It’s been exactly 7 weeks since The Punch Newspaper launched their mobile service called Mobile Punch, a service that provides media consumers access to the full text of the newspaper on their mobile phones which is available to mobile phone subscribers on the three major GSM networks – MTN, Glo and Zain.

When we heard the news, we were excited but it was disappointing to learn that the service was for a fee. The service which was launched on March 16, was to be accessed with a subscription fee of N600 monthly, that is, N20 daily, payable by cash, ATM or Visa cards. In April, Punch announced a slight adjustment in the subscription fee for Mobile Punch which now cost N1,500 per month.

I’m guessing your reaction: Absolutely ludicrous, right? That’s how some of the comments sounded on the Punch article that announced the new price.

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Note: Post has been updated

On Saturday, April 25, 2009 in a quiet and friendly atmosphere at Tom Associates Training Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, a group of technology enthusiasts gathered in an event that appears to be the best technology event that has ever happened in the history of the Nigerian web industry.

BarCamp Nigeria was born out of the desire to build connections between technopreneurs and discuss the potentials, challenges and prospects of the Internet and its tools and technologies within the Nigerian technology community.

As participant and sponsor, StartupsNigeria.com gave the event a good coverage via Twitter, the fastest-growing microblogging platform, NaijaPulse, Nigeria’s microblogging service, Gatorpeeps, South Africa’s microblogging service by Afrigator, as well as Facebook, the world’s leading social networking site.

If truth be told, the event was a very unsuccessful one as it achieved its goals and set the precedent for future technology-related unconferences in Nigeria. The keynote addresses were delivered by Justin Hartman, MD and co-founder of Afrigator and Victoria N’dee Uwadoka, Events & PR Manager, Microsoft Nigeria (West Africa Region).

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In less than 24 hours from now, the first BarCamp in Nigeria will be held in Lagos, Nigeria. Since we announced BarCamp Nigeria last November, we’ve been very excited (but for the lack of updates some months ago) and as one of the sponsors of the event, we can’t wait for Saturday April 25th.

Just a quick reminder that BarCamp Nigeria will bring together technology enthusiasts, IT specialists and social media players from Nigeria and around the world together to exchange ideas, build connections, re-frame perceptions and catalyze action of realizing the potentials of Web 2.0 technology in Nigeria.

The event will be featuring two keynote speakers, namely, Justin Hartman, MD and co-founder of Afrigator and Victoria N’Dee Uwadoka, PR & Events Manager for Anglophone West Africa, Microsoft Nigeria.

BarCamp Nigeria will also be having a link up session during the event with Africa Gathering scheduled to hold in London on April 25. Africa Gathering is a day for thinkers, supporters, sponsors, doers, geeks, dreamers - and everybody else to come and share, promote, highlight, progress and evolve issues related to ICT, social networking and technology in Africa and coincidentally, it will be taking place the same day as BarCamp Nigeria ‘09.

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If you’ve been using Sturvs to add content on the web that you find interesting, perhaps you will like RiRanWo! Although, the site doesn’t have a voting system like Sturvs, Digg and Reddit and other social media bookmarking sites, it looks promising with great social networking features.

Note: Post has been updated

What is RiRanWo!?

RiRanWo! (pronounced Ree-Ron-Wo), is a new social media website dedicated to collecting, distributing and promoting the best Nigerian content online including Blogs, News, Videos, Music, Photos from the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog.

RiRanWo! has been built around the idea that the Internet can be more useful and maybe fun for Nigerians. But how useful is the site? RiRanWo! lets you share and store web resources just like you can StumbleUpon web contents and save them or Sturv a Nigerian news content.

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In early 2006, there were several reports on the web that Google selected Abuja, Nigeria as one of about seven African cities the company will fully connect with a wireless network. [Note: There was no Google official statement to confirm this].

Although, Google may have proposed to create a citywide Wi-Fi network for San Francisco, I’m wondering when Google’s interest in Africa meant that Abuja city had been earmarked for a wireless connection.

ThisDay reported:

Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stated that world renowned Internet search technology giant, Google, has selected Abuja as one of about seven African cities to be fully connected with wireless network.

Where did she state this?

Engadget reported:

According to reports, Google plans to bring wireless internet access to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, along with six other African cities. The deal was announced by Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who said that it was confirmed in a meeting she had with CEO Eric Schmidt.

Where is the official report?

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