Happy new month guys.
We begin this month’s The Big 5 daily with the signing of a social media regulating bill in Egypt.
After their parliament approved a new law regulating social media in July, Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has ratified a law granting authorities the right to monitor social media users in the country.
The law will empower state’s Supreme Council for Media Regulations to place people with more than 5,000 followers — on social media or with a personal blog or website — under supervision.
According to the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression in Egypt, more than 500 websites have been blocked in Egypt prior to the new law.
Meanwhile in Nigeria, former communication Minister, Omobola Johnson has joined the Web Foundation’s Board of Directors. She will use her knowledge of technology policy and life-long commitment to provide strategic policy guidance to the foundation.
Omobola served as Nigeria’s Minister of Communication from 2011 to 2015 where she developed the country’s ambitious 2013-2018 National Broadband Plan, and directed substantial efforts to bring down the cost of internet access in Nigeria.
Also, the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) together with National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), are planning to launch a Digital Addressing System (DAS) and two other products named NIPOST Address Verification System Visit Verify and NIPOST E-commerce API.
The new innovative product will avail digital verifiable addresses to all Nigerians and legal residents, and help organisations ascertain the authenticity of the addresses provided by residents. This is a step forward in the right direction when discussing documentation.
More great news, the season 5 winners of the Avic International Africa Challenge have landed an export contract worth Sh10 million to China.
The 3 winners, Masinga Technical College’s William Mutuku, Kennedy Keptoo from Technical University of Kenya and Jonathan Kiplagat of Rift Valley Technical College claimed numerous cash prizes and scholarships.
Rounding it up, CoinPesa, an Ugandan digital currency has launched its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) pre-sale, with the aim of encouraging more Ugandans to familiarise themselves with and adopt cryptocurrencies.
And that is all for the The Big 5 Daily today.
Have a great week, and take it easy…
See you tomorrow.