Atiku says INEC rigged the election with software

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Editor’s Note

Week 12, 2023
Read time: 5 minutes

Amidst the drama following its recently held national and state elections, Nigeria is gearing up for a digital census. Across the continent, Kenya deals with national protests,and court disputes with Meta. Many more interesting stories abound in this edition of TC Weekender. Read on and share widely.

Enjoy!

Pamela Tetteh Editor, TechCabal.

Editor’s Picks

<img decoding="async" style="width: 100%; height: auto;" loading="lazy" src="https://bucket.mlcdn.com/a/3145/3145054/images/e88d52aad132440b5771de8c4fa430287a192913.webp"	Sama can’t fire its 260 content moderators Meta and Sama are in a firing drama in Kenya’s Employment and Labour Relations Court. The court has barred Meta and its Kenyan content moderation partner Sama from firing its 260 content moderators. Also, Meta can’t hire a new content moderation firm until the legality of Sama’s layoffs is determined on March 28th. <a href="https://techcabal.com/2023/03/23/court-stops-meta-sama/" style="color: #F23204; font-weight: 700;" Learn more.
	Kenyan protesters to boycott Safaricom The protest flames in Kenya are still burning hot! Raila Odinga, who ran for president against William Ruto, has urged demonstrators not to use Safaricom, KCB bank, or Radio Africa products or services. Learn more.
	Opera ups its OPay support Opera’s singing a pricey tune! The famous web browser has raised its stake in OPay from 6.4% to 9.5%. However, they are looking to cash out faster than a cheetah chasing its prey! This follows the conclusion of the 2022 sale of Nanobank for $127 million. Learn more.
	SA to audit fairness in media South Africa is auditing the distribution of media content on digital platforms. Apparently, existing platforms are discouraging fair competition, which could have some serious consequences for the news media sector. Learn more.
	Atiku accuses INEC of rigging Nigeria’s presidential elections are still stirring up some drama! One of the candidates, Atiku Abubakar has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of using a third-party software called Device Management System to rig the election. Learn more.
	54gene cuts 25% of its lean staff Nigerian genomic company 54gene has given the boot to about 10 employees. As a result, they’re now operating with less than 30 people across all their functions. This seems to be part of the company’s new leadership’s plans to streamline its operations. Learn more.

Event: TechCabal At 10

Have you been attending the Twitter Spaces we’ve been holding to celebrate our 10th-year anniversary? The last one is on March 30.

The role of the media in covering African tech: How can the media help Africa’s developing tech ecosystem? What responsibility does the media owe the ecosystem, and what can the media expect in return? Should the media only cover good stories? Register here.

<img decoding="async" style="width: 100%; height: auto;" loading="lazy" src="https://x7d4c5z5.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/tc/2023/03/AWS-Africa-Fintech-Accelerator.png"	Amazon’s fintech accelerator Amazon wants to make it rain on the fintech scene. The cloud computing division of the company, Amazon Web Services (AWS), has launched an accelerator to help financial technology companies in Africa. Learn more.
	Kenya says no to protest coverage Kenya’s got a bone to pick with the press! The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) instructed six media outlets not to report on the country’s protests. Does it have the right to do this? Learn more.
	Nigeria’s plan for NIBSS The Central Bank of Nigeria wants the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS) to design and maintain the data registry for its Open Banking program. However, banking experts opine that it will no longer be open banking if there is a central middleman, especially not NIBBS. Learn more.
	Nigeria’s first digital census Nigeria is gearing up for its first digital census in 17 years. The census was shifted from March 29 to May 2023, but it’s not to brush up on counting skills. The census will be done digitally with technology costing over ₦85 billion ($184 million). Read more.

Who brought the money this week?

This week, Credable, a pan-African-based fintech company, raised $2.5 million in a seed round. The round was led by The Continent Venture Partners (TCVP). Other investors included Lauch Africa, MAGIC Fund, ACASIA Ventures, AAIC Investment, Aadverse Emurgo Africa, and other investors.
Rwazi, a market intelligence startup, has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Bonfire Ventures to double down on its penetration into emerging markets like Africa.
Egyptian SaaS company Flapkap raised $1.2 million in an undisclosed funding round. The round was led by A15, the leading MENA venture capital firm and one of the most prominent investors of early-stage start-ups in the region.