FG creates national single window portal, call Gov centre

Mrs Omobola Johnson, CommTech Minister for Nigeria

 The Federal government has created a national single window portal that will ensure that all government information is domiciled in one portal, according to the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson.

This is coming as government call centre will be launched in April this year.

She made this disclosure at the just ended Social Media Week in Lagos, tagged ‘’Showcase: Technology in Governance,’’ stressing that the primary objective of deploying a National Portal, an initiative of the Ministry of Communication Technology in collaboration with the Ministry of Information is to create a single point of entry for Nigerians to access government information and services online.

The National Portal which will be launched in March, would showcase all the Ministries Departments and Agencies MDAs of the Federal Government of Nigeria on a single Window portal that would enable Nigerians at the click of a button to view and engage any desired agency of government.

Also, she disclosed that a government Call Center with vanity number ‘’0700 CALL GOV’’ is set for launch in April. 

She explained that the call center will facilitate enquiries, complaints cum problem resolution where possible. In addition to helping in building a knowledge management database and help support Servicom desks.

The portal,  Mrs Johnson she further said,  was created with the latest technology  with more intuitive domain names (finance instead of fmf, environment instead of Fme) that makes it easier for citizens to view what they want from a single window.

The portal currently has twenty processes and by 2015, two hundred and fifty processes of government will be online. Twenty simple citizen facing processes of the Ministry of Communication Technology, Education, Health, Agriculture and Trade and Investment have already been automated on the portal for the benefit of Nigerians.

The Portal will be multi-featured and have collaborative channels that deliver core content management capabilities in a single, extensible platform and will provide a consistent approach to managing traditional and social content. It will also have live twitter feeds and links to state government websites.

eGovernance according to the World bank is the use by governnment agencies of informaiton technologies (WANs, internet, mobile computing) that have the ability to transform the relationship with citizens, businesses and other arms of government. 

These technologies can serve a variety of different ends; better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interaction with business and industry; citizen empowerment through access to information or more efficient government management. 

The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth and/or cost reduction.  

The Portal will bring government closer to the people by improving access of citizens to accurate, timely and relevant government information; as well bring government closer to the people by making available government information and government services for the benefit of Nigerians.

The Ministry of Communication Technology has already designed new standardized and secure web templates and guidelines that conform to global web and security standards for MDAs to adopt in the re-design of their websites before the launch. Thus all MDAs of Government will be mandated to migrate before December 2014 to the new security and design standards.

The National Portal has several key benefits which includes improved access to government information for citizens and improved efficiency in the delivery of government services to the citizenry.

Reiterating the role of the new Ministry of Communication Technology, Mrs Johnson stressed that the creation of the Ministry resulted in a better focus on the ICT industry and egovernance.  She added that though egovernance was already happening, but in silos. Government had publish and inform websites of 420 MDAs (not standard, not updated regularly).  

Nigerians she disclosed, could get Customs HS Codes, NIPOST post codes, file for passport issuance, register for exams and check exam results online via JAMB.

"But the National portal with a single window will have all that and more," she said.

She disclosed that processes like the Evaluation and Accreditation of Certificates, School Inspection Report, Registration of a Trademark, Registration of an Industrial Design, Registration of a Patent, Application for Product Certification, Application for SONCAP Certificate, Web-based Drug Authentication, Application for full registration of drugs, Farmers registration, Mega suppliers / distributors of fertilizer registration, Registration of seed importing and exporting companies and Application for non-commercial spectrum license are near completion for automation on the National Portal.

 

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Access to broadband not cheap – Jim Ovia

VC Covenant Univesity Prof. Charles Ayo, Jim Ovia second from left with ISPON president 
Chris Uwaje and wife, Prof Charles Uwadie ISPON VP John Obaro and Mr Agu

The chairman, Visafone Communications Limited, Mr. Jim Ovia, has warned that despite the clamour for broadband in the country, it may not be as affordable and cheap as most Nigerians were made to believe.

In a speech as a special guest speaker at the 2013 Presidential Dinner organized by the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) in Lagos, last weekend, Ovia insisted that the event signifies that software industry in Nigeria is recognized, given the attendance of the dinner.

“So, what is needed more is the passion not profit oriented at the initial times. So, the best way to invest in ICT, especially software, is the passion,” he said.

Ovia warned that access to broadband is not cheap and may not go down, ultimately.

Broadband refers to using signals over a wide range of frequencies in high-capacity telecommunications, especially as used for access to the Internet.

“Access to broadband is not cheap and may not go down eventually, the only technology that can be cheap today is the voice,” he asserted.

Hence, access to data at broadband speed, Ovia said, cannot be cheap, stressing though that internet penetration is about 23 per cent, but the broadband is about 2-3 per cent at present.

Nollywood is more popular now because its access online, urging that Nigerians should take advantage of Internet based on the anticipated evolution of broadband for more business and investment.

ITRealms recalls that the term broadband, according to experts at Wikipedia refers to the wide bandwidth characteristics of a transmission medium and its ability to transport multiple signals and traffic types simultaneously. The medium can be coax, optical fiber, twisted pair or wireless.

In contrast, baseband, describes a communication system in which information is transported across a single channel.

Prior to the invention of home broadband, dial-up Internet access was the only means by which one could access the Internet and download files such as songs, movies, e-mails, etc. It would take anywhere from 10–30 minutes to download one song (3.5 MB) and over 28 hours to download a movie 700 Mega Bytes (MB).

Dial-up Internet was also considered very inconvenient as it would impair the use of the home telephone line, and users would contemplate whether or not to get a second line, and if doing so was worth the cost.

In 1997, the cable modem was introduced, although the common use of broadband didn't begin rising until 2001. Having a broadband connection enabled one to download significantly faster than on dial-up.

As with many new technologies, most consumers were unable to afford the cost of faster Internet service.

However, high costs weren't a factor for long as by 2004, most average American households considered home broadband service to be affordable. Since its inception, broadband has continually strengthened and available connection speeds continue to rise.

Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times. Its origin is in physics, acoustics and radio systems engineering, where it had been used with a meaning similar to wideband. However, the term became popularized through the 1990s as a vague marketing term for Internet access.
 

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3rd ATM Future trends debuts

The third edition of the ATM Future Trends Report has been realized according to the ATM Marketplace and the ATM Industry Association, who said the latest edition contains surveys conducted across the financial services industry.

Also, ITRealms gathered that representatives from banks, credit unions, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) network, transaction processors, ATM manufacturers and independent ATM deployers came together to answer questions surrounding five-year trends, predictions, opportunities and challenges for the ATM industry.

The 140 pages report comes with over 144 charts and graphs

Published by the ATMmarketplace.com the benchmark industry report tagged "ATM Future Trends Report 2012." depicts the first report of its kind in three years.

The publisher of ATMmarketplace.com, Mr. Tom Harper, said that this report is a primer on what is important in the industry, both now and in five years, adding "I was especially interested to learn what various organizations said they’ve been researching and investing in.”

ITRealms learnt that the survey of approximately 500 ATM and banking industry executives cuts across a wide array of topics, from industry trends to threats and opportunities that loom on the horizon.

Harper said, in analyzing the results, that some interesting patterns have emerged since the survey was conducted in 2009.

“The top five global trends have completely changed in just three years,” he said. “While mobile is the most significant new trend across the board, there are differing opinions between FIs and IADs.”
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Dimension Data unveils cloud services in Nigeria

L-R: Solution Executive, Dimension Data Africa, Tony Munro; Managing Director, Data Nigeria, 

Graham Frank Dinwoodie, and General Manager, Enterprise Solution, Babajide Agbaje, at the unveiling.

The Dimension Data office in Nigeria has unveiled its cloud services in the country, says the General Manager: Enterprise Solutions, Dimension Data Nigeria, Mr. Jide Agbaje.
 

Disclosing in Lagos to ITRealms in a press statement available to our correspondent, Agbaje said the new service offers organisations cloud models quickly, securely and cost-effectively.

He also said that the global Managed Cloud Platform (MCP) is now available in Nigeria to serve the needs of both public and private enterprise, as well as service providers. Adding that Dimension Data’s cloud offering will facilitate clients acceleration of their adoption of cloud computing, increase strategic agility, lower ICT infrastructure management expenses, and reduce cloud migration complexity and risk. 

He explained that cloud technology presents a new consumption model for ICT solutions and services wrapped in a predictable, monthly commercial model, which allows its adopters to reduce cost as cloud reduces the total cost of ownership of managing infrastructure and applications. 

“The availability of cloud computing in Nigeria makes it easier for organisations to harness the cost and agility benefits of Cloud as it provides organisations high speed access to secure, enterprise-class public, private, hybrid and hosted private cloud services in the country,” he said.

Further, he said that the benefits of cloud computing are very compelling, the complexity of planning, building and managing cloud infrastructure, is significant.

The Solutions Executive, Dimension Data Africa, Mr. Tony Munro, says “cloud providers need to address client concerns about security, compliance, integration, performance, capital expense requirements, as well as deployment and operational risks – to allow clients accelerate their Cloud journey.” 

 

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