Jonathan asked to prioritize ICT

Chairman, Zinox Group of Companies, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, has tasked the acting president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to prioritize Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in his programmes for the remaining part of his tenure in office.

He also tasked Jonathan to ensure that his administration spends at least, $5 billion, about N750.6 trillion in ICT before the end of his tenure to boost penetration.

Ekeh who spoke at the launch of the book, ‘e-Knowledge – Time is Running Out’ by the president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Chief Chris Uwaje in Lagos, last weekend, said that it is sad that Yar’Adua’s administration, who most Nigerians said were largely drawn from academia, did not pay attention to the ICT sector through reflection of this in the national vote to encourage diffusion especially to favour the education sector.

According to Ekeh, who was the chief launcher at the event, the future of this country must be knowledge-based if Nigeria is to make headway and this must be aligned with growth in education and ICT.

Goodluck, he said, should invest at least $5b in ICT between now and next year when this tenure expires, stressing that he respects knowledge a lot and that was what drew him nearer to ISPON President, whom he described as a knowledge- driven personality.

“I respect knowledge and that is what will rule the world in the near future,” he asserted.

In his remarks, President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, lamented the decline in reading culture among Nigerians and attributed this largely to lack of writings in book form by the elders.

Noting that with the debut of the book by Uwaje, it is now a challenge on Nigerian youths. Ajayi later launched the book by pledging 50 copies to be donated to chapters of the group in Nigerian universities.

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) through its president, Prof. Charles Uwadia, went home with 10 copies of the book for the NCS library in addition to a copy for each chapter of the National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS) nationwide.

This is coming as Computerize Nigeria Project (CNP) supported the initiative by purchasing 120 copies also for partnering schools in the country.

In a related development, Dr. Ekeh during a send forth session for the immediate past Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe by the Computer Society also said government’s attention should be in how to attract investment into the ICT sector for the interest of digital natives and immigrants.

Reacting to the call by some industry stakeholders that youth corpers be given a lump sum of N250,000 after their service year to enable them start a business, Zinox boss commended the initiative, but said it would like placing the cart before the horse.

Equally, he said, that what the government should do is to create new and solid foundations for education by providing appropriate ICT infrastructure in schools.

IT, he pointed out, should drive the teaching and learning processes in schools, beginning with the learning environment, the instructional materials, the resource centers and the e-libraries.

“IT driven education would come cheaper than analogue education and create access and pre-occupation for the millions of children who come to schools from poor homes,” he said.

As said by him, these youths are already tech savvy by the time they leave school, stressing that all they need to do is put together a scheme that ensures that every graduating student is empowered with a laptop.

This, Ekeh said, should apply to all graduates from universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.

He explained that the idea would be to harness the energies of a new generation of Nigerians through the vital tools for change, insisting that only a deliberate and systemic empowerment of the youths could ensure that Nigeria participates gainfully in the unfolding knowledge economy.

Further, Ekeh said that China and India have joined the list of world super powers by investing heavily in the development and penetration of ICT.

“Today, China has become the workshop of the world not necessarily because labour is cheap but because she has a well trained and knowledgeable work force,” he said, noting that 75 per cent of the world’s software businesses are outsourced to Indian companies because her citizenry have been motivated to control the production of software globally.

In addition, Zinox Chairman said that Nigeria should borrow a leaf from both countries if the dream to join the world’s top 20 economies by 2020 is to be realized.


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Addressing political questions via USPF

The on-going USPF stakeholders’ regional forums are pathways of addressing political questions of how to drive ICT penetration based on the needs of the people, reports REMMY NWEKE.


THE former Minister of State for Information and Communications, Alhaji Ikra Aliyu Bilbis recently declared that the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) was the Federal Government’s major political response to addressing the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) needs of the citizens.

The Minister who was speaking at the presentation of documentation by internationally reputed research firm, Pyramid Research, on the impact of mobile communications on the socio-economic lives of the citizens, in Abuja, noted that this concept was to improve the spread and use of modern ICT facilities to aid national development.

“That decision taken at the time and subsequently well executed, has led to the telecom revolution that we are all too familiar with today,” he declared, adding that government is ever ready to ensure that the policy environment is structured for competition and investment. While emphasizing that government is aware of the digital divide between developed and developing nations, and also aware of the divide which exists within countries, between the cities and rural areas and between the young and old. Hence, this informed the policy of government to create the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) in line with the global clamour, to take services to rural and under-served communities in the country.

USPF:
A total of 377 schools nationwide have been earmarked to benefit from the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) educational intervention initiative in the 2009 fiscal year, even as 506 others have either benefitted in the exercise or on-going.

The USPF concept is in consonance with the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003, Section 112, which requires the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to “design, consider and determine a system which shall promote the widespread availability and usage of network services and applications services throughout Nigeria by encouraging the installation of network facilities and the provision for network services and application services to institutions and in unserved, underserved areas or for underserved groups within the community.”

The USPF mandate includes the creation of an enabling environment by raising public awareness on the uses and benefits of ICTs, building capacity among communities to participate in and take advantage of the economic opportunities in ICT, while contributing to national economic and social development via enhancement of universal accessibility and availability of telecommunications and ICT infrastructure as well as services among others.

The Universal Service Fund is a global phenomenon with 50 countries as signatories to an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) agreement to set aside funds to provide access to technology to the citizenry of their countries, while the USPF is the organ of the Nigerian government saddled with the responsibility of achieving the mandate under the supervision of NCC.

Spio-Garbrah led speakers:
To make the forums worthwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, addressed participants at the event alongside his former counterpart from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe and the Executive Secretary, Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Mr. Funso Fayomi, at the first-ever consultative forum on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with the theme ‘ICT for all consultation’ series by USPF.

Head, Corporate Services, USPF, Mr. Okoh Aihe, told ITRealms Online that the forum was a major interface with the Nigerian public in form of series of consultations to engender capacity building for stakeholders, just as it would be held across all the six geo-political zones of the country.

The series tagged ‘Stakeholders Consultative Forum and Capacity Building,’ he said, is one of the series, planned to afford various stakeholders, who are the beneficiaries of USPF projects, financial institutions, ICT entrepreneurs, community-based organisations, opinion leaders, network operators and other development partners, the opportunities to suggest ways of improving implementation of ICT programmes of USPF.

Major quest for ICT Access for all:
Also, Aihe said, it is a major quest by the agency to actualize its vision of “ICT Access for all” as well as meet the objectives of the Federal Government on ICT access to the unreached and disadvantaged people in far-flung parts of the country.

So, he said, USPF has taken ICT access to the populace, even as they are partnering CTO to make it a success, pointing out that the consultation serves as channels for frank talks and above all, learning in order to take USPF to a new level of performance.

Other issues addressed during the first two series, were the presentation of USPF mandate and strategic plan 2007 – 2011, Key Issues impacting Rural Connectivity, Rural Connectivity Finance, Financial Models for Rural Connectivity, Appropriate Technologies for Rural Communities Off-the-grid, Available Rural Connectivity Solutions, and a host of other issues.

He explained that USPF was prepared to hear from representatives of selected communities who will speak about their community needs and priorities in ICTs, assuring that information received from the forum would assist these communities to better articulate those needs.

He enjoined Nigerians to take advantage of the consultations series and come out with more creative ways that could help USPF to be more relevant to the country, especially for local dwellers.

Implementation of template:

In his remark at the occasions, Executive Secretary, USPF, Mr. Funso Fayomi, said that the agency is working assiduously in line with its original mandate as outlined in the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. Noting that USPF found that collaboration between governments, community based organisations, the private sector and other stakeholders is the best approach, hence, it embraced the strategy, saying that the public sector would typically provide the financial backbone while the communities and the private sector remain the primary drivers for the implementation and sustenance of services.

He said, USPF has been designed to promote widespread availability and usage of network services throughout the country by encouraging the installation of network facilities and the provision of network services to institutions and to unserved and underserved areas and groups in the country.

USPF, he also said, holds in trust the interface of the government with the Nigerian people in facilitation and enhancement of network availability and service quality where otherwise it would have been impossible. Recollecting that at the last quarter of 2009, USPF began the implementation template, which paved the way for it to launch projects in different parts of the country.

Fayomi gave insight into USPF activities in recent times, saying that across the six geo-political zones of the country, the agency has 115 Community Communications Centres (CCC) and 76 subsidized Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) at different levels of completion. In addition to providing 476 government secondary schools with 100 computers, a 5KVA generator and broadband connectivity per school under the School Access Programme (SAP), 68 Tertiary Institutions with 100 desktops and broadband connectivity under the TiAP Project.

He explained that under the CCC project, USPF aimed at establishing centres that will extend voice, Internet, ICT training and other services to unserved communities on shared basis, with each of the centre provided with a public calling centre, cybercafé and ICT training courses, as well as serve as platform from which to wirelessly extend Internet access to surrounding communities.

On the BTS project, he disclosed that it has been designed to accelerate access to telephony and data services in unserved and underserved communities while the SAP projects are targeted at developing ICT capacity at the foundation level with the provision of computers, accessories and high speed internet connection to selected schools, including laptops for teachers.

10m skilled Nigerians before December 2010
As part of the strategy, USPF and the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) disclosed plans to train about 10 million Nigerians on Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) scheme, in one year.

Affirming this, Director, CTO, Mr. Bashir Patel and board members of USPF present at the forum gave this hope to jointly set a target of training 10 million Nigerians nationwide under the USPF access for all project. This, Patel said is the target that USPF has set for itself for training within a 12 months period and that the training would include youths, children and people from all walks of life, describing it as very ambitious project.

Pointing out that the proposal of one community centre per local government area is a recommendation that USPF has decided to take up, but would require feasible proposal on counterpart contributions to make them sustainable. Advocating that Nigerian child should have the same level of education like counterparts in Europe or America, he enjoined the federal and state governments as well as private sector companies to make this happen, which actually is the right of the citizens to demand. Patel expressed excitement over the level of participation of the people, especially from the South West geo-political zone during the forums.

The founder, Growing Businesses Foundation (GBF) Dr. (Mrs) Ndidi Edozien, told participants that the forum has commitment by the board of USPF on training workshop and that it would not just be training but also exploring potential projects and partnership opportunities.

The projects, she said, would succeed on moving forward mostly as they were encouraged by the level of participation at the forum, stressing that there was a general consensus on the need to use ICT to build market linkages and that USPF would look into it, calling on communities with connectivity problem to share such information.

A role for rural communities:

Speaking to ITRealms Online in Yola, the Managing Director, Growing Business Foundation (GBF), Mr. Emeka Orjih, tasked rural communities in the country to take advantage of USPF, even as he explained GBF involvement in the forums.

According to Orjih, his organization plays the role of an intermediary, stressing that GBF is a leading platform for sustained economic development driving its activities through non-governmental and non-profit operations.

He noted that GBF works toward building a Nigerian private sector driven non-profit to promote a sustainable homegrown model for building viable partnerships that enable development at the community level, hence its participation actively in the USPF-organised stakeholders’ forum.

“Through various intermediations between the private sector and the bottom of the pyramid, we are supporting local cooperative enterprises, thereby facilitating meaningful development in several communities across the country,” he said, noting that by using a micro-lending as a platform, GBF has been able to facilitate direct contact with what he described as “smallholder and medium scale farmers and entrepreneurs over the years.

He said that GBF operates in 34 States of the federation with over 77 staff in six offices in order to be close to the rural communities, just as it builds on bottom of pyramid (BoP) capacity, which enhances productivity rate, helps in developing access to local and international markets by serving as a linkage between ICT, agriculture and entrepreneurship.

“We create linkages between the BOP and resources including financial, human and institutional resources. Intermediation from bottom to top, for examples the BOP linkage to USPF, appropriate government parastatals, ministries, public and private sectors, donors to mention a few is what BGF specializes,” he explained.

Nigeria rural communities, he said, must leverage on ICT for socio-economic development to be part of the digital revolution sweeping across the country, presently.

He assured that GBF has come to stay and ensure that this happens through creation of public private people’s partnership, which entails bringing local communities, public and private sector expertise and resources together to create and ensure sustainability of rural and income generating projects.

GBF, he pointed out functions as an intermediary linking BOP players, mostly farmers and entrepreneurs with inputs, and market information.

Conclusion:
It is expected that before the year runs off, the remaining four regions yet to be visited must have been concluded and relevant deductions made out of the forum to further position the organization for greater democratic or better still ICT dividends to continue to spread in the most populous nation on the continent.

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Facebook may tighten privacy policy

The rave of the moment electronic social networking tool, Facebook (FB), may be considering a tighter privacy policy, insisting that children under 13 years are not eligible to subscribe to its services.

This indication emerged last weekend with the update notification sent to FB users centered on nine-point, encompassing the introduction, information FB receives, sharing of information, information users share with third parties, how FB uses subscribers information, how FB shares information, how users can change or remove information, how FB protects information and other terms.

The latest Facebook Site Governance on Privacy Policy proclaimed last Friday, showed that Facebook as a certified licensee of the Truste Privacy Seal Programme has privacy policy and practices that have been reviewed by Truste, an independent organization focused on reviewing privacy and security policies and practices, for compliance with its strict programme requirements in the United States under the watchful eyes of the Department of Commerce (DoC).

This privacy policy, Facebook proponents said, covers the website www.facebook.com, while the Truste programme covers only information that is collected through this web site, and does not cover other information, such as information that may be collected through software downloaded from Facebook.

While advising Facebookers to contact the company if they have any complaints about policy or practices, before reaching out to Truste in the case of non-satisfaction, they said that Facebook is reputed to adhering to the ‘Safe Harbor’ framework developed by DoC and the European Union.

“As part of our participation in the Safe Harbor, we agree to resolve all disputes you have with us in connection with our policies and practices through Trustee,” part of the policy stated.

They warned that this privacy policy covers all of Facebook, but however, applies to entities that Facebook does not own or control, such as applications and websites using platform.

“No information from children under age 13. If you are under age 13, please do not attempt to register for Facebook or provide any personal information about yourself to us. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13, we will delete that information as quickly as possible,” they declared, maintaining that those under this category must seek parental permission for participation.

On the information FB receives, the promoters of the largest social networking site in the world, noted that when people sign up for Facebook they provide their names, electronic mail (email), gender, and birth date.

“During the registration process we give you the opportunity to connect with your friends, schools, and employers. You will also be able to add a picture of yourself. In some cases we may ask for additional information for security reasons or to provide specific services to you,” they said.

One of the primary reasons people use Facebook is to share content with others, this the proponents said includes when users make update of their status, upload or take a photo, upload or record a video, share a link, create an event or a group, make a comment, write something on someone’s Wall, write a note, or send someone a message.

Warning that if users do not want FB to store metadata associated with content they share on Facebook such as photos, they could remove the metadata before uploading the content.

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Galaxy bags Beacon of ICT award

Leading public sector-based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure provision company, Galaxy Backbone, Nigeria, has bagged a prize at the 2009 edition of Beacon of ICT award, which took place in Lagos recently.

The event according to the organizers was created to honor the talents, contributions and commitment of individuals and organizations that have made notable contributions within the Nigerian ICT industry.

Also, the event attracted who-is-who in ICT industry including the immediate past Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, Director General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Yomi Bolanrinwa, former Minister of Communications Air Vice Marshall Canice Umenwaliri (Rtd) amidst other notables in the sector and representatives of other government agencies.

The organizers noted that Galaxy Backbone was chosen based on online votes casted by thousands of Nigerians made up of consumers of ICT products and services, the industry, media and the general public.

Equally, the citation read during the ceremony stated that since coming on board in 2007 as a special purpose ICT vehicle of the government, Galaxy Backbone Plc, has changed the ICT landscape for good, especially through its 1-GOV.net services platform which was introduced to significantly enhance the adoption of ICT in the public sector for the efficient delivery of public services and cost effectiveness.

Responding after receiving the award, the Manager, Corporate Communications, Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Franklyn Ginger-Eke, said they find it extremely humbling to be honoured with the award amongst giants in the ICT industry.

“In about three years of our corporate existence, the name Galaxy Backbone has become synonymous with the delivery of superior ICT solutions and services. This award challenges us towards ensuring that we meet and exceed our customers and stakeholders expectations through the provision of pervasive ICT infrastructure services that positively impact national development” he declared.

Galaxy Backbone Plc is a public enterprise of the Federal Government established in 2006 to provide a common platform for the provision of ICT connectivity and transversal services to the Federal Government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).

The company is currently offering consultancy and project management services to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Global Communications Network Project which involves the provision of secure hosted messaging and collaboration services with voice, video and data communication capability to Nigerian missions in over 100 countries across Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia. A similar project is being implemented for the Nigerian Army Wide Area Network that positions ICT as the pivot for the transformation of the Army into an efficient and modern military institution and covers internet connectivity for the Nigerian Army headquarters connected via fibre-optic link and its remote locations connected by VSAT as well as other value added services like video conferencing to it divisions across the country.

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Starcomms extends on-net free call promo

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator, Starcomms Plc, has extended its 24 hours of free on-net talk-time promo by one month, according to the Chief Commercial Officer of Starcomms, Mr. Tushar Maheshwari.

The company, he said, decided to extend the date due to the growing popularity of the promo and the response from its subscribers who have classified the promo as a thing of joy.

Starcomms, he said, last month commenced the promo as part of its efforts to reward its subscribers for their loyalty to the Starcomms brand.

Maheshwari said the extension of the promo was done to allow the subscribers to continue to savour the pleasure of being on the Starcomms network saying that the operator will consistently offer more efficient and reliable value added services to its growing numbers of subscribers.

Stressing that with the extension of the promo, existing subscribers could now meet their communication needs by contacting friends and family members, mostly at this festive season.

Maheshwari disclosed that Starcomms would continue to provide cutting edge communications infrastructure as well as seamless and efficient services that will ensure excellent customer service, unequalled clarity, the widest coverage and seamless connectivity.

For him, as sophisticated telecoms company, Starcomms would not cease to offer the Nigerian market superior network quality, provide the most advanced mobile, fixed wireless and broadband services with cost effective pricing.

And in the ongoing promo, all that the subscriber needs to do is to recharge his phone with at least N250 daily and he is qualified to enjoy the service. He explained that the advantage of this latest package from the award-winning CDMA operator is that the subscriber could now make nonstop calls on the network.

“It comes with free airtime, and it is applicable to only calls made on Starcomms network,” he said, declaring that Starcomms subscribers would always get value for their money.

Just as he pointed out that this free on-net call promotion would give subscribers the opportunity to talk for as long as they want within 24 hours after their recharge.

A winner of several awards both local and international, Starcomms has not left any part of the country unreached with its broadband service. As residents of Lagos and Abuja, Ibadan, Calabar and Benin City, Warri and Port Harcourt enjoys unlimited internet access from the leader, Starcomms, five more cities are expected to join soon. Recently, at a colourful event held at the Hotel Concorde Lafayette in Paris, France, Starcomms was named the Alternative Operator of the year in West Africa. Starcomms beat all other operators in the sub-region to emerge the winner due to its trail-blazing approach to delivering telecommunications products and services in Nigeria. The prestigious international award was bestowed on Starcomms by the global industry watcher, African Telecom People (ATP) renowned for honouring personalities and institutions that leave an exceptional imprint in Africa on a yearly basis.

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Panabiz launches all-in-one colour printer

Office automation supplier and the sole representative of Panasonic in the country, Panabiz International Ltd, launched an all-in-one colour printer, KX-MC6000 series, into the nation’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) market.

General Manager, Panabiz International Ltd, Mr. Kunal Malhotra, said the latest in shelf is targeted at Small Office Home Office (SOHO).

He also said that the new Panasonic range of multi-functional colour printers, KX-MC6000 series, is targeted at top executives and small office users, adding that the product comes with the feature of a new built-in Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot that enables users to print directly thus avoiding any Personal Computer (PC) interface.

Malhotra explained that these new machines, have been incorporated with all the features that are offered in its award-winning A3 colour printer copier lineup.
Noting that with the launch of the Panasonic KX-MC6000 series, high quality resolution colour printing, copying and scanning could be done in a much more economical way with greater ease.

In addition, Malhotra said that these network-ready A4 size printers suit the needs of small departments and top executives in businesses, who for reasons of privacy or convenience require a local device that could print and distribute documents to the same high standard as departmental A3 devices.

The KX-MC6000 series, he pointed out, is a 20-page per minute colour A4 printer, flatbed copier, colour scanner and fax; the sorts of productivity features not normally found on A4 desktop devices.

“It includes an in-built 50-sheet automatic document feeder that speeds up the scanning and copying of mixed batches or multi-page documents. It also features a duplex unit that enables users to print on both sides of the page and produce vibrant, full colour booklets,” he said.

Further, he said that scanned documents and images could be saved as Portable Document Format (PDFs), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEGs) or Tagged Image File Format (TIFFs) and then archived, incorporated into electronic documents or converted into editable text using bundled ‘Read iris’ optical character recognition (OCR) software.

He emphasized that scan to email functionality lets the users send colour documents directly from the device to the mailboxes of intended recipients at zero extra cost.

This functionality saves the user from an otherwise double effort of first sending the scan to personal computer and then mailing it from there.

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Phone operator wins in Visafone Mega Return promo

A Lagos-based commercial telephone operator, Mr. Amos Thomas has won the star prize of a motor-bike in the on-going Visafone Profit Mega Return promotion in the Lagos region.

Visa Profit Mega Returns is an initiative by the network operator to reward commercial telephone operators on its platform.

Mr. Thomas who was presented his prize, last weekend, commended Visafone for keeping its word on the promotion.

He expressed appreciation to Visafone for spreading the joy of communication to its subscribers.

“I want to say a big thank you to Visafone for this wonderful prize. This is really a surprise to me,” said Thomas, who is a commercial telephone operator based in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Head, Brand and Communications at Visafone, Mr. Kingsley Mordi said that the latest draw was held at the Civic Centre, Lagos and was marked with celebration.

He also disclosed that about 350 lucky subscribers also won several prizes ranging from motorcycles, generators, televisions, refrigerators to name a few.

In addition, he said, the event produced lots of consolation prize winners, while some subscribers present were rewarded with free airtime.

Welcoming guest at the event earlier, the Managing Director, Visafone, Mr. Ramachandran Balachandran, expressed appreciation to the subscribers and particularly the commercial telephone operators for choosing the network and urged them to stay on.

The Visa Profit Mega Returns was unveiled last January and it’s a plan to reward and empower subscribers on the Visa Profit package who use up to N3,000 and more monthly.

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Globacom, GSM company of the year – City People

The second national operator, Globacom Limited, has been pronounced the GSM Company of the Year, at the 13th City People Awards for Excellence held at Lekki, Lagos.

City People Media Group, organizers of the event, said that Globacom won the prize in appreciation of its revolutionary role in the telecoms sector.

“Globacom has proved itself to be a network to be reckoned with. The company recently landed its submarine cable, Glo 1 in Nigeria and Ghana. It has also pioneered a lot of firsts since it came on board, including the crashing of the price of SIM cards to the lowest level in the industry,” part of the citation read.

Also, the organizers said Glo brought in new innovations like 3G Plus, mobile banking, internet, GPRS, MMS, the Blackberry and Glo Fleet Manager, even as it has commenced roll out of services in some of the West African countries, beginning with the Republic of Benin.

The event was equally used to reward and celebrate worthy Nigerians and corporate citizens who have excelled in their various areas of endeavour.

The 2010 edition recorded a quality attendance with the presence of the Delta State Governor and his wife as well as the Deputy Governor of Osun State, among others.

Globacom is Nigeria’s Second National Operator (SNO) which prides itself with world class telecommunications solutions and offers digital mobile services (GSM), national carrier service (fixed line), international gateway and on-line services.

A wholly Nigerian owned company, Globacom was founded on a vision of being the largest, most successful entertainment, information and telecommunications solutions provider, both in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Globacom is part of the well-established Mike Adenuga Group of companies which has significant interests in the Nigerian oil, aviation and banking sectors.

Globacom has won a number of awards since it began operations in 2003. The company has won the Thisday Company of the Year award for three consecutive years in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

It was voted Best Mobile Telephone Company and Best Telephone Company 2006 by the Nigerian Technology and Telecom Awards (NIITA).

It also won the Global Excellence 2006 Company of the Year as well as West Africa’s Most Preferred Telecommunications Company of the Year 2006 award by the Institute of Direct marketing of Nigerian (IDML).

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IPCL to host ICT media empowerment

Image and Publics Communications Limited (IPCL), has finalized plans to host Information and Communication Technology (ICT) alongside other business-related empowerment for Nigeria media practitioners, in Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State.

Executive Director, IPCL, Mr. Segun Oruame, made this disclosure at the weekend and said that over 50 media practitioners are expected to grace the three-day event.

The training session, he said, is targeted at junior and mid level practitioners drawn from the ICT, business, news and political beats.

Oruame quoted the Benue State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Diana Ochoga, as saying that he always regard media as stakeholders whose role is crucial to build a great Nigeria.

He also said that plans have been advanced to have the support of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), stressing that part of the objectives of the training include to provide foundation knowledge for new concepts and evolving notions in journalism and modern journalistic practice; induct ICT and business journalists on the nuances on business and technology writing; refresh journalists knowledge on industry and best practice; and create a meeting point for media and industry; provide a shared platform for knowledge interaction and skill updating on news handling and news reporting.

“We are driven by the need to help fill the vacuum for capacity training so as to promote excellence in media delivery and journalistic practice,” Oruame said.

Further, he said, that since 2006, IPCL through its Media Training Centre has carried out series of capacity training workshops for journalists, which is consistent with its goals to improve the practice of the profession.

Recalling that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was a lead sponsor of its 2008 training for journalists in Ogun State, he noted that IPCL yearly brings together seasoned practitioners and experts from related fields to improve the knowledge base of active and practicing journalists.

The session, he said, would cover areas such as citizen journalism and the changing patterns of traditional journalism; blogging and the challenges of online reporting, just as the forum would examine notions such as developmental journalism within the context of reporting national institutions or issues that centre on national interest.

According to him, the training module provides a window for reporting technology based issues within the dynamics of the country’s changing laws as it concerns online financial services and libel on online publications.

Benue State current government is led by Governor Gabriel Suswam, who hitherto was appointed the Chairman, Anambra State Ward Congresses Committee of the PDP by the national secretariat of the party.

In the last two years, the governor has embarked on some of the country’s most aggressive rural electrification projects and has sought to the window for agriculture beyond subsistence farming through establishment of support infrastructures among other incentives to attract investment including a 48-hour cap on land title issuing and tax holidays of up to five years.

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Multi-Links unveils SelfCare portal

Multi-Links Telkom Nigeria has launched its Self Care Service portal for subscribers on the network, according to the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer (CCAO), Mrs. Ijeoma Abazie in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online.

Mrs. Abazie also said that the launch was in line with Multi-Links Telkom determination to take subscribers’ experience to a new height in customer satisfaction, effectiveness and efficiency.

She quoted the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Multi-Links Telkom, Mr. Arif Hussain as saying this technology driven personalized interface, on service delivery, would enable every Multi-Links Telkom subscribers to engage in direct interaction with the business without the human element.

Multi-Links Telkom Self Care portal, Hussain explained, is an integrated self-service web solution enabling MLTL customers to enjoy virtual connection for customer service. This new service allows all customers to perform such actions as balance enquiry, change of personal data, activation and de-activation of services without the attendance of a call center agent or other operator representatives.

Hussain also said that customers using this portal would be able to subscribe to a new service, change contract status, view recent call history, view bills, check EV-DO balance, transfer money from their phone to other MLTL phone, view and recharge balances, view status history, assign contract to another member, family and friends, view request and value added service.

As said by him, the portal would equally afford customers to enjoy real-time delivery of detailed account information to subscribers at their own convenience, increased customer satisfaction through the provision of richer business functionalities to corporate clients, and customers do not have to call the Call Centre to resolve most complaints.

With the Self Care Portal, Hussain pointed out that customers would experience a convenient way to perform recharge activities.

“The new service also offers ability to recharge multiple products from the same convenient portal (i.e. Phones, Rocket Lite 1x and EV-DO). And it also offers greater flexibility for customers to interact with Multi-Links Telkom,” he said.

The acting CSMO said that the Self Service Solution has become a necessity for Multi-links Telkom as an operator to give customers greater flexibility on how they interact with MLTL services and to provide a suitable platform for future growth.

He said that subscribers are encouraged to activate the Customer Self Service functionalities of their phones and EVDO by logging on to https://selfcare.multi-links.com/jfn and signing in with the activation number that will be sent to their phone.

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