Borno Flood Disaster: Akpabio applauds Tinubu’s swift response - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON has praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR for his timely intervention in the deadly floods that affected Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and other states as a result of devastating rainfall that occasioned the over flow from the Alau Dam.

Akpabio gave the applause in Government House, Maiduguri during the President's condolence visit to Borno State and the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba Al Amin El-Kanemi.

Swift, professionalism key to Konga’s rise to eCommerce – ITREALMS

Sponsored@ITREALMS:

In addition to the unbeatable deals and price slashes it offered during its 2018 Black Friday sales tagged Konga Yakata, it has emerged that an amazingly swift and responsive delivery service is another factor that set e-commerce giants Konga apart before and after the month-long shopping fiesta and also responsible for its rise as Nigeria's biggest e-commerce outfit.

Konga Yakata, which ran from Thursday November 8th through Friday November 30th 2018 online @  Konga.com and offline in Konga stores nationwide, broke all sales projections as the company enjoyed huge hits and footfalls on its composite platforms.

Interestingly, a strong point which has made Konga stand out since its acquisition by the Zinox Group and merger with Yudala in May 2018 has been the ease with which it has solved the thorny issue of logistics/delivery which has remained a stumbling block for many players in the sector. Aligned to this is the highly professional and courteous disposition of its well-trained delivery and customer experience team - a factor that has made the company a firm favourite for millions of shoppers in Nigeria.

“Before Yakata, I had been impressed with Konga for the speed of delivery. All the items I bought up until that time never exceeded 48 hours before they were delivered by Kxpress,” stated Emmanuel Oki, a small business owner.

“During Yakata, Í was even more than impressed as I expected them to encounter some challenges with the increased volume of orders. Instead, I even enjoyed 24 hours and same-day delivery of most of the items I shopped. The delivery guys were also very professional,  respectful and smiling all through, even on occasions when I was not immediately around to receive my items and kept then waiting for a bit.”

According to Stella Dim, an engineer with an oil-servicing company,  Konga has won the hearts of many sceptical shoppers as a result of its integrity, quality-focused approach to e-commerce and professionalism.

“Nowhere is this professionalism better demonstrated than in the conduct of their customer-facing staff - the delivery guys, store attendants and customer service team. Every interaction only goes to reinforce this confidence in the company, especially for many disgruntled shoppers who have had nasty experiences from other companies.

“Confidence is very important in an industry such as e-commerce where some unscrupulous players even sell fake items or treat customers shabbily, “ she said.

Recently, a number of shoppers had taken to popular microblogging site, Twitter to send positive shout-outs to Konga, commending the company for its status as a guaranteed source of quality products, its responsive, professional service and swift delivery.

According to Michael Adjei, a social media enthusiast, the show of love further goes to justify how well the management of the new Konga has done in capturing the minds of a demanding populace.

“Nigerians are very smart, savvy and demanding shoppers who also recognize quality and can go out of their way or pay over the odds to get it. With the new Konga, we are beginning to see the rise of a truly quality-conscious and professional e-commerce outfit whose management not only understand the business but also care deeply about its customers and do their utmost to please them. We should be proud indeed,” he concluded.

Nenye Dom/GEE

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

Swift, Cobranet win NCC 2-slot auction on 25MHz in 5.4MHz

ITRealms:

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has named Swift Networks and Cobranet, the winners of the recent auction of the Two (2) slot of 25 Mega Hertz (MHz) bandwidth each in the 5.4 MHz frequency spectrum band for utilization in Lagos State, reports ITRealms.

Sources at the Commission, confirmed to ITRealms, weekend, that the auction which had six pre-qualified bidders, was supervised by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Standard at the Commission, Engr. Ubale Maska.

He reportedly ensured that the process was fair, transparent and equitable.

ITRealms also gathered that in fulfillment of the auction requirements, bidders paid a non- refundable 10 per cent of the reserve price which was N18,750,000,000.

NCC, ITRealms reports, equally disclosed that each bidder had a runner who delivered their bid’s amount to the auctioneer and were supervised by the chief runner.

However, ITRealms further reported that the auction ended at the 11th round of bidding with Swift Networks and Cobranet emerging winners of the slot each at N27,659,347.10 per year.

Also present at the event includes Director, Spectrum Administration (NCC), Engr. Austin Nwaulunne, Deputy, Director Policy-Dr. Henry Nkenmadu, and Head, Public Relations, Reuben Muoka among others.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!
Pix: L R Jamil Chaptini Chief Executive Officer Cobranet Limited Mr. Austin Nwaulunne Director Spectrum Administration Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, Engr. Ubale Maska Executive Commissioner Technical Services Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, Mr. Charles Anudu Chief Executive Officer Swift Networks Ltd.

VAT non-remittance: Swift, Pan Ocean Oil, others sealed by FIRS

ITRealms:

Swift Networks, an internet provider, and Pan Ocean Oil Corporation Nigeria Limited belonging to Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, had their offices sealed yesterday by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) along with other companies in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Owerri for failure to remit huge amounts of money in Value Added Tax (VAT), ITRealms reports.

Swift Networks, which has its office on 31, Saka Tinubu Street, Victoria Island, Lagos,  failed to remit N702 million to the government had its office sealed by FIRS officials led by the Director of Enforcement, Emeka Obiagwu .

Reacting to the FIRS claims, the Chief Operating Officer of Swift Networks, Chuma Okoye, pleaded against the shutdown order, but was told by Obiagwu that his company should have complied with the laws governing business in the country, insisting “Several notices have been served on the companies and I believe several moves were also made to compel the companies to remit their taxes. But most of these companies turn deaf ears; that is why we usually give them long rope.”

However, a subtle drama ensued at the office of Pan Ocean Oil Corporation, as the company’s security-men attempting to prevent FIRS officials from carrying out their duties, which took the intervention of some members of the company to proceed with enforcement.

Efforts to get FIRS officials to give another period of grace were futile. The management of the firm was told to send representatives to the FIRS office to discuss how to remit the $29.2 owed in VAT.

Okoli Vincent/Leadership/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Swift expands network by 70%, installs base stations

The Managing Director, Swift Networks Limited, Mr. Charles Anudu has disclosed that they are expanding the network with the installation of some new base transmission stations (BTS).

He made this disclosure in Lagos that the expansion project would enable the integration of Swift’s newly installed base transmission stations on the network. 

As said by him, when this phase is completed, Swift would have increased its overall network capacity by 70 per cent and improved customers’ speed experience on the network.

“It will also more than compensate for the capacity we lost in Lekki Phase 1 during the storm of February 14^th,” he said.
 

Some of the new projects, he said, undertaken recently were to improve experience on the 4G broadband network.

He noted that when completed, these projects will bring customers specific benefits including “Faster and more reliable network speed; Improved billing, more convenient and secure payment systems; Expanded Data Centre capacity for subscriber mailbox and website hosting; and, improved customer care services.
 

He assured that accordingly, Swift would recommence sales in Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, Ikeja, Surulere and Ilupeju earlier suspended since January this year due to insufficient network capacity.
 

Charles Anudu, CEO, Swift Networks

“We have also planned additional network expansion projects for August and November of this year to ensure that we sustain our market leadership on broadband speed and overall customer experience,” Anudu said.
 

Also, Swift is working at improving billing by introducing more convenient and secure payment systems.
 

“We have just upgraded our billing system to the Oracularius standard to improve scalability; robustness and accuracy,” he said, stressing that in line with the cashless policy of the Federal Government, customers would now be able to make more convenient and secure payments using the various cashless payment options we now have available.
 

Swift he said, its data centre expansion plan and upgrade would increase hosting capacity to support current and new customers who need e-mail and website hosting services.
 

Addition, he said, Swift plans to launch a cutting-edge Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in the next few days and have significantly increased the staffing of Call Centre.

“These initiatives are expected to solve the current problem of long queues and waiting time when you call us for any reason,” he said, emphasizing that Swift upgraded its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system so that customers could get certain information faster than before.

Remmy Nweke

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D