NCC frowns at elongated poor quality of service, says its ‘unacceptable”

ITRealms:

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has frowned over the long duration of poor quality of service in the country, reports ITRealms.

Expressing this concern in Lagos at a media interaction on Tuesday, was the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta.

According to him, the Commission has noticed an obvious deteriorating kind of quality of service and is working at encouraging the operators to change the situation for better.

As said by Danbatta, the deteriorating quality of service, is not acceptable to NCC under his watch.

“We have noticed deterioration of quality of service and it's not acceptable,” he declared.

Danbatta, a professor of telecommunications pointed out that the Commission is working in collaboration with the Mobile Network Operators in the country to correct this anomaly.

“There is a time line for this to be corrected,” he said, urging operators to brace up by raising their games in service delivery.

Prof. Danbatta has been the EVC of NCC since 2015.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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WannaCry: 5-way to protect your devices

Sponsored@ITRealms:

With the world reeling from the WannaCrypt attack –  an ongoing cyber-attack of the WannaCry ransomware computer worm targeting the Microsoft Windows operating system – fears are rife that the viral attack may soon spread to Nigeria, with dire implications for individuals and businesses whose devices are compromised.

Described as unprecedented in scale, the attack which started on Friday May 12 2017 has infected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries, with the software demanding ransom payments in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin in 28 languages.

In this piece, the Research/Development Unit of Yudala – Nigeria’s fastest growing composite e-commerce outfit – shares five ways to stay ahead of the WannaCry attack which has been likened to a ‘pandemic’.

1.Update Windows as a matter of urgency: The world heaved a brief sigh of relief when the WannaCry ransomware was halted in its deadly tracks by a security analyst who discovered a kill switch in its code last week. Sadly, the ransomware has been updated without the kill switch, allowing it to spread. Apart from businesses, institutions and governments; individuals are equally at risk of this viral attack as WannaCry targets a Windows operating system flaw in older versions that have not been patched. If your system runs on one of the newer versions of Windows and you have kept up with automatic updates, you can protect yourself by updating your computer immediately with the software patch released in March 2017.

2.Invest in a ransomware blocker: The WannaCry attack is indeed an eye-opener to the growing global scourge of Ransomware – described in an earlier research piece as an increasingly popular mode of attack where attackers encrypt data taken from the victim and in return for decrypting the data, they ask for an acceptable amount from the victim as ransom. These victims include individuals, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large corporates.

Most anti-virus software hardly offers any protection against ransomware, especially if you are using the outdated version of the anti-virus. In view of the increasing prevalence of these attacks and if your checks reveal you are not protected, perhaps now is the time to consider investing in a dedicated ransomware blocker. Before purchasing one, please check out the features and cost. There are also a few free options you can download and install at no cost.

3.Turn Windows Update on if currently disabled

Most users can be forgiven for disabling Microsoft Windows’ automatic updates. This is especially considering the annoying tendency for earlier versions to auto-install even when one is in the middle of a pressing work schedule or tight deadline. Thankfully, Microsoft has, to a large extent, fixed that issue with the current version of Windows 10. So, if you currently have automatic updates disabled, please go back to your Control Panel to turn them back on and leave them on.

4. Stay alert for new strains/mutations

According to research from Heimdal Security, new strains or mutations of the WannaCry ransomware have popped up, with some bearing the name Uiwix. Also, the virulence of the ransomware can be seen from the way it rebounded from the initial attempt to deploy its kill switch. This clearly shows the need to remain on the alert for new strains or mutations. Suspicious links in emails and on websites should be regarded with caution to avoid becoming a victim.

5.Consider cloud storage and file back-ups

In view of the likelihood of falling prey, there seems no better time to consider cloud storage and other forms of back-ups for your sensitive files and other information. Cloud storage is particularly useful because in the event of an attack, you may be able to recover your affected files by accessing earlier versions of them. Some effective cloud-storage services keep snapshots of all changes made to files in the past 30 days. 

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Eagle Online goes on short break

PR@ITRealms:

The Management of The Eagle Online has announced a short break in its online news service.

According to the management, the break is to allow for a change of its host.

In a statement signed by the Managing Editor of the online newspaper, Dotun Oladipo, on Wednesday, the break will commence from 12am on Thursday.

Oladipo said the management was initially considering skeletal services during the period, but it was discovered that owing to the large number of files to be moved, access to the news portal could become frustrating.

The statement added: "However, we shall keep our esteemed readers update via all our social media channels with headlines of major stories during the period of the break."

Oladipo said the process should, hopefully, be completed by the weekend, with full services to be back on Monday morning.

He added: "The essence of the change of host is to serve our readers better."

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Shell says ‘we’re strongly committed to Nigeria’ voted $29bn in 4 years

ITRealms:

The country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, has declared the company’s commitment to development of the country, even as the firm under its joint venture contributed the sum of $29 billion in the last four years to boost investment in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Disclosing this in Lagos, Okunbor said that the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) operated Joint Venture alone contributed the sum of $29 billion to the Nigerian purse between 2012 and 2016.

He also said that in 2016 alone, the royalties and corporate taxes paid by Shell Companies in Nigeria to the Federal Government amounted to $1.4 billion (SPDC $1.0 billion and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) $0.4 billion).

“This is besides the energy which Shell Companies contribute to the Nigerian economy, with Shell-operated ventures in Nigeria recording an output of some 572,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2016,” he said.

Okunbor, who doubles as the Managing Director of SPDC, gave the statistics in a review of Shell operations in Nigeria for 2016 while sharing the 2017 Shell Nigeria Briefing Notes with ITRealms.

“Shell has been operating in Nigeria for more than 50 years. “And it is not by chance that we have remained deeply committed to the development of Nigeria, her people and her economy by efficiently and responsibly producing oil and gas in onshore and offshore as well as distributing gas to industries and producing liquefied natural gas for export,” he said.

The determination of Shell to support the monetisation of the nation’s huge gas resources, Okubor revealed, led it to establishment of Shell Nigeria Gas in 1998, which now supplies gas to about 90 industrial customers in Ogun, Rivers and Abia states. The gas is used for power generation and processing by industries for the manufacture of domestic products ranging from household consumables, to household utensils and hardware.

Further, he said, Shell Companies in Nigeria paid special attention to the welfare of host communities, making Nigeria the second largest recipient of social investment spending in the Shell Group after the United States. Areas of focus include community and enterprise development, education, health, access-to-energy and since 2016, road safety. 

This, he said was in addition to community-driven development programmes and initiatives delivered through the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), which target themes as determined by benefiting communities.

In a bid to involve more Nigerian contractors in their operations, the Shell Contractor Funding initiative was expanded with eight participating banks committing about $2.2 billion to fund contract execution by Nigerian companies working for Shell Companies in Nigeria. Since the programme’s creation in 2011, loans worth approximately $1 billion have been awarded to 220 small and medium-sized Nigerian enterprises with no recorded defaults on repayment. The Shell Contractor Fund was approved by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at its plenary session on “Shared Value creation and local content” in December 2016 and included in the compendium of global best practices.

SNEPCo added to its efforts to improve the capability of Nigerian vendors and service providers in deep water operations by assigning significant portion of work to this category of contractors in its recently-concluded turnaround maintenance at Bonga field.

Mr. Okunbor also commented on crude theft and other security issues in Shell operations. Crude oil theft on SPDC’s pipeline network resulted in a loss of about 5,660 barrels of oil a day (bbl/d) in 2016, which is less than the 25,000 bbl/d in 2015. The number of sabotage-related spills declined to 45 compared with 93 in 2015. He explained: “The reduction in oil theft and sabotage-related spills from the previous year can be attributed to continued improvements in air and ground surveillance and response by government security forces, lower production levels at SPDC JV operations in the Western part of the Niger Delta due to acts of sabotage and our divestment from key pipelines in 2015.”

“We continue to work with the government and other key stakeholders on the security challenges in our operating environment and look towards sustained and fruitful operations for the benefit of the Nigerian state and all other shareholders,” he said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Pix: L-R: Campaign Implementation Advisor, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Mrs. Darbuni Maikori; Communications Manager, Shell Nigeria, Mrs. Sola Abulu and Corporate Media Relations Manager, Mr. Precious Okolobo.

Alert! NCC cautions operators, subscribers on WannaCry virus

ITRealms:

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has alerted the licensed operators and subscribers in the country of the recent outbreak of a Ransomware virus also known as “WannaCry” across the world, reports ITRealms.

This alert, NCC officials told ITRealms was in fulfilment of its statutory mandate to assure the security and integrity of the national telecommunications network in the country.

The Ransomware, ITRealms gathered, is capable of infecting and encrypting all files on a system or any smart device until an amount is paid for a decryption key, or other means of retrieval which may lead to data loss are used to recover the system as an alternative.

This situation, NCC said, demands that proactive measures be taken by all players in the telecommunication eco-system to forestall the hazards of critical data loss, financial losses and ultimately network/business disruption. ITRealms also reports that the NCC in a public service notice, therefore advisd that the following protective measures be taken, amongst others to obtain software patch released by Microsoft in March 2017 to fix the Ransomware Virus; to plan scheduled penetration tests on the networks and systems to ensure protection and availability at all times.

And for subscribers who use their smartphones as substitutes to computers for internet access, NCC said, they should protect themselves and their devices by “Not opening e-mail attachments/links from unknown sources; Not clicking pop-ups and applets on unknown websites; and installing effective antivirus software for their mobile devices.”

Furthermore, the NCC said it has taken proactive measures in fulfilling its statutory mandate including advising Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to initiate regular assessment and audit of their cybersecurity readiness.

“All operators should continue to ensure that their backup/ disaster recovery strategies are in place and up to date,” NCC stated.

In addition, the Commission noted it has further advised all operators to ensure continued deployment of effective firewalls, login passwords and antivirus management regime.

The Commission also stated, its working towards creating a link with the Cybersecurity Alert System on its website so that current information on global cyber threats/incidents could be immediately communicated to stakeholders.

NCC emphasized that the Commission will continue to provide more cybersecurity training for its staff.  

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Stakeholders warn of indigenous languages extinction

ITRealms:

Stakeholders at the 2017 Annual Roundtable on Cultural Orientation have lamented that indigenous languages have become endangered and warning they may sooner go into extinction, reports ITRealms.

Leading speakers at the roundtable in Kaduna, Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the country's indigenous languages are endangered and could go into extinction in no distant future if urgent steps are not taken to reverse the trend.

The event jointly organized by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) in Kaduna, saw the Minister also saying that situation reports showed ''there is a remarkable decline in the usage of our indigenous languages by our children and youths; many of them cannot read or write in their mother tongue.''

He pointed out that indigenous language newspapers, for instance, have vital roles to play in reviving the fortunes of the nation's endangered languages, if their potentials are maximized.

''It has been my desire since I assumed duties as Honourable Minister to convene a strategic stakeholders' meeting to underscore the relevance of the indigenous language newspapers and to engineer a road map for their sustenance in the face of formidable challenges. This explains why one of my first assignments in office was to visit identifiable indigenous newspapers like Alaroye, Iroyin Owuro, Rariya, Aminiya and Leadership Hausa,'' Mohammed said.

He said concrete measures must be taken to preserve indigenous languages, including the need for parents to ensure that their children are taught their indigenous languages; implementing the teaching and learning of Nigerian indigenous languages as contained in the National Policy on Education as well as supporting and sustaining various platforms, such as the indigenous language newspapers, which promote the use of indigenous languages.

Other measures listed by the Minister are the translation of the country's treasure trove of literature, such as The Lion and the Jewel, The Passport of Mallam Illia and Things Fall Apart, into indigenous languages; adapting those classics into comics, graphic novels, TV shows as well as animated and live action feature films, leveraging on the role of the electronic media in disseminating, aggregating and curating indigenous languages and deploying digital tools in ensuring the survival of Nigeria's indigenous languages.

''Today, Social Media, YouTube, SMS and specially-developed applications for use on mobile devices are being used to attract young people to learn ‘endangered languages’. There are also websites and online forums where people can interact and optimize their knowledge of those languages. Those solutions are worth exploring seriously,'' he said.

Mohammed further charged participants at the two-day event with the theme 'Indigenous Language Newspapers and National Development' to painstakingly deliberate on these issues and come up with far-reaching recommendations that will guide government’s policy and action plan.

The keynote speaker and chairman, Leadership Group, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, said indigenous language newspapers are key to any strategy at national development hence they should not be under-estimated.

He equally said that for the indigenous language newspapers to be relevant, the high rate of collapse of such papers must be checked by running them as a business, like any other newspaper.

Earlier in his welcome address, NICO Executive Secretary, Barclays Ayakoroma said the annual event is aimed at enhancing the potentials of indigenous language newspapers to serve as catalyst for cultural renaissance and grassroots mobilisation.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Constructed Facility: Rack Centre gets Tier III certification

ITRealms:

Acclaimed Sub Sahara Africa’s premium data facility, Rack Centre has attained the Tier III Tier Certification of Constructed Facility (TCCF) from the Uptime Institute, reports ITRealms.

With this certification, ITRealms reports that Rack Centre has joined the elite data centres in the world-over to be certified and the first in the West African sub-region.

Rack Centre, a co-location services provider, said the TCCF certification was achieved after a thorough forensic assessment of all aspects of Rack Centre’s facilities and operations by Uptime Institute experts team from the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK).

Affirming this, the Managing Director, Rack Centre, Mr Ayotunde Coker, told ITRealms that Uptime Institute is the global authority for data centre certification through its Tier Certification framework and the standard it sets is recognised as the global benchmark for quality and international best practices in data centre design, construction and operations.

This certification, he therefore said, demonstrates that Rack Centre facility and all its data centre elements are built as per the original Tier III design and engineering specifications and validates that it is meeting the defined availability of concurrent maintainability.

“we are delighted that Rack Centre has achieved this certification by such a respected and distinguished global body as the Uptime Institute.  We are passionate that we have attained one of the highest standards and achieving the Uptime Institute Tier III TCCF certification validates this, and demonstrates to our existing and future customers, that here in Nigeria, we are meeting the highest standards at the global level.  Rack Centre is the most connected Tier III certified and truly carrier neutral data centre in Africa.  We are proud of this achievement,” he said.

For the Managing Director, EMEA, Uptime Institute, Mr Phil Collerton, Rack Centre  certification clearly demonstrates commitment to its customers and unwavering focus on not only designing but also building a world class facility that meets the most demanding requirements.

“This data centre will continue to underpin the region’s economic development as more businesses and people join the digital ecosystem while also strengthening Rack Centres’ position as a highly resilient infrastructure hub for connectivity partners and end customers in the region,” he said.

ITRealms recalls that Rack Centre based in Oregun, Lagos, Nigeria and owned by Jagal, a Nigerian conglomerate holding that operates leading energy businesses and manages a diverse portfolio of investments is a state of the art data centre offering carrier neutral colocation services and provides over 6000 sqm (65,000sqft) of energy efficient and secure centre. A modular scalable data centre, currently with 255 racks and scalable to 3000 racks at completion, with access to all undersea cables serving Nigeria, ensuring all countries on the Atlantic coast of Africa are connected by a wide choice of high speed fibre.  Rack Centre has consistently maintained 100 per cent uptime since it launched four years ago.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Reliance Infosystems, Microsoft host MANTech2017

ITRealms:

All is now set for the MANTECH 2017 being put together by Reliance Infosystems Limited in collaboration with Microsoft Nigeria in efforts to mainstream how manufacturers in Nigeria are progressively transforming with Microsoft solutions, reports ITRealms.

Slated for Friday, May 19, this year, ITRealms gathered that the first ever MANTECH event would hold at Microsoft Nigeria’s Head office, Victoria Island, Lagos.

ITRealms reports that MANTECH was coined from manufacturing and technology which describes the enhancement of manufacturing processes in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve reliability using technologies that help magnify the effort of individual workers and give the industrial nation the power to transcend.

Reliance Infosystems’ publicity strategist, Ms. Ibunkun Ogundipe said the event seeks to capture the process of driving technology adoption within the manufacturing environment, explaining that it would entail discussions on the benefits of various Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Dynamics 365, SharePoint, Power BI and more in the manufacturing industry.

Also, Ibukun said that MANTECH 2017 has been tailored to specifically encourage stakeholders of manufacturing industry to embrace technology transformation for maximum influence within their scope.

Equally speaking, the Managing Director, Reliance Infosystems, Mr. Olayemi Popoola said that the company aims at providing customers with the differentiations they require to stay ahead of competition.

Chuks Egbune/GEE 

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Opera to invest N30bn in Nigeria, unveils Victor Moses as brand ambassador

ITRealms:

The burgeoning browser engine, Opera has kicked off latest investment plan to the tune of N30 billion into the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) market in Nigeria, just as the company unveils partnership with Nigerian football professional, Victor Moses, Chelsea starter and Nigerian national team star player as brand ambassador of Opera Mini for Africa, reports ITRealms.

Opera, which prides itself as the most popular browser in Africa, said Moses will be featured in the new Opera Mini TV commercial as well as a range of collaborative projects extending throughout 2018.

Affirming this deal, the Global Head of Marketing and Distribution at Opera, Jørgen Arnesen, noted that football is one of the most popular types of content consumed by Opera Mini users throughout Africa.

“Victor Moses is a perfect match for Opera, being not only a high performer, but also a great role model and natural ambassador of his home country Nigeria,” Jørgen Arnesen said.

This, ITRealms reports, coincides with Opera’s recent announcement to invest $100 million USD, about N30 billion in Africa, over the next two years with the goal of strengthening the internet ecosystem in countries such as Nigeria.

ITRealms gathered that Nigeria is home to the second largest population of Opera Mini users, with search, social networking and sport forming part of the most popular content consumed by Opera Mini users in the country.

Also, ITRealms reports that one fourth of these users check out live scores and sports news when browsing and this number is relatively higher than the ones in other African countries.

Reacting, Victor Moses was quoted as saying “I am proud to be in partnership with Opera and am looking forward to working together. The Opera team has taken me through their plans and vision for the brand in the Nigerian market and it's made me incredibly excited about the future. I'm delighted to be a part of such a groundbreaking campaign.”

Opera recently launched its first nationwide TV and radio commercials to announce a faster and more affordable internet experience with the Opera Mini browser.

Bayo Banjo/GEE 

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Nigeria ranked 6th on cheapest broadband per GB

ITRealms:

Nigeria has been ranked sixth in the latest study by the Research ICT Africa, on some 10 African countries with cheapest 1 Gigabytes (GB) data, reports ITRealms.

The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix giga means 10⁹ in the International System of Units (SI), thus, one gigabyte is 1000000000 bytes, whereas the unit symbol for the gigabyte is GB.

ITRealms gathered that the 10 countries reviewed by the study includes Egypt, Mozambique, Tunisia, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Guinea, Uganda, Rwanda and Madagascar.

Researcher, Communications & Evaluation Advisor to Research ICT Africa, Chenai Chair confirmed this to ITRealms saying that Egypt offers broadband worth of 1GB for 1.74 United States Dollar, followed by Mozambique at 2.12, Tunisia at 2.21, Ghana at 2.45; Tanzania – 2.99, Nigeria 3.2, Guinea – 3.29, Uganda – 3.43, Rwanda – 3.72 and Madagascar selling 1GB of broadband at 4.66.

Singling out Rwanda for examination, Chenai said Research ICT Africa compared the best performer Egypt (USD 3.13), prices with Rwanda were USD1.07 is more expensive. 

Stressing though that the cost of 1GB of data continued to decline over time, Rwanda was overtaken by Tanzania which offered the best price in Q2 2016.

“Rwanda was later overtaken by Nigeria and Tunisia, ending up in 9th position by Q4 2016 when the price of 1GB was USD3.72; nearly two US dollars higher than the 1st-ranked country, Egypt (USD1.74),” she said.

Chenai pointed out that as with many predominantly prepaid mobile markets, bundled and dynamically priced products are better value for money than 1GB of data, the international standard for data measurement.

Nonye Dom/GEE 

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