Why CommTech was inducted into FOI hall of share - ITREALMS

MediaWatch@ITREALMS:

The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has why the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology (CommTech) was inducted into the “Freedom of Information (FOI) Hall of Shame”, accusing the Ministry of extremely poor performance in its implementation of the Act over the last seven years, reports ITREALMS.

MRA’s Programme Officer, Mr. Idowu Adewale, announced the selection of the Ministry as this week’s inductee in a statement issued in Lagos, saying “the Ministry’s overall performance in the implementation of the FOI Act since the enactment of the Law in 2011 has been extremely poor and certainly falls far short of what is required of public institutions covered by the Act”.

According to Mr. Adewale, MRA’s analysis of the Attorney-General of the Federation’s annual statutory reports to the National Assembly on the implementation of the FOI Act between 2011 and 2017, shows that out of the seven annual reports which the Ministry ought to have submitted to the Attorney-General under Section 29 of the Act as of February 1, 2018, the Ministry has only submitted one report for 2011 to date.

The Ministry, established in 2011, is charged, amongst other things, with the tasks of fostering a knowledge-based economy and information society in Nigeria; facilitating ICT as a key tool in the transformation agenda for Nigeria in the areas of job creation, economic growth and transparency of governance as well as creating and formulating policies that will propel the Nigerian economy to a digitized economy.

Explaining the reasons for the Ministry’s induction, Mr. Adewale said the institution was assessed based on its level of compliance with its duties and obligations in five areas of the FOI Act and the Attorney-General’s Guidelines on the Implementation of the Act, which are: its obligation to provide information to members of the public on request, its duty to submit annual implementation reports to the Attorney-General of the Federation, its proactive publications obligations; its duty to train its staff and officials on the public’s right of access to information as well as its obligation to designate an FOI Desk Officer and proactively publish the title and address of the official.

Noting that the Ministry performed woefully in most of the categories, he added that the failure of the institution to consistently submit its annual implementation reports to the Attorney-General of the Federation had also made it impossible to determine the number of applications for information that it has received, the number of such applications that it processed as well as the number of requests for information it has granted or denied over the years.

Mr. Adewale accused the Ministry of breaching section 2 of the FOI Act, which requires all public institutions to proactively publish some categories of information even without anyone making any request for such information as well as to update such information regularly and whenever changes occur.

Explaining the potential benefits of the Ministry complying with its proactive disclosure obligations, he stressed that if it fulfills this obligation, it would find that the pressure on it arising from receiving and having to process too many FOI requests would be considerably reduced.

He accused the Ministry of not having published either on any its website, or anywhere else, the 16 categories of information that it is required by the Act to publish and disseminate widely to members of the public through various means, including print, electronic and online.

According to him, although Section 13 of the FOI Act requires every government or public institution to ensure the provision of appropriate training for its officials on the public’s right of access to the information and records that it holds for the effective implementation of the Act, these there is no indication that the Ministry has fulfilled this obligation as there is no information available about its training of its staff on the Act.

On the Ministry’s obligation to designate an FOI Desk Officer, Mr. Adewale said although the Database of FOI Desk Officers available at the Federal Ministry of Justice, which is the oversight institution for the implementation of the FOI Act, shows that the Ministry has designated an official to whom requests for information should be made, the Ministry itself has failed to publish the title and address of the officer on its website or anywhere else, as required by Section 2(3)(f) of the Act.

He urged, the Ministry to make good use of its website to proactively publish those categories of information which the Act requires all public institutions to proactively disclose, adding that by so doing, the Ministry would not only put itself in a good stead as regards the implementation of the FOI Act, but would also lessen the burden of repeatedly processing individual requests for information from citizens touching on those issues.

Mr. Adewale called upon the Minister of Communication Technology, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, to take urgent steps to ensure the provision of appropriate training for the staff and officials of the Ministry so as to acquaint them with their duties and obligations under the FOI Act, which would hopefully lead to improved compliance with and implementation of the Act by the Ministry.

Launched in July 2017, the FOI “Hall of Shame” highlights public officials and institutions that are undermining the effectiveness of the FOI Act through their actions, inactions, utterances, and decisions.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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MTN to sale $500m share in Nigeria operation

ITREALMS:

African telecommunications giant, MTN Group Ltd. has revealed plans to raise about 500 million dollars from the sale of shares in Nigeria during the first half of 2018, reports ITRealms.

These shares, ITRealms gathered will be sold to local institutions and individuals, though foreign investors could be brought in to ensure the process is a success.

ITRealms also reports that if successful, the Lagos share sale will be the biggest on the Nigerian Stock Exchange after Starcomms Plc, which raised $796 million when it listed in 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

ITRealms further reports that MTN had 230.2 million subscribers in 22 countries across Africa and the Middle East as of the end of September, with Nigeria, Iran and South Africa its three biggest markets.

The company has also agreed to sell shares in Ghana as one of the conditions of a deal to gain spectrum rights, while Vodacom Group Ltd., South Africa’s market leader, was ordered to list 25 percent of its Tanzanian business last year, raising $213 million.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Exonerated: Akande, Okoloko not party to Union Bank share scam -Tribunal

ITREALMS:

The duo of Onikepo Akande and Onajite Okoloko have been exonerated from the alleged shares scam perpetrated on behalf of Union Bank against its investors by the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST), sitting in Abuja, reports ITRealms.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ITRealms gathered, had dragged Union Bank and 21 other individuals comprising the Directors and Company Secretary who had served on the Board of the Bank between 2007 and 2008 before the Investments and Securities Tribunal.

ITRealms reports that the aggrieved Applicant, SEC had informed the Tribunal, that the 21 respondents engaged and/or participated in a scheme and or artifice that enabled Union Bank of Nigeria Plc to either directly or indirectly fund the purchase of its Shares and thereby retaining the beneficial ownership of the shares, and as a consequence, (i) violated or contributed to the violation of the provisions of the Investments and Securities Act and the rules and regulations made thereunder, (ii) undermined the fair and orderly conduct of the securities market, and (iii) abused, breached and undermined the integrity of the securities market;

SEC further informed that the Respondents unlawfully employed, (in connection with the purchase or sale of the securities of Union Bank of Nigeria, Plc) a device, scheme or artifice for the purpose of creating a false and misleading appearance of active trading of Union Bank securities and/or shares, which devise, scheme or artifice so employed by the Respondents herein, violated the provisions of the Investments and Securities Act and the rules and regulations made there under.

SEC further claimed that the Respondents undermined the regulatory and supervisory authority/activities of the Applicant, by ordering the appointment of KPMG Professional Services or any other reputable firm of accountants acceptable to the Tribunal for the purpose of undertaking an inquiry/investigation to determine (i) the extent and quantum of the losses suffered by investors in the securities market as a result of the unlawful activities of the Respondents outlined in this suit and (ii) the nature, extent and quantum of any direct benefit or advantage received or receivable by the Respondents as a result of the Respondents’ aforesaid unlawful activities.

But, in its decision, the Tribunal of Six (6) headed by Nnenna A. Orji ruled that the names of Onikepo Akande and Onajite Okoloko who had been originally sued as 19th and 20^th Respondents respectively, be struck out on the grounds that they were not yet Directors when the alleged infractions took place.

In the Suit listed as CASE NO. IST/LA/OA/20/2010, the Tribunal noted that the processes were amended to include both Onikepo Akande and Onajite Okoloko, who were appointed only after the infractions had taken place.

It would be recalled that some Directors of Union bank were involved in a share scam involving the purchase of Union Bank shares for itself to mislead the Public, using funds borrowed from two foreign financial houses totaling over N30bn between 2007 and 2008.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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NCC endorses Visafone share transfer to MTN, not licence

ITRealms:

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCSS) has endorsed the transfer of 100 per cent shareholding in Visafone Communications Limited to MTN Communications Nigeria Limited, exclusive of “licence,” reports ITRealms.

NCC also said that decision on the possibility of Visafone license transfer to MTN is yet to be taken.  “What has been approved in the transaction is 100% shareholding not licence,” according the Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo.

He said this decision was taken by virtue of Section 38 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, explaining that Section 38 of the Act states inter alia “the grant of a licence shall be personal to the licencee and the licence shall not be operated by assigned, sub-licenced or transferred to any other party unless the prior written approval of the Commission has been granted.”

He said this is contrary to the speculation in a section of the media that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) the regulatory agency for telecommunication had foreclosed the release of the spectrum held by Visafone to MTN.

Pointing out that this clarification has become necessary in order to allay the fears in some quarters that the frequency had been withheld by the Commission.

“The Commission is yet to meet to take a decision on the application by Visafone to transfer its licence to MTN.  The NCC has only approved the shareholding structure by 100% and not transfer of licence,” Ojobo declared.

He further explained that Visafone Communications Limited with a Universal Access Service Licence (UASL) – deploying Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology applied to the NCC for an approval to effect a change in its shareholding structure by transferring 100% of its shares to MTN Nigeria.

According to him, having met all the preliminary requirements for grant of approval for change in shareholding structure, the NCC in line with its established procedure granted an Approval-In-Principle to Visafone Communications Limited, subject to fulfilment of conditions to transfer 100 per cent of its shares to MTN Nigeria.

“Having fulfilled the conditions stipulated in the “Approval-In-Principle”, the NCC, in line with its procedure granted a “Final-Approval” to Visafone for the change in its shareholding structure,” he said.

Pointing out that although Visafone applied for approval to transfer its licence to MTN, the Commission has written to Visafone, clearly stating that a decision was yet to be taken on the transfer of Visafone licence to MTN.

Chuks Egbune/GEE
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TD Africa boosts market share with mobile app

ITRealms:

Top Information and Communication Technology (ICT) distributors in Sub-Saharan Africa, Technology Distributions Ltd, has given a boost to its market share by unveiling of TD mobile app, reports ITRealms.

Unveiling the mobile app at the weekend during the CEO’s forum with selected partners, the Managing Director (Marketing) at TD, Mrs. Chioma Chimere, said allows users to place product orders online in real time directly from their smartphones.

Apart from lending more ease and convenience to the business relationship between TD and its partners, the launch of the application also ensures that partners can take advantage of product auctions and special promotions such as ‘Were Deal as well as other discount sales and deals from Technology Distributions.

The new TD Africa mobile app is available for download on Google Play store @ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tdafrica.app and on Apple’s i-Store as well. Interested parties can also search with ‘TDAfrica’ on Play Store and i-Store to locate and download the app.

The company has also rolled out special discounts and other mouth-watering incentives for the first 100 partners to download the TD Africa mobile app and make online transactions up to N100,000 with the app. These partners, in addition to the special incentives lined up, will enjoy additional discount of up to 5% at the point of invoicing.

According to Managing Director (Marketing), Mrs. Chioma Chimere, the launch of the mobile app is a fulfilment of the promise made at the beginning of the new financial year to its partners.

“We made a promise to our partners at the commencement of our new financial year to serve them better by deploying technology to lend unmatched convenience and ease to our business relationship. Today, we have taken another big step towards the fulfilment of this promise.

“We are pleased to announce that the TD Africa mobile app is ready for download on Google Play store. The mobile app will also be available for download on Apple’s i-Store soon. With this app, you can now enjoy the added convenience of accessing TD’s wide product portfolio and placing orders from your mobile phone. With this app installed on your smartphone, you no longer have to get to the office or reach your laptop to take advantage of our special promotions such as ‘Were Deal.”

Since its establishment in 1999, TD has been in the fore-front of driving the diffusion of technology in Nigeria and the West African sub-region as a whole with its leadership and promotion of a structured, virile market which caters to the needs of its various players including Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), resellers and end-users.

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