COVID-19 is not four nineteen. It is real. And now, more than ever before your life revolves around technology. Look around you. The microwave rules in your kitchen. The vacuum cleaner has a permanent seat in your living room. Your washing machine makes laundry joy. The keyless car in your garage makes driving comfortable. Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram make the world go round. Remita payment solution, Paylink and the ubiquitous *737* USSD code have turned payment into an art. There is no argument. So, don’t place a bet. Your life is dependent on technology. Therefore, you have to learn to be at home with technology during this pandemic season.
Why not, technology offers a solution to your everyday challenge. For instance, in the book, Accidental Billionaires, Mark Zuckerberg’s friends faced the challenge of connecting Harvard students together. The students created the Harvard Connection. Zuckerberg took the idea. He ran with it. Facebook was born. In the 20th-century horse, dung was a challenge because horse-drawn carriages were the standard mode of transportation. Then Ford’s Model T came. Model T conquered. As the transportation system evolved, horse-carriage and horse dung disappeared. The technology works magic.
Well, with the magic comes a myriad of challenges. Now, all nations are grappling with global warming because 99% of transport in the world runs on fuel. Tesla wants to cut this number with its electric car. Elsewhere, on the football field, goal-line technology or Virtual Assistant Referee [VAR] has turned football on its head. A team can suddenly win a match if the VAR says so! Once the VAR says the ball has passed the goal line, it is a goal! The referee has no say. No one can dispute it. Meanwhile, COVID-19 did force football federations to suspend all premier football leagues. Some leagues have restarted. Watching football on television without the fans in the stands has turned matches into practice sessions. Ouch!
Well, there are still more challenges that technology can help with if we pay keen attention.
Something else is not as painful, however. In medicine, keyhole surgery is becoming the norm. As we know more about the various developments in technology, we can take advantage of it. That way, innovation will make our lives better. Take the Bluetooth device, for example. That little thing has become second nature to so many Nigerians. You can wear it in your ear lobes like earrings. You can wear it around your neck as a fashion accessory. You can plug it into your earlobes as noise-filter to enhance telephone conversations. You wear it as a wristband. Bluetooth makes talking while you drive effortless.
Well, there are still more challenges that technology can help with if we pay keen attention. Granted, there are no new things. What we have are innovations. So, at the rate payment technology companies are coming up to simplify remittances, it has shown what we can do if we embrace technology. In the payment world, you can make remittance via your phone. You can receive and send money with the USSD code. You can send fund to friends and family without the internet. You can pay your bills without having a smartphone. You can even borrow money without stepping out of your home!
Vice President at COVID-19 hangout
Technology is not yet the panacea. But it is offering more solutions to everyday challenges, especially during the pandemic. The other day, for instance, Vice President Yemi Osibajo attended the COVID-19 hangout in Abuja. It was hosted by Google. The goal is to find a solution to the pandemic. Moderated by Ore Disu, the COVID-19 hangout was attended by young Nigerian technology innovators who discussed the impact of the coronavirus and how technology can help. A similar initiative was held by several other private sector umbrella bodies in conjunction with NCDC in Abuja. The webinar is the way to host events during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have lost count of how many webinars I have attended. I am still counting.
Working from home, I noticed so many old and young Nigerians huddled around some lotto kiosks in Lagos.
COVID Credit team
Recently, in the UK, the fintech community has come together to build COVID Credit. It will allow the sole traders to self-certify lost income. What started as a tweet from Simon Taylor has attracted the interest of the UK government. As it turned out, the government could be persuaded to provide financial support to the self-employed during the coronavirus crisis. The UK government, according to Techcrunch has already pledged to fulltime employees.
To overcome the main hurdles of administering compensation, Open Banking technology will be deployed. The COVID Credit team agreed that validating the income of a sole trader is significantly harder than a salaried worker. As such; the Open Banking technology would be used to access and analyse data from the bank account of a sole trader. It will then generate a validated income statement. This would be referred to as a COVID Credit minted self-certification. Can Nigeria replicate this?
Outside of this, the COVID Credit exists as a standalone Python web application that is running on Google Cloud. The app uses the Credit Kudos application programming interface [API] and aggregates data from an individual’s accounts, applying a number of pattern recognition algorithms in order to calculate key income figures.
Technology powers lotto business
Working from home, I noticed so many old and young Nigerians huddled around some lotto kiosks in Lagos. The patrons spent hours studying some revered manual. In the manual are some magical numbers. I learnt that the ardent players use the number to make the forecast. To some Nigerians, lotto is a way of life. It keeps urchins off the streets. With as little as N20, I was told, a player can win N10, 000. He can win N1 million.
Meanwhile, the technology that powers the lotto machine is imported. Would it not be a good idea if some techies in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt innovate around lotto? Knowing that our lives now revolve around technology, innovating about lotto would be a great idea especially now that some workers are still at home working sans COVID-19.
*Olaegbe ([email protected])
