First VP, Alex Ekwueme dies @85

ITREALMS:

The first-ever elected Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme is dead, aged 85, reports ITRealms.

He died on Sunday, November 19, 2017 by 10pm at The London Clinic.

Confirming this to ITRealms, his younger brother and Igwe of Oko in Anambra State, His Royal Highness, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, noted that the family regrets to announce the peaceful passing away of their patriarch, the former Vice President.

The sad event, he said occurred at The London Clinic on Sunday.

Part of the statement read “Ekwueme family regrets to announce the peaceful passing away of their patriarch, the former Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Dr Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme GCON.

“The sad event occurred at the London Clinic at 10:00 pm on Sunday 19th November 2017.”

ITRealms recalls that Ekwueme had fell in his Enugu residence, and was subsequently rushed to the Memfys Neurosurgery Hospital Enugu, where he eventually relapsed into coma.

But as soon as he was stabilised in the hospital he was flown to London in an air ambulance last week.

Born on 21 October 1932, late Dr. Ekwueme was the first elected Vice-President of Nigeria, in office from 1979 to 1983 under the Alhaji Shehu Shagari presidency.

Also known as the Ide of the Oko kingdom in Anambra State, where his younger brother Prof Lazarus Ekwueme, reigns as the traditional ruler. He was also honoured by the council of Traditional Rulers in the old Aguata as the Ide of Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State comprising forty-four (44) towns.

He started primary school at the St John's Anglican Central School, at Ekwulobia, then he proceeded to King's College, Lagos. As an awardee of the Fulbright Scholarship in the United States of America; being one of the first Nigerians to gain the award.

Dr. Ekwueme attended the University of Washington where he earned bachelor's degree in Architecture and city planning, following his master's degree in urban planning.

Equally, Dr Ekwueme earned degrees in sociology, history, philosophy and law from the University of London, before proceeded to obtain a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Strathclyde, before gaining the BL (honours) degree from the Nigerian Law School.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Abducted Chibok girls not abandoned - US

ITRealms:

The United States government has assured that though is taking long to release the abducted Chibok girls from their captives, they are not abandoned, reports ITRealms.

As such, the American and African forces sent to Cameroon to fight Boko Haram have, on several occasions, claimed location of clusters of the schoolgirls kidnapped by the militant group two years ago.

Rescue operations, according to The New York Times, have not been carried out, because of fears that any ensuing battle with Boko Haram fighters would put the captives at risk, or incite some form of retaliation against hostages still being held in other areas.

The report went on to state that American officials said a combination of local intelligence, intercepted communications and drone footage had been used to locate groups of some 276 girls abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in the Nigerian town of Chibok two years ago this month. Some of the girls have since been tracked to Nigeria’s sprawling Sambisa Forest.

Officials insist that efforts to free the girls have not been abandoned, insisting that a major concern is the hundreds of other women and girls who are also held by Boko Haram, captives who are often sexually assaulted, forced into marriages with their tormentors, and sometimes killed.

Gen. Carter F. Ham, the retired head of the United States military’s Africa Command said, “You’re not just looking for 200 girls. There are many, many others who have been taken hostage, and more thousands killed, and two and a half million people displaced.”

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Microsoft Lumia 650, now available in Nigeria

ITRealms:

Microsoft Nigeria, has proclaimed the availability of the Lumia 650 in designated retail outlet in the country, reports ITRealms.

The latest in shelf of smartphone brands, ITRealms gathered is coming from the Lumia portfolio and runs on Windows 10, which has been designed specifically to help work smarter, better and more efficiently.

ITRealms also reports that the Lumia 650 was built for people on the move and is packed with features to help individuals be more productive throughout the day.

ITRealms equally reports that some of the top four Lumia 650 tips to assist users achieve more by doing less include separating work from personal life, peace of mind, work from anywhere and never miss a thing.

Lumia experts at Microsoft suggest that separating work and personal life, involves a work-life balance that is important. “So, by simply setting up individual work and personal accounts, you can ensure that you remain focused in the office, and aren’t distracted by work in your free time.”

“Peace of mind: Modern day security threats are always a worry when it comes to personal and company data, but the new Lumia 650 protects you and your company with built-in security.

“Work from anywhere: Specially designed features for the Lumia 650 mean you can work from pretty much anywhere, armed with nothing but your smartphone; super-long battery life of up to 16 hours talk time, two microphones for crystal clear conference calling, a wide-angle front facing camera for high-definition video calls, and all the latest Microsoft Office apps available straight out of the box.

“Never miss a thing: Long gone are the days of having to input appointments on separate devices or copy notes and pictures from your mobile to your laptop. Now, you can save time by seamlessly synching your smartphone with your Windows 10 PC, and accessing your work from anywhere on your phone using OneDrive.”

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Okey Bakassi, Raw Nwanne, Yaw clinche Daylight Leadership Awards

Art&Fashion@ITRealms:

The multi-talented trio of Okey Bakassi, Raw Nwanne and Yaw, will be presented with special recognition awards as Daylight Newspaper Comedian, Musician and Radio Personalities of the year, respectively at the 2016 Daylight Annual Leadership Awards (DALA), reports ITRealms.

The Anambra State born Publisher cum Editor-in-Chief of Daylight, Mr. Azuh Amatus, made this disclosure to ITRealms in Lagos and said the trio will join the 15 exceptionally qualified Nigerian celebrities to be honoured at the award scheme slated for Sunday, May 22, 2016.

Amatus also told ITRealms that the event starts with green and white carpet at 4pm, explaining that their honour is in appreciations of their great contributions to the various sectors they represent as leaders and role models.

In addition, Amatus revealed that the billionaire founder of Air Peace, Chief Allen Onyema’s company, will be decorated as the Airline of the Year. Even as Soundcity boss and leading content provider on TV, Tajudeen Adepetu, made the list as the proud recipient of the Entertainment Person of the year.

Another growing Nollywood actress and lawyer, Angel Ufuoma, who is one of the hottest new generation stars in Tinsel town, will be crowned with Nollywood Most Promising Actress of the year.

“DALA honourees are leading role models that have equally aided national growth and development with their leadership roles and God’s given talents. We are profoundly proud of them, appreciate and hold them in high esteem,” he declared.

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Pix: Yaw, Okey Bakassi, Raw Nwanne, 

World security risk: Anti-Donald Trump campaigners seek 2m signatures

ITRealms:

A group of concerned world citizens are gathering 2 million signatures against the controversial United States President, Mr. Donald Trump, due to his security risk to the world, reports ITRealms.

The campaign being championed by Stephen Miles on behalf of Avaaz, an online public interest advocacy organization, urge people of the world to join the crusade to say ‘No’ to what Miles called “Mexicans rapists and women "bimbos" and "fat pigs".

Miles also alleged that Trump had promised to shut down mosques, keep a database of Muslims, and round up the children of "illegal" immigrants.

“Now a new report says Donald Trump’s hateful speech could make him a threat to our global security. Enough is enough -- with one click, join the sign-on letter below that's sweeping the planet and speak out against Trump’s hate-mongering. Once we hit 2 million signers it will be printed in media outlets around the world,” he lamented.

Also in a letter to Mr. Trump, the campaigners, said his campaign style is not what greatness looks like.

“Dear Mr. Trump, 

“This is not what greatness looks like.

“The world rejects your fear, hate-mongering, and bigotry. We reject your support for torture, your calls for murdering civilians, and your general encouragement of violence. We reject your denigration of women, Muslims, Mexicans, and millions of others who don’t look like you, talk like you, or pray to the same god as you. 

“Facing your fear we choose compassion. Hearing your despair we choose hope. Seeing your ignorance we choose understanding. 

“As citizens of the world, we stand united against your brand of division. 

“Sincerely,” 

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Pix: Trump

Oracle simplifies cloud adoption with unveiling of suite

ITRealms:

Oracle has simplified cloud adoption with the unveiling of its suite of breakthrough services capable of enabling organizations to easily move to the cloud, reports ITRealms.

This suite, ITRealms gathered, is the first-of-a-kind services providing Chief Information Officers (CIOs) with new choices in where they deploy their enterprise software and a natural path to easily move business critical applications from on-premises to the cloud.

President, Oracle, Mr. Thomas Kurian, said that while organizations are eager to move their enterprise workloads to the public cloud, many have been constrained by business, legislative and regulatory requirements that have prevented them from being able to adopt the technology.

He also said that from this day, Oracle is making it easier for organizations in every industry to make this transition and finally reap the performance, cost and innovation benefits of Oracle Public Cloud Services and run them wherever they want – in the Oracle Cloud or in their own datacenter.

“We are committed to helping our customers move to the cloud to help speed their innovation, fuel their business growth, and drive business transformation,” he said, stressing that the news of unveiling is unprecedented. 

“We announced a number of new cloud services and we are now the first public cloud vendor to offer organizations the ultimate in choice on where and how they want to run their Oracle Cloud,” he emphasized.

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MTN Nigeria backed by group shareholders to drag NCC to court

ITRealms:

MTN Nigeria was backed by the group’s shareholder community to drag the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to a Federal High Court in Lagos, reports ITRealms.

Investigations by ITRealms revealed that further to the announcement issued by the company via the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on 4 December 2015, shareholders were advised that all factors having a bearing on the matter have been thoroughly and carefully considered including a review of the circumstances leading to the fine and the subsequent letters received from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Also, ITRealms reports that MTN Nigeria acting on legal advice has resolved that the manner of the imposition of the fine and the quantum thereof is not in accordance with the NCC’s powers under the Nigerian Communications Act and therefore there are valid grounds upon which to challenge the fine.

MTN, thus insisted it has followed due process and has instructed its lawyers to proceed with an action in the Federal High Court in Lagos seeking the appropriate reliefs.

“MTN is advised that in the current circumstances in line with the lis pendens rule (pending legal action) the parties are enjoined to restrain from taking further action until the matter is finally determined. This is consistent with previous judicial decisions in Nigeria,” part of the advice read.

In addition, ITRealms reports that notwithstanding this action MTN would continue to engage with the Nigerian Communications Commission to try and ensure an amicable resolution in the best interests of the company, its stakeholders and the Nigerian authorities.
 

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72 applicants for Competition, Consumer Trust and Choice Review Team

ITRealms:

A total of 72 applicants submitted request to be considered in the recent call for volunteers by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reports ITRealms.

ICANN in an official newsletter made available to ITRealms said these individuals have applied to serve on the team that will review the New gTLD Programme in relation to competition, consumer trust and consumer choice (CCT).

Candidates, ITRealms gathered, hail from Bahrain, China, Kenya, Nigeria, Jamaica, Spain and many other countries. 

“Their collective professional experience spans a variety of industries. Some are part of ICANN supporting organizations and advisory committees, while others volunteered as independent experts,” ICANN disclosed, stressing that the review is mandated by ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments.

On the next action following the deadline for the submission of applications to join the team, ICANN said the list of applicants and documentation provided in their applications has been published at: https://www.icann.org/resources/reviews/aoc/cct/applications. 

While supporting organizations and advisory committees have until 14 December 2015 to review these materials and determine whether they would like to endorse certain candidates as representatives of their respective constituencies.

The composition of the CCT review team will be determined by ICANN's CEO and the chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), as described in the call for volunteers. 

Additionally, ICANN will provide the CEO and chair with the list of candidates, supporting documentation and endorsements with priority given to expertise, geographic location and endorsements will all be taken into consideration when selecting the team.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)

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TCL says Alcatel Onetouch sales rose by 20%

ITRealms:

TCL Communication has revealed that its mobile brand Alcatel OneTouch sales volume rose by 20 per cent, year on year, reports ITRealms.

The company made this revelation in an unaudited results for the third quarter of 2015, saying that in the period ending September 30, 2015, an increase in sales of smart devices met the group’s overall revenue grew of 1 per cent over the same nine-month period in 2014 to reach HK$20.3 billion, with net profit up by 4 per cent year on year to reach HK$772 million.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, TCL Communication, Dr. Guo Aiping, despite a sluggish world economy and other factors, the Group’s gross profit margin rose slightly to a healthy 20.2 per cent.

He said that during the period under review, the total sales volume of handsets and other products grew 14 per cent year-on-year to 55.4 million units, with 50.5 million units sold overseas and 4.9 million units sold in China.

“Sales volume of smart devices increased by 20 per cent year on year to 31.1 million units, accounting for 56 per cent of the Group’s total shipments,” he said.

Also, Aiping noted that the Group continues to take advantage of the growing market demand for cost-effective and multifunctional smartphones to broaden its worldwide market share.

On the third quarter launches and fourth quarter plans, the CEO said the group unveiling of varieties of innovative products including the shockproof, waterproof and dustproof GO PLAY smartphone and GO WATCH smartwatch, which supports both Android and iOS operating systems, as well as the launch of Xess, an extra-large, 17.3-inch-screen tablet.

“In the coming quarter, the Group will build on the strengths of different markets and adopt targeted strategies for each of its six designated business regions, which include deepening relationships with operators and launching more entry-level 4G smartphones, tablets and wearable devices,” he assured.

Aiping stressed that the Group would also strengthen its open-market channels and e-commerce platforms in order to be well prepared for upcoming peak seasons, such as Christmas.

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