Category: General News

Mobile telecommunication customers in Sokoto state have urged National Communication Commission (NCC) to facilitate more friendly services to them and assist in tracking insecurity in the industry.

The customers gave the advice in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday at on the sideline of the Consumer Outreach Programme (COP) in Sokoto.

A customer, Alhaji Maude Danchadi, urged mobile companies to support government efforts on tracking security challenges.

Danchadi, who is the Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the state, commended NCC for organising such an interactive session between service providers and customers.

He said the telecoms played great roles in creating awareness and education of people on dangers of social vices as well as encourage patriotism and self reliance through their numerous services.

Another customer, Malam Sani Dole, who is the leader of Persons Living with Disabilities in the state state, called on mobile telecommunication companies to increase social responsibility packages to the less privileged Nigerians.

Dole noted that some companies had good gestures for the physically challenged but that some were not up to the expectation of such class of Nigerians.

He stressed that such efforts would surely argument government efforts in addressing street begging among others.

According to him, many physically challenged person have talents that when tapped properly, through viable economic ventures, would contribute to national development.

In his remark at the occasion, Alhaji Isma’il Adedigba, the NCC Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau said NCC organised COP to enhance customers satisfaction.

“We must accord consumers their basic rights which include right to be heard, educated, choose, redress and right to safety.

“NCC, the telecom regulatory agency, is poised to empower telecom consumers with adequate information and education through constant engagement at various levels in the country’’ Adedigba said.

The Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau in NCC, Mrs Felicia Onwuegbuchulam, said the initiative was to bring together telecom consumers, regulators, NCC and service providers to discuss and find proper solutions to consumer related issues.

Onwuegbuchulam also said that the forum aimed at educating consumers and other stakeholders on contemporary issues generating interests in the industry.

She said it also served as feedback mechanism for commission in making interventions for the benefit of consumers. (NAN)

TUNJI OLANIYI

In a rare show of patriotism and exemplary behaviour, the General Manager of King Solomon Chariots Transportation, Johnson Ogbonnaya, has voluntarily handed over a driver of the company, Abuchi Okpara who absconded to Ghana after knocking down an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Ogunmeru Obafemi in Igando area of the State, to law enforcement officers. (more…)

TUNJI OLANIYI

A former Commissioner of Public Transportation in Lagos State, Chief Lanre Razak, has declared his intention to contest for the Lagos East senatorial district on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, promising quality representation and the reintroduction of a bill to accord Lagos special status by the Federal Government, if elected. (more…)

Nigerian biotech startup Coating+ has won the top prize of $10,000 at the 2018 Food for Thought Summit in Rio de Janeiro for their innovative idea on food preservation.

The biotech group based in the University of Ilorin developed a transparent gelatinous coating that is sprayed onto fresh fruit and vegetables to prolong their shelf life.

The product is made using a combination of chitosan – a sugar which can be extracted from shrimp shells – along with soy protein and micronutrients, and its preservation qualities are set to save farmers money on unsold produce.

The group had set out to solve three problems in the country.

In Nigeria, the aquaculture industry makes up a significant portion of the nation’s industry. With over 100,000 metric tons of fish being produced annually, the industry creates both wealth for the economy and a sizeable amount of shrimp shell waste.

Globally, 32 per cent of food produced goes to waste – enough food to feed 1.6billion people. In Nigeria alone, over ?28.4billion is lost in the tomato market. It’s one thing to say we need to produce more food to feed the world, but an effort must also go into saving what we already have.

Malnutrition – in particular, micronutrient deficiency and protein-energy malnutrition – is a huge issue in some parts of Africa. Thirty-five percent of children under the age of 5 are stunted, and 24% are underweight due to lack of nutrient intake in their food and drink.

Coating+ is focusing on using the spray on fruit and vegetables that don’t require peeling – such as tomatoes and grapes – so that the nutritional value of the coating is also consumed.

The company was born out of a group of biochemistry master’s students at the University of Ilorin. Albert Kure, one of the five team members working to get Coating+ to market, pitched the innovative solution to the 2018 Thought For Food Summit judges, and brought the team to victory, bringing home $10,000 to complete their NAFDAC registration and automate the coating process for farmers.

The idea of harnessing biotech to preserve fruit and veg isn’t unique to Coating+, however. Apeel, using a plant-based material, and Cambridge Crops, basing their material on silk, are two U.S.-based startups looking to solve a similar problem. But as Kure pointed out on stage, neither company has current plans to take their product to Africa – and the Nigerian market is already yearning for a solution.

It’s worth pointing out that the $10,000 Coating+ won is enough to power the team through their final stages of development to market by the end of 2018 – an impressively low sum in the world of biotechnology in agriculture.

Thought For Food is a global food and agriculture competition with an annual summit formally held in Europe – this year, their startup academy and pitching competition took place in Rio de Janeiro and involved entrepreneurs from all corners of the globe.

Many of the finalists were in need of comparatively small sums of money to get to commercialization stage, highlighting the opportunity that lies in early-stage localized solutions to country-by-country problems.

For Coating+ it’s not just the money that will propel their business – the award puts them in front of the international food and agriculture community, opening up the opportunity for corporate partnerships and other such inbound interests entrepreneurs in startup-heavy localities are more used to.

Kure commented shortly after the win: “This has been so much work, and getting recognized for that work on such an International platform is so huge for us.”

*This article by Gemma Milne was first published by Forbes

The AG-Dangote construction company has urged governments at all levels and engineers to switch over to rigid pavement for road construction, saying it is more affordable, durable, safer and stronger.
Dangote Group’s Executive Director, Stakeholders Management and Corporate Communications, Engr Ahmed Mansur , led the delegation of the Dangote Group at this year’s Engineering Assembly with the theme: “The Nigerian Built Industry: Building a Sustainable Structure with Allied Professionals.”
Representative of the AG-Dangote, Engr. Tunde Jimoh, who made the appeal at the ongoing Engineering Assembly of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) at the weekend in Abuja said the maximum life cycle of flexible pavements known as Asphalt road is about 20 years.
Engr Jimoh, who stated that the life cycle of a rigid pavement or concrete road was 40 years or more, also said: “The pavement type chosen depends on a number of factors which includes: Expected traffic wheel loads, load repetitions, cost of construction, maintenance, etc.”
He said the AG Dangote was currently constructing the longest concrete road in the country located in Kogi State.
The Obajana-Kabba road, he added, is a 43km concrete road project due to be commissioned in December.
He said the 24km Itori-Ibese concrete road has since been delivered.
Jimoh, who is the company’s Project Manager, said it was set to deliver the dual carriage Apapa Wharf Road in Lagos this month.
“This vision of the development of Concrete roads in Africa is being shared by more Leaders and Governments. The implementation of concrete roads can revolutionize infrastructural development in Nigeria and Africa as a whole”, he said.
He further said the cost of maintenance of asphalt roads was higher four to seven times than concrete roads, saying the raw material for concrete can be locally sourced.