APC Appreciates President Buhari for appointing Mrs. Semenitari acting MD, NDDC

0 0
Read Time:1 Minute, 0 Second

The leadership and entire members of the Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress [APC] have profoundly, thank President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for finding one their own, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari worthy for appointment as the acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission [NDDC].

The APC in a statement signed by Mr Chris Finebone noted that the appointment by Mr. President further demonstrates his readiness to recognise and appoint qualified, tested and worthy sons and daughters of the South-South into positions of responsibility in his government.

“We have no iota of doubt that Mrs. Ibim Semenitari will match and even exceed the expectations on her new assignment by Mr. President, our party, people of the South-South and entire Nigerians because of her zeal, capability and capacity to deliver whenever she is called to serve” the party observed.

“This optimism is based on her verifiable track record of achievements in the past especially while she served as the Honourable Commissioner for Information and Communications in the Cabinet of the former Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, CON, and as a member of the Communications Directorate of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation”, the statement concluded

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

MoneyGram Launches Account Deposit into Nigeria’s $21 Billion Annual Remittance Market

0 0
Read Time:1 Minute, 25 Second

Customers in key European countries can send money in minutes* directly to most bank accounts in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria, December 22, 2015/ — MoneyGram (NASDAQ: MGI) (http://Global.MoneyGram.com) today announced it is the first money transfer company to offer customers in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain a way to send money to most personal Nigerian Naira bank accounts within minutes*.

“This is a significant milestone for us. With the addition of Nigeria, MoneyGram now offers bank account deposits through our network into five of the world’s largest remittance receive markets — Nigeria, China, India, Mexico and the Philippines,” says Herve Chomel, MoneyGram’s regional vice president for Africa. “Account deposit is a fast and secure way to send and receive funds between loved ones and we are proud to offer the service for our customers in Europe and Nigeria.”

Customers can send money to most of the personal accounts held at banks that are members of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System network including First Bank, UBA, Ecobank, Fidelity, and Zenith Bank from MoneyGram agent locations in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain.

This marks an important innovation for the remittance industry in Nigeria. By integrating into the Nigerian Inter-Bank Payment System, MoneyGram customers are able to send money into most bank accounts in Nigeria, almost in real time*. Receivers do not have to undertake any action as the funds are automatically deposited into their account and can be accessed via ATM’s or online, without the constraint of a physical over-the-counter visit.

* Timing of funds availability depends on destination country and is subject to banking hours and compliance with regulatory requirements.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

Senator Stella Oduah Responds to Budget Presentation of President Muhammadu Buhari

0 0
Read Time:1 Minute, 33 Second

The Senator representing Anambra-North Senatorial District in the 8th Senate today commented on the draft appropriation bill of the 2016 budget.

Senator Oduah in a statement made available to reporters after President Muhammadu Buhari delivered the budget to both houses of the National Assembly commended President Buhari on what she referred to as a “Very robust and seemingly thorough and well-thought out budget” and said that she hoped that this draft version addresses many of the economic and security situations that Nigerians are currently facing.

Additionally, Oduah stated that the budget addressing issues in rural communities is a big joy for her and she hoped that 2016 would set a new path for the country, as the President’s address seemed to touch on areas that include the boosting of oil and non-oil revenues; the more efficient collection and enforcement of VAT and customs duties; and the subsidized funding of the agricultural and solid mineral sectors.

Oduah also harped on the employment situation in the country, and urged Mr. President to take significant steps to address the problem.

“The young people of Nigeria need to be our focus moving forward,” Oduah said, “We need to ensure that the energy of our present generation of youth is put to good use in the furtherance of the Nigerian project.”

Oduah further hoped that with the swift passage of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper, the 8th National Assembly still have that zeal and commitment ready to move speedily to pass the 2016 Appropriation Bill.

In his remarks at the National Assembly, President Buhari assured Nigerians that his administration would not fall short. Senate President Bukola Saraki also reassured the lawmakers that the 8th National Assembly will continue to discharge their oversight responsibilities.

Abang ‘Dove’ Veronica

Legislative Aide to Senator Stella Oduah

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

Passage of RVSG N307b budget under 24 hours the height of banditry

0 0
Read Time:1 Minute, 5 Second

The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, and a cross section of Rivers people received with shock the news that the Rivers State House of Assembly [RSHA] received and passed a N307 billion 2016 budget proposal by Governor Nyesom Wike administration under 24 hours of presentation by the governor.

The APC believes that this is the height of banditry because what the RSHA has done, with most of the members still contesting the nullification of their elections at the Appeal Courts, is a confirmation that the legislative and executive arms of government in Rivers State have a common agenda to wreck havoc on the peoples’ commonwealth and legitimize their actions through a spurious budget before being chased away by the law courts.

The APC calls on Rivers people to hold Barr. Nyesom Wike and his co-travellers responsible for the last minute schemes to short-change them as demonstrated by series of criminally curious actions the governor and members of the RSHA have taken in the twilight of their temporary sojourn in office. We wish to inform the governor and his co-actors that, to the extent that the law allows, they will be made to account for all the anti-people actions they perpetrated against Rivers people while exercising their stolen mandates.

Chris Finebone

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

Delta Speaker dedicates Appeal Court victory to God

0 0
Read Time:1 Minute, 51 Second

The Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Monday Igbuya on Sunday said that his fortune was a clear testimony to the fact that power belongs to God.

Igbuya who spoke at a special thanksgiving service in Sapele said without God, the efforts of those struggling to get to political offices would be in vain.

He emphasized the hand of God in his political life, saying that God stood for him from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries in Sapele to his victory at the Court of Appeal, Benin Judicial Division.

Drawing inspiration from the Book of Psalms, Igbuya said “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive”

In his words “PDP won the House of Assembly election in Sapele State Constituency of Delta State. It was the toughest and freest election in the history of the area. The Court of Appeal affirmed the decision of the National/ Legislative Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, Delta State in Petition No. EPT/DT/HA/26/2015 delivered on 7th October 2015” he said.

Igbuya advised his opponents to join him in developing Delta State.

“Some of my political enemies are here. They are members of this church. They wanted me out of the political system. If you are truly destined for greatness, people plotting to stop you are wasting their time. It is time to come together and channel all our resources towards the development of the State” he said.

Igbuya who also advised politicians in the state to shun hatred recalled his vow immediately he became speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly.

“I will do something significant for Bethel Baptist Church should I come out victorious at the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. I was baptized in this church. I dedicated all my children in this church. There is a brand new passenger bus outside for the church” the representative of the good people of the Sapele Constituency said.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the decision of the lower tribunal delivered on 7th day of October, 2015.

By Njamanze Fidel

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

NUJ Honours Delta Speaker + PMAN must brace up for the new challenges – Delta Speaker

0 0
Read Time:3 Minute, 14 Second

Delta State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon Monday Igbuya, on Monday pledged that he would work toward a robust Nigeria Union of Journalists in the years ahead by giving all the support, encouragement and cooperation in the realization of the union’s set goals, saying,“I am aware that the practice of journalism has become more expensive due to new technologies and the advent of social media, which has made information to move at a frightening speed.”

In his acceptance speech for the Award of Excellence in Legislative Competence and Exceptional Leadership, Igbuya applauded the practice of journalism in the country especially the high level of professionalism and commitment of journalists to the process of nation building.

The Speaker who received spontaneous cheers from the cream of journalists promised not only to be sensitive to the yearnings and aspirations of Deltans but also proactive on all matters of urgent importance.

He said “I want to appreciate the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Delta State Council for counting me worthy of this prestigious award. It is truly an honour to receive an award from your highly esteem body, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). I really appreciate this effort of an early positive report card. This benevolence is a great one to me and members of the Delta State House of Assembly”.

Igbuya who expressed delight at the activities of journalists in Nigeria, particularly Delta State, said the role of the media cannot be downplayed by any society,

“It will be noteworthy to appreciate the role of the media in our nascent democracy. Without the media in our society, the public will not be aware of the agenda and programmes of this administration”

The speaker also seized the occasion to commend his colleagues.

“This award belongs to every member of the Delta State House of Assembly. Without members, there can be no speaker. Without the honourable members, I would not be standing here today to receive this award”

PMAN must brace up for the new challenges – Delta Speaker

The Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Monday Igbuya on Monday spoke of his personal respect and feeling for the practitioners of music in Nigeria, urging them to support government efforts at improving the revenue of the state.

The speaker said he saw the role of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) as very fundamental along with that of the government in moving a nation to its ideal setting.

Igbuya spoke in Asaba during the visit of PMAN officials in Delta State to his office.

He urged them to use their skills to enlighten the people on the ideals of good governance,

He also appealed to them to think of music that can increase the Internally Generated Revenues of states.

“Musicians must look for ways in which they can benefit from government. They must educate government officials on how to shift from oil and federal allocations. They also need to educate the people on taxes, electronic campaign and a clean environment “he advised.

Igbuya who thanked the group for supporting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, recalled his father’s contribution to the music industry.

“My father was an organist. He played music but none of us took after him. However, we are using the Igbuya Foundation to support the music industry by sponsoring people at the university level” he said.

Earlier, the chairman, PMAN, Delta State Chapter, Evangelist Quincy Tebite, congratulated the speaker on his victory at the poll, his emergence as the speaker, victory at the tribunal and at the Court of Appeal.

Quincy while describing the visit as significant urged the Delta State House of Assembly to pass a bill that will compel media organizations, hotels and other industrial bodies to pay royalty to PMAN.

By Fidel Njamanze

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

Why N5,000 Conditional Cash Transfer Is Urgently Necessary In Nigeria By Kikiowo Ileowo

0 0
Read Time:6 Minute, 55 Second

“It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled?” (Maslow, 1943, p. 375).

So many pundits have advocated reasons why cash transfer to Nigeria’s desperately poor is unnecessary and counter-productive, however, they often fail to discuss the inherent benefits of this widely accepted social scheme. Many who are against this scheme are themselves rich, “well to do”, and can to a large extent, provide their psychological and safety needs for survival according to Maxlow’s law on hierarchy of needs five-stage model. What the pundits claim is that any type of conditional cash transfer will ultimately make the people lazy to work and subsequently poorer. They forget that the amount involved is too insignificant for anyone to PERMANENTLY rely on for survival.

I won’t bore you with regurgitated statistics, as we have all heard, as many as 112.47 million Nigerians live below the poverty line according to 2010 figures of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 38.7 million of them are DESPERATELY poor.

Depending on whose statistics you believe, the World Bank claims 53.2 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty. In fact, of the one billion poor people that live in poverty around the world, 7% of them reside in Nigeria.

Nigeria is one of the top five countries with the largest number of poor, ranking third, with China and India, ranking second and first respectively.

Majority of Nigeria’s desperately poor never had the opportunity to attend a school, nor receive some form of education, whether formal or informal. We must understand that without education/skills to secure some form of income, it is nearly impossible for anyone to achieve the first stage of Physiological needs on Maxlow’s hierarchy of needs. While building desperately needed infrastructure is sacrosanct, we must not forget to take care of the suffering poor, who mostly dwell in rural areas and are UNBANKED.

According to one of John Maynard Kaynes theory, government spending can be used to increase aggregate demand, thus increasing economic activity, reducing unemployment and ultimately reducing poverty to the barest minimum. Conditional cash transfer is not new to the field of economics. In Nigeria, our psyche has been so bastardized, we feel we don’t deserve anything from the government, compared to a country like Finland that is proposing paying each citizens whether rich or poor, at least 800 Euros tax free every month. Polls conducted indicate a simple majority of citizens in Finland support the move, even though the country is heavily indebted.

Still on the necessity of the conditional cash transfer programme, a popular anonymous phrase on placards during the Occupy Nigeria protests in 2012, states “One day, the poor will have nothing left to eat but the rich.” If you think, conditional cash transfers are unnecessary then think again. There is a surging army of unemployed who are bursting at the very fabric of our societal seams.

The Buhari/Osinbajo administration rode to power on several promises. Chief amongst them being the conditional cash transfer of N5,000 monthly to 25 million desperately poor Nigerians, majority of whom cannot afford to live on a dollar a day. These are individuals who live on two dollar a week. i.e. About N1,000 ($8) monthly.

Hello, step back your thought process a bit, you are already thinking, ‘it’s impossible’; ‘people don’t live like that’, ‘blah blah blah’. But you will be surprised at the level of poverty in this land when you hear and witness the suffering in the lives of some, especially in rural areas.

During one of my numerous travels, I met an elderly woman who visited the local market, bought palm oil worth N20, Vegetable N50, One Maggi seasoning cube for N5 and some other ingredient I can’t recall, but the total amount of money she spent was N120 ie less than a dollar. Now, imagine what N5,000 would do in the life of such an individual. Most of those the conditional cash transfer policy will positively affect are those who find themselves in such circumstance. They did not purpose to live a life of penury, but opportunities for income are just not available in a country where graduate unemployment is 60% and around 70% in the wider population.

The Cost Of Nigeria’s Conditional Cash Transfer

I will focus here on only the financial cost

A simple mathematical analysis shows Nigeria can afford this project.

N5,000 multiplied by 25,000,000 is N125,000,000,000 monthly.

N125,000,000,000 X 12 months is N1,500,000,000,000 annually.

In simple terms, it will cost Nigeria 125billion ($500million) naira monthly and 1.5trillion ($6billion) naira annually to finance the conditional cash transfer of N5,000 ($20) monthly to 25million desperately poor citizens.

Source Of Financing

There are several ways Nigeria can source for these funds, but I will mention a few.

Keep in mind; Nigeria will reach at least, 700,000 people in each of the 36 states and federal capital territory in the country. Imagine almost half (41%) of Bayelsa State population receiving bailout from FG. This alone will set the Buhari/Oshinbajo administration on another pedestal.

In the 1930s, great economist, John Maynard Keynes, suggested one of the most practical ways of getting the economy such as ours out of downturn. He encouraged increase in government spending to improve demand and the gross domestic product. The 25 million Nigerians that will eventually get this cash transfer won’t SAVE it in the bank (most are unbanked anyway). They will SPEND it, thereby creating a new circle of economic empowerment and opportunities.

There are several ways of financing this type of social project, and for once, let us take our mind off the World Bank.

Financing a sustainable cash transfer policy can be achieved by tweaking the system, redistributing wealth from the rich and giving to the poor. The present administration can borrow a leaf from the UK, a country that has learnt to tax its citizens for the provisions of essential services. The country practice what economists called a progressives tax system. In other words, the higher your income, the higher your taxes. From taxing car users, alone, the United Kingdom generates 7% of its total revenue, using same to maintain critical infrastructure and provide other essential services.

The Buhari/Osinbajo government can also creatively look for a way to shove up our revenue base without straining our present source of revenue generation.

Also, the government can withdraw its subsidies on petrol (after proper consultations and ability to meet local demand of daily Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, need). Nigeria’s subsidy scheme on petroleum product is gulping almost the same projected amount needed for this conditional cash transfer programme. When Nigeria starts refining its crude, the amount per litre of PMS will not be up to this present subsidized N87 per litre.

Nigeria Not Alone

Countries like India, Brazil and Pakistan have some form of conditional cash transfer programme that is helping their poor citizens out of poverty. Injecting N125bn monthly into the hands of a spending population will in turn encourage economic growth. Small businesses like recharge card sales, barbing & hair dressing salon etc will be invested in by the beneficiaries to help generate sustainable income. This will in the long run REDUCE POVERTY.

I understand the pundit’s dislike for this idea, but they must realize it is not a perpetual solution. Having a Ten Years Programme of N15trn in conditional cash transfers will change our poverty dynamics and statistics by 2026. By 2027, Nigeria will be migrating from cash transfers to other forms of social security.

As the Buhari administration presents the 2016 budget, it is sacrosanct that a 10 year spending expenditure/income framework should be developed, with N125bn set aside for the conditional cash transfer on annual basis till 2026.

Kikiowo Ileowo is the Editor of The Paradigm, Chief Strategist at Revamp Media and tweets atwww.twitter.com/ileowokikiowo

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

#GidiXmas Music Concert: A night of Afrobeat, jazz, Soul, Broadway, Traditional Music

0 0
Read Time:1 Minute, 10 Second

Contemporary music has always been the way in which individuals can express what they feel or think towards somebody or something.

This Christmas season, GidiXmas brings to the city that never sleeps, the best of contemporary music from a host of talented musicians.

Satisfy the crave for good music with a night of Afrobeat, jazz, Soul, Broadway, traditional and Christmas carols in Lagos style!

The concert features the 2015 Muson jazz festival headliner; Girls Rule Band (an all-female band) Afro jazz guitarist Femileye, Muson Jazz concert headliner 2014 Imoleayo Balogun, and performances by young music scholars.

Gidi Xmas is a project by IYE Arts and produced by female saxophonist Phebean Tosin Oluwadare.

Year 2015 marks the fourth edition of Phebean’s yearly Christmas concert. Past concerts include 12 Gifts of Xmas 2012 [Coral Reef Ikoyi]; Gifts of Xmas 2013 at [terra Kulture]; Band Aid Xmas edition [Muson Centre]; and now the train moves to Surulere to give Lagos mainland a unique musical experience.

Date: December 19, 2015
Time: 6:00PM
Venue: AYO BANKOLE CENTRE FOR ARTS.
32, Yesufu Sanusi Street, off Adeniran Ogunsanya Surulere‎, Lagos

Ticket Prices: Children #500, Students #1,000 (with valid ID), Regular #2,000, VIP #5,000
Tickets are available online, off-line and at the venue. For more info please visit www.artsxii.com/gidixmas OR Call +234 806 313 8194, +234 802 727 6957, +234 802 553 1799.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

Tigo digital social entrepreneurs creating better world for Tanzania

0 0
Read Time:5 Minute, 36 Second

Tigo Tanzania in partnership with a local NGO, Reach For Change, have once again announced two winners of the Tigo Digital Changemakers competition

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, December 16, 2015/ — Tigo Tanzania (www.Tigo.co.tz) in partnership with a local NGO, Reach For Change, have once again announced two winners of the Tigo Digital Changemakers competition. The competition is a social entrepreneurship programme aimed at identifying and empowering young Tanzanians with innovative digital solutions that can help to solve some of the country’s most pressing community needs.

The winners of 2015 bring to nine the total number of social entrepreneurs that have received funding from Tigo Tanzania through digital program in the past four years – each winner is given US $ 20,000 to implement their project idea. The seven existing Changemakers had until end of 2014 impacted the lives of over 10,000 children of the East African country, according to Tigo Tanzania Chief Commercial Officer, Shavkat Berdiev.

This year’s winners announced in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, December 16th are Neema Shosho and Bihaga Edward. They were among the 15 finalists who in 2015 made the cut in a grueling duel that usually pits hundreds of applicants with project ideas to improve the lives of children and the larger society using digital toolkit.

Each of the two winners benefit from a grant of $ 20,000 and a business management mentorship from Tigo to enable them achieve their dreams of putting their innovative solutions and technology into practice as change agents for the under-privileged in the society.

Renown as Tanzania’s leading digital lifestyle telecom operator, Tigo has been investing heavily in corporate social responsibility initiatives, the Digital Changemakers program being of them. The telecom, which has over 10 million subscribers, also supports programs in the health sector, education and sports.

“Our support for community development projects demonstrates our commitment to drive digital transformation not just for our customers but to the larger Tanzanian community as well. We are proud that by helping these social entrepreneurs, our organization is helping to solve some of the community’s challenges through digital solutions,” says Berdiev.

What the Digital Changemakers have done

The seven past winners of the Tigo Tanzania Digital Changemakers program are: Tadei Msumaje, Joan Avit, Leka Tingitana, Debora Shuma, Faraja Nyalandu and Carolyne Ekyarisiima.

Tadei Msumaje, who hails from the picturesque, Tanzanian northern city of Moshi that’s located on slopes of the panoramic Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s largest mountain, has pioneered Majengo Kids and Youth Technological School that integrates the use of ICT with other learning structures such as nursery education and entrepreneurship to ensure that the benefits of ICT spur learning processes to children in Tanzania.

For Joan Avit, hers is, ‘to assist in improving the quality of early childhood education for children through an easy-to-learn child-friendly and interactive technology literacy tool-kit’ called GraphoGame. GraphoGame is a Kiswahili-Finnish game-based, child-friendly innovation designed to help children read more easily and effectively by themselves. Her initiative has impacted more than 900 children. Through Tigo’s US $ 20,000 award, Avit was able to purchase GraphoGame devices and circulate them to more than 4,200 children in more than 20 schools in Moshi and Rombo in northern Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro region.

“Looking back”, says Avit; “Tigo’s support has helped a great deal in realizing the dreams of the children especially those with slow-learning abilities”.

It’s an innovation that conforms to Jean Piageat’s models of cognitive learning that conclude that children learn best if allowed to discover things for themselves.

In a country whose maternal mortality rate stands at a not-very-inspiring 454 per 100,000 live births and an infant mortality rate of 44 in 1,000 live births (according to Tanzania Demographic Health Survey, TDHS-2012), any intervention aimed at mitigating the situation is highly welcome.

That is why, thanks to Tigo’s support, Leka Tingitana’s mobile communications platform, eAFYA is providing a life-line to expectant mothers in Mwanza, a beautiful lake-shore city overlooking the world’s second largest fresh-water body, Lake Victoria.

With his budding digital company, LXT Technological Solutions for Africa, Tingitana’s innovation aims to ‘support the emerging network of community health workers (CHWs) who are at the fore-front in providing health-care support to expectant and new mothers in the Lake Zone’.

Tingitana proudly says of his life-saving digital project: “eAfya connects physicians and health-care providers by allowing the transformation of electronic data across a wide network of systems bringing about an organized way of diagnosis and creating sustainable dissemination of information on health matters thus allowing doctors and health workers to get access to important medical tests and results in a centralized registry!”. The project could be a game-changer in the health sector if the government through the relevant ministry leverages on it and spreads it all over the country.

Gabriella Rehabilitation Centre, another program by the Tigo Changemakers program, provides on-site occupational therapy in which therapists and teachers provide assessment, education and disability awareness to parents, care-givers, mentors and the community at large. The centre founder Debora-Shuma conceived the idea that rehabilitates disabled children as well as working towards eliminating stigma against them and integrating them with their abled-bodied counterparts through vocational training.

Computer literacy in Tanzanian primary schools is its nascent stages. This is the area that another Tigo Digital Changemakers, Faraja Nyalandu, has ventured into. Nyalandu has developed a digital toolkit that creates digital educational content that empowers youth and children via desktop and mobile learning services.

“Through my company Shule Direct, mobile learning services have impacted over 7,300 children within one year, thanks to support from Tigo,”Nyalandu says.

Similarly, Carolyne Ekyarisiima’s project of teaching basic and complex computer skills to young girls aged 10-18 years had by the end of 2014, impacted over 700 pupils.

Tigo Tanzania social investment is happening in parallel with the company’s investment on its infrastructure. In 2015, according to Berdiev, the telecom has invested US$ 120 million on its network expansion and improvement which include scaling up its 3G sites and fibre network as well as launching Tanzania’s biggest and fastest Tigo 4G LTE network.

Tigo Tanzania is the biggest commercial brand of Millicom, an international company developing the digital lifestyle in 12 countries with commercial operations in Africa and Latin America and corporate offices in Europe and the USA.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %

Orange announces winners of 2015 AMEA Developers Challenge

0 0
Read Time:2 Minute, 19 Second

PARIS, France, December 16, 2015/ — Orange (www.Orange.com) presented the “2015 Orange AMEA Developers Challenge” prize to FarmConnecta yesterday evening during the Cairo ICT event. FarmConnecta, a Botswana-based start-up that has developed an information sharing and billing system designed for the agricultural community, received a prize valued at 10,000 euros.

The 2015 Orange AMEA Developers Challenge was launched in August in France and 11 other countries in Africa and the Middle East: Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Guinea Conakry, Jordan, Kenya, Mali, Niger and Senegal.

The purpose of the challenge is to help stimulate innovation in Africa by offering start-ups the possibility of using Orange’s application programming interfaces (APIs) (https://www.orangepartner.com) to enrich their applications with functionalities that are sometimes essential, such as billing (https://www.orangepartner.com/content/direct-billing-api) or texting (https://www.orangepartner.com/content/direct-billing-api).

The call for applications attracted 1,200 innovative projects on www.entrepreneurclub.orange.com. The proposed projects illustrated the potential of telecommunications for regional development in fields as varied as healthcare, agriculture, education and energy.

Initially, ten projects per country were chosen for the shortlist. Twelve finalist projects were then chosen by a selection panel composed of experts from Orange and from the Information Technologies and Communications industry.

The final ranking was as follows:

1st: FarmConnecta from Botswana has created a mobile marketplace dedicated to livestock trading. Users can access market data and locate lost cattle via a simple mobile telephone. FarmConnecta takes full advantage of the Texting and Billing APIs to revolutionize m-agri applications in Botswana and potentially everywhere in Africa.
2nd: The Nilebot start-up from Egypt uses a hardware and software solution for real-time measurements of water quality in aquaculture. All the collected data is sent via text message in real time, helping aquaculture professionals to be more proactive and to improve their productivity.
3rd: The Cycle M start-up from the Democratic Republic of the Congo has developed a family planning system for mobiles (based on an application or through texting). It provides a tool that can be used to calculate a woman’s menstrual cycle and identify important dates, in particular to avoid unwanted pregnancies and births.

This Challenge marks the acceleration of Orange’s Open Innovation initiative in Africa and the Middle East by opening up the Group’s technical platforms and providing support for local developer ecosystems through its Orange Partner (https://www.orangepartner.com) program. Orange offers access to the Texting API in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Guinea, Niger and Senegal, and to the USSD and Billing APIs in Egypt.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
0 0 %