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http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/20/pfs-ppc-bssl-discuss-technology-convergence-local-content-wacc-2019-holds-lagos/

posted by itedgenews

Nigeria’s budding technology industry will continue to grow despite a mix of political, infrastructure and regulatory challenges, but growth could stale if stakeholders do not make strong head-push at addressing the challenges, experts who will be speaking at this year’s West Africa Convergence Conference (WACC 2019) seem to suggest.

Register for WACC 2019: https://thewacc.net/

For them, local content can fit well into the technology convergence mix if government becomes more aggressive in supporting indigenous IT enterprises to innovate and unload solutions into the market that will enjoy public sector led patronage.

While there has been a positive proliferation of startups able to raise money offshore to make that ecosystem very promising and an admissible level of commitment to patronize local technology efforts by those in government, there are still wide gaps to fully meet the local content policy in a way that could thicken the benefits of technology diffusion or convergence, said president of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) and Managing Director of Precise Financial Systems (PFS) Ltd, Yele Okerem.

“ISPON will be proud to publish that the compliance in the local content has scaled up. Nobody can deny all these. But when we look at what we should be doing, my opinion is that we have not even started at all,” added Yele during an interaction with IT Edge News in Lagos.

CEO of BSSL and immediate past president of ISPON, Olorogun James Emadoye said: “You keep hearing people talking about startups but you cannot be talking about startups when older companies that are already built and are supposed to be the one doing business are not seeing the businesses.”

“How do you develop the local market without patronizing the market? That is the challenge…. How can our children get employment when everything we do today is imported?”

Organized as an industry sponsored event by Knowhow Media and Market Intelligence International Limited (KMMIIL) publishers of IT Edge News, WACC 2019 is already enjoys tremendous support from public and private institutions including the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), SmartWeb, NigComSat, Galaxy Backbone Ltd., Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), and Medallion Limited. Others are Rack Centre, BSSL Limited, PFS Limited, ICS Limited, Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN) and Plateau State Information & Communication Technology Development Agency (PICTDA) among others.

“Here’s a vista for the industry to do a self-assessment of how it can cut through the existing challenges and gain positive traction for all stakeholders across industry verticals. The promise in technology or industry convergence or any convergence for that matter is the dynamism that bears on how stakeholders must respond to trends or perish. WACC is the platform for shared experience and networking of ideas to solutions,” said Co-Chairman, WACC 2019 Planning Committee, Dr Sola Afolabi.

Government needs a framework to foster value-creating policy-thrusts, said Director of Operations at PPC Limited, Patrick Ede. According to Ede, while the private sector has played significant role in driving the trends and growth in the ICT industry, real impact cannot happen without government providing the direction. His words: “The moment a government starts creating value in the citizens and utilizing what they have then it is creating employment….. The ICT industry has created more job than the energy sector and government can still do more….. How do we get the Huawei’s of this world to start assembling here? How do we support and replicate local ICT companies like Zinox? Government can support people to assemble this kind of systems and this will, in turn, create employment. We need to see more engagement of people in the private sector to help achieve government’s goal on local content.”

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/20/silicon-valley-based-founder-institute-berths-newest-chapter-lagos/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews

The Founder Institute www.fi.co, the world’s premier idea-stage accelerator and startup launch program, has officially launched its newest chapter in Lagos. With plans to run two semesters annually, the Founder Institute aims to launch over 20 meaningful and enduring technology companies per year in Lagos. Applications to the program are open now, and anyone interested in working with Lagos’s top startup mentors to launch a technology company is welcome to apply to the Lagos Founder Institute at http://fi.co/apply/lagos.
In order to celebrate the launch, the Lagos Founder Institute will host a series of free startup events for the general public, where attendees can learn how to build a company and learn more about the program. See the full list of events at http://fi.co/events/lagos.

L-R: Oluwarotimi Fasuyi, CEO, VasDigiMobility; Ifedy Eze, Co-founder, Maisematrix Consulting; Wande Adalemo CEO, Wave3 Wireless and Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. “CFA”, Co-founder, GoDo.ng
L-R: Oluwarotimi Fasuyi, CEO, VasDigiMobility; Ifedy Eze, Co-founder, Maisematrix Consulting; Wande Adalemo CEO, Wave3 Wireless and Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. “CFA”, Co-founder, GoDo.ng
For aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs up to the challenge, the Founder Institute’s comprehensive step-by-step program provides the structure, mentor support, and global network of entrepreneurs needed to start an enduring company. The Founder Institute is the only program of its kind that focuses on people versus ideas, accepts founders with day jobs, and shares equity with all participants. Founder Institute Graduate companies include fast-rising startups across 6 continents like Udemy, Realty Mogul, Travelcar, goplaceit, Appota, and many more.
In addition, the Lagos 2019 program will include the Founder Institute’s newest company-building curriculum suitable to address the needs of advanced founders (MVP stage) as well as aspiring new entrepreneurs at the idea-stage – a project just released this year in collaboration with hundreds of startup leaders across the globe. The Lagos Chapter will once again be led by local startup leaders Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. “CFA”, Co-founder, GoDo.ng & Presenter, Tech Trends on Channels TV; Oluwarotimi Fasuyi, CEO, VasDigiMobility; Wande Adalemo CEO, Wave3 Wireless and Ifedy Eze, Co-founder, Maisematrix Consulting.

Mentors who have expressed interest in helping Lagos Founder Institute participants include but not limited to:
‘Deepankar Rustagi, Founder, VConnect

Adeoye Abodunrin, Director, Xpos Technologies

Atul Kshetry, CEO, IDM Services Plc
Ayo Animashaun, Founder/CEO, Smooth Promotions
Babafemi Lawal, MD/CEO, Synergon Infrastructure Limited
Biodun Ogunlabi, Founder/CEO, 3 Way Communcations Limited
Charles Emembolu, CEO, Crestsage Limited

Charles Anudu, CEO, Swift Networks
Clement Efanga, Founder/CEO, Clemas Garment Co. LTD
David Olaniyan, Founder/CEO, Startup Builder

Etop Ikpe, CEO, Cars45
George Agu: CEO, ActivEdge Technologies Limited
Ife Olatunji, CEO, Metamorp
Kingsley Eze, CEO, Tenece
Michael Simeon, CEO, VoguePay
Nnamdi Ezeigbo, Founder, SLOT Systems
Obi Asika, Chairman, Social Media Week Lagos
Obi Ozor, CEO, Kobo360

Simeon Ononobi, Co-founder, Thank U Cash
Tunji Abioye, Founder/CEO, Fuel Communication Limited
Tunji Adegbesan, Founder/CEO, Gidi Mobile

If you are a corporate executive who has always desired to start our own enterprise, then FI is for you. If you are already a founder but would like to re-validate certain aspect of your offerings or be part of a global network of start-ups, then you might want to jump-in early. Apply to the Lagos Founder Institute at http://fi.co/apply/lagos Today!

Anyone who applies by the Early Application Deadline (2019-04-28) is eligible for a variety of scholarships – including the Female Founder Fellowship, which is offered to the best overall female applicant. Learn more about the Founder Institute at http://fi.co.
About the Founder Institute
The Founder Institute (http://fi.co) is the world’s premier early-stage accelerator and startup launch program. For aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage entrepreneurs up to the challenge, our comprehensive step-by-step program provides the structure, mentor support, and global network of entrepreneurs needed to start an enduring company. In addition, the Founder Institute is the only program of its kind that focuses on people versus ideas, accepts founders with day jobs, and shares equity with all participants. Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used our program to transition from employee to entrepreneur, test their startup ideas, build a team, get their first customers, raise funding, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 150 cities and 60 countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to “Globalize Silicon Valley” and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build companies that will create one million new jobs.
The Founder Institute was founded in 2009 by Adeo Ressi and Jonathan Greechan. It is operated out of Palo Alto, California.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/20/lessons-digital-justice-system-nigeria-comesa-courtroom-became-one-advanced-world/

Posted By: ITEdgenews

Paul Sachs, leading expert in the field of legal technology, founder and CTO of digital evidence management platform CaseLines, is participating in a trade mission to Nigeria this month to discuss legal digital transformation. CaseLines is the leading global provider of software as a service for the electronic preparation and presentation of evidence, legal bundles, documentary and video evidence. Nigeria’s extremely slow justice system and burdensome court processes could leverage the solutions from Caselines to enhance its justice system. This article offers insights as to how.

One area where technology is making big advancements in Africa is inside the courtroom. The Court of Justice for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has upgraded the standard paper-based system in favour of a digital courtroom. Not only will this drastically improve the delivery of justice, it also gives the court the tools they need to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16 objective, which is to “provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

The digital justice system now being used by COMESA is among the most advanced to be implemented anywhere in the world. The new software eliminates the need for paper in court by introducing a fully digital bundle, including multi-media evidence. It also has collaboration tools which enable enhanced pre-trial preparation amongst all stakeholders, including judges, lawyers and witnesses, and secure role validated video conferencing for virtual hearings.

“In England and Wales there are now more early guilty pleas thanks to CaseLines. That’s because digital evidence is available more quickly than paper evidence was, so the defence gets to see it earlier and so can advise appropriately.”
If we look at the how the COMESA Court based in Khartoum operated under the standard paper-based system, when lawyers filed a claim, they were forced to take the documents to court and file in person – a task which is costly in both time and money. According to internal research by CaseLines, while the standard cost of a sheet of paper costs well below 1c, once the storage, transport and preparation charges are included the price can rise to be as high as $0.30. The courier bill for moving paper around the COMESA Court of Justice’s members nations runs to thousands of dollars a month.

In the UK, prior to the implementation of Crown Court Digital Case System the amount of paper used by the courts if stacked from the ground up, would reach the height of the London Shard, the tallest building in Europe, every four days. It’s this colossal use of paper that is one of the driving factors behind this modernisation globally, but there are others.

“Digital justice systems offer a lower cost alternative to the way courts are currently run and help deliver a far greater efficiency and transparency to the process of justice.”
The current paper-based working practices haven’t allowed judges to properly prepare for cases. How can they when they might not see key evidence or files until just before the case is heard in court? Digital evidence management software gives Judges earlier access. It means they can now log into case files securely from their home offices, improving preparation, cutting unnecessary travel and speeding the process of preparing judgment after a hearing, with the assurance that they are viewing the most recent and relevant files.

The same is true for advocates. In England and Wales there are now more early guilty pleas thanks to CaseLines. That’s because digital evidence is available more quickly than paper evidence was, so the defence gets to see it earlier and so can advise appropriately. The converse is true too. If you’re innocent and accused of a crime, you see the evidence earlier giving you more time to prepare your defence. In addition, an unexpected early benefit in the UK Crown Court was a 50% reduction in hearings as a result of earlier access to evidence. A digital courtroom can also make securing a testimony much easier. Policemen or vulnerable witnesses for example, need no longer take time off work to travel or attend court, but can provide a digital testimony instead. This also saves time and a significant amount of money.



Nyambura L. Mbatia, Registrar at the COMESA Court of Justice, is pleased with the results so far and how they align with the UN’s sustainable development goals. She told us that: “In line with the UN’s SDG 16, one of the objectives of the COMESA Court is to eliminate financial and practical barriers to justice. By adopting CaseLines, the Court will become more efficient and processes such as physical filing will become obsolete. This will mak

“A digital courtroom can also make securing a testimony much easier. Policemen or vulnerable witnesses for example, need no longer take time off work to travel or attend court, but can provide a digital testimony instead. This also saves time and a significant amount of money.”
e a huge difference for our Judges and for litigants dealing with the Court and will bring us closer to achieving access to justice for all citizens of the COMESA Region.”

Digital justice systems offer a lower cost alternative to the way courts are currently run and help deliver a far greater efficiency and transparency to the process of justice. An effective and functioning legal system is not just good news for those who use courts, but for a country’s society and businesses too. Once fully implemented, the COMESA system will be as advanced as anywhere in the world, it’s a giant leap forward to addressing legal technology in Africa.



CaseLines’ platform is the industry’s most comprehensive solution for delivering efficient end to end digital evidence management, allowing legal teams to prepare, collate, redact, share and present evidence/legal bundles, documentary and video evidence, securely from one system. The platform holds over 300,000 cases, with over 100 million pages of evidence. learn more visit www.caselines.com or follow us on twitter @CaseLines

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/19/austin-okere-founder-cwg-plc-leads-talks-tech-industry-entrepreneurs-future-wacc-2019/
Posted By: ITEdgeNew

Founder of Ausso Leadership Institute (ALA), Austin Okere will be making a keynote on “Technology Convergence and the Future of Work/ Entrepreneurs” at this year’s West African Convergence Conference (WACC 2019), holding next week, Thursday, March 28th at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos.

Register to attend WACC – Free: https://thewacc.net/registration/

Okere, also founder of CWG PLC, now one of Africa’s top ICT companies with operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon, a turnover in excess of US$200 million, and staff strength of above 800 professionals, will lay out his experience in managing CWG into a Nigerian multinational firm and how he is managing ALA as a social investment initiative for shared prosperity among budding entrepreneurs to avoid the landmines in building businesses.

WACC Agenda 2019: https://thewacc.net/whats-on-agenda/

WACC 2019 already enjoys tremendous support from public and private institutions including the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), NigComSat, Galaxy Backbone Ltd., Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), and Medallion Limited. Others are Rack Centre, BSSL Limited, PFS Limited, ICS Limited, Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN) and Plateau State Information & Communication Technology Development Agency (PICTDA) among others.

Organized as an industry sponsored event by Knowhow Media and Market Intelligence International Limited (KMMIIL) publishers of IT Edge News, WACC 2019 is already heavily subscribed by attendees that cut across industry verticals, said Co-Chairman, WACC 2019 Planning Committee, Dr Sola Afolabi.

“The event will draw attention on providers, whether in the connectivity or software space, as well as across a broad spectrum of other sectors, able to reflect market dynamics, technology disruption to unbundle new services and diverse opportunities in this era of technology and regulatory convergence.

“The gathering will further provide insights on how regulators are able to leverage industry dynamics to provide proactive regulations across sectors, particularly as technology and industries converge creating once untapped opportunities with new industry leaders re-writing the market rules, and setting new agenda” added Afolabi.

WACC 2019 is the 10th edition of the West Africa’s only forum on technology convergence and the impact on industries, people and environment.

ts application across sectors.The 2019 themes centre on: Regulations + Disruptions; Employability + Entrepreneurships + Connectivity in the era of Convergence. Sessions include: InventSpace; Employability & Entrepreneurships; Tech Frontiers; Regulation, Connectivity, Broadband, BroadPLANS and Convergence.

GITEX Stakeholders Forum (Lagos) at WACC 2019

This year, WACC will also be hosting the GITEX Stakeholders Forum (Lagos) where officials of the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), organisers of GITEX Technology Week, world’s 3rd largest ICT event, will be interacting with existing and prospective GITEX trade visitors. Since 2013, Nigeria has been participating in GITEX led by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

NITDA uses the GITEX platform to expose Nigeria’s startup ecosystem to global interests. Through partnering with the DWTC, NITDA’s participation has been hinged on helping the country’s private sector to explore global opportunities and to help public sector entities engage the global tech leaders so as to thicken the value proposition of ICT in Nigeria’s public sector.

More than 350 people have registered for WACC 2019 with a lot of enthusiasm from the startup ecosystem and the university community to underscore the growing interest in emerging technology issues as they impact on the economy of Nigeria and West Africa at large.

Speakers at WACC 2019 include regulators, public and private sector top decision makers, academics, researchers and innovators.

NextTech + Convergence Award Ceremony

The 2019 WACC will also feature the NextTech + Convergence Award Ceremony. The NextTech + Convergence Award is an offshoot of the Top 50 Award first initiated in 2006 as part of the indices to measure the: Industry’s most profound influencers; Most Impactful tech solution providers/organisations; and Best dynamic survivors in Nigeria’s highly tempestuous market. WACC starts at 8AM Nigerian time. To register: www.thewacc.net.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/19/using-advanced-ai-stay-ahead-cybercriminals/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

Staying ahead of today’s accelerated cybercrime trends requires adding artificial intelligence (AI) to an organisation’s network security strategy. By Doros Hadjizenonos, Regional Director – SADC at Fortinet.

As the threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly, it now includes increasingly sophisticated, zero-day malware that traditional security approaches can no longer keep pace with. As a result, security researchers estimate that the cost of cybercrime will outpace security spend by over 16X, reaching $2.1 trillion by the end of 2019. Staying ahead of today’s accelerated cybercrime trends requires adding artificial intelligence (AI) to an organisation’s network security strategy.

The rise of artificial intelligence

The goal of AI is to replicate the analytical processes of human intelligence but to enable decision making at machine speeds. The most effective AI uses a deep-learning model built around an artificial neural network (ANN). This network is comprised of hardware and software configured after the neuron patterns in the human brain. This design not only accelerates data analysis and decision making but also enables the network to adapt and evolve based on new information.

To accomplish this, an ANN goes through a machine learning (ML) training process where implanted learning models are carefully fed vast and increasingly complex amounts of information on an ongoing basis. Once the system has identified patterns and problem-solving strategies, it is then provided with new information that enables it to adjust its algorithms so that it can adapt to and identify new tactics and capabilities adopted by malware or an attack vector.

Fortinet and AI

As an early adopter of AI, Fortinet (www.Fortinet.com) began developing a self-evolving threat detection system over six years ago. This system leverages a custom-designed ANN comprised of billions of nodes, and we have been meticulously training it with new threat data every day since, giving us a significant competitive threat intelligence advantage over every other vendor in the security marketplace.

Our FortiGuard Labs team now uses this advanced AI technology to analyse files and URLs and label them as clean or malicious—at machine speeds and with a high degree of accuracy.

Training an AI

The most crucial element of any AI solution is the methodology used to train its analysis and decision-making algorithms. The ML model used to train FortiGuard AI leverages the three essential learning model strategies endorsed by the AI community:

Supervised learning. This initial model begins the training of the AI by feeding it a vast amount of labelled data, clearly identifying the characteristics of each labelled data set, and then repeatedly applying those characteristics to unlabelled data.
Unsupervised learning. In this next phase, the algorithm has no known solution set to follow. Instead, it recognises patterns learned in phase one that enable it to label data without human help. At this point, new data can be slowly introduced to force it to deal with data it hasn’t seen before and make new decisions.
Reinforcement learning. The results of supervised and unsupervised learning are then “tested,” by scoring the system’s performance with unlabelled files and “rewarding” the system for good results. Training then continues to cycle between these three learning strategies on an ongoing basis.
Because of the recursive requirements of machine learning, any AI system that does not use all three of these learning models is incomplete. Each learning model helps refine results and improve accuracy.

Delivering true AI to customers

Many cybersecurity companies claim to have introduced AI capabilities into their solutions. But the reality is, most fall short of true AI because their underlying infrastructure is too small or their learning models are incomplete. Others refuse to divulge the methods that they use, which raises concerns about the reliability of their AI. Fortinet instead opts to be more transparent about its methodology so that customers know the breadth and depth of the analysis involved.

Sharing intelligence across the Security Fabric

Intelligence in isolation is useless. The more it is shared, the more effective your defensive systems can become. This is why every time a threat is identified, FortiGuard AI generates threat intelligence that automatically updates defensive signatures for every solution across the entire Fortinet Security Fabric, enabling security tools to work together to defend customers with advanced threat detection and protection solutions.

And because AI powers it, all of this happens seamlessly and behind the scenes—requiring no staff time from an organisation’s security analysts. This allows the Fortinet Security Fabric to integrate, collaborate, and automate threat detection, prevention, and remediation capabilities through sandboxing by sharing threat intelligence across each security element in real time.

Because Fortinet covers the network from end to end, we have a unique and comprehensive view that includes every component needed to protect an organisation’s ecosystem—from the data centre to multiple clouds. This approach, unique in the industry, improves operational efficiencies while dramatically mitigating risks. And because FortiGuard AI threat detection is incorporated into the Security Fabric’s centralised visibility and controls, it also enables the network security team to work proactively based on the most accurate and timely information possible.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/18/user-experience-ux-approach-heart-meaningful-disruption/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

The UX approach is cementing its place in the language of business. Its potential to drive significant change has never been more relevant, particularly in traditional markets where disruption looms large.

“UX design bridges the gap between user needs and business needs,” notes Patrick Glynn, Head of UX/Product at Leadhome. “People ignore products that ignore people. The user experience approach is about truly understanding the problem a user has before creating a solution. For example, people don’t want drills, they want to make a hole and there are hundreds of ways of doing so. This subtle difference in thinking leads to innovation.”

Glynn says that while a graphic designer typically deals with designing packaging or brochures, and a user interface (UI) designer creates digital interfaces, a UX designer is concerned with the entire user journey, including aspects of research, visual design, information architecture, usability and prototyping. “It is a story that begins before the product is even in the user’s hands. UX design allows you to learn, move fast and stay competitive.”

“The common pattern was that the majority of customers in those markets had changing needs and wants, and their behaviour was changing. Successful disruptors are faster to spot and serve emerging customer needs than competitors.”

This customer-centric method has enabled Leadhome to combine the best of people and technology to pioneer the transformation of residential property transactions for both buyers and sellers. “Any software that doesn’t consider the user’s needs or pain points is ultimately doomed to fail. Design thinking is essentially a framework for innovation as it allows business to turn design into a process that creates value for clients as well as the business,” says Glynn.

He adds that although it’s still commonplace to assume that technology itself is at the centre of disruption, the reality is much more nuanced. “Companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple have similar technologies and similar amounts of technology. The common pattern was that the majority of customers in those markets had changing needs and wants, and their behaviour was changing. Successful disruptors are faster to spot and serve emerging customer needs than competitors.”

Glynn says more companies are beginning to appreciate the value of delivering a complete customer experience, as businesses can no longer afford to ignore UX design as a means to achieve competitive advantage. “This is particularly true in South Africa where UX design is still an emerging field. Elsewhere, the numbers speak for themselves as according to the Design Value Index (an index of listed companies and their share performance relative to the S&P 500) design-driven companies can outperform their competitors by as much as 228%. What’s more, in a study carried out by the Design Management Institute, design-led companies reported 41% higher market share and 50% more loyal customers.

Glynn expects UX design to continue to emerge as a fundamental currency of modern companies. “If you think good design is expensive, businesses need only consider the cost of bad design.”

About Leadhome

Leadhome is a modern estate agency combining the best people and technology – enabling clients to achieve the optimal result when selling their property. They are the pioneer in transforming residential property transactions for both buyers and sellers, they challenge the status quo by providing a new way of operating using the best technology and people to make selling homes easier, faster and better.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/15/nitda-aopn-drive-outsourcing-pantami-pledge-support-ondo-state/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews


Nigeria occupies a strategic position to be an outsourcing destination and could leverage on his huge number of young people who are digital natives to serve the global outsourcing market at lower rates than in Asia or other favourite destinations, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has said.

Pantami spoke recently in Abuja when the Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria (AOPN), visited the agency’s head office.

Pantami and Muyiwa during the AOPN visit
Dr Pantami and Muyiwa during the AOPN visit to NITDA
Nigeria’s IT regulator said NITDA remained committed to fulfilling its mandate to promote local capacity and content as well as build an industry-wide synergy with stakeholders to help achieve government IT objectives through the NITDA.

He said making Nigeria the continent’s prime outsourcing destination would require the support of bodies like the AOPN and asserted that government has, on its own, set the agenda with favourable policy thrusts such as executive orders 003 and 005 designed to ensure patronage for local content and skills.

Officials of NITDA and AOPN at inside NITDA
Officials of NITDA and AOPN inside NITDA, Abuja
Head of the AOPN, Mr Oyadairo Muyiwa, commended the NITDA for its avowed commitment to the sector and the increasing attention on local content. Muyiwa said the team was in NITDA to formally invite the agency to its upcoming Outsourcing Expo, as well as to explore ways of collaboration with NITDA in effectively regulating the outsourcing sector.

According to Muyiwa, NITDA has a cardinal role to lead Nigeria’s ability to leverage population, size, skill level and geo-political time zone to provide BPO, ITO and other outsourcing services.

NITDA to support ICT Development in Ondo State

Also, in a related event, the agency pledged to support adoption and growth of ICT in Ondo State when a delegation from the Ondo State Information Technology Agency (SITA), led by the State Special Adviser of the agency, Mr Olumbe Akinkugbe, paid an official visit to the NITDA.

While welcoming the delegation, the NITDA’s management team led by Dr Pantami commended Ondo State for heeding its advice to establish its own IT agency to better help the state to have a formal framework to develop ICT at state level and be able to engage stakeholders and national with global support to advance the course of ICT in Ondo State.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/15/nitda-ncc-naddc-galaxy-backbone-bcn-nigcomsat-others-lead-support-wacc-2019/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews

With only two weeks to the annual West African Convergence Conference (WACC 2019), organizers have announced a support league that includes regulatory authorities, entities from the public and private sectors as well as other industry stakeholders including professional associations.

The list includes Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN), NigComSat,Qitech Technologies Limited and SmartWeb, Jos.

Others are Galaxy Backbone Ltd., Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Medallion Limited, Rack Center, BSSL Limited, PFS Limited, ICS Limited, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Data Science Nigeria Limited, and Plateau State Information & Communication Technology Development Agency (PICTDA) among others.

The event is holding on Thursday, March 28th at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos.

Organised by Knowhow Media and Market Intelligence International Limited (KMMIIL), WACC 2019 (www.thewacc.net) will be looking at “how convergence across technologies and industries is impacting on governments and people across sectors; most importantly, how disruptors are reworking market entry and go-to market solutions are changing approaches of doing business,: said Co-Chairman, WACC 2019 Planning Committee, Dr Sola Afolabi.

“We have an array of speakers and panelists from the industry and academic community to provide insights on where the industry is headed and how players must respond to the inherent dynamics of an industry in permanent transition,” said CEO of KMMIIL Olusegun Oruame who is also editor at IT Edge News, published by KMMIIL.

WACC 2019 has already recorded heavy subscriptions across sectors with a huge number of subscribers from the startup ecosystem.

“The event will draw attention on providers, whether in the connectivity or software space, as well as across a broad spectrum of other sectors, able to reflect market dynamics, technology disruption to unbundle new services and diverse opportunities in this era of technology and regulatory convergence.

“The gathering will further provide insights on how regulators are able to leverage industry dynamics to provide proactive regulations across sectors, particularly as technology and industries converge creating once untapped opportunities with new industry leaders re-writing the market rules, and setting new agenda” added Afolabi.

WACC 2019 is the 10th edition of the West Africa’s only forum on technology convergence and the impact on industries, people and environment. WACC since inception has enjoyed a very rich participation from industry stakeholders and policy makers. This year’s edition will be drawing participation from thought leaders and decision makers across industry verticals to underscore the convergence of industries within the broad spectrum of technology and its application across sectors.

The 2019 themes centre on: Regulations + Disruptions; Employability + Entrepreneurships + Connectivity in the era of Convergence. Sessions include: InventSpace; Employability & Entrepreneurships; Tech Frontiers; Regulation, Connectivity, Broadband, BroadPLANS and Convergence,

GITEX Stakeholders Forum (Lagos) at WACC 2019

This year, WACC will also be hosting the GITEX Stakeholders Forum (Lagos) where officials of the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), organisers of GITEX Technology Week, world’s 3rd largest ICT event, will be interacting with existing and prospective GITEX trade visitors. Since 2013, Nigeria has been participating in GITEX led by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

A GITEX Stakeholders Forum (Abuja) will hold March 27th at the Treasure Suites, Abuja a day before the Lagos GITEX Forum holds inside WACC 2019. The Abuja meet is intended to allow DWTC officials interact with the tech ecosystem and policy drivers in the north of the country. The Lagos meet is for the south.

NITDA uses the GITEX platform to expose Nigeria’s startup ecosystem to global interests. Through partnering with the DWTC, NITDA’s participation has been hinged on helping the country’s private sector to explore global opportunities and to help public sector entities engage the global tech leaders so as to thicken the value proposition of ICT in Nigeria’s public sector.

NextTech + Convergence Award Ceremony

The 2019 WACC will also feature the NextTech + Convergence Award Ceremony. The NextTech + Convergence Award is an offshoot of the Top 50 Award first initiated in 2006 as part of the indices to measure the: Industry’s most profound influencers; Most Impactful tech solution providers/organisations; and Best dynamic survivors in Nigeria’s highly tempestuous market. WACC starts at 8AM Nigerian time. To register: www.thewacc.net.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/13/nigeria-must-fully-implement-electronic-voting/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

By Olusegun Oruame

The 2019 presidential election has come and gone with the winner declared. But the controversies surrounding the credibility and transparency of the process are not about to cease.

The reasons are not far-fetched. A mix of factors including logistics challenges faced by the electoral umpire (Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC), citizens’ entrenched doubts in institutional organs responsible for ensuring peaceful and credible elections, a growing apathy by voters in the power of their votes to count and Nigeria’s somewhat crude approach to electoral process have all connived to make the entire process suspicious and open to abuses.

“The Nigerian stakeholders must take a progressive decision to make the 2019 elections, the last manual elections in Africa’s most populous country of some 198 million people.”

But more than anything else, it is the inability to resort to full use of electronic voting that may have made the 2019 elections an exercise in doubts, pains and frustrations.

But credible elections are possible. Backed by proper policy and legal frameworks, willpower of those in government and the people’s determination, and of course voters’ awareness, electronic voting is both conceivable and practicable. The options are innumerable in the deployment of full complement of ICT to make the peoples’ vote count and enhance the integrity quotient of the electoral process.

What is equally remarkable is that the skill sets and the integrated solutions to deploy a credible electoral process are all available locally to further strengthen the theme of local content and indigenous capacity utilization.

Nigeria’s tech ecosystem is keen to assist government to address this recurrent electoral dilemma. There are dozens of proposals in the public domain demanding open scrutiny as to their workability. The onus is on those in government and decision makers to take the challenge and put the teams and their solutions to test before the 2023 elections.

One of the interesting proposals in public space is the use of a Polling Unit Machine (PUM) like the conventional ATM that can accept PVC and it is not dependent on a particular Polling Unit so an electorate can vote from any machine nearest to him/her. The concept is simple as designed by its promoters. It simply entails minutes of self-accreditation the way an ATM accredits a debit/credit card, using a combination of codes/numbers unique to the individual/voter. The graphical user interface (GUI) allows the voter to personally go through the selection process for which election, which party or candidate he/she is voting for and there’s an instant notification of the choice to INEC and other authorized stakeholders as the choice is made. As the voting process progresses, so too is the tabulation and once the voting exercise closes, a general display of total result happens even as INEC shuts down voting activities for that particular election.

“But credible elections are possible. Backed by proper policy and legal frameworks, willpower of those in government and the people’s determination, and of course voters’ awareness, electronic voting is both conceivable and practicable.”

This is only a mere template to show that electronic voting is not rocket science and as one technology writer, Suleiman Arzika, notes: “It has become imperative that Nigeria makes the inevitable transition to full electronic voting. The technology, cost, awareness and logistics have now reached a level where it is not only feasible but far more efficient than the current method of conducting the elections.”

The Nigerian stakeholders must take a progressive decision to make the 2019 elections, the last manual elections in Africa’s most populous country of some 198 million people. It does not augur well that in a 21st century where the entire financial institutions and systems of all countries are managed electronically, countries like Nigeria and many Africa countries still battle with credible election through manual process or a meager integration of technology.

It is our responsibility to ensure that the entire spectrum of electoral process is managed electronically in a way that saves costs and waste far below the over N190 billion spent by INEC for the 2019 elections. Electronic voting makes it unnecessary to shut down air, land, and sea borders; it also becomes anachronistic to close down businesses just because people want to vote. More importantly, like electronic financial systems, electronic voting is not clumsy and can easily be operated around the malicious activities of hackers – the greatest threat to e-voting.

We all owe it a duty to ensure that the 2023 elections reflect the best available technology and the best in credibility of voting process. The time to rally the community of techies, lobbyists, law makers and other stakeholders to achieve this goal is now.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/13/amag-suprema-deliver-integrated-access-control-biometric-solution/
posted by itedgenews

AMAG Technology, a world-leader in unified solutions that help organizations mitigate risk, meet compliance and save money, have announced the integration of its Symmetry Access Control v9.1 software with Suprema’s BioLite N2 and BioEntry P2 Biometric readers. The integration allows Symmetry users to gain biometric access to a door using their fingerprint and a credential. Suprema is a long-time member of AMAG’s Symmetry Preferred Partner Program. Both AMAG and Suprema have tested and certified the integration.

“The Symmetry Access Control integration with Suprema’s biometric readers provides a powerful, yet flexible security option for our customers who demand multi-factor authentication security for highly secure areas such as data centers,” said AMAG Technology, Vice President of Products and Partner Programs, Jason Schimpf. “We are pleased to continue our long and successful relationship with Suprema and are excited to provide our customers with a reliable biometric option for their security needs.”

“Our partnership with AMAG and integration with Symmetry provides customers with a dependable and fast biometric reader that can operate in any environment,” said Suprema, Managing Director, Hanchul Kim. “Our fast fingerprint matching provides a quick response for users, and customers will benefit from the two or three factor authentication available to them.”

When integrated with Symmetry Access Control software, the Suprema readers provide end users with several options for access. In high-security environments, organizations can implement card+PIN+biometric to obtain access. In areas where a biometric is not needed, card+PIN is an option.

Biometric enrollment of Symmetry cardholders is performed within the Symmetry Access Control interface. The user can store the enrolled biometric templates in the Symmetry database or on the card. When the fingerprint is stored on the card, all authentication is performed at the reader, decreasing network traffic while delivering a more efficient system. The reader will operate if the connection to the server fails.

The BioLite N2 provides superior protection against moisture, dust and liquid in the harshest environments. Featuring Suprema’s renowned fingerprint algorithm along with its latest optical sensor, the BioLite N2 also provides exceptional performance and the highest level of security.

For more information about how you can get this integration to work for your organization, please contact your Regional Sales Manager. For more information about how you can become a Symmetry Preferred Partner, visit www.amag.com/partners. Information about AMAG and its Symmetry solution can be found at www.amag.com.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/13/new-tool-spectrum-management-makes-wireless-connectivity-faster-affordable-says-dsa/

post by itedgenews

Automated spectrum management databases and algorithms have reached a tipping point globally and are the critical public policy tool to achieve low-cost and ultra-fast wireless broadband connectivity as both consumer and business demand surges, according to the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance’s (DSA) new policy research report, Automated Frequency Coordination: An Established Tool for Modern Spectrum Management.

The report, which will be released today at an event co-sponsored by the Congressional Spectrum Caucus, finds thatautomated frequency coordination (AFC) systems are the key to unlocking unused spectrum capacity by automatically searching databases for which radio frequencies are available for wireless devices to use at a given location and time.

Databases have been used to manage large scale telecommunications systems for nearly five decades; while AFC systems exist in over a dozen countries worldwide, and manage spectrum from the low UHF bands all the way up to millimetre wave bands currently targeted for 5G applications. The report details the integral role that AFC systems play in making wireless connectivity more accessible, fast and affordable through the efficient allocation of national spectrum resources.

The key conclusions from the DSA White Paper include:

Automated spectrum management systems have been widely adopted, and the number of radios managed by these systems is expected to increase significantly over the next decade.
AFC will greatly expand the supply of wireless connectivity that is fast becoming a critical input for most industries and economic activity.
AFC enables lower transaction costs while enabling spectrum to be used more efficiently.
AFC can protect incumbents from interference with greater certainty.
The availability, flexibility and reliability of AFC systems help national regulatory authorities to meet the growing and very diverse spectrum needs of both industries and individuals, while ensuring no interference to incumbent services in shared bands.
“At a time when regulators are under increased pressure to meet wireless connectivity demands, AFC is critical to enablemore efficient shared use of underutilized frequency bands while protecting incumbent services from interference,” saidPaul Garnett, Chairman of the DSA Board. “Automated spectrum databases are now a proven means of achieving large-scale, low-cost, and virtually real-time access to communications capacity that would otherwise go unused.”

The U.S Federal Communications Commission is currently considering the use of AFC systems to substantially increase spectrum capacity in several bands for both licensed and unlicensed use. Similarly, the European Union and UK currentlyhave ongoing consultations to use AFC systems for improved shared spectrum access.

Garnett concluded: “There has never been a better time for regulators around the world to leverage AFC as a tool fuellinggigabit-fast broadband networks and close the digital divide that persists in far too many communities. The DSA looksforward to facilitating the global integration of AFC to maximise spectrum management for the digital era.”

The report also reviews a number of emerging technological advances that can further amplify the benefits provided by AFC, including the addition of more detailed GIS data and real-time spectrum sensing data.

Today’s launch event will include presentations by Representatives Doris Matsui (D-CA-06) and Brett Guthrie (R-KY-02), Federal Communications Commission Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel and Derek Khlopin, Senior Advisor of the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Later this year, the DSA will be holding its annual regulatory event, the Global Summit. Bringing together key industry figures in spectrum management to discuss and debate the most innovative technology solutions which enable dynamic access across the world, it will be held June 26-27, 2019, at The Westin Washington, Washington D.C. To register, pleaseclick here.

To read the full white paper, please click here.

A summary of the report is also available and can be viewed here.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/12/itu-recommends-disruptive-technologies-disaster-risk-reduction/

Posted By: ITEdgenews


The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has issued recommendations for governments, relief agencies, the private sector and assistance agencies to maximize the benefits offered by disruptive technologies. These include artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, robotics and drone technology.​​​


The recommendations are part of the Global Forum on Emergency Telecommunications (GET-19), which recently held at Balaclava, Mauritius, to help countries protect and save more lives through the better use of emergency telecommunications.

Recommendations include:

Systematizing and standardizing of emergency technologies to make the benefits accessible to all. Open standards will help to lower costs, ensure interoperability and enhance scaling.
Establishing a global repository with information on how digital technologies are being applied for disaster management.
Training to understand how to properly and responsibly deploy new and emerging digital technologies in crisis settings.
Older technologies such as satellite imagery and seismometers are still the most important methods for detecting, monitoring and accessing disasters.

“We are at a pivotal time in disaster management. Developments in disruptive​ technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and Big Data are transforming how we approach emergency telecommunications,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “​Leaders from government, industry, civil society and the humanitarian community are now coming together at GET-19 to leverage these technologies to prevent and limit human and economic losses from disasters.” ​

Delegates at the Global Forum on Emergency Telecommunications (GET-19)
Delegates at the Global Forum on Emergency Telecommunications (GET-19)
ITU, USTTI launch competition for emergency telecommunications

ITU and the United States Telecoms Training Institute (USTTI ) have launched a competition for nationals of developing countries on emergency telecommunications. Successful candidateswill be trained in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for disaster risk reduction and management, and the development of their national emergency telecommunications plans. Organized by USTTI, the training will be taught in English and will take place from 21 October to 1 November 2019 in Washington, DC, USA with the training, travel and accommodation expenses covered by ITU and USTTI. Submissions will include an application and an essay in response to three questions on emergency telecommunications. The deadline for submissions is 15 March 2019 with winners announced at the World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva, Switzerland, 8-12 April.

GET-19 reaffirmed the importance of preparedness efforts

The Government of Mauritius, host of the GET-19 Forum, is working on new frameworks to review and update the national multi-hazard early warning system. “With the growing intensity and frequency of natural disasters, there is a constant need to enhance the use of technology for disaster management,” said Yogida Sawmynaden, Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation. “Several automatic weather stations have been set up with sensors to capture real-time data on weather conditions around Mauritius. The island is also equipped with a tsunami warning system which gives a lead time of five to seven hours before a tsunami may hit the coast.”

Strengthening the capacity of countries to develop national emergency telecommunication plans

ITU presented global guidelines to assist national authorities and policy-makers in the development of national emergency telecommunication plans which promote communication and information sharing across all levels of government, within communities at risk, and between public and private organizations. ITU is already helping to develop the plans in Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Partnering to develop a live disaster connectivity map

ITU presented the disaster connectivity map initiative which aims to provide real-time connectivity information when disasters strike. Information on the type, level and quality of connectivity in disasters is vital to identify gaps, and to make decisions on where and when to deploy often limited human, financial and physical resources to restore connectivity services. A number of ICT industry players – mobile network operators, Internet service providers, Internet and social media platforms – have data that can identify and monitor the status of connectivity, in near-real time. The initiative is developed in partnership with the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC).

“​GET-19 has reaffirmed the need for a collective understanding of risks as well as all phases of disaster management, and the importance of data and trust for strengthening coordination and cooperation among producers, implementers and beneficiaries of emergency telecommunications,” said Ms Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. “All actions and programmes for prediction, detection, alert and relief must be people-centered: when disaster strikes, it is all about the people.”

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/12/innovation-challenge-announce-30-finalists-africa-health-forum/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews

The top 30 health-oriented innovations selected from a field of more than 2 400 entries to the first-ever WHO Innovation Challenge will be formally recognised on the opening day of the second WHO Africa Health Forum in Praia, Cabo Verde, on 26 March 2019.

The WHO Innovation Challenge received a total of 2 471 applications in just four weeks from 77 countries – 44 countries in Africa. A panel of independent evaluators assessed and profiled the innovations in terms of the potential for making impact as well as ability to be scaled up in a sustainable way. More than a third of the submissions came from women.
“The extent of response from the Innovation Challenge affirms the enthusiasm, especially among young people, to make a difference and contribute to the health care system on the continent. Health innovators have found a new home at WHO, where their innovative ideas will be supported in partnership with our network of stakeholders,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

In addition to showcasing the 30 best-profiled innovations during the three-day WHO Africa Health Forum in Cabo Verde, other innovations that were submitted will be exhibited on a dynamic virtual marketplace platform currently under development. When fully operational, the platform will connect diverse stakeholders, ranging from government ministry officials and health experts to academics, business angels and investors to support further development and the scaling up of these ideas.

Among all the applications received, 639 made it through to the evaluation phase. This is a reflection of the challenges that innovators face in making progress from ideas to development and eventual broad-based application of their solutions. Investments in the innovation ecosystem that are complemented by innovation-friendly policies remain critical for further encouraging and supporting development of innovative solutions to solve Africa’s health challenges. The top 30 health-oriented innovations selected are:



Full name and title Nationality Gender Solution Name
Denis Lee Oguzu Uganda Male National Ambulance Service
Dr. Doris Jema Onyeador Nigeria Female Maldor Gift of Sight
Dr. Ebinabo Ofrey Nigeria Male GeroCare
Louis Roux South Africa Male Ultra Low-Cost Rapid Diagnostic Test Production
Hans-Eddy GBOSSA Benin Male Belle Imagerie
Geoffrey Andrew Kenya Male Smart Paper Technology on Improving MCH Services
Morenike Fajemisin Nigeria Female WHISPA mHealth App
Franck Verzefé Cameroon Male
Dr. Misaki Wayengera Uganda Male Pan-Filovirus Rapid Diagnostic Test
Dr. Ime Asangansi Nigeria Male Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) Data Collection Platform
Dr. Frida Njogu-Ndongwe Kenya Female Afyakit
Laud Anthony Basing Ghana Male Rapid Molecular Test for Yaws
Dr. Charles Immanuel Akhmien Nigeria Male myPaddi
Dr. Gasana Joel Rwanda Male Companionapp
Gaspard Datondji Benin Male Heatlh Manager
Chales Onu Nigeria male Ubenwa
Dr. Kabamba Alexandre Angola Male Design of a Point of Care HIV/TB multiplex Diagnostic Assay
Dr. Ime Asangansi Nigeria Male Multi-Source Data Analytics and Triangulation Dashboard
Wasswa William Uganda Male PapES
Gérard Niyondiko Burundi Male MAÏA
Dr. Ashifi Gogo Ghana Male Sproxil: Empowering patients to beat fake drugs
Professor Eunice Kamaara Kenya Female African Character Initiation Programme (ACIP)
Jacqueline Rogers South Africa Female My Pregnancy Journey
Jennifer Rubli Canada Female The Twende Initiative
Dr. Integrity Mchechesi Zimbabwe Male Afrimom
Immanuel Hango Namibia Male Chlorine Production Using Solar Energy
Professor Jo Wilmshurst United Kingdom Female Building a Paediatric Workforce for Africa in Africa
Joost Van Engen Netherlands Male Healthy Entrepreneurs
Ephrem Bekele Woldeyesus Ethiopia Male Integrated Mental Wellness Programme
Dr. Imodoye Abioro Nigeria Male Bimi Online for Africa
Twambilile Phanga Malawi Female Youth Friendly Health Service

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/11/mtn-reaps-672m-profit-2018-plans-listing-digital-banking-nigeria-mid-year/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

In spite of challenges in several of its major markets, MTN Group reported a 110 percent growth in profit after tax (PAT) in 2018 to underscore significant positive push in the telco’s growth curve.

The telecom giant plans to have its shares listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by mid-year subject to regulatory approvals, an indication that the group has significantly overcome its tax and regulatory challenges in Nigeria.

From R4.6 billion in 2017, MTN grew its PAT to R9.6 billion (about $672.6 million) in 2018 with revenue significantly coming from growth in voice, data and fintech, says financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018.

“We continue to benefit from the demographic dividend in the countries in which we operate and, while the markets remain challenging, we continue to target service revenue growth ahead of inflation,” said Group president and CEO, Rob Shuter.

“Key focus areas for 2019 are the launch of our own music streaming and instant messaging applications and extending MTN mobile money from 14 to 18 countries through launches in South Africa, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Sudan,” Shuter told shareholders and investors.

MTN expects its listing process to start by mid-year in Nigeria.

“Over time, and subject to market conditions, we anticipate that the participation of Nigerians in the ownership of the business will increase from around 20 percent to 35 percent,” said Shuter.

ALSO READ

CBN In Talks With MTN Nigeria, Assures Investors Of Friendly Environment
MTN Eyes Nigerian Banking Licence
MTN Nigeria has acquired a Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence and plans launch fintech services in the country by second quarter of this year to allow millions of its customers carry out digital banking across its networks and those of other PSB agents.

PSBs are designed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to facilitate high-volume low-value transactions in remittances services, micro-savings and withdrawal services in a secured technology-driven environment to further deepen financial inclusion.

“We will also extend our BRIGHT strategy to build MTN into a digital operator with a major focus on the fintech, digital, enterprise and wholesale business areas,” Shuter told shareholders in Johannesburg to affirm its planned PSB launch in Nigeria as part of its overall BRIGHT strategy.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/11/dso-nigeria-jinxed/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

As the chequered history of the Digital Switch Over (DSO) from analogue broadcasts in Nigeria encounters yet another setback, it is disheartening but inevitable to conclude that it has truly succumbed to the notorious jinx termed “Nigerian Factor”. The momentum of progress in taking the latest international broadcasting system across the nation came to an abrupt unexplained halt since February 2018 when Osun State became the fifth and last Nigerian state to launch in a ceremony presided by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

Before then in December 2016, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo conducted the DSO national launch on behalf of President Muhamadu Buhari at the state-of-the-art Signal Distribution Broadcast Centre established on Mpape Hill, Abuja in record-breaking time (according to NBC DG Modibbo Kawu) by Pinnacle Communications Limited the FCT, which was also responsible for the Kaduna Broadcasting Centre commissioned in December 2017. The Ilorin, Enugu and Osogbo DSO centers were set up by Integrated Television Services (ITS), the NTA subsidiary national signals distributor.

The abrupt halt in DSO launch since last February is contrary to the confident assurance given by Information Minister Lai Mohammed at the Ilorin launch two months earlier, when he declared “ we cannot afford to drop the ball as we continue our journey from analogue to digital television, because the benefits to our people are huge. Yes, this process has not been without hiccups. But like the saying goes, you will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks”.

Minister Lai Mohammed has remained curiously quiet since the “DSO ball” got dropped now more than a year later but his words have been echoing especially in the last few months when some equally curious developments replaced the expected launchings on the DSO front. It is remarkable that the events resulting in yet another “hiccup” in the DSO process can indeed be likened to the barking of dogs and the throwing of stones as alluded to by the minister, and it does look like we “will never reach (our) DSO destination”.

“From all indications, the jinxed history of DSO implementation in Nigeria is repeating itself as it is unlikely that the progressive momentum that …. fizzled out unceremoniously for more than a year thus far can be revived in the foreseeable future, under the prevailing circumstances.”

This is of course a reference to the controversial ICPC “investigation” into alleged “misapplication of N2.5 billion seed grant released to the agency (NBC) by the federal government for its digital switch-over programme”, as revealed in its November 2018 press statement which drew public criticism for certain factual errors in reference to the DSO project. The ICPC statement was comparable to the barking of the watch-dog and its contents were similar to stones thrown at the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Pinnacle Communications Limited and their respective executives, all of which have now snow-balled into charges against them before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

While DSO enthusiasts in Nigeria and indeed the world await the outcome of the court process, we must reflect on Minister Lai Mohammed’s quoted remark that the DSO in Nigeria “ has not been without hiccups” even as we witness yet another hiccup this time, unfortunately, under his watch!

It must be distressing for Lai Mohammed who once made huge capital of his supposed role in salvaging the DSO and getting it back on track soon after he became information minister and continued to bask in the glory of a successful national launch and progressive expansion of coverage after a jinxed history of two embarrassing missed deadlines and a protracted court case instituted by Pinnacle Communications Limited against breach of its N680 million private signal distributor license agreement under the previous administration and NBC management.

“Soon after emerging successful bidder and paying the huge amount of N680 million for the private signal distribution license in 2014, the NBC and its collaborators in the Presidency began surreptitiously slicing off portions of its functions and “sub-letting” them to companies that were not even part of the difficult bidding process as favours.”

Interestingly, Pinnacle Communications Limited, the largest private investor and main facilitator of the eventual reclamation of the Nigerian DSO from its jinxed history gets submerged under the fanfare of progress in DSO implementation, even to the extent of becoming a “victim” of its own achievement.

Soon after emerging successful bidder and paying the huge amount of N680 million for the private signal distribution license in 2014, the NBC and its collaborators in the Presidency began surreptitiously slicing off portions of its functions and “sub-letting” them to companies that were not even part of the difficult bidding process as favours. Only by seeking the intervention of the court was it able to put a stop to such brazen breach of license agreement! Today, Pinnacle Communications Limited is facing ICPC charges even as its voluntary withdrawal of a breach of agreement suit in 2016 and subsequent significant facilitation enabled successful national launch of the DSO and the Kaduna Broadcast Centre.

“Today, Pinnacle Communications Limited is facing ICPC charges even as its voluntary withdrawal of a breach of agreement suit in 2016 and subsequent significant facilitation enabled successful national launch of the DSO and the Kaduna Broadcast Centre.”

From all indications, the jinxed history of DSO implementation in Nigeria is repeating itself as it is unlikely that the progressive momentum that saw to the rapid roll-out of the DSO from the FCT to Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu and Osogbo between December 2016 and February 2018 but fizzled out unceremoniously for more than a year thus far can be revived in the foreseeable future, under the prevailing circumstances.

Nevertheless, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed remains curiously above and beyond the DSO jinx that he was able to cast away barely two years ago but has somehow returned as a “hiccup” under his watch. Obviously, the minister knew of no “barking dogs” when, at the Osogbo launch, he trumpeted “within the next few weeks, we will be rolling out in many more states as we seek to take the digital television experience to all the six geo-political zones. We now have our two Signal Distributors in full operation mode, the National Broadcasting Commission, the Set Top Box manufacturers, Digiteam Nigeria and indeed all stakeholders are pulling all the stops to ensure that the DSO train continues unimpeded on its journey across the country.”

So now that the DSO train has been halted for more than a year with Minister Lai Mohammed as a silenced spectator, where has all the collaborative confidence canvassing gone? And who is really responsible for the return of the DSO jinx?

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/11/dso-nigeria-jinxed/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

As the chequered history of the Digital Switch Over (DSO) from analogue broadcasts in Nigeria encounters yet another setback, it is disheartening but inevitable to conclude that it has truly succumbed to the notorious jinx termed “Nigerian Factor”. The momentum of progress in taking the latest international broadcasting system across the nation came to an abrupt unexplained halt since February 2018 when Osun State became the fifth and last Nigerian state to launch in a ceremony presided by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

Before then in December 2016, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo conducted the DSO national launch on behalf of President Muhamadu Buhari at the state-of-the-art Signal Distribution Broadcast Centre established on Mpape Hill, Abuja in record-breaking time (according to NBC DG Modibbo Kawu) by Pinnacle Communications Limited the FCT, which was also responsible for the Kaduna Broadcasting Centre commissioned in December 2017. The Ilorin, Enugu and Osogbo DSO centers were set up by Integrated Television Services (ITS), the NTA subsidiary national signals distributor.

The abrupt halt in DSO launch since last February is contrary to the confident assurance given by Information Minister Lai Mohammed at the Ilorin launch two months earlier, when he declared “ we cannot afford to drop the ball as we continue our journey from analogue to digital television, because the benefits to our people are huge. Yes, this process has not been without hiccups. But like the saying goes, you will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks”.

Minister Lai Mohammed has remained curiously quiet since the “DSO ball” got dropped now more than a year later but his words have been echoing especially in the last few months when some equally curious developments replaced the expected launchings on the DSO front. It is remarkable that the events resulting in yet another “hiccup” in the DSO process can indeed be likened to the barking of dogs and the throwing of stones as alluded to by the minister, and it does look like we “will never reach (our) DSO destination”.

“From all indications, the jinxed history of DSO implementation in Nigeria is repeating itself as it is unlikely that the progressive momentum that …. fizzled out unceremoniously for more than a year thus far can be revived in the foreseeable future, under the prevailing circumstances.”

This is of course a reference to the controversial ICPC “investigation” into alleged “misapplication of N2.5 billion seed grant released to the agency (NBC) by the federal government for its digital switch-over programme”, as revealed in its November 2018 press statement which drew public criticism for certain factual errors in reference to the DSO project. The ICPC statement was comparable to the barking of the watch-dog and its contents were similar to stones thrown at the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Pinnacle Communications Limited and their respective executives, all of which have now snow-balled into charges against them before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

While DSO enthusiasts in Nigeria and indeed the world await the outcome of the court process, we must reflect on Minister Lai Mohammed’s quoted remark that the DSO in Nigeria “ has not been without hiccups” even as we witness yet another hiccup this time, unfortunately, under his watch!

It must be distressing for Lai Mohammed who once made huge capital of his supposed role in salvaging the DSO and getting it back on track soon after he became information minister and continued to bask in the glory of a successful national launch and progressive expansion of coverage after a jinxed history of two embarrassing missed deadlines and a protracted court case instituted by Pinnacle Communications Limited against breach of its N680 million private signal distributor license agreement under the previous administration and NBC management.

“Soon after emerging successful bidder and paying the huge amount of N680 million for the private signal distribution license in 2014, the NBC and its collaborators in the Presidency began surreptitiously slicing off portions of its functions and “sub-letting” them to companies that were not even part of the difficult bidding process as favours.”

Interestingly, Pinnacle Communications Limited, the largest private investor and main facilitator of the eventual reclamation of the Nigerian DSO from its jinxed history gets submerged under the fanfare of progress in DSO implementation, even to the extent of becoming a “victim” of its own achievement.

Soon after emerging successful bidder and paying the huge amount of N680 million for the private signal distribution license in 2014, the NBC and its collaborators in the Presidency began surreptitiously slicing off portions of its functions and “sub-letting” them to companies that were not even part of the difficult bidding process as favours. Only by seeking the intervention of the court was it able to put a stop to such brazen breach of license agreement! Today, Pinnacle Communications Limited is facing ICPC charges even as its voluntary withdrawal of a breach of agreement suit in 2016 and subsequent significant facilitation enabled successful national launch of the DSO and the Kaduna Broadcast Centre.

“Today, Pinnacle Communications Limited is facing ICPC charges even as its voluntary withdrawal of a breach of agreement suit in 2016 and subsequent significant facilitation enabled successful national launch of the DSO and the Kaduna Broadcast Centre.”

From all indications, the jinxed history of DSO implementation in Nigeria is repeating itself as it is unlikely that the progressive momentum that saw to the rapid roll-out of the DSO from the FCT to Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu and Osogbo between December 2016 and February 2018 but fizzled out unceremoniously for more than a year thus far can be revived in the foreseeable future, under the prevailing circumstances.

Nevertheless, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed remains curiously above and beyond the DSO jinx that he was able to cast away barely two years ago but has somehow returned as a “hiccup” under his watch. Obviously, the minister knew of no “barking dogs” when, at the Osogbo launch, he trumpeted “within the next few weeks, we will be rolling out in many more states as we seek to take the digital television experience to all the six geo-political zones. We now have our two Signal Distributors in full operation mode, the National Broadcasting Commission, the Set Top Box manufacturers, Digiteam Nigeria and indeed all stakeholders are pulling all the stops to ensure that the DSO train continues unimpeded on its journey across the country.”

So now that the DSO train has been halted for more than a year with Minister Lai Mohammed as a silenced spectator, where has all the collaborative confidence canvassing gone? And who is really responsible for the return of the DSO jinx?

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/08/data-sciences-nigeria-limited-reworking-market-presence-adedowole/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews

Mike Adedowole, Executive Director,Technical Services, Data Sciences Nigeria Limited (DSNL), one of the oldest information technology companies, in Nigeria shares with IT Edge News, Nwakaego Alajemba, Clara Aghasili-Lingo, and Anthony Nwosu, insights into how the company is reworking itself to reflect industry and market dynamics in Nigeria.



Data Sciences Nigeria Limited is one of oldest IT companies; it is the start-up home to many leading lights in the sector today, how are you working at reinventing yourself as the market with industry changes?

We are noted for being a high-end and large system engineering group. We know that the market has changed a lot. For example, in 2015 and 2016, we look at three to four major areas of the market aside the education sector that we play dominant role; you know we are in education and the rest of them. We consider helping the federal government to integrate the disparately collated and warehousing of biometrics by different agencies of government all of which are kept at different locations. This we thought will assist in accessing biometrics of citizens in any location and at any time so we tried as much as possible to look at integrating the biometrics together; people will say it’s harmonizing but we use the word: integrating. This was to obtain complete identity of each individual, make it possible for updates and continuous capturing data of people so that government can use this for security, population, border control, voter’s registration or even the social identity, if Nigeria can imbibe such. These are among other things we thought of executing. We look at API, even though this thing was not done by us but we were fully prepared and we made our proposal to the federal government. This is to tell you that we were not sitting by while things are happening. We were doing so many things and we still have plans for so many things, and we intend to use our staff who are very good in software and hardware to harmonizing hardware and software from different platforms and different vendors. We look at those of our staff with specialty in SAP, Oracle and Sun Microsystems, ESQN server, DPN and so on. In some areas, we thought of hiring system integrators and other new hires in some areas where we have deficit. Part of our target then was to help government integrate their national biometrics, at the end of the day, we didn’t get the contract but we are fully ready.

Then we consider auditing systems acquired by government to ascertain their health and functionality and advice on required actions like integration and more importantly you know how government people behave, they will acquire the equipment and go and keep and don’t use and they will be asking for more. So we also look at how do we check this IT health check? We look at the connectivity, the staff capability; do they have the technical people to look at things? What about the environment, do they have good power, temperature and environmental conditions? And what of the server capability? We also look at local content, in the area of what we can get from Nigerians in the IT industry. At the end of the day, we look at reopening our facility. Remember we happen to be the first set of people who started producing system in Nigeria. So we look at reopening our facility so that we can produce systems and low range UPS from semi-knockdown SKDs and CKDs. Semi-Knockdown is a complete knockdown. We do collaborations with operating system giants and OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers]. If you are going to do this, you have to brand it so that when it’s coming up you will see Microsoft Windows or whatever, so that even though it’s locally made, you will have all those things. We have going through the process of reinventing ourselves to reflect the dynamics of the market and the industry as a whole so are not just sitting by because this is an industry we are very well good at.

Data Sciences Adedowole

“It is not what you learnt in the university that you will apply in the industries…. Industries must train their man…. If you don’t do that and expect people to be well trained and fit into the job, you are just wasting time, it is not possible.”


What is your key focus now as an IT company?

We are a hardware and software engineering house. We are capable of designing on-demand, software and hardware solutions as required by organizations. But one basic thing is that we have our natural and low hanging fruit which is the scanning solution for examination bodies to assess candidates’ based on their responses to examination items. We also considered the need for a research and development group, our think-tank arrangement because technology advances keep evolving and if you don’t keep track, you will get lost or get things mixed up. What we have done is to have a Research and Development Group–RDG. The group develops products for us: solutions and services by looking ahead, listening, eavesdropping and researching technological advances. The group finds needs and fills the needs to work for us. We are repositioning ourselves in certain market areas. So we are also looking at partnership. Partnership is one big thing that helps organizations. When you partner with people you have so many products to offer, you have so many ideas to offer and you have so many solutions and even services to count on. For instance; we partner with DRS in OMR arrangement and that has given us many things to do. We are able to look at e-marking at a point, scanning responses of students, scanning scripts for the e-marking. We have even used it to do elections in Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and the rest. If you partner with organizations you have so many products, solutions and services to sell. Thank God, we have a very good and vibrant sales department that can do all of these. So we are thinking of increasing our partnership with other OEMs other than DRS such as other ISVs – Independent Software Vendors and renowned software companies so that we can have many products to offer the market and sell. We also remember one basic thing, how human development is central to development nexus in the sense that if you train one man, you get so much from his input. So if you train more people you get more. One of our basic arrangements here is to train our men and give them incentive and we are trying to increase it now with the challenges that is in place so that we will be able to have this people and have more technological advances and managerial skills to put the company on a better footing.



What are the challenges that indigenous IT businesses like yours face in Nigeria?

One of our challenges here is partnership. Partnership requires a lot of resources to be able to be accredited as a partner, or retailer or vendor, whatever name the OEMs or major providers consider. Some of these are as follow:

You are supposed to put certain infrastructures in place before you can be accredited. You are supposed to provide some deposit, it may not be that you will forfeit it but you must have certain amount somewhere for them to do business with you or you keep with them for them to ship certain things to you. We are talking mostly about these organizations from abroad not actually from Nigeria. So you need a lot of resources to be able to partner because when you say you want to partner with HP for example, HP will ask you to train your men to a certain level and like how many of them can you train to that level? That training will take time, take so much money, you may have to send them overseas for such training or any booth camp where they have to study within a short period and come back certified before your partnership will commence. You must put infrastructures in place, you might be asked to have a lab. That lab will require a lot of equipment to be able to set up. So at the end of the day, it requires a lot of money like I said “huge deposit”. The local banks will table a lot of conditions to grant you loans and at rates that are high so sometimes, your profit may be eroded by interest. In the process, and if care is not taken, you may have to look for some other arrangements to be able to pay that loan. Then, the taxation issue can add more worries most times especially the new tax generation drive. Here in Lagos, they ask you for tax every day. They even do estimations to come and ask you to pay. They give you estimates, not the real taxing which is wrong. So at times you have to go to their offices to discuss with them and beg them before they reduce it. They can slam multiple millions on you whereas you didn’t earn such nor transact business worth such. It is a very big challenge. They can even threaten to seal your office. In most cases they seal the office, you have to go and beg them and do a lot of things. You know when they seal, you can’t open it, it is illegal to open it, so you have to get them to come and open it. And during that period that it was sealed you can’t do business, those are the challenges that are peculiar to us.


Mr Mike Adedowole, Executive Director Technical Services, Data Sciences Nigeria Limited
“NITDA, Federal Ministry of Communication … are doing marvelously for the IT companies in the sense that they encourage local patronage that help run the cost of these IT companies. The local content initiative … is the major reason we are trying to look at reopening our facility to produce locally made products.”


You mentioned human capital development; would you say that the Nigerian universities are producing quality materials the industries can run with?

Some of us went to the university and we didn’t learn how to sew cloths, neither did we learn how to do carpentry. Our problem in this country is not what we are producing from the university, as far as I am concern. I am an engineer. I studied engineering from a university. I know what I went through to be able to graduate. But the real issue is that it is not what you learnt in the university that you will apply in the industries. At times, it might be an infinitesimal part of what you learnt in the university that you are using in the industry. So what do we mean by saying somebody is not well trained? Industries must train their man. We must train and give incentives to people for you to help your organization to move. If you don’t do that and expect people to be well trained and fit into the job, you are just wasting time, it is not possible. You need to give them necessary training. When I graduated from the university, I joined NCR, they immediately sent me out of the country to go and train for some of their machines, computers, big earned systems, even up to America. I came back and face the big machines and was able to handle them. When I left NCR and joined Data Sciences, the first thing they did after three months of working here, they bundled me to America, to Bedford in the USA and I was trained immediately on what machine I should be working on and I was seconded to CBN to work on their machines. So what I’m saying is that it is because this country does not have industries and workplaces, we have so many churches but no industries to train graduates. It is unfortunate. Don’t blame the young graduates, they were given basic training. The problem is the fault of the society, society is not providing the necessary latitude for people to garner experience and do good jobs. That is the fact.



Will you say government is increasing its patronage of indigenous IT companies?

I don’t like the word increase, I would prefer you use the word patronage or support. I would rather be grateful to our representatives in government. What do I mean? We have the NITDA, we have Federal Ministry of Communication. These entities are doing marvelously for the IT companies in the sense that they encourage local patronage that help run the cost of these IT companies. For instance, the local content initiative actually assisted many of us. You can be sure of that, that is the major reason we are trying to look at reopening our facility to produce locally made products. They insist that it has to be this local company that will do this, these local products that will be used and so on. So in the process, it assisted some of us to be able to do business besides the traditional way of doing business. Local content initiative has assisted us to do more. So the ministry and the agency I mentioned have really helped.



“We have so many churches but no industries to train graduates….Don’t blame the young graduates… society is not providing the necessary latitude for people to garner experience and do good jobs.”


What will be your advice for young Nigerian entrepreneurs who look to companies like Data Science for inspiration?

They need to get experience, they need to look for a place to gather experience. In a place like Data Sciences we always like to train anybody that comes in even the IT students (student on industrial training). When they come in here we give a schedule and that schedule will include trying to understand what is happening around you, understand the basic things you may work on. We have a lab where we ask senior engineers to take them for training. Wwhen they go there after some weeks or month depending on the duration of their training or schedule to stay with us by ITF we second them to sites with our engineers to take them and face customers, look at how customers behaves, how to resolve machine faults, etc. What is more important is that we give them a certificate when they are leaving. The certificate shows that they have acquired this level of understanding so that whoever happens to engage them someday that particular certificate becomes a testimonial. Young people need to know that training is important in doing your business or in pursuing your career path. You need to get prepared.



Are banks beginning to support IT businesses in Nigeria?

Nigerian banks remain what they have been. What I meant is that the banks evaluate companies according to their lay down policy on loan. Banks are not charity organizations. They came to make profit anywhere they go. The companies must meet the criteria set by bank to get the loan. If you meet their criteria, you will get loan and if you don’t meet them you may not get loan. Banks can do more by reducing some of the criteria because some are too tough to meet. Some are very rigid and some take months before you can secure loans and their interest rate can be ridiculous. Maybe, we should be talking about how the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the regulatory body, can get banks to assist IT companies by making loan terms and the general financial climate of doing business better in Nigeria.

“The CBN can get banks to assist IT companies by making loan terms and the general financial climate of doing business better in Nigeria.”

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/07/revolutionizing-asset-management-technology/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews

While technology is disrupting countless industries around the world, Financial Services Industry (FSI) has been at the epic center of this disruption – and portfolio management is no exception. The asset management landscape has evolved rapidly with technology in recent years and many traditional asset management tasks are becoming apparently obsolete.

In the past, asset management was a very challenging and time-consuming task, which involved researching equities, bonds, and other asset classes and building portfolios in spreadsheets and excel while maintaining and re-balancing portfolios by hand. Things have changed and are still changing with Technology.

The manual processing has reduced dramatically, thereby improving the operational efficiency of many financial advisors. Asset managers can now let their computer automatically make calculations or even place trades on clients’ behalf, which frees up their time to focus on other ways to help build value for their clients.

Simplex is at the fore front of simplifying asset management processes with leading technologies, hence, our real-time investment portfolio management software is a software of choice for wise investors, helping them to achieve goals, control risk and get return on investments.

Simplex iMoneytor+ can do it all, from tracking purchases, sales, gains and receivables through to processing dividends, bonuses, coupon repayments and much more. Investors using iMoneytor+ gain unprecedented insight into the performance of their portfolios using elaborate charts and different asset reports.

The future is volatile and uncertain, but with Simplex iMoneytor, you will not only win but also lead and thrive with Technology in uncertain times.



Olalekan heads the entire Implementation & Application Support Department of Simplex, coordinating daily operations of the department to deliver best in class support maintenance and installation services to client.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/07/unesco-conference-artificial-intelligence-urges-human-centred-governance-ai/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

As she opened the Conference, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said, “The issues raised by artificial intelligence are not technological. They concern our own humanity, raising scientific, political, philosophical and ethical questions.”

Ms Azoulay declared that “the time is more than ripe to define the ethical principles that must serve as a foundation and framework of this disruption; to ensure that AI serves collective choices, based on humanist values.”


Referring to UNESCO’s work on AI, the Director-General announced that “We will now be able to work on the basis of a first report of the Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, COMEST. This new report, dedicated to artificial intelligence, will certainly provide major scientific support to Member States’ reflection and initiatives.”*

Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) spoke of the need for cooperation to ensure that AI becomes a driver of inclusive and sustainable growth. “We have to get this right, because while AI is driving optimism, it is also fuelling anxieties and ethical concerns.”

Mr. Gurría spoke of the need to work with UNESCO in a concerted effort to “make AI less artificial and more intelligent.”

Throughout the day, academics, representatives of intergovernmental organizations, government ministers, the private sector, members of the technical community, the media, academia, and civil society called for the development of ethical principles to govern AI on the basis of transparency and accountability. They stressed the need for open data that is respectful of privacy. They stressed the importance of data, which goes beyond information traditionally collected by public services, as it informs the predictions and decisions that already allow AI to contribute to the treatment of diseases, the management of water resources and agricultural planning, for example.

But data is not neutral, and several participants pointed out that making technology serve humanity required data that is truly representative and inclusive, which poses a problem considering that half the world’s population remains unconnected to the internet.

Cédric Villani, winner of the Fields Medal in Mathematics and member of the French parliament, spoke of the need to preserve human sovereignty in the face of algorithms, and geopolitical sovereignty in the face of the present competition to develop AI. Speaking of the challenge of developing AI to serve human goals, Mr. Villani cautioned, “The danger is ourselves, if we fail to rise to the challenge.”

Bunmi Banjo, Managing Director of Kuvora Inc warned against falling into the “efficiency trap” without considering what is just and fair, as decisions taken today will affect humanity for decades to come.

But speakers pointed to the slowness of international standard-setting instruments that have historically followed technological innovation rather than anticipating them, which is what is now required where AI is concerned.

While all speakers highlighted the need to develop principles for AI, Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination, Executive office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, warned, “the current preference for non-binding international agreements, part of the shift from cooperation to competition, is making non-binding treaties much more attractive. But we cannot rely on everyone to be good. […] If we let the invisible hand of the market operate freely, we will get useful applications, but our privacy will be eroded and inequalities will grow, contributing to the polarization of our societies,” he argued.

The conference was part of a series of UNESCO events on AI, following the debate on ethics of new technologies and artificial intelligence, Tech Futures: Hope or Fear? (22 January), and the Forum on Artificial Intelligence in Africa(12 and 13 December 2018). UNESCO is planning a major event on Artificial Intelligence and Education to study emerging AI technologies and innovative practices of the use of AI in education in Beijing, in partnership with the Government of the People’s Republic of China (16-18 May).

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/07/wacc-promises-stakeholders-gathering-event-gets-strong-industry-support/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews

Industry support is growing stronger for the West Africa Convergence Conference – WACC as businesses gradually gain momentum with national elections having been successfully and largely, peacefully concluded.

Some panelists at one of the WACC 2017 sessions
Some panelists at one of the WACC 2017 sessions
WACC 2019 already has the signature support of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), ICS Ltd, Zeta-web Nigeria Limited, Data Sciences Limited, Precise Financial Systems (PFS), Rack Centre, Qitech Technologies Ltd, and Bluenap Limited.

Others are PPC Limited, Backbone Connectivity Network (BCN) Nigeria Limited, Medallion Communications Limited, Rack Centre, nHub, BSSL Technologies Limited, NIGCOMSAT Limited, and Galaxy Backbone Limited.

This year, WACC holds Thursday, 28th of March inside the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos with a stakeholders’ gathering promising to provide an insightful peep into technology trends in Africa’s most populous country as well as the entire ECOWAS sub-region.

WACC 2019 theme centres on: Regulations + Disruptions; Employability + Entrepreneurships + Connectivity in the era of Convergence. The event is organised annually by Knowhow Media and Market Intelligence International – KMMIIL.

GITEX Stakeholders Forum (Lagos) @ WACC

This year, WACC is featuring a GITEX Stakeholders Forum (Lagos) by the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) Senior officials of the DWTC and Pinnacle International Consulting, LLC will be at the 2019 WACC to explore ways of helping Nigerian businesses and startup community enhance their commercial and organizational goals through the annual GITEX Technology Week holding later in the year, October 6 -10, 2019 in Dubai.

GITEX Technology Week is the 3rd largest event in the world
Over 184, 000 Trade Visitors/Delegates attend GITEX yearly
4000+ world class exhibitors from over 97 countries showcase at GITEX annually.
Exhibitors and Trade Visitors come from over 144 nations
Nigeria through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has been participating in GITEX since 2013
DWTC Officials will be there to guide you on how to connect to markets, collaborations/partnerships, and VCs by leveraging on their global outreach.
FORUM is FREE and OPEN to Individuals, Organisations, Startups and Government Entities
GITEX hosts over 6,200+ Strategic Meetings that include exhibitors & buyers; , G2B – Over 124 meetings every hour – making the GITEX one of the world’s biggest gathering points for Top-end decisions affecting countries and businesses for technology solutions, providers and first-movers.
REGISTER ONLINE: https://thewacc.net/registration/
Other WACC 2019 sessions include: InventSpace; Employability & Entrepreneurships; (Fin)Tech Frontiers; Regulation, Connectivity, Broadband, BroadPLANS and Convergence. Highlights of activities also include the NextTech + Convergence Award, an offshoot of the Top 50 Award first initiated in 2006 as part of the indices to measure the: Industry’s most profound influencers; Most Impactful tech solution providers/organisations; and Best dynamic survivors in Nigeria’s highly tempestuous market.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/07/unbanked-africans-benefit-joint-venture-paxful-bitmart-exchange/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews

Paxful, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace, has announced integration onto BitMart, a premier global digital asset trading platform in the cryptocurrency market with over 600,000 users worldwide. This partnership comes at a pivotal time for the crypto community and serves as a step the two entities have taken together in the hopes of increasing liquidity and scalability. The integration will allow users to make payments via Paxful on the BitMart platform, marking the first efforts of the latter in joining the fast-growing peer-to-peer financial revolution.

Paxful promotes a global peer-to-peer payment logistics platform for the future, allowing direct bitcoin transactions to be made from user to user, which eliminates the need for third-party interactions. With a focus on emerging markets and the unbanked, they provide a space for users to send, receive and store bitcoin. With this partnership, users will now have direct access to one of the world’s largest digital asset trading platforms, providing increased visibility and over 180 additional trading pairs. Furthermore, integrating Paxful positions BitMart as one of the only exchanges in the world entering the peer-to-peer financial ecosystem, providing people with easier access to the entire financial world.

Features such as zero-cost listing fees and monetarily-backed ratings give room for Paxful technology to serve a vital role in facilitating seamless and rapid transactions throughout the entire platform. This means traders can make globally scaled transactions to obtain bitcoin on Paxful, which can then be exchanged for different types of currency or even reinvested into other assets on the exchange.

“We’re excited to integrate with BitMart in efforts to bring more trading options to emerging markets,” said Ray Youssef, CEO and co-founder of Paxful. “It has always been our mission to provide financial freedom worldwide and we see this as the next big step in the financial revolution.”

According to the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion database (https://globalfindex.WorldBank.org) based on information from more than 140 countries:

Two billion people worldwide are completely unbanked.
20% of unbanked adults receive wages or government transfers in cash.
Women make up just over half (55%) of unbanked people worldwide.
The proportion of people with bank accounts worldwide grew from 51% to 62% between 2011 and 2014.
The goal of this integration is to provide education, opportunities, and allow the unbanked, underbanked, and overbanked to participate in a growing peer-to-peer financial ecosystem.

“BitMart has always been a mission to offer convenient and secure financial services in the crypto market,” said said Sheldon Xia, Founder & CEO of BitMart,“An integration with a revolutionary company such as Paxful allows us to bring digital asset trading to those who would otherwise not have had the access. With this partnership, investors will now have direct access to multiple payment approaches including bank transfers, gift cards, debit/credit cards, and cash deposits, lowering the barriers to entry for new adopters of digital currency investment.”

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/05/nigerian-telecom-operators-shock-states-demand-environmental-impact-assessment-payment/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

ALTON asks FG for clarification
Nigerian telecom operators have expressed shock over demands by some states governments for Environmental Impact Assessment payment – a responsibility of the federal government.

In a statement released this week in Lagos, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said in has asked the federal government for clarifications.

A dismayed Chairman of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said the development contradicts the existing law and only thickens entrenched practice of imposing multiple levies and taxes on telecoms operators in Nigeria.

ALTON is the licensed umbrella industry body for all telecommunications operators in Nigeria.

ALTON is asking Nigeria’s federal government to make clarification on the following issues at stake:

That the Federal Ministry of Environment has ceded the EIA oversight functions to some States Ministry of Environment to issue EIA Certification to our members;
That some States Ministry of Environment as the case may be can conduct EIA process to our members without recourse to the Federal Ministry of Environment and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA);
That the Statutory responsibility on environmental issues of the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME) has been transferred to the States Government;
That the States now have power to collect ecological fund from private sector after payment has been made to them by the Federal Government.
“We kindly request from the Federal Ministry of Environment to clarify these positions, so to guide us in our dealing with the situation and to advise our members accordingly,” said ALTON in its public statement to the government.

Nigeria is a federation of 6 states with a federal capital territory: Abuja.

While federal laws apply largely to telecom operators, states have devised several means of imposing levies on operators often deemed as arbitrary and in conflict with federal laws.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/05/eutelsats-konnect-satellite-payload-inches-closer-covering-western-europe-africa/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) has announced the successful mating of the platform and payload of the KONNECT satellite, conducted this week at Thales Alenia Space’s facilities in Cannes. This operation is a major step in the construction of the satellite, in preparation for its launch by the end of this year.

KONNECT is a next-generation High Throughput satellite offering unprecedented operational flexibility. With a mass of 3.5 metric tons, this all-electric satellite, the first to use Thales Alenia Space’s new Spacebus Neo platform, will provide 75 Gbps of capacity covering Western Europe and Africa.

With capabilities for a large-scale service to address the demand on both continents, KONNECT is a major pillar of Eutelsat’s strategy of return to growth, enabling the company to bolster its presence in the fast-growing broadband market. On a wider scale, this satellite programme supports the Group’s ambition to contribute to reducing the digital divide with a view to building a more inclusive digital society. By leveraging existing satellite resources, Eutelsat strives to achieve this ambition and sets the stage for the arrival of this satellite through the launch of new broadband services in these regions, such as in several African countries in the past months.

Yohann Leroy, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Eutelsat, commented: “This mating operation represents a key step in this significant satellite programme; one that will enable to deliver high-speed broadband services at affordable prices, with a view to complementing terrestrial networks in Western Europe but also in Africa where the drive to increase Internet penetration is a key priority.”

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/05/nine-becomes-west-african-regional-partner-jack-mas-africa-netpreneur-prize-initiative/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

Abuja-based Network of Incubators & Innovators in Nigeria (NINe) has been appointed the West African Regional Partner for the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI), the Jack Ma’s flagship entrepreneur program in Africa led by the Jack Ma Foundation.

NINE, a network of business/technology incubators which also serves as a resource/knowledge mobilization and linkage platform for incubators in Nigeria joins RiseUp from Egypt, and 22 On Sloane from South Africa to serve as regional partners of the Prize. They will lead grassroots mobilization in their regions for the ANPI funded by Chinese billionaire and ecommerce mogul, Jack Ma.

The ANPI is a prize competition for African entrepreneurs, founded by the Jack Ma Foundation. For the next ten years, the ANPI will host a pitch competition across Africa culminating in a finale where ten finalists will compete for US$1 million in total prize money. The Prize aims to support and inspire the next generation of African entrepreneurs across all sectors, who are building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future.

The regional partners will mobilize aspiring entrepreneurs across the continent through grassroots outreach. Nailab Founder and CEO Sam Gichuru said, “We are excited to work with these reputable and mission-aligned partners who will help us bring the Prize to all corners of Africa, as well as discover and spotlight a new generation of entrepreneurs from across the continent. Together with our partners, we will support both technology-driven and traditional companies with a special focus on small businesses, grassroots communities and women-founded enterprises.”

raca Machel, Chair of the Graca Machel Trust Board and a member of ANPI advisory board, noted that the regional partners will help support the Prize’s inclusive and community-based approach and praised the Prize’s strong focus on women entrepreneurs. “There are so many undiscovered entrepreneurial heroes, women and men alike, who once unearthed can become game-changers of the African entrepreneurship landscape. I am happy the Africa Netpreneur Prize has decided to make women a priority.”

The southern partner, 22 On Sloane, is a legacy project of the Global Entrepreneurship Network Africa (GEN Africa) and home to the largest startup campus on the continent. The organization seeks to nurture the development of new industries by supporting disruptive startups. The northern partner, RiseUp, is the creator and organizer of the MENA region’s largest entrepreneurship event, RiseUp Summit. RiseUp is a platform that connects startups with needed resources from across the continent. The western partner, NINE is Nigeria’s largest network of Incubators supporting the growth of entrepreneurs.

“We look forward to supporting the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative in its mission to empower entrepreneurs from Africa. 22 On Sloane has received support from world leaders and a network of more than 15,000 partner organizations which has enabled us to catapult the growth of many businesses, and is indicative of the strong entrepreneurial potential we have across the continent to thrive globally,” said GEN Africa Chairperson Kizito Okechukwu.

Abdelhameed Sharara, CEO of RiseUp noted, “We are looking for against-the-grain entrepreneurs who will provide visionary solutions to today’s most important challenges. We define an entrepreneur as anyone who’s willing to take on innovation and challenge the norm. This Prize will be an important catalyst to support budding entrepreneurs from across the continent and give them a platform for effective innovation.”

“We are excited to discover vibrant enterprises that would benefit from the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative. We believe that the Prize finalists have the power to inspire the continent with their commitment and dedication, as well as show the potential of our African Entrepreneurs,” said Bankole Oloruntoba, Founder of NINE.

ANPI will officially call for applications starting from the 27th of March to the 30th of June 2019. All ten finalists will receive grant funding from the Jack Ma Foundation, as well as access to the Netpreneur community of African business leaders to leverage the community’s shared expertise, best practices, and resources.

For more information about the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, please visit: https://www.netpreneur.africa/



About Jack Ma Foundation

Jack Ma Foundation (JMF) is a charitable organisation founded in 2014 by Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group. The foundation’s aim is to promote human development in harmony with both society and the environment, while its mission is to work towards a world of bluer skies, cleaner water, healthier communities, and more open thinking. From education to environment, to public health and personal development in the philanthropic sector, the foundation intends to awaken social consciousness and responsibility to cultivate an innovative and sustainable model for a better world.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/04/akpabio-touted-communications-minister-abba-kyari-cttee-compiles-ministerial-list/

Posted By: ITEdgeNews


By Nwakaego Alajemba

Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio is among the names on the new list of ministerial nominees being compiled by the Abba Kyari Committee, and he is being touted as the man to lead the communications ministry, IT Edge News can confirmed.

News sources at the weekend revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari has ignited the process for his ministerial team to kick off his second term from May 29, 2019.

Akpabio is on the list with Senator Smart Adeyemi who lost his senatorial bid for Kogi West constituency of Kogi State; Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state who lost a second bid to return to the Senate for Oyo Central constituency of Oyo State; and Senator George Akume who lost out in the Benue North-West senatorial district Benue State.

According to presidential sources, the president is expected to send these names and those to be retained from the old cabinet to the 9th Assembly immediately it is inaugurated in June.

Akpabio, lawyer and politician, and former senate minority leader, jumped ship last year August to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Akpabio worked with the now moribund EMIS Telecoms Limited, a wireless telecommunications company in Lagos where he rose to the position of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company. He was also active in the early days of Nigeria’s liberalized telecom sector as the National Publicity Secretary of the Association of Telecommunication Companies in Nigeria, (ATCON).

Akpabio left EMIS in 2002 to begin his political career having been appointed as Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources by the then Governor Obong Victor Attah in Akwa Ibom State.

Regarded as highly influential in his Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio was expected to deliver Akwa Ibom for APC but he failed and was also unsuccessful to retain his Akwa Ibom north-west senatorial seat. But he has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over his loss.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/04/capdan-seeks-ict-intervention-fund-apcs-sanwo-olu-engages-ikeja-computer-village/-
Posted By: ITEdgeNews


The Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN) has asked the Nigerian government to provide an ICT intervention fund to help build local capacity in the ICT industry.

CAPDAN’s President, Mr. Adeniyi Ojikutu, while speaking recently inside the Lagos Computer Village, Ikeja, said like the agriculture intervention fund, an ICT fund will further enhance the capacity of indigenous entrepreneurs to be active in the topmost echelon of the sector. The Ikeja Computer Village is touted as the West Africa’s ICT market capital.

“We need to build an ecosystem that is both sustainable and well-funded through government support to take up and manage higher technology risks,” said Ojikutu whose village also recently hosted the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

While addressing the traders and Ibo community in the Computer Village, Sanwo-Olu assured that his government, if voted into power, would provide support infrastructures including regular power supply and internet to boost the growth of not just the village not just as a technology products centre but a creative hub for tech ideas.

“This place is the biggest computer village in the world, we have potential here, Facebook can come out from here likewise Google,” said Sanwo-Olu who has repeatedly said that technology will occupy a prominent position in his government.

CAPDAN’s Ojikutu while congratulating President Muhammadu Buhari for winning another four years said his association will work with the government to transform the Computer Village a proper formal sector which will require the support of government in areas that include business, technical and engineering trainings for the business owners within the Computer Village

His words: “The training will improve the professional standards of engineers in the Computer Village and will also improve their contributions to the country’s economy. Ultimately, it will affect the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and improve the country’s economy.”

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/03/01/sap-google-cloud-launch-global-sustainability-contest-social-entrepreneurs/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

SAP and Google Cloud are asking are calling all game-changers, innovators and social impact leaders for their revenue-generating ideas that use data analytics and machine learning to power circular economy businesses.

According to the Global Footprint Network, the global demand for resources was 1.7 times more than what the Earth could support in 2018; by 2030, we may need two Earths to sustain our way of life. In response, the concept of the circular economy, where consumption and emissions are minimized through recycling, reuse, refurbishing and repair, has gained ground at a global level. According to estimates, a circular economy that increases social well-being and economic output while fostering a healthy environment could generate $4.5 trillion of new economic output by 2030.

Sunil Geness, Head of CSR at SAP Africa, said urgent action is needed to ensure the world corrects to a more sustainable path and achieves the ambitions set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “As a purpose-driven organisation, SAP is deeply committed to embracing the challenge of environmental responsibility and to put technology, people and passion to work to solve some of the bigger issues of the digital age. Through our partnership with Google, we are hoping the launch of the Circular Economy 2030 initiative will ignite a new wave of inspiration and innovation among social entrepreneurs as we search for data-driven and technology-enabled solutions that can help the world run better and improve people’s lives.”

As part of the Circular Economy 2030 initiative, SAP and Google Cloud are working closely with experts in the fields of circular economy and sustainable development, including UN Environment, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data.

Google Marketing Director for Africa, Mzamo Masito, said: “We believe that with the help of modern technology, businesses can become positive catalysts for a more sustainable future. Our partnership with SAP will not only support social entrepreneurship but continue our commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and advancing a circular economy.”

The deadline for submissions is March 17th. Five finalists will be selected and announced at the Google Cloud Next Conference taking place from April 9th to 11th and will compete in a hackathon taking place in San Francisco on April 12th. Judges will look for original ideas that can benefit any aspect of the global economy. Proposals must include a viable business model, a vision for advancing Sustainable Development Goal #12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and should use both SAP and Google Cloud solutions to enable the idea at scale.

The winner will receive more than $100 000 in prize money and benefits, including participation in Google Cloud for Startups’ Bootcamp and one-on-one mentor- ship, and will be announced at SAPPHIRE NOW on May 7th. The remaining four finalists will each receive $25 000 in prize money.

For more information and to apply, please visit http://g.co/Circular2030 before March 17th.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/02/26/migration-no-longer-adopting-cloud-first-approach/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

The cloud first approach made popular in 2018 is no longer hailed as the answer to cloud domination. Instead, Christian Mahncke, Routed Enterprise Business Development, Africa’s only vendor neutral cloud infrastructure provider, says that migration in 2019 will be more carefully considered and measured.

“A forced approach towards cloud is not ideal. While insight into cloud has improved and uptake is on the rise, lessons have already been learnt and the approach for 2019 is to only migrate what is suited to the public cloud,” says Mahncke. He adds that a hybrid approach will also continue to drive cloud adoption throughout 2019.

The benefit of legacy application migration is to not only increase agility, but more importantly, it must provide both business and operational efficiency: “If migration doesn’t make financial sense, then it shouldn’t happen. Additionally, migration should ensure the infrastructure is reliable and has greater scalability, resulting in an improvement in overall agility as well,” says Mahncke.

While many enterprises are realising these benefits as opposed to a cloud-first gamble, the question still remains in terms of legacy applications and what to do? Is moving them more beneficial than them staying on premise?

While new applications, or those developed with the cloud in mind, can benefit from cloud technology and will perform better in a cloud environment, the same cannot be said for legacy applications.

There are four main factors affecting the success of legacy application migrations:

Lift and shift approach: in some cases, legacy applications may just “lift and shift” into the cloud without much effort. Even if the legacy application performs no better in the cloud, a cloud hosted legacy application might fit well into the organisation’s cloud strategy, which wants to host all their applications – old and new – in the cloud.

Refactoring: this involves a more advanced process of re-architecting, and recoding, certain parts of an existing application to take advantage of cloud native functionality. In this way, organisations can take full advantage of cloud-native features to maximise operational costs in the cloud. This is probably the most time-consuming and resource intensive option but ensures the lowest monthly spend of all migration options.

Break-up and re-assemble: in some cases, the migration of monolithic legacy applications into much smaller micro services could be seen as a challenge on its own. Applications might have to be broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks and then re-assembled for cloud use, a process which is obviously fraught with all sorts of integration / migration / assembly challenges, but what other option is there when faced with migrating a large legacy application.

Leave it alone: this is not a migration strategy, but rather “best to leave it alone option”. Not all legacy applications should be migrated into the cloud or stuck into containers or micro services. We should remember that some legacy applications are more than 10 to 20 years old, they were developed in a pre-cloud era, they were developed using COBOL and FORTRAN, and they were not developed to benefit from cloud native frameworks or functionality. Many were huge applications, developed over years and enhanced many times over, some losing its sophisticated coding standards and slipping into the world of spaghetti code, deeply entwined with their databases or operating system, with many external interfaces, or licensing restrictions, that they cannot be moved anywhere, never mind into the cloud.

Some organisations assume that moving applications into the cloud will automatically increase performance but have then been disappointed when this did not happen. Latency issues can occur when applications and data are split, or hosted in separate environments, and response times can be affected because some applications require excessively high I/Os which may not be available in the cloud. Some legacy applications simply won’t function better in the cloud.

“Migrating legacy applications into the cloud is no easy task. There are many options and partnering with the right company to ensure your approach is a success is vital,” says Mahncke.

About Routed

Founded in 2016, Routed is a true cloud provider. Secure, robust and reliable, the Routed cloud platform is vendor neutral and offers scalable, full or hybrid cloud hosting. Engaging directly or within a channel, Routed delivers cloud and infrastructure solutions to enterprise customers, wholesale partners, resellers and affiliates.

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/02/26/mainone-facebook-announce-open-access-fiber-network-nigeria/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

MainOne has announced a metro fiber infrastructure project in two states of Nigeria, with support from Facebook. The infrastructure collaboration is part of Facebook’s efforts to connect more people to broadband internet. As part of this project, MainOne is building and operating approximately 750 km terrestrial fiber infrastructure in Edo and Ogun States, two of Nigeria’s fastest growing states.

These open-access transport networks will provide metro fiber connectivity to reach more than 1,000,000 people in Benin City, Abeokuta, Sagamu and 10 other towns by connecting mobile operators’ base stations, Internet Service providers, Points of presence (POPs), and public locations including schools and hospitals. This partnership will leverage MainOne’s strength as a wholesale Telecoms Infrastructure service provider with investment from Facebook and support from local regulatory and state authorities to further deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria.

Speaking on the partnership, Ibrahima Ba, Network Investments Lead for Emerging Markets at Facebook, said: “We are working closely with MainOne and other partners to accelerate broadband deployment. In Nigeria, we are bringing together Facebook’s learnings from scaling our global infrastructure with MainOne’s knowledge of the local environment to develop and test new working models for multiple operators to access common infrastructure.”

Funke Opeke, MainOne’s Chief Executive Officer, lauded the collaboration and the commitment of Facebook and authorities in Nigeria to improving broadband penetration across the country. Commenting on the partnership, she added “MainOne has always been committed to broadband innovation, job creation, as well as growing the digital economy of West Africa. We believe that this partnership and the open-access network we have developed will be beneficial to improving the quality of access and accelerating the digital transformation in Ogun and Edo States.”

http://itedgenews.ng/2019/02/21/ncc-onsa-set-committees-combat-counterfeit-mobile-devices/
Posted By: ITEdgeNews

Two joint committees have been set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in collaboration with other government agencies to tackle the menace of counterfeit communication devices. They were set up yesterday at the NCC’s headquarters in Abuja.

The two committees are the Project Steering Committee (PSC), comprising the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Federal Ministry of Communications and the NCC; and the Project Delivery Team (PDT) wit representation from the Federal Ministry of Communications, the ICRC, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the NCC.

Both committees are to work together to ensure the implementation of Mobile Devices Management Systems (DMS), a Public-Private Partnership project, created to combat the proliferation of fake, counterfeit, substandard and cloned mobile communications devices in the telecoms industry.

Counterfeit communications devices rule the market largely influenced by consumers’ behaviour that ignorantly believe that cheap means great deal, and fall easy prey to counterfeiters. The global market for sub-standard telecom devices hover over some $400 billion. Nigeria accounts for almost 20% of fake mobile phones in the market according t some experts.

While inaugurating the committees, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the move was in line with the mandate of the Commission, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003, to type-approve all devices used in the telecommunications industry and to ensure that all devices used in the telecommunications industry are in line with agreed standards and specifications.

According to him, the principal objective of the proposed DMS project is to “establish a secure and comprehensive single-window solution that will enable the Commission to implement a proven solution in the Nigerian environment that is sustainable and demonstrate value for money in addition helping to address the various concerns that have been raised with the NCC from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in our regular interactions on security matters as it concerns the telecommunications industry.”

He said the increasing cybercrime, evasion of taxes, terrorism and health and safety concerns raised by the use of stolen, counterfeit and substandard devices in Nigeria is a responsibility which the NCC takes seriously.

“In 2015, the NCC organised a stakeholder forum aimed at developing recommendations that could influence decision and policy directions, leading to solutions to combat the issue of counterfeit and substandard Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices in the country. Based on the importance of the project to the NCC, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the ICRC were engaged for a no-objection to advertise for International Competitive Bidding (ICB) process towards the acquisition of an effective DMS solution, adding that the ICRC subsequently recommended the establishment of the two committees to fast-track the process,” said Danbatta.

Representative of the Minister of Communications, Chief Adebayo Shittu and Permanent Secretary at the ministry, Mrs. Nkechi Ejele, commended the NCC for the initiative, stressing that she was impressed with the comprehensive and clear terms of reference given to the committees.

“The ministry has no doubt that thorough implementation of the terms of references as reeled out by Prof. Umar Danbatta in his presentation, will ensure effective delivery of the project aimed at sanitizing the economy of fake devices with their attendant challenges,” she said.

Also, Director, PPP Resource Department of ICRC, Mr. Michael Ohiani, said as the agency in charge of regulatory oversight over all PPP initiatives of government, “The commission would support the process to ensure transparency of the process and value for money invested on the project.

“The constitution of the PSC and PDT are to ensure that projects are delivered in a sustainable manner and in the overall interest of the country and we would work with all stakeholders in this project to ensure effective implementation,” he said.