Fibre Optic network key to ubiquitous Broadband penetration

ITRealms

The Senior Manager, Transmission Planning, MTN Nigeria, Olusegun Salami, has stated that the key to ubiquitous Broadband penetration in the country lies in the deployment of Fibre Optic network and wireless access, ITRealms reports.

He said that the fibre optic which is cheaper should be invested in if the 30 per cent national broadband penetration target is to be achieved in 2018, saying that the nature of village settlement which is sparse makes it difficult for investors to obtain the required number of subscribers before putting down money for such investment in the optic fibre yet it is the way to go.

He also said access to the internet in the village is less than 1 per cent, adding that there is a huge gap in broadband penetration between the urban and the rural areas.

Salami was speaking, Friday, at the quarterly Seminar of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) held at Western Town Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos. The event which had the theme “Foreign Direct Investment, an impetus to achieving ubiquitous broadband penetration,” played host to industry giants. compared broadband penetration to the availability of signals to transistor radio in the villages. “That is the kind of penetration we want to see”, he said.

He kept the audience spellbound as he advocated low price smart phones, devaluation of the currency to attract direct foreign investment, utilization of fibre optic in the rural areas, the right of way, CTDs in the urban areas as key factors for the realization of internet penetration to the last mile, saying  that attaining the 30 per cent target is a possibility, ITRealms gathered.

He said two years into the five year- journey no significant ground has been covered and therefore called on NITRA which is the umbrella body of all ICT reporters in  Nigeria, to do more reporting on the challenges that have hindered the deployment of fibre optic, even as he thanked  association for organizing the event.

The former President, Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, who was the chairman of the occasion, said it is not enough to have infrastructure in place, but  that what you put in the infrastructure  is equally key. He stated that content is a major issue for ubiquitous Broadband penetration. 

Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem who is the former President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Immediate Past President of Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and also the CEO of Teledom Group, an indigenous conglomerate company with expertise in Broadband ICT infrastructure development, deployment and software development for Telecom process automation, ITRealms gathered, disagreed with those who clamour for devaluation of the Naira as a way to realize direct foreign investment for ubiquitous broadband penetration saying that no foreigner would love you more than his or her own country.

The President of NITRA, Emma Okonji had earlier welcomed guests to the occasion with a call to the authorities to put up more efforts towards the realization of the national broadband penetration target.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

140,000 staff inadequate to serve 21m Lagosian

 ITRealms

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode has said that e-government has become indispensible in the administration of the state as 140,000 staff is grossly inadequate to serve a population of 21 million, ITRealms reports.

The Governor was speaking, as special Guest at the 2015 edition of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) Conference and Exhibition which held at Goldengate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos. He stated that the ICT sector has achieved a phenomenal growth and stressed the state government’s readiness to partner with NIG as the state remains in the forefront of e-governance with the Oracle Portal.

“In the last decade the internet has changed our way of life and the way things are done, spanning individual lifestyle, manufacturing and industry as well as governance. The traditional economy and commercial system have given way to a new economic platform of online merchandising and logistics management,” Ambode said.

 
The internet, he said, has reduced the world to a global village even as the ICT sector has achieved a phenomenal growth, providing employment opportunities , acting as a platform for content and application development in manufacturing and industry, security, agriculture, education, commercial and financial transactions. He called for collaboration for infrastructural support in order to achieve internet penetration to the last mile.

He said it is a fact that as a nation we have not been able to maximise the use of the internet as a multifunctional resource, poor internet service to end users, high cost of internet relative to the developed world and use of the internet for fraudulent activities are obvious challenges.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Science and Technology, Lagos, Abdulraman Mustapha, Abode, ITRealms gathered, said as responsible government with the population of Lagos state and with inadequate staff it is essential to embrace e-service in every sector of government activity even as the state is bent on having one single health record. He thanked the NIG for initiating and sustaining the conference and exhibition, adding that the state government requires the advice of NIG in terms of how to implement its e-service engagements. He said the government of Lagos State will like to have a copy of the deliberation which will guide the government to achieve a regulatory framework.

ITRealms reports that this year’s NIG conference has the theme “Internet Penetration, the way forward,” Ambode said “the Lagos State Government in consultation with Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the State has reduced the right of way by 85 per cent”. On that note he declared the conference and exhibition open.

NIG, a non-for  profit, Non-government organisation was formed in 1995 to promote the internet as a tool for personal and national development, to promote provision of internet access for all Nigerians, to sensitise government about the potential of the internet as a critical tool for economic development, to promote the development of local internet content through the adoption of internet applications, such as e-commerce, e-entertainment, assist in the formation of relevant government policies affecting the internet, etc.

Today its major focus is to ensure that Nigerians adopt the internet as a platform to create jobs for themselves, hence the launch of a programme called Internet for Jobs Initiative (141).

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!
Pix:Akinwumi Ambode

ICANN publishes beta KPI dashboard

ITRealms:

The management of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has published its beta version of the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboard, reports ITRealms.

Also, ITRealms reports that after over a year of building ICANN's management discipline and solidifying the planning cycle, ICANN chief executive officer, Mr. Fadi Chehade said he was pleased to announce that today we've published a beta version of the ICANN Beta KPI Dashboard which could be find here: https://www.icann.org/progress.

According to him, the Beta KPI dashboard, in addition to the Quarterly Stakeholder Calls that have been in place since the start of 2015 Financial Year (FY15), which allows for regular report on progress made against ICANN's strategic and operating plans that the community have helped create. 

“We established the Quarterly Stakeholder Calls and the KPI Dashboard to allow anyone to stay informed on ICANN's activities and to help take the reporting out of ICANN Meetings so we can use this valuable time for more robust discussions.

The beta KPI dashboard, he said, is aligned to the five objectives and 16 goals per the Five-Year Strategic and Operating Plan, and contains over 40 KPIs with data as of June 2015.

ICANN president equally said, this is a tool used by ICANN's management to help bring clarity to discussions and track trends over time, stressing his ability to share this with the internet community, so that they also have visibility of ICANN's work and can help keep the organization accountable.

The dashboard, he emphasised is a beta version, which means ICANN is asking for feedback to help track the right KPIs and set the right targets. 

“If there is something you don't agree with or doesn't quite make sense, please send your questions or comments to: dashboard-feedback@icann.org,” he said, promising that there would be a session at ICANN54 in Dublin covering more on the beta KPI dashboard.

 

 +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)
ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Samsung smart signage TV platform for digital content

 ITRealms

The Samsung’s smart signage TV has been designed to provide a complete platform for displaying digital content on promotions, sharing educational information about products and services, and broadcasting live TV for customer entertainment, reports ITRealms.

The Head, Samsung Electronics West Africa’s Enterprise Display Unit, Mr. Anu-Rotimi Agboola elucidated on the new product.

“Available in 40-inch and 48-inch models, Samsung’s smart signage TV provides a complete platform for displaying digital content on promotions, sharing educational information about products and services, and broadcasting live TV for customer entertainment. Business owners can wirelessly connect to the TV from their laptop, tablet or mobile device to instantly publish and update content, or load new content using a USB drive. The solution boasts over 200 free templates for creating personalized signage designs and split-screen content. It is ideal for use in restaurants, bars/lounge, supermarkets, salons, gyms, drycleaners, hospitals and more,” he said.

In the press release made available to ITRealms, other features that make the solution a must have for business owners include MagicInfo Express, a built-in content management software that shop owners can use to update customers with information on discounts, shop hours, special events and other promotional information; MagicInfo Mobile, which allows businesses to make quick updates or upload photos of promotional materials directly from their Android or iOS mobile device; wireless capability via its built-in WiFi service that eliminates cable clutter and enables seamless connectivity with various external devices and a three year warranty with dedicated service and support.

“Until now, many small businesses in Nigeria have had to rely on consumer TVs to display key information in their stores, which limits not only customer engagement opportunities with their brand but also operating capabilities to easily display, update and change promotional materials. Samsung’s Smart Signage TV shifts the paradigm for SMEs utilisation of display solutions and provides a better customer experience, literally all in one box,” Agboola added.

The Director, Samsung Electronics West Africa’s Enterprise Business Division, Mr. Charles Ojei, ITRealms gathered, said the new smart signage solution is designed to provide small and medium enterprises with all that they require to get up and running with digital signage.

“At Samsung, we understand the unique challenges that small business owners face when it comes to selecting and implementing technology, and we built this product to address the market need for a cost-effective, easy-to-manage, professional-grade solution that is better suited for these environments. With Samsung Smart Signage TV, we’re giving SMEs the power to enhance their customer communications and enable them to create more personalized content to drive conversations that extend long after a customer leaves the store to keep them coming back. The solution helps to Turn on Your Business,” he said.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally! 
PIX: Charles Ojei

Buhari appoints Lawal SGF, five others, sidelines South East

ITRealms

The Nigerian President, General Muhammadu Buhari (Rted) Thursday, appointed Babachir David Lawal, from Adamawa State, as Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Abba Kyari, from Borno, as his Chief of Staff, reports ITRealms.

Other appointments include Hameed Ali, a retired colonel, as the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service, interestingly overlooking competent career customs official as not suitable enough for the post.

He also named Kure Martin Abeshi as the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Service, Messrs. Ali and Abeshi are from Kano and Nasarawa states respectively.

ITRealms gathered that a former Senator, Ita Enang, from Akwa Ibom was appointed senior special assistant to the president on Senate affairs, while Suleiman Kawu of Kano, who is a former House of Representatives member, was named the president’s senior special assistant on House of Representatives.

In all, the six officials brought to 29 the total number of key staffers who will man the economy from energy, defense to other important sectors of governance for an administration that is already 100-day old.

The appointments made by the president so far have been adjudged lopsided as no single person from the South East of Igbo extraction has been found worthy to be part of Buhari’s administration, reports
ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Ajijola tasks NBA on new thinking cap over cybercrime

ITRealms:

 

The Chairman of Consultancy Support Services Limited, Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola has tasked the Nigerian Bar Association to wear a new thinking cap, because things have changed legally in order to adjudicate appropriately on cybercrime related law, reports ITRealms.

Ajijola made this charge while dwelling on ‘Beyond Cybercrime Legislation’ while speaking at the annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Abuja on Tuesday with a dedication to his late father, Barrister Adeleke Dirisu Ajijola, who passed-on in January 2015.

He said that things have changed and wondering if the members of NBA have also changed their legal thinking?

This, he stressed, follows that the likes of Uber, which is the world’s largest taxi company without owning any vehicle; and Facebook which is the most popular media owner in the world does not create any content outside the platform.

In addition, Ajijola noted that Alibaba, for instance, which is the most valuable retailer, has no inventory, whereas Airbnb known as the largest accommodation owner, owns no real estate, and Iroko Tv, the major broadcaster of African movies, produces no media, and beckon on lawyers at the conference, to defend the platform as listed above.

For him, if something is ‘free’ then know that you the visitor is not the customer, but you are the product being sold.

Pointing out that like most of the world, Nigeria is building an electronic future upon capabilities, processes and infrastructure, expressing concern that the country is yet to understand how to protect, regulate or legislate on the electronic future in her domain.

He gave Nigeria cyber security threat overview to include the attack on the official website of the Federal Republic of Nigeria www.nigeria.gov.ng by an Irish ‘gay’ hacker in July 2013 in protest of the anti-gay bill that was passed by the Nigerian Senate.

He underscored the fact that on February 5, 2015, the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan launched the National cybersecurity policy and strategy respectively. Even as on May 16, 2015, President Jonathan, then, signed the cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act 2015 into law.

He expressed optimism that on his inauguration speech, President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015, had declared “I also wish to assure the wider international community o our readiness to cooperate and help to combat threats of … cybercrime ….”

Ajijiola equally advised NBA to take note of some domestic cybersecurity players including Defence Space Agency, EFCC, Digital Forengics Laboratory, Galaxy Backbone ISO27001 Certification, NITDA’s Computer Emergency Readiness & Response Team of Nigeria – CERRT.ng; Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Cybercrime Prosecution Unit; Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) – Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team (NGCERT).

Also worthy of note include the Computer Forensics Institute of Nigeria (CFIN), as professional body; Consultancy Support Services (CS2) Ltd, Digital Forensics; Cyber Institute Ltd/GTE, NGO, Capacity Building & Research; Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), yet another professional group and Digital Jewels Limited which centres on research and capacity building.

In academia, he said, there are only two higher institutions in Nigeria playing in this industry, namely the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna which has department of Cybersecurity, just as Nassarawa State University, Keffi, also has Centre for Cyberspace Studies.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

2015 EFF awards: Caspar Bowden, Citizen Lab, Anriette Esterhuysen, APC and Kathy Sierra

ITRealms:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has announce the distinguished winners of the 2015 Pioneer Awards: the late international privacy expert Caspar Bowden, the human rights and global security researchers at The Citizen Lab, international Internet access champions Anriette Esterhuysen and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and digital community advocate Kathy Sierra.

ITRealms reports that the award ceremony will be held the evening of September 24 at Delancey Street’s Town Hall in San Francisco. Tickets will be $125 for current EFF members, or $175 for non-members.

The late Caspar Bowden was a visionary and advocate for privacy, pressing for solutions to the greatest surveillance challenges of our generation long before others even saw the problem. In the 1990s, he worked within Britain’s Labour Party, encouraging it to adopt an explicitly pro-encryption political platform. When the party backed down from that stance, Bowden co-founded the Foundation for Information Policy Research, which worked independently to fix the damage of Britain's new surveillance laws.

For many years, Bowden was a chief privacy adviser at Microsoft. In that capacity he cautioned the company and others that the increasing use of “the cloud” would leave billions vulnerable to pervasive surveillance. He warned the world about the global dangers of corporate data collection, retention, and easily abused American surveillance law. Before Bowden’s untimely death earlier this year, he worked as an independent advocate for information privacy rights, advised the European Parliament, and served as a Tor board member.

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, Canada focusing on advanced research at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security. In recent years, it has become a powerful force in identifying and examining state-sponsored surveillance malware, drawing much-needed public attention to the role that surveillance and malware technologies play in facilitating human rights abuses worldwide.

Their groundbreaking and peer-reviewed research has put a spotlight on both the companies that sell the technologies and the governments that use these tools to facilitate repression. Citizen Lab has produced numerous independent reports on censorship and surveillance in popular social media platforms, instant messaging applications, and search engines. It has also refined network measurement methods for performing Internet-wide scans to “fingerprint” country-level installations of Internet filtering, deep packet inspection, and surveillance products. Founded in 2001, the Citizen Lab is a recipient of the 2014 MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, among many other awards.

Anriette Esterhuysen is the executive director of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), an international network working with information and communications technologies to support social justice and development around the world. APC’s 68 members in 46 countries—primarily in the global south—have pioneered access to email and online information tools for activists across the globe.

APC’s women's rights program has been a leader in the use of technology for women’s empowerment, and its groundbreaking Internet Rights Charter has endeavored to keep human rights on the agenda in Internet policy at national, regional, and global levels. Prior to joining APC, Esterhuysen was a human rights activist in South Africa and helped establish email and Internet connectivity in Africa.

She served on the Advisory Committee of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s African Information Society Initiative and was a member of the UN's Information and Communications Technologies Task Force. Esterhuysen was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2013, and she currently serves on the Global Commission on Internet Governance.

Kathy Sierra has been teaching programming and interaction design since the late 1980s. She founded the award-winning developer community Javaranch in 1996, a site that went on to become the largest online programmer community for more than a decade. She designed the innovative Head First series of programming books, whose adoption of a broad array of teaching methods widened the range of computer users who learned to take full control of their devices, and included the longest-running technology best-seller on Amazon.

Sierra’s work has focused on creating skillful users and building sustainable communities of those users, guiding people up the learning curve and advising on how to keep disagreements from sabotaging online groups. She was one of the first community leaders to address and describe in detail how to cultivate and navigate community growth: balancing clear rules with freedom of expression and privacy to support continuous learning.

Sierra has devoted the last 20 years to urging others to create more humane software and online services, working to widen the digital world to a larger audience.

“This extraordinary group of winners have all focused on the users, striving to give everyone the access, power, community, and protection they need in order to create and participate in our digital world,” said EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn.

John also said this group has worked tirelessly to bring to life a future where new technologies don’t compromise privacy or safety, or leave anyone behind. We are so proud to honor them with Pioneer Awards, and we’re deeply grateful for the work they’ve done.

Awarded every year since 1992, EFF’s Pioneer Awards recognize the leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier. Previous honorees have included Aaron Swartz, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, Richard Stallman, and Anita Borg.

Sponsors of the 2015 Pioneer Awards include Adobe, Automattic, Facebook, No Starch Press, and O’Reilly Media.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 
ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Twitter aids Vester Flanagan’s arrest, after killing 2 WDBJ journalists on set

ITRealms:

Investigations have revealed that Twitter aided the location and arrest of a disgruntled ex-staff of WDBJ.7, Mr. Vester Flanagan alias Bryce Williams, who Wednesday morning in the city of Virginia, United States shot dead a television reporter, Ms Alison Parker and her camera man, Mr. Adam Ward on set, during an interview with a guest, ITRealms reports.

ITRealmss gathered that Flanagan’s arrest was tracked on the messages he posted on Twitter, which was used to track his location and Troopers were deployed at the Inter 66.

The guest, according to CNN report monitored in Lagos by ITRealms is a female Executive Director of the Local Chamber of Commerce, who is recovering from non-life threatening injuries sustained during the attack.

The attacker, who later died in the afternoon following injuries he sustained from self-shot sequel to his stopping up at the airport and hiring another vehicle for his escape.

Mr. Flanagan also complained in a 23-page fax message to ABS News claiming racial discrimination against him.

He equally called the ABS News after the shooting and uploading self-recorded shooting.

Although the gunman claimed on his Twitter account that Alison had previously made statements on racism while Adam purportedly reported him to Human Resources during his days with WDBJ.7, which analyst suspect may have led to his dismissal from the organization.

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!