'LAGOS WILL NOT CRIPPLE THE ECONOMY'

Lagos State Government is mindful of the state’s impact on the economy of Nigeria; hence it has no plans to cripple economic activities in the state and Nigeria in general.
State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, TPl. Francisco Bolaji Abosede disclosed this during the Press Briefing while rendering account of stewardship of the ministry in the last four years under the administration of the Babatunde Raji Fashola leadership.
Abosede stated that it is general knowledge that most banking and financial institutions have their headquarters in Lagos which also translate to the establishment of enormous bank branches. He however bemoaned that some of the banks do not follow due process before such branches are opened, thereby contravening Physical Planning Law in Lagos State.
He noted that Lagos State is critical to the economy of Nigeria and has not clamped down on banks as it will greatly affect the economy. In order to tackle this abnormality, TPl Abosede said several periodic meetings are being held with the banks as regards branch establishment, coupled with the periodic inventory and assessment of certain urban based activities and their impact on immediate environment such as petrol filling stations, petrol tank farms, eateries, banks and places of worship.
The Commissioner revealed that with Lagos as a megacity, the State Government is planning for 40 million people with the provisions of adequate infrastructure, both social and physical, to accommodate the influx of people adding that calculations and necessary parameters have been considered and are being balanced. He remarked that the physical planning activities carried out by the State Government are not without the collaboration and inclusion of stakeholders.
He explained that the inclusive governance method of the State Government is to make people comply willfully by persuasive means instead of forceful compliance. While stating that there is no plan without the approval of the people, TPl Abosede added that the 2010 Physical Planning Law is operational as the ministry is gearing towards rescheduling of the public meeting to involve the Press, professional bodies, institutions such as insurance companies, etc, to fine-tune the modus operandi of the law, stressing that laws are meant to be debated and examined exhaustively to arrive at a beneficial conclusion for all.
In the area of Urban Development, Abosede noted that the State Government has reported phenomenal growth and progress with the Tejuosho Market redevelopment under the Public-Private-Participation scheme, informing that the project is in two phases. According to him, the phase 1 of the project is at 70% completion stage. He also stated that Freedom Park (old Broad Street prison) has been redeveloped into a tourist attraction facility to serve as recreation and improve environmental quality of the state.
The Commissioner further revealed that the ministry is involved in the development of various transportation routes and utility lines (viz roads, rail lines, PHCN lines, etc), while also determining, establishing and delivering Right of Way (ROW) to free encumbrances which involves survey and acquisition description, identification, enumeration and removal of such encumbrances on completion of acquisition before the compensation process.
In her Vote of Thanks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Arc. (Mrs.) Yetunde Oluwatoyin Ajayi, mni commended Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) for his passion for physical planning issues in Lagos State which has put the state ahead of others. She noted the State Government has taken the trend of physical planning to greater heights by aligning herself with developed cities such as Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, among others and this has also prompted the India Government her willingness to partner with the state on planning matters.
Arc. Ajayi noted that despite the challenges and peculiarities of Lagos State as the commercial nerve centre of sub-saharan Africa, the state is not deterred in making the environment sustainable, organized, liveable and business friendly.

Glo 1 signs on companies across industry segments

Glo 1 has signed on major international carriers and leading companies from across the industry verticals since the international submarine cable owned by national operator, Globacom, was launched last October. The companies include telecom operators, internet service providers (ISPs), Oil & Gas companies, Banks, manufacturing companies, IT & IT-enabled services companies, and leading media organizations.

A spokesman for the company disclosed this following the recent signing of an agreement between it and an oil giant. Some of the companies are PCCW, Airtel Ghana, Airtel Nigeria, C&W (Nigeria & Ghana Operations), IPNX, Swift Networks, Shell, TotalElf, Chevron, United Bank for Africa, Fin Bank, Nigerian Bottling Co. PLC, P&G and almost all the major media companies

Glo 1 is West Africa’s largest internet bandwidth provider. With its launch in Nigeria last year and in Ghana in April, the cable has ushered in a new era of prosperity for businesses in the African region. The facility, the first individually owned international submarine cable in Africa, has addressed the bandwidth capacity problem in the region and ushered in reliable telecommunications services.

“The high number of customers that have signed on to Glo 1 in just seven months of operation is a vote of confidence in the company. We are availing the customers an excellent communication network and a cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services across Africa, Europe and the rest of the world," he stated.

He explained that the facility has the capacity to boost business activities from information technology to banking, oil and gas, manufacturing and commerce by offering world-class long distance voice, video and data communication services.

With a capacity of up to 2.5 terabits per second, as well as 99.9% up time reliability, customers are assured of much faster, more reliable and cheaper internet services. Glo 1 will offer attractive rates and long term partnerships resulting in enhanced profitability for the customer through flexible terms of contracts tailor-made for the customer type and need.

“A unique advantage we have is our extensive terrestrial network in West Africa through our operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia and Senegal. This will enable Glo 1 to give end-to-end connectivity including last mile services, thus providing a one-stop-shop for customers’ requirements,” the company source stated.

Glo1 has connectivity with top international carriers which gives it a global reach and enables it to offer international standard Service Level Agreements, giving the customer guaranteed world-class services at highly affordable price.

NCC to intensify enlightenment on SIM Registration

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said in Abuja that it will intensify the enlightenment campaign on the on-going, nationwide SIM registration exercise.

The general elections which ended last week, has given subscribers a relaxed atmosphere to enable them to register their SIM cards with NCC appointed registration vendors nationwide.

The Commission had on March 28, 2011, flagged off the six-month nationwide SIM registration exercise which will end on 28 September, 2011.

Head, Media and Public Relations of the Commission, Mr. Reuben Muoka, who during an interaction with ICT correspondents in Abuja, said the current campaign will include radio jingles in local languages giving subscribers the location of SIM Card registration centres in all the states of the federation as will be published in key national dailies and the Commission’s website.

He said SIM Card registration centres will continue to grow in various states of the federation and that some of the registration agents will move around with mobile units to cover areas that may not have fixed registration centres in any particular locations such as markets and other similar locations.

In the NCC SIM registration centres, subscribers are able to register all their SIM cars irrespective of any network, at the same spot. But the Commission said all those who have already registered with their telecom service providers need not come for the registration undertaken by the operators will be collated for the same purpose at the Central data base for all subscribers in the country.

ATCON endorses IPV6 Roundtable, harps on broadband roadmap

The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) has endorsed the Nigeria Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6) Roundtable 2011.

ATCON is a professional, non-profit umbrella organisation of all telecommunication companies in Nigeria, which was founded since December 10, 1993, as a national trade organisation, with membership drawn from Nigerian and multi-national companies which provide telecommunications and information technology products and services in across the country.
Whereas the forthcoming Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable was initiated by the DigitalSENSE Africa as part of its Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum series in commemoration the World IPV6 Day, which has been slated for Thursday, June 2, at the Planet One, Mary Land Lagos.
The global World IPV6 Day has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, this year by the Internet Society (ISOC), the organisational home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).
The acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Ajibola Olude in a letter of endorsement addressed to the Executive Director, DigitalSENSE Africa Media, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, acknowledged the support of ATCON.
“I am pleased to convey approval of the National Executive Council,” he declared. Some of the condiments, according to him, include the use of the fact that ATCON endorsed the event on all the conference materials.
While promising that ATCON would broadcast the event to all its members, the President of ATCON, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu has planned to give a goodwill message to the occasion.“ATCON will support the event with some mementos,” he added.
Reacting, Mrs. Nweke commended ATCON leadership for its foresight in recognizing the importance of this latest migration and efforts of DigitalSENSE in stimulating awareness in the IPV6 aspect of the future internet.
Further, she revealed that ATCON president would be presenting a position paper of the group for the stakeholders as a means of internalizing the endorsement among its members.
Meanwhile in the preceding weeks, the duo of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) and Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) have thrown their respective support for the Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable, scheduled to hold at Planet One on June 2.
President of NIG, Engr. Adebayo Banjo said that his group is pleased to endorse the Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable in commemoration of the World IPV6 Day also known as ‘Test Flight Day’.
He also said the IPV6 Roundtable offer a first-class platform for networking to stimulate public awareness on the importance.
More interesting, he said, is the theme for the roundtable ‘IPV6-Join The Players’ scheduled to hold at the Planet One MaryLand, Lagos being organized by the DigitalSENSE Africa, stressing that Nigeria should join the IPV6 world and not wait to do leapfrogging.
NIG in a letter to DSA dated April 15, 2011, Banjo said, they foresee the roundtable as a platform for Nigerian Internet stakeholders in which issues concerning the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector issues are raised and addressed with particular reference to the Internet Protocol version 6.
He, therefore, solicits the support of all Internet stakeholders to take active participation at the roundtable.
Equally, NIRA, in its letter of endorsement signed by the Head, Corporate Services, Ms Ugo Akiri commended DigitalSENSE Africa for the foresightedness in enlightening Nigerians on Internet-related developments.
She noted that this is coming shortly after the Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance and Development (IGD).
NIRA, she also said, has every reason to back the Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable and enjoined members of the association to actively participate in the event scheduled for Thursday June 2, this year at Planet One under the chairmanship of the former Minister of Communications, Chief Olawale Ige, who doubles as the chairman, board of trustees, Nigeria Internet Group.
Reacting to these development, the Executive Director, Operations, DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, applauded both organisations for the endorsements.
She noted that following the recent allocation of the last batch of the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) it has become imperative for the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and Nigeria cannot afford to be left out.
“The Internet is now the global communication network and to join this evolution, Nigerian stakeholders need to integrate IPv6 in all areas,” she said.
Mrs. Nweke pointed out that based on the abovementioned, the Internet Society (ISOC), the organisational home for the groups responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) came up with the World IPV6 Day, which this year would be commemorated on Wednesday, June 8, 2011.
She explained that why Nigeria IPV6 Roundtable is holding on Thursday, June 2 is to drum support for the global commemoration on June 8.“We needed to get this earlier so that our people would start in good time to prepare their minds for the test-flight day,” she declared.
The Roundtable, she said, would stimulate public awareness on the importance of the World IPV6 Day also known as ‘Test Flight Day’ in addition to providing networking opportunities.
On June 8, she noted that the World IPv6 Day is a strategy to encourage successful migration to IPv6 through participation of some key Internet Service Providers like Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai and Limelight networks to offer their contents over IPv6 only for a 24-hour period.
“The goal of the Test Flight Day is to motivate organizations across the industry – regulators, operators, Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors, content providers, manufacturers, web companies and key stakeholders; to ensure a successful transition as IPv4 addresses run out,” she said.
Further, she urged Nigerians, especially the industry players to maximize the opportunity to showcasing their plans for IPV6 migration in Nigeria.