General News
ICT Security is Not Waste of Money-Aliu
Mr. Folorunso Aliu, managing director, iTECO Nigeria Limited is a results-driven professional. His flair, tenacity and can-do attitude have earned him various certifications.
Aliu before his appointment as managing director in 2007 was head of Service Delivery – Network Solutions. Aliu is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science / Engineering and has a Masters in Business Administration. He spoke with chike onwuegbuchi.
iTECO and Information Technology Sector
iTECO Nigeria Limited is a foremost brand in the area of systems integration in Nigeria. What that means is that iTECO’s skills and expertise come to bear when you have different networks or different equipments and solutions on the network and you are looking or a single entity that would bring together all these different elements, all the networks to provide business solutions that meet customers’ requirement. iTECO’s major skill is on any product, and element on the network that runs on Internet Protocol (IP), bringing it together to bring out business solutions to our customers.
Breaches in Telephone
Let me take you back, when I was discussing I said iTECO is a systems integration company. Let me give examples of what you might need systems integration for; systems integration can apply in the area of network security, it can come in the area of just general routing and switching, that is basic connectivity between one bank and another, one company and another. What we also do is in the area of voice networks as well. We are also in the area of audio-visuals or what is known as collaborations – video conferencing, tele-conferencing, audio bridge and things like that. Now, you asked a question about security – you have breaches in security if things are not done as they should be done and followed up. In security, we have what is called ‘the security wheel.’ Security wheel simply tells you that security is not a one-time thing. You look at the system, you appraise the system, you put in place security measures, you monitor the security measures, you improve on the security measures and you go back again to appraise the system so that you are always one step ahead of whoever wants to breach your security system. People look at security as a one-time thing – oh, I spent one hundred thousand on my security solution and that is it. Thank you! You can go away. It is an on-going event; you do not put security once and you stop because everyday, especially on the Internet people are bringing on newer things; newer threats arise everyday. The solution you put in place yesterday will probably not be able to mitigate the problems of today and that is why you need to consistently monitor and ensure you are in order. But in our environment, people see this as a waste of money. It is important and a continuous thing; just as business is a going concern, security requirement is a going issue too.
Unified Communications
From the word unified, it means you are bringing in different elements to a single point and maximizing your investment. Let me give you a typical example of Unified Communication; you have a telephone system back in the days, when someone calls you and you are not in the office; that is it. You cannot be reached. You have e-mail system; someone sends you an e-mail and if you are not there, that is it. You have a GSM phone; if someone calls you on it and you are not there, that is all. But Unified Communications in a nutshell, brings all these things to a single point. Let us assume that you are not in the office and have traveled to America, would it not be good to know that if someone calls you on your desk in the office, your phone rings three times and it is automatically passed on to your GSM and then it is converted to text and sent to you; everything seamless. So that, at any point you are reachable, you are able to maximize your investment because everything has been unified – you have what is called text to speech and speech to text, in this case, I can record my e-mail as voice and it will be sent as e-mail for me. So, Unified Communication does those things – to distinguish between different entities. For example, most banks today were still in the era of general banking, over-the-counter solutions and all that; but you can actually build solutions that will help people especially in retail banking that Nigerian banks are trying to move into; Unified Communication is a veritable tool in the hands of these bankers if they want to do proper retail banking. You can reach your target audience right in their homes; there are various services you can deploy on the phones and other network elements that your customers carry. Mobile phone is a veritable tool for banking; it is not just for checking account balance. It is a proper banking tool that allows for easy communication between banks and their customers as well as enables the deployment of several other services.
Making IP Networks More Effective
I tend to disagree with you that we do not have terrestrial links because we have that in the country right now. MTN, Globacom have run some; Celtel has started out on that, even Visafone too. What we do not have yet is the aggregation of all those links. The bottom line is that they are there. 21st Century as far back as four years ago had actually laid a fiber ring all over the Island. Let us take Lagos for example, most of the business concerns are concentrated on the Island and right now if you need fiber connectivity on the Island, it is something you can get within two days. I understand that we still have extensive Vsat installation but I disagree that we do not have terrestrial infrastructure. Having said that, this Unified Communication can be seen from different strata – we have the intra-company usage, the inter-company usage and the global connectivity. In intra-company, you do not rely on the extensive external fiber to do this. Between one company and its branch office for example, you have some kind of connectivity that they are doing today. All Nigerian banks toady are online, real time. They are using that link for something. What some of them are doing is to maximize the use of that bandwidth which is what the real question is. The bandwidth we have today; what are we doing with it? Do we even know what is going over the bandwidth? How can we maximize the use of the bandwidth because it is expensive? That is one other thing that iTECO can do. iTECO is a foremost name in network management. We can give you what you call visibility into your bandwidth utilization. We can help you to maximize your bandwidth utilization so that you do not end up spending unnecessarily on increasing bandwidth while in fact, that is not what you need. My point is, yes, you have a lot of Vsat installation but you also have fiber optic installation but more importantly is what is going over your bandwidth and how are you utilizing it. Network management solution is what you need to do that. People are doing Unified Communication – the likes of Shell, LNG are involved in this. Different companies operate at various levels of Unified Communication. The maximum you can get from Unified Communication depends on how well you can use your imagination. The amount of services you can run on your mobile phone is only limited to your innovative power.
Approach towards Aggregation of Fibre Infrastructure
It is not duplication because the bottom line is Globacom has its own traffic route; all of them have their own traffic routes and patterns, so they need the backbone to be able to carry their traffic. However, there should be inter-connection between them, that is what I am talking about so that we can have ISVs. ISVs can do virtual carriage of data and voice. They do not need to build their own infrastructure. What I am saying is that, instead of Globacom just owning the whole thing and we are not sourcing from anybody apart from Globacom, they could come together as a majority so that they can carry traffic from others. We do services, not just data and voice. There are lots of services. If all the fibers that we are laying around are just for data and voice, then it is a waste of energy. They are laying fiber for all the other services that you can run on that; talk about video calls and other enhanced services. You have what is called Multi-Protocol Legal Switching (MPLS) that is the protocol they are running now on the core of their networks, to be able to carry out all these services and deploy them to the customers.
iTECO and Cost of Redundant Data Centre
Having a disaster recovery site is necessary now for big corporations because the principle behind it is, even if there is a disaster or a breakdown, service should continue. That makes a lot sense and things that are put in place would ensure this is done. Most banks today have offsites. What baffles me is that an entity has a private recovery site on Victoria Island; they have another one in Apapa. If you have a private site here, the minimum I am going to expect is to have a disaster recovery site say, in Abuja because whatever happens in this region should not break down the two sites. As much as possible, there are standards to how these things should be at the minimum. You can do what you call ‘server hotels’ or ‘IT hotels.’ What I mean by that is that instead of Bank A, B and C; each building their own site, you can actually collocate with the third party who is the service provider and all of them will have a secondary link through this place either with their own servers or with the server provided by the service provider and each would have its own storage and slot as it were. That way, they only pay for space and usage on a regular basis as agreed. That would be a cheaper alternative. But, most banks because they are big, put their recovery sites somewhere else and can also use it for other things. So, it is a choice people make.
By Tim Akano
Leo Stan Ekeh (LSE) is an extraordinary human being. He is extremely hardworking, hugely brave, and massively intelligent. He is a shrewd businessman but with a cathedral-size heart of butterfly
Leo Stan Ekeh
I’m a product of LSE’s generosity. But not only me, I am close enough to know. We are uncountable.
I was always with him after office hours in his office twenty years ago when he was constructing a church in his place of birth. He was so committed to details and beauty that when the church was roofed and he went for inspection and discovered some misalignment, he instructed the contractor to remove the roof and redo it, without minding the extra cost coming from his pocket.
There was this physically challenged fellow that LSE bought a car for, including a driver to make life easier for her.
During one of his birthday celebrations, he told me, Tim, I am not inviting my friends for any birthday party this year, all the money I would have used in buying expensive wine, I am donating everything to charity
LSE & I
He actually looked for me when I started New Horizons. He read my interview in the Vanguard news paper and asked his staff to look for me.
Prayer:
May each of us receive a telephone call before the end of 2025 that will change our life’s trajectory for good for ever in Jesus name, Amen.
I did.!
Our conversation on that fateful Friday went like this:
LSE: Tim, I read your interview in the newspaper. I would like us to meet.
Tim: You are our LEADER in the Technology ecosystem, Sir.
I can come to your house tomorrow Saturday morning for a breakfast.
LSE: Tim, that’s good, I will be expecting you by 8am tomorrow in my house.
By 8am the following day, I was in his massive, intimidating house.
As I entered the premises I said a simple prayer: The God Almighty who is blessing LSE, please Daddy God be kind to me also in my entrepreneurship journey Amen.
That day the breakfast meeting went well. He wanted to see the man behind the ambitious vision of transforming the ICT education in Nigeria.
He saw tomorrow!
1 LSE First Intervention: Two years after I started my company, New Horizons, I ran out of cash, even to pay salary was a prayer item every 30th of the month. That was May, 2007 it remained just 72 hours for Heaven to fall on my head, metaphorically speaking, that is!
I needed N10M to stop HEAVEN FROM CRASHING ON MY HEAD!
Banks in Nigeria are irrelevant to Start-ups, except and until you START WALKING, Banks will not come to your assistance in Nigeria.
It is O.Y.O (On Your Own) for every Start-up. If you don’t have God 100% on your side, don’t dabble into entrepreneurship in Nigeria!
This is why over 80% of Start-ups failed in Nigeria. In America, it is about 50%.
LSE was in Abuja on this particular Thursday. I called him and requested to see him. He told me to come.
Our conversation went like this:
LSE: Tim, I know you are keeping well.
Tim: My chairman, I am strong in faith, but in reality, heaven is hot on my side o! I need help, Chairman.
LSE: What is the matter, Tim?
Tim: I need N10M soft loan to keep afloat. It is urgent, critical and time- bound.
LSE ok, Tim, see me on Monday (that meeting took place on a Thursday).
Tim: My chairman, I am not exaggerating the criticality of my situation. by Monday it would be too late because Heaven would crash on my head in another 72 hours without the N10M! And it would be all over.
LSE adjusted himself, he breathed in , he looked me straight in the eyes. I wouldn’t know what LSE saw in my eyes that day.
But he stood up, went to the inner room and he came out with his cheque book. He gave me an Access Bank cheque for N10M, which I later refunded 3 months later without interest.
I survived, heaven didn’t fall that day, glory be to God and thanks to LSE.
LSE intervention 2:
This time we had grown, having survived the ABIKU YEARS (The first 5 years of Start-up are the ABIKU YEARS, years of premature, sudden death. If you survive the first 5 years, your chances of living to celebrate your 20 years in business are bright). We did, all gratitude to God.
I got a business that required huge capital to execute- very big money, which was beyond my capacity.
I went to my destiny- helper again. He is never tired of seeing me. He picks my calls on the first ring. But I don’t abuse the access too. No frivolous conversations. No irrelevant calls. Every call is about matter and mission critical
This particular day LSE was looking extremely tired, having over flogged his body.
He told me he had been sleeping in the office for about 3 days, busy putting his papers together to enable him close a massive business deal, which he eventually got, after fighting like a lion whose cub was taken by a lone leopard!
LSE overwhelmed every opposition. He fought like Mohammed Alli, the world’s greatest boxer of all time. LSE won.
And that changed everything for him, too, forever. Fortune favours the Brave
Our conversation that day went like this:
LSE: Tim, congrats you are doing well, I can see. Indeed I instructed all my staff to make sure they read any article you published (“I felt flattered”).
Tim: Chairman, I need your help, KONGA is not ready to give me the products I needed on credit and I don’t have cash to pay and the client will not pay me until after 9 months.
Tough one, indeed.
LSE: Tim, I will be honest with you, there is no way KONGA would give you products worth N500M (10 years ago money!) on credit.
Indeed, we held a meeting on Monday over your matter, the resolution of the Zinox Group is that you must look for cash before you can get the products. Let me tell you, my staff made me to sign-off on our resolution that as the Chairman of Zinox , I, LSE will not go behind to do the opposite of what we all agreed to, and I signed. Tim, I am sorry, my hands are tied!
As of that time, some of the young people LSE helped disappointed him badly. So bad, some souls are ungrateful.
Tim: Chairman, I know some of the people you helped even went to the extent of wrongfully blackmailing you in the media. I know that for a fact.
But Chairman, I am different. I am Tim Akano, I won’t disappoint you.
I will remain eternally grateful if you can still think out- of -the box and help me out.
I added: Chairman, you recall you were the one who looked for me that you would give me a helping hand in life.
I think my last statement touched him.
LSE Tim, I will give you my personal cheque. Here is the cheque for you, take it to KONGA and pay for your goods to meet your deadline.
Tim On getting to KONGA, from my steps and tone, the staff knew something positive had happened.
I confidently presented my cheque to Loretta & Co, the lady managing our account in KONGA then
They were shell shocked that God pulled it through for me another time, using Leo Stan Ekeh.
There were many more positive interventions, which I will reserve for my memoir.
Lessons: The reason behind the rise and rise of Leo Stan Ekeh (LSE) has to do partly because of his massive generosity, most of them are done silently.
Yes, LSE is a shrewd businessman, but he has a heart of a butterfly.
2 LSE is unconquerable and himself and his lineage will remain so because of several lives he has impacted positively
3 We are all products of people’s generosity. No one is a self-made man. In my own corner, through the TIM AKANO FOUNDATION, I am giving back in thousands folds all the kindness I am enjoying from people like LSE & others. I’m not withholding any kindness from people who need it when it’s within my capacity. God saw my heart, too, that when he must have helped me to stand, I will light thousands of candles.
It was William Shakespeare who admonished his followers to tell him all the good things they wanted to tell him while he was still alive because tributes written in beautiful prose means nothing to a dead person.
I congratulate LSE children, they have a great father in and his legendary generosity will always speak for them up to the 4th generation., as the Holy Bible said. LSE children should be proud of their father, he is a Lion, an Eagle and a butterfly, (LEB) all together at the same time.
@LSE: Sir, if you manage to read this short public appreciation, which I was inspired to write in a wedding event (the couple is taking over one hour to come out, instead of joining people who are anxious, I decided to use my idle time to pay you this tribute today), I want you to feel proud of yourself; what you have achieved will take an average person 10 lifetimes to achieve.
Your positive numerous interventions in my entrepreneurship journey have germinated and I am also touching lives- like you- in thousands across Africa, not only in Nigeria, especially with regards to Youth Empowerment.
I am eternally grateful, my chairman, my destiny-helper.
My prayer for you my Chairman, LSE: The Lion, the Eagle, the Butterfly (LEB) is for God to keep you continuously in sound, divine health, peace and happiness- that you will still remain strong at 120 years of age like the Biblical Moses who miraculously escaped physical depreciation in his eyes, strength and mental magnitude.🙏
Gratitude!
Gratitude!!
Gratitude!!!
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has clinched three prestigious Service Compact with All Nigerians (SERVICOM) awards at the annual Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) Awards ceremony, earning acclaim for its outstanding citizen-centred service delivery.
NITDA
The honours spotlight NITDA’s leadership in digital transformation and efficient public service, as evaluated by SERVICOM on key benchmarks of timeliness, transparency, and customer satisfaction.
NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, received a personal commendation plaque during the event, recognising his unwavering support and commitment to prioritising citizens in agency operations.
The agency also secured a Special Recognition Award from the SERVICOM Office, celebrating its sustained initiatives to bridge government and citizens through high-quality service delivery.
In a further mark of excellence, NITDA was named the 2nd Best Performing Public Service Unit (PSU) Team B within the competitive MDAs category.
SERVICOM Framework Drives Public Service Reforms
SERVICOM, established to enhance service quality across Nigerian public institutions, assesses MDAs based on rigorous standards that ensure responsiveness to public needs.
NITDA’s triple honours reflect its strategic focus on leveraging technology to streamline services, foster accountability, and promote inclusive digital governance.
The awards align with broader federal efforts to reposition public service delivery amid Nigeria’s push for digital economy growth.
NITDA’s Digital Leadership Under Spotlight
Since its establishment, NITDA has spearheaded national ICT policies, infrastructure development, and capacity building, positioning Nigeria as an emerging digital hub.
The agency’s SERVICOM success underscores effective implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030), enhancing e-government services and citizen engagement.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi’s leadership has been pivotal in initiatives like the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, alongside partnerships driving broadband expansion and cybersecurity.
These recognitions come amid NITDA’s ongoing campaigns for data localisation, digital skills training, and startup ecosystem support.
Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has secured enforceable compliance from Ikeja Electric Plc, leading to the unsealing of the electricity distributor’s headquarters after regulatory intervention over consumer rights violations.
Ikeja Electric
The Commission had sealed the company’s headquarters on December 11, 2025, following its failure to comply with a directive of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to unbundle a Maximum Demand account into 20 individual accounts for a customer who had remained without electricity for more than two and a half years.
Following the enforcement action, Ikeja Electric entered into a binding undertaking with the FCCPC, committing to resolve all consumer complaints referred to it by the Commission within agreed timelines.
The FCCPC warned that any breach of the undertaking would trigger renewed and escalated enforcement under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA).
The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the FCCPC, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the intervention underscores the Commission’s resolve to protect consumers and enforce regulatory decisions.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that consumers are treated fairly and that service providers comply with lawful decisions and directives. Enforcement is not an end in itself. Where compliance is achieved and credible commitments are made, the Commission will respond appropriately,” Bello said.
He added that the resolution reflects a firm but balanced regulatory approach.
“We intervene decisively where consumer harm persists, and we de-escalate where enforceable compliance is secured. What remains constant is our duty to protect consumers and uphold regulatory accountability,” he said.
The FCCPC said the outcome sends a clear signal that consumer rights violations will attract decisive regulatory action, while companies that demonstrate genuine compliance will receive proportionate responses.
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