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While staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic isn’t something we’d ordinarily want to do, a lot of us have found creative ways to curb the boredom by creating routines and finding joys in the little things that ordinarily brought us joy before now. So whether it’s trying out new recipes on that YouTube channel or baking banana bread, all of these are valid reasons to stay busy until we’re expected to go out.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve spent time watching shows and catching up on exciting films on the platform. Before the coronavirus, Netflix had made a move to launch officially in Nigeria. According to most pundits, this move is expected to translate to the onboarding of more Nigerian content on the platform. All of this is strategic, seeing as Netflix recently rolled out two African original series – Queen Sono and Blood and Water, both set in South Africa.

So TechTV Entertainment binge-watched all of the Nollywood films on Netflix and ranked the top ten:

10. The Figurine (2009)
In Kunle Afolayan’s film, two friends find a mystical sculpture that bestows good luck for seven years but has dark consequences in the years that follow. This film is refreshing and offers a breath-taking feel of a very traditional story from a more modern lens. It features the likes of Ramsey Noauh, Omoni Oboli and Funlola Aofiyebi.

9. October 1st (2014)
Nigerian Eye
Again, Kunle Afolayan’s October 1st has been called many things, including a “masterstroke for Nollywood” by Pulse Nigeria and indeed, there’s an element of truth in it. The film, set in 1960, tells the story of a Nigerian police detective dispatched to investigate the murders of women in a small community. It stars veteran actor Sadiq Daba alongside Kehinde Bankole and a host of other stars.

8. Lionheart (2018)
Lionheart
Lionheart crossed off a few firsts in the Nollywood industry – it was the first original Nigerian film by Netflix, the first film to ever be submitted for an Academy Award and the first time that the ‘Julia Roberts of Nollywood’, Genevieve Nnaji, was behind the scenes as a director. Like Genevieve, Adaeze, the film’s lead, is looking to prove her worth and steps up to the task when met with not-so-pleasant scenarios.

7. The Wedding Party (2016)
It is not a reach to say that the Wedding Party ushered a new audience of Nigerian cinemagoers. Till today, the film holds the record for the highest-grossing film of all-time. Directed by Kemi Adetiba, this film gives you a look into everything that is the typical Nigerian wedding, offering you humour and colourful scenes to go.

6. Phone Swap (2012)
Kunle Afolayan’s 2012 film that was originally meant to be an advertising concept is definitely on this list. This film tells the tale of two people from different walks of life who accidentally switch phones and tread in each other’s shoes. Phone Swap is fresh and exciting.

5. King of Boys (2018)
Eniola Salami, a businesswoman and philanthropist with a checkered past is drawn into a power struggle that threatens everything she holds dear. She has to fight and prove herself to be the king of boys in a Kemi Adetiba classic that lasts for about three hours. King of Boys features Sola Sobowale and Adesua-Etomi Wellington, reuniting off their Wedding Party chemistry, as well as stars like Toni Tones, Jide Kosoko and Reminisce.

4. 93 Days (2016)
When the deadliest infectious disease, Ebola, known to man arrives in Lagos, 21 million people are put on the edge. 93 Days chronicles the events surrounding the importation and defeat of the virus, and, in a way, pays tribute to Dr Stella Adadevoh. The film was directed by Steve Gukas and features Bimbo Akintola, Somkele Iyamah and Bimbo Manuel.

3. Isoken (2017)
Isoken
Jadesola Osiberu’s debut is a typical story of most Nigerian women – has a good l…
[15:55, 9/12/2020] Don 2: Galaxy Backbone Explains Role in NICTIB Phase II Loan to Nigeria

Galaxy Backbone has clarified its role in the ‘$400m’ loan for the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase II project as technology implementation agency of the federal government.

This is coming against the backdrop of recent reports carried by some media organisations on the alleged discovery by the Federal House Of Representatives (HoR) Committee on Treaties, Protocols & Agreements on some identified clauses in the ‘$400m’ loan for the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase II project which, according to the report, could threaten the sovereignty of our country Nigeria.

In a press statement, Galaxy backbone noted that the said report is not only mis-leading to the reading public but was never a true reflection of the deliberations in the session that Galaxy Backbone had with the Committee on Treaties, Protocol and Agreements.

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) stated that NICTIB Phase II project is a sovereign loan of National scope and for National Infrastructural development in the area of ICT National Broadband between the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning) and China Exim Bank, representing the Republic of China.

According to the statement, “Galaxy Backbone is only an implementing agency under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to oversee the full implementation of the project.

“It is important to note that NICTIB Phase II project is one of the projects in the National Borrowing Plan recently approved by the National Assembly and is yet to commence. It is therefore unlikely and out of place to have insinuation that the National Assembly will raise such allegations.

“Nigeria’s Federal House Of Representatives has through its Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements, which is currently reviewing the nation’s loan agreements with nations across the world, on the 28th of July, invited the Federal Ministry of Communications & Digital Economy (Supervisors of Galaxy Backbone, the implementing agency) to discuss the loan agreements in respect of NICTIB phase II and its project implementation.”

The statement added: “in the about 30 minutes engagement between Galaxy Backbone and the House Committee members, the issue of clauses in loan agreement and their potential implications for the Nigerian sovereignty never came up for discussion. The Committee requested for and received updates on the loan bothering on amount involved, maturity date and counterpart funding.

“The attributable loan agreement on NICTIB Phase II, like any other sovereign loan is packaged by relevant and capable legal authorities/institutions of Nigeria which, definitely isn’t Galaxy Backbone.

“Galaxy Backbone as the technology implementing agency of NICTIB Phase II loan and Nigeria ICT Broadband facilitator for National development is committed to the full implementation of the NICTIB phase II project which at its completion, will deepen the Broadband penetration in Nigeria and improve the Internet and Network Communications experience of not just agencies of government, but of the entire nation

Worldwide spending on artificial intelligence (AI) is forecast to double over the coming for years to hit $110 billion by 2024, according to new data from IDC.

The figure, which comes from the analyst firm’s latest Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide, calculates a CAGR of 20.1% as adopting AI becomes a ‘must’ in the enterprise.

In particular, companies will utilise AI to deliver a better customer experience, as well as help employees to become better at their jobs. Automated customer service agents, sales process recommendation and automation, as well as automated threat intelligence and prevention, are the primary use cases outlined by IDC.

Retail and banking are the two industries most likely to splurge in the coming years. The former, unsurprisingly, will focus more on customer experience, while the latter will invest on fraud analysis and investigation, as well as program advisors and recommendation systems.

Other industries have hit something of a proverbial wall, primarily as a result of Covid-19. Transportation, as well as the services industry – including leisure and hospitality – have already struggled with the pandemic. Naturally, IDC argued, AI investments will be on the back burner here in 2020. Yet the pandemic has seen some innovation; the research specifically noted hospitals who were using AI to speed up Covid-19 diagnosis and testing.

“Companies will adopt AI – not just because they can, but because they must,” said Ritu Jyoti, program vice president for artificial intelligence at IDC. “AI is the technology that will help businesses to be agile, innovate, and scale. The companies that become ‘AI powered’ will have the ability to synthesise information, the capacity to learn, and the capability to deliver insights at scale.”

In other words, leading organisations will be able to use AI to convert data into information and insights, understand those relationships and apply those insights to business problems, and then support decisions and bring through automation

Italy’s national broadcaster Rai appears to be looking at in buying into the country’s single high-speed network, and there is interest from the private sector too.

Rai’s board is due to meet later this week to discuss the possibility of taking part in the single network plan, Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The paper claims the state-owned broadcaster’s directors will give the nod to chief executive Fabrizio Salini to make contact with the relevant parties to talk about Rai gaining a seat at the AccessCo table.

AccessCo is the name given to the proposed single network in Italy that will bring together the fixed access network assets of incumbent telco TIM, dubbed FiberCorp, with the rival fibre network Open Fiber, rolled out by state-owned players Enel and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). The plan has been under discussion for a number of years, with the issue of control of the entity proving a particular hot potato, but last week TIM gave the go-ahead to an arrangement that will see it own at least 50.1% of the venture but share governance with the other players.

In preparation for the creation of the joint network, TIM has agreed to sell a stake in FiberCorp, an entity that will house its FTTx business and its FlashFiber joint venture with rival Fastweb, to KKR. The private equity firm will pay €1.8 billion for a 37.5% holding, leaving TIM and Fastweb with 58% and 4.5% respectively.

Rai’s first port of call to get in on the act will be talks with CDP, Il Sole 24 Ore reports, which has been a crucial player in negotiating the various facets of the deal so far. As 50% owner of Open Fiber and also a TIM shareholder – it holds just under 10% of the telco – CDP has a foot in both camps.

However, utility company Enel is perhaps the most likely to sell shares. Having once insisted that it would not sell out of Open Fiber, Enel has recently been linked with Australia’s Macquarie, although it has made no formal comment on that score.

You could view Rai’s interest as a further shoring up of the state’s position in the new network, but it makes more sense to look at it from a business point of view, especially in light of the fact that commercial broadcaster Mediaset has also put itself forward as a potential AccessCo participant in recent days.

Rai and Mediaset could look to capitalise on a recent European Court of Justice ruling that essentially overturns an Italian law preventing firms from holding shares in both telecoms and media companies. That ruling was in favour of Vivendi, which has been at loggerheads with Mediaset over its participation in shareholder meetings; Vivendi holds a 28.8% stake in Mediaset (but just 9.98% of its voting rights), as well as being TIM’s largest single shareholder with just under 24%.

In an age in which telcos are increasingly encroaching on the content and media space, rolling out their own TV offerings and snapping up premium content rights, it is hardly surprising that the TV giants are keen to hit back and grab a piece of the fibre action. Or, it could simply be a case of wanting to capitalise on the strong investment potential that network assets offer.

Either way, we could soon the Italian telecoms and media landscape become a whole lot more complicated than it is now. And that’s saying something

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden’s campaigns have been targeted, Microsoft says
Hackers with ties to Russia, China and Iran are attempting to snoop on people and groups involved with the US 2020 presidential election, Microsoft says.

The Russian hackers who breached the 2016 Democratic campaign are again involved, said the US tech firm.

Microsoft said it was “clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts” targeting the election.

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden’s campaigns are in the cyber-raiders’ sights.

Russian hackers from the Strontium group have targeted more than 200 organisations, many of which are linked to US political parties – both Republicans and Democrats, Microsoft said in a statement.

The digital services in the country have contributed over 45% to the gross domestic product [GDP]. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, made this known recently while reacting to the second quarter GDP statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics [NBS]. Dr. Pantami said the contributions of digital services were not factored into the figure released by NBS.

The NBS recently released 17.83 per cent as the contributions of ICT. But Dr Pantami said the ICT has been the enabler of every other sector as the public and private sectors now rely on digital services to achieve their goals. He added that if digital services were factored into the GDP computing, the digital services alone would be contributing over 45 per cent. “The 17.83 per cent GDP contribution for ICT was just for ICT as a standalone sector, this did not include the digital services. The digital economy sector could be more than 45 per cent. The sector is the key enabler of other sectors.

“For instance, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has gone digital to improve their tax collections; the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has also gone digital to improve their revenue collections, and likewise businesses in all other sectors. “This is impossible without technology and with that, digital services are contributing beyond 45 per cent to the GDP,” he said. Dr Pantami said the main challenge confronting the ICT sector is the higher importation against locally produced technology.

“We must increase the percentage of what we produce, we cannot continue to be a consuming nation. In the next few years, we must significantly reduce the percentage of importation, we must come up with policy strategies to achieve this,” he said. The Minister advised corporate organisations in the country to embrace the use of local technologies. “As organisations, let us embrace indigenous solutions, it might give us challenges, this is how other nations developed. Let us give priority to what we produce in Nigeria,” he advised.

Earlier, the Minister had described the Q2 ICT contribution to the GDP as unprecedented. According to him, “the growing contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP is a direct result of the focused and committed effort of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. “The strategic policy directions of the Federal Government include the inclusion of Digital Economy in the mandate of the Ministry, the unveiling and implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and the National Broadband Plan, amongst others.

“As of July 2020, the broadband penetration in the country was 42.02 per cent, translating to a percentage increase of almost double digits in less than 1 year. This is another remarkable achievement. “The unprecedented contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s GDP can also be attributed to dynamic and results-oriented leadership which has been acknowledged and appreciated by a wide spectrum of the stakeholders in the sector.” Pantami added that the support of President Buhari has contributed immensely to the impressive developments in the sector.

NBS in the second quarter’s statistics had noted that the non-oil sector contributed 91.07 per cent to the nation’s GDP in Q2 2020 as opposed to the 8.93 per cent contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector. “It is worthy of note that the ICT sector contributed 17.83 per cent to the total real GDP in Q2 2020, 20.54 per cent higher than its contribution a year earlier and in the preceding quarter, in which it accounted for 14.07,” the NBS stated.

NBS said, “Nigeria’s GDP decreased by –6.10 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2020, largely attributable to significantly lower levels of both domestic and international economic activity during the quarter, which resulted from nationwide shutdown efforts aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in partnership with Japan and Saudi Arabia, has launched Connect2Recover, which will reinforce affordable and reliable connectivity in beneficiary countries as they adjust to the “new normal”, occasioned by Covid-19.

The essence of the Connect2R​ecover​ is to help countries recover from COVID-19 by expanding access to affordable and reliable connectivity, especially in selected countries in Africa which are some of the least well connected and likely to be hit hard by the pandemic in socio-economic terms.

“ITU and the wider international community is transitioning from aiding countries with their immediate response to COVID-19 to helping countries prepare for and adjust to a ‘new normal’,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.

He said Connect2Recover represents ITU’s contribution by facilitating socio-economic recovery through the use of digital infrastructure, services and applications. Thanks to the generous support of the Japanese government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

COVID-19 has highlighted that digital infrastructure is not just a convenience, but an essential requirement for full-fledged participation in society and the economy. Broadband connectivity has proved vital in helping countries’ businesses and citizens adapt and respond to the pandemic, enabling them to access the latest health information and continue working, learning and socializing remotely.

Connect2Recover seeks to expand access to affordable and reliable connectivity, which is an essential aspect of countries’ COVID-19 recovery strategies.

Connect2Recover will consist of three key elements.

First, Connect2Recover will develop a methodology for identifying gaps and bottlenecks in the use of digital networks and technologies at country level: to respond to and mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as prepared for any similar emergencies in the future: and to enable recovery and readiness for the “new normal”.

Second, on the basis of this methodology, Connect2Recover will assist countries in assessing their needs, gaps and bottlenecks, and develop strategies to ensure that the digital infrastructure and ecosystems adequately support recovery efforts and the “new normal.” These strategies will be designed in line with global best practices, as well as with other relevant policy tools developed by ITU and other relevant organizations.

Third, Connect2Recover will conceptualize and implement pilot projects to test specific technological solutions in line with national country strategies and policies. The project will also undertake deep-dive studies in specific areas of digital policy as prioritized by the selected countries, such as digital finance, e-education, e-health, e-government, or teleworking

Broadband penetration rose from a meager 6 percent in 2015 to a whopping 42.02 percent in July 2020, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta has disclosed.

Danbatta disclosed this during an interactive session with the media where he also gave account of his stewardship as the Chief Telecoms Regulator in the last five years.

The increase in the broadband penetration in the last five years according to him is as a result of the diligent implementation of NCC’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), which focused on the 8-Point Agenda

“We are glad to report that Nigeria lifted broadband penetration from 6 percent in 2015 to 42.02 percent by July 2020,” he announced.

Rolling out other achievements in the last five years, the former University Lecturer revealed that the telecom sector’s contribution to GDP increased from 8.50 percent in 2015 to 14.30 percent in the second quarter of 2020, translating to N2.272 trillion financial contributions in the second quarter of 2020.

Also, five years ago, 217 access gap clusters were identified in the country affecting 40 million Nigerians without access to telecoms services. That has reduced to 114 with 15 million of the 40 million digitally excluded Nigerians now having access to telecoms services. The remaining access gap clusters, which are areas outside the frontier of the economic, will be addressed soon to ensure the remaining 25 million Nigerians have access.

In terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Danbatta admitted that FDIs, which stood at $1 billion 2015 in the telecom sector declined to $212 million by 2018. He, however, noted that through regulatory efforts, the FDI in the sector has picked up again reaching $930 million according to recent figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Bankers’ Committee of Nigeria in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria, has unveiled its cybersecurity & fraud awareness campaign, known as ‘Moni Sense’.

Moni Sense, is specifically designed to educate the general public on protecting themselves against cyber fraud and scams.

The partnership is seeking to comprehensively address fraud and cybersecurity issues by creating such awareness.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Emeka Emuwa, Chairman, Financial Literacy and Public Enlightenment Sub-Committee (FLPE), said;

“Fraudsters and scammers continually devise new ways to deceive the unsuspecting public; usually to lure them to inadvertently disclose confidential bank information. We encourage Nigerians to always be cautious; and also ignore any text message; as well as phone call; or email asking to update your bank information; provide sensitive bank details; disclose online banking details; debit card numbers; bank verification number (BVN) or PIN to anyone.”

Financial literacy and public enlightenment are a critical pillar of the Bankers’ Committee mandate; making initiatives like this critical to the goal of increasing the number of financially included citizens in the country.

With this initiative, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee of Nigeria aims to ensure Nigerians are empowered; with critical information and knowledge necessary to make important financial decisions; as well as enhance economic prosperity; also stay fraud aware and cyber safe; and likewise drive poverty reduction across the country.

In March 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as the Bankers’ Committee introduced credit support schemes for households; MSMEs and also businesses across several sectors including Healthcare, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Trading, and Aviation.

The Bank unveiled a succession of targeted facilities starting with a N50 billion credit facility to support households, and also micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); followed by another N100 billion credit support intervention for the health sector as part of efforts to combat the negative impact of coronavirus (COVID 19) on the Nigerian economy