Lessons from Okada ban

Friday, 20 May 2022

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The Lagos government is back at it, banning motorcycles from major routes. But it seems like the governor learnt his lesson from the last time.

After the governor banned all motorcycles including delivery companies that have become a strong niche in the tech space, Lagos lost the race to become Africa's tech hub leaving Cape Town with the first position even as the state, houses major unicorns on the continent.

This time around, the Lagos state government specifically said that delivery riders are allowed to operate.

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

Summary of the news

“Delivery Bikes, Power Bikes will not be affected by total ban in Lagos”- Police Commissioner
A new report shows that older people using TikTok defy ageist stereotypes
Google and Amazon are facing shareholders' revolt over an Israeli defence project they are working on
Tether has lost nearly $10 billion in market capitalization this month

“Delivery Bikes, Power Bikes will not be affected by total ban in Lagos”- Police Commissioner

The Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Abiodun Alabi has indicated that the new total ‘okada’ ban order in 6 major local government areas by the state government will not affect delivery bikes, private power bikes as well as bikes with officers in uniform, Technext reports. He said this in an interview with Channels Television yesterday.

According to Mr Alabi delivery bikes will not be harassed by police officers in the state during the period of enforcement, as long as the delivery bikes are not carrying a passenger. Also, power bikes used by private owners will not be affected. He also indicated that military and police officers will not be affected as long as they are wearing their uniforms while riding the bikes.

Yesterday, Lagosians were thrown into a frenzy mood after the sudden announcement of the Lagos State government directing okada riders to exit 6 Local Government Areas of the state. The six local government areas include Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Surulere, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, and Apapa.

The directive takes effect immediately starting from June 1st.

Older people using TikTok to defy ageist stereotypes, research finds

Older TikTok users are using the online platform, regarded as the virtual playground of teenagers, to defy ageist stereotypes of elderly people as technophobic and frail.

Research has found increasing numbers of accounts belonging to users aged 60 and older with millions of followers, the Guardian UK reports. Using the platform to showcase their energy and vibrancy, these TikTok elders are rewriting expectations around how older people should behave both on and off social media.

“These TikTok elders have become successful content creators in a powerful counter-cultural phenomenon in which older persons actually contest the stereotypes of old age by embracing or even celebrating their aged status,” said Dr Reuben Ng, the author of the paper Not Too Old for TikTok: How Older Adults are Reframing Ageing, and an assistant professor at Yale University.

Interestingly, said Ng, most TikTok elders are women who “fiercely resist common stereotypes of older women as passive, mild-mannered and weak, instead opting to present themselves as fierce or even foul-mouthed,” he said.

Google and Amazon are facing shareholders' revolt over an Israeli defence project they are working on

Goole and Amazon are both set to help build “Project Nimbus,” a mammoth new cloud computing project for the Israeli government and military that is spurring intense dissent among employees and the public alike, The Intercept reports.

Shareholders of both firms will soon vote on resolutions that would mandate reconsideration of a project they fear has grave human rights consequences.

Little is known of the plan, reportedly worth over $1 billion, beyond the fact that it would consolidate the Israeli government’s public sector cloud computing needs onto servers housed within the country’s borders and subject solely to Israeli law, rather than remote data centers distributed around the world.

Part of the plan’s promise is that it would insulate Israel’s computing needs from threats of international boycotts, sanctions, or other political pressures stemming from the ongoing military occupation of Palestine; according to a Times of Israel report, the terms of the Project Nimbus contract prohibit both companies from shutting off service to the government, or from selectively excluding certain government offices from using the new domestic cloud.

Tether loses nearly $10 billion in market capitalization in May

Tether (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin, saw its total supply fall sharply this month by $9.11 billion as more investors traded the token in for dollars. This is as a result of investors’ worries about Tether’s backing as the stablecoin has lost its peg twice in the last week, Nairametrics reports.

The concerns about the backings of stablecoins, in general, come as a result of the crash in UST, the failed native programmable stablecoin of the Terra blockchain which now trades below 10 cents as of the time of this writing. This was caused by a bank run by investors who reacted to the drop in the general price of the crypto assets backing the stablecoin, including Bitcoin.

USDT has in the past, had its backing questioned, especially last year when Bloomberg released an article titled, “Where is Tether’s Billions?” Due to the fall of UST that is causing a panic in the market, the token is under extreme selling pressure from the ongoing market crash.