The Nation Newspaper

Category: e-Business

  • NCC seeks NSDC’s partnership to end vandalism

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is seeking partnership with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to put an end to incessant vandalism of telecoms infrastructure.

    NCC Executive Commissioner (Stakeholders Management) Mr. Sunday Dare, who spoke at the NCC Headquarters in Abuja, during a meeting of the two organisations, said the meeting was a follow up to the previous one hosted by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Maj- Gen Babagana Monguno (rtd) in December last year for both agencies to deliberate on workable ways to protect critical national infrastructure.

    Mr Dare, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, at the meeting, said it was in line with the previous meeting where the  NCC expressed its willingness to work with the NSCDC on ways to protect telecoms sector critical national infrastructures such as base transmission stations (BTS), optic fibre cables (OFC), masts and others.

    He added that the partnership will also address the activities of criminals that trade on pre-registered Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards because of its security implications.

    According to the Executive Commissioner, although the NSCDC men have been manning NCC Emergency Communications Centres (ECC), before now, “we are sure that you will support in the protection of the critical infrastructure on the directive of the NSA”.

    NSCDC Acting Deputy Commandant-General (Protection of Critical Infrastructure), Mr. Amos Andekein, said the agency will replicate the success it recorded in protecting oil and gas pipelines nationwide in the telecoms sector.

    He explained that protection of critical national infrastructure was part of the NSCDC core mandate as enshrined in its Act. “We are therefore, willing to do just that for the telecommunications sector like we have been doing for the oil and gas sector, protecting oil pipelines and (and ensuring safe) maritime operations,” he said.

    He explained, however, that it will require a lot of enlightenment for people to know the dangers of vandalising telecom equipment and the laws against it.

    Head, Legal and Regulatory Services (NCC), Mrs. Yetunde Akinloye said the laws were being fine-tuned with a view to having successful prosecution of defaulters.

    A private member bill is in the offing and when passed, prosecution will be a lot easier, Akinloye added.

    Assistant Commandant-General, Mr. Jonathan Iyogho, said the NSCDC was willing to cooperate with the NCC in protecting critical national infrastructure, adding that collaboration is a key element in achieving a success.

    NSCDC Legal Adviser, Mrs. Yemisi Salako, said to prosecute arrested offenders, the offence has to be known to the law and above all, there must be witnesses willing to testify.

    When NSCDC officials make arrest, prosecution is done by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, she maintained.

  • GSMA to Nigeria, others: release digital dividend spectrum

    The Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) has advised regulators, who want its citizens to enjoy the unlimited possibilities of mobile technology to quickly release the digital dividend spectrum in the 700/800 megahetz (MHz) band.

    Its Chief Regulatory Officer, John Giusti, who gave the advice, said Kenya’s success story, which achieved analogue switch-off over a decade ago, is worthy of emulation.

    He said: “For countries that want to connect more of their citizens to the enabling power of mobile technology, making the so-called Digital Dividend spectrum (700/800 MHz band) available is key to expanding coverage. As one of the largest and most diverse economies in East Africa, Kenya is a hub for technology and innovation in the region. One thing the country’s digital television migration showed is that, irrespective of the challenges faced, they can be overcome.”

    GSMA’s new report titled: “Digital Migration Process in Kenya”, highlighted the valuable lessons that can be derived from the country’s experience with its digital switchover over the last 10 years. The report provided useful information and guidance to regulators and policymakers from other countries where similar migration processes are ongoing or being planned.

    Planning for the analogue to digital television migration in Kenya began in 2006. The government had a powerful vision that the migration would not only be a vehicle to deliver improved audio-visual content to Kenyan consumers, but would also utilise spectrum, freeing up the digital dividend spectrum band for mobile.

    Digital dividend spectrum is ideal for reaching more people with mobile broadband, as these lower-frequency bands can cover wider areas with fewer base stations than higher frequencies. This reduces deployment costs and allows operators to provide broader, more affordable coverage, especially in rural areas where connectivity can be a challenge. But it is about more than just rural areas; digital dividend spectrum also delivers benefits in urban areas, providing improved indoor coverage as these frequencies can more easily penetrate buildings.

    In Kenya, as in other countries, the digital migration process required consideration and implementation of a broad range of issues, including policy, the state of the broadcasting market, funding for the migration, public outreach, consumer equipment availability and the inclusion of stakeholders in the planning process. According to the report, some key lessons from Kenya’s migration experience are that all started with a well-planned roadmap – governments can facilitate a smooth and successful digital migration process by establishing a well-planned migration roadmap and obtaining buy-in from stakeholders; transparency enhances credibility.

    The roadmap should include as many details as possible regarding the repurposing of the Digital Dividend spectrum, including specific timelines for clearing the band and awarding the spectrum. In addition, the plan should specify the process the government will use to grant the spectrum to new operators.

    Industry input is needed to succeed – governments should request and give due consideration to industry input throughout the migration process, including during the planning that precedes any actual technical changes. This will encourage commitment from stakeholders, reducing the possibility of legal challenges and delays.

     

  • Challenges of deploying technology

    Challenges of deploying technology

    Electronic or e-businesses have blossomed – no thanks to the rapid explosion in the number of internet users in the country. This development was also spurred by increasing affordability of smartphones and data bundles. In other climes, drones are becoming tools for delivering orders, monitoring facilities, and fighting criminals. LUCAS AJANAKU writes about the limitations of this option in the country.

    W henPresident Muhammadu Buhari assumed duties as the Commander-in-Chief about two years ago, one of the greatest challenges he inherited was crude oil theft.

    It was estimated that the country lost N12.566 billion in one month  to oil theft and vandalism of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC’s) pipelines.

    Giving a breakdown of the losses, the NNPC, in its Monthly Financial and Operations Report for March last year, said crude oil loss amounted to N5.94 billion; petroleum products losses stood at N1.757 billion, while N4.87 billion was spent on pipeline repairs and management cost.

    According to the report, the losses negatively affected NNPC’s transfer to the Federation Account from the domestic sale of crude oil and gas. Specifically, the report noted that transfers to the Federation Account by the NNPC dipped by N9.23 billion to N69.544 billion in March, compared with N76.614 billion recorded in the preceding month.

    Worried by this development, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, hinted that the state-run oil firm would deploy drones to end crude theft in the country.

    He said the drones will monitor the movement of ships.

    The action of the government may not be misplaced after all. Oil generates around 70 per cent  of government revenues.

    A 2013 report by think-tank Chatham House said that 100,000 barrels per day were being stolen.

    That was equivalent to five per cent of Nigeria’s daily production.

    It said the theft was occurring on an “industrial scale”, with small barges transferring stolen oil to tankers waiting offshore to take it to international markets. Senior politicians and military officers are said to be involved in the illegal trade.

    Last year however, Nigeria’s first true composite online and offline retail chain, Yudala, achieved another first with the drone delivery of the first order placed for its Black Friday sales.

    The order for the item, a Nokia Lumia smart phone was placed by Yetunde Lawal, a worker of Access Bank Plc. who was shopped on the Yudala website for the first time.

    According to the firm, the drone took off from the headquarters of Yudala at Redemption Crescent, Gbagada loaded with the product to the amazement and delight of onlookers who gathered to monitor the progress of the drone all the way to the Access Bank branch along the Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway where it was alighted in front of the bank.

    A worker of Yudala was on hand to process the invoice for the order and hand over the phone to an obviously elated Yetunde who chose the payment on delivery option.

    “I am extremely delighted and indeed short of words to explain how I feel to be the first person to receive an item via drone delivery in Nigeria, all thanks to Yudala. This is an innovative concept in the evolution of e-commerce in the country which I am sure other competitors will want to copy.

    “Yudala has met and exceeded my expectations and I can only encourage all my colleagues, friends and family to shop and shop on Yudala,” she said.

    Onlookers may have gasped with disbelief the first time the drone delivered the order.

    Yes, until recently, this was the stuff of science fiction with initial reaction probably being- “Amazing … but will it ever take off?”

    Drones – or unmanned aerial vehicles, as we once called them – have now become capable of lifting and delivering on the back of continued research and technological ingenuity.

    Amazon has recently been trialling drones in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK), but don’t get too excited: this is likely to be an exception rather than a norm. The practical reality of using drones in cities remains far away and is getting ever more distant.

    According to Mybroadband, an online technology platform, there are already too many potential problems to let drones fly with sufficiently loose restrictions in cities to make a delivery business viable.

    One major issue is drones interfering with aircraft, thanks to surging numbers of near-misses. Drones are also increasingly being used to fly drugs and other contraband into prisons.

    In the United States (U.S.), there have been fears about camera-equipped drones stalking celebrities for paparazzi. There have also been stories about invasive drone surveillance, both on behalf of the state and private individuals.

     

    Drone law

     

    In Nigeria, there is no law to regulate drone use. The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCCA), National Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) and may be the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) may have to come in to draft a regulation to monitor drone use in the country.

    The biggest backlog of legal cases in the U.S. is reportedly drone claims over issues including safety, noise, damage, personal intrusion and privacy.

    The whole area is a growing business for lawyers, with drone law journals springing up and fierce debates over whether, for example, drones fall within the definition of aircraft for legal purposes.

    New U.S., according Principal and Vice Chancellor, Heriot-Watt University, Richard Andrew Williams, in Mybroadband, flight rules introduced last August did lead some optimists to predict a new business opportunity that could create 100,000 new jobs, but the reality is that the whole sector is in a mess.

    The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority has explicitly said drone deliveries are off limits, at least pending further research into their consequences.

    At the same time, technologies are emerging that are designed to down drones. Your initial reaction might be that these will never work either, but I’m not so sure.

    A great recent British engineering invention is the SkyWall100. It looks like a bazooka gun and uses laser-guided targeting to fire a ball.

    This opens into a net that engulfs the drone and brings it to earth under a parachute.

    It went on sale late last year and is retailing at between £50,000 and £65,000 depending on the size of the order. So far, it has attracted a promising level of interest.

    The SkyWall100 is safer and less messy than shooting down drones with bullets, yet it opens up a cavern of legal ambiguities.

    In the UK, for example, it’s classed as a firearm so can only be owned by someone with the appropriate licence – restricting them mainly to the police or military.

    The U.S. has looser firearm restrictions, of course, but firearms still generally can’t be discharged within city limits. However, the SkyWall100 is not classified as a firearm in the US, so it can be discharged anywhere.

    Among other techniques for taking out drones, one is the Battelle DroneDefender, which is a large gun that fires a “cone of energy” at a device that disrupts GPS systems.

    So far, these are only in use by the military and not permitted for public sale.

     

    Going down

     

    If the likes of the SkyWall100 are going to let people prevent drones from moving over their private property to avoid their nuisance, noise and frankly hazard of failure, a new sport of “drone downing” could easily become extremely popular in the coming years – at least in America.

    Drone-downing raises the alluring prospect of capturing free booty if it strays illegally into your property. So what constitutes illegal?

    While I stress I am no lawyer, the U.S. rules for protecting your drone from such potshots would appear to be as follows. It must weigh less than 25kg and can’t be out of your line of sight or higher than 400ft in the air. It can only be flown in daylight, and at dawn and dusk it needs special lights to make it visible.

    It also can’t be flown over groups of people or near stadiums or airports.

    In the UK, the rules are similar, but with slightly tougher weight restrictions and additional requirements – it must be at least 150 metres from a building and 50 metres from a person or vehicle.

    Williams said: “If I was planning to build a shopping or pizza delivery business based on using drones that delivered to homes in cities, restrictions like these would make me more than a little jittery.

    “Put all this together and it’s virtually impossible to see drone deliveries becoming viable in cities.

    “It might be a different story in remote locations where special deliveries may be deemed acceptable and welcomed, but otherwise I’m afraid this is one vision of the future that has no chance of coming to pass. It is an example of a clearly brilliant concept that is colliding badly with human nature and reality.”

  • Anger as SON clamps down on phone dealers

    There was anger and frustration at the weekend when officials of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and policemen clamped down on suspected importers and sellers of substandard phones in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    Speaking during the enforcement, SON Director-General Osita Anthony Aboloma said substandard goods, if not addressed, could consume the nation, adding that the government will not allow importers of fake phones to defraud consumers.

    He said: “Our target is the bigger importers; we have to start from the small ones to get the big ones; if we don’t operate this way, the real owners of these substandard products will never come out.

    “I want to let Nigerians know that enforcement is a continuous exercise. Whenever the government notices any case of substandard product in the market, this process will be repeated. It is worth noting that there has been remarkable progress since we started vigorous enforcement.”

    SON clamped down on shops selling phones and accessories at Banex Plaza, Wuse market and Utako market all in Abuja. SON and its team stormed a phone shop at Banex Plaza with Mmadu Communication Ltd as trading name and removed phones from the shelves and canters of the shop. The shop workers were surprised at the intrusion of the team. When they asked what was going on, the enforcement team, comprising police officers, then introduced themselves to the bewildered workers. At that point, the workers and other shop owners insisted SON was not leaving with any mobile phone.

    Mmadu Communications sells products from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Microsoft, iPhone, Gionee, Sony, Blackberry, Techno, Lenovo, HTC, Talk 10 and others. All these phones brands had technical representatives attending to customers when the team came. Most people in Banex, including the representatives of the OEMs, said the firm does not deal in fake products. They questioned the authenticity of the information given to SON that led to the raid.

    It was later discovered that the same shop raided at Banex Plaza (Mmadu Communication Ltd) is the supplier of most phones in Utako Market sealed by SON.

    Mr. Adams Idoko, who is a shop owner in Banex, faulted the way and manner SON invaded the shop. He said whatever substandard product coming into the country ought to have been stopped at the borders or ports or points of entry, lamenting that it was wrong for security agencies to break into people’s shops and confiscate products they felt were substandard without prove to that effect.

  • Accenture to regulators: brace for new ICT world

    A leading global professional services company, Accenture Nigeria, has advised regulators to start bracing for a new global world order where digitalisation will have a strong foothold.

    Its Managing Director, Financial Services, Toluleke Adenmosun, said regulators in the information communications technology (ICT) industry should begin to prepare for a new world order that is different from the brick and mortar approach.

    According to her, the new order, dominated by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will see old jobs going, adding that the development underscored the need for employees in the country to continue to improve and sharpen their skills so they could operate within the emerging new ‘job world’.

    Speaking during the unveiling of Accenture Technology Vision 2017, in Lagos, at the weekend, Mrs Adenmosun said technology is not necessarily disruptive, adding that the firm will continue to collaborate with operators across the ICT ecosystem to improve how people live their lives by providing a range of strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations services and solution.

    According to the Accenture Technology Vision 2017, people hold the power to shape and apply technology to create positive change, improve lives, and transform business and society.

    She said the theme of this year’s report, Technology for People, a call to action for business and technology leaders to design and direct technology is to support human capabilities.

    The report stated that the world is beginning to see the emergence of technology for people, by people—technology that seamlessly anticipates people’s needs and delivers hyper-personalised experiences.

    “Artificial intelligence (AI) is coming of age, tackling problems both big and small by making interactions simple and smart. AI is becoming the new user interface (UI), underpinning the way we transact and interact with systems; 79per cent of survey respondents agree that AI will revolutionise the way they gain information from and interact with customers,” the report noted.

    Another area of the report is design for humans. “Technology design decisions are being made by humans, for humans. Technology adapts to how we behave and learns from us to enhance our lives, making them richer and more fulfilling; 80 per cent of executives surveyed agree that organisations need to understand not only where people are today, but also where they want to be—and shape technology to act as their guide to realize desired outcomes,” it added.

    On ecosystems as macrocosms, the report noted that platform companies that provide a single point of access to multiple services have completely broken the rules for how firms operate and compete. “Companies don’t just need a platform strategy, they need a rich and robust ecosystem approach to lead in this new era of intelligence. Already, more than one-quarter (27 per cent) of executives surveyed reported that digital ecosystems are transforming the way their organisations deliver value.

    “Workforce marketplace: The number of on-demand labour platforms and online work-management solutions is surging. As a result, leading companies are dissolving traditional hierarchies and replacing them with talent marketplaces,which in turn is driving the most profound economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution. A case in point: 85 per cent of executives surveyed said they plan to increase their organisation’s use of independent freelance workers over the next year.

    “The uncharted: To succeed in today’s ecosystem-driven digital economy, businesses must delve into uncharted territory. Instead of focusing solely on introducing new products and services, they should think much bigger—seizing opportunities to establish rules and standards for entirely new industries. In fact, 74 per cent of the executives surveyed said that their organisation is entering entirely new digital industries that have yet to be defined.”

  • Combatting online trolls menace

    Combatting online trolls menace

    Internet connectivity could be fun. But this wonderful fun can turn into a horror film if the users of online platforms decide to turn them instruments to mock, insult, abuse, harass and even threaten one another, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    Since the internet became popular, it has served both the good, bad and ugly purposes. With the liberalisation of the telecoms sector in Nigeria and affordable smartphones and increasing decrease in data cost, no thanks to cut throat competition, members of the internet community has grown so phenomenally in the country.

    According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), internet users in the country was 93,776,711 but suffered a marginal decline in November last year, reducing to 92.4 million. With this has come the challenge of trolling.

    According to lifewire, an online resource platform, the Urban Dictionary has a bunch of definitions under the term “trolling,” but the first one that pops up seems to define it as simply as possible. So, according to the Urban Dictionary’s top rated definition for “trolling,” it can be defined as: “Being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-stander, because it’s the internet and, hey, you can.”

    Wikipedia defined it as: “Someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”

    According to lifewire, those who aren’t quite familiar with the internet slang definition of “troll” or “trolling” might automatically think of the mythical creature from Scandinavian folklore. The mythological troll is known to be an ugly, dirty, angry creature that lives in dark places, like caves or underneath bridges, waiting to snatch up anything that passed by for a quick meal.

    In some ways, the mythological troll is similar to the internet troll. The internet troll hides behind his computer screen, and actively goes out of his way to cause trouble on the cyber space. Like the mythological troll, the internet troll is angry and disruptive in every possible – often for no real reason at all.

     

    Worst trolling rendezvous 

     

    You can find trolls lurking around almost every corner of the social web. Specific places that are well known to attract trolls are:

     

    YouTube comments

     

    YouTube is notorious for having some of the worst comments of all time. Some people even say “it’s the trailer park of the internet.” Go and have a look through the comments of any popular video, and you’re bound to find some of the worst comments ever. The more views and comments a video has, the more troll comments it’ll probably have as well.

     

    Blog comments

     

    On some popular blogs and news sites that have comments enabled, you can sometimes find trolls cursing, name-calling and just causing trouble for the heck of it. This is particularly true for blogs that cover controversial topics or for the ones that tend to rack up a lot of comments from people who want to share their opinions with the world.

    Forums/group chat

     

    Forums are made for discussing topics with like-minded people, but every once in a while, a troll will come in and start spewing negative words all over the place. If forum moderators don’t ban them, other members will often respond and before you know it, the thread gets thrown completely off topic and becomes nothing but one big pointless argument.

     

    Email

     

    There are lots trolls that actively take the time and energy to write up horrible email messages in response to people they disagree with, were offended by, or just get a kick out of picking apart for no significant reason at all.

     

    Anonymous

     

    Anonymous social networks basically act as an invitation to be nasty, because users don’t have to worry about their identities being tied to their bad behaviour. They can take their anger or hatred out without suffering the consequences, because they can hide behind a faceless, nameless user account.

    Big brands on Facebook, celebrities on Twitter and Tumblr teens with lots of followers face trolling every day. Unfortunately, as the web becomes more social and people can access social sites wherever they are from their smartphones, trolling (and even cyberbullying) will continue to be a problem.

     

    Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Tumblr

     

    Now that almost anyone can comment on a status update, reply to a tweet, converse in a community thread or send an anonymous question, trolling is absolutely everywhere that people can use to interact. Instagram is especially bad, because it’s a very public platform that people use to post photos of themselves-inviting everyone and anyone to judge their appearances in the comment section.

     

    Trolling motives

     

    Every internet troll has a different backstory, and therefore different reasons for feeling the need to troll a community on the internet. They may feel depressed, attention-starved, angry, sad, jealous, narcissistic or some other emotion they may not be conscious of that’s influencing their online behavior.

    What makes trolling so easy is that anyone can do it, and it can be done from a safe, isolated place as opposed to interacting with others in person. Trolls can hide behind their shiny computers, screen names and avatars when the go out trolling for trouble, and after they’re all done, they can carry on with their real lives without facing any real consequences. Trolling makes a lot of cowardly people feel stronger.

     

    Coping with trolls

     

    If a troll tries to provoke you, just ignore them. They’re not worth your time or emotional distress. Try not to take anything personally.

    Remember that a person who seems like a troll is actually the one suffering in some way and is trying to distract themselves and make themselves feel better by taking it out on you. If you can, try to have a good laugh and think about how sad it is that people actually feel the need to insult complete strangers on the internet.

    Assistant Professor of Computer Science, West Virginia University, Saiph Savage, said more recently, it has been called cyberbullying; users have been fighting back for a while and now the owners and managers of those online services are joining in.

    The most recent addition to this effort comes from Twitch, one of a few increasingly popular platforms that allow gamers to play video games, stream their gameplay live online and type back and forth with people who want to watch them play.

    Players do this to show off their prowess (and in some cases make money).

    Game fans do this for entertainment or to learn new tips and tricks that can improve their own play.

     

    Twitch stream

     

    Large, diverse groups of people engaging with each other online can yield interesting cooperation.

    Savage said in one video game he helped build, people watching a stream could make comments that would actually give the player help, like slowing down or attacking enemies.

    But of the thousands of people tuning in daily to watch gamer Sebastian “Forsen” Fors play, for instance, at least some try to overwhelm or hijack the chat away from the subject of the game itself.

    This can be a mere nuisance, but can also become a serious problem, with racism, sexism and other prejudices coming to the fore in toxic and abusive comment threads.

    In an effort to help its users fight trolling, Twitch has developed bots – software programmes that can run automatically on its platform – to monitor discussions in its chats.

    At present, Twitch’s bots alert the game’s host, called the streamer, that someone has posted an offensive word. The streamer can then decide what action to take, such as blocking the user from the channel.

    Beyond just helping individual streamers manage their audiences’ behavior, this approach may be able to capitalise on the fact that online bots can help change people’s behavior, as my own research has documented.

    For instance, a bot could approach people using racist language, question them about being racist and suggest other forms of interaction to change how people interact with others.

     

    Using bots to affect

    humans

     

    In 2015 I was part of a team that created a system that uses Twitter bots to do the activist work of recruiting humans to do social good for their community. We called it Botivist.

    We used Botivist in an experiment to find out whether bots could recruit and make people contribute ideas about tackling corruption instead of just complaining about corruption.

    We set up the system to watch Twitter for people complaining about corruption in Latin America, identifying the keywords “corrupcion” and “impunidad,” the Spanish words for “corruption” and “impunity.”

    When it noticed relevant tweets, Botivist would tweet in reply, asking questions like “How do we fight corruption in our cities?” and “What should we change personally to fight corruption?”

    Then it waited to see if the people replied, and what they said. Of those who engaged, Botivist asked follow-up questions and asked them to volunteer to help fight the problem they were complaining about.

    We found that Botivist was able to encourage people to go beyond simply complaining about corruption, pushing them to offer ideas and engage with others sharing their concerns.

    Bots could change people’s behavior! However, we also found that some individuals began debating whether – and how – bots should be involved in activism.

    But it nevertheless suggests that people who were comfortable engaging with bots online could be mobilised to work toward a solution, rather than just complaining about it.

    Humans’ reactions to bots’ interventions matter, and inform how we design bots and what we tell them to do. In research at New York University in 2016, doctoral student Kevin Munger used Twitter bots to engage with people expressing racist views online.

    Calling out Twitter users for racist behavior ended up reducing those users’ racist communications over time – if the bot doing the chastising appeared to be a white man with a large number of followers, two factors that conferred social status and power.

    If the bot had relatively few followers or was a black man, its interventions were not measurably successful.

     

  • How to attract FDI to telecoms sector

    A Nigerian entrepreneur based in the United States (U.S.) and Managing Director of Piuni Integrated Limited, David Olowe has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to improve on the ease of doing business in the country so that foreign direct investments (FDIs) can flow into the telecoms sector.

    He also advised the president to go back to the drawing board, re-strategise and fashion out new policies that will enhance and aid economic development as well as pull out the country from economic recession.

    He spoke in Lagos during the official market launch and office opening of Piuni platform, a borderless services which is designed and built on technology to empower people through various internet services.

    Olowe, who is also the Director of Operation Piuni International said the platform was designed and built on technology to empower people through internet, noting that despite the current recession there are still basic things people do on daily basis.

    Such things include buying of calling cards, payment of utility bills such as electricity, water, education and other bills which Piuni platform can help Nigerians to do on the platform and still get rewarded for it.

    According to him, some of the services from the platform include Ubill services where people can pay for utilities anywhere in the world, Utopup universal mobile top where people can send recharge card across 140 countries using same voucher from Piuni for 600 networks. He  noted that only five networks are in Nigeria and remaining 595 scattered across the globe, adding that people from Nigeria can become intermediary and get rewarded for their services.

    “We give opportunity and empowerment to people to be able to talk to people on internet through various social medium, to market some products such as recharge cards, payment of utility bills such as health, medical, electricity, water, education as well as build international business relationship rather than using internet for fraud purposes, and we believe these will help to cushion the effect of recession and generate employment,” he said.

    Speaking further on policies that are affecting the economy, Olowe said one of such policies is monetary restriction which is seriously frustrating many businesses.

  • Enforce local content law in ICT sector, says ATB chief

    The CEO ATB Techsoft Solutions, Abiodun Atobatele, has urged the Federal Government to enforce local content law in the information communication technology (ICT) industry to boost the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country, create jobs and pull the economy out of the doldrums.

    Atobatele who spoke on the sideline during the unveiling of four solutions in Lagos, recalled that the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) estimated that organisations spend over $1billion yearly in the country to procure offshore software.

    He said: “The only way we can create thousands of technology jobs in Nigeria is to enforce existing laws and regulations on Local Content that makes it compulsory for companies to buy software developed in Nigeria by Nigerians.

    “What we have done is to offer software solutions of higher standard and functionality to the market as against what most organisations are purchasing offshore and at a much lower cost. This means Nigerian organisations do not have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to procure software abroad. Our unique solutions are coming at a time to ease Nigerians business the demand for forex.”

    ATB Techsoft Solutions Limited is an indigenous IT and software development company.

    Atobatele said the four apps suites are Finultimate, Ultisure, Eduware and Ultiflux, adding that they address gaps in the insurance, education and enterprise resource planning (ERP) for any organisation delivered as a cloud offering leveraging on the Microsoft Azure Cloud Service,

    While giving insights on the benefits and value proposition of the software, the Chief Software Architect, ATB Techsoft Solutions, Patrick Anaih gave a panoramic view on each of its offerings:

    He said Finultimate is the ERP solution that offers comprehensive portfolio of applications designed for organisations of any size to improve operational effectiveness, profitability, product innovation, distribution and/or delivery channel growth, customer relationships and enterprise information management.

    According to him, Ultisure is the suite of software solutions for insurance policy administration with flexibility and robustness.  He said customers are at liberty to create any insurance product irrespective of the complexity level and commence underwriting operations as quickly as possible. “Ultisure handles core insurance processes and has additional features that compliment these processes and could be decoupled as independent systems,” he said.

    Anaih said Ultiflux is an app that reduces work complexity, improves data capture and increases control through workflow and process automation that helps address these challenges. “Ultiflux helps customers drive down cost and control the risk of process delays. Ultiflux workflow management can organisation promote adherence to agreed processes and avoid process delays. Ultiflux is a highly flexible and configurable Business Process Automation System,” he said.

    Also speaking, Director- Small, Mid-market Solutions & Partners Group, Microsoft Nigeria, Oluwawemimo Adeniyi said Microsoft’s approach to the cloud, addresses customers’ needs in a differentiated way. Our unique approach to the cloud spans three areas that, when combined, give customers choice and flexibility with the cloud: enterprise capabilities, hyper-scale cloud infrastructure, and comprehensive hybrid solutions. “Across these three areas, we bring the benefits of cloud speed, scale and economics. Whether providing customers the tools to solve business problems at cloud scale or helping customers maximise IT investments through hybrid solutions, we are committed to providing customers with the most complete, intelligent cloud to transform their business.” She said.

  • Untold story of alleged $13.92b repatriation by MTN

    Untold story of alleged $13.92b repatriation by MTN

    MTN Nigeria, the indigenous arm of the global telecom entity, MTN International, a South African company, has risen in defence of allegations that it flouted some regulations governing foreign currency repatriation. The Senate hearings on the issue afforded the telco opportunity to clear the air, Nduka Chiejina reports.

    Towards the end of last year, some allegations made the rounds that mobile telecoms operator, MTN Nigeria, repatriated about $13.92billion out of the country under the cover of Certificate of Capital Importation (CCI). CCI as the name implies, is a document from the bank that processes the receipt of a company’s foreign investment capital into Nigeria.

    It indicates the day on which the cash arrived, how much it was and how much local currency the bank converted it into. It’s an investment capital emanating from outside what is commonly referred to as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) , so to say, to the country where the new entity has opted to invest.

    FDIs are usually encouraged and in fact, courted. Previous Nigerian governments and the current administration, have taken steps, through the establishment of extant laws and direct appeals, reached out to foreign governments and corporate bodies, wooing them to come and invest in the country. Organs like the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), the creation of the various Free Trade And Export Promotion Zones, Bilateral Trade Agreements, among others, are designed not only to enhance FDI inflow, but to deepen it as well.

    The argument in the case of the MTNN’s $13.92billion transfer which  led to the Senate public hearing, should be whether the exercise violated any regulation, or legislation. The company has said the action is covered and consistent under existing laws.

    MTN Chairman, Dr. Pascal  Dozie, and the Managing Director/CEO, Ferdi Moolman,  rose in defence of the company, saying the telco did not act in violation of any law. In a response to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions’ invitation for the Public Hearing, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, Dozie said:  ” The allegations that MTN illegally repatriated $13.92 billion out of Nigeria through its bankers between 2006 and 2016 are indeed weighty and factually incorrect. Nothing could be  farther from the truth for a company that has actually invested over $16 billion in Nigeria in a space of 10 years.”

    Dozie, who chronicled MTN’s investment in Nigeria, in both local and foreign currencies since 2001, including its creation of over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs, in the country, said the capital, which is the subject matter, was imported over a period of over 10 years via three banks, namely, Standard Chartered Bank, Diamond Bank Plc and Nigeria International Bank (Citibank), adding emphatically that the allegations regarding the CCI and illegal transfer of $13.92billion, “are completely false.” He insisted that MTN complied with extant laws and regulations, and that requests for CCIs are continuing events – made as-and-when brought-in.

    Also, Moolman said in a prepared text, that no dividends were declared or paid until the CCIs were issued and finalised, adding  that MTN Nigeria only requested for CCIs for foreign capital that was imported into Nigeria. He pointed out that dividends were externalised on CCIs.

    His argument: “Often for various reasons (such as not having all the required documentation for instance), it is not possible to issue a CCI within 24 hours, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Forex Manual contemplates such situations by asking that the banks refer to the CBN for approval. Besides, the requirement to issue a CCI within 24 hours of conversion is an administrative requirement. As such, the CBN has the authority, and indeed we believe, approved the banks’ applications to issue CCIs outside the recommended time frame.”

    MTN Nigeria’s stance that it has variously complied with the nation’s laws, in addition to its contribution to the Nigerian economy viz; Equity contribution  averaging $402, 035,000, Debt capital of N329 billion, and  Offshore loan capital of $1.297billion, in addition to the payment of over N1.6 trillion to the Government in Taxes, Levies, and made over $16 billion investment in infrastructure and services, and has through MTN Foundation (MTNF) committed over N18 billion towards  health, education and economic empowerment in 550 project locations across the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, among others, do not point to an entity acting against the interest of its host country.

    Stakeholders have argued that while  the Senate public hearing should give the lawmakers and the general public the ample opportunity to unravel the facts,  in consonance with existing regulatory provisions, nothing should be done to injure pro FDI initiatives, designed to encourage inflow of the much needed foreign capital.

    For instance, part of the incentive enshrined in NIPC rules designed to encourage FDI, among others, is that a foreign investor in an approved enterprise is guaranteed unconditional transferability of funds through an authorised dealer, in freely convertible currency, be it dividends or profit (net of taxes) attributable to the investment; payments in respect of loan servicing where a foreign loan has been obtained; the remittance of proceeds (net of all taxes) and other obligations in the event of sale or liquidation of the enterprise or any interest attributable to the investment and total repatriation of capital should the investor choose to relocate elsewhere.

    The thinking out there is, with the Senate public hearings now concluded, the critical questions to be addressed, should centre on whether there were foreign currencies imported into Nigeria through an authorised dealer by the providers of capital in MTN Nigeria. If the answer is affirmative, then the Upper Legislative  Chamber should go a step further to determine how much was imported by the providers of capital in MTN, and also point out when it was that the foreign currency was imported by the providers of capital in MTNN.

    Since all the corporate bodies involved in this episode are regulated either by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), none of which has queried the alleged infractions to date, it would be safe to conclude that all of these questions have been sufficiently answered since these inquisitions started.

    Going forward, a synergy is needed between corporate bodies, be they foreign, or indigenous and the legislature to ensure the Good Corporate Governance Practice in our nation’s corporate environment.

  • Govt funding in ICT ‘ll create billionaires, says Zinox chief

    Govt funding in ICT ‘ll create billionaires, says Zinox chief

    With the right kind of investment in technological platforms and support of the government in providing the requisite enabling environment, Nigeria can effortlessly produce global billionaires from the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector, the Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh has said.

    Ekeh who has built arguably Africa’s most integrated ICT conglomerate – the Zinox Group – is confident that with significant investment in ICT, the challenge of youth unemployment, inadequate opportunities and growing restiveness among the youth would be tackled. For this to happen, however, the government has to actively engage the youths by investing massively in ICT which, in his opinion, has become the fancy of young people.

    He said opportunities abound in the rapidly evolving ICT-driven future – a knowledge economy in which wealth is no longer the exclusive preserve of a privileged few.

    “The miracle of ICT is that it is the only profession in the world today that can make the child of a poor man the richest man in the world. The challenge, however, is that majority of our youths are in a closed community in which the standards are still poor so they cannot exhibit their innate intellectual strength. As a result, they are seen as defeated and a lot of them are unemployed.

    “We are doing our bit to correct this situation but government support will go a long way in helping the country achieve more. Presently, Zinox is building digital training centres and tech hubs across the country and empowering many of our youths. We have also committed some significant investment in a number of tech start-ups. Recently, we invested in an Ibadan-based software company – Xputer. Interestingly, some of the apps being created by the young chaps are driving the business processes of the major e-commerce outfits in the country. All they needed was a bit of exposure and support to help them scale up.

    “The same situation applies to many of our youth. Today, if you give these youths the right platforms, which I must say is not expensive, Nigeria can produce a minimum of 10 billionaires from the ICT sector in the next few years,” he told CNN.

    According to him, 90 per cent of youths today want to go into trending professions; lifestyle professions and that is what ICT really is. If government invests in this sector as it should, Nigeria is capable of producing several billionaires straight out of the technology space, he added.

    Ekeh pioneered Zinox Computers, Nigeria’s first internationally certified and most popular indigenous computer brand which has powered several international conferences including the African Union conference in Gambia and the 18th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Abuja in 2003, in addition to being severally deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the registration and successful conduct of elections in Nigeria.

    “We came with a computer with an in-built surge protector in line with the peculiar power challenges in Nigeria. At Zinox, we are closest to the people with 14 offices nationwide. Zinox has sold in every local government and town in the country today and the call centre is 24 hours. It’s a brand for Nigeria – global standard but specific to Nigeria,” he noted.

    Ekeh ranks as one of Africa’s most passionate digital entrepreneurs and he has staked this reputation by pioneering several successful technology start-ups and taking them to the zenith of marketplace competition. A first rate Indian-trained economist and risk manager, he was honoured as an ICON of Hope by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on October 1 2002 for his sustained pioneering effort in the area of Information Technology and also as a pride to modern Nigeria.