Mobile Phones: transferring “E-Money” to anyone with a mobile phone and paying for call time on mobile phones. By the end of 2008, half of Kenya’s population had mobile phones. By the end of 2009, over one-fifth of the population had mobile phone e-money accounts
How the system works
Mobile money transfer services are accessed via an application installed on the user's SIM card.The user can create a free account and deposit money into it for free with registered agents at retail outlets. They may be gas stations, supermarkets, banks or micro-finance providers or small and medium-sized businesses. No minimum account balance is required.
The user can then transfer up to $440 from the account to someone else — including someone who doesn't have a cellphone. The recipient provides identification and picks up the cash from another registered agent.
Users can deposit and withdraw cash, pay water and electricity bills, pay their children's school fees, get paid by their employers or buy extra airtime for their phone.
Not even agents themselves need a computer or internet service — they can record the customer's transactions on their own mobile phones.
Deposits are typically free, but a fee of about 30 cents to $5 is charged for most other transactions.
Voting: The
recent electronic voter registration
was the first big step towards technology-driven elections. The management of this system seems good as one cannot register twice, and the data is stored safely,as fingerprints were electronically taken, and moments later, a Webcam snapshot. Its faster, accurate and convenient as you can back up data in case of any mishap. It also minimises room for mistakes.
Geographic Information System (GIS):
The system makes reliable data on the country’s ICT networks and infrastructure available for the first time, at the click of a mouse, promising to greatly facilitate the design of models for universal service provision, as well as the monitoring of related targets.
It can present information on landline and mobile phone services, postal and broadcasting networks in various formats, including maps, tables, and graphs, and “will provide local researchers and all investors with fast and timely information from a central location.
Quality of Service Monitoring System:
This is about
monitor the quality of Kenya’s mobile phone services. Variables such as sound quality, signal strength, data-transfer speeds, and system congestion can all be tracked, with a view to improving service in the rapidly expanding sector. T
he the new Quality of Service Monitoring System will “enhance consumer protection.
Nigeria
IT usage in Nigeria cuts across the major sectors of the economy: The use of computers in manufacturing - with the exception of certain high-technology process industries in which the process computer is essentially a part of the process machinery (e.g. petroleum refining and the steel mill) - is only a recent phenomenon.In fact, computerization has been most widespread in the area of financial management, including payroll, accounts, general ledger, sales, and invoicing. More than 80 per cent of computer installations are used in this way. There are also many instances of companies that have not installed computers but have their accounts and payroll batch-processed on a bureau computer owned by a vendor or an agency.
The banking and financial industry, computerization is still limited to ledgers: Communication, and current account management There are no automated telling machines, nor are multi-branching facilities available. However, the service to the customer is improving in many respects, including "quick service" cash counters, and prompt and regular monthly statements of account. In general, the thrust of computerization in banks is in the direction of more automation and networking, but the rate of progress is limited by the ineffective telecommunications infrastructure in the country. Other service industries, such as advertising, also use IT mainly for word processing and accounting functions
The communications field: The Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the national carrier, is heavily computerized, with a huge installed capacity including mainframes, minis, and micros. The machines are used for administrative purposes and for the management of the telephone network. At present, they function on a stand-alone basis, but it is known that NITEL is interested in interconnecting these machines in both local and wide area networks for greater efficiency and increased flexibility. The National Television Authority (NTA) is computerized, and so are the leading telecommunications outfits represented in Nigeria. However, the postal agencies are yet to adopt the use of IT in sorting mails.
Government departments are rapidly computerizing: As many as 13 federal ministries have computers; the Ministry of Defence alone has 9 installations. The Ministry of Works operates a computerized maintenance system. The Federal Office of Statistics, the national body responsible for the gathering and compilation of statistical data ranging from trade statistics to commodity prices and population data, is fully computerized. In almost all the 25 federal universities there are well-staffed computing centres equipped with time-shared multi-user mainframe computers used for teaching and research. In addition, several departments and faculties have their own computer facilities, consisting mainly of micros. Many university computing centres also provide computer services for the administrative departments, such as the bursary, the registry, and the library.
Overall: IT usage in Nigeria is widespread but the depth is very shallow. The reasons for these, which are similar to those in other developing countries, include: very low literacy level; extremely low density of telecommunications facilities and services; underdeveloped computing infrastructures and culture; government regulations; corruption in both public and private organizations; and lack of a coordinated national IT policy
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