Friday, August 30, 2013

Cybercriminals increase sophistication, targets French companies


Symantec, reputed for providing analytics on cyber security, storage and systems management solutions has raised an alarm that cyber criminals operations are becoming increasingly sophisticated, just as they target French companies.

The latest alert made available to DigitalSENSE Business News by the Group Public Relations Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Mid-Size & Growth Countries, Ms Katie Beck made this revelation, saying that Symantec had reported additional information about the highly unusual, very aggressive social engineering tricks being employed by attackers targeting multiple French-based companies.

Beck said that the goal of the latest scheme is to wire funds to an offshore account.
Many organizations and their banks employ defenses to prevent unauthorized money transfers, however, but leveraging a convincing array of email, phone, fax and other communications targeting the victims, Symantec said, the attackers have been able to defeat each of the defensive practices.

“In most cases, the first victim was an administrative assistant or accountant within the organization,” part of the release read.

In cases where the initial victim did not have rights to wire funds, the report added, the attacker used the victim’s credentials to identify an employee within the accounting department that had this authority.

Notably, Symantec says attacks were indeed originating from a mobile network and that the attacker is uses MiFi cards (GSM cellular radios that can provide Internet access to a computer system through the mobile phone network) and was on the move when conducting the attacks.


“… Making the attacker extremely difficult to trace, since finding a moving MiFi card requires active on-the-ground on-call personnel with special equipment and the telecom provider’s assistance to triangulate the location,” Symantec report revealed.

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Zinox group names Iyanya brand ambassador


Acclaimed most integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) firm, Zinox Group, has named Nigerian artist, Iyanya of the Kukere fame as her Brand Ambassador.

According to Zinox, this move promises to define the mutually beneficial relationship between technology and culture.

Zinox and Iyanya put pen on paper in a ceremony held at the Zinox corporate headquarters in Gbagada, Lagos.

The Group Secretary and Legal Adviser, Mr. Chris Ozims told DigitalSENSE Business News that as brand Ambassador, Iyanya would feature prominently in the advertising and public relations materials of all the companies of the Zinox Group, namely Task Systems Limited, Technology Distributions Limited, Zinox Technologies, Buyright Africa Dotcom and TD Plus. 

He elucidated that all Zinox PCs and laptops, including the new ones to be launched would all come standard with Iyanya video and audio embedded. Stressing that Zinox, an indigenous world-class digital group is living her talk by creating hope for modern Nigerians and sustaining her commitment to digital democracy.

Ozims also said that the Zinox Group would soon release the roadmap with Iyanya for the next 12 months, the duration of the contract.

For the Corporate Affairs Consultant Mr. Echika Ezuka the choice of Iyanya was because of his appeal to youths across Africa, a target that Zinox intend to reach more forcefully with its ICT penetration messages.

He said that the youth have always been the centerpiece of the Zinox corporate social responsibility leading to the donation of digital centers and computer laboratories to some tertiary and secondary across the country.

As said by him, Zinox Group had before now reached the youth through sports with the sponsorship of the 8th All African Games in Abuja in 2003 and the African Universities Games of 2005.

Iyanya as Zinox Brand Ambassador represents faith in the growing capacity of the Nigerian Artist, Zinox and the Nation. The underlying philosophy, he said, is that we must learn to accept what is ours, allow it to grow and bloom gradually to perfection. The Zinox Group is aware that Nigeria would be better off if companies like Zinox sponsored promising Nigerians like Iyanya in preference to sponsoring some foreign artist.


Zinox launched in 2001 by world-class Nigerian Digital Entrepreneur, Leo Stan Ekeh, is Africa’s Integrated ICT Solutions Company and has been the nation’s Digital backbone on certified PC Assembling, Advanced Biometric Solutions, E-Library and Digital Power Solutions, and rated as class “A++” Systems Integrators with local and International capacity to handle sensitive ICT projects. Zinox successfully intervened for INEC in 2006 and 2011 Voters’ Registration amongst other national and multinational sensitive projects.  

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LG brands of Optimus mobile phones not approved says NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has classified eight brands of mobile phones manufactured by LG as illegal due to there inability to obtain tap approval for those phones.

DigitalSENSE Business News learnt that the affected LG branded phones include LG. Optimus 3D – P920, LG. Optimus Black – P970,

LG. Optimus Net Dual SIM – P698, LG. Optimus pro – c660, LG. Optimus One – P500, LG. Optimus ME – P350, LG. Optimus L3 - E400 and LG. Optimus L7 - P700.

According to NCC a total of 8 (Eight) non type approved mobile handsets belonging to LG were identified to be on sell in the Nigerian market.

NCC also disclosed that neccessary enforcement process has commenced and a notice of Non-Compliance has been sent in line with Section 133 of the Nigerian Communication Act (NCA 2003) and Section 9 (a) of the Commission’s Type Approval Regulation 2008.

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Edinho wins Guinness overall best distributor 2013

An Abuja distributor of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Edinho Nigeria Limited has once again emerged the national best overall distributor for the manufacturing conglomerate for the 2013 financial year.

The company was presented with the Guinness Nigeria Distributors Award, at Darlington Hall, Ilupeju, Lagos centred at a ceremony tagged ‘Celebrating Great Partnerships’ in honour of outstanding distribution performance for contributing to the growth and business success of Guinness in the country within the year under review.

The Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Seni Adetu, expressed thanks to the distribution partners for their commitment and contributions to the company over the period, saying “This event is our way of saying a big thank you to all our distributors’ partners. I can say with pride that you have shown yourselves to be real partners, and I salute you for coming on this journey with us.”

He also said that as a company Guinness is committed to supporting partners because that’s the right distributors – those who are dedicated and focused.

“We have a partnership that is strong, productive, and innovative and I believe that together we can achieve even greater things this year!” he said.

DigitalSENSE Business News gathered that during the award ceremony, outstanding dealer partners from each sub-region were rewarded in different categories ranging from distribution partner with the Highest Sales per region to the distribution partner with the Highest Sales Volume, National Growth Champion and the distribution partner with the Best Overall Performance.

Like in previous editions, the winning partners were presented with glittering plaques, certificates and prizes ranging from ½ Ton Trucks, four ton trucks and six Ton Trucks to brand new pickups. Other prizes include big screen LED 3D Smart TVs, laptops, among others.

The award for the Best Overall Distributor (National) went to Edinho Nigeria Limited (Abuja) represented at the event by the Managing Director, Dr. Chief Edmond Nnamdi Okafor who was awarded a 6-ton Canter Truck. First runner in the category, Mr. Banjo Onanubi of Cryslad Nigeria Limited went home with a 4-ton Canter Truck, while the second runner up, Dame Joy Igwe of Ifeoma Chukwuka Nigeria Limited won a pick-up van.

Speaking on behalf of the distribution partners, Dr. Chief Edmond Okafor, appreciated Guinness Nigeria for the honor and the prizes.  “One thing about Guinness Nigeria is that they treat us as a part of the organization and give us the benefits accrued to us which further helps us achieve our objectives and increase our sales,” he said.

Okafor commended the management and staff of Guinness Nigeria, as well as his fellow distribution partners for a job well done.


“We promise to continue to work harder to improve on our achievements year on year with Guinness Nigeria and never stop,” he pledged.

Correspondent/DigitalSENSE Business News
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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Swinehart rejoins ICANN, leads team on Global Strategy


Former Vice President for Global and Strategic Partnerships at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Ms Theresa Swinehart, has rejoined the organization to lead team on global strategy, says the Director of Global Media Affairs, Mr. Brad White.

He also confirmed to DigitalSENSE Business News that Swinehart, a leading expert on international Internet governance and policy and a major force in ICANN’s historical evolution, was named Senior Advisor to the President on Global Strategy and would assume her new position on September 16.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that most recently, Swinehart served as the Executive Director of Global Internet Policy for Verizon Communications, where she specialized in emerging issues and stakeholder and policy leader engagement.

Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO, was quoted as saying that as ICANN expands its global presence, it is critical that the organisation brings on board people who are capable of uniting the international community in pursuit of strategic matters.

“Theresa played an important role in ICANN's history and her institutional knowledge of the past will serve us well as we look to the future,” Chehade said.

Swinehart previously served as ICANN’s Vice President of Global and Strategic Partnerships, leading an international team dedicated to expanding the organization’s outreach around the world.  She was instrumental in the development of ICANN, and represented the organization’s global presence in front of a wide and ranging audience, from technical organizations to the business community and beyond.

In her new role Swinehart will oversee a strategy team that has overarching responsibility for a range of strategic initiatives including ICANN’s recently announced Strategy Panels, and the organization’s five-year strategic plan.

“As global Internet usage grows, all the issues surrounding ICANN’s strategy and role become all the more important,” said Swinehart. “I'm excited about helping ICANN form a future vision consistent with its mission and the needs of the global community.”

She obtained her law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law and also holds a postgraduate degree in International Studies from the University of Vienna and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of California, Davis.



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*Pix: Theresa Swinehart

MasterCard names Ofili new VP sub-Saharan Africa


Nigerian Ezediashi Ofili has been appointed to lead the sub-Saharan Africa operations for MasterCard as its Vice President and Business Leader.
DigitalSENSE Business News learnt that Ofili joins MasterCard from Access Bank Plc where he was the Head of Business Engagement for Northern Nigeria with over 20 years’ experience in the banking, energy, Information Technology and credit rating sectors in both Africa and Europe.
 Also, Mr. Ofili has played a key role in several major projects most recently the launch of the Nigeria National Identity Card project.
MasterCard is seeking to expand its prepaid product offering in the region and has partnered with several financial institutions to drive this strategy.
Commenting on the appointment Daniel Monehin, MasterCard’s Division President sub-Saharan Africa, said growing the prepaid business in Africa would bring more people into the formal financial system thereby increasing levels of financial inclusion in the continent.
“We are happy to welcome Mr. Ofili to the MasterCard team. As we work towards realising our vision of a world beyond cash we acknowledge that Africa’s position as an emerging market provides increasing opportunities for the growth of prepaid card payments, especially as the market begins to witness a shift from cash to cashless transactions,” said Monehin. “We believe that investing in the kind of talent that will make our vision a reality is central to our success, and we are glad to bring on board someone with the experience and passion required to drive our growth in this region.”
Mr. Ofili is a qualified Petroleum Engineer from the University of Ibadan, and is also a Microsoft Certified Engineer and Project Management Professional with PRINCE2 certification. In addition to that he holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration – Strategic Management of Technology – from Cass Business School in London.
“The potential for Africa to become as technologically advanced as its counterparts in the developed world in the area of payments is enormous, and I look forward to contributing to this growth,” said Ofili following his appointment. “With the African market poised to grow significantly in the coming years as the middle class expands and use of electronic payments gains traction, now is the time to ingrain prepaid card usage in our consumers’ daily transactions.”

With 85 per cent of the world’s transactions still being carried out in cash and cheques, the opportunities to grow card usage abound, and as a technology company in the global payments industry MasterCard has been instrumental in driving cashless transactions.

To realize its vision, MasterCard said its focusing on thought leadership, innovation, and working with key partners to increase card usage and make provision for more people to enjoy the benefits of electronic commerce which is safer, more secure and transparent. 
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*Pix: Ezediashi Ofili

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

CWG Sales Academy passes out a set of students

Leading pan-African Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Company, the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) has graduated another set of students from its Sales Academy located in Lagos.

According to the Head Marketing Communications and Corporate Affairs, Ms Success Nmerife, the graduating students are of the 2013 first session made of those who have successfully completed a six-week of intensive classroom work, practical training and live project attachments.

She also said that CWG Sales academy formerly called DCC Sales Academy emanated from DCC Networks, the Communication division of Computer Warehouse Group in 2012 with the mission to provide experiential knowledge on selling of IT products and services for freshand experienced graduates who wish to hone their selling skills.

She explained that it became CWG Sales Academy this year in order to provide a holistic sales training in the three disciplines of IT; Hardware, Software and Communication for the students.

The ceremony chaired by the Chief Technology Officer, CWG, Mr. James Agada, who highlighted the importance of sales in business growth, stressing that the world could only be ruled by people who have the selling skill, because, everyone has something to offer but your ability to convince others to buy is what makes the difference.

Thus, he said, the Sales academy creates the avenue to impact its students with the required selling skill that will enable them excel in their career.

“Considering the role of ICT in the economy and its growth rate, raising human capital that can sell the value appropriately to the users becomes imperative. Contrarily, so many fresh graduates lack the required skill for immediate employment especially in the IT field. It was on this heel that CWG has established the Sales Academy to bridge the gap,” he said.

Agada went on to congratulate the graduands and charged them to give attention to the knowledge they have acquired from the academy as they are not common.

Both the alumni from DCC Sales Academy and the graduating students from CWG Sales Academy were glad to give testimonials of the impact of the academy on their career.

Sogbamu Segun and Excel Chukwuewube both alumni of DCC Sales Academy shared testimonials of the transformation they have experienced in their careersand life as a result of their participation in the academy while three graduating students; Oluwatobi Ojomo, Olayisade Adekunle and Damilola Oluwatunmise on behalf of their colleagues shared testimonials on experiences at the academy respectively.

Other speakers at the event included Mrs Olapeju Ayo-Fisher, Head Human Resources, CWG, Oladipo Raji, General Manager, DCC Networks and Stephen Albert, Business Development Manager, DCC Networks/ Coordinator, CWG Sales Academy.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that the academy facilitators include world-class tutors like Austin Okere, Group Managing Director, CWG/Entrepreneur in Residence, Columbia Business School, Dayo Abegunde, Associate Vice President, CWG, Femi Ibine, AGM, ExpertEdge, Olatayo Ladipo-Ajai, AGM, CWL Systems, Stephen Albert, BDM, DCC Networks andMrs Olapeju Ayo-Fisher, Head Human Resources/Admin, CWG amongst others

Next session of the CWG Sales Academy, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered would commence in October 2013.

DigitalSENSE Business News

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Pix: James Agada, Chief Technology Officer, CWG (Middle), flanked by Mrs Olapeju Ayo-Fisher, Head, Human Resources/Admin, CWG (Left) and Stephen Albert, Business Development Manager/Sales Academy Coordinator, CWG (Right) with group of students during the graduation ceremony in Lagos recently.

Monday, August 26, 2013

NIMC seeks ALGON collaboration, plans enrolment centres in 774 LGAs


Director General, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Barrister Chris Onyemenam has called on the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) to support, partner and cooperate with NIMC to enable the Commission establish enrolment centres in the 774 local governments in the country for effective grassroots National Identification Number (NIN) registration exercise.

Barr. Onyemenam, who was speaking at the Pre-Summit meeting of first Local Government Areas (LGAs) Summit on the National Identity Management System (NIMS) held with ALGON members in Abuja, told DigitalSENSE Business News that NIMC was in a hurry to set-up enrolment centres and commence local government NIN registration quickly, hence the need for this collaboration.

He noted that NIMC was established by Act No. 23 of 2007 to foster on orderly development of an identity sector and build a modern identity management system for Nigeria.

“We do four important things, the first has to do with the creation of National Identity Management Database, Manage Identity Authentication and Verification Service Infrastructure, Establish Registration Centres in every state capital and with your cooperation and support in every local government area, and then we can begin to talk of issuing National Identity Card” he said.

As said by him, if Nigeria is unable to build a database founded on a system that could enable any point in time to update records, we would not have a national identity management system. If we have no way of telling the identity of an individual and affirming that identity, we will not be able to collect government revenues properly both at Federal, State and local government levels and we be unable to fight crime and criminal activities especially those that are related with identity of an individual”.

While welcoming and appreciating the ALGON members, mostly Chairmen of Local Government Councils and other executives for honouring the commission’s invitation the DG noted that the essence of the meeting was to introduce them to the journey of carrying out massive local government NIN enrolment that NIMC believes its success lie on the effective and efficient collaboration and cooperation between ALGON and NIMC in order to deliver on the mandate.

In his remark, National Chairman of ALGON, Chief Nwabueze Okafor called on members to recall the long journey of Nigeria in implementing the National Identity Project and see it as the project that must be completed, stressing that NIMC under the new management has demonstrated good handling competencies by deploying modern technology systems in line with international standard that have enough capacity to meet the yeaning and aspiration of the Federal Government and people of Nigeria.

Chief Nwabueze, who spoke through the Local Government Area Summit Consultant and ALGON executive, Mr. Felix Imoisili, said that the summit has been grouped into three zones with locations in Abuja to cover North-East, North-Central and North-West; Lagos location to cover south-West and the last will hold in Asaba to cover South-South and South-East. 

The arrangement will cover all zones and eliminate challenges that will come up if 774 local government chairmen should gather in one hall for such a meeting.  He said that NIMC was wise in taking this step, knowing fully-well the great success that will be recorded in using ALGON to reach grassroots for the NIN registration.

In the same vein all ALGON members present promised to support and assist NIMC in the implementation of the NIMS Projects in their various states and Local Government Areas.

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Pix: Barrister Chris Onyemenam, DG, NIMC

Swift Networks test-drives on LTE network

SWIFT Networks at the weekend concluded test-driving of its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in preparation for formal launch in Lagos.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that Swift Networks prides itself as provider of high speed broadband internet and data services to enterprise and consumer customers.

The testing of LTE network, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered involved some 500 volunteers, even as

Swift says it has built the LTE network on the spectrum resources of the Direct-On-PC, acquired recently for an undisclosed sum.

The Chief Operating Officer, Swift Networks, Mr. Chukwuma Okoye, says that this platform would enable the company to overlay the ultra-fast LTE network over its current 4G WIMAX network to offer higher access speed to its current and future customers.

He pointed out that wireless spectrum is a finite resource and LTE uses it more efficiently than other technologies, by creating more space to carry data traffic and services and to deliver a better network experience.

This, he said, delivers, at least, 10 times faster download speed than 3G and 4 times that of WIMAX 4G networks.

“This will be Nigeria’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network; we will not rush this launch and will take every care to ensure that we get it right the first time. Getting the most aggressive users from our current customer base to test-drive it will enable us to debug and fine-tune it to meet the exerting demands of our target customer base,” he said.

According to Okoye, these volunteers who have been on our network for at least three years will give us feedback on the several performance metrics of tracking, including download and upload speeds, network latency and uptime.

“They will also ghost call the Call Centre as part of the predetermined performance indicators that are important to our market segment. These customers have been with us through our pre-WiMAX and current 4G networks and bring along their treasured comparative memory of our services,” he said.


Philip Sonibare, Assistant General Manager, Consumer Sales and Marketing at SWIFT Networks emphasised that they have continued to see the demand for true broadband internet skyrocket in Nigeria and Swift’s 4G LTE network rollout starting from Lagos, responds to what customers want from their broadband internet experience, namely faster and more reliable services backed by 24x7 customer care.

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Pix L- R: Vice Chairman, Direct on PC Mr. Mahesh Sadhwani, Managing Director SWIFT Networks Limited, Mr. Charles Anudu and the Chief Operating Officer, SWIFT Networks Limited, Mr. Chuma Okoye.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

N5,000: NATCOMS gives mobile operators 21 days ultimatum



Barely three weeks of inactions following its appeal to the telecom operators in the country and petitioning the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Ministry of Communication Technology, the National Association of Telecom Subscribers (NATCOMS) has given the operators 21 days ultimatum to respond to its N5000 compensation appeal or face stiffer actions.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that on August 3, NATCOMS has petitioned ALTON and copied NCC and CommTech Ministry, requesting the payment of N5000 for all the ‘sins of the mobile operators in the last 12 years.”
Some of these sins include poor quality of service, drop calls, billing errors to name a few. This is coming as NATCOMS commended MTN Ghana for being consumer-centric operator.

The National President, NATCOMS, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, decried that the petition of his group through the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) may have been relegated as there was no reply from the concerned mobile network operators or ALTON which serves as the umbrella organization for them.

In addition, NATCOMS lamented the non-commencement of action by NCC or even by the Ministry of Communication Technology.

According to NATCOMS is not relenting, but still expecting reply on its request from all the concerned organizations and agencies of government.

Meanwhile MTN Ghana, the country’s largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers, has announced that it will offer a percentage of its service charge to compensate subscribers affected by recent network disruptions, Modern Ghana reports.

An estimated 15 per cent of MTN Ghana’s subscribers in the capital of Accra have been experiencing signal interruptions for the last couple of weeks, and the company attributed the outage to ‘an extensive ongoing modernisation and transformation.

DigitalSENSE Business News gathered that MTN Ghana went ahead to state that during the process, the network interface link connection on the switch experienced intermittent errors resulting in the links failing.

“As a result, voice and data service delivery were affected, which made it difficult for subscribers to make and receive calls, as well as data and SMS,” MTN Ghana said.

Further, DigitalSENSE Business News investigations showed that MTN Ghana faces a fine by industry regulator, the National Communication Authority (NCA), if it failed to submit a compensation plan in the coming week.


DigitalSENSE Business News

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Ondo is most progressive state leveraging ICT - Johnson

The Federal Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson has commended the Ondo State government for what she described as the most progressive state leveraging Information Communication Technology (ICT) to deliver socio-economic benefits to citizenry.

Johnson in her address to the second National Council on Communication Technology (NCCT) in Akure, made available to DigitalSENSE Business News at the weekend recognised Ondo State as being one of the most progressive states in the field of leveraging ICTs for socio-economic benefit of its citizens and indigenes.

She noted that the Abiye programme is a world recognised initiative to significantly reduce maternal and child mortality with the simple technology of a mobile phone in Ondo State.

Also, she said that the Kaadi Igbe Ayo, a bio-metric card that aids the targetted delivery of social and other services to citizens, stands out to be counted as a progressive project.

Equally, she applauded the attendance at the meeting made up of Directors of ICT and Commissioners of Communication Technology and Science and Technology.

“The attendance at this meeting is highly impressive reflective of the importance that states attach to ICT,” she said, adding of course the efforts of the Department of Planning team at her ministry that personally visited all states to create awareness for this first substantive meeting.

Mrs. Johnson further said that ICT sector has made tremendous progress in the last 10 to 12 years.


Today, the sector is the fastest growing sector of the Nigerian economy and has been for the last five years or so, contributing 8.53 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at first quarter (Q1) of 2013, and teledensity was at Q4, 2012 at 80.85 per cent, the percentage of population with internet access was 22.7 per cent (subscriptions only) and there are over 4,644 public access points to the internet allover the country,” she said.
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Photo: CommTech Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson in a handshake with Gov. Mimiko while the perm sec, Dr. Henry Akpan watches.

Five states achieve IT policy in Nigeria


At least not more than five States in Nigeria now boost of Information Technology (IT) policies at the states level, DigitalSENSE Business News can authoritatively report.

The acting Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Ashiru Sani Daura, disclosed this to DigitalSENSE Business News in an exclusive interview at the just concluded second meeting of the National Council on Communication Technology (NCCT) in Akure.

According to him, Niger, Enugu and State of Osun as well as Akwa-Ibom and Kano can now boast of their own IT policies at the States level.

NITDA, he said, is looking forward to collaborating with other states across the country to develop their respective IT policies, stressing that this year alone, more of such collaboration should be expected before the end of this fiscal year.

This expectation, he said, is positive that NITDA made effort to include the development of IT policies in the states in its current budget, even as he disclosed that Rivers State is gearing up for joining the league of States with IT policies  before the third NCCT.

For Dr. Daura, he expects that in the next two years or less, NITDA with the collaboration of the States government will complete the development of IT policies across the nation.

We are collaborating with them to develop the IT policies. Now, we have put in our budget to have more states to collaborate with. And even if you can recall, Rivers announced at the Council section, they will like to be among the next set. They requested that and if we can,

“We will like to have more states and this will be over, may be in the next two years or few years, so that this will be over,” he declared.

Adding that already, Akwa-Ibom and Kano have their policies in place and there are others like that in some parts of the country.

“So, what we have to do is to work on the remaining ones that do not have,” he told DigitalSENSE Business News.

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MasterCard oils machines for NIMC’s ID scheme


MasterCard is oiling its machines in readiness for the National Identity Number (NIN) pilot scheme for the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that MasterCard is the technology provider to the project, which entails a pilot phase anticipated to provide an initial 13 million MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards.

Confirming this to DigitalSENSE Business News, the MasterCard’s Vice President and Area Business Head for West Africa, Ms Omokehinde Ojomuyide said their involvement would ensure the cards are well secured and globally acceptable.

“MasterCard is also saddled with the responsibility of deepening financial inclusion and promoting the cash-less initiatives,” she declared, adding that the all allegation of MasterCard cornering the affiliate contracts on this scheme was untrue.

MasterCard, she insisted, has identified with the country’s financial inclusion and cash-less initiative, which seek to reduce the number of the unbanked and reduce the costs associated with cash transactions, with over 40 years experience.

She pointed out that the cash-less initiative was a forward-looking scheme, maintaining that the cost managing cash-based economy is between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product of most countries.

Ojomuyide explained that these costs comprise printing and distribution, security and handling, lost time associated with queuing to withdraw cash, to name a few, even as she said that the current scheme with the Federal Government, will be issued before the end of the year.

She described corruption as bane of most economies that deal on cash-based regime, stressing that robbery, terrorism financing, kidnapping are all products of huge cash transactions, as complicates every efforts to trace the sources.


She emphasised the readiness of MasterCard to deliver on this project, even as Ojomuyide called for understanding and support of Nigerians on this scheme.

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