Gateway Trade Fair lauds Dangote Group on strides

Trade & Investment@ITRealms:

Organisers of the Gateway Trade Fair, the Ogun State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (OGUNCCIMA) has lauded the pan African conglomerate, Dangote Group for its giant strides in economic development of the country through massive investments in several sectors of the economy describing the feat as worthy of emulation by other Nigerians, reports ITRealms.

President of OGUNCCIMA, Mrs. Adesola Adebutu who made this commendation at the opening ceremony of the 8th Gateway Trade Fair holding in Abeokuta Ogun state said the support given enough by the Dangote Group went a long way in making the staging of the Fair a success.

She explained that the theme of the Fair, “Promoting Agricultural Value Chain through SMES for Nigeria Economic Recovery”, was chosen in line with Ogun state’s policy of Agricultural industrialization which is also in consonance with the national policy of repositioning agriculture as the viable alternative to oil.

Mrs Adebutu stated that OGUNCCIMA was planned to be a clear departure from the past such that this year’s will rekindle the interest of the old investors and introduce new ones in new opportunities for its investments in Ogun State.

Ayo Midele/GEE
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FRSC uncovers Indian hemp in apprehended vehicle

ITRealms:

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has uncovered some packs of Indian hemp in apprehended vehicle, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this to ITRealms, the Head, Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC, Bisi Kazeem, said  that its patrol team had apprehended and impounded a vehicle along Seme-Badagry Border for Seatbelt Violation and Driver Licence Violation, only to discover that the said vehicle was conveying  a large quantity of Indian Hemp into Nigeria.

According to Kazeem, the Badagry Unit Command of FRSC on patrol operations  along the route intercepted the vehicle with vehicle number, EPE 237 XC at 0845hrs and had already established the two offences before making the discovery with the collaborative effort of the Nigerian Customs who were equally on the same route with their patrol team.

The Vehicle is presently with the Comptroller Custom Seme for further investigations before it would be handed over to the appropriate drug law authority for contravening the law against drug peddling.

He also stated that it is in view of this great mark of achievement which is targeted at keeping the society sane as a security outfit that the FRSC Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, continues to call for a stronger collaboration with sister agencies.

He recalled that not long ago, the Corps had intercepted a vehicle convening children (minors) through Kaduna with some suspected child traffickers who were consequently handed over to the relevant authorities. And in the same Kaduna, the FRSC rescue team had equally recovered five locally made AK 47 rifles from a man whose vehicle was involved in a crash.

Against this backdrop, Kazeem stated that the Corps Marshal is pleased to see that the officers and men of the Corps have so far been demonstrating the willingness to make the rules of engagement with sister agencies viable and more diligent in their duties combined with maintenance of security and safety as it relates to the motoring public.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Ransomware: NITDA urges sustained cybersecurity awareness campaign

ITRealms:

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has beckoned on Nigerian Internet stakeholders to sustain the cybersecurity awareness campaign in the country following the recent attacks by a ransomware, also known as WannaCry, reports ITRealms.

Reviewing the situation which affected over 150 countries globally, Pantami said, WannaCript ransomware attack has been contained and Nigeria was largely spared from the attack due to the massive enlightenment campaign, awareness and proactive measures put out to swiftly deal with any reported incident.

“The efforts of all stakeholders in the IT industry are highly commendable and appreciated,” he asserted.

According to him, reports have shown that computer networks in more than 150 countries and more than 200,000 people had been affected by this attack, considered to be one of the biggest cybersecurity attacks in recent history. Traces in Nigeria appeared to be isolated cases as no major incident is reported in the country.

Pantami pointed out that as IT systems have now become part of our lives, the need for all to be vigilant and proactive as far as security is concerned cannot be overemphasized.

For users of Microsoft systems, NITDA boss has suggested some steps including that old operating systems should be upgraded to the latest version ( of Windows 10). This will enable them get the latest protection from Microsoft.

The recent security update released by Microsoft, MS17-010, he said, should be installed as soon as possible, stressing that where necessary, Windows Defender Antivirus should be enabled as it helps in detecting this ransomware and similar attacks.

For systems that have been attacked, tools have been developed to unlock the files locked by this ransomware – the WannaDecrpyt or Wannakey.

“They have been found to have successfully decrypted systems infected with the ransomware,” he said.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Zinox chairman, Ekeh applauds FG over local content executive order

ITRealms:

The chairman of Zinox Group, Dr. Leo-Stan Ekeh has applauded the Federal Government (FG) on the recent signing of an Executive Order compelling its agencies to buy Made-in-Nigeria goods and services, reports ITRealms.

This move, Ekeh noted, would go a long way in boosting indigenous businesses and the local content drive in the country.

Speaking on this at the weekend in Lagos, Ekeh said that the order, signed by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo last Thursday dwelt mostly on the preference for indigenous goods and services as well as the removal of bureaucracies which stall businesses. 

ITRealms recalls that the stipulated Executive Order, as detailed in a document presented by Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, stated that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government shall grant preference to local manufacturers of goods and service providers in their procurement processes for a number of items including food and beverages, motor vehicles, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, furniture and fittings, among others.

Thus reacting, Ekeh commended the FG’s move as a step in the right direction and a potential game-changer for many quality-minded local businesses in Nigeria.

“This announcement alone would have excited an army of 21^st Century young Nigerian entrepreneurs who have been facing depression based on rejection of their certified products by government agencies and parastatals. It is a great development in our new Nigeria and I pray the Federal Government demonstrates the will to implement this to the letter in order to activate real and progressive development in the country. As you know, this policy direction will potentially result in massive job creation for our youths.

“Granting preference to local manufacturers is a sure way of igniting the spirit of indigenous entrepreneurship. This is the standard the world over. Nigeria boasts a number of world-class companies whose products can compete favourably with those of their foreign counterparts. The problem has always been the right form of support from the government.

“Zinox, for instance, is patronized by a number of multinationals. Apart from Chevron Nigeria who remain one of our most regular customers, we have also enjoyed consistent patronage from other multinationals such as Total and Shell. Some of these companies – Chevron, Shell, Total have been patronizing Zinox for over 14 years and this is based purely on service quality as we all know the high standards these companies aspire to.

“I must commend the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo for this bold move which will certainly go a long way in strengthening our local industries, provide more employment for our youths and boost our local currency,” Ekeh declared.

Recollecting that Osinbajo had signed three Executive Orders giving specific instructions on a number of policy issues. They include the promotion of transparency and efficiency in the business environment designed to facilitate the ease of doing business in the country; timely submission of annual budgetary estimates by all statutory and non-statutory agencies, including companies owned by the Federal Government and the support for local contents in public procurement by the Federal Government.

“Any document issued by any MDA of government for the solicitation of offers, bids, proposals or quotations for the supply or provision of goods and services shall expressly indicate preference to be granted to domestic manufacturers, contractors and service providers and the information required to establish the eligibility of a bid for such preference.

“All solicitation documents shall require bidders or potential manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and consultants to provide a verifiable statement on the local content of the goods and services to be provided.

“Made in Nigeria shall be given overwhelming preference or at least 40% of the procurement spend on locally manufactured goods and services providers. Some priority items include: uniforms and footwear, food and beverages, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, Information and Communication Technology, furniture and fittings and stationery.

“Within 90 days of this order, the heads of MDAs shall assess the monitoring, enforcement, implementation and compliance with this Executive Order and Local Content stipulations in the Public Procurement Act, or any relevant act within their agencies,” the document had stated.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Missed call, voicemail: InstaVoice to rescue

Commentary@ITRealms:

The Kirusa InstaVoice App provides free and unlimited visual missed call alert, voicemail and voice SMS all in one app to connect you with your friends even when you are busy, out of coverage or switched off, in a simple user friendly interface. Moreover, with InstaVoice you can send text, image or voice message to anyone even if they don’t have the InstaVoice App.

With the InstaVoice app, you never miss a call. The App captures and notifies you of missed calls from friends, family and colleagues that happened while you were busy on another call, out of network coverage, on flight mode and even when your phone was turned off entirely. More so, you can call back or respond with a voice or text message, directly from the app.

With the Voicemail feature of the app, your callers can now leave you voicemails after they tried calling when you were unavailable. From the app, you can easily listen to these voicemails and respond with a single tap. The app also allows you send voice messages to any member of your contact list, even those who do not have the app, including feature phone users.  

Additionally, the App allows sent voicemails to be withdrawn at your request, from your mailbox. And to create a better experience for your callers, you can record a personalized welcome messages for them to listen to before leaving their voicemails.

InstaVoice is a valuable tool for every smart phone user, be it the high flying executive, upwardly mobile professional or even the career homemaker. It is suitable for people of all ages; young and old.  It is especially instrumental to busy business executives and frequent travelers who are often away from their local carrier network coverage area.

In addition to receiving notification via SMS, you can also request to receive missed calls alerts and voicemails via your email from the InstaVoice App to suit your preference, thanks to the user-friendly, interactive and flexible App. More so, you can manage missed calls and voicemails on multiple SIMs or phone numbers in the same app, and can use the App on several devices.

The App is easily accessible, it can be downloaded from Google Playstore store, Apple Appstore and BBM at no cost. In Nigeria, the App is available across most of the networks, so the colour themes vary across the networks; for instance red for Airtel, and black for Etisalat.

*Oyedeji Akindele contributed this from MediaCraft Associate, Lagos.

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ICANN now requires email validation system

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has introduced electronic email verification for registration on its website, reports ITRealms.

This, ICANN said is part of an ongoing process to improve the security of its web applications and this new verification process takes effect form Saturday 20 May 2017.

“The ICANN Registration website will now require that all potential meeting participants verify their email address to complete the registration process,” officials told ITRealms.

This, ICANN said added another  layer of security designed to ensure the validity of user email addresses and reduce the amount of malicious and spam email accounts currently being utilized.

Once a user has verified their email address, they will not need to re-verify for future meeting registrations, unless they update their email address or use a new one. Unverified email accounts will be unable to complete the registration process, nor will they be able to receive printed credentials at the meeting.

Users are encouraged to log into https://registration.icann.org after 20 May 2017 to receive a prompt to validate their email address. Users can then utilize the validation link sent to their email address, or they can enter the emailed confirmation code into the registration site confirmation code prompt.

ICANN explained that if users have pre-registered for upcoming meetings, and are unable to visit https://registration.icann.org before the meeting, they will be prompted on-site at the registration kiosks to validate their registration account email address.

“They can simply enter the email confirmation code at the kiosk prompt,” ICANN official said.

ITRealms gathered that registration email validation links and confirmation codes are only valid for 24 hours after they are requested.

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Verve offers N1000 discount to Payporte shoppers

ITRealms:

The Africa’s payment card brand household, Verve International, has announced a special offer for all PayPorte shoppers using Verve cards. The offer of N1000 discount on all purchases up to N3, 000 that commenced recently on Payporte.com, reports ITRealms.

According to Verve, the ultimate objective of the offer is to reward loyal customers for the consistent use of their cards on online platforms such as PayPorte; it will also incentivize customers to adopt the cashless policy of the CBN.

Managing Director, PayPorte, Mr. Eyo Bassey, said, this is a welcome development and a supportive and innovative idea from Verve. “We have our customers at heart, and we will continue to ensure that our customers are satisfied at all time. We have so many more incentives coming up for customers.

“This was part of the reasons we cancelled payment on delivery, so our customers can gain more when they adopt the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria. As we all know, this kind of benefits can only be enjoyed online using any of our secure payment options, such as Verve Cards,” Eyo added.

Speaking about the special offer, The Marketing Manager, Verve International, Enyioma Anaba said,

“At Verve, we are very passionate about our customers, this is why we have a robust reward system in place to ensure all Verve card users get the best offers each time they use their Verve cards. We have since aligned with the CBN’s cashless policy and we will explore ways to ensure customers benefit from adopting a cashless lifestyle”.

The discount will run for the next 60days until end of June. During this period, PayPorte customers can get N1000 discount off items above N3000 at each checkout using their Verve Card.

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Is Content Really King, Asks Tenu Awoonor

Guest Commentary@ITRealms: 

Recently I was thinking of the increase in adoption Over-The-Top (OTT) players have gained and the consequent dilemma it’s wrapping around operators who now have to grapple with the concern of who owns and influences the consumer. 

This also got me thinking about something else we tend to hear a lot, that term “Content is king” which has become a catchphrase in telecom parlors. It therefore begs the question of who owns/controls the (mobile) content consumers voraciously consume on a daily basis? 

Certainly not the operators but rather the likes of Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat for user generated content, to Iroko, Apple, Showmax for your movies and TV shows to mention a few.

After all, operators simply provide the pipe much like a highway with a tollbooth giving one access to a destination. Consumers invariably will cease to care which pipes are feeding the content, and would rather, as they should be only interested in making decisions about which show, news or user generated clips they seek. In almost all markets in Africa there are several alternatives available for consumers to pick from and not just with the major operators but also new 4G entrants that are still small, and independent ISPs, all providing access-ways to content.

Is it therefore better to own and manage access to the pipe or control of the content? I believe that ultimately whoever controls the content will own and influence the consumer to pick whichever pipe they want to use as an access point. AT&T by acquiring Time Warner (if approved) will have control of the content and the pipe thereby giving them a stake in both arenas. It is already offering access to premium cable channels for free with certain mobile packages to tie in consumers. Other MNO’s are realizing the shifting consumer behavior and are appointing Digital Officers who will primarily be responsible for developing their content ecosystem.

Now why is mobile content relevant for Africa? If you think about it, most individual’s primary source of entertainment in Africa is their mobile device. Very few have access to flat screen TVs, which is still a luxury by the way, to watch movies and shows. However pretty much everyone has a mobile phone of some sort that is used for listening to music, news, sports, movies etc. As a result, mobile content is fast becoming the channel of choice for consumers that like to access their shows on-demand and not be subjected to TV schedules.

For instance, my son and his friends consume most of the content they like on smartphones. Their smartphones have eclipsed television as the entertainment tool of choice where they can share clips, movies, music and chat amongst themselves through various apps. This group hardly ever uses voice; their preferred mode of communication is chat and video calling. They really do not care which network their friend is on it is irrelevant. For this group it is what content they can consume, access, or share amongst themselves and the service (OTT) that allows them to do it that matters most.

Some operators are beginning to look beyond infrastructure and experiment with digital models, however many are still yet to adapt to the shifting landscape.  Whoever is able to figure it out first and lock in providers and consumers, will leave the rest playing catch-up. Content (in the broader sense), therefore really is king…or is it not?

*Tenu Awoonor is an international business executive with experience in both the private and public sectors. He has proven himself to be a telecommunication and turn-around specialist, specifically in mobile and financial services arena. On twitter, his handle is @TAwoonor and LinkedIn .

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Orange brand in Liberia, continues strong presence in West Africa

ITRealms:

In line with its Essentials2020 strategic plan, Orange has launched its brand in Liberia with Cellcom Liberia becoming Orange Liberia, reports ITRealms.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Orange Group and Chairman and CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, Bruno Mettling, said that following the rebranding of Cellcom, Orange Liberia has joined one of the world’s most powerful brands and stands to benefit from being part of a large international group.

ITRealms gathered that Orange would provide its marketing expertise and world-class technical capability to further strengthen the operator’s established network and enhance customer service in Liberia.

ITRealms reports that with over 1.6 million customers at the end of February 2017, Orange Liberia is the leading mobile operator in Liberia in terms of customers.

Founded in 2004, the mobile operator has been a driving force in democratizing access to telecommunication services across the country, despite difficult market conditions. It has always been a precursor in terms of network deployment and in 2012 was the first operator in Liberia to launch 3G (HSPA+) services following by 4G-LTE services in 2016. Orange will pursue this strategy and will continue to invest in the development of its network where the company is already a market leader.

With a population of 4.6 million people and relatively low mobile penetration rate (70% of the population) the country has a high growth potential for Orange. To support this development, the Group will work to reinforce the quality of access in several areas:

Chuks Egbune/GEE 

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FG integrates entrepreneurship studies in tertiary institutions

ITRealms:

The Federal Government of Nigeria has integrated Entrepreneurship Studies in most of the nation’s tertiary institutions, reports ITRealms.

According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal and State Governments have established hundreds of specialized Vocational and Technical Secondary Schools.

In addition, Nigeria, the Ministry said, has scores of Polytechnics and Monotechnics with the curricula geared towards training students in various trades and vocations.

Director of Information at the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Salisu Na’Inna Dambatta disclosed to ITRealms in a press statement that the recently launched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, contains a section on the training and equipping youth with vocational and entrepreneurship skills.

The Federal Ministry of Finance, he further said, through its YouWinConnect programme has launched Enterprise Education outreach in newspapers which it plans to take to the Internet, radio and television stations for wider reach.

The outreach, Dambatta told ITRealms, is aimed at imparting basic business management skills for running existing and start-ups enterprises profitably and narrating the experiences of successful entrepreneurs to inspire enterprising youth in the country.

Meanwhile Nigeria is among the participants at the maiden Islamic Development Bank Youth Summit (IsDBY) held on the sidelines of the 42^nd Annual Meeting of the Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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