NiRA, EFCC collaborate to fight online fraud

Story of the week:
The era of some Nigerians Internet enthusiasts striving to access certain websites endlessly would soon be over as a tripartite plan have been advanced to make this nightmare a bye gone.

The Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA), said it’s collaborating with the nation’s Directorate of Cybercrime and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to fight online fraud in the country and ensure smooth access for patriotic Nigerians of all sites on the Internet.

Champion Infotel recalls that currently several domains globally have blocked Internet access for browsers emanating from Nigeria.

Chairman, NiRA, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu who made this disclosure in a chat with Champion Infotel in Lagos, said that the association is in constant dialogue with both EFCC and Cybercrime directorate with the view of collaborating in fashioning out a lasting solution to online fraud as it affects the country and to ensure that Nigerians have free access to any websites on the Internet.

This, he said would be the result of a tripartite collaboration between the two government agencies and NiRA, a formation of Internet stakeholders in the country set up to encourage Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in promotion of the Nigeria country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), dot ng.

He pointed out that NiRA has consulted with these agencies and the responses have been positive.

“Now we have spoken to the directorate of Cybercrime in Nigeria and we’re going to come out with tripartite arrangement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),” he declared.

Mr. Kalu also said that the effort of the collaboration is to make sure that Nigerian-based Internet Protocols (IP) are removed from the block by these networks.

He added that it is not fair to say that all the fraudulent online mails come from Nigeria, but because wrong information has been flying around so long that some of these networks do not want to be involved with any Nigerian Internet Protocols.

“No, its just that they heard so much and don’t want to like be involved,” he said, adding that the proposal is to inform these networks the efforts the government and private sector are making in ensuring Nigerians have free and unhindered Internet access at all times.

“We would tell them, look we have what we call due diligence by these networks and if you have any form of fraud mail from them, inform us and we would trace back because these networks are working hand-in-hand with us,” he said.

The outcome of the collaboration, he said, is called the Network Integrity Initiative (NII) intended to open up the whole world to Nigeria and with the due diligence initiative which EFCC and other law enforcement agencies are implementing, any fraudulent activities would be tracked.

“That’s a clean way to open up .ng to Nigerians and the world, because a lot of people have said that if we have our website as dot this dot ng, a lot of people out there would immediately think it’s a fraudulent site,” he asserted.

He emphasised that NiRA is working hard to change this perception.

“It is a matter of perception because even in Kenya, every body is there and there is no serious company that is in that country that is not on .ke. In fact you have to be proud of Kenyans and we are trying to build that confidence here with .ng,” he said.

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Omatek unveils 8” notebook

ACCLAIMED Original Equipment Manufacturer ((OEM) in the country, Omatek Computers Limited has unveiled its latest in stock which is an 8” notebook into the market.

Reports have it that Omatek is the 8th firm to launch 8” notebook, thus making Nigeria proud.

Disclosing this, Managing Director, Omatek Computers, Mrs. Florence Seriki said that the notebook was built to the dare need to provide systems that Nigerian youths and teachers could deploy effectively for a functional education in the country.

She explained that the notebook is suitable for the Nigerian environment and made with the Nigerian students both in the secondary and tertiary institutions in mind.

Mrs. Seriki pointed out that the unveiling of the new brand was borne out of the demand to end the incursion of foreign brands in the country, which she said, often uses obsolete technology and come without the capacity to meet educational and creative needs of the Nigerian youths.

She expressed appreciation for the support given to local computer industries by the federal government and for creating conducive environment for foreign investors to assist the information technology sector in the country.

Although she lamented that some foreign investors within the IT sector are now abusing this privilege.

“We are now beginning to notice an undue advantage that is being granted the foreign computer firms who come into the country and take Nigerians for granted,” she said, describing the situation as common nowadays among representatives of these foreign brands.

Mrs. Seriki equally noted that the foreign computer vendors have turned the country into a dumping ground for their products and warned that if care were not taken in halting this development, “it would have a far reaching negative effect on the country’s technological advancement.”

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Vandalisation of telecom infrastructure

Market Intelligence:

Few weeks ago, one of the nation’s leading Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, raised an alarm over the vandalisation of its telecommunications equipment.

This much has been complained by other telcos in the recent past.

The operator said, this has been the bane behind its recent poor quality of services.

According to the Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, the telco expressed concern over repeated vandalisation of its equipment and installations nationwide.

She noted that the impact this have on the quality of services to its subscribers have become disheartening.

“We have had to contend with what appears to be a steady onslaught of malicious damage to our fibre optic cables in some parts of the country,” she said, stressing, “it’s extremely alarming.”

Mrs. Oyagbola explained that telecoms infrastructure have been installed across the country, at huge cost in terms of labour and capital, for the sole objective of providing a rich and improved bouquet of telecommunications services to the Nigerian people.

While assuring customers and other stakeholders that the telco is reinforcing its private security network across the country especially in the areas that house critical infrastructure, Mrs. Oyagbola appealed to Nigerians to keep vigilant over telecom and other infrastructure in their localities.

“Such infrastructure, including base stations, switches and transmission cables, are for the collective benefit of the country and should be seen as such,” she said.

Mrs. Oyagbola equally urged citizens to inform the security agencies promptly if they see any equipment being tampered with, just as she pledged that MTN would continue to strive to provide Nigeria with world-class telecommunications services.

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CTO-08: Abuja wins hosting right

The Council of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) at its 47th meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, recently approved 21 papers submitted by the management on various aspects of the organisation’s activities.

This is coming as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja would play host to the council’s next meeting scheduled to hold September 2008.

The Communications Officer, CTO, Mr. Toby Davies, informed the group decided to hold council meeting in Abuja, Nigeria.

He said that the selection of the venue for the next council meeting was decided between a number of offers made to the organisation.

“In fact, the selection of a venue for the next council meeting had to be decided between a number of offers made to the organisation, and Nigeria was awarded the honour to host the next council meeting,” he said.

He also disclosed that the other strong contender, Fiji, was granted the opportunity to host the CTO council in 2009.

Equally in view of the growing competition, CTO resolved to observe regional rotation in hosting the council meeting, just as the 2010 council meeting is expected to be held in the Asia, while the 2011 has been slated in the Caribbean.

The CTO 2007 council meeting was preceded by the annual CTO Forum, which this year was on the theme of “Harnessing the Potentials of Next Generation Networks to Facilitate ICT Convergence.”

The forum held over three days, he said, was attended by over 100 delegates from across the Commonwealth, including five ministers in charge of ICTs, 10 Directors General and Chief Executive Officers of telecommunications regulatory authorities, some 15 Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of various ICT operating companies, and scores of other delegates representing various institutions and firms in the ICT sector.

Delegates found the event stimulating and thought provoking as the speaker faculty of leading proponents of Convergence and NGN guided them through the many unexplored issues the global telecommunication sector will have to face in near future.

Following the call on CTO constitution council members representing full member countries re-elected Mr. J. P. Morgan, Executive Director of the Office of Utilities Regulation of Jamaica as the council chairman for the period 2007-8, while Mr. Patrick Masambu, Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Communications Commission and Dr. Halim Man, Secretary General, Ministry of Energy, Water & Communications of Malaysia were elected as the First and Second Vice Chairpersons, respectively, for the same period.

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Chams, Iris to implement FG’s new identity scheme

Two consortia, Messrs Chams and Iris have been selected to implement the federal government (FG) new identity card scheme known as the National Identity Management System.

Champion Infotel gathered that the two firms were chosen from 38 firms that bided for the project, just as Chams Group has Chams Nigeria Limited, Supercard Nigeria Limited, Nextzon and PAC Solicitors, while the Iris Consortium is made up of Interswitch Nigeria Limited, Image Technologies Nigeria Ltd, Telnet Nigeria Ltd and Iris Corporation of Malaysia.

Industry sources quoted one of the awarding letters, as stating that the bid winners were expected to develop a unique identification system and execute same for a period of time before handing it over to the government.

The letter of selection also indicated that the system to be implemented by the awardees, would be executed as a build, operate and transfer deal.

“The partnership which is subject to a build, transfer and operate agreement, would cover areas of conceptualisation, design, development, execution and management of the front end operations’ of the proposed systems. The secretariat of the Implementation Committee will arrange for the proper documentation of and subsequent execution of the agreement,” part of the letter read.

The bid winners are equally expected among other things to establish a national identity database and implementation of a general multipurpose identity card that would replace the current national identity card, which began few years back.

Champion Infotel further gathered that only five entities made presentations.

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ITAN berates National Assembly over committees

Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN) has berated the National Assembly (NA) over what the group said was the inability of both houses to establish core Information Technology (IT) Committees in the past six months of the new dispensation.

Speaking through its president, Chief Jimson Olufuye, while reacting to the current state of the nation on its recent celebration of 47 Independence Day on October 1, said that with regard to the Legislature, there is no atom of seriousness on how to move the nation forward from that arm of the government.

This, he noted was evident in both houses inability to establish IT committees.

“There is no serious attention paid to IT going by the absence of IT committees in the Senate and the House,” he declared.

Chief Olufuye added that if the country is serious about where it would be by 2020, then it has got to take IT very seriously, which must be propelled by the apparatus of government.

According to him, if the Vision 2020, were to be realised, policies and expectations of the people would tend towards matching.

“If we truly agree that IT will power us into the Vision 2020 then policies and expectations must match,” he asserted.

ITAN president also said that his expectation has not been met in any way by this current dispensation, stressing though that the executive has shown some support, yet between the executive and legislature, they are working at cross purposes.

“There is a mismatch of policies and expectations in both the executive and the legislative arm,” he noted, emphasising that the Executive, for instance, has shown clear desire to streamline Information Technology development viz –a-viz technology convergence.

“Yet there is disjoint of focus of key agencies in this regard,” he said.

According to him, key government players in the IT sector such as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), should be working with same strategic focus and to compliment each other.

He described as worrisome that while NCC reports to the Ministry of Information and Communication, NITDA reports to the Science and Technology.

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Zinox takes Z-SCOP to Southeast

In effort to drive home its point in launching Zinox Students Computer Purchase (Z-SCOP) programme, the management of Zinox Computers, at the weekend took its crusade to some higher institutions in the southeastern part of the country.

The first batch of beneficiaries of the Z-SCOP were University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Enugu State and Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, just as UNN has advanced plans to buy about 1,500 laptops and the figure is expected to hit 3,500, while the University of Agriculture started with 1,300 laptops.

Already Zinox has delivered 1000 to UNN and 500 to University of Agriculture, Umudike.

Z-SCOP is a major design by the first Nigerian PC certified manufacturer, Zinox Technologies, to encourage the use of computers in homes, offices and schools.

Speaking at the occasions, chairman of Zinox, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, said it is more rewarding on the long run for one to invest in a Personal Computer (PC) than collecting cars, stressing that ownership of PC would benefit the entire family.

To encourage this penetration, he said, Zinox has designed special arrangement, which allows school authorities in the country to buy into the concept and not only own computers for themselves, but also to equipment their classrooms.

Thus allowing students, workers, and university dons among others, to own their systems without any hiccup.

While commending the management of the two schools for the will to embrace Information and Communication Technology (ICT) wholistically, Dr. Ekeh said that every decision taken to at this stage extends to the children as beneficiaries.

He was particular about the schools choice of Zinox brand, stressing that by patronizing a Nigerian brand guaranties the system to be running 24 hours a day in this environment.

In his comment, Vice Chancellor of University of Agriculture, Umudike, Prof. Ikenna Onyiudo, noted that technology is the common factor today, with respect to the global village.

“I believe in what Leo Stan Ekeh is doing. I believe he is changing lives in this country and I align with that mission,” Prof Onyiudo said.

Presenting the day’s lecture, president, Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr. Emeka Eze, admonished that anybody setting up business in the country must know that there was no Nigeria standard but a global standard.

Mr. Eze emphasised for instance that his computers carry the same contents like most of the major global brands.

According to him, the advantage Zinox has over others, is that the company has well trained engineers that are able to respond immediately to any problem that may arise and prevent unnecessary downtime.

Present at the occasion were Pro-Chancellor and chairman of the Governing Council of the institution, Prof Bolanle Awe and Vice Chancellor, Prof Chinedu Nebo. Prof Nebo led the distribution of the systems.

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Celtel distributors smile home

•In Southeast region

Top distributors of Pan African telecommunications company, Celtel Nigeria in the South Eastern region of the country, at the weekend, smiled home with rewards of their endeavours in the past one year.

The event, which held in Calabar, capital of Cross Rivers State, saw some of Celtel partners in its Rural Acquisition Initiative (RAI), known as Associate Distributors (ADs) in the region, happily went home.

The top five Associate Distributors honoured for outstanding performance during the pilot phase of the Rural Acquisition Programme included an Anambra State-based businessman, Mr. Azuka Arinze Chibueze, Mr. Emmanuel Okon Aki and Akpabio Akom both from Cross Rivers State, Abian Chinedu Nwala and Eddy Martins from Enugu State.

Whereas Mr. Chibueze, was presented with the star prize of 42-inch flat screen colour television set, alongside 5KVA generator set and a Celtel handset as well as a plaque, equally presented to other winners.

While the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Lars Stork, presented the star prize, the General Manager, South East Region, Celtel, Babatunde Lawson, made other presentations.

Champion Infotel also gathered that the top five ADs were selected from among the 25 ADs that participated in the pilot scheme, even as the RAI pilot programme was carried out in Imo, Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Cross Rivers, and Abia States.

Commenting, Mr. Stork said that the initiative is Celtel’s new route to market, designed to empower the rural communities through the provision of communication service, job creation, wealth creation, economic and physical development, customer care service and increased availability and accessibility of products and services.

He further said that Celtel has heeded the government’s call for public-private partnership in job creation for the teaming unemployed population and providing rural telephony.

Mr. Stork added that Celtel is determined to create value for everyone who wants to communicate irrespective of where they live, work and play in line with the mobile company’s brand philosophy of making life better for Nigerians.

Project Director, Operations at Celtel Nigeria, Ms. Omotayo Emden, told participants at the occasion that the RAI was designed to eliminate most of the logistics and other challenges faced by people in the rural area in gaining access to communication.

She noted that Celtel is paying a great attention to the rural areas because it is home to about 70 per cent of Nigerians and represent new frontiers for growth.

She explained that the Associate Distributors (ADs) were chosen because their standing in the rural communities, recommendation from the communities’ traditional heads and interest in the rural distribution programme.

According to her, Celtel supports the ADs through training, provision of motorbikes, point of sales of sales materials, promotions, direct marketing activities, branding support and customer care service, among others.

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Nokia captures Ramadan on phone

Mobile telecommunications company, Nokia, has announce the launch of new regional applications to coincide with the Holy Month of Ramadan.

According to the Communications Manager at Nokia Nigeria, Ms Ngozi Ife Anene, as part of an ongoing commitment to provide users with useful and up to date applications, a selected range of Nokia devices will come installed with various applications, to continue from the already successful lines available in Nigeria.

She noted that among the devices preloaded with a selection of the new applications that have been launched are Nokia N73 special edition, Nokia 6300, and Nokia 3110 Classic.

Some of the selectable applications available in the Nokia devices including “Azkar, Ramadaniat, Ramadan Greetings, Hajj and Umrah, Islamic Organizer, Universal Dictionary and Ramadan Themes.”

In addition, she pointed out that the N73 special edition comes with three e-books, names of Allah and additional Ramadan content.

Senior Vice President, Customer and Market Operations Nokia Middle East and Africa, Mr. Timo Toikkanen, said that the telco enjoys the challenge of developing and producing solutions that are beneficial for the every day life of customers, wherever they may be.

“The Ramadan applications have been especially designed to aid prayer and worship throughout the Holy-month for this year and in the future, with options like the Azkar and Ramadaniat full of useful information and advice to users. The Islamic applications are especially useful for those people who lead busy lives and look to technology to help them organize their time, as they are a comprehensive platform that covers all aspects of the holy season - from daily prayers, rules on fasting and Zakat, and even Ramadan SMS greetings,” he said.

The Azkar application provides a valuable collection of Azkar for the morning and evening. Users can navigate the application in a choice of different languages including Arabic, English, French, Farsi, and Urdu.

In addition, users can send Azkar via SMS to family and friends. The Tasbeeh counter, which can be used in place of physical prayer beads can calculate and log the number of prayers said.

Ramadaniat consists of a large collection of useful information including the rules of fasting, Zakah Al-Fitr, the benefits of Laylat Al-Qadr and the I’tekaf in Ramadan. Included in the application are a number of images that relate to different elements and teachings of the Holy season, which can also be sent via Short Messaging Service (SMS).

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Sony Ericsson launches P1i

•Emerges top sponsor of NITTA-07

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, a joint venture by Sony and Ericsson since 2001, have launches its P1i mobile phone in Lagos, just as the telco has endorsed the 2007 Nigerian IT & Telecom Awards (NITTA) as top sponsor.

Country Manager, Sony Ericsson Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Nkpa who unveiled the product said that P1i is the latest edition to the P-series from the company known for pioneering smartphone technology.

He also said that the pocket sized P1i is a small package, with a large offering including push email, high speed connectivity and a true multimedia package, “all in the 106 x 55 x 17mm casing.”

He also said that the Sony Ericsson P1i is an evolution of P-series smartphones, enabling the push of best attributes of its predecessors, with significant improvements in design, speed and battery performance.

Built on the feature set of earlier models, the Sony Ericsson P1i, Mr. Nkpa said supports a wide range of push email solutions and web browsing applications, plus connectivity via hi-speed UMTS and Wireless Local Area Network (WiFI-LAN).

With dual function keyboard of full alpha-numeric text input combined with one hand phone usability, he noted that the choice of text input method include handwritten and word completion.

On the push email aspect, he pointed out that it enables support for Exchange ActiveSync and BlackBerry brand of Connect integrated into the Wide Local Area Network (WLAN) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Additionally, P1i come with 3.2 megapixel camera with business card scanner, large 2.6” touch screen with a Transflective Display that is easier to view in bright light conditions.

“The Sony Ericsson P1i lets you read and edit documents on the move, whether on Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel formats. It also ships with a desk stand and Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable in-box, making it straightforward to synchronise with your PC,” he explained.

Champion Infotel recalled that last year, Sony Ericsson P990i mobile phone was awarded the best smart phone in the country at the 2006 edition of Nigerian Information technology and Telecoms Award (NITTA).

Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson has emerged as the platinum sponsor for this year’s sixth NITTA 2007, slated to hold in Lagos on November 16.

The organisers said the emergence of Sony Ericsson as platinum sponsor meant that the company is the main sponsor of this year’s event, a feat it also achieved in NITTA 2006.

“We invited some leading global companies as sponsors for various categories for this year’s event, with the platinum category being the highest and that being the case, there can only be one platinum sponsor. We are glad to confirm that Sony Ericsson has emerged the platinum sponsor for NITTA 2007,” Mkpe Abang, editor-in-chief of IT & Telecom Digest, explained in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel.

Sony Ericsson is a 50-50 joint venture established in 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to make mobile phones. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sony’s consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson’s technological leadership in the communications sector. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones.

Whereas, NITTA 2007 gala night would be presided over by the Nigeria’s immediate past High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade as 29 awards are expected to emerge.

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