FG To Unveil New Blueprint For ICT Sector Next Month

A new blueprint that will transform the Information and Communications Technology,ICT, industry into a new revenue earner for the country will be unveiled by the Federal Government in January, 2016.

Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, who disclosed this in Lagos, yesterday during a tour of Omatek Computers factory in Lagos, said that the blueprint would create a turnaround for the industry and make ICT a cash-cow for the economy.

He also disclosed that government had also decided to renew its commitment towards the local content policy, which has been in existence but its impact has not been felt in the economy noting that the present government is concern towards developing the Nigerian ICT industry.

According to him, government wants to put an end to the dependence on oil saying that during the retreat stakeholders will how to make more revenue from ICT urging banks to continue support small and medium scale enterprises in the sector.

He assured stakeholders that government would continue to encourage local investment in the ICT sector that the Ministry is will to collaborate in whatever way to enhance the growth of the sector in Nigeria. Shittu also hinted that a committee, whose membership will comprise public and private sectors’ stakeholders, would be set up to advise government on critical ICT issues that borders on national development.

The minister said that since he assumed office, he had been receiving briefs from some stakeholders in the industry which will form part of the inputs for the blueprint which will be crafted at a retreat planned for Kaduna before the launch of the blueprint in January.

He, however, said that the ministry will ensure policy continuity and that the National Broadband Policy will be considered among other issues as part of the new blueprint, On the lingering issues of unsolicited text messages and voice calls, he said that apart from the fact that Nigerian Communications Commission was already working on how to address the challenge, government was also determined to curb the industrywide menace.
The Minister commended the Founder and Managing Director, Omatek Computers, Mrs. Florence Seriki for her efforts in the development of the Nigeria ICT products brand, particularly the computers.

In her remarks, Seriki said that she wanted the government to adopt the stakeholders approach of public private sector partnership in tackling some of the problems confronting the industry.

Huawei Unveils 2020 Mobile Broadband Strategy Plans

Huawei has announced its “MBB 2020 Strategy” on the opening day of the 2015 Global Mobile Broadband Forum, outlining a new mobile broadband blueprint for the next five years.

 Ken Hu, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO, delivers a speech at the 2015 Global Mobile Broadband Forum.

 “From now until 2020, we have three main targets: supporting 6.7 billion mobile broadband users, supporting a 1Gbps access rate, and supporting 1 billion connections for the cellular Internet of Things,” said Ken Hu, Huawei’s  Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO.

 “Achieving these goals will require technology and business model innovation, as well as cross-industry collaboration. Huawei’s mobile broadband strategy will focus on spectrum, air interface, network architecture, integrated base stations, and operations based on user experience.”

 continued, “Connecting people remains a top priority, so both quantity and quality matter. The network is the foundation of user experience, but as we focus on the network, we must, at the same time, focus on the user. And in focusing on network performance, we must also keep in mind how users experience the network.”

Hu went on, “We are entering the era of the Internet of Things. This means huge opportunities for the entire mobile telecommunications industry. To realize this IoT vision, we must develop and unify cross-industry standards, contain costs, and promote cooperation among different stakeholders. These three factors will help drive growth in this market.”

The 2015 Global Mobile Broadband Forum is jointly hosted by Huawei and the GSMA. This year it has attracted more than 1,000 distinguished guests, 200 of whom are C-level executives. Participants include mobile operators, industry partners and media representatives.

 Guests discuss issues related to building a better connected world, such as how to broaden the MBB pipe using 4.5G solutions, and how to take advantage of more powerful pipe capability to explore new industry opportunities.

 During the Forum, 25 speakers from GSMA, CMCC, Telefonica, Vodafone, Orange, Telecom Italia, SoftBank, Google, BOSCH, and others will gives presentations.

At the 2015 Global MBB Forum exhibition area along with Huawei, industry partners such as SAIC Motor, BOSCH, Facebook, and Parrot will jointly be demonstrating new enabling technologies and new business applications.

Mobile operators’ unsolicited text messages are rip-offs on subscribers –Ogunbanjo

In the last ten years after the deregulation of the telecoms sector, several issues continue to pitch the mobile network operators against subscribers who, in most cases, are at the receiving end of the telcos’ tariffs and related charges. Rather than abate, the issues, one of which is unsolicited messages being sent to subscribers incessantly, still persist. In this interview with Isaiah Erhiawarien, the President of National Association of Telecoms Subscribers of Nigeria, N
ATCOMS, Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo, speaks on the ordeal of subscribers and how the issues have been impacting on the telecoms sector’s growth.

Since the SIM card registration began, there has

been issues surrounding it, what is the present state of the exercise?

I must say that currently the industry is fine, particularly with the new appointment that President Muhammadu Buhari is making. Mr. Shola Taylor is now Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation and we now have Prof. Umar Danbatta as the new Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission. Although we would have wished for an ICT professional as the Minister of Communication but whatever we have becomes the desirable. In a nutshell, we are satisfied with the new appointment made so far by the new government. However, I will like to say that we need to establish continuity in the industry. The former Minister, Dr. Omobola Johnson, did a lot that we must build on. Don’t forget that when she became a minister, she called for a stakeholders meeting and periodically she kept appraising the development and successes of the industry. She also mapped out a broadband development plan as well as a broadband council of which Engr. Ernest Ndukwe is the chairman with other notable stakeholders in the industry as members. They have been doing a lot and we hope that the new minister will make that that continues in that.

Beyond that, the new NCC leader should also look at the issue of compensating subscribers, particularly after fining the operator for an offence, what then happened to the injured subscribers. Perhaps if fine is necessary without the Act of the NCC now they may have to look at all the situation with a human face. And we suggest that whatever fines that the operator is paying to government, 50 per cent of that should be paid to the subscriber as compensation. It is unfortunate that the subscriber that suffers a lot injury is always losing out in the whole fine saga. We want that by 2016 that it is made a definite policy that the subscriber be compensated. We also want the new minister and NCC boss to look into the issue of the cyber-crimes through the mobile phone. What we are saying is that situations where crimes are committed through the mobile phones need to be urgently addressed. They should empower all the divisional police officers in the country to look into cases in their domain with urgency. The DPOs are the nearest person to Nigerians and once a case has been reported to them they should be empowered to take up any case whether committed through text message or voice call with the mobile operator. Mobile phone is currently being used to dupe people almost on a daily basis and that is why all kind of bottlenecks in getting criminal details in the operator’s custody should be made easy for the people. On the issue of unsolicited text messages, we have made several reports to the NCC but there seems not to be any headway. The subscribers are not happy about the trend, because subscribers are losing money through so the two key leaders in the industry should urgently look into it.

Concerning the uncompleted SIM card registration, it is rather unfortunate that since the NCC engaged the seven companies to do the SIM card registration they could not perform.These seven companies did not follow due diligence when they engaged their SIM card registration agents. They actually got a lot of them engaged but in the course of doing their job, the agents rather than asking the subscribers to answer all the questions required to fill the SI card registration they were asking just a few questions, in fact the biometric that they captured were not complete. What I discovered was that most the facial capturing and the finger thumb that they did were not properly done.

Also the mobile operators engaged their own agents, unfortunately they also did not follow due diligence just like the NCC engaged agents. So both NCC and the network operators did not follow due diligence in the conduct of the exercise and that was what has brought us to where we are now.

We have expected that when the NCC noticed that the exercise was not properly done, it should have asked the subscribers to go to the nearest service centre of the operator to complete the registration. But instead, it instructed the mobile operators to disconnect the subscribers without due notice. It is the responsibility of the NCC and the operators to sort out the issue of improperly registered SIM card; it is not for the operator alone as the NCC has done. Both of them should work out a way to ensure that the subscribers do not suffer. You must have heard what happened in Benin City where the customer care centre of a particular operator was vandalised by their subscribers because they were not attended to as when they should. All those crisis concerning the inconclusive SIM card registration, if only the NCC and the operators device a means of sorting out the other aspects of the uncompleted registration through text message. For instance, when it remained just only one question for my registration, the service provider sent me a text message requesting me to answer the question and my line was restored thereafter. The question is why is that this method cannot be adopted by all the operators, instead of subscribers trooping to the customer care centres of the operators? Another truth that I need to reveal here is that those who registered with the network operators never had any issue with their registration; it is only those that used the NCC registration agents that had issues with their registration. So the NCC should look at it and try other means of resolving this issue rather trooping to the service centres of the operators.

Sir, how do you react to the sanction on MTN?

We say that the case of MTN Nigeria is rather unfortunate. Incidentally, they have the largest number of subscribers’ base in the country.

I must say that as a result of that they should be very careful with whatever that they do in the industry. Good enough that they are now sending messages to their subscribers to gather those data, which previously were not obtained during the registration exercise.

To a larger extend, MTN Nigeria has introduced a method, which other operators can adopt. In fact you can even confirm your registration through a short code. And when I did it, I was told that I was duly registered.

My Airtel and Etisalat lines are barred, and I will advise them to adopt the MTN Nigeria method instead of allowing their subscribers to troop to their customer care centre to waste their time.

Concerning the MTN Nigeria fine, I will plead that the Federal Government considers it from the investmentfriendly aspect of it because from the look of things I think it has gone beyond the control of the NCC. It is not proper that the regulator is seen as harsh by the global investment community. It will send a wrong signal across the globe. It is on record that it is the harshest fine that has been imposed on any organisation by a regulator across the world. It is rather unfortunate that this is happening and it is not good that we should be seen as a nation that does not want direct foreign investment in Nigeria, and don’t forget that it has made top executives in the company to lose their job.

For me this is bad sign for the industry, and such the NCC and the federal government should look at the fine again. It should not be more than N400 million. I am saying this because MTN Nigeria has said that N1. 2 trillion is two and half years profit put together. And if it is true, then it is only right that investors lose only one year profit but if they begin to lose two and a half years profit then the company will die.

Fortunately, the new minister said he does not want MTN Nigeria to die, and if it is so then it should not be fined more than N400 million, which is still the highest anywhere in the world. I will appeal that they temper justice with mercy.

Do you think it is proper for subscribers who were wrongfully deactivated to ask for compensation?

Although we understand that the deactivation was based on security reasons but that does not mean that subscribers should be compensated because they are due for compensation. In terms of compensation, Airtel could be said to be doing well by giving subscribers compensation. It actually promised to give its subscribers register who register their SIM cards N10, 000 worth of airtime, which must be fully used within three days but then they should look at a minimum of 30 days to exhaust the airtime.

Also MTN Nigeria is giving N500 to any subscriber that registered his SIM card, and it must be consumed within a period of seven days. But then they should increase the amount.

And we may to go to court on that because if you are compensating the subscriber, then you must have to be seen doing it right. The subscriber should be adequately compensated. Etisalat and Glo is the only network that is not giving compensation to the subscriber.

The quality of service from mobile network operators appears to be falling. What do you think should be done?

To be honest with you, the quality of service from all the operators is dropping daily. Unfortunately again, the regulator lays down the rules for SIM card sales across the entire networks. For instance, the operators are allowed to issue each numbers like 0802, 0803, 0805 and 0809 up to 10 million. But the NCC keeps giving out the number series for the operators without the capacity of their network, and the operators themselves continue to issue out new SIM card at will. In some cases the operators give out free SIM card to Nigerians so that they will have more subscribers on their network, all in the attempt of claiming to be the largest network.

What should be done is that the operators must take into consideration the capacity of their network before going to the NCC for more batches of mobile number series, besides the NCC should be able to monitor the application for more SIM card series effectively. In fact, I know of a particular network operator that will give Nigerians 10 SIM card, and then say all you need do is to registered just one of those SIM card while the other nine will be linked to the only registered one but then the other nine SIM card will be given to friends and family members.

A lot of these things are done because they want to grow their network but then you must satisfy those on the network before attempting to bring new subscribers into their network. The operators are just rolling out new numbers without complimentary rollout of telecoms infrastructure.

The quality of service is so bad these days, and it is among all the mobile operators without exception. Anyway let’s hope that by the time ntel, the new NITEL will be able to take over and I hope that they will be able to bring back fixed wireless phone and data services so that our internet penetration will be improved.

What is your opinion on merger of NCC and NBC; do you think it is long overdue?

It has been the cry of the industry for a very long time. Every stakeholder in the industry will want them to be merged because there are so many benefits that will accrue to Nigerians when they are merger. There are so many spectrums in the possession of NBC, of which when released to the NCC through the merger will go along towards improving broadband internet access and it will not for any reason affect the management of both of them. There are over 50 million subscribers pleading that both government organisations be merged and we are calling on the Minister to expedite action on the merging of the NCC and the NBC.

We also want to plead that the President Muhammadu Buhari direct that both Commissions be merged for the benefit of 180 million Nigerians and150 subscribers. The merging is beyond the power of both Commissions, it is now the duty of the President to take action in the interest of Nigerians.

So many Nigerians in the rural areas are left out of the technology revolution, particularly with regard to the deployment of internet access. How long do you think they should remain like that?

I know that the NCC is responsible for rural telephony penetration and the issue of first national carrier and second national comes to play in this regard. They should actually go into the rural areas of the country and make sure that they develop access to voice and data services.

There used to be a deliberate policy of rural telephony penetration but I don’t know what happened to that policy. Be that as it may, we want the National Assembly to make law that will make all mobile operators to take their services to the rural area.

Jovago seeks govt intervention on e-Commerce infrastructure

Jovago seeks govt intervention on e-Commerce infrastructure

The Federal Government has been called upon to speedily intervene in the provision of e-Commerce infrastructure in order to fast-track the growth of e-Commerce in Nigeria.

Managing Director of Jovago, a hotel booking website, Kushal Dutta, in a

n interview with National Mirror identified e-Commerce infrastructure as one of the key challenging that is affecting the online hotel booking business in the country noting that presenting there are few payment options available for transactions.

He noted that despite the challenges in doing business in Nigeria, the opportunities outweigh the challenges inherent in the business environment saying that government needs to invest in e-Commerce infrastructure so that the business will survive in the country.

According to him, internet access is a major issue in e-Commerce business as a result the access to internet does not only need to easily accessible to all Nigerians but the cost of accessing the internet need to go down adding that even the cost of the device also needs to go down.

He said further that government should double efforts to address the trust element in online business transaction noting anyone that wants to do business transaction must need to feel secure about the transaction.

 While calling on government to also create more payment gateways that will fast track e-Commerce, Dutta noted that since the arrival of its company in Nigeria in 2013 it has been able to increase its staff from four to 150 young Nigerians.

He explained that import duties needs to reduce so that most of the devices that are expensive can easily produced in Nigeria saying that over 70 per cent of internet subscribers access the internet through their mobile devices.

Dutta said that Jovago currently has over 8000 hotels in Nigeria on its portal on which bookings can be made from any part of the world saying that Nigeria is its largest market in Africa.

He disclosed that the choice of Nigeria for Jovago investment was base on the fact that the country has strong business potentials besides being the business hub for West Africa adding it is better than South Africa.

He however observed that hotel online booking business is still growing in Africa unlike in the developed economy where 50 per cent reservations are done online whereas Africa is just about five per cent.

He said that further that Africa has more growth potentials for hotel online booking when compared with the Western world noting that in Nigeria alone it does 50 per cent booking on the average.

Dutta said that Jovoga is committed to the welfare of the people in the environment where it does business saying that it recent made donations to the victims of the Makoko fire accident in Ebute Metta, Lagos.

He said that Jovago recently won the best use of technology award at the Nigerian Mobile Economy Summit, NIMES 2015, saying that the it for its contribution to the promotion of excellent achievements in the hotel online booking business.

Public private partnership critical for IT education sustenance –Experts

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In the face of dwindling revenue accruals into Nigerian governments’ accounts and the attendant negative implications for provision of social services in the country, the need for a well articulated investment strategy to drive IT education in Nigeria cannot be over-emphasised. Experts have identified the Public Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement as one of the options to surmount the challenge.

In the emerging Internet of Things, a crit­ical factor that will drive digital for the emerging markets like Nigeria, is sus­tained IT education but unfortunately, the high cost IT education and the pre-requisite skills need to drive however does not seems to be in abundance considering the size of the Nigeria population as well as its growing young population.

Investigations revealed that most IT edu­cation providers are from the private sector of the economy, and indeed, until most re­cently bulk of IT education services in the country were provided by the Indians.

That scenario has put the nation in a po­sition whereby research in IT education is currently at its lowest ebb so that there is a quest for urgent partnership between the public and private sector of the IT education services provider.

Latest report however, recently revealed that the nation may soon end that quest, if proposition from the Warehouse Group Plc., CWG, to manage one of the oldest education research institute in the country gets a nod from the Federal Government.

The technology company said it has the capacity to operate the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) so as to enable it offer the appropriate shared IT in­frastructure for tertiary institutions in the Nigeria, which the country needs to succeed to IT world.

Speaking on the sideline of an ICT edu­cation conference, organised by the Nige­rian Universities Commission, the Ameri­can University of Nigeria and the Digital Promise Foundation the Chief Technology Officer of CWG, Mr. James Agada said that his company has been a provider IT service provider in Nigeria and Africa saying that its portfolio of expertise puts it a vantage po­sition to manage the NgREN for the growth of IT education in the country.

Agada who spoke on the topic: “Using PPP to Advance ICT in Tertiary Education” at the 2015 education conference, in Abuja said that CWG can operate the NgREN and provide a high-performance computing facility that will provide world-class tools such as virtual laboratories, simulators and academic and research tools to users at an affordable cost.

“This can be done at a fixed subscription fee per student per semester or on a pay per use basis for both students and the faculty of schools. We are already working on this model and look forward to the support of the NUC and the universities to make it a success.”

According to him, the ability of tertiary institutions in Nigeria to generate useful knowledge depends on access to other re­positories, access to tools, laboratories and an ability to work in an enabling ecosystem which technology has made accessible and affordable.

He explained that IT solution tools like Google, Cousera and Authorea that are available today has made it possible to de­mocratise access to an almost infinite pool of knowledge, tools, laboratories and col­laborators without hindrances of time and distance.

However, he said, “the cost of acquisition, operating, maintaining and upgrading ICT will make it difficult for Nigerian universi­ties acting individually to achieve as much as they do not have the budget for anything beyond a modest investment in ICT.”

He noted most universities are by nature and law not profit making organisations, so it is difficult for them to make these invest­ments and hope to recoup.

Agada observed that this is compounded by the fact that Government funding of the universities is continually hampered by the fast dwindling revenues stressing that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) option re­mains the only viable option for funding the higher utilisation of ICT for research and learning in tertiary institutions.

He added that PPP can be made attractive for private organisations if they are allowed to build out and maintain the infrastructure and services while the university community utilises the ICT infrastructure for re­search and learning within an established social and legal contexts.

Executive Secretary of the NUC, Profes­sor Julius Okojie expressed appreciation for the notable ideas proffered by CWG not­ing that finance and the absence of vision­ary leadership has been the bane of the adoption of technology in the education sector for development.

“The prime objective of the conference organizers is a better and more effective teaching, learning, and research through ICT. So far we have been able to decide on some key resolutions and one of them is to strengthen our collaboration with technol­ogy services providers to provide quality IT services to universities at affordable rates. That is the greatest takeaway from this con­ference for me”, he said.

Assessing the performance of IT educa­tion in the country so far, Chairman, Pub­licity, Events and Trade Services Commit­tee, Nigerian Computer Society, Mr. Jide Awe said that it is important to form part­nerships between the public and private sectors, which enables the country to meet developmental goals while facilitating the injection of private strengths as well as the improvement of public sector performance and practices.

He said that the PPP in ICT for Devel­opment in Nigeria should be aggressively prioritised and supported adding that this is in view of the ability of an ICT enabled, globally competitive private sector to access new markets, generate new employment and economic opportunities, attract invest­ment, promote innovation.

Demand, Supply Forces Redefine Telecoms Operators’ Market Shares

DESPITE placing ban on two mobile network operators, MNO, over allegations that they used their market dominance to compete unfairly in the telecoms market, recent investigations showed that the market had actually created the environment that put them in the advantage position as dominant operator.

The National Mirror uncovered in a report obtained from the NCC that patronage of mobile subscribers across the country between 2013 and 2014 indicated that each of the four MNOs actually battled fiercely to become the leading oper

ator in the rapidly changing, innovation-driven market.

The former Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah had in April 25, 2013 pronounced South Africa’s MTN and Globacom, second national carrier as dominant mobile operators in critical segments of the nation’s telecoms market.

Our latest investigation showed that only one MNO continued to lead the market of the GSM while the others struggle to claim the same position, which it was gathered the operator may have ascribe to it.

For instance, reports from the NCC showed that mobile market segment figure as at

December, 2014 recorded a total of 136,772,475 active voice subscriptions indicating that it accounted for 97.83 percent of the entire market.

However, 44 percent of the 97.83 percent mobile market segment share went to Mobile Telephone Network, MTN, with a whopping figure of 59,893,093 leaving the other three operators to scramble for the remaining 53.83 percent.

While MTN took that chunk of the market share, national carrier, Globacom snatched 21 percent of the 53.83 percent thereby placing second with a lead figure of 28,219,089 but Airtel Nigeria was quick to trail behind with less than one percent scuttling with 20 percent of the active voice subscription of the market share with a figure of 27,556,544 such hat later comer into the industry and Arab owned operator trail far way with 14 percent share of the mobile GSM market, which is 21,103,749.

Although the dominant operator quest did not look the direction of the Mobile CDMA and the Fixed Wired/ Wireless market segments operators due to the crisis in the segment, which analysis have blamed on the superior technology of the mobile GSM, statistics revealed that there had indeed been a dominant operator without a pronouncement from the operator.

While each accounted for 1.57 percent and 0.13 percent share of the entire market, the NCC which appears silent on the state of that segment indicated Visafone has consistently dominate that market segment.

Investigation revealed a different outlook of market dominance as reflected by the cumulative total numbers ported incoming and outgoing across the all network particular reference to the mobile GSM segment.

The porting trend report from inception between May, 2013 and December, 2014 for the four major GSM operators revealed that Etisalat, which trails behind the three other MNO as the least dominant operator had the highest number of ported subscribers of 92946 from other networks.

On the other, MTN Nigeria, which has consistently occupied the position of dominancy in the last two years, recorded the least ported numbers of with 16,434 followed by Globacom and Airtel with 85,918 and 38,156 respectively.

Under the same, it was gathered that MTN Nigeria suffered a massive exit of subscribers out of its network as 96,496 subscribers moved their numbers to other network.

However, the Etisalat, which industry analyst have classified as the least growing network in the GSM segment suffered the least porting disadvantage with just only 28,164 of its subscribers leaving its network while growing network Airtel Nigeria and Globacom lost 51,902 and 42,091 their subscribers respectively to other network.

According to a Lagos based Consumer Rights Advocate, Mr. Damian Eze, blamed the regulator for the current trend of growth in the industry saying that the MNO have been urging NCC to review the 30 per cent differential it recently granted to MTN Nigeria for off-net and on-net retail mobile voice tariffs as it is a threat to their business.

He made reference to the MTN’s “Family and Friends” promo, which he said was is in violation of NCC’s regulation noting that “it remains a puzzle why the regulator would change the rule of the game midway without informing stakeholders of its intention and explain why it should favour a player at the detriment of others.”

According to him, the Commission has an obligation to promote fair competition and prevent the misuse of market power or anti-competitive practices by any licensee stressing that investors who desire regulatory certainty to guide their decisions will be disturbed where the industry regulator undertakes far reaching decisions without transparently seeking the input of stakeholders.

Eze called for on the NCC and the supervising Ministry of Communications Technology to put in place policies to address challenges affecting broadband development in Nigeria saying that in spite of its huge resources and market potential, the country continued to underperform in the area of broadband development in comparison to its peers.

“While Nigeria’s mobile broadband penetration stands at 10.1 per cent, the average for peer countries in Africa is 30 per cent. Again, peer countries have an average Smartphone penetration of 26 per cent, as against Nigeria’s dismal averages 12 per cent”, he said.

The spokesman for the NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo said that the regulator is committed to providing a level playing field for all operators noting that its concern as a regulator is to ensure that the industry performance meets the expectation of all stakeholders.

According to him, all polices of the NCC foster the growth of the industry and the development of the economy as well as ensuring that subscribers get value for their money.

We Shifted NIN Usage to Allow MDAs Harmonise Their Database –NIMC

THE National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has said that it shifted the mandatory use of the National Identification Number (NIN), to enable Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to harmonise their data base.

The Commission had last Tuesday disclosed that it shifted the date for the commencement of the mandatory use across the country from September 1, 2015 to January 9, 2016.

According to the Commission, the extension of the September date follows the recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that the extension will enable the Commission progress further on the harmonisation database of ministries, departments and agencies of government with that of NIMC.

The Commission’s General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr. Abdulhamid Umar, said that the shift was meant to avoid the situation similar to what was experienced when the CBN wanted to enforce the deadline date for the BVN, which eventually led to a late rush and a massive turn out of citizens and the attendant struggles they had to go through.

It explained that the shift would ensure that double enrollment was reduced to the barest minimum during the transition period when the harmonisation is being implemented.

He said that NIMC management has taken into consideration the deadline for the completion of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise thus extending the time frame for the completion of the harmonisation it has begun with the CBN on the BVN programme.

Umar disclosed that with the planned harmonisation citizens will not be required to have their biometrics taken every time by government institutions in the near future noting the MDAs will invariably act as valid agents to the NIMC, collecting their own data as well as providing data required for the issuance of the NIN by the NIMC based on the minimum national standards for biometric and demographic data capture already set by the MDAs.

NIMC disclosed that it has concluded plans to provide pre-enrollment services on smartphones to ensure that citizens do their enrolment using their smart phones, adding that it would ensure that more citizens completed their demographic enrolment before they proceed to NIMC Enrollment Centres for their biometric data capture to complete their enrollment.

The Commission said that the method will help to decongest the Enrollment Centres as well as ensure that citizens enroll at their convenience to beat the deadline.

The NIN is an 11 digit number assigned to an individual upon

successful enrollment into the National Identity Database (NIDB) is what represents the unique entry of individual’s personal information in the National Identity Database.

Huawei Deploys 200 Commercial Networks

GLOBAL Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions provider, Huawei said its Agile Network has been deployed in nearly 200 networks for commercial use in seven industries including government, finance, medical services, large enterprise, transport, education, and broadcast media.

President of Huawei West Africa Region, Mr. Shi Weiliang who made disclosure during the launch of the Huawei Agile Network in Lagos, said that Huawei’s Agile Network is the industry’s first network centered on services, users, and experiences.

The launch of the Huawei Agile Network was part of event meant to declare open the Huawei Network Congress (HNC) West Africa 2015, which was held in Lagos with the theme: “From Agility to Imagination” focusing on “introducing SDN technology” and “upgrading customer experience”.

More than 200 stakeholders from Banks, Power DisCos, Government and channel partners were at the event attended by chief executive officers, chief technical officers and analysts.

Weiliang said that Huawei’s Agile Network has helped customers build multiple high-profile solutions such as intelligent transport, wireless cities, smart shopping malls, and smart travel noting that the HNC 2015 is the forum being used to share and discuss with industry partners the practices and future of the Agile Network, with the aim of helping enterprises to quickly enter the age of agility.

“We are now in a fast-changing era where Cloud computing, Big Data, and Software-defined networking (SDN) are no strangers to us. As mobility, Bring your own device (BYOD) , and digital social networking become terms commonly used in our work and life, the rapid changes of this era are more and more evident. In such an era, IT capability is becoming an extremely important core competency for an enterprise”, said Weiliang.

MTN Hinges Internet Penetration on LTE-Smartphone Technology

THE massive roll-out of LTE broadband technology, coupled with the increased rollout of smartphones at affordable rates in Nigeria, would further drive broadband penetration in the country, beginning from 2017.

Senior Manager, Transmission Access Planning Network Group at MTN, Mr. Olusegun Salami, who disclosed that at the quarterly industry agenda setting seminar organised by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association, NITRA, disclosed that the actual journey of broadband penetration started in 2007, with the launch of the third generation technology called the 3G, which he said, put an end to the narrow band service being provided through the 2G networks.

In a paper presentation titled: ‘Foreign Direct Investment-An Impetus To Achieving Ubiquitous Broadband Penetration,’ he said Nigerians were beginning to see significant improvement in broadband penetration, but explained that by 2017, when more service providers must have launched their LTE services the broadband landscape would change.

According to him, Nigerians would experience faster browsing speed and navigation, while on the internet stressing that smartphone, which would help drive the use of broadband internet, must come cheap.

“It is for this reason that MTN decided to come with low pricing smartphone that will enhance increased use of the internet, through mobile devices,” Salami said.

He disclosed that fibre system remains the best way to achieve broadband penetration in an economy with population like Nigeria, adding that MTN is appreciative of Government efforts in employing policies to further open up the economy in a manner that the economy will be able to attract more FDI noting that further devaluation of Naira will attract FDI.

Salami lauded Government for moving in the direction of increasing its investment in the development of the nation’s infrastructure particularly in the areas of electricity power supply, roads, telecommunication saying that such would reduce the cost of doing business thereby wooing more FDI.

He called on the Government to encourage production activity via production incentives and/or subsidies in order to increase the nation’s GDP.

Chairman of the event and Group Chairman, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem kicked against the devaluation of the naira in order to encourage FDIs noting that it place indigenous investors at disadvantage.

Nigerian Businesses Need Technology to Survive, Says Expert

HEWLETT PACKARD (HP) has said that Nigeria was not exempted from the growing trend whereby organisations are keying into the potentials of technology to improve their business.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, Lagos State, Mrs. Nike Animashaun, who made the remark at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Hewlett Packard Technology Tour said businesses around the world are using advanced technology to reduce the cost of doing business while also churning out high scale productivity that redefines economies globally.

Animashaun said as a responsible government, Lagos State is aware that with information technology, business transactions have become seamless globally, reducing physical presence and creating breath.

According to her, the Lagos State Government is excited to be part of the HP Technology Tour 2015, noting that the magnitude has the capacity to boost Nigeria’s ICT sector and enhance greater technological advancements through extensive brainstorming on pertinent issues within the IT industry.

She said that growing with businesses globally, HP recognized the potential of Information Technology and have consistently re-innovate to ensure its customers are not left behind, especially businesses who dare to survive the very challenging global economic terrain.

Commercial Director, Middle East and Mediterranean Africa, HP, David Rozzio said that the HP Technology Tour was conducted across the globe to bring HP customers closer to the latest in information technology.

He said that the technology tour was meant to provide Nigerian businesses and IT professionals the opportunity to tap into the latest technology; and improve the performance and overall profitability of businesses while also guaranteeing security of business intelligence.

70,000 IT Personnel Needed to Tackle Skill Shortage

FOR the country to effectively tackle its current IT skill challenges, about 70, 000 personnel must be added to the nation’s IT workforce.

Cisco Nigeria gave the projection at the end the Cisco Networking Academy held at the University of Lagos, noting that tertiary institutions are not producing enough ICT graduates to meet this demand.

General Manager, Cisco, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Mr. Dare Ogunlade said in a remark during the training that governments urgently need to deploy policy and training programmes to help solve the world’s fastest-growing gap in networking professionals.

He stated the demand for Internet Technical Professionals is increasing in proportion to the demand for connectivity adding that the global shortage of skilled IP networking professionals will be at least 1.2 million people in 2015, according to INSEAD Business School’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2014 co-authored by Cisco.

The industry expert disclosed that the latest Cisco Visual Networking Index, Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2014-2019 revealed that mobile data traffic is expected to grow 11-fold over the next five years in Nigeria, which is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 63 percent – two times faster than expected fixed IP traffic growth.

He explained that it highlights that connectivity is accelerating at a fast pace in the country therefore creating a growing need for skilled ICT professionals stressing that the lack of young ICT professionals is not limited to just Nigeria.

He said that increased connectivity, the Internet of Everything, rising digitisation of all business activity, globalisation of trade and travel, and economic growth globally has created the same problem in a number of countries globally.

Ogunlade said: “Specific programmes and targeted policies are needed to expand the total pool of qualified people in Nigeria, as well as globally. More effort is particularly needed to expand the pool of qualified networking talent by increasing the number of new Networking employees.”

Nigeria’s Mobile Phone Sales Worth N4.4bn Monthly

THE AMOUNT of mobile phones sold monthly in Nigeria has been estimated at about $20 million, while the country is also described to be very environmentally friendly to most devices that are imported in the country.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of BLU Nigeria, the sole distributor of a US-based BLU mobile phones, Mr. Stephen Fevrier, disclosed that the entry into the already saturated Nigerian mobile phone market was to bring something different to mobile phone users in the country.

According to him, though some of the world’s leading mobile phone brands are already in the Nigerian market, BLU’s unique design, quality and affordable price give it an edge over the other brands.

“If you look at most of the specs, you can compare the phone to Samsung and Apple, and not with these other phones that litter the market in Nigeria. There are three major selling points of the BLU phone and they are design, quality and affordable price. There is a phone for everybody in BLU mobile,” he said.

He said BLU mobile phone has long lasting battery life of over 72 hours of heavy usage, after about two hours of charge adding that other features include upgradable operating system (OS), which gives its users the ability to upgrade its operating system as new version OS is released.

He pointed out that the phones also had dual SIM ports, water resistance features, camera, television and radio, with one year warranty that covers factory errors.

Fevrier noted that though the product is barely a year in the Nigerian mobile phone market, it has recorded tremendous success especially in the low and high-end categories adding that its popularity is more with the feature phones.

He said that BLU is not unmindful of the fact that it is competing in a market already dominated by some notable big brands but expressed the belief that with the quality of product it has brought into the Nigerian market, it will not be long it takes over the Nigerian mobile phone market.

“We are pretty much aware of the quality of product that we have. You know we have some strong brands too that we are competing against. For that reason, we needed to put our house in order first so as to compete well.

“Once we are done with putting our house in order, we shall commence serious campaigns in form of road shows and media campaigns.’’

Source Code Theft Threatens Nation’s Software Industry

The nation’s software industry has over the years been bedeviled with teething problems such as piracy and unbridled importation and patronage of foreign software. However, investigation revealed that source code theft may soon be the latest burden investors and professional s in the industry may have to contend with as quacks have identified this area as major source of cheap money. 

THE GROWING trend of software piracy in the country has for long be a subject of concern for regulatory agencies, investors and professionals in the industry based on the damaging impact on their investments and the economy generally.

However, investigation indicated that despite sundry efforts to deal with the patristic monster of piracy in the industry, the problem is still prevalent as less than 50 per cent of software in the economy is believed to be purchased from developers or their authorized vendors.

Even as stakeholders, including the governments, are determined to sanitise the market, a new dimension has been added by pirates and their other ICT fraudsters to the war with the latest but gradually booming source code theft menace.

Although not yet popular in the industry, our investigations showed that some notable software developers in the country are currently having involved in a running battle against source code thieves, with one of them alleging the theft of his code by another professional colleague.

Indeed, it was gathered that the software developer, whose software is believed to have a strong share of the nation’s software market, may run into further losses following an alleged stealing of his source code by somebody he trusted.

According to a computer programmer and founder of Compucat System, Emmanuel Okitiakpe, the source code is the brain behind every software released by a developer into the market noting that without the source code, the developer is no longer in business.

He explained that software is usually written in a kind of computer instructions or programme before it can be referred to as software saying that before such programme is written, it is first analysed to solve a particular problem.

Okitiape clarified further that it is after such programme had been carefully written that it is given to the computer, and it is that state that it becomes software saying that after that the developer can then begin the process of debugging the software using the source code.

Corroborating the importance of the source code as stated by Okitiakpe, the President of Programos Software Group Limited, Emmanuel Amos said that if at that point the source code is stolen or copied by another person the investment made by the original owner of the software nullified noting that in such situation the one who stolen the source code may just be using it do another business.

Amos explained that it is a little easy for the original developer to start all over if the source code is merely copied, since it is possible for him to start rewriting the programme for the software saying that if the source code is stolen without the a copy, the developer is invariably left naked.

He further described the source code as an asset to the developer by which he uses to maintain a relationship with those clients that are using his software stressing that any lost of that means that the developer is out of business since he will not be able to improve further on the product.

Investigations reflected that although source code theft was not as common as that of software piracy yet the damage it is capable of doing to the investments of a developer can be substantial.

The Programos boss pointed out that sharing income may be lesser to bear noting that more precarious is a situation where the owner of the source code does not known that it has been be stolen, since such crime is usually committed by a trusted person.

He said that the financial implication is that the trade security of someone has been taken away from the person thereby making it impossible for the individual to do maintenance work on the software, which is an additional income for the developer of the software besides actual cost of the sale for the software.

He disclosed that due to the technical nature of software piracy the Nigerian Copyright Commission is founding difficult handling it adding that the stealing of source code is even more complex since it is a near abstract product.

Amos called on the Federal Government to set up a Software Copyright Commission that will be made up of experts in the field of programming stressing that the practitioners are in a better position to understand the gravity of source code theft.

He said further that the lost of source code could also affect other staff working in the company whose source code for a particular software has been stole.

According to Business Software Alliance’s (BSA) latest findings, an increase in the use of genuine software by one percent contributes $73 billion to the global economy while pirated software contributes $20 billion.

On the economic losses, the International Data Company, IDC disclosed that consumers globally will spend 1.5 billion hours and $22 billion identifying and recovering from the impact of malware, which arises from the use of pirated software.

The IDC further said in his latest report that businesses all over the world will be spending $114 billion to deal with the effects of malware-induced cyber-attacks.

Expert Asks FG For Software Copyright Commission

A SOFTWARE developer has called for the establishment of a Software Copyright Commission, SCC, in order to effectively tackle the growing menace of software piracy in the country.

Speaking in an interview, the Founder and President Programos Software Group Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Amos said that the country is currently not winning the war against software piracy because the police and lawyers lack the capacity to fight offenders.

According to Amos, who is the brain behind development of software for the Nigerian capital market, a software protection body is in a better position to secure the right of digital intellectual property saying that the Nigeria Copy Commission is well enabled to do that.

He said that the current copyright law is not inclusive enough for abstract professions like the software profession noting that “many other software developers in this country also suffer this silently and helplessly from the attack of software pirate but would not talk.”

He added that although there may be related law but that such laws may just be in silos and not effective in the fight against software piracy saying that the agencies like the Nigerian Technology Development Agency, NITDA, and National Office of Technology Acquisition and Promotion, NOTAP, can control the menace if empowered.

Referring to a recent discussion he had with a security operative whereby there was a display of lack of knowledge about software, he said that only a Commission on it can properly educate and inform security agencies on the protection of digital intellectual.

He disclosed that infringement on digital intellectual property is a great lost to the owner of that property stating that many software development companies in the country have been grounded as a result of software piracy.

He noted if it is so difficulty for big companies to survive the attack of software pirate, how then easy will it be for start-up companies and individuals to weather the storm software piracy.

Amos disclosed that once the source code of a software is stolen it therefore means that the company has been pushed out of business saying that an If “One luck I have is that I have groomed the Nigerian Capital Market for almost two decades and I have a clientele that is currently fighting for me.”

He said that he ready to fight the battle against software pirate because of the future of the industry in Nigeria and so that those who steal source code in order to kill others business will not succeed.

He further said that whenever a software developer suffer piracy challenge it puts the company in bad light before its customer stressing that in that case the solution is getting the source code back or rewriting the code.

Malfunctioning Websites Hamper MDAs’ E-governance Dividends to Citizens

Claims by governments across the country about their commitment to using IT driven platforms to enhance governance appear to be mere slogans. Investigations show that most MDAs’ websites that should keep the citizens informed about government policies and programmes are either nonexistent of malfunctioning. Staff reports.

In the first quarter of this year and before the exit of the former Minister of Communication Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, a report she credited to the bi-annual United Nations e-Government Development Ranking index stated that Nigeria has moved 21 places in the ranking.

However, assessment of some government websites does not reflect the indices that gave e-governance in Nigeria that ranking.

According to the ranking, there was said to be standardisation of all MDA websites and deployment of ICT in all government parastatals while daily routines had become seamless.

Nigeria in the ranking pooled a total of 190 points to climb to 141st position in 2014, from 162nd in 2012, thereby moving to 21 places from the previous ranking in 2012.

How investigation  revealed that a lot of the MDAs websites far from what should be regarded as standard websites.

Our investigation, which was narrowed to key areas such News and Media menu, and the link of such websites to the social media as well as social media activities on some selected MDAs website reveals a sad state.

Our investigation particularly examined how often news and development are updated on such websites. It also examined the news update from national dailies posted on

the website.

A visit to the website of the Ministry of Communications Technology revealed that the last posting made in the News and Media menu of the website was in March 2015 while most of the photos posted on the photo gallery were photos of 2013 and 2014.

The last posting of daily newspaper report posted on the Daily News Report menu of the website was made in March 2015 while the last tweeting activities on the Ministry’s tweeter was June 24.

It was gathered that even in the use of the social media, the Ministry of Communications Technology was far behind global standard.

For instance, the last post on the Facebook of the Ministry was in April 2015 while only 144 people of the about 80 million Nigerians that visited the page which was created in 2012.

The Ministry has five departments under its supervision namely: Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Nigeria Technology and Development Agency, NITDA, NIPOST and Galaxy Backbone Plc but of all, the most active of them is the NCC.

It was discovered that NITDA has no news event menu that captures development and trends in an agency that is supposed to technology development in the country while the last news item posted on its latest news menu was in April 2015.

Investigation further revealed a dormant social media presence for NITDA as the last post on its Facebook page was in September 29, 2014 while the page, which was created in 2001 so far had only 3,566 likes.

Its tweeter account revealed that NITDA has only one tweet, five following, 25 followers and one favourite.

As for the Nigeria Postal Service, its website has no posting on its News and Media menu and there was no link to any Facebook and Tweeter accounts while the only post made was on its photo gallery, which was a 2013 photo award ceremony.

For NIGCOMSAT, the story was the same with no link to a Facebook account except for Tweeter account whose last tweet was in June 15, 2015 while the last time its News menu content update was in June 8, 2015.

Also a visit to the website of Galaxy Backbone Plc., a company that is a key driver of telecoms infrastructure in the country revealed that the last news update concerning its online activity was in May 2015, besides there is no news update of national dailies its the website.

A look at the Galaxy Backbone Face- Book page showed that the page, which was created in 2006 had only 384 likes while the last post on the page was in June 18, 2013.

However, it discovered that the Galaxy Backbone appears to be current with global trending events and news as indicated in its Tweeter account although the news item tweeted on June 29 2015 reported on June 18 on a telecoms news websites. The last tweet was tweeted on June 29, 2015 at the time of filing in this report.

But the account, which was created in 2010, has only 176 tweets, 45 following and 316 followers.

So far in the entire MDAs websites visited, only that of the NCC has a Norton security protection while none of them have the security key icon meaning that they are not secured and are vulnerable to the least experienced hackers.

Commenting on our investigation, software developer for the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Mr. Emmanuel Amos disclosed that it is a reflection of the infancy state of e-governance in the country.

He noted that an efficient government website must not only be functional but should start and end a process for the common citizen, which should indeed reflect standard e-governance.

According to Amos, most of what is hosted today as websites by the MDAs in the country are just screen paintings with no effect saying that the cheapest service such drivers licence application or immigration service cannot fly on those websites.

While expressing worry about the kind of websites qualified platform for e-governance he stated that “to a great extent our people contribute to these failures because they want to truncate standard best practice processes and give room for human circumventions for corruption.”

He noted that these websites are not up to standard because of lack of readiness and enforcement to do the right adding that “Why do they work in other countries. We are simply corrupt.”

Amos observed that Nigerians are a major problem of e-governance and that technologies have always been in government stressing that the people do not want the government to get to the level of deploying technology for everything due to corruption.

While revealing that government automation process lacks auditing, he said that there are evidences that every aspect of governance requires technology to be effective saying that even the “Our health system needs data. The power supply we all worry about need data to enable proper planning.”

Notwithstanding the poor standard of most government websites, Amos noted that there good efforts made in many areas of e-governance saying however that they are all work in silos which reduces our egovernance next to nothing.

He explained that “you can see the National ID thing, e-voting system deployment, the banking BVN, the XoXo try ‘ s Credit Bureau responsibility has gone into oblivion.”

According to him, that is one reason government cannot function well and thereby satisfy the citizens in the current dispensation.

Managing Director, Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria, IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman however said that there areas that these MDAs have done well besides the current state of their websites stating that there are challenges in the country as far as e-governance is concern.

He explained that the challenges of e-governance was what gave rise to the Nigerian e-Governance Forum so that issues that security and how to protect children and youths online.

He added that there are still challenges as to why Nigeria cannot share telecoms infrastructure with neighbouring West African countries so that regional traffic will not be a problem to the citizens of the region.