The Vanguard

Prudence Okoilu, a 300 level student of Physics and Electronics, University of Lagos (UNILAG), recently opened a social network website "HIPINGG." Its feature combines Facebook, Twitter and Pinging. Tosin Adesile met with him to talk to him about what it does.

Tell us about yourself?

I'm Prudence Okoilu, a student who also doubles as an internet entrepreneur. By this I mean, a programmer, website hacker and Graphic designer.

As an internet entrepreneur, what significant project have you embarked upon?

With the fast growing access to ICT facilities, it has been disclosed that exposure of pupils to online competitions, will improve their performance in mathematics, spelling and other science-related subjects.

The Proprietor, Ladybird Nursery and Primary School, Dr. Solo Amahoetu urged stakeholders and the government to assist in providing ICT facilities to schools, especially public schools as this will further facilitate learning among children.

Team Nerds, a team of four students from University of Technology, Akure, represented Nigeria in the just concluded 2011 Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals held in New York, the United States of America.

The student competition, which is now in its ninth year, centers on the use of imagination, creativity and technology to help solve some of the world's toughest problems.

David Olaniyan, Oluwafemi Alaba, Taiwo Orogbangba and Toluwanimi Kolawole made it through the local and regional legs of the competition in order to secure their ticket to the worldwide finals.

There appears to be dawn of a new era in the Nigerian ICT sector as the Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria, ITAN in collaboration with the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) have formed an alliance to share information for the overall benefit of the industry and the Nigerian society.

Having worked through the months to successfully complete another program of corporate citizenship activity in Nigeria aimed at helping Cross River State compete in a global marketplace, IBM consultants have helped the Cross River State University of Technology in the implementation of modern processes and technologies to ensure the effective running of the university and to train staff in the latest IT based approaches including database management and open source software.

As part of its determination to take its solutions across the globe, the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, Checkpoint last week announced its operations in Nigeria.

With this, the world renowned and market-leading IT security solutions will be distributed in Nigeria through its distributor, DataGroupIT, specializing in the distribution of leading-edge IT products in the African market. Product support will be delivered through local partners, supported by Check Point's service center.

To put an end to activities of fakers of its regulated products, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) has reviewed its anti-counterfeiting strategies with the official introduction of Mobile Authentication Services (MAS) and an RFID system that cannot be duplicated or copied across the country. Some of the technologies are use of cell phones to detect fake drugs by sending SMS, Pentesta, Tray testa and internet browsing amongst others.