govtechnology

Can Nigeria meet digital TV transition 2015 deadline?

a n e M a g i n a t i o n s P u b l i c a t i o n A u g u s t / S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 2 P r i c e : N 1 0 0 0

AS GOVTS AIM TO RUN MORE AS BUSINESS,

SURPRISING NUMBER DO SO WITHOUT A CIO

P O I N T O F V I E W

That was the question a senior colleague programmes, support decisions regarding

asked when we broached the idea of government IT investments and bring IT

govTechnology magazine to him. He could professionals who are the Chief

not see it now nor envision the need for a Information Officers [CIOs] within the

magazine that would focus solely on how establishments to the fore.

government, which finds expression

through ministries, department and Not doing this, the efforts and IT

agencies (MDAs),applies information investments of government would amount

technology [IT] to enable governance, to a man who is winking in the dark at a

deliver quality services to the citizens and woman. It is an effort in futility: the woman

m a k e s w o r k i n g i n g o v e r n m e n t would not even notice the man!

establishments attractive to core IT

professionals. However, we are concerned with the

impact of government IT projects on

He cannot see it. For him, it is too lives;contributions of CIOs to ensuring

complicated. He agrees government is the government [through IT] do what it is

biggest spender in IT. However, when a meant to do: govern. We are concerned

colleague reels out the figure of what the with bringing CIOs together to share

US government spends annually on IT and information and experience through

what it would spend in the next five years, networking.

and the caliber of IT professionals within its

fold, a bulb lights up in his head. He sees We are concerned with mirroring their

the figures, not the future. He sees the activities, prodding them and assisting

records, not its local relevance. with disseminating relevant information in

season and out of season.

We see the future, the opportunities, and Read the cover story and other stories in

above all, we see the responsibility to govTechnology and send your feedback to

inform and educate the people on several the editor.

government IT initiatives, how such would Thank you.

influence the lives and future of the

present citizens and unborn generation.

With this magazine, we are shouldering

the responsibility to provide information on

the effectiveness of government IT

RAISE YOUR VOICE:

Your opinions matter to us. Send comments to the editors at

[email protected]. Publication is solely at the discretion of the editors.

govTechnology reserves the right to edit submissions for brevity and clarity.

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PUBLISHER

eMaginations Comm

EDITORIAL SUITE

Editor-in-Chief

SOLA FANAWOPO

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Managing Editors

PSALM:SON R. OLAEGBE

[email protected]

SEYI BANGUDU (Features)

[email protected]

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

TUNDE BALOGUN

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Wink in the darkWhy do you want to publish another magazine?

4

WHO IS IN CHARGE?AS GOVTS AIM TO RUN MORE AS BUSINESS, SURPRISING NUMBER DO SO WITHOUT A CIO

Technology increasingly is seen as a weapon in

government's arsenal to cut costs and increase

efficiency. As such, it might seem a matter of course

that a state government or even a local government

would have a Chief Information Officer (CIO),

someone to provide direction on technology policy

and advocate for it at cabinet or executive level. But

the reality is that many state governments don't

have a C-level (cabinet level) technology leaders.

5

Lagos

Ekiti

Osun

Ondo

Rivers

Cross River

Kwara

Ogun

Oyo

Imo

STATE

@tundefashola

@kfayemi

@raufaregbesola

@OlusegunMimiko

@ChibuikeAmaechi

@LiyelImoke

@Governor_Ahmed

@Govsia

@AAAjimobi

@OwelleRochas

TWITTER HANDLE

1701

1989

148

167

222

430

140

1063

471

13

TWEETS

58, 935

3,943

3, 883

1, 783

1, 1650

1, 371

1, 105

1050

1032

825

FOLLOWERS

SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS Governor’s twitter details ranked according to followers, tweets

Raji Fashola

Kayode Fayemi

Rauf Aregbesola

Olusegun Mimiko

Rotimi Amaechi

Liyel Imoke

Abdulfatah Ahmed

Ibikunle Oyelaja Amosun

Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi

Owelle R. Okorocha

GOVERNOR

Nigeria 'not Leveraging ICT' For Social, Economic Development

Nigeria 'not leveraging ICT' for social, economic development

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have evolved

into a key enabling infrastructure across industries while proving to be

a powerful driver of enhanced living conditions...

The Berkeley-darfur Stove & UV Waterworks

Ashok Gadgil is a professor at Berkeley. But

in his spare time, he's come up with

solutions for water, cooking and energy

quandaries, improving lives from Sudan...

11

CIO should be a Cabinet-level Officer Technology increasingly is seen as a weapon in government's arsenal to

cut costs and increase efficiency. As such, it might seem a matter of

course that a state government or even a local government would have a

Chief Information Officer (CIO), someone to provide direction...

26

28

20

Can Nigeria meet digital TV transition 2015 deadline?

At last, Nigeria’s federal government has set January 2015 deadline as

the date for the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting in

Nigeria. This would synchronise Nigeria's broadcasting system with

the global trends. Briefing news men...

16

7

g o v T e c h n o l o g y . c o m . n g / e x t r a

Will there be money from mobile

payment? James Agada, our leading

columnist asks, as mobile money

services take root in Nigeria.

INN TELEVISION

Tony Ojobo, Director, Public Affairs,

Nigerian Communications Commission

(NCC) speaks on poor quality of

service's sanctions on MNOs

INN COLUMN

W H A T I S O N L I N E ?

Failure to meet the minimum standard of

quality of service including the Key Perfor-

mance Indicators (KPI's) as specified in

Schedule 1, Table 2 of the Quality of

Service (QoS) Regulations 2012, the

Nigerian Communications Commission

(NCC) has fined the largest MNOs, MTN

Nigeria and Glo Mobile a total sum of

N480 million. MTN was fined N360 million

while Glo will pay N120 million.

HOT OR COLD

MOST READ STORIES ONLINE

NCC fines MTN, GLO N480 Million

for poor QOS for March, April

POSTED: MAY 11, 2012 VIEWS: 133

HIGHLIGHS

The White House Office of Management and Budget

released a digital government strategy report, “Digital

Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better

Serve the American People’. President Obama issued the

directive to make services accessible from mobile devices

and charged OMB with developing a strategy to build a

21st Century Digital Government that delivers better

digital services. The report also paves the way for

federal employees to bring your own device and

calls for new solutions for identity,

authentication and credential management.

Digital Government: Obama wants mobile strategy

Your car is the representation of your way of living, personality,

preferences and your posh nature. These stylish, but expensive four

wheelers are the sign of luxury and power and when they come

engineered with high-end technologies

they become a man's dream bird.

Check out these thunderbirds

of 2012 that have

got standing

ovation

around the

world.

10 cars engineered with high-end technologies

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun,

recently inaugurated a Technology

Incubation Centre (TIC) in Abeokuta,

the state capital.

Governor Amosun Inaugurates IT

Centre with 10 Incubation Units

LEAST READ STORIES ONLINE

POSTED DATE: MAY24, 2012 VIEWS: 77

POSTED DATE: MAY 26, 2012 VIEWS: 52

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, has lamented that

local participation in the ICT industry had been very minimal with only 30 per cent of

the total of 690,000 computers sold in the country in 2011 manufactured in the

country


Only 30 % of computers sold in 2011 are Made-in-Nigeria - Minister


govtechnologytv@gov_technology @gov_technology

6

Lagos

Ekiti

Osun

Ondo

Rivers

Cross River

Kwara

Ogun

Oyo

Imo

STATE

@tundefashola

@kfayemi

@raufaregbesola

@OlusegunMimiko

@ChibuikeAmaechi

@LiyelImoke

@Governor_Ahmed

@Govsia

@AAAjimobi

@OwelleRochas

TWITTER HANDLE

1701

1989

148

167

222

430

140

1063

471

13

TWEETS

58, 935

3,943

3, 883

1, 783

1, 1650

1, 371

1, 105

1050

1032

825

FOLLOWERS

SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS Governor’s twitter details ranked according to followers, tweets

Raji Fashola

Kayode Fayemi

Rauf Aregbesola

Olusegun Mimiko

Rotimi Amaechi

Liyel Imoke

Abdulfatah Ahmed

Ibikunle Oyelaja Amosun

Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi

Owelle R. Okorocha

GOVERNOR

7

The Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge is to be one of the

first major cables stayed bridges to be built

in West Africa. The 1.4km long bridge has a

cable stayed pylon of 90m at the middle and

a full span approach and departing bridge

linking Admiralty Way to Bourdillon road.

S M A R T P I C T U R E

remember my encounter with Gerald affirmed. My checks afterward confirmed Henceforth, the cashless project should not be

Ilukwe, General Manager of Galaxy Gerald's explanation. I also discovered that the treated as CBN's project or else it would not

Backbone at the Abuja Airport. He was on banks are culpable. Most times, it is the banks, achieve its objectives. Every hand must be on

his way to Yola while I was returning to through the account managers, that advised deck. Another lesson is the absence of

Lagos. We had several discussions while the MDAs to package the payment process incentives. How do you compensate those Iawaiting our flights. One of the issues we dealt through e-Filling. who on their own went the whole hog to

with was how the federal ministries, implement the cashless policy? We need to

department and agencies (MDAs) are This is what has been happening in the last ginger the policy with incentives. However, a

responding to the directives from the two years. However, there is no doubt that the detail survey of developing economies that

Accountant General of the Federation that all road to cashless or cash-lite or better still Less- have successfully implemented cashless

payments should be done in a cashless cash Nigeria is going to be very rough. I mean initiatives revealed that Cashless Nigeria

format. very, very rough. Along the way there's sure to scheme would benefit more from offering of

be plenty of frustration, angst, bewilderment incentives than application of sanctions.

As the boss of an IT firm that has the mandate and soul searching as we look for the right mix

to connect the MDAs to the information of strategies. In Brazil, a country with similar challenges like

highways, Gerald could be described as Though belated, CBN has said it would Nigeria, corporations receive a tax break from

Nigeria's number one Public CIO if there is a commence full implementation of electronic the government for issuing prepaid cards, as

name like that. I knew him back in his years as payment system in all private and public they are legally exempted from paying payroll

the pioneer Nigeria's Country Manager for organisations. To this end, the banking sector and social security taxes on the money they

Microsoft. I was an IT writer then, working for regulator has directed all DMBs in the country load onto them. Brazil has one of the world's

the then leading financial newspapers, to dishonour payment instructions with largest markets for prepaid food cards

Financial Standard. schedules delivered via unsecured methods. because of tax incentives that are given to

companies.

One of the highlights of our polemic discourse Consequently, all DMBs are to dishonour

was the way he described how the MDAs are payment instructions with schedules Yet another lesson from the e-Filling

responding to the e-payments directives. delivered via unsecured methods such as flash adventure is that companies that have

Gerald explained that instead of integrating drives, compact discs or e-mail attachments developed solutions for government and

payment technologies that enable them to with effect from that date. To support this corporate e-payment are made to suffer undue

power payment services from their systems, initiative, DMBs are implored to properly gestat ion per iods because of poor

the MDAs have adopted what he called e- educate and advise their customers on the implementation of the policy. Solutions such

Filling strategy. adoption and implementation procedures for as Remita from SystemSpecs, CorporatePay

an end-to-end e-payment. developed by eTranzact and AutoPay powered

I asked him, what is e-Filling? He explained by Interswitch are example of solutions that

that what MDAs are doing is e-Filling and not e- The major lesson from the e-Filling fiasco is are ready to play in this arena. It is only through

Payments. “They simply prepare their that it will require multi-agency collaboration to continuing usage of these solutions that the

payment instruction to the Deposit Money achieve the lofty ideal of Cashless Nigeria. country can produce software applications

Banks (DMBs) with schedules delivered via Since CBN had come out with this directive, all that can be exported to other countries.

unsecured method such as flash drives, MDAs must have fully complied with the Chief

compact discs or e-mail attachments”, he Accountant of the Federation's directive.

From e-Fillings to e-Payments

Value-confliCT

S O L A F A N A W O P O

10

NIGERIA 'NOT LEVERAGING ICT' FOR SOCIAL, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Nigeria 'not leveraging ICT' for social, The global IT report series

economic development Over the past decade, The Global IT

nformation and communication Report series, powered by the World

technologies (ICTs) have evolved Economic Forum has become the most

into a key enabling infrastructure comprehens i ve and respec ted

across industries while proving to international assessment of the

be a powerful driver of enhanced preparedness of economies to leverage Iliving conditions and opportunities the networked economy. Its research

around the globe. ICT has changed the provides a unique platform for public-

world dramatically and it is bound to private dialogue on best policies and for

continue to do so in the future. determining what actions will further

W O R L D E C O N O M I C F O R U M V E R D I C T

Innovations | Case Study | Developments

11

Script: Seyi Bangudu

of government procurement competitiveness and the

of advanced technology well-being of their citizens,

products), the availability of the efforts they make to

venture capital for financing implement their visions for

innovation-related projects, ICT development, and the

and the presence of a skilful number of government

labour force. services they provide online.

The readiness subindex with The impact subindex gauges

a total of 12 variables, the broad economic and

measures the degree to social impacts accruing from

which a society is prepared to ICT to boost competitiveness

make good use of an and well-being and that

affordable ICT infrastructure reflect the transformations

and digital content. t o w a r d a n I C T - a n d

technology-savvy economy

The infrastructure and digital and society. It includes a total

content pillar (five variables) of eight variables.

captures the development of ICT diffusion at the individual level, using infrastructure (including the mobile The economic impacts pillar measures indicators such as the number of mobile network coverage, international internet the effect of ICT on competitiveness, phone subscriptions, individuals using bandwidth, secure Internet servers, and thanks to the generation of technological the Internet, households with a personal electricity production) as well as the and non-technological innovations in the computer (PC), households with Internet accessibility of digital content. The shape of patents, new products or access, both fixed and mobile broadband affordability pillar (three variables) processes, and organizational practices. subscriptions, and the use of social assesses the cost of accessing ICT, In addition, it also measures the overall networks.either via mobile telephony or fixed shift of an economy toward more

broadband internet, as well as the level of knowledge-intensive activities.The business usage pillar (five variables) competition in the Internet and telephony captures the extent of business Internet sectors that determine this cost. The The social impacts pillar aims at use as well as the efforts of the firms in skills pillar (four variables) gauges the assessing the ICT-driven improvements an economy to integrate ICT into an ability of a society to make effective use in well-being, thanks to its impacts on the internal, technology-savvy, innovation-of ICT thanks to the existence of basic environment, educat ion, energy conducive environment that generates educational skills captured by the quality consumption, health progress, or more-productivity gains. Consequently, this of the educational system, the level of active civil participation. At the moment, pillar measures the firm's technology adult literacy, and the rate of secondary because of data limitations, this pillar absorption capacity and its overall education enrolment. focuses on measuring the extent to capacity to innovate and the production

which governments are becoming more of technology novelties measured by the efficient in the use of ICT and providing number of PCT patent applications. It

The usage subindex assesses the increasing online services to their also measures the extent of staff training individual efforts of the main social citizens, and, thus, improving their e-available, which indicates the extent to agents—that is, individuals, business and participation. which management and employees are government—to increase their capacity better capable of identifying and to use ICT as well as their actual use in It also assess the extent to which ICT is developing business innovations.their day-to-day activities with other present in education, as a proxy for the

agents. It includes 15 variables. potential benefits that are associated The government usage pillar (three with the use of ICT in education. In variables) provides insights into the

The individual usage pillar (seven general, measuring the impacts of ICT is importance that governments place on variables) measures ICT penetration and a complex task and the development of c a r r y i n g o u t I C T p o l i c i e s f o r

Readiness subindex Impact subindex

Usage subindex

NIGERIA READINESS SUBINDEX TABLE

OVERALL INFRASTRUCTURE

& DIGITAL CONTENT

AFFORDABILITY SKILL

RANK 123 119 118 123

SCORE 3.09 2.75 3.8 3.44

NIGERIA USAGE SUBINDEX TABLE

OVERALLINDIVIDUAL

USAGE

BUSINESS

USAGE

GOVERNMENT

USAGE

RANK 109 105 77 116

SCORE 2.98 2.33 3.49 3.13

13

national ICT readiness and

innovat ion potent ia l .

Through the evolved

m e t h o d o l o g i c a l

f r a m e w o r k o f t h e The environment subindex

Networked Readiness gauges the friendliness of

Index (NRI), The Global IT a country's market and

Report 2012 measures the regulatory framework in

extent to which 142 supporting high levels of

e c o n o m i e s t a k e ICT uptake and the

advantage of ICT and other d e v e l o p m e n t o f

new technologies to entrepreneurship and

increase their growth and i n n o v a t i o n - p r o n e

well-being. conditions. A supportive

environment is necessary

This year, Sweden tops to maximize the potential

the rankings, followed by impacts of ICT in boosting

Singapore and Finland. competitiveness and well-

The report also includes detailed profiles being. It includes a total of 18 variables

for the 142 economies covered this year, distributed into two pillars.

together with data for each of the 53

indicators used in the computation of the The political and regulatory environment

NRI. pillar (nine variables) assesses the

extent to which the national legal

framework facilitates ICT penetration

and the safe development of business

The verdict of the report on Nigeria ICT activities, taking into account general

readiness is very damning. Nigeria's features of the regulatory environment

lacks ICT readiness, the world Economic (including the protection afforded to

Forum said. This means that Nigeria's property rights, the independence of the

economy is not benefiting as much as it judiciary, and the efficiency of the law-

should from technology, and social making process) as well as more ICT-

impacts are very “disappointing”. Nigeria specific dimensions (the passing of laws

ranks behind other 111 other countries relating ICT and software piracy rates).

surveyed by the World Economic Forum

on network readiness, and its digitisation T h e b u s i n e s s a n d i n n o v a t i o n

has been found to be “constrained”. The environment pillar (nine variables) high costs of accessing “insufficiently World Economic Forum found Nigeria gauges the quality of the business developed” ICT infrastructure have led to ranks 16 in Africa behind Tunisia, framework conditions to boost poor rates of ICT use.Mauritius, South Africa, Egypt, Cape entrepreneurship, taking into account

Verde, Rwanda, Botswana, Morocco, dimensions related to the ease of doing “As a result, the economic impacts Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, The Gambia, business (including the presence of red accruing from ICT are patchy and the Namibia, Zambia and Uganda. tape and excessive fiscal charges). social impacts disappointing,” says the

report. It argues that upgrading overall Nigeria like other low ranked country “is This pillar also measures the presence of skills at all layers of society and not yet leveraging the potential benefits conditions that allow innovation to increasing efforts to build affordable associated with ICT”, notes the report. It flourish by including variables on the infrastructure for all would allow Nigeria cites important shortcomings in terms of overall availability of technology, the to increase its ICT readiness and uptake, basic skills availability in large segments demand conditions for innovative which would spread ICT impacts across of the population. It also states that the products (as proxied by the development society.

Environment subindex

Nigeria's economy is not benefiting from

ICT

Nigeria ranks & scores

In many countries, a

simulcast service is

operated where a

broadcast is made

available to viewers in

both analogue and digital

at the same time. As

digital becomes more

popular, it is likely that

the existing analogue

services will be removed.

12

rigorous quantitative data to do The level of ICT readiness in

so is still in its infancy. As a sub-Saharan Africa is still very

result, many of the dimensions low, with most countries

where ICT is producing evidencing strong lags in

important impacts—especially connectivity because of an

when these impacts are not insufficient development of

translated into commercial ICT infrastructure, which

ac t iv i t ies , such as the remains too costly. Low levels

environment of health, cannot of skills that do not allow for an

be covered yet. Therefore, this efficient use of the available

subindex should be regarded techno logy add to the

as a work in progress that will challenges these countries

evolve to accommodate new face if they are to increase ICT

data on many of these uptake.

dimensions as they become

available. Moreover, most countries still

suffer from poor framework

conditions for business activity

Overall, Europe remains at the that, coupled with the above-innovative and digitized nations in the forefront of the efforts to leverage ICT to explained weaknesses, result in poor world and also to some of its poorest, transform its economy and society. economic impacts that hinder the much-least connected countr ies. S ix Seven European counties are positioned needed transformation of the region economies besides Singapore feature in the top 10 of our rankings, with the toward less resource-extraction-oriented among the top 20, namely Taiwan, China Nordic countries including Sweden at the activities and higher value-added (11th), Korea, Rep. (12th), Hong Kong v e r y t o p , l e a d i n g t h e w a y . production. Nine out of the last 10 SAR (13th), New Zealand (14th), Australia Notwithstanding the overall strength of countries in our sample belong to the (17th), and Japan (18th). At 51st place, Europe as a whole, there are important region and the results evidence the China leads the BRICS, the group of large disparities within the region. digital divide the region suffers vis-á-vis emerging economies. Yet the country

more developed regions.faces important challenges ahead that Four broadly defined groups of countries must be met to more fully adopt and sharing different ICT development paths leverage ICT. China's institutional and facing different challenges to further framework and especially its business leverage ICT can be identified: the There are large differences across the environment present a number of Nordic countries, advanced economies Middle East and North Africa, with s h o r t c o m i n g s t h a t s t i f l e of Western Europe, Southern Europe, countries grouping around three sub entrepreneurship and innovation.and Central and Eastern Europe. regions: Israel and the Gulf Cooperation

Council states; the Levantine nations;

and, finally, the countries in North Africa.

The Nordic countries are the most While Israel and most of the Gulf Latin America and the Caribbean successful in the world at leveraging ICT. Cooperation Council states seem to have continue to suffer from an important lag They have fully integrated ICT in their embraced ICT uptake and have started to in adopting ICT and technology more competitiveness strategies to boost gain from the associated benefits, broadly. This is reflected in the rankings, innovat ion and ICT is present countries in the former two groups still as no country manages to reach the top everywhere and in all areas of society, suffer from important weaknesses that 30 and only a handful of small economies such as education and healthcare. hinder their capacity to fully leverage the manage to be included among the top

use of ICT to increase competitiveness 50—the exceptions are Barbados, Puerto and accelerate the positive social Rico, Chile, and Uruguayimpacts that are associated with

Asia and the Pacific region is home to technology.

some of the world's wealthiest, most

Europe @ the forefront

Mixed Result from Middle East & North

Africa

Latin America & Caribbean suffer lag in Nordic countries most successful adopting ICT

Asia and the pacific region most

innovative

ICT readiness in Sub-Saharan Africa very

low

NIGERIA ENVIRONMENT SUBINDEX TABLE

OVERALL POLITICAL & REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

BUSINESS & INNOVATION ENVIRONMENT

RANK 98 91 104

SCORE 3.55 3.45 3.71

NIGERIA IMPACT SUBINDEX TABLE

OVERALL ECONOMIC IMPACT

RANK 88 60 102

SCORE 3.25 3.33 3.16

SOCIAL IMPACT

14

t is everywhere. From your car, doorbell, wrist is highly likely. UK Border Agency staff in visa information is going to be used or accessed. Hey,

watch and mobile phone, technology is alive offices in Nigeria and other countries had started are you going to the Games? If yes, you would

and kicking in every facet of life. As a friend the painstaking task of taking biometric details of have to submit to the biometric test. Or you may Iobserved recently, if future societies look back at around 10,000 individuals. forgo this procedure altogether. If you do not see

the kind of life we are living today, they may cite your family member for a couple of weeks, would

our focus on technologies as being what defined In addition, UK would collect data, profile and you have heart attack?

our society. But that is what defines your life, isn't facial image scan and 10-finger scans of all

it? You obviously rely on technology almost every athletes and keep such in a single digital record. Perhaps no; perhaps yes, perhaps, as an athlete,

hour of the day, and for a good reason: technology Athletes from some competing nations have you may have to consider if competing in the

helps you get things done, easier, safer and faster. biometric information in their passports. These Olympic Games is worth many unknown people

athletes would not need to hand over their data. having access to your personal data, particularly

Without your gas cooker, you would be unable to But the Home Office believes there are 10,000 when no one is sure how long it's going to be held

cook that chicken soup. Without the remote athletes and other team members who need to or where it's going to end up. Being paranoid

control, you would have to get up and change the have details taken, particularly athletes from would not prevent terrorism; it would just make

channel or volume every 30 seconds you are Nigeria. In case you are wondering why the UK the athletes a bit uncomfortable, you know, and

bored with a channel or a programme. Without government would go to this length because of the GFMs would be suspicious of every face at

your phone, you cannot make that call, send that some games, the extra security is needed the Games.

text, take that picture or record your favourite ring because each Games Family Members (GFMs)

tone. Let's admit it. Technology helps. If your TV will have an accredited pass to go in and out of the If disagree, examine this. This is the first time

malfunctions, you would be unhappy and would Olympic Village and venues where there are no Olympic host nation would undertake such a

have to visit the neighbourhood viewing centre to tough security checks. widespread biometrics operation. Costing about

watch a football involving your favourite football £24bn, pray the entire operation and the Games

club. However, athletes will not be forced to give scans yield good returns on investment, because

in their own countries, but if as an athlete you Wenlock [the Olympic mascot] knows this is the

If your car breaks down, oh,my and your phone decline you would have to provide the biometrics biggest and most expensive security operation in

packs up, you would be sad and you would not be information on arrival in the UK. The security British history, which is packaged as tourist

able to reach your mechanic. If your laptop fails to crackdown applies to all foreign nationals commodity. While these strict measures may

come up, mine did recently; your entire life would including Nigeria regardless of whether you are protect athletes within the Olympic Village, it

literally come to a standstill. Technology also entitled to a visa waiver. While this may speed up would not prevent any type of attack outside the

sulks. That is why without biometric data capture, security lines in the UK at the airport and upon village. If terrorists would make a splash, they will

the London Olympic would not hold! entering the Olympic Village, it does nothing to cause terror where there are large gathering. It is

Reports had it that UK has launched international allay the most glaring privacy issues. unlikely that there would be a small-scale,

operation to gather information on Olympic targeted attack, such as the one in Munich in

participants and coaches, as over 10,000 Olympic Now, let's dissect this: What is going to happen to 1 9 7 2 . D o y o u r e m e m b e r t h a t

athletes and coaches have had their fingerprints the biometric data after the Olympic Games? Who experience?However, bear this in mind:

and face-scans taken by UK officials around the is going to have access to the data before, during,

world in the biggest operation of its type to and after the games? How long is the data going Biometric data capture at the Olympics gives a

prevent the London Games from being targeted to be kept? The biometric data collected in Nigeria false sense of security. Because you pass the

by illegal immigrants or terrorists. will it be transmitted? What security measures are security checks, and have a biometric ID is not an

in place to ensure a secure transmission? If the assurance that there would not be an attack.

To prevent any act of terrorism, UK has built a biometric information is going to be kept, what Biometric ID can never determine or predict

temporary terminal at Heathrow to take the strain countries and corporations will, ultimately, have whether you are havingnefarious thoughts or

of the 20,000 accredited people and millions of access to it? Technology helps, or does it sulks? plots in mind. Meaning: technology sulks. It may

ticketholders and visitors. UK government has There are simply too many questions that have define your life. It also makes you paranoid. That is

also stepped up the national terror threat during been left unanswered for anyone to know or even why it is everywhere.

the 16-day Games. Meaning: An attempted attack begin to comprehend how their biometric

Technology helps, it also sulks

Bar Codes

P S A L M : S O N O L A E G B E

15

Switch over date Purpose of switch-over

Benefits of switch over

“By January 1, 2015 consumers should Almost all analogue formats in current

be able to get higher quality signals as use were standardised between

well as have more channels because we the1940s and 1950s and have had to be

are broadcasting digitally. You can have adap ted to the techno log i ca l

many channels on your television set innovations since then. Initially offering

and what that means is that there is a lot only black and white images with

more content coming through the feeds monophonic sound, the formats were

which is NTA”, Maku said. The digital modified to broadcast in colour, stereo

television transition is the process in sound, SAP, captioning and other

which analogue television broadcasting information.

is converted to and replaced by digital Additionally, engineers have had to

television. This primarily involves both implement these protocols within the

TV stations and over-the-air viewers; limits of a set bandwidth and the

however, it also involves content tolerances of an inefficient analogue

providers like TV networks and cable format.

television conversion to digital cable.

However, during this time, the

In many countries, a simulcast service is application and distribution of digital

operated where a broadcast is made communications evolved and proved to

available to viewers in both analogue be a superior means to distribute the

and digital at the same time. As digital same content. A digital television

becomes more popular, it is likely that transmission is more efficient, easily

the existing analogue services will be integrating other digital processes, for

removed. In some cases this has features completely unavailable or

already happened, where a broadcaster unimaginable with analogue formats.

has offered incentives to viewers to

encourage them to switch to digital. In

other cases government’s policies have For the end-user, digital TV has potential

been introduced to encourage or force for resolutions and sound fidelity

the switch-over process, especially with comparable with blu-ray home video and

regard to terrestrial broadcasts. with digital multiplexing, it is also

In many countries, a

simulcast service is

operated where a

broadcast is made

available to viewers in

both analogue and digital

at the same time. As

digital becomes more

popular, it is likely that

the existing analogue

services will be removed.

17

T O O C L O S E T O C A L L

t last Nigeria’s Federal “Basically, what this means is that we are

Government has set January now well on our way to joining the rest of

2015 deadline as the date for the world in digital technology in our

the migration from analogue broadcasting, using digital technology and

to digital broadcasting in radio frequency spectrum much more ANigeria. This would synchronise Nigeria's effectively than we have done in the past

broadcasting system with the global because digital technology uses

trends. Briefing news men, Minister of frequencies better than analogue.

Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, his

counterpart in the ICT, Omobolaji Johnson “We would be licensing, at least, two

and Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza signal distributors; one will be public signal

Mailafia, said the migration will, in addition distr ibutor that would comprise

to improving signal quality through set-up broadcasting access of NTA, FRCN and

boxes that will deliver signals to television the VON. We will be licensing another

sets in the country, also free more private signal distributor to provide the

spectrum for communications purposes. necessary competition that will give

values to consumers of broadcasting

content.

The White Paper for the migration was

submitted to the Federal Executive “The White Paper gave approval for the

Council (FEC) in February 2012, but on inauguration of digital implementation

deliberation, FEC discovered some grey team. Th is team wi l l compr ise

areas and mandated a committee headed stakeholders in the industry including

by the Secretary to the Federal g o v e r n m e n t o f f i c i a l s w i t h t h e

Government, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, to responsibil ity of supervising this

review. Maku explained that a minimum implementation over the next few years.

of two and a maximum of three Broadcast We have a deadline of January 2015 when

Signal Distributors would be licenced at we must have migrated to digital

the commencement of the migration from broadcasting and NBC will be the

a n a l o g u e t o d i g i t a l t e r r e s t r i a l regulator”.

broadcasting.

The White Paper

Can Nigeria meet digitalTV transition 2015 deadline?

16

Script: Psalm:son Olaegbe

possible to offer sub-channels, distinct

simulcast programming, from the same

broadcaster.

For government and industry, digital TV

reallocates the radio spectrum so that it

can be auctioned off by the government.

I n t h e s u b s e q u e n t a u c t i o n s ,

telecommunications industries can

introduce new services and products in

mobile telephony, wi-fi internet, and

other nationwide telecommunications

projects.

Government’s intervention usually

involves providing some funding for

broadcasters and, in some cases

monetary relief to viewers, to enable a

switch-over to happen by a given

deadline. For example, after the switch

from analogue to digital broadcasts is

completed, analogue TVs will be

incapable of receiving over-the-air

broadcasts without the addition of a set-

top converter box. A digital converter

box – an electronic device that connects

to an analogue TV – must be used in

order to allow the TV to receive digital it is being implemented in stages , where after six years, how would Nigeria deliver broadcasts. each region has a separate date to the project in three years? However,

switch-over; in others the whole country unlike SA that still has three solid years to In the United States of America, switches on one date: France switched get it right before the international government is subsidizing the purchase off all analogue services on November deadline, Nigeria is condemned to of such boxes via their coupon-eligible 29, 2011 followed by Japan on March 31, digitize its TV by whatever means by converter box programme, funded by a 2012. 2015. small part of the billions of dollars brought

in by the spectrum auction of 12 of the However, the process of switching-over Timeline for stopping analogue servicesupper UHF channels. to the digitized platform has not been The Geneva 2006 Agreement sets June

easy in Africa. For instance, South Africa 17, 2015 as the date after which In South Africa, government will pay for with its sophistication has missed countries may use those frequencies poor households to buy new aerials to several due dates. As it stands today, the currently assigned for analogue TV move to digital TV. Government has country is not likely to meet the 2012 transmission for digital services without approved the ownership support rollout September date she set for herself. The being required to protect the analogue framework for set-top boxes (STBs) for entire process has been marred by delay services of neighbouring countries poor households and also said it would after delay ever since SA signed up to against interference. This date is pay for new antennas. move to a digital broadcasting platform generally viewed as an internationally

about six years ago; and a lack of mandated analogue switch-off date, at

cohesion from the top means any least, along national borders. It is hoped The switch-over for individual countries potential benefit will be pushed out yet that the Federal Government's 2015 varies; in some countries such as the UK again. So, if SA could deliver the project January deadline is not too close to call.

Government subsidy

Global switch-over time table

T R A N S I T I O N C O M P L E T E D

COUNTRY FLAG COUNTRY DATE OF SWITCH ON TO DIGITAL TV

COMPLETION OF SWITCH OVER TO DIGITAL TV

ANALOGUE TVSWITCH OFF DATE

Luxembourg September 1, 2006

Netherland December 11, 2006

Finland September 1, 2007 August 31, 2007

Sweden September 19, 2005 October 29, 2007

Switzerland July 24, 2006 November 13, 2006 November 26, 2007

GHANA Q3 of 2011 December 31, 2014 To be determined according

to locations and conditions June 2012

Kenya December 9, 2009

SA November 2008 November 1, 2011 Yet to be determined

Argentina september 9, 2008 September 1, 2019

T R A N S I T I O N C O N T I N U E D

18

technology nor special adviser to the echnology increasingly is governor on ICT affairs. seen as a weapon in

government's arsenal to

cut costs and increase Tefficiency. As such, it govTechnology findings reveals might seem a matter of course that a some of those state that appreciate state government or even a local the importance of ICT and even have government would have a Chief technology experts appointed as Information Officer (CIO), someone special advisers still depend instead to provide direction on technology on systems administrators and even policy and advocate for it at cabinet or friends to formulate technology executive level. But the reality is that policies and implement technology many state governments don't have initiatives. These people most times a C-level (cabinet level) technology are saddled with a CIO responsibility leaders.but do not have CIO's authority.

For myriad of reasons, many states Recent survey revealed that most don't even see the relevance of ICT in political leaders often lack a good public administration. Out of the 36 grasp of what exactly a technology states and Federal Government (FG), adviser or CIO does, making the only 13 governments have C-level decision to hire one less likely. If a technology officials managing their local or a state government, for ICT policies and projects. These example, needs a new finance include FG, Cross River, Delta, director, the chairman or the Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Lagos, governor knows exactly what to look Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Bauchi, for. If they need someone in Plateau and Rivers states. purchasing or a state attorney, those

positions have been around for so Though four governments have long, there's no question what to look commissioners for science and for. But when it comes to the chief technology portfolio, it is doubtful if technology person or whatever the they have IT mandate under their title, that really freaks political leaders offices. The state governments in out. this category include Abia, Akwa

Ibom, Anambra and Kaduna states. However, the establishment of the Other 19 state governments and Min ist ry of Communicat ions Federal Capital Territory (FCT) neither Technology followed with the have commissioners for science and

CIO responsibility without CIO's

authority

AS GOVTS AIM TO RUN MORE AS BUSINESS, SURPRISING NUMBER DO SO WITHOUT A CIO

21

T E C H N O L O G Y L E A D E R S H I P I N T H E P U B L I C S E C T O R

20

Script: Sola Fanawopo

STATE NAME PORT FOLIO GENDER

Abia Barrister Charles Nwator Commissioner for Science & Technology Male

Akwa Ibom Comfort Etuk Commissioner for Science & Tech Female

Anambra Alloy Egwuatu Commissioner for Science & Tech Male

Bayelsa - - -

Bauchi Akinyemi Olowokere Special Assistant on (ICT) Male

Cross River Odo Effiong SA on ICT Male

Delta Sunny Ofilli SA on ICT Male

Ebonyi Lawrence Nwezza SA on ICT Male

Edo Yemi Keri ED, Directorate of ICT Female

Ekiti Toyin Oluniteru Director-General ICT Department

Enugu Ozo Okechukwu SA, ICT Male

Imo - - -

Kaduna Bashir Ibrahim Sakadadi Commissioner for Science & Tech Male

Kebbi - - -

- - -Katsina

Kogi - - -

Kwara - - -

Lagos Adebiyi Mabadeje Commissioner for Science & Tech Male

Tunde Yadeka Chairman ICT agency -Ondo

Ogun Bunmi Adebayo Senior Special Adviser on Information,

Communication and Technology,Male

Osun Aderemi Ojikutu Personal Adviser on ICT Applications Male

Oyo Tayo Koleosho Senior Special Adviser (ICT) Male

MalePlateau Nyeng Gyang Senior Special Adviser on

Information and Communication

Technology

River Eng. Goodliffe Nmekini Senior Special Adviser on Information

and Communication Technology

Yobe

Zamfara

- - -

- - -

Who are Nigeria's leading Public CIOs?

Male

23

appointment of a cabinet-level minister Often times technology experts don't

for the ministry by the Goodluck Ebele realise that elected officials are highly

Jonathan administration signposted a specialized people whose priorities can

new era for ICT leadership and career in at times be seemingly vexing when one

public governance arena. It should be has a technology agenda to promote.

noted, however, that some tech loving Let's face it, everything an elected

state governments like Lagos, Cross official does in a tenure is to make or

River, Edo, Ondo and Delta already had keep citizens happy so a to get re-

cabinet-level technology leaders in their elected. Period. Despite this reality, a

state before the advent of the CIO can win the confidence of the

CommTech ministry at the federal level. political leaders by doing the following:

CIO must avoid IT projects that deliver

The name for C-Level technology questionable outcomes or outcomes

leaders varies from government to that are not measurable. CIO must bear

government. Some are called either in mind the fact that elected officials are

ministers or commissioners, some are leery of massive 18- to 36-month

tagged Senior Special Advisers to “Hoover Dam”. Consequently, they

Governor on ICT while some are Private want quick wins that ultimately impact

Advisers. Whatever the nomenclature, many users/citizens and that are projects being implemented in this the most important need for appointing deliverable in a short time span. So, it is information age”, he emphasised. technical leaders is that their views, in the interest of the CIO to pursue wins

opinions, input are sought on that may only involve one agency or

technology contents of any project in constituent group at the outset, but

t h e l o c a l , s t a t e a n d F e d e r a l ultimately prove out a larger concept

Government. without the 36 months of hand wringing But how can a CIO get the listening ear and perceived risk. of the chief executive officer of a local

However, it is important for them to be government, a state and a country? C-Level officers. This will give them an Once proven, the focus becomes the

equal voice with their peers on decision- next agency, next electronic form,

making. Mr Odo Effiong, Special next constituent group, etc. But for

Adviser on ICT to governor of Cross the e lec ted o f f i c i a l , t he

River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, perception of risks must have

said as the driver of the ICT been reduced and trust

deve lopment o f a s t a te gained. The projects must

government, the CIO should be be strategically visible and

a cabinet-level officer. deliver incremental value.

“Any state that desires to Much of the success a CIO

grow in this information age will record is most likely to be

m u s t r e c o g n i s e t h e as result of his ability to

importance of technology in change the conversation

all its dealings. And as a (and, by extension, the

result, the state must have an perception) of the elected

officer with the same status officers. Several reports have

as commissioners so that he revealed that opinions held

can be with them whenever by political leaders on IT

decision on a project is being related issues are often

made. Every state must adversarial. It is the job of a

realise that there is ICT CIO to refocus that.

content for almost all the

Public CIO nomenclature

Getting listening ear of President,

Governor and Chairman

WHO IS IN

CHARGE?

22

CIO must avoid IT

projects that deliver

questionable outcomes

or outcomes that are

not measurable.

CIO must bear in mind

the fact that elected

officials are leery of

massive 18- to

36-month “Hoover

Dam”.

govtechnology.com.ng

C O N N E C T W I T H

PRINT MOBILE SOCIAL ONLINE TABLET . . . .

P R O M O T I O N

ADEBIYI MABADEJE Commissioner for Science & TechLagos Satte

ODO EFFIONGSA on ICTCross River State

ADEREMI OJIKUTUPA on ICT ApplicationsOsun State

TAYO KOLEOSHOSenior SA on ICTOyo State

SUNNY OFILISA on ICTDelta State

GOODLIFFE NMEKINISenior SA on ICTRiver State

NYENG GYANG Senior SA on ICTPlateau State

YEMI KERI ED, Directorate of ICTEdo State

OMOBOLA JOHNSON Minister for Communication TechnologyNigeria

LEADING PUBLIC CIOs

BUNMI ADEBAYOSenior SA on ICTOgun State

TUNDE YADEKA Chairman ICT AgencyOndo State

TOYIN OLONITERUDirector-General ICT DepartmentEkiti State

24 25

The condition of ICT space in the

state wasn’t as it is. Tell us how it

was before you came in and what is

the position now? What would you say are the main ideas

behind the Smartgov.CRSG initiative?

for the state to be the leading ICT-driven state professionalism of the private sector to drive

in Nigeria; and we can confidently say that the its ICT objectives.

state already is on the list of top three.

efore we came in 2007, Our mission is to create a knowledge-driven

what existed was a society in the state. So, we still have a lot of The idea behind the Smartgov.CRSG

smal l ICT uni t . I t work to do. One of the mandates given to initiative is the delivery of various

p r o v i d e d i n t e r n e t us by the governor was that we must public and private services to the Bs e r v i c e t o t h e partner with the private sector to achieve our people of Cross River State utilizing the

governor's office and a few other ministries, object ives of dr iv ing government’s platform of ID management and electronic

departments and agencies (MDAs). There was businesses and processes with the help of IT. transactions. The main objective of the

also a department that carried out Today, we have partnered with Interswitch to Smartgov.CRSG initiative is the creation of an

maintenance and repairs. Many staff helped use smartcard powered ID management to automated transaction platform and the

with creating database of civil servants in the automate most of the government’s application of the platform to automate and

offices of Head of Service, Local Government processes. The project is being implemented deliver a variety of social services to the people

Commission, Accountant General Office and under a platform called Smartgov.CRSG of Cross River State. Some of the main

Ministry of Education. In 2005 there was an initiative. We are also partnering with Institute components of the Smartgov.CRSG initiative

are the biometric electronic smartcards that Oracle financials project that was terminated of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) to

due to non-delivery. When we came in we develop Tinapa Knowledge City (TKC). The are capable of uniquely identifying individuals were given a comprehensive mandate by the two projects signpost Cross River State's and entities, electronic funds transfer (EFT) governor, Senator Liyel Imoke. His vision is de te rmina t ion to leverage on the

1

2

CIO SHOULD BE A CABINET-LEVEL OFFICER

S I X Q U E S T I O N S F O R C I O

– Effiong, Special Adviser to Cross River governor on ICT

Special Adviser, Mr. Odo Effiong, on ICT to governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke,

spoke with govtechnology on Smartgov.CRSG, an initiative undertaken by the state government to

bring governance closer to the citizens through information and communication technology (ICT)

among other issues:

26 33

system with the capacity to support various

configurable electronic transactions which

are accessible through multiple channels and

locations operated by the smartcards and the

ability to automate various MDAs as well as

private sector processes to utilise the

systems in biometric electronic smartcard

and fund transfer system.

Two principal part ies are

government of Cross River state

and In te rswi tch L imi ted .

Individual drivers exist in the board

of Smartgov.CRSG. Like I told you

earlier, our focus is to use public and private

sector partnership to drive our automation

initiatives. We are using the Smartgov.CRSG

as a template for partnership with the private

sector.

On the government side, we have the

Commissioner for Finance, who represents

the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) making progress now. I could remember how

Cross River state's investment vehicle, I was shouted down by my colleagues when I

the Attorney General, who is the default That is another testimony of our mooted the idea of having computers in the

signatory and representative of the state determination to partner with the schools sometime ago. They thought the

government for transactions and Special private sector to deliver dividends of challenges of insecurity, inadequate power

Adviser on ICT development since it is a democracy to our people. Tinapa and all sorts would make it impossible. But I

technology driven project. Knowledge City would enable us to leverage convinced them that if private businesses

the huge investment we have committed could operate under the same environment Our chairman is an experienced private

into the Tinapa Business Resort in the last and they still record successes, public sector finance industry chieftain in the person

few years to create a knowledge driven concerns should find a way to do the same. of Chief Asuquo Ekpenyong and others. State

cluster in collaboration with Federal But with the support of the governor, who is governments see this initiative as a game

Government and private sector led by ISPON. committed to making the state one of the changer. It has the potential to transform

The governor is particularly committed to this leading states to leverage ICT for state economies. For the citizens it is an

project because of its multiplier effects on development, things are getting better.initiative that will enable government's

the growth and development of the services to be brought closer to the people

knowledge economy in the state. We have through various automated channels. It is an

signed a Memorandum of Understanding initiative that will take government to the

(MoU) with the National Information As the d r iver o f the ICT people, make governance available to the

Technology Development Agency (NITDA) d e v e l o p m e n t o f a s t a t e people in a way that they have not seen

in January. Activities have already started in government, I think the state CIO before.

Tinapa. We are bringing broadband Internet should be a cabinet-level officer. Any

facility to the knowledge city. We are also state that desires to grow in this information For the private sector, it is going to create

tackling the challenges of power supply. As age must recognise the importance of additional platforms for services to and from

you know, Tinapa already has its own technology in all its dealings. And as a result, government, additional channels for

dedicated power station. But we are planning the state must have an officer with the same payments, and so give easier and greater

to have a more reliable back-up. status as commissioners so that he can be access to services, real time, online payment

with them whenever decision on a project is services, access to additional business

being made. Every state must realise that transactions and additional information

there is ICT content for almost all the projects access.

being implemented in this information age.

It has not been easy. But we are

Who drives the Smartgov.CRSG

initiative?

What has Tinapa Knowledge City

concept got to do with it?

Should a state CIO be a cabinet-level

officer?

As the pioneer public CIO for Cross

River State, how would you define

your role?

3

4

5

6

L-R: Special Assistant to Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River on ICT Development, Mr Odo Effiong

exchanging a copy of the JV agreement with Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, MD/CEO, Interswitch Limited

shortly after signing the document for the implementation of the state's ID management and e-

payment backbone in Calabar, the state capital

27

shok Gadgil is a professor at Department of Civil Environmental money to pay the full price on electricity, so

Berkeley. But in his spare time, Engineering at the University of California, they get subsidized rates from government.

he's come up with solutions for Berkeley, has a science background. But his But when efficient energy technology isn't

water, cooking and energy explanation is fairly simple: "In each case it subsidized, there's no incentive for

quandaries, improving lives was becoming aware of how serious the residential customers to use it (using Afrom Sudan to India. How is he doing it? He problem was and then being aware that compact fluorescent light bulbs, for

just likes a good puzzle. actually there is some technical solution example). "My solution was to point out to

that could help. It's like you find a puzzle, utilities that if you spend a little amount of

If you're a lucky inventor, maybe, you can but the nice thing about this puzzle is that if money for efficient lamps, you will be

come up with one big thing that makes an you solve it, you're making people's lives selling less subsidized electricity and you

impact on people. Gadgil, winner of the better”. get to keep more money”, explains Gadgil.

2012 $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for The idea, which Gadgil hatched in the late

Global Innovation, has produced two Gadgil started his career helping developing 1980s, was a success. Over 100 million

inventions that have changed the lives of countries not with an invention, but with a people participate in these utility-sponsored

people in the developing world, and is now programme to promote utility-sponsored CFL programmes in dozens countries,

working on a third. How has he pulled this energy efficiency. In most developing including Algeria, Cuba, India, Iraq, Panama,

off? It helps that Gadgil, a professor in the countries, customers don't have enough Russia, Sudan and Mexico. Next, Gadgil

Directory | Product Review | Product News

Gadgil's invention is saving developing world

THE BERKELEY-DARFUR STOVE & UV WATERWORKS

28

Script: Tunde Balogun

turned to another overwhelming global

problem: access to clean water. He was

inspired to take on the issue in the summer

of 1993, when a particularly nasty strain of

cholera killed more than 10,000 of people in

India (Gadgil himself grew up in Mumbai).

"That's when I got interested in finding out

why these people died when it should be so

easy to disinfect water," he says.

His solution: UV Waterworks. This is a

technology developed in the mid-1990s

that uses ultraviolet light to eliminate

waterborne pathogens. "The idea was to

disinfect water highly effectively but at an

extremely low cost and have it robust

enough to work in deep rural areas with

almost no tech backup or support, and

where a whole village might just have a

couple of screwdrivers”, he says.

UV Waterworks devices are currently

distributed by WaterHealth International,

and can disinfect water for just two cents

per 10 litres (that's about 42 cups of water).

The technology provides water to 5 million

people on a daily basis in India, Liberia,

Nigeria, the Philippines and Ghana.

Gadgil's most recent invention was not, he

admits, entirely his own idea. In 2004, an

officer from USAID called him with a tragic

problem: 80% of all displaced persons in

Darfur are females. The UN World Food

Programme provides these people with

raw food. In order to cook the food, the

women would leave the safety of their

camps to collect firewood, which left them

exposed to armed gangs that would

systematically rape them. Gadgil's

challenge was to come up with a more

efficient stove so that the women didn't

have to collect firewood so often. And so he

did.

of the region. Version 14 of the stove is now fluoridation problem of drinking water, The Berkeley-Darfur Stove saves 55% on in production. So far, 20,000 stoves have which can cause a crippling bone disease. fuel compared to traditional stoves. The been distributed, and Gadgil is working on a This is all in his free time. Gadgil's day job is stove, designed by Gadgil and his team with modified version for Ethiopia. Gadgil is also being a professor, and for that award input from women living in Darfur's camps, working on a technology to remove arsenic money? "I would love to use it for is also designed to withstand the from water. In the future, he wants to something that's high risk and high environmental conditions - wind and sand - develop something that addresses over- reward”, he says.

UV Waterworks

Berkeley-Darfur Stove

ANALYTIC OF UV WATERWORKS

Motivation

Sponsor

Input

Milestones

Year of invention Nasty strain of cholera that killed more than 10,000 of people in India in 90s

Mid-1990s

-

-

1. Disinfects wate r for just two cents per 10 lit res

2.

Robust enough to work in deep rural areas with almost no tech backup or support, and where a whole village might just have a couple screwdrivers

3. Disinfect water highly effectively but at an extremely low cost

4. The technology provides water to 5 million people on a daily basis in India, Liberia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Ghana

ANALYTIC OF UV WATERWORKS

Year of invention

Milestones

1. The Berkeley-Darfur Stove saves 55% on fuel compared to traditional stoves

4. Gadgil is working on a modified version for Ethiopia

2004

Motivation Exposure of women to armed gangs when collecting firewood at Darfur Refugee Camp

Sponsor USAID

Input Women living in Darfur Camp

2. Withstand the environmental conditions --wind and sand --of the region

3. 20,000 stoves have been distributed

29

NIGERIA SIM REGISTRATION SURVEY STATUS REPORT

C O N D U C T E D B Y

S P E C I A L A D V E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N

N IG ER IA S IM REG IST RAT ION SU RVEY ST AT U S REPORT

Since its conception in March 2008, much has been written registered (5,395,783 SIMs), South West States (4,581,155), North

about Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) card registration Central States (4,105,165), South-South States (4,070,156), North West

in Nigeria. Though the importance and imperative of the States (2,140,938 ), North East States (1,776,657) and South East

exercise was never in doubt; however, there were divided States (761,399).

opinions on who should be involved in the registration process,

the integrity of the data gathered, ability of the regulatory body to Based on comprehensive interview with NCC's senior officers in charge

meet the lofty objectives of the scheme and the judicious of the project, our survey also would suggests that adequate risk

management of the N6.1 billion fund appropriated by the management and corporate governance processes should be in place to

National Assembly for the scheme. forestall project failure and ensure prudent management of the

appropriated fund. For example, initial payments of 15% of contract

The public reactions generated by the scheme, so far, is not sums to the front-end partners were predicated on submission of

unexpected given the outcomes of the past national ID Advance Payment Guaranty (APG) of equivalent value from reputable

schemes. Nigeria is arguably the only country in the world Nigerian bank.

without a single trusted means of identifying the citizens but yet

suffused with silos of ID initiatives. The objectives of the Nigeria Subsequent payments were based on certification of milestones

SIM Card Registration Survey 2012 include capturing the state of achieved as follows: payment of 20% of contract sum upon certification

SIM registration project from the view point of independent of deployment of facilities in not less than 50% of the coverage areas;

observers without pecuniary and consulting stake. The survey is further payments upon certification of submitted data by the Project

also expected to access the credibility of the processes adopted Management Consultant, i.e. KPMG. The APG is recoverable in 3 equal

and evaluate the roles and responsibilities of parties involved in installments from the 3rd payments, i.e. for certified data. Besides,

the exercise. KPMG carries out monthly monitoring of the registration exercise

across the country to ensure conformity with guidelines and

The picture that emerged from this survey, of which the specifications.

inference was primarily drawn on the SIM cards registration data

submitted to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) by This survey also confirmed that NCC envisaged the possibility of

its appointed front-end (Enrolment) partners and MNOs, multiple SIM registration, hence, requisite software were procured to

revealed that seven network operators registered 80 per cent clean, scrub and match all SIMs data submitted by MNOs and NCC's

(78,647,422) of the SIMs, while the seven front-end partners front-end partners. As at the time of gathering data for the survey, NCC

engaged by NCC registered the remaining 20 per cent had cleaned 40% of the data received.

(22,831,253).

However, our survey suggests that NCC and the parties involved in the

Lagos recorded highest number of SIM registered in the country scheme did not envisage the possibility of pre-registered sales of SIMs

based on the figures submitted by NCC's front-end partners. It card by fraudulent persons. As a result, no risks mitigation strategy was

is, however, difficult to know the overall SIM registered in each put in place during the enrolment phase. However, measures have been

state because MNOs did not classified the data state by state. promptly established to address the seback.

According to figures from front-end partners, Lagos residents

INTRODUCTION


N I GER I A S I M R EG I S T R AT I ON S UR V EY S TAT US R EP OR T

1. INTRODUCTION

2. INFOGRAPHIC SUMMARY

3. THE REPORT

i. Front-end Partners versus MNOs

ii. Impact of technical assistance

iii. SIM VS RUIM

iv. Too close to call for Glo, Airtel & Etisalat

v. Risk Management & Corporate Governance

vi. Multiple Registration Of SIMs

vii. Pre-Registered SIMs

viii. Project cost implications

ix. SIMs registration Important landmark dates

4. CONCLUSION

C O N T E N T S



The first three months (May-July 2010) after the take-off of the

registration of new SIMs by the operators was classified as

'Transition Period' to perfect the various specifications and

modalities. Thus, by the time the registration of existing SIMs

commenced nine months thereafter, the entire process and

specifications had been perfected.

However, since mid-2009, the implementation of the project had

been fraught with a number of challenges, primary amongst

which are the following:

a) Delays in securing budget approval for the project continued

to put a constrain on the takeoff in various ways, including

inability to formally engage/execute agreements with that

front-end and back-end service providers/partners, and carry

out the desired awareness campaigns.

b) Inability to finalize relevant documents owing to delay in

contracting back-end provider.

c) Failure to release draft regulations for the required public

consultation due to unstable leadership of the commission.

The primary implication of these challenges was that the planned

date for the commencement of the second phase of the project,

i.e. Existing Subscribers, could no longer subsist; hence, the

delay till March 2011, instead of August 2010.

SIMS REGISTRATION IMPORTANT LANDMARK (DATES)

S/N Landmark Achievement Completion date

1. Conce ption & Initiation A ctivities

March 2008

2. Consultation Workshop

July 2008

3. Approval of Implementation Framework Document March 20 09

4. Approval and release of Guidelines, i.e. Data Dictionary,

Business Rules and specifications for Finger prints &Portrait Image, as well as the transmission protocol document

April 2010

5. Commencement of registration of new SIMs by Operators May 1st 2010

6. Selection of Front -end & Back -end Partners

June 2010

7. Approval of Budget by the National Assembly

November 2010

8. Commencement of registration (enrolment) of existing SIMs by NCC Front -End Partners and Operators

March 28, 2011

9. Execution of Back -end Contract for the establishment of

Central Database

July 2011

10. Expiration of specified duration for enrolment of existing SIMs

September 28,2011

11. Extension of Enrolment January 2012

12. Discontinuation of enrolment by NCC Partners January 20, 2012



PRE-REGISTERED SIMS

There were several instances of sales of some pre-registered prudently managed the N6.1 billion allocated for the scheme by the

SIMs were discovered at the completion of exercise by the National Assembly. The contract sums were originally drawn with the

front-end partners and the MNOs. Sales of pre-registered SIMs mindset that the front-end partners would register all the existing

were possible because of a loophole which existed in the SIMs.

process adopted by MNOs to activate registered SIMs. The

system merely confirms that there are records and thus However, the need to complete the exercise on time necessitated the

activates SIMs without confirming the genuineness or inclusion of MNOs in this category of registration and this scaled down

authenticity of the data. the money paid to the front-end partners significantly such that less

than 40 per cent of the budgeted amount was paid. NCC paid the front-

Because MNOs agents were being paid based on the number end based on the number of SIMs registered. Only the technical

of SIMs registered, the agents capitalized on the loophole in the partners to the scheme are expected to be paid fully. The actual

registration process by simply registering as many SIMs as (eventual) contract sums are highlighted as follows:

possible and selling them to unsuspecting

Nigerians as “Active SIMs”. They also made

extra income by selling the activated SIMs at

a premium.

This was also possible because the average

subscriber would rather buy an “Active SIM”

and pay a premium price rather than go

through the registration process or be

compelled to provide “confidential

information”. To a considerable extent, this is

buoyed by ignorance on the part of the buyer

since such SIMs would be deactivated

eventually once it is discovered that the

required data, especially finger prints and

portrait images are absent.

One of the banes of the public sector project

management in Nigeria is mismanagement

of allocated resources. NCC seems to have

PROJECT COST IMPLICATIONS

S/N

SW Global Limited (DATABASE)

10. KPMG (Consultancy)

11. Banwo & Ighodalo Law Firm (Regulations)

12. E-Kenneth Group Ltd. (Confirmation Platform) – in view

8,500,000.00

GRAND TOTAL 5,928,878,978.40

7,500,000.00

Sub-Total

ASSIGNED

COVERAGE AREA

CONTRACT SUM REMARK

Lagos

North East

North West

South-South

South West

North Central

South East

760,142,640.00

650,978,510.00

677,017,640.00

768,354,910.00

693,617,670.00

693,164,685.00

620,269,980.00

4,863,546,035.00

903,828,476.40

5,767,374,511.40

45,000,000.00

10 0,504,467.00

Less thanz40% paid to

date

CONTRACTED

PARTNER

Chams Plc

DataGroup IT Limited

Eagle CBC Consortium

E-Kenneth/Sagemetrics

JKK Limited

PNN Limited

SW Global Limited

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Sub-Total

NIMC (Consultancy)

8.

9.

Less than40% paid to date

Fully Paid

85% paid

Fully Paid

No payment



INFOGRAPHIC SUMMARY

2,152,609

445,369

108,000

78,647,422TOTAL

12,750,000

14,172,411

15,119,033

33,900,000



RISK MANAGEMENT & CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The absence of corporate governance and risk management discovered during the cleaning and matching of the data submitted

has been identified as one of the reasons for the failure of by front-end partners and MNOs. This is expected since both

most public projects in the country. To forestall project failure, registrars carried out the SIM registration at the same time and most

NCC seems to have put in place a well-articulated and time at the same locations.

enforceable corporate governance strategy and risk

mitigation processes. Initial payments of 15% of contract Whereas the front-end partners were, hitherto, expected to register

sums to the front-end partners were predicated on all existing SIMs, the need to complete the exercise in record time

submission of Advance Payment Guaranty (APG) of necessitated the inclusion of MNOs in this category of registration

equivalent value from a reputable Nigerian bank. Subsequent and this was a serious source of challenge to the front-end partners.

payments were based on certification of milestones achieved As a result of the incentives being given by the operators, most

as follows: subscribers preferred to register with them.

Payment of 20% of contract sum upon certification of The incentives given by MNOs expectedly were the major catalyst

deployment of facilities in not less than 50% of the coverage for multiple registrations. For instance, it was observed that a

areas; further payments upon certification of submitted data subscriber with three SIMs, who had registered these SIMs at one

by the Project Management Consultant, i.e. KPMG. The APG NCC-point would go to each of the networks to re-register the

is recoverable in three equal installments from the third relevant number, as result, his data is discovered in, at least, four

payments, i.e. for certified data. To ensure the integrity of the registers (three operators' & NCC partner's)

project, a reputable international consulting firm, KPMG

Professional Service was engaged to manage the entire Another challenge that attracted subscribers and push them to

project. KPMG carries out monthly monitoring of the prefer the operators was the delay in establishing the back-end

registration exercise across the country to ensure conformity (central database), which affected the ability of the commission to

to guidelines and specifications. establish a veritable platform for subscribers to confirm the status of

their registration.

Apart from the initial 15% APG-backed payments, other

payments to the Enrolment Partners were subjected to To safeguard against multiple and possible improper registration, all

validation of data by the back-end partner, followed by improper registration will be exposed during data scrubbing and

certification by the Project Management Consultant. operators would be directed to partially deactivate the SIMs (on

receive only) to enable the 'owners' of such numbers (if they exist) to

update their records and thereafter deactivate the lines if there are

no responses from the users.

Several cases of multiple registration of SIMs were

MULTIPLE REGISTRATION OF SIMS



TOO CLOSE TO CALL FOR GLO, AIRTEL & ETISALAT

With 33,900,000 registered SIMs, just 100,000 away from the Airtel, began operations in Nigeria on August 5, 2001 as Nigeria's first

golden 40 million mark, and still expecting significant percentage GSM service provider, registered only 14,172,411 subscribers while

from the 22 million registered by the front-end partners, MTN's Glo, the only surviving indigenous operator that started operations on

dominance of mobile telecommunications industry was once August 29, 2003, two years after MTN and Airtel, registered 15,119,411

again confirmed. With this figure MTN commanded over 50 per SIMs. Etisalat Nigeria that began commercial operations on October 23,

cent of all SIMs and RUIMs registered by both GSM and CDMA 2008, seven years after MTN, and five years after Glo, registered

operators. However, it is too close to call for the trio of Airtel, Glo 12,750,000 SIMs. However, this figure excludes the SIMs registered by

and Etisalat. On the maiden Econet Wireless, now known as the front-end partners.

SIM Registration by GSM Mobile Network Operators

33

,90

0,0

00

15

,11

9,0

33

14

,17

2,4

11

12

,75

0,0

00

76,021,444



FRONT-END PARTNERS VERSUS MNOs


Whereas the NCC’s front-end partners were, hitherto, expected to

register all the existing SIMs, while MNOs were only to make sure

new SIMs were registered before activation, the need to complete

the exercise in record time necessitated the inclusion of MNOs in

this category of registration and this became a serious source of

challenge to the front-end partners. As a result of the incentives

given by the MNOs, most subscribers preferred to register with

them.

The front-end partners were appointed in February 2011 to carry our

SIM enrolment as follow:

MNOs did not disclose how much it cost to register each of the

subscribers. However, it is not likely to be cheaper than what NCC

arrived at, if all the variables such as cost of mobilizing the agents,

marketing communications and promotions embarked upon to

incentivize subscribers to enroll their SIM before the terminal date.

The seven MNOs namely, MTN Nigeria, Glo, Airtel, Etisalat (GSM

Operators) Visafone, Starcomms and Multilinks (CDMA Operators),

on the other hands, deployed their agents to register their

subscribers across the country. This unsurprisingly created a

competitive situation since the front-end partners were being paid

based on the number of SIMs registered. Payments for SIMs

registered differed from region to region.


Apparently guiding against a possible failure of the scheme, NCC provided project management consultancy, including monitoring,

contacted the best available consultants to provide requisite verification and certification of milestone achievements of front-end and

technical assistance to the initiative. National Identity back-end activities. Banwo & Ighodalo Chambers, a reputable Nigerian

Management Commission (NIMC), the public commission with law firm, assisted in the development of the regulations for the exercise

expertise in enrolment and database management, assisted and SW Global Ltd, one of the front-end partners, also doubled as the

NCC in developing the framework, modalities, structure, sole back-end partners. It helped in the development of specifications

specifications and selection of the front-end and back-end (Data Dictionary, Business Rules, etc), establishment and management

partners. of the central database, including collection, harmonisation, cleaning

and scrubbing of data and establishment of reporting tools.

KPMG Professional Service, a reputable international private

consulting firm with expertise in advisory services and i. Names, Profiles, Roles,Responsibilities/Functions of NCC Technical

experiences in diverse industries, including telecommunications Partners such as KPMG, SW Global, amongst others

IMPACT OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

S/N NAME ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES & FUNCTIONS

National Identity

Management

Commission (NIMC)

Public Commission

with expertise in

enrolment and

database management

ConsultantAssisted the commission in developing

the framework, modalities, structure,

specifications and selection of the front-

end and back-end partners

KPMG Professional

Service

Reputable international

private consulting firm

with expertise in

advisory services and

experiences in diverse

industries, including

telecommunications

ConsultantProject Management Consultancy,

including monitoring, verification and

certification of milestone achievements

of front-end and back-end activities

Banwo & Ighodalo

Chambers

Reputable Nigerian

Law Firm

ConsultantAssisted in the development of the

Regulations for the exercise

SW Global Ltd. Back-end Partner Development of specifications (Data

Dictionary, Business Rules, etc).

Establishment and management of the

Central Database, including collection,

harmonisation, cleaning and scrubbing

of data and establishment of reporting

tools

i.NAMES, PROFILES, ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES/FUNCTIONS OF NCC TECHNICAL PARTNERS SUCH AS KPMG, SW GLOBAL, AMONGST OTHERS



SIM vs RUIM

GSM and CDMA have serve as shorthand for different mobile Initially, CDMA phones were locked to one network, and can only be

phone technologies. GSM stands for Global System for Mobile switched to another with the cooperation of both the old and new

Communications; it's the world's most prolific mobile standard. carriers. But few years back, the CDMA standard developed something

While CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access, in the similar to SIM, called the RUIM (Removable User ID Module). But due to

context of cellphones and mobile networks, people tend to use it overwhelming popularity of GSM in Nigeria, it is called SIM card in the

interchangeably to refer to two different mobile standards: country.

CDMAOne or CDMA 2000.

SIM registration data submitted by MNOs to NCC brought to fore once

GSM and CDMA standards outline a way that phones are again the widing gulf between GSM and CDMA technology platforms in

identified by carriers. In GSM phones, it's a removable chip called the country. While GSM platform accounted for 76,021,444 of the

SIM card. In theory, you can pop a SIM card out of a GSM phone 78,647,422 registered SIMs, CDMA operators were able to register only

and stick it in any other GSM phone. Although quite a number of 2, 705,978 RUIM. Similar ratio is expected from the exercise conducted

phones are "locked" to a specific carrier through promotions. by NCC's front-end partners.

iv.SIM & RUIM Registration by Mobile Network Operators

NUMBER OF REGISTERED SIM CARDS

(AS @ MARCH 31, 2012)

33,900,000

15,119,033

14,172,411

12,750,000

2,152,609

445,369

108,000

NUMBER OF REGISTERED SIM CARDS

(AS @ MARCH 31, 2012)

76,021,444TOTAL

TOTAL

2, 705,978



Going by the strict rules of engagement established by NCC and its technical partners, particularly NIMC, the Nigeria SIMs database could

become the most trusted database that would eventually make up the planned Nigeria National Identity Database. Other database would

include data from existing government agencies such as INEC (voters' registration), immigration (international passport registration), FRSC

(drivers' license) and FIRS (tax registration). These would be integrated with the Nigeria Identity Number (NIN) to be issued by NIMC.

The decision by the NCC to engage NIMC as technical consultant to the project would ensure the seamless integration of the SIMs card

database to the National ID database.

CONCLUSION

RIVERS, NIGERIA: University of Port- south for the actualisation of the mandates

Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State, has of the agency in refocusing research and

signed a Memorandum of Understanding development (R&D) results in universities,

(MOU) with the National Office for institutions of higher learning and research

Technology Acquisition and Promotion inst i tutes in order to meet the

(NOTAP) for the building of Nigeria's entrepreneurial needs of the people.

premier oil and gas technology park.

UNIPORT is also expected to facilitate the

The MoU was signed at UNIPORT campus promotion of Intellectual Property Rights

when a delegation from NOTAP led by the (IPR), link R&D results to industry and

Director-General, Umar Bindir, visited the create opportunity for the establishment of development of the park, as well as Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ajienka, as technology based Micro Small and Medium encourage the development of other part of activities marking the school's Enterprises (MSMEs) from start-up, and technology corridors that may be identified Annual Research Fair and Conference. By boost innovation, creativity and research within the sub-region.virtue of the MoU, signed by head, Public through the Intellectual Property and

Relations, Adoiye Dagogo-George, Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO) UNIPORT has, therefore, accepted to act as UNIPORT and NOTAP are to evolve established by NOTAP in the university.the co-ordinator of NOTAP in the South- e f f i c i en t methodo log ies fo r the

NOTAP to build oil & gas Technology Park in UNIPORT

LAGOS, NIGERIA:

,

The Federa l economic policy, among other factors. ICT industry. Basically, this will create a

Government is developing a local content Johnson, who noted that an average competitive playing field and incentives

pol icy for the Informat ion and Nigerian carries about three cards, for companies that manufacture,

Communication Technology industry, decried the situation where significant produce or personalise cards”.

which it plans to release during the fourth parts of the cards were produced abroad.

quarter of this year, Minister of She exp la ined that successfu l

Communications Technology, Mrs. She said, “On the issue of card implementation of the two priorities

Omobola Johnson has said. m a n u f a c t u r e , p r o d u c t i o n a n d would contribute significantly to the

personalisation, we are working on local growth of the card industry as more

The minister also canvassed increased content guidelines that will be issued in Nigerians use cards as a means of

local production of e-Payment and other Q4 of 2012, that will result in an increase transacting business and obtaining

smartcards in the country ahead of the in domestic value added to the ICT government and other services. This, she

card explosion expected to be stimulated industry and, of course, the creation of said, would in turn drive local innovation

by the Central Bank of Nigeria's cash-less low, medium and highly skilled jobs in the in the industry.

Nigeria to unveil local content policy for ICT industry

43

ADO-EKITI, EKITI: The World Bank distribution of laptops to students and

Country Director in Nigeria, Mrs. Marie teachers in secondary schools, would not

Francise Marie-Nelly, has commended only help in bringing back the lost glories

Ekiti State’s governor, Kayode Fayemi, of the state but will also go a long way in

for his initiatives in the area of ICT. exposing the citizens to opportunities, far

and near.

Marie-Nelly specifically commended the

giant step being taken by Fayemi in the The World Bank’s chief noted that the

introduction of biometric payroll bank has taken up an advocacy to alert all

application system in the civil service and nations to open their flanks in the area of

the distribution of laptops to secondary ICT, saying it presents the veritable menace of ghost workers in the state civil schools. T avenue for human capital development.service. She also added that the

he World Bank’s chief said these in Ado-

Ekiti while leading a delegation to the

state on behalf of the bank to have a

rapport with the government to ascertain

which sector the state would like the

international agency to intervene to fast

track the level of development. Marie-

Nelly said the introduction of biometric

system in the payment of workers'

salaries has helped in tackling the

World Bank commends Ekiti on biometric payroll, laptops distribution to schools

L A G O S , N I G E R I A : T e l e d o m front of the class. “What the teacher

International Limited has unveiled its writes is recorded centrally in the

latest in stock smart classroom symposium server as well as in each

technology. The Group CEO, of the students' desktop or laptop

Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel computers”, he enl ightened.

Ekuwem, says the solution would Ekuwem noted that in the recent

boost the education sector in the past, the education sector in Nigeria

country. has been experiencing decline in

standards, stressing that teachers

He says smart classroom technology have complained about the lack of

affords the teacher opportunity to basic infrastructure and conducive or

think, teach, create and innovate enabling environment for effective

smart. He also said that students are teaching amongst other challenges.

bound to learn in a smart way,

exciting and great fun wherever this He pointed out that experts have

smart classroom in installed. He noted that an average Nigerian child,

explained that the systems involve if exposed to the type of learning

the networking of students' desktop environment his counterparts in

or laptop systems in the class to the developed countries have access to,

touch-screen symposium, which would definitely perform better than

transfers whatever the teacher what obtains today

writes to an interactive whiteboard in

Teledom introduces smart classroom technology

OSOGBO, OSUN: Training for the

participants for the newly introduced

Osun Youth Employment Scheme-

Technology (OYES-TECH) has

c o m m e n c e d a n d t h e s t a t e

government assured that there is

guaranteed job security with such

trainings.

The training, which commenced at the

10 centres located in the nine federal

constituencies, is one of the series of registration was high as participants geo-political zones in the state, giving youth employment initiatives of the were eager to be trained, stressing the entire youths in the state Aregbesola-led administration.that the training programme will run opportunity to participate.Project Coordinator, Mr. Bambo concurrently in 10 centres across the Bashorun, told journalists that

Osun begins tech training

with OYES-TECH

44

ABUJA, NIGERIA: The government of Management system for the National the 40% contribution - USD554,785.78 -

Nigeria has approved a new e-health Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). for the project. The project will deliver an

system designed to improve the electronic network that will facilitate

efficiencies of the delivery of health Ebuchi Chukwu, put forward the E-NHIS transactions between NHIS and other

services in the country. The Federal project, which will be run collaboration with o r g a n i z a t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g h e a l t h

Executive Council has approved the IFC/World Bank. The bank will provide a management organisations, health

Regulatory and Business Practices grant of USD1.36 million, while the Nigerian financiers and insurance companies.

I m p r o v e m e n t a n d I n f o r m a t i o n government has approved the payment of

FG endorses $2 million e-Health system

PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS:

,

Rivers

State has unveiled its cloud

computing initiative called RivCloud,

a local cloud computing enterprise

designed to bring computing access

to Nigerians. It is achieved by

b r i ng ing i n f r as t ruc tu re and

connectivity together to securely

deliver contents to users through

major internet service providers

(ISPs), thus guaranteeing faster

service from the cloud to all parts of

the country. In the process, it will

o p e n n e w m a r k e t s , d r i v e

competiveness, create jobs and

boost the local economy.

Cloud Computing is a method of

p r o v i d i n g a p p l i c a t i o n s a n d

technologies in a shared computing

model that allows for quick

deployment of computing resources

to Nigerians. “As a government,

RivCloud gives us the opportunity to

implement more online services to

our citizens in a cost-effective

manner”. In addition to the services

to the citizens of the state, RivCloud

is designed for the creation of an ICT

economy through the engagement

a n d s u p p o r t o f n e w I C T

entrepreneurs by provision of the

resources needed for their start-up

businesses.

River State unveils

RivCloud initiative

President Jonathan inaugurates e-library with 16.5 million e-Documents

UYO, AKWA IBOM: President Goodluck and Conference Centre that could host

Jonathan has inaugurated the e-library built internat ional conferences of any

by Akwa Ibom government. Jonathan said magnitude. The Commissioner for

that the Federal Government was happy to Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr

be identified with the project which is in Emmanuel Enoidem, said that the e-library

line with digital revolution in the world. He project started in 2007.

commended Gov. Godswill Akpabio for his

efforts at transforming the state and He said that the initial idea was to have a

expressed the hope that the e-library headquarters for the State Library Board

would be used for the uplift of humanity. but the vision later changed to a state-of-

The President in the state to also the-art edifice. The three-storey library

declare open the Senate Retreat. complex has digital collections of 16.5

million e-documents which could be

Speaking earlier, Gov. Akpabio described accessible to users simultaneously. It also

the e-library as a knowledge-based centre, has two million electronic books that could

which, according to him, is the first in be downloaded in addition to 14.5 million

Nigeria and in West Africa. He said the electronic research e-journals. The facility

library has a conference centre with has children multi-media resource centre,

language translators, as he urged the 1,260 educational games for children,

president to bring most of ECOWAS 1,000 simulations and mathematics

meetings to the state. Its cost was, practice tools, as well as 80,000 question

however, not stated. The governor said and answer se r i es fo r t e r t i a r y

that the state had also embarked on the examinations.

construction of Tropicana Entertainment

was

45

govTechnology Directory

The mandate of the ministry includes development

of appropriate policies that facilitate the build-up of

a ubiquitous, reliable and cost-effective

infrastructure across the country, drive, support

and encourage the utilisation of the infrastructure

through wide spread ownership of ICT devices,

d ig i ta l content product ion; appl icat ion

development and the deployment of public and

private services on the infrastructure and to

leverage ICT to drive the effectiveness and

efficiency of the public service.

Federal Secretariat Complex

3rd Floor, B Wing - Phase I, Annex II

Shehu Shagari Way

E-mail:[email protected]

Website:www.commtech.gov.ng

Head: Mrs.Omobola Johnson

Address

NBC is a parastatal of the Federal Government of

Nigeria, empowered to regulate the broadcasting

industry by Act No. 38 of 1992 as amended by Act

No. 55 of 1999. Its responsibilities include

advising the Federal Government on the

implementation of the National Mass

Communication Policy, with particular reference

to broadcasting, as well as licensing Cable, DTH,

and all terrestrial radio and television services.

Plot 20, Ibrahim Taiwo Street, (By Aso Villa),

Asokoro, Abuja P.M.B. 5747, Garki, Abuja,

Nigeria

Website: http://www.nbc.gov.ng

E-mail: [email protected]

Head: Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa

Director General/CEO

Address:

Federal Ministry of Communications Technology

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)

NCC is the independent national

r e g u l a t o r y a u t h o r i t y f o r t h e

telecommunications industry in Nigeria. It

is responsible for creating an enabling

environment for competition among

operators in the industry and ensuring the

provision of qualitative and efficient

telecommunications services throughout

the country.

Plot 423, Aguiyi-Ironsi Street,

Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria


Website:www.ncc.gov.ng

Head: Dr. Eugene Juwah

Executive Vice Chairman (CEO)

Address

National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) This is a public enterprise of the Federal

Government incorporated in 2006 with

the primary mandate of setting up and

operating a unified ICT infrastructure

platform that addresses the connectivity,

transversal and other technology

imperatives for Ministries, Departments

and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal

Government.

61, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent

Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria

E-mail:info@ galaxybackbone.com.ng

Website: www.galaxybackbone.com.ng

Head: Gerald Ilukwe

Managing Director/CEO

Address

Galaxy Backbone

NCC BUILDING

46

NIGCOMSAT Limited's mission is to manage

and exploit the commercial viability of

Nigerian Communication Satellite for the

social and economic benefits of the nation. It

is also charged with the management and

operation of the first geostationary

communications satellite in sub-Saharan

Africa.

Obasanjo Space Centre, Airport Road,

Lugbe, Abuja

E-Mail: [email protected]

Website: www.nigcomsat.com

Head: Engr. Ahmed Rufai

Managing Director/Chief Executive

Address

Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT)

NIPOST is a government agency set up to

develop, promote and provide adequate and

efficiently coordinated postal services at

reasonable rates; maintain an efficient system

of collection, sorting and delivery of mail

nationwide; provide various types of mail

services to meet the needs of different

categories of mailers; establish and maintain

postal facilities of such character and in such

locations consistent with reasonable

economics as will enable the generality of the

public to have ready access to essential postal

services.

Corporate Headquarters,

Abubakar Musa Argungu House,

Abuja, Nigeria.


Website: www.nipost.gov.ng

Head: Ibrahim Mori Baba, Post Master

General/CEO

Address:

Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST)

NOTAP is one of the parastatals established by the

Federal Government of Nigeria, under the Science

and Technology Ministry. Its activities include

Evaluation/Registration of Technology Transfer

Agreements; Promotion of Intellectual Property;

Technology Advisory and Support Services;

Commercialization of R&D Results; Research

Industry Linkage; Production of Compenduim,

Management Information System; Publication of

Project Profiles on R&D Results among others.

4 Blantyre Street Wuse II, Off Adetokunbo

Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja

Website: http://www.notap.gov.ng

Tel: 09- 4611189 E-mail:[email protected]

Head: Umar Buba Bindir

Director General/CEO

Address

National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion

NITDA is the clearinghouse for IT projects in

the public sector in Nigeria. The agency is

committed to the drive to bring government

and its services closer to the people through

IT. It is entrusted with the implementation of

the National IT policy, which seeks to make

Nigeria an IT capable country in no distant

future.

28, Port-Harcourt Crescent,

Off Gimbiya Street, Area II, Garki,

Abuja, Nigeria


Website: www.nitda.gov.ng

Head: Prof. Cleaopas Angaye

Director General (DG)

Address

National Information Technology DevelopmentAgency (NITDA)

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47

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