Close-Up, partners plan to upset World Record on Tooth Brushing

Selected pupils from various schools in Lagos State at the kick off of the World

Record Tooth Brushing challenge to mark the World Oral Health Day 2013, recently.

Close-Up Toothpaste in partnership with Lagos State government, Nigerian Dental Association (NDA), HEIT Solutions, Vas2Net & Core Media, at the weekend commemorated the World Oral Health Day (WOHD) with plans to upset the World Record on Tooth Brushing.

ITRealms gathered that WOHD is celebrated every March 20 to prompt the public on the role of healthy mouth, gum and teeth play in the overall health of an individual. Just as the theme for this year was “Healthy Teeth for Healthy Life.”

The Oral Close-Up Category Manager at Unilever Nigeria, Mrs. Vivian Ihaza told participants Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, that Close Up and its partners intended to nurture healthier teeth and gums among communities and families across the country.

“Close Up will support the event where 300,000 students, at the same time in Lagos State will take part in a World Record Tooth Brushing Challenge to break the Guinness Book of Records earlier set by India,” she disclosed, stressing that the latest Guinness Book of Records on the event held by India brought together 176,000 people to brush their teeth at the same time.

Also speaking, the Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina reiterated the significance of a healthy oral hygiene and enjoined Nigerians to embrace a proper routine for their Oral Health which includes regular care of the teeth and mouth by brushing twice daily.

She also said that tooth brushing is an essential part of healthy living, declaring “the way we brush our teeth has been trivialized to the point that over the years as we get older we build germs, we build bacteria and we build diseases, people tend to take the mouth for granted but unfortunately, the mouth is actually one of the passages into the body from where we take nourishment and other things.”

Equally commenting, Close-Up Brand Manager, Mr. Dexter Adeola enjoined Nigerians to embrace the campaign to break a world record by counting down daily until the 23^rd of May when the actual feat with 300,000 children will hold in Lagos State.

Chairman, Product committee, Nigeria Dental Association, Dr. Dunni Ogundana,

Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello; Founder HEIT Solution

 and Project Head, Lagos World record tooth brushing Challenge, Dr Bakare Lawal;

Category Manager, Oral Close Up, Vivian Ihaza; Special Adviser to the Governor on

Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina; Brand Manager, Close up, Dexter Adeola at

the 2013 World Oral Health Day.

He explained that on that Day Nigerians will be expected to brush twice a day to support the cause and join in the campaign.

 
Some of the dignitaries at the event included Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello, Dr Bakare Lawal, Project Lead and Founder of HEIT Solutions and the representative of the Nigerian Dental Association (NDA), Lagos State Chapter, Dr Ogundana as well as some celebrities namely GT the Guitar man, Obi One, and Camson were at hand to support and put glamour to the World Oral Health Day. 

Remmy Nweke

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Get Office 365, get 60mins Skype call monthly

With the newly introduced Microsoft Office 2013, customers who use its Office 365 Home Premium will have the opportunity of 60 minutes of free Skype world call per month.

ITRealms gathered that customers on this platform  would have the ability to call mobile phones, landlines or Personal Computers (PCs) around the world.

Also, the future upgrades, customers will always use the latest time-saving technology and in addition to a 20 Gigabyte (GB) of SkyDrive cloud storage, nearly three times the amount available with a free SkyDrive account.

The latest and most complete set of Office applications include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access

Officials say, this is “One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs or Macs, and Office on Demand available from any Internet-connected PC.”

The Office 365 Home Premium pride itself as being available in 162 markets in 21 languages.

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DigitalSENSE News: Blame spammers not ISPs on Unsolicited mails

courtesy: Sunday Folayan/2002

Internet expert has blamed the rate of Unsolicited Commercial Emails (UCE) on spammers, insisting that bulk of the the mails sent by them, particularly that of popularly known as Nigerian Scam Mail (NSM) come from such clients.

Mr. Sunday Folayan, who is the chief executive officer, Skannet, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) located in Ibadan, made this position known to ITRealms, saying that although ISPs may have the scan facilities, tendencies are that it could be bypassed by spammers. Readmore


DigitalSENSE News: Folayan speaks to spams and scams in Nigeria: Courtesy: Sunday Folayan /2002 The Vice president of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association ( NIRA ) and former Secreta... ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Etisalat steps-up with EasyDay tariff plan

In line with its innovative leadership, mobile telecommunications network operator, Etisalat Nigeria, has stepped up its services with a new tariff plan for the customers, tagged ‘EasyDay.’

The Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar confirmed this to ITRealms, saying that the new tariff plan allows subscribers on its EasyStarter and EasyCliq packages to enjoy lower tariffs based on their daily spend.

He also said in a press statement, a copy of which was made available to to ITRealms that the Easyday tariff plan which is available to Etisalat’s existing and prospective subscribers could be activated once the subscriber reaches a certain threshold, thereby allowing customers on the package to get low tariffs to make all their national calls for the rest of the day.

New subscribers, Ammar said, could activate and enjoy the new tariff plan by buying either an EasyCliq or Easy Starter line, and then opting-into the EasyDay plan to get lower call tariffs daily.

He explained that for existing subscribers, using the EasyCliq or EasyStarter packages, all they need to do is simply migrate to the new tariff plan.

“New and existing subscribers can opt in by dialing *239*1#,” he said, stressing that this is a unique tariff plan based on regressive billing such that when customers have used up to a particular amount in a day, their call cost per second is instantly lowered.

“Once you opt-in to easy day, your tariff drops first to 40k per second to all networks. Once a subscriber then spends N50 in a day, either on calls, SMS or PAYG data, all subsequent calls will be charged at 20k per second for the rest of the day,” he said.

Ammar went on to elucidate that the new tariff plan was the product of months of intensive consumer research.

“As a customer-centric brand, we are always in tune with the desires of our customers, and will always go the extra mile to make sure that these desires are met,” he said.

As said by him, the research showed that customers not only want to enjoy low but transparent tariffs on their calls.

“They have constantly asked for a regressive format whereby a premium is charged on the very first minute, with subsequent minutes made cheaper. This is what we are giving them with our new tariff plan, Easy Day,” he clarified.

Remmy Nweke

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Nigeria, 19 African countries rides on AfDB Open Data

Nigeria is among 20 African countries to benefit from the African Development Bank (AfDB) open data platforms.

Other countries include Algeria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana, Rwanda, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

AfDB in a press statement made available to ITRealms by the African Press Organization, Thursday endorsed by Director, Statistics Department, Mr. Charles Leyeka Lufumpa, said that the programme was part of the AfDB’s recently launched “Africa Information Highway” initiative aimed at significantly improving data management and dissemination on African continent.

According to him, work has commenced to complete platforms for the rest of African countries by July 2013.  

AfDB official explained that the Open Data platform is a user-friendly tool for extracting data, creating and sharing own customized reports, and visualizing data across themes, sectors and countries in tables, charts and maps.

Through the Open Data Platform, he said, users could access a wide range of development data on African countries from multiple international and national official sources.

“The platform also facilitates the collection, analysis and sharing of data among countries and with international development partners,” he said, pointing out that the platform offers a unique opportunity for various users, such as policymakers, analysts, researchers, business leaders and investors around the world, to gain access to reliable and timely data on Africa.

Additionally, he said, users could visualize time series development indicators over a period of time, perform comprehensive analysis at country and regional levels, utilize presentation-ready graphics or create their own, blog, and share their views and work with others, thereby creating an informed community of users.

The director emphasized that the Open Data Platform initiative is a response by the African Development Bank Group aimed at significantly increasing access to quality data necessary for managing and monitoring development results in African countries, including the MDGs.

“It responds to a number of important global and regional initiatives to scale up the availability of quality data on Africa and so foster evidence-based decision-making, public accountability and good governance,” he said.

Once implemented, he said, the Open Data Platform will be used by African countries for all data submission flows to the AfDB and possibly other international development partners, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), EU Commission, World Health Organization (WHO), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), African Union Commission (AUC) and UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

“This initiative presents a unique opportunity for African countries to take the lead in implementation and promotion of international statistical standards across all countries in the region and in enhancing the quality of the data disseminated by African countries,” he said.

 
Maintaining that the initiative will also significantly revolutionize data management and dissemination in Africa, and reposition the continent for more effective participation in the global information economy.

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