A selection of tech news from Nigeria and Africa at large.
Google Africa Investment | Wildlife Conservation Mobile App | Tech For Governance And Transparency | Nigeria Digital Economy | Google Crypto Payments
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Google Spends 20% of $1bn On African Projects, Begins First Cloud Region – Digital Times Africa
One year after Google announced its five-year plan for African projects that would gulp $1 billion, the technology company said it had already spent over 20 percent of the budget, which covers establishing its first cloud region in Africa.
Managing Director of Google Africa, Nitin Gajria, who disclosed this during the Google for Africa 2022 event, said Google had last year committed $1 billion over five years to increase connectivity and invest in companies to accelerate Africa’s digital development, adding that this year, Google is focusing on how it is fulfilling the pledge.
According to him, other African projects include:
- The connectivity to more people in Africa, with Equiano subsea cable now linked to Togo, Nigeria, Namibia, and South Africa, and operations set to begin by the end of the year.
- Voice typing support for nine additional African languages.
- Refresh of Street View in Kenya, South Africa, and Senegal.
- Opening Google’s new product development centre and AI expansion development centre in Kenya and Accra.
- Investments in entrepreneurship and technology, including a $4 million Google for Startups Black Founders Fund to support 60 African startups, among others.
Gajria said it would establish the new Google Cloud region in South Africa, its first on the continent as Google is trying its best to help accelerate Africa’s digital transformation. Read more here.
Mobile app enables Kenyans to become wildlife conservation actors – Africanews
The National Museums of Kenya has launched an app to help the country’s wildlife authorities track and log rare and common mammals and record whether the species and their habitat are thriving.
At the Soysambu Conservancy in Nakuru, southern Kenya, tourists come to experience the rich biodiversity.
When John Perret, the owner of a camel safari, takes out his phone, it is not merely taking a picture.
He is actually using the Makenya, Mammal Atlas Kenya app which allows users to record all the details of any mammals they spot.
“This app now helps us to really map where these animals are and if they’re in trouble we can get the authorities to come and help us and it gives me a great opportunity to show the tourists exactly where they are”, the operator says.
“This will be a continuous census and we will know how well our animals are performing”, he also notes. Read more here.
Stakeholders hinge governance, transparency on adoption of digital technology – The Guardian
For the adoption of digital technology in Nigeria, issues of governance and transparency will be central to achieving major developmental targets in Nigeria.
This formed part of the submission by stakeholders at the Nigeria eGovernment Summit 2022, where they equally stressed the need for the adoption of digital technology in the 2023 general election to enhance governance that is built on transparency and accountability.
At the yearly summit, which was held in Lagos, organised by DigiServe Network Services, in partnership with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and VDT Communications, with the theme: ‘Promoting eGovernment in Election Year for Improved Governance,’ one of the keynote speakers and former Legal Adviser to All Progressives Congress (APC) Babatunde Ogala (SAN), who identified the major challenges of the past governments in Nigeria as lack of technology adoption and deployment by past leaders, said Nigeria must elect tech-savvy leaders in the next election year in 2023, who will adopt digital technology to enhance governance and the lives of the Nigerian citizens. Read more here.
Nigeria can become world leader in digital economy – The Vanguard
VICE President Yemi Osinbajo, has declared that Nigeria has the requisite talents, creativity and acumen to become a world leader in the digital economy.
Osinbajo stated this yesterday at this year’s Nigeria Digital Economy Summit, NDES, with the theme, “Web 3.0, Blockchain and DeFi: Impact on Africa’s Digital Economy”.
According to him, with the right approach and policy, as well as the country’s human capital and potential, “we can actually become world leaders in digital technology in all its various ramifications”.
In a statement made available to Vanguard, the vice president highlighted the future of technology, digital economy and what it means globally, especially for Nigeria.
His words: “A whole new world is unfolding before our very eyes, unlike Web 1 and 2 where we were relatively disadvantaged. In 1989 we didn’t have mobile phones so we could not take advantage of the reach and depth that mobile telecoms gave digital innovation and financial inclusion. We are now better positioned to be significant players in Web 3. Read more here.
Google will start accepting crypto payments for its cloud services next year – TechPoint Africa.
Google announced on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, that it will start receiving crypto payments via a partnership with Coinbase.
The Vice President, General Manager and Head of the platform at Google Cloud said that cryptocurrency payments would only be open to a select group of customers conversant with Web3.
However, the service will be opened to more people over time.
Coin base currently accepts payment in 10 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dogecoin, through its crypto payment platform, Coinbase Commerce.
According to Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, the partnership is to make building in Web3 faster and easier. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said, “we could not ask for a better partner to help execute our vision of building a trusted bridge into the Web3 ecosystem.” Read more here.
