innosreport

(Nigeria) Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, has called on the Federal Government to “tread carefully on its clandestine effort gag the social media voices in Nigeria.” The CNPP in a statement by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu blamed the National Assembly for “allowing the President and members of the federal executive to continue to take actions that are detrimental to the wellbeing of the ordinary citizens and the young people in the country.” He said: “The National Assembly has not only continued to be a rubber-stamp legislative chambers but also an arm of the executive, and has willing surrendered its oversight functions. Unfortunately, they have slept on its constitutional powers to check the excesses of the executive. “Today, rather than help the intermittently recessing economy and reduce unemployment in the country, which is the root cause of youth restiveness in the Nigeria, the federal government claims that national interest supersedes economic i

(Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has condemned “the patently unlawful and unconstitutional directive by the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to all broadcast stations in the country to suspend the patronage of Twitter with immediate effect.” The NBC had reportedly stated that the decision followed the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria by the Federal Government over purported use of the platform for “activities that are capable of undermining the corporate existence of Nigeria.” But SERAP in a statement today by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare stated: “This directive by the NBC is itself unlawful because it is based on another unlawful decision by the Federal Government to suspend Twitter in Nigeria. The NBC’s directive has political interference written all over it. It is a blow to Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression, media freedom, media independence and diversity. The directive must be immediately withdrawn.” The s

(Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has sent an Urgent Appeal to Patricia Scotland QC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, urging her to “apply the Commonwealth Charter to hold the Nigerian government to account over the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, and the resulting repression of human rights particularly the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom, as well as flagrant disregard for the rule of law.” The organisation asked Ms Scotland to “urgently consider recommending the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth to the Heads of Government, the Commonwealth Chair-in-office, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of the Commonwealth to push the government to take concrete measures to respect and promote the Commonwealth’s values of human rights, transparency, accountability and the rule of law.” In the urgent appeal dated June 5, 2021,   by SERAP deputy director,   Kolawole Oluwadare, the organ

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (Nigeria) Leveraging Microsoft’s experience in the utilization of technology as an enabler for the delivery of public and social good, the Buhari administration is partnering with the tech giant to accelerate Nigeria’s certain advance towards a more digital economy in line with the Economic Sustainability Plan. In a dual announcement on Monday by both the Federal Government and Microsoft Corporation, no less than five million Nigerians would benefit from a digital upskilling programme, and locations in each of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria will also enjoy active internet connection and cloud services courtesy of this digital transformation plan. The partnership with Microsoft Corporation anchored on connectivity, skilling and digital transformation followed discussions between both parties led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, and Microsoft President Brad Smith earlier in the year. For instance in January this year, the Vice President had

(Nigeria) The government  of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has raised the alarm over recent efforts by some persons to sabotage the ongoing construction of a Digital Industrial Park, DIP, by the Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, at the green triangle of the popular Murtala Mohammed Park, besides New Market, in Enugu North Local Government Area of the state. In a statement by the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Obi Kama, the state government stressed that the persons involved in the sabotage of the project are disrupting the ongoing construction works at the site under different guises. Kama disclosed that “Enugu State Government had allocated Plot OS/1, Old GRA Enugu (where the green triangle, Murtala Mohammed Park is located) to the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), via the Enugu State Ministry of Land’s letter reference No. LEN:38779/8, dated September 8, 2020, for the construction of Digital Industrial Park (DIP).” Emphasizing the importance of

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (Nigeria) Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday, at the Flag-Off of the Ogun State Digital Economy Empowerment Project, said Ogun State has positioned itself to become a major global site of the emergent innovation economy, adding “We must press on in our quest to democratize access to the internet.” He said, “Today is one of my proudest days as a citizen of Ogun State because today, Ogun State has taken the leadership in digital technology in Nigeria by this first-of-its-kind massive investment in the digital infrastructure in our great State. “We are not just talking about the future, its challenges, and opportunities, we are, by the launching of the Ogun State Digital Economy Empowerment Project, taking hold of the future and we are set to define it in our own terms. “Digital Technology is the future of all aspects of human existence. Business, education, healthcare, governance, security, and the practice of every profession, are either already

(Nigeria) The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has lamented that the unabating misrule of the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress, APC, pushed  Twitter to take its African Headquarters to Ghana instead of Nigeria, despite the fact that Nigeria has far more twitter traffic and more business prospects than Ghana. PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Wednesday, said, “Twitter’s preference for Ghana over Nigeria was occasioned by inconsistent economic policies, obnoxious suppression of free speech,   stifling of online freedom and open internet by the Buhari administration and the APC. This is in addition   to infrastructural decay, massive corruption and manifest failure of the Buhari Presidency and the APC to address the escalated insecurity brought upon our nation by their incompetent watch. “Indeed the decision by Twitter to by-pass Nigeria to locate its African operational base in Ghana is another sad commentary of how our na

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan (middle), cutting the tape to officially commission the Nigerian Television Authourity digital station, Gashua, Yobe State.   (Nigeria) President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has commissioned the Nigerian Television Authority NTA, in Gashua, Bade Local Government of Yobe State. This was just as the Senate President pledged to provide a bus, a Toyota salon car, an Outside Broadcasting (OB) van, and to undertake the furnishing of the NTA building to ensure efficient service delivery and facilitate smooth operations. The newly commissioned station is part of efforts by the Nigerian Television Authority to digitalize community television across states of the federation. Amongst those present at the commissioning was the Chief of Staff to the Yobe State government, Alhaji Abdullahi Yusuf Gashua, who represented the Governor, Mai Mala Buni; the Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, Alhaji Yakubu Mohammed; and Vice Chancellor of the

Enugu Technology Hub and Youth Innovation Center (Nigeria) Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, on Thursday, inaugurated the new Technology Hub and Youth Innovation Centers established by his administration to systematically prepare the youth of the state to become competitive in the national and global space, in line with the emerging digital economy. Inaugurating the Tech Hubs and Youth Innovation Centers located within the precincts of the Three-Arms-Zone, Independence Layout, Enugu North LGA, Enugu, and another in Obollo Afor, in Udenu Local Government Area of the State, Gov. Ugwuanyi disclosed that the centers will offer services such as ICT training in Software Development, Website design/Hosting, Linus/Unix systems, Graphic Designs, Internet of things (IoT), etc. The governor added that they will also offer services in craftsmanship and fabrication, entrepreneurship development, innovation programmes, career enhancement initiatives, electronics/robotics, facilitation of

Huawei has maintained its leadership in the global wireless infrastructure market, increasing its market share by three per cent to 31 per cent. Analysts at the Dell’Oro for telecommunications infrastructure disclosed this in a report cited by Financial Street on Sunday. According to the analysts, the global wireless infrastructure market grew seven per cent in 2020, its fastest annual growth for a decade. The group said Huawei grew despite the decisions by the United States, and governments of other countries, mostly in Europe, to force their local carriers to exclude the Chinese group. Areas monitored included mobile core and radio access networks, broadband access; microwave and optical transport; SP router and carrier Ethernet switching, the researchers further stated. Commenting on Huawei's achievement, the Vice President and Lead Analyst at Dell’Oro, Stefan Pongratz, was quoted as saying that the rankings remained stable between 2019 and 2020, with Huawei leading th

L-R: NITDA Director-General, represented by Dr Collins Agu and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State in Enugu on Monday. (Nigeria) Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has urged the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, to consider siting its South East Zonal Office in Enugu, in view of the state’s background as the historic capital of the zone and its inherent potentials as an educational and scientific centre. Speaking during the opening ceremony of a 5-day training programme for 50 Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWDs) in Information Technology (IT) and Entrepreneurship, Governor Ugwuanyi, who spoke through his Commissioner for Science and Technology,  Obi Kama, stressed that the request was also in line with the state government’s passion and commitment to IT, innovation and youth empowerment. The governor disclosed that it was in line with this vision that his administration recently established the Enugu Technology Hub and Youth Innovation Centr

(Nigeria) Nigerians, who are yet to integrate their National Identity Numbers, NIN, and Sim cards, maybe in for serious trouble as the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, has said that January 19, 2021, deadline remains sacrosanct until a counter-statement was issued by the authorities. It was gathered that the commission has no plan to change the deadline as necessary steps had been taken to ensure a seamless enrolment exercise across the country. Meanwhile, NIMC enrolment centres in the country, have continued to witness large crowd of applicants, with many of the applicants complaining about the crowd at the centres at a time the Nigerian government is trying to enforce the Covid-19 protocols of wearing of face masks and social distancing.

(Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “instruct the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, and Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Mr Aliyu Abubakar to stop the push for registration of Nigerians for National Identity Number, NIN, and withdraw the threat to block SIM cards, as the data being sought already exist in several platforms, including the Bank Verification Numbers, BVN, driver’s license, international passport, and voters’ card.” The organisation also urged him “to instruct Mr Pantami and Mr Abubakar to take concrete measures to promptly ensure that the NIMC is able to faithfully and effectively discharge its statutory functions to harmonize and integrate existing identification databases in government agencies into the National Identity Database, and to use the information to update SIM card registration.” The Federal Government had threatened t

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (second left); Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Deaconess Grace Isu-Gekpe (second right); Acting DG of the National Broadcasting Commission, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba (right) and the Chairman of DigiTeam Nigeria, Engr. Edward Amana at a meeting of DSO stakeholders in Abuja on Tuesday. (Nigeria) Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said with the planned settlement of outstanding debts, the Digital Switch Over (DSO) in broadcasting will transit to a private-sector-driven enterprise in order for it to be sustainable. The Minister stated this in Abuja on Tuesday, at a meeting with stakeholders in the DSO Project. “While looking for funds to pay outstanding debts and re-start the process, I want to put it on record here that we will be pursuing a full private-sector-driven DSO and there will be no more subsidies, either of Set Top Boxes or of Signal carriage. This process mu

(Nigeria)  Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PTECSSAN, an affiliate of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Tuesday,   issued a 14-day ultimatum to MTN Nigeria over alleged unfair -labour practices. At a briefing in Lagos,   PTECSSAN accused the communication giant of among others, discriminatory remuneration, lack of exit package structure, unethical employee relations practices, abuse of expatriate quota, disregard of the law governing maternity leave, apartheid condition of service and restrictive career path. Briefing on behalf the union, President and General Secretary of the union,   Opeyemi Tomori and Okonu Abdullahi,   claimed   that all attempt to address the concerns with the Chief Executive Officer of the Company had failed , stressing that such actions portended great danger to the industrial relations clime within MTN Nigeria. According to the union, that issues of remuneration of workers, exit packages for staff, employee r

(Nigeria) As the COVID-19 keeps spreading across Africa, governments and organisations are devising measures to help stay safe from the pandemic. As part of its social responsibility drive, Africa’s leading Pay-TV operator, StarTimes has released a series of anti-pandemic knowledge videos to help curb the spread of fake news and rumors about the virus and to further raise public awareness.

*Nigerian senate (Nigeria) The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of nominees to serve as Chairman and members of the National Assembly Service Commission, NASC.

*Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Nigeria) The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has directed the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to immediately implement measures aimed at re-positioning the broadcast industry with a view to sanitizing the industry, creating jobs, promoting local content, boosting the advert industry and bringing the broadcast industry up to par with the best practices from around the world.

*The suspects (Nigeria) The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Kaduna Zonal Office on Thursday, 2019 arraigned seven suspected SIM Swap criminals in Kaduna.

(Nigeria) The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, secured the conviction and sentencing of one Ayodeji Samuel Alaja to nine months imprisonment for possession of fraudulent documents before Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.