Can Nigeria leverage on World Telecoms day to service rural telephony quest?

President Jonathan

By Prince Osuagwu



 Telecoms role to world economy

Penultimate Sunday, this year’s world telecommunications day was quietly celebrated across the world. Those who  monitor the activities of world economies, also used the opportunity to reflect once more on the roles telecommunications development has played and the boost technologies have added to the world economic order.
Interestingly, this year’s theme, highlighted “Better life in rural communities with ICTs”, which was adopted by ITU Council in 2009, followed up in 2010 with theme “Better city, better life with ICTs”. In these themes, perhaps, lie the focus of many nations in trying to up their economic bases, using the instrument of Information and Communications Technology, ICT.
Also, the theme, may have not only provided emerging markets like Nigeria a pathway to solidifying their positions in world ICT standing but has also raised challenges on taking growth to the next level.
ICTs are increasingly in demand to meet the Millennium Development Goals. In the rural context, ICTs provide enhanced opportunities to generate income and combat poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy.
Half the world’s population , estimated at about three billion people, reside in rural districts and far flung communities. This half, represents the poorer, less educated, and more deprived cousins of the urban citizens. They are also among the least connected to the benefits of ICTs and therefore, should not be allowed to continue, that way.
As ICTs constantly reshape the way the world communicates, creating opportunities for a better life through long-term and sustainable development, it is most appropriate to connect such benefits to the most disadvantaged sections of the society.

Toure's 146th ITU anniversary message

In his message to the event which marks ITU’s 146th anniversary, Secretary General of the union, Dr Hamadoun Toure agreed that today, ICTs are the powerhouses of the global economy and offer real solutions towards generating sustainable economic growth and prosperity.

Toure

For him, ICTs also act as catalysts in accelerating progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
He said that “ICTs and related e-applications are key instruments in improving governance and rural services, such as providing community health care, safe drinking water and sanitation, education, food and shelter; improving maternal health and reducing child mortality; empowering women and the more vulnerable members of society; and ensuring environmental sustainability.
Toure frowned that among the estimated 3.5 billion rural residents, are as many as 1.4 billion of the world’s extremely poor people, who are also among the least connected to the benefits of ICTs, adding that the situation should not be allowed to continue as time has come for global action to connect rural communities to the opportunities offered by ICTs.
He further revealed that it was the reason ITU focused attention on the world’s rural communities in a quest to connect the remotest corners to the benefits of ICTs. “ITU is committed to connecting the world and to ensuring that the benefits of ICTs reach the remotest corners as well as the most vulnerable communities. I am proud to say that our work at ITU in developing the standards for ICTs, managing vital spectrum and orbital resources, mobilizing the necessary technical, human and financial resources, and strengthening emergency response in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters has met with unprecedented success as we enter the second decade of this millennium.
Toure however advocated for enhanced broadband access aimed at establishing the information and communication highways, saying they were networks that will feed both rural communities and urban centres with the means to meet their development goals and aspirations, drive content, even though mobile penetration has spread rapidly with over 5.3 billion subscribers worldwide.

Nigeria:Lessons from world telecoms day/Pyramid reports
Nigeria is one of the most competitive markets in Africa, with more than double the average number of operators in any other African country..
Leapfrogging from about 400,000 functioning telephone lines in 2001 to about 85 million in 2011, there may really not be many sectors in Nigeria that can boast of the growth rate attained by the telecom sector.

The Nigerian telecom market is also said to have generated about $8.2bn in service revenue by year-end 2009. Yet, this estimation serves as a 7.7% year-on-year decline from the previous year. This notwithstanding, the telecom industry has been known, since liberalisation in 2000, to experience high growth rates and with mobile penetration at just 48.9% by year-end 2009, it still holds tremendous opportunity for growth.

Telecom mast

However, a UK based research agency, Pyramid Inc, recently, released a report of its research findings on Nigeria’s telecom activities, to say that the sector will still remain Africa’s fastest growing telecom market over the next five years. The report however said that, this will be fueled by several new entrants, the launch of mobile value-added services, broadband services and by the eventual introduction of mobile number portability and mobile termination rate cuts. This is even as Nigeria’s telecom  subscriber based is expected to hit 100 million by 2012.
Meanwhile, the Pyramid’s prediction may have already started to hit the bull’s eye as the regulatory authority, the Nigerian Communications Commission, has not only announced readiness to implement the Number portability latest July this year, but has also promised to license more operators if the existing ones are not engendering enough market competitions that would benefit users. It has also began to implement  a special model aimed at aiding operators to easy deployment of broadband facilities in rural communities and towns across Nigeria.

Where Nigeria telecom Ops come in

Telecom mast

What this should tell the Nigerian telecom operators is that a new market should be created to soak the anticipated competition expected to force itself into the system and no other clear market can do that than the underserved and the unserved rural communities.

Unfortunately, apart from Airtel’s joint initiative with Ericsson and United Nations in the millennium village project and MTN’s recently launched Rural Telephony Scheme, RTS, other efforts are basically to cover the major highways and sparsely deploy base stations in few communities and towns.
While the millennium village project aims at fighting poverty at the village level through community led development, the MTN RTS is targeting to

cover about 850 Nigerian villages by the end of this year in an aggressive roll-out exercise that will gulp an initial estimated cost of about US$40 million in its first phase. The first phase will cover 350 villages  before the end of May 2011, while 500 villages will be covered in the second phase before the end of December 2011.

MTN distinguished this project from its regular coverage activities, by designing special base stations which does not require much of power or human management as most of the places they would be deployed are remote areas that have never had any form of telecommunications infrastructure before.. At least, that is what MTN Nigeria’s former CEO, Ahmad Farroukh said at the launch of the project in Lagos, last year October.
Farrouk also challenged his fellow operators to toe the line as there were much more than 850 villages and communities in Nigeria that have not tasted telecommunications for the first time.

If Farroukh’s call was not awakening enough, at least the telecoms day theme and Pyramid’s research findings have clearly pointed that the new market is in the rural areas and not in the almost saturated urban cities.

Another entertainer, Ashley Nwosu dies in Nigeria

Late Ashley Nwosu

By Prince Osuagwu


Barely three weeks after Nollywood was thrown into a mourning mood with the death of an entertainer and stand-up comedian, Chijioke John, popularly known as CD John, the industry was again thrown into pandemonium when the news filtered in the early hours of yesterday, that one of Nollywood's most respected actors,  Mr Ashley Nwosu was dead.
Ashley Nwosu died barely 24 hours after he fell into coma at the Military Hospital, Yaba, where he was being treated for severe liver problems on Wednesday.
Actor Kanayo O. Kanayo and celebrated film director, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen confirmed his death .
They described the departed actor as “a gentleman and a seasoned actor,”adding that the industry has lost one of its finest actors.”
“It is very shocking and sad indeed. The industry have not finished mourning the sudden death of the comedian,  CD John, before another death occurred. I’m heart broken.” lamented Lancelot.
However it was gathered that Ashley was in a critical condition before he finally gave up the ghost.
According to an eye witness, “Ashley could not eat, or walk, and was looking darker than ever. He was been fed by a tube. He gave up the ghost this Morning.”
One of Nollywood’s first generation actors, Ashley Nwosu most often played the role of husband, Dad, Pimp or ‘Sugar Daddy’ bringing to bare his sheer excellence and talent on screen.
He has starred in countless number of movies including; ‘Endless Night’, ‘Between Two Walls’, ‘Power Brokers’, Foreign Affairs, Gift from the Grave, Lagos Babes and Ghetto Love.

SCIENCE PARK GONE SOUR: Ibom Science Park controversy lingers

By Prince Osuagwu

Contractors to the abandoned Science Park Project in Akwa Ibom State,  SBT Juul Africa, have said that the controversy surrounding the failed project may soon be resolved. The company through its lawyers, Aluko & Oyebode Chambers, however, added that amicable resolution would be r
eached quickly, if the state government would accept the ruling of the Federal High Court, Uyo, on the matter.
Akwa Ibom state in 2006 toed the line of strong world economies to build a science park which could serve as centre for integrated technology incubation and development.
The project was pioneered by ex Governor Obong Victor Attah and targeted to be completed in 2007 after former President Olusegun Obasanjo commissioned it on August 11, 2006. However, it was later to become one of the abandoned projects in the state which attracted an ad-hoc committee set by the state assembly to probe into some allegations of financial misappropriation in the handling of the project.
The committee in its report, indicted Juul and some other persons for allegedly abuse of office and misapplication of the N2.1bn funds for the project.
The House, after evaluating the report, also directed an American based company run by a Nigerian and another based in Lagos Nigeria, to refund N196m and N30m respectively, being payments they allegedly received as consultancy fees.
Meanwhile, in its recommendation, the committee had directed that the state executive council terminates the contract awarded to SBT Juul for the development of the project, in line with clause 18(1a) of the contract agreement, alleging that the development manager abandoned the project without lawful justification.
However, Aluko & Oyebode Chambers, attorneys to the project contractor, denied the allegations, saying there was need to state the real facts. According to the law firm, SBT Juul had previously written on two occasions to the State to appoint an Arbitrator to settle the pending disputes between it and the State but the State did not honour such requests. This according to the attorney, was even after the Federal High Court, by an order dated 16 November 2006 directed the state to do so.
It added that further to its desires to see an amicable resolution of the mater, “SBT Juul had at its own instance made a fresh application to the Federal High Court for appointment of an Arbitrator which application was granted on February 16, 2011.
Giving further details, spokes person of the firm, Okechukwu Ekwochi Esq. Described SBT Juul Africa as a Development and Consultancy firm undertaking project developments in several countries in Africa. He stated that on 30th January 2006, the State, represented by the then Honourable Commissioner of Science and Technology, entered into a Turnkey Contract with SBT Juul for the construction of the Science Park. He added that work on the Project commenced in 2006, and was based on sums advanced by the State, covered by an Advance Payment Guarantee, APG, issued by SBT Juul. Upon completion of work for each stage, the APG would be released and the State would effect payment for a fresh tranche of work.

A section of the Ibom science park

For him, “SBT Juul carried out the Project diligently but experienced difficulty due to repeated failures on the part of the State to make payments as and when due. Specifically, in May 2007, after the change in the political administration of the State. The attitude of the State was such that it ceased to show commitment towards the Project and stopped making payments entirely”
Ïn December 2007, at the point of the exhaustion of the Project funds made available by the State, SBT Juul estimated that about 70% of the Project had been completed and SBT Juul had handed over three operational Uyo Metropolitan Area Network, MAN, sites to the State through the Ministry of Science and Technology represented by the Commissioner, Honourable Samuel Efanga. The Commissioner expressed his satisfaction on the extent of work executed so far.
“Upon the assumption of office in 2007, the new administration of Gov. Godswill Akpabio, at various times between 2007 and 2009, appointed in-house Consultants and different audit firms, to review the Project and SBT Juul co-operated with these Consultants and audit firms despite the reservations it had about the independence of some of these entities. Juul however provided them with all documentation in its possession relating to the Project and never received any report in respect of the exercise”.
According to Ekwochi, the dispute and abandonment of the project due to lack of commitment by the State, had caused extensive damage, leaving both the building and IT components of the project in danger of collapsing.
He however believed that it can also be salvaged if an urgent step was taken to redress the situation. This is even as he confirmed that the contractor was also willing to amicably resolve the differences relating to the execution of the Project with the state despite what it considers the State’s reluctance towards any attempt at settlement.

eHEALTH: Intel boosts rural health care in Abuja with Mailafiya Programme

David Ibhawoh, Intel Nigeria BDM

By Prince Osuagwu
Apparently trying to address some of the challenges facing the nation in healthcare, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, Intel Corporation, has flagged off an electronic health, eHealth, programme in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
The company said the effort was to strengthen its corporate social responsibility efforts. It was actually made possible after a working visit by its Chairman, Mr. Craig Barrett in 2007.
However, in early 2009, the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory Millennium Development Goals Unit (FCTMDGU), health officials, and Intel Corporation began discussing ways that Information and Communication Technology (ICT), could be used to improve health and healthcare delivery in rural areas.
According to the Business Development Manager, Intel Nigeria, Mr. David Ibhawoh, the company observed after the visit that a large percentage of the people in the country do not have access to health and also where there were any they lacked the specialist, especially dermatologists.

So, Intel, decided to take healthcare to the communities through mobile health, mHealth, and telemedicine, which eventually, gave birth to the Mailafiya Health Programme.
He said there were consultations with the chiefs so as to allay their fears and design an intervention programme that is most suitable for them.
According to him, “workshops were held with various stakeholders including internal stakeholders, such as Ministry of Health and FCT officials and external stakeholders, such as village tribal leaders and participating hardware and software vendors. This helped to build stakeholders’ commitment and ensure that the mobile teams would be understood and accepted in the communities they are deployed to. The programme also carried out public workshops using traditional village messengers and pre-site visits by doctors to educate and familiarize rural residents with the programme.
In a presentation entitled; “Mobile Primary Health Care Initiative, Mailafiya, Nigeria: Delivering Health Care Services to the Rural Dwellers and Indigent Poor”, the MDG Coordinator, Federal Capital Territory, Isa Ari, said FCTMDGU, on its part, was committed to pursuing improvements in Millennium Development Goals of reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
 Ari said, “we knew that we had challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals 4, 5, and 6. Even collecting baseline data was difficult. So we asked our team, how can we innovate to achieve these goals? The resulting Mailafiya Health Programme is a complete health delivery service using ICT that can reach the poor effectively. Even in the pilot phase, the programme is reaching 336 communities,” he said.
Mailafiya, which translates as Giver of Health, is a strategic programme that harnesses ICT to increase access to health services for rural and under-served urban populations in surrounding districts

Nigeria ranks 65th in malicious internet activity worldwide

Hacker

                                                                                                                              
 By Prince Osuagwu
Symantec Corp has just announced the findings of its Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16, showing a massive threat volume of more than 286 million new threats last year. The report was also accompanied by several new megatrends in the threat landscape. 
In the report, Nigeria ranked 65th out of 233 countries monitored by the company’s global intelligence network.
 The report highlights dramatic increases in both the frequency and sophistication of targeted attacks on enterprises;  the continued growth of social networking sites as an attack distribution platform; and a change in  attackers’ infection tactics, increasingly targeting vulnerabilities in Java to break into traditional computer systems.  In addition, the report explores how attackers are exhibiting a notable shift in focus toward mobile devices.
It highlighted that targeted attacks such as Hydraq and Stuxnet posed  growing threat to enterprises in 2010.  To increase the likelihood of successful, undetected infiltration into the enterprise, an increasing number of these targeted attacks leveraged zero-day vulnerabilities to break into computer systems.  As one example, Stuxnet alone exploited four different zero-day vulnerabilities to attack its targets.
The report said that in 2010, attackers launched targeted attacks against a diverse collection of publicly traded, multinational corporations and government agencies, as well as a surprising number of smaller companies.  In many cases, the attackers researched key victims within each corporation and then used tailored social engineering attacks to gain entry into the victims’ networks. 
It added that due to their targeted nature, many of these attacks succeeded even when victim organizations had basic security measures in place.
According to the senior vice president, Symantec Security Technology and Response report, Stephen Trilling, “while the high-profile targeted attacks of 2010 attempted to steal intellectual property or cause physical damage, many targeted attacks preyed on individuals for their personal information. For example, the report found that data breaches caused by hacking resulted in an average of more than 260,000 identities exposed per breach in 2010, nearly quadruple that of any other cause”.
Social network platforms continue to grow in popularity and this popularity has not surprisingly attracted a large volume of malware.  One of the primary attack techniques used on social networking sites involved the use of shortened URLs.  Under typical, legitimate, circumstances, these abbreviated URLs are used to efficiently share a link in an email or on a web page to an otherwise complicated web address. Last year, attackers posted millions of these shortened links on social networking sites to trick victims into both phishing and malware attacks, dramatically increasing the rate of successful infection.
The report found that attackers overwhelmingly leveraged the news-feed capabilities provided by popular social networking sites to mass-distribute attacks.  In a typical scenario, the attacker logs into a compromised social networking account and posts a shortened link to a malicious website in the victim’s status area.  The social networking site then automatically distributes the link to news feeds of the victim’s friends, spreading the link to potentially hundreds or thousands of victims in minutes.  In 2010, 65 percent of malicious links in news feeds observed by Symantec used shortened URLs. Of these, 73 percent were clicked 11 times or more, with 33 percent receiving between 11 and 50 clicks.
In 2010, attack toolkits, software programs that can be used by novices and experts alike to facilitate the launch of widespread attacks on networked computers, continued to see widespread use. These kits increasingly target vulnerabilities in the popular Java system, which accounted for 17 percent of all vulnerabilities affecting browser plug-ins in 2010. As a popular cross-browser, multi-platform technology, Java is an appealing target for attackers.
The report said that the number of measured Web-based attacks per day increased by 93 percent in 2010 compared to 2009. Since two-thirds of all Web-based threat activity observed by Symantec is directly attributed to attack kits, these kits are likely responsible for a large part of this increase.
“The major mobile platforms are finally becoming ubiquitous enough to garner the attention of attackers, and as such, Symantec expects attacks on these platforms to increase.  In 2010, most malware attacks against mobile devices took the form of Trojan Horse programs that pose as legitimate applications.  While attackers generated some of this malware from scratch, in many cases, they infected users by inserting malicious logic into existing legitimate applications.  The attacker then distributed these tainted applications via public app stores.  For example, the authors of the recent Pjapps Trojan employed this approach”.says the report.
It said that while the new security architectures employed in today’s mobile devices are at least as effective as their desktop and server predecessors, attackers can often bypass these protections by attacking inherent vulnerabilities in the mobile platforms’ implementations. Unfortunately, such flaws are relatively commonplace as Symantec documented 163 vulnerabilities during 2010 that could be used by attackers to gain partial or complete control over devices running popular mobile platforms.  In the first few months of 2011 attackers have already leveraged these flaws to infect hundreds of thousands of unique devices.

ICT FOR GOOD: Ericsson says ICT is catalyst for more sustainable development

 Hans Vestberg, Ericsson CEO,

Ericsson's lobby at Headquarters in Stockholm

Ericsson's Indian Headquarters

By Prince Osuagwu

As technology equipment vendors, Ericsson releases its annual Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility report, the company has expressed its belief that the transformational potentials of ICT was capable of solving energy, environmental and social challenges.
Ericsson’s annual Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility report titled Technology for Good, was released last weekend even as it highlighted the company’s ongoing efforts to apply innovation to market based solutions that empower people and society to help create a more sustainable world.
According to the company’s President and CEO, Hans Vestberg, ICT has the potentials to put the world on the path of a low-carbon economy as a catalyst for more sustainable development and we have only begun to tap the possibilities of the Networked Society,”.
He said that Ericsson would continue to be a global advocate for the transformational power of ICT solutions to solve global energy, environmental and social challenges.
He was corroborated by his VP for Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, who said that “the Networked Society brings many opportunities and challenges. Wherever and however we work, we want to ensure that we are a force for good, and that our technology contributes to making the world a better place,”
In the report, Ericsson’s focused on some areas and initiatives including:
Low-carbon economy
In order to achieve a low-carbon economy, Ericsson’s aim is to continue delivering solutions that will result not in incremental but rather transformative change: where video conferencing substitutes business air travel, intelligent utility grids reinvent how we access and use energy, and cities are designed to be low-carbon. 
The ambition of the Stockholm Royal Seaport project is to reach CO2 emissions per inhabitant of 1.5 tonnes per year by 2020, compared to current average emissions of 5.6 tonnes in Sweden and 19.7 tonnes in the United States. Broadband will be a key enabler to reaching this goal.
Reducing networks’ environmental impact
The company explained that as data traffic grows, the ICT industry needs to increase network energy efficiency to reduce its contribution to global CO2 emissions. Absolute energy consumption is expected to increase over the next ten years, primarily due to adding approximately three times the number of subscribers and about a thousand fold increase in data growth.
However, the research indicated that network energy consumption is not on the same growth path as the increase in volume of traffic.  Instead, there has been an impressive decrease of energy needed to produce the data traffic, due to technology and product improvements, in combination with increasing data rates of 3G/WCDMA technologies.
Launch of Ericsson AIR,
This project is an antenna integrated radio unit that has been shown to reduce power consumption by 42 percent. The Network Energy Optimization. NEO, service helps operators to maximize subscriber traffic while at the same time reducing energy consumption.
Communication for all
The report also reflects Ericsson’s focus on enabling communications for all, including the 4 billion people living at the base of the pyramid.  The company said it would continue on efforts to use technology to help meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
To that end, Vestberg joined the Broadband Commission for Digital Development which delivered recommendations to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate the attainment of the MDGs by 2015.

Mr President declares: This is a new Dawn! in Acceptance Speech

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria

My dear Country men and women

This is a new dawn!

Our nation has spoken. At the end of intense and hard fought campaigns by all the political parties, our people spoke through the ballot. In every city, town, village, ward and voting unit, Nigerians stood in the sun, some in the rain, some walked long distances and all waited patiently, to vote.

With a heart full of gratitude to Almighty God, I want to thank Nigerians for the great sacrifice and overwhelming national mandate you have just given to me, to preside over the affairs of this nation for the next four years.

We have, by this election, reaffirmed our unity as one nation under God; reiterated our faith in democracy; and underscored our determination to fully join the free world where only the will of the people is the foundation of governance. We will not let you down. We will not let Nigeria down.

My brothers and sisters, fellow citizens, we are all winners. In this context, there is no victor and no vanquished. Nigerians have proved to the world that we are capable of holding free, fair and credible elections. With the evident national spread of our victory, we have demonstrated that even in our diversity, the progress of Nigeria remains paramount to all.

This is a victory for the sustenance of our democracy; a victory which all Nigerians irrespective of creed, ethnicity, or state of origin should celebrate. It is a triumph for our common destiny as a people with shared ideals, shared dreams and shared hopes.

I congratulate the candidates of the other political parties. I regard them not as opponents, but as partners. Indeed, some of them have held high public office in the past.

Let me pay particular tribute to General Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the other patriots and their running mates. They all did well and the nation expects their continued demonstration of leadership and commitment to our efforts at nation building.

The elections are not yet over. We still have to elect our Governors and members of our State Houses of Assembly. We must approach the remaining elections with the same level of enthusiasm and seriousness.

We have to remain vigilant. On our part, we continue to assure you that the mechanisms that were put in place to assure free and fair elections are maintained.

When I declared my intention to run for the office of President under the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, I reflected on my humble background and the long journey that brought me to that moment.

Eight months later, I stand before you as the winner of the 2011 Presidential election. I am humbled by your overwhelming mandate.

During that declaration, I said that I had no enemies. Let me say it again, I have no enemies to fight.

Indeed, I reassure all Nigerians that we would continue to run a government that is committed to fairness, equity and justice for all.

The progress we seek for our country is in our collective hands. I am confident that with this new spirit of national reawakening and our sense of collective ownership of the Nigerian project, a firm foundation has been laid for participatory governance and progress.

Together we will build a new economy that is strong and dynamic and underpinned by a patriotic work ethic. Together we will remake our society to emphasize the most noble of our national values, and together we shall recreate a great nation welded in unity and harmony; a nation marching towards collective progress in which no one is left behind.

This election is the renewal of hope. As we march towards our centenary as a nation in the year 2014, this election will be remembered as that which reaffirmed our faith and strengthened the bond of our union. We found within ourselves the basis for our national confidence. We demonstrated that we are making great strides in consolidating democratic governance. This election is further evidence that Nigeria is secure, that we are stable; and most of all, that the future of Nigeria is bright.

Now, we must all unite. We must quickly move away from partisan battlegrounds and find the national common ground. We must show the world that this nation of many people will always find the love, the courage and the path to move forward as one. Let us join hands to build a prosperous nation. This is the challenge of our generation. This is our unfinished task. On my part, I promise to run an all-inclusive government.

It is on this note that I am greatly pained at reports of incidences of unnecessary violence and loss of lives and property in some parts of the country over the past twenty four hours.

I enjoin our political and religious leaders, in their usual sense of patriotism to call on their followers to eschew all acts of bitterness and violence. As I have always stated, nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.

I thank all the nations of the world, their leaders and our friends for their goodwill. I thank our friends from the national and international media, religious leaders, civil society, voluntary organizations, development partners and our talented diaspora Nigerians that are reporting, monitoring or participating in our elections. We have benefitted from their fair observations.

My special thanks go to all our public services, security agencies, academia, members of the National Youth Service Corps and emergency services. These men, women and youth are making huge sacrifices towards the success of the 2011 elections.

I wish to express my profound thanks to Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo. He brought strength and commitment to our ticket. I am equally grateful to the leadership and members of the PDP; the governors of the 36 states of the Federation; members of the Presidential Campaign Council and all our supporters across the nation for their great sense of dedication, faith and exemplary conduct.

Now is the time for all Nigerians to reach out to their neighbours. I want all of us to join hands in brotherhood, party affiliation or preferred candidate not withstanding. We are all Nigerians and I will President to all. This is the new dawn we crave. What is now required is a new commitment, national solidarity and rededication to service.

Come, join me, let’s continue on the road of national transformation.

Let us all thank our merciful God for this day. Let us all continue to pray for God’s guidance in the years ahead.

I thank you and May God bless Nigeria.

Juwah tasks operators on telecom infrastructure expansion

Dr Juwah

By Prince Osuagwu

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Eugene Juwah at the weekend, challenged telecom operators on the need to expand their existing infrastructure to alleviate the current challenges in quality of services which has deteriorated to unacceptable levels, in recent times.

He charged that appropriate regulation on the matter was being finalized by the Commission, and would hold the operators legally accountable for failures.

Juwah who was guest speaker at an international lecture on communications in Nigeria, hosted by the Nigerian-Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Lagos, said the long term solution to the current issue of quality of services lied in the expansion of infrastructure to match the demand for services uptake from the various networks.

While speaking  about measure already instituted by the Commission to tackle this seemingly intractable problem, in addition to temporary sanctioning of operators, Dr. Juwah told his audience, including the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Per Lindgarde,  who was special guest at the lecture,  and chairman of the chamber, Chief Olayinka Ogunmekan that “part of the solution to this is the need for massive investment that is still needed to sustain the level of growth”.

In the lecture which was chaired by the Publisher of Vanguard Newspaper, Mr. Sam Amuka Pemu, the NCC boss touched on virtually every aspect of the Nigerian telecommunications sector from the 1880s, to 2011, saying that the ongoing nationwide SIM registration flagged off by the Commission recently, was “a very important aspect of managing a structured growth as it will provide the regulator with definite and reliable statistics about the subscribers on the network.”

 

“It will enable security agencies to effectively fight crimes associated with the use of mobile phone services and will even assist the regulator in the introduction of news services and solutions such as Number Portability”. According to him, SIM registration will also “assist other agencies of government who need very reliable statistics as well as the operators that need to predict the preferences of their diverse customers.”

 

The NCC boss disagreed vehemently with a recent report by one Business Monitor International, BMI, whose report was quoted by a newspaper suggesting that SIM registration will lead to slow down in the growth of the Nigerian telecom sector. He said that the danger in such predictions is that the right indices may not have been used as the fact of indiscriminate purchase of SIM Cards without proper identification of owners, does not constitute proper growth and cannot be relied upon to make accurate predictions.

“The growth of the industry is not dependent on active subscription alone. More fundamental factors should be considered before arriving at such predictions. Even if SIM registration results in less number of active subscriptions in the network, it is uncertain that this will amount to slow growth in the telecom industry. Therefore, we do not share in the predictions of that report”, he said.

 

Dr. Juwah reiterated that the telecom industry, especially since the beginning of this decade, has become a major contributor to the Nigerian economy and has shown resilience on the part of the subscribers who were not deterred by the global economic meltdown that crept in some two years ago.

“The impact of this on the economic growth has become impressive. Telecommunications sector now contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, which was hithereto dominated by the oil and sector. The percentage share of GDP from the sector rose from 0.06 in 1999 to 3.66 by end of 2009”, he said.

 

Making reference to estimates by Pyramid Research in a 2010 report, he said the annual revenue from mobile services represents between 2% and 7% of African countries’ Nominal GDP; in Nigeria this ratio is close to 4%.

 

He listed other areas where the telecom industry has positively affected to include the financial sector including commercial banking, investment banking, electronic banking and other e-money services such as ATMs, online financial transactions, international credit and debit card facilities, airline ticketing and reservations. “These are some of the numerous ways that telecommunications industry has aided the growth, sophistication, security and quick transactions in the Nigerian financial sector”, he said.

 

He also said that the industry has by its growth impacted very positively on the media industry as the volume of advertisements, and media related business activities traded off on account of telecommunications services and products, are there to be seen. In the area of employment creation, he said that economists also may have been trying to quantify the volume of employments brought about by the telecommunications industry as many skilled and less skilled Nigerians have found succour on direct and indirect employments opened up by the telecommunications industry.

 

In spite of these successes, Dr. Juwah however, reminded that  the excitements of the telecom revolution may become deceptive to many stakeholders who may come under the illusion that the Nigerian telecom industry is on auto pilot where the telecom regulator should just fold hands and watch things happen. “The contrary is the case. There is actually a need for more vigilance as competition matures”, he said.

 

He also spoke about a paradigm shift in the growth of the Nigerian telecom sector where the Commission will lay emphasis on the growth of fixed lines infrastructure and broadband as the country has already achieved tremendously in the area of voice telephone.

 “Having achieved huge rise in active subscription, and respectable teledensity, the nation’s inadequate, if not nonexistent fixed line infrastructure, needs to be addressed for the future sustenance of the growth of telecommunications in Nigeria”, he said.

According to him, the Commission has seen appreciable penetration of mobile voice services to our many homes and businesses, and therefore the need to compliment these with basic fixed line access with its numerous advantages. 

“This will improve availability at lower costs. This why we have given clear indication of our desire to bring fixed lines back to homes, schools, offices, and businesses through massive deployment of broadband infrastructure to be facilitated by the Commission”, he said, arguing that “the prospects in achieving this, lie in our plan to deploy fibre rings across the nation to cascade broadband and ICT infrastructure”

Financial reforms outside ICT will fail, says Onuegbu, Signal Alliance boss

Onuegbu

By Prince Osuagwu

As the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, embark on series of reforms in the financial sector, an expert in the ICT sector of the economy, Mr Collins Onuegbu has advised that bulk of the reforms ride on the ICT programmes and applications to stand the test of time.
Onuegbu who is the CEO of Signal Alliance, an end-to-end IT company with core competencies in systems integration and software apps, said that whether the reforms are in International Financial Reporting Standards, the implementation of the mobile money model, among others, they require sound IT framework to succeed or the country risks failure of such reforms.
According to him, there are a lot of products in the ICT sector that can support banks in their quest to support investments in the entertainment, agricultural or other sectors of the economy as they are recently seen to be aiming at.
However, he also stated that for ICT to always provide the backbone to other sectors, it must also rise above the level it is at the moment and advised that the only way to do that was for companies to adopt best practice in implementation and usage of ICT product and services.
For him, best practices were the only way various ICT initiatives might help automate the way things are done in the 21st century.
Making these comments in an interactive session with a select ICT journalists in Lagos recently, Onuegbu, said that “for the Central Bank of Nigeria and Securities and Exchange Commission to realise the full potential of the financial sector reforms, the entire system must be run on a seamless information technology framework”.
According to him, local support for IT industries, especially for the Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, should be expanded and be more encouraging through various incentive mechanisms, because “
there is no way the Nigerian financial sector would tap into global opportunities if players and other shareholders did not commit huge investments to IT”.
He noted that IT would effectively thrive on available infrastructure and that there was the need for aggressive infrastructural development in the financial sector.
For him the infrastructural sharing initiative among banks recently proposed by the CBN, might not yield the desired result if relevant technological applications were not brought to bear.
Onuegbu, however, said that cost minimisation in the financial sector was a factor that must be given the required attention, given the recent financial crisis that crumbled most global financial markets.

Rental payments, hidden charges among telecom operators, the Glo example

Globacom Chairman, Otunba Mike Adenuga Jr

Nkese Fadamana

The Nigerian telecoms industry, acclaimed as the fastest growing in Africa, has once again, come under global scrutiny on account of recent activities in the sector. The renewed interest in the country’s telephony landscape is occasioned by a price war that has erupted among the four major GSM operators, namely, MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat.
Unlike a conventional war situation fought with bullets and mortar, tariffs and fancy adverts seem to be the major weapons of the Nigerian GSM battle. This aggressive approach is to increase the market share of the respective operators by acquiring and more importantly, retaining more subscribers on their mobile networks.
The scramble for the addressable market share among the operators is understandable. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with a population of over 150 million people. Furthermore, the country has a vibrant oral culture that has subsisted for centuries, which keeps people always talking to family and friends. It would appear easier for a Nigerian to reach out to a family member or friend to pour out his/her heart rather than resort to other impersonal mediums like writing or journaling as obtained in other climes. And since the world has transformed into a global village with family members scattered all over the globe, the telephone has become a veritable tool for such emotional expressions. The telephone is also seen as fundamental tool for the realization of individual and organizational aspirations. Arguably, telephone operators have discovered a gold mine in Nigeria and its people, hence the current price war.
The latest onslaught could be said to have begun last August when Etisalat Nigeria introduced a new tariff proposition called Easy Life, which allows customers on the company’s Easy Starter and Easy Cliq packages to make calls at the lower rate of 25kobo per second to anyone on any network in Nigeria.  The tariff review, according to officials of Etisalalt, was predicated on the company’s commitment to bringing value and affordable tariffs to the company’s customers.
A few months down the line, and as part of its strategy to woo customers after rebranding, Airtel was to respond with a promotional offer dubbed as the ‘2Good Offer’. The new package enables its customers to pay 20kobo per second after an initial 60kobo in the first minute, and applies to both to Airtel-to-Airtel calls as well as calls to other networks in Nigeria and the United States.
Additionally, the 2Good Offer gives 20 free SMSes to every customer who makes a recharge of N100 every month.
A few weeks into year 2011however, MTN on its part rolled out three new voice plans for its subscribers, namely, MTN Magic number, MTN Talk-On and MTN Family and Friends, each focussing on the lower ARPU segment of the market.
A careful examination of the offer shows that the MTN magic number is modelled after tariffs in the advanced economies, where a subscriber is given the option to pay a flat rate for an indefinite number of calls per month. In the MTN Nigeria scenario, subscribers pay N250 per month and receive an unlimited amount of monthly call time to one specific MTN number which the subscriber has designated as his/her magic number for that particular month.
MTN Talk-On, on its part, allows the subscriber up to 50% discount on MTN-to-MTN calls only, with the first minute charged at 50kobo per second, thereafter, on net calls are charged at 25kobo per second for the rest of the day.
In the same vein, Family & Friends allows subscribers to register 4 MTN numbers, 1 other GSM network number and 1 United States or Canadian number, the subscribers can then call all these numbers at 20kobo per second.
Another addition to the MTN True Value Offer is the MTN Happy Hour which allows free calls to as many MTN numbers between the hours of 12.30 am and 4.40 am every day, weekends inclusive. However, the service is limited to subscribers on the MTN Paygo and Talk-on plans.
However, in its characteristic manner of jolting the Nigerian telephony market, Globacom on Thursday, March 10 announced the introduction of a new Glo infinito which allows subscribers to pay only 25 kobo per second for calls made to any network in Nigeria.
The 25 kobo per second charge is a flat rate which applies for all local calls irrespective of which network is being called or time of day or which part of the country the call is originating from.
The new package also allows subscribers to call one Special Number at only 2 kobo per second. Interestingly, no daily or monthly rental is charged to enjoy the very cheap rate. The subscriber, however, has an option of registering 5 Glo numbers which he can call at 18 kobo per second. Again, registration is free and there is no rental charge.
In addition to the tariffs, Glo is also offering up to 20% bonus on recharges made by subscribers. N500 recharge attracts a 10% bonus credit, while N1000 recharge will give the customer 15% bonus air time. On the other hand, N5,000 recharge gives a 20% bonus credit to the customer.
Glo is also offering free night calls from 12 midnight to 5 a.m. Subscribers are expected to have used up to N200 air time in the previous week to qualify to make free night calls for the next 7 days.
Perhaps, the new tariff regime may reposition the brand, including shifting public perception of Glo as a challenger-brand to the transformer and creator of history in the Nigerian telecom industry.
Looking more closely at the different offers and value propositions of the operators, ranging from Etisalat’s  Easy Life to Airtel’s 2Good, from MN’s True Value to Globacom’s Maximum Value, it would appear that interesting times are here  for the Nigerian GSM consumers even as he has risen from being on the receiving end of harsh realities to a new-found position of freedom and kingship.
But with the new Glo offer, the subscriber gets a truthful and easy-to-understand payment plan.  For instance, while the Glo subscriber pays N15 for first minute of call made within and outside the network, other networks charge between N24 and N30 for calls within the network and between N30 and N36 for calls going outside the network.
It may not be out of place to say that the latest Glo offer is another revolutionary phase in telecom services, as its unique tariff plan is devoid of any rental payments, hidden charges, and conditions.
This may become the stimulant that would propel more growth in the sector and continue to make Nigeria’s telecom the toast of investors across the world.

* Fadama, a marketing expert, sent this piece from Lagos

Unlock economic growth with mobile broadband rollout, GSMA tells Nigeria

Ross Bateson  and Sandra Gilligan, Marketing Director GSMA presenting the Analysys Mason  report to the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah

By Prince Osuagwu

After a thorough look at the trends in Nigeria’s telecommunications practice and operations, the Global System for Mobile telephony Association, GSMA, has said that the country can scoop about N862 billion in Gross Domestic Product, GDP, by the end of 2015, from technology alone if it plays according to the rules of the game.
For the association, this is possible and very convenient if the Nigerian government would only support the rollout of Mobile Broadband across the country because government action required to meet high consumer and business demand for Mobile Broadband . GSMA  represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide.
The association’s Special Government Advisor, Ross Bateson, in a teleconference with select Nigerian ICT journalists in Lagos, outlined the findings of a new independent report by analyst firm Analysys Mason and called on the Nigerian government to unlock the 2.6GHz spectrum quickly to support the high demand for Mobile Broadband in urban areas; release the digital dividend spectrum to deliver broadband services to rural areas; and reduce the 35 per cent tax level faced by Nigerian mobile operators. Bateson described the tax as double the global average.
According to the study, only 6 per cent of all Nigerians currently have access to broadband services, and 74 per cent of those do so through Mobile Broadband. There is little fixed broadband connectivity outside of Lagos, and even in Nigerian cities, most cyber cafés now connect to the internet using wireless services. It is widely acknowledged that mass-market broadband availability will only be possible using mobile technologies, and this report highlights the steps the Nigerian government must take to promote Mobile Broadband growth.
According to Bateson “it is essential that the new Nigerian government acts quickly to support Mobile Broadband expansion, as failure to do so could hinder the country’s social and economic growth. Not only could the country realise as much as NGN862 billion of incremental GDP, but people of all ages and livelihoods would benefit from the vast amount of information and opportunities Mobile Broadband can unlock.”
The study found that Mobile Broadband could potentially contribute more than 1 per cent of GDP, or 1.7 per cent of non-oil GDP, as soon as 2015 and will facilitate much needed diversification of the economy.
According to the report, government support for Mobile Broadband services could help deliver significant advantages to the wider wireless ecosystem and the way in which other sectors use the internet:
The report was specific on its predictions, stating that about 55 per cent annual growth would be seen from the online retail industry, growing from NGN4.5bn in 2010 to 44.9bn in 2015; the financial services industry’s benefit from broadband would grow by 95 per cent CAGR, as a result of mobile access to bank accounts and money transfer services, from NGN0.6bn in 2010 to 16.8bn in 2015.
It also said that the use of the internet and mobile to deliver social services, including healthcare and education, would generate growth of 70 per cent CAGR, from NGN2.2bn to 30.3bn in 2015 even as the overall corporate market, especially agriculture and utilities, would experience a 55 per cent annual growth rate through the provision of services online, from NGN3.6bn in 2010 to 32.1bn in 2015.
The report also said that wider availability of Mobile Broadband could also vastly improve overall industrial productivity through improvements in business processes. A 73 per cent annual increase in the working population with access to Mobile Broadband, reaching 5.2 million users by 2015, will deliver an additional NGN140 billion to the Nigerian economy each year.
Meanwhile, for Bateson “mobile is the most cost-effective way of delivering broadband services in Nigeria. Nigeria already has advanced mobile networks, such as Glo’s recently launched LTE network, and has experienced significant take-up of HSPA Mobile Broadband. The laying of submarine data cables between Lagos and Europe has provided much of the international backhaul needed, but mobile is vital in providing last mile connectivity to consumers, especially in rural areas. However, without proper spectrum allocation in line with internationally harmonised band plans and broader government support, it will not be possible to realise the full potential of Mobile Broadband.”

MTN ready to land undersea cable in May

A typical under sea cable

By Prince Osuagwu

Africa’s investments in submarine cables prepares to double as  MTN Group’s $90 million West Africa Cable System (WACS) lands at Yzerfontein in the Western Cape, South Africa.
MTN says that its $90million investment in the 14 kilometre-long submarine cable, forms part of a myriad of submarine cables that it has invested in, to bring much-needed broadband capacity to the continent.
The submarine cable when it lands is expected to bolster Africa’s efforts to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, bridge the digital divide and provide millions of subscribers in Africa and the Middle East the capacity and ability to use smart solutions.
MTN is the single biggest investor in WACS and is expected to receive an initial capacity of 11% when the cable becomes commercially available in the second quarter of this year.
Managing Director MTN South Africa, Karel Pienaar, announced yesterday that “WACS will provide millions of MTN subscribers across Africa the much-needed bandwidth and will go a long way towards catapulting Africa into the digital age”.
He added that lack of bandwidth on the continent has arrested the development of Africa and has constrained the continent from achieving its full potential.
The WACS submarine cable is an ultra high capacity fiber optic submarine cable system which links Southern Africa and Europe, spanning the west coast of Africa and terminating in London, United Kingdom. This $650 million cable system is said to be the biggest to ever land on the Africa continent. It has 15 terminal stations which anchor along the western coast of Africa, including countries like Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Pienaar adds that as a multinational corporation with a strong presence in 16 African countries, MTN’s multi-million rand investments in undersea cables is also underpinned by the critical role that telephony has played in contributing meaningfully to gross domestic product (GDP) and alleviating poverty.
According to the figures recently released by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), mobile penetration in Africa is the lowest worldwide at 41%, resulting in Africa lagging behind when it comes to fixed, wired broadband.
From the backdrop of the report Pienaar said that “although subscriptions are increasing, a penetration rate of less than 1% illustrates the challenges that persist in increasing access to high-speed, high capacity internet access in the region. We believe that these investments MTN has made in submarine cables will vault Africa into the digital age and afford our subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond the capacity and ability to be part of this growing global village,”
Other investments MTN has made in the submarine cable initiative apart from the $90 million in WACS, included a cash injection of $50 million in Europe India Gateway, EIG, a submarine cable initiative that connects Europe and India; $40.3 million in the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System EASSy, another undersea fibre optic cable system connecting countries of eastern Africa to the rest of the world, and $10 million in SAT-3/SAFE linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route.
Already, MTN has been allocated an initial capacity of 30GB in EASSy, even as it enjoys 317GG of capacity on the EIG cable. These are in line with its investment in the cable

WACS configuration
WACS – a minimum 4-fibre pair cable system linking South Africa (SA) to Portugal, with landings in several intermediate countries and an extension Segment to the United Kingdom (UK) and London Point of Presence
System Design – 5.12 Terabits per second measured at 10Gbps wavelength technology

Initial Equipage – more than 500Gbps
Certain segments will deploy 40Gbps wavelengths technology from first day of operation
Express fibre pair - interconnect SA, Portugal, and UK through to London
Semi-express 1 fibre pair - interconnect SA, Nigeria, and UK through to London
Semi-express 2 fibre pair - interconnect SA, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and UK through to London
Omnibus Fibre pair - interconnect SA, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Portugal, UK through to London

The landing Parties
 are: Telkom(South Africa), Telecom Namibia(Namibia), Angola cables(Angola), OCPT(Democratic Republic of Congo), Congo Telecom(Congo), MTN(Cameroon), MTN(Nigeria), Togo Telecom (Togo), MTN(Ghana), MTN(Ivory Coast), PTC(Cape Verde), Vodacom Group(Canary Islands), Tata Communications(Portugal), Tata Communications(UK), Cable and Wireless(London PoP).
Segments are capable of carrying between 128 and 160 x 10Gbps wavelengths per fiber pair.
The WACS Consortium members are: MTN Group, Angola Cables, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, Congo Telecom, Office Congolais des Postes et Telecommunications (OCPT), PT COMUNICAÇÕES, Togo Telecom, Tata Communications, Telecom Namibia, Telkom SA Ltd and Vodacom Group Ltd.

Nokia’s plans to penetrate new markets

Nokia E7

Nokia N8 ......The devices Nokia banks on to rule the US market

By Prince Osuagwu

President and CEO of Nokia Corporation, Stephen Elop says Nokia’s new smartphone strategy is the catalyst that will help the mobile giant penetrate the U.S market and other markets where Nokia is not a dominant player. Stephen Elop was speaking in Dubai during a media roundtable with journalists drawn across the Middle East and Africa.
He said everything was being put in place to ensure that the Nokia windows phone gives consumers a delightful experience. He was however not specific on when consumers across the world should expect the official release of the smartphone. Mr Elop disclosed that priority markets would be considered first before other markets.
On Ovi store which is nokia’s proprietary platform for applications, games, navigation and other services, Mr. Elop maintained that the platform would not be discarded in the wake of the emergence of Nokia Windows phones. Mr Elop also maintained that low-end devices built on Symbian will continue to compliment the smartphone strategy. Nokia dominates the global mobile phone market but is now a challenger in the smartphone category
The Nokia CEO said he was very pleased with the contribution of the Middle East and Africa market to Nokia’s overall corporate performance. He said such contribution will be matched with appropriate investment.
Mr Elop was very optimistic about the Nokia’s prospects in the global mobile industry. He stated that he had received tremendous support and goodwill from partners, telecom operators, consumers and nokia staff in his bid to evolve a new strategic direction for the mobile giant.
Nokia is the world’s number one manufacturer of mobile devices by market share. Beyond its leadership status as a manufacturer of devices, Nokia is fast becoming a leading solutions provider in the converging Internet and communications industries providing internet services that enable users to experience media, messaging, maps and games. It recently launched the Nokia E7, which is considered one of the smartest phones on the Nokia stabl

Fresh controversy hits NITEL! *Asked to quit NECOM house *May become tenant in its own building

The controversial NITEL building

     
     

By Prince Osuagwu

Nigeria’s 1st national telecommunications carrier, NITEL, after suffering six botched sales, never seem to cease to attract controversy. From payment problems to its uncountable bid processes, to the viability of the companies bidding and the value of the bid, Nitel has always been a subject of controversial debates.
This time around, the controversy is brewing from a purported buyer of the NECOM house which houses one of its most priced assets, the SAT3. The purported buyer, identified as West African Aluminum Products Plc is allegedly threatening to throw NITEL out of the NECOM building, claiming that it has bought the facility since April, 2009.
African Aluminum was said to have told NITEL that the only bail- out left for it to continue occupying the facility, was to pay rent on the property. The company was alleged to have so far made three attempts to use mobile Police men to forcefully gain access to NECOM House with a view to carrying out threats of removing NITEL's equipment from NECOM House.
However, Freetalk Africa gathered that even though the combination of NITEL's Staff and the Security men attached to the SAT -3 Station resisted the ejection move, the national carrier has also gone to court filing an action against West African Aluminum Products Plc for trespass, as well as also applying for an Interlocutory Injunction to restrain the Company from carrying out further threats against NITEL
It is quite unbelievable that a company like NITEL is going through such a harrowing mess when an organisation like NCC which it contributed about N50 million to its take off grant in 1993, has become a multi-million dollar outfit.
We further gathered that West African Aluminum Products Plc has also filed a counter affidavit in Court wherein they claimed among other things, that Sale of NECOM House was advertised by the Liquidator in the Punch Newspapers of 2nd May, 2007 based on which they bidded and purchased the property from the Liquidator, who assigned the property to them vide a Deed of Assignment dated 3rd April, 2009.
They claimed that although they purchased the whole property comprising of the high rise of 37 floor, 5  old building Annex and Power House, the 5 Storey old building Annex was left for NITEL to occupy due to the sensitive nature of SAT-3, adding that they are willing to allow NITEL to continue use of the building provided NITEL is ready to pay rent on the property.
Information at our disposal says that West African Aluminum Products Plc had slammed a N961 million annual rent for NITEL should it become interested to accept being a tenant in NECOM house.
Meanwhile, NITEL has written to the President of Nigeria, through the governing Board of Nitel, intimating him of the incident and the issues arising from it.
In a copy of the letter, which an impeccable source at the board made available to Vanguard, Chief Executive Officer of NITEL, Hajia Zainab Ilyasu-Sa’ab had raised some suspicions over the hurriedly sale of the NECOM house, pointing out that due process may not have been followed.
Although we gathered that the DG of BPE has set up a management team to investigate the matter, some of the questions raised by Ilyasu-Sa’ab are still begging for answers.
Some of them included that:
*If NECOM House was advertised for sale by the Liquidator on 2nd May, 2007 and completed bid forms were required to be submitted within 30 days from the date of advertisement, i.e. 1st June, 2007. How did the Company became the preferred bidder and secured the Committee of Inspection’s approval to purchase the property on 16th May, 2007, only 14 days after the advertisement and before the expiration of the 30 days provided in the advert for close of submission of bid?
* Where are the completed bid forms that the Company submitted to the Liquidator for purchase of NECOM House and who are the other Companies that bidded for NECOM House and at what prices?
* Where is the minutes of Meeting of the Committee of Inspection that allegedly met on 16th May, 2007 and approved Sale of NECOM House to West African Aluminum Plc as claimed in paragraph 6 of recital of the Deed of Assignment between the Liquidator and West African Aluminum Products Plc?
* Under the condition of bidding, contained in the advertisement, winners of bids, (that are non resident Tenants), are required to make payment in full plus 5% transaction cost within 30 days. When did West African Aluminum Products Plc make payment for purchase of NECOM House?
* Is it by coincidence or by design that the sale of NECOM House to the Company was said to be approved by the Committee on Inspections on 16th May 2007, the same date that Mr President gave approval for retention of NECOM House as a Core asset of NITEL?
* If the Committee of Inspections had approved the Sale of NECOM House to Messrs West Africa Pic, since 16th May, 2007, how cOmes that the same Committee constituted a subCommittee under Mr Williams to verify whether NECOM House was a core or non core asset in October, 2007. (Five (5) months after the purported sale?
* If the sale was approved by the Committee of inspections on 16/5/2007 as claimed, why was the Deed of assignment not executed until April 2009?
* BPE, vide its memo dated August 8, 2006 had sought Mr President's approval to stop the process of transfer of NECOM House to the Pension Fund. What steps did BPE take when the Liquidator advertised NECOM House for sale in Punch newspapers of 2nd May, 2007 and Daily Trust Newspapers of April 30, 2007?
* Mr Presidents approval that NECOM House be retained in the schedule of NITEL's core operational assets dated 16th May, 2007, was delivered to BPE on May 31,2007. What steps was taken by BPE to either inform the Liquidator or to stop the transfer of NECOM House by the Liquidator?
* If the money was paid to BPE, what was BPE's reaction when the monef~as paid, since it was aware that the President had approved stoppage of transfer of NECOM House and its retention by NITEL.
*  What prompted the former DG BPE to write a letter to the EFCC dated June 29, 2009 in respect of investigative activities of NECOM House, Lagos wherein he affirmed that NECOM House is a core asset of NITEL.
* Why did the process of sale of NECOM House by the Liquidator appeared to be enveloped in secrecy?  NITEL was never informed of the purported sale of NECOM House.
*  Did the Liquidator inform BPE of the sale of NECOM House and what was BPE's response (If any)?
* West African Plc admitted that the old five (5) storey building was left for N ITEL to occupy having regards to the sensitive nature of SAT-3. This is a tacit admission that NECOM House is NITEL's core asset. Why was Liquidator desperate to sell and the company desperate to buy NECOM House?