Senate confirms new service chiefs with mandates

ITRealms

 

The Nigeria Senate, Tuesday, confirmed the appointments of the new service chiefs with the mandate to tackle insecurity and oil theft, report ITRealms.

Information from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) says the service chiefs, were confirmed after a thorough four-and-half hour screening and were charged to undertake seriously the issue insecurity and oil theft.

President Muhammadu Buhari, July 13, 2015, ITRealms gathered, approved the appointments of the new service chiefs whose names are Maj.-Gen. Abayomi Olonishakin, Chief of Defence Staff; Maj.-Gen., Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, Chief of Naval Staff and Air Vice-Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had urged them to root out corruption in the procurement procedure of the armed forces, saying that the prevalence of corruption in the system had negatively affected efficient security delivery over the years.

Saraki said “the appointments, as we all see, is coming at a very crucial time with a lot of challenges, particularly insurgency in the North East and some other security issues such as oil theft and others.

“We need to observe also that they were all born in the 60s, so there are lots of responsibilities as new generation officers to provide new direction and new leadership to our armed forces.

“We are all keen to restore the image and reputation of the armed forces and I believe that their confirmation is the beginning of their journey to restore the glory of the force in our great nation.”

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Insurgency, crude oil top reasons US set to lift arms embargo on Nigeria

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Head of the United States Congress Committee delegation on Judiciary to Nigeria, Mr. Darrel Issa, said his country may be considering lifting its arms embargo on Nigeria soon, ITRealms reports.

Issa was interacting with the press after meeting with the nation’s defence and military chiefs at the National Defence College, Abuja, recently. He said that military chiefs and the American delegation talked elaborately on the issue of an enlarged support in the area of aerial surveillance critical to the fight against the insurgency and the theft of the nation’s crude oil resources, ITRealms also reports.

Issa said the US had commenced the process of lifting the restrictions of the Leahy Law on Nigeria because of the recent moves to professionalize the military by the Chief of Defence Staff and the service chiefs.

Besides, he stated that the US was relying on President MohammaduBuhari and the military chiefs to rebuild the trust of Nigerians in the military as an institution that would protect the citizenry.

The Leahy Law, ITRealms gathered, is a human rights law of the US, which prevents the State Department and the Department of Defense from selling arms and ammunition to countries whose militaries are believed to have committed brazen acts of rights violation.

The Punch report said the refusal of the US Government to sell arms to the country because of the Leahy Amendment, forced the country, under President Goodluck Jonathan, to explore other options including the black market to get desperately needed arms and ammunition to halt the advances of the Boko Haram in 2014.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

 
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Nwaobiala commends Krystal's Microsoft I.T Academy

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The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala has said that the Krystal's Microsoft I.T Academy aimed at promoting Information Communication Technology (ICT) in schools across Nigeria is commendable, ITRealms reports

He took this position at the official commissioning of I.T Academy learning Hub, an ICT centre built at Kings College in Lagos, by Krystal Digital Limited.

Nwaobiala, ITRealms gathered, lauded the efforts of the Principal of Kings’ College, Lagos, for being the pioneer principal under whose regime such remarkable collaborative project was hatched, saying, "Krystal Microsoft I.T Academy initiative will help the ministry's commitment in promoting ICT education in federal unity schools across the country", he stated.

The Managing Director, Krystal Digital Limited, Temitope Ogunsemo,ITRealms learnt, said that the gesture was to enhance the teaching and learning of ICT education among unity school students. He stated that the I.T academy partnered with Microsoft to teach both students and teachers in federal unity schools all I.T suites which include Microsoft words, excel, power point, adobe page makers among several others.

"Modern day learning equipment will be used to teach the students and teachers ICT education for them to meet with modern day technology," The modern equipment include,  “ interactive board, pointer, projectors, solar and inverter to complement electrical power supply and computer base settlement (CBS)," he said.

Ogunsemo, ITRealms reports, added that 8 ICT centres have been built by I.T Company across some unity schools in South-west andadded that there were ongoing plans to build more ICT centres across federal unity schools in the country.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE with additional report from TheGuardian

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Pix:Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala

GSM operators must deactivate pre-registered SIM cards within 7-day - NCC

ITRealms:

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed all the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) operators in the country to deactivate any pre-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards within the next 7 days, reports ITRealms.

NCC said this direction has become necessary due to avalanche of intractable security situation in the country linked to mobile communication, saying any defaulting operator would face sanction.

Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo in a press statement made available to ITRealms, said the directive was the fallout of a meeting between Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Department of State Service (DSS), the network operators and the NCC. 

The meeting, he said, which held at the NCC boardroom in Abuja and took into cognizance crimes committed against members of the public either by kidnappers, terrorists, robbers and threats to lives, through the use of such unregistered SIM cards across all the networks.

He also said that operators were however told to notify such subscribers before deactivation of their SIM cards.

At the meeting were the representatives of the NSA, Group Captain Ibikunle Daramola, DSS, Mr. Godwin Ometu, the immediate past NCC Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Dr Eugene Juwah Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Engr. Ubale Maska and representatives of MTN, Globacom, Etisalat, Visafone , Airtel and others.

Ojobo who was also at the meeting stated specifically that:

·        Seven days’ notice is hereby given for deactivation of all invalid/improperly registered SIM cards; these include all SIM cards without or improperly captured facial pictures and or finger – prints.

·        Affected subscribers to be notified to regularize their registrations.

The meeting resolved that:

·        Henceforth, ALL registrations must conform to the Data Dictionary, Technical Specifications on finger prints and facial images and the business rule agreed by all stakeholders.

·        All registration records must be validated before sending to the Commission; thus eliminating all invalid records that does not conform new registrations and indicate same in the monthly reports sent to Commission.

·        It was also resolved that operators will be held liable for cases for cases of pre-registered SIMs.

·        Earlier grace of 21 days given by the Commission has lapsed.

·        Accordingly, the Commission has commenced monitoring as from Monday, August 3, 2015.

·        SANCTIONs for default will apply in accordance with the SIM registration regulations.

On multiple registration. NCC Said:

·        The regulation did not set a cap for number of SIMs to be registered by individual or corporate subscribers.

·        However, operators must ensure ALL registrations valid and in accordance with the documents and specifications stated in 1 (a).

·        Unusually high number of registration by an individual should be flagged and reported to the commission.

·        The Commission and all operators are to embark on vigorous public enlightenment on the need/ desirability for subscribers to register their SIMs, as well as the dangers of selling /buying pre-registered SIMs.

Earlier, it was observed that:

·        To date, more than 120 million SIM cards have been registered and transmitted to the Central Database by the operators.

·        The validation exercise reveals a preponderance of unreliable data in terms of incomplete and/ or inaccurate demographic and / or biometric data.

·        The issues relating to unreliability of data essentially borders on the operators’ failure to ensure compliance with the formats and specifications that were jointly developed and agreed by the NCC and the operators before the commencement of the exercise in 2011.

·        The observation also image only noted that as at September 2014, about 45% of the total number of registered SIMs, at that time, were deemed invalid for reasons of a) invalid portrait image only, invalid fingerprints only, invalid portrait image and fingerprints, and incorrect/ inaccurate demographic data (name, address, etc).

·        Since the invalid records were returned to the operators in September 2014 for correction, less than 30% of the invalid records has been resubmitted.

·        These resolutions were part of the ongoing efforts by government to nip in the bud the incessant occurrences of threats via telecommunications networks and the danger they portend for psyche of the citizenry.

 

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Breaking News: Prof Danbatta takes over from Juwah @NCC with immediate effect

Breaking News@ITRealms:

The President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Professor Umaru Garba Danbatta as the new Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), ITRealms reports.

This is coming as Buhari also appointed Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Femi Adesina confirmed this to ITRealms in a press statement today, said Prof. Danbatta, who holds a Doctorate Degree in Electronic Engineering, takes over from Dr. Eugene Juwah whose tenure expired on July 29, 2015 with immediate effect.
  In addition, the new NCC EVC’s other academic qualifications includes a Bachelors Degree in Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications as well as a Masters Degree in the same field.
  A fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers ( NSE), Prof. Dantata has had a meritorious career in the academia and rose to become Professor of Electrical Engineering and Electronics at Bayero University, Kano, specializing in Telecommunications Engineering and Information and Communications Technology.
  Before his new appointment, Prof. Danbatta held top management and leadership positions at different times including Head of Department, Dean of Faculty, Director, Centre for Information Technology, Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (Kano Branch), Deputy Vice Chancellor and Acting Vice Chancellor.
  His appointment as Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC is for five years in the first instance.
Equally, Dr. Kachikwu, who was appointed GMD of NNPC was the Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Exxon-Mobil (Africa), is to take over from Dr. Joseph Thlama Dawha.
Dr. Kachikwu hails from Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State.

He is a First Class Graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Nigerian Law School.
  The new NNPC Chief Executive also has Masters and Doctorate Degrees in Law from the Harvard Law School.
  He started his working career with the Nigerian/American Merchant Bank before moving on to Texaco Nigeria Limited where he remained for about eight years before joining ExxonMobil. 

Additionally, below is biodata of Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, PhD:

Born in Danbatta Local Government Council of Kano State, Prof. Danbatta obtained his BEng, MSc and PhD degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology UK respectively. 

He had served as a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Technology of Bayero University Kano for 28 years, where he taught courses in telecommunication engineering and electronics and held academic positions of Dean of the Faculty and Head of Department at different times. His main administrative responsibilities, in the university, included Deputy and Acting Dean of Students’ Affairs, Administrator of the Works Department and later, Director of the Centre for Information Technology (CIT). 

He was also chairman to, or member of, over 60 University committees and task forces. In administrative and other responsibilities outside the university, he has served as chairman or member to over 20 committees, prominent among which was the Chairmanship of the Implementation Committee of Kano State University of Science & Technology and subsequently became its pioneer Deputy and Acting Vice-Chancellor when it took off in 2001. 

Prof. Danbatta has supervised more than 60 PhD, MEng and BEng projects in the diverse areas of telecommunications and has also served as external examiner to seven universities and polytechnics and is an assessor, technical reviewer and editorial member to eight research journals. 

He is a recipient of 18 distinguished awards and certificates of honour. Prof. Danbatta, who had served two terms of five years as a Member of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), is also a COREN registered engineer and member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE). 

He has to his credit more than 50 articles in journals, conference proceedings and technical reports. He is also the author of a six-chapter, 167-page book titled Elements of Static Engineering Electromagnetics. 

He was the Vice President of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), International Centre for Advanced Communications Studies, which was established in the year 2004 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to build capacity for the Nigerian/African telecom industry in the diverse areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). 

While at DBI he has developed expertise in the following major areas of ICT implementation, policy and regulation:

1. Regulation of the Telecommunications Sector of the Nigerian Economy;

2. Competition, Interconnection and Price Regulations in a Developing Economy;

3. Issues concerning Authorization of Telecommunications Services in a Developing Economy;

4. Strategies for ensuring Universal Access and Service to Telecommunications Services;

5. Strategies towards Effective Spectrum Management in a Developing Economy;

6. Issues on Institutional and Legal Framework for Effective Regulation of Telecommunications Services; and

7. New and Emerging Technologies and Impact on Regulation of the Telecommunications Sector of a Developing Economy.

Prof. Danbatta, who recently served as a member of the Implementation Committee of the Northwest University Kano, is presently the Acting Vice-Chancellor of Kano University of Science & Technology, Wudil

+ITRealms DSA +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) @Communication

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Pix: Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta

Titans of Tech’15: Galaxy Backbone is Outstanding Government Agency of the Year

ITRealms:

The Galaxy Backbone Limited, last weekend emerged winner as Outstanding Government Agency of the Year at the 10^th anniversary of Titans of Tech Awards organized by Technology Africa in Lagos, reports ITRealms.

Galaxy Backbone is a leading ICT infrastructure and services company wholly owned by the Federal Government.

The Managing Director and chief executive officer, Galaxy Backbone Ltd, Mr. Yusuf Kazaure, said after receiving the award that the award won by Galaxy Backbone lent strength and credibility to the national interest in transparency in governance driven by information and communications technologies. 

Managing Consultant, Technology Africa, Don Pedro Aganbi said that the current administration believes in driving governance with electronic platform "and Galaxy Backbone is blazing the trail in the sector and they have all the support of the ICT industry. The president's change agenda will be driven by both e-government and e-governance."

ITRealms reports that Galaxy emerged winner against other top contending government agencies including NITDA, NCC, FAAN and NAFDAC. 

As said by the organizers, Galaxy is the number one example of how a public enterprise can run successfully as a private venture with corporate governance, transparency and efficiency as its hallmark. 

In his reaction, Group Head, Corporate Services, Galaxy Backbone Ltd, Owoicho Igoji, said, “For us this is an external validation for the values we strive to inculcate in Galaxy especially under the Galaxy 2.0 initiative”.

ITRealms also recalls that Galaxy recently at an E-Government Summit in Abuja unveiled its national e-government strategy referred to as “Whole-of-Government Approach” which is based on the deployment of a shared technology platform for e-Government services using its 1-Gov.net platform.

  
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Pix L-R: Sola Bickesteth, CEO One Network; Kayode Shobajo, Chairman Adplus 360; Juliet Ehumuan, Country Manager Google; Dr. Chris Uwaje and Yusuf Kazaure, MD/CEO Galaxy Backbone Ltd at Titans of Tech Awards in Lagos recently.