ISACA deploys e-learning solutions to organisations

By Bankole Orimisan

TO have an edge and help Human Resources executives to realise corporate objectives in the country, Information Systems Audit and Control Association, Lagos Chapter, (ISACA) has unveiled its certifications and products that would enable organisations understand why employing ISACA members and training for existing staff to become certified into the Nigerian market.

  This was disclosed at the first Human Resources executive briefing organised by (ISACA) Lagos Chapter held in Lagos recently, by the President of the Chapter and Deputy Director with Central Bank Of Nigeria Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, said: “As the global economy for some time has continued to create new challenges for nearly all of our enterprises, regardless of size, industry or geographic location. All workplaces seek for innovative ways to maximise the return on investments with many experiencing complex and often demanding situations.

  According to the president: “ISACA has a more critical role in supporting members as they embrace change and view new horizons. In addition to creating new practical educational and training opportunities and increased attention was placed on addressing business risks, with this in mind ISACA introduced Risk IT, a major accomplishment and integral piece of the COBIT® package.”

  She said: “It provides proven, real-world practices that help enterprises achieve their goals, seize opportunities and seek greater return with less risk.”

  In her words: “ISACA, which was formed as a nonprofit, global membership association for IT Control, Information Systems Audit and Information Technology Risk Management professionals and also those who are;

Certified Information Systems Auditors (CISA), Certified Information Security Managers (CISM), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) and Certification in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT).

  As an independent, nonprofit, global association, ISACA engages in the development, adoption and use of globally accepted, industry-leading knowledge and practices for information systems, nearly all industry categories, including financial and banking, oil and gas, telecommunications, government, education, utilities and manufacturing. This diversity enables members to learn from each other, and exchange widely divergent viewpoints on a variety of professional topics. This has long been considered one of ISACA’ strengths.

  Other speakers at the event advised Human Resources managers to ensure they engaged the right personnel and consultants for critical positions and services in their organisation.

  For example, the head of Information Technology of any Organisation should be Certified in Governance of IT (CGEIT), the head of IT Risk Management should be CRISC certificed while the head of IT Security should be CISM certified.

Nigerian school wins in Microsoft’s PowerPoint competition in U.S

By Bankole Orimisan

THE 13 years old student of Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls based in Lagos, Chidera Nwadike, has emerged at the 2011 Certiport Worldwide Microsoft PowerPoint competition organised by the IT raining company, New Horizons, in San Diego as one of the top four finalists to have excelled where over 228,000 university students from 57 countries competed to demonstrate their mastery of Microsoft Office products.

     The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Tim Akano said, that was certainly a pointer to the fact that all hope was not lost for our educational system in Nigeria and a further proof that things ware taking a positive turn for the better under the present tenure of the Goodluck/Jonathan administration.

     According to Akano, Nigeria could not afford to miss out of the Information Technology era as it was the case in the various eras of the past, going by our population and the expectations of the rest of the world.

    The first and only African to compete at the event in the Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 category where she placed 4th, after coming top overall at the National Competition in Nigeria in the Microsoft PowerPoint competition under the tutelage of New Horizons instructors, having tried several local and international IT (Indian) training companies mostly incapable of delivering the desired results.

      Akano, who also urged encouraged schools to partner with New Horizons to advantage of exceptional skills in training the students so as to attend the upcoming 2012 Microsoft Competition, said that this certification would also earn the students credit point in UK and U.S.A universities.

    In his words, impressed by the calibre of students from all over the world, who have learned advanced, certifiable Microsoft skills,” said Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president, Office Product Management Group, Microsoft Corp.

    “It was great to see so many students mastering Microsoft Office 2010. Office is used on more than one billion PCs worldwide, and these students who are deeply engaged in the product, which will help them realise increased productivity and efficiency as they use these desktop applications for school assignments and on the job.”

    He said, “this year's contest marks the introduction of the 2010 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Word and Excel exams, and also includes PowerPoint 2007 for the first time in the history of the competition.”

    “In its tenth year, the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office continues to grow in popularity – we had a 49 per cent increase in the number of students who participated from all over the world in 2011 compared to 2010,” said Ray Kelly, CEO, Certiport.

    “We hold the competition to motivate and recognise students for mastering key technical skills that will help them excel in college and build their resume. I was very impressed by the winners, and holding the title of ‘World Champion’ will be a valuable asset as they continue in their professional lives.”

     He noted that in the concluding round, competitors participated in timed, unique tests to demonstrate their ability to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations for the information presented in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This year, Certiport added a new component to the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office. Each Word 2010 and Excel 2010 contestant was required to take the standard MOS exam and was also asked to recreate an existing Word 2010 document or Excel 2010 workbook from a provided, printed example.

      “Over 3.5 million people worldwide have taken one or more Microsoft Office specialist exams to receive an objective validation of their skills with a performance-based test,” said Lutz Ziob, general manager, Microsoft Learning. 

     “We worked with business leaders to understand what they expect their future employees to know when we developed the MOS exams, giving us a very well defined learning and certification solution. The Worldwide Competition is indicative of the popularity of the MOS programme, and it gives students a badge of honour that guarantees to employers that they know what it takes to be successful with Microsoft products.”

     Winners in each of the five categories bagged a $5,000 scholarship each, with Malaysian Clement Ng Chwin Chiat in mastering Microsoft Word 2010, Chen Xing of China in Microsoft Excel 2010, Japanese Mizuki Terao (Microsoft Word 2007), Briton Rebecca Rickwood (Microsoft Excel 2007) and Taiwanese Liao Yu-Xuan (Microsoft PowerPoint 2007).

Envoy savours growth in Nigeria, Indian trade relationship

THE Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mahesh Sachdev (left) and Dean of Lagos Business School, Dr. Enase Okonedo, during a discussion titled: Unlocking Business Posibilities: Lesson from Nigeria - Indian partnership, at the school. caption

By Bankole Orimisan

THE Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mahesh Sachdev has expressed satisfaction over the recent growth in Nigeria – India bilateral trade.

  This assertion was disclosed recently at the discussion titled “Unlocking Business Possibilities: Lesson from Nigeria- India partnership” held at the Lagos Business School.

  Sachdev said that India was Nigeria second largest trading partner with $14.6 billion between 2010 and 2011, while his country also invested about $5 billion in Nigeria’s economy in 2010, making it the largest single investor during the year.

  He stated that opportunities in the bilateral economic relationship could be strengthened in the areas of power generation, petrochemical, vocational training, information technology, hydrocarbon and pharmaceutical sector, which involved going into retailing and distribution.

  The commissioner explained that Nigerian entrepreneurs could target India as a market for their products which included, palm oil, solid minerals, cashew, handicraft, foodstuff, commodities, consumer goods, cocoa and herbs which the India used for their medicinal purposes.

  He identified the major obstacles that could affect the economic ties between the two countries as lack of proper government-to-government framework, saying for instance, bilateral investment promotion agreement was not in place.

  Besides, he added that there had been no direct flight, direct banking contacts, direct ship contact between the nations.

  The high commissioner expressed happiness with the quality of ideas generated at the brainstorming session, stressing that the two countries needed to identify where they could be relevant to each other’s requirements, as there were huge numbers of possibilities.

  “I was pleased to have this session in coordination and assistance with LBS, it is the first time that India has held such a session in Africa,” he said.

  The Chairman Nigerian Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Imo Itsueli stressed the need for the two countries to get more familiarised, and also pay visits to each other, stating that there was a lot of misconceptions about each other.

  He said that such visit could only correct the negative perceptions and also give better views of what Nigeria and Nigerians business men represented.

  He also said that Nigerians were honest and hard working business men contrary to the views of many Indians that Nigerians were crooks, (419), adding that Nigerians too heard a lot of stories about the Indian fellows who didn’t want to pay tax, do straight business and give what was due to Nigerian staff. He said that all these might not be totally true about Indians.

  “We are all not saints in Nigeria, of course, the Indians are not all crooks and saints, we have bad eggs in India, we have bad eggs in Nigeria,” he said.

  He added that Nigeria could benefit from India in areas such as IT and health care facilities, which they were very good at, explaining that about 54 to 55% of the India workforce was working in agriculture. He said that Nigeria could as well key into this, stating that India was a world leader in many things.

  Itsueli advised Nigeria against excessive spending and said that effort should be made to prevent any form of wastage in government.

 “We are spending so much on recurrent issues rather than capital projects, we need to grow,” he said.

  Professor, Olawale Ajai who was one of the panelists said that Nigeria did not need to get teachers from India to train Nigerian students, stating that the country had many people who were experts, brilliant and competent to train Nigerian students. He added that the government only needed to put its house in order.

  Olawale added that the world in which we were, it was the private sector that drove the economy, therefore charging the people in the private sectors of the two countries to wake up to the task.

 On his own part, Chairman, Zinox Technologies Limited, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, expressed displeasure at the attitudes of some highly placed Nigerians who always look for opportunities to criticise Nigerian products, thus giving undue advantage to  foreign brands.

  Leo said that the difference between Nigeria and India was consumption, noting that Nigerians prefer Indian product to their own.

  Others panelists included Dr. Harbhajan Singh Bath, Group Chief Information Officer, Chellarams Plc, Mr. Subhomoy Bhattaacarjee, executive editor, Financial Express, India.

Traders protest ‘secret’ ban on rice importation through border

By Bankole Orimisan

The Trans Border Traders Association of Nigeria (TBTAN) based in Lagos has concluded plans to seek the help of the Senate and House of Representatives over a ban on the importation of rice into the country through the land borders since when Mr. Olusegun Aganga became Minister of Finance.

   According to TBTAN, “before the ban, a group had made several overtures to government against those of us engaged in the business of rice importation on smaller scale through the borders. Our investigations revealed that all the allegations against our involvement in the business was to create a monopoly for the group and cause Nigerians to pay more for the commodity that is always in demand by a large number of people.

   “This group, with no known address and identifiable leadership, has demonstrated an intent to shut smaller importers out of the rice business with the objectives of increasing prices at will, determining the quantity in the market to create scarcity and cause Nigerians to have little or no choice than to bow to their cartel pricing mechanism.”

   TBTAN, in a statement by its National Coordinator Mr. Mikky Okunola, noted that when its members “were involved in the importation (also paying appropriate duties to government through the Nigeria Customs Service) rice was sold between N6300 and N6700 per 50kg bag, today with the group’s monopoly, the product is priced above N7000 and will be more expensive as various festivities approach.

   “We are aware that the House of Representatives is looking into a Customs contract allegedly awarded to a firm under the former finance minister and we pray that the Senate and the House which we view as our true representatives will intervene to stop this tide of monopoly aimed at enriching a very few persons at the expense of the vast majority of Nigerians”.

   TBTAN said its members “were compelled to call for legislative attention and redress as all our correspondences to get clarification on the ban of rice through the borders were not responded to. As things stand, all we hear is that there is an order from above stopping the importation of rice through the land borders, no written circular to that effect or an amendment to government fiscal policy or import prohibition list containing the change in government policy.”

   The group urged the National Assembly to cause the Ministry of Finance to officially communicate Nigerian business community at the borders and the Customs Service on the status of rice importation (since everything about the ban is in the secret except its enforcement against small non influential business men).”

  

Sunnet Systems, Datacoms Services introduce cloud service in Nigeria

By Bankole Orimisan

FOR commercial businesses to demystify ways and pattern in which they operating businesses in the country, Sunnet Systems and Datacoms Services Limited in partnership with IBM has initiated cloud infrastructure to enterprises in Nigeria.

    Speaking shortly after a lecture tagged: “Dynamic Infrastructure and Cloud Computing” in Lagos recently, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sunnet, Mr. Paul Olagunjoye said that Nigeria cannot pretend to be an ostrich that buries its head in the sand thinking that no one else is seeing the other parts of its body.

      According to him, “technology today is converging and Nigeria must take advantage of existing technology to improve the way we live our life and the way we do our business.

    “Dynamic infrastructure is one of those technologies that will help organisation to effectively manage their infrastructure and deliver values to their customers. What we are saying is, what happen for instance, if your network is down and you are mobile operator that means people cannot make call to your network and the more the number of people, who cannot make call the more the revenue you are losing on a daily basis,” he said.

     He said his firm determined to help enterprises to be able to respond promptly to customers’ demands. “So,  we want to help organisation to be able to respond positively and very quickly to their customer requirements whether you are a bank, a telecom operator or a government institution, you need a dynamic infrastructure that  allows your applications to run decently, effectively at a very reduce cost.” That is the whole concept of dynamic infrastructure.

   The cloud-based technology, like the name implies, all of us, one way on the other, make of use of the Internet for one reason or the other. Cloud computing concept implies that you put your infrastructure, your application in the cloud and they can be accessed via the web through the Internet wherever they are and whenever you need it and that means that you can be in the middle of the night you remember you need to pay for your supplier, you don’t have to until 10 am when the office or the bank open before you begin to pay and you can start to pay them, if you wake up in the middle of the night, you can issue instruction to them immediately and your supplier can get paid,” he explained, adding that it then showed that one can be more effective, efficient and  can be able to get good service as at when due.

Govt steps up energy reform, bulk electricity trading takes off • President urged to okay N400b bailout for NITEL-Mtel • DPP chief, group task Jonathan on firms’ sale

By Obiora Aduba and Bankole Orimisan

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan shored up reforms in the nation’s electricity sector yesterday as he approved a pioneer board as well as the appointment of a manager for the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NEBT) Plc.

  The Minister of Finance is chairman of the Board of the NEBT while a echnocrat, Rumundaka Wonodi, will serve as its pioneer Chief Executive Officer.

  The NEBT, also known as the bulk trader, was created by the National Electricity Sector Reforms Act of 2005 to fight the single biggest risk in the growth of the power sector – the issue of distribution companies which buy power from independent power generating companies, but are unable to collect enough revenue from consumers to pay for what they bought.

  The Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which hitherto managed the process owes huge debts from previous power purchase agreements  (PPAs) it signed with independent producers such as Agip (N60 billion), Shell and Ibom Power.

  The Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, said yesterday that NEBT would honour existing PPAs signed by the PHCN and take over the negotiation and signing of future power purchase contracts for distribution companies but it would not assume PHCN’s previous contract liabilities.

  This is possible, according to him, because the bulk trader is backed  by a government guarantee, which enables it promptly to  settle obligations of any distribution company that defaults in payments for power purchased from independent producers.

  Nnaji said   that the NBET would however not become a government monopoly.

 “Distribution companies which ca, are free to sign direct PPAs with independent generation companies,” he said, and further explained that the “NBET shall exist only as long as it takes the distribution companies to become creditworthy and be able to directly negotiate their own power purchase agreements.”

  In addition to the Finance Minister and Wonodi other members of the Board of NEBT include Saka Isau (SAN) as vice chairman the Minister of Power; Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) and the CEO of Abuja Distribution Company (who will represent the 11 distribution companies’ CEOs).

  Also approved by the President as members of the board are Mohammed Umara Kumalia, Haruna Sambo and Paul Usoro (SAN).

  Prior to his appointment as CEO of NEBT, Wonodi led the Regulatory and Transactions Monitoring team at the Presidential Task Force on Power, which was charged with driving and monitoring the reform of the power sector.

  Before returning to the power sector in Nigeria, he was Director, Wholesale Power Origination, with North America’s largest wholesale power supplier, Constellation Energy Group based in Maryland, United States of America (US).

   Wonodi holds a bachelors degree in engineering from the University of Benin, Nigeria, and a master’s degree in business administration (majoring in finance and strategy) from Yale University.

  Also, as the move to privatise the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunications (MTEL) advances, subscribers under the aegis of the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) have called on the Federal Government to halt the process and rather  provide  a N400 billion bailout scheme to save the telecoms firm.

  The National President of NATCOMS, Deolu Ogunbanjo, said in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday that the bailout was necessary to rescue NITEL from alleged shady deals that might arise from the privatisation. He said out of the N400 billion, N300 billion could be set aside to settle its current liabilities, while the remaining N100 billion would be used as operating expenses (OPEX).

   Ogunbanjo called on President Jonathan and other personalities in charge of the privatisation process to critically consider this option, or rather ensure a transparent and competitive bidding.

  He warned that government and the BPE should be wary of unnecessary influence of some existing operators in the system.

  His words: “We are appealing to all communications-friendly players and stakeholders not to allow this willing-buyer, willing-seller sale of Nigeria’s first national carrier – NITEL-MTEL … as it will mean too many favours to the detriment of other operators. It will create a monopoly and total possession and control by his person and organisation as well as not creating a level-playing field for other network operators and not being competition-friendly. All network players and operators must enjoy healthy and enabling competition-friendly telecommunications policies, administration and regulation to the overall benefit of Nigerians in general and Nigerian subscribers in particular.”

   It has been reported in a national daily (not The Guardian) that a telecoms operator was making a move through a letter to the presidency to acquire NITEL through an initial offer of $450 million (about N67.6 billion). According to the report, he allegedly said that he intended to buy NITEL-MTel through a special purpose vehicle claiming that it would run distinctly from his company.

  Ogunbanjo said this did not go down well with the stakeholders, as this would amount to monopolizing Nigeria’s carrier status, noting , “the Nigerian subscribers and the telecommunications industry will cherish a competition-friendly telecommunications spectrum given to all industry players and operators and not the concentration of spectrum to favour an operator in the name of SPV’s and willing-buyer willing-seller.”

   Besides, Alhaji Mohammed Danazumi, the National Secretary of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), yesterday called on the Federal Government to review the Privatisation Act and its implementation.

  Danazumi gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

   The Federal Government enacted the Privatisation Act in 1999, which created the National Council on Privatisation with the mandate to commercialise some government corporations.

  Danazumi said the implementation of the privatisation policy had rather compounded poverty in the country and stressed the need to implement the policy with a human face.

  Meanwhile, a non-governmental organisation, Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), yesterday called for a thorough investigation of all the people named in the ongoing probe of the BPE.

  Speaking with NAN in Lagos, Mr. Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP Executive Director, described as shocking, revelations before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Privatisation probing BPE activities from 1999 to date.

  He said: ``A lot of names have been mentioned regarding a series of improprieties that took place in the sale of the companies.

  “Our position is that whoever was mentioned should be investigated so that Nigerians will know what really transpired in the privatisation process. Those responsible for these corrupt practices should be brought to justice.”

Oracle renews commitment to hardware business in Middle East, African markets

By Bankole Orimisan

THE Director Middle East and Africa Hardware Presales of oracle Corporation, Bernard Tischendorf, has disregarded gossips that Oracle was no longer interested in hardware business.

  Tischendorf, who visited Nigeria recently, said in Lagos that the company was still interested in hardware and that was shown full proof ‘in our research and development (R&D), which covers our hardware line of business.’

  According to him, Oracle was investing ‘so much in R&D in all its three lines of our business, which include software applications, technology and hardware.’ He said that the invested year we invested over $4 billion in R&D alone and hope to increase the amount in subsequent years.

  He stressed that as much as the company was paying attention to R&D, “we are also looking at customers demand and customers always come out with products and services that will meet and surpass their demand.”

  Tischendorf noted that his visit to Nigeria was to carry out crusade of hardware business to attend Oracle seminar which “we are organising for our customers”.

  He said that the reason for the seminar was to see and discuss what they had in their portfolio, right from hardware, server, storage, and then their new version2 product, to tell, “Nigerians that we are still very much interested in hardware and that we have the best solutions out there and that we have a strong and efficient team in the country to deliver all of these.

Oracle is committed and customer-focus and we have come to prove that in Nigeria.”

  He stated that the company was also looking at Virtual Desktop, which saves the customer from rolling out too many PCs, but to rollout various operating systems.

  According to him, for the Oracle hardware market they still ran a separate line of business hardware. “We have three lines of businesses. “We have hardware, technology, which has to do with database and then software applications. What this means is that we can run other databases on Oracle hardware and we can run any one of our software applications on any other hardware other than Oracle. This gives customers the flexibility to do business.

  “What we are saying is that we can give the customer everything from Oracle perspective, right from software applications to hardware. If customers take our three lines of services and apply them, they will get better customer experience. Oracle-to-Oracle makes better sense, because it works much easier.  Customers have the choice to combine all the three lines of business offerings or choose to use one or two only. But should customers take all three lines of our business, such customer is sure of high speed, manageability, flexibility among others.”

  Outsourcing, Tischendorf, noted that it made good business sense, but Oracle was not into outsourcing.  

  According to him at Oracle, the bottom line was to satisfy customers in areas of their needs and challenges, and that was exactly what the company did in their research and development.

  “We have several solutions to boost customer experience and for us to consider outsourcing, we will first look at those that handle outsourcing business. Although Oracle does not involve itself in the business of outsourcing, but we believe strongly in it that it works for those who engage in outsourcing. If you look at small and medium size enterprise market (SMEs), people do outsourcing because it enables them to focus on their core business” he stressed,  

  He noted that there was nothing more challenging in the Nigerian market than other African markets. “We have almost the same experience in other African countries, from the user perspective. In a nutshell, business in Nigeria is pretty okay.”

  On their the strategies in Nigeria market, the Oracle director explained that the company had a strategy that would position it to have local representation in Nigeria in order to have wider coverage. “Right now we have up to 16 hardware personnel on ground in Nigeria and that is an improvement from what we used to have.

  “We need them to talk to customers and have one on one contact with them. We want to have contacts with those we are dealing with in the market.”

 

 

Govt urged to set N400 billion bail-out scheme to save NITEL-Mtel …subscribers allege plot to monopolise telecoms sector

By Bankole Orimisan

As the move to privatize the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunications (MTEL) advances, the subscribers under the aegis of National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) have called on the Federal Government to halt the process and rather set a N400 billion bail-out scheme to save the telecoms firm.

   The National President of NATCOMS, Deolu Ogunbanjo said in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday that the bail-out is necessary to rescue NITEL from alleged shady deal that might arise from the privatization process. He said out of the N400 billion, a sum of N300 billion could be earmarked to settle its current liabilities, while the remaining N100 billion would be used a operating expenses (OPEX).

   Ogunbanjo however called on President Goodluck Jonathan and other personalities in charge of the privatization process to critically consider this option, or rather ensure a transparent and competitive bidding.

  He warned that government and the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) should be wary of unnecessary influences of some existing operators in the system, pointing out that the Chairman of Globacom Limited, Mike Adenuga was already making moves to secure the firm through favouritism.

  His words: “We are appealing to all Communications-Friendly Players and Stakeholders not to allow this willing buyer-willing seller sale of Nigeria’s 1^st National Carrier – NITEL-MTEL to go to Globacom’s Dr. Mike Adenuga as it will mean too many favours to the detriment of other operators. It will create a monopoly and total possession and control by his person and organization as well as not creating a level-playing field for other network operators and not being competition-friendly. All network players and operators must enjoy a healthy and an enabling competition-friendly telecommunications policies, administration and regulation to the overall benefit of Nigerians in general and Nigerian subscribers in particular,”

   It had been reported in a national daily (not the Guardian) that Adenuga was making move through a letter to the presidency to acquire NITEL through an initial offer of $450million (about N67.6 billion). According to the report, he allegedly said Globacom intends to buy NITEL-Mtel through a Special Purpose Vehicle, claiming that it will run distinctly from Globacom.

  Ogunbanjo said this does not go down well with the stakeholders, as this will amount to monopolizing Nigeria’s carrier status, noting that “the Nigerian subscribers and the telecommunications industry will cherish a competition-friendly Telecommunications Spectrum given to all industry players and operators and not the concentration of spectrum to favour an operator in the name of SPV’s and willing buyer-willing seller.”

  He stressed: “Dr. Mike Adenuga of Globacom Limited should not be given exclusive possession and license to become National Carrier 1 and National Carrier 2, thereby dictating and monopolizing Nigeria’s national carrier status.

  “Currently, Globacom is the 2^nd National Carrier and the second largest telecommunications network operator in Nigeria. Early in the last decade, the two operators – MTN and ECONET (now AIRTEL) got their Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) licenses to operate the 900 and 1,800 MGZ spectrum for $285 Million (Two Hundred and Eighty Five Million US Dollars) each while Globacom was favoured with buying the GSM license with the 2^nd National Carrier Status for $200 million (Two Hundred Million US Dollars), i. e. 900 and 1,800 MGZ Spectrum plus 2^nd National Carrier Status.

   “In the meantime, it has been alleged that Dr. Mike Adenuga, the Executive Chairman of Globacom Limited is lobbying the Presidency to buy NITEL-MTEL, the 1^st National Carrier for  $450 million (Four Hundred and Fifty Million US Dollars) thereby becoming the National Carrier 1 and National Carrier 2, a monopoly Nigerian Subscribers and the entire Telecommunications Industry cannot afford.” He stated.

        

Seeking fresh vista for satellite, fibre communications for economic growth’

Last week witnessed two major events in the communications sector of Nigeria. First, was the Broadband summit in Lagos, while the second was the stakeholders’ conference on the proposed NigComSat-1R launch in Abuja. The two events pointed towards same direction – exploring communications technology for economic development. BANKOLE ORIMISAN chronicle the event.

THE communications sector is undergoing significant changes, with the emergence of a number of platforms available to provide a different range of services. Some of these platforms are complementary, others are competitive, or can provide a valid substitute for some of the services provided, thanks to fibre and VSAT expansion in the country.

  To telecoms analysts, it is expected that significant investment would take place, both in VSAT services and fibre deployment across the country that will foster closer relationship between users of telecommunication service and operators. This, according to them would have important benefits in increasing speeds and allowing for the development and transmission of new services.

  Specifically, at the Broadband Investment Summit organised by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in Lagos, stakeholders, who gathered at the summit, submitted that the two new submarine fibre cables in the country, Main One and Glo 1, have the potential of unlocking a digital economy where all and sundry would enjoy broadband access.

  According to them, broadband will enable entire new industries while unlocking vast new possibilities for existing ones in the country.

  Besides, in Abuja, at the NigComSat -1R conference, it was also noted that, though the submarines are in the country, with huge capacities, the role of satellite transmissions couldn’t be over-emphasised. 

  This was adduced to by the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Okon Ewa, while giving the opening address in Abuja, when he pointed out that Nigeria alone spends over N67 billion yearly to import bandwidth from Europe and America to facilitate Internet access, telephony and broadcasting in the country.

  The minister opined that, with the launch of Nigerian owned communication satellites, the revenue made from Nigeria on bandwidth by other countries would be retained in Nigeria and used for the country’s development.

  But in the lead paper, presented at the Broadband summit, Chairman, MainOne Cable Company, Mr. Fola Adeola said investment growth in the country would itself rely on investments in pervasive deployment of ICT infrastructure, particularly those that support the mass distribution of innovative broadband services critical to improved efficiency and overall productivity in both public and private enterprises. 

  Adeola said it was no longer news that, just as “electricity a century ago, broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life. It is enabling entire new industries and unlocking vast new possibilities for existing ones. It is changing how we educate children, deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government, and access, organise and disseminate knowledge.” 

  He noted that the existing investment profiles in the industry have shown that efficient management will guarantee return on investment, so much as the tremendous increase in Nigerian mobile phone subscribers (90 million according to NCC) has equally demonstrated for all, how the right policies and the right partnerships between the public and private sector can result in exponential growth, job creation and contribution to GDP. “This can happen with broadband as well”, he added.

  The MainOne Cable chairman, who pointed out that, there is keen global interest to invest in Nigeria given the size of the market and growth potential, however said investors will remain wary until they see political certainty, which hopefully, should improve, following the performance and outcome of the last election. 

  Adeola advised that government must take a critical lead in establishing an appropriate broadband policy that will lead to a favorable operating environment for investors, and encourage service uptake to drive further investments in this direction.

  According to him, going by forecast that wireless broadband services alone can directly contribute additional N190 billion to the GDP by 2015, which will represent 1.22 per cent increase and 1.7 per cent growth in non-oil sector, with indirect contribution as much as N410 billion during the same time, we can only imagine the enormous impact of full proliferation of these services on the Nigerian economy. 

  But to ATCON President, Titi Omo-Ettu, while delivering the keynote address in Lagos, over 70 per cent of the challenges facing telecoms operators in the country today could be attributed to unreliable power supply. He noted that power problem had been responsible for high cost of running businesses, which also pushed 65 indigenous ICT companies out of business.

  Omo-Ettu said, “When we weighed the problems which confront our industry as a component of the Nigerian economy, all the issues of low technical skills, poor access to financing, barrier to investment, and all of that, all constitute 30 per cent. It is in finding solution to this 30 per cent that we are gathered to brainstorm and chart a path.

  “The over 70 per cent, that which is constituted by a poor access to reliable public electricity that refuses to go away can only be left for government to work at sorting out.”

  He explained that getting the current government policies targeted at boosting power generation was critical to attaining broadband access for economic deployment.

  Corroborating the relevance of satellite communications in Nigeria, despite the investment of N336 billion on submarine cables in the country by private operators, the Chief Operating Officer, Phase 3 Telecom, Mr. Sola Teniola said 51.1 per cent of Internet connection in the country is still done via VSAT.

  Speaking also at the Lagos forum, Teniola, who described Nigeria as an un-served country in terms of broadband Internet access said, “It is estimated that 51.1 per cent of Internet users are connected by VSAT; 24 per cent by broadband wireless; 3.4 per cent DSL; 9.3 per cent via dial-up; 8.7 per cent by cable/satellite; and the remainder by WiFi and leased lines. Currently, VSAT remains the predominant form of broadband access.”

   He pointed out that, contrary to the belief that the advent of submarine fibre cables would disrupt the VSAT business, the dearth of last mile fibre networks with which, to transfer available broadband capacity to the end-users had ensured that majority of users still depend on VSAT for Internet connection.

  Former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, at the NigComSat forum said from observations, Nigerian companies are paying relatively high bandwidth charges for satellite links to enable long distance transmission.

   Ndukwe, who was keynote speaker at the event, said the high charges have continued to prevail in spite of the fact that Nigerian businesses represent over 60 per cent of the African business portfolio.

   He said broadband growth supports countries’ GDP, stressing that satellite communications, if adequately managed for broad bandwidth, could bring about stable economic growth.

   He said: “Many countries with high broadband penetration now got there by encouraging and providing incentives for widespread broadband deployments.”

   Ndukwe implored the stakeholders to ensure the formulation of the broadband policy for the country to meet up with the global standards and maintain its position on the global ICT league.

   In his presentation, “Do we really need Communications Satellite (CS)”, the President of the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Dr. Jimson Olufuye stressed that the country still requires satellite for optimum transmission. He stressed that the issue was beyond just having a CS, adding that what we use it to do matters a great deal and how we sustain it and keep it working for the duration of its life cycle should be the point of emphasis.

  According to him, while there is great enthusiasm for our new functional CS, the challenge of appropriate use for business continuity is critical. “Therefore, plans should be commenced as soon as possible for Nigcomsat-2.”

  Besides, the Managing Director of Gilat Satellite Networks…………. noted that, a national communications infrastructure can benefit from the synergistic effect of multiple technologies.

   According to him, satellite evolution to Ka-band can create new opportunity for economical solution for consumers e-learning, e-health, oil and gas, VoIP, IPTV and disaster management.

  But to Dr. Chris Uwaje, President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), software remains a driving force for satellite communications.

  Uwaje noted that there are many possible thrusts of a national economic development policy, which according to him, the core critical requirements include and depend heavily on the ability to create and deploy World-class Intelligent Software Systems.

  The ISPON president said that these range from modernising information systems in existing industries and government agencies to creating new export industries, including, perhaps, a software export industry.

  The Chief Executive Officer, NigComSat Limited, Dr. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, said the government had given the outfit the mandate to launch back-up satellites to prevent any unforeseen situation in the future.

  He said besides the $450 million spent yearly on bandwidth, Nigeria expends over $100 million on other satellite services such as distribution and maintenance.