₦airaland Forum

The Buhari government is plagued by series of accusations of conspiracy, fraud and incompetence. The talk of change that won the grand game in our heart is now being referred to as the biggest lie of the century. Notwithstanding we must not lose hope, we have an obligation to at least have a modicum of interest in the political affairs that govern our great country Nigeria.

What could be the answer to the Nigerian problem? One can’t help but wonder if indeed a third term for president Buhari is the answer. A disagreeable scenario I admit. Logically enough the government had suggested it, logically most analyst agree. Analysts believe that it will take about 10 years for the many policies, infrastructures, intervention, and investment to ripen and will change his appraisal.

Before taking office in 2015, President Buhari campaigned on a promise of delivering economic growth of about 10 percent annually but the realities of global market collided with that promise. By 2016 the country has already slipped into a deep recession. Unfortunately, the indication had always been there the former government failed to plan for the rainy day, meaning the country had no buffer when oil prices slumped. What most people don’t know is that the Nigerian economy has grown by 1.93 percent the external reserves and excess crude oil account has increased exponentially, but the rapid population growth has prevented the growth from showing.

Many will say the president Buhari government has not been good to the average citizen but the word “good” as an adjective is subjective and a function of perception. Whatever opinion anyone might have with the Buhari style or approach very few will dispute his integrity and sincerity and that is why he is virtually irreplaceable. It is democracy and has a term limit, but wouldn’t it be tragic for Nigeria to miss the opportunity to allow him to finish the great work he has started
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His style of governance seem to bother a lot of people because they are used to flourishing under corruption, there were never any good policies in place by the former regimes. The truth is president Buhari inherited a failing economy and the truth will be said that a lot of his policies have been bitter pills to swallow but it’s for our own good. Nigeria cannot be completely reformed in eight years, with this in mind the right thing to do will be to give the president more time for him to prove himself.

It might sound corny but the night is indeed darkest before the dawn. What Nigeria is experiencing is a socioeconomic change in how we handle money; it is evident that the abundant economic leakages of the past administration have been mostly blocked by the Buhari government.

We’ve reached an inflection point. As the global response to COVID-19 evolves, communities around the world have moved from an era of “remote everything” into a more hybrid model of work, learning, and life. And as we all scramble to keep up, the future of work and education is being shaped before our eyes.

At Microsoft, we’ve spent the last few months learning from our customers and studying how they use our tools. We’ve also worked with experts across virtual reality, AI, and productivity research to help understand the future of work. These findings, which are published here, guide us as we design technology to help our customers today and in the future.

Today we’re announcing a set of new features in Microsoft Teams that make virtual interactions more natural, more engaging, and ultimately, more human. These features offer three key benefits for people at work and in education. First, they help you feel more connected with your team and reduce meeting fatigue. Second, they make meetings more inclusive and engaging. And third, they help streamline your work and save time. It’s all about enabling people everywhere to collaborate, to stay connected, and to discover new ways to be productive from anywhere. Let’s dig into the details.

Feel more connected and reduce meeting fatigue

Together mode—At a time when people are conducting more virtual meetings than ever, our research has shown that many of us feel less connected since moving to remote work, and experience more fatigue during video meetings than during in-person collaboration. Together mode is a new meeting experience in Teams that uses AI segmentation technology to digitally place participants in a shared background, making it feel like you’re sitting in the same room with everyone else in the meeting or class. Together mode makes meetings more engaging by helping you focus on other people’s faces and body language and making it easier to pick up on the non-verbal cues that are so important to human interaction. It’s great for meetings in which multiple people will speak, such as brainstorms or roundtable discussions, because it makes it easier for participants to understand who is talking. Together mode with auditorium view is rolling out now and will be generally available in August. And we’ll bring more views to Together mode in the future.

Dynamic view—While Together mode offers an extraordinary new meeting experience, it’s not intended for every meeting. We believe that traditional video meetings people use every day can also be more engaging and dynamic. A set of enhancements we call dynamic view gives you more control over how you see shared content and other participants in a meeting. Using AI, meetings dynamically optimize shared content and video participants. New controls—including the ability to show shared content and specific participants side-by-side—let you personalize the view to suit your preferences and needs. Dynamic view builds on the meetings enhancements we announced last month, which include large gallery view (rolling out in August), where you can see video of up to 49 people in a meeting simultaneously, and virtual breakout rooms, which allow meeting organizers to split meeting participants into smaller groups for things like brainstorming sessions or workgroup discussions.

Video filters—We’ve all become familiar with video filters used in photography and social media apps, and now we’re bringing them to Teams. Before joining a meeting, you can use the filters to subtly adjust lighting levels and soften the focus of the camera to customize your appearance.

Reflect messaging extension—Our research shows that employee well-being is more important to productivity than ever. Creating an emotionally supportive environment is key to keeping people healthy, happy, and focused. The new Reflect messaging extension gives managers, leaders and teachers an easy way to check in with how their team or students are feeling — either in general, or about a specific topic like work-life balance, the status of a project, current events, or a change within the organization. IT administrators will be able to install the Reflect extension from GitHub, and then make it available to employees in their organization in the message extension menu. Once installed, the extension provides suggested check-in questions and the ability to add custom questions that team members can respond to in a poll-like experience. Managers or teachers can also choose to make poll results anonymous. The Reflect messaging extension will be available in the coming weeks.

Make meetings more inclusive, engaging, and effective

Live reactions—Non-verbal cues like smiles and head nods can be difficult to notice in online meetings, making it challenging for presenters to gauge audience reactions and for participants in large meetings to share a sentiment without interrupting the meeting flow. Soon, you will be able to react during a meeting using emojis that will appear to all participants. Live reactions is a shared feature with PowerPoint Live Presentations, which allows audience members to provide instant feedback to the presenter. We are also bringing PowerPoint Live Presentations to Teams in the future, further enabling audience engagement right from Teams.

Chat bubbles—During meetings, chat has become a lively space for conversation and idea-sharing, and offers an option for people to participate in the discussion without having to jump in verbally. But it can be challenging to pay attention to video feeds, presentations, and chats all at the same time. Currently, Teams users need to manually open a chat window to view the chat screen. Soon, however, chats sent during a Teams meeting will surface on the screens of all meeting participants, making the chat more central to the conversation.

Speaker attribution for live captions and transcripts—While Teams already provides live captions as a way to follow along with what is being said in a meeting, soon we will add speaker attribution to captions so that everyone knows who is speaking. Live transcripts, coming later this year, provide another way to follow along with what has been said and who said it. After a meeting, the transcript file is automatically saved in a tab as a part of the meeting.

Interactive meetings for 1,000 participants and overflow—There are times when it’s important to bring large groups together for meetings or classes. For more interactive meetings—where attendees can chat, unmute to talk, and turn on their videos for real-time collaboration—Teams meetings are growing to support up to 1,000 participants. When you want to bring more people together to watch a presentation or discussion, Teams can support a view-only meeting experience for up to 20,000 participants.
Microsoft Whiteboard updates—Visual collaboration tools can make meetings and teaching environments more effective and inclusive. Whiteboard in Teams will soon be updated with new features including faster load times, sticky notes, text, and drag and drop capabilities. These features enable team members who don’t have access to a touchscreen or Surface Hub to participate in whiteboarding sessions during Teams meetings.



Streamline your work and save time

Tasks app –The Tasks app in Teams, rolling out this month, provides a new unified view of tasks from across Microsoft To Do, Planner, and Outlook. Smart lists like “Assigned to me” bring tasks together across different shared plans, whether you’re on desktop, web, or mobile. Add Tasks as a tab in a channel and get your familiar Planner tab experience with the new list view.

Suggested replies—Get your message across with just one tap! Suggested replies in Teams chat uses assistive AI to create short responses based on the context of the previous message. So, the next time someone asks you “Do you have time to meet today?” you can respond “I sure do!” without even pulling up your keyboard. This feature will be rolling out this month.

Cortana in Teams—Coming soon to the Teams mobile app, Cortana uses AI and the Microsoft Graph to provide voice assistance in Teams. To stay connected to your team even when you have your hands full, you can ask Cortana to make a call, join a meeting, send chat messages, share files, and more. These voice assistance experiences are delivered using Cortana enterprise-grade services that meet Microsoft 365 privacy, security, and compliance commitments. Cortana will be available in the Teams mobile app on iOS and Android in the coming weeks for Microsoft 365 Enterprise users in the U.S. in English.

Microsoft Teams displays—Organizations need to enable their employees to set up more effective home office spaces while also preparing some to return to the office. To help, we’re introducing new Microsoft Teams display, a new category of all-in-one dedicated Teams devices that feature an ambient touchscreen and a hands-free experience powered by Cortana. With natural language, users can ask Cortana to join and present in meetings, dictate replies to a Teams chat, and more. These devices seamlessly integrate with your PC, providing easy access to Teams chat, meetings, calling, calendar, and files. And with a camera shutter and microphone mute switch, your conversations stay private. The Lenovo ThinkSmart View will be the first Microsoft Teams display to market, and Yealink will deliver one of the first devices in this category too. Microsoft Teams displays with Cortana will be available in the U.S. starting later this year.

Touchless meeting experiences—As some people begin to return to their worksites, touchless meeting experiences in shared spaces are more relevant than ever. Today, Teams enables people to join meetings and share content to meeting room devices from their own mobile device or PC. Later this year, we’ll enable these capabilities on Surface Hub as well. We’re building on these capabilities with a new room remote in the Teams mobile app, which will provide additional meeting controls such as the ability to leave the meeting, mute and unmute the room, adjust audio volume, and turn cameras on and off. Beginning later this year, voice assistance will be enabled for Microsoft Teams Room devices, allowing in-room participants to ask Cortana to join and leave a meeting, add a participant from the address book to a meeting using their name or phone number, and more. We’re also introducing the ability to wirelessly cast to any Teams Room, collaboration bar, or Surface Hub device, enabling seamless ad-hoc in-person collaboration for people in a shared space.

Unless otherwise specified, all of these features will roll out later this year. And they all reflect our vision for the future of work: where everyone is able to contribute and do their best work; where they can move fluidly between experiences, apps, and devices; where AI lends a helping hand to streamline tasks, provide short cuts, and save you time; and where technology contributes to wellbeing and doesn’t detract from it. From the kickoff call to the project’s launch—and all points in-between—Teams is the place where people come together to get work done. Working alongside our customers, we’ll continue reimagining the future of work and delivering technologies that put people at the center of every experience.

The global impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had not only on public health, but on business, cannot be underestimated. It’s prudent to consider the impact such a global disruption of trade has on small and medium businesses. Anticipating and mitigating for the impact of unforeseen global events on supply chain management is crucial if SMEs who are reliant on goods from an affected area are to survive.


Small businesses are often the most vulnerable to unanticipated events and threats due to their size and lack of resources. These SMEs also often do not have a plan in place to deal with supply chain disruptions. SMEs are important drivers of economic growth in Africa, accounting for up to 90 percent of businesses in sub-Saharan Africa, an SME Initiatives advisory by the International Finance Corporation reports.
One thing we’re clearly seeing emerge from the global Covid-19 pandemic is that small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) supply chains from hub regions across the globe have been severely disrupted on an unprecedented level, and with an unpredictable timeframe for resolution as the virus continues to impact industrial production.
Companies that would usually import items to sell, particularly SMEs, are unable to continue with business as usual because of trade disruptions. So, the question we must ask is, how do these SMEs make their supply chain anti-fragile?

Digital commerce platforms and advances in fields like digital analytics and artificial intelligence can significantly help to mitigate the risks of supply chain fragility. Flexible cloud computing solutions, data collection and analysis and automation software can all contribute to the success of SMEs in the digital era. Cloud computing also gives businesses the ability to scale, cost-effectively, to new markets. This is particularly beneficial for SMEs, who often lacked the resources or infrastructure to expand before. Partnerships with companies like Jumia in Kenya and Nigeria also make Microsoft products available to SMEs in local currency.


The challenge now is to establish new supply chain avenues within Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) can play the role of unlocking innovation, growth and productivity on the continent, especially for its SME segment, by translating spending power into economic development.


To date, intra-African trade is relatively limited; UNCTAD, the main UN body dealing with trade, said it made up only 10.2 percent of the continent's total trade in 2010. Between 2010 and 2015, fuels represented more than half of Africa's exports to non-African countries, while manufactured goods made up only 18 percent of exports to the rest of the world.


By creating a single continental market for goods and services, the member states of the African Union hope to boost trade between African countries. Some studies have shown that by creating a pan-African market, intra-Africa trade could increase by about 52% by 2022, although these predictions will likely be revised downwards due to the pandemic’s influence on the local and global economy. Regardless, better market access creates economies of scale.


Combined with appropriate industrial policies, this contributes to a diversified industrial sector and growth in manufacturing value added.
Digital platforms and the adoption of mobile technology act as effective conduits for the exchange of value, and by aggregating demand across the continent, these platforms give small and medium businesses opportunities to access new markets, and to offer or identify goods and services previously limited by location constraints and marketing costs. These platforms create a diversification effect that boosts the robustness of supply chains. Startups like CoinAfrique, which is based in Dakar, Senegal provide access to markets for SMEs through their free classifieds platform for new and used products, which allows users to make money selling what they do not use and find bargains.


The app currently has over one million downloads – and the team are now looking to scale to 10 million active users across francophone Africa. Other platforms, including Biz4Afrika, provide entrepreneurs and SMEs alike with access to valuable business information and resources, finance and markets, providing a boost to small business growth.

A powerful force expediting cross-border trade is the accelerating progress of digital technology in areas spanning from trade logistics, automated processing and e-payments to immediate access and exchange of trade information and documentation.

Cash flow is always a challenge for SMEs, no more so than when trade is constrained due to external factors. It’s always tricky for SMEs to balance working capital requirements with inventory availability. The growth of the fintech sector effectively simplifies any transaction challenges by creating multiple payment channels.

Many fintech startups across Africa aim to promote access for SMEs to financing options that were previously not available to them, which also opens up opportunities for trade on a larger scale than was previously possible. Microsoft 4Afrika has partnered with African fintech startups, including Flutterwave in Nigeria and the MoVAS Group in East Africa, to open up access to financing for SMEs.

Diversifying and strengthening supply chains is crucial for SMEs to survive and flourish. When we consider that by 2035, the International Monetary Fund forecasts that Africa will have added more working age people to our workforce than the rest of the world’s regions combined, it’s essential that we have a thriving SME sector to absorb these workers and help grow economies across the continent.
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By Muhammad Nabil, Partners and Startups Strategy Lead: Microsoft 4Afrika
There’s an old and somewhat overused saying attributed to Winston Churchill that is nevertheless appropriate in these uncertain times: never let a good crisis go to waste. A global pandemic certainly qualifies as a crisis, but what good can we generate from this exceptional challenge?
In my work with Microsoft 4Afrika I have had a front row seat to the innovation and creativity many African startups have employed to address pressing economic and social gaps and needs. Whether it’s using agri-tech to improve farmer crop yields, using technology to deliver finance solutions to the previously unbanked or pairing solar power and IoT to solve power reliability issues, African innovation is alive and thriving, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only fanned these flames of ingenuity.
Crisis drives socially-drive innovation
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to unfold, it’s been inspiring to support and work with startups who are adapting their businesses and creating new platforms to support relief efforts. We offer technical and business support to startups, hackathons and ideation sessions hosted by our partners, and work with partners throughout Africa to help them adapt and develop their solutions to address the current situation.
In Egypt, the local angel investor network Cairo Angels ‘We’ve got your back’ campaign has helped one startup develop a platform that connects vulnerable elderly people with volunteers who do their shopping and run errands for them, while a three-day Wild Card hackathon Microsoft 4Afrika supported saw SMEs and startups participating head to head to develop response systems designed to deliver social relief for those suffering Covid-19 disruptions.
In South Africa, Zindi, the first data science competition platform in Africa, has rolled out a series of weekend hackathons to a data science ecosystem of engineers, scientists, academics, companies, NGOs and institutions, targeting a set of Covid-19-related datasets. And #Africa Vs Virus, an African Development Bank Ideathon supported by Microsoft, addressed challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.
We’re also looking at other ways to support entrepreneurship and innovation at this time. Our partnership with the Cairo Angels Investment Readiness Programme will see us introduce five of our partner startups across Africa to Cairo Angels, with the aim of matching them to investors for long-term gains. We’ll also be matching startups and providing mentorship through the Gemini Uplift Initiative, which aims to help startups maintain operational continuity and financial sustainability through three tracks, money, matching and mentorship, linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We’ll continue to explore new ways to support social enterprise startups and hopefully ensure their success and sustainability.
What the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted is that unusual times require an unusual response, and it can’t be business as usual. It’s clear that as we move into uncharted territory, we need a new approach, not only for how we live our lives, socialise and move around, but also for how we approach business. In Africa there is a prime opportunity for the continent’s business economy to race towards social entrepreneurship. An agile and dynamic business ecosystem is a vital trigger for effective social enterprise.
Enterprise for good
Social entrepreneurs identify issues and uplift those communities most vulnerable to the effects of disruption. Driven by the desire to identify and address the inequalities of the day, these entrepreneurs are well-placed to fill the gaps between government and the markets to promote a more sustainable and inclusive economy in times of crisis and beyond.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced its intention to support social entrepreneurship through its Global Social Entrepreneurship Programme. Social entrepreneurship bridges the gap between what society needs, and what business needs in the form of profits. Our Global Social Entrepreneurship Programme recognises these entrepreneurs who are purposefully contributing to positive change in their communities. Inspired by the commitment of social entrepreneurs, the programme actively seeks to support startups with diverse perspectives and backgrounds across a variety of impact sectors. And we’re not alone in our belief that social entrepreneurship needs nurturing.
In January 2020, the World Economic Forum, during its 50th Annual Meeting, called for businesses to adopt the concept of stakeholder capitalism to overcome income inequality, societal division and the climate crisis. It’s simple – we have to move away from shareholder capitalism if we hope to equitably address the concerns that threaten our planet.
Neither is this a new concept – the Davos Manifesto of 1973 set out for the first time the stakeholder concept that businesses should serve the interests of society rather than simply their shareholders, and the Davos Manifesto 2020 builds on that, providing a vision for stakeholder capitalism that touches on a range of important issues of our time.
Leveraging the power of social entrepreneurship
This work is already happening with startups that are creating new businesses, built around powerful technologies, and designed to make the world a better place. Upepo Technology in Kenya is one such example, a firm that develops IoT (Internet of Things) solutions for the country’s water sector. The company partners with utilities to deploy smart water metering devices that provide real-time monitoring of water infrastructure, moving towards a more holistic view of water consumption in Kenya, with the ultimate goal of providing access to water for people across the country.
ICE Commercial Power in Nigeria is another – the company deploys modular, cloud-connected solar power systems (called microgrids) to provide clean, reliable electricity to small businesses. To achieve this strategy at scale, ICE incorporates strong community engagement in target communities by training and employing local youth to participate in the development of their communities. The ICE strategy delivers sustainable impact and job creation in communities that need it most.
If we are to continue encouraging investment in social value, it is up to all of us to unite in supporting the growth of social enterprise at grassroots level. With the social entrepreneurship movement gaining steady momentum across the continent in the business sector, I am certain Africa can strike a global note for social impact beyond Covid-19.

This week marks the third anniversary of Microsoft Teams. It’s been an incredible three years, and I’m inspired to see the way organizations across the globe are using Teams to transform the way they work. Today, I’m going to share some new Teams capabilities across a few different aspects of the Teams experience, many with a tie to meetings.

But first I want to talk to you about the moment we all find ourselves in. And I want to recognize the organizations, employees, and students across the globe who have been thrown into remote work and remote learning in an effort to keep themselves and the people around them healthy and safe.

Adjusting to remote work and learning

Around the world, millions of people have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. It has affected how we work, how we socialize, our family life, and our community life. Here in the Puget Sound, we’ve asked about 50,000 Microsoft employees not to commute to work, and they are joined by tens of thousands of Microsoft employees worldwide who are now working remotely. It hasn’t been easy. Sometimes it’s been downright disorienting. But our team is still connecting. Still collaborating. Still getting our work done.

In the face of COVID-19, there are countless stories from customers who are using Teams to connect and thrive in inspiring ways. A professor at University of Bologna in Italy shared on Twitter how the school moved 90% of courses online to Teams within 4 days, which is definitely a first in the university’s 900-plus year history. Doctors at St. Luke’s University Health Network in Pennsylvania will use Teams for videoconferencing with patients, especially those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus, as a way to protect both patients and healthcare providers. And the City of Osaka in Japan is using Teams to conduct orientation and trainings for hundreds of new incoming employees in April.

Enabling remote work is more important than ever, and we are committed to building the tools that help organizations, teams, and individuals stay productive and connected even when they need to work apart.

Transforming the way people work

Over the last three years, thousands of organizations, large and small, have discovered how Teams can be their hub for teamwork, helping them to stay connected and engaged. Today 93 of the Fortune 100 use Teams, and 32 million people around the world are using Teams on a daily basis*. Industry leading organizations are rolling out Teams enterprise-wide — in fact, 14 Teams customers have more than 100,000 employees actively using Teams, including Ernst & Young, SAP, and Continental AG, as well as Accenture, which has 440,000 employees actively using Teams.

What’s New in Teams

We continue to invest in experiences that will make it easier for teams to communicate and collaborate. The new capabilities we are announcing today reflect our commitment to two things: building the very best online meeting experience for our customers; and bringing technological solutions to traditionally underserved professionals, including firstline and healthcare workers.

▪ We’ve all been in a remote meeting when a participant is loudly typing on their keyboard, or someone is sitting near a vacuum running in the background. Real-time noise suppression minimises distracting background noise, allowing you to hear what’s being said.

▪ In large meetings, it can sometimes be difficult for remote participants to chime in when they have something to say. The raise hand feature lets anyone in the meeting send a visual signal that they have something to say.

Industrial workers need to communicate and collaborate effectively while staying safe. Through a new integration between Teams and RealWear head-mounted devices, Firstline workers will be able to access information and communicate hands-free with remote experts from their job site.

▪ Conducting B2C virtual consultations is a common requirement for situations like healthcare patient consults, client meetings, or job candidate interviews. Announced earlier this month, the Bookings app in Teams makes it easy to schedule, manage and conduct virtual appointments.

▪ Teams will soon enable you to pop out chats into a separate window to help you streamline your workflow and move more easily between ongoing conversations.

▪ Offline and low-bandwidth support lets you read chat messages and write responses, even without an internet connection, making it easier for you to move things forward no matter where you are.

▪ We are also expanding the Teams devices ecosystem, with new devices certified for Teams. The Yealink VC210, now generally available, is the first collaboration bar certified for Teams, and brings together speakers, microphone, camera and the Teams app to deliver a meeting experience for smaller conference rooms that is simple to install and easy to manage. In addition, the Bose Noise Cancelling headphone 700 UC available for purchase in late spring.

We’re pleased to introduce Microsoft 365 Business Voice in the U.S., a new offering for small-and-midsized businesses that makes Teams a complete phone system, as well as a new Microsoft 365 Enterprise plan line up that will include additional licensing options for Firstline Workers.

Unless otherwise stated above, the new capabilities will be available later this year.

Since we launched Teams three years ago, it has evolved to become the hub for teamwork — a place where you can meet, chat, call, and collaborate all in one place. We will continue to improve and expand experiences for all workers to be as productive and connected as possible. As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to push people everywhere into remote work and learning, enabling remote work for our customers has never felt more important, and we are grateful for the opportunity to do so.

*Data measurement as of March 11, 2020. We define daily active usage as the maximum daily users performing an intentional action in a 24-hour period across the desktop client, mobile client, and web client. Intentional actions include sending or replying to a chat, joining a meeting, or opening a file in Teams. Passive actions like auto boot, minimizing a screen, or closing the app are not included.

Spataro, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft 365

It’s perhaps one of the great paradoxes of our time – the opportunities that technology presents come with complexities that can be difficult to navigate. Nowhere is this more evident than in today’s classrooms. While technology is helping transform the learning experience in profound ways, it can also leave students exposed to significant online risk if the right measures aren’t in place.

A recent survey on online bullying in the Middle East and North Africa revealed the depth of the challenge educators and parents face, highlighting that at least 85 percent of UAE children have been bullied online.

In Nigeria, the government has addressed this plight through the provision for an Act that protects people from cyberbullying. However, there is much that still needs to be done in curbing cyberbullying by providing effective means of prosecuting cases in this regard and by raising awareness of the Cybercrimes Act in order to encourage victims of to report the offenders.

As a means of dealing with a wide variety of technology-based threats, the National Assembly enacted an Act called The Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015 Cybercrimes (” Cybercrimes Act”) with the purpose of providing an effective and unified legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of cybercrimes in Nigeria. It’s worth noting there two specific forms of cyberbullying have been criminalised – cyberstalking and racial and homophobic offenses.


Vast research has showed that children lack the necessary supervision required to effectively safeguard them from becoming victims of any form of cyberbullying. While parents have a role to play in limiting and supervising access to the internet, educators can also make a key difference. The more teachers are equipped themselves to deal with cyberbullying, the better the chance we have of combatting the online threat. In fact, there are several powerful ways we as adults can intervene in the cycle of online bullying.

Helping to prevent cyberbullying begins with listening to children. Ask them to talk about their lives. Sit with younger children while they play and explore online. It’s a good idea to regularly ask tweens and teens to show you around the websites they visit, where they hang out, who with, and how they talk to each other. This is particularly important in a school setting, where online activities should be closely monitored so that appropriate online behaviour can be encouraged.

There are also ways of watching out for signs of online cruelty. This typically involves taking note when children get upset while online or texting, or when they have a reluctance to be at school. At the same time, teachers can keep an eye out for children being mean to others online.

Greater awareness around the consequences of bullying can assist in discouraging a culture of cyberbullying. Help children understand that cyberbullying can get them into serious trouble. In some cases, this might even involve legal ramifications. At the same time, encourage them to think about the psychological effects cyberbullying might have on others.

Its important children feel they can report cyberbullying to you. Microsoft’s recent Digital Civility Index reveals that while cyberbullying is frequently listed as one of the most painful online risks, just 56 percent of teens in Turkey and 46 percent in South Africa ask for help when dealing with an online threat.

To counteract this, adults need to promise unconditional support. Part of this involves reassuring children that you won’t curtail phone, gaming, or computer privileges because of others’ behaviour. In the context of a classroom specifically, this would also involve providing students with an anonymous platform from which they can report cyberbullying.

One of the most effective ways to prevent online bullying is social and emotional learning—the process through which we learn to build strong relationships and develop healthy boundaries and self-perceptions.

Key to this is promoting empathy and kindness. Actively teach thoughtfulness. This can help students understand how small, thoughtful actions can make a huge difference in others’ lives.

Educators can even advocate for empathy training at school or start a kindness campaign within their classrooms. This could be as simple as each student agreeing to do one kind thing a day, or it could have a much broader scope, such as developing a programme to challenge a culture of criticism with the school. Similar campaigns can be replicated at home or even in a broader
neighbourhood.

As a teacher, you can collaborate with other educators to create programmes that explicitly address social-emotional skills. In fact, collaborative learning platforms can enable students to work together respectfully and to negotiate as they co-create. For example, by having students learn how to accommodate the needs of others when creating worlds in Minecraft, teachers can find opportunities to develop deeper emotional literacy and introduce strategies to resolve challenges or understand perspectives.

Like teachers, parents have a critical role in identifying and stopping cyberbullying. As a parent, you might be surprised how difficult it can be for a child to admit, even to you, that they are being bullied. To help them get past this, create an environment that allows them to feel safe to tell you the full story. From there, together, you can come up with a plan of action. Encourage your child not to retaliate and to rather ignore or block the bully. Save the online discussions as evidence just in case it escalates to threats of violence and the police need to be involved. Approach their teacher or school counsellor and find out what steps can be taken to prevent it from happening in the future.

Reassure your child that they always have your support and shouldn’t feel ashamed. Get them involved in activities that make them feel good so that they can move on and heal from the incident.

At the end of the day, combatting online risks like cyberbullying begins with promoting digital civility and helping one another to be responsible digital citizens.

Microsoft believes that technology is a powerful force for good in a rapidly changing world. We have a responsibility to bring everyone into the digital economy, and this will only happen if the right skills are available to enable the digital future.

We are committed to helping every person and organisation in the Middle East and Africa prepare for the digital revolution. Microsoft is enabling a knowledge-based economy in the region by redefining education, empowering youth and closing the skills gap through a combination of partnerships, trainings, real-world experiences and online classrooms.

Jobs are changing, skills continue to evolve
Being home to one quarter of the world’s population (1.86 billion), the Middle East and Africa could supply the next generation of this workforce, but are we ready to fill these roles of the future?

There’s a skills gap crisis and rising unemployment in MEA. One third of the population are the youth, while 40 percent of employers cite the skills shortage as a major constraint to company growth. Just 38 percent of young professionals believe their education has prepared them for the workplace. Urgent efforts for closing the continent’s skills gap will be needed, and addressing these challenges at the very core level, is imperative.

Workplace of the future
It’s not enough to be thinking of ways to fill the current skills gap – we must also rethink how we skill for future jobs that don’t even exist today. Consider this: nearly 75 percent of students today will do jobs that do not currently exist. Skilling for future generations is about how we create professionals from all walks of life who will help deliver future innovations and drive business with Microsoft technology.

It starts with our youth
Efforts across MEA are focused on our youth population to ensure that technology can benefit all youth to become tomorrow’s leaders. Over the past three years, Microsoft has provided learning opportunities to 9.8 million African youth through strong partnerships and programmes. We work with non-profits, governments, educators and businesses to help organisations, school districts and educators in MEA build their capacity to offer computer science and digital skills training.

Since 2017, the Digital Skills programme has upskilled 4,8 million underserved youth in Africa, rendering half-a-million youth employable and supporting the direct employment of over 27,000 youth, providing 2,680 internship opportunities, while enabling over 1,500 aspiring entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses. In Nigeria, the Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative provides digital skills training to half a million youth through a ‘train the trainer’ programme reaching 5,000 trainers from 10 states across the country.

In partnership with the African Development Bank, the Coding for Employment programme will upskill 50 million youth across Africa and create 25 million jobs in agriculture, Information Communications and Technology (ICT), and other key industries across Africa, by 2025.

Conscious of the need to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM, we have been collaborating with FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists) since 2016 to train young women, teachers and students across 10 countries to adopt and use STEM curricula, teaching and learning materials and classroom practises that are gender responsive. Through this collaboration, we have supported the training of 25,000 young women and 250 teachers on digital skills.

By Muhammad Nabil, Partners and Start-ups Strategy Lead at Microsoft 4Afrika[b][/b]

Africa’s technology start-up scene is vibrant – and growing fast. There are currently over 640 active technology hubs across the continent, and according to Partech Africa, start-ups raised $1.163 billion raised in equity funding in 2018 – a 108% year-on-year growth. Topping the list are fintech start-ups, who raised $132.75 million in 2018 – enjoying 39.7 percent of all funding.

Despite this momentum, however, there’s a concerning trend: Globally, women-led start-ups only receive two percent of all venture capital (VC) funding – and the picture within enterprise tech is dimmer. Additionally, of all start-ups, only 22 percent are founded by at least one woman. Africa-specific data is lacking, but sources suggest only nine percent of start-ups have women-leaders, and female-led South African start-ups receive only 4.5 percent of all funding.

Female-led start-ups are in short supply. And, where they are available, they often lack the investor backing to scale. The result is a significant loss of insight, perspectives, development and solutions, which affects us all.

African tech start-ups are renowned for building solutions to some of the most complex challenges. This often stems from having first-hand experience of the problem, and knowing best how to solve it. In Nigeria, payment technology company Flutterwave enables Africans to build global businesses that can accept and make any payment from anywhere in the world. Their goal is to see that any merchant can process their payment with ease. By aggregating payment services from multiple gateways and placing them under one platform, Flutterwave is also helping international merchants more cost-effectively navigate the local market by embracing alternative payment methods, such as mobile money.

Technology like this is set to completely redefine the way we interact with the world. But if technology is only being created by a portion of the population, how effective will it really be? Without the input and contribution of women, how many challenges and opportunities will go unnoticed, or only partially met?

Innovation needs diversity

Microsoft recently partnered with Sehat Kahani, a tele-health start-up founded by two women, Dr. Iffat Zafar and Dr. Sara Khurram, in Pakistan. As doctors themselves, they noticed a recurring “doctor-bride” trend, where only 23 percent of female medical graduates in Pakistan become registered physicians. The others either move abroad, or stop practicing after marriage due to socio-cultural pressures and household responsibilities. Yet, Pakistan is in desperate need of doctors, with a doctor-patient ratio of 1:1200.

Sehat Kahani developed a platform that pairs these female physicians with patients in need of healthcare. Patients receive affordable and quality care virtually using tele-medicine, while female physicians are able to remain active, working at home on their own hours to effectively balance family life.

If it weren’t for these two women entrepreneurs, this challenge, opportunity and approach could have been missed entirely.

Diversity is better for business

Investors recognise the need for diversity in the long-run, which makes the lack of early-stage funding for female start-ups perplexing. Studies show that start-ups with at least one female founder raise, over time, 21 percent more VC funding than companies with all-male teams. Similarly, research also shows that if women and men participate equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by approximately three to six percent.

Diversity in business doesn’t just yield better innovation, but better financial results too, as mixed teams are better able to recognise and capitalize on market opportunities.

So, the question becomes: What is needed to encourage more women to start businesses, and investors to take bigger bets on them earlier?

Firstly, female entrepreneurs need to be given equal access to the tools needed to succeed as their male peers, including access to finance, technology, markets, information, skills and services. Second, and as a partial solve to the first, investing in diversity starts with having a diverse team of investors. Start-up mentors, investors, pitch competition judges and all ecosystem players should come from diverse backgrounds, able to recognise, relate to and see the potential in different challenges and opportunities.

Last year’s Africa Seedstars Summit had a dedicated focus on female entrepreneurship, which is a positive step forward. However, the focus should not be on women-only initiatives or women-specific conversations alone, but on initiatives and conversations centered around all start-ups, where women are considered and treated as equals. Diversity and Inclusion are not an initiative, they’re a lifestyle.

Moving to the cloud is not unlike relocating your business to a prime piece of real estate. The benefits are many, but the transition can be tricky. As governments and businesses race to take advantage of cloud computing, they are navigating current and future data regulations, as well as how to make the most of existing IT infrastructure.

Across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), businesses are prioritising cloud adoption. Research shows most organisations in the Middle East are either using cloud computing services or plan to do so in the next two years. African businesses are following closely, with cloud adoption becoming near pervasive.

With its improved security and cost savings, cloud has become key for businesses looking to compete in the digital era. But there are sometimes obstacles on the road to digitisation, and this is where hybrid cloud is playing an invaluable role in helping businesses digitally transform.

Hybrid cloud enables businesses to store and process data in their on-premises private clouds and take advantage of a public cloud provider. Hybrid cloud computing is a “best of all possible worlds” platform, delivering all the benefits of cloud computing—flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiencies.

Data regulations and the cloud
One particularly important consideration when it comes to cloud adoption is regulatory compliance, and many of these policies are still being created across MEA.

Countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council have begun addressing issues around data privacy at a national level, but as it stands there is no overarching law that deals with data protection in the region. The African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection has also recently made an appeal for countries to start adopting stricter legal frameworks for data protection purposes.

In Kenya, for example, The Data Protection Bill, 2019, was recently enacted and will regulate the processing of personal data and information governed by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) . Those violating this law face a penalty notice of up to five million shillings, or in the case of an undertaking, up to two per centum of an organization’s annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.

Future-proofing your IT strategy
Hybrid cloud is helping organisations future-proof their digital strategies, allowing them to explore the benefits of the cloud for data storage and applications, while using their existing on-premises servers for information, other applications and data with data residency implications.

It was for this exact reason that Oman Data Park (ODP), a leading IT managed services provider, deployed Microsoft Azure Stack, a hybrid cloud solution. ODP offers hosting, security and cloud services as well as virtual data centre services, leveraging its own data centres in Oman. But when it came to delivering on its digital transformation promises to clients through the provision of Azure services, ODP needed to navigate the Sultanate’s regulatory requirement to store data locally.

So ODP looked to Microsoft to build and deploy hybrid applications, while still meeting local data sovereignty and regulatory requirements. ODP now serves as a digital enabler for other organisations in Oman.

Utilising existing technology investments

Hybrid cloud is particularly important for companies like banks, which have significant existing IT infrastructure investments. With hybrid cloud computing, banks can maintain their mainframe systems while simultaneously adopting new cloud technologies. Banks are using Azure Stack to link their current systems, while building an intelligent layer of digital services on top.

The Microsoft Azure cloud platform then supports scalable hybrid environments for moving between on-premises and cloud computing environments seamlessly.
Sterling Bank is aimed at improving the time-to-market and improving the service quality to its customers. The bank prioritized cloud services, the cloud-first approach was the rationale behind the selection of Microsoft Azure - for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centers. So far, the bank has already deployed several products including Fare Pay which is addressing transportation; Specta - a community lending solution which gives out loans in 5 minutes; i-invest which is now a popular product in the market that allows anybody to buy or trade a treasury bill. Another consumer propositions that the bank introduced is OnePay - all which were deployed via Microsoft Cloud.

Is the future hybrid?
Innovations to cloud computing are also making it easier to manage hybrid cloud environments. Microsoft recently launched Azure Arc, enabling businesses to use Azure cloud tools across different cloud and computing services. As most organisations have IT infrastructure spread across multiple datacentres, clouds and edge locations, the ability to run on-premise and multi-cloud environments from one central space is a game-changer.

Not surprisingly, hybrid cloud adoption is expected to accelerate at a rapid pace – confirming that the future of cloud computing may well be hybrid. This is particularly the case in the Middle East which is already outpacing the average global adoption rate.

When deploying from the hybrid cloud, businesses have more control over their IT, improving the latency and reliability of their services. This would make hybrid cloud a particularly attractive option for businesses operating in the Middle East and North Africa, which is one of the most under-represented areas in the world when it comes to per capita Internet connectivity.

As businesses set out on their hybrid cloud journeys, it is important they begin with specific business objectives in mind, considering company needs and priorities. This will help them determine which workloads should be shifted to the cloud. Achieving the right balance between public and private cloud usage involves several different considerations, such as IT budget, regulatory requirements, as well as the nature of different applications and where they are best deployed.

Partnering with a service provider that can manage and integrate your company’s different IT environments can help ensure your business optimises its hybrid cloud investment and that, ultimately, the move to becoming a digitally empowered business is much smoother.

At a recent conference in Johannesburg, a young college student posed a question to the Presidency of South Africa: “If we are introducing into basic education new subjects to be competitive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, like coding, why do we have ministers of education that are over 60?”

It was an interesting glimpse into the mind of a demographic most impacted by the digital era. If you look at any digitally transforming organisation, what sets the leaders apart is not just a clear digital strategy, but a culture and leadership poised to execute it.

Employees today expect business leaders to be nimble, embracing digital tools to remain competitive and make strategic decisions with the future in mind.

This student’s question demonstrates that the expectation on governments is no different. As African countries work to become global leaders in the digital revolution, young people are looking for a tech-savvy and digitally mature government to boldly set the standards, and lead the way.

The benefits of a digitally skilled government
The benefits of a digitally-savvy government are many. Armed with technologies and the capabilities to use them, governments are empowered to be more agile, efficient, data-driven, transparent and connected to citizens. With machine learning and skills in data analytics, policy makers can be more forward-thinking, regularly re-examining policies, discovering new opportunities and mitigating risks for more productive and inclusive growth.

A Deloitte digital survey also found that public sector leaders who understand digital trends and technologies are three times more likely to provide appropriate support for transformation, compared to those who do not. High levels of involvement with technology typically result in greater investment, broader adoption and a greater number of successful implementations.

In a recent IFC report, Africa was noted as having a slow and insufficient policy response to digital transformation. Respondents called for accelerated efforts in developing clear-cut digital agendas. This includes modernizing school curriculum, training teachers, expanding broadband access, promoting a vibrant business climate by encouraging competition, and enforcing cybersecurity. Today, resources such as the AI Business School geared specifically towards government can be the first stop for governments looking to upskill their employees.

With more digital champions in government, imagine how much more rapidly Africa could implement this transformation and advance its position as a leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In 2018, for example, the United Arab Emirates announced its intention to become the world’s most prepared country for artificial intelligence, leading in AI research, development and innovation. To do so, they began efforts at government level, appointing the first dedicated Minister of AI. The effort was applauded for ensuring “a necessary focus for implementation as opposed to just talking” and ensuring solutions are based on the latest understanding of technology.

Taking the lead in digital transformation
For Africa to truly succeed – and lead – in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, innovative startups, technology companies and smart businesses need to collaborate on building an ecosystem where everyone benefits from technology. Leading this charge needs to be progressive governments with clear roadmaps that both define and enable the digital horizon.

Countries like Morocco are well on their way, through initiatives including the Maroc 2020 Digital strategy. But, as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) points out, the success of this strategy depends on government capacity to prioritize, plan, manage and monitor ICT investments. Governments need to focus on attracting, retaining and upskilling qualified ICT professionals in the public sector workforce that can cope with the complexities of the new policy environment.

Undoubtedly today, the most critical area of investment by governments needs to be skills development in order to sustainably grow their emerging digital economies. The time for skilling was yesterday. The next best time is today.

By Olabode Opeseitan

It was around mid-day on June 29, 2012. I was neck-deep in work when the call I dreaded most came through. The pleasantry was unusual, very curt. The voice at the other end advised me to be strong and take it like a man. Even without saying it, I knew instantly I had lost my dad who had been on admission at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ill-Ife. When I visited him one week before his demise, I had a morbid fear he might not make it but I shrugged the thought off and cast my burden on God, hoping that by some strokes of luck, he could pull through. 

He never did. I was completely rattled. The macho man in me melted like a bowl of ice cream under a scorching sun. I wept uncontrollably in the private rest room in my office. Our office assistant, Tosin (who later acquired a university degree and became our receptionist), coincidentally came to my office while I was sobbing. Alarmed, having never seen me in that condition, she asked, “Oga, ki lo se yin” (Boss, what’s the matter?).  The seemingly harmless question triggered even a bigger meltdown. As I attempted to answer her, I burst into a ball of tears and sobbed like a baby. Scared, she dashed out and within what seemed like seconds, my office was bursting at the seams with my colleagues. I hated to be seen in that circumstance but I couldn’t help it. I was an emotional wreck. They consoled me and insisted I must leave the office immediately. 

They arranged for a driver to take me home, insisting I could not drive in that situation. As the driver pulled up in my house about 30 minutes later, my phone rang and it was my Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr on the line. I picked the call with a stoic resolve never to give any inclination of the tragedy that just befell me. “Ah. Bode, pele, pele (sorry, sorry, referrencing my loss). What happened? Was he sick? How old was he?, he asked several questions in quick succession. As I answered him, what was racing through my mind was how did he hear about it so swiftly? I remembered him saying sometime in the past that, “the walls have ears. You cannot be in my position and be oblivious of developments around you”. Quite instructive! He assured me he would stand by me all the way and asked me to let him know when the burial arrangement had been firmed up. 

Until we did the burial a month later, Dr. Adenuga, who I fondly called Baba, kept a close tab on the arrangements we were making. He shocked me when he said repeatedly even at official meetings that he would attend the event. Though he eventually did not, he supported me morally and financially. After the event, he asked me to give him the list of all those who supported me financially so that he could say thank you to them. I did not bother him with that but his gesture spoke volume about the genuine heart of a man many had come to love, loathe or dread.

That was not the first time Dr. Adenuga would go beyond the call of duty to show unfeigned care for either my humble self or numerous other people working for him. In another personal instance, he had asked the trio of Yinka Akande, Celestine Amucha and my humble self to represent him at the commissioning of House of Ovation, Accra in October 2006 as a reciprocal and appreciative gesture to the Ovation Publisher, Bashorun Dele Momodu for his steadfast loyalty over the years.

Unfortunately, we could not get a flight to Accra as all the flights were fully booked. We decided to go by road. Somehow, Chairman, who Dele Momodu incidentally calls the Spirit of Africa, got wind of our plan. He could not believe that young executives in this era could voluntarily opt to go through such an arduous journey in order to fulfill their boss’ mandate. Right from when we got to Mile 2 to board a public transport till we got to Accra, Dr Adenuga was checking up on us at regular intervals. As if he had a crystal ball through which he was gazing at us (I knew it couldn't have been any tracking device because back then, Mr. Chairman at best enjoyed using his legendary Nokia Communicator for only calls and text messages until in later years when he added internet browsing), he was calling either by the time we were just reaching or leaving a border point. “You should be at Seme now”, “How is the journey going, are you at Ilaconji now?”, “Are you in Aflao now?”, he kept checking up on us till we got to Accra safely when he finally heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Thank God”.

How many bosses would send their staff on assignments and keep checking up on them to find out about their safety and welfare? One of his closest aides then, Prince Tunde Akinyera said Chairman was not at ease until he knew we had reached Accra. He knew the route very well, having traversed it severally when he was building his business empire, crisscrossing from Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire, the headquarters of African Development Bank. Corroborating that, Chairman would share stories of his experience in those days at each of the borders. The most poignant was when he missed the closing time at the Lome-Ghana border on his way back to Lagos by a few minutes. The gendarmes snubbed all his earnest entreaties  and he had to pass the night in his car right at the border crossing. 

What made his gesture more significant was that Dr Adenuga himself was going through his personal travails about this time. He was on self exile after ceaseless harrassments by  Nuhu Ribadu’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission who we later heard, had the mandate to nail him at all cost. 

Time after time, Chairman showed that he was not a General who would send his men to the war front and go to sleep. I ran several errands locally and internationally for him. More than fifty percent of the time, he would call to find out about one’s welfare and the trip. “Awe o”, he would utter in his rich baritone voice even at 5.30am. “Did you make it to the airport in good time? Safe flight and good luck”, he would say as his signature way of giving one moral support. 

Dr. Adenuga treated me more like his son than an employee. When I wanted to leave Globacom last year to run a family business, Chairman was displeased. Somehow, he felt I would stay with the business longer. However, having spent 14 years supporting in my own little way our much appreciated Chairman’s vision, I pleaded to be excused. Chairman took it harder than I envisaged. Since I made my intention known in April last year until I left in July of the same year, all channels of communication came to a near screeching halt. Knowing that I was not doing anything deliberately to hurt Baba or his business, I stuck to my plan. A few days before my departure from the system, he gave a directive that I should lead a delegation on an international assignment. I carried out the assignment diligently but left as scheduled afterwards.

Almost one year later, Dr Adenuga reached out to me and said the unthinkable. One of Africa’s richest men apologized for the way the system took my decision to leave. He painted my modest contributions glowingly and asked me to return if I wished. I deeply expressed my gratitude to him for his support over the years. 

He is the quintessential leader with an unimaginable capacity to ride above the storm of the past and reset his relationships with people when he felt the need to do so. Severally, he has recalled or reabsorbed former members of staff who left in the most dramatic circumstances. Some came back voluntarily while he himself reached out to others. For him, it is not about the sentiment but the value the individual has to offer. Yet, there were exceptional instances when he reabsorbed people mainly because he pitied their prevailing circumstances. He epitomizes the deep Yoruba axiom that, “ti a o ba gbagbe oro ana, a o ni ri eni ba sere”, meaning that one needs to banish past disputes into distant memories in order to continually have people to play (or work) with. 

A couple of years back, Dr. Adenuga shared with me the rationale behind some of his actions. He said at the end of the day when everyone would have retired to their respective homes, he would play back the events of the day in his mind and ask himself hard questions, “Am I fair to him/her? Was he/she fair to me?” He said this was a routine he regularly observed in order to set matters right.


Whoever knows Dr. Adenuga would readily concur that he is a genius who has a memory as sharp as a tack. He only needs to meet you once and if he sees you years later, he would recall every detail about you. When he uploads you with various assignments, you would only have yourself to blame to think he has forgotten any of them. Don't be shocked if you get a call from his office asking you for an update. That alone is triple-filtered trouble. Chairman wants you to be ahead of him. He will spare no rod if he is always the one “chasing after you” for results. In one of his informal mentoring classes, Dr. Adenuga told me that, “Never rely exclusively on human memory. No matter how sharp, it fails sometimes. As often as possible, once I’m giving someone an assignment, I’m writing it down and posting it somewhere as a stark reminder until the job is done”.   

In his heart, Adenuga has selected some people as his circle of brothers, friends and family. He has taken it upon himself to sort such people out in life. At intervals, he reaches out and takes care of them in a “life-liberating manner” as a popular writer who later joined politics once described his unconventional generous disposition. In that circle are family members, friends, former Presidents within and outside Nigeria, celebrities, traditional rulers, some members of staff and a mixed grill of other people decided exclusively based on his own parametres. This often includes indigent people or people totally unknown to him but who are in dire straits. From the blues (as he did severally), Chairman once called me to find out how a media personality who had been supportive in the past was doing. When I enquired and reverted to him that the person was going through a rough patch, he got his office to send the person a ‘hefty’ cheque in the hope that it would help the person to “fill some holes”. He sets his  standards high and abides by the standards no matter whose ox is gored. He hardly attends functions. His priorities have always been his business and in later years, he has opted to strike more delicate balance between business and family. 

You will never see Dr. Adenuga confronting government even when he has enough reasons to fight. His philosophy is that Nigerian governments are too powerful. As such, any businessman who has too much at stake can only fight a sitting government at his peril. Intrinsically, he has internalized that profound saying amplified by King Sunny Ade’s song, “Ojo ni wa a o b’enikan s’ota, eni eji ri leji n pa (we are raindrops, we bear no grudge against anyone, rain falls on everyone). He is friendly with any government of the day. Much more importantly, he minds his own business. He also has an almost unimpeachable understanding of the political and business terrains of Africa. He has friends in high places across the continent.

In business, Chairman adopted the famous Michelle Obama philosophy of when they go low, we go high to his investment in oil and gas. About three years ago, the price of oil headed for a free fall in the international market. Discouraged, many big players stopped investing. Several oil rigs which hitheto were hard to come by became readily available. He wasted no time to strike when the iron was red hot, pumping millions of dollars into the business to develop oil fields allotted his company. The gold digger made the right choice. From the $20s per barrel in 2016, the price of oil is now inching nearer the $80 mark in 2018. Talk about vision, wisdom and pressing the hot button at the right moment.

For over two and half decades, Dr. Adenuga has been digging gold in oil and gas, telecoms, banking, construction and in the process has become the real McCoy, the real deal. In numerous instances, he has made unimaginable successes while on few occasions, things didn't go quite as well as planned. A man of immense resources and extensive knowledge, he is also ready to admit that he does not know it all. As an imperfect creation, he knows he is not without blemish. He draws substantially from the lessons of his triumphs and shortcomings to shape his actions. As he marks his 65th birthday, one can only wish Dr. Adenuga many happy returns. 

Olabode Opeseitan is the Founding Partner of SA&B Mega Resources.

…Inaugurates New Board Of Environmental Sanitation Corps



Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Saturday allayed the fears of residents over the resurgence of waste on major highways and streets, assuring that the State Government is on top of the situation and working round the clock to make it a thing of the past.



Speaking at Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja after inaugurating new board of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) now to be headed by a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police as Corps Marshal, Daniel Isiofia, Governor Ambode said the new waste management policy of government encapsulated in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) was designed to holistically address the challenges in the sector, and that all hands were already on deck to confront the initial hitches with the transition period.



He said adequate officials of LAGESC transformed from the former Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), have been employed to police all nooks and crannies of the State to curb indiscriminate dumping of waste and other acts inimical to clean, hygienic and sustainable environment.



Governor Ambode, who was represented at the inauguration by his Special Adviser on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said concerted efforts were ongoing to clear the heaps of refuse across the metropolis, and assured that there would be marked improvement in coming days.



He said: “We are all living witnesses to the restructuring we are trying to do in the environmental sector. That restructuring culminated in the introduction of CLI which is focused at ensuring that the way we clean Lagos is comparable to what is being done in first class cities in the world.



“As a result, we are changing the way environment in Lagos is being managed and to help us to achieve that, this Sanitation Corp is important. But more importantly now is to speak to the fact that yes, we are having some challenges in the area of waste management in Lagos today. We all live in Lagos but I want to reaffirm that we are doing everything to ensure that this becomes a thing of the past.”



The Governor, who recalled similar challenges in the State in 1999 under the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, expressed optimism in the workability of the new initiative, saying that the challenges with the teething stages would soon be over.



“Let me assure the people that in the coming weeks, there will be improvement. We are already witnessing a high-level of improvement; we promise that throughout this week and throughout next week, people will see a marked improvement in our State as more equipment come in to the country and we are able to deploy the equipment accordingly.



“But beyond the fact that we are clearing waste, the CLI is also ensuring that we have landfill sites not dumping sites but landfill sites where the waste we are generating in Lagos can be recycled, re-engineered and also resold so that we can create wealth and a new business for Lagosians to tap into.”



Speaking further, the Governor said: “Another key aspect of the initiative is that it will create jobs. As we speak to you, we have employed over 8500 new street sweepers that are being deployed across the State and the target is 27,500. So, every part of Lagos will have street sweepers that are unique to them and live in their neighborhood. Once again, I want to reassure the people that we are on top of the issues here; we promise that you will see a marked improvement and we are totally committed to that. God helping us, we will deliver one of the cleanest cities in the world,” the Governor said.



Besides, Governor Ambode said the support of residents was key to the success of the new initiative, and urged the people to team up with his administration to achieve the overall objective to deliver a clean, hygienic and sustainable environment.



Also speaking, Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris said the need for the new environmental initiative became imperative owing to the fact that there was need for a review of the old system to tackle emerging challenges.



Idris, who said there was correlation between environment and health, particularly urged LAGESC to efficiently and effectively perform its duty, just as he underscored the need for the people to support government.



“The State Government will do its bit; that is why we are here; that is why everybody is working round the clock to ensure we get things done but the people themselves have a serious role to play in terms of their behavior, personal sanitation, what to do with waste and also the people must understand that whatever disease that befall them is due to their own personal behavior because they need to complement the activities of government.



“All of us have a role to play in keeping Lagos healthy because there is a connection between health, environment and security,” Idris said.



On his part, Isiofia thanked Governor Ambode for the opportunity to serve the people, assuring that his men will hit the ground running in line with the mandate to keep the State clean.



He said though the starting point may be difficult but assured that every efforts would be made to change the face of Lagos for good.





SIGNED

HABIB ARUNA

CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY

JANUARY 20, 2018

…Seeks Support Of Residents To Deliver Clean, Hygienic City

…Inaugurates New Board Of Environmental Sanitation Corps



Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Saturday allayed the fears of residents over the resurgence of waste on major highways and streets, assuring that the State Government is on top of the situation and working round the clock to make it a thing of the past.



Speaking at Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja after inaugurating new board of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) now to be headed by a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police as Corps Marshal, Daniel Isiofia, Governor Ambode said the new waste management policy of government encapsulated in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) was designed to holistically address the challenges in the sector, and that all hands were already on deck to confront the initial hitches with the transition period.



He said adequate officials of LAGESC transformed from the former Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), have been employed to police all nooks and crannies of the State to curb indiscriminate dumping of waste and other acts inimical to clean, hygienic and sustainable environment.



Governor Ambode, who was represented at the inauguration by his Special Adviser on Education, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said concerted efforts were ongoing to clear the heaps of refuse across the metropolis, and assured that there would be marked improvement in coming days.



He said: “We are all living witnesses to the restructuring we are trying to do in the environmental sector. That restructuring culminated in the introduction of CLI which is focused at ensuring that the way we clean Lagos is comparable to what is being done in first class cities in the world.



“As a result, we are changing the way environment in Lagos is being managed and to help us to achieve that, this Sanitation Corp is important. But more importantly now is to speak to the fact that yes, we are having some challenges in the area of waste management in Lagos today. We all live in Lagos but I want to reaffirm that we are doing everything to ensure that this becomes a thing of the past.”



The Governor, who recalled similar challenges in the State in 1999 under the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, expressed optimism in the workability of the new initiative, saying that the challenges with the teething stages would soon be over.



“Let me assure the people that in the coming weeks, there will be improvement. We are already witnessing a high-level of improvement; we promise that throughout this week and throughout next week, people will see a marked improvement in our State as more equipment come in to the country and we are able to deploy the equipment accordingly.



“But beyond the fact that we are clearing waste, the CLI is also ensuring that we have landfill sites not dumping sites but landfill sites where the waste we are generating in Lagos can be recycled, re-engineered and also resold so that we can create wealth and a new business for Lagosians to tap into.”



Speaking further, the Governor said: “Another key aspect of the initiative is that it will create jobs. As we speak to you, we have employed over 8500 new street sweepers that are being deployed across the State and the target is 27,500. So, every part of Lagos will have street sweepers that are unique to them and live in their neighborhood. Once again, I want to reassure the people that we are on top of the issues here; we promise that you will see a marked improvement and we are totally committed to that. God helping us, we will deliver one of the cleanest cities in the world,” the Governor said.



Besides, Governor Ambode said the support of residents was key to the success of the new initiative, and urged the people to team up with his administration to achieve the overall objective to deliver a clean, hygienic and sustainable environment.



Also speaking, Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris said the need for the new environmental initiative became imperative owing to the fact that there was need for a review of the old system to tackle emerging challenges.



Idris, who said there was correlation between environment and health, particularly urged LAGESC to efficiently and effectively perform its duty, just as he underscored the need for the people to support government.



“The State Government will do its bit; that is why we are here; that is why everybody is working round the clock to ensure we get things done but the people themselves have a serious role to play in terms of their behavior, personal sanitation, what to do with waste and also the people must understand that whatever disease that befall them is due to their own personal behavior because they need to complement the activities of government.



“All of us have a role to play in keeping Lagos healthy because there is a connection between health, environment and security,” Idris said.



On his part, Isiofia thanked Governor Ambode for the opportunity to serve the people, assuring that his men will hit the ground running in line with the mandate to keep the State clean.



He said though the starting point may be difficult but assured that every efforts would be made to change the face of Lagos for good.





SIGNED

HABIB ARUNA

CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY

JANUARY 20, 2018

They are creating employment for Nigerian citizens, very commendable.

Loathe him, love him, pummel him or praise him, Nigeria’s former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Turakin Adamawa, represents different things to different people. Whatever your views of him, one common thread that runs through perceptions about him is that he is a man of conviction, a bridge builder, a consummately detribalised Nigerian and a shrewd political gladiator, who sees 2019 as his brightest chance ever to clinch the highest office in the land; the Office of the President of the Federal Republic.

He has a mountain to climb in President Muhammadu Buhari. For now, the incumbent President and Alhaji Abubakar are the strongest names being bandied around to slug it out in a national contest in February next year. While President Muhammadu Buhari made history by being the first from an opposition party to dislodge the candidate of a ruling party, another shock may await the nation if the current standings of both personalities are anything to go by. For good measure, some people have expressed the desire for fresh bloods to join the race. While the nation waits with bated breath for that to materialise, pound-for-pound, Alhaji Abubakar seems to hold the ace.

Known as a man of many parts, a businessman, philanthropist, patriot and a veteran in the Nigeria political firmament, Atiku, as he is fondly called, is not a politician without his own garbage, real or imagined. The most strident allegations against him were his carpet crossings from one political party to the other and an allegation of corruption amplified by his former boss and beneficiary turned ardent foe, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, which, however, remained unsubstantiated and unproven.

When signals emerged towards the end of 2017 that Atiku may again throw his hat into the presidential ring, the initial reaction from a cross section of the vocal few was that of outrage but as the days went by, the dust settled and people were more receptive to listening to his message and ideas of how he intended to turn things around. A series of recent political gaffes by President Buhari and other series of unmet expectations pumped adrenaline into the Atiku candidacy.

A lot of people were impressed with the way the Buhari regime handled the problem of insurgency which at a period threatened to turn Nigeria into another Iraq or Afghanistan under the Jonathan Goodluck administration. Reputed as a man of integrity who would not dip his hands into the public tilt, the nation was pleased with the way Buhari went after looters of the treasury upon assumption of office and recovered our stolen commonwealth. Many Nigerians were also appreciative of the efforts of the current administration for working assiduously to move Nigeria out of recession into slow but steady growth by the third and fourth quarter of 2017.

Many would, however, argue that the Nigerian economy which was growing previously at up to 7% under the much upbraided Jonathan regime might not have slid into recession if the Buhari administration had handled the economy differently. For months after its inauguration, neither did the administration issue any clear cut fiscal and monetary policy nor constitute its cabinet. The Buhari government also mismanaged the restiveness in the Niger-Delta which made the militants to resume the destruction of oil pipelines, leading to a significant drop in the nation’s oil production, the mainstay of the economy while many foreign investors who would buckle under the slightest sign of uncertainty and insecurity, fled the country in their numbers. Coupled with the drop in the price of oil in the international market from about $100 per barrel to as low as about $26 per barrel, the impact on the economy was devastating. The exchange rate of the US dollar to the naira skyrocketed from about N170 in 2015 to as high as N500 in 2017 before stabilising at about N360. By the time the administration marked its first anniversary in office, it gave the nation an unexpected gift as it increased the pump price of petrol from N87 to N145 contrary to the promise to even reduce the price from N87 when campaigning for office. The misery was complete. The health challenges of President Buhari also did not help matters. Nothing painted the picture of the gloom in the land more than the statistics on the website of Nigeria Bureau of Statistics where the number of unemployed and under employed increased by 11 million from 17,724,668 in the last quarter of 2014 to 28,575,652 in the last quarter of 2016. For a regime representing a party that promised to add three million jobs annually through various interventions, that was a dismal performance.

With time, the anti-corruption war of the government also started to lose steam when allegations of malfeasance were levied against top government officials without the President acting on the reports immediately. It took a concerted effort for the President to sack the indicted former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal and the boss of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Mr. Ayo Oke after many months of inaction.

The nation is also incensed by the near lukewarm attitude of the Buhari Presidency to the recurrent Fulani herdsmen crisis which has claimed several lives across the country. Already, many states in the Middle Belt are threatening not to back any future presidential ambition of General Buhari because they felt he has done little to protect them from the marauders.

Also fresh in the minds of Nigerians is the accident involving Yusuf, the son of Mr. President. While Nigerians endured the agony of fuel scarcity and people were spending hours to search for fuel, news broke that Yusuf crashed his multimillion naira power bike while racing with a friend on the deserted streets of Abuja. Though sympathetic with the Buharis over the incident, millions of Nigerians were miffed by the insensitivity and the extravagance from a family they expected to be frugal. The luxurious wedding of the President’s daughter in 2016 was another reference in the litany of complaints by a weary nation.

The Osasu Show Foundation, a Non-Government Organization focused on improving the welfare and livelihood of the women and children through capacity building, education scholarships and start-up capital, will on Saturday, December 16th, 2017, host a Christmas party for over 1000 Internally Displaced Persons and Orphans at the Riverplate Park, Wuse 2, Abuja. 

 

The event is part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative of The Osasu Show. It aims to bring sunshine into the lives of the less privileged this yuletide season. The founder of The Osasu Show Foundation, Ms. Osasu Igbinedion, expressed her delight at being able to make the less privileged smile during this festive period.

 

She said, "Anytime I visit IDPs’ Camps, I leave with a heavy heart as most of them are going through very difficult situations. Although we've sent numerous girls to school from across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria and empowered over 200 women with capital to begin small to medium scale businesses, my team and I decided to also celebrate them and make them forget their sorrows, especially while others are celebrating Christmas and the New Year around them. This is why we have decided to throw a party for one thousand IDPs and orphans. We hope to do more in the nearest future.”

 

The Osasu Show Foundation was inspired by the vital roles women play around the world, meeting the food needs of their households and contributing to the development and growth of the nation at large. 

 

Part of the ways the foundation is helping include the donation of Capacity Building Incubators (CBI), Education Scholarship Scheme (ESS), Group Micro Loan (GML), Group Funding Initiative (GFI),Integrated Empowerment Project (IEP) and TOS/ASDC- Annual Social Development Conference.

 

The Osasu Show Foundation is created for the sole purpose of solving social problems in a financially self-sustainable way.

Manchester clubs, Man U and Man City have put aside their age long rivalry to dole out financial support to families of the victims of the Manchester terror attacks on Monday that killed 22 people and injured 64 people.
Both clubs have donated £1m to the 'We Love Manchester Emergency Fund', designed to assist the families and dependents of the victims- and the donation from City and United increases the total amount of donations to beyond £3m.


City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said; "We have all been humbled by the strength and solidarity shown by the people of Manchester in the days since the attack,"
"The hope of both our clubs is that our donation will go some small way to alleviate the daunting challenges faced by those directly affected and that our acting together will serve as a symbol to the world of the unbreakable strength of the spirit of Manchester."

Ed Woodward, executive chairman of United, said: "The barbarism of Monday evening's attack has shocked everyone. Our clubs are right at the heart of our local communities in Manchester and it is right that we present a unified response to this tragedy.
"The money will help, of course but the work of the two clubs and their respective foundation and community scheme can build on the fantastic spirit that Mancunians have shown in the immediate aftermath."

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