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Home Blog Page 5960

Consider Integrating BTC As A Payment Option In Nigeria, Africa

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I was NOT a believer in crypto and I remain extremely suspicious of it. But looking at the trajectory, I invested in a crypto exchange and a mobile app to convert coins to fiat currencies. But many young people in Africa mounted pressure with “I do not keep my money in Naira but in BTC” – and you need to allow me to pay via BTC. BTC is Bitcoin.

We added bitcoin as a way for members to pay for our services a few weeks ago. Ladies and gentlemen, the data is unbelievable: a solid double-digit adoption. 

For the integration, I took my time, read the manuals and did the coding, optimization and integration myself, without involving anyone. Not as hard as writing firmware for microchips. This thing is not as esoteric as it may seem.

If you are a merchant in Nigeria (and Africa), I challenge you to consider integration of BTC. The growth in Nigeria is evidential. I do not waste time on this feed – see this as another channel to grow revenue. You can make the crypto to settle in US dollars which means once they pay, the money drops as the US dollars equivalent in your digital wallet. You can then move it to your bank as USD.

Young people are smart: listen to them on what they want. I wish I did this integration many months ago. Click here to see how it looks.

Pay Fasmicro & Tekedia

Effective Enterprise Marketing – Tekedia Mini-MBA

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You asked for it: we need to understand how to design, develop and execute an effective Enterprise Marketing. Today, we are very excited to announce that the General Manager, Enterprise Marketing of MTN Nigeria, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, will teach a course on Effective Enterprise Marketing in Tekedia Mini-MBA, a community service designed to make innovators and growth champions better.

Onyinye is a graduate of the University of Calabar (BSc) and University of Manchester Business School (MBA). She is a business leader and one of the finest operators in her domain. That record N1 trillion annual revenue remains in Nigeria; people made it happen in the land of y’ello.

Her course has made me better as I have told our startups and teams that to thrive, this is how to run an enterprise marketing. I invite you to join our Faculty and others as we begin Feb 8th.

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA here.

Tekedia Academic Programs

The Problem With NIMC’s “Indefinite Strike” in Nigeria

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Can you believe this Nigeria? Some workers in NIMC are on strike despite the urgency put on the NIN registration and integration with SIM cards. Yes, the “staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), on Thursday, embarked on an indefinite strike over poor funding…The Nigerian government had directed telecommunication operators through the Nigerian Communication Commission to block subscribers who fail to link their mobile numbers to their NIN…The directive said subscribers were given a period of two weeks to link their numbers but was later extended to January 18 2021. Subscribers without NIN have until February 9 to register and link it to their phone numbers”. 

I truly sympathize with the NIMC staff members. Nigeria needs to fund and take care of them if we do hope for this NIN exercise to work. I mean you cannot expect them to work on an empty stomach and get the mandate executed. 

Yet, NIMC should know that Nigeria’s purse is empty. Seriously, we need a national emergency on our priorities. NIMC should be the #1 funded agency in Nigeria because it is the only path to have a credit-driven economy which can add double digit growth in our economy within a few years. So, the National Assembly and the Presidency should find money and get NIMC working!

This strike is a national problem and should be immediately managed to ensure the workers return to work.

This comes after NIMC just updated the community on the SIM card-NIN project.

National ID Card, Nigeria

The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been drawn to numerous publications in both print and electronic media regarding the unfounded fears of mass disconnection of telephone subscribers as a result of the ongoing linkage of SIM Registration Records with the National Identity Number (NIN).

It is therefore necessary for the Commission to issue this clarification in order to allay the fears of subscribers and the general public.

Most of these publications are based on the erroneous assumption that for every network or SIM connection, there is one unique human subscriber.

However, with the advent of social media and App-driven digital environment, network subscription went beyond human subscribers to include machines like PoS, Routers, Wi-Fi devices, electricity meters, CCTV, tracking devices etc.

A recent survey conducted in Nigeria has shown that on average, there are now approximately 4 to 5 SIMs to every human subscriber. This explains the basis of allowing the linkage of up to 7 SIMs to 1 unique NIN in the recently launched Federal Government Portal.

Thus, if there are 43 million Nigerians with NINs, this could account for about 172 million SIMs already linked to NINs. It is very important to emphasize that the current exercise of linking NIN to SIM(s) is for the common good of all Nigerians, as it has far reaching benefits.

Apart from enhancing our general safety, this will help in such vital exercises like National Budgeting, Policy Planning, Social Intervention programs and many more.

The Honourable Minister of Communication and Digital Economy has assured that the Government will continue to review the exercise in the light of experiences to ensure its smooth implementation.

We call on all our media partners, publishers and reporters to always endeavour to seek clarification from the Commission before going to the press, especially on sensitive issues,” the statement said.

More so, do not sell your NIN, it could land you in trouble if a criminal uses the identity to cause trouble: “The EFCC wishes to alert Nigerians that it is not only illegal to sell their NIN, they stand the risk of vicarious liability for any act of criminality linked to their NIN.”

Media and Information Literacy Series: Learning to Understand Information Pollution

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One of the major threats to peaceful living and existence in the world recent times is the menace of information pollution. It is a major disease that has continued to pester the world regardless of the divide. From the global North to the South of the world, the problem of information pollution. What then is information pollution? What are the different manifestations of this concept? In what environment or situations do we have information pollution fester?

Information pollution is not a recent term but its impact is assuming a very dangerous dimension in recent times. People are well aware of environmental pollution and its impact on the environment, quality of life and general well-being of the human ecosystem. However, people are coming to terms with the effect a polluted information ecosystem could have on the people. What exactly does it mean?

Information pollution, according to a source, “could broadly be referred to as an outcome information revolution, wherein people are supplied with contaminated information, which is of less importance, irrelevant, unreliable and unauthentic, which lacks exactness and precision, which always has an adverse effect on society at large.” In another source, information pollution is low quality, distracting or incorrect information that causes damage to knowledge and quality of life. 

Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s minister of information

So, whatever way it is regarded, information pollution is a situation where the mass of people who need information is supplied with unreliable, misrepresented and untrustworthy facts that are not verifiable. In other words, information pollution is the situation where the information ecosystem is flooded with information that is neither reliable nor trustworthy.Why is IP becoming a more notorious phenomenon and a subject of concern in today’s world?  Majorly, the transition from the industrial economy to knowledge economy has been pointed to as a reason for the negatively prominent roles that information pollution plays in the present day world information ecosystem. Unlike decades before, information has become a resource that affects government, institutions, organizations and individuals. More than ever before, information needs of the world’s inhabitants has approached a very significantly high level. In addition to this reason is the information superhighway that characterizes 21st century life with the internet opening up possibilities that were unimaginable before now. This is coupled with the availability of social media. In videos, photos and texts are the formats of information that people trade in. As a matter of fact, some experts claim that the divide that exists between countries of the world now is about the information haves and the information have nots.

What are the manifestations of Information Pollution? In what ways do we have the information ecosystem polluted and contaminated? UNESCO stipulates that Information Pollution can come in three major forms with different intentions. First, there is disinformation. This implies information that is false and deliberately aimed at harming a person, a social group or even a country. Second, there is misinformation. 

This is false information created with the intention not to cause harm or injury to a person. The third leg is malinformation. This information based on reality, used to inflict injury on a person, social group or organization. With whatever intention, no form of Information Pollution is good for society especially now that the world considers information as a resource.

Invoke 25th Amendment: Call to Remove Trump from Office Garners Momentum

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Amidst the chaos orchestrated by Donald Trump supporters as the U.S. Congress sat to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win, the call for his removal from office is garnering momentum.

The president, who has adamantly been stoking conspiracy theories of election fraud in attempt to overturn the result of the presidential election which he lost, supported the organized protest by the pro-Trump group who has unleashed mayhem at the Capitol.

The National Guard was reportedly authorized by Vice President Mike Pence to quell the insurrection, as Trump was reluctant to do so. Police said four persons have been killed in the unprecedented event of today that has been described as “attempted coup” and frontal “attack on U.S. democracy.”

The Capitol has never seen such an attack since the invasion of the British on August 24, 1814.

The chaos prompted some GOP members who had decided to object to the electoral votes of Biden to change their minds. Now many are calling for Trump’s impeachment or the invocation of the 25th Amendment.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Vice President Pence on Wednesday evening, asking him to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office.

Rep. David Cicilline shared the letter signed by more than 10 others, including Rep. Cori Bush, Steve Cohen and Madeleine Dean, on Twitter, imploring Pence to remove Trump from office “after today’s events.”

“It is with sadness that we write to you following the incidents that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol today. As you presided over the U.S. Senate, angry supporters of President Trump attempted an insurrection, illegally storming and breaching the U.S. Capitol building to stop the certification of President-elect Biden’s victory,” says the letter.

They pointed out that Trump has shown he is not capable to lead the country, which means the 25th Amendment, which provides an avenue through which the vice president and Cabinet can remove a sitting president who is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office’ should be applied.

“Even in his video announcement this afternoon, President Trump revealed that he is not mentally sound and is still unable to process and accept the results of the 2020 election.

“For the sake of our democracy, we emphatically urge you to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing President Trump from power. President has shown time and again that he is unwilling to protect our Democracy and carry out the duties of the office,” the lawmakers Wrote to Pence.

Pence, who defied Trump on Wednesday has been under intense pressure from him to overturn the result of the presidential during the Jan. 6 Electoral Votes certification.

Trump’s relentless effort to discredit the outcome of the Nov. 3 election, calling it “rigged” and alleging it was fraudulent has resulted in escalation of events that undermine American democracy, forcing many of his close supporters to desert him.

The event of Wednesday however seems to have gone beyond what the Congress’ partisan could condone, now the lawmakers are teaming up to save the day.

“Every Republican who believes in freedom and democracy needs to call for the president’s resignation or removal. Now,” wrote Rep. McGovern.

Reports from The White House say members of Trump’s Cabinet are seriously considering invoking the 25th Amendment, and GOP members are backing the plan. Calls to remove GOP Senators, Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz who have been heralding Trump’s conspiracy theories which fueled the event of Wednesday, have also been on high.

Republicans are now furious at Trump for fomenting an attack on American democracy and disgracing their party. He has been blamed for their loss of Georgia’s senatorial election which has given Democrats the control of the Congress.

There is growing concern among Republicans and Americans that if Trump is allowed to spend the remaining 13 days of his term in White House, he will cause further harm and create more hatred and division than what has been witnessed in more than three years.

“The president is unfit to remain in office for the next 14 days. Every second he retains the vast powers of the presidency is a threat to public order and national security. Vice President Pence … should immediately gather the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment,” said George Conway, Lawyer and Washington Post columnist.