NaijaAgroNet: Nigerian farmer on death row for defending himself - ITREALMS

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A shocking case has sparked widespread outrage in Nigeria, with many calling for justice and mercy, reports ITREALMS.

Sunday Jackson, a farmer, has been on death row since 2015 after being attacked by a herdsman on his farm in Adamawa State.

CommTech, Lagos, ALTON enter deal to reduce ROW by 85%

ITRealms:

A milestone agreement was recently reached between the Ministry of Communication Technology (CommTech), the Lagos State Government and the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) to reduce Right of Way (RoW) charges by 85 per cent and boost deployment of broadband in the country, ITRealms reports.

Confirming this development to ITRealms, Mrs. Efem Nkanga, the Special Assistant to CommTech Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said that this deal would remove constraints to the installation, rollout and deployment of base stations and fibre optic cable in Lagos State.

ITRealms gathered that the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and the Governor of Lagos state, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola with some officials held a closed door meeting at the State House penultimate Thursday, to address the issues of taxes, levies, decommissioned sites and Right of Way (RoW) fees mitigating against quality of service in the state.

It was also gathered that the meeting attracted Governor Fashola, some key members of ALTON, Mrs. Johnson, Commissioner of Science and Tech, Mr Biyi Mabadeje, Commissioner of Works, Mr Obafemi Hamzat and officials from Etisalat, Main One, Airtel, MTN and Globacom, deliberated on the aforementioned issues.

ALTON members, ITRealms learnt had expressed concerns that these issues were making it difficult for operators to rollout much needed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in the centre of excellence.


Gov. Fashola remarked that good infrastructure rollout and deployment was in the best interest of residents of Lagos State, making very much needed infrastructure and capacity available; insisting that it is not the wish of the State to prevent operators from rolling out.

“We need you to roll out probably more than you need it. But we do not need it at the expense of our roads, or lives of the people. Infrastructure must be built to very high standards, for example, masts must be built with galvanized steel and not hollow pipes to prevent them from collapsing. You may find that sites that may have been decommissioned by UFRU probably did not meet these standards or had not paid up their levies, when badly build sites collapse it is we who are left to pick up the pieces,” Fashola pointed out.

Although, ALTON members at the meeting while commending the deal, urged for a standardised approach for excavating roads where no ducts existed, even as they maintained, there were no telecoms masts in the state constructed with hollow piles.

“All telecoms masts in Lagos State are built with galvanized steel,” ALTON official reiterated.

Responding to ALTON’s position on prohibitive taxes, levies and right of way fees in Lagos, the Commissioner of Science and Technology for Lagos, Mr Mabadeje read out an agreement by Lagos State to reduce taxes and levies in Lagos by over 40 per cent and Right of Way fees were reduced from N3000 to N500 - a reduction of over 85 per cent.

However, this was on the condition that operators agreed to use approved and qualified contractors who would ensure the integrity of the road after the fibre had been installed in the event that there was no fibre duct on the road.

Operators further agreed with Lagos to a ‘dig once’ policy whereby the first operator to dig the road for fibre installation would install a duct with spare capacity for other operators to use when they wanted to install fibre instead of digging up the road again. Governor Fashola reiterated that all new roads in Lagos State already have ducts and that the operators should submit annual infrastructure plans to Lagos State to allow for proper planning on both sides.


The meeting ended on a high note with ALTON members consenting that this indeed was a significant step forward and in the right direction.

Mrs. Johnson applauded Lagos State for leading the charge in removing many of the barriers and obstacles to telecoms infrastructure deployment in Lagos and expressed her hope that many other states would follow suit in making telecoms and broadband infrastructure available to all.

Remmy Nweke 

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Pix: Gov. Fashola of Lagos State.

Right-of-Way guidelines explained

The Federal Government has  explained why it issued new Right of Way (RoW) guidelines to regulate the modalities of laying fibre cables on federal highways across the country.

 

This development came as the Federal Government has set up a joint minister 8-man committee to strengthen its position and determination in ensuring the issue of RoW is nipped in the bud.

Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Efem Nkanga disclosed this to ITRealms, saying that the joint 8-man committee was inaugurated by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and her counterpart in the ministry of works, Mr. Mike Onolememen in Abuja.

She noted that current submitted new right of way (RoW) guidelines to direct laying of fibre cables on federal highways nationwide.

According to her, in a press statement made available to ITRealms, one of the steps of achieving this goal will be to eradicate poor quality of service in the telecoms industry.

The committee, she said, made up of four members each from both ministries submitted the report to the two ministers at the Ministry of Works penultimate Friday.

She explained that new RoW guidelines to be adopted soon, pegs the chargeable RoW access fee for laying of ICTSP ducts and cables at N145.0/linear metre and N20.0/linear metre as annual maintenance access fee, subject to periodic reviews at five-year intervals or whenever compelling circumstances demand such reviews.

The new guidelines, she said, also stipulates that henceforth applications for granting of RoWs will be treated and concluded within 30 calendar days.

 “The new guidelines mandate infrastructure sharing to reduce incidents of multiple digging up of roads which compromise the integrity of the roads,” she said, warning, however that any contravention of the guidelines will lead to suspension of RoW, revocation of RoW and a fine of a million naira a day.   

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson was quoted as saying that the collaboration and partnership between the two ministries is a demonstration of how President Jonathan’s cabinet is working to deliver on the President’s transformation agenda.

She said that the report marks a very important milestone in the quest to improve quality of service delivery in the telecoms industry and will ultimately lead to a reduction in the cost of providing infrastructure in the country.

Mrs. Johnson stressed that the implementation of the RoW guidelines at the federal level will lead to improved service quality and broadband penetration in the country because fibre is a key transmission element for broadband.

She assured that the two ministries would continue to collaborate to deliver on the Federal Government’s transformation agenda and pointed out that the need for the guidelines to be adopted at the state level in order to ensure fibre deployment nationwide.

To underscore how low fibre deployment is in Nigeria, she said that the United Kingdom (UK) that is, one quarter the size of Nigeria has 60 times more fibre than Nigeria.

She said that the communications technology ministry will continue to partner with the ministry of works to foster a holistic way of laying fibre across the country for the benefit of the industry. 

 “It’s a new era and a new time in that we will begin to build the critical infrastructure that we need in the country” she said.   

Equally in his remarks, the Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen said that the issuance of new RoW guidelines is one of the firsts of the collaborative hallmark of the Jonathan’s administration.

He said that the Ministries are synergising to deliver Nigeria to greater heights, emphasising the need for the collaboration amongst the two ministries and the setting up of the Committee rose as a result of the need to coordinate the provision of infrastructure to Nigerians because of the plethora of companies bastardising RoWs without requisite benefits to the country.

The minister said that once Mrs Johnson broached the subject to his ministry, he immediately bought into it and the outcome is the issuance of new RoW guidelines that will facilitate effective service delivery in the telecoms sector.

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