Welcome to another of our weekly roundups as we bring you a summary of the tech and not-so-tech events/news that happened during the week.
Are you aware that there’s a newly-developed Election Monitor app that promotes transparent elections electronically? Well, we’ve got the scoop on that. Also, the social media space was agog with the news of Nigerian blogger Linda Ikeji’s baby delivery. And in case you haven’t heard, another Minister is in an NYSC Certificate scandal.
Now, the details.
Another Minister in NYSC Certificate Scandal
Just a week after the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, was compelled to step down from her post over claims that she skipped the mandatory National Youth Service Corp program and then procured a fake exemption certificate to cover her tracks, another minister is being accused of same.
Another Buhari’s Minister accused of skipping NYSC https://t.co/JuuaYreflv pic.twitter.com/h5XcA1dH87
— Daily Post Nigeria (@DailyPostNGR) September 20, 2018
The Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, did not respond to the call-up letter of the National Youth Service Scheme, NYSC. According to an online portal, Mr. Shittu failed to participate in the NYSC scheme despite graduating from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) at age 25. He actually admitted that himself.
https://twitter.com/amsuperxclusive/status/1043130736616910854
Nigerians, especially on social media, are angry that graduates who have duly completed the NYSC scheme are unemployed while some of the President’s Ministers without NYSC certificates were screened and approved for their current juicy positions.
Meet Election Monitor, the Social Startup Promoting Transparent Elections Electronically
Elections in Nigeria are fast approaching and with them comes the panic on the security and accuracy of election results. This is why Election Monitor’s mobile app was born.
@electmonitorng have created Nigeria's 1st Mobile App for collation of election results to ensure greater transparency & integrity in the electoral process. Track #osundecides2018, see the explainer video here: https://t.co/jrEliB2LRL @MatthewTPage @FranceAbuja pic.twitter.com/nrCaq7fD0I
— #LagosTrafficReports (@TrafficChiefNG) September 20, 2018
Prior to this, Nigerians had taken to their Twitter to ask when Nigerians will start voting electronically. Well, we now have an app that allows for real-time collation of election results via an android mobile phone.
When are we ever going to start talking about electronic voting in Nigeria?
— Adewale Adetona (@iSlimfit) July 20, 2017
With a web interface, the platform is not hosted on the Internet but uses internet protocols for the transmission of results from the mobile phones to the results page. This is so that non-users would not be able to access it online. With this, we do hope that voting electronically is close at hand for Nigerians.
Nigerian Silas Adekunle, Becomes The World’s Smartest and Highest Paid Robotics Engineer
Many young Nigerians are making way in the tech world internationally. Recall we wrote about a team of 5 Anambra girls who won the Technovation Challenge? Now, Silas Adekunle, the CEO of UK-based Reach Robotics, has developed MekaMon, the world’s first gaming robot.
Who remembers Silas Adekunle, the robotics genius who signed an exclusive deal with apple? Silas is now the highest paid robotic engineer in the world , and also referred to as the smartest robotics engineer in the world. #genius pic.twitter.com/8ggEDX1dh3
— YBLNigeria (@yblnigeria) September 17, 2018
MekaMon is an interesting four-legged spider-like robot that is controlled with just a smartphone app. Currently, he is the highest paid Robotics Engineer in the world.
Week Complete! #TGIF #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/AHWNFC9fY7
— Reach Robotics (@ReachRobotics) August 31, 2018
Congratulations to him!
Team Blended Emerges Winner in the LSETF-Sponsored Event
During the week and after 3 days of brain racking and hacking, Team Blended has emerged the winner of the financial-focused hackathon -Cashless Lagos hackathon 2018, organized by the Lagos State Education Trust Fund (LSETF) through its Lagos Initiates Project, in partnership with VISA West Africa, Ventures Garden Group and Passion Incubator.
https://twitter.com/iamfemifactor/status/1041444911743156224
Team Blended emerged the winner cashing home the grand prize of N2 million with its solution that allows merchants get validation of transactions via USSD with mobile phone numbers as User pass and authentication.
Popular Nigerian Blogger Linda Ikeji Sets Social Media Ablaze Over Childbirth News
During the week, the social media space experienced marathon tweets and comments over Linda Ikeji’s delivery news. The blogger, whose pregnancy made headlines in the past months and generated a lot of interest, broke the exhilarating news of the birth of a baby boy herself. She also welcomed the child with a N120 million Bentley as she plans to get a private jet next.
Watch out for my private jet- Linda Ikeji writes to her fans https://t.co/FYWyb70MI8 pic.twitter.com/W1NRwS5VU0
— Creams Nigeria (@creamsnigeria) September 21, 2018
While this is good news, it has generated reactions on social media as she is accused of becoming a baby mama after preaching celibacy to her young and impressionable followers.
She has revealed the identity of her baby’s father, who also acknowledged the good news on his Instagram page.
Linda Ikeji’s Baby Daddy, Sholaye Jeremi Finally Speaks Out – https://t.co/tBcWdav56n
— Moji Sensei Delano (@MojiDelanoBlog) September 21, 2018
This article is part of a weekly Technext series that highlights all the top tech and not-so-tech news/events during the week.