World Cup 2014: 17.5m Nigerians watch Nigeria v. Iran on TV

ITRealms:

The world’s largest real-time mobile survey platform, GeoPoll announced initial findings on Television (TV) ratings, audience size and demographics following the first games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, saying that 17.5 million Nigerians watched between Nigeria and Iran, reports ITRealms.

The data, gathered via mobile surveys in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda provides a first-ever glimpse of the fans who are tuning into the World Cup in these countries, and represents ratings from more than 300 million African citizens. 

According to the GeoPoll founder, Mr. James Eberhard, the game between Nigeria and Iran, played during prime time in Nigeria, drew 17.5 million Nigerian adult viewers.

This he also said, amounts to 20 per cent of the Nigerian adult population, even as over 25 million adults from all the surveyed African nations watched the Nigeria game, making it the most watched game in these markets over the first 5 days of play.

Mr. Eberhard said that Ghana’s World Cup viewership stays high across games - Ghana viewership has remained high across all games: 3.5 million watched the opening game between Brazil and Croatia, and the gripping match between Ghana and the United States on Monday attracted 2.4 million adult Ghanaian viewers.

The U.S./Ghana game aired at 10pm Ghana time, the report revealed might explain the drop in viewership numbers in the country, compared to the earlier Monday games which saw 3.1 million Ghanaian viewers.

“On average across the first 5 days of games, 2.2 million Ghanaians have tuned in to every hour of play,” he said. 

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Pix: GeoPoll founder, Mr. James Eberhard

Leverage internet benefits says Angaye to Nigerian youths

ITRealms:

Immediate past Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Cyber security expert, Prof. Cleopas Angaye has tasked Nigerian youths to tap on the benefits of the internet, reports ITRealms.

Angaye who made this call at the third session of the youth workshop organized as pre-event for the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) 2014 at the Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos, recently, described the internet as the global information technology network which has developed more quickly than any other technology.

ITRealms also reports that he told the youths that benefits of the Internet, entails that Nigeria is rated the highest internet accessing country on the continent, noting that Nigeria has the seventh highest number of mobile phones and the third highest users of Facebook.

“There are several developmental opportunities for the youths in Nigeria,” he declared and listed some of these benefits to include venturing into online games, entertainment, social networking, travel, productivity cum education, utilities, weather, mobile technology hardware, software; management solutions.

Others, he said are Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking solutions, device manufacturing, mobile resellers, app developers, equipment vendors, content providers, mobile network carriers, mobile web.

The aforementioned, he said, are in addition to mobile commerce and mobile payments, and mobile retailers.

However, Prof. Angaye pointed out that alongside all these benefits, there is Internet fraud. He maintained that there are many opportunities for cyber crime, which come as risk of connectivity.

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Pix: Prof. Angaye.

Johnson elected chairperson of UNCSTD

ITRealms:

The Minister of Communication Technology and Supervising Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr (Mrs.) Omobola Johnson has been elected as the Chairperson of the United Nations’ Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) reports ITRealms.

The election of Dr Johnson, according to the special assistant on media to the minister, Mrs Efem Nkanga, took place at the end of the 17th Session of the Commission that was held from May 12-16, 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland.

ITRealms also gathered that the position of Chairperson is for a period of one year and presents an opportunity for Nigeria to play a role in discussions that will shape the role of science and technology in development.

These discussions,  ITRealms reports also included deliberations on the manner in which the internet could be governed globally.

The CSTD is a subsidiary body of the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and plays an advisory role to the UN General Assembly and ECOSOC on a range of relevant issues.

These issues pertain to the contributions of science and technology to development, particularly in developing countries. Furthermore, since 2006, CSTD has also advised ECOSOC on the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The CSTD is composed of forty-three Members States that are elected by ECOSOC for a term of four years, and who meet annually for a period of one week. Nigeria is one of the eleven African States that are Members of the Commission, and its tenure on the Commission ends in 2016.
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‘No more IPv4 addresses in Latin America, Caribbean’ says LACNIC

ITRealms:

The Latin America and the Caribbean region have entered the IPv4 exhaustion phase, just as the slow in deploying Internet Protocol version Six (IPv6) in the region has become a cause for concern, reports ITRealms.

The Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACNIC), the organization responsible for assigning Internet resources in the region, announced the exhaustion of its IPv4 address pool and expressed its concern regarding the fact that operators and governments throughout the region are delaying the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

ITRealms reports that LACNIC disclosed that its pool of available IPv4 addresses reached the 4.194.302 mark, which triggered stricter Internet resource assignment policies for the continent.

In practice, ITRealms gathered, this means that IPv4 addresses are now exhausted for Latin American and Caribbean operators.

"This is an historic event; the fact that it was anticipated and announced doesn't make it any less significant," said Raúl Echeberría, LACNIC's CEO, stressing that from now on, LACNIC and its National Registries will only be able to assign very small numbers of IPv4 addresses, and these will not be enough to satisfy the region's needs.

Since it began operating in 2002, ITRealms reports that the organization has assigned more than 182 million IPv4 addresses throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

As agreed by the regional community, now that only 4,194,302 available IPv4 addresses (/10) remain, LACNIC's pool of IPv4 addresses is considered officially exhausted and the Gradual Exhaustion and New Entrants policies have come into effect, introducing new procedures and requirements for those requesting resources.

The policy on Transfers of IPv4 Blocks within the LACNIC Region, which allows and governs the transfer of resources among different organizations within the region, is now also in effect.

"Today, the need to deploy IPv6 is now more pressing than ever. It cannot be delayed any longer if connectivity providers still wish to meet the demands of their customers and those of new users. LACNIC and the Internet community have been working for years in preparation for this very moment," said Echeberría.

Accordingly, ITRealms gathered some 67 per cent of LACNIC member organizations have already been assigned IPv6 addresses by LACNIC and National Registries, NIC.br and NIC.MX.

LACNIC's CEO, however, expressed his concern that "10 years after LACNIC and National Registries, NIC.br and NIC.MX.  began promoting IPv6 deployment, many operators and companies still haven't taken the steps needed to duly address this circumstance."

2,097,150 of the remaining 4,194,302 addresses may be assigned during this phase, in blocks of limited sizes (assignments) comprising between 256 and 1,024 IP addresses. Likewise, an organization may only request additional resources six months after receiving a prior assignment. Once these 2 million IPv4 addresses are exhausted, LACNIC members will no longer be able to receive any IPv4 assignments.

At that point, the reserve for new members (/11) will be activated, thus triggering Phase 3 of the IPv4 exhaustion plan designed by LACNIC and the National Registries. According to the policies in force, during this final phase only new members will be able to request IPv4 addresses, which will be assigned in blocks of between 256 (/24) and 1,024 (/22) addresses. Each new member will only be able to receive one assignment from this space.

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ICANN releases final report on 'Mitigating the Risk of DNS Namespace Collisions Phase One'

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Wednesday announced the publication of the final "Mitigating the Risk of DNS Namespace Collisions Phase One" report by JAS Global Advisors ("JAS").

The JAS study, which was commissioned by ICANN, provides a set of recommendations that describe a comprehensive approach to reducing current and future DNS namespace collisions, alerting operators of potential DNS namespace related issues, and providing emergency response capabilities in the event that critical, for instance life safety, systems are adversely impacted. 

ITRealms gathered that the final Phase One report takes into consideration feedback received during the public comment period that closed on 21 April 2014.

The JAS report, along with additional community feedback and other pertinent data, will be considered prior to providing the ICANN Board New gTLD Program Committee with a proposal to address name collisions for new gTLDs as part of the New gTLD Collision Occurrence Management Plan adopted on 7 October 2013.

ITRealms recalls that a session to discuss this proposal and collect feedback from the community will be held at the ICANN meeting in London on 23 June 2015 at 17:00-18:30 local time.

The report could be download here.

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CPN ready for IT Assembly 2014, Prof. Bacon leads keynote

ITRealms:

The Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) has advanced plans for the hosting of its 2014 edition of the Information Technology (IT) Assembly slated to hold between June 18 and 19 at Nicon Luxury, Abuja, ITRealms reports.

Confirming this, the chairman in council of CPN, Hajia Sekinat Olusola Yusuf, told ITRealms the assembly is an exclusive networking event for senior and upcoming IT decision makers, consultants, entrepreneurs, practitioners, teachers, students, systems administrators and other interested members of the public, on the theme: Harnessing the potentials of IT professionals for national development.

She disclosed ITRealms that President, British Computer Society, Prof. Liz Bacon, would give the keynote at this year’s IT Assembly.

Mrs. Yusuf also told ITRealms that the rationale for the assembly is based on the fact that development of any nation is usually measured by the degree and extent of the socio-cultural, economic and political improvements that are brought to bear through the enterprises of IT.

“There is no gainsaying that the present world order is one strictly ruled by the power of information,” she declared, adding that there is a direct link between a nation’s material prosperity and that of her information-wealth, hence, IT is the vital resource which provides impetus for a nation’s technological advancement.

She described this year’s IT Assembly as unique in many ways including that it’s issue-based and topic focused.

“We’re doing so many things differently this year. There will be no parallel sessions this year. This is to enable all attendees participate fully in all the plenary sessions,” she said, pointing out that this would enable all attendees to participate fully in all the plenary sessions.

Mrs. Yusuf accompanied by the CPN registrar, Mr. Shehu Sekiru, Head, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Idowu Olusile and Head, Technical, Mr. Ibrahim, emphasised that IT Assembly believes that it is time Nigeria begins to take advantage of its vast resources and enormous potentials in IT to address daunting national challenges.

In furtherance of achieving its theme, CPN, she said, would be comparing notes with the keynote address to be delivered by the President, British Computer Society, Prof. Liz Bacon, to ensure that CPN approach is in tandem with the global best practices.

Equally, the Assembly, she said, would provide a platform for some industry innovative showcase of products and services, thus offering participants the opportunity to appreciate emerging technologies, trends and risks associated with transformation of various industries using IT.

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Johnson, Juwah commend DigitalSENSE Africa on IG4D, IPv6 2014

ITRealms:

The Honourable Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, have commended the management of DigitalSENSE Africa Media Limited, for consistency in hosting the Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) and the Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable to educate Nigerians on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry issues.

Both spoke at the two-day 2014 edition of the Nigeria DigitalSENSE forum series held at Welcome Centre Hotels in Lagos with the theme “Internet Governance, eBiz and Open Access in Nigeria and IPv6 and Broadband Penetration.”

Mrs. Johnson who was represented by the Assistant Director, Computer Services at the ministry, Engr. Olufeko Olufemi, applauded DigitalSENSE Africa for the role it has played over the years, especially in the last six years.

She urged other reputed organizations to emulate DigitalSENSE Africa and encouraged industry stakeholders support for such a forum as Nigeria DigitalSENSE, because government and her agencies cannot do the job of public awareness for instance, along, more so on Internet Governance as part of the bottom-up process.

Also speaking at the event presided over by the Head, Computer Sciences, University of Lagos, Prof. Charles Uwadia, the EVC of NCC ably represented by the Deputy Director, Projects at NCC, Mr. Bashir Idris, in his keynote commended DigitalSENSE Africa for providing the relevant platform to address very topical issues such as the theme of this year’s forum across the many topical issues and developments across the ICT industry in Nigeria in recent times.

“We believe these are healthy for the quest to create the needed awareness among the stakeholders and beneficiaries of the potentials that abound in the industry,” he said.

NCC, he said, has plans to be very present and visible at the international level of discussions on all issues surrounding the ICT industry, stressing that the reason for this is to ensure that NCC impacts on discussions and decisions on global trends and regulations that evolve in the dynamic ICT space.

“This is why we are now paying more attention, and participating in the activities of the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, which is the global regulator of the telecom industry,” he said.

The Internet Governance Forum, he emphasised, is particularly of interest to NCC, which have currently raised a team in the Commission that is taking part on all the Internet Governance Forum discussions taking place around Africa and beyond.

“The reason is to ensure that our interest as a nation is fully represented at these discussions and to also ensure that we have first hand knowledge of how best to exploit the potentials that abound on the Internet,” EVC said.

Pointing out that as is in many issues where the global community has different views and interests in a technology platform, Internet Governance has become an issue of discussion over the years.

“It is yet to be seen if the world would gravitate to accept common laws regarding access and use of the Internet,” he said.

Welcoming participants earlier to 2014 edition of NDSF on IG4D, the Executive Director, Operations at DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, said the platform was created and nurtured to date as a think-tank platform where Nigerian internet stakeholders converge annually to raise and address germane issues concerning the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector with particular reference to Computing, Internet Governance-related issues towards helping to further advance Nigeria in the ever-rapidly advancing phenomenon of global ICT.

This year’s forum on  ‘Internet Governance, eBiz and Open Access in Nigeria.’ offers Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom operators, value added service providers as well as all other stakeholders, the enabling ground to articulate a stand on Internet governance issues and accurately align NDSF on IG4D position into the national, regional, Africa and global agenda.

“It is pertinent at this juncture, to remind all young internet users particularly, to always be mindful of what they post on the internet because everything posted on the net is traceable to the author. Therefore, you are passionately advised to mind the stuff you post and the language with which such materials are posted on the internet for global consumption,” she asserted, stressing that this is important because the result of what people send or share online for the consummation of the global village remains their permanent signature and model of image which will definitely rub off on such an individual in all their future contacts.

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Day1 - IG4D Forum 2014: L-r Representative of Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah represented by Mr. Bashir Idris, chairman, Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D 2014) Prof. Charles Uwadia, Executive Director, Operations, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson represented by Engr. Olufeko Olufemi taking the nation anthem held at the Welcome Center Hotels, Lagos

Day2 - IPv6 Roundtable 2014: L-r Chairman, Nigeria IPv6 Roundtable 2014, Engr. Titi Omo-Ettu, Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa Media, the organisers, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, guest speaker and chief executive officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) Mr. Muhammed Rudman held at the Welcome Center Hotels, Lagos.

Prof. Akunyili bows to cancer at last, RIP!

ITRealms:

The Immediate past Minister of Information & Communications, Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili, died this morning in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, losing a two-year battle against cancer. The sad event took place about 10am Nigerian time (3pm Indian time) four weeks after Prof. Akunyili was flown to India for further treatment on Sunday, May 11, 2014, having initially been treated in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

Late Professor Akunyili, it was gathered, died peacefully, surrounded by her husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, and her brother, Dr. Francis Anayo Edemobi, both of whom travelled to India with her on May 11 and remained by her side until she drew her last breath.

Born on July 14, 1954, Prof. Akunyili would have turned 60 next month. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, her siblings, her children, grandchildren and a host of relatives.  

Popularly known as The Amazon, Prof. Dora Akunyili was a first class patriot who deeply loved Nigeria and served the country with all she had, irrespective of whatever risks was involved in doing so. 

She demonstrated this in all her assignments – from the classroom at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), to the Presidential (Special) Task Force (PTF), National Agency for Food & Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC), Ministry of Information & Communications, Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation, and the on-going National Conference in Abuja, of which she was a member until her death.

Below is the official statement of her death as issued on behalf of her family by immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, CON:

“PROF. (MRS.) DORA AKUNYILI IS DEAD

“On behalf of the Akunyili's family, I wish to officially confirm the death of Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Nkem Akunyili, OFR, in a Specialist Cancer Hospital in India this morning at 10 am, Nigerian Time, after a two-year battle with cancer.

“In spite her illness, Prof. Akunyili was unwavering in her belief in a better Nigeria. That was why she defied her condition and was part of Anambra State Handover Committee and the National Conference.

“The last time I visited her in India, even when she needed all the prayers herself, she was full of concern for the abducted Chibok girls, security and other challenges facing the country and told me that she remained prayerful for the release of those girls and for God to help President Goodluck Jonathan to overcome all the challenges facing the Nation. She therefore urged all Nigerians to remain prayerful and committed to building a better society for our children. We all prayed together and I promised to be visiting her every month.

“We thank all those who remain fervent in prayers for her recovery and urge them to remain prayerful for the peaceful repose of her soul.”

Outside headline and pix/Courtesy News Express

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•Pix late Prof. Dora Akunyili.

Different shapes of Cloud hinges on trust by Antony Cook

ITRealms:

The Assistant General Counsel, Microsoft Middle East and Africa, Antony Cook, who dwelt on Cloud Computing: Privacy and Security, asserting that trust is the key to cloud services, at an event in Lagos, reports ITRealms.

And for Cook, the numbers matters so much, stating that mobility checks has seen 1.1 billion global smartphone subscribers, yet 5 billion non-smartphone users still exist globally.

Cook also said that on mobility, there are over a billion users, Facebook users are now in the hands of 680 million mobile, just as 175 million tweets are generated daily.

On the big data, Cook pointed out that there was 2.4 billion global internet users in 2012, whereas total amount of digital information in the world is increasing 10x every 5 years, with the Cloud being the enabling force for all these trends.

Thus, for Cook, clouds come in different shapes, namely the public, private and public cum private clouds.

For the public clouds, Cook said this manages data centers by service provides within agile, cost effective and scalable.

Private clouds, the counsel said is on-premises or hosted by a third party which could be more secured, more customizable, greater control and more overhead.

Accordingly, the AGM at Microsoft says that public and private clouds has reputed for optimal mix of cost and control, while agile, scalable, more secure and cost effectiveness could be outlined as seeming advantages.

Some key benefits of the cloud include cost savings, security and performance.

Precisely, Antony said that for the cost savings, cloud services provide cost savings without compromising on quality.

On the security benefit, Antony said experience and scale enabled cloud service providers are known to offer more robust security.

Even as the performance gains involve cloud services which enable customers to innovate and operate at a faster pace.

However, across security, privacy and compliance, he pointed out that trust is key, stressing that people would like to know how safe are their data in the cloud, where will my data be stored and who can access it for  hat purposes, whilst on compliance, customers will like to know if the cloud will increase their regulatory risk?

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Airtel kick-off Rising Stars Season 4

ITRealms:

Airtel Nigeria, Wednesday in Lagos kicked off the 4th edition of Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) U-17 male and female tournament, a grass-root football talent search programme aimed at identifying and nurturing budding soccer talent from the grassroots onto a national stage, reports ITRealms.

This, ITRealms gathered is coming 10 months after a successful hosting of the 3rd edition of the ARS, an Africa-wide grassroots tournament that underscores the company’s avowed commitment to creating excitement for sports lovers as well as providing empowerment opportunities for Nigerian youth.

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, noted that the soccer initiative is the company’s contribution to sports development and youth empowerment in Nigeria.

Ogunsanya who was accompanied by ex Super Eagles and Falcons Stars including Peter Rufai, Ann Chiejine, Chioma Ajunwa, Garba Lawal and Mutiu Adepoju said football in Nigeria elicits passion, creates fun and engenders unity.

“Airtel wants to be an integral part of local communities and our association with football has strong elements of creating positive change and engagement. ARS is our contribution to building and sustaining a rich pool of football talents for the Super Eagles and Falcons,” he said.

While highlighting the success of the Airtel Rising Starts intervention, the Airtel CEO also noted that the initiative has provided strong platforms for empowering exceptionally talented Nigerians.

"It is on record that the Airtel Rising Stars Football programme has produced exceptional talents some of whom are: Musa Mohammed Shehu- Captain Golden Eaglets U17- (ARS 2011); Zahradden Bello- U17- ARS (2012); AL Hassan Ibrahim Abdullahi- U17- ARS (2011); Muri Lawal- Sunshine Stars FC Akure- ARS (2011) and Josephine Mathias- Falconets, Pelican Stars FC Calabar- ARS (2011),” he said.

According to Ogunsanya, the fourth edition of the Airtel Rising Stars programme will be played in different regions across the country, culminating in the National Finals, a three-day soccer fiesta. Thereafter, the successful male and female teams will travel to Gabon to compete for continental glory in Africa’s biggest youth football tournament with participation from 17 countries.

With over 50,000 active participants over the last 3 seasons, ARS enjoys the endorsement and support of football bodies such as Lagos State Football Association (LSFA), Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), Arsenal Football Club and Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF). This year, Airtel is partnering ex super eagles and falcons stars to offer technical support and advisory services to the youngsters.

Beginning with Open Screening Camps in five locations, where the participants will be screened for age compliance and given the opportunity to showcase their talents, the selected male and female teams in each camp will proceed to Lagos to challenge for honors at the National Finals.

The Airtel Rising Stars U-17 Tourney, a unique pan African initiative of Airtel Africa, is designed to provide support for the development of football talents across Nigeria. It aims at discovering talented students (male and female) of secondary school age and providing them the opportunity to gain football skills and develop into renowned stars.

The Airtel Rising Stars registration will kick-off from today, June 4th, 2014 to Friday, June 27th, 2014 and is expected to draw thousands of participants across the country. The registration forms will be available at Airtel Express shops nationwide.

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