Nation
Reps Halt Planned Withdrawal Of USSD Services To Financial Institutions
The House of Representatives has urged telecommunication operators to halt the planned withdrawal of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services to financial institutions in the country.
This was sequel to the adoption of a motion by Rep. Nicholas Ossai (PDP-Delta) at plenary yesterday.
Moving the motion, Ossai said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the Cashless Policy in a bid to realise its statutory mandate of promoting monetary stability and sound financial system in Nigeria.
He said that one of the innovations introduced with the policy was USSD services used by Global System for Mobile Communication Technology to communicate with service providers’ computers via text messages.
He explained that it was to check account balance or mobile airtime, generate bank statement or do fund transfer and data balance enquiries or to receive one-time passwords or pin codes.
“The USSD service which is controlled by Mobile Network Operators, is a critical infrastructure used to provide mobile financial services to banks and other financial institutions in cell phones at very low cost, without requiring access to the user’s SIM card.
“The USSD infrastructure service houses all the Nigeria telecommunications, MTN, Glo, Airtel & 9Mobile and internet service providers.
“The USSD made it possible for millions of Nigerians who do not have smart phones or data/internet connections to access banking and other financial services on a daily basis, especially during COVID-19 movement restrictions,” he said.
Ossai said that between January and June 2020, the value of USSD transfer payment in Nigeria was over N390 billion.
According to him, since October 2019 till date, there has been a dispute between telecoms operators and the Nigerian banks over who should pay for USSD service sessions.
Ossai said that the banks had always wanted the telecommunication operators to charge customers directly while operators insisted that the services were being offered to the banks and they should pay.
“The dispute has lingered for a long time to the extent that parties have been finger-pointing each other, all efforts at resolving the dispute proved abortive and the debt kept increasing until it is presently N42 billion.
“The telecom operators have issued a notice, threatening to withdraw and suspend the USSD service from the Nigerian banks starting from Monday, March 15, 2021.
“If the USSD service is withdrawn, Nigerian telecommunication users will fall back and continue with their old traditional modes,” he said.
The house mandated its Committee on Telecommunications to liaise with Telecommunications Operators, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Banks and other financial institutions with a view to resolving the impasse.
Speaker of the House Femi Gbajabiamila mandated the committee to report back within six weeks for further legislative action.
By: Canice Amadi, Enugu
The Alliance Française Port Harcourt in conjunction with the Embassy of France Nigeria over the weekend joined the globe to campaign against the 2025 gender- based violence (GBV) with the theme: “16 Days of Activism Against Gender- Based Voice”
The event which took place at the event Hall of the Alliance Française Port Harcourt was in collaboration with the Female in Gaming Network, ( FIGN) and partnership with Nexal a body that seeks to promote online safety and responsible digital behaviour.
The Tide reports that the project which was aimed at promoting digital safety and girls inclusion in Gaming, with the initiative tagged ‘Gameover Gender- Base Violence’was part of the global campaign against gender- based Violence.
The activity which experienced a flavour of festivity was full of fun and excitements as participants took part in tournaments on popular digital games such as Mario kart and EAFC 25, with an intent to creating safer and more inclusive digital spaces.
The Director of the Alliance Française Port Harcourt, Mrs Marina Lacal said that these activities were designed to encourage inclusion of girls, team work and fair play on online gaming spaces, saying that the gaming world reflects these inequalities, where female players are often under represented.
According to her the main objectives of the initiative was to provide a supportive environment for girls and female in gaming network.
“GameOverGBV” is a project created to reshape this landscape by offering an innovative inclusiveness of girls on online digital Gaming community and digital environments that provide opportunities for creativity, learning and connection, but also fight against Gender-Based Violence Digital Gaming,”she said
She however, explained that the Digital Game, sport competitions, was launched to strengthen social and digital skills through games, workshops, and raise awareness among all young participants about respect, equality and digital citizenship.
The Tide News reports that in Port Harcourt, the competition brought together 100 young participants from three major universities: University of Port Harcourt, ( UNIPORT),Ignatius Ajuru University of Education(IAUE) and Rivers State University (RSU)as well as students from four selected secondary schools, Oginigba comprehensive Secondary.School, Vine lnternational, Virgo predicanda lnternational, and Excellent Montessori Secondary school.
“This is an approach where girls and boys can learn, play and collaborate in a more respectful and safe space for young women, while ensuring a safe, enjoyable and respectful digital environment. It also expose young women to cyberbullying, exclusion, sexist comments and online hate,” Mrs. Lacal said.
Earlier, a game developer Sophia Nei and her. team had engaged participants in an interactive session with the theme: “Can Video Games Be Safe Spaces For Girls?”
However, Mrs Nei and her team educated the girls on the benefits and violence on online digital gaming and urged them ( participants)to learn to say ‘No’ to Online hate, sexist and cyber bullying, while encouraging them(students) to stand up for themselves by reporting such issues to the appropriate authority.
Highlight of the competition was the awarding of prizes to winners by the Director of Alliance Française, Mrs Marina Lacal.
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