The Nation Newspaper

Category: e-Business

  • ‘Nigeria, others offer potential for cashless payment’

    African countries share some of the world’s highest speeds of digital growth, with people now constantly in pursuit of faster and more convenient ways of paying for goods and services. With the advances in technology, it is now possible to satisfy this demand at reasonable costs, MasterCard has said.

    Its Vice President and Area Business Head, West Africa, Omokehinde Adebanjo, said though progress has been slow, electronic payment systems are superceding cash, bank notes, payment orders and cheques as faster and more convenient ways to pay for goods and services.

    “In Africa, financial inclusion is crucial in order to ensure sustained economic progress and electronic payment growth across the region and other emerging markets, considering that several areas in the continent still do not have banking systems, whilst those that do are slowly transitioning from a cash-based society to electronic payment methods,” she said, while speaking at the 16th edition of the CBN Cashless Card Expo in Lagos on Retail Payment in Emerging e-Commerce Revolution in Africa.

    Financial exclusion is a major challenge with almost two thirds of the African population falling outside of the financial mainstream. In order to address this challenge, it has become more important than ever to make financial services more easily available to the millions of low-income, undeserved and unbanked individuals. Furthermore, financially excluded markets are huge unserved populations looking for a solution, and lower income does not mean that electronic payments are out of reach.

    Many successful initiatives targeting lower-income segments have been established, such as micro payments and micro finance. These types of services have the potential to open up new remittance corridors, expand the scope of cashless money transfers, extend financial inclusion and grow the economy. Through the use of technology, households, local business and technology companies become empowered to create a world beyond cash.

    The e-commerce environment in Africa is robust and expanding at a rapid rate. This is driven by continued telecommunications infrastructural development, an increase in the number of mobile service providers and the decreasing costs of using the internet.

    “This has resulted in more and more retailers placing their inventory online and opening themselves up to the global marketplace. This shows that electronic commerce is the engine that improves the economic well-being of a nation through rapid integration into globalisation and exploiting the evolving technology,” Ade-banjo said.

    This type of digital evolution is not just convenient but also plays a vital role in stimulating economic growth not only in Africa, but across the globe she noted, remarking that this will promote greater financial inclusion, and gives those without access to the formal banking system an introduction to formal financial services.

     

  • Indigenous manpower shortage fever grips ICT industry

    Indigenous manpower shortage fever grips ICT industry

    The liberalisation of the telecoms sector more than a decade ago has opened investment windows for local and foreign investors, contributing about 8.83 per cent to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP). An excess of $38 billion has also come into the economy as foreign direct investment (FDI). But on indigenous manpower development, many of the telcos prefer to poach existing professionals, LUCAS AJANAKU writes on public and private initiatives to address the problem.

    More than any time in the history of Nigeria, the information communications technology (ICT) sector has become an attraction, no thanks to the crash in the prices of crude oil, the nation’s mainstay.

    The ICT sector is one of the pivots of President Muhammdau Buhari’s economic diversification agenda. The importance of the sector cannot be over-emphasised and Communications Technology Minister Adebayo Shittu aptly captured this when he said: “Technology, particularly ICT, is the critical driver of the knowledge-based economy of this our post-modern world. As many notable pundits predicted in the course of the 20th Century, emphasis and global relevance in today’s 21st Century world has shifted from nations with huge natural resources to nations with developed human resources that can technologically explore, exploit and manage natural resources for the benefit of mankind.

    “The government will leverage more on the ICT sector to solve the problem of unemployment in the country because the revenue from the oil and gas sector has been on a steady decline since early 2015”

    For the government to maximise the potential of the industry, the development of indigenous manpower is critical. It is often said that the success and failure of any nation is a function of its human resources. Local manpower development is, therefore, a key factor to the countyr’s socio-economic and political development.

    “ICT offers Nigeria the best hope of employment generation for the youth. It offers the best hope of increasing the productivity of our national workforce through training and re-training. It also offers the best hope of activating positive revolution in promising sectors such as agriculture, solid minerals, entertainment, textiles,” Shittu added.

    According to a research by Ericsson titled Next Generation Working Life, cultural changes and rapid technological progress are transforming the rules of working life as they were known, paving the way to uncharted organisational territory.

    “There are several drivers to this development. Constant connectivity, digitalisation of products and services, automation of manual work, increased globalisation, higher education levels and changed personal values and attitudes towards work are just some of the factors fundamentally changing the way we work,” Ericsson said.

    In Nigeria, there are increasing concerns about skills gap across sectors, and experts and stakeholders are of the view that beyond the classroom, there is the need to expose students to the practical aspects in their courses of study.

    It is said that available skills are not speaking to the labour market. In some industries where there are jobs and opportunities, there is insufficient local manpower to take the jobs as Nigerians have not been properly groomed to perform some of the required roles in this sector and deliver the responsibilities that are expected of them.

    The Federal Government and some organisations in the private sector are beginning to tackle this issue by strategising and deliberating on how human capital can be developed locally to ensure that jobs that were hitherto taken by expatriates can now be in the hand of indigenes, especially in areas where high level of skills are required and where the expertise lies in the hands of foreigners.

     

    Digital Bridge Institute

     

    The Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) was launched in May 2004 in response to the phenomenal growth of the ICT sector in Nigeria. The success was led by the successful auction of Digital Mobile Licensing by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) – the government regulator, and the subsequent roll out of mobile services, increased number of operators, and significant increased private capital investment, the sector as a whole has been challenged by a dearth of qualified human capital.

    At inception, DBI had campus only in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Two other campuses have since been inaugurated in Lagos, Lagos State and Kano, Kano State. The Federal Government said DBI would be converted to a full-fledged university.

    “Africa is looking up to Nigeria to take advantage of her vast human and material resources and become the catalyst for economic emancipation of other continents. “The country does not have a dedicated institution for ICT awarding degrees. It is the policy of this government to convert the DBI in Lagos and other cities into a multi-campus ICT University, perhaps the first of its kind in Africa,” Shittu said.

     

    ETEPP

     

    Another industry intervention is the Etisalat Telecommunications Engineering Postgraduate Programme (ETEPP) at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State.

    To ensure sustainable provision of skilled telecommunications engineers to cater to the fast growing telecoms industry in Nigeria, Etisalat created the ETEPP.

    Inaugurated in 2013, ETEPP is a Master’s programme in Telecommunications Engineering, the first-of-its-kind in West Africa. The programme is located in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and facilitated in partnership with the Etisalat Academy United Arab Emirates (UAE), Plymouth University United Kingdom (UK) and Huawei Technologies to deliver a world class technology-based academic programme. The curriculum was created with the guidance of Plymouth University and the Etisalat Academy; and the technical laboratory was equipped with cutting edge tools provided by Huawei.

    A critical element of the ETEPP is the internship with Etisalat Nigeria, which offers the students practical knowledge on the theories they have learnt in the classrooms and laboratory. During the internship, the students’ practical understanding of telecommunications engineering is broadened as they gain full access to insights that have made Etisalat the most reliable network in Nigeria.

    About a fortnight ago, Etisalat Nigeria, hosted a set of students of the ETEPP at ABU, Zaria, to a one month skill enhancement internship programme. The internship afforded the student the opportunity to gain a one-month practical knowledge in various departments of the technical division of Etisalat Nigeria, to support their course work in school.

    A beneficiary of the programme, Wasiu Ajadi, said one thing uppermost in his heart was to be a sought-after industry professional after leaving the university. Ajadi was excited about the opportunity the programme has given him. At least, he has been able to match the theories taught in the classromm with practical.

    Ajadi said his participation in the internship programme at Etisalat Nigeria was an opportunity that would have been too costly to miss. Sharing his experience at the closing ceremony of the 2015 batch of ETEPP internship in Abuja, he expressed the confidence that the practical knowledge he gained during the internship would make him a rounded professional upon graduation.

    “The rich, varied and thought-provoking curriculum that we followed as part of our Master’s programme was very intense; and I believe that it will make me very competitive in the telecoms industry. We had several sessions where theoretical experience and real-world experiences were blended to put us on the cutting edge,” he said, adding that ETEPP being innovative in content and scope will meet the challenge of skills gap that currently exists in the local telecoms industry.

    Another student, Kelechi Okogwu, said ETEPP internship was a wonderful opportunity for anyone willing to develop a career in telecoms engineering. “The course content is well tailored, and the course is well-thought by the faculty and Etisalat to equip real engineers with the capacity they require to be able to solve any challenge on the field,” he said while his counterpart, Christopher Alabi, said the internship has increased his understanding of things learnt in the classroom.  “It’s no longer just theory; we now know how the theory actually relates to practice. For me that is the most important thing,” he said.

    Speaking about the ETEPP internship, Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Ibrahim Dikko, said the programme was a response to the absence of any dedicated course for the telecoms sector in any Nigerian university, which Etisalat identified as a critical missing link when it launched into the market in 2008. Consequently, ETEPP was launched to develop local capacity that would take the Nigerian telecoms industry to the next level between the next 10 and 15 years.

    He said: “In the 21st century, there is no way we can go forward and build capacity if we did not try and address the educational gap in the industry. So we started a partnership with ABU, Zaria Plymouth University UK and the Etisalat Academy, UAE to develop the Etisalat Telecommunications Engineering Postgraduate Programme. We are also training some lecturers at PhD level at Plymouth University UK so there can be capacity for knowledge sharing.”

    Head, Department of Computer Engineering, ABU, Zaria, Dr. Yusuf  Jibril, commended the telco for the innovative programme. He said through ETEPP initiative, Etisalat has invested significantly in capacity building for both lecturers and students of the university. “Through this initiative, Etisalat has donated state-of-the-art equipment to the department, exposed our students to the most recent practices in the telecommunications industry and also sponsors some of our lecturers for their PhD in Plymouth University UK. We really appreciate this good gesture,” he said.

    Through the initiative, Etisalat has trained 55 students and sponsored nine outstanding students for further training at the Etisalat Academy in UAE.  Lecturers of Ahmadu Bello University have also been sponsored for their PhD in Plymouth University, UK, while three best students of ETEPP also go to Etisalat Academy in the UAE for further training.

    Globalisation has reduced the world into a single market and the movement of labour from one part of the world to another is common. In emerging markets such as Nigeria where managerial and technical capacity are generally assumed to be low, more industry-specific knowledge and skills enhancement programmes such as ETEPP is required to enhance local managerial and technical capacity that would lead eventually to adequate local technical and managerial competencies.

  • Etisalat takes career counselling to Epe

    Etisalat has taken its career counselling programme for secondary school students to Epe, Lagos. Etisalat Career Counselling is a one-day session for junior and senior secondary school pupils held in partnership with Leadership Empowerment and Resource Network, (LEARN), a not-for-profit Organisation.

    Director, Regulatory & CSR, Etisalat Nigeria, Ikenna Ikeme explained that the platform enabled Etisalat employees to fulfil a desire to give back to society, appreciate volunteering time and employ their skills in providing career counselling and mentorship to students.

    “Career counselling scheme brings fulfilment to us at Etisalat because it enables us to demonstrate our passion for corporate social responsibility (CSR), through both internal and external platforms. We are aware that students need appropriate direction towards making compatible and fulfilling career choices, because a wrong career move will likely have serious negative long-term effects. Since 2010, our observation during Career Counselling is that whatever the personas and backgrounds of these students, one thing remains consistent – the eagerness to learn and participate. This is very significant for us,” he said.

    Ikeme further said over 7000 students have benefited from the initiative which was designed to appropriately guide students of secondary schools in the junior and senior levels, towards making sound, positive and fulfilling career decisions which will provide long-term benefits to them, their families, organisations, and ultimately the nation.

  • LCCI, Russia launch e-commerce platform

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Russia  have concluded plans to formally launch an e-commerce platform that will boost the quantum of direct trade between the two countries.

    LCCI Director-General, Muda Yusuf, said the e-commerce platform is a welcome development, coming at a time when Nigeria seriously needed foreign exchange (forex) from export as a way of diversifying the economy, and strengthening the non-oil sector.  He said the launch will strengthen the bilateral trade relations between Russia and Nigeria, in addition to boosting the economic activities between the two countries.

    The launch will also afford business men from both countries to interact and discuss opportunities that will be mutually beneficial to both countries and a big window to Europe.

  • Disruptive technologies challenge telcos, says NCC

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said the evolution of the telecoms industry, which has led to the emergence of disruptive technologies, is capable of threatening traditional telephony, short message services (SMS) and invariably, the bottomline.

    Speaking on the Role of Disruptive Technologies in Catapulting Africa’s GDP in Lagos, at an event tagged: NITEC 2016,  NCC’s  Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said a 2013 report by McKinsey co titled: Disruptive Technologies: Advances that Will Transform Life and Global Economy, identified 12 items in the gallery of disruptive technologies. These include mobile internet; internet of things (IoT); cloud; advanced robotics; autonomous vehicles; renewable energy storage and others. Some of them fall under the genre of over-the-top (OTT) services, which are carried over the networks, delivering value to customers.

    According to him, OTTs offer service without any carrier service provider being involved in planning, selling, provisioning or servicing them, implying that traditional telcos cannot directly earn revenue from such services.

    He said: “These OTT services include services such as internet protocol (IT) telephony, live (video) streaming and other social media applications.

    “Many traditional service providers are of the opinion that traditional telephony and SMS revenues are under threat from newer IP based alternatives such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Skype, Viber, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and others. Similarly, third party web content and social networking companies such as Google and Facebook are increasingly generating huge revenues and driving high levels of data, which ride on the broadband network of traditional network operators even if the latter still have all the money to upgrade their networks to accommodate the OTT intruders.”

    Globally, he added,  there is a continuing surge in growth, meaning that the industry must be heading towards a positive direction.

    According to him, a well implemented ICT agenda, which incubates new ideas, will take the industry to the next level.

    He said: “Several reasons are responsible for this optimism. The curators of some of these technologies, aptly described as disruptive, are the youths. The continent and Nigeria in particular, has a rambunctious gathering of youths, they are bold, audacious and creative.

    “The United Nations (UN) 2015 Population Facts say there were 226 million youths between the ages 15 and 24 in Africa. The figure does not include ages 25 to 45. Wikipedia records 33,625,424 for ages between 18 and 35 for Nigeria alone, while Country Meter has the following age structure: 75,584,144-young people under 15 years; 103,288,688-between the ages of 15 and 64 and 5,762,467-above the ages of 64, also for Nigeria. What this means is that quite a number of figures in the demography fall into the age of creativity and audacity,” Ojobo said.

    He said in spite of the hermetic strictures created by legacy failure in governance, challenging human capital development environment and the inability of African leaders to address the adverse factors that affect their ecosystem, African youths will always stand their own because of their resilience and the elastic ambition to dream and dare the unknown.

  • Police MfB, Intel, Airtel partner on ICT

    A technology firm, Intel, in conjuction with Airtel and the Nigerian Police  Force (NPF) Micro Finance Bank (NPF MfB),  has partnered on information communication technology (ICT).

    Intel Country Manager  Mr. Olubunmi Ekundare said the partnership was designed to add value and bring technology closer to the people.

    Speaking during the partnership programme at the Zone 2, Command headquarters in Onikan, Lagos, Mr Ekundare said ICT is crucial for security, hence the reason for the partnership.

    According to him, the aim is to make technology more accessible and affordable to all, while creating jobs and promoting Small Scale Enterprises (SME’s).

    Intel Business Development Manager, Folake Oyekanmi, said every police officer, who is a customer with NPF MfB, can benefit from the Personal Computer (PC) offering.

    She said ICT is the next big thing, adding that all age group must accept ICT. “We are giving out the PC, the next money making machine at a very low price, NPF MfB will offer loan for its acquisition and Airtel will provide free internet services to make use of the device. We are also going to train the police on how to use the PC and on entrepreneurship to start a business; all that would be needed to start a business will be downloaded on the PC. The PC’s have large memory, it is very fast and portable,” she said.

    Airtel Senior Manager, Devices and Partnership, Bobby Iduoze said the partnership is an opportunity to learn and engage oneself.

    He said Airtel will offer free data services to anyone who purchased the PC from the NPF MfB.

    “We will give your PC five gigbyte (5G) worth of free data to connect to other devices,” he said.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Zone 2, Lagos, Mr.  Isaac Akinmoyede said as the world is growing in ICT, there is need for security officials to grow along same direction.

    “The way of doing things has changed over the years and the police cannot afford to be left behind; we have to move with the trend,” he said.

  • ‘Nigeria, others offer potential for cashless payment’

    African countries share some of the world’s highest speeds of digital growth with people now constantly in pursuit of faster and more convenient ways of paying for goods and services. With the advances in technology, it is now possible to satisfy this demand at reasonable costs, MasterCard has said.

    Its Vice President and Area Business Head, West Africa, Omokehinde Adebanjo, said though progress has been slow, electronic payment systems are superceding cash, bank notes, payment orders and cheques as faster and more convenient ways to pay for goods and services.

    “In Africa, financial inclusion is crucial in order to ensure sustained economic progress and electronic payment growth across the region and other emerging markets, considering that several areas in the continent still do not have banking systems, whilst those that do are slowly transitioning from a cash-based society to electronic payment methods,” she said, while speaking at the 16th edition of the CBN Cashless Card Expo in Lagos on Retail Payment in Emerging eCommerce Revolution in Africa.

    Financial exclusion is a major challenge with almost two thirds of the African population falling outside of the financial mainstream. In order to address this challenge, it has become more important than ever to make financial services more easily available to the millions of low-income, undeserved and unbanked individuals. Furthermore, financially excluded markets are huge unserved populations looking for a solution, and lower income does not mean that electronic payments are out of reach.

    Many successful initiatives targeting lower-income segments have been established, such as micro payments and micro finance. These types of services have the potential to open up new remittance corridors, expand the scope of cashless money transfers, extend financial inclusion and grow the economy. Through the use of technology, households, local business and technology companies become empowered to create a world beyond cash.

    The e-commerce environment in Africa is robust and expanding at a rapid rate. This is driven by continued telecommunications infrastructural development, an increase in the number of mobile service providers and the decreasing costs of using the internet.

    “This has resulted in more and more retailers placing their inventory online and opening themselves up to the global marketplace. This shows that electronic commerce is the engine that improves the economic well-being of a nation through rapid integration into globalisation and exploiting the evolving technology,” Adebanjo said.

    This type of digital evolution is not just convenient but also plays a vital role in stimulating economic growth not only in Africa, but across the globe she noted, remarking that this will promote greater financial inclusion, and gives those without access to the formal banking system an introduction to formal financial services

     

  • Unleashing ICT potential in rural life

    Unleashing ICT potential in rural life

    Information communications technology (ICT) has changed the face of human existence. Aside dismantling the barriers of distance, human endeavours, such as medicine, agriculture, education and power supply, have been positively impacted. Some innovative solutions designed to improve rural pastoral nomadic lifestyle have been unveiled. How sustainable are the solutions? LUCAS AJANAKU asks.

    With the unprecedented downturn in the prices of crude oil, the Federal Government has intensified the talk about economic diversification. Experts have identified the information communications technology (ICT), agriculture and solid mineral sectors as holding the prospects to displace oil.

    President Muhammadu Buhari is leaving no stone unturned in his quest to shore up the declining oil revenue by exploring alternative revenue resources. One of the fundamental steps he has taken to appreciate the prime position of ICT in driving growth and fighting graft is the Single Treasury Account (TSA), which has fetched the Federal Government over N1trillion.

    Declaring open this year’s Katsina State Economic and Investment Summit, Buhari said: “The world is now a global village. This summit is, therefore, a great opportunity to link up with others for the benefit of both parties. Our natural partners are those with requisite skills and financial capabilities to invest.

    “Our major strength is farming and livestock. Two of the richest countries in the world namely New Zealand and Denmark built and developed their economies on these pillars. Properly harnessed, a combination of people with skills and money with those blessed with resources is a win-win partnership.”

    He called for cooperation and partnerships between the states and investors in view of the government’s drive to grow local content and increase exports for improved balance of trade with other countries.

    To develop the agric sector, ICT is central. For example, the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) stood out as a policy and pragmatic shift within existing fertiliser Market Stabilisation Programme, which put the resource that constrained farmers at its center through the provision of series of incentives to encourage critical  actors in the fertiliser value chain to work together to improve productivity, household food security and income of the farmer.

    The scheme, which was built around the mobile phone, targeted five million farmers each year for four years, that will receive GESS on their mobile phone directly, totaling 20 million at the end of four years. It also provided direct support to farmers to enable them procure agricultural inputs at affordable prices, at the right time and place, while there was increased productivity of farmers across the length and breadth of the country through increased use of fertiliser, which is 50kg/ha from 13kg/ha.

    It transformed the role of government from direct procurer and distributor of fertiliser to a facilitator of procurement, regulator of fertiliser quality and catalyst of active private sector participation in the fertiliser value chain.

    MTN CEO, Ferdi Moolman, said the telco is passionate about Nigeria, adding that there is huge growth potential in the country. “We see growth. We see huge potential. We want to be part of the economic renaissance now that oil prices are falling,” Moolman said.

    During the Katsina summit, MTN unveiled two solutions designed to improve rural lifestyle, socially and agriculturally. One is the Livestock tracking solution while the other is the smart electricity-the mobile electricity solution.

    MTN Executive, Amina Oyagbola, said the development of the solution underscored the telco’s support for expanding the ICT ecosystem and providing home-grown solutions to societal challenge. She said: “At MTN, we consider it a privilege to be a part of the positive change that is powered by ICT and believe that in every sector, there are ICT solutions for improving processes and empowering people. A case in point is the challenges with cattle grazing and the judicious use of available land. Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari had expressed his belief in our ability to devise a solution and we are pleased to say that we have done just that.

    “We are pleased to announce that MTN has indeed, developed the MTN Livestock Tracking Solution. This ICT solution can perform Location Tracking for cattle; geo-fencing for grazing areas; send panic or emergency alerts to the authorities in time of trouble and even automatic notifications based on programing. It makes use of GPS (Global Positioning System) technology and is solar-powered to ensure that you can always stay in touch with your cattle everywhere they go. This solution will help reduce the incidence of wandering cattle and provide electricity to entrepreneurs and rural dwellers.”

    The GPS is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the United States (U.S.) Department of Defence. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. There are no subscription fees or setup charges to use GPS and it works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, making it ideal for deployment in rural far north.

    Also unveiled was the mobile electricity solution launched in partnership with Nova-Lumos. It will bring clean, modern and affordable electricity to MTN customers in the rural areas.

    Oyegbola said: “We are also pleased to share with you yet another innovative product – our mobile electricity service in partnership with the world’s first distributed utility provider; Lumos, who are bringing clean, modern and affordable electricity to MTN customers in rural areas. Customers can, therefore, replace kerosene lanterns, candles and flashlights with solar electricity that can power phones, fans, radios, TVs, all at once.

    “Our customers in rural areas can, therefore, replace kerosene lanterns, candles and flashlights with electricity that can power phones, fans, radios, TVs all at once and this service is already running in Katsina State. We are truly excited about these products and their implications for accelerated socio-economic development across the country. Governor Masari has expressed his belief in our ability to devise a solution and we are pleased to say that we have done just that. This service is already up and running in the state.”

    She said the mobile electricity solution in partnership with Nova-Lumos will bring clean, modern and affordable electricity to MTN customers in the rural areas.

    The Nova-Lumos service is provided using a solar panel and an indoor unit that allows MTN custimers to subscribe to alternative electricity on demand using their mobile phone. With Nova-Lumos, customers can replace kerosene, candles, and flashlights with modern electricity that can power significant lights, cell phones, fans, PCs, laptops, radios, TVs and other small electronic devices all at once every day.

    “By paying for usage only in small payments, the same way our customers purchase air time and other mobile services, MTN and Nova-Lumos will offer an innovative and widely accessible service for all MTN customers. MTN is committed to investing in the future of mobile electricity to our customers across the country,” former CEO of MTN, Mike Ikpoki had said.

    CEO/Co-Founder, Nova-Lumos, David Vortman said affordability is one of the driving force of the solution. He said: “One of our guiding principle is that the Nova-Lumos service must be affordable and accessible to anyone in Nigeria to have a meaningful impact on the Nigerian electricity market.”

    The two firms had received funding form the Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA’s) Mobile Enabled Community Services (MECS) Innovation Grant Fund with the support of the UK government. This grant is awarded to organisations developing innovations that improve access to energy and water among underserved communities by leveraging mobile technology and infrastructure. The MECS Innovation Fund has helped to highlight the demand for mobile-enabled services and the role that mobile can play in supporting access to basic utility services across rural and urban markets.

    Oyagbola also expressed MTN’s preparedness to support e-government objectives at all levels. “Our rationale for supporting this economic and investment summit is borne out of our commitment to driving economic growth in Nigeria by supporting initiatives that will truly place the country on the path of economic renaissance.  We believe ICT is the future and we are committed to supporting Nigeria to ensure preparedness and empowerment towards this future. The Katsina State Economic and Investment summit is another opportunity to demonstrate this commitment.

    “At MTN, we believe that we have a supportive role to play by partnering government to realise our collective goal of being among the top 20 economies by the year 2020. We are excited to be a part of the huge potential for improved processes and enhanced productivity across sectors of the economy through ICT and look forward to working with stakeholders in both public and private sectors for greater national and global competitiveness,” Oyagbola said.

    Sector analysts have lauded the innovative solutions, arguing that the time has come for Nigerians to look inwards, provide solutions to local problems thus broadening the local content horizon.

    They, however, hammered on sustainability and affordability for the solutions to continue to be relevant.

  • Fed Govt opts for PPP to expand IT infrastructure

    The Federal Government has said it is opting for public private partnership (PPP) to bridge the huge information technology (IT) infrastructure gap needed by young techpreneurs to leapfrog the country.

    Communications Technology Minister Adebayo Shittu, who spoke at the weekend in Lagos,  at a youth empowerment-centric forum tagged Entrepreneurship Leverage (E-Leverage), said technology, particularly ICT, is the critical driver of the knowledge-based economy of post-modern world. He said emphasis and global relevance in today’s 21st Century world has shifted from nations with huge natural resources to nations with developed human resources that can technologically explore, exploit and manage natural  resources for the benefit of mankind.

    Represented by an official of the Ministry, Ms Ibiye Member, he said the government was working towards developing PPPs to expand ICT infrastructure, needed by young IT entrepreneurs to ride on.

    Shittu said the forum would bridge the gap between technology and business, create a platform to inspire, mentor, build leadership skills and develop a sense of collaboration as winning strategies among stakeholders in the technology world.

    The forum, organised by Simeon’s Pivot Resources, was attended by stakeholders across public and private sector  including software developers, technology consultants, hardware engineers, tech business analysts, enterprise architect and young IT entrepreneurs.

    With “Leverage Solutions for Information Technology Sector”, as its theme, speakers at the forum held at the Afe Babalola Auditorium, University of Lagos, explored what they considered ‘winning’ strategies for growing young IT businesses into becoming major players that will further contribute to the growth of the ICT industry.

    Managing Director, Precise Financial System, Mr. Yele Okeremi, who used his company as an anchor point to educate young entrepreneurs on how to grow their businesses, emphasised the importance of ‘leverage’ and ‘perception’  and collaborations as ways to accelerating business goals and dreams.

    He said: “The equation for success does not lie in hard work; it lies in leverage. The word ‘leverage’ has become very important to business. So, the solution for greatness in business will not come by following conventional methods, which give conventional results; but from new innovative thinking.”

    He urged young entrepreneurs to develop clarity of thoughts, passion and resilience in their business dream, stressing that the business owners must see positive perception towards their business as winning formula in business than their intelligence and technical skills.

    “So, businesses today need to act locally and think globally in the context of today’s rapidly changing technological advancement,” he said, noting however, that most rich individuals in Nigeria have not come to terms  with investing in information technology.

    Managing Director of Simeon’s Pivot Resources Mr. Enahoro Okhae said as the clarion call for entrepreneurship continues to spread and the opportunities in IT becomes more obvious, young Nigerians would continue to grow in creativity regarding Information Technology by coming up with different innovative products.

    “Unfortunately, there is more to running an IT business than coming up with an innovative IT products/services,” he said, stressing that “success apparatus needed by success-bound IT entrepreneurs should resolve around incorporation of mentoring, collaboration and succession plans and financial empowerment into the efforts being made by young entrepreneurs today.”

  • Anxiety over telecoms tax

    The Communication Service Tax (CST) Bill, which is before the National Assembly, has generated concern among communication consuming public and other stakeholders. LUCAS AJANAKU examines the implications of the proposed legislation on the industry and the end users of telecoms services.

    Opposition to the Communication Service Tax (CST) Bill sponsored by Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, has continued to grow. The bill, which has passed the first reading in both chambers of the National Assembly, is viewed by interest groups protecting consumer rights globally as an additional yoke on end-users of communication services and a deadly blow on a plan to extend mobile services to the most vulnerable segment of the society.

    The bill proposes to impose nine per cent tax on services rendered by communication service providers to the subscriber. These services include Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Service (MMS), voice calls, data usage from telecommunication companies and internet service providers and pay per view TV. In a nutshell, the communication subscriber will have to pay more for services rendered by the operators.

    Of grave concern to industry operators is the devastating impact CST will have on the long term national digital strategy objectives set by the government. They pointed out that the new tax regime, as proposed, would result in an increase in prices for consumers, and therefore counter-productive to the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NBP) to achieve 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018, which is just two years away, given that increased cost will prevent people from subscribing to data services.

    In defence of consumer rights, the Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA), which represents the interests of mobile operators globally, joined interest groups in Nigeria to file a complaint to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, and her Communications Technology counterpart, Adebayo Shittu, as well as the leadership of the National Assembly. The stakeholder groups included the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS).

    The letter, dated March 30, this year was jointly endorsed by GSMA’s Director Africa, Mortimer Hope; National President of NATCOMS, Adeolu Ogunbanjo; former President of ATCON, Lanre Ajayi; and, Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo. They stressed that, with the coming of the CST, Nigeria would have mounted higher barriers to the drive towards increased affordability of communications service.

    Presently, about 83 million people in Nigeria have access to mobile communication service, given the high incidence of multi subscriber identity module (SIM) cards among the reported 149 million mobile lines. That represents only half of the population. In effect, a large segment of the population still do not use mobile services and this is primarily due to affordability as a result of the low purchasing power of a majority of the population. Increasing the cost of these services, which many already find unaffordable, will result in the exclusion of even more low income earners from the use of mobile telecommunication services which ideally should be a fundamental human right available to all – rich or poor. It therefore becomes imperative to frontally and decisively tackle the huge challenge of affordability that stands between half of the population that remains unconnected.

    The groups said: “Further taxation on electronic communication services will hit lower income consumers the most, who are already struggling due to the adverse economic situation and increased price pressure and for whom affordable access to information and communication technology is critical to their social and economic inclusion. Moreover, this will result in a double taxation for consumers who already pay value added tax (VAT) on telecommunications services.”

    The groups are concerned about how the charge would be applied or captured in the annual reports because the CST would clearly be applied to items already being taxed.

    ALTON chairman said: “When the government collects this tax on a monthly basis on the revenue generated, would it become tax deductible during the preparation and filing of annual returns?”

    The tax is expected to be paid by the consumer to the service provider along with service charge. The direct implication of this being that the service tariff of operators will have to be increased to include nine per cent of the charge for the service. This is definitely likely to cause general discontentment with the consumers in an environment where there is already consumer outcry on tariffs, they averred.

    A consumer rights campaigner, Jamiu Okonlawon, wondered how the proponents of the CST Bill would want the subscribers to feel having to pay much more to use data for browsing and related activities; to make phone calls, send SMS and MMS, or even to watch their favourite movies, live football matches and other shows on pay-tv channels. “These are some of the unpleasant experiences we will be confronted with should the CST Bill see the light of day,” he lamented.

     

    Affordability

     

    The socio-economic impact of mobile penetration is now widely recognised. According to research conducted by the World Bank, a 10 per cent increase in mobile broadband penetration in low to middle income countries leads to a 1.38 per cent increase in GDP growth

    Today, 83 million people in Nigeria have access to mobile services. With over half of the population without a mobile connection, affordability remains a key challenge to connect the unconnected, who are typically lower income population groups. Further taxation on electronic communication services will hit lower income consumers the most, who are already struggling due to the adverse economic situation and increased price pressure and for whom affordable access to information and communication technology is critical to their social and economic inclusion. Moreover, this will result in a double taxation for consumers who already pay VAT on telecommunications services.

     

    Digital economy push

    In 2014, the mobile ecosystem contributed $8.3 billion to the Nigerian economy. This is set to increase as penetration of voice and broadband services grows. The potential of mobile broadband is apparent from the rapid development of the digital economy in Nigeria and is supported by a diverse and growing local ecosystem. Usage of apps is growing by up to 30 per cent annually for example.

    The development of a competitive digital economy, boosted by mobile penetration and investment in networks will, over time, strengthen the economy as a whole leading to faster economic growth together with higher fiscal income for the government from a broader tax base.

     

    Mobile industry

    investment

     

    By impacting usage of communications services and in turn industry revenues, this proposed tax will have adverse effect on the industry investment needed to improve and expand mobile connectivity across the country.

    Mobile industry investment in Nigeria is already constrained by multiple level of taxes and fees set by local and regional authorities, in addition to fees to the national telecommunications regulator and high costs of right of ways. In a context of declining average revenue per user, this can make it more difficult for mobile operators to make a business case for investment.

    The proposal would also further increase the administrative cost burden on service providers to comply with numerous and complex tax regulations, already high compared to other countries.

    Industry  watchers are bothered that, in blind pursuit of income from taxes, which will take more than it gives, the government is about to mortgage all the gains of the liberalisation of the telecom sector. They say before the National Assembly goes on with its anti-people plan, it should realise that its action will have several dire consequences on the telecoms industry.

    If introduced, such tax will result in an increase in prices for consumers, have adverse impacts on the adoption of mobile services and industry investment, and be counter-productive to the longer term national digital strategy objectives set by the Federal Government.