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ALAT By Wema wins Overall Best Mobile App in Nigerian Fintech Awards

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ALAT By Wema, the first fully digitalized bank in Nigeria, has been named the Overall Best Mobile App in the Nigerian FinTech Awards 2022, beating the other FinTech apps nominated alongside it in the category in the platform’s shortlist. The announcement was made at the award ceremony in Lagos, on Friday 4 November 2022.

In its 10th year, the Nigerian Fintech Awards was founded by Fintech Africa, one of Africa’s oldest and most influential publications on financial technology to honour excellence in product designs and service delivery in financial technologies. The Overall Best Mobile App, won by ALAT By Wema, according to the organizers, is in recognition of the digital bank’s contribution to the Fintech world.

ALAT By Wema, the first fully digital bank in Nigeria, was launched in May 2017 by Wema Bank Plc, the country’s oldest indigenous commercial bank, to drive transformation and redefine experiential banking in the Nigeria’s banking sector.

In its first year, ALAT by Wema gained over 250,000 customers who were responsible for the well over NGN 1.6 billion ($4.48m) deposits. In 2018, the bank closed in the N1 billion ($2.78m) mark in terms of deposits into savings accounts.

Olusegun Adeniyi, Chief Digital Officer, Wema Bank expressed his joy at the award, saying that the honour is only the icing on the cake of transformation that ALAT By Wema has brought to the banking industry in Nigeria.

“We are delighted at being named as the Overall Best Mobile App by the august platform, which is dedicated to honoring excellence in financial technologies and services companies and products. The award is complimentary to the excitement that the multi-award-winning app has brought to its numerous individual and corporate subscribers.”

He informed that ALAT By Wema, which matches customers’ lifestyles, is helping its subscribers save more with access to exclusive group and personal savings, free debit cards, and up to four percent annual interest in savings.

Adeniyi said that since its launch in May 2017, ALAT By Wema, the branchless and paperless bank has reduced the stress of having to walk into a branch to open an account by providing a seamless sign-up process using a mobile phone, PC or tablet. The ALAT By Wema app, unlike other banking apps, provides all the banking services the customer could ask for.

“All banking apps only offer some banking services, typically airtime purchases, bill payments and transfers. For example, even with a banking app, customers usually still need to go to a physical bank to get a debit card and activate it, submit documents and often, get some kinds of customer support. This is not the case with ALAT, which was built from scratch to be entirely digital, making all banking services available to the customers anywhere they can access the internet.”

 


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ARCON to Crackdown on AI-Generated Fake Ads

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Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has issued a stern warning to marketers, content creators, and social media influencers amid an alarming rise in fraudulent, AI-generated advertisements circulating across digital platforms.

ARCON to Crackdown on AI-Generated Fake Ads

Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, director-general, ARCON, during a press briefing at its Lagos headquarters, decried the “porous” state of Nigeria’s online ad ecosystem and pledged to prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law.

Dr. Fadolapo opened the media parley by highlighting how easily unscrupulous operators deploy artificial intelligence tools to produce convincing—but entirely fabricated—advertisements.

“Our social media space has become so porous that people now freely post fake adverts, some of which claim outrageous and bogus benefits,” he remarked.

According to the Director-General, these deceptive campaigns often promise “miraculous cures” or “guaranteed returns” without any credible data or verifiable sources to back them.

Among the most alarming examples cited was an herbal remedy advertisement alleging to cure over 200 ailments—ranging from HIV to cancer—through a single “miracle” concoction.

“Imagine an advert claiming that a single herbal drug could cure HIV, cancer, and more than 200 other diseases,” Dr. Fadolapo said.

ARCON’s DG emphasized that such misleading advertisements not only jeopardize public health—by luring vulnerable individuals into purchasing untested or harmful products—but also undermine consumer confidence in legitimate businesses operating within advertising guidelines.

Dr. Fadolapo pointed to the regulatory vacuum that allows bad actors to exploit the anonymity of social media.

Unlike traditional broadcast or print media—where advertisements must pass through editorial or legal vetting—online platforms can be manipulated with minimal oversight.

Creating an ad using AI-powered design and voice generators, he warned, takes only minutes, making it difficult for regulators to identify the original perpetrators.

“The CBEX case is a painful reminder of what can happen when digital platforms are left unchecked,” Dr. Fadolapo said, explaining that the scheme purportedly defrauded unsuspecting Nigerians of nearly $2 trillion through slick, unregulated social media promotions.

He described how the CBEX promoters used AI-generated video testimonials, falsified financial statements, and cloned websites to entice victims with promises of triple-digit returns on cryptocurrency trades.


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Microsoft Sacks 300 Staff as Job Cut Hits 6,300

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Microsoft has laid off over 300 employees as part of a fresh round of job cuts.

Microsoft Sacks 300 Staff as Job Cut Hits 6,300

The latest layoffs, disclosed through a notice filed in Washington state, affected several hundred positions across various departments.

However, the tech company did not specify which units were impacted, the publication said.

Citing a notice, the report said a spokesperson for Microsoft described the move as a “recalibration” in response to shifting business priorities and a fast-changing tech landscape.

“We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” the spokesperson said.


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FG, UNICEF Partner to Train 20m Youths on Digital Skills

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Vice President Kashim Shettima on Tuesday, said the Federal Government has renewed its strategic partnership with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to train and empower 20 million young Nigerians with digital skills by 2030.

This is just as the Vice President has accepted to chair the board of Generation Unlimited Nigeria (GenU 9JA), a public-private-youth partnership platform constituted to help young Nigerians between the ages of 10 and 24 transition from learning to earning through digital connectivity.

Shettima, while speaking during a meeting with Mohammed Fall, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator; Rownak Khan, UNICEF Deputy Representative and Celine Lafoucriere, Chief of the UNICEF Lagos Field Office, at the President Villa, Abuja, warned that Nigeria’s rapidly growing population, currently estimated at over 230 million with an average age of 17, presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

Shettima described his invitation to serve as Chair of the Generation Unlimited (GenU 9JA), as a great honour, adding that ” This platform provides a vista of opportunities for our young people. Beyond rhetoric, if we want to survive and thrive, we must empower our youth through digital means. That’s the only way forward,” the Vice President said.

The GenU 9JA initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritises inclusive development, digital innovation, and youth empowerment as tools for national transformation.

Shettima stressed that Nigeria is not seeking handouts but sustainable, equitable partnerships. “We are not looking for charity. We want a mutually beneficial relationship—one based on respect and shared interests. This is why I’m very passionate about the digital initiative. Beyond leadership in our enlightened self-interest, if we want to live in this part of the world, we have to involve them, we have to empower them,” he said.

He described the initiative as a beautiful programme that would enable the Nigerian youths trade their skills in the global market, saying “from earning to learning is a beautiful initiative and more than any other platform, the digital space gives us the easiest window to get the youth engaged effortlessly.

“They can trade their skills in the global market. I know of a lot of young Nigerians who are working for global firms from the comfort of their homes,” he added.

Fall had in his remarks earlier, praised Nigeria’s leadership under President Bola Tinubu, noting that the GenU platform is central to addressing youth unemployment, educational inequality, and digital exclusion.

“Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, youth-focused initiatives—skills, digital access, and employment—are critical. And GenU is helping to drive those priorities,” Fall said.

Also, Khan, in his remarks, revealed that the GenU 9JA is one of UNICEF’s most successful global youth empowerment programmes, with Nigeria showcased as a model.

“We’ve seen incredible results from Nigeria. Few countries globally have recorded the level of youth impact that GenU 9JA has achieved,” she said.

According to Khan, the programme is built on three pillars: digital connectivity, pathways from learning to earning, and youth engagement and empowerment—all designed to prepare Nigerian youth for today’s job market.

On her part, Celine Lafoucriere, noted that since its launch in 2022, GenU 9JA has impacted over 10 million young people, with 1,500 job linkages already secured.

“To reach our target of 20 million youth by 2030, we must now strengthen coordination among partners and align even more closely with national policy,” Lafoucriere said.

 


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