Budget 2025 to be rigorously implement says Adeleke - ITREALMS

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The Governor of Osun, Senator Ademola Adeleke has assured his people that the newly signed budget 2025 will be rigorously implemented for the benefit of Osun people, reports ITREALMS.

He made the pledge while signing Budget 2025 into law, emphasizing that the signing ceremony “further demonstrates our readiness to forge ahead in the new year with the growth and development of our dear State.”

Out-of-School-Children: Don tasks FG to implement education policy - ITREALMS

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The Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Transportation, Daura (FUTD), Prof. Umar Adam Katsayal has tasked the Federal Government (FG) to implement education policy so as curb the number out-of-school children in the country, reports ITREALMS.

He made this call while delivering a keynote address at the fundraising organised by AI-foundation, a UK and Nigeria registered charity organisations with the theme "Panacea to a Menace" held in Lagos recently.

Twitter suspension on Twitter: Nigerians confused, proffer alternatives - ITREALMS

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The Nigerians Tweeps have expressed surprised over the announcement Friday afternoon that the Federal Government (FG) has pronounced suspension of microblogging social platform, Twitter, indefinitely, reports ITREALMS.

Their confusion, ITREALMS gathered, emanated from the fact that the announcement was initially made on tweet with the handle from the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture @FMICNigeria was posted and it read: “Press Release:- FG Suspends @Twitter operations in Nigeria.”

NCC restrategises to implement FG directive on data - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

Rising to the occasion of the five-day ultimatum issued by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the regulator has assured on implementing the Federal Government’s directive over illegal data deductions, reports ITREALMS.

Pantami, ITREALMS recalls, had on the 5th of November 2019 issued directive for prompt resolution within five days, consequently NCC said, its reviewing the cost of data downward, as efforts have been advanced to carry out the Minister’s directives.

In a letter from the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), received by the office of the Honourable Minister on the 8th of November 2019, the telecommunications regulator, intimated Dr Pantami of the strategies been taken to stem the tide of short changing subscribers by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

In its earlier attempts to tackle the challenges, the Commission informed the Honourable Minister that it had issued a directive to all Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on the attendant penalties associated with Automatic Renewal and Forceful Subscription to Data and Value Added Services. The penalties include considerable financial sanctions on the erring operator.

The letter stated that, in response to the directive of the Honourable Minister, the Commission reviewed the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003 on its rule-making powers and process. The Commission is in the process of carrying out a study on the End-of-Session Notification for Data Services and depending on the outcome, may issue a direction in accordance with the Act.

Furthermore, in a bid to protect consumers, the Commission also notified the Honourable Minister of their regulation of the initial directive to include refunds to the consumer in established cases of unauthorized subscription.

As said by her spokesperson, Uwa Suleiman, NCC also assured the Honourable Minister that it has been working assiduously round the clock to enforce the Federal Government’s directives and has requested the good graces of the Minister to extend the deadline which expires today, 8th November 2019, to enable it properly re-strategise and fully implement long term solutions as directed, to the challenges.

Dr Pantami has graciously granted an extension with the understanding that the Commission will resolve these issues within the shortest time possible. The Honourable Minister, hereby assures the general public that the current administration will neither tolerate acts of injustice nor the shortchanging of its citizens as it is working tirelessly to ensure that subscribers get full value for their money.

Chuks Egbuna/DoP

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Implement consensus policy for IGO, INGO identifiers

ITREALMS:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is seeking all ICANN generic top-level domain (gTLD) contracted parties to as a matter of urgency implement the new consensus policy concerning the protection of certain specific names of intergovernmental organizations (IGO) and international nongovernmental organizations (INGO) identifiers in all gTLDs, reports ITRealms.

This policy, ITRealms gathered  is  related only to those identifiers specifically approved by the ICANN Board in April 2014 following the conclusion of a Policy Development Process (PDP) conducted by the Generic Names Supporting Organization. 

According to ICANN, this direction does not include IGO and INGO identifiers for which Board approval is still pending or for which GNSO policy work remains ongoing.

ITRealms also gathered that contracted parties will have until 1 August 2018 to complete implementation of the new requirements for certain specific names of IGOs, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement (RCRC). 

Further ICANN explained that for INGOs, the implementation period will be 12 months from the release of the INGO Claims Systems Specification which is currently under development by ICANN org.

The protections, ITRealms gathered is within this policy pertain to specific names of certain IGOs, INGOs, the IOC, and the RCRC, according to the recommendations adopted by the ICANN Board.

"The policy requires registry operators to withhold the specified names from registration for IGOs, the IOC, and the RCRC at the second-level and provides an exceptions procedure for registration. For INGOs, the policy requires claims notices at the second-level" ICANN said.

Just as additional information is available at the ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization working group and IGO/INGO implementation review team wiki pages.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Tony Elumelu Foundation, UNECA join forces on data revolution for Africa

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The Tony Elumelu Foundation and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa concluded a three-day working session to create a roadmap on how to implement an ambitious plan to initiate a “data revolution” across Africa.

2015 marks the end of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a global initiative with the aim of addressing some of the most intransigent problems facing millions of people throughout the developing world including extreme poverty and hunger, gender inequality, and disease, among others. As the world prepares to establish a new set of goals for the post-2015 development agenda, the importance of data for human-oriented and sustainable development will play a critical role , which consequently has led to a global call for a “data revolution” to improve the availability of development data to ensure that no group is left behind.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s Africapitalism Institute, which conducts rigorous research on economic and social development, hosted a group of data experts at it’s offices in Lagos in order to help move the conversation forward, recognizing that there is an urgent need for a data revolution in Africa to inform key policies that address some of the continent’s most critical needs. The Institute represents the private sector’s role in the data revolution process as both a provider and a consumer.

In order for Africapitalism – the private sector’s commitment to Africa’s development, through long-term investment in strategic sectors that drive both economic prosperity and social wealth – to take root on the continent, the data revolution must be as inclusive as possible. Commenting on the data revolution, the Director of the Institute, David Rice, stated, “The proliferation and ubiquity of information communication technology, electronic financial transactions, digital commerce, and social media has resulted in an unprecedented amount of data being gathered by the private sector – data that would be extraordinarily useful in the formulation of public policy, allocation of government resources, and creation of effective development strategies for Africa.”

To better meet the challenges and realize the promises of the data revolution through collective effort among African stakeholders, a High Level Conference (HLC) on Data Revolution was held in Addis Ababa, March 2015, in response to a request by African Heads of States. During the HLC, an Africa Data Consensus (ADC) was adopted, which urges African data communities to develop a coordinated response and exploit the new opportunity while responding to the challenge together.

The conversation on the data revolution in Africa continued in Lagos when the Economic Commission for Africa convened data experts to discuss immediate steps to be taken to actualize the data revolution in Africa. The Lagos meeting, hosted by The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s Africapitalism Institute, included experts from the World Wide Web Foundation, United Nations, African Union Commission and the Africa Development Bank. 

The outcome of the meeting becomes a permanent annex to the ADC and includes guiding principles for partnership with other ongoing initiatives at global, national and regional levels. The meeting also included a webinar session that lasted for 90 minutes and had over a hundred participants from across the globe.

At the end of the three day session Dozie Ezigbalike from the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said “For me, I see the data revolution as an active process of doing things in different and new ways; be disruptive of the status quo if need be, with the objective to empower citizens to become active participants in processes that would affect them. With access to appropriate data, appropriately presented, citizens can demand services that they rightfully deserve, and confirm that the agreed services were actually delivered.”

The World Wide Web Foundation’s Nnenna Nwakanma, likewise, restated her commitment to the data revolution saying “Data is the new gold. The more of it you can generate, use, and share, the more sustainably developed you will be. Opening up data is key to my work at the Web Foundation and engaging our expertise towards the Data Revolution in Africa is a firm decision. We are here to support policy, build capacities, contribute to better governance with data and support citizen engagement. Our work in research, in Open Data, in standards, in data labs and in policy advisory will accompany the implementation of the Africa Data Consensus”.

@The Africapitalism Institute +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)

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