About 759 graduates are currently jostling for the sholarship scheme instituted by the National Information Technology Development Agency ( NITDA), comprising 165 post-graduate and 594 graduate applicants from the 36 states and FCT. Successful beneficiaries an study for their doctorate and masters degree programmes in any university in any part of the world.

With Lagos population growing in leaps and bounds, International Business Machine, (IBM) has pledged to use its software solutions to build smarter cities for the state.

Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission and chairman of the Industry Working Group on Multiple Taxation in the Telecommunications industry (IWG) Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi, has warned that recent developments in the sector with regards to spurious taxes and levies by the state, local governments and their agents, portend grave dangers for the sector.

By the time 2012 Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) president’s dinner was drawing to a close, ICT experts in the attendance were worried over dearth of skills in software development and digital colonization by foreign nations, warning that if something is not done urgently to reverse the trend, Nigerian may remain a consumer nation in the global competitiveness.

As part of the preparation for the regional finals slated for next month in River States, the software giant, Microsoft in partnership with the Rivers State Government recently held a ceremony at the State House of Assembly auditorium in Port Harcourt to mark the official kick-off of the Imagine Cup student technology competition in Nigeria.

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson in this interaction with IT Journalists recently in Lagos spoke on what her ministry is doing to address the poor quality of service quality by the industry players. She also spoke on the draft ICT policy, insecurity, and need for a converged regulator among others. Excerpts:

At the recently concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain, Etisalat Nigeria showed strong presence pulling almost all its operational divisions to learn from world innovators and bring back ideas to help the company become more innovative. Hi-Tech tracked the CEO, Mr Steve Evans who opened up on developments and experiences the company was planning to bring to Nigeria from the Barcelona show. Excerpt:

The move to take Nigeria to a cashless society received a boost last week when SpaceNigeria Technology announced the introduction of a self powered adaptive containers for both private and corporate space.

One of the most useful applications for a mobile phone is software to help with navigation. Whether you are on the water or on land, the addition of a GPS and a navigation program can turn your phone into a guide, giving information on where to go.

Network and communication company, Cisco last week announced new innovations across its Unified Computing System to deliver a third-generation fabric computing platform that will address the virtualization and cloud computing challenges in work places, and helps customers respond rapidly to changing business needs, scale their data centers, and accelerate transition to virtualization and cloud computing.