NIG commends NCC on technology neutrality

The Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) has commended the apex telecommunications regulator in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for encouraging best practices on technology neutrality.


This experts believe would go a long way in enthroning the goals of Next Generation Networks (NGNs) migration to spur the design of regulatory frameworks so as to foster innovation, investment and affordable access to NGNs, thereby abridging the digital divide.


President, NIG, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, made this commendation in an exclusive chat with Champion Infotel and said, that NCC has been compliant to the recently promulgated guidelines on how nations of the world and regulators particularly could achieve best practices in telecommunications sector.


While lauding the 7th Global Symposium for Regulators on best practices guidelines for the Next Generation Networks (NGNs) migration, which held in Dubai last February on the outcome.


He pointed out that the outlines were meant to guide the regulators on how best to go about discharging their responsibilities and singled out NCC for praise.


“Some of the guidelines are already been followed by the Nigerian regulator, the NCC,” he declared.


NIG President also cited an instance that NCC is compliant in the area of technology neutrality, and has even begun to adopt them soon after the guidelines were issued.


In addition, he said, there has been a call for separation of the regulation in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) from the operator, stressing that the government of Nigeria has also applied this by separating NCC from an operator like the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) before now.


According to him, there are many more recommendations for the transition to the next generation networks, which were useful even for the present generation networks.


“Gladly the recommendations are being adopted in Nigeria and the result of this has been the exponential growth in the number of telephone users in the country,” Mr. Ajayi said.

He equally enjoined NCC and the federal go to have a closer look at the guidelines with a view to adopting some of the recommendations, which they may not have commenced implementing already.




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XLR8 blogs on quality of service @ eNNOVATE-07

Management of eNNOVATE expo, XLR8 Limited, has introduced blogging into the nation’s organised Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) exhibition with a focus on Quality of Service (QoS) in the telecom sector.


Defined as a way of collecting links to web pages and sharing thoughts as well as ideas among people of like-minds online, blogs or Weblogs are essentially online journals or diaries, which have become famous for sharing information and ideas.


Disclosing this, the project manager of eNNOVATE Expo, Mr. Adewole Ojo, said this has become necessary to enable Nigerians to share their views on the deteriorating quality of service in telecom and particularly on the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) networks in the country.


“It’s no news anymore that many GSM subscribers in Nigeria have of late been experiencing occasional severe challenges with using their mobile phones,” he said, noting that in some cases, network downtimes make it absolutely impossible for subscribers to make calls.


“Sometimes, calls drop in the middle of phone conversations. At other times, it is impossible to check credit balances or indeed to reload mobile phones with credit,” he said.


Mr. Ojo stressing that with the making of debut of the blog targeted at quality of service on www.ennovate-expo.com, the website of forthcoming technology and value added services exhibition billed for Lagos for August 16 through 18 would avail even the operators the opportunity to re-strategise for better consumer offering.


He said that people interesting in accessing the blog, should simply log-in to the eNNOVATE website and clicking on the blog.


According to him, this would provide Nigerian telecom consumers the chance to contribute their quota via sharing of ideas, either based locally in the country or abroad.


“It would afford people living in Nigeria and friends of Nigeria to share views and information on a subject very dear to millions of Nigerians at this time,” he asserted.


Quality of service particularly in the GSM service delivery, he said, has attracted enormous concern and attention in Nigeria over the last few weeks, culminating in a recent resolution by Nigeria’s Senate to make a condemning pronouncement on it.


“A good number of Nigerians are anxious to see the quick emergence of a world class quality of service among the telecom networks,” Mr. Ojo declared.


He explained that as the organizers of Nigeria’s most innovative technological expo, XLR8 felt duty bound to provide interested persons with a forum such as this in order to facilitate better information and knowledge sharing about this situation.


“We trust that in so doing, we will be helping to place issues in proper perspective as a vital step towards a steady and quick resolution of the situation,” he said.


He expects that the blog is essentially an information sharing and dissemination platform that would attract network operators and subscribers alike.


“I hope they will visit the blog regularly to get a down-to-earth feel as to how their customers perceive their operations as well as ideas for service improvement and respond accordingly” he asserted, disclosing that blogging will form key topic at eNNOVATE 2007 with Dr. Jeremy Weate of the foremost Naijablog, as one of eNNOVATE’s lead speakers among others.


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Vandalisation of telecom infrastruture

Market Intelligence:

Few days ago, one of the nation’s leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, raised an alarm over the vandalisation of its telecommunications equipment.


This much has been complained by other telcos in the recent past.


The operator said, this has been the bane behind its recent poor quality of services. According to the Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, the telco expressed concern over repeated vandalisation of its equipment and installations nationwide.


She noted that the impact this have on the quality of services to its subscribers have become disheartening.


“We have had to contend with what appears to be a steady onslaught of malicious damage to our fibre optic cables in some parts of the country,” she said, stressing, “it’s extremely alarming,” she said.


Mrs. Oyagbola explained that telecoms infrastructure have been installed across the country, at huge cost in terms of labour and capital, for the sole objective of providing a rich and improved bouquet of telecommunications services to the Nigerian people.


While assuring customers and other stakeholders that the telco is reinforcing its private security network across the country especially in the areas that house critical infrastructure, Mrs. Oyagbola appealed to Nigerians to keep vigilant over telecom and other infrastructure in their localities.


“Such infrastructure, including base stations, switches and transmission cables, are for the collective benefit of the country and should be seen as such,” she said.


Mrs. Oyagbola equally urged citizens to inform the security agencies promptly if they see any equipment being tampered with, just as she pledged that MTN would continue to strive to provide Nigeria with world-class telecommunications services.


“In circumstances where our installations are damaged, we will strive to ensure that services are restored in the shortest possible time,” she reassured.


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Ndukwe, Angaye for I4J launch

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe and chief executive, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Prof. Cleopas Angaye are expected to lead experts to the launching of Internet-For-Jobs (I4J) Initiative in Lagos next week Thursday.


The seminar, being put together is in collaboration with NCC, is supported by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), NITDA and Zenith Bank Plc, even as I4J initiative, is a project of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), NIG, designed to create jobs for Nigerians and boost the local content online.


Disclosing this, President, NIG, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, said that the launch scheduled for July 12 at Golden Gate Lagos, would also witness key industry players like the President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem and chief executive of Zenith Bank Plc and former President of NIG, Mr. Jim Ovia, as speakers.


The event with the theme, “Internet for Jobs: Promoting Internet Entrepreneurship in Nigeria” is in fulfilment of his team on assumption of office to take the organisation to the next level of its mandate, through promotion and development of local content on the Internet and creating local Internet entrepreneurs.


He said precisely that this was part of the vision statement NIG set out for itself, mostly when the current leadership assumed office last year.


He pointed out that NIG had planned to create the platform for jobs opportunities for Nigerians, which is expected to certainly position Nigeria in the global knowledge economy.


Speaking in company of NIG’s publicity and financial secretaries, Messrs Kasim Akinrete and Bosun Arebuwa, in that order, Mr. Ajayi noted that the objectives of NIG at this time in point, is to ensure that Nigeria becomes the preferred destination for the global internet-related services including outsourcing web application development, e-commerce and software development thereby creating job opportunities for our people.


Mr. Ajayi added that this issue is germane to the growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in this part of sub-Saharan Africa.


I4J initiative, he pointed out would boost the interests of the youth in ICT and give them the required leap.


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Beta Computers unveils ultra modern factory

With an initial production capacity of 200 units of Personal Computers (PCs) per day, Beta Computers, has re-asserted its position into the nation’s computer market with the unveiling of its ultra modern factory in Lagos.


Speaking at the launch the Managing Director, Mr. Will Anyaegbunam, revealed that the actualisation of the event was a mile stone of a humble beginning that started since 2003.


While giving gratitude to God for the achievement, he said, the event was held without any form of disruption, social or climatic.


Anyaegbulam was particularly grateful in his speech to the managements of Union Bank Plc and AfriBank Plc, who, through their jointly owned Unique Venture Capital Management Company, invested what he called “a substantial sum of 40 per cent equity” in Beta Computers, which provided the fund to make the dream come through.


He also said his firm is introducing a new marketing offer of its products to interested Nigerians, companies and individuals.


According to him, payments for different computers, depend largely on the customers’ choice, stressing that payments could be instalment and spread over two years.


Visitors at the occasion were later taken on guarded tour of the factory, where Mr. Anyaegbunam took out time to explain the operations of the company and the kind of quality output that are being churned out.


The tour covered the production department where different brands of SpeedStar computers and accessories were on displayed.


He enjoined Nigerians to patronise the brand because they are ready to serve them with better quality and relevant technical know-how required for customers to excel.


Some of the guests at the occasion included the former commissioner and governorship aspirant in Lagos state, Mr. Gbajabiamila, accompanied by his wife, Bimbo, also a director of Beta Computers.


Other dignitaries were the Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Prof. Cleopas Angaye, who represented the federal government as well as some top executives of Union Bank Plc, and AfriBank Plc among others.


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Ekeigwe to speaks @ FIT seminar

President, Lagos State chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Mr. Chris Ekeigwe and the managing director, Juniper Solutions, Mr. Gboyega Ojuri, have been confirmed as participants at this year’s edition of Finance and IT Summit (FITS) forum designed to create an interface between professionals in the Nigerian IT sector and financials cum banking experts.


The event scheduled for Thursday July 26, this year at the Golden Gate Ikoyi-Lagos, according to the organisers has its theme as: “Seamless IT integration in post – Consolidation Era”.


Managing consultant, ICT Africa, the organisers of the summit, Don Pedro Aganbi noted that Mr. Ekeigwe, who is also the Managing Consultant at EDP Audit and Security Associates, has been billed to speak on the topic “Systems security reliability assurance: Governance roles and responsibilities,” while Ojuri would dwell on “Deploying low cost high productivity IT infrastructure in the post consolidation era.”


Speaking on the proposed summit, Mr. Ekeigwe lauded the organisers, saying that its timely in the light of growing awareness of the place of securely deployed and effective information technology (IT) infrastructure in the creation of cutting edge customer products and thus boosting productivity.

He emphasised that its not just on the deployment of IT infrastructure but on being able to provide what the customers need every time and in a secured environment.


Equally commenting, Mr. Ojuri, said that what the banks reequired is to know where and how they could save cost without impacting negatively on their process.


He pointed out that, banks could as matter of fact save billions if they deploy the right IT systems and other infrastructure.

Mr. Aganbi, added that the theme was chosen to enable stakeholders review progress made in IT integration in the Nigerian banks post consolidation and to chart a new course going into the future for the industry.


He explained that huge investments in IT by banks following the successful consolidation of the banking sector indicates the high level of faith in IT products and solutions to improve productivity and boost the bottom line are yet to be optimised by the customers.


“The role of IT in the development of individuals, organisations, nations and the world–over cannot be underestimate,” he told Champion Infotel.


He further said that FITS has been planned to provide the platform to address some of the issues that has persisted after the consolidation.


“These issues are systems audit and security, network security versus providing faster service, risks associated with online transaction, finding cost effective IT infrastructure to handle the new distributed network systems, power problems and data protection, data warehousing vis-à-vis CBN’s new guidelines, systems reliability and availability, business continuity planning for IT disaster recovery, e-payment, secure deployment of ATMs and corporate governance among others,” he declared.


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DCC’s partner wins N1.5bn deal

A partner of the Nigerian-based DCC Satellite and Networks, the Computer Associates (CA) has won a $12 million (about N1,523,040,000) NCV deal with Washington Mutual, a financial institution in the United States (US).


The deal features a broad range of Enterprise Information Technology (IT) Management (EITM) solution.


According to the Corporate Affairs and Marketing Manager at the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) owners of DCC, Ms Morenike Popoola, the Washington Mutual is one of the US leading financial services companies and serves consumers and small to mid sized businesses through various subsidiaries.


She recalled that as at December 2006, they have a net income of $3.56 billion (about N4.5 bn) and through its subsidiaries had assets of $346.29 billion.


She added that the business areas include retail banking and financial services, home loans, commercial banking and card services.


The manager noted that one of the pain issues for financial institutions has been the different management console for different platforms, which increases the number of integration points thereby creating an avenue for vulnerabilities.


Hence, banks struggled to simplify this maze of multi vendor management solutions, which was increasingly complex and expensive while lacking unified view and a central point of control.


As said by her, this, CA was able to achieve with its EITM solution.

“CA’s broad foot print of EITM solutions enable financial institutions meet up 90 per cent for their distributed IT management needs,” she said.


The functionality advancement in the new CA coupled with the powerful acquired technologies positions the firm as the ideal technology partner to offer depth management.


She emphasised that many times IT environment in banks have different vendor applications and platforms in place and that makes them heterogeneous.


“This gives rise to a lot of management challenges because there may not be standards or even a central monitor for these entire multi vendor platforms,” she noted, adding that this was what presented CA the opportunity to offer integrated, end-to-end enterprise IT management (EITM) strategy and solutions.


Washington Mutual also wanted a single vendor to recommend and deploy one cohesive IT management strategy that reduces the cost and complexity of monitoring their infrastructure, eliminates the multi-vendor mix of solutions, and ensures that their distributed environments provide the highest level of service availability and performance to end users.
This CA was also able to achieve with its EITM product.


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Onwudinjo joins HiRest as CFO

Emerging leader in Internet Service Provision in the country, HiRest Africa Limited has announced the appointment of Mr. Kenneth Onwudinjo as the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

According to the Corporate Affairs Director, Mrs. Ufuoma ‘Daro, Mr. Onwudinjo is a chartered accountant with over 12 years industry experience and is well respected for his intellectual and rational approach to resolving complex and intricate professional matters.

She also said that Onwudinjo is an alumnus of the Ogun State University, and a highly respected member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, who also holds an MBA in Financial Management and has undergone several trainings at the Lagos Business School, Tom Associates and IBFC Agusto, among others.

Mr. Onwudinjo, equally according to the press statement made available to Champion Infotel, has worked in several management positions before joining HiRest, including as the former Assistant General Manager of Multiscreen (A member of the Karrington Group).

Prior to this position, Mr. Onwudinjo had worked as the Financial Adviser to Linkserve Limited, where he brought his background experience and training to bear on his managerial strength and discipline to achieve unprecedented success in the ICT industry.
He was also a Senior Manager, Strategic Planning and Business Development at Coscharis Group.


Reputed for his professionalism, Mr. Onwudinjo also worked with NIDB Trustees Limited for several years and is expected to bring his wealth of experience to HiRest.


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Consumers prefer Plasma against LCD – Study

Recent survey conducted by Synovate in five countries has shown that consumers have preference for the Plasma display screens over the Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)-based television technology.

The release of the survey result coincided with the LG Electronics’ announcement of the global launch of its new PB4 series Plasma.

The five nation’s involved in the search included China, Japan, England, France and Germany, just as consumers were emphatic of their choice of Plasma over the LCD.

Part of the study revealed that the flat screen alone was an attraction to the Plasma Television (TV) products by the consumers, which screen according to them, provided the best overall image quality in terms of sharpness, colour, response speed, contrast, black quality and resolution.

Equally the study showed that respondents favoured Plasma screens almost two to one over LCD TVs, with between 70 and 80 per cent of respondents who viewed a side-by-side comparison rated Plasma as having “the best image quality,” ahead of LCD.

The preference for Plasma was universal, with 88 per cent of respondents in China, while first choice, compared with 80 per cent in Japan, 70 per cent in England, 69 per cent in France and 80 per cent in Germany.

Prior to the survey, it was gathered that respondents in four of the countries did not declare any preference for Plasma or LCD TVs.

However, after the direct comparison test, opinion shifted dramatically in favour of Plasma’s image quality.

Synovate also pointed out that its set up for the survey were identical in each country to measure consumer television viewing preferences.

The Plasma and LCD television, according to the study sets used in the viewing tests were set up on normal mode by Synovate technicians and four minute video sequences were played side by side on LCD and Plasma displays, with all brand names and identifying information hidden.

Synovate officials informed that the preference for the image quality of Plasma screens came through strongly in larger screens, “because viewers feel less fatigue with Plasma screens compared to LCD screens at the 40- and 50-inch level.”

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One-2-One Telecom out with King of SIM

Lagos-based telecommunications solution company, One-2-One Telecom, has introduced an international roaming Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) product christened the “King of SIM (KOS)” into the nation’s market.

A SIM card comes as a smart card, which securely stores the key identifying a mobile phone service subscriber, as well as subscription information, preferences and text messages.


The equivalent of a SIM in Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) is a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) and its International Circuit Card ID (ICCID), storing network state information such as its current Location Area Identity (LAI), exclusively identifies each SIM.


Briefing newsmen on the product, Managing Director One-2-One, Mrs Folake Oyemade, disclosed that the company was out with the mission to resourcefully pursue the delight of customers.


One-2-One, she said, is determined to be the most customer-oriented in terms of courtesy, prompt support for their needs, efficiency, integrity, teamwork and follow through.


Reeling out the unique features and advantages of KOS, she said that the product had come as solution to the multiple SIMs problem that travellers had to encounter from country to country.


KOS, according to Oyemade, is one SIM card that guarantees users the unique convenience of adaptability, stressing that users would not need to go through the pains of looking for office of local networks in their destination countries with the attendant throat-cutting costs before they could get a SIM to communicate with their friends, families and business associates internationally.


“The King of SIMs card is designed to dramatically reduce your roaming costs and simplify your communication needs in 125 countries,” Oyemade said, adding that KOS card, which costs $100 (about N14,000), is compliant with contemporary Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) handsets as long as such handsets were not SIM-locked.


Mrs Oyemade also said that 90 per cent saving on roaming charges awaits any KOS user, even as call conferencing, call recording, Short Messaging Service (SMS), voice mail, online user platform and readily available top up cards.


Asked what she meant by readily available top up cards, Oyemade explained to Champion Infotel that users could call for recharge of credit from any of the 125 countries where KOS is already adaptable across the globe either on the user’s mobile phone or online and such request would be promptly attended to even on credit and in trust till the user comes back home.


This, she said, was a radical departure from the practice of other telecom operators who were in the habit of making their customers to sign what she described as “tedious contracts’’ and pay non-refundable deposits which ran into huge sums of money to their local service providers before their numbers could be roamed.


She maintained that One-2-One Telecomms is a service provider and is a unique player in the international roaming service market with a technical platform in the United Kingdom and a strong technical base as well as marketing team in Nigeria.


Commenting on the product, business consultant, Mr. Jude Onoh simply described the “King of SIMs” card as one that offers seamless and hassle-free communication to its users across the globe.


Onoh added that the product was not introduced for the purpose of making profit, but rather, its all about making communications easier and more cost-effective to customers and Nigerians precisely, as they roam over the world.


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Celtel explains N11.2b investment

The investment of N11.2 billion to expand its network by the Celtel Nigeria in the North Eastern region has spiked up growth in subscriber-base, according the General Manager, Celtel Nigeria for region, Mr. Segun Agoye.

Explaining this at the recent regional media session in Kano, Mr. Agoye said the investment was also ignited by the desire to reach every nooks and crannies of the region.

“This propelled the company to invest such a huge amount towards aggressive network rollout to boost the robustness of the network and this effort is already paying dividend as we have grown our subscribers’ base by over 40 per cent and our base station by over 38 per cent,” he said.

He also said that Celtel is determined to have presence in every home in the communities within the region sooner than expected.

Mr. Agoye further disclosed that donations have been made to orphanages within the region as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, while boreholes equally have been sunk in several communities to aid inhabitants who have critical shortage of portable water.

Chief Operating Officer of Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Lars Stork, in his remark said that the telco has embarked on some far-reaching reforms to enhance coverage, capacity and quality of the network.

As said by him, a major decision taken by the telco to meet customers’ demand is the decentralization of the company’s operation by adopting regionalization.

“We have identified regionalization as one of the cardinal strategies to expand our business and this is based on the reality that our customers are not just in Lagos, but all over the country, therefore to cater for the needs of our customers nationwide, we have to move closer to them,” he said.

Also, Celtel’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Mike Foley, pointed out that the telco wants more Nigerians to enjoy its services because it is quite aware that telecom is the engine of economic growth and is a good tool for uplifting people economically and socially.

Celtel’s commitment to empowering Africans, he said, has made the company a household name in countries where it has its operations across the continent.



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Globacom flaunts GPRS partnership

The Third Generation (3G) compliant telco, Globacom, has concluded partnership deal with over 60 telecom operators to boost its Blackberry through the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).

Head, Business Solutions at Globacom, Mr. Folu Aderibigbe, who revealed this said that it follows on the recent launch of the telco’s Blackberry, assuring subscribers that the partnership would continue to provide the leadership edge in the market in the country based on innovative services.

He recalled that Glo introduced Blackberry in the country last August and has roaming agreements with leading operators in countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Americas.

Mr. Aderibigbe added that such countries include Canada, China, Portugal, France, Singapore, Germany, Greece, USA, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, India, Turkey, Netherlands, Spain, Russia and South Africa.

The essence of firming up roaming partnership with operators in these countries, he said, “is to ensure that subscribers to Glo Blackberry are able to manage their businesses from anywhere in the world.”

He stressed that such subscribers could travel abroad and still have their mails pushed to their Blackberry devices while on the move.

Mr. Aderibigbe emphasised that another unrivalled edge of Glo’s Blackberry offer is the GPRS coverage, declaring, “Globacom has the widest and most effective GPRS coverage in the country.”

He also said that given the fact that such a vital service rides on the GPRS platform, Globacom had invested heavily on a GPRS deployment that is second to none in the nation’s telecoms industry.

“Globacom has the widest and most reliable GPRS coverage in the country today and with this, our subscribers have a dependable network backbone to support their Blackberry service needs both within the country and when business or pleasure takes them out of the country”, he asserted.

Affirming the reliability of the telco’s GPRS, Mr. Aderibigbe said it has the attraction of many corporate organizations that deployed the Blackberry Enterprise Solution to enhance organizational efficiency and increase profitability across many levels.

“Today Globacom has the largest Blackberry enterprise client base across oil companies, banks, insurance firms, multinational and manufacturing companies, upscale hotels and several key government agencies and institutions,” he said, even as the telco boosts of highly experienced technical support and Blackberry Enterprise Solution installation teams which are available to attend to the needs of clients nationwide.



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HR Technology confab gets new date

AlliedSoft Limited, the organisers of the Human Resource (HR) Technology one-day conference in partnership with Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Intel Corporation, has announced a new date for the event.

The conference scheduled to hold at the Lagos Civil Centre with the theme “HR Best Practices and Technology,” would now hold on July 12.

While apologising for the shift in date, chief executive, Mr. Chuma Ofoche, said the change in date was necessitated by the recent labour strike in the country.

He said that there is need to continuously recognise the importance of proper management of their greatest assets – people, through technology solution.

“Human Resources and Human Capital Development will continue to be an increasingly important aspect of business strategy execution,” he said, adding that this conference recognizes the global and local trends in effective workforce management and provides the platform to explore creative ways through which the business of HR management would be supported and enabled by appropriate technology, thus driving organizational productivity to new level of efficiency.

Mr. Ofoche stressed that the conference offers the opportunity for experts in the fields of Human Resources and Technology to come together for the first time in Nigeria, meet and interact with industry experts and get their questions answered.

He noted that the sessions, which have been carefully selected, would discuss various aspects and challenges faced by HR practitioners and demonstrate how technology has stepped up to address these challenges.

“The very seasoned speakers will offer an opportunity for the participants to learn directly from experienced practitioners who are putting some of these principles on workforce management to use in their own organisations today,” he said.

Mr. Ofoche emphasized that the business of HR management has gone beyond routine HR administration like payrolls and benefits administration.

“Companies today compete primarily for and on the basis of talent. This conference redirects focus on how HR managers can support their business by having the capability to do more creative and strategic work in people management,” Mr. Ofoche said.

He pointed out that Allied Soft as the developer of the Exceed HR Management solution, is the foremost HR management solution in Nigeria today.

Allied Soft is also a prominent indigenous technology company certified as Microsoft Gold Partner and also a Hewlett Packard software development partner, he added that the company has deep technical expertise on software development and has been in the forefront of software technology development with many landmark projects in different industry verticals.


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OLPC donates 300 laptops to school without electricity

A Nigerian school has received a gift of 300 laptops -- one per pupil -- but has no electricity to power them up, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Friday.

Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, coordinator of the One-Laptop-Per-Child programme (OLPC) that donated the computer, said the two-block Galadima Primary School in the centre of the federal capital Abuja had no electricity.

Galadima Primary is the first school in the country where each pupil has his own laptop, NAN said.

“We have been browsing the Internet and we are very happy”, Juliet Onah, an excited primary six pupil, was quoted as saying.

But she said powering the laptop remained difficult as the school had no electricity and the supply at home was irregular.

Electricity is indeed a big problem in Nigeria, the world’s sixth largest exporter of crude oil. Electricity is provided mainly in the cities and even there the service is at best erratic.

Most homes and private businesses rely on generators.

The OLPC was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, an American professor, to provide laptops to all pupils at 100 dollars by 2008, as a way of ensuring the penetration of information and communication technology in developing countries.


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