World-war texting against Trump

ITRealms:

Young Americans are gearing up for a secret world-war against the Republican Presidential 

candidate, Mr. Donald J. Trump by resorting to simply texting against him at the global level to spur the youths to come out and vote, reports ITRealms.

Lead advocate for the Young Americans, Emma Ruby-Sachs, informed ITRealms that they believe in climate change and are strongly against Trump, since they don't vote. 

“Now there's a killer plan for us to reach them and make sure they turn up, by simply texting,” he said.  

According to his petition on Avaaz with additional support by Avaaz US elections team, made available to ITRealms, Young Americans accuse Mr. Trump of trying to destroy the Paris climate change deal.

“Trump wants to tear up the Paris climate deal, and that's just the start of his horrifying plans! But now there's a way we can all help stop him, just by texting,” Ruby-Sachs said. 

Recent polls, he said, showed that young Americans believe immensely in climate change and are strongly against Trump. Noting that though political observers had warned that this group is the least likely to vote, yet they now form a killer squad against Mr. Trump.

“Now there’s a killer plan to reach them through a medium they love: text messages!” he declared.

Ruby-Sachs pointed out that if thousands of youth around the world text these young voters despite their usual apathy, urging them to get to the polls, “we could help ensure Trump loses in a landslide.” 

Texting American voters from overseas, he said is one of Bernie Sanders secrets against Trump which is easy, free and already working. Advising interested individuals to click to learn more about joining the team and trying this amazing tool provided by progressive group NextGen Climate.

The petitioners said that Trump and the racist, sexist, anti-climate, isolationist message he peddles are all threats to the entire world and “to everything we fight for as a community.”

As said by the petitioners, which also include Messers Rewan, Adam, Andrew and Joseph connecting with young Americans who also care about saving the planet, and ensuring they have all the information they need to vote, could be enough to secure a vote against Trump. 

Tests, ITRealms gathered, showed that one of the advocates could make a voting plan with 30 people who share same values in just an hour, because there's no get out the vote programme anywhere that has that kind of success rate.

“You’ll get everything you need to jump right in through progressive group NextGen Climate; a thorough training, a community, a support team in a chat room, and a contact list when you’re ready to get started. And because the tool doesn't use any text messages on your plan, you send them through a web page, you can recruit tonnes and tonnes of people at no extra cost.”

Potential public to join the campaign, the petitioners said, must ensure they are super comfortable writing in fluent English.

“We’ve worked together for weeks to help every American abroad vote in this election, and it’s brought in thousands of new voters to swing state races, helping to keep Trump far away from the White House. Now we can use this new tool to multiple our impact on election day,” the team said.

Nenye Dom/GEE

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Etisalat launches My Etisalat app

ITRealms:

Acclaimed innovative telecommunications network operator, Etisalat Nigeria has launched a new product tagged ‘My Etisalat’ reports ITRealms.

The Chief Information Officer (CIO), Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Otuyemi Otule described My Etisalat as revolutionary, adding that Etisalat believes in simplicity and innovation, hence Etisalat embark on this innovative mobile application.

He explained that to benefit from My Etisalat, users have to first and foremost, be on Etisalat network to enjoy it.

According to him, My Etisalat comes as a mobile app and web-based which takes away the incidences of using Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN); a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network codes via Short Messaging Service (SMS) codes.

The advancement in technology, Otule said, has brought about this launch of My Etisalat, stressing that since coming into the Nigerian market, Etisalat is synonymous with innovative ‘easy’ products.

Above all, he said, My Etisalat enables users to explore a whole range of services, thereby offering subscribers better customer experience.

Explaining further, the Online User Experience Officer, Etisalat, Mr. Paul Ehiagbonare, said My Etisalat was built based on customers’ feedback.

“We have customers who cut across various platforms including iOS, Andriod, Windows,” he declared.

Credentials with social media accounts, he said, could be used to sign into the app and could also be used to block a stolen device.

Customers, he said, have the ability to manage all their lines from My Etisalat app and even add more of Etisalat lines if so wish.

“You can also use it to manage all your lines when you add other numbers and swipe icon come up handy for this,” he said.

Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops

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German court sentences man over card fraud

ITRealms:

German Appeal Court of Celle has confirmed the legal assessment of the district court of Verden in the trial against a Sky Deutschland card sharing pirate, sentencing a 53 year old man to 1 year in prison, reports ITRealms.

According to Broadband TV, the district court imposed a 1-year prison sentence on probation on a 53-year old man from federal state Lower Saxony because of computer fraud in conjunction with circumventing technical protection measures in 65 cases in February 2016.

Also, ITRealms reports that the appeal court confirmed the conviction for computer fraud following the appeal lodged by the defendant against the lower court’s verdict. This marks the first time that a higher regional court has confirmed that card sharing constitutes computer fraud. The decision is final and non-appealable.

The judges considered it to be evident that card sharing resembles an illegal usage of data leading to a direct financial loss at Sky Deutschland.

The appeal court, however, didn’t confirm the criminal offences of spying out data and circumventing technical protection measures the district court took into account in its verdict. The judges therefore submitted the case back to the lower court for reassessment of the sentence.

The defendant had been illegally distributing Sky Deutschland’s offers through the internet since spring 2009 by operating a card sharing server and selling access to it. This enabled third parties to watch Sky Deutschland’s programmes without paying subscription fees to the pay-TV broadcaster.

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HomeGrid President says certification critical for IoT interoperability success

ITRealms:

The President of HomeGrid Forum (HGF), Donna Yasay, has identified certification as critical for Internet-of-Things (IoT) interoperability success, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at a panel of technology peers at IoT Tech Expo in North America on how certification programmes are at the forefront of interoperability, said it’s the answer for vendors looking to keep up with today’s growing industry for smart home innovation. 

“To ensure multi-vendor interoperability, accredited industry certification programs should be used for every product to provide credibility and quality assurance for retail and carrier based customers looking to add ever increasing numbers of devices to the home network,” commented Yasay. “The successful global adoption of the Internet of Things is dependent on a robust and secure home network,” Yasay said. 

IoT applications, Yasay said, typically use simple, low bit-rate devices; hence the key requirements are in-home coverage, security and auto-configuration. 

Yasay also noted that however at the same time there is a growing need for much faster in-home networks.

Buttressing her point with a recent iGR report, she pointed out that it showed average monthly broadband usage in the United States (US) homes is 190 gigabytes per month, with more than 95 per cent of this traffic being video.

In addition, she said that Juniper Research recent study  which showed that 4K Over-The Top (OTT) adoption is set to rise from 2.3 million users globally this year, to 189 million by 2021.

This, she said, translates to 1 in 500 US residents currently watching 4K online, but by 2021, it will be 1 in 10, a massive increase in access and in-home bandwidth.

She further said that the beauty of G.hn is that it could provide a single in-home network that meets the needs of both IoT applications and ultrafast video.

“G.hn technology can provide seamless wired connectivity or a backbone for multiple wireless access points and IoT devices to greatly improve the wireless coverage within a home,” she explained.

Pointing out that today’s average household has advanced from having one user watching the occasional video on YouTube, to several users watching whole television series independently and simultaneously, using platforms such as Amazon Video and Netflix.

“G.hn is now widely regarded as the obvious choice for reliably delivering high bandwidth services and applications, and will increasingly be used to help connect IoT devices. This can either be as a backbone for low-speed wireless IoT technologies, or embedding the powerline variant of G.hn in large, fixed, mains-powered devices such as washing machines and refrigerators,” she said.

Therefore, interoperability, she said, is key to both these very different applications, stressing that HomeGrid Forum thus provides G.hn silicon and system certification through a strict compliance and interoperability testing programme to ensure the simplest and most secure means for consumers to connect their increasing number of devices and applications using the home network.

Chuks Dom/GEE

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Px: President of HomeGrid Forum (HGF), Donna Yasay

Mozilla unveils Equal Rating Innovation Challenge, dangles $250,000

ITRealms:

Innovators have until November 1, 2016 to file in their ability to claim the $250,000 as Mozilla unveils Equal Rating Innovation Challenge, reports ITRealms.

Mozilla also said that the launch of its global Equal Rating Innovation Challenge, a competition which invites contributions on ways to provide unfettered access to the open Internet for anyone across the globe.

As part of its initiative, Mozilla also said, is asking entrepreneurs, designers, researchers and innovators to propose creative and scalable ideas for connecting more people to the Internet, built on local knowledge and expertise.

The Equal Rating Innovation Challenge will support promising solutions through expert mentorship and funding of US$250,000 in prize monies split into three categories - Best Overall (based on scalability), Best Overall Runner-up and Most Novel Solution (based on experiment with a potential high reward).

“At Mozilla, we believe the Internet is most powerful when anyone – regardless of gender, income, or geography – can participate equally. However, the digital divide remains a clear and persistent reality,” said Mozilla’s Chief Innovation Officer, Katharina Borchert, in a blog post.

Further, she says, “This challenge is designed to spur innovations for bringing the members of the Next Billion online. The Equal Rating Innovation Challenge is focused on identifying creative new solutions to connect the unconnected. These solutions may range from consumer products and novel mobile services to new business models and infrastructure proposals.”

Mozilla has launched www.EqualRating.com, a website offering educational content and background information to support the challenge. In the coming weeks, Mozilla will also stream a series of webinars stream to further inform potential applicants about the challenge details.

Katharina Borchert added, “Connecting the unconnected is one of the greatest challenges of our time. No one organization or effort can tackle it alone. We must come together and collaborate to build innovative and scalable ways to bring Internet access to the Next Billion - and the other billions, as well.”

Submissions are open from November 1, 2016 to January 6, 2017 and will be judged by a group of external experts. The first round of selections will be announced by mid-January 2017. Selected finalists will receive mentorship for their projects before they demonstrate their ideas in March 2017. Final winners will be announced by end of March 2017.

Nenye Dom/GEE

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NCC insists, no official was bribed by MTN

ITRealms:

THE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has refuted any claim associating the Commission with the bribery allegations on MTN Nigeria Communications to the tune of some N330 billion, insisting that no staff was involved, reports ITRealms.

The Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), Abdullahi Maikano, made this refute in Effurun, Uvwien council area, Delta State during the 22nd Consumer Town Hall Meeting.

According to Maikano, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Femi Atoyebi, declared, “No NCC official was bribed. I repeat, nobody bribed any NCC official on that MTN fine issue, quote me.”

Maikano also insisted that “NCC is a very responsible organization under quality leadership which cascades down to the least of staff. No NNC staff will ever take bribe. Challenge me if you see one. That allegation is not true. You read in the papers what MTN has done, they have paid some amount and they are to pay the rest by installments. So, that case is actually settled.”

On the recurring consumer complaints of unsolicited Short Messaging Service (SMS) and poor network among other concerns against service providers, he said that the continued town hall meetings to bridge and bring telecoms consumers with operators and the regulator are providing gainful results in gradually resolving the complaints by users.

“It’s not true that NCC has not been doing anything about complaints. The town hall meetings are not jamborees. Everything going on here is being recorded and we will played. We do a comprehensive report and make recommendations on every outing to management. Some of the policies you see being rolled out by NCC emanate from reports from meetings like these. The consumers are the target beneficiaries of all our activities which make them enjoy primary focus in ensuring that they get quality of service, value for money and timely and fair redress of complaints,” he said.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Oyo lauds Etisalat on youth sport development

ITRealms:

The Oyo State Government has lauded, Etisalat Nigeria, for its commitment and contributions to youth development in the country, reports ITRealms.

The State Commissioner for Education, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela, gave this commendation when a team of Management staff from the company paid him a courtesy visit as part of activities to flag-off the regional play-off of the season three of the Etisalat U-15 School Cup football competition which started in Ibadan during the week.

According to the Commissioner who, while describing the network as a “lover of children and character developer”, noted that its social investment in youths will empower them to “overcome the many environmental challenges that lead to crime and other social vices.”

“I want to commend Etisalat for its efforts and determination to develop the minds and bodies of Nigerian youths especially the School children through sports with the U-15 School Cup Football Competition across the nation,” he said.

Also speaking, the Oyo State Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Barrister Abayomi Oke, while receiving the team to his office, assured of the Government’s commitment to working with partners to develop sports in the State. He called on other corporate organisations to emulate the example being set by Etisalat and commit to initiatives that could help in developing Nigerian football teams for the overall benefit of the nation.

The Etisalat team included the Head, Events and Sponsorship, Modupe Thani, Manager, Sponsorship, Orah Egwu and Head of Sales, South West, Razaq Oloko among others.

Meanwhile, the race for tickets to the Lagos national finals of the season three of the Etisalat U-15 School Cup football competition has got underway at the Ibadan Centre with several matches decided inside the main bowl of the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba and Wesley College Playing Ground, Elekuro.

Seven teams are featuring in the regional qualifiers at the Centre. They include host Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Lagos, Ogun and Osun States.

Twenty-Four state school teams will be featuring in the other regional qualifying matches to be hosted consecutively at the Ilorin Township Stadium, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu and Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna between October 18 and November 4, 2016.

The national champion of the 2016 edition will receive the Champions Trophy and a cash prize of N2 million educational award while its players will go home with N50,000 each. The second-placed team will go home with N1 million with the players pocketing extra N30,000 each while the third-place winner will have the sum of N750,000.00 for its efforts with its players receiving N20,000.00 each.

Chuks Egbune/GEE
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Enough-is-Enough @Las Vegas final US Presidential debate

ITRealms:

A coalition of individuals and organizations committed to instituting a culture of good governance and public accountability in Nigeria through active citizenship, otherwise known as Enough-is-Enough (EiE) is in Las Vegas to take part in the final presidential debate in the United States of America, reports ITRealms.

EiE Nigeria, ITRealms gathered was an integral part of the #OccupyNigeria movement in 2012 and it’s currently very active in the #OpenNASS campaign.

The coalition comprised of The Future Project; Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN); Education as a Vaccine (EVA); Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND); and LYNX Nigeria. Partners include BudgIT & ReclaimNaija.

The EiE’s Executive Director, ‘Yemi Adamolekun, said it is deeply gratifying that their work on debates was recognized and a privilege to learn from the final Presidential Debate organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) on October 19th in Las Vegas, USA.

“Of course, it’s also very exciting to witness a debate that will be talked about for years to come.” Adamolekun said, stressing that Nigerians have followed the US debates with great interest and it is expected that there will be a louder demand for a Presidential debate during the 2019 elections.

EiE, ITRealms reports was invited alongside some other debate organisers from 27 countries.

In 2015, ITRealms gathered that EiE and Channels were ready to host a Presidential Debate but Mr Buhari declined to participate.

From the first youth-focused Presidential Debate in 2011, EiE has led the conversation about the importance of debates in an election process. Over the last 5 years EiE has funded, hosted or co-hosted debates in Cross River (2012), Anambra (2013), Ekiti (2014), Osun (2014), Rivers (2015), Plateau (2015), Bayelsa (2015) & Edo (2016). EiE also co-hosted debates for youth party leaders in Cross River and for the APC & PDP national youth party leaders in 2015.

Further, ITRealms recalls that in 2011, EiE created the RSVP Campaign – Register | Select | Vote | Protect – as a voter education & get out the vote vehicle encouraging young Nigerians to register to vote; select credible candidates; vote wisely and protect their votes on election day and in the 4 years in between elections. Debates have been the platform that EiE has provided to citizens to select candidates they believe will best serve the needs of the people. Debates force candidates to be challenged on their policies and plans for the electorate beyond the noise and self-promotion of party meetings and rallies.

Nenye Dom/GEE

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FG explains commitment to broadcast digitization deadline

ITRealms:

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has explained the commitment of the Federal Government (FG) towards meeting the June 2017 deadline for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting in the country, reports ITRealms.

The Minister made this known in Abuja on Tuesday while declaring open the 2016 AFRICAST with the theme "Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting: Financing Quality Content"

"The digitization of broadcasting offers Nigeria a lot of opportunities. The benefits are multifaceted and very far-reaching – in the areas of economics, politics, education, entertainment, science and technology and several other ways. Many have said that the impact of digitization on television will be revolutionary and I cannot agree less. With digitization, the TV industry in Nigeria will be able to raise over 1 billion dollars in one year. Also, digitisation will increase the number of the current 450 TV stations in Nigeria," he said.

Alhaji Mohammed explained that the Federal Government's idea of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is one in which there is free digital TV service called FreeTV - based on Freeview rather than requiring pay TV subscriptions and that the government is providing support to ensure that the FreeTV Set-Top-Boxes, also called decoders, are affordable at a retail price of N1,500.

He said with the Digital Switch Over, Nollywood will have a safe and profitable distribution channel direct to 24 million TV homes through the Set-Top Boxes with no piracy risk, which will generate $250m per annum of extra income for Nollywood.

The Minister said the digitization of the technology of broadcasting, which brought about a paradigm shift in the industry, requires broadcasters to be dynamic, embrace various platforms for diverse content and adapt to new tools with continuous access to content throughout their business.

"The evolution of new broadcast platforms is threatening traditional broadcast platforms and channels. The reality though is that the motivation apparently is that as broadcasters engage new platforms, the market opportunities are increasing, providing new revenue streams," he said.

Mohammed also urged regulators of broadcasting in Africa to begin to envisage and appropriate the larger implications of the emergence of multiple platforms by ensuring that the media continues to serve its peoples in terms of security, economic well-being and technological advancement.

AFRICAST, which was introduced in 1996 by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the broadcast regulator in Nigeria, is the platform on which broadcast issues as they relate to Africa are discussed every two years by professionals, academics and policy makers.

It is also a platform for manufacturers of broadcast equipment and publishers of content who are targeting the emerging African market.


Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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Leo-Stan Ekeh Foundation lifts YUBOSS with N1.5bn

ITRealms:

First class promoter of 21^st century knowledge through quality education, practical entrepreneurship, healthy living and enhanced lifestyle, the Leo-Stan Ekeh Foundation, has lifted YUBOSS with the sum of N1.5B, reports ITRealms.

YUBOSS, ITRealms reports is an entrepreneurship and wealth creation scheme set up by pioneer composite retail chain Yudala and supported by Access Bank and Airtel.

This is coming as all is now set for the official unveiling of YUBOSS scheme by the Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige this Friday by 6pm, at the Sheraton Hotel Abuja, as part of activities at the Yudala Zero Gravity Contemporary Music Concert which will feature leading artistes such as Phyno, Naeto C, Cynthia Morgan and David Grey, among others.  

ITRealms also gathered that YUBOSS is a credible platform powered by Yudala for hard working Nigerian youths with the right business mindset and creative energy to become their own bosses and certified billionaires in the near future without being indebted to any bank.

Thus, YUBOSS members are entitled to attractive commissions and credit facilities as well as a wide range of benefits including business mentorship sessions and capacity-building workshops.

Affirming this development, Head, Wealth Creation department of the Foundation, Mrs. Ibukun Toluwase, explained that the scheme was structured to see members rise through the ranks and ultimately become the part-owner of a Yudala franchise store when they achieve platinum status.

As said by her, the sum of N500m will be disbursed to qualified agents of Yudala in the first 12 months interest free and those who perform exceptionally well, will benefit from an additional investment of N10m each, interest free for at least two years before repaying the capital.

“The Foundation’s strategy is to partner indirectly with practical entrepreneurs who will not rely on banks to create billions, especially in this period when our banks are very reluctant to lend,” she said.

She pointed out that the aim is to use a successful platform such as Yudala Online and Offline retail stores located nationwide to build up quality entrepreneurs who could create, defend and sustain wealth even during disruptive periods such as the one Nigerians are passing through at the moment.

“All qualified YUBOSS members will be fully documented, trained and mentored by Mr. Ekeh himself,” she declared, stressing that already, the foundation has installed digital infrastructure like video conferencing and other smart devices in major cities like Abuja, Port Harcourt, Imo and Lagos, among others to make online interaction live.

“We intend to achieve this in all state capitals for easier mentoring,” she assured.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Electronic fraud tops agenda at E-PPAN, CBN conference

ITRealms:

The alarming growth of electronic frauds is on top of the agenda at the forthcoming annual Payment Systems and Fraud Conference slated for next month in Lagos, reports ITRealms.

Industry observers recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and key stakeholders focused searchlight on efraud which allegedly caused the loss of over N4 billion in the country.

ITRealms recalls that with over N30 trillion transactions carried out on different e-payment channels by businesses and individuals in the country, stakeholders have expressed worries over cases of e-fraud, which they said discouraging some people financial inclusion.

Reliable sources at the Nigerian Interbank Settlements System Plc. (NIBSS) revealed to ITRealms that over N4 billion was lost to cases of e-frauds in 2015 alone.

ITRealms also reports that the conference with the theme: ‘E-Payment Fraud: People, Process and Technology’ would hold at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on November 8, this year.

For the Chief Executive Officer, E-PPAN, Mrs. Regha Onajite, the conference has been designed to be a veritable rallying ground for the financial industry to deliberate on payment systems and fraud knowledge in West Africa.

“This event will bring together senior level officers of the fintech sector, banking, regulatory bodies and public officers. Our core focus on this years’ edition is to tackle fraud in a proactive and top-down approach that involves people, process and technology. This will help create effective combats against the activities of the e-payment fraudsters in Nigeria,” she said.

Explaining specific objectives of the conference, she said the conference address the challenges posed by people’s laxity in divulging and compromising organisation information system to fraudsters.

“It will also re-appraise, reconnect and tackle the processes that compromised the entire system of e-payment hemisphere in Nigeria, and fashion out how organisations can invest in and deploy the right technologies to enable the industry be a step ahead of these criminals,” she said.

Onajite added that E-PPAN partners at this year’s event, apart from the CBN, include the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (Neff), Committee of –Banking Head (CeBIH), Committee of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (CCCOBIN), Information Security Society of Nigeria (ISSAN) and the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria (ACAEBIN), among others.

She said attendance for the conference was free urging persons to register for the event, which, she said, would be a melting pot of ideas to proffer solutions to the cases of e-fraud in the nation’s e-payment industry.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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DigitalSENSE Africa responds @Review of ICANN At-Large 2016-2017

ITRealms:

A Lagos-based certified At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) At-Large Structure (ALS) DigitalSENSE Africa Media, has successfully submitted comments to survey on the review of the ICANN At-Large community for 2016 and 2017, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this, the Executive Director, Operations at DigitalSENSE Africa (DSA) Media, Nkemdilim Nweke, noted that the organization annually hosts the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) and Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable since 2008 and 2011 respectively as well as publishes DigitalSENSE Business News, ITRealms and NaijaAgroNet.

She also said, DigitalSENSE Africa Media had in 2011 mid-wifed the first Nigeria-hosted West African Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF), and is reputed as a team of internationally reputed and award-winning ICT industry analysts and perception management professionals; affiliated to Non-Commercial Users Stakeholders Group (NCSG) an ICANN Generic Name Supporting Organisation (GNSO); member of Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) Local MultiStakeholder Advisory Group (LMAG); African Civil Society on the Information Society (ACSIS); Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), ECOWAS Network of Science Journalists, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), to name a few.

The survey, ITRealms reports, officially opened on 14 September is expected to end 21 October 2016; and is being conducted as part of ITEMS International's independent Review of ICANN's At-Large Community between May 2016 to March 2017.

ITRealms also reports that the survey is aimed at all Internet end-users with as interest in policy making in connection with the Domain Name System (DNS) and in particular, in the role and function of the At-Large Community (ALAC).

Additionally, ITRealms reveals that survey takes between 5 and 25 minutes depending on respondent’s profile, how much time they have got, and how much respondent has to say.

In order to take part in this survey, ITRealms reports that respondent’s name, identity and any information such a respondent may wish to provide, which ITEM’s team promised will be treated in strict confidence.

ITRealms recollects that ALAC represents the interests of Internet users worldwide who contribute to the development of policies that influence the technical coordination of the Domain Name System (DNS).

Further, ITRealms gathered that the survey is open to all interested parties on Internet.

“Whether you are the representative of an At-Large Structure (ALS), a regular participant in ICANN meetings, an ICANN insider, or a newcomer to the world of Internet governance, your opinion interests us,” says ICANN.

Nenye Dom/GEE

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Amidst spirit of errors and blood baths @Aso Rock

Commentary@ITRealms: 

People tend to be alarmed when the Nigerian Presidency takes certain decisions. They don’t think the decision makes sense. Sometimes, they wonder if something has not gone wrong with the thinking process at that highest level of the country. I have heard people insist that there is some form of witchcraft at work in the country’s seat of government.

I am ordinarily not a superstitious person, but working in the Villa, I eventually became convinced that there must be something supernatural about power and closeness to it. I’ll start with a personal testimony. I was given an apartment to live in inside the Villa. It was furnished and equipped. But when my son, Michael arrived, one of my brothers came with a pastor who was supposed to stay in the apartment. But the man refused claiming that the Villa was full of evil spirits and that there would soon be a fire accident in the apartment. He complained about too much human sacrifice around the Villa and advised that my family must never sleep overnight inside the Villa.

I thought the man was talking nonsense and he wanted the luxury of a hotel accommodation. But he turned out to be right. The day I hosted family friends in that apartment and they slept overnight, there was indeed a fire accident. The guests escaped and they were so thankful. Not long after, the President’s physician living two compounds away had a fire accident in his home. He and his children could have died.

He escaped with bruises. Around the Villa while I was there, someone always died or their relations died. I can confirm that every principal officer suffered one tragedy or the other; it was as if you needed to sacrifice something to remain on duty inside that environment. Even some of the women became merchants of 'Love Machine' because they had suffered a special kind of death in their homes (I am sorry to reveal this) and many of the men complained about something that had died below their waists too. The ones who did not have such misfortune had one ailment or the other that they had to nurse. From cancer to brain and prostate surgery and whatever, the Villa was a hospital full of agonizing patients.

I recall the example of one particular man, an asset to the Jonathan Presidency who practically ran away from the Villa. He said he needed to save his life. He was quite certain that if he continued to hang around, he would die. I can’t talk about colleagues who lost daughters and sons, brothers and uncles, mothers and fathers, and the many obituaries that we issued. 

Even the President was multiply bereaved. His wife, Mama Peace was in and out of hospital at a point, undergoing many surgeries. You may have forgotten but after her husband lost the election and he conceded victory, all her ailments vanished, all scheduled surgeries were found to be no longer necessary and since then she has been hale and hearty. By the same token, all those our colleagues who used to come to work to complain about a certain death beneath their waists and who relied on videos and other instruments to entertain wives (take it easy boys, I don’t mean nay harm, I am writing!), have all experienced a re-awakening.

Everyone who went under the blade has received miraculous healing, and we are happy to be out of that place. But others were not so lucky. They died. There were days when convoys ran into ditches and lives were lost. In Norway, our helicopter almost crashed into a mountain. That was the first time I saw the President panicking. The weather was all so hazy and he just kept saying it would not be nice for the President of a country to die in a helicopter crash due to pilot miscalculations. The President went into a prayer mode. We survived. In Kenya once, we had a bird strike. The plane had to be recalled and we were already airborne with the plane acting like it would crash. 

During the 2015 election campaigns, our aircraft refused to start on more than one occasion. The aircraft just went dead. On some other occasions, we were stoned and directly targeted for evil. I really don’t envy the people who work in Aso Villa, the seat of Nigeria’s Presidency. For about six months, I couldn’t even breathe properly. For another two months, I was on crutches. But I considered myself far luckier than the others who were either nursing a terminal disease or who could not get it up.

When Presidents make mistakes, they are probably victims of a force higher than what we can imagine. Every student of Aso Villa politics would readily admit that when people get in there, they actually become something else. They act like they are under a spell. When you issue a well- crafted statement, the public accepts it wrongly. When the President makes a speech and he truly means well, the speech is interpreted wrongly by the public. When a policy is introduced, somehow, something just goes wrong. 

In our days, a lot of people used to complain that the APC people were fighting us spiritually and that there was a witchcraft dimension to the governance process in Nigeria. But the APC folks now in power are dealing with the same demons. Since Buhari government assumed office, it has been one mistake after another. Those mistakes don’t look normal, the same way they didn’t look normal under President Jonathan. I am therefore convinced that there is an evil spell enveloping this country. We need to rescue Nigeria from the forces of darkness. Aso Villa should be converted into a spiritual museum, and abandoned.

Should I become President of Nigeria tomorrow, I will build a new Presidential Villa: a Villa that will be dedicated to the all-conquering Almighty, and where powers and principalities cannot hold sway. But it is not about buildings and space, not so? It is about the people who go to the highest levels in Nigeria. I really don’t quite believe in superstitions, but I am tempted to suggest that this is indeed a country in need of  prayers. 

We should pray before people pack their things into Aso Villa. We should ask God to guide us before we appoint ministers. We should, to put it in technocratic language,    that the people should be very vigilant. We have all failed so far, that crucial test of vigilance. We should have a Presidential Villa where a President can afford to be human and free. 

In the White House, in the United States, Presidents live like normal human beings. In Aso Villa, that is impossible. They’d have to surround themselves with cooks from their villages, bodyguards from their mother’s clans and friends they can trust. It should be possible to be President of Nigeria without having to look behind one’s shoulders. But we are not yet there. 

So, how do we run a Presidency where the man in the saddle can only drink water served by his kinsman? No. How can we possibly run a Presidency where every President proclaims faith in Nigeria but they are better off in the company of relatives and kinsmen. 

No. We need as Presidents men and women who are willing to be Nigerians. No Nigerian President should be in spiritual bondage because he belongs to all of us and to nobody.

Now let me go back to the spiritual dimension. 

A colleague once told me that I was the most naïve person around the place. I thought I was a bright, smart, professional doing my bit and enjoying the President’s confidence. I spelled it out. But what I got in response was that I was coming to the villa using Lux soap, but that most people around the place always bathed in the morning with blood. Goat blood. Ram blood. Whatever animal blood. I argued. He said there were persons in the Villa walking upside down, head to the ground. I screamed. Everybody looked normal to me. But I soon began to suspect that I was in a strange environment indeed. Every position change was an opportunity for warfare. Civil servants are very nice people; they obey orders, but they are not very nice when they fight over personal interests.

The President is most affected by the atmosphere around him. He can make wrong decisions based on the cloud of evil around him. Even when he means well and he has taken time to address all possible outcomes, he could get on the wrong side of the public. A colleague called me one day and told me a story about how a decision had been taken in the spiritual realm about the Nigerian government. He talked about the spirit of error, and how every step taken by the administration would appear to the public like an error. He didn’t resign on that basis but his words proved prophetic. I see the same story being re-enacted. Aso Villa is in urgent need of redemption. I never slept in the apartment they gave me in that Villa for an hour.

Source: The Guardian - The Spiritual Side Of Aso Villa By Reuben Abati 

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