The contribution of the country’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector to our Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) has increased by almost one percent in the first quarter of the year, the Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA ), Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCE has said.
The DG made this statement while delivering his remarks at the International Webinar meeting organized by the Information Technology (Industry) Association Nigeria (ITAN) Kano and Abuja Chapters on Tuesday.
He said that despite the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic on all economies of the world, the country’s ICT grew by 14 per cent compared to growth of 13.12 per cent in the previous quarter as people relied more on digital platforms during the lockdown.
Abdullahi who was represented by the Director e-Government Development and Regulations, Dr. Vincent Olatunji said, “NITDA, as the agency with the responsibility to oversee the IT sector, is at the forefront of creating initiatives and schemes to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s ICT sector, particularly the startup ecosystem.”
He noted that NITDA, with its two special purpose vehicles; The Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE) and the Office for Nigerian Content Development (ONC) are working hard at achieving their mandates of fostering the growth of technology Startup ecosystem and ensuring patronage of local content in ICT.
Some of these initiatives, according to the DG, include Work Permit for Technology Startups during lockdown; The Nigeria COVID-19 Innovation Challenge where three startups with the following solutions emerged winners: locally made ventilator, decontamination chamber and e-Health monitor Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Scheme (TIESS) which have the following schemes; Incubation Programme; Technical Capacity Building, Internship Programme, Hub Upscaling.
These schemes are designed to target various aspect for the ecosystems to achieve maximum positive effect on the ICT ecosystem. Another programme in the pipeline is Startup Workspace Voucher programme aimed at supporting young startup to overcome their financial challenges.
While thanking the organisers of the Webinar event, Abdullahi added that, “We at NITDA believes that with strategic partnership and collaborations with stakeholders, we can build a new Nigeria with a robust digital economy.”
Participants at the event include, the Executive Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, the Minister of the FCT, Malam Musa Bello were both co–hosts, other International Participants and Presenters at the webinar are: Ahmad Hashim, CEO of Pen Test Digital Services, Engineer Titus Olowokere, based in Atlanta, Georgia ,US, Dr Amado Espinosa, US-based, Professor Sou Mita Dutta of Cornell University, US, and Professor Abdullahi Adamu, Vice Chancellor of the National Open University, Abuja.
While an omnichannel approach has become the norm across most industries, forward-looking businesses are considering the next level to gain competitive advantage. According to Andrea Tucker, Research and Development Head at e4, to disrupt a market using omnichannel strategy businesses will need to turn to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“AI has become a tool that is being utilised to improve customer service, but what has been achieved is really just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more that can be done to improve and evolve customer service to meet the needs of a much-changed and mobile customer,” says Tucker.
Given the nature and pace of business today, coupled with the blurred lines between a consumer and a client, Tucker says that self-service is set to boom as one of the key take-outs from AI.
In a Salesforce report, State of Service AI adoption is predicted to grow by 143% in the next 18 months. This pending spike is attributed to AI’s ability to automate manual tasks, answer routine questions and scale support: “This gives the business more time to be strategic, focusing on building customer relationships as opposed to the more menial tasks that are often time consuming,” says Tucker.
AI driven self-service also addresses digitally-savvy consumers via the use of chatbot technology. This is a step further forward in terms of time-saving when doing manual tasks and keeping customers happy by providing instantaneous answers: “Chatbots will greatly enhance omnichannel engagement and more importantly, improve customer service experience. The technology is perfectly designed to handle a variety of simple tasks often requested by customers,” says Tucker.
The automation derived from AI enables the business to address more important customer queries, reduces the average handle time of the interaction as well as creating a better experience for both the agent and the customer.
In its report, Tucker says that Salesforce has identified that only high-performing organisations, with excellent customer service rates, are more likely to employ AI: “There are significant benefits to using AI on the inside too. As a growing trend, an integrated approach delivers immense benefits to business, of which enhanced customer experience is one of the most important.”
End-to-end AI delivers better customer experiences and business results. It impacts the bottom line and improves several customer experience metrics.
“An AI solution needs to compliment a business and its approach to customer experience. Once you have the right one, focus on doing what you do best and the technology will help you engage with customers intelligently, while being efficient and effective too,” says Tucker.
Mira Technologies Limited, an indigenous information technology (IT) firm in Lagos recently hosted the executive members of Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) at their Lagos office. The visitation is in line with the NCS’ drive of engaging the IT sector and industry players. This visit also coincided with Mira Technologies’ 8 years in IT business in Nigeria. The exco members of NCS commended the company in the strides that they have made in the areas of capacity building and indigenous software development.
Prof. Adesina Sodiya, the president of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) highlighted the need for IT professionals and organisations in the country to be members of the organisation. He expressed pleasure that Mira Technologies Limited have done well over these years in the area of capacity building and project deployments. In his words “Our members are situated across the private and public sector. As of today, with over 15,000 members and close to 1,000 members in the country. The Nigerian Computer Society is on the drive to carry every IT professional along. The association has made interventions on behalf of many IT firms and is determined to ensure that local content policy is effective.”
Speaking to the media, the founder and Chief Technical Officer of Mira Technologies Limited, Ifeanyi Ifeabunike said “we are elated that the Nigerian Computer Society has recognised our strides in the IT ecosystem. It has shown that we are doing the right thing and we are happy to be associated with the highest body-association that is overseeing the IT ecosystem in the country.”
“Over the years, we have developed various solutions that are tailormade to Nigerian businesses. Having done business in the country, we started developing various indigenous software that organisations found very helpful. We looked at the challenges that businesses face in the country when they deploy over the shelf and foreign software, we tried as much as possible to bridge these gaps. We deployed these locally developed solutions to bridge these gaps and also, we have ensured that our support and after sales is top notch and in line with global best practices”, Ifeanyi added.
Mira Technologies Limited have developed and deployed robust solutions such as Mira HPro, this is an Enterprise Hospital Management System (EHMS). It is a web application that can run across multiple platforms. The System is designed to provide the best user experience and also provide the hospital with the capability to manage out-patients, in-patients, diagnostics, process inventory, accounts, consultation, dispense drugs and manage personnel. Next is Accsiss eBs. This is an accounting software, designed to run in multiple locations across different states, nations and continents, with complex network and diverse platforms. This version combines the functionalities of the small business version and more.
The firm looked at other sectors such as hospitality and tourism sector. The firm developed Accsiss hBs which is a hotel management software. Accsiss hBs is designed to make hotel management easier and seamless. It gives managers the power to manage booking and reservation of rooms/accommodations, check-ins/outs, view accommodation status, manage accounts, inventory, sales, purchases and cashflow of the various departments of the hotel. The firms developed other solutions such as Accsiss sBs which is a Student management software (SMS). Designed for creche, nursery, primary and secondary schools. It is a web application and can be deployed on a single computer, or on multiple computers across an intra-net (local area network).
“At Mira Technologies, we have experienced software architects and developers whose job is to design and develop Web applications. Our pool of developers is ready to develop whatever solutions you may need to get your business going. We ensure that clients get a robust support system from us”, Ifeanyi Ifeabunike concluded.
In an exclusive interview with Abdul Magoro, the Commissioner for Information Technology Kebbi State, he expresses his desire to build capacity in the information technology (IT) and also drive eGovernance across MDAs in the state. Abdul expresses his intention to build an army of IT startups by 2023. Segun Oruame, Anthony Nwosu and Yinka Fagbenle captured this.
Can we have a brief insight to your education and career background?
I have a degree in Business Administration, in London, United Kingdom (UK) back in 1998, then I have my master’s degree in information technology management in the UK also. I have worked with City Bank London and a couple of other places in UK before I came back to Nigeria to contribute to my quota in the development of the country. I did my national youth service (NYSC) at a firm called Ocean and Oil which was taken over by Oando. Then I moved to a private sector, a logistic firm also, I worked at the board in this capacity. I was there for about five years before been appointed as the commissioner for ICT by Governor of Kebbi State, His Excellency Atiku Abudu.
With this impressive resume, we can say that you have what it takes to pilot the ICT in Kebbi, what would be your thrust as a commissioner?
The most important thing is to reorganize the public/government sector. As you know, technology is a driver and we have to deploy ICT in the sector to ensure efficiency and productivity. These are the intention of the Governor of the state. We want Kebbi State to be a state that is being run efficiently, using IT as a platform. My role as a commissioner is to coordinate all the ICT activities in the state. My ministry is to ensure that there is coordination and synergy in this area. We are looking are critical areas such as revenue generation, capacity building and e government. We are just a new ministry less than a month old, but we are making a steady progress by coming up with a draft, policy document or a blueprint that would guide us in this area. We are also here to engage the stakeholders within the IT ecosystem to see how we can all work together and add value in Kebbi State.
With these strategies in place, the challenge is acceptability and cultural change, in the area of e Governance, public sector finds it a bit hard making this transition. How do you go about this?
Yes, you are right. Change has always been frowned upon, but it would be a work in progress and an opportunity for me. This is something that has been initiated by His Excellency, the governor of Kebbi State, Senator Atiku Abudu. We have his support and for him to create a ministry that is focused on ICT in the state, it means that the governor understands the importance of information technology and how it impacts on productivity and development of the state. He understands this, otherwise he would have just an adviser on ICT but he decided to create a ministry solely for ICT. With my access to the executive council, this would also give me an upper hand in creating a policy and having it presented to the governor directly.
How would you ensure that ministries and MDAs comply to this digitization processes that you have in mind?
Well, I would get them to buy into the idea by having a stakeholders meeting. With this process in place, they would be involved and everyone would have an idea or clear path on where we are going and what we are meant to achieve.
Capacity building is one thing that is a challenge in the IT space, especially the North, how do you bridge this in a state that is trying to come to term with IT skills?
We have to look at passion and literacy, we have a lot of youths in the state that have these qualities, what they basically need is support. Ours is to train and retrain them on the best ways they can use IT to better their lives. We are looking at hub, we would build hubs, those that want to be techprenuers, we would encourage them and support them, we would also take others into public sectors. We are looking at ecosystem that would be managed by youths of Kebbi. The whole essence is to empower these youths.
Abdul Magoro, the Commissioner for Information Technology Kebbi State
You said empowerment, most ICT startups have challenge in this area, especially with access to credit. How do you as bridge this gap and change the narrative?
Access to credit and market is what we are known in Kebbi state, today, we are known as one of the foremost rice production states, we are looking at agrotech and how they can use IT to drive higher productivity in agriculture. We have made tremendous strides in support of farmers in improving value chain in agriculture. With this experience, we would replicate this in the IT space.
Are you looking at private sector partnership here?
We are open to private sector partnership and international agencies. The areas we would be focusing for now is revenue generation. This is one area that we would love to engage private sector so that their expertise would be made available to us. We are very open to private sector engagement.
Kebbi State is one of the very few states that have commissioner for ICT in Nigeria. Why set up an IT ministry?
Setting up an IT ministry is due to the obvious reason that IT is a driver of any economy and also, we intend to play in the IT ecosystem not as consumers but also developers. We need to be futuristic in Kebbi and develop capacities that would play a major role in the IT driven economy. We also want to make adequate use of technology to drive productivity from agriculture to startup ecosystem. We also want to change the narrative on how government agencies do things.
Back to capacity building, are you going to work with select education institutions in the state?
We are looking at that also. My ministry in conjunction with ministry of basic education and higher education would sit down and look at the present curriculum which we know its not up to date, we would look at this and know areas of interventions. We would also assist in equipment deployment and resource person that would drive the IT revolution in these schools.
What are the three core objectives that you would be looking at achieving before 2023?
The first would be automation of government processes in the state, the second is capacity building of over 150,000 youths before the 2023 and the last one is to target the girl child in the appreciation of IT. We intend to create startups before 2023 and deepen the ICT capacity building in the state.
Chioma Hope Okoli,the founder of Olivet Cloud Limited lately celebrated her birthday ,though in line with the social distance rules, it was a low keyed one. That is not the issue. We took time to look at the strides this beautiful lady with a beautiful heart has made in the ICT ecosystem.
Threading where the angels have failed figuratively, Chi as fondly called by many has demonstrated that women can make tremendous impact in an ecosystem traditionally reserved for men by founding Olivet Cloud Limited. Oliveth is one of the foremost indigenous ICT with emphasis on cloud computing. Having developed strategic relationship with global partners and OEMs such as SAGE , Kudigo and others , Oliveth can be said not to be a small fry in the ICT space ! A force to be recognized.
Over the years Chioma has shown to be a source of inspiration to women and young girls ! She is passionate about mentoring young women especially in the line of STEM courses (science technology engineering and maths ). Over the years she has won awards and recognition for her contribution in various aspects of life.
Her team at Olivet took to social media and said ” Our Success at Olivet Cloud Solutions is not dominated in financial values but the value we place on our people. Today We are Celebrating Our Own Managing Director, Happy Birthday to Engr Chioma Okoli – Chima.”
” May the Lord Crown your year with all goodness. Happy Birthday from All of Us @ Olivet Cloud Solutions. We celebrate you on this special Occasion. Under your leadership, We have all succeeded more than we could have ever imagined.Thanks and happy birthday! Boss”, the added.
Remembered the time we went to her office , my colleague Clara Lingo was wowed by her simplicity. She said ” with her strides in the business space, Chioma still maintains that simplicity and not the air of importance that is associated with some founders and chief executives. I totally admire her and I wish to be mentored by her.”
With hands in a couple of pies,apart from her turf in the ICT space, she is also the Managing Director of Hopelyn Cleaning Enterprises. A seasoned engineer, having graduated from the prestigious University of Nigeria ,a former technical support engineer for Google apps and a whole lot. Chioma’s contributions to the society is there for people to see though she doesn’t make noise about them. It is her nature to keep it simple!
Olivet was incorporated as integrated IT Solutions Company, Olivet Cloud Solutions Nigeria Limited offers entity specific software development, customization and integration of complex enterprise level solutions.
Olivet Cloud Solutions Nigeria Limited is a leading Sage X3 ERP, Sage 300 ERP (Accpac) and Sage CRM solution provider in the Nigeria. Based in Lagos, Olivet Cloud Solutions Nigeria Limited is a Sage partner with vision is to deliver innovative, tailored information technology solutions and services that contributes to the customer’s success.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it undertook a revision of the framework stipulating the processes for resolving consumer complaints arising from service delivery by telecoms operator in order to achieve greater effectiveness in the sector and to strengthen the protection of telecoms consumers and other stakeholders.
Tagged: Complaints Categories and Service Level Agreements (CC/SLA), the framework was revised by the Commission in November 2019 at a programme attended by representatives of telecoms operators, consumers and other consumer rights advocacy groups in the country.
“The 2019 review of the CC/SLA, in collaboration with operators and other stakeholders, was essentially to strengthen effective and prompt resolutions of consumers complaints by reviewing the timelines, broaden and streamline complaint categories and establishing applicable sanctions on operators that fail to meet the timelines stated for resolving issues related to services delivery to their consumers,” the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said.
In the reviewed CC/SLA, with respect to the broad category of Quality of Service and Quality of Experience (QoS and QoE) in the data segment, when a telecom subscriber experiences fluctuation in service, such as instability in the Internet services, the subscriber shall be contacted by the service provider within four hours of reporting the incident and the disruption shall be restored within 72 hours.
If the matter is escalated to the Commission, the consumer is expected to receive feedback within two hours, while the Commission ensures the issue is resolved within 48 hours. Additionally, the subscriber shall be offered an apology and the expiry date of his data bundle shall be extended by the number of days the disruption lasted.
Under the broad category, ‘Billing’, complaints connected to any unexplained change in account balance resulting in a drop in balance, due to overcharging subscriber’s account for calls, Short Messaging Services (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), shall be resolved by the operator within 24 hours. Should there be a need by the subscriber to escalate the complaint to NCC, the Commission shall ensure the matter is resolved within 12 hours. The subscriber shall be notified of resolution and where applicable, compensated with five percent of overcharged amount which is payable daily to the consumer for every 24hrs of default.
Similarly, within the framework of QoS/QoE in the voice segment, the revised agreement stipulates that, when there is call interference or challenge with voice clarity, resulting in the inability of a subscriber to carry out uninterrupted conversation, the subscriber shall receive response from the service provider within four hours of reporting the incident and the service provider shall ensure the challenge is resolved within 72 hours. Should there be a basis for the subscriber to escalate the matter to NCC, the Commission shall revert to the subscriber within two hours of receiving the report and ensure that the matter is resolved within 48 hours in line with the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations and the subscriber shall be communicated.
Also, under the new CC/SLAs that have now come into force, in the case of Sales Promotion and Advertisement, when a subscriber does not receive (within stipulated time) bonus or incentives won during promotions, the service provider shall resolve the matter within 12 hours of receiving the complaints, instead of 24 hours as stipulated in the hitherto existing categorisation and agreement. Should the matter be escalated to NCC, Commission shall ensure it is resolved within six hours in line with the Guidelines on Advertisement and Promotions. As in all cases, the subscriber shall be communicated on steps taken towards resolution of complaints.
Similarly, in the expansive category of Call Centre/Customer Care, the NCC agreed with stakeholders that when a subscriber is unable to connect to Call Center or Service Provider Help Line, the matter shall be treated by the Service Provider within four hours of receiving the report. Where the matter is escalated to the Commission, NCC shall ensure that the issue is resolved within two hours of receiving the complaints, and steps taken towards resolution shall be communicated to the subscriber in all circumstances.
On matters connected to faulty terminals, such as defective devices that stifle a subscriber’s ability to use phones, modems, routers and related devices appropriately, the Commission said such incidents shall be resolved based on Terms and Conditions for all devices.
Meanwhile, Danbatta equally stated that matters relating to Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), such as problems arising from installation and location of base stations, masts or towers, shall be resolved by the concerned operator(s) within the 48 hours, as stated in the revised CC/SLA. In case the Commission is notified by the affected consumer, the matter shall be referred, immediately to Commission’s Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department, which shall ensure resolution of the matter within 48 hours and inform the complainant accordingly.
The EVC added that the CC/SLA document, which is available on the Commission’s website, contains 17 broad categories and about 90 subcategories. He enjoined all stakeholders, particularly the telecom consumers, to create the time to study the document in order to understand their rights and privileges.
