Nigeria needs Internet Registry – Rudman

Managing Director, Internet eXchange Point Nigeria Limited (IXNP), Mr. Muhammed Rudman, has advocated for the establishment of a National Internet Registry (NIR) to oversee the management of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in the country.

Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to devices participating in a computer network that use the Internet to communicate with each other.

Also referred to as ‘IP number’ or just ‘IP,’ this code usually consists of numbers separated by three dots that identifies a particular computer on the Internet. IP started with IP version 4 (IPv4) with 32 bit address worth 4.3 billion hosts and now there is version 6, (IPv6).

He also said that registry when established should be tasked first and foremost to develop a National IPv6 Roadmap to strategize the IPv6 transition, nationwide.

Speaking on ‘IPv6 and Challenges in Nigeria’ at the recently held one-day forum organized by Digital Sense Africa (DSA) with the support of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Lagos, in preparation of the country for the global Internet Governance Forum 2010 scheduled to hold in Lithuania, in September this year, Mr. Rudman also said there is need to set up an IPv6 awareness and capacity building through seminars and trainings and incorporate IPv6 into the university curriculum.

The Federal Government through the regulator, NCC, should as matter of urgency provide some incentives to Internet industry to encourage them to adopt IPv6-based Infrastructure.

“These incentives can include reduction in regulatory fee and tax rebates,” he declared, noting that currently, Nigeria has about 300 lnternet Service Providers (ISPs), but only an estimated 20 per cent, which is 60 of the licensees are operational.

Noting there are only two ISPs in the country with IPv6, namely, 2001:4270:: 32 was allocated to Netcom Africa on June 15, 2006 and 2001:43b0: 32 was allocated to Cyberspace on March 10, 2009.

He also advised that upstream Internet connectivity providers should be asked to enable IPv6 readiness in their networks.

Mr. Rudman told participants at the forum presided over by the chairman, Internet Service Providers Associations of Nigeria (ISPAN), Chief Samuel Adeleke that the world cannot wait for Nigeria to migrate, therefore the nation needs every step forward to ensure any leap makes a milestone.

Pointing out that when the internet began it was in a university and they have no problems giving out IP addresses and over time, the initial IP addresses available was the IPv4 with about 4bn, which is now depleting.

Globally, he said, IPv4 remains 10 per cent, hence the introduction of version 6 became crucial, noting though that in Africa her quota is still remaining about 60 per cent at the African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) based in Kenya and 40 per cent has been distributed, while Tunisia has 2 per cent, Morocco 4 per cent, Algeria 5 per cent, Egypt 16 per cent, South Africa 59 per cent with others including Nigeria having 14 per cent.

“Most of the Internet security we have been talking about has to do with IP addresses. And because of billions of new users in China and India and new devices like mobile phones, Personal Data Assistant (PDA), cars, with IP addresses so that you can browse, IPv6 was introduced,” he said, citing an instance within an Indian refinery that runs on IP addresses using 51,000 devices and each one must have an IP addresses.

On the IPv6 challenges in Nigeria, Rudman said ISPs need business cases, but presently lack technical knowhow, core equipment compatibility issues, maintaining that lack of IPv6 upstream service providers and non request of IPv6 from end users have contributed to slow in adaptation of IPv6 in the country.

“All new IT equipment supplied to government should be IPv6 compliant and government to set target date for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to have IPv6 compliant networks.

IPv6, he said, is scalability and has security, real time application, auto-configuration, mobility, addressing and routing, as well as extensibility, just as he assured that the transition and co-existence techniques showed that IPv6 has been designed for ease application with dual stack, which allows for simultaneous support for both IPv4 and IPv6 stacks, while the tunnels for IPv6 packet have been encapsulated in IPv4 models in addition to dual mechanism for translation.

According to him, based on the Darwinian imperative, it is either one modernizes, reorganize or die if not ready to adhere to IPv6.


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R & D: Nigeria to benefit from Oracle’s $4.3bn

Vice President and country leader at Oracle Corporation South Africa, Mr. Nicky Sheridan has disclosed that Nigeria is one of the countries on the continent to benefit from the research and development budget of the organisation worth $4.3 billion, about N652.5bn.

Speaking at the Oracle-Sun Customer Day in Lagos, put together by the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) and tagged ‘Oracle+Sun Transforming the industry’ Mr. Sheridan said that Nigeria is very important market for the organisation.

Insisting that Oracle strategy is to remain complete solution, open, offer lower cost in terms of deployment as well as fast and predictable performance.

He recalled that Oracle on April 20, 2009 announced acquisition of Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash; a transaction valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun’s cash and debt.

According to him, some of the value propositions of Oracle after it acquired Sun, has not changed, but would remain the fastest time to value and lowest risk, working database and system delivered.

For him, middleware bridges the business execution gap, so Oracle compete for the best – product quality, service excellence, especially now customers are competing for most effective and efficient business process.

“Middleware is absolutely essential in cutting cost of integration,” he declared, stressing that Oracle leads in industry system integration solutions.

“Our software would remain open and we have been open in over 20 years,” he asserted, assuring that Oracle would remain a complete open standard.

Open standard, he said, is consistent with Oracle’s vision and logical footprint, pointing out that the marriage with Sun, has three things to offer, namely the cost reduction, business intelligence and agile organisation.

Just as he said that data consolidation as far as Oracle acquisition of Sun is concerned, creates a valuable products for the end users, maintaining that the goal of Oracle is to bridge gap between the customer and organisations.

Equally speaking, the managing director, ExpertEdge Software, a CWG company, Mr. James Agada, said that Computer Warehouse has certification partnership with Oracle, Sun among others before the acquisition and therefore stand a better chance to serve Nigeria companies hoping to engage on Oracle portfolio and those already using it better.

Earlier in his message, the Commissioner for science and technology, Lagos State, Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, represented by Mr. Adeyinka Sorungbe of ABAT Centre, commended the partnership between CWG and Oracle and assured that Lagos State would continue to use its Oracle application to the benefit of Lagosians.

The event was also graced by the Group Managing Director, CWG, Mr. Austin Okere, the chief operating officer, Mr. Phillip Obioha and Vice president, Hardware Sales for Oracle-Sun at Middle East and Africa, Mr. Tom Pegrume among others.


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70% mobile phones reside in developing countries

An estimated 70 per cent of all mobile phones globally are located in developing countries, says the organizers of Mobile Money Summit 2010, which ended last weekend in Brazil.

A press statement made available to ITRealms Online, they said that this growth has helped to spur growth of mobile payments, for instance in making and receiving payments directly with a mobile phone rather than by traditional methods.

“Access to mobile payments holds a special significance in these regions because it makes low-cost financial services available to millions of people for the first time,” part of the press statement read.

Meanwhile, the business rationale for mobile money is compelling according to the 2009 GSMA-CGAP Mobile Money Market Study released recently.

This study revealed that by 2012, mobile network operators (MNOs) are poised to earn $7.8 billion in direct and indirect revenues from serving 364 million clients, the vast majority of whom are based in developing countries.

ITRealms Online recalled that historically, poor people have been excluded from payment systems because the transactions they engage in are very small, making it costly for financial institutions to serve them.

Moreover, the often marginal social status of both sender and receiver has resulted in a lack of focus on retail payments in these segments of society.

About 500 leaders and senior executives from mobile network operators, financial institutions, development organizations, solutions vendors, regulators, and policymakers from around the world are expected to attend the event.

The Mobile Money Summit is the mobile payments industry’s largest annual conference.

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Ghana leverages FOSS to leapfrog ICT industry

Ghanaian government has advanced plans to leapfrog its Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) industry with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

The Minister of Communications for Ghana, Mr. Haruna Idrisu, made this disclosure in Accra recently while declaring open the fourth African conference on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Digital Commons at the Kofi Annan Indian Centre for Excellence in ICT Accra.

Mr. Idrisu who represented the Vice president of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, said at the conference with the theme “Development with ownership” that the government’s plan is to leapfrog by using ICT advantage.

“… We want to own our application. We cherish the passion of young people to take their place to position Africa to assume its rightful place in the world,” he declared.

He also challenged the conference to come up with how African governments could resolve the challenges between the proprietary and open source software to its own advantage.

“Find out how we can use open source to drive electronic learning (e-learning),” he said, while enjoining African states to increase investment in ICT and urged for development of Open Source (OS) application in fighting cybercrime.

In his address, the chairman of the occasion and Director, ICT at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Dr. Sola Afolabi, said that they were excited that Ghana, a member state is hosting the Idlelo 4 meeting, this year.

“Ghana is proud member of ECOWAS and ECOWAS is proud to be here,” he asserted, stressing that ECOWAS is implementing some regional projects to transform the community from community of things to community of people through its regional Wide Area Network (WAN).

Today, he said, Open Source has grown to become a key in mission critical applications, pointing out that nowadays Africa has seen FOSS as a veritable option for accelerated development and maintenance in addition to advancing capacity.

Therefore, Dr. Afolabi said that ECOWAS is interested in partnering with FOSSFA in implementing the outcome of the conference.

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Olufuye emerges WITSA’s vice chairman

The president, Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Dr. Jimson Olufuye, has been elected Vice Chairman of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) Vice Chairman for Africa, for the next two years.

Dr. Olufuye’s election came at the General Assembly meeting of the association on May 24, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in conjunction with the World Congress on IT 2010.

Olufuye was elected unanimously after his nomination by the outgoing vice chairman for Africa, Mr. Waudo Siganga of Kenya.

In the same vein, the incumbent Chairman of WITSA Dato Dan E. Khoo of Malaysia was re-elected as the WITSA chairman for the second and last term of two years. He defeated Dr Jorge Cassino of Argentina to retain his position.

Also, Mr. Phil Bond of USA was elected as the Deputy Chairman for WITSA. Mexico was elected VC for Latin America, Canada for North America, the Netherlands for Western Europe, Macedonia for Eastern Europe and Japan for Asia.

ITAN is the association of IT and services companies in Nigeria and the nation’s representative in WITSA.

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ICANN releases interim report on regional review

THE Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) ahead of the international meeting in Brussels, Belgium this month, has released the draft of the community-wide Geographic Regions Review Working Group (WGGR).

Policy analyst at ICANN, Mr. Robert Hoggarth said that the draft document could be found on the Socialtext Wiki page of the working group.

ITRealms Online recalls that the working group was formed by the ICANN board, to study and review the issues related to the definition of the ICANN geographic regions, by way of consulting with community stakeholders to develop and submit proposals to the board so as to resolve any problematic issues relating to the current definition of its geographic regions.

According to him, the first phase of the work tagged “Initial Report” in July of 2009 identified various applications and functions to which “ICANN Geographic Regions” are currently applied by existing ICANN structures via its geographic diversity among volunteer leaders.

He also said that it briefly documented other regional structures used within ICANN but not defined in the Bylaws and documented a number of potential “matters” that working group members from the ALAC, ASO, ccNSO, GAC and GNSO; thought should be covered during the Working Group’s subsequent investigations.

On the second phase, he said that WGGR effort has been to produce an Interim Report that builds on the foundation of the Initial Report and begins to focus on General Principles, Specific Considerations and some of the critical issues (“Matters”) that it will address in its Final Report document. In its present form, the draft document addresses two particular areas: (1) a review of the underlying objectives and general principles of geographic regions; and (2) identification of specific matters to be addressed in the Final Report.

He pointed out that members of WGGR were determined that additional community input would substantially enhance preparation the Interim Report.

So, draft Version 5 of the Interim Report, he said, is still a work-in-progress and is being formally provided to the community solely for discussion purposes and in order that WGGR members would have the option to discuss its contents with their respective communities - as well as the general ICANN community - during the Brussels meeting next month. Previous drafts of the Interim Report have been made regularly available on the Working Documents page of the WGGR wiki site.

“That wiki page is set up to accept community comments and such comments about the Interim Report and the WGGR’s work in general are welcomed and will be shared with and viewed by WGGR members. Of course, a full Public Comment Forum will be opened for community comments on the Interim Report document when it is published,” he explained.

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MainOne, Huawei in connectivity deal

Operators of MainOne submarine cable have entered a deal with Huawei Nigeria to provide it with the Intelligence Optical Switching System (OptiX OSN 9500) for connectivity.

Chief executive officer, Main One, Ms Funke Opeke, disclosed this last weekend at the end of the signing ceremony in Lagos.

She described it as her company’s continuous investment in the latest optical networking technology and management system which provides broadband capacity in multiples for the West African market.

She explained that the choice of OptiX OSN 9500 Intelligence Optical Switching System from Huawei Technology is for it to serve as the backbone platform in offering high transmission bandwidths that is revolutionary in the region.

According to her, the OptiX would provide a capacity and reliability mainstream platform comparable with similar carriers in developed economies.

“Our focus is to provide customers with reliable and world class service through continuous adoption of industry-leading telecommunication solutions,” she said.

Pointing out that the Huawei’s cutting-edge OSN solution meets MainOne unique requirements which would help the firm to advance network efficiency and deliver guaranteed service levels to customers.

Opeke noted that as a leading provider of telecommunication network solution for operators in West Africa, Huawei has experienced the market since year 2000 with five branch offices covering fourteen countries, serving over 50 million subscribers in the region.

“The company is dedicated to providing innovative and customized products and solutions to create long-term value and potential growth for its customers,” she said.

For her, the Huawei’s OSN 9500 system, would avail more flexible networking solutions with diverse functions to facilitate and support Main One’s fast-growing broadband business, the system has been designed to specifically address major challenges that operators face in network transformation, by enabling the construction of high-performance, highly reliable, cost-efficient networks.

Huawei solutions, she said, would enable Main One to optimize the costs of connecting its network to local operators and the solution also employs ASON, the latest failover technology to ensure single failures do not result in network outages.

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ITU offers guidelines on digital migration

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has issued guidelines to help countries of the world to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Presenting the guidelines at the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10) in Hyderabad, India, the Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, Mr. Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid said the transition to digital broadcasting is a major challenge facing most countries globally, but in particular, developing and least developed countries.

“We hope that our members will take full advantage of this very practical set of guidelines designed to help them through the process. ITU will also help countries implement the guidelines through country-level assistance and regional initiatives,” he said.

According to him, the transition to digital broadcasting has become an important global issue and is expected to provide a greater number of channels with higher quality within the same available bandwidth along with advanced applications and features, such as interactivity and electronic programme guides.

A press statement from ITU said this transition also frees up spectrum for “digital dividend”, which could be used for enhanced broadcasting applications and wireless mobile broadband, leading to greater convergence of services.

ITU also described migration as a key solution to extend Internet access to currently underserved areas.

ITRealms Online gathered that the guidelines provide information and recommendations on policy, regulation, technologies, network planning, customer awareness and business planning for the smooth transition to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) and the introduction of Mobile Television Broadcasting (MTV).

Further, the guidelines are applicable to the Geneva 2006 frequency plan (GE06) agreement, corresponding to the geographical region situated to the west of meridian 170° E and north of parallel 40° S, except the territories of Mongolia, and including the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The guideline for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting was developed by the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau with the support of the Korean Communications Commission (KCC), Republic of Korea.

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More winners turn millionaires in Zain promo

Four new winners recently emerged in the Zain’s Wake Up a millionaire promo as they went home with N2 million each.

These include two students, Odeten Lawrence and Miss Chiamaka Nwazojie, a taxi driver, Mr. Babatunde Olusegun James and an engineer, Temidayo Oladipo Adeboye.

According to press statement from the telecom company and endorsed by the Public Relations Manager, Mr. Emmanuel Otokhine, a 19-year old student of Imo State University, Owerri, Ms. Nwazojie and 25-year old Lawrence who resides in Calabar, Cross Rivers State were part of the lucky ones.

Other Nigerians who have also just been transformed into instant millionaires include a 32-year old businesswoman, Mrs. Yetunde Egunjobi in Abuloma, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Chief Ben Odemola Olaniyan, a 50 year old Land Surveyor in Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, and a 35 year old building contractor, Adeleye Noah Akinwale who resides in Agbule Iroko, Ogun state.

Additionally, two businessmen, Messrs Kingsley Sunday Bassey and Ndubuisi Nwadufo, and a Lagos-based fuel technician, Mr. Gabriel Olugoke Oladejo, were also lucky to emerge winners in the promo.

The statement quoted Zain’s Chief Commercial Officer, Shamel Hanafi, as saying that the telecom company has transformed over 50 Nigerians into millionaires and multimillions so far while several others will win generators, mobile phones and laptops, stressing that from across Nigeria, there has been a tale of joy since the Zain Wake Up A Millionaire started.

He said the profile and distribution of the winners as well as the endorsement received from the foremost Consumer Advocates in the country, the Nigeria Consumer Protection Council (CPC) are further testimony to the authenticity and transparency of the marketing offer.

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CPN tasks professionals on improved standards

The Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria), (CPN),has urged Information Technology firms and professionals operating in the country to focus more on meeting the legal requirements as stipulated in the Act and conform with the code of ethics and professional conduct.

Registrar, CPN, Mr. Sikiru Shehu, in a press statement on the Council’s forthcoming IT Professionals’ Assembly, noted that there has been growing understanding on the use of IT both in government and in the private sector.

He also said that this underscored the increasing investment that both government and the private sector were now putting into Information Technology.

Pointing out that in the quest towards fulfilling its mandate of promoting professional excellence, CPN would continue to ensure that firms and individuals offering services in the IT industry do so professionally and also with commensurate returns on their investment.

He further said that the era in which quacks and half-baked persons hijacked IT jobs only to offer very disappointing services must come to an end, stressing that this would be one of the major issues to be discussed at the forthcoming Information Technology Professionals’

Assembly.“IT has come to now play a central role in national development and there is need for effective compliance with legal requirements by individuals and firms. It is important there that CPN plays a role at ensuring that this is accomplished,” he said.

Mr. Shehu emphasized that this year’s Information Technology Professionals’ Assembly that is coming up in Abuja billed in Abuja from July 1–2, would once again serve as a veritable platform for discussing issues that would take the industry to a new level.

As said by him, the theme of this year’s event is “IT: An Imperative for National Development”. This year’s assembly will focus on the need to ensure that professionals put in their best for the realisation of national developmental goals and aspirations.

He submitted that the recent directive by the Federal Government for the National ICT4D action plan to be implemented, CPN would be in the forefront of pursuing the realisation of this plan by ensuring that professionals were in the right places in government establishments.

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Samsung, 3 others empower 615 youths

Samsung Electronics West Africa is collaborating with the Pan-African University, Afterschool Graduate Development Center and FATE Foundation to empower 560 Nigerian youths under the Samsung Real Dreams project.

The empowerment involves the provision of technical, training, internship and job placement services in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja.

Managing Director, Samsung Electronics, West Africa, Mr. Jin UK Shin said in Lagos at the weekend the programme is an offshoot of one of the seven areas of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focus for the Samsung Group; ‘Development of Local Communities’.

He also said that the programme affords Samsung to support local communities by leveraging this existing partnership with International Youth Foundation (IYF), Pan-African University, FATE Foundation and Afterschool Graduate Development Centre, amongst others.

Samsung Real Dreams project, he said, targets the youth who are unemployed or underemployed; employers of skilled labour and the general public, stressing that one of the criteria for selection is that the applicants must be financially handicapped to realize his dreams.

“Youth fulfillment appears to be a compelling theme for Samsung especially in emerging markets like West Africa and Samsung has decided to engage in more strategic social development investments,” he said.

Mr. Shin disclosed that 5,112 applications were received while 615 of them were selected and enrolled for training progarmmes in Pan-African University, FATE Foundation and Afterschool Graduate Development Centre.

Programme coordinator, Pan-African University, Mr. Patrick Enaholo applauded Samsung for the project, which would have cost each training N250,000 in Media Design Skills on basic animation and game design, digital imaging, web design, or video editing.

He also said that 920 youth aged between 21-35 years applied from Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja while only 99 were selected and trained in entrepreneurship, life skills and media design skills.

Enaholo equally said that 94 youth successfully passed all courses while they were all placed in internships or project-based learning opportunities, stressing that placement of graduates in jobs and self-employment is on-going with partnership formed with range of media industry employers.

Head, Training, FATE Foundation, Mrs. Elizabeth Olofin, said that Samsung Real Dreams actually helped the youth to get employed or become employers of labour themselves.

"It’s not about giving you fish to eat but teaching you how to fish’’ she said.
She said at FATE Foundation globally reputed for entrepreneurial training, selected youth are giving practical training where they are mentored by entrepreneurs who are highly successful in their chosen business endeavors. She added that emphasis is laid on business ethics, and values.

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Etisalat offers free internet @ W.Afri.Tel 2010

The fourth Global Mobile System communication operator, Etisalat Nigeria, is offering free internet access at the on-going the West African International Telecommunications and Information Communications Technology Exhibition and Conference (WAFRITEL) in Lagos.

Director, Products and Services, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Lucas Dada, disclosed this, saying Etisalat subscribers and other participants have the opportunity to browse the internet for free using the company’s Easynet data card service at the three-day event, which began yesterday.

He said that visitors and customers to Etisalat’s stand would also enjoy instant lucky dips and win branded items for every item they purchase during the 3-day exhibition.

“There will be a daily ‘Etisalat Hour’ which will provide lucky subscribers the opportunity to win prizes in raffle draws scheduled for a specific time of the day, on all purchases made throughout the day,” he said, stressing that the exhibition would also offer Elite world subscribers the opportunity to win Easynet modems with 100MB of free data for every Elite world SIM purchases made.

Mr. Dada further said that visitors would be presented with a bumper package of Etisalat’s unique products and world-class services, apart from new and existing customers going home with various corporate gift items from the event.

“With great offers such as free browsing, ‘Etisalat hour’ raffle draw, instant lucky dip on purchases and the Elite World promo which offer subscribers the chance of winning Easynet modems, every visitor to our stand is a winner,” he said.

In addition, he said that WAFRITEL presents a viable opportunity for Etisalat subscribers and the general public to interact one-on-one with Etisalat staff in an informal setting.

“We are at WAFRITEL to strengthen the existing cordial relationship between us and our subscribers. We welcome both new and existing customers because our stand is open to everyone for the duration of this exhibition,” Dada said.

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Nigerian, 7 others eye AfriNIC board

A Nigerian expert in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, Mr. Obinna Nweje and seven others from various African countries have been nominated into the league of candidates to battle for the board of directors in the African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa for this year.

The nomination for AfriNIC Board of Directors seats closed on May 14, this year.
Confirming this, the office of the chairperson, AfriNIC Nomination Committee (NomCom) 2010, in a press statement stated they have received a number of nominations for the board election to be held in Kigali on June 5th, 2010.

According to the list made available to ITRealms Online, North Africa region has two candidates namely Nezar Sami, and Khaled Koubaa; while the West Africa region has the highest candidates of six, viz, Mouhamet Diop, Katim S. Touray, Yen Choi, Alioune Badara Traore, Obinna Nweje and Ndeye Maimouna Diop Diagne.

AfriNIC is a non-governmental and not-for-profit membership based organisation, with main role being to serve African region as Regional Internet Registry, by spearheading Internet technology and policy development on the continent.

AfriNIC’s core values are to operate with transparency, professionalism and efficiency; committed to integrity in all that we do, always and everywhere; recognize and value individual contribution and teamwork; cultural and language diversity in our region; technology driven organization that encourages continuous learning and innovation; value collaboration and cooperation with related organizations.

The AfriNIC organizational structure is set to encourage a bottom-up self governance management model where policies and other organisational functions are determined by the community in general and members who elect representatives that seat on the Board of Directors.

The discussions are conducted via both public meetings and e-mail discussion lists, whereas there are no requirements or pre-requisites for any person or entity to participate.

AfriNIC has a general assembly which meets once a year even as Public Policy Meetings are organised twice a year one back-to-back with the General Assembly.

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Glo, NYSC partner on inter-school contest in Benin

Telecommunications giant, Globacom in partnership with the Edo State National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) have partnered on inter-secondary school dance contest in Benin City.

The contest with the theme, “Culture: The Pride of Nigeria”, was held at the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre with 14 secondary schools competing to win the mouth watering first prize of a complete desktop computer with flat screen plus a 3-in-one colour printer.

The second prize was complete desk top computer while the third prize was a 3-in-one colour printer.

The students from Western Boys High School came top with their scintillating performance, while the second and third position went to Dominion City Academy and the Federal Government Girls College respectively.

In his remarks, the Edo State Director of NYSC, Mr. Peter Atilola, said that the idea behind the contest was to help discover the innate talents of the school pupils, stressing that experiences had shown that world stars were discovered at their tender ages.

He also applauded Globacom for supporting the corps in putting the event together, noting that Globacom had demonstrated that it’s truly a Nigerian company the way it identifies with anything that is Nigerian.

“We, at the NYSC are indeed grateful to the major sponsor of this contest, Globacom and we recommend that other corporate bodies should emulate Globacom, not only in what they are doing today but in the way the company has identified with anything that has to do with Nigeria in the areas of sports, entertainment, culture, deployment of world-class services and many other things”, he said.

Welcoming participants, Glo Business Director (GBD), Mid-West Territory, Mr. Augustine Mamuro, said that the telecoms firm decided to partner with the NYSC on the contest to bring out the potentials of the students and the participating schools.

“Globacom is the official sponsor of this event, the first of its kind among secondary schools in Edo State not just in fulfillment of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but to show that as a truly Nigerian company, we’re at all times willing and ready to identify with anything that celebrates the potentials of an average Nigerian. To us in Globacom, the contest is a celebration of our heritage as a people,” he said.

Other schools that participated in the contest were Baptist High School, Aideyan Memorial College, Word of Faith Group of Schools, Iyaro, Russel International School, Jacson Academy, Edokpolor Grammar School, Idia College, Edo College, Word of Faith Group of Schools, Iguodala and Edo Boys High School, Aduwawa Secondary School.

The event was witnessed by Glo Ambassadors, include Nonso Diobi, Monalisa Chinda and Chioma Chukwuka, while the Original Stereo man, Ekwe, also performed at the occasion.

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Survey rates women top in online payment trend

Research sponsored by Diebold Incorporated has rated women top in online payment survey conducted recently by a research centre on Consumer Billing and Payment Trends.

Diebold is known to offer a comprehensive line of self-service, security and service solutions, with successful line of Opteva ATMs, advanced teller-automation technology and remote teller systems, solutions are changing the way the world accesses cash and the way financial institutions interact with customers.

The 2010 survey showed that online banking, bill payment and e-bill usage have continued to grow, and that the online bill payment population has changed significantly during the last decade.

According to the survey, between 2000 and 2010, the number of households that use online banking increased more than six-fold, and the number that use online bill payment increased nearly eight-fold.

“Online bill payers now represent a wide cross-section of the United States population, and women have edged out men as the primary users of the service,” part of the survey outcome stated.

During the course of the Consumer Billing and Payment Trends survey, online bill payment has moved into the mainstream, which is currently, 72.5 million U.S. households, 80 percent of all households with Internet access, use online banking, while 36.4 million households, 40 percent of all households with Internet access, use online bill payment.

In 2002, men represented the majority of online bill payers, at 61 per cent, and they maintained the lead in usage of the service through 2009.

In 2010, the tables turned, with women edging ahead to represent 51 per cent of online bill payers.

The survey further indicated that nowadays, the age of online bill payers is also more representative of the entire U.S. population than when the study began.

In 2002, more than half of online bill payers were between the ages of 35 and 54. In 2010, consumers age 21-34 made up 28 percent of online bill payers, consumers age 35-54 made up 48 percent, and consumers over age 55 made up a sizeable 24 percent of all online bill payers, underscoring the fact that the service is not only for the young.

Consumers of all income levels, the report said, have embraced online bill payment as well. In 2002, middle income consumers dominated use of the service, whereas in 2010 more than a third of online bill payers had a yearly household income of less than $50,000. Usage among the highest income brackets has grown as well.

“The face of online bill payment has changed significantly over the last decade,” said Geoff Knapp, vice president, Online Banking and Consumer Insights, Fiserv.

“Early users were tech-savvy and tended to be young and male, as is typical with new technology. Now it’s moms and seniors and people at all income levels using the service. Online bill payment has become mainstream, and there’s still room to grow.”


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