Telecom
Nigerian Youths Must Execute Govt. Contracts with Conscience – Ekeh, Zinox Boss
Leo Stan Ekeh, Africa’s leading digital entrepreneur and Chairman, Zinox Group, has once again urged young business owners and startups in Africa to demonstrate a high level of integrity and diligence when executing government contracts as the quality of their country defines their future.
Ekeh made this call during a recent mentorship programme with a select group of African foreign-based postgraduate students in the latest edition of an annual lecture series aimed at grooming the next generation of certified entrepreneurs.
Speaking during the virtual session which was monitored online, Ekeh counselled the participants to shun the overwhelming temptation to treat government contracts as an avenue for overnight enrichment or sub-standard implementation, adding that this often has disastrous consequences. Citing the importance of ethical standards and principles as uncompromising foundations of a successful business, the Zinox boss lamented the disturbing tendency of young, impressionable entrepreneurs to get easily excited and throw caution to the winds, especially when it comes to executing government contracts.
Consequently, Ekeh, a Forbes Best of Africa Leading Tech Icon, sounded a note of caution, warning that these acts can irreparably fracture the trust reposed by the government in entrusting major projects to startups or even to other established firms with proven capacities in their respective countries, further resulting in capital flight and erosion of the giant strides recorded in local content development.
‘‘Government is the biggest spender in any economy. Some of you, while doing business, may get a chance to execute some projects for governments, whether at sub-national or Federal level. It is a call to service and an opportunity to prove the growing faith in our indigenous capacities.
‘‘Having the opportunity to execute a government contract must, therefore, be seen as a privilege and not as a chance to outrageously inflate figures, deliver shoddy outputs or unduly enrich yourself overnight. You must seize the opportunity to grow your social capital and open the doors for others to enjoy the confidence that has been reposed in you.
‘‘There is a spiritual commitment that should naturally come with such high-profile deliverables. As a matter of fact, it must be the signature of your business that you can be counted on to deliver excellent results for any contract you win, whether big or small. I have always emphasized the importance of building yourself as a personal collateral as an entrepreneur. It is the only way you can gain the confidence of your suppliers, partners and the people or establishments that patronize your business.
Ekeh lectured that it is a fact that doing things properly in some African countries sometimes attracts pains from competition who write frivolous petitions to security agencies to inconvenience the preferred company, but he advised them to stay on the path of honour and provide time to answer those queries as they come up, instead of compromising on quality. Using Nigeria as an example, he disclosed that for every big tech contract won by his company, they had always expected petitions from faceless blackmailers to authorities such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), among others. However, he advised his audience not to be deterred by these antics.
‘‘The only way to win is doing things right. I am lucky all my investments are in the tech sector and technology does not lie, so we always won,” he stated.
Urging the budding entrepreneurs not to lose hope because of the ongoing difficulties in the macroeconomic environment, Ekeh expressed optimism that the African economy would survive the present challenges and rebound stronger.
‘‘The current challenges in the economy are not new. We have witnessed similar cycles in the past. But our economy has always shown resilience to rebound from them. Also, you must bear in mind that the difficulties are not only local. The global economy is passing through a period of intense stress, further worsened by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and potentially set to be impacted further by the latest confrontation between Israel and Hamas.
‘‘In times like these, the failure rate of startups and other businesses increase. However, difficult times also represent periods of great opportunities. It is your responsibility to sniff out those opportunities which abound around you and take advantage of them.
‘‘You must always remember that to succeed, you cannot take pleasure before pains. In setting up your business, you must have a clear roadmap and vision. Hype is good and gets you noticed but you must work very hard behind the scenes to fill up the blank spaces with substance. Otherwise, the hype will fizzle out and you will have nothing concrete to stand on. You must also remain spiritually strong, retain a healthy risk appetite, and rely a lot on your intuition and common-sense logic to make a success of your venture. Finally, never forget that your passion must pay your bills,’’ he concluded.
Nigeria’s telecom sector is at risk of shutdown as workers under the aegis of Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association (PTECSSAN) have embarked on strike over sack, and poor working conditions among others.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON
This was as the union on Monday threatened to cripple telecommunications services nationwide.
Okonu Abdullahi, secretary-general, made this known in a statement on Monday while announcing the commencement of the strike.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), reacting to the development, said that the group is unknown to its members which include MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9-mobile and other telcos in the country.
But Abdullahi, said that the action of his union “ has become inevitable because of the prevalent precarious working conditions our members are enduring in the sector, the refusal of the employers to recognise and respect the constitutional right of these workers to freely associate with the union, and the unjust sack of three members of the union,”
He noted that its members are over 800 working at various Nigeria telecoms company facilities, network centers and other critical telecommunications, including IHS and Huawei.
The union, among other things, is demanding the reinstatement of some of its sacked workers, recognition of the union, improved working conditions, and remittance of membership dues.
“The implications of the strike will be massive because we have told all our members not to respond to any service outage from our employers.
“The fact remains that there are outages every day, and if our engineers do not respond to those outages, subscribers in those areas will be affected,” he said.
However, Adebayo of ALTON, said that “This group is not known to us in ALTON, and the companies mentioned are not members of ALTON”,
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced the introduction of a Device Management System (DMS) aimed at bolstering security and protecting consumers in the country’s mobile device market.
It said the DMS will serve as a comprehensive Central Equipment Identity Register, creating a unified database for tracking and monitoring mobile devices across all network operators in Nigeria.
The new regulation, outlined in the ‘Type Approval Business Rule 2024’, aims to prevent phone theft, curb the use of counterfeit devices, and ensure compliance with established standards.
All mobile network operators are required to connect to the DMS and mirror network-related policies configured by the NCC, ensuring a uniform approach to device regulation.
This move is expected to significantly improve the security and integrity of Nigeria’s communication networks, protecting consumers and promoting a safer mobile ecosystem.
“NCC-DMS shall acquire the International Mobile Equipment Identity of all devices latching to the communication network and synchronize with international databases of IMEI repositories.
“NCC-DMS shall maintain a registry of all communication devices available in the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the commission noted in the new rule.
A device registration fee was also introduced by the NCC for the NCC-DMS, separate from existing type approval fees. This fee will be mandatory for all registered devices.
The commission’s objective, first announced in 2021, is to enhance transparency, accountability, and national security in the telecommunications sector while ensuring the safe and efficient utilization of Nigeria’s communication infrastructure.
“To curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market, discourage mobile phone theft, enhance national security, protect consumer interest, increase revenue generation for the government, and reduce the rate of kidnapping.
“To mitigate the use of stolen phones for crime, and facilitate blocking or tracing of stolen mobile phones and other smart devices, one of the means to achieve this is through the deployment of Device Management System,” the commission said in a statement.
Workers in the nation’s telecommunications industry under the aegis of the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association (PTECSSAN) will today (Monday) begin an indefinite nationwide strike over sack, and poor working conditions among others.
Among the employees going on strike include field maintenance engineers, transmission engineers, customer service engineers, fibre engineers, and other critical staff.
There are fears that strike could disrupt telecommunications services nationwide if not resolved quickly.
PTECSSAN had given notice of the strike in a statement signed by Mr Okonu Abdullahi, its general secretary.
Abdullahi said the strike had become necessary following alleged anti-labour practices including the refusal of the employers to recognise and respect the workers’ constitutional rights to freely associate with the union.
He alleged also that three members of the union were unjustly sacked. He said: “We shall not be suspending the planned indefinite strike action until our demands, which are as follows, are met:
“Immediate reinstatement of the three unjustly sacked workers: Sotola Sunday Kolawole, Ulu Ikechukwu Christopher and Alex Franklin C.”
“Immediate recognition of the fundamental right of the employees to freely associate with the union, “ he said.
According to the general secretary, other demands include immediate recognition of the union as the negotiating body for the employees on workers welfare.
He said also that the union was demanding the immediate remittance of membership dues into its account as earlier provided among others.
“We hope that these companies will utilise the seven-day window of this notice to meet our demands and avert the indefinite strike action,” Abdullahi said
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