By Sering Mass Jallow
Three final-year students of the University of The Gambia (UTG) School of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have developed a locally-built mobile application to help Gambians transition to the country’s new nine-digit telephone numbering system.
Mamadou Bah, Alhassan Saine and Sulayman Colley developed the application, known as “Jokko9”, to simplify the conversion of existing contacts to the new numbering format.
The application allows users to review their contacts, identify Gambian numbers and convert multiple contacts to the nine-digit format at once.
The students said the application was designed with offline functionality, making it accessible to users without an internet connection.
They also say Jokko9 does not rely on a database or external server, a feature they describe as a security measure designed to protect users’ contact information.
Speaking to The Voice, Bah said the idea for the application emerged from concerns expressed by Gambians on social media following the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s (PURA) announcement that the migration to nine-digit numbers would begin in September.
“The idea of building the application came at a time of need. We consistently saw how Gambians expressed worry about the transition issue. We thought we could step in to ease the constraint,” he said.
Bah said the application took about one month to develop and has since been approved for Apple’s iOS platform, making it available to iPhone users.
He said the response from users demonstrated the need for locally developed technological solutions to address practical challenges facing Gambians.
“We believe we helped solve a problem Gambians were about to face,” Bah said.
Africell Gambia has also partnered with the UTG students during the numbering migration period.
Africell Gambia Chief Executive Officer Hussein Diab described the students as “champions of change” and called for greater support and empowerment of young Gambian innovators.
The three students, who are completing their final year at UTG, said they intend to continue developing technological solutions aimed at addressing everyday challenges.
“We want to continue making life easier for Gambians,” they said.
About The Author
