Business News
Nigeria, China sign $382 million NICTIB 11 project
Nigeria and China to develop information technology.
Published
2 years agoon

Nigeria has completed the signing of a $328 million agreement with China for the implementation of the National and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB) Phase 11. This was confirmed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
The agreement was signed when Buhari arrived in Beijing, China, for the 2018 Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), with Chinese President Xi Jinping witnessing the signing.
Shehu said the signed NICTIB 11 project is aimed at developing information and communications technology in Nigeria.
The NICTIB 11 project will be executed by Galaxy Backbone Limited and Huawei Technologies Limited (HUAWEI) while funding will come from the Chinese EXIM Bank.
“The bank facility is for the development of NICTIB 11 project which is consistent with the current administration’s commitment to incorporating the development of ICT into national strategic planning under the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP),” the statement read.
President Buhari had departed Nigeria for China to participate in the 7th Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
The forum is scheduled to hold from Monday, September 3, 2018, to Tuesday, 4th of September 2018 in Beijing.
What is expected of President Buhari in China
The Nigerian President is scheduled to join President Xi Jinping and other African leaders for the opening and roundtable sessions of the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit under the theme: “Towards an even Stronger China-Africa Community with a Shared Future.”
Before the formal opening of the FOCAC Summit, President Buhari who’s the incumbent chairman of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), will be delivering remarks at the High-Level Dialogue between Chinese and African leaders, business representatives, and African entrepreneurs.
After the FOCAC Summit, President Buhari will hold bilateral meetings with the president of China and Prime Minister Li Keqiang of China to discuss infrastructure financing for strategic projects in Nigeria and the upgrading of Nigeria-China relations from a strategic partnership to comprehensive strategic partnership.
The President will also use the occasion of his audience with the Chinese leadership to assess the progress made so far in Chinese interventions in Nigeria’s key priority infrastructure projects, particularly on-going projects in the railway and power sectors.
Famuyiwa Damilare is a trained journalist. He holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Mass Communication at the prestigious Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).Damilare is an innovative and transformational leader with broad-based expertise in journalism and media practice at large. He has explored his proven ability in the areas of reporting, curating and generating contents, creatively establishing social media engagements, and mobile editing of videos. It is safe to say he’s a multimedia journalist.


Tech News
Whatsapp to require biometric authentication for PC and web access
WhatsApp is adding a new biometric feature to confirm users’ identity when linking accounts to PC or the web.
Published
18 mins agoon
January 28, 2021
WhatsApp is adding a new biometric feature to confirm your identity when you want to link your WhatsApp account to a PC or the web.
The social media app is rolling out this new feature for its web and desktop apps, which will let people create an additional authentication layer using biometrics when they want to use WhatsApp on desktop or web.
Users will now have the option (not a requirement) to add in a biometric login, which uses either a fingerprint, face ID, or iris ID — depending on the device — on Android or iPhone, to add in the second layer of authentication.
When implemented, it will appear for users before a desktop or web version can be linked up with a mobile app account.
WhatsApp told TechCrunch that it is going to be adding in more features this year to bring the functionality of the two closer together. There are still big gaps: for example, you can’t make calls on the WhatsApp web version.
To be clear, the biometric service, which is being turned on globally, will be opt-in: users will need to go to their settings to turn on the feature, in the same way, that today they need to go into their settings to turn on biometric authentication for their mobile apps.
WhatsApp has added that it will not be able to access the biometric information that you will store in your device and that it is using the same standard biometric authentication APIs that other secure apps, like banking apps, use.
This new feature will work alongside another, which sends your phone notifications whenever somebody logs into your account on the web or a computer.
What you should know
- The company has been getting a lot of backlashes since it announced it will now share its users’ personal information, including phone numbers, IP addresses, contacts, and more with Facebook from February 8, 2021.
- WhatsApp’s new privacy policy forced many users to quit the app and to seek alternatives in Signal and Telegram
Economy & Politics
Nigeria, now 2nd most corrupt country in West Africa – Transparency International
Nigeria is now the second most corrupt country in W/Africa with Guinea-Bissau the only country more corrupt than Nigeria in the region.

Published
1 hour agoon
January 28, 2021
The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2020 report published by Transparency International indicates that Nigeria occupies the 149th position out of the 180 countries surveyed as well scored 25 out of 100 points.
With the current ranking, Nigeria is now the second most corrupt country in West Africa with Guinea-Bissau the only country more corrupt than Nigeria in the sub-region.
It can be recalled that in the 2019 report, Nigeria was ranked 146th out of the 180 countries surveyed, scoring 26 points out of 100 points.
What you should know
- The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is an annual survey report published by Berlin-based Transparency International since 1995 which ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
- The CPI scales zero (0) to 100, zero means “Highly Corrupt,” while 100 stands for “Very Clean”.
- Nigeria’s ranking on the corruption perception index has continued to drop in the last four years.
- With the current ranking, Nigeria is two steps worse off than she was in 2018 when she scored 27 points to place 144th out of 180 countries.
- Only 12 countries are perceived to be more corrupt than Nigeria in the whole of Africa. The countries are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Chad, Eritrea, Burundi, Congo, Guinea Bissau, and South Sudan.
- Somalia and South Sudan remain the most corrupt nations on earth, according to the CPI 2020 ranking.
- Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Singapore, Germany, Sweden Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands and Luxembourg are the least corrupt countries in the world.
Business
Significant progress made in China-Africa ties within cooperation framework – AUC Chairperson
AUC chairperson has disclosed that significant, sustained progress is being made in China-Africa ties within cooperation framework.

Published
2 hours agoon
January 28, 2021
The African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has said that “significant and sustained” progress has been made in China-Africa ties.
Mahamat asserted this in an analysis of his first-term as the AU Commission chairmanship.
He reiterated the AU Commission’s strong commitment to upholding multilateralism and supporting international partners in halting the trend of unilateralism.
He argued that “International cooperation and solidarity are irreplaceable.”
Mahamat, in his analysis, reiterated that global challenges, national egoism, the decline of multilateralism, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and dwindling resources “have hampered our forward march” during the past four years.
The AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira Elfadil recently also hailed China as a strategic partner of Africa.
What they are saying
- Mahamat submitted that: “With China, significant and sustained progress has been made within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
- “Africa stands with those who fight unilateralism and strongly advocate for a multilateralism of respect, equality and mutual benefit.”
- Amira Elfadil noted that: “We are looking for those who are serious about the future of this continent, and when we say strategic partners and mention strategic partnerships, China comes first and we appreciate this partnership very much.”
What you should know
- The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999).
- The African Union Commission acts as the executive/administrative branch or secretariat of the AU and consists of a number of Commissioners dealing with different areas of policy.
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