Banjo v. Omo-Ettu: Battle for ATCON leadership gears up

WITH less than 48 hours to the election of the new National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the heat has narrowed down to some specifics on who are the contending forces to battle each other in order to emerge in the new leadership of the association.

ATCON is a professional, non-profit umbrella organisation of all telecommunication companies in Nigeria, which was inaugurated on December 10, 1993, as a national trade organisation, with its membership drawn from Nigerian and multi-national companies which provide telecommunications and information technology products and services in the country.

ITRealms Online gathered that there are about nine contenders in various positions including the National President where Messrs Titi Omo-Ettu and Bayo Banjo would be locking horns come Friday, April 30 this year at the Golden Gate venue of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) cum general election.

Also, Olusola Teniola of Kinten Telecom has declared interest on the first vice national president position, Adewale Jones of Ashfield & Bowman Attorney, David Roberts of Cebit Park Ltd is reportedly eyeing the post of the National Secretary, Intercellular representative at ATCON, Ms Maureen Egbuna seems to be a lone ranger for the National Publicity Secretary, while Tony Nwosu has expressed interest in going for the Co-coordinator, Auxiliary Service Providers, even as Mac Danielles Ighedosa of Diyeem Global Concept, Enhanced Services and Akinlabi Akinbo from AAA Infotek are expected to muscle up for Coordinator, Consulting Group.

Normally, the key battle is between those hussling for the national president seat, that is, Messrs Titi Omo-Ettu and Bayo Banjo. Uniquely, both are known advocates as far as this industry and ATCON issues are concerned.

For most industry watchers, both contenders are going to exhibit keen contest given their backgrounds before now.

For Bayo Banjo, who has been the first vice president under the incumbent NEC led by Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem of Teledom Group International, he has been an outspoken person ever before and has served well in his current capacity in the last four years, which is cumulatively the two- year term of Dr. Ekuwem and could be said to have grown through the ranks for his turn and represented Ekuwem and ATCON very well in the last few years of active participation in the NEC.

Though Banjo on one hand is known overtly for his style of elucidating controversies anytime, anyday in the bid to air his mind without any encumbrance, he is the founder of Disc Communications Limited (DisCom), a leading telecommunications company that is in forefront of revolutionizing the industry in Nigeria with several years of experience.

DisCom under his leadership, has proved to be seen as delivering quality telecom services via land lines, optimizing the advantage of the larger bandwidth that cable has over wireless counterpart in addition to encouraging optimization of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

Equally, Mr. Banjo is not contesting with unknown figure in the industry in the person of Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, a consultant telecommunications engineer who is the Managing Partner, Telecom Answers Associates (TAA) and founder The Executive Cyberschuul and was actually the chairman, electoral committee that brought in the Ekuwem-Banjo ticket four years ago and has served in various committees under the current dispensation in ATCON.

Currently, Omo-Ettu who is also referred to industry-wise as ‘IT Parable’ is the National Vice president, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), since last year.

Omo-Ettu has over three decades of active participation in the Nigerian telecommunications development having retired from the services of Nigerian Telecommunications Plc (NITEL) in 1991 and presently consulting and training younger engineers with focus on developmental processes.

He has consulted for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) since its inception in 1993 to date, serving in the areas of industry studies and research, universal service plans and internet applications just as he extends similar services to the private sector clients.

His Lagos-based Cyberschuul specialises on telecommunications training, whereas he is a fellow of several professional entities including the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Telecom Executive Management Institute, Canada; memberships of Association of Consulting Engineers, Nigeria; and Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) among others.

His expertise also extends to telecommunications switching; digital technology; tele-traffic engineering; network planning and management; network economics; managing people & resources; marketing strategy and management; virtual private networks; e-learning management platforms; Voice over IP (VoIP).

As the time draw nearer, the ATCON annual general meeting cum election, may this year be very intense and as such goes a long way in dividing the membership of ATCON along thin margins like was witnessed four years ago when Ekuwem and chairman, Linkserve Group, Chief Chima Onyekwere sweated it out with a margin of a single vote to emerge.

Confirming the readiness of ATCON for the election, Executive Secretary, Mr. Ajibola Olude, said that they are looking forward to welcoming both old and new members at the AGM.

He explained that the chairman of the electoral committee would be appointed on that day, maintaining that ATCON strongly believes that for Nigerian telecommunications market to remain vibrant and relevant, the association should keep on advocating for some fundamentals like good quality service and zero tolerance on multiple taxation to name a few.

Hence, the election of the national executive council has become imperative to underscore ATCON’s needs for credible, pro-active, intelligent and good resource managers to steer its leadership in the next two years to the next level.

Therefore, he enjoined members to turn out enmass for the AGM and NEC election.

As at the time of going to press, ITRealms Online learnt that already, scheming has been going on in order to woe members of ATCON, especially the contenders in other portfolio, who are expected to fall in line within the two presidential aspirants of the association, which could be a boost for whoever would emerges as president eventually.


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2010: Nigerian youths drag IBB to Facebook

Last few weeks have been awash in Nigerian media with the verdict of former president Ibrahim Babangida on youth’s inability to take mantle of leadership. But they dragged IBB to social networking site, Facebook, with reactions, reports REMMY NWEKE.

FORMER military president of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), was recently dragged to the most popular social networking website by some Nigerian youth who were simply not excited about his dream to aspire for the number one position again.

This is coming on the heels that the former military president and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a fortnight ago reportedly declared his ambition to return to Aso Rock, due to what he perceived as lack of competent younger people to take over the mantle of leadership in the country.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) described youth as persons between the ages of 15 and 24, while the United Nations (UN) in its agenda for the youth recognizes it as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States.

This definition was made during preparations for the International Youth Year (1985), and endorsed by the General Assembly (see A/36/215 and resolution 36/28, 1981). All United Nations statistics on youth are based on this definition, as illustrated by the annual yearbooks of statistics published by the United Nations system on demography, education, employment and health.

In some other instances, youth has been described as those from 19 to 40 years, especially in the religious.

However, these media reports, were largely an extract from IBB’s interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Babangida was quoted as saying that his desire to return to Aso Rock was spurred by the signs that Nigerian youth were not able to lead the country.

“… So, we feel we should help them. May be, they are not given the proper education that is why. I have spent 17 years since I left office. But a country like Nigeria cannot be ruled by people without experience. People like the Obama that you are speaking about have the experience. He started from the State House of Assembly to the House of Representatives and to the Senate. If our youth are like this, we will say they have the requisite experience. But we have not reached that level. Honestly, it is our wish that God will bring the younger people that will take over from us if they are available,” he said.

He also exonerated his eight-year stint at the Presidency from promoting corruption, describing the level of corruption in the country then as a far cry from what obtains today.

As one would expect, Nigerian youths and those youth at heart dragged him to their world of cyberspace, especially social networking sites with the prime being Facebook, which has more than 400 million active users.

ITRealms Online gathered that Facebook has estimated 50 per cent of active users log on in any given day within average user having 130 friends, while people spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

Equally as the case attracted literally ‘venom’ from Nigerian youth, they went on to some online advocacy against IBB including Campaign Against IBB for President 2011, which main course is politics. On this group’s description for instance, it read: “Enough of Soldier go, Soldier come, It’s time for fresh and new ideas to emerge and lead Nigeria and Nigerians, so we can attain our rightful place in Africa and the world. Babangida is not the answer to our problems.”

The group pointed out that IBB wanted to turn “Nigeria and Nigerian citizens into party of what him and his people own. We must stop these old thieves from ruining our dear country. No to IBB 2011,” creator of the campaign declared in the profile.

Another concerned youthful Nigerian, while responding doubted if IBB actually looked closely at the demography of Nigerian voters lately before making that comment, recalling that even Babangida himself became president in his 40s as well as Buhari.
“… Gowon became President in his 30s, Murtala also in his 30s, Obasanjo became resident in his 30s, even Ojukwu became President of his own faction of the country in his 30s. So, when they come to the present and want to tell us that it is impossible for Nigerians in their 30s or 40 to govern this country, I begin to believe they’ve gotten so old that their brain cells have all died off and they don’t recall reality,” one of the respondents wrote on his Facebook wall.

According to this respondent, “IBB could be suffering from amnesia, and we must NOT allow him to take charge over our affairs again. For me, this is not about youth against old age-after all how old was Ronald Reagan when he won the US presidential election? But the likes of IBB have messed up Nigeria and want to continue to mess it up. No, they won’t! We won’t let them!” he insisted.

In his reaction, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2007 election, Prof. Pat Utomi urged Nigerian youth who are certain that IBB comments on BBC recently undermined their intelligence to speak out, mostly in the area of incapable of leadership and poorly educated.

“Nigerian youths must stand up to those who have no confidence in them,” he said, maintaining that “If we want a better Nigeria we need to create it. It will not just happen. We should not be tied to our past, we need to be tied to our potential.”

He attributed comments such as the one by IBB to Nigerians high tolerance for
ineptitude, stressing that was why all manner of failed and recycled former leaders feel the urge to talk down on the youth and insult them instead of campaigning for their votes.

He counseled Nigerians, whether from North or South, to think back on their past sufferings and “if you do not want more of ... the same, stand up and say enough is enough, because 2011 is the make or break year.”

For Mr. Increase Frank, “no matter how tall an okro tree may be, it would be bent by its owner when the time for harvest comes,’’ he declared, saying that for IBB, he knows that the youth are out not just for anything but the right thing. He thinks that by making such a statement the youth would be afraid.

“Oh no, you have failed. We’re out this time and out for the good of our country,” Frank reiterated.

And for Nosa Ihama, he pleaded with Nigerian youth to control their anger because he was sure IBB would be frustrated by his party and even if he succeeds, he would not win come 2011, alleging that Babangida contributed to the difficulties Nigerians and mostly the youths are presently facing as a nation in his youthful days as military dictator for eight years.

“He definitely cannot do anything to remedy the situation in his present age. The youths of Nigeria possess the ability to right the wrongs ... ‘Nigerian Youth, Yes We Can’” Ihama declared. This much was corroborated by Geli Okobi, another FB enthusiast.

While some described IBB’s comment as crazy, others urged him on, saying that if he is ready for the battle, he can give it a trial, after all, he knows that there would be no light at the end of the tunnel for him, because it is the nation’s money he stole while in office for eight years that he wants to use for his campaign.

“IBB is a joker. He won’t run. Let just eat the money he stole from us. He knows that if he comes and doesn’t win in 2011, he is finish,” said Joe Stanley.

Another youth, Deji Dero, promised that Nigerian youth would wage war against IBB come 2011, noting that his comment on BBC connotes that he does not have hope even in his own children, who are also youth of this country.

In her submission, Menye Ify noted there are 25 Laws of Democracy and Law 5 was particular about seeking information consistently.

Therefore, she quoted Lai Labode saying in 25 Laws of Democracy: “In the multiple-faced character of politics in any democracy, an uninformed choice is a moral crime to self and any side of an electoral divide. Information is the oxygen of a truly free choice.”

ITRealms Online recalls that the chief executive officer of Connect Technologies and President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Chief Chris Uwaje in one of his inserts in the recently launched e-Knowledge: Time is Running Out, stated while discussing challenges in globalization and information society, that it demands higher levels of efficiency in governance, economy and commerce since there is now only one global standard in ICT, which played out in this IBB saga.

This gross implication, he said is that globalization could essentially be viewed as a ‘global technology revenue basket’ where inventor participate by earning credits or consumer nations by paying debts, noting that whichever way one is service knowledge.

This goes to justify the Lai Labode’s theory for a lot more Nigerian youth in the 25 Laws of Democracy No. 5, which is crucial for the political class to stop undermining Nigerians, especially the youths at this information age, because the soldiers of new media would not stop at anything than to make their votes count.


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SIM registration: Izuogu urges alignment to EU data Act

HANNOVER-based Nigerian legal practitioner, Mr. Chukwuyere Izuogu, has said that for the proposed Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) registration due to commence Saturday, May 1, in the country, there must be some level of data protection issues to be addressed.

He also called for retooling of Nigerian laws to align itself with the European Union (EU) principle, which has become widely accepted globally as far as data protection is concerned.

Izuogu said that top of these issues needing attention is how to manage the lack of appropriate legislative solutions with respect to the data to be gathered from the exercise.

Mr. Izuogu in a chat with ITRealms Online, said that industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has a lot of work to do in order to make the registration successful.

“As national governments are becoming more aware of the importance of a good data protection framework, Nigeria must consciously strive to ensure that the personal data of the telecom subscribers are safeguarded,” he said.

This, he said, goes without saying that the common Nigerian person values his privacy and should not be exposed to situations where such a personal data is unlawfully processed or accessed.

The reality on ground, he pointed out, is the lack of the appropriate legislative solutions, which must be put in place to address data protection issues which are gradually manifesting in an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) savvy Nigerian society.

“We need to re-engineer our laws to accommodate the challenges presented by data protection, in the absence of the appropriate law, it becomes safe to place reliance on the principles enshrined under European Union (EU) model for data protection, which still remains a role model for implementing data protection laws worldwide,” he said.

Explaining the importance of data protection, Izuogu reiterated that the right to privacy has been in-alienable, thus, it could never be derogated from.

Further, he said, the directive by NCC was borne out of the need to have a credible database of SIM card holders in Nigeria that would be used to identify, for instance, criminals for possible prosecution who perpetrate criminal activities through the use of mobile phones by exploiting the anonymity of unregistered SIM Card.

Identifying data protection and privacy issues in the implementation of this SIM card registration process as key to its would-be success, Izuogu noted the right to privacy is an inalienable human right that cannot be derogated from, neither could it be subsumed under any government law or policy.

He emphasized though that Nigeria presently has no legislative framework for data protection, but noted that the right to privacy could be traced to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999, in particular Section 37, which provides “the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected.”

According to him, the broad import of this particular statutory provision is to guarantee from interference and intrusion, the private affairs of the Nigerian person.

When this constitutional right is juxtaposed with NCC’s directive to register SIM cards, one is compelled to ask the nature of privacy and or data protection issues involved in the registration of these SIM cards.

Describing SIM cards as a tool used to identify subscribers to mobile telecommunications services. It is a removable card that allows the user to transfer its subscribed services to another mobile device.

As there is a dearth of data protection laws in Nigeria, I intend to propose as a reference model the principles contained in the EU wide Data Protection Directive 95/46 EC, as a guide for the implementation of this SIM card registration process.

Amongst other things, this directive has been internationally touted as a proper reference model for data protection, the standards set are widely regarded as “high” and places an emphasis on human rights while its principles have been flexible in their approach.

He said, in pursuant to this directive, data or personal data means any information relating to an identifiable natural person, which also goes further in defining an identifiable natural person as one who could be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number.


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PBCL partners take ATM solution to InfoSecurity fair

PRICEWORTH Business Connections Ltd (PBCL) has concluded plans to take its solution alongside partners to the 2010 InfoSecurity scheduled to hold in the United Kingdom (UK) come June this year.

PBCL president, Mr. Peter Ejiofor, made this disclosure in Lagos, saying that key solution would focus on Automated Teller Machine (ATM) skimming and fraud prevention.

He noted that ATM skimming has emerged as one of bank’s fastest-growing electronic crimes and is a much more profitable crime to commit, not only because of the amount of money they are able to steal very quickly, but because it is less likely that they will be detected.

The time, he said, has come for financial institutions to battle it so as to survive change in policy and can ill afford any further loss of consumer confidence.

“With over 25,000 bank consortium managing ATMs in operation round the country, banking and security leaders are challenged by savvy cyber criminals with an inventory of readily available skimming technology in executing their ATM fraud action plans upon institutions of all sizes,” he said.

Noting that without an understanding of the crime, the skimming process and proactive protective strategies, virtually any institution, any customer could be the next victim.

He disclosed that during the InfoSecurity UK 2010 which comes up from June 3 through 5, at Arora Hotel Heathrow, London, England, visitors will get to learn insights from a United States (U.S.) Infosecurity experts, former bank cum security leader and security solutions providers, to explain how skimming works.

Detailed examination of the crime, the rapidly-changing skimming technology used on ATMs, and the criminal process of ATM skimmers as documented by those who should know will be showcased at the fair.

Prevention strategies, according to him, include security and data lost prevention strategies to alter skimming’s impact on identity theft losses. Learn more about rising direct and indirect costs, notification procedures, loss-cost analysis and prevention-mitigation tactics.

“You will also test emerging technologies that are now a part of effective ATM security practices; understand the four-step layered security approach that can help banking operations detect and deter ATM skimming crime and fraud losses,” he said.


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Legends of Tech honours Obi, Obaro, 2 Ghanaians

THE Executive Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, recently led awardees at the West Africa ICT Development Award (WAICTDA) where he bagged the ICT Governor of the Year.

WAICTDA is organised by Legend of Technology, a project of Technology Africa.
Just as the Managing Director of SystemSpecs Limited, Mr. John Obaro, the President, Accra Institute of Technology, Prof. Clement Dzidonu, President, Accra Institute of Technology received the award for ICT Personality of the year – Male; while the ICT personality of the year - Female went to Dr. Dorothy Gordon (Ghana).

They were honoured at the annual event, which took place in Lagos, and according to the citation read by the organisers, Anambra State today under Gov. Obi’s leadership is at the forefront of promoting ICT in schools and providing enabling environment for growth of ICT.

“In addition it is providing ICT training for civil servants and students in the state. Through strategic partnership the state has also become the first to produce 100 Microsoft Academies, the first to begin the process of allocation of the one-laptop-per-child initiative and is indeed the first administration to give one-laptop to every civil servant as against what obtains in other states where civil servants cannot have access to computer after working hours,” part of the citation read.

Gov Obi, was also said to have demonstrated uncommon courage to pursue the path of ICT growth, adoption and use for the citizens of Anambra State, thus contributing to bridging the digital divide in the country.

Reacting to the award after receiving it on behalf of Gov. Obi, his commissioner for Economic, Planning and Budget, Prof Chinyere Stella Okunna, commended the organizers for the quality of the ceremony noting that the award would spur Obi’s administration to higher heights as it seeks to make Anambra State a leading light in ICT utilisation.

This year’s event, presided over by annual West African ICT Development Awards and gala is designed to celebrate Hi-Tech most important movers and shakers; individuals, organisations and institutions that are at the fore front of pushing the frontiers of technology deployment and adoption in Nigeria.

TD emerged ICT Company of the year; Computer Company of the year went to OMATEK; Best e-Government support company of the year -New Horizons and the Training Institution of the year-NIIT.

Others include Mobile Operator company of the year-Globacom; ISP of the year – DOPC, e-Payment company of the year-Interswitch; Software company of the year-ExpertEdge; ICT Driven University of the year-Covenant University among others.

Special awards for Legends of Technology was conferred on Chris Uwaje, John Obaro, and Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem. The ICT Revelation of the year went to a nine-year old Ms Favour Nwaiwu as the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional.



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TD wins top APC awards in Mauritius

TOP Information and Communication Technology (ICT) distributor, Technology Distributions, has emerged winner of two awards at the just concluded APC Partners conference in Mauritius.

These awards include the APC Highest Revenue Award for West Africa and the APC Highest Revenue Award for the sub-Saharan Africa and were jointly presented by Carl Kenyans – the Vice President, English Africa, APC by Schneider Electric and Paolo Miglietta, Vice President, South Africa.

The citation for the awards stated that the honour was in recognition of TD’s impressive distribution channels across the West African region and her turnover contributions from Sub Saharan Africa.

The citation took note of TD’s innovativeness in the face of the harsh market conditions created by the global recession.

Receiving the award the Executive Director, Marketing, Mrs. Chioma Chimere thanked APC by Schneider Electric for recognizing and rewarding the professional marketing activities of Technology Distributions in Africa.

She also announced that TD dedicates both APC Awards to her resellers in Ghana for their significant contributions to the 2009 sales figures in spite of the global recession.

Mrs. Chimere further said that APC partners from all over Africa keenly contested the different award categories, stressing that she was fulfilled because such periodic endorsements from global partners attest to the single-minded focus of the TD management and staff on the vision of the founding fathers of the company.

She recalled that TD pioneered IT revolution in West Africa by launching West Africa and indeed Africa into the league of IT nations through making available ICT tools.

Equally, Mrs. Chimere said that this feat was achieved through a mix of superior customer service, pricing leadership, operational and logistic efficiency and innovativeness.

In a related development Technology Distributions has also won the Award of the ICT Company of the year, 2009, at the recently concluded West African ICT Awards. TD was also nominated for the ICT Distributor of the Year at the Beacon Awards and ICT Company of the Year at the Titan s of Tech Awards.

These nominations and Awards affirm TD’s rising profile as Africa’s biggest ICT distribution company and a major marketing force for leading global brands including HP, Zinox, Microsoft, APC, Epson, Acer, Dell, and Toshiba. TD’s impressive performance in 2009 is consistent with its exploits in previous years. From 2004 – 2009, year after year, TD beat all other distributors in Africa to win HP’s Top Performer Awards in Growth and Revenue categories.


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SIM registration: NCC insists on May take off, revisits price cap

The acting Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Stephen Bello has said that the Commission would revisit price cap regime in the telecom sector, while maintaining that registration of SIM cards would commence on May 1, 2010, as planned.

Speaking in Abuja, Bello said price cap regime which existed at the inception of mobile phone services is one of the issues that the Commission would tackle soon to ensure that operators within a bar relative to interconnect rates.

“In 2001 when GSM started, we said that nobody should charge above N50 per minute and that was many years ago. Now, we have the fact that the number of lines has increased, there is economy of scale and you know that as you have advantages of economy of scale the unit price comes down,” he declared, stressing that NCC believes that the competition in the industry would control prices, just as the situation may arise in which people sometimes cooperate and try to maximize their profit.

“Therefore, we in NCC have developed a policy we refer to as price cap regulation where we give a price and the competition can make you to operate within this degree of freedom, but not beyond it,” he said.

Equally, Bello said there are many methods of regulating prices in the industry but the current government policy is that the Commission would not be engaged in direct price control as existed in the 70s when government publishes the price of commodities which no seller would go above.

He pointed out that NCC recently reviewed the interconnect rates, which is the rate at which operators pay when they transfer calls amongst themselves, but these are yet to trickle down to the subscribers.

“So, we have resolved that we will need to revisit the price cap to ensure that these advantages trickle down, and we will begin the process with consultation with the operators and collection of some data to implement it,” he asserted.

On the commencement of registration of SIM cards on Saturday, May 1, Bello noted that some operators have expressed reservations with the dateline, but said that experience has shown that operators always resist anything that would cost them extra money.

“Even when they believe in it and they believe that it’s necessary because they are always looking at the bottom line, they want to maximize their profit. The same thing happened with per second billing. We have been on this thing and we have given enough time to get ready, all the issues have been discussed, we have had many meetings so the issue of publicity we are addressing it immediately so we are maintaining our stand that SIM card registration will start on the 1st of May unfailingly,” he said.

The acting EVC emphasized that his office has given a transition window during which some of the issues would be addressed.

“With that, we believe that that cushion of three months during which we have the transition period is enough for everybody to take care of some of the delays,” he said, noting that NCC still maintain the fact that SIM card registration would start May 1.

He explained that there would be a transition period and the details of that would come out later on

Bello also reiterated that the Commission under him will not waiver in all the ongoing projects inherited from his predecessor, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, such as number portability, SIM card registration, emergency communication projects and many others.

“I have been involved so it is a matter of just continuing the process. There is nothing that is on the line that we are doing that I have not been fully involved in, so I am familiar with all the antecedents and all the issues and how to take it to a logical conclusion. So, definitely I will just flow along and make sure that all these things are put in place and completed”, he said.

On the first interactive session with the Minister of State for Information and Communications, Mr. Labaran Maku, and industry stakeholders, he said that the stakeholders spoke their minds and that the Minister has given insight into what some of his policies and operational modes would be.

“I think based on the interaction, the industry is set to move fast, that the gains made in the past will definitely be improved upon, and we will go ahead and we believe there will be no gap,” he submitted.


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Suburban alleges fraud on WIN project, writes Akunyili

•NCC says not aware


ANOTHER set of controversy looms in the telecommunications industry as one of the nation’s Long Distance Operator (LDO), Suburban West Africa Limited, has formally requested the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. (Mrs), Dora Akunyili to investigate the processes leading to the selection of beneficiaries in the subsidized Wire Nigeria (WiN) project by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

This project is to be funded through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) and the subsidy was meant to support Long Distance Operators in deploying services nationwide especially in intercity backbone facilitation.

Apparently, the supposed defendant, NCC, was not copied, which gave credence to why the Commission’s spokesman, Mr. Reuben Muoka, said they were not aware of any such petition.

Some of the purported beneficiaries include Phase3 Telecom and Multi-Links, just as Phase3 said it was not aware of any petition, but insisted that its emergence in the process was through the necessary process for selection.

“I can however tell you that we went through the necessary process for selection,” Phase3 Telecom chief executive, Mr. Stanley Jegede told ITRealms Online when contacted on the issue via telephone.

But, according to the petition by Suburban signed by its group chief executive officer, Mr. Bruce Ayenote, a copy of which was sighted by ITRealms Online,
Akunyili’s copy was received on April 16, at the Radio House, Abuja and the Minister of State in the ministry, Mr. Labaran Maku was copied, but none to NCC.

Suburban alleged in the letter titled ‘Protest of Lack of Transparency in the process for award of Wire Nigeria (WIN) subsidy by NCC’ that it’s disturbed that after pre-qualification it never got any correspondence from NCC, coupled that Phase3Telecom got the sudsidy without pre-qualification.

They urged Akunyili to use her offices to compel NCC to uphold its much publicized tenet of ‘transparency’ by adhering to the original process which prequalified three (3) bidders of which Suburban Telecom was one.

Although, Suburban’s petition was faulted by industry experts who said that considering the currency, the company should have known that NCC reports to the Minister of State, which in this case is Maku and not directly to Akunyili, therefore, Ayenote’s led Suburban should have know based on the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003, otherwise it is political.

They, however, warned of any looming controversy that could destabilize the current presidency under Jonathan Goodluck, even as they asked why waiting until this moment to raise any doubt on the process supposedly completed over a long time.


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Words of 100 Icons of ICT for launch

AN x-ray of contributions of key players in nation’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) will be launched in July, this year, under the tag, Words of 100 Icons of ICT.

Revealing this, Editor, Communication Week Media Limited, publishers of the book, Mr. Ken Nwogbo, said, weekend, that the main point of the special publication is that human capital is the key to wealth and reported growth of Nigeria’s only growing sector.

He also said that Words of 100 Icons of ICT will recognize the significant and lasting contributions of the key actors to the growth of the ICT industry in Nigeria.

According to him, ICT sector as an economic focal point owes this in large measure to its relatively faster human capital formation.

“It is publication that documents in permanent form contributions of individuals who have explored the potential of technology to improve lives” he added.

Words of 100 Icons of ICT is a celebration of players who have developed strong expertise and capabilities in areas of legal and regulatory policy, technical knowledge, distance learning, and sector applications in such fields as information and communications technology, banking, e-payment, education, health, democracy and environment.

This compendium will also feature rare editorials which have helped policies and buying decisions in the sector. It promises to be guiding document for future policy and buying decisions.

Supports have been sought from the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Science and Technology, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Association of Licensed Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) and Nigeria Internet Group (NIG).


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Trust, key to health organisation – Covey

Internationally acclaimed motivational speaker and author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Stephen Covey, has said that trust is fundamental to healthy growth of organizations, mostly those who want to entrench ethical culture and leadership.

Dr. Covey, who spoke at a gathering sponsored by Zain Nigeria to formally unveil Enterprise Solution, the new business package of the telecom company, said at a press conference in Lagos, that other imperatives include clarifying purpose so that everyone from top to the bottom understands what the purpose and strategic goal is aligned to all systems, structures and processes to accomplish those purposes and unleash the power to what is called a complementing game.

He also said that the four imperatives of leadership must be institutionalized inside an organisation so that it becomes a culture and ensures that everyone is committed to the strategic goals, and stressed the importance of living by principles.

“When we do not live by principles, we do not develop trust. When trust develops, speed goes up and cost goes down. If you have people who are deceitful, flaky, and dishonest or crooked in their behaviour, what happens is that costs go up, speed goes down. So, everything is affected by the essence of trust. Trust is foundational,” he declared.

Additionally, he commended Zain Nigeria for the new product offering, saying that he was excited to be part of the introduction of the new value proposition that would enable Zain achieve its strategic goals as well as enable customers to see the tremendous value that comes from this kind of product.

Speaking earlier, Chief Commercial Officer, Zain Nigeria, Mr. Shamel Hanafi, said that Zain invited Dr. Covey to visit the country in order to share some rare insights into winning secrets of effective business people, because Zain Enterprise Solutions aim to help customers perform at optimal efficiency while boosting their effectiveness as team players and executives.


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MTN launches World Cup Naira splash competition

MTN Nigeria has launched a Short Messaging competition tagged World Cup Naira Splash with anticipation to expend estimated N283,200,000 (N283.2m) in the next three months, even as it warned that no winner would be contacted via SMS or asked to send top-up value cards to redeem prizes.

Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade announced this through the General Manager, Business Intelligence, Mr. Abba Gana, noted that MTN as the official sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be hosted in South Africa, has been working round the clock to make certain everything goes well.

According to him, it is in this bid that MTN Nigeria decided to introduce its latest contest for subscribers in form of the MTN World Cup Naira Splash competition.

The competition which commenced a fortnight ago without formal launch, he said, would end on July 13, this year.

“The Competition would not only provide the platform for us to enrich the lives of our customers, it would also afford several winners the opportunity of watching the FIFA World Cup live in South Africa, courtesy MTN,” he said.

Akingbade said that the competition has been categories into four, namely Daily Prizes, Hourly Prizes, Monthly Prizes and the World Cup Surprises.

He explained that for hourly prizes, N20,000 would be awarded at determined hourly intervals during the competition.

“This, would be awarded to a total of 2,160 customers,” he said.

Equally, he said, that the Daily Prizes entails that N2 million would be awarded to winners to be drawn everyday for the period of the competition, stressing that “In all 90 customers would benefit in this category.”

On the monthly prizes, Akingbade said that the sum of N20 million has been mapped out to be awarded to each monthly prize winner for the three months that the competition has been planned to last.

In addition, the World Cup Surprises, he said that 120 MTN subscribers would be chosen and sponsored by MTN to watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches.

“The sponsorship package would include flights, accommodation, match tickets and local transportation,” he said, adding that this category, he said, would run beginning last week till May 31, 2010.

Responding to questions, he said that the dates of the trip would be determined by MTN emphasizing that winners would definitely be informed before the trip.

To qualify for the trip, he said that winners would be required to possess a valid Nigerian passport, yellow fever vaccination certificate and travel visas which they would have to present to MTN or its appointed travel agency before June 4, this year.

“While every participant is eligible to win as many hourly prizes as he can, participants can only win one daily prize, one monthly prize and only one world cup surprise which is the trip to watch the world cup live in South Africa,” he clarified.

Further, he said, that the competition is an SMS-based interactive game comprised of a personalized storyboard and SMS dialogue.

He stressed that to take part, participants would voluntarily opt to play by sending ‘Go’ via SMS to the dedicated short code ‘2010’ at a cost of N100 per SMS.

He enjoined customers on the network to play as many times as possible so as to continue to accumulate points as a customer who wins previously still has ample chances of winning the hourly prizes severally.


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certgate takes mobile security solution to London Fair’10

The Nuremberg-based mobile security specialist certgate would tomorrow, launch its world’s first complete security solution for smartphones at the Infosecurity Europe 2010 fair in London, which last between April 27 and 29, this year.

Chief operating officer (COO) certgate, Axel Stett, said the new solution based on the firm’s Smartphone protector, secures three dimensions: mobile device access, data in motion and voice communication.Certgate presents the first security solution ever for mobile phones that provides complete protection for mobile communication on the basis of hardware-secured certificates.

Reliably defending all potential points of attack on a smartphone, Stett said, it shields against spyware and malware, protects user data from loss and manipulation, stops unauthorised access to data communication, and even secures voice communication from any form of interception.“A few people caught only a glimpse of the solution at the CeBIT 2010 in Hanover, and now at Infosecurity 2010 in London we will be letting you get up close and test the solution for yourself”, Stett explained.

For him, they are presenting a showcase that would clearly demonstrate the technical implementation to visitors and provide hands-on proof of the solution’s voice quality.

The technology of hardware-based device protection and data encryption, he said, is at the core of a top-security project named ‘SiMKo2’, developed by certgate’s integrator partner T-Systems International, to provide secure mobile communication to the German Federal Government, public administration and selected enterprises.

This solution - nicknamed ‘Merkelphone’ - would now be enhanced by certgate with a ciphony module running on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).certgate’s security solution enables public authorities and enterprises to use their mobile devices safely for confidential information, making them fully compliant with defined administrative or corporate safety policies. It resists all spyware and malware attacks on mobile phones as well as ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks. In the event of loss or theft, the certgate Smartphone Protector eliminates the danger of data being circulated or misused: the phone is absolutely inaccessible and its memory remains undecryptable, even under laboratory conditions.

Similarly, it is impossible to activate any form of eavesdropping or microphone-tapping software that might be bought from the internet for as little as $100, about N15,000.The certgate solution, he noted, is in fact cost-effective, as it runs on off-the-shelf smartphones. “Enterprises can benefit from the growth potential and cost-savings of mobile business models without having to buy ‘crypto phones’ that come with a heavy price tag,” he said.

Additionally, he said, Smartphones can be integrated into an organisation’s security infrastructure in a rapid and cost-efficient manner, enabling totally risk-free mobile communication between head office executives, for instance, and the sales force out on the road. Administrative overheads are low because software installation and personalisation of the certgate SmartCard microSD is a one-off effort per smartphone.

The certgate Smartphone Protector is based on unique kernel protection and guarantees unrivalled security levels for mobile devices. Top security encryption algorithms and ultra-modern communication technology securely protect information against espionage and misuse. certgate’s voice encryption application, which is fully integrated in the smartphone’s normal GUI and directory of contacts, makes use of and is interoperable with SIP and RTP protocols. It works well in PKI environments and runs on a broad variety of Windows Mobile-based smartphones, with further platforms on the way according to certgate.


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