Huawei honours TD Africa with multiple awards @SA - ITREALMS

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Africa’s acclaimed number one distributor of cutting-edge technology solutions, TD Africa Limited, has once again taken the centre stage last weekend as it was decorated with multiple awards at the just concluded Huawei Connect 2024 which took place at the Sandton Convention Center, Johannesburg, South Africa.

The event which was themed: “Accelerate Industrial Intelligence," attracted policy makers, tech enthusiasts and industry leaders to among other things celebrate outstanding partners in its distribution chain and unveil new additions of its solutions.

STOP South Africa! Harassment, molestation of Nigeria says Gov. Adeleke - ITREALMS

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Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, has appealed to South African authorities to intervene and halt the constant harassment and molestation of Nigerians in rainbow nation.

The Governor made this appeal while hosting the Consul-General of the Republic of South Africa to Nigeria, Prof. Bobby J Moroe, and his Vice Consul, Ms Busisiwe Dlamini at the Government House, Osogbo, described the hostile attitude to Nigerians as “quite disturbing” and “a threat to the historical bond and brotherhood between the two countries.

Why e-commerce thrives in South Africa - ITREALMS

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South Africa’s ecommerce sector is expected to exceed USD21 billion by 2025, with more than one billion transactions per year. This is largely due to the proliferation of smart devices and the expansion of internet connectivity which has created a viable environment for e-commerce to thrive in the country.

Additionally, the increasing integration of e-commerce platforms with various advanced technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics is also significantly driving the growth of the South African e-commerce market. As a result, the country is becoming a significant player in the global e-commerce industry.

Indeed, the rise of e-commerce in South Africa holds immense opportunities for businesses looking to enter the market. Further, the development presents useful learning points for other countries, such as Nigeria and Kenya, among others, all of which this SeerBit whitepaper exhaustively explores.

South Africa to host 6th PAP Permanent Committees' sitting - ITREALMS

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The August Sittings of the Permanent Committees of the sixth Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) are scheduled to be held from 22 August to 02 September 2022 at the seat of the continental Parliament in Midrand, South Africa.

The Sittings will be guided by the African Union theme of 2022; ‘Building resilience in nutrition on the African continent: Accelerate the human capital, social and economic development’.

Nigerian, Kenyan children to benefit from Google’s Digital Skills - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

Children in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa are billed to benefit from the Google’s Digital Skills for Africa programme, reports ITREALMS.

Google, ITREALMS gathered, is engaging local organisations via its partnership with the Cape Town Science Centre to train 200,000 students in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa within 1 year.

CS First is a Google program aimed at children aged 9 to 16. Created by educators and computer scientists, CS First introduces coding and computer science to students in a collaborative and creative club environment. CS First club members build projects in Scratch (scratch.mit.edu), a blocks-based programming language. The training will be delivered through 26 collaborating organisations across Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. For areas with limited access to the internet and limited devices, CS First may be delivered through CS Unplugged.

In addition, Google also aims to reach students through an Online Safety Roadshow project building on itś work with the Web Rangers program. This project will reach parents, teachers and students in all three countries.

Google is once again joining forces with SAP and UNESCO as part of Africa Code Week 2019 to engage community-focused organisations across Africa to enable them to host coding workshops for children (aged 11-18) in their local communities during Africa Code Week this month. Some 55 organisations have been identified across the continent.

These activities form part of Google’s commitment to train 10 million Africans in digital skills by 2022.

“The training programmes promise to improve the children’s confidence in interacting with computers and their overall confidence and willingness to try new things,” says Mojolaoluwa Aderemi-Makinde, Head of Brand and Reputation, SSA. 

“With growing internet penetration across Africa, and the increasing trend of kids interacting online, Google believes it is important to provide helpful information to children and parents to enable children to take appropriate measures to stay safe online while exploring the internet with confidence. The training takes learnings from Google ́s Be Internet Awesome campaign and the content is carefully drafted to provide helpful tips to kids and parents, and information on useful tools like Google’s Family Link,” Makind said.

Chuks Egbuna/Editor

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South Africa: Dabiri-Erewa laments killing of 2 Nigerians in 8 days, wants EWS reviewed

ITREALMS:

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has lamented the latest killings of two Nigerians in eight days, reports ITRealms.

She also called for an urgent review of the Early Warning Signal (EWS) put in place by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria and South Africa early last year. Stressing that Nigeria must speed up the process of finalising its implementation by South Africa.

Apparently disturbed by the latest killings of two young Nigerians in South Africa, the Presidential aide said the review and urgent implementation became imperative as the attacks in South Africa are not reducing but instead increasing at an alarming rate.

A press statement made available to ITRealms by her Media Aide, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, she said the efforts that led to the establishment of the EWS by both countries are not working, ``as the present mechanisms seem to do little or nothing to prevent the occurrences of these killings’’.

Dabiri-Erewa once again appealed to Nigerians living in South Africa to remain calm and shelve their proposed mass protest and await immediate intervention from both countries to stop the killings and bring the culprits to justice.

She noted that while four South African policemen are already on trial for allegedly killing Nigerians in South Africa, it is imperative that anyone found culpable must be punished.

It will be recalled that the Publicity Secretary of the Nigeria Union in South Africa, Habib Miller, told newsmen that two additional Nigerians were killed in South Africa in the past eight days.

Miller identified the latest victims as Francis Ochuba, a native of Ngodo community in the Umnneochi Local Government Area of Abia and Chidi Ibebuike, a native of Uturu in the Isikwuato Local Government Area also in Abia.

“Ochuba, a property owner, was shot dead alongside his estate agent, a female South African on May 5. They were shot dead as they visited the tenant occupying Ochuba’s house to collect rent.

“The incident occurred in Central Johannesburg, while Ibebuike was shot dead at the entrance to his house at Hazyview in Mpumalanga on May 13.

“Ibebuike’s car was subsequently, snatched by yet to be identified gunmen.

“The chairman of the Nigeria Union in Mpumalanga Province, Mr Amadi in company of other compatriots, has reported the incident to the South African police authorities and investigation is underway.”

ITRealms recalls that estimated 800,000 Nigerians, mostly young people, reside in South Africa, according to unofficial estimates.

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New film project to help deaf children

ITREALMS:

A new project launched in South Africa by The University of Manchester and the University of the Witwatersrand hopes to raise awareness of the vulnerability of deaf children in the country, as well as altering society’s attitudes towards them, reports ITRealms.

Deaf children and youth, ITRealms gathered, face discrimination and exclusion from society in South Africa - they are not given adequate opportunities for acquiring language, building meaningful relationships, receiving specialised healthcare and receiving equal education. All of this vastly decreases their life chances, and infringes their human rights. 

A press statement made available to ITRealms, a multi-disciplinary international collaboration, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Medical Research Council and the Global Challenges Research Fund, is bringing together visual anthropology, social research and deaf studies in an effort to positively shift social attitudes towards deaf children and youth. 

Over the next eighteen months, The University of Manchester’s Social Research with Deaf people group and Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology - in partnership with the Centre for Deaf Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand - will explore how to research and represent the lives of deaf children through documentary film.

The work will be delivered in close partnership with NGOs HI HOPES and THRIVE, and is endorsed by South Africa’s Department of Health. Deaf people, hearing people and parents of deaf children will all work together to achieve this ambitious programme.

“Deaf young people face very particular challenges in achieving their potential and becoming full citizens,” say Professors Alys Young and Andrew Irving from The University of Manchester. “As visual people, they also have unique resources on which to draw. Through the pioneering use of community-based film methods, this project tunes in to their latent strengths as visual learners with the capacity to develop new resiliencies given the right opportunities.”

“We are thrilled to be launching this multi-disciplinary research collaboration in the year that the Wits Centre for Deaf Studies celebrates its 20th anniversary”, says Professor Claudine Storbeck, Director for the Centre of Deaf Studies, University of the Witwatersrand.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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U.S., UK, Israel, South Africa participants line up for Nigeria Innovation Summit’17

ITRealms:

The 2017 Nigeria Innovation Summit has advanced plans to host the annual event that brings together stakeholders from different sectors of Nigeria's economy to share ideas, trends, and opportunities around technology, innovation and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

The event scheduled to hold from September 7-8, 2017 at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, the organisers said is attracting participants from the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa.

The Summit, according to Emerging Media the organizers, seeks to promote the need for Nigeria to become more innovative and apply innovation across all sectors to drive economic growth and sustainable development through emerging technologies, research & development, entrepreneurship, commercialization and investments as key drivers of an innovation ecosystem.

Speaking on the need for such Summit at this time, Mr. Kenneth Omeruo, MD/CEO, Emerging Media said, “Nigeria has the potentials to be a global economic power if we embrace and invest heavily in technology and innovation. Every sector in Nigeria's economy needs disruptive ideas driven by technology. Right now we are nowhere in the global innovation index and the world is moving at a very high speed. 

It is instructive to note that Tunisia ranked 45^th and Morocco 50^th as the only African countries mentioned in the 2017 Bloomberg Innovation Index, which scores economies using factors including research and development intensity and the concentration of high-tech companies. South Korea, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Finland are the top five countries in that index. I think there is so much to learn from these countries. We should be implementing policies and investments that will encourage technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. The Nigeria Innovation Summit 2017 is offering a platform to engage stakeholders across all sectors on the need for such.”

He further emphasized the urgent need for Nigeria to invest in innovation, research and technology development, in order to become an innovation-driven nation and hence, improve in the Global Innovation Index ranking, attract foreign investments and boost the economy and life of the people.

The 2017 Summit under the theme ‘Transforming Nigeria’s Economy through Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship’, Mr. Omeruo said, provides opportunities for the 36 States, Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government as well as Corporate bodies to showcase their agenda for digital transformation and  innovation agenda.   

He described the Summit as a platform that creates awareness on the need for Open Innovation in Nigeria where the government, industries across all sectors, academia, entrepreneurs collaborate to solve the problems of economic growth in Nigeria.

Also speaking, Mr. Tony Ajah, the Director of Nigeria Innovation Summit  said that the 2-day Summit will feature Keynote Speeches, Panel Discussions, Exhibitions, Workshops, and the Nigeria Innovation Awards. The expected delegates for the Summit are Government Representatives, International Organisations, Investors, Business leaders, CEOs of Companies and Organisations, Innovators, Academics, Start-ups and Entrepreneurs.

The Summit Sessions will cover sub-topics as: How to transform the challenging economy in Nigeria through Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; How Nigeria can build a sustainable Innovation Ecosystem and become more Innovative; Exploring the Concept of Open Innovation; Innovation in Telecommunications, Infrastructure Development and the Mobile Ecosystem; Innovation in the Manufacturing Industry and Innovation through Emerging Technologies; Big Data, Data Centres, Cloud Computing, IoT, Wearable Technologies, Cyber-security, Robotics, Virtual Reality and Smart Cities.

Other areas are Innovation in Power and Renewable Energy; Innovation in Oil and Gas; Agriculture; Banking, Finance, Funding and Investment; e-Commerce Industry; Small Businesses, Start-ups, Entrepreneurship Community; the Academic Community; Public Health and the Health Industry and Innovation in Media, Public Relations, Social Good and the Entertainment Industry.

Over 400 delegates are expected to attend this year’s Summit. And the Summit offers organizations a platform to connect with these top decision makers, cutting across all sectors of Nigeria's economy.

“We have confirmed international participation from the following organizations: International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) UK, Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS), South Africa, African Innovation Foundation and great support from Ideation International Inc., USA, and the Israel Start-up Network.

Delegates for this year’s Summit will learn from leading innovation ecosystems around the world and from innovation experts who will facilitate the sessions. “The States have an opportunity to showcase and promote her innovation at the Summit. So, we urge them to visit www.innovationsumit.ng for more details.

We are proud to announce CIHAN Group, operators of Digitalprwire as our official Media and PR Agency for this year’s Summit.  We have seen their robust and disruptive work and platform for digital innovation in Africa and are convinced of a great outcome working together.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Pix: L-R): Rosemary Agu, Direct Sales Manager, DigitalPR-Wire; Tony Ajah, Director, Nigeria Innovation Summit; Loveth Igbo, Project Executive; Nigeria Innovation Summit; and Samuel Salami, Director, Operations, DigitalPR-Wire, during a press conference to announce preparations of the Summit, held in Lagos on Tuesday, May 24, 2017. 

Music to our ears! Google Play Music Comes to South Africa

ITRealms:

Google Play Music is now available in South Africa, according to the Country Director for South Africa, Mr Luke McKend, reports ITRealms. 

Google Play, he said, gives users an unlimited pass to a huge library of music on all your devices from all the major record companies, as well as top local and independent labels.

“Google Play Music lets you create an ad-free, interactive radio station from any song or artist you love. You can add, remove or re-order your station and see what’s coming next,” he said, stressing that users could browse recommendations from expert music team and explore songs by genre. 

The “Listen Now” tab, McKend said, puts artists and radio stations think they’ll like front and center as users could start listening the minute users open the library.

“And when millions of songs just aren’t enough, Google Play Music lets you combine our collection with your own collection. You can store 50,000 songs for free online, and listen to them alongside the All Access catalogue on any Android device, or via the web at play.google.com,” he said.

McKend pointed out that users could even “pin” specific albums and playlists songs so they’re available when they are offline.

“You can try it today and get an unlimited subscription account for an introductory price of R49,99, about N666,186.71, a month,” he said. .

With this launch, ITRealms gathered Google Play has moved one step closer to becoming ultimate digital entertainment destination, where users could find, enjoy and share favourite apps, games, books, movies, magazines and music on their Android phone or tablet.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 
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New server deals to spur growth in MEA - IDC

ITRealms:

 

New server deals in Middle East and Africa  are expected to spur growth in key countries like Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, ITRealms reports.

These deals will primarily be within the healthcare, government, financial services, and telecommunications sectors, according to IDC report.

The recent declines in the market's revenue has been attributed to the fact that vendors like Huawei and Lenovo are offering servers that are almost 40 per cent cheaper than the prices offered by the market's A-ranking vendors, namely HP and Dell.

Looking at the second half of 2015, IDC expects the MEA server market to experience a 4 per cent increase in volume and a 6 per cent decline in value year-on-year.

This is coming on the heels of declining server market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA)  which ITRealms gathered comprised x86 and non-x86 servers which contracted 10 per cent year on year in Q2 2015 to total 65,000 units, according to the latest figures from International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets.

This decline can primarily be attributed to the poor political and socioeconomic conditions that have hampered a number of countries in the region; particularly notable in the x86 server market where a number of significant projects within the government sector were delayed. In revenue terms, the market remained flat as there was a slight increase in the number of higher-end servers sold during the quarter, ITRealms learnt.

Research analyst for systems and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, Victoria Mendes, said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) experienced very slow quarters, both in terms of x86 server units and revenue, primarily due to delayed budget rollouts, the traditional slowdown over Ramadan, and continuing uncertainty around falling oil prices.

“Combined, these two countries suffered declines of 28 per cent in volume and 21 per cent in value year on year in Q2 2015. But despite the slowdown, the UAE did see a few deals take place in the government and financial sectors, while Saudi Arabia saw a big deal in the oil and gas industry,” she said.

Revenue in Turkey, ITRealms learnt, was up by around 20 per cent year on year despite the market suffering a 10 per cent decline in shipments. This anomaly can be attributed to the fact that several large-scale deals took place during the quarter. The market is also seeing improved uptake of virtualization technologies, which consume lesser server units than is the case in traditional datacenters.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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ICT ranking: Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt crash

 ITRealms

 

The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) managed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has shown that South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria were ranked low on the global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development, reports ITRealms.

While South Africa fell five places and now ranks 75^th; Egypt dropped three places to now rank 94^th; Nigeria's position dropped seven places to 119^th.

ITRealms also gathered that even though ranking below South Africa, Kenya's position appeared more impressive as it actually climbed six places to 86th position in the global record.

NRI, the report said, is a crucial indicator of a country's capacity and readiness to execute and take full advantage of ICTs in businesses, economic development and global competitiveness. 

The 2015 edition of the Global Information Technology Report (GITR),  ITRealms learnt, is released to provide benefits for entire populations of countries assessed.

The Managing Director of WEF, Espen Barth Eide, said "advanced economies have not yet reached their full potential thus struggling with persistently high unemployment, rising inequalities, and fiscal challenges. Emerging markets and developing economies are facing stronger headwinds than before and need to adjust their development models to ensure economic growth and a more broad-based distribution of gains".

Eide disclosed that the impact of ICTs extends well beyond productivity gains and acts as a vector of social development and transformation by improving access to basic services, enhancing connectivity, and creating employment opportunities, ITRealms gathered.

GITR, ITRealms reports, is published by WEF in partnership with Cornell University and INSEAD since 2001, and has measured the major players of the ICT revolution using the NIR.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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Like good wine, President Buhari gets better with age - Adesina

Reporters Diary@ITRealms:

On Monday evening, President Muhammadu Buhari spoke with the Nigerian community at the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Speaking extempore, because according to him, he wanted to "speak from the heart," the President urged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria, a country he went to the warfront to keep together.

Still extolling the virtues of our country, Nigeria, the President, who had served as a military governor of the then North-Eastern State at 33 years old, declared:"I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do."

The above comments have been reported by some newspapers to mean that the President was saying he was too old to cope with the demands of his office. Far from it.

As the saying goes, "old wines are tasty" and the President Buhari we have today is a man, like old wine, that has got tastier. At 72, yes, he can't be called a youth, but he has in quantum the wisdom, the patience, temperance and forbearance that age brings. And all these virtues he has brought to the Presidency, to make a difference in our national life.

The President reassured the Nigerian community in South Africa that his Administration will make a  positive impact on the country. He will ensure that this happens.

Insecurity as symbolized by insurgency will be brought to an end, corruption will be fought to a 

standstill, employment will be created for the teeming army of unemployed, the economy will be revived, and the quality of life of Nigerians will take an upward swing again.

At 72, the Buhari persona has not changed. He remains the simple, honest, incorruptible patriot he has always been. And because Nigerians earnestly desired change, that was why they voted for him overwhelmingly at the general elections in March, this year. All the virtues and values of the Buhari persona will be deployed into governance in the weeks and months ahead.

The Nigerian community in South Africa was enthralled as President Buhari spoke with them on Monday. In fact, leaving the venue was an effort, as they swarmed round the President, who shook hands with as many of them as he could.

They took his message well. That is the essence of good wine. It gets better with age. And it is a message for all Nigerians, both at home and in the Diaspora.

FEMI ADESINA is the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.

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Buhari in AU Summit in South Africa, chairs Peace session

ITRealms:

President Muhammadu Buhari, Saturday arrived South Africa to attend the 25th African Union Summit in Johannesburg, reports ITRealms.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a press statement made available to ITRealms said Buhari would be participating at the Africa Union (AU) summit where he will be chairing  the meeting of the  Peace and Security Committee of the summit.

President Buhari also would hold a number of bilateral meetings to consolidate his ongoing drive to secure Nigeria and the neighboring countries from Boko Haram.

The theme of this year's AU meeting is itself the issue of security. Just as President Buhari is expected to return to Nigeria on the morning of Tuesday, June 16, Adesina disclosed.

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Xenophobia attacks: Nigerians protest against MTN investment in Edo State

ITRealms:

An Edo State-based Civil Society Organisations (CSO) known as 'The Flagship', Monday stopped business at the Benin City office of MTN Nigeria to register its displeasure over the killings of African origin and looting of their properties in South Africa in the name of xenophobia, reports ITRealms.

Correspondent quoted Elombah.com as reporting that the group took to the street in display of xenophobic grievances to MTN which brought about closure of businesses in the process.

“The group were seen protesting the lootings and killings of Nigerians and other African citizens in South Africa, calling all Nigerians to boycott the products and services of South African companies in Nigeria.

“Some of the protesters were seen carrying placards that read:

“Nigerians Boycott South African Companies”

“South Africa Against Africa”

“South Africa Can’t be Making From Us And Killing Us”, etc.

Some Nigerians, however, have shown apprehension over the protest saying that it might throw more Nigerian employees in MTN into the labour market considering that South Africans working in those outfits are quite insignificant compared to their Nigerian counterparts.

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Pix: courtesy: Elombah.com