$200bn quest for reliable electricity by Elvis Eromosele - ITREALMS

Commentary@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

Nigeria is an energy starved nation. Imagine a country in the 21st century with over 200 million people and an unstable power supply. It's a recipe for backwardness. It is also a sad commentary on the failure of successive governments over a hundred years. No wonder the hum of progress is too often drowned out by the silence of power outages.

Today, homes flicker into darkness, businesses grind to a halt, and dreams of economic growth stall in the face of an unreliable electricity grid. The numbers paint a grim picture. Nigeria generates a mere 6,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity against an estimated demand of 40,000 MW needed for a stable, nationwide supply.

WATISE'23: Players yearn for reliable telecoms infrastructure - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!


The quest for a reliable telecommunications infrastructure for the players in West Africa’s industry to deliver essential services and products in an interdependent ecosystem was the focus of discussion at the maiden edition of the West Africa telecoms Infrastructure Summit and Exhibition (WATISE).

The event, which has as its theme: ‘The Future of Infrastructure, Connectivity And Services: A New Interdependent Ecosystem of Partners’ was hosted by TechnologyMirror, an ICT and Telecoms news website with support from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and IHS Towers Nigeria.

NLNG calls for more investment to ensure reliable LPG supply - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has called on stakeholders in the domestic Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) value chain to invest in the supply of the product to ensure a reliable and steady stream of supply to the market, reports ITREALMS.

Marking 15 years of domestic LPG supply in conjunction with the Nigerian LPG Association (NLPGA) at a conference in Lagos, NLNG’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, said the investment in supply would intentionally spark commitment along the value chain, including vertical integrations. He stated that NLNG was doing this through its further investment in Train 7, which will add about 35% to its current capacity when completed, subject to gas supply and gas quality. He added that other domestic producers of LPG would need to make investments to enable their product to become available to the domestic market, rather than exporting it.

TD, reliable Nigerian brand says Peter Obi - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

A business magnate and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has hailed Technology Distributions Limited (TD Africa) as an organization built on integrity and sound credentials, reports ITREALMS.

He gave this commendation at the Celebrating You 2019, an annual year-end dinner/awards party organized by Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products distributors, TD.

The event, arguably the most eagerly-awaited celebratory event in the Nigerian ICT ecosystem, was held on Sunday December 8th 2019 at the prestigious Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

On an annual basis, Celebrating You focuses on sharing deep insights with attendees on diverse areas of the economy. The 2019 edition was not different as Obi proved a fitting resource person who drew from his personal experiences in addressing guests.

‘‘I must mention that I have a special relationship with TD which is based on performance. It is a company that you can rely on. I remember many years ago while I was still in office at exactly 1am when I called Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh to say I wanted to buy 30,000 laptops. I still recall his response till today. He told me that he does not do business with state governments and that even if he wanted to, he does not think the Anambra State Government could afford to pay for the 30,000 laptops without credit.

‘‘I assured him that the laptops would all be paid for which we did upfront without collecting a bank guarantee. And they were supplied by TD and all of them deployed to specifications down to the very last one. I must confess, the execution beat our expectations. Today, the feat achieved by the Regina Pacis school girls who shocked the world at Silicon Valley, USA in 2018 can be attributed to this effort by TD and the Zinox Chairman. Though we paid for the equipment but TD added huge value and Anambra is better for it till date. Also, Anambra State has continued to emerge tops in school knowledge tests and examinations conducted over the past couple of years. The investment in technology and TD’s contribution played a key role in making this happen,’’ he said.

Obi, who was the Special Guest of Honour and who was wearing the cap of entrepreneur at the event, further described TD’s place in the Nigerian ICT distribution landscape as very essential to the current developments and gains recorded in the sector. Further, he urged budding entrepreneurs and small business owners to borrow a leaf from TD’s remarkable consistency, track record of delivery and integrity which has seen it all the way to the top.

Also speaking at the event, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), TD Africa, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh identified tenacity as the enduring attribute that has kept the organization at the top of its game over the past 20 years.

‘‘This quality, more than anything else, sets TD apart and makes us different. We keep our promises,’’ she said.

Further, she heaped praises on the entire Management and staff of TD, whom she described as the lifeblood of the company, even as she expressed deep gratitude to the special guests and other attendees for honouring the invitation.

The Zinox Group Chairman, Ekeh who extended best wishes of the season to all, also assured younger entrepreneurs that there seems to be light at the end of tunnel with the rebranding of the Ministry of Communications to Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy by President Muhammadu Buhari and with a tested hand as the Minister.

‘‘The new addition resonates confidence and assures certified future for smart entrepreneurs,’’ he enthused.

Meanwhile, the event witnessed the presentation of awards to deserving Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and other channel partners. Top winners on the night include Dell-EMC, Huawei, Konga, Edgebase Line Ltd. Allied Computers, HPI, among others. The event also witnessed top-notch performances from A-list artistes including Kizz Daniel, Flavour, comedian SLK and Okey Bakassi who doubled as the MC/compere.

Equally important, Celebrating You remains arguably the only one which brings together the major competing local and international Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and other stakeholders in the industry under one roof, albeit in a fun and relaxing atmosphere.

In attendance was a host of knowledge-driven resource persons including former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Ibidapo Obe; Chairman TD Board of Directors, Prof Anya O. Anya; former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ernest Ebi; Group Deputy Managing Director, Access Bank, Roosevelt Ogbonna; among many others.









*JOIN our alert's group | Share stories with us | Advert placement: WhatsApp | SMS: +2348033592762 *Twitter: @ITREALMS *Email: itrealms.dsa@gmail.com*

@MDXI, reliable power not a constraint – Adegbiji

ITRealms:

The General Manager of the MainOne Data Center subsidiary, MDXI, Mr. Gbenga Adegbiji has said that they are achieving almost 100 per cent power uptime availability, with a surmountable over 90 per cent of that power coming directly from the national grid, reports ITRealms.

According to him, power availability in Nigeria may be the bane for other data centers and enterprises, but not for MDXI, because of the kind of facilities they have put in place.

Reacting to a recent media report that was quoted to another data center operator who complained that power is a key problem across Africa and Nigeria’s power issues are on a larger scale and more constant than experienced globally, Adegbiji debunked the myth that power hungry industries such as data centers cannot successfully operate in Nigeria, claiming MDXI has enjoyed over 90 per cent power uptime since 2015 and is poised to achieve 95 per cent availability in 2018, based on a growing partnership with a local power distribution company.

During an interview at the data center recently, Adegbiji stressed the MDXI facility was purpose-built to mitigate all challenges that global businesses may have in a Nigerian data center. He mentioned that before constructing the data center, the company realized 24x7 power supply was a critical challenge for businesses requiring high availability colocation infrastructure within Nigeria and invested in a direct private connection to the National grid through newly privatized Eko Electricity Distribution Plc.

“We recognized the crippling impact of downtimes, the peculiarities of the Nigerian power environment as an albatross that had forced many companies to relocate outside Nigeria and ensured MDXI was established with the most robust electricity power and back-up arrangements, in line with the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) ANSI/TIA-942, the leading Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers. Though we made provision for the full complement of generators and diesel tanks with capacity of over 100,000 liters to secure the data center’s operations and guarantee 99.995% availability, we also partnered with Eko Disco and co-invested in a dedicated 33KV feeder and line connection to the National Grid through the Ajah sub-station. Connecting directly to the grid provides us access to multiple power generating plants and guarantees backup in the event that one power plant goes down. This was a capital investment of hundreds of millions in substation equipment and dedicated power lines which bypass all ‘last-mile’ challenges encountered in electricity distribution. This has guaranteed an increase in power availability at the data center from 50% average commercial power availability to between 95% and 98%” Adegbiji said.

Aside the steady state of operation and the attendant reliability of equipment and systems that the public power provides, MDXI has been able to guarantee a significant cost savings which is passed on to its numerous customers which include Banks, Government parastatals, international financial organizations and the large over-the-top operators. The data center’s performance and service delivery has earned the company an Impact Award during the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) Impact Awards for its contribution to improving Nigeria’s rank in the “Ease of Doing Business” index through its colocation of critical server infrastructure for the Federal Government.

Chief Executive Officer, Eko Disco, Mr. Adeoye Fadeyibi highlighted MDXI as a stellar example of how privatization of the power sector is making a positive contribution to the Nigerian economy by guaranteeing a higher level of power availability. “With MDXI’s significant investment in last mile transmission and distribution infrastructure, EKEDC has been able to provide an average of 88% uninterrupted uptime to the data center on a monthly basis since its launch in January 2015.”

Nonye Dom/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!