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China to embrace golden era of IoT development
By Li Jiabao
From smart city to digital countryside, and from intelligent transport to smart tourism, Internet of Things (IoT) is being applied in more and more scenarios and permeating all aspects of people’s life.
IoT, through sensing and internet communication technologies, connects people, machines and objects, and provides infrastructure such as information sensing, transmission and processing services.
It is widely used in people’s daily life. For instance, it enables convenience stores to run unattended, as payments can be settled automatically by an IoT system that identifies the commodities taken by customers. IoT chips equip home appliances with better human-machine interaction and thus bring a better user experience.
More broadly, IoT is employed by hospitals to perform telesurgeries and teletherapies, and automatic fares can be collected by installing intelligent cameras at expressway entrances, which improves traffic efficiency and reduces waiting time.
According to a report issued by the Internet Society of China, the scale of China’s IoT industry exceeded 1.7 trillion yuan ($251 billion) in 2021 and is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan this year. Mobile IoT connections will hit 80.1 billion by 2025, the report estimates.
At present, IoT technology is widely used in engineering machinery, aerospace manufacturing and other traditional industries. Wearable devices, smart home appliances, intelligent healthcare instruments, intelligent connected vehicles and disaster warning systems equipped with IoT sensors are also seen in our daily life.
In Cangnan county, Wenzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, cameras are installed in and around buses to capture real-time images. The images are uploaded to a system established by the Zhejiang branch of China Mobile, one of the major telecommunication carriers in China. The system, created by cloud networking and 5G technologies, turns buses into the city’s “security inspectors.”
It is reported that the system employs a number of cutting-edge technologies, such as IoT, 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. The information it collects is processed in a platform to detect incidents happening in the county, so as to make urban governance smarter.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently unveiled a list of 179 IoT demonstration projects.
In particular, 42 projects on the list have made breakthroughs in key technologies or made innovations in the integrated application of 5G, big data, AI and blockchain technologies. The innovations include research and verification of vehicle-road technology based on 5G and AI, the research and application of 5G-adapted intelligent gateways oriented toward multiple industrial scenarios, and the research and application of the 5G-integrated technologies of high-precision Beidou navigation.
Wu Hequan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told People’s Daily that 5G technology has promoted the development of IoT to broadband-connected intelligent networks, and improved the value of IoT applications.
The MIIT, together with seven other departments jointly issued a three-year action to promote the construction of IoT infrastructure in September 2021. By the end of 2023, the country will have preliminarily completed the construction of IoT infrastructure in its major cities, fostered 10 leading players in the industry each with an output value of over 10 billion yuan, and witnessed 2 billion IoT connections.
Driven by supportive policies, the released market demand, as well as investment, China’s IoT industry will embrace a golden area for development.
News
SERAP sues Akpabio over ‘failure to reverse unlawful suspension of Natasha Akpoti’

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against Senate President Godswill Akpabio over the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. The group argues that the suspension is unlawful and violates her fundamental right to freedom of expression.
SERAP is seeking a court order compelling Akpabio to reverse the six-month suspension, reinstate Akpoti-Uduaghan, and restore all her legislative privileges. The organization also wants an injunction preventing the Senate from imposing further disciplinary actions against her for expressing her views.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended after she reportedly spoke without permission and rejected a new seat assignment in the Senate chamber. As part of her suspension, her salary and allowances have been withheld, and she has been barred from identifying as a senator.
In its suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP contends that the suspension deprives Akpoti-Uduaghan’s constituents of political representation. The organization also argues that penalizing a senator for exercising free speech creates a chilling effect on other lawmakers.
“No one should ever be punished for speaking without permission,” SERAP stated. “The Senate should uphold the rule of law and protect human rights, not suppress them.”
The group cites constitutional provisions and international human rights treaties, including Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
SERAP maintains that the Senate Standing Orders cannot override constitutional guarantees of free speech. The lawsuit emphasizes that restricting a senator’s expression undermines democracy and violates Nigerians’ right to receive information and participate politically.
No date has been set for the hearing of the case.
News
Market associations, women groups knock el-Rufai, rally support for Tinubu, Gov Sani

Ahead of the 2027 elections, hundreds of members of market associations and numerous women groups in Kaduna state at the weekend, occupied Kaduna metropolis in a peaceful demonstration where they reiterated their loyalty and support to the administration of
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The protesters who alleged that they had bitter experiences during the El-Rufa’i administration, said they would remain where Governor Uba Sani stood and advised the citizens of Kaduna not to be deceived by doing the contrary.
They recounted their ordeals during the 8 years of the previous administration, alleging that hundreds of market shops belonging to individuals were either seized, demolished or confiscated, a situation that triggered ill health in many traders and business owners leading to paralysis and multiple deaths of their colleagues.
“We’ve been in the market for over 40 years and have never experienced the kind of set backs we suffered under the previous Governor.”
“A lot of lives were lost,a lot of finances were ruined by reason of his kind of policies. We are here to speak with one voice and say that anything that would kind of revive such kind of philosophy in Kaduna market, we don’t want it,” Daniel Audu Maigari, a stakeholder of the Kaduna Market associations, has said.
He explained that “this incumbent Governor began by healing the wounds, the wounds that were really severed by the former Governor. Governor Uba Sani has been doing so,so very well and that’s why we’ve been with our leader, Alhaji Abdurrahman Mohammed, who like Governor Sani,has been charting the right course, ensuring programmes and plans that will heal these wounds .”
He said there was never been a time they are having the impact of leadership in Kaduna market, like they are having now.
” Now we’ve lots of incentives, lots of policies that are driving us to progress .We are now standing with one voice to denounce anything that would reverse this,” he said.
Alhaji Daiyabu Ismail Mai Gwanjo, Chairman Stakeholders of the Kaduna State Market Traders associations, said on behalf of their leader,Alhaji Abdurrahman Mohammed, his EXCO and all trader leaders in the 23 Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, they have gathered to unilaterally declare an unalloyed support to Governor Uba Sani who had taken care of them and protected their interests.
According to him,” we have to say so,haven had the harrowing experience in the hands of the past administration. The scar still remains and many are yet to recover.”
“But when Almighty Allah sent Governor Uba Sani to us,he declared he would not do anything bad to traders because the world thrives on businesses.All the most cherished countries like China, Canada, UAE, India,are very proud of and supportive to their traders and other business persons.”
“Unfortunately, we found ourselves during the previous administration that neither showed empathy nor sympathy to traders. An approximate number of 36 markets were demolished at that time.None of these markets was completely rebuild ,till date,and we are suspicious of the collaboration between the previous administration and the market developers.”
“We are therefore calling on Governor Uba Sani, our Governor of sympathy and understanding, to look at this issue with a view to resolving it.We are with Uba Sani a hundred percent, ” he added.
Hajiya Hadiza Abdulaziz,a woman leader of the market association,said they have gathered in multitudes to reiterate their support to the APC and Governor Uba Sani who has tremendously supported the market men and women in Kaduna State.
” Most of the market women had no shops because the shops were collected. But now we give God the glory everybody has gotten their shops back and nobody will collect it again,” she said.
She expressed happiness that those making the market women not to achieve, had left the party and government.
“We’ve been crying, a lot of market women don’t have capital, they have been deceiving us.But now,I believe Governor Uba Sani is going to assist us,”she added.
The protesters later took to the streets ,displaying placards with various inscriptions denouncing the previous arrangements, and chanting slogans in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Uba Sani and the All Progressives Congress, APC.
” Most of the market women had no shops because the shops were collected. But now we give God the glory everybody has gotten their shops back and nobody will collect it again,” she said.
She expressed happiness that those making the market women not to achieve, had left the party and government.
“We’ve been crying, a lot of market women don’t have capital, they have been deceiving us.But now,I believe Governor Uba Sani is going to assist us,”she added.
The protesters later took to the streets ,displaying placards with various inscriptions denouncing the previous arrangements, and chanting slogans in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Uba Sani and the All Progressives Congress, APC.
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