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Stakeholders Urge for Increased IT Adoption in Governance

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Stakeholders and participants at the NCS Lagos State Chapter Conference recently
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Shuaib Afolabi Salisu, CEO, Simplex Automation Systems Ltd on Tuesday said that the adoption of Information Technology (IT) would serve as enabler for transparency in governance.

 

Salisu disclosed this at the 2018 Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) Lagos Chapter IT Conference and Annual General Meeting, held in Lagos.

 

According to him, if IT is properly utilized, it will spur many things in the society and inspire new governance mechanism.

 

“Adoption of IT will make government to be transparent and open, making them to work better and thus will solicit the trust of its citizens.

 

“IT will enable citizens to participate in governance by being active in Town Hall meetings or Community Development Areas,” he said.

 

He listed some limitations and obstacles which could hinder the adoption of IT as: culture of secrecy in government, which had to do with institutions of government not being transparent and open in governance.

 

He listed others as: lack of political will to implement policies of government, lack of information laws, lack of capacity within the civil society and political leaders, which he termed messianic complacency.

 

Salisu said that IT could serve as a catalyst in information management by aiding government to have an efficient data gathering system and ease to disseminate information to people with the press of a button.

 

He noted also that IT could aid consistency of information at any point in time and encourage feedback between the citizens and government.

 

He listed the challenges of IT as an enabler as: poor infrastructure, high cost of internet access and low literacy rate.

 

He decried that Nigerian government overtime instituted a lot of noble initiatives to move the country forward but lacked the will to implement these initiatives.

 

He also urged NCS to engage government constructively by having some applications that would have proof of concept from the tertiary institutions in the country.

 

Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State Governor, speaking at the event, said that IT was a major tool for transparency and urged other stakeholders to adopt IT

 

Ambode who was represented by Mr Hakeem Fahm, Commissioner of Science and Technology, said that one of the milestone of global innovations of the last century was development of ICT tools, platforms and applications which had brought about significant change in the way we do things.

 

“There is no gainsaying that  ICT has impacted significantly on governance in terms of the enhancement of ease of processes and a procedure which translates into improved service delivery to the people.

 

“In recent time, they had to introduce e-payment platform to the public to reduce the stress and traffic being faced when making payment in banks.

 

“Other several e-platforms and portals introduced by government are consistent with the smartcity project which enhances transparency and accountability in governance.

 

“A major positive effect of all these is the increase in the actual revenue being generated by government which translates to improved quality of life through the massive investment being made in the physical and social infrastructure development,” he said.

 

The President NCS, Prof. Adesola Aderounmu, urged stakeholders to be abreast of the changes in the industry and move with the changes.

 

According to him, there is no room for complacency as one needs to move at the speed the industry is moving, urging members to commit themselves to the affairs of the society.


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

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PAT Taps Osi as CEO

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Pan African Towers (PAT), a Nigerian infrastructure provider serving 9mobile and Spectranet, has appointed Echezona Osi as chief executive officer.

PAT Taps Osi as CEO

Echezona Osi

Adefolarin Ogunsanya, company’s, board chairman,  explained in a statement that Osi would succeed Oladipo Badru, whose tenure lasted nine months in acting CEO position. Osi has more than 28 years of experience in the telecommunications sector across various regions of Africa.

Prior to his appointment as CEO, he had served as the head of network deployment at Airtel Nigeria, operations director and chief technical information officer at MIC Tanzania, chief technology officer roles at IPT PowerTech Nigeria, Rhino Niger Networks and Biswal Nigeria.

He obtained a degree in electrical/ electronic engineering from the University of Benin and a postgraduate diploma in data science and business analytics from the University of Texas.


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NCC Introduces N10m Licence Fee for Bulk SMS Service

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Companies sending bulk international text messages, also known as Application-to-Person (A2P) messages, will now have apply for a licence that costs N10 million.

NCC Introduces N10m Licence Fee for Bulk SMS Service

This is part of new rules introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) aimed at cleaning up the system, fighting fraud, blocking spam messages and stopping money from leaving the country unchecked.

These A2P messages are the kind customers get from banks, online stores, hospitals and political campaigns, automated texts sent from apps to their phones.

According to the commission, the bulk international text message system has been poorly regulated, allowing misuse and invasion of privacy.

“The International SMS Service Ecosystem in Nigeria has not been fully brought under regulatory control. It has been observed that the excessive use of the Short Message Service has led to fraud, spam and illegal activities,” the NCC said.

The regulator warned that without action, the problem would worsen as more people use mobile phones and digital services.

To solve this, the NCC is creating a central platform, or gateway, through which all international bulk text messages must pass through.

The agency said this would help to monitor messages in real time, ensure proper fees are paid, and make sure the money stays in Nigeria where it can contribute to the economy.

As part of the incoming change, service providers must follow strict rules, including strong data protection, spam filters, and message encryption.

Also, they must also work with local mobile networks and make sure all messages come from a verified sender

The NCC warned that any message without a proper sender ID will be blocked and not delivered to users.

To protect users from unwanted texts, the new rules say companies must get clear permission before sending any promotional content.

The rule also says people must also be able to choose whether they want to receive such messages or not.

Companies are now required to keep records of all messages for at least six months and must clearly state all charges involved.

The NCC said fees for help requests, cancellations, or service info must be transparent and not include hidden charges.

The commission will issue licences to several providers to encourage healthy competition but may limit new licences if needed.

Only companies that show they can stop fraud and safely deliver messages will be allowed to operate. They must also regularly report their message traffic and finances to the NCC.

It warned that any company that breaks the rules risks getting fined, suspended, or having its licence revoked.

Offences like charging illegal tariffs, ignoring security rules, or avoiding taxes will be punished, the NCC said.

The commission added that the new rules follow the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023 and support the federal government’s goal of strengthening cybersecurity and controlling Nigeria’s digital space.

The framework will also be reviewed from time to time to keep up with new technology and market trends.


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MTN Nigeria Targets $1Bn Cloud Market with Largest Modular Data Centre

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MTN Nigeria has launched what it claims is the country’s largest prefabricated modular data centre, marking a bold push into the country’s fast-growing cloud market and taking aim at global giants such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

MTN Nigeria Targets $1Bn Cloud Market with Largest Modular Data Centre

Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.

The shift comes as demand for cloud services in Nigeria soars — driven by the uptake of mobile apps, fintech tools and e-learning platforms — while foreign providers have become costlier in the wake of the naira’s sharp devaluation.

“This is one of the biggest data centres in West Africa and probably one of the biggest in Africa,” said Karl Toriola, CEO, MTN Nigeria.

He described the new Tier III-certified facility, with locally hosted cloud services, as “transformative for the technology ecosystem in Nigeria and very supportive of the federal government’s agenda”.

MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecoms provider, has so far invested $120m in the first phase, delivering an IT load of 4.5MW. A second phase, set to double capacity to 9MW, is budgeted at $135m.

“We already have data centres that are running our existing capacities,” Toriola said.

“We will go to 9MW in short order, possibly 14MW, and we can expand even further.”

He said the facility would allow local hosting for tech developers, large enterprises including banks and oil companies, and government agencies — markets long dominated by foreign cloud providers.

“Multinational companies such as Netflix, Facebook and Instagram can also host a lot of their data here. That improves the quality of service and reduces the cost of storage,” he added.

 


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