Zinox boss tasks economic team on ICT investment

The chairman of Zinox Technologies Limited, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, has tasked the newly inaugurated Presidential Economic Team to advice President Goodluck Jonathan to invest on Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

He made this call as a panelist at the Nigeria-India partnership forum tagged Unlocking Opportunities for Entrepreneurs, held at the Lagos Business School recently, saying that by focusing investment on ICT help in resolving the unemployment burden in the country.

“… Investing heavily on Information and Communications Technology as a means of generating digital activities would drastically reduce the number of unemployed youths,” he said.

He expressed support for the Federal Government’s resolve to tackle youth unemployment head-on but cautioned against tackling the problem through the conventional methods of stimulus and empowerment based on cash injections.

Zinox chairman also said that the government should concentrate on providing subsidized internet access all over the country, in order to create tremendous net working opportunities capable of leading to digital activities that could generate employment and income.

Further, he said that Nigeria must borrow a leaf from India where an emphasis on ICT has turned the country into the outsourcing capital of the world; impacted on India’s educational system to the point that today India produces most of the CEOs of leading multinationals; and propelled the country into the list of emerging economies.

Ekeh noted that today’s global youth restiveness demands that nations must invent ICT based approaches to engage the youth and gain the stability required for development, stressing that the Okonjo-Iweala-led economic team should begin to talk to ICT professionals in Nigeria immediately if her desire to make youth employment the arrow head of her policy is to be achieved.

On the Nigeria India partnership, Dr. Ekeh said that Nigeria must learn how India has managed its multi-ethnic and multi-religious backgrounds, adding that Nigerians must learn from the work ethics that has produced the Indian pre-eminence.

He pointed out that India shared many things in common with Nigeria including the fact that both countries were colonized by Britain; Nigeria is largest democracy in West Africa and India is largest democracy in South Asia; diverse religious and ethnic populations; they possess diverse natural resources and are the largest economies in their respective regions; both countries are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, G77 and the Non Aligned Movement. He argued that Nigeria had a right to expect that India would see Nigeria differently from the way that Britain, America, Europe, China and other development partners see us.

Ekeh emphasised that there are two key areas which would serve as the benchmark to assess the usefulness of the Nigerian Indian partnership, namely the Ajaokuta/Aladja Steel complexes and the Nigerian Information and Communications Technology sectors as areas that Nigerians would be watching closely.

The Zinox Boss said that Nigerians expect the Indian involvement in the Steel sector to make Ajaokuta/Aladja the foremost source of Iron and Steel in Africa. The expectations are so high that Nigerians are depending on India to replicate the Indian software success in Nigeria. Both countries cannot afford to fail in this partnership in order to create a new essence for the New Partnership for African Development, NEPAD.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Juwah wants NOTAP to re-engineer software industry

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, has decried the dearth of software encoders in the country.

Juwah made this observation while welcoming the Director General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Umar B. Bindir to his office on courtesy visit, at the weekend.

He also tasked NOTAP to step into this aspect of technology development for the benefit of the industry.

Regretting the growing number of experts in the data base development segment, whereas the encoding area is being neglected, Juwah said this is detrimental to the balanced growth of the industry.

The NCC boss also appraised the performance of NOTAP in the implementation of its mandate and how it has strived to expand it base for the benefit of the nation and raised its management for it patriotic efforts.

According to him, NCC is not fully involved in the issue of research and analysis of software but is focused on the assessment of reasonableness of the pricing of the software used in the telecommunications industry, stressing that the Commission would support awareness building efforts of the agency.

He noted that the current responsibilities of the Commission in the area of reasonableness of pricing became necessary to ensure that software used in the telecom industry are not overpriced, and that this assessment affects intangible services like Internet access, and are usually compared with international benchmarks.

He said that the Commission performs this responsibility with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adding that because of the huge growth of the telecom industry, it has become like a routine job with a dedicated desk at the Commission.

Dr. Juwah also informed the NOTAP team that in the dealings with the telecom companies, the Commission treats them with respect as credible companies with internationally corporate governance principles and do not expect them to cheat in their submission.

“Since their accounts are audited by reputable international firms, we have no doubts that they do not cheat,” he said.

In the area of technology acquisition development efforts, Dr. Juwah noted that most of the equipments used in the telecom industry like switches and transmission equipment are import-based, but that the Commission is working to develop local content in some, including the current initiative that has led to the manufacturing of masts in Nigeria, while looking at how to develop the framework in some other areas.

Dr. Juwah also spoke about the efforts of the Commission that resulted in the establishment of the Internet Exchange Point that has led to keeping the internet content local, stressing that the exchange point has already been linked to the Lagos State University, while efforts are being made to connect other universities.

Further, he said, an effort like this is designed to encourage Nigerian students to be able to develop some software and improve their access for such resources.

Dr. Bindir, while providing insight into the activities of the agency, said that it has three criteria for approval, including the first phase, being the acceptability of the software whereby all approvals are done on the basis of how favorable it is to the nation.

Secondly, he said, NOTAP looks at the technical component and how it would benefit Nigeria in the area of research by way of providing training for competence, and lastly, how its financial content is cost effective to the nation.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Alexa.com says VConnect is fastest portal in Nigeria

Alexa.com has pronounced VConnect the fastest growing web portal in the country.

VConnect prides itself as Nigeria’s largest local search engine and leading information service provider, while Alexa.com provides information about websites including top sites, Internet traffic stats and metrics, related links, online reviews contact information and search.

Confirming this, the General Manager, VConnect Global Services Limited, Mr. Deepankar Rustagi said that according to the ranking of top websites used in Nigeria and released by Alexa.com, the world’s most reliable source of website ranking, saw VConnect only launched six months ago emerging the fastest growing website in the country.

He described the ranking as a remarkable milestone in the annals of the company which focus has been to provide local information to Nigerians wherever, whenever free of charge.

“We are proud to announce that VConnect has now been rated by a globally recognized website, alexa.com as the fastest growing web portal in Nigeria. This is certainly a great achievement for us as it goes to validate our claim as the largest local search engine in Nigeria,” he said.

Rustagi claimed that apart from being fastest growing web portal, VConnect ranked fourth most used website in the overall ranking of Nigerian local website according to the statistics on alexa.com, with Vanguard, Nairaland and Punch websites ranking first, second and third respectively.

He revealed that the internet growth rate in Nigeria over the last five years has been a healthy one of about 65 per cent growth rate, which means that Nigeria has the largest internet user base in Africa with over 50 million people reaping the benefits.

He urged business owners especially those in the small and medium scale category that are not yet registered on the web portal to join the over 200,000 businesses already listed on the website noting that VConnect is now a veritable medium for advertising through which businesses could effectively reach their target audience.

While appreciating visitors to VConnect website, Deepankar hinted that VConnect already has over 12,000 fans on its Facebook page while several millions visit the website or use the call centre for information on a daily basis.

Set up with the vision of providing the most reliable and exhaustive information about products and services, VConnect was launched in March to offer local information to Nigerians with convenience of using the website or through phone call to 070 0000 8888.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

CommTech ministry to develop new ICT policy

The Ministry of Communications Technology is planning to develop an all-encompassing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy for the country.

Disclosing this in Lagos at a chat with newsmen, Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Olubusola Johnson, said that this strategy would help the ministry in delivering on its four mandates from Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Although she noted that Nigeria has an Information Technology (IT) policy which is resident at the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the new proposed ICT policy would afford the agency more and better room to operate in discharging its responsibilities to the Nigerian people.

She believed that Nigerians expectation from ICT is ambitious, especially with the hope that the policies, programmes and plans that would be embarked upon by the Ministry to deliver on this mandate would provide a launch pad for Nigeria to leap-frog from a resource dependent to a knowledge-based economy.

“Nigeria can be transformed into a major ICT hub where knowledge, technology and innovation are used ads tools to not only drive wealth creation and empower citizens of the country, but also deployed to provide security, promote efficiency and national competitiveness for sustainable socio-economic development,” she said.

Additionally, she said, the new ministry will of course work very closely with the private sector in the country, international partners and other supporting governments through its implementing agencies.

She listed some of the implementing agencies of the new ministry to include the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Communications Satellite NigComSAT, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NiTDA), Galaxy Backbone and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Ndeye, Mark lead AfriNIC board

The Mauritius –based African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) has elected two key officers as the chairperson and vice chairman.

AfriNIC is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa with headquarters in Ebene City, Mauritius.

The chief executive officer, AfriNIC, Mr. Adiel Akplogan made this disclosure at the weekend, saying they were pleased to have a female Internet advocate, Mrs. Ndéye Maimouna Diop Diagne as elected chairperson.

Akplogan informed that Mrs. Diagne also was joined on the board by Mark Elkins has been elected as the vice chairman of the AfriNIC Board, stressing that the latest emergence of AfriNIC board followed an election held during a board meeting on Friday 12th August 2011.

He said, Ndeye takes over from the immediate past chairman, Viv Padayatchy, whose contribution has been instrumental in providing AfriNIC important leadership.

Also, he said, Ndéye Maimouna Diop Diagne is currently the ICT Director at the Senegal’s Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and ICT.

Previously, Ndeye has worked as a computer engineer and technical advisor on ICT for the Senegalese Government, culminating in her helping in the installation and administration of the national Internet Protocol (IP) backbone for the Senegalese Telecommunications Company (SONATEL).

Ndéye holds the position of vice-president of the Senegalese chapter of Internet Society and takes part in activities of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE).

Also, he noted that Mr. Mark Elkins was elected as the vice chairman of the AfriNIC board within the same period.

Elkins, he said, has worked for large computer companies (UKOM Systems and UniForum SA) and is now self-employed at Posix Systems. He is also the Technical Director for UniForum SA – the “CO.ZA” Administrators and wrote the “CO.ZA” system as in use today.

“Best wishes to Ndéye Maimouna Diop Diagne and Mark Elkins in their new positions and heartfelt thanks to our outgoing Chairman, Viv Padayatchy,” he said.

Currently the AfriNIC board consists of Nezar N. Sami from Northern Africa, Ndeye Maimouna Diop Diagne (chairperson) from Western Africa, Janvier Ngnoulaye of Central Africa, John Walubengo of East Africa, Mark J. Elkins (Vice-Chairman) from Southern Africa and Lala Andriamampianina from Indian Ocean, while the CEO position is appointed.

Remmy Nweke
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Nokia unveils more dual SIM phones for Africa market

Nokia has unveiled two dual Subscriber Identification Module (SIM)-based handsets for the African market in Nairobi, Kenya in an effort to connect the next billion phone users globally.

This is coming as the mobile phone manufacturer introduced Nokia X7 in Lagos.

The Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia, Mrs. Mary McDowell, who led the team of top management of the mobile company said at the Kenyan launch that the two latest additions on dual SIM platform were the Nokia 101 and 100.

She described these models of Nokia dual SIM phones as most affordable phones to date and packed with features as well as sporting color displays; in continuation with its commitment to connecting the next billion consumers

“… Its most affordable phones to date, continuing its commitment to connecting the next billion consumers with mobile devices that offer modern, attractive designs, a range of practical and fun features, and services that extend the value of the phone with access to information and entertainment,” she said.

She explained that the Nokia 101 is the fifth dual SIM device in the last three months released by the mobile phone company and is the most affordable to date.

“The dual SIM functionality enables users to connect to two different networks to receive calls and messages,” she said.

Citing an instance with the Nokia SIM manager, she said, it allows users to select which SIM card to use to make a call or send a text message helping them manage costs and maintain network coverage without needing several phones.

Additionally, she said, the SIM manager allows users to store the settings of up to five SIM cards on the phone, and to personalize them by assigning names and logos for each SIM setting.

Equally, she said, Nokia 101 comes with an FM radio, integrated Media Player 3 (MP3) player and a 103 phone loudspeaker.

Further, she said Nokia 101provides support for up to 16 Gigabyte (GB) microSD memory cards, which allows users to carry their entire music collection with them.

On the Nokia 100, she said, its perfect for people looking for durability and simplicity as well as affordability when making calls and sending text messages.

“The Nokia 100 is the most affordable color display phone, and people can enjoy its new attractive grid-based menu system with fun and easy-to-read icons,” she said.

Furthermore, she noted that Nokia 100 features include an FM radio, enabling users to tune into their favorite music stations, whether on-the-go or at home.

Mrs. McDowell pointed out that both Nokia 101 and Nokia 100 offer Nokia Life Tools, selected markets and Nokia Money in India; providing instant access to locally-relevant information on healthcare, education, agriculture and entertainment.

“We recognize that for many of the next billion people, a phone purchase is an investment. People are looking for a phone that offers great features but also one that is dependable,” she said.

According to her, when paired with powerful and locally relevant services such as Nokia Life Tools, the Nokia 101 and 100 offer a unique experience that is simply unmatched in their markets at these price points.

On pricing and availability, she said, the Nokia 101 would be available in the third quarter of 2011 for USD 35, about N5,460 and comes in phantom black and coral red.

The Nokia 100, she said, would be available in the fourth quarter of 2011 for about USD 30, about N4,500, while it comes on vibrant colors including legion blue, festival pink, ocean blue, phantom black and coral red.

Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

ITU seeks 60 young innovators

Global regulator of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is searching for 60 young innovators at this year’s ITU Telecom World in Geneva.

Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ms Sarah Parkes, who disclosed this in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online said that ITU Telecom World 2011 has launched a global competition that gives 60 Young and Digital Innovators respectively the chance to come to participate at the event in Geneva, coming up in October 24 through 27; to pitch their ground-breaking ideas to ICT industry with deadline for September 15.

She said that the three entrants from each category judged to have the best all-round concepts by an online vote of delegates attending ITU Telecom World 2011 would share prize money totaling over CHF 50,000 to help them realise their digital dreams.

“Industry mentors will also continue to work with the six winners after the event to help them turn their vision into reality,” she said.

The would-be innovators, Parkes noted, are required to submit their idea online in one of two competition categories, namely Young Innovators and Digital Innovators.

She explained that young innovators entails that contestants should be between the ages of 18 and 25 years, and their idea must have been developed independently of any project with their current employer.

The best ideas from around the world, she said, would win finalists an all-expenses-paid trip to Geneva, where they would benefit from two intensive days of training on how to best pitch their concept, culminating in a final ‘quickfire pitch’ at a grand final event on 25 October.

ITU, she said, is actively encouraging submissions from women and those still looking to enter the workforce.

On the Digital Innovators, she said, partnering with an NGO or other not-for-profit body entrants are encouraged to submit their ideas for new ways in which ICTs could help further their causes in areas like environmental sustainability, improved access to health and education, digital accessibility or the alleviation of poverty.

“The best partnerships will be brought to Geneva and trained on how to best pitch their developed idea, before making their final pitch on 25 October,” she said.

Entries, as said by her, will be judged on innovation, feasibility (technical implementation/cost) and applicant experience, mostly on the ability to deliver.

ITU Telecom World’s online community, she pointed out, will initially vote on their favourite submissions, with the 60 most popular ideas from each category then submitted to a high-level selection panel of independent experts from the public and private sector, which will choose the finalists.

Equally, the chance to win one of six cash prizes, the competition, she said, has been designed to offer finalists an enriching experience that will help them better succeed in the competitive world of ICT development.

“As well as the chance to build a valuable network of new professional contacts worldwide, all contestants will have their pitches filmed and uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and the ITU Telecom website, to give them and their great ideas maximum global exposure,” she said, stressing that the deadline is September 15, this year.

Remmy Nweke
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