HID Global, a secure identity solutions, recently announced that it has partnered with Media Concepts of Lagos, Nigeria to deploy mobile IDs on Nigerian citizens’ smartphones using the new HID goID platform. Mobile IDs will be issued through the Nigerian Police Biometric Central Motor Registry (BCMR) vehicle registration card program, which provides real-time access to vehicle/vehicle owner information via credentials and mobile readers powered by Seos. The BCMR card program is moving from pilot phase to full implementation with the expectation to register all motor vehicles as the project rolls out nationwide.

This program in Nigeria is the first of several programs that HID Global will be announcing across the world in support of the company’s mobility initiative launched last month, including the new HID goID™ solution that enables smart devices to securely carry government-issued IDs and conduct transactions not possible using a physical card.

The Nigerian Police BCMR is a biometrically-enabled, real-time information system designed to enhance the reliability and effectiveness of policing. The BCMR vehicle registration program marks the beginning of a major deployment of vehicle registration cards and mobile readers that are powered by Seos technology.

Simultaneously, the Nigerian police are launching the program to offer citizens a secure and convenient mobile ID option. Citizens can apply for a mobile ID at the time of vehicle registration. Once registration is complete, issuance of the mobile ID to a citizen’s smartphone is almost instant, which bridges the gap between registration and receipt of the physical card.

The Nigerian Police will be issued smartphones as mobile readers to verify a vehicle owner’s ID and at the same time gain real-time access to reliable accident, crime or insurance information on the vehicle. The readers will sit in a specially designed cradle to accommodate the citizen’s biometrics stored on the card or mobile ID.

This chart shows why GTBank is Nigeria’s leading bank and Union Bank Plc may not see another decade. When you look deeper, you will agree that GTBank has the best cost-to-income ratio in the industry.

Major leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in Nigeria have come together to form a body that would further strengthen local content advocacy in the country.

According to the OEMs, which included BRIAN Integrated Systems, BETA Computers, OMATEK computers, VEDA Technologies and ZINOX Technologies, formed a body known as Certified Computer Manufacturers of Nigeria (CCMON).

The coordinator of CCMON, Bode Pedro, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of VEDA Technologies, said that the coming together of the firms have been in the pipeline for quite some time but that the right time has come for it, especially now that there is renewed impetus from the government towards the support and growth of local content in ICT.

The main objectives of CCMON, according to Pedro, included working with all relevant stakeholders to grow the capacity of Nigeria computer manufacturers that will generate increased employment, strengthening the Naira and ensure the growth of local economy.

According to a report by PwC, a consultancy, the Nigerian market is dominated by social/casual gaming, eclipsing fledgling revenues on more expensive devices like consoles and Personal Computers (PCs). It disclosed that the mobile gaming market has flourished and in 2014, with social/casual gaming revenue accounting for 7.7 per cent of total video game revenue at $70 million. Yup, the the gaming monitor of choice is changing, to everyone’s surprise it is becoming smaller!

According to PwC, this will increase further to $147 million in 2019, at a CAGR of 16.1 per cent. “At this time, social/casual games will comprise 8.4 per cent of total video game revenue in Nigeria, driven by greater ownership of mobile devices than of consoles and PCs. Video game advertising revenue remains non-existent in this market.”

CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, recently announced a EUR50m equity investment in Africa Internet Group (AIG). AIG is the parent company of Jumia, Africa’s leading e-commerce firm, as well as nine other online consumer businesses operating in 23 countries across the continent.

AIG currently connects more than 50,000 local and international companies with millions of African consumers. CDC’s capital will help AIG improve its existing operations and expand into new countries.

The companies in the group have a significant job-creation potential, particularly those businesses that involve the delivery of a physical products. Jumia Group already has over 4,000 employees and it is expected that Jumia Services (formerly AIG-Express), the logistics business within the group (and already one of Africa’s largest logistics firms, delivering over 4 million orders in 2015) will generate thousands of new delivery jobs by 2020.

In addition to direct employment, AIG operates a network of 30,000 sales agents, the “J-Force”. Currently largely Nigeria-based, the J-Force is expanding into other countries, with numbers of agents expected to grow to over 100,000 by the end of 2017.

Online marketplace businesses can also play an important role in providing access to new customers for local vendors. Kaymu, an online marketplace focused on smaller sellers, enables these vendors to develop their businesses by providing them with access to a nationwide market for the first time. Most sellers on the Kaymu platform are micro and small businesses – often people who had previously been market traders. Several thousand of these small firms actively trade on the platform every month and as they grow so do the number of jobs they provide.

Other services offered by Africa Internet Group include websites offering food delivery (Hellofood) and hotel booking (Jovago), as well as online classified ads for general merchandise (Vendito), real estate (Lamudi), jobs (EverJobs) and vehicles (Carmudi).