Technology
Ilori Wants More Investments in Technology in Solving Problems
A technology enthusiast, Mrs Roseline Ilori, has reiterated the need for government at all levels and stakeholders to consider more investments in technology; not just software development, but in robotics, artificial intelligence, bio-medicine, voice biometrics and a host of other technology spectra.
Mrs Ilori, the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bridge57 Solutions Limited, made the call in a statement in Lagos.
According to her, such investments will shore up manufacturing competitiveness via authentication and traceability of goods and services and improve physical and cyber security, among others.
She said that government needs to be more proactive in making the Nigerian technology environment more friendly, seeing that the growth and young people’s interest in technology were massive.
She noted that Nigerian technology experts were the most sought-after in developed economies as the relocation syndrome had taken up to half of the country’s technology brains.
“The fact is that the environment we are in is not conducive enough for technology to thrive, so the government has to do more in that regard to bring out more technology to the fore.
“The ‘Japa Syndrome’ has been a major challenge affecting our human capital potential, hence, the need to grow more of these professionals internally so that when some leave, many more would be around to keep the country going.
According to the Bridge57 boss, Nigeria still lags earnestly in innovation as she submitted that, unlike the notion many are having, technology is quite different from innovation.
She noted; “In terms of innovation, we are still very far in Nigeria. For instance, while I had the opportunity to go through some training on innovation in some international organizations, I realized that many people talk about innovation, but very few people do innovation, as a lot of people don’t really understand what innovation means.
“For technology, yes, we are doing well, but for innovation as a practice itself, we still lag. Innovation is not just about technology, it is deeper than that. Innovation can be applied to processes, products, marketing and different areas of business models. But technology can use innovation; when people often mention innovation, people assume that it is technology, but they are two different things. They both need each other in a way to flourish.”
However, the technology expert also advised the government to remodel the Nigerian educational curriculum across levels to accommodate the practical aspects of technology to engender early exposure to the nitty-gritty of technology and innovation.
She said that the need to expose, encourage and sensitise the Nigerian child through the educational system from a tender age was due to the massive economic potential of technology and its ability to solve almost every problem across sectors.
“Technology as of today is beyond computers and smartphones as it encompasses a whole lot which, if youths are properly exposed to practice, can yield massive economic potential and gains for the country.
“We must, therefore, rework the curriculum to accommodate technology, innovation and robotics beyond the surface use of computers.
“In our universities, a lot is going on technologically that the government can take advantage of, but they must first invest enormous resources right from the universities to open students’ minds to the practical aspects of technology.
“More practical approach that is relatable to real life more than the abstract classes the Nigerian child is used to is what is needed to open up their minds to the endless possibilities of technology,” she said.
Mrs Ilori said that government funding, upon disbursement, must be put to good use to secure the future of technology and educate more persons willing to use their intelligence for the nation’s development.
She charged young girls with interest in the technology industry, perceived as a male-dominated industry, to take the bulls by the horn, even if they might be few, and assert their competencies and capabilities.
“Funding is key, and the cash flow is the blood of any business, and this is necessary to build innovation-driven start-ups.
Speaking on Bridge57 Solutions, where she had implemented diverse business initiatives and products for several organizations, NGOs, and government parastatals using strategic foresight, drive and determination, Ilori said the organisation was established to organise workshops, using innovative practices, methodology and tools to improve the Nigerian technology environment.
“I have been in the technology space for 18 years now in Nigeria and several other countries in Africa where we have deployed many solutions in the past. I decided to start Bridge57 Solutions because I saw that there are more problems to be solved in Nigeria and in Africa at large. Our problems are in abundance, if I can put it that way. But where there are problems, there are opportunities as well. So I was looking for the opportunity to solve more problems on a larger scale. That was one of the things that prompted me. I see there are lots of opportunities that would enable more entrepreneurs to be born.
“At Bridge57, there are two pillars; innovation and technology and in between them is digital transformation. Those are the two pillars our business is being built on.
“We have a lot of international partners that we work with that are technology providers. We partner with them to bring such technology that does not exist here. For instance, looking at voice biometrics, we have a solution in voice biometrics. It would surprise you that our voices are as unique as our fingerprints. We can use that to help people using services, but they are not very literate. Some people have problems with remembering their PINs, because they are not literate, and you see people that are not so literate telling people their passwords and therefore exposing themselves. How can we use that voice, for example, in terms of security, as we have a lot of security issues in our society?
“These are some of the problems that this technology, as simple as it might seem, can solve. Aside the voice technology, there is a technology that uses artificial intelligence, AI. There is a partner we are working with, we use AI to identify moving objects. It can tell if the person is a male or female. These are some innovations we do at Bridge57,” Mrs Ilori submitted.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian government and the Republic of Finland have formalised a strategic partnership on digitalisation and innovation, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at expanding economic activities and strengthening cooperation in the digital sector.
The agreement was signed in Abuja by the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, and Mr Jarno Syrjälä, Under‑Secretary of State (International Trade) at Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
According to a statement from the Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the communications minister, Mr Isime Esene, the MoU will establish a framework for collaboration across key areas, including digital government, emerging technologies, digital public infrastructure, cybersecurity, innovation ecosystems, and capacity building.
Mr Tijani described the signing as “an important step in strengthening the partnership between both countries as we work to build a more inclusive, innovation-driven digital economy.”
“This agreement is a significant next step following our engagements in Helsinki in February, where we met with key stakeholders, including Finnvera and Finnfund, and held productive discussions on advancing collaboration around digital infrastructure, the Data Exchange Platform, and opportunities for Finnish participation in Project Bridge.”
The Minister emphasised that the partnership would “unlock meaningful opportunities for both countries, enabling us to leverage digital transformation as a catalyst for sustainable growth and shared prosperity.”
Echoing this optimism, Mr Syrjälä said: “Finland is very pleased to deepen its partnership with Nigeria in building resilient, secure, and human‑centric digital societies. Digitalisation is at its best when it empowers people, strengthens trust, and creates new opportunities for innovation.”
“Nigeria is a key partner for Finland in Africa, and this MoU provides a strong basis for concrete cooperation between our governments, institutions, and private sectors. Together, we can advance digital solutions that are interoperable, future‑fit, and beneficial to both our nations,” he added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
New Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools designed to provide support for users of its applications have been launched by Meta.
The AI Support Assistant will work on the Facebook and Instagram apps, the company said in a statement.
The tools will help users to receive reliable and action-oriented assistance when needed.
In December, the Meta AI support assistant, a tool designed to provide reliable, 24/7 support for nearly any support issue at any time, was previewed.
Now, Meta is rolling it out globally on the Facebook and Instagram apps for iOS and Android, and within Help Centre on Facebook and Instagram on desktop, with even more capabilities and ways to help.
The new Meta AI support assistant is designed to help resolve account problems from start to finish. It offers answers for any question, like notification settings or new features, and can also take action for users on a growing set of requests directly within Facebook and, in the future, on Instagram.
The feature can report scams, impersonation accounts, or problematic content, make it easier to see why content was taken down, provide appeal options, track what happens next, manage privacy settings, reset passwords, and update profile settings.
The Meta AI support assistant can respond to requests typically in under five seconds, dramatically reducing wait times compared to traditional help centre searches or seeking answers on external websites.
“The Meta AI support assistant is a major step in our work to deliver stronger support on our apps. In fact, among people who have provided feedback, the majority report a positive experience with the Meta AI support assistant. It’s rolling out now in all languages supported by Facebook and Instagram for support topics.
“We’re continuing to invest in AI- powered tools to make support more accessible, reliable, and effective — and we’ll keep evolving the Meta AI support assistant as more people use it and as the technology advances, so it continues to improve over time,” the organisation disclosed.
Meta has also deployed AI to improve content enforcement to help users reduce the chance that scammers trick people into giving away their login details, ultimately finding and mitigating 5,000 scam attempts per day that no existing review team had caught before.
Meta said over the next few years, it would be deploying these more advanced AI systems across its apps once they consistently perform better than its current methods of content enforcement, transforming its approach.
“As we do this, we’ll reduce our reliance on third-party vendors for content enforcement and focus on strengthening our internal systems and workforce.
“While we’ll still have people who review content, these systems will be able to take on work that’s better-suited to technology, like repetitive reviews of graphic content or areas where adversarial actors are constantly changing their tactics, such as with illicit drug sales or scams,” it stated.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
As part of its commitment to celebrating and rewarding creativity, Facebook has updated its guidance, with clear definitions of what counts as original and unoriginal content.
In a message on Monday, the social media platform said it was offering content creators new tools to report impersonation.
Launched last year, the content protection tool is expanding beyond detecting reel matches across Meta platforms to now also flag potential impersonation.
Creators can take action on content theft and easily submit impersonation reports all in one place.
Facebook, in the statement received by Business Post, said creators can check for access to content protection in their professional dashboard or apply for access here.
The platform also disclosed that in 2025, it removed over 20 million accounts impersonating large content creators, and impersonation reports related to large content creators dropped by 33 per cent.
Further, Facebook is deprioritising unoriginal content by making sure they do not perform well on its platform.
It noted that content that is duplicated from other sources or makes low-value changes to someone else’s content may see significantly reduced reach, and accounts that primarily post unoriginal content may lose eligibility for recommendations and monetisation.
It was emphasised that “these changes provide creators who post original content with greater reach and monetisation opportunities, provide stronger protections for their work, and reduce the reach of unoriginal content.”
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