National Lottery Nigeria commences operations to enrich millions - ITREALMS

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Millions of Nigerians would soon begin to win incredible life-changing prizes with the commencement of operations by the National Lottery of Nigeria (NLN), reports ITREALMS.

Apart from lifting Nigerians from the morass of poverty with its range of exciting games playable with as little as N100, the lottery will also help combat unemployment.

MRA office burgled, valuables worth millions stolen - ITREALMS

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Media Rights Agenda (MRA) announced today that its office in Lagos was burgled and ransacked over the weekend by a group of unidentified intruders who made away with nine laptop computers and other valuable equipment worth millions of naira.

In a statement issued in Lagos, the Head of MRA’s Legal Department, Ms. Obioma Okonkwo, described the incident as shocking and frightening attack on the organization, saying it was still trying to determine whether the action was simply a robbery incident or a more sinister effort to cripple MRA’s operations or access its records and information since only laptop computers and other digital tools and equipment were taken away.

Millions of riders, drivers across Africa get Uber's safety toolkit - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Millions of riders, drivers and delivery-partners using the Uber app across Europe, Middle East and Africa, now have a new safety toolkit, reports ITREALMS.

With this, Uber says it has doubled down on safety and roll out Safety Toolkit for riders and drivers across 38 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda; Features to include Safety Centre, Trusted Contacts, Share Trip, emergency assistance button and customisable speed alerts.

ITREALMS also gathered that over the next few weeks, Uber will be rolling out to the millions of riders, drivers and delivery-partners using the app across Europe, Middle East and Africa locations. 

"The toolkit will introduce new innovative features which aim to raise the bar on safety, and increase transparency, accountability and peace of mind for all users," Uber officials told ITREALMS.

Uber equally said that since launched the app it has provided millions of people with technology that allows them to get a ride at the push of a button, track every trip with GPS technology and report any issues 24/7 with a dedicated safety team. With the introduction of new safety features, the company aims to double down on safety and help make the Uber community safer.

Features that will be introduced as part of the new rider and driver safety toolkit, include:

Emergency button - With the push of a button in the app, riders, drivers and delivery-partners can connect directly to private emergency services and security response when needed through a third party private security supplier

Trusted Contacts - Riders can now easily designate five friends or family members as “trusted contacts” and, with a single tap, share their trip information which are easily customisable in their trip sharing preferences.

Safety Centre - A new app-housed safety information hub where users can find information on some of the key existing safety tools in the app, including our 24/7 team, information on the driver and the car, trip GPS-tracking and our rating and feedback system.

Speed alerts - A feature which reminds drivers and delivery partners to maintain a safe speed within the posted speed limits.

These new safety features will be a phased rollout, not all riders, drivers and delivery partners will have access to the features immediately.

“With more than 15 million trips on the Uber app every day, there is nothing more important than the safety of riders, drivers and couriers. Over the last year we’ve been working to develop innovative products that increase transparency, accountability and peace of mind for all users. The rollout of our new Safety Toolkit features across Europe, Middle East and Africa is the next step in making sure that we’re helping everyone stay safe and connected, wherever you might be,” says Sachin Kansal, Uber’s Global Head of Safety Product.

Nenye Dom with agency report/GEE

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Google Station debuts in Nigeria, provides free high speed Wifi - ITREALMS

BreakingNews@ITREALMS:

The Google Station has made its debut with the launch in Lagos, to provide free high speed Wireless Fidelity (Wifi) to millions of Nigerians, reports ITRealms.

This came at the second Google for Nigeria event hosted at Landmark Event Centre, Lagos, which the firm used to unveil a number of big announcements aimed at helping more people in Nigeria, and across Africa, benefit from the opportunities the web has to offer.

In a bid to make the internet more easily accessible to people in Nigeria, Google is launching Google Station for Nigeria: a program to provide high quality, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in partnership with 21st Century, one of the largest fibre network providers in Nigeria.

“Google Station will be rolling out in 200 locations in five cities across Nigeria by the end of 2019, bringing Wi-Fi to millions of people,” says Google Nigeria Country Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor. “Sites include markets, transport hubs, shopping malls, universities, and more. Nigeria is the fifth country to get Google Station, after India, Indonesia, Thailand and Mexico.”

Google is also making search more powerful for ordinary Africans. Job search launched in March in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, and is now rolling out in 29 new countries. In Nigeria, Google is launching a search experience that allows users to explore health conditions based on symptoms, as well as recipe search for anyone who needs a little food inspiration.

StreetView’s Discover Nigeria gallery has been expanded to include more of Nigeria’s wonders including the National Museum in Lagos, Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Millenium Park in Abuja, and Lekki Conservation Centre.

Additionally, Google announced the update of several products from its “Go” initiative, which were launched in the past year. The Go product suite aims to give people with low bandwidth connections and low-RAM devices the best possible Google experience. These new features include:

Google Go: will soon read web pages out loud and highlight each word so users can follow along.

YouTube Go: users will be able to browse downloaded YouTube Go videos, saved as .yt files, right from the gallery on their phones.

Google Maps Go: will now provide users with turn-by-turn directions, whether they’re travelling by car, by bus or on foot.

Android Go: Launched in Nigeria and 29 other African countries earlier this year, the Go OS gives people coming online for the first time a powerful and reliable smartphone experience. Across Africa, Transsion, Nokia, Huawei, and Mobicel have launched various devices, starting at just over 17,000 Naira.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Millions of Nigerian children are violated - NVACS

 ITRealms

The latest Nigeria Violence Against Children Survey (NVACS) has revealed that violence impacts millions of children’s lives every year across Nigeria, ITRealms reports.

The survey indicated that you cannot help but be shocked by the huge numbers of children experiencing violence. But sometimes we can get lost in the statistics. Let’s remember that each statistic represents an individual child suffering violence – a four year old boy being intentionally burnt for misbehaving, a 13 year old girl being repeatedly raped by her neighbour, a seven year old being told again and again – “you are worthless, I wish you were dead” by their own mother.

These, ITRealms gathered, were revelations as Nigerian President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, represented by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) Mr. Danladi Kifasi launched the Year of Action to End Violence Against Children today in response to the high rates of violence revealed in the survey, released last week.

Millions of children suffer violence every year in Nigeria - approximately 6 out of every 10 children experience some form of physical, emotional and sexual violence before the age of 18 years, according the survey carried out by the National Population Commission, with support from United Nation International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Announcing the launch of the year-long campaign to end violence against children, the President said “This is a historic day. A day when Nigeria stands up and says to our children - we commit to protecting you from violence.”

The survey found that one in two children experience physical violence; one in four girls and one in ten boys experience sexual violence; and one in six girls and one in five boys experience emotional violence. The majority of children, ITRealms recalled, do not tell anyone what has happened to them and fewer than five per cent receive the help they need to recover.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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