WEST Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA) has advocated greater adoption of e-Governance and concerted effort to expand the digital economy in Nigeria and other countries of West Africa. 

The executive secretary of WATRA, Aliyu Yusuf Aboki stated that this will boost investment and create quality jobs for young people in Nigeria and West Africa. He stated that despite the comparatively low rate of literacy in West Africa, there is a very wide scope for digitizing government services. 

He said he sees the enormous opportunity for e-governance as he travels across the 15 ECOWAS states. He explained that governments at all levels could increase their taxes dramatically by digitizing the identities of taxpayers and tax collection processes. He also emphasized that there is a great opportunity to expand access to education and healthcare through digital tools. 

 WATRA is a regional organisation that has the mandate to promote the adoption and harmonization of regulations that stimulate investment in telecommunications and increase affordable access for citizens.

 The WATRA boss cited the example of India where over 1 billion citizens, including the poorest citizens, could easily receive or make payments using their telephones through a government-supported platform, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

 Other government-backed digital schemes in the country enable municipal governments to manage healthcare online and citizens to store and readily access government documents such as tax returns on their phones. 

Aliyu pointed out that the digitalization of government services has transformed the lives of the 273 million Indians who are classified as living in poverty. While noting progress in the adoption of ICT to deliver and manage government services in West Africa, the WATRA boss emphasized the need to scale up existing schemes in the sub-region. 

Inlaks, a leading African systems integrator and financial technology solutions provider, has been recognized as the Outstanding Information Technology Company of The Year, at the Ghana-West Africa Business Excellence Awards (WABEA), 2021.

The award is in recognition of Inlaks’ outstanding achievements as an information technology institution that provides customer-centric IT solutions in Ghana, Nigeria, and other respective West Africa business regions.

The annual awards ceremony is targeted at recognizing the industry’s merits and set a benchmark for excellence, whilst rewarding innovative ideas that have pushed the boundaries of what is possible in the development of various sectors in the West Africa sub-region to attract investors into the region.

Country Manager of Inlaks Ghana, Yacoba Esther Amuah, expressed her excitement about the award, emphasizing that it is a great honour to the company to be recognized at such difficult times when the entire world is merely surviving in the wake of COVID-19.

“We have been in the market for a great number of years, and everyone knows the impact of COVID-19 on businesses so to be recognized as outstanding in the midst of all this is a great achievement and we are really excited about it,” she said.

Furthermore, she pinpointed that professionalism has been the hallmark of Inlaks, putting customers at the centre of everything that the company does to ensure optimum customer satisfaction.

Touching on the way forward and what clients should expect, she said: “They should look out for products and services that are going to meet their needs because with the onset of this pandemic, everyone has been talking about digitization and we are poised to work with customers to meet their digital needs.”

Inlaks is a leading system integrator in Sub-Sahara Africa, and partners with OEMs in the technology industry to provide world-class information technology solutions that exceed the needs of its customers. Over the years, Inlaks has built a reputation as the foremost ICT and Infrastructure solutions provider in the region, helping customers to effectively seize new markets and service opportunities.        

The event, organized by KN Unique Communications and endorsed by West Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was attended by distinguished business owners, government representatives and industry leaders that have played various significant role in the development of various sectors in their respective West African countries.

Inlaks is a leading system integrator in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company partners with leading OEMs in the technology industry to provide world-class information technology solutions that exceed the needs of its customers.

Over the years, Inlaks has built a reputation as the foremost ICT and Infrastructure Solutions Provider, helping customers effectively seize new market and service opportunities.

With an impressive customer base that includes six Central Banks in West Africa, 18 of the 24 banks in Nigeria, and other major customers in the West African region, Inlaks has become the dominant Information Technology Company in Africa.

Inlaks’ customers cut across various segments including Banking, Telecommunication, Oil/Gas, Power, Utilities, and the Distribution sectors of the economy.

The new version of Instagram Lite for Android is less than 2MB in size, making it fast to install and quick to load. It also has improved speed, performance, and responsiveness. Instagram Lite not only works similarly to the Instagram app for Android, but it allows the Instagram experience to remain fast and reliable for more people, no matter what device, platform and network they use. 

Commenting on the rationale for introducing the app to Sub-Saharan Africa, Engineering Manager for Instagram Lite, Peter Shin said, “Connectivity in the region can be unstable, slow and expensive, making it challenging for people to have a high-quality Instagram experience. Many people were already familiar with the concept of a Lite app after the successful roll-out of Facebook Lite some years ago. We started testing the new version of Instagram Lite when people across the continent started asking for a Lite app for Android. The feedback was very positive and we are excited to launch it across the continent today”. 

“Our team aims to leave no one behind, so today we are very excited to bring Instagram Lite to people in over 170 countries, including the entire Sub-Saharan Africa region,” he added.

Instagram Lite is similar to the core Instagram app experience, though some features are not currently supported, such as Reels creation, Shopping, and IGTV. Instagram Lite is likely to gain appeal to users in locations with limited bandwidth or high data costs, especially in the developing world. 

Instagram Lite is currently rolling out in over 170 countries, and Facebook remains committed to building and improving the app to help everyone in the world connect to the people and things they love.