Telecom bills: Legislators must sit up

Chief Okechukwu Itanyi,
Exec. Comm. Stakeholder Mgt.

Written by Hisham Abdulkadir

Given the confused state of Nigeria’s economy where oil revenues have caused severe distortions to the nation’s economy, telecoms offer a ray of hope. In the recent rebasing of Nigeria’s economy, the sector was found to have contributed a massive 28 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product. Pound for pound, this is far more than the oil sector if one were to undertake a cost benefit analyses with all variables taken into consideration.

In less than fifteen years of existence, the telecoms sector has become a veritable provider of jobs for the skilled and unskilled, and income for individuals, corporate organisations and the government. Business, education, transportation, the media industry, entertainment, security, politics and all endeavours are migrating to the automated platform. The scope of possibilities for virtually all sectors has been expanded beyond imagination.

Infracos: Filling the infrastructure gap

Laying optic fiber cables
for improved service

By Nosa Osarhemein

Last year the Minister for Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson observed that the demand and pressure on the existing telecommunication infrastructure in Nigeria had reached breaking point. She made her observation during the maiden edition of the Telecoms Stakeholders Summit hosted by the Nigerian Communications Commission in Lagos.

According to her, though investment in the sector has improved, it was still not sufficient to enable supply meet up with the demand. In a similar vein but in a different context, when asked what the major challenge facing telecommunications in Nigeria is, the Director, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr. Tony Ojobo would say: “Infrastructure, infrastructure and infrastructure”.

From oil rigs to telecom masts

Written by Jonas Odeh

One would appear to be too futuristic here. But it is common knowledge that the science fictions of the 19th and 20th centuries have become the technological realities of the 21st century. Add to this the fact that the momentum and speed of change has aggravated many folds and you just might catch my drift.

Collaborating against ICT highway men

By Adegboyega Adesegun

The internet is increasingly becoming ubiquitous. No serious endeavour in the organised society of today is to be thought of without taking into consideration a major or subsidiary role for information and communications technology. The internet has therefore become necessity for all models of business, governance and administration.

Side by side with the foregoing, concerns over safety in the cyber space are growing across the globe. As in real life, there are true and real time criminals on the net looking for fortune and lucre in sophisticated modes

Cashlite and the ICT challenge

Written By Bamidele Bolarinwa

Effective from July 1, 2014, the Central Bank of Nigeria expanded the implementation of the Cashless Nigeria Project, otherwise known as ‘Caslite’, beyond Lagos. Lagos had served as a pilot scheme prior to a nationwide implementation. The policy is aimed at discouraging cash withdrawals above N500, 000 for individuals and N3, 000, 000 for corporate bodies per day. The essence is to reduce the amount of cash in circulation and to encourage electronic based transactions. Electronic based transactions will invariably reduce customer traffic in bank halls as more customers resort to the use of electronic cards and automated teller machines, point of sale payments and internet banking services.