Benin produces 8 millionaires @ One9ja game show

The ancient city of Benin, last week, produced eight millionaires in the on-going One9ja game show by the fifth Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Etisalat Nigeria.

The game which is on its fifth edition, saw a total of N11 million won during the game show, following the four other game shows previously held in Kaduna, Lagos, Abuja and Enugu states, where N44 million have been carted home by subscribers on the Etisalat network.

Emerging as the highest winner at the Benin show, Mrs Amaka Ezendu took home two million and fifty thousand naira, followed by Samuel Chukwudi, Ernest Ogbemudia, Glory Eiwone and Ilozulike Chimezie, each winning one million one hundred thousand naira respectively, while Ejoke Aisire, Okonkwo Blessing and Esther Ofefagha went home with one million naira each.

Some of the consolation prize winners of N50,000 include Bobi Zion Onoriode,  Roselyn Ogbemo, Henry Ijeoma, Ese Onojetah, Odjus Utuyorume.

The Director Segments and Marketing Strategy, Etisalat, Seki Akande, said at the event that Etisalat customers are the heart of its business.

“With this promo, we are not only rewarding our old and new subscribers, we are also giving every Nigerian an opportunity to experience our world class products and services, built from 33 years of operation in different climes. The 9jillions promotion represents the biggest cash prize winning in Africa and thus serves as a veritable platform to reach out to our subscribers” Akande said.

The Director revealed that 4,320 high-end mobile phones were given to lucky subscribers during the first phase of the promotion, which ended recently and explained further that the regional one9ja game shows will hold in more cities in the coming weeks before the last phase, while the grand finale holds in October, where one lucky subscriber will walk away with the grand prize of one million dollars.

“All a new or existing subscriber has to do is use up to N1,000 in a month, then send his location and name to #5123 to qualify for a chance to participate in the grand finale”, she said.

The star-studded event witnessed performances from artists such as DJ Zeez, Earthquake, Bigiano, Timaya, Banky W, Sean J and Flavor. The popular comedian, MC Gordons, was at his best as the MC of the day.

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Lagos honours Glo on youth development

The Lagos State government has honoured Globacom, the second national operator (SNO), with the Jam Feast Award, for its outstanding role in inspiring Nigerian youths towards educational and personal development.

The award, which was endorsed by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Adebisi Sosan and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Omolara Erogbogbo, gave recognition to Globacom as a force in ideas generation for the youth through its popular slogan – Rule your World.

Presenting the award to Globacom recently on behalf of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mr. Olalekan Iginla-Azeez, the technical consultant for the project stated that the award was given to Globacom in recognition of its high sense of corporate social responsibility, and for its positive role in the cultural and educational development of the young people of Lagos State.

He also said the advertising phrase “Rule your World” popularised by the company is a daily reminder to the youth to go beyond all physical boundaries and excel in every area of endeavour they wish to explore in order to make their dreams come true.

“By this inspirational phrase, Globacom directly connects with the youth thereby encouraging the future generation towards achieving excellence in education, innovation and entrepreneurship in the spirit of self discovery”, he said.

The award was won by Globacom for its outstanding contribution in the telecommunications category.

The Lagos State Jam Feast Award ceremony featured hundreds of students drawn from secondary schools across the state who were exposed to training to build their self esteem, promote value re-orientation, wealth creation, inculcation of positive family values and the spirit of societal development.

The next Award which will be on the theme, “Invention and Entrepreneurship towards Self Discovery for Future Living”, is expected to hold in December this year.

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NIG, ITAN want Kalu immortalized

As the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector mourns the sudden death of the President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mr. Ndukwe Kalu, the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) has called for immortalization of his name, reports CHARLES OKOH.

This is coming as the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) has described late Kalu as one of the special few intellectually endowed Nigerians worthy of emulation.

Press statements from both industry groups endorsed by their presidents, Messrs Lanre Ajayi and Jimson Olufuye, were full of eulogizies for the late Mr. Kalu.

According to Ajayi, NIG is saddened with the news that one of its own and President of NiRA, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu, whose sudden death occurred last week.

NIG, he said, conveyed its sincere condolence to the entire Nigerian Internet community, NiRA and Amsco Telecom where late Kalu was the chief executive before his death as well as his immediate family.

Describing Kalu as a gem that has gone too early in life, NIG recalled his impeccable input at various Internet gathering and especially the evolution that befell the localization of the hosting of the Nigeria’s country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) name, .ng.

“This achievement must not be forgotten in a hurry and thus we advocate the immortalization of the ideals and patriotic believes of Mr. Ndukwe Kalu,” he urged.

Equally in his condolence on Kalu’s demise, ITAN president, Olufuye said that the end of everyone is death and has struck again, taking away “our very dear Kalu Ndukwe.” ITAN noted that Kalu was one of the few special Nigerians who believe in Nigeria and are ready to pay the supreme price by sticking out their necks to serve relentlessly in an environment where the overworked and overstressed for peanuts.

“I join the IT family to condole his family. It is a transformation we never thought would happen now but what can we say other than to pray for the family for the comfort of the Holy Spirit and the assurance of eternal abode in the bosom of the Lord,” he said.

The ITAN president quoted 1 Thess.4:13-14, saying that Kalu has only taken a deep sleep from earth, but hope to see him in eternity.

He enjoined Nigerian IT professionals to emulate Kalu as his legacy was apparent for all to see in NIRA, IT Policy Review to name a few.

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Nigeria, 42 others to benefit from HIPSSA – ITU boss

A total of 43 out of 52 African countries, including Nigeria, would directly benefit from the Harmanisation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa (HIPSSA).

The Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Dr. Hamadoun Toure, made this disclosure Friday at a press conference to bring to a close the African Telecom Development Initiative (ATDI) Summit, which held in Abuja.

Highlighting a couple of areas where ITU has been playing concrete role in sustainability of the gains of telecommunications development on the continent, Dr. Toure, who was accompanied by the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe and Head, External Affairs & Corporate Communications at ITU, Mr. Luiz Fernando Ferreira Da Silva, said that HIPSSA is being implemented with the support of the European Union (EU).

This, he said, would directly benefit 43 African countries, aimed at developing and promoting harmonized policies and guidelines for the ICT market.

He also said that HIPSSA would facilitate the building of human and institutional capacity in the field of ICT through a range of targeted training and knowledge-sharing measures.

In addition, Toure said that ITU through its current flagship project, the Connect a School, Connect a Community, to be launched at the upcoming ITU World Telecom 2009 in Geneva, would provide a set of new communities with access and education.

“We hope that the project would act as one-stop-shop for ICT access,” he said, noting that unlike a number of programmes managed by other organizations in the past, ‘Connect a School, Connect a Community’ do not promote dial-up or low-speed internet access, but instead focuses directly on broadband.

He emphasized that ITU with this project is focusing on giving access to communities via ICT centres for isolated, rural and marginal urban areas.

“We are placing particular focus on groups such as women and girls, indigenous people, persons with disabilities, and youth and children,” he asserted.

According to him, ITU Telecom World expo represents an unrivalled opportunity for the ICT industry to showcase new products and services, and debate the crucial issues that will define tomorrow’s ICT landscape, in an environment that features a unique and unparalleled level of top public sector attendance.

He pointed out that the advent of financial crisis has led ITU to strengthen this aspect of the event, to promote active participant by Head of States and Government, thereby creating an exclusive and privileged opportunity for communications at the very highest level between the public and private sectors.

“We expect to welcome over 30 Heads of State and heads of government, along with C-level executives from any of the world’s most exciting Information and Communication Technology players,” he said.

Stressing that it is crucial at this period of world’s economic recovery that Africa’s ICT development brings together leaders from both the public and private sectors.

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SAP names Ekajeh regional manager

Leading providers of business software, System Applications Products (SAP) has announced the appointment of Mr. Noble Ekajeh, as its regional manager for West Africa.

Mr. Ekajeh, a Nigerian information and technology professional, who assumed the duty from September 1, will oversee all functions of the business whilst driving SAP’s footprint expansion in the region.

Ekajeh began his career in August 1993, as a district manager, handling the West Africa business for American Power Conversion (APC) in France.

In March 1999, he was appointed Business Development Manager for Compaq West Africa, from where he rose to the position of Personal Systems Group (PSG) Country Manager for Hewlett-Packard overseeing the change locally arising from the merger between HP and Compaq globally.

He joined SAP from ATM Consortium Ltd where he was managing director from July 2004 to date.

Responding to his appointment, Ekajeh expressed commitment to focus on the West African market by SAP and looks forward to expanding with the team, the scope and depth of its business in the region.

Commenting on the choice of Ekajeh, the managing director, SAP Africa, Mr. Pfungwa Serima, expressed satisfaction with his personality and over 13 years of experience in the IT industry at both the local and international levels which places him on an excellent position to deliver on company’s expectation for the region.

On the SAP World Tour West Africa, which took place in Lagos, he said, “this appointment bodes well for SAP Africa as it further entrenches our commitment to West Africa, which forms a significant focus of our business as we continue our ambitious growth trajectory in Africa.”

In addition, ITRealms Online gathered that in the coming weeks, Mr. Ekajeh is expected at the continental office for an in-house induction exercise to further familiarize him with modules of SAP in South Africa before fully assuming office.

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Telecom investors can’t ignore Nigeria – Akunyili

Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili, has declared that the nation’s telecommunications revolution is a success story despite all the challenges therein, saying that today, a quarter of Africans using mobile phones are Nigerians.

She also said that the avalanche of telecommunications induced trade has made Nigeria indispensable to any serious investor who wants to relate with Africans, especially given that a quarter of African mobile users are Nigerians.

Speaking while receiving the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Dr. Hamadoun Toure, who paid her a courtesy visit in Abuja, Thursday, Akunyili noted that the Nigerian telecommunication sector has already become a success, even as government is determined to sustain the tempo.

She noted that presently, Nigerian mobile subscriber-base has reached 68 million, and there is room for growth in the years ahead.

She assured that her ministry would work with the telecom regulator in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to ensure that quality of service would continue to improve.

“We’re going to work with NCC to ensure that quality of service improves,” she declared.

Akunyili pointed out that most Nigerians carry more than one mobile phone basically due to poor quality of service among telecom operators.

She also informed the visiting Sec-Gen of ITU that a Nigerian subscriber is worth about 10 subscribers in the developed world, because a Nigerian would prefer to skip a lunch and make calls than stay without reaching out, which is unlike those in developed world who would like a call to be very short.

So, Nigeria is happy about the growth and in the next few years, this would grow, stressing that Nigeria and Africa is proud of Dr. Toure’s election even if he wants a second term.

“Your election calls for celebration and you are showing the world that colour is not a barrier to good leadership. Just like Obama is doing in the United States,” she said.

Speaking earlier, Dr. Toure told the Minister that he was in the country to attend the 2009 edition of African Telecom Development Summit and wanted to use the opportunity to appreciate the government, especially her ministry.

He said that ITU is working on a number of fronts with collaboration of other stakeholders by playing its role of proffering solutions.

“I am pleased to see Africa is contributing to the world’s economy,” he said, adding that the progress made in Nigeria could not have been achieved without the support of the ministry and government of Nigeria.

“We need private sector, good governance and fair regulator to ensure sustainability,” he said.

Emphasizing that in the last five years, Africa has increasingly grown its quota in the world telecom space and was happy at the summit that opened in Abuja that various ministries were well represented, which indicated the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to this government.

A few years ago, Dr. Toure said, calls from this part of the world was not counting, but today, most of the calls made in Africa revolves around Nigeria.

As said by him, telecom industry the world over, is booming, hence resilient and even as two-third of jobs created presently are in ICT, just as Nigeria has over 41 per cent of African telecom market.

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ICT sector mourns Ndukwe Kalu’s demise

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the country is mourning the sudden death of the President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mr. Ndukwe Kalu, which occurred last week.
Kalu reportedly passed on Tuesday in his office in Lagos at about 6.00 pm after attending to some official matters.
A family source informed that Kalu, who steered NiRA to a historical peak recently when he concluded the transfer of Nigeria’s country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) name, .ng, precisely on May 13, 2009 with the global coordinating internet agency, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
He was reported not to have shown any sign of ailment before he was eventually found dead.
Kalu was found face-down on his office table by some staff as they wondered why the office window was not shut while the rain was on.
“So, we moved closer and saw him being wet by rain, we felt that was unusual and quickly rushed in only to discover he had gone,” one of the staff said.
He was immediately rushed to a hospital where he was confirmed “brought in dead.”

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HA-09: Communicators tasked on ICT interface for Africa

African media practitioners have been charged to find an alternative of interfacing between the continent and global development agendas.

The vice chancellor of Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, Dr. Saleem Badat gave this charge at his opening address to the 13th Highway Africa Conference, which commenced on Monday in the school campus, Grahamstown.

The theme of the three-day conference on ‘Reporting Africa: 2010, Development and Democracy’ directly speaks to Africans and media practitioners in particular on the opportunities and challenges that confront continent at the moment.

“But how are media professionals framing the interface of African and global development agendas? What are your narratives of the global financial crisis in terms of causes and effects, opportunities and threats?” he asked.

Wondering how African media professionals understand the future of African development in the light of the challenges against the orthodox thinking on economic development and the supremacy of the ‘free’ market?

Overtly proffering a solution, Dr. Badat said that Highway Africa provides a wonderful platform for these and other important questions to be answered positively.
Journalists and media practitioners on the continent, he said, should report on development, they must understand what development is all about in order to make good and also is what keeps academia and journalists in common.

He advised that African journalists to embrace wide issues; of culture and political issues, stressing that on the issues of ownership and inequity as well as concerned with the expansion of human rights issues

“Development is ultimately the process of expanding the real freedom that people enjoy,” he said.

Historically, experience had showed that catching up and defining development is not in unison, especially at the period of economic growth are actually worsening the inequity among the people.

In Africa, he noted, at times its impossible to tie emancipation of democracy to development; people must be feed before they could think of development, which suggests that development proceeds democracy.

According to him, each year hundreds of media professionals, academics, students and activists trek to city of Grahamstown for the Highway Africa Conference, of which the university is privileged to host as participants debate, share ideas, network, educate and train.

“I also welcome the educators from the rest of Africa and abroad who will be holding parallel meetings to the conference in preparation for the World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) in July 2010. Rhodes is honoured and tremendously excited to host the WJEC,” he declared.

He pointed out that the annual Highway Africa Conference is proudly the flagship event of the university, and Rhodes would continuously support to encourage growth and evolution.

“This growth would not have been possible without the generous support of our partners, who include the Department of Communications, the SABC, corporate sponsors, donor agencies, foundations and individuals. I especially thank the staff of the School of Journalism and Media Studies who work creatively and tirelessly to make the Highway Africa Conference possible,” he said.

While wishing participants from across the continent a successful and productive conference, the South African Minister of Communications, General Siphiwe Nyanda (retired) noted that his office has been a key partner of the Highway Africa Conference for the last ten years.

“That we should partner with a Pan-African conference stems from our strong belief that the media is a key stakeholder in society because journalists have to inform and educate our people on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) developments unfolding on the continent and on how the ordinary citizen stands to benefit in terms of access and affordability,” he said.

Nyanda expressed glad that this conference takes place when Africa has two key developments on the continent, namely the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the commissioning of several fibre optic cables around the continent.

“As we head for the 2010 FIFA World Football Cup, I am convinced that Africa will deliver the best tournament ever, and part of that success will be as a result of the technological infrastructure we are putting in place now,” he said.

In addition, he pointed out that the South African government and other key stakeholders who are exerting all their energies, skills, resources and passion into this unique opportunity for South Africa and Africa, will see to the greater success of the continent.

Reiterated the support of the DoC to Highway Africa beyond 2010, he said, stressing it will continue to play its part in the debates, plans and implementation programmes on ICT, in the context of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU).

“As we do this, we hope that you, the African journalists, will tell the stories of our people – their hopes, potential and progress – and what role ICT will play in realizing these dreams,” the Minister submitted.


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Computer literacy goes beyond email access – Omenugha

Head, Mass Communication department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Dr. (Mrs) Kate Azuka Omenugha in a chat with our senior reporter, REMMY NWEKE at the African Council for Communications Education Conference (ACCE-09), recently at the University of Legon, Accra-Ghana, says that computer literacy goes beyond access to electronic mails.
Excerpts:


Effect of ICT in communications delivery? 
In a conference like this one, you have a range of papers, discussions and issues that have been raised in this conference and part of the things that have been discussed is Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Africa. Somebody presented a paper describing Africa as being at a cross road in ICT. I presented a paper looking at the negative and positive sides of use of Information and Communications Technology by Nigerian students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

Africans have advanced in the use of ICT but we are not where we ought to be.
There are problems of money and break down in server which has affected the advancement of Africans in the use of ICT.

We looked at the application of ICT by Nigerians and we found a lot of them use it for negative purposes, people distracting in the class. We find the students lack in the use of the materials they find in the internet.

The word plagiarism means nothing to them. Some of them visit pornographic sites, they play games in the class. It has empowered some of them who have used it to contact people they would not have been able to meet before.

We found that it affects their studies because some of the language they use like in the text messages and email they have imported into their academic uses. They use a lot of abbreviations, what has been called anti-language.
 
What could be the solution? 
That is part of the challenges that will be facing academic scholars, researchers, educators in Africa, especially Nigeria. It is part of what we need to prepare our minds to how we can combat the negative uses. We need to talk about improving their computer literacy and education. It is not being able to access the internet and using the computer that is literacy, they need to understand the implications of some of the things they do. Some of them have no idea of what we call intellectual property, they need to be taught that and there is need to include that in the curriculum in the universities so that students can understand the ethical implication in what they do.
 
On the issue of plagiarism don’t you think the educationists in the communications sector are not doing enough in this regard?
 
I agree with you. But I still see a lot of positive uses which we have to try and strengthen. But students I have spoken to know that it is only the entertainment aspect that they dwell on but we need to put some punitive measure so that when they do not conform to certain principles and uses of these ICTs they get some sort of punitive measure for their action. So, I believe we have not really channeled our minds to trying to do something, but again, that is one of the challenges we are facing
 
What is your view on gender participation, first at this conference, and then within the field of mass communications?
 If you look at the conference here, you will see that the women here are, perhaps, 20, 30 per cent and mass communications has always been a male dominated area. Somebody did a research on the gender balancing in communication education between what we have in the classroom and the profession. As educators we wonder why as students we have more women in the classrooms but fewer in the profession.
 
What do you think is responsible for women quitting for other profession on graduation from the school of communications?
 
They do not really divert, sometimes, they get married to men who open shops for them or put them at home. As a matter of fact, what I do with my students in the mass communications department is that I get their address and ask them to write me when they get a job. I started that last year. I want to be able to do that for four to five years so that I can actually say this is where my students go on graduation. I hope to call them by September for those that left last year, I want to carry out my research to know where they go. It will be too tasking financially making these calls, but that is the only way you can know, we cannot know by just reading their bylines. I want to hear them say where they are, may be, in the bank or wherever.
 
Don’t you think the economic implication may be responsible?
 
It is not just the economic implication, but gender implication. I do not think in Nigeria, for example, a woman will ask the man to stay at home and become a house husband. It is more common for a man to say ‘you be a housewife after a result of academics.’ It is the question of culturally-defined roles for men and women.
So, it is more of gender than economy. Apart from keeping a home, most of the things women do, they do not get paid. They need to go beyond just being a housewife or mother. It is not economic but gender implication that I am concerned about.
 
What do you think the government can do in terms of policy formulation?
 
What I have always said about this is that government needs to provide an opportunity for women to advance themselves. Every woman would want to be a mother, so to be a mother and also a professional. People talk about exclusive breast-feeding yet most secondary schools do not have day-care centres. I taught in secondary school for 10 years, and as a mother I had to carry my baby on my back teaching. Government will need to know that if women are to be mothers, there is need to provide enabling environment. We can have day-care centres attached to every secondary school. So, it is a question of treating people equally as human beings knowing that a woman will have to advance her career.

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Enugu applauds Multi-Links entrance into South-East

The deputy governor of Enugu State, Chief Sunday Onyebuchi has pledged the support of the Enugu State government to telecommunications operators, especially Multi-Links Telkom.

Giving this assurance at the weekend, while welcoming Multi-Links Telkom team to the coal city on courtesy visit, Onyebuchi noted that the support has become necessary to encourage operators like Multi-Links Telkom to tap the Eastern market as they offer reliable and variety of Value Added Services (VAS), which include voice, data and Internet.

Chief Onyebuchi who represented the State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime, while welcoming the team led by the Multi-Links Telkom Chief Corporate Affairs Officer (CCAO), Mrs. Ijeoma Abazie, commended the operator for its excellent pedigree in service quality.

“We are happy to receive you into Enugu to offer your services to our people. Multi-Links is not a new name to me having being used to the service outside Enugu. We appreciate your presence in the state, we are encouraged by your coming and we would encourage our people to patronize you,” he said.

The Deputy Governor, who noted that recent development in the telecommunications sector of the economy had brought about strong competition among the operators, further said that both the operators and the people stand to benefit from such healthy competition since the operators are bound to offer high quality service and competitive tariffs to the consumers.

He pointed out that the government in the state had put in place the necessary infrastructure for investments to thrive, in the spirit of public-private sector partnership, and promised that Enugu government would provide all the necessary encouragement for Multi-Links to grow its business in the state.

To demonstrate government’s enthusiasm in partnering with Multi-Links, he said that the relevant government representatives would immediately commence discussions with Multi-Links to workout modalities for exploring the data and Internet services as a tool for enhancing government’s operations and efficiency within the system.

Abazie who was accompanied on the courtesy visit by Messrs Dumisani Mthethwa (Executive Sales), Chukwunonso Inoma (Executive, South East), Sonny Nwokoro (Acting Executive, Marketing, Olubayo Abiodun (Manager, Corporate Affairs) and Miss. Nkiru Uchenna (Sales Coordinator, South East), informed the deputy governor that Multi-Links was willing to offer attractive packages to the government to make administration less cumbersome.

She said that Multi-Links is committed to enhancing good governance by making its platform available for integrated communications platform at affordable rate for the civil service machinery of the Enugu State government. According to her Multi-Links aside from offering voice services has other service offerings including data and Internet.

She equally said that the government could as well take advantage of the 1x EV-Do and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services as a faster and cheaper route for connectivity within the government machineries.

Mrs. Abazie further said that Multi-Links Telkom was willing to provide a special product known as Close User Group (CUG) to help government run an internal communications network at an efficient cost to the government.

She stressed that the CUG works more or less like the conventional intercom because of its low cost and management attributes, stressing that CUG is more flexible in terms of mobility thereby making it possible for the civil service personnel on CUG service to be reached even on the go.

“The CUG has the combined character of both intercom and the conventional mobile phone,” she explained, and expressed gratitude to the government of Enugu State for the offer of support to Multi-Links.

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