Creative industry takes center stage at 17th NES

By Bankole Orimisan

Director General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., has announced the addition of a creative industry forum to the agenda for the 17^th Nigerian Economic Summit beginning on November 10 at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja.

   Disclosing this yesterday in Lagos, Nweke said the novel addition was another effort by the NESG to put issues affecting the development of the creative industry in Nigeria at the front burner of national discourse and accelerate growth in the sector.

    The Creative Industry Forum, which will take centerstage on November 12, at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton, will feature panel discussion and interactive session between investors, global chief executives, industry professionals and government policy formulators.

    Already, the director General of Nigerian Copyright Commission, Afam Ezekude, former legal director of music publishing company Warner Chappell and major record company BMG UK Ms, Oyin Onile-ere; famed television and film producer Amaka Igwe; UK-based mobile media consultant Matt Dawes; English Premier League licenced agent and Media Entrepreneur Ayo Alli and Country Manager, Nigeria for Google Juliet Ehimuan, have confirmed participation at the forum.

     Nweke, said that Chief Executive Officer of Spinlet, a digital content company and founder Verod Capital, Eric Idiahi, will deliver a background presentation at the forum.

    According to Nweke, focus of the Creative Industries Forum which is “Optimizing Economic Opportunities in the Creative Industries through Global Partnership” is in keeping with the Summit theme on attracting foreign direct investment.

     The novel addition to the Summit programme demonstrates Nweke’s abiding interest in the evolution and development of Nigeria’s creative sector as was apparently demonstrated during in his tenure as Minister of Information.

    “It is clear that our content is world class and travels well, what is not so clear is how best we can create the enabling environment to accelerate the growth of our creative industries,” Nweke said, adding that “it was for this reason that we engaged Amaka Igwe and Obi Asika, CEO Storm 360 and several other bright minds in this field, to put together a strong team of creative industry practitioners, regulators, and entrepreneurs to drive this conversation and to begin the NESG's engagement with the creative industries.”

     Nweke, explained that the “Forum will mark the beginning of formal engagement of the creative industries on the part of the NESG and we look forward to being part of the success story of this sector.”

    He, noted that learning from and partnering with organizations around the world will be an important factor in the ability of the Nigerian creative industries to realize their full potential for growth, job creation and self-employment.

   Commenting, CEO of Storm 360, Asika lauded the NESG boss saying "I would like to thank Mr. Nweke for recognizing the enormous potential of the creative industries. With this new engagement, the NESG promises to push our collective agenda and I am urging all leaders and players in the creative industries to participate in this important event.”

Mobile “key enabler” for broadband growth, says ITU chief:

By Bankole Orimisan

The Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union, Hamadoun Toure , has said that mobile communications will be the “key enabler” in meeting targets for increased broadband penetration, stating that “everyone is talking about how do we bring the mobile miracle, and turn it into the broadband miracle.”

   Speaking to the Guardian yesterday, on the internet conversation, Toure, said: “we are really proud that today the world has over 5.6 billion users of mobile communications, and we hope that those mobile devices will become broadband devices.”

   Noting the strong growth in mobile penetration since its introduction, compared with the take-up of fixed line services, Toure, said that the industry “has done their part” in driving growth. In order to ensure that this continues, governments have a key role to play in enabling continued expansion.

    “We want to see governments using their position to put a broadband vision in place, putting the right legal and regulatory framework in place, to back that up, so the private sector comes in and plays its rightful role in competing, investing, creating jobs, giving new services and applications,” he said.

    With mobile and broadband penetration already at high levels in developed markets, countries on the other side of the “digital divide” may seem less appealing candidates for investments, due to dispersed populations, low ARPU potential – or both. With this in mind, finding appropriate economic models is crucial.

   He said: “We have seen different case studies, of different scenarios in different countries. We talked about here the Australian model, where the government has invested in the basic infrastructure and is selling it back to the operators, and giving them a price cap countrywide. That is a very good model that is working in Australia,”.

   According to him: “We have some models where they have as a condition of the license that operators move into rural areas, with penalties if they do not meet those goals. We have some other scenarios where countries collect universal service funds, and reuse these to give to operators or by launching tenders,” he continued.

   “There is no universal solution, there is no universal model. We are just ensuring that there are some universal principles of transparency, of reaching out to operators, of informing about the rules of law, and that you don’t change the rules and laws during the game,” he said.

    Echoing earlier comments from Wang Jianzhou, chairman of China Mobile, Toure noted that taxation is also an important issue to drive growth.

“We are asking governments, in my role as the Secretary General of the ITU, to ensure they take the necessary actions to reduce taxes, if not eliminate them. To eliminate taxes not only on services, but on infrastructure. Because that way, you do not penalize the tool that is helping other sectors develop,” Toure said.

  “I guarantee any minister of finance that I meet, that they will meet their revenue targets while doing so. Because usage will double, the number of customers will double, and the opportunities for other sectors will also double. We have seen that wherever we have made that bet, we have won, and that is very important for us,” he argues.

  The issue of spectrum allocation was also discussed, especially with regard to the allocation of the “digital dividend” frequencies, with Toure asserting that “this is an issue that will continue to be debated, but we are very comfortable in ensuring that the operators will have the right capacity and the right spectrum that they need for growth.”

  “The challenge is how we reallocate this spectrum. How do we make sure that this is reallocated without excessive costs to operators? That is important, because when we debated that here this week at ITU Telecom World, we tried to explain to governments that ultimately it is the consumer who will pay for this,” he said.

Benin Varsity, Phase3 Telecom partner on Google Applications Scheme

By Bankole Orimisan

THE University of Benin has started the Google on Applications Support programme, a special scheme designed to catalyse Internet usage in universities through the provision of affordable laptops, wireless access and bandwidth.

  In a formal ceremony held recently at the main auditorium of the institution, the Director of Information and Communications Technology, University of Benin, Prof. Mrs. Stella. Chiemeke, said the institution was pleased to be among initial beneficiaries in the scheme, noting that it will help improve the learning process on campus.

   Under the scheme, Phase3 Telecom, Nigeria’s only aerial optic fibre provider, designed a special last mile connection that spans the entire university campus and connects the institution to the Lagos Internet exchange point (IXP).

  Chiemeke said the decision to build an optic fibre-based local loop was a mandatory pre-requisite in order to benefit from the Google programme. 

  According to her, this made the university to seek for a highly trusted and reliable vendor and expressed joy at the work done by Phase3 Telecom.

  The Vice-Chancellor of University of Benin, Prof. .O.G. Oshodin, in his key role address,  thanked Google for the gesture of bringing the scheme to the institution, adding that Uniben is now rich in bandwidth for communication.

  “We want to thank Google Africa for the opportunity given to our university to participate and benefit from her university assistance programme, the deployment of 25mbps full duplex free bandwidth and Phase3 Telecom Limited Abuja for partnering on last mile connection at a subsidized rate and other supports from the company. We sincerely hope that this is the beginning of a good relationship between both companies and our university”.

   He also pleaded with the providers, Google Africa and Phase3 Telecom to continuously put wonderful smiles on their faces anytime, as they connect to the global village by making sure that they experience no disruption or denials of service at any time throughout the lifespan of this relationship.

   Project Engineer, Phase3 Telecom, Mr. Franklyn Nsukwa, while addressing a cross-section of Google representative team and Uniben ICT staff, thanked them for  choosing the company to provide the last mile service. He assured them that it is a decision they will not live to regret, saying that Phase3 Telecom will continue to provide reliable transmission services based on its aerial optic fibre technology.

  According to him, Phase3 Telecom is a company with an excellent and stable network.  He further assured them that Phase3 Telecom has secured their link via its fibre on PHCN high voltage power line and there is no need for fear of fibre cut or vandalism.

At Google’s fair, govt pledges IT support for SMEs

By Marcel Mbamalu and Bankole Orimisan

THE Federal Government has said it would deliver on its promise of encouraging the development of a robust Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, to bolster interpreneurship in the country.

  Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who re-echoed this pledge in Lagos on Monday, at the opening session of the ongoing five-day Google small business web fair, said Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) need the Internet to increase profitability and add to economic growth.

  The web fair, a programme within the Google’s Get Nigerian Businesses Online (GNBO) initiative, seeks to help, at least, 5,000 SMEs register online.

  Stakeholders at the fair variously reasoned that there is also increasing empirical evidence that suggests that simply putting a website on the Internet “increases the revenue and productivity of SMEs many fold with commensurate contributions to job and wealth creation and of course contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

  “This is why the Google Getting Nigeria Businesses Online initiative is so important and why the Ministry of Communication Technology is supporting this initiative,” the Minister said.

  Google Nigeria Country Manager, Juliet Ehimuan, explained the small business web fair “is an opportunity for thousands of small businesses to create a free website and learn the basics of building an online business.

  “We have seen that going online can have a tremendously positive impact on the growth and profitability of small businesses in Nigeria,” she observed.

  Ehimuan explained that the GNBO, which was launched in September, aims at helping to build the online ecosystem and to grow the economy. This, she said, is facilitated through the provision of free business website backed with a host of free training.  Already, more than 4000 businesses have gotten online through the project. “We are putting a lot of investment in this”, she said.

  According to Ehimuan, Google has a strong partnership structure with MTN, Ecobank, Ministry of Communication Technology and Lagos State and other vendors that is very representative of the ecosystem.

  Johnson however, noted that SMEs, in developing countries, have been very slow in adopting ICT, a situation she described as unfortunate given their potential role as development agents.

  SME’s, the Minister said, have been widely acknowledged as being the most viable vehicle for sustaining industrial development because they possess the capacity to promote an indigenous enterprise culture. 

  According to her, in most developing economies, SMEs are being used as a strategy for employment generation, food security, poverty alleviation, rapid industrialisation and reversing rural urban migration as well as a tool for economic restructuring for development and growth.

  Reeling out statistics, the Minister said SMEs provide 50 per cent of global employment and that 90 per cent of registered businesses are SMEs. “In Malaysia, in 2006, SMEs, which were 99.2 per cent of all businesses, contributed 47.3 per cent of GDP and 65.3 per cent of employment.”

  She said, in Nigeria, the statistics are similar but with some important differences. 70 per cent of our employment is provided by SMEs but SMEs deliver only 10 per cent of economic value added (a proxy for GDP contribution), compared to an average of 55 per cent and 25 per cent in other developing economies and 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively in developed economies. These statistics show that Nigerian SMEs are not as productive as they can, should or need to be.”  She attributed poor performance of small businesses to poor infrastructure, poor skill base, as well as low rate of adoption of ICT and the resultant lack of access to wider market.

  Johnson explained that access to the Internet would let “those who don’t naturally see your business see it online,” even as she stressed that the role of the Ministry is to facilitate access to the Internet.

  “A website on the Internet increases the chances of creating more revenue, which, in turn, increases the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” she explained, assuring of the Ministry’s readiness to go all the way with Google in its GNBO initiative, in line with the Ministry’s focus of getting businesses online.

  She said the ICT has been globally credited with “changing the course of history and adding value to human lives” in many ways.

  “In practically every sphere of life today, ICT is redefining how people live, how they work and how the go about the ways of life,” she noted.

  The minister said, that the GNBO initiative, through the Internet, would enable local companies select and partner with companies in the international business community, going beyond the borders of their natural territories to interact, collaborate and do business with their counterparts across the globe. 

  Johnson said e-commerce, which is, in itself, enabled by ICT and the Internet, has enabled the provision of high value-added services at relatively low cost.

  “The list of the transforming effect of ICT and the Internet in business is seemingly endless. Unfortunately, all over the developing world, SMEs have been slower to adopt ICT and embrace the advantages that ICT offers than large corporations.  I say unfortunate because of the role that SMEs play in the economic and social development of a nation.”

  “The Ministry is extremely pleased to note that the Nigeria Internet Registration Association NIRA is promoting a Switch to .nag campaign, ensuring that Nigerian businesses are hosted on local infrastructure with adequate security and support.  Google has already registered its presence on the .ng domain name and is by this initiative populating the .ng domain for the benefit of Nigeria. 

  “Given the statistics that I have mentioned above and Google’s offer to get more Nigerian businesses online, I would strongly encourage SMEs to wholeheartedly embrace the internet and take that small first step of having a website on the .ng domain.  Today Nigeria has an estimated 33 million Internet users and we have targets to double this number in the next three to four years. Getting your business online immediately gives you access to this market, not to talk of the hundreds of millions of other Internet users out there – a very strong value proposition in our opinion.”

SIM registration: Operators develop strategies to deepen exercise

The low response by subscribers towards the on-going Subscribers Identification Modules (SIM) registration exercise seems to have prompted some operators to come up with incentives to ginger subscribers to register their SIMs. BANKOLE ORIMISAN write on this new initiative.

WITH approximately two months left to complete the SIM registration exercise across the six geo-political zones of the country, the turnout so far appears not to be very encouraging and this has prompted service providers to come up with new strategy to woo subscribers.

     The Nigerian Communications  (NCC) had given September 28 deadline for all subscribers in the country to get their SIMs registered to avoid being blocked from the mobile networks.

     To this end, the commission had embarked on several enlightenment campaigns, including radio jingles, television, billboards and newspaper adverts.     

     Few months back, it published all the registration centres in the country in a number of national newspapers to ensure subscribers know where to go.

     According to the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, while addressing journalists in Abuja early last month stressed that subscribers must avoid a situation whereby their SIM cards would be blocked after the September 28 deadline.

     Juwah said, it was expedient for all subscribers to register their SIMs because it was symbolic, as it will give the country an enhanced database and boost security measures being canvassed by the Federal Government.

     The EVC stressed that the exercise is targeted at the over 70 million unregistered SIM cards in the country, which came on the heels of a similar exercise carried out by GSM operators in Nigeria.

     Besides, Juwah in February, had disclosed that the exercise, which the operators, including MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat had done, registered only 11 million cards out of the existing over 90 million active SIMs in the country within the eight months period of July 2010 to February 2011.

     This, according to him was abysmally low, compared to the expectations, and subsequently prompted the regulator to initiate another process of the exercise. 

     With the approval of the N6.1 billion budgets by the National Assembly, the NCC had on March 28, 2011, commenced the six-month nationwide registration exercise.

     The commission equally contracted seven service providers to implement the registration exercise across the country’s six geo-political zones.

   While Chams was contracted to register subscribers in Lagos, other six companies approved by the Commission are SW Global for South-East, PNN for North Central, JKK for South West, DataGroupIT for North East, Eagle/CBC for North West and E-Kenneth/ SageMetrics for the South-South.

     For maximum coverage and supervision, the commission appointed KPMG, a leading consulting firm, to coordinate the exercise of the seven contractors. The NCC registration had engaged a total of 1,750 agents at 250 each for the nationwide exercise, with a promise to increase the number to about 4000, should the need arises.

     According to the Head, Media and Public Relations, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, the registration centres would continue to grow across the country and that, some of the registration agents would move around with mobile units to cover areas that might not have fixed registration centres such as markets and other similar locations.

      However, despite all these efforts, there seems to be a sort of subscribers’ apathy, as most registration centres visited in Lagos and other parts of the country including, Port Harcourt, Osun, Ondo, Kebbi, Kano among others are relatively empty, with some of the agents finding nobody to register.

      Besides, there are complaints by some subscribers that the registration centres are sparsely distributed, making it difficult for willingly subscribers to register.

   A subscriber, Patricia Uloma, based in Onitsha, Anambra state, complained bitterly that, registration centres of both NCC and operators are tough to locate in the area. She called for more centres in the area.

     But to Chams Plc, covering Lagos, there has been poor turnout of subscribers in the last five months.

The number of subscribers that have registered is not encouraging. We will need more advertisements and vigorous enlightenment campaigns for the success of the exercise. We have deployed many people for the exercise, but they are just doing one-to-one marketing and this is not encouraging

According to the Managing Director, Demola Aladekomo, “the number of subscribers that have registered is not encouraging. We will need more advertisement and vigorous enlightenment campaigns for the success of the exercise. We have deployed many people for the exercise, but they are just doing one-to-one marketing and this is not encouraging.”

    The NCC had also directed GSM companies to put new SIM cards on their networks on ‘receive only’ mode to ensure that subscribers register their SIM cards. It also threatened to impose a fine of N5 million on any operator that flouted the order.

     Meanwhile, as part of efforts to encourage and speed up the exercise, service providers, notably Globacom and Etisalat have put up incentives in form of promos to encourage subscribers.

      According to Globacom, the new campaign was aimed at encouraging Glo subscribers to register their old and new SIM cards before the September 28 deadline, so as not to jeopardise the rationale behind the exercise.  

     Globacom’s Group COO, Mohamed Jameel stressed that the new campaign was targeted at expediting the pace of the ongoing Glo SIM registration exercise, which the company started last year, through special incentives, which will encourage all existing and new subscribers to register their SIMs.

    He stated that those customers who complied and immediately register their SIMs would be rewarded with fantastic prizes during the three-month duration of the campaign.

   In the first instance, Jameel said all subscribers, who register their SIMs get a guaranteed 30 minutes of free airtime during the three months of the promotion. 10 minutes of free airtime is given every month for three months.

     The 30 minutes bonus airtime will be given immediately the person recharges N500 and above in each of the three months of the campaign and will be valid for seven days.

    He added that an additional N20, 000 worth of free airtime will also be given out to 300 lucky subscribers who will be picked during special draws, which are to be held monthly, 100 lucky customers will be selected monthly and rewarded.

     Jameel informed that, the highlight of the campaign is the offer of free all-expense paid pleasure trips to Manchester or Dubai for 60 lucky subscribers who register their SIMs. The winners of the free trips will be picked during special draws, which will be conducted monthly for three months.

   “The campaign will, therefore, see 10 lucky subscribers traveling to each destination each month for three months. At the end of the day, 30 Glo subscribers would have made an unforgettable trip to Manchester to watch English Premier League champions, Manchester United, play at their home turf, while another 30 would have taken a memorable trip to Dubai as a reward for simply registering their SIMs.

     In order to make the new SIM registration campaign a huge success, all Gloworlds, Glozones, Dealer outlets and Glo agents across the country have been sufficiently equipped with high-tech systems to ensure quick, efficient registration of customer SIMs.

     The whole registration process with Glo takes less than two minutes at these points. Glo Subscribers can also text “reg” to the short code “3456” in order to confirm whether their SIMs had been registered or not on the Glo network.

     To Emirate Telecommunications Corporation, also called Etisalat, subscribers, who register their SIMs in July and recharged for the next 30 days will get free credit back.

     Specifically, Etisalat said any of their subscribers who registered within the stated period would get rewarded with 30 per cent of their total recharges up to N10000 free credit to call any network. For example, customers that load N1000, gets N300 back, while those who loads N5, 000 will get N1, 500 back. 

     According to an official of the telecommunications company, who does not want his name in print, this measure was taken to encourage subscribers, both existing and new members to register their SIMs.

    On possible surge on the network, the official said, “if your fear is about network congestion, we have put up serious measures to curb that. In fact, we just invested some amount on infrastructure and network upgrade. Though, of late, the services have been bad truly, but I can tell operators are really striving to get things back to normal and one is just what I have told you about Etisalat.”  

      Also, the former Chief Executive Officer of Starcomms Plc, Maher Qubain at a news briefing recently, informed that the telecommunications provider, has engaged more hands to boost its subscribers registration, stressing that, it has become necessary to ensure that everybody on the Starcomms network are registered duly before the expiration date.      

     The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu, believes that the registration exercise is very important.

     According to him, the exercise will reveal the real number of telephone subscribers in the country.

    Asserting that current statistics of subscribers are out of proportion, Omo-Ettu added that knowing the true situation would enable the industry and the country to establish the addressable market.

Nextzon, Chams partner on new National Identity Management System Infrastructure

By Bankole Orimisan

For Nigerians to witness secured and sustainable identity management system infrastructure  in the country, Nextzon Business Service limited and Chams plc, has come together to implement a new (NIMSI) into the Nigeria environment.

    In expatiation on the significant of the identification, the Managing Director of Nextzon Business Services Limited, Macauley Atasie, said national identification number has been used by governments of many countries as a way of planning for employment, taxation, government benefits, health care and other related functions.

    Atasie, noted that initiatives will in turn enhance national security and delivery of essential public as well as private sector services.

    He added that the financial sector will also benefit as it will significantly help in fraud reduction and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes. Ultimately it will help minimize incidences of identity theft in Nigeria as the biometrics of the ten fingers of each enroller will be captured in the NIMS database.

    In his words the project is being implemented under a public-private partnership arrangement and supervised by the National Identity Management Commission and entails the enrolment of all Nigerians who are 16 years old and above.

    According to him the enrolment exercise will precede the issuance of unique National Identity Numbers and chip based identity cards.

    He pointed out that under the partnership arrangement;   Nextzon is responsible for bid assistance services to enable the consortium win the concession as well as the business modelling and process design required to set and operationalize the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) owned by the parties for this purpose.

  However, Nextzon has also incubated the SPV into an operational entity as well as help source the finance required for takeoff in collaboration with Liquid Africa, a South African based firm of financial advisors.

  “We are fully aware of the enormous financial resources required for the project against the backdrop of the 12-year concession granted to us to build, operate and transfer the front end components of the new national identity management system across states of the federation and the FCT. “We have secured take off funding and have reached advanced stages in sourcing the main funds required”, he stated.

    The Managing Director, Chams Plc, Mr. Demola Aladekomo, commended the Federal Government for embracing the project. He described it as unfortunate the absence of a robust and viable national identity management system in Nigeria after 50 years of independence.

     According to him “for a country with over 150 million people and immense resources like Nigeria, the absence of a sound, secure and sustainable identity management system which will stand the test of time is regrettable. “We are therefore committed to the creation of a world class identity management system that would lead the way in the identity management for the people of this country”.

   He said they had completed the proof of concept phase of the project, the Consortium has now commenced the first phase of roll-out covering selected states of the 6 geographical zones.  This should culminate in full roll-out sometime in July/August this year.

Propertygate to leverage on real estate development Real Estate

By Bankole Orimisan

UPBEAT about impressive real estate investment results posted in the 2010 year, management of Propertygate Development and Investment Plc has expressed desire to step up its stake in the property development and real estate advisory services market.

  Managing Director of the company, Mr. Adetokunbo Ajayi, at the company’s 2nd yearly General Meeting, stated that the company, sequel to its impressive results posted recently, would key into the need for high-class luxury apartment by certain aspects of the society.

  He added that the company’s prospect from 2011 was bright and that beyond that it expects the financial and capital markets to commence encouraging recovery, and proceed to enhanced capacities to help economic recovery, expansion and integration.

  Ajayi said: “We also expect economic growth and diversification, as key infrastructure and policy issues are tackled. The need for decent housing will continue to rise, as tempo of urbanisation increases on the heels of economic growth. Against these settings, opportunities for real estate remain particularly bright”.

  He informed shareholders that though the year 2010 showed relative improvement compared to the preceding year, it was nonetheless a tough year. “In spite of the challenges, the company remained focused and through diligence, is pleased to report a much improved performance compared to the year end 2009”.

  Assuring shareholders of the continued focus of the company in its business areas of development, investment and property advisory, he said, “we shall seek to have competitive advantage through market inspired products and services, domain expertise anchored on deep knowledge and skills, exceptional capacity aided by technology and processes, differentiation powered by brand equity, quality manpower with strong culture of performance underpinned by solid corporate values, innovation and sound management. It is our strong expectation that Propertygate will continue in its determined quest to fulfil its overall corporate aspirations.”