Category: News Updates

President Goodluck Jonathan has released his administration’s score card.

Download Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Score Card HERE.

Report written by DAYO OKETOLA | Published in the Nigerian Punch Newspaper | MARCH 12, 2012

Information Communications Technology stakeholders, who discussed the draft ICT policy document at a public forum in Lagos, on Friday, offered constructive criticism to make the policy more robust for industry growth, writes DAYO OKETOLA

There was a deluge of constructive criticism against the draft National Information and Communications Technology policy released by the Ministry of Communications Technology on January, 9, 2012.

Most stakeholders, who gathered at the Lagos City Hall, venue of the public forum on the draft ICT policy documents on Friday, offered more constructive criticism of the document than commendations.

From simple shortcomings such as the composition of the Ministerial Committee on ICT Policy Harmonisation to complex issues regarding the substance and content of the policy, which experts said lacked depth and was not inclusive enough for holistic transformation of the ICT industry, the forum created an opportunity for stakeholders to air their views on the ICT policy.

Experts said the policy harmonisation committee, which consisted only members from agencies under the Ministry of Communications Technology, was not representative enough as it failed to include private sector players who were the real drivers of ICT growth in the country. As such, they called for the immediate re-composition of the committee.

To the more critical issues, however, stakeholders generally criticised the policy for not making adequate provisions for broadband and computer penetration; tackling multiple taxation and regulation, and providing support for local computer manufacturers.

Other shortcomings, according to experts, include inadequate provision for women, children and people living with disabilities; inadequate provisions for local content and Internet governance; as well as proper convergence in the ICT sector and failure to make provisions that will categorise ICT equipment as critical national infrastructure fully protected by the government.

More specifically, the Nigeria Computer Society expressed worry that the policy did not set a target and time line for broadband penetration, which currently stands at seven per cent in the country.

In view of this, the Chairman, Education and Manpower, NCS, Dr. Vincent Asor, said it was important for the government to drive broadband penetration in the country. He urged the government, via the draft ICT policy, to target a 50 per cent broadband penetration within a stated time line.

Asor further said it was equally imperative for the country to focus on outsourcing as an economic enabler as it was done in India.

The President, Information Technology Association of Nigeria, Mrs. Florence Seriki, who also doubles as the Chief Executive Officer, Omatek Ventures Plc, lamented the poor PC penetration in the country, adding that the IT segment of the ICT industry was not properly provided for in the draft policy document.

Seriki, who called on the Federal Government to drive local PC manufacturing as the epicentre of ICT industry development in the country, said, “We want to develop IT industry but we cannot achieve this without encouraging local manufacturing of PCs and other IT devices.”

The ITAN president, who emphasised the need to establish IT departments in schools across the country, said the draft policy document must specify policies for youth empowerment, foreign investments, and local content.

She argued that there was no way the ICT policy would make significant impact without developing manufacturing in the IT sector.

The Omatek boss explained that the policy enjoyed by local Original Equipment Manufacturers during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime was no longer there and this was affecting their operations.

In view of this, Seriki urged the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, to facilitate the restoration of those policies for the benefits of local OEMs in the country.

Speaking in the same vein, the President, Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Tuni Balogun, called on the Federal Government to encourage local PC manufacturing in the country.

He stressed that this was important if the country wanted to be self reliant in the area of ICT development like countries such as India and China among others.

The President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Mr. Deolu Ogunbajo, said the draft policy didn’t make enough provisions on how to tackle multiple regulations and taxation in the country.

While urging the ministry to focus on those areas, Ogunbanjo advised the Federal Government to categorise telecoms equipment as critical national infrastructure fully protected by the law.

The Executive Director, Development Information Network, Mr. Bankole Olubamise, recalled that the draft policy document failed to make any provision for women and children despite mentioning them in the opening of the document.

He advised that the Ministry of Communications Technology should adopt universal access to ICT as a human right.

“ICT divide is still very wide in the country. There is no way we can achieve vision 2020 with the current ICT access,” he said.

According to him, Internet governance is an important issue that the draft policy document does not mention. He also advised that this should be looked into.

Similarly, the Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Network for Cybersolution Limited, an anti-cybercrime campaign and cybersecurity solution organisation, Mr. Segun Olugbile, said the draft policy failed to make provision for cyber security in the country.

He said this against the backdrop of the rising cyber fraud and insecurity in the country’s cyber space and urged that measures should be put in place to address the problem through the ICT policy.

According to the President, Open Source Association of Nigeria, Mr. Dele Adesomo, open source is a key area in most developed countries’ ICT policies. He called for adequate policy provision for open source in the country while urging the government to encourage mobile software applications locally.

Despite the robust growth recorded in mobile telephony, the lack of convergence in the nation’s ICT sector has been said to be responsible for the fragmentation and inefficiency in the management of resources in the sector.

Experts had, therefore, underscored the need for convergence in the ICT sector, in line with the global trend.

They, however, lamented that the draft ICT policy did not provide adequate ICT regulatory framework that could guarantee complete convergence in the sector.

Speaking on behalf of the ICT Publisher Alliance, the Publisher, eWorld Magazine, Mr. Aaron Ukodie, stressed the need for proper convergence in the ICT industry, adding that this was the only way to fast-track the growth of the industry.

According to the document, the main objective of the National ICT Policy “is to create a conducive environment for the rapid expansion of ICT networks and services that are accessible to all at reasonable costs, and for the transformation of Nigeria into a knowledge-based economy.”

The Managing Director and Chief Executive, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, Mr. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, who expressed satisfaction with the level of response received at the public forum, lauded ICT stakeholders present for their constructive crtiticisms.

He said, “The contributions were fantastic. What happened here today was constructive criticisms because in making a policy, you are trying to chart a course. If somebody says don’t go there, there is a pit there; don’t go that way, there is danger there, it is not criticism, it is advice. You will see that it is the ministry that presented itself for criticism because it wants to get all issues addressed. At the end of the day, the policy document that will be released will be an all embracing and comprehensive one that will reflect where we want the ICT industry to be.”

The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the objective of the public forum was to get critical inputs from industry stakeholders, adding that the contributions would make the final ICT policy more robust for proper execution.

About 61 percent of oil-rich Nigeria’s citizens lived in absolute poverty in 2010, existing on less than $1 a day and unable to afford the bare necessities, a report by the National Statistics Bureau stated.

The NBS announced yesterday that the number of impoverished Nigerians “rose to 60.9 per cent in 2010, compared with 54.7 per cent in 2004″.

Statistician General of the NBS, Mr. Yemi Kale, said that even though the nation’s economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty continues to grow every year in Africa’s most populous nation.

Kale explained that the fastest-growing industries in Nigeria – wholesale, retail and oil and gas – “are not significant employers of labour” and without the creation of new jobs, poverty is expected to climb even higher.

Mr. Kale estimates that this trend may increase further in the 2011 report if the potential positive impacts of several anti-poverty and employment generation intervention programmes are not taken into account.

He suggested boosting the agricultural sector, which the central bank estimates accounts for 42 percent of gross domestic product, will aid poverty alleviation in Africa’s top oil-producer.

The report further reveals that the northeast and northwest geo-political zones are the poorest regions in the country while the southwest, which hosts the commercial city of Lagos, has the lowest levels of poverty.

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The house in Sokoto, Nigeria, where the two hostages were held, came under heavy fire Continue reading the main story on BBC

 

Italy and Britain’s foreign ministers have moved to defuse a row over the UK’s failure to inform Rome of a planned hostage rescue bid in Nigeria.

Giulio Terzi and William Hague issued a statement saying Italy and the UK would continue to fight terrorism together.

Briton Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara died on Thursday as Nigerian and UK forces tried to free them from Islamists in Sokoto in Nigeria’s north.

Mr Terzi had asked Britain for “utmost clarity” about the operation.

He met Mr Hague earlier at a meeting in Denmark, and on Friday evening they released a joint statement.

It said Mr Hague had made it clear that there had been “a limited opportunity” to secure the release of the hostages whose lives were “in imminent and growing danger” and it had been possible to inform Italy only once the operation was already getting under way.

The statement went on to say: “Mr Terzi expressed deep sorrow and disappointment over the tragic outcome of the operation and both ministers agreed on the urgency of sharing full information to facilitate the reconstruction and understanding of these events.”

After the ministers’ meeting, Italian news agency ANSA reported sources from the prime minister’s office in Rome as saying Italy remained firm in its demands for clarity, but that it had no intention of escalating the diplomatic row.

The BBC’s Alan Johnston, in Rome, said this was the first sign that some of the heat may be going out of this diplomatic row.

The row – which has been rumbling since news first broke of the failed operation on Thursday evening – appeared to peak on Friday afternoon when the Italian president said it was “inexplicable” that the British government had not told Rome about the rescue attempt until it began.

Giorgio Napolitano said the UK needed to explain itself.

“The way the British government has behaved is quite inexplicable. To have failed to inform or consult Italy, with regard to a military action which could have such consequences,” he said.

“A clarification is needed on both the political and diplomatic levels.”

Earlier, UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the attempted rescue had been launched after information was received that the hostages “were about to be moved – possibly executed”.

“These hostages were taken, they were held at an unknown location for a very long period of time despite extensive efforts to track them down.

“And when a window of opportunity became available, a well-trained Nigerian force with British support, went in and tried to rescue them,” he said.

Heavy fighting

Number 10 said the UK and Italy had been in contact ever since the men were kidnapped.

Gunmen seized Mr McManus, 28, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, and Mr Lamolinara, 48, in the town of Birnin Kebbi in the north of Nigeria on 12 May 2011.

They had been working for Italian firm B Stabilini in the construction of a local headquarters for the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s office said he had asked Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to provide a “detailed reconstruction” of events as soon as possible.

Mr Cameron’s spokesman said it was a Nigerian-led operation, with UK support involving the UK’s elite Special Boat Service. BBC reporter Haruna Shehu Tangaza, in Sokoto, described several hours of heavy fighting where the men were being held.

The house where the men were being held had been under surveillance for some time.

Mr Cameron and Mr Jonathan said they believed the kidnappers had killed Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara.

But an unnamed official from the Nigerian state security service quoted in local reports said the hostages had died in crossfire.

Boko Haram

Mr Jonathan said that the men’s captors had been seized and “would be made to face the full wrath of the law”.

He said they were from militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which has carried out a number of attacks on police, politicians and clerics who oppose it.

Reports have emerged that a senior member of Boko Haram was captured on Tuesday, and he gave information which led forces to the house where the two construction engineers were being held.

However, on Friday, a spokesman for the group told reporters that Boko Haram had not been behind the deaths.

“We have never taken anyone hostage. We always claim responsibility for our acts,” he said.

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said Boko Haram had become more violent and capable in recent years and there was a suspicion this might be a sign of the growing influence of the group known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has a track record of kidnapping Westerners in north Africa and trying to extract ransom payments to fund its violence.

As China’s economy and population expand, so do its transport needs. Although car ownership is on the increase, the Government is investing more in the railways.
China now has the fastest train in the world. It runs from the central city of Wuhan down to the south coast, at a speed of more than 380km/h.
Jenny Wivell reports.

The ranking of universities has generally been a matter of several debates. Though just a few criteria of selection could be unanymously accepted by the scientific community, a european institution has nevertheless published a list of Nigerian universities which it has ranked based on the popularity of their websites.

1  University of Ibadan Ibadan

2  University of Ilorin Ilorin

3  University of Benin Ugbowo and other locations

4  Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife

5  Ahmadu Bello University Zaria

6  University of Jos Jos

7  University of Lagos Lagos

8  University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Abeokuta and other locations

9  University of Port Harcourt Port Harcourt

10  Lagos State University Ojo

11  Federal University of Technology, Akure Akure

12  Babcock University Ilisan-Remo and other locations

13  Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso and other locations

14  University of Nigeria, Nsukka Nsukka and other locations

15  Covenant University Ota

16  Redeemer’s University Mowe

17  Pan African University Lagos

18  Benson Idahosa University Benin City

19  University of Maiduguri Maiduguri

20  Federal University of Technology Minna Minna

21  Federal University of Technology, Yola Yola

22  Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma

23  University of Uyo Uyo

24  Bayero University Kano Kano

25  Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto

26  Joseph Ayo Babalola University Ikeji-Arakeji

27  Bowen University Iwo

28  Kwara State University Ilorin

29  Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike Umuahia

30  University of Ado-Ekiti Ado-Ekiti

31  Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka and other locations

32  Caleb University Ikosi

33  Bells University of Technology, Ota Ota

34  Delta State University, Abraka Abraka

35  Lead City University Ibadan

36  American University of Nigeria Yola

37  Igbinedion University Okada Okada and other locations

38  Renaissance University Enugu

39  Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai

40  Ajayi Crowther University Oyo Town

41  Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt

42  University of Mkar Mkar

43  Kaduna State University Kaduna

44  Abia State University Uturu

45  Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye

46  Kogi State University Anyigba

47  Obong University Obong Ntak

48  Federal University of Technology, Owerri Owerri

49  Ebonyi State University Abakaliki

50  Crawford University Igbesa

51  Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University Katsina

52  Salem University Lokoja

53  Enugu State University of Science and Technology Enugu

54  Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island Yenagoa

55  Anambra State University Uli

56  Imo State University, Owerri Owerri

57  Plateau State University Bokkos

58  Osun State University Oshogbo and other locations

59  Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko and other locations

60  Novena University Ogume

61  Tai Solarin University of Education Ijebu-Ode and other locations

62  University of Agriculture, Makurdi Makurdi

63  University of Abuja Abuja

64  Western Delta University, Oghara Oghara

65  Wukari Jubilee University Wukari

66  Madonna University Okija

67  Bingham University Auta Balifi

68  Ondo State University of Science & Technology Okitipupa

69  Al Hikmah University Ilorin Ilorin

70  Katsina University Katsina

71  Benue State University Makurdi

72  Adamawa State University Mubi

73  Caritas University Enugu

74  Fountain University Oshogbo

75  Nasarawa State University Keffi

76  Bukar Abba Ibrahim University Damaturu

77  University of Calabar Calabar

Source: 4 International Colleges & Universities, July 13th, 2011.