Aguegboh Stephen wins DigitalSENSE students’ essay 2012

Aguegboh Stephen (The author of the winning essay)

A final year student of Economics at the Faculty of Social Sciences in the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Aguegboh Stephen Ekene, has won the first-ever DigitalSENSE Africa Media Students Essay Contest 2012.

The essay which centred on the theme: Internet Governance and Mobile Economy in Nigeria; witnessed several entries from many Nigerian students between the ages of 18 and 30 across the country.

The chairperson of the panel of judges, and PhD candidate with the LINK centre, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, Mrs. Titi Akinsanmi described Ekene’s essay as “well written.”

She noted though that it may not be in the best of terminologies, but certainly demonstrated the grasps of the issues and dealt with the topic adequately.

Also commenting, one of the panellist, and Diplo Lecturer on Internet Governance, Mr. Emmanuel Edet said Ekene’s essay was an excellent one that appreciated the relationship between Internet Governance and a Mobile Economy.

Equally, another panellist and Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN), Mr. Gbenga Sesan, simply said Ekene had a good conclusion in the contest.

Receiving the result of the essay according to the aggregated scores from the panel of judges, the Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa Media, organisers of the competition, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, said that it was exciting to note that all the judges have similar opinion about the essay that eventually emerged the winning essay.

This, she said was a mark of hardwork both on the part of the student contestants and the judges who devoted their times going through all the entries and scoring them.

She also said that two other students made it to the top three, Adeyanju Abiodun and Ngwoke Ifeoma.

According to Mrs. Nweke, the winner, Stephen Ekene would be attending the West Africa Internet Governance (WAIGF) coming up in July this year on scholarship, courtesy, WAIGF and DigitalSENSE Africa Media.

WAIGF has been scheduled for July 2 through 4 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

With the pronouncement of the result, Mrs. Nweke said that Stephen Ekene has become an ambassador of DigitalSENSE Africa on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D).

She assured that relevant information relating to how to redeem the scholarship has been communicated to the winner, just as the winning essay would be published in the internationally award-winning ITRealms Online, alongside his profile.

DigitalSENSE Africa Media Limited is the organisers of the annual Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) and Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable; to enlighten Nigerians on issues of interest in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

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NCC supports WAFICT, NiTDA to unveil key plans

Two key Federal Government agencies, namely the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) are gearing up for the West African Information and Communications Technology (WAFICT) Congress 2012.

Affirming this, the chief host of WAFICT and editor-in-chief of IT & Telecom Digest, Mr. Mkpe Abang said that NCC has thrown its weight behind the congress for the sake of growing broadband adoption.

He also said that NITDA has concluded plans to unveil some of its key plans for the industry at the event.

According to Abang, with focus on issues around broadband penetration, accessibility and policies, the regulator has taken this event as an avenue to push forward its broadband plans and strategies for the country.

He quoted the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, as reiterating the Commission’s commitment to broadband, describing it as the next revolution to be witnessed by the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

“And with this partnership, the regulator is set to leverage on the Congress to harness divergent views of experts from across the West African region in driving broadband growth in Nigeria. This will also be an avenue for the Commission to unveil its strategic broadband plans and targets,” he said.

The Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, while confirming the partnership with IT & Telecom Digest for the WAFICT Congress 2012, described the event is suitable for the platform needed to spread the broadband gospel.

“For us at the NCC, broadband is our major focus going forward. And, the WAFICT Congress 2012 is most suitable in giving us the needed avenue to pass the very important message that we have regarding broadband to Nigerians and other experts that will be attending the event from other countries,” he asserted.

In a related development, NITDA said its set to unfold various key programmes at West African ICT Congress (WAFICT) 2012, scheduled to hold between May 8 and 10, at the ultra-modern New Eko Expo Hall, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The organizers alluded that NITDA has outlined programmes for implementation and these would be unveiled during WAFICT.

The organizers also disclosed that given the focus of WAFICT 2012 on broadband accessibility and penetration in the country, NITDA, would also be making key contributions to the path of growth for broadband in Nigeria.

Director-General, NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, was quoted as describing the congress as both timely and apt in providing the right platform for the agency to share its ideas and policy direction with stakeholders in Nigeria.

“We are launching out at this congress for the first time. But NITDA believes this event will provide us the right atmosphere and platform to discuss the key programmes that we will be implementing with stakeholders for them to appreciate the direction and focus of our policies and implementation strategies,” Prof Angaye said.

He recalled that NITDA is the clearing house for Information Technology (IT) projects in the public sector in Nigeria, stressing that the agency is committed to the drive to bring government and its services closer to the people through IT.

Commending the two agencies for the collaboration, Mr. Abang said the NCC has by this partnership clearly shown that it is very desirous to bring the broadband message to Nigerians.

“But even more than that; the commission will be able to use the opportunity that WAFICT 2012 provides to articulate its broadband goals and objectives and share with the public, how it will implement a practicable policy that brings broadband to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria,” he said.

With the theme: ‘Bridging West Africa’s Digital Divide Through Broadband,’ the fourth WAFICT Congress holding May, would bring together telecom regulators and operators across the sub-region with top notch speakers, to chart the course for the industry’s growth.

“WAFICT 2012 is a grand platform to hear from Governments and Regulators in West Africa on their policies on broadband and strategies for deployment; from equipment manufacturers, mobile operators, telecom operators, Internet Service Providers, experts, and many more, from across the world, what potential exists in broadband and their offerings for the sub-region,” Abang declared.

Remmy Nweke

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