ABU Convocation Series: Technological Impacts and Opportunities III

ABU Convocation Series: Technological Impacts and Opportunities III

As reported in the second part of this article, NAPRI successfully bred an indigenous chicken of Layers and meat-type called Shika-Brown. The chicken is known for its versatility and highly adaptable to the Nigerian tropical environment. Shikabrown® is duly patented after passing all kind of performance measurements with flying color. The chicken is hardy and resistant to many diseases hence less investment in drug is required and it was tested to give a very good performance in all the ecological zones of the country. One Shikabrown® can lay an average of 278 eggs in 52 weeks of egg laying after 20 weeks of brooding. Egg production can reach 50 % at the age of 24 weeks, which means within four weeks of starting of egg lying, the chickens can feed themselves from the proceeds of eggs selling.

Another area of great importance to Nigeria, which NAPRI pursued vigorously for over two decades, is the Artificial Insemination (AI) of cattle.  AI is a sound strategy for addressing the low animal productivity in form of beef and milk, which still comes from the traditional sector. First, NAPRI through series of studies identified the major production constraints of the indigenous livestock system and brought AI as a sustainable solution for increased animal productivity through cross breeding. Artificial insemination is the most important single technique ever devised for the genetic improvement of animals. It is a technique of depositing semen into the cows' reproductive tract with an inseminating rod.

AI is a powerful biotechnological tool that involves semen collection, evaluation, processing and preservation for future use. The preserved semen can then be introduced into the genitalia of estrus females by use of special equipment to get such females pregnant without having any physical contact with the males. It is the most important and practicable single technique ever devised for the rapid genetic improvement of livestock. A few highly selected males produce enough spermatozoa that can be used to inseminate millions of females. The technology allows maximizing the use of genetically proven sires. The AI technology has been developed for ruminants, dogs, pigs and avian particularly turkey. 

NAPRI is reputed to be the first government agency, which enthusiastically researched and promoted AI in the whole of West African sub-region.  Historically, the first trial of AI in Nigeria was carried out in NVRI, Vom in 1943 using chilled locally processed semen and imported semen from UK.  In 1950, semen was imported from UK for AI in Kano State for crossbreeding of Bunaji cattle. In 1976, NAPRI established the AI Unit, with the sole responsibility of co-ordination of AI activities on a nationwide basis. Since then, many states, organizations and individuals have been showing keen interest in crossbreeding activities. The advantages of AI for livestock improvement are numerous. There is rapid genetic improvement or up grading of indigenous cows through crossbreeding with exotic breeds to give more milk and meat production. This can change the gene pool of the national herds with more meat and more milk in multiple folds. Another advantage; a collection of single ejaculation from a male can be extended or diluted to inseminate thousands of females with each having 99% probability of one or multiple births of calves. With AI, a farmer needs not to keep sires (male-cow) as the semen can be collected and preserved for use to other females over a long period, which reduces management cost such as feeding, housing and labor. Money saved from the reduced management cost and sales of male - cows can be used to buy extra cows. There is effective control of transmissible diseases (venereal diseases) through AI program. In addition to these advantages, the crossbreeding of indigenous and exotic breeds is a significant that can be achieved using AI. To date, NAPRI has successfully trained over 1,450 inseminators nationwide and over 20,000 inseminations were similarly conducted.

The third Institute under the purview of ABU is the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS).  NAERLS was initially named "Research Liaison Services” and then became “Extension Research Liaison Section (ERLS)” in 1963 within IAR before it finally became an autonomous Institute in 1987. It was then under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST). Thus, the Institute was given a national mandate, which transformed it to National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) leading to the establishment of five zonal offices with each in the five Agro-ecological zones. This was done in recognition of the then AERLS contribution to the successful extension support services in the Northern States of Nigeria, Presently, NAERLS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), while its staff are provided by Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. This makes NAERLS to be one among few research centres with two supervisory bodies; FMARD and ABU. Surprisingly and pleasantly, similar to other two ABU Institutes (IAR and NAPRI), there is no conflict of interests and the two bodies (FMARD and ABU) are synergizing, complementing and achieving their goals through NAERLS activities. While FMARD is strengthening agricultural extension service delivery nationwide, ABU uses both the human resources and infrastructure for teaching, learning and community services. These tasks are accomplished because of the mission and mandates of NAERLS from 1987 to date. Cataloguing the breakthroughs recorded by NAERLS since inception is beyond the scope of this column. However, few of the significant feats have to be mentioned.  NAERLS engages in print and electronic media productions and distribution of agricultural extension materials. Electronically, NAERLS has produced and & aired 30,876 radio broadcasts in Hausa, lgbo, Yoruba, English, Pidgin English, Kanuri, Efik, Nupe languages respectively. Similarly, it has produced and aired 11,530 TV broadcasts in Hausa, lgbo, Yoruba, English, Pidgin English languages. On print media, NAERLS has Published 986 Extension publications of different titles as well as distributed 5,185,624 copies to the general public. In 2016 alone, NAERLS produced 14 titles of bulletins and distributed 840,000 copies in all the 36 states and FCT under WAAPP project while in 2017, 33,000 copies of Training Manuals containing 11 modules of titles were distributed to 30,000 trainees N-power (Agro) program of the Federal Government. This is in addition to the 3-week rigorous training conducted to the volunteers in all the LGAs in Nigeria.

The most significant achievement of NAERLS in the last two years is the development of National Farmers Helpline Centre (NFHC). NAERLS was able to transform the NFHC from of mere conception of idea to the present reality. The primary objective of NFHC is to provide real-time, relevant and proven information and advisory agricultural extension services to stakeholders in Nigerian agricultural industry. Such information and services can definitely facilitate decision-making of the agricultural value chain actors with likely outputs of tripling the national productivity of agricultural sector.  NFHC is a perfect solution to the dearth of extension personnel nationwide. Today, farmers in Nigeria are faced with gross inadequate extension services because of the comatose situation and dilapidated structure of the current states Agricultural Development Programs (ADPs). This is a major factor responsible for low agricultural productivity in the country. NFHC was conceived to address this issue and today, thanks to the support from FMARD and ABU, the centre was successfully completed. The Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh formally launched the operation of NFHC on Friday, 19th January 2018. He also launched the e-conference facilities as one of the units of NAERLS e-Extension Department. The expectations from the centre are high and NAERLS has no option but to deliver. What is the modus operandi of the centre?

At the centre, the call agents receive calls from farmers, researchers, students and interested individuals on issues or problems in respect of their farming, marketing and processing as case may be. The call agents look for the answers to the queries received from callers by keying in the appropriate "catchy" words in the knowledge-based software, which promptly prop-ups the relevant answers from the content. The call agents answer the queries or escalate them to the specialists outside the centre for appropriate answers. The content development of the knowledge-based is a top priority for the smooth operation of the centre. This is an on-going activity and can never be exhaustive. It is imperative that other relevant stakeholders should come forward to help in the content development to facilitate enrichment of the knowledge-based for effective extension service delivery in the country. (To be continued next week)

ABU Convocation Series: Technological Impacts and Opportunities II

ABU Convocation Series: Technological Impacts and Opportunities II

To best describe the uniqueness and standing of Ahmadu Bello University among the Nigerian universities, one couldn’t resist paraphrasing the statement of Sodiq Omolaoye, an ace writer in an online newspaper. He posited “Tragically, some universities around the world may have diverted from their core mandate(s), ABU, however, over the years has been pushing hard to achieve her core objective, which is aptly captured thus, 'To advance the frontiers of learning and break new grounds, through teaching, research and the dissemination of knowledge of the highest quality... In Nigeria today, and beyond, ABU has so far become a pacesetter, a trailblazer and frontrunner, which other institutions emulate in knowledge production and advancement. Recently, it was announced that a team of students from ABU won the 2017 Enactus National Championship and was also declared winner of the Lekoil Environmental Sustainability Challenge in the competition” He added “the team won the challenge through an innovative project tagged Baggega Hope Rising, which uses the water filtration process for separation of physical and chemical impurities, such as lead and other heavy metals from underground water sources'. Compensated for their victory, the team represented the country in the Enactus World Cup tournament held at the United Kingdom……”. What else to add? This is the true reflection of what ABU stands for in the education sector of Nigeria.

Back to the question presented in the first part of this article, what is the manpower contribution and technological breakthroughs of ABU in about five years of her existence?

On the manpower contribution to the nation and abroad, ABU being the largest university in Nigeria and in Black Africa and the most diverse, has Alumni strength estimated to be over 800,000. The Alumni cut across the entire nation, strata of the different societies in all the continents of the Earth. This figure may be a conservative estimate when considering about 130 Colleges of Educations affiliated to ABU. All the undergraduate students of the affiliated colleges are tutored using ABU syllabi under strict monitoring and supervision of the university and thus, are awarded ABU degrees after their successful completion.  Therefore, presenting the exact manpower contribution of ABU to the society is beyond the scope of this Column. However, significant milestones in this direction have to be mentioned.

ABU is an Alma Mater of many shakers, movers and highly influential members of the Society. Among the top ranking Political elective positions, ABU had one of the Nigerian Presidents in its Alumni, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua of blessed memory graduated from the university with BSc Chemistry and MSc Analytical Chemistry. Two former Vice Presidents; Alh Atiku Abubakar and Arc Namadi Sambo graduated with degrees in Law and Architecture, respectively. At the upper chamber of the National Assembly, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ABU has 34 Senators in the last ten years cutting across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. This means that ABU is fully represented at the upper chamber of the national Assembly with a sizeable percentage of the Nigerian Senators in her Alumni list. This is in addition to the several members of House of Representatives, States Assemblies, States Executive Councils and the Federal Executive Council. As at today, ABU is an Alma Mater of more than ten serving governors out of the 36 states governors in Nigeria. Their Excellences; Abdul Aziz Yari of Zamfara State, Alh Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State, Bar. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State, Mall Nasiru Ahmad el-Rufa’i of Kaduna State, Mr. Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Hon. Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State are among the serving governors who graduated from ABU. The university is also an Alma Mater to many first class traditional rulers; Shehu of Borno, HRH Abba Kyari Shehu Garbai, Emir of Katsina, HRH Abdulmumin Kabir Usman, Och. Of Idoma, HRH Agada Idu, Lamido of Adamawa, HRH Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu, Emir of Kano, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II and Chief of Lunguda, Wilfred K. Kimde are among the over 50 traditional rulers who passed through this excellent Citadel of learning in Zaria. Several influential personalities who graduated from ABU could be found in high-ranking positions of Military, Para-military, Civil service, Science and Technology, Business, Agriculture and other sectors of the economy.   

Nationally and internationally, the list of most influential personalities in the Alumni record of ABU is endless. If these personalities were to make a “pay-back” to the university, ABU would have been an Eldorado and would have made more positive impacts on all facets of human endeavors. Nevertheless, many milestones are recorded in the history of ABU.

In ABU, Nigeria has a window of opportunity to advance its developmental effort in all aspects of economic emancipation. This could be done through aggressive support of ABU’s breakthroughs in Agriculture, Pharmaceutical science, and engineering and computer science. Starting with Agriculture, ABU has made giant strides in the last four decades with tangible and outstanding results. The Agricultural Complex of the university recorded the feats. The Complex is composed of two faculties (Veterinary and Agriculture), three National Agricultural Institutes (NARIs) and the Division of Agricultural Colleges.  The Complex has about three thousand workforce with several professors of various disciplines of Agriculture, communication and engineering.

Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) is the oldest NARIs owned by ABU, established more than 90 years ago pre-dating the establishment of the university. IAR is mandated to genetically improve eleven agricultural commodities for Nigerian farmers. The Institute is concertedly   working to develop new or improve the quality of existing seeds for the eleven strategic crops in Nigerian Ecological zones. The ecological zones in Nigeria are extremely diverse with average annual rainfall of less than 700 mm for some areas and over 4000 mm for others. Despite the challenge pose by this diversity, ABU has been assiduously recording successes in the development of seeds for the nation and the West African sub region. The underneath of this feat is the caliber of the manpower possessed by the university. ABU has eminent professors charged with the responsibilities of breeding the seeds to achieve the mandates of IAR as a research Institute and for the University as a citadel of learning and community development centre. The efforts of the institute led to the development and released of many improved varieties of crops. The crops varieties were developed to meet the demands of different categories of producers, ranging from students, to farmers, industrialists and scientists. The mandate crops are Maize, Sorghum, Groundnut, Cowpea, Cotton, Sunflower, Castor, Jatropa and Artimesia, respectively.  A research team was assigned for each crop with clear mandate to improve the existing varieties against environmental constraints, prevalent pests and diseases known for the crops. On continuous basis, the research team consisting of Professors, Associate Professors, Senior Lecturers down to postgraduate students who harmoniously work together to achieve success.

Maize is one of the IAR mandate crops. It is the most stable food crops widely accepted by the Nigerian society and beyond. This is why over 30 commercially grown varieties were developed and released by IAR in the last ten years. All kind of maize varieties were developed, prominent among them are drought tolerance and early maturing varieties such as SAMMAZ 13, SAMMAZ 18, SAMMAZ 19, ZAMMAZ 21 and many others. Some of the good qualities of these early maturing varieties are tolerant to striga and hermonthica infestation; resistant to streak, low soil nitrogen tolerance and ability to mature from 60 days to 95 days depending on the particular variety. The other category of maize varieties developed by IAR was SAMMAZ 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24 and 25. These varieties have maturity period ranging from 100 to 120 days. They are high yielding varieties, striga resistance and adaptable to Nigerian Savanna, hermonthica prone zones. Their yields ranged from 5 to 8 tons per hectare compared with national average of 2 tons per hectare obtain by most maize farmers using traditional local seed varieties

NAPRI is the second NARIs and the only animal production research Institute in Nigeria. NAPRI successfully bred an indigenous chicken of Layers and meat-type called Shika-Brown. The chicken is known for its versatility and highly adaptable to the Nigerian tropical environment. Shikabrown® is duly patented after passing all kind of performance measurements with flying color. The chicken is hardy and resistant to many diseases hence less investment in drug is required and it was tested to give a very good performance in all the ecological zones of the country. One Shikabrown® can lay an average of 278 eggs in 52 weeks of egg laying after 20 weeks of brooding. Egg production can reach 50 % at the age of 24 weeks, which means within four weeks of starting of egg lying, the chickens can feed themselves from the proceeds of eggs selling (To be continued next week).  

ABU Convocation Series: Technological Impacts and Opportunities

ABU Convocation Series: Technological Impacts and Opportunities

Annually, university communities in most Anglophone countries look forward to the Convocation ceremony. Usually on this day, graduating students, lecturers, parents, other students and well- wishers gorgeously dress to charmingly look different from the usual working days. It is on this day; even the old professors who are not fussy about the expensiveness of their dresses have to ransack their wardrobes to fish out the most expensive suit or Agbada to mark the momentous occasion. The day is extraordinarily jubilated by all and sundry with smiles worn by everyone including the supposedly security personnel who should look stern and business-like at all times while on duty. This was the scenario played at the Convocation square of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in the morning of 25^th November 2017.  The graduands, their teachers, relatives, guardians/parents and the entire university and surrounding communities waved at the Convocation procession while thousands of handset-turned-cameras were used for capturing the historic moment. The senate members, Deans and Directors, Council members, Visiting VCs and Important dignitaries led the Convocation procession from the Senate Building to the famous Maman Kontagora Square, the venue of the event.  We were all elated and momentarily forgot our worries and challenges of life until the event was over and then back to stack reality.

ABU convocation ceremony, a supposedly university annual ritual is by no means a national affair, which makes stakeholders to reflect on the past and plan for a better future. From January 2016 to November 2017, ABU had conducted three consecutive Convocation ceremonies; 38^th, 39^th and 40^th convocations, respectively. In 2016 alone, two convocations were celebrated, the 38^th on 30^th January while the 39^th on 26^th November 2016. The 40^th convocation was observed on 25^th November 2017. During these convocations, a total of 41,338 students graduated with different categories of degrees (first and postgraduate degrees) from various academic programs of the university. Among this number, there were 850 PhDs (305 PhDs in 38^th, 289 PhDs in 39^th and 256 PhDs in 40^th) 188 first class and thousands second-class upper division graduands. The 40^th Convocation was the most memorable as it produced the most highly rated first class degree with CGPA of 4.93, a momentous feat that was only attained in the entire 55 – year history of the university. Al-Amin Bashir Bugaje from Katsina was the most coveted graduand who earned the highly graded CGPA of 4.93 from Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. He automatically won NNPC scholarship to read MSc and PhD in any university of his choice within or outside the country. Thanks to the auspicious presence of NNPC group Managing Director, Engr Maikanti Baru, himself, a first class graduate of Mechanical Engineering of ABU in the early 1980s.

Marking these convocations are certainly a giant achievement and unprecedented contribution of highly skilled manpower to national and international labor markets. ABU deserves loudest ovation for this unparalleled accomplishment! This marvelous achievement was attained notwithstanding the economic challenges facing the nation with education sector receiving the heaviest blow. The achievement is largely attributable to the leadership of the indefatigable Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Ibrahim Garba who is uncompromising in making students graduate as at when due.

First, Prof Garba added flavor to the convocation ceremony by changing the traditional way the convocation lecture was hitherto conducted and made it very attractive to the general public. At the 38^th Lecture series, he pulled the richest African, Alhaji Aliyu Dangote to the university to deliver special convocation lecture. When you say Dangote is a busy man, it is a gross understatement. Undoubtedly, every minute of Dangote’s time costs thousands of Naira and   yet, he was brought to ABU, made to spend more than 48 hours and deliver a very educative, thought-provoking and inspiring lecture to the general public. That singular act of bringing Dangote to ABU opened a window for Dangote to demonstrate his generosity. He denoted ten blocks of students’ hostel to accommodate over two thousand students at the ABU Phase II. As I am writing this piece, the hostel accommodation donated by Dangote is about 90% completed and may likely attract more generosity from this great man of Africa.

At the 39^th convocation lecture series, the VC brought yet another ever busy and famous Jelani Aliyu, as the speaker of the Convocation lecture. Jelani is the legendry Chevy Volt (American) designer of General Motors. That gathering assembled "who is who" in the nation automobile industry, technocrats, politicians and academia. At the 40^th convocation lecture series, Engr Dr. Maikanti Kachalla Baru was the guest speaker. Engr Baru is the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), an alumnus of the university who graduated with first class degree from Mechanical Engineering Department in the early 1980s.

A slight digression to briefly talk about ABU Phase II, let me mention that Dangote’s donation is parallel to the pledge made by General (Rtd) T. Y. Danjuma during the university’s fifty anniversary in 2013. He pledged to make infrastructural development worth N2 billion for the Faculty of Science at the site of ABU phase II. While the pledge is yet to materialize, five years after, all the ABU communities are looking up to the General to redeem his pledge. Yes, I am confident that the General would act his talk sooner than later. This is because T. Y. Danjuma is among the few most generous Generals; we are blessed with in this country. In addition, he is a complete gentleman whose positive impacts are felt nationwide. Perhaps, someone should whisper into the ears of the General as a reminder. We fervently thank you for a swift action, General.

Back to the convocation, Prof Garba’s achievement became possible because of the untiring efforts of the staff, students and the unflinching support from the surrounding communities. These factors provide a relatively perfect working environment, which raised the productivity of both university’s staff and students. It is certainly a difficult accomplishment considering the historical antecedent and relative size of ABU. The university has over 3,500 academic staff with around 600 Professors (if not more) of various disciplines in addition to more than 7,000 non-academic staff. Sometimes, the size makes it difficult to successfully govern ABU and achieve desire goal.

Historically, ABU Zaria is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria. It was established in 1962 by the Government of the then Northern Region of Nigeria to impart knowledge and learning to men and women of all races without distinction on the grounds of race, religious or political beliefs. The founding fathers expected the University to aspire to the highest international ideals of scholarship and to provide learning of a standard required and expected of a university of the highest standing while reflecting the needs, the traditions, and the social and intellectual heritage of the society in which it is located. The University was taken over by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1975 and has since then assumed a national mandate although its ties with the 19 states created out of the former Northern Region remain very strong.

In the over forty years of its existence, the ABU has grown to become the largest, and the most influential and diverse university in Nigeria. It consists over 100 Academic Departments, twelve Faculties, and twelve Research Institutes and Specialized Centres. The University offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in diverse fields of Agriculture, Public and Business Administration, Engineering, Environmental Design, Education, Biological and Physical Sciences, Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Humanities, Law and Social Sciences. The university has two campuses; Samaru and Kongo covering an estimated area of 7,000 hectares of land. Another unique feature of the University, as opposed to other Institutions of its type in Nigeria, is that it has both staff and students from all nooks and cranny of Nigeria, neighboring countries and few other countries across the continents. The university alumni cut across the social classes from former Nigerian President, Vice President, serving and former governors/Deputy governors of virtually all the 36 governors plus Federal Capital Territory, Abuja down to hundreds of local government councils nationwide. Presently, the university has 13 faculties; namely – Administration, Agriculture, Engineering, Medicine, Life Sciences, Arts, Social Sciences, Education, Law, Veterinary Medicine, Environmental Design, and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

What are the impacts of ABU’s accomplishments on the society? This is a difficult question to answer in a society like Nigeria where record keeping and retrieval are herculean task and sometimes impossible to accomplish. This Column focuses on the manpower contribution and technological breakthroughs in the last few decades.  (To be continued next week)    

Recognizing the Second Generation Inventors III

Recognizing the Second Generation Inventors III

Readers may recall that my article of 1^st December 2017 with caption “Recognizing the Second Generation Inventors II” ended with a question “How was the Facebook Invented?” This was after a brief introduction of Mark Zuckerberg as the inventor of “Facebook” when and how it became popular. As a Today, there is no doubt that Facebook became the bedrock of social media, which facilitates the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups. Similarly, Facebook allows the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Mark Zuckerberg, this globally unanimously accepted inventor of Facebook   made the giant breakthrough at the age of 19 in 2004. He started using Facebook with his college roommate and fellow Harvard University students for communication social interaction among themselves. The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was later expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and gradually reached out to most universities in the United States and Canada corporations.

As quickly as wildfire, Facebook became the fasted invention adopted and used by the World Population. According to Wikipedia, the users reached over a billion people by 2012. Facebook started as a computer program called Coursematch where students could list what classes they were taking. It was a tool, which the students were using to share whatever they wanted with other people around them. That was how the first version of Facebook was invented. At the beginning there were many hesitations, "Oh Facebook is just for young people, some people are using it, but it will never make any money." Or, "Oh it works in the USA but it is not going to work around the world." Or, "Oh it works but it is not going to work on mobile, etc.” Facebook marched on to become multi-billion US Dollars invention with over two billion users, second to the Internet with astonishing efficiency in connecting individuals, groups, society and providing opportunity to everyone voice his/her opinion.

Facebook made Zuckerberg to be the youngest celebrant and multi-billionaire within a span of five years. In 2010, Time magazine, an Internationally refutable news magazine named Zuckerberg among the 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world in the magazine’s special edition of Man of the Year award, 2010. On December 1, 2015, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced their donation of 99 percent of their Facebook shares (worth about US$45 billion at the time) to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The Initiative was a philanthropic Foundation aim to "advance human potential and promote equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research and energy". The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative invested $24 million in Andela for its first major initiative. Andela is a startup focused on training software developers in Africa through their bootcamp and four-year fellowship program, during which they pair their trainees with U.S. companies needing development help. In December 2016, Zuckerberg was ranked the 10^th “The World's Most Powerful People” on Forbes list. In the list, he was ranked as the fifth richest person in the world. Currently, Zuckerberg’s net worth was estimated to be US $74.2 billion as of November this year (2017). Today, Zuckerberg is rated among the most successful personalities but he is not without challenges. Three of Zuckerberg’s former Harvard classmates accused him of stealing their ideas to invent the Facebook. A fourth classmate filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where claimed he was the first to create an online Facebook and such should have been awarded with the credit. Well, that is so much about Facebook as a major indicator of the digital age.

The next notable invention of the second generation is “WhatsApp”, who invented it? WhatsApp is another popular social media platform as robust and efficient as Facebook but uniquely different. WhatsApp Messenger is a free software and cross-platform instant messaging and Voice over service. The application allows the sending of text messages and voice calls, as well as video calls, images and other media, documents and user location. The service uses standard cellular mobile numbers and the application runs from a mobile device, but can also be accessible from desktop computers. Brian Acton and Jan Koum invented WhatsApp, which they incorporated in 2009. They were both former employees of Yahoo. After Koum and Acton left the services of Yahoo, they both traveled to South America to “recuperate” or cool-off in a sort of vacation. After the break, they applied for jobs at Facebook but were rejected. Koum was drifting and already eating into his $400,000 in savings from Yahoo. Then in January 2009, he bought an iPhone and realized that the seven-month old App Store was about to spawn a whole new industry of apps. Koum had a slight idea of developing communication app similar to Facebook without adverts as he distaste it but was not sure of how. Koum played with different computer programs to develop the App which he named "WhatsApp" to sound like "what's up". After relatively a fair success, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California On February 24, 2009. However, because early versions of WhatsApp often crashed or got stuck at a particular point, Koum felt like giving up and looking for a new job, upon which Acton encouraged him to wait for a "more trials, perfections in few months". The app hadn’t even been written yet. Koum spent days creating the backend code to synch his app with any phone number in the world. At some point it sort of became instant messaging,” as reported by Fishman, a fellow American Russian. “We started using it, as ‘Hey how are you?’ And then someone would reply.” Jan watched the changing statuses on a Mac Mini at his town house in Santa Clara, and realized he’d inadvertently created a messaging service. WhasApp was finally developed and perfected “Being able to reach somebody half way across the world instantly, on a device that is always with you, was powerful,” says exulted Koum after the eventual breakthrough.

It was a perfect App because the only other free texting service around at the time was BlackBerry’s BBM, which worked only among the “BlackBerries”. There was Google’s G-Talk and Skype, but WhatsApp was unique in that the login was user’s personal GSM phone number. Koum released WhatsApp 2.0 with a messaging component and watched his active users suddenly swelled to 250,000. He went to Acton, who was still unemployed and dabbling in another startup idea that wasn’t going anywhere. They both team up and perfected the WhatsApp app itself that offers instant messaging without the fees that carriers often charge and does not show ads. In the few years that followed, WhatsApp expanded to gain up to 450 million users within USA and overseas.

The successful outing of WhatsApp made it irresistible and attractive bride to Facebook who earlier denied the inventors gainful employment. In 2014, Facebook eventually purchased WhatsApp for a princely price of $12 billion in stock and $4 billion in cash. In addition, Facebook set aside another $3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp’s founders and employees that will invest over the next four years. WhatsApp calls itself "a personal real-time messaging network allowing millions of people around the world to stay connected with their friends and family." During the $19 business transaction between Facebook and WhatsApp, It was apparent that WhatsApp was on a path to connect 1 billion people globally. The Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was quoted thus, "The services that reach that milestone (of connecting 1 billion people) are all incredibly valuable. I've known Jan for a long time and I'm excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected." The marriage of convenience between Facebook and WhatsApp took the global communication system to the zenith, can there be further improvement? Where are heading to? Time will tell.