The Nation Newspaper

Tag: information

  • Dealing With Too Much Information

    Welcome to your column on public speaking, it’s great to have you back. For a while, we have been considering the general topic “grabbing attention”. We discussed how short the attention span of humans has become in recent years and how much we need to struggle to get people’s attention. According to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, at the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the attention span of humans has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds between 2000 and 2013.

    Last week, we discussed the “information overload” phenomenon and how it can affect us as public speakers. Considering that several things are competing for the attention of our audience, we have to work harder to grab and sustain attention. Today, our main concern is how we can deal with the deluge of information we are exposed to everyday. Before we consider some steps we can take to manage information overload, it is important to first discuss its challenges:

    •The Challenge of making decisions: ordinarily, we can argue that the more information we have access to, the better informed we are to make decisions. However, how do we determine when we have gathered “enough” information to take the next step? In this age of ICT, it is important to consume media contents or browse the Internet with a focus. If we don’t know exactly what we are looking for, we may spend hours searching, getting entertained and finding every other information except what we really need. In cases like this, the more information we have, the farther we get from making good decisions.

    •Confusing information: of course, there are several sides to issues and several ways to deal with them. While several books, magazines, TV programmes, blogs, tweets, facebook posts, etc exist on any given topic, it is not strange that some of them are contradictory. Hence, people sometimes get more confused as they get more information. Rather than helping us to make sound decisions, a lot of information we are exposed to only give us the different sides of the argument while leaving us to determine the most authentic.

    •Information based on opinions and sentiments: if we attempt to browse on any subject using the search engines on the Internet, we are likely to find more blogs and private websites than research based sites. The implication of this is that the information we want to base our decisions on may have been written by anybody- even a little child fabricating stories. How can we be sure that the idea we want to adopt is based on facts and not sentiments or opinions? Any information can go viral on the Internet but that does not make it a fact. Since everyone can be an information provider, the volume of information in circulation keeps growing. It is left to us to determine what we believe.

    Having considered a few challenges of information overload, let’s now see how we can deal with them.

    •Avoid “I’m missing out” attitude: a lot of people stay almost perpetually on social media or the Internet as a whole, not because they are looking for or sharing any particular information, but because of the fear of missing out on “something important”. Not only can this keep them largely distracted because their minds will always be on their devices, it can also expose them to a lot of unnecessary information.

    •Process only the information you need to know: it is possible you want to know a lot of things but how many of them really add value to you? While you may not be able to control the amount of information you are exposed to (since a lot of them come unsolicited), try to determine what you spend your time processing. Engage information based on what you need and not what you want. By doing this, you will avoid being overloaded with information.

    •Judge by quality, not by quantity: some people think the more information they have access to, the better their lives will become. Well, this is not necessarily true. A valuable and specific piece of information is worth much more than ten general ones. You need to reduce the amount of time you devote to unnecessary information so that you pay better attention to the valuable ones.

    •Mind your source: the quality of a piece of information is determined by its source. If the source is credible, so is the information and vice versa. Before we decide to base our decisions on any information, we must learn about the source. If the source has the experience and credentials to offer such information, that’s great, if not, beware.

    •Be focused: this is perhaps the most important way to manage information overload. If we don’t know what we are looking for, everything will seem acceptable to us. We need to determine the direction our life is going and then select the information that can take us there. Not every piece of information is meant for us; we need to find ours.

     

  • NTDC gets information desk at Abuja Airport

    NTDC gets information desk at Abuja Airport

    THE  Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) has unveiled a Tourism Information Desk at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

    Its Director-General, Mrs Sally Mbanefo, said the desk would assist tourists with tourism information on Nigeria, noting that the launch was part of the corporation’s efforts to promote domestic tourism and assist in  collating data on tourists entering the country.

    According to her, the information desk will showcase tourism assets because many tourist sites are unknown.

    “The reason we are unveiling this portal is to give Nigerians information about our numerous tourism sites that are not known to tourist. As you know we are promoting domestic tourism which means that before we can begin to market outsider we want foreigner seeing many Nigerians enjoying what we have.

    “Nigeria have so many tourism attracted sites but nobody know them, that is why we are going to different states to known what they have so as to market those sites for the state government in order to increase revenue generation in the country not only that this will provide job opportunity for our teaming unemployed population,” she said.

    She noted that ‘the information Centre would equally assist through ease enquires for both arrival and departure tourist. We have already got approval for two airports, we got approval for Abuja and Lagos to start with and will soon replicate in all international airports in Nigeria.’

    Mbanefo added that the initiatives would also promote security of tourists by recommending to tourists the accredited taxis and hotels in the country.

    “We are partnering with VIKO taxi car hire service at the airport and the idea is to let travellers that arrive the city to know that there is security in Nigeria. With this, NTDC will recommend for them credible and accredited taxi and hotels in Nigeria. NTDC want to use this to market the tourism assets of Nigeria and to improve the image of Nigeria.

    She thanked the Minister of Aviation Mr. Osita Chidoka for providing NTDC with a bigger space where it would easier for the corporation to market Nigeria.

    “We want Nigerians to know that tourism is here to stay and tourism is here to replace oil,” she said.

    Head of FAAN Communication Mrs. Yakubu Henrietta lauded the NTDC initiatives, saying that information desk would go a long way in promoting Nigerian culture.  “This stand that has opened today by NTDC is truly great as the desk will promote Nigeria and provide foreigners coming into the country and with adequate information on Nigerian tourist sites as well as which hotel to stay.

    “I am happy that this stand is located in a very strategic place in the airport that will allow everybody that comes see the information desk both at international and domestic wing. This is a very good development,” she said.

    In a related development, the corporation and the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire are partnering on tourism development. The Cote d’Ivoire Ambassador to Nigeria, Madam Toure Nee Kone Maman who paid a courtesy call on the NTDC director-general, said the two countries are blessed in tourism ‘hence it is expedient for a synergise to propel the development of the two countries.’

    Ambassador Maman noted that the partnership would ensure an  increase in the tourism traffic between the two countries, adding that the synergy would also encourage investment between the two nations, “and we shall ensure timely implementation of the MoU we would sign with the NTDC.

    Mbanefo assured that Nigeria’s achievement in tourism would double by 2017, explaining that “the fall in the price of oil in the global market has propelled an encouraging shift of focus from oil to tourism.

    She said: “At present, tourism contributes about four per cent to our GDP, but it would have increased to about eight per cent in the next two years.” The NTDC boss reiterated that the focus of her administration is on domestic tourism, that would encourage Nigerians to travel within Nigeria and for foreigners to travel to Nigeria.

  • Orientation for students

    Orientation for students

    The IBBU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Muhammad Nair Maiturare, has reiterated his commitment to ensuring that students get requisite training in their respective disciplines and are also Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) savvy.

    He gave the assurance while speaking at the orientation programme organised for new students admitted for the 2014/2015 academic session at the Twin Lecture Theatre on the main campus.

    “The word, world, today is synonymous to ICT, and if we must meet up with other best ranking institutions of the world, our products must be groomed to be ICT compliant to enable them stand shoulder to shoulder with their colleagues the world over,” he said.

    While charging the students to be scholarly minded and shun any act that would undermine the image of the university, he assured them that the environment would be made condusive learning for learning.

    He thanked to the Niger State governor, Dr. Mua’azu Aliyu, for giving him the opportunity to contribute his quota to the development of the state and humanity.

     

     

     

  • Ensuring security of information at data management centres

    Ensuring security of information at data management centres

    Technological innovations are designed to provide solutions to various challenges facing mankind. A  data centre is one such innovation. It is becoming the vogue with so many of them springing up in the country despite fears about security of data. While some of these data centres have their servers in the country, others have theirs offshore. LUCAS AJANAKU reports that managers of data centres must take extra steps to ensure security of clients’ data.

    Today’s information technology (IT) business leaders, need to have command and control insight on all operations that support the data centres housing their critical business infrastructure. They need to monitor, coordinate and optimise multiple interconnected systems to ensure that their data center operations are running at optimal levels to prevent any failures from any adverse externality.

    The solution to this is the deployment of sophisticated data centre management systems that address the myriad of issues associated with data centre operations. These Data Center InformationManagement systems, monitor power, cooling, computing resources, security and environmental variables to enable personnel to efficiently maintain the high performance required of all subsystems in the data center to work together seamlessly. These systems have come to the market at a time when the rapid growth of large commercial data centers have made it imperative to adopt more efficient management techniques.

    According to research conducted by Gartner in 2010, Data Center Infrastructure Management, integrates facets of system management with building and energy management, while ensuring that a bridge is built between IT asset and physical infrastructure monitoring. These tools reduce operating costs, improve IT efficiency and enable sophisticated infrastructure analytics, extending the life of data centers by years.

    The traditional approach to data center management and facility monitoring in earlier data center implementations, required manual intervention and collaboration between various technical teams. These collaborative activities were highly inefficient, leading to poor utilisation of resources and eventually inefficient data centre operations.

    First generation data center infrastructure monitoring systems were developed to monitor equipment availability and provide a complete view of data center infrastructure. These systems had the ability to measure and display real time equipment performance measurements using graphical display interfaces. However, they lacked the ability to monitor multiple interdependent systems in parallel, or even go as far as reporting on total system performance using aggregated input from all these sub systems.

    Modern data center infrastructure management solutions have evolved to automate a variety of tasks critical to data centre operations. At a high level, the software manages and displays all physical assets in a single graphical interface, while providing the capability to automate commissioning tasks, capacity planning and other time consuming manual tasks.

    This level of software intelligence, enables data centers operate at levels of efficiency previously thought to be impossible to achieve.

    Commenting on Intelligent Infrastructure Management for Data Centers, RiT Technologies, President and CEO, Motti Hania,  said these systems are described as best practice platforms that reduce operational costs significantly by enhancing ongoing operations, security and scalability. They enhance operations by continuous monitoring of a “self-aware” network, power and environmental apparatuses, which together determine network and operational status in real time.

    Chief Executive Officer, MainOne Cable Company, Ms. Funke Opeke, said in line with this global trend and with the increasing demand for content across Africa, the MainOne data centre has deployed an intelligent infrastructure management system that proactively monitors the facility environment and the equipment in it.

    She said: “Our intelligent infrastructure management system ensures a highly optimised data centre environment that guarantees best performance of all collocated equipment.”

    Chief Executive Officer, Venema Advies Nigeria Limited, Dick Venema said turning to the use of data centre could reduce operating cost for big corporations and SMEs by more than 30 per cent.

    He said: “What we see in Nigeria is that everybody is still using the break-fix model which means something is broken, they are going to fix it. And the solution we always see that is offered when it’s broken is that they buy new equipment. They install it and it works again. This is not how it works, most times, the equipment is not broken, it’s just bad maintained, no technical knowledge of IT consultants and bad advice from the IT company.”

     

    Top issues in data centre management

    According to the Chief Marketing Officer, FieldView Solutions, Sev Onyshkevych in the past, managing a data centre was pretty straightforward.  But due to the inexorable trend of processing more and more data, the management of these facilities grew in complexity. Complicating the situation, operational decisions at the data centre now include such factors as power, cooling, rack space and CPU availability. This is in addition to other information gleaned from IT systems, and related to the facility infrastructure components such as UPS devices, PDUs, chillers, HVACs, generators, branch circuits and others. He wrote via Data Centre Knowledge, an online platform.

    FieldView Solutions, a Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solutions provider, identified the following as top issues in efficient data centre management

     

    Energy Efficiency

    Data centres are increasingly under attack for their energy consumption and costly operations.  According to a 2011 New York Times-sponsored study by Jonathan G. Koomey, a consulting professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at Stanford University, titled “Growth in Data Centre Power Use 2005 to 2010,” United States’ data center power consumption increased by 36 per cent over that period. Electricity used in global data centers in 2010 likely accounted for between 1.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent of total electricity use, respectively. For the United States, that number was between 1.7 and 2.2 per cent.

    Cutting energy usage will help organisations save significant money, while changing the public perception of data centers being “energy hogs” with a “greener” impression.  To reduce energy consumption, it must first be accurately measured.  The measurement must start with a baseline view of what energy every part of the data center is actually consuming.  And to be accurate, this view must include all areas such as IT equipment, power distribution infrastructure, and ventilation/cooling infrastructure. This is an often time-consuming and manual data extraction process to which nobody looks forward.

     

    Monitoring

    No doubt, day-to-day system failures have underscored the need for proactive response to potential data centre uptime threats.

    Proper monitoring also helps enable an effective call-to-action. In the event of a pending issue, alarms can be sent via e-mail, phone or pager, allowing proactive steps to be taken to correct problems before they become critical. In addition, continuous logging of all alarms and alerts empowers data center operators with a chronological, forensic, review of events to strengthen the infrastructure and improve disaster recovery plans.

     

    Capacity Planning

    It’s no secret that many data centre managers lack the systems visibility to determine if their facilities are truly running at peak capacity.  Traditionally, operators have left plenty of room for error so uptime isn’t interrupted—a strategy known as “capacity safety gap,” or “over-provisioning.”  This strategy wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars of unused space – not to mention wasting power and cooling.  In a day and age of chief financial officers (CFOs) deferring capital expenditure budgets, many data centre managers’ expectations of having additional data center construction have been unfulfilled, leaving about 30 per cent of data centre managers worried about running out of capacity.

     

    Performance Management

    One of the greatest challenges facing data centre operators is ensuring that power and cooling is operating at its highest energy efficiency.  One of the best methods to maintain this accuracy is via accessing a real-time data source that provides up-to-the-minute metrics such as Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE).

     

    Real-Time Reporting

    Without a real-time reporting system, operators may find it a challenge to make informed decisions.  Manual readings taken weeks ago on a static report are no longer valid for today’s complex data centre operations – where workloads, power consumption and temperatures vary widely throughout the day, and from day to day.

    Up-to-the minute information also allows for the optimisation of power loads and overall capacity trending.  Additionally, a dashboard view that spans across various monitoring and control systems is a necessity for accurately tracking energy efficiency across single rooms, complete floors, an entire data center  or multiple data centers—domestically and globally.

    Onyshkevych said the continued proliferation of applications, data and platforms such as mobile devices will ensure that data centres continue to grow.  This, in turn, will strain the data centre’s processing power and drain enormous additional amounts of energy from the grid.  As data centres evolve, so too should the tools that manage them.  The antiquated methods of storing vital operational data within individual software “silos” impedes the efforts of data centre facility managers and IT managers to optimise their operations properly and avoid potential downtime.

  • Exploring opportunities in information science

    The University of Ibadan (UI) has admitted Master’s students for the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science (ARCIS) programme. The students were taken through an orientation last week, reports STANLEY IBEKU.

    They came from various disciplines – science, medicine, agriculture, engineering and others – but their mission is one: to acquire the requisite knowledge and skills in information science needed for the information age.

    This is the aim of the new Master’s students of the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science (ARCIS) at the University of Ibadan (UI).

    They were welcomed into the Centre last week at an orientation.

    The Director of the Centre, Dr Wole Olatokun, told them that their admission was a golden opportunity to improve their knowledge in Information Science.

    He described the Centre as a sea where people come with different types of container to take water. Some will come with bottles, Olatokun said, while some will take drums, depending on their need.

    The don admonished the students to use the opportunity to broaden their knowledge base, noting that the students are privileged to be admitted from thousands of candidates, who applied to the Centre. He revealed that one of the successful students had been applying to the Centre since 10 years ago.

    T56+he Centre’s immediate past Director, Prof Muta Tiamiyu, urged the students to take advantage of the rapid developments in the Information Technology world. He decried a situation in which young people fail to learn trends in technologies, saying young people must not be reluctant to acquire skills that would help their career. He said the course outline was thorough, adding that students needed to show seriousness towards their studies.

    President of the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science Students’ Association (ARCISSTA), Towo Adeyemi, enjoined the freshers to pay attention to instructions from both academic and non-academic staff.

    Other lecturers at the Centre took turns to advise and enlighten the students in the areas of registration, students’ welfare, examination and result computation. Also, the students were enlightened on the use of the library and the Information Technology laboratory.

    The event afforded the students the opportunity to ask questions affecting them especially on academics. But it was not all talks, as the students took the dance floor after the orientation. Also there were photo sessions.

    Other officials present at the event included the Acting Postgraduate Coordinator, Dr Funmilayo Omotayo, Results Officer, Dr Adeola Opesade, Registration/Welfare officials, Mrs Folake Longe and Dr Janet Adekanbi, and Examinations Officer, Ms Kemi Ogunsola.

    Some of the students spoke on why they chose to take their Master’s in information science.

    Believe Gbaruko said he had always wanted to be an engineer in Information Technology (IT) to make meaningful impact in the sector. According to him, he is interested in computer applications and he is hopeful that the degree would develop his abilities.

    Also, Oluwafemi Egbodofo, said he was fulfilled being admission into ARCIS, saying: “It is a place I am meant to be. I love computer and IT; I have always been engulfed in things related to them. I chose ARCIS because of the centre’s reputation in the training of information professionals. I have always wanted a discipline that would spur me to do great things and I believe ARCIS would meet my expectations.”

    Kunle Adekoya hopes to explore opportunities in information science and he is confident that his expectations would be met.

    ARCIS was established in November 1990 as a Master’s degree programme with the aims to give students a broad knowledge in the foundations of information science and technology. It seeks to equip graduates with relevant skills in the development and management of information systems.

  • Commonwealth Games journalists upset by charge for information

    Commonwealth Games journalists upset by charge for information

    Reporters are  complaining that  Commonwealth Games organisers want them to pay to obtain “basic preview information”, reports the Sports Journalists’ Association  (SJA).

    On the eve of the event in Glasgow, the journalists say they must pay £70 plus VAT to access “simple details such as competition timetables and athlete entries.”

    The so-called GamesINFO also includes biographies, historical results, transportation details, weather reports and, during the Games, results and athlete quotes.

    The editor of Athletics Weekly, Jason Henderson, is quoted as saying: “I was shocked when Glasgow 2014 told me that I had to pay £84 just to see a track and field timetable.

    “We usually run the timetable – which is the most basic piece of information – in our preview issue for the Games, but I was directed toward the rate card team and encouraged to sign up to myGamesINFO.”

  • Is Freedom of Information Act working?

    Is Freedom of Information Act working?

    Application to the Court under this Act shall be determined summarily. Moreover, and happily too, the burden of proof where a public institution denies an application for information lies squarely on the shoulder of that public institution.

    The power of judicial review of the actions of those authorised to supply information makes this Act an interesting one. No one should be a judge in his own case. We have had instances where public servants act with impunity and because there is no other authority to examine their actions, they have often got away with it. Here the court will look at the reasons advanced for refusal or why the public institution have failed to act. The court shall order any institution to disclose the information or part thereof to the applicant:

    (a) If the court determined that the institution is not authorised to deny the application for information.

    (b) Where the institution is so authorised, but the court nevertheless determines that the institution does not have reasonable grounds on which to deny the application or;

    (c) When the court makes a finding that the interest of the public in having the record being made available is greater and more vital than the interest being served if the application is denied in whatever circumstance.

    Of importance and should be mentioned is the protection against civil or criminal prosecution by the Act of public officers in disclosing any information in good faith and they shall not suffer for any consequences that flow from that disclosure, even where and when such public officer becomes a whistle blower and without bad faith discloses to any person an information which he reasonably believes to show:

    (a)A violation of any law, rule or regulation

    (b) Mismanagement, gross waste of funds, fraud, and abuse of authority or;

    (c) A substantial and specific danger to public health or safety notwithstanding that such information was not disclosed pursuant to the provision of this Act.

    Finally no civil or criminal proceedings shall lie against any person receiving the information or further disclosing it.

    The other remaining sections deal with reporting and submission of reports of disclosure and denials to appropriate Authorities. The AG of the Federation and the National Assembly are the Authorities empowered by this Act to ensure compliance of this wonderful Act.

     

    Challenges and prospects

    The signing into law of the freedom of information bill is a victory for transparency, accountability, democracy and good governance in Nigeria. We are welcomed to the age where many files marked ‘Top Secret’ by government officials can now be made available to ordinary Nigerians under the Freedom of Information Act. Now we can know how much is awarded for the perennial and unending repairs called ‘patch-patch’ on the Benin-Ore road. We now can know how much is spent on importation of fuel and how much is paid as subsidy by NNPC. Perhaps, we can now know how much our Governors and even the President collect as security votes monthly. We can now know finally how much our Legislators earn as annual salaries, their allowances, and other perks of office. The list is endless. We now can know. However we must watch out. The Nigerian public officer does not posses the culture of being subjected to public scrutiny – they do not tolerate it. Two recent examples by the Nigerian public officers will suffice here. Governors who declared their assets recently with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) declined to make it available to the public on the ground that the Code of Conduct Act did not mandate them to make their declaration public. The CCB Act seems to go contrary to the FOI Act which makes access to information mandatory.

    Contrary to the Freedom of Information Act, the Code of Conduct Bureau maintained that members of the public may not have access to details of assets declared by Governors or other public Office holders, on the ground that the document still contains personal information. Hear the Secretary of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Alhaji Alhassan Ibrahim: “I will need judicial interpretation to be able to decide whether to disclose the present value of assets declared by public office holders to any member of the public. The same FOI Act exempted public institutions from giving out personal information. Much of the information we have on the asset declaration form is personal and of course assets belonging to the wife or husband of the public office holder which is a third party is protected by the FOI Act from being given to the public”. He declared with finality “anyone may apply for information on asset declaration but we need our legal department’s approval to give out such information”. We are in for a big trouble with this kind of attitude. We all know instances where elected political office holders declare in advance what they set out to steal in office in their assets declaration forms. They declare homes in America, UK, France, Bahamas, etc., they are yet to acquire by future stealing. We also know they steal and use their spouses and children’s names to acquire assets and properties. Yet somebody will tell me that it is a private information for which the public is entitled not to have information. We await eagerly the interpretation of the courts on this issue soon.

    The second instance is the recent mockery made of an applicant from Niger State, who wanted to know how much Governor Babangida Aliyu, collects as security vote. Remember that Governor Kwankwaso of Kano has another name for security votes. He said it is pure stealing by public officers. Alhaji Aliyu boasted that he took time to ridicule the applicant’s letter. According to him, the man had the cheek to ask that the information be sent to him within 14 days. He went further outlining a number of apparently outrageous demands with which his office could hardly have been expected to comply. Is somebody sensing danger with this new law? That has always been the attitude of Nigerian public officers. They detest openness and transparency due to their corrupt ways. Corruption of course thrives in secrecy. Those in darkness will never love light. That Nigeria is corrupt is not a matter of public debate; that the evil doers will want it to remain like that is known to every Dick Tom and Harry. Therefore, their recourse to sadism, reluctance, impunity and obnoxious attitude of frustrating the smooth implementation of this piece of legislation should never be in doubt. Remember that the Official Secret Act was not repealed by this new Act. Eneke the bird had advised that since men have learnt to shoot without missing, he the bird has learnt to fly without perching.

    Vigorous advocacy, stubborn demand for observance of this law and persistent and consistent perseverance by the Nigerian populace for transparency and accountability in governance is the only panacea for the full and due implementation of this wonderful first step in enthroning transparency in the government.

    It is clearly in the interest of the public officers that Nigerians should be carried along in governance, things that pertain to their daily lives. Governance is a social contract involving the governed and those in the government. When participation, knowledge, and involvement of the people are denied, it looses every form of contract. The consequence is that anarchy and evil is loosened upon the land, and no one can be safe in that kind of a nation. Part of what the nation is suffering today stems majorly from lack of transparency in governance and the pervasive corruption of public officials. We demand change of ways if this country must survive.

     

    Prospects

    Access to information is key to democratic governance. It must be recognised that public bodies do not hold information for themselves or for the sake of holding it, rather, it is for the benefit of all members of the public. It is for the sake of good governance. People at all levels should be aware of what government is doing or not doing at any point in time in the spirit of accountability and transparency. The nation stands to gain tremendously from a law like this that guarantees the right to access public held information. Openness in governance engenders just and good government; and just and good government brings about joy, happiness, and positiveness of attitude of the people to the government in particular and to the nation in general. America and some of the European countries demonstrate clear examples of what transparency in government has done to those societies. You can drive freely in the day and night, there is relative safety, there is exhibition of love and mutual respect as a result of government putting the people first in policies and administrations, and empowering the people to participate in policy making processes and decisions that affect their lives.

    Though this law has its pluses and minuses, it is still better than nothing. We recommend that this law needs to be domesticated by all the state governments in all the states to ensure its full impact in good governance. If this is done some of us will begin to know how much actually the state government releases to local governments from the compulsory joint state/local government accounts wrongly imposed by the 1999 constitution upon Nigerians, and several other malfeasance and corruption committed by state and local governments.

    The numerous prospects inherent in this law can only be realised if vigorous workshops, seminars, trainings, dissemination of information to the grassroots, and community based organisations are embarked upon to enlighten the entire populace of the provisions of this law. As private Nigerians are to be educated on the new law, so also it is recommended that public officers should be given pervasive trainings and teachings and re-orientation seminars on the importance of obedience and adherence to the letter and spirit of this law.

    Finally, an active judicial arm willing, ready, possessing the capacity and integrity to shoot down oppressive and impunitive refusals and denials of access to information is what we need to ensure full and adequate implementation with the inherent consequences of good governance, provisions of infrastructures, general well being and international respect to us as a nation. It is only when we do this and succeed in getting everyone to know and obey this new law we can go home and say it is uhuru. The point for now, fellow Nigerians – it is not yet uhuru.

     

  • How to make money selling information on Internet

    For women interested in starting a new business, Efe Imiren, the Chief Executive of Service Forts Resources Limited, is a good example.

    Describing her entrepreneurship spirit as innate, Imiren said she began to hone her skills in 1999 during her undergraduate years. With the advent of the Internet, she turned her passion into a profitable business named Service Forts Resources Ltd.

    What motivated her to do this business? She said: “I walked into the business. I had the idea of building a seminar and a travel company to provide consultancy services. Consequently, I began to create my business plan and other stuff you do when you want to set up a company. During that preparation stage, I got to hear of something called information marketing business workshop. I had never heard anything like that in Nigeria, so I attended, and that was where I learnt that the business I was planning to set up is called information marketing business.” She earned her first income online in 2008.

    She made her first sale online as an affiliate of a web hosting business. Right from the day she left the university for the career world, Imiren has been involved in information marketing business. “My career path had always been in selling information for a living. However, I didn’t know it was called information marketing until my mum gave me a copy of Success Digest and for the first time in my life, I saw an advert for a seminar calling for prospects to attend a training called Information Marketing Business Workshop. By this time, I had written a business plan, which was centred on selling high profile seminars for a living, and I was going through the business plan with my dad when my mum shoved a copy of Success Digest into my hands. That first training, which took place for the first- time ever in Nigeria at Success Attitude Development Centre (SADC), turned my life around for good. With this training, and the Lord’s backing, I have within three years established six companies (all registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) under the vibrant brand name Service Forts. Each of these companies is information marketing business all turning in millions – and they are all heavily driven by one factor – my internet marketing prowess. I earn a consistent six figure income per month and sometimes close to N1 million working online from the comfort of my computer – selling information.”

    According to her, anybody with access to the same information and training that she has can achieve the same results – if not better. When she ventured into the business, she had N26,000 on her, which was savings from paid employment.“I used N10,000 to buy two videos from a guru and used N6,000 to register for a seminar being organised by the same guru and the balance to fix the nuts and bolts required to kick-start my business,” she said.

    Imiren listed the challenges she encountered when she started to include information overload (including over-delivered seminars or e-books with no clear pathway on what to do now), lack of technical know-how, lack of a marketing system and inability to discern where or how to start.

    She believes she was divinely led. “The Lord helped me to quickly locate the shoulder of an industry giant on which I can stand on. Newton said if you stand on the shoulders of giant, you would see farther than your peers and I believe in most cases, this helps you make the right decisions. To conquer the information overload and know exactly what to do now, I became connected to a guru who showed me what to do, how to do it and when to do it.”

    To overcome the technical challenges, she bought materials, read and vowed not to attend any other seminar until she had produced results from the ones she had attended.

    “What I did was to study all the materials (especially the videos) and bonuses I got from previously attended seminars, day and night. Success doesn’t just jump on you, all the gurus going about shouting and churning out “how-I-made N3million-in-three-weeks-infoproducts” ask them, they studied one material or another and put it to work.”

    Imiren’s company is running seminars in Abuja, Warri and Port Harcourt this year to lift Nigerians out of poverty. These seminars cover importation, travel and web consulting .

    Her company is also organising a tour of five European countries for all first-time travelers.

    She has developed a wonderful support system for families, friends, and employees who want to veer into a new business venture.

    Her counsel is that they do something they’re good at and make sure there is a need for their products or services by testing the market.

    A major challenge facing small business owners is growing their companies — which are often self-funded. She said always keeping an eye on ways to cut costs is the way to go.

    She defines her main expenses and monitors them. She closely monitors her products, and ensures that she doesn’t slow cash flow by purchasing inventory she doesn’t need and has enough on hand to keep customers happy.

    Today, she enjoys a successful career as a speaker, author, consultant and trainer.

    Imiren can be reached through these websites:http://www.ServiceForts.comhttp://www.VacationCruiseWorld.comhttp://www.MyHoneyMoonGuide.com

  • Chime promises N10m reward for information on killers

    Chime promises N10m reward for information on killers

    •Governor visits family 

     

    ALL necessary assistance to unmask the killers of Kwara State Police Commissioner Mr Chinwike Asadu and bring them to justice would be provided to security agencies, Enugu State governor Sullivan Chime promised yesterday.

    He announced a N10 million reward for anybody who volunteers information of the killers.

    Chime made the promise when he paid a condolence visit to the Amorji-Nike home of the slain commissioner. He lamented recent surge in the assassination of security operatives.

    The governor, who was accompanied by his aides and the Enugu State Police Commissioner Tonye Ebitibituwa, charged the police to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.

    He said his administration would beef up security with the provision of more patrol vehicles, communication gadgets and other logistics.

    Chime urged the family to take heart and prayed God to grant them the fortitude to bear the loss.

    He said no effort will be spared to fish out the culprits.

    The governor expressed regret that the late Asadu, who was an indigene of Enugu State, suffered such a cruel fate after many years of dedicated service to the nation.

    The late Asadu’s son, Osinachi, who received the governor with his mother Francisca, thanked him and his entourage for the visit and the words of encouragement.

    He brought the family’s cooperation to unmask the killers.

     

  • Travails of information ministers

    Travails of information ministers

    Most past Nigerian ministers of information have tended to end their tour of duty on a sad note. This is precisely because successive Nigerian leaders, in an age when development in communication has rendered even multi-terminal communication channels obsolete, sadly still see communication as a two-way affair between the government and the governed. This perhaps also explains why even those that had genuine intention of serving their fatherland often ended up squandering the reputation and goodwill that took years to build as they, in the words of Alhaji Babatunde Jose, struggle ‘to walk the tight rope’.

    Neither professional training, nor success in past endeavours has ever prepared a minister of information for the challenges of an office designed not only to block other channels of communication, but also label opposing views as treason. Communication, the nerves of government designed to help government measure the pulse of public opinion, is viewed as a tool for sedition. The failure of past successive Nigerian governments cannot be totally divorced from their penchant to listen only to themselves.

    Either as elected leaders, or usurpers of political office through military coups, successive Nigerian leaders have often insisted that they and they alone, must determine the information the people get. For this reason, Balewa government in the first republic, exasperated by views of opposition, set up its own newspaper, appropriately regarded by Nigerians as ‘government views paper’. Murtala Mohammed/Obasanjo regime took over the Daily Times, a privately owned newspaper with independent views and the New Nigerian which mirrored the views of the northern establishment. Shagari tried unsuccessfully to appeal to journalists to mirror the views of his government which he deceitfully equated with that of the nation.

    Buhari came up with an obnoxious Decree Four which made it an offence to report even the truth that ran contrary to the views of his regime. Babangida’s liberalization of ownership of radio and television was in the end self-serving. Obasanjo had such disdain for other views that he likened journalists to dogs.

    Now Jonathan, a product of public opinion like many of his predecessors, has been agonising over his inability to use the awesome power of the presidency to stop criticism of his government’s handling of Nigerian problems which he rightly said were of no creations of his. He thinks the economic views of Dr Okonjo-Iweala which has only reduced our nation to one of the poorest nations of the world in spite of our limitless potentials, a system that has failed even in Europe and America where the mixture of capitalism and welfarism has produced something akin to communism, or those of Dr Doyin Okupe, the self styled ’attack lion’ who recently told half truth about the usage of $1000 bill in US, and those of CBN governor that has rendered thousands of once gainfully employed people jobless, are superior to those of other stake holders in the Nigerian project including former Heads of state.

    The tragedy has been that those called upon to sell government vision are often some of the best products of our society. Tony Momoh, my ‘Oga’ at the Daily Times was a highly principled and successful editor. He was soon to discover all government wanted was not to share information, but force its views on the people. Following Dele Giwa’s assassination through a parcel bomb in October 1986, two days after he was accused of anti-government activities by State Security Services (SSS), Momoh had pledged a government probe of the incident only to back down later saying “a special probe would serve no useful purpose”. By 1987, he had started a government inspired crusade for the press to see itself as tools’ “for the promotion of national unity and integration” of the ruling elite. By 1988, if Momoh had his way, only radio sets that could disseminate only what the government wanted the people to hear would be available. Dismissing opposing views of those opposed to Babangida’s N1billion political party headquarters, Momoh had said no amount was too big to defend democracy since the alternative was dictatorship. As Babangida’s ‘transition without end’ took its tolls on Nigerians and its economy, Momoh resigned himself to writing ‘letters to my countrymen’ until Babangida replaced him with the humour master, and former custom officer, Alex Akinyele, as his information manager.

    Yar’ Adua found in Dora Akunyili, a professor of Pharmacy and a former Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) an ideal information manager. She squandered all the goodwill she had acquired in her misadventure into the ministry of information. She passionately defended the views of the administration with all her might until she resigned from PDP government. Today apart from the ill-advised, failed re-branding of Nigeria project, she is remembered more as an accomplice in the historic vote theft in Ekiti State.

    Labaran Maku was equally well-equipped for his current job. He had been President of University of Jos Students Union and officer of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). He had been a reporter, political editor, member of editorial board of two national newspapers and Deputy Editor-in-Chief during his career as journalist. To cap it all, he was once the commissioner for information and later the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State from 2003 to 2007.

    It is hard to see a man better prepared for the job than Maku. But despite this string of achievements, Maku has moved from one disaster to the other. His latest folly earned him tongue lashing by the Senate president. Maku, according to David Mark is “a careless talker. He talks very carelessly. He did not think properly. He is not an educator and we need to educate him. I hope the president cautions him and calls him to order.”

    Maku who had said that “the National Assembly could not dictate to President Jonathan” was also reminded of the Doctrine of Necessity which was passed into resolutions by the Senate and House of Representatives in February 2010 on the strength of which and the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan became Acting President.

    Before them, Maku had in an attempt to defend President Jonathan’s alleged refusal to say “Amen” during a church service when prayers were being made against corruption, had stated that ‘it was because he is president of both the “rich and the poor, shoed and shoeless, corrupt and incorrupt.”

    Maku also said that just as you cannot accuse God of being evil for sending sun and rain to both the good and bad, so you cannot accuse the president of being corrupt for “sending love and friendship to both the corrupt and the very corrupt.” Even Akinyele the master of humour couldn’t have done better.

    On the general protest that followed the removal of fuel subsidy in January this year, Maku had said ‘the youths were just being used’, the same way he was used by big oil barons to mobilise students, as a student leader in the university. If he did not act out of conviction as a student leader, it is doubtful if a leopard will change its skin at old age, even as a minister.

    Maku in particular seems to have always courted controversy. The enthusiasm which he has brought t o bear on his work as information minister is not markedly different from that of his student leadership almost three decades back. He talks without reflection but with such passion that tends to give the wrong impression that those who work as minister of information are necessarily hungry people.