth quarter and key markets of
Europe next year.
The product headlined new
devices at the recently concluded
2019 IFA Expo in Berlin, Germany
Gearing up for Dale Carnegie WorkPlace Conference: From left:
Onayimi Aiwerioghene, Head, Enterprise Management Group,
Coronation Merchant Bank; Rita Brodie-Mends, Clients Engagement
Manager, Dale Carnegie Nigeria; Patrick E. Nwakogo, Country Director/
CEO, Dale Carnegie Nigeria; Oluseyi Tolu-Boluwatise, Divisional Head
Corporate Services, Credit Direct Limited; Blessing Bello, Technical
Assistant to CEO, Dale Carnegie Nigeria; and, Amaka Amalu,
Conference Cordinator.
Dale Carnegie’s conference to
transform Nigerian workplaces
By Juliet Umeh
Training organisation, Dale
Carnegie Training,last
week, held a conference targeted
at Nigerian chief executive officers,
CEOs, human resource
managers, HRMs, and decision
makers to enable them build an
ideal workplace.
The conference which held at
Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island,
Lagos had the theme, “Building
the Workplace of Our Dreams.”
It was co-sponsored by Coronation
Merchant Bank, Credit Direct
Limited and Tolaram Group.
Country Director of Dale Carnegie
Training Nigeria, Mr. Patrick
Nwakogo, said his organisation
eGovernment Confab to address low revenue generation
By Juliet Umeh
Technology company, DigiServe Network
Services Limited is organising a one-day
conference to discuss how technology adoption in
government can boost government IGR, enhance
Government service delivery and reduce unemployment
in the country.
The conference is in partnership with Federal Ministry
of Communication Technology, Federal Inland Revenue
Service, FIRS; Nigeria Communication Commission,
NCC; National Information Technology Development
Agency, NITDA; Association of Telecoms companies of
Nigeria, ATCON, and Nigeria Internet Registration
Association, NIRA.
With the theme: “eGovernment: Powering Governance
with ICT”, the conference which holds towards the end
of October in Lagos, will provide opportunity for
stakeholders to discuss the recently approved National
eGovernment plan and parley on how to remove the
barriers militating against the growth of the Nigerian
telecoms and ICT sector.
Organisers of the event said it couldn’t have come at a
better time, considering low internally generated
LG ThinQ app
revenue, IGR, huge ICT infrastructure deficiency and
massive youth unemployment rate in Nigeria today.
Executive Chairman of DigiServe Network Mr. Lanre
Ajayi, said: “Nigeria is said to be the poverty capital of
the world, having the highest number of people living
below the poverty line. The combined IGR for all the
states in Nigeria in the year 2018 is said to be a mere
N1.6 trillion, which is just about the revenue of just one
Telecoms Company operating in Nigeria. One of the
ways of reversing this gloomy picture is to mainstream
technology in governance.”
Ajayi further explained that the Nigeria eGovernment
Conference would provide a platform where
government officials and experts in various
specializations in ICT can interact, share perspective
and develop roadmap to mainstreaming ICT in various
departments of government.
He said: “We are assembling top notch experts and
world-class ICT service providers to share expertise on
how to deepen ICT in governance. The resolutions at
the conference will be printed in book format and
delivered to relevant government agencies and other
stakeholders, with a view to ensuring implementation
of the resolutions” Ajayi said.
iheld the conference as part of
corporate social responsibility,
CSR, while celebrating its six
years in Nigeria.
Nwakogo said: “Research
shows that only about 20
percent of employees are
unleashing their full potentials
due to lack of engagement on
the job, amplified by negative
work cultures.” He added that
his organisation is committed to
the transformation of the
Nigeria workplace.
CEOs and industry professionals,
who led deliberations
at the event included the HR
directors from some of Nigeria’s
leading companies like
MTN Nigeria, Dangote Group,
Sahara Group, Tolaram Group,
Stanbic IBTC Bank, AB-InBev,
among others.
Divisional Head of Corporate
Services at Credit Direct
Limited, Oluseyi Boluwatise,
said: “We are solidly supporting
this vision because the concept
of the ideal workplace
resonates with our
organizational value, as we are
constantly seeking to provide a
conducive, enabling and
inclusive workplace for
everyone, especially the
younger generation.”
Head of Enterprise
Management Group at
Coronation Merchant Bank,
Onayimi Aiwerioghene, said
the bank was supporting the
conference because they
believe in the vision Dale
Carnegie is aiming to achieve
with the conference.
Big Dutchman, AFOS foundation
to boost food production
By Juliet Umeh
Agri-Tech Company, Big Dutchman, recently started a training
partnership with a German NGO, AFOS Foundation to improve
efficiency in agriculture production in Nigeria.
Big Dutchman, a subsidiary of Big Dutchman International said the
partnership will focus on a dual vocational training for livestock
technicians. The programme, Technical Vocational Education Training,
TVET, is aimed to improve the efficiency of local agricultural value chains
and create a skilled workforce within the Nigerian agricultural industry.
It said the training will be carried out in close co-operation with
companies in the field of livestock and crop business within Lagos and
Ibadan Nigeria.
According to the company, the training will consist of 11 classroom
modules. These modules will cover the entire value chain of poultry
production, as well as, further instructions in economics, record keeping
and people business. After one week class room training, the trainees
will go back to their work place and will be exposed to other fields
within their companies.
Managing Director of the company, Thomas Ogundiran, said the
partnership will create future pacesetting technicians within the
industry.
He said, “The Nigerian agriculture industry currently has a shortage
of skilled technicians. For us to truly leverage the financial and
technological interventions that are expected to guide Nigeria towards
agricultural self-sufficiency, we need innovative technicians who are
pace setters in the agricultural industry.”
Also the company’s Human Resource Manager, Ms. Linda Itabor,
encouraged other stakeholders to place priority on youth empowerment
in Nigeria.