A partnership of private donors and foundations announced today an $8 million call for proposals seeking new ideas and innovative solutions to address critical issues that impair secondary education learning for marginalized populations.

Through the Partnership to Strengthen Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education (PSIPSE), Dubai Cares, Echidna Giving, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The MasterCard Foundation, and an anonymous donor announced the fourth PSIPSE call for proposals with a geographic focus on Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda.

The call for proposals announced today will lead to funding in 2017 in support of projects that pilot innovations, expand and adapt successful models, inspire collaborations and research critical questions about how to improve quality in secondary education while aiming to create systemic change in this sector at the local or national level. Projects are expected to apply innovative approaches that enable teachers to better act as facilitators of learning, improve adolescents’ learning outcomes, and promote 21st century employment-relevant skills.

With over N144 billion ($362 million) spent on its building and more on the construction of ground station infrastructure, the country’s communications satellite is still idle in the ongoing switchover from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting.

The reason: there is no backup to switch to, if the satellite, for any reason, packs up, prompting a warning by experts that the entire DDT broadcasting could hit the rocks in the event of a system failure.

Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, was, however, quoted recently as saying: “The process of digitalisation is unstoppable and irreversible; it’s not a matter of choice. If we do not follow the world to digitalise and meet the June 2017 target, it means our telephones, televisions and radios would not be free from interference.

Mohammed confirmed to The Guardian: “When the White Paper on utilisation came out, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the digital team set up by government, paid a visit to Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) and explained to them how ready they were to patronise them. But unfortunately, as we speak today, NIGCOMSAT has no redundancy. In other words, they have no backup. If we sign with them and for any reason the satellite goes down, it means we cannot transmit.”

He stated, however, that as soon as NIGCOMSAT scaled the hurdle, the Federal Government would have no choice but resort to the main local player.

Mohammed’s position corroborates that of his Communications counterpart, Adebayo Shittu. At the end of the National Council on Communication Technology (NCCT) in Kaduna, last week, Shittu highlighted the fears of investors and users about losing data to an unreliable satellite.

He disclosed government’s plans to procure two backups for NIGCOMSAT at the cost of $550 million. “Once that is done, we can beat our chest and say, ‘nobody should take Nigerian money outside for the purpose of storing data’. I am confident that with the Federal Government’s approval, we will get what we want.”

In 1900, the average American lived for less than 50 years. Over the last century, improvements in medicine and public health have contributed to a steady increase in life expectancy. Life expectancy at birth is now 76 for men and 81 for women.

The increase in longevity has been so consistent that it’s permeated actuarial science for life insurance and annuities. The Society of Actuaries has for many years incorporated an assumption that longevity will keep improving over time.

Data over the last five years, however, indicates that this trend may be decelerating, and 2016 saw a rare decrease in life expectancy. Talented entrepreneurs seem undaunted! The fact that the U.S. life insurance industry collected $151.4B in premiums in 2015 has a number of them (including SoFi) extremely focused!

Finally, some futurists such as Aubrey de Grey believe that we don’t need coverage, we will continue chipping away at the aging process until we reach “longevity escape velocity” and live to 1,000. Aubrey does, however, fail to point out how to deal with the dodgy Salmon Mousse you might get served at a holiday dinner party.