The Nation Newspaper

Tag: messages

  • Glo unveils code to stop unsolicited messages

    Glo unveils code to stop unsolicited messages

    Telecomms giant Globacom has introduced a new short code 2442 by which subscribers can control unsolicited text messages and calls.

    In using the service, subscribers should text ‘help’ to the short code ‘2442’ to activate a Do not Disturb control to filter unsolicited text messages.

    The service gives the subscribers the latitude to choose messages or calls they wish to receive or block.

    “Do Not Disturb” is a self-service platform for subscribers to manage promotional messages sent to their lines with the option of either opting in or out.

    In a statement in Lagos, Globacom advised subscribers  interested in receiving information on Banking, Insurance and Financial products to send 1 to 2442, while subscribers are required to send 2 to 2442 to receive information on Real Estate.

    Those interested in having information related to Education need to send 3 to the short code, 2442.

    Subscribers that want health-related information should send 4 to 2442, while 5 should be sent to the same code for details on consumer goods and 6 for information on communications, broadcasting, entertainment and information technology.

    To obtain updates on tourism and leisure, they have to send 7 to the 2442, while clients desirous of reading about sports need to send 8 to the same short code 2442.  Similarly, any customer interested in religious matters should send 9 to the code.

  • Reminder: Igbo have other messages for Nigeria

    Nigerians from all directions, including some of our most prominent citizens, have been raising their voices to condemn the noisy agitations by some Igbo youths for a separate country of Biafra. These condemnations are proper because we Nigerians are afraid to have a repeat of the barbarous confrontations and civil war of the late 1960s. However, it is critically important that we should not look only at the noises by the youths in the streets but also at very respectable statements that some Igbo leaders have made concerning order and stability in our country. I refer to the memorandum sent to the National Conference and by extension to Nigeria and the world at large, by the leaders of Ohanaeze Ndigbo early in 2014. Their highly respectable memorandum does not call for secession, or the breaking up of Nigeria. It calls for a sensible restructuring of our federation so as to give our country a chance to settle down, survive and prosper. I hereby put forth their memorandum in order to remind Nigerians that not all Igbo are calling for secession or the dismemberment of Nigeria, and that many highly placed and respectable Igbo citizens have given very serious thought to the future, prosperity and greatness of our country. Here then is an excerpt of their memorandum:

    The recognition of the significance of ethnicity was clear at the birth of an independent Nigeria in 1960. The larger ethnic units of Hausa/Fulani-Igbo-Yoruba formed the basis of the three regions –North-East-West. Ethno-based agitations aimed at asserting the separate identities of the smaller groups promptly sprouted in the Midwest, Middle Belt, and the Calabar Ogoja Rivers (COR).

    The current concept of six geo-political zones is also ethnically based, with three zones for the larger nationalities, and three for combinations of the small nationalities. Thus the nationalities are recognized and accepted as the building blocks of Nigeria.

    In all policy making, Nigeria must allow to its component nationalities free-play and equitable access to our country’s resources and strategic political command posts. Sustained imbalance in sharing responsibilities and the ‘national cake’ could make some nationalities feel not belonging. The break-up of ethnically composite countries, some very powerful and prosperous, like the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, took place along ethnic lines. We must avoid going the same routes, and we can only do so through an equity-oriented formula that creates a comfortable sense of belonging for all our nationalities.

    At independence in 1960, what our founding fathers settled for was a full-blown federal structure, with three regions, East-North-West, as the federating units of our nation. All three regions were constitutionally equal in status. A fourth region, the Midwest, was created by regular constitutional amendment in 1963.

    Thus, the 1963 “Constitution of the Federation” (Republican Constitution), Chapter 1, Section 5(1) states:

    “Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the constitution of each region shall have force of law throughout that region, and if any other law is inconsistent with that constitution, the provisions of that constitution shall prevail and the other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency be void”.

    Almost thirty (30) years of military rule has transformed our federation into a quasi-unitary state bringing along with it political instability. It is important to admit that the federation upon which Nigeria was born and founded no longer exists. What now exists is an over-centralized central government called “federal” government.

    For the sake of a SUSTAINABLE NIGERIA as ONE COUNTRY; AND FOR THE SAKE OF DEVELOPMENT; AND FOR THE SAKE OF FUTURE GENERATIONS OF NIGERIANS, we must face the FACT that the STATUS QUO is untenable. We must reaffirm and re-establish TRUE FEDERALISM as the best system for Nigeria.

    TRUE-FEDERALISM is CRITICAL to the strengthening of the foundation of ONE NIGERIA. TRUE-FEDERALISM eliminates the fear of domination by one or a combination of groups of Nigerians over others and reduces ethno-cultural tension, thus releasing the positive and creative energies of Nigerians to the building of a nation that will be a pride to all black people on earth.

    In other words, NIGERIA HAS A BRIGHT FUTURE AS ONE COUNTRY ONLY TO THE EXTENT THAT THE CONSTITUENT COMPONENTS ALSO HAVE A FUTURE. The primary challenge for us Nigerians is to reduce potential ETHNIC and SECTIONAL conflict areas to the SAFEST MINIMUM.

    This means a sincere affirmation of true federalism by all Nigerians. This implies appreciable decentralization of power and responsibilities from the centre (federal) to federating units. This implies greater financial resources to the federating units in tandem with increased responsibilities etc.

    One of the most important advantages of TRUE FEDERALISM is the equilibrium between the CENTRE (Federal) and REGIONS (Federating Units). In a country like Nigeria with multi-ethnic nationalities, the constitutional balance required by TRUE FEDERALISM should limit the tendency towards over-centralization.

    The major danger and risk of imposing a strong central government (over-centralization) is that it can only be achieved only by those who control the levers of power. An all-powerful federal government controlling the bulk of NATIONAL PURSE and economic development is not desirable. It cannot endure and will not be tolerated indefinitely by the disadvantaged sections of the country, and there shall be several attempts to reverse it leading to serious and constant disequilibrium in the polity.

    There can be no doubt that Nigeria was making more progress in national development in the pre-independence decade and the  early years of its independence when it practiced a true federalism of three or four regions with more extensive powers devolved from the centre to the regions. Those were the days of the significant export of groundnuts, hides and skins, and the tin ore from the North; of cocoa from the West; of rubber from the Mid-West; and of palm produce and coal from the East of Nigeria. They were also the days of such achievements as the free universal education in Chief Awolowo’s Western region, and of the burgeoning industrialization of Dr. Okpara’s Eastern region.

    To return to true federalism, we need a major restructuring of our current architecture of governance. We would need six federating units, instead of our present 36 units which not only sustain an over-dominant centre, but also compel the country to spend not less than 74% of its revenue on the cost of administration. If the existing 36 states must be retained in some form, they could be made cost-effective development zones with minimal administrative structures within the six federating units.

    WITH THIS BACKGROUND NDIGBO STRONGLY ADVOCATE THE RESTRUCTURING OF NIGERIA INTO SIX (6) REGIONS BASED ON ETHNIC/LINGUISTIC GROUPSNAMELY:

    1. South-east region
    2. South-west region
    3. South-south region
    4. North-central region
    5. North-east region
    6. North-west region. With ABUJA as the FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY

    The (boundary) inequities and injustices of previous exercises shall be redressed In the delineation exercise for the new six-region federal structure.

    Each region shall have the right to determine the number of states, local governments, and district/community councils that shall constitute the region, according to the limits of their resources.

    The federal government shall not be involved in state, local government, and district/community council’s matters.

    The powers of the central (federal) government shall be drastically reduced in favour of the regions as federating units. As a guide we recommend that federal government functions shall not exceed those exercised by the centre (federal) at Nigeria’s Independence in 1960.

    We recommend that the institution of Police shall be two-tiered – a federal police, and a regional police.

    The Nigeria armed forces shall be organized into six regional commands.

    RELIGION: The government of the federation, of a region, of a state, or of a local government shall NOT adopt any religion as national, regional, state, or local government religion.

    This is a noteworthy contribution to the Nigerian debate. We Nigerians should consider this memorandum and similar memoranda from other nationalities in the interest of our country, Nigeria.

  • Anger over unsolicited text messages

    Anger over unsolicited text messages

    Unsolicited text messages have become one of the many challenges subscribers have to contend with. While the messages could so often be provocative, customers are forced to pay for them, largely because they are either ignorant of what to do is complacent. But the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says aggrieved subscribers should stop suffering in silence, reports LUCAS AJANAKU.

    She had left her business for the day to be part of one of the sessions of the monthly Telecoms Consumer Parliament (TCP) convened at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). She had reasons to do so. For three years, she has been carrying the burden of receiving no fewer than 40 unsolicited text messages on her phone daily.

    She gave her name as Hajia Binta Maina, dealer in Dangote products. A woman in her late 50s, she sprang up from her seat, clutched her mobile phone and beckoned on officials of the NCC to come and see what she had been passing through with agonies all these years. According to her, the text messages were imposed on her by fraudulent value added service (VAS) providers riding on the infrastructure of Globacom, her mobile network operator (MNO). Bitter, she lamented that she had consistently loaded air time which so very often gradually gets depleted.

    She said: “I have been living with this problem over the past three years. I receive about 40 text messages daily from my service provider. If I were not advanced in age, some of the messages were capable of breaking my marriage. Imagine my husband opening my phone and reading a message such as; ‘I love you’. I have visited three offices of Glo and had even taken my case to the head office of the company in Victoria Island where an Indian man attended to me and assured me that the text messages and loss of money will stop. They said there is a code I could use to opt out. I used it but the more I used the code, the more the messages come in.

    “As I speak with you, it has not stopped. So when I heard that this meeting is taking place today, I decided to sacrifice everything I have to do today to bring my problem to the world.”

    Another subscriber, Madam Joy Adeniran, a window  living in Itele, a suburb of Sango Ota, Ogun State, had been promised by one of her customers that she was going to make payment into her bank account so that she could go to the market the following day to stock her shop. She waited all day long to receive transaction alert from her bank but nothing came. Frustrated, she called the customer that promised to pay money into her bank account at about 10pm to find out what the problem was.

    She was assured of the payment and encouraged to wait for the transaction alert because that will form the basis of her going to Idumota, Lagos to buy goods for her shop.

    “It was like a vigil for me. I must get confirmation before setting out from Itele to Lagos latest by 5am the following morning. So, I kept waiting for the alert. When my text message alert tone rang at about 12.30 midnight, I sprang up from my bed, reached for the phone. When I opened the message box, it was one useless message sent at that ungodly hour by my MNO. I was so pissed off and felt like smashing the device on the concrete wall,” she lamented.

    Hajia Maina and Mrs Adeniran are just a few of the over 140 million active subscribers that daily go through the pains of unsolicited text messages on their mobile phones. The messages come in torrents, sometimes blocking genuine messages from being received. “I have to delete these messages to allow important messages to be delivered because if I don’t do that, the icon showing that a message is waiting will keep popping up. It is very sad,” Alvin Afadama, an intern, lamented.

     

    NCC’s position

     

    Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Tony Ojobo, said the Commission has issued a lot of directives aimed at minimising as much as possible, the burden of unsolicited text messages to all the operators, adding that the regulator had even sanctioned the operators for not playing by the rules.

    He said the regulator has consistently urged the MNOs to install powerful firewalls to prevent unbridled influx of unsolicited text messages to their customers.

    He said: “We have made our position known on this matter. We have warned against sending messages to subscribers at night on their networks. The Commission is putting its foot down against the operators and monitoring their activities and giving them various regulations to ensure that this does not happen. We encourage subscribers to go to the operators, walk to their customer care centers; call customer call centers to lodge their complaints and give them detailed explanations about the content of the text message, the time you got them and from which number.

    “Agreed, most of these things come from VAS providers. They are not actually coming from the network service providers; some of them may come from them but most are from VAS providers with the knowledge of the service providers anyway. These things are like pipes for them to transmit their services and sometimes they get services through the system without them being able to detect it. It happens all over the world but we are insisting that they should be able to provide various types of systems that should be able to detect these unsolicited text messages especially those that are not wanted. The customers have a right to stop them. Send stop to the number that sent the message and it will stop and if it doesn’t stop; walk to our Lagos office at Bankole Oki Street, Ikoyi and complain. We take such complaints seriously because they infringe on the rights of the customers.

    “If you fail to get redress, you can also call us on our toll-free number on 622. Additionally I would like to say that this is a global problem it does not happen only in Nigeria alone.”

    Its Zonal Controller, Lagos, Okechukwu Aniweke, however said there are also positive sides to the unsolicited messages. According to him, unexpected bank alerts, warning about impending disasters, outbreak of epidemic disease, outbreak of fatal disease such as the Ebola and warnings about how to avoid contacting them, alert about fire disasters and even armed robbery attack. He said some ‘unsolicited’ text message have been so useful to the customers as they have helped to save lives, adding however that this is not to say the MNOs and VAS providers should not respect the right of their customers to have peaceful rest in their homes.

     

    Operators react

     

    Head, Network Operations, Globacom, Aremu Olajide, said most of the messages that customers complain about are not sent by the MNOs, arguing that VAS providers licensed by the NCC send the messages but using the MNOs.

    Customer Care Executive at MTN, Akinwale Goodluck agrees  with Olajide. According to him, a huge percentage of the unsolicited messages on the network are actually generated on the internet. He said with the rise of the internet, it was possible for somebody to be in Asia and send mass messages to millions of subscribers in the country. He said though there are subsisting contractual agreements with bulk SMS providers, the telco is however strict with its terms of engagement.

     

    VAS providers speak

     

    The umbrella body of VAS providers in the country, the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN), has absolved itself of any blame. The group blamed the raft of unsolicited messages on what it described as “rogue VAS providers.”

    Its National Coordinating Consultant, Simon Aderinlola, who described WASPAN as a self-regulatory body of firms licensed by the NCC that have at least connection with one MNO in Nigeria providing VAS.

    He said: “In answering that other aspect of your question about messages getting to people may be at night, they are rogue VAS services. By rogue VAS services, the Commission has tried immensely, to halt their operation. There is a framework for licensing but it is gathering momentum. There are some who actually open business to do wrong things.

    “The more the right regulation is put in place such that you are not killing innovation, but ensuring that the customer is protected and the rules are clear and transparent, the better for all of us.

    He commended the regulator for creating a forum for the MNOs, VAS providers and other stakeholders to come together to tackle the problem of unsolicited messages.

    “I must say this is the first of its kind forum of this nature where you have the operators, the VAS providers and the NCC all giving their own ideas on how things can work and I am sure the more we have session of this nature, the more we will be able to drive things forward,” he said.

  • Musicians warned against harmful messages

    An Abuja-based artiste, Ojonogecha Obande-Haruna has urged Nigerian artistes to filter the content of their music, even as she regretted that artistes are ignorant of the power of music.

    Ogecha who prefers to be called an inspirational artiste said people have refused to associate themselves with gospel music because of the title “gospel.”

    According to her, the tag gospel restricts people from the song thereby hindering the growth of gospel music in Nigeria.

    Speaking with reporters in Abuja, Ogecha as she is fondly called said: “I feel there is need for artistes to filter their music regardless of how much money we want to make or how much fame we desire. We should be very careful of what we are telling people.

    “In terms of passing message through music, all musicians have a message they want to pass across, which depends on who you feel you want to pass the message to.

    “Music is a very powerful agent and some people don’t realise that. Some sing what they don’t even believe in, some sing what they would not teach their children to do or what they would not permit their children to do.

    Continuing, she said: “It is very dangerous because children are inspired by watching or listening to you and they quickly align their lives to yours maybe because what you sing about is similar to theirs. They follow what you sing without thinking. They may end up in places they don’t expect because of the kind of music that the industry churns out to the public.

    She noted that when Fela Anikulapo Kuti was alive, he influenced Nigerians and even beyond with his music because he had a message.

    “For me, whatever I will not do that will affect me negatively, I will not sing and whatever I feel would have adverse effect in the lives of the people, especially the young ones, I will not sing,” she said.

    On how gospel music is faring in Nigeria, she said: “I started with the tag: ‘gospel artiste’ but later on, I yanked it off. I have discovered that those who sing gospel music don’t live the kind of life expected of them. When you use the tag gospel, you put restriction to yourself and I feel that the message of the gospel is supposed to be delivered to everyone.

    She added: “How do I deliver the message to everyone if I wear the tag everywhere I go? Some people close their doors because of the tag, gospel. My message is for everybody. God does not discriminate and why should mankind discriminate?

    “I am an inspirational artiste because I sing inspirational music. I want my music to touch and give life, I’m not out to destroy people’s lives with my music. I want people to understand that they can enjoy life within certain limits, in such a way that you will not harm and have regrets later in life,” she said.

  • Text messages mark 20th anniversary

    Text messages mark 20th anniversary

    Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the first text message. What has changed about this revolution? A lot, writes Daily Mail

     

    A revolutionary form of communication is in decline – just 20 years after it changed the way that people interact with each other.

    Used by four billion people around the world, the SMS (Short Message Service) took the world by storm after its birth in December 1992.

    But after two decades of fervently bashing keypads with our thumbs, media watchdog Ofcom has reported a decline in the volume of texts sent.

    The number of text messages sent in Britain peaked at 39.7billion at the end of last year, but is now down to 38.5billion, following two quarterly declines.

    The fall has been attributed to new forms of communication which have taken over from the basic SMS system.

    Owners of modern smartphones now have a plethora of ways of communicating with each other – including Tweeting and instant messaging.

    The first ever text – sent in December 1992 – simply read ‘Merry Christmas’, after being sent by engineer Neil Papworth from his personal computer to Vodafone’s Richard Jarvis.

    This humble beginning kicked off a cultural and social revolution in the developed world, and texts have been used to seal business deals and even convey marriage proposals.

    The trend of texting exploded among children in 1998 with the introduction of the ‘pay as you go’ system by four major phone companies.

    But it was only in 1999 that texting became a way of life when users could start sending text messages to people using different mobile networks to their own.

    Texts soon completely transformed the way we write by introducing new abbreviations to the English language now known as ‘text speak’.

    The average 12 to 15-year-old send 193 texts a week and politicians have blamed the abbreviated language on the demise of literacy among the youth as punctuation, grammar and capitalisation are largely ignored in favour of brevity.

    Text messages sent around the world now generates £73.5billion a year with the average Brit sending 50 texts a week.

    It gave rise to a number of new challenges for modern society, including bullying, the dangers of texting while driving and ‘sexting’ – where sexually explicit photographs or messages are sent by mobile phone.

    As well as giving bullies an easy way to torment their victims out of school, the trend of sexting among teens has also caused concern.

    A 2008 survey by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy found one in five teen girls surveyed admitted to electronically sending nude or semi-nude images of themselves.

    One-third of teen boys and one-quarter of teen girls say they were shown private nude or semi-nude images.

    According to the survey, sexually suggestive messages sent by text, e-mail, and instant messaging were even more common than images.

    Nearly 40 per cent of teens admitted to having sent or posted such messages, and half of teens have received them.

    More recently, a 2012 study by the University of Utah Department of Psychology found nearly 20 percent of the students said they had sent a sexually explicit image of themselves on their mobile.

    James Thickett, Ofcom’s director of research, told The Independent: “For the first time in the history of mobile phones, SMS volumes are showing signs of decline.

    “The availability of a wider range of communications tools, like instant messaging and social networking sites, means people might be sending fewer SMS messages, but they are communicating electronically more than ever before.”

    While texting might be on decline in favour of alternative – and often cheaper – forms of electronic communication, experts warn that it is our personal relationships that are really at risk.

    Ironically, a new study has found that while electronic communication has made it easier than ever for people to stay in touch, it has actually started to erode out ability to communicate with others.

    And it revealed that texting has become as addictive as compulsive spending for many.

    Study author Dr James Roberts said: ‘Mobile phones are a part of our consumer culture.

    ‘They are not just a consumer tool, but are used as a status symbol. They’re also eroding our personal relationships.’

    Previous studies have revealed young adults send on average 109.5 texts a day, or approximately 3,200 messages a month.

    They receive an additional 113 texts and check their phones 60 times in a typical day and students spend about seven hours a day interacting with information and communication technology.

    Dr Roberts added: “At first glance, one might have the tendency to dismiss such aberrant mobile phone use as merely youthful nonsense – a passing fad.

    “But an emerging body of literature has given increasing credence to cell phone addiction and similar behavioural addictions.”

  • Ondo PDP decries congratulatory messages to Mimiko

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State yesterday decried the comments and congratulatory messages sent by its National Publicity Secretary to Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

    The party said the compliments were fraught with irregularities.

    A statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, said: “This flurry of messages, particularly by our kith and kin in the PDP, without consultation with us at the state level to find out what actually went wrong, has the potent tendency to misconstrue our position and the actions we intend to take.

    “We take serious exception to the obvious lack of camaraderie in our party and the indecent haste of certain functionaries to fall on each other in congratulating a man who essentially is a beneficiary of a compromised election.

    “It is important to place on record that the avalanche of the security provided for the election was lethargic and in contrast to what obtained in Edo State. The security men were only present in the urban areas. They were not seen in the rural areas, thereby allowing Mimiko and his goons to compromise the poll.

    “We are still gathering evidence of malpractices perpetrated in this election and what we have gathered so far will shock every apostle of one man one vote to their marrow. We declare that we will contest the result of this election and we assure our supporters that we will get victory and Mimiko will leave government the same way he came.

    “As far as the PDP in Ondo State is concerned, the battle is just beginning and victory is certain. Let whoever so desires continue to congratulate Mimiko, but we will battle him legally. We call on our members to remain undaunted in the face of this abandonment by those who ordinarily should show understanding and care at a time like this.”