Newsman’s Midnight Trade-Off: Deadline vs. Darkness in hour of Up NEPA by Remmy Nweke - WeekendDigits@ITREALMS

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Introduction:

The oppressive heat of a Lagos night was a shroud in my small home library. The air, thick and still as soup, offered no comfort, carrying only the distant, rhythmic cough of generators, the weary soundtrack to my career. 

On my desk, a sprawling chaos of work reflected the three masters I served: NaijaAgroNet Online, DigitalSENSE Business Magazine, and ITREALMS Online. The final proof sheets, a towering cairn of printouts pulled from the server, and the red-penned manuscript for the weekend's lead op-ed were barely visible under the weak, dying beam of my rechargeable lamp. 

No deadline on circulation of old Naira notes says CBN - ITREALMS

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that there is no deadline set on the circulation of old Naira notes in the country, reports ITREALMS.

A press statement from CBN, endorsed by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Sidi Ali, Hakama (Mrs.) informed ITREALMS that their attention has been drawn to discussions at different fora which suggested that the old series of the N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes shall cease to be legal tender on December 31, 2024.

NCC explains final deadline for NIN-SIM linkage, sets September 14, 2024 - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has explained the reasons behind the much proclaimed final deadline for telecom subscribers in the country to link all Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) to National Identity Numbers (NINs), reports ITREALMS.

NCC through the Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Reuben Muoka in a press statement available to ITREALMS, said that based on significant progress in the Federal Government’s 2020 policy to link all Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) to National Identity Numbers (NINs) that the the announcement has become imperative.

FG sets December deadline to unveil National Dig Once Policy - ITREALMS

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·Says Policy to Accelerate Broadband Infrastructure Roll-Out

Professor Isa Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, has disclosed that Nigeria is giving the final touches to its proposed National Dig Once Policy, hinting that there is a plan to unveil the policy before the end of 2022.

Pantami made the disclosure in Lagos at the just concluded fourth edition of Policy Implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo) on Dig Once Policy and Fibre Strategy in Nigeria with the theme: Laying the Foundation for Ubiquitous Broadband for Nigeria’s Economic Breakthrough.

Voters Registration: Calls for INEC deadline extension gains momentum - ITREALMS

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The Nzuko Umunna has joined in the calls for the extension of deadline for the voters registration across the federation, reports ITREALMS.

The group noted that it has keenly observed in the past one week the unprecedented turn out of Nigerians, especially the youths, in various states for voter registration.

Why FG extended NIN-SIM verification deadline to October 31, 2021 - ITREALMS

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The Federal Government has adduced some reasons on why the deadline for the National Identity Number (NIN)-Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) data verification was moved to October 31, 2021, reports ITREALMS.

According to source close to the two federal agencies, namely the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), revealed that the focus has now shifted to remote, hard-to-reach areas, schools, and health centres.

ICANN sets October deadline for KSK rollover, seeks comments

ITREALMS:

The Internet Cooperation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has set October 11, 2018 as deadline for the roll over of the
root Key Signing Key (KSK), reports ITRealms.

This follows the restarting of plans by ICANN for the KSK rollover process which commenced recently after a stoppage. The initial KSK rollover was scheduled for 2019, but now meant for October 2018, which is a year earlier.

To this effect, ICANN has opened formal public comment period to receive community input on a draft plan, to proceed with the KSK rollover project. 

This comment period, ITRealms reports, will run until 1 April 2018, just as ICANN declared "we are eager to receive any and all comments."

Also, ITRealms reports that the plan calls for rolling the root zone KSK on 11 October 2018, continuing extensive outreach to notify as many resolver operators as possible, and publishing more observations of the RFC 8145 trust anchor report data. Additional details are contained within the plan.

"We are planning a session at ICANN61 in Puerto Rico, to further discuss the plan and obtain additional feedback" ICANN official disclosed to ITRealms.

The draft plan follows the posting in late December, in which the ICANN organization announced next steps in the process to resume the root KSK rollover project. 

"We described our efforts to track down the operators of DNS (Domain Name System) resolvers that were not ready for the rollover.

Further, ICANN said, using a protocol described in RFC 8145, these problematic resolvers had reported to the root servers a trust anchor configuration with only the current KSK (known as KSK-2010) and not the newer KSK (known as KSK-2017).

"In our December posting we also detailed the difficulty in contacting operators, and noted that when we were able to reach an operator, we learned that there were a variety of causes for the resolver’s lagging configuration.

"The bottom line is that these findings did not afford much clarity as to the next steps for mitigating specific causes nor did they afford any guidance for appropriate messaging. Faced with this situation, we announced our intention to solicit input from the community on acceptable criteria for proceeding with the root KSK roll.

"Since that posting in December, a robust community discussion ensued between interested community members. There was agreement during these discussions that there is no way to accurately measure the number of users who would be affected by rolling the root KSK, even though there was a belief that better measurements may become available for future KSK rollovers.

"The consensus of those involved in the discussions was that the ICANN org should proceed with rolling the root zone KSK in a timely fashion while continuing outreach to ensure that the word of the rollover reach as wide an audience as possible.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the ICANN community to roll the root zone KSK," ICANN assured.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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ICANN extends deadline on call for WHOIS volunteers review team

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has extended its call for volunteers to serve in the Registration Directory Service (RDS) Review Team previously known as WHOIS, are now due till 7 March 2017, reports ITRealms.

ICANN, ITRealms gathered is seeking volunteers to serve on the second review of Registration Directory Service (formerly known as the WHOIS Review).

“Interested individuals are invited to provide the following information, in the template provided,” sources from ICANN informed ITRealms.

In addition, potential volunteers are to submit a biography, detailing relevant work and/or academic experience, as well as subject matter knowledge;  motivation for detailing interest in serving on the Review Team and what to bring to the team.

Also, volunteers are to specify the Supporting Organization (SO) or Advisory Committee (AC) that they would like to have consider them for nomination.

“Candidates are asked to submit their application materials to reviews@icann.org by 7 March 2017, and all applications and supporting materials will be published as they are received on the RDS wiki page,” our source said.

Nonye 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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BVN deadline:crowd take over banks

 ITRealms

 

As the stipulated deadline for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise draws to a close tomorrow, June 30, 2015, and with no sign of extension, Nigerian banks have witnessed an unprecedented crowd as account holders try to beat deadline, reports ITRealms.

Investigations which include visits to First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Access Bank and Zenith Bank branches across the country by ITRealms indicated that customers had waited till the twilight of the exercise to ensure compliance.

The exercise which was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was meant to solve identity management challenges in the banking sector. The CBN introduced the BVN in collaboration with all banks operating in Nigeria and managed by the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement Systems (NIBBS). 

Launched on February 14, 2014, ITRealms reports, the  exercise was described as an initiative that will boost financial inclusion as those who have typically stayed away from mainstream banking due to low literacy levels will be able to open and access their bank accounts using their biometric information rather than traditional identification methods.

The general public were encouraged to visit any branch of their banks to register for  BVN in order to secure their accounts from fraudsters.

The bank verification number gives every bank customer a unique identity across the banking industry, since it has a centralized biometric identification system which could be used for every identification and verification at point of banking operations.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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