Ibadan Book Club unveils five strategic literary projects to boost reading culture - ITREALMS

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The Ibadan Book Club is set to host its annual Stakeholders' and Strategic Meeting on Saturday, June 27, 2026, marking a pivotal moment in the club’s mission to revitalize reading culture in the Oyo State capital, reports ITREALMS.

The session, which will commence at 12:00 noon at the Oyo State Library Board, opposite Cocoa House, Dugbe, is strictly reserved for the club’s patrons and registered members.

Homeownership within reach: Five game-changing facts about FirstBank’s MREIF loan - ITREALMS

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For many Nigerians, homeownership has long felt like a distant dream parked somewhere between someday and maybe. However, the MREIF (Management of Real Estate Investment Fund) Mortgage Loan by FirstBank of Nigeria is quietly dismantling that narrative.

By offering a structured path to property ownership, FirstBank is proving that the transition from tenant to landlord is no longer reserved for the ultra-wealthy.

Governor Adeleke sweeps top governance awards, emerges best in South-West across five key sectors - ITREALMS

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Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, has achieved a landmark victory at the 2025 Annual Global Awards (South-West Region), securing the title of Best Governor across five critical pillars of governance, reports ITREALMS.

In a resounding validation of his administration's "Imole" developmental agenda, the Governor emerged as the top performer in Infrastructure, Agriculture, Empowerment, Health, and Security.

Five tips for small business owners online - ITREALMS

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Entrepreneurs can benefit from new ideas on ways to address a particular issue or ideas for growth.

Small businesses are embracing digitalization and catering to their customer needs through a variety of online channels. 

With new technologies emerging such as artificial intelligence, there is no time like the present to help your small business grow by taking advantage of the online world.

Working remotely @Summer 2023: Five steps to protect yourself from cyberattacks - ITREALMS

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With the arrival of summer, teleworking becomes the priority option for many workers, but it is necessary to take into account the risks and threats involved in moving the workspace to a new location.

Before the pandemic, cybersecurity started to be considered as a fundamental area in a company. But it’s really after the implementation of teleworking during confinement and the cyberattacks that many companies suffered, due to the exposure of their devices, that IT teams are increasingly focused on raising awareness among their workers. The objective is clear, shield each access point to the business network and monitor it to avoid active threats, making remote work a secure and flexible option.

Akwa-Ibom: Five governorship candidates endorse Open Government Manifesto - ITREALMS

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The governorship candidates of five political parties in Akwa Ibom State, South-South Nigeria, on Sunday, January 29, 2023 endorsed the Open Governorship Manifesto on their readiness to run an open government agenda, if elected, reports ITREALMS.

The candidates include Senator Akpan James Udoedehe of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Arc. Ezekiel Nya-Etok of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Iboro Otu of the African Action Congress (AAC), Dr. Ekere Essien of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and Senator Bassey Albert of the Young Progressive Party.

Okowa: Five valid facts about a solid achiever - ITREALMS

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The Delta State governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa was recently selected by PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar Abubakar as his running mate. The choice of the 63year-old medical doctor over other prominent rivals has understandably elicited a lot of interest across the nation. Here are some interesting facts about PDP vice presidential candidate, Ifeanyichukwu Arthur Okowa.

1. OKOWA HAS ACHIEVED A LOT AS GOVERNOR:
Okowa’s SMART Agenda development focus has delivered 120,000 direct and 1,000,000 indirect jobs through targeted job and wealth creation programmes. 13,000 entrepreneurs have also received targeted government support.

Ministry lied on mobile data cost: Nigeria among 5 cheapest countries - ITREALMS

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Latest study has shown that Nigeria is among the top five cheapest countries of the world on mobile data, ITREALMS can authoritatively report.

ITREALMS investigations, revealed that the study conducted recently by the United Kingdom (UK)-based Cable, identified Nigeria as the fourth cheapest mobile data worldwide, thereby disputing greatly the recent claims by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy that Nigeria ranks among the highest in data price.

This study, ITREALMS gathered, also placed Nigeria among the top five cheapest countries as far as cost of mobile data is concerned, with estimated data costing $2.22, based on average cost of 1 Gigabyte of mobile data per country.

Further investigations by ITREALMS indicated that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy lied when it recently posited that Nigeria was among the highest on cost of data, asserting “… data price being charged in Nigeria is among the highest even compared to countries that have far less population than Nigeria.”

As it stands, ITREALMS reports that India is leading as the cheapest country for mobile data selling at $0.26, followed by Russia with $0.91 and Italy $1.73 with Nigeria coming fourth at $2.22, followed closely by Australia with $2.47, within the top five cheapest countries.

ITREALMS further gathered that France got the 6th position with mobile data selling at $2.99, followed by Brazil at $3.50, Spain at $3.79, United Kingdom took the 9th position with $6.66 and Germany crowned the top 10 cheapest on average cost of 1GB mobile data at $6.66, among others.

Equally, ITREALMS gathered that some 6,313 mobile data plans in 230 countries were gathered and analyzed by Cable, within the period under review.

This report, ITREALMS also gathered goes to dispute the insinuation by government officials that Nigeria ranks high on cost of data, which necessitated the purported intrusive policy direction from the office of Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

As said by the minister, in a recent press statement made available to ITREALMS, “the directive followed incessant complaints he received from subscribers against the telecoms companies on the high cost and illegal deduction of data, which he said he would not allow to continue… data price being charged in Nigeria is among the highest even compared to countries that have far less population than Nigeria.”

Commenting on this, some industry observers described the claim above as fake news and wondered what has become the role of Research and Development Department of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).ITREALMS notes that with a population of over 197 million, Nigeria accounts for about 47 per cent of West Africa’s population and has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, according to the World Bank.

Also, the bank said, Nigeria has Africa’s biggest economy, is the biggest oil exporter, and has the largest natural gas reserves on the continent. Nigeria emerged from a recession in 2017, with a growth rate of 0.8 per cent, driven mainly by the oil sector. Non-agricultural growth, which remained negative up to the third quarter of 2017, strengthened through 2018 with services (primarily Information and Communication Technology, ICT) resuming as the key driver.

So, economic growth is expected to hover just above 2 per cent in 2019 and over the medium term.

Remmy Nweke/Editor

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Five ways to optimise your mobile data

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Detailed analysis of mobile data usage suggests that connectivity rates remain comparatively pricey in Nigeria. According to the Research and Development Unit of Yudala, Nigeria’s pioneer online and offline e-commerce outfit, data has thus become a very critical commodity that must be efficiently maximized, especially in view of the tiered data plans currently used by service providers.

With the growing popularity of social media, we are in age of information overload; one in which content is not only king but also predominantly ubiquitous. In addition to music streaming, watching videos online and other activities that drain your data, most smartphones are also loaded with tons of data-hungry apps.

If not checked, you might find your mobile data bills burning a huge hole in your expense sheet on a monthly basis. The following tips from Yudala will come in handy for maximizing data usage on your smartphone:

1.Monitor your data usage: Most users live in fear of exhausting their mobile data before the expiration date, but with the help of some useful apps, you can now monitor and limit the amount of data used. The best way to save data is to be aware of the activities or applications that drain your cellular data.  Most smartphones are equipped with data usage setting that enable you manage your data. Usually located in the Settings menu, you can set up alerts for when you exceed data usage for your most notoriously data-consuming apps.

2.Exercise caution with online video streaming: This is a known fact. But as much as we hate to admit it, the fun things consume most of your mobile data. Excessive streaming of videos, music, high quality images or GIF files, are things you need to avoid if you really want to maximize your internet usage. While we know these things are not entirely avoidable, there are some other ways to stay entertained responsibly. If you can’t avoid the entertainment your smartphone brings, you can set the quality at lower rates or decrease resolution in the settings menu of your smartphone.

3.Use Wi-Fi connection for updates or downloading heavy content: Wi-Fi is often regarded as a blessing by most smartphone users. While access to unlimited Wi-Fi connection is still rather limited in Nigeria, there are certain locations you can count on for free Wi-Fi. One of the most sensible ways of maximizing your mobile data usage is by setting up your smartphone for automatic updates only when on Wi-Fi connection. This way, you get to save some significant volume of the data drain that comes with auto-updates. Furthermore, downloads of heavy contents such as videos, high-resolution images and music files should also be done when on a secure Wi-Fi connection.

4.Restrict background data: Some applications use up a lot of data even when the phone is not in use.  This is a brilliant feature of the smartphone: allowing background data to keep the applications on your phone updated. However, not every app needs to stay active at all times. You can stop the constant update by going to your settings option to select the app you want restricted or simply disable background app refresh in your settings. This helps reduce data consumption and also preserves the battery life of your device.

5.Preload and Cache: Despite the anxiety over cellular data, developers have made things easy and included options that make smartphone apps less demanding. A very good example is a cache, a hardware or software component that stores data so future requests for that data can be served faster. The data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation, or the duplicate of data stored elsewhere These days, certain apps allow you to store data temporarily so you can cache as much content as possible. Caching is enjoyable on a Wi-Fi network which enables you enjoy preloaded content at any time, without using your cellular data. 

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Five factors fueling e-Commerce in Nigeria

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E-commerce has become a global multi-million-dollar industry, with worldwide sales projected to hit an all-time high of $4 trillion in three years. Although accurate statistics on the volume of e-commerce transactions on the continent is hard to come by, research by McKinsey indicates that e‑commerce will open up a new shopping experience for Africa’s growing middle class. 

According to McKinsey, e-commerce could account for 10 per cent of retail sales in the continent’s largest economies by 2025, translating into about $75 billion in annual revenue.

With more Nigerians embracing the e-commerce fare amid a growing awareness for globally celebrated shopping festivals such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, among others, the country could be on the verge of reaping big benefits from the sub-sector.

In this piece, the Research and Development Unit of Yudala, Nigeria’s fastest growing e-commerce outfit, takes a look at the factors fueling the growing attraction of e-commerce in Nigeria.

1.Growth in smartphone adoption: E-commerce is an industry that thrives on the smartphone culture. Nigeria remains one of the most attractive markets on the continent for smartphones and other tech gadgets –  a factor that has seen the growing influx of a number of smartphone brands all competing for a share of the juicy market. As a result, smartphone adoption is on the rise in Nigeria. 

This has gone a long way in boosting e-commerce in Nigeria, with the mobile devices category remaining one of the fastest moving among shoppers on the Yudala platform. Global digital giant Google recently announced the imminent launch of a smartphone made by Japanese brand, Freetel during its Google for Nigeria engagement with an attractive price point of N13,000. 

With more quality yet price-sensitive manufacturers coming on-board, the smartphone adoption trend is expected to rise further in Nigeria.

2.Rise in mobile internet penetration: Closely related to the above is the rise in mobile internet penetration in Nigeria. Current data made available   by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that the number of internet users in Nigeria has increased to 91.6 million in June 2017.

According to the statistics released, internet users increased to 91,598,757 in June 2017 as against 91,565,010 users recorded in May 2017, showing an increase of 33,747. 

With more data-efficient browsers such as Opera Mini coming into play and mobile apps also presenting a convenient means of accessing the offerings of competing e-commerce brands, the appeal of e-commerce is well and truly on the rise.

3.Proliferation of e-commerce sites:  From the heady days of 2012 when only a couple of players held sway, the e-commerce bug has spread like wild-fire. New entrants have taken to the fray, expanding the scope of offerings and the conduct of e-commerce in the country. 

Some of them have challenged existing structures by providing more convenient options for the consumer to shop. Yudala’s fusion of an online platform with physical (brick-and-mortar) stores located nationwide comes to mind here. 

The first-ever drone delivery also achieved by Yudala during its debut Black Friday sales in November 2015 also captured the imagination, further raising the bar and setting new standards in the sub-sector. Others such as Payporte have made a huge splash through events sponsorship with the bank-rolling of the reality show, Big Brother Nigeria. 

These days, the average Nigerian has a plethora of e-commerce companies to choose from, a factor that has contributed in no small measure to the popularity of the industry.

4.Ease and convenience in shopping:  For most busy Nigerians caught up in the daily hustle of making ends meet in cosmopolitan cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, etc., the convenience and ease that e-commerce lends is a blessing. The days when the only option one has is to physically visit the market to get much-needed items seem to be over. 

Today, you can sit in the comfort of your home or office, check out an item online, place an order and have the item(s) delivered within a couple of days without hassles. This extra convenience works perfectly not only for busy business executives but also for expectant/nursing mothers and other categories of shoppers unable to find the time nor unsure of the right open-air markets to visit for needed items.

5.More options: Closely related to the point above is the variety of options e-commerce has provided for the average shopper to meet his/her shopping requirements. 

For many Nigerians, seeing and being able to touch an item beats just being able to see it on the screen of a mobile phone or laptop. Many still want to see, touch, feel and/or experience a product before they part with their money. With platforms such as Yudala fusing an online platform with offline/physical retail stores, the consumer has more options to embrace e-commerce, albeit from a traditional shopping stand-point. 

The consumer can order online and pick up the item or self-fulfil at the nearest store or better still, walk in to the store and purchase a product outright. Indeed, recent statistics show that a significant number of purchases made at Yudala’s physical stores originate from shoppers who had previously checked out the products online. 

These options have contributed to a large extent in improving the appeal of e-commerce for hitherto-unconverted folk in Nigeria.

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Five things to consider before allowing child own a tech device

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The current generation of kids are a smart, precocious bunch. Owing perhaps to their wide-eyed curiosity, innate awareness, learning aptitude, pace of civilization/societal development and of course the influence of technology, these young ones display a greater sense of exposure at much tender ages than older generations.

According to the Research and Development Unit of Yudala, Nigeria’s fastest growing e-commerce company, the technology-mediated world we live in means that the current generation of kids get exposed to technology at a much younger age. Most proud parents waste no time in buying a smartphone or tablet for their young ones at very tender ages. This is a major development which, in spite of all the benefits it holds in improving the learning abilities and technological awareness of kids, can also expose them to the dangers associated with technology.

Before taking the decision to expose your child to technology, here are five points worth considering.

1.Is your child ready?: The decision to buy your child a smartphone, tablet, laptop or any other tech gadget is one that requires careful thought. Is that child mature enough to handle the responsibility of owning and using a smartphone, for instance, that is connected to the internet and the depth of content out there? While there is no right age to allow a child own a tech d7=evice, the maturity level and personality of the child matters. For kids who are naturally reserved, early exposure to technology may provide a shell they can conveniently retreat into, inadvertently alienating parents and other family members. 

Worse still, there are loads of damaging materials out there on the internet that your child must be protected from. Most parents or care-givers fail to realize that there is no going back once a child has been exposed to technology, especially through ownership of a smart device. A strong feeling of attachment or fascination is developed by the child for the device. Coupled with the natural curiosity and inclination to explore inherent in kids, you will be doing more harm than good trying to block access to technology once a child has had a taste of it. The foregoing shows how huge the entry decision is and why parents must consciously decide whether the time is right for their children.

2.Set the ground rules: Before you decide to allow your child own a tablet or smartphone, it is essential to lay down certain rules that will guide the use of the device. This will involve some form of agreement on your expectations and the responsibilities that come with their ownership of the device. In addition to setting out times for usage other than answering and making calls or replying short messages, cyber concerns such as the dangers of meeting strangers online, cyber-bullying and the need for extreme caution when using social media should also be discussed. Furthermore, conversations around the legal, moral and other damaging implications of inappropriate pictures and text, pornography and nudity must also be had in order to ensure that the child is not mislead online.

Research shows that it is also advisable to draw up a contract that will guide your child’s usage of a tech device. Punishments for irresponsible or wrong usage must also be clearly spelt out and the document signed off by both parties. Among other things, this contract will grant the parent ownership of the device, specify access for the parent to all passwords and apps on the phone, indicate the hours the phone can be on and off and penalties to be applied if the rules are flouted.

3.Parental control is a must: One of the first things a parent should do before handing over a smart device to a child is to set up parental control apps. There are several apps you can download and install on your child’s tablet, laptop or smartphone. These apps allow you keep track of everything your child is doing on the device while others provide instant alerts when inappropriate or high-risk words are used in texts or on social media. With parental control apps installed, there is greater control over the materials and contents your kid is exposed to on the often-notorious web, thereby giving you peace of mind.

It is equally important to point out that today’s kids are precocious and quite dexterous with the use of tech devices, hence you must take steps to ensure that you are not being outsmarted by your child. Parental controls can be disabled at specific times by a naughty child who knows where to tweak these settings. Hidden file directories can be used to surreptitiously save inappropriate pictures, videos and other potentially damaging contents. As a result, you must ensure all bases are covered   in this regard before you relax in the knowledge that your child is safe online.

4.Availability of local content: With the influx of foreign technology and the overwhelming abundance of technological devices and gadgets from other climes in the market, our children often miss out on an opportunity to get exposed, from an early age, to the rich local culture and content that make up our indigenous identity as a nation. The majority of devices produced by foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) hardly provide for local content and instead may expose your kid to cultural materials ill-suited or at dissonance with our local realities. 

While much of the argument for preferring foreign tech gadgets hinges on quality, it is important to consider the need to have useful, culturally-sensitive materials in entry-level devices for kids such as children tablets and pads, etc. A number of world-class local technology companies such as Zinox Technologies Ltd., among others, often design children tabs pre-loaded with games and educative contents, some of them in the major local languages. These go a long way to imbue a sense of cultural identity and awareness in the users from a tender age.

5.Build responsibility through gadget use: Allowing your child own and use a smart device means you are handing them a huge responsibility. In other words, you are giving them an element of freedom which must not be abused. As aptly stated by former US President, Ronald Reagan: “With freedom comes responsibility, a responsibility that can only be met by the individual.” Before taking the decision to allow your child own a tech gadget, you must be convinced that this privilege can be used to build more responsibility in the kid concerned. 

This could come in the form of convincing the child to set aside a small portion of his/her allowance to offset the cost of data plan for the device. Furthermore, the child must be made to embrace a culture of using the device in a constructive, less addictive manner through having set times for usage, unplugging at agreed times and constantly exploring ways of increasing learning and productivity through the use of the device.

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FG dangles tax holidays on Infracos, others over broadband investments

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As potential Infrastructure Companies (Infracos) warm up to grab their licenses, the Federal Government has promised to offer the successful licensees among others, between five and seven-year tax holidays, reports ITRealms.

This, ITRealms also reports was one of the highlights of the Nigeria Investment meeting at the ongoing ITU World 2014 in Doha, Qatar.

For the Communication Technology Minister, Dr (Mrs.) Omobola Johnson, ITRealms gathered, Nigeria’s drive for more investors into the blossoming ICT sector, was based on the Open Access Model of NCC, which has been adopted for the licensing round, beneficiaries of the licenses shall among others, get tax holidays to encourage the Infracos to invest and guarantee adequate returns on investments.

Dr Johson told participants that since ICT are being qualified in this conference as the next oil and gas, “then Nigeria has struck a gold mine because ICT is work in progress.”

Principal Partner of KPMG, Mr. Joseph Tegbe, who are consultants to the soon to flag off licensing regime told the audience that the investors will be encouraged to veer into areas where many consider to be less commercially rewarding through subsidy, and grants may be given out to further their interest in such areas.

They will also be granted pioneer status as part of the incentives to boost their interest in investing in such areas or zones that may look unattractive.

Such Infracos will get such incentives that could be up to 30 per cent mark up on their capital expenditure (Capex) and employee tax holidays as well.

To qualify for these, Infracos will quantify their Capex and what it will take to rollout and how long it will take to break even.

Earlier, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr Eugene Juwah, told the audience including potential investors from Qatar National Bank, Global Operator, Ooredoo, Vodafone, Qatar and several Diplomats that Nigeria had achieved 96 per cent teledensity with over 134 million active subscribers, and ICT contribution to national GDP of over 10 per cent.

Although over $32bn had been invested in this area so far, there is still a yawning gap in broadband penetration which stands at only six per cent at the moment. 75 million people connect to the Internet on narrow band.

He encouraged would be investors to take advantage of this gap because apart from government and high networth individuals who desire these services for high data transmission, the banks, education sector and electronic commerce operators need broadband to carry out their heavy data too.

The NCC, Juwah said, has adopted the Open Access Model to promote healthy competition, affordability and global best practices in our regulatory activities.

Nigeria Ambassador to Qatar, Mr Shuaibu Ahmed said the primary mandate here in Doha, Qatar, is to make Nigeria an investment destination because Qatar has an investment appetite of over $50bn and desires to divest its economy from over reliance on oil and gas.

Managing Director of MTN Nigeria, Mr Mike Ikpoki said MTN with 58million subscribers and over $15bn investment in the last 13 years is seen to have done well, but there is still more to do in the area of broadband. MTN, Ikpoki said, “is an investment ambassador for Nigeria” because at the beginning, only few global players were interested in coming to Nigeria. But the story has changed now.

Mr Ibrahim Dikko, Executive Director at Etisalat Nigeria said in six years and over 20 million subscribers in its bargain, “Etisalat has never known a better investment profile than this because it is a network of choice for its very good quality of service because investors’ confidence is high in Nigeria”.

 

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