The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NCC

  • NCC staff want DG sacked

    NCC staff want DG sacked

    •They are disgruntled,’ says Ezekude

    Some staff of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) are rooting for a change of guards at the anti-piracy agency, saying the current management and its style of administration are hindering the parastatal from performing optimally.

    They alleged corruption by the management and that the tenure of Director General Afam Ezekude expired last December and should make way for a successor.

    However,  Ezekude  has dismissed the allegations as the handiwork of vested groups  who  are fighting back because of the changes and reorganisation that have affected their interests.

    Top of the catalogue of complaints by the aggrieved staff which they sent to The Nation on Sunday are: contract splitting, same day approval of payments to a contractor, frequent overseas trips by Mr. Ezekude and his family, using First Class tickets, and a monthly withdrawal of N10 million from the Commission’s account ostensibly to ‘service’ some unidentified personalities at the National Assembly.

    They claimed that 10 members of staff of the agency “have died thus far, due to administrative pressure, financial challenges and unexplainable circumstances.”

    Other allegations are:

    · Questionable withdrawals from NCC’s Pension funds account without the consent of board members;

    · Violation of Public Service Rules through massive rehabilitation and renting of over-sized office accommodation in Abuja, involving non-transparent payment terms;

    ·Illegal employment of over 200 staff in 2012, including inadequately experienced kinsmen placed on Grade Level 14 and above, without any newspaper advertisement of vacancies;

    · Random punitive transfers for staff perceived as potential threat without payment of transfer allowances;

    · Vindictive transfer of officers out of the Abuja Head Office for joining the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (SSAN)

    On the DG’s tenure, they said: “the said tenure extension (memo) is not known/seen by relevant departments such as Admin, Finance, Audit, Public Affairs, the Legal department in NCC and the Federal Ministry of Justice.”

    The aggrieved staff of NCC asked government to investigate their allegations.

    Ezekude who is currently out of the country said ‘disgruntled elements’ including those who dislike the transfers and reorganisation he is carrying out were the brains behind the allegations.

    In a swift response after listening to our correspondent’s voicemail message on his United Kingdom telephone line, the DG said: “It is not new. The allegations have remained unfounded; it is just some disgruntled elements within the Commission and they have no proof.

    “I advise strongly that these allegations should not be given any attention at all; this is always expected when you try to do the right thing, some people will just come up with false allegations

     

     

     

  • NCC confiscates 20 containers of pirated works

    NCC confiscates 20 containers of pirated works

    The Lagos zonal Director of National Copy Right Commission, NCC, Barrister Chris Nkwocha has debunked the claim that the Commission is doing nothing concerning the recent piracy of some notable movies at Alaba market in Lagos, noting that the Commission has just confiscated about 20 containers of pirated works which include books, musical works and films at the point of entry. He said the products were worth N10 billion.

    Nwocha who spoke to The Nation in an exclusive chat said the container was seized by the men of the Customs at the point of entrance, noting that all hands are on deck to make the country an unbearable place for piracy to triumph.”We have about 173 cases of piracy in various courts throughout the country “

    According to him, despite the challenges the commission is facing, it has done a lot to stem the activities of the pirates in recent times, adding that when his Commission received a distress call on February 9, 2015 from Mr. Gab Okoye that some of his movies, ‘Tango with Me’, ‘Phone Swap’ and ‘Onye Ozi’ were pirated, his men swung to action and one Mr. Samuel Oluchukwu Eze was arrested.

    He explained that on the same day, his men also apprehended another man, Mr. Donatus Madu who was charged to court on May 12th but the culprit which was granted bail refused to turn up, a situation which forced the court to issue a bench warrant for his arrest and was brought to court on 26th of May where he was arraigned before Justice O Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

    The Director pointed out that the commission has not relented in its fight against piracy noting that in the recent past pirated works which comprises literary, musical and films worth about N6billion were bunt. “The purpose of the burning exercise was to demonstrate the Commission’s commitment to zero tolerance for policy on piracy and send a warning signal that piracy would no longer be a profitable venture,” he said.

  • Glo had 68 per cent of new internet users in April, says NCC

    Glo had 68 per cent of new internet users in April, says NCC

    Telecommunication giant Globacom added over a million new internet users on its network in April and thus retained its position as the second largest data service provider in the country.

    According to information available on the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Globacom had 19,690,526 subscribers surfing the net with its network in April, up from 18,617,607 users in March.

    Globacom gained 1,072,919 additional internet users during the review period. This increase translates to 67.58 per cent of total number of new internet subscriber figure of 1,587,514 for the telecom networks for the month of April.

    NCC data showed that MTN lost 384,487 internet subscribers in April, after it recorded 39,520,285 users, down from 39,904,772 in March 2015. Airtel Nigeria, it said, had 17.2 million internet users in April, as against 16,603,147 customers recorded in March. The data showed that internet users on the Airtel Nigeria network increased by 669,518 in April.

    For Etisalat, 10.4 million of its customers browsed the internet in April, against the 10,189,568 users in March, showing an increase of 231,661 in the new month.

    NCC said the number of subscribers browsing the internet on Nigeria’s telecoms networks increased to 87,055,484 in April, up from 85,467,970 users in March.

    The data showed that the increase of 1,587,514 internet users during the period was on both the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks in April.

    The recent internet subscriber acquisition by Globacom could be linked to the recent massive upgrade and modernisation of the operator’s network across the country. The network enhancements have increased the capacity of the network and significantly boosted service quality levels.

    Globacom also recently introduced a number of innovative initiatives which give more value for money for the various services the operator provides. One of such was the recently concluded Overload promo which gave subscribers 400 percent bonus for data bundle subscription on renewals of N2000 and above.

     

  • NCC’s 20 PCs not enough for 10,000 girls, say students

    Some students of Girls Senior High School, Agege, Lagos, have urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to take a critical look at the number of students in their school with a view to increasing the number of personal computers (PCs) it gave the college.

    The students who spoke on the sideline after the official commissioning of a computer laboratory under the Digital Access Programme (DAP) of the NCC, expressed gratitude to the regulator for the gesture, adding that it will assist them to prepare very well for their final examination.

    “I have seen computers before but I have not interacted well with it. I sometimes go to cybercafé with my aunt who tries to teach me how to operate it. Now that almost all external examinations, including the one conducted by Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) are becoming computer-based, it will help us. I am grateful to the Commission. It will help us a lot but the PCs are too few for our population here,” one of the girls said.

    Another student of the school said the gesture of the NCC is good but lamented that the PCs are far too few to make any appreciable impact in the short run on the students. She said: “You can see that this is a large school. You heard the principal saying the number of students in the school is about 10,000 and here are only 20 PCs. Anyway, the school authority will find a way of planning it in such a way that all of us will benefit.”

    Like the students, the school’s Principal, Tajudeen Adeyinka, expressed his gratitude to the NCC for the gesture. He however urged the regulator to explore the possibility of powering the facility with alternative energy source such as solar. He said this will reduce the cost of fuelling and maintenance of the generators.

    Speaking on the occasion, NCC Executive Vic Chair, Dr. Eugene Juwah said DAP is one of the programmes which the NCC introduced to bridge the digital divide existing in secondary schools, adding that its concept is a designation of a classroom fully equipped with computers and other ICT facilities, including a generator and internet connection to enable the schools and its immediate environment to have access to the internet.

    He said: “Many of the secondary schools, including those in remote villages of this country have testified to how this programme has facilitated their online examination activities such as subscription to JAMB, WAEC, NECO among other examinations.

    The idea is to ensure that students, who are the leaders of tomorrow, are early adaptors of ICT, especially the internet which has limitless resources. It is also designed for the surrounding communities to have access to the internet, especially when the students are not available to ensure maximum use of the bandwidth subscription for the affected school. So far, more than 200 schools have benefitted from DAP.

    “Apart from DAP which is designed for secondary schools, we also have the Digital Access Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI) under which we provide about 110 computers to the beneficiaries to equip the lecturers with new ICT skills in order to impact same on their students. “So far, more than 300 institutions of higher learning in Nigeria have benefited from the programe since its introduction in 2008. This is in addition to the introduction of the Wireless Cloud, a complimentary package comprising of laptops with wireless internet facilities. Another 144 institutions, including some who already have ADAPTI, have benefited from the Wireless Cloud.”

    He said the key objectives of these programmes are to prepare the nation for a digital future and equip the youth with the necessary skills to tap into the potentials of the digital age, adding that in the case of DAP, it is aimed at building a foundation for young generation and to also prepare a good background for the broadband revolution that is being currently pursued by the commission.

    He added that the Commission is vigorously pursuing a programme to provide pervasive broadband availability and affordability across the country. He expressed hope that some of these programmes would create a fertile ground for usage and exploitation of broadband for the benefit of the economy.

  • NCC destroys N10b imported pirated materials

    NCC destroys N10b imported pirated materials

    Imported pirated materials, including books, artworks, musicals and cinematography valued at N10 billion  stuffed in about 20 containers, have  been seized in the last five years, the Director of Lagos Zone, Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC),  Chris Nkwocha has said.

    Last year alone, the NCC, he said, seized and destroyed pirated works worth N6.5 billion in Lagos State, during over 400 anti-piracy operations.

    Nkwocha who spoke during this year’s International Archives Day hosted by the Lagos State Records and Archives Bureau (LASRAB), at its Magodo office.

    The NCC chief stated further that within the period, over 50 convictions were enforced, while about 173 cases, including that of the Alaba King of Pirates, are in various competent courts, in its determination to chase the pirates out of business.

    Describing pirates as despicable and economic saboteurs, Nkwocha said: “Section 38 sub-section 5 of the Nigeria Copyright Law gave copyright inspectors all the rights and powers contained in the Police Act or any other enactments in Nigeria to investigate and prosecute any copyright infringements in the country.”

    He said though the agency is trying to amend the law to capture digital piracy which is more rampant today, it would however not be deterred as the present provisions is still adequate to try offenders and ensure that right owners enjoy the full benefit of their creative effort and labour.

    He said though the rights owner have a bundle of rights, chief among which are the economic and moral rights, enough awareness needed to be sustained for all property owners to seek the protection of their ownership to such through the copyright laws.

    He said a rights owner has “a full and exclusive right including economic benefit to his works throughout his life time or to about 50 and 70 years lifespan of such works.”

    Delivering a paper titled: “Copyright: Interpreting the Law for Archives and Allied Institutions,” Nkwocha said the NCC was established to help right owners secure the rights to their works, adding that copyright matters could be obtained for works of art, books or any other printed matter, photographs, music, cinematography, or any works of creativity from which one could exact economic benefit.

    He commended the Lagos State government for creating LASRAB as an institution for the archival of any information concerning the state, and asked other states in the country to take a cue and begin the process of documenting their stories.

    Describing LASRAB as “the society’s memory bank”, the chief counsel in the state’s Ministry of Justice Mrs Adebukola Agbanimoja said archivists must define the extent of their roles in information management in order not to be overtly  exposed to infractions that may make them liable for rights abuse.

    She said libraries and archival institutions have often cited Section 107 of the Archives Act of the United States, which stresses fair use, yet, the question of what constitutes fair use have remained thorny.

    The founder, Rhema Foundation and President of Institute of Information Management Amb. Oyedotun Oyewole called for more stringent anti-piracy laws to make the trade unattractive to people.

    He described as a criminal anyone who wish to profit from another person’s efforts, arguing that such saboteurs must be severely sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others.

    A lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies, Mr Habib Sanni urged the NCC to respond to the challenge of internet processed information, by coming up with appropriate punishments for people who infringe on works on such platforms.

  • Telephone penetration now 103%, says NCC

    Telephone penetration now 103%, says NCC

    Nigeria’s  telephone penetration now stands at 103.91 per cent, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.

    The teledensity is contained in the commission’s Monthly Subscriber Data, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos, yesterday.

    According to the data, the country’s teledensity stands at 103.91 per cent as at the end of April, with active telephone lines now 145,476,326.

    NCC said the teledensity was calculated based on population estimate of 126 million up till December 2005, and from December 2006 it was based on a population estimate of 140 million.

    It said  from December 2001 to 2006, teledensity was based on connected subscribers and from December 2007, it was based on active subscriptions on mobile networks.

    The data showed that industry teledensity stood at 92.42 per cent as at April 2014, and that increased by 11.49 per cent to reach 103.91 per cent by April 2015.

    In May 2014, it moved up to 93.70 per cent; 94.84 per cent in June and at the end of July, the figure declined to 94.42 per cent, adding that in August, September and October, the figures moved to 95.20 per cent, 96.08 per cent and 96.87 per cent, respectively.

    In November and December, the telephony penetration increased to 97.60 per cent and 99.39 per cent, respectively.

    The teledensity reached  100.59 per cent in January 2015, and increased to 101.85 per cent in February, and 102.81 per cent in the month of March 2015.

    The teledensity increased by 1.10 per cent to attain 103.91 per cent in April.

    The proportional growth in teledensity showed that access to telephone services is getting deeper in the country.

  • NCC may sanction MTN over ‘illegal’ tariff plans

    NCC may sanction MTN over ‘illegal’ tariff plans

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the weekend ordered MTN Nigeria Communications to stop implementing a tariff plan called MTN TruTalk+ or face serious sanctions as the regulator said it did not give any approval for such service.

    The Commission also barred MTN from further advertisement of such service in the print, electronic media or its websites.

    In a letter dated May 19, this year with ref No NCC/MTN/18/15 endorsed by the Head, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Mr. Efosa Idehen and Head, Legal and Regulatory Services, Mrs. Yetunde Akinloye, the regulator said the records of the Commission showed that the operator has no approval before embarking on the new promotional tariff plan.

    The Commission said its Compliance Unit revealed that the new tariff with daily access fee of N5, allows subscribers to call all networks at 11k/sec and N20k/sec to United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), India, Canada and China.

    “The Commission’s investigations showed that MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd has already configured this tariff plan on their network and has therefore implemented same without the appropriate regulatory approval. Consequent upon the above, the Commission thereby directs MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd to immediately discontinue this Tariff Plan and all associated advertisements regarding same or otherwise face regulatory sanctions accordingly” NCC said, adding that the action contravenes Section 108 (1) of the Nigeria Communications Act 2003.

    The NCC has initiated this action in fulfilment of its mandate under Section 89 of NCC Act 2003 having carried out a compliance check on the recently introduced MTN Nigeria Limited TruTalk+ Tariff Plan.

    A statement by its Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, explained that following the compliance check, it was confirmed that MTN Nigeria is  advertising a Tariff Plan called MTN TruTalk+ in the print and electronic media.

    The NCC investigations showed that MTN Nigeria had configured this Tariff Plan on its network and has,  implemented it.

  • Why we can’t fight piracy, by NCC

    Why we can’t fight piracy, by NCC

    The Nigeria Copyrights Commission (NCC) yesterday blamed poor funding from thr Federal Government for its inability to effectively discharge its respponsibilities, especially its fight against piracy.

    It said fighting piracy has been difficult without proper funding.

    Its Director of Enforcement, Augustine Amodu, who spoke while inaugurating anti-piracy units for book sellers and disc/cassette sellers in the state, said the Commission has secured 58 convictions across the country for pirated works on broadcast, optical disk, book and software piracy.

    He said the commission recently seized 20 containers of pirated books worth over N6.6billion.

    “Paucity of fund is affecting our operations. In law enforcement, without funding, it will be difficult to fight the crime you are fighting. It is so difficult. We have tried our best to do what we are doing. We are doing the impossible for the ungrateful.

    “We have done much to ensure convictions. We will keep on prosecuting those arrested. We have seized  books and pirated works.”

    Explaining why the anti-piracy task force was inaugurated, Amodu said the Commission wanted to replicate the success recorded with the establishment of anti-piracy task force at Ajegunle, Lagos State.

    He urged the task force members not to intimidate their members but to educate them to avoid patronising pirated works.

    He said: “If we fight piracy with force and we are not moving foward, we will use the people to fight piracy. We will prosecute any association found wanting if we found pirated copies in their shops. We will prosecute them. We are using them to fight them. It worked perfectly in Ajegunle.

  • Poor telecoms service quality unacceptable, says NCC

    Poor telecoms service quality unacceptable, says NCC

    the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr. Eugene Juwah has said the poor telecoms service quality operators are offering subscribers is unacceptable to the Commission, adding that the regulator will continue to do the needful to achieve the highest degree of service quality in the country.

    Juwah who spoke at the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) forum held at the University of Lagos, Akoka said, he was worried by the development, adding that the Commission has summoned several meetings with the operators to express customers’ dissatisfaction with a view to improving the situation.

    Represented by the Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, he however said there are challenges which must first be addressed before service quality would be improved.

    Those challenges include but are not limited to inadequate power supply, multiple taxation and regulations, vandalism of telecom infrastructure, right of way (RoW) challenges, and infrastructure deficit among others.

    “Only the elimination of some or all of these will provide the critical success factors in finally eradicating quality of service challenges,” Juwah said, adding that the regulator is not complacent over the issue.

    During the public hearing held by the National Assembly in 2008, power was considered to have contributed more than 40 per cent to service quality challenges.

    Telecoms depend on power to run 24/7. Just as individuals in Nigeria generate their power, so has telcos being generating much of the power it utilizes.

    The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has put the estimated cost of running two generators in each of the over 25,000 base transmission stations (BTS) in at about N5 billion monthly. ATCON says while service provider spends 80 per cent operating expenditure (OPEX) on power generation, in Malawi, it is just some five per cent. This captures the explanation as the service providers would have been in a position to channel more resources to tackling the issues of service quality.

    Juwah said : “We have a very nagging issue of regulations and taxes awaiting the telecom operators at different levels of government. Some of these regulations are made outside of the purview of the telecom regulator. There are states and local governments where telecom infrastructure is seen as fertile ground for improving internally generated revenue as these infrastructures must be available to make services possible. In some areas, state governments, local governments, or even some federal government agencies have had to force a close down of base stations with the implication of disconnecting many localities from the network thereby adding to the challenge”

    On RoW, he lamented that governments at various levels, individuals or communities, prevent the service providers from installing equipment without which there will not be good quality of services.

    “Some of us may not be aware. But the truth is that for almost five years, the Federal Capital Territory Administration stopped issuance of permits to telecom service providers to BTS on account of fear of defacing the city. Yet, residents would expect services to be of high quality,” he lamented.

    Vandalism of equipment has become common where criminals vandalise expensive transmission lines laid with fibre optics or where road constructions or similar situation results in cutting off transmission cables with multiple negative effects on service quality.

    He said it is common for comparisons to be made between the country and other parts of the world where service quality is great, adding that in making such comparison, it is too often forgotten that there is infrastructure deficit in the country. While monopolies in the developed parts of the world made enormous investments in infrastructure to sustain their markets, Nigeria was not as lucky as the fortunes of Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) was mismanaged.

    “The dearth of fixed landline services brought about enormous pressure on mobile services which affected quality given the rate of subscription. Our situation resulted in mobile services providing the triple role of office, home and mobility services. While some countries such as the United Kingdom with less geographical spread have more than 50,000 base stations, Nigeria has about 25,000. So, the issue of infrastructure deficit in a country like Nigeria is bound to affect quality of service.

    “Sometimes when the regulator reels out some of these challenges, especially those outside its immediate control, it is misinterpreted as giving excuses for the service providers. But as a regulator who must show clear understanding of the issues, we refused to play the ostrich,” Juwah said.

  • NCC, governors to partner

    NCC, governors to partner

    The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC)  said it will open discussions with in-coming state governors with a view to developing telecoms infrastructure across the country.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Eugene Juwah who spoke to reporters in Abuja yesterday lamented that it was sad that most of the governors failed to sign the deal brokered by the National Economic Council (NEC).

    Juwah said the new partnership has become necessary with the new governors for the smooth implementation of the guidelines approved by the NEC for accelerated improvement of telecoms infrastructure in the country.

    The NCC said it was regrettable that most of the out-going governors refused to sign the guidelines approved by the NEC for the development of infrastructures, especially base transmission stations (BTS) and underground cables due to misconceptions on the matter.

    Represented by the Director, Public Affairs, Mr Tony Ojobo, he said the NCC alongside other stakeholders in the telecoms industry are prepared to engage the state governments on the issues of multiple taxation, infrastructure outlay, and investments which are capable of boosting the development of the states in various fields of human endeavours.