In 2003, leaders at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) agreed that by 2015, more than half the world should be in reach of the net.

The world is still a long way from that goal.

Are there still stark inequalities in access? How can poorer nations benefit from the digital revolution? If you are involved in any technology projects, let’s have your comments and experiences.

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According to Mitchell Elegbe, managing Director, InterSwitch, Operation Cashless seeks to achieve among other things, the promotion of the use of Nigeria debit card, awareness creation about the availability of channels where electronic transactions can be performed. These channels are Point of Sale (POS) terminals, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Internet and mobile.

Operation cashless is being launched alongside the deployment of PoS terminals in the country. The terminals act as a complement to the ATMs which are already running. InterSwitch has appointed nine Independent Service Organisations (ISOs) to work in conjunction with the banks on the InterSwitch consortium to appoint merchants and deploy the PoS terminals at strategic locations.

Also Operation Cashless seeks to take into consideration the non banking populace. For the non banking category, cash cards will be introduced into the market and hence these people can transact with the card in the usual way as with the Nigeria debit card. Prior to mergers and acquisitions, there are 33 banks on the InterSwitch network which are currently issuing debit cards.

Elegbe is however optimistic that mergers will not affect the process as the number of transactions will not reduce despite reduction in the number of banks in operation. According to him: “on the contrary, banks will now have a lot of money to give out more cards.”

There are currently 1.2 million active cards in circulation in the country. InterSwitch and the certified ISOs plan to deploy 50,000 PoS terminals across the country in the next three years. According to Bayo Adeokun, chief executive officer, Electronic PayPlus Limited, one of the ISOs, security measures have been put in place to ensure that the PoS terminals are tamper-free.

“We have adopted international best practices and the usual things such as firewalls and passwords,” he said.

The ISOs, which must be backed by a CBN accredited bank will provide support services, buy and deploy PoS terminals create awareness and enable merchants view their transactions online via the Internet. The PoS terminals can be rolled out anywhere in the country where there is GSM or GPRS network.

Enumerating the benefits of Operation Cashless, Elegbe noted that it will reduce the incidences of armed robbery as Nigerians will not carry cash around, exposing themselves to robbery. It will also reduce pilfering by staff of the PoS merchant because every transaction will be through the terminal while also ensuring that there will not be cases of fake currency. The difference between the InterSwitch PoS terminals and the current terminals in use is that transaction with the InterSwitch terminals is online while the merchant would need to open an ePurse when using the other terminal because it is offline.

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The world’s most creative and empowering youth-led websites have now been announced! Scores have been tallied, publications have been designed and the stage is set for Tunis to showcase these best young e-content creators to the world! The top three projects in each WSYA category – Development, Creativity & Culture and Community Engagement – will take centre stage for Phase II of the World Summit on the Information Society (November 16 – 18, 2005) at the WSYA Gala on opening night.

Samuel Odofin (Nigeria, 17) came second under the Development Category for his project www.odofin.com – an interactive website which he uses to raise awareness on the use of agricultural biotechnology in combating food shortages and insecurity in Africa.

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Contributions ranged from how ICTs could help the young generation and their nations to create jobs and eradicate poverty thereby improving lives. Nigeria has the highest contribution of 24 entries while Central African Republic and Mauritius had one entry each. The grading focused on the quality of the titles, introductions, purposes, grammars, relevance, creativity, contents, pros & cons and conclusions of the papers/projects. The highest score was 91% and the lowest was 5%. A big congratulation goes to Zainab Olubukola Ajia who is the only Nigerian on the award list.

Visit AYF for more on the winners…

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Well, the news is out but as of right this moment the product isn’t (publically). Tom Oliveri, Google’s product marketing manager, reviewed the new Google product, Google Base yesterday. Google Base is ‘Google’s database’ to which folks can add any type of content to and they host it, make it searchable for free. Idea here is using Google as a centralised service.

This sounds like a ‘take over the world [or at least the web]’ plan! Hm… let’s see, the world goes to Google for searching, Blogger for blogging (well most/some), GMail for e-mail [well most/some], AdSense for money [ok some], AdWords for exposure [ok some], Groups for talking [many], and now Google wants their/our content. I’ll let you have your opinion, but to be honest, this just seems a bit too, hmm, Google?

Michael Arrington from TechCrunch provides a few examples of what Google Base can be used for, if you’re confused:
• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures

Here’s what’s really going on….[Read More...]

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