Nigerians Speak on Internet Governance

The June 23rd meeting of the Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria on Internet Governance threw up the big picture of Nigeria’s position in the information society and the opportunity the country now have to correct some of her mistakes of the past by participating in the soon to be completed global discourse on Internet Governance.

Why discourse Internet Governance? This question revealed the porosity of our existing law in prosecuting cybercrime offenders who usually explore the loopholes to beat any penalty for such crime. The overall effect of this is that the country can not fully tap into the opportunities of eCommerce as investors must feel secured wherever they put their money. Let’s look at it this way, no country is 100% safe but at least you feel some level of security when you know that anyone that commits any offence against you will be prosecuted and you could eventually get justice. Now imagine a situation where an offence is committed against you but the culprit can not be prosecuted because the offence was not committed within the physical boundary recognized by the law but on the outer electronic space called the Internet. The good news is that steps are now at an advanced stage to correct the problem with the bills that speaks on the subject before the senate. However, the pros and cons of the bills are also a subject of a heated debate among Nigerian IT experts.

A strong concern expressed by the CSO present at the meeting was that of IT capacity building in Nigerians. They strongly believed that it is only an educated and informed society is that will appreciate the many issues, technical or legal, surrounding Internet Governance and the fact that those formulating our policies and laws and the judiciary also need this capacity building.

What should Nigeria say? Every country is speaking, so what should Nigeria say on Internet Governance? There are two key areas Nigeria’s input into the discourse should address. They are cybercrime and e-commerce. Nigeria is, in my opinion, unfairly assumed the leader in cybercrime. It is very common to see many websites dedicated to stories on cybercrimes purportedly committed by Nigerians. Nigeria thus needs to make a very strong statement to correct this. If not, we may see some countries making recommendations that internet traffic from Nigeria should be blocked or really scrutinized, just as Nigerians are treated at some foreign airports.

Nigeria should also take the lead in Africa to sound the continent’s readiness for the full potentials of e-commerce. The banking reform in the country is one example that will show our positive steps in this direction. The volume of financial transactions made by Africans is also another strong selling point. The report of the Western Union last year showed that the amount of money sent by Africans in diaspora to Africa exceeds the totals grants that came into Africa from donor agencies during the same period. This really something to cheer.

Now, what do you have to say? There is an opportunity for you to contribute to Nigeria’s position on this. The deadline to submit inputs to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA http://www.ntia.doc.gov/) is July 7. Thus, it is advisable that you have your input into the process ready latest by June 30.

If you are a member of the IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Section and you want to make an input into the process, you could send such to gadyemo@theiet.org while other groups and individuals should send theirs to me@gbengasesan.com. Sending inputs as groups will greatly reduce the workload of compiling the final draft for those that will do so.

Who should administer the Internet? – Nigeria takes a stand on Internet Governance

The issue of who should administer the internet has remained a thorny one globally. The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) concluded last year in Tunis was not able to take a definitive stand on this issue as expected. Thus, the many consultations and meetings on Internet Governance have continued.

Presently, much of the control of the Internet is in the hands ICANN, a U. S. based non-profit organization. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address1. ICANN has not been doing a bad job but the fear expressed by some countries is that the U. S. could gain the control of ICANN and block traffic to any of her unfriendly nations or, in her estimation, any nation that harbors terrorists.

There is also the general sentiment that a single country should not control a mechanism used by almost every countries of the world. Various models have been suggested that no one country should host the entire DNS database but everybody should be in charge while no one will be in control.

Let’s now bring the matter to Nigeria. A lot of controversy surrounded the issue of who should administer the .ng, Nigeria’s top level domain. So many organizations, establishments and Institutions in Nigeria battled for the right to administer the domain. It took the intervention of the President to resolve the matter by setting up a neutral body with representatives from the different groups that were involved in the struggle for its control. If all that transpired locally then is of any interest to you, then you will understand why the same controversy exists on who should direct traffic on the Internet.

However, the process of resolving the issue is already in place. One of such is getting the views of the different countries and stakeholders on who should control the traffic on the Internet. And, every country that uses the internet, even if it is just to send emails, is a stakeholder.

It is against this backdrop that civil societies, interest groups and individuals in Nigeria will hold a meeting to discuss Nigeria’s stand on the issue. The meeting will hold as follows:

Date: Friday, June 23, 2006
Time: 09:00am prompt
Venue: Development Information Network (DevNet) Secretariat, 7 Adesoye Street, Mende, Maryland, Lagos [01 793 83 27]

The outcome of the meeting will be fed into the ongoing global discourse on the reform of Internet Governance. It is expected that a lot of things will take place on the subject of Internet Governance in the next few months and Nigeria should actively be involved in the process.


¹http://www.icann.org/faq/#WhatisICANN

The IET Nigeria Branch holds General Meeting

The IET Nigeria Branch, which formerly operated as The IEE Nigeria branch, will hold her General Meeting on Saturday 24 June 2006 at the National Engineering Center, 1, Engineering Close, Victoria Island, Lagos from 10 a.m.

The IET Nigeria Branch comprises both the senior and younger members of The IET in Nigeria. Thus, all categories of members are expected.

The meeting will be the first in Nigeria since the creation of the new Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on March 31, 2006. The IET (www.theiet.org) was formed with the merger of the former Institution of Electrical Engineers, The IEE, and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers, The IIE. Thus, the meeting is an expanded meeting where the members of former Institutions are expected to be in attendance. Membership of The IET is open to everyone working or interested in the fields of science, engineering and technology. Intending members could also attend the meeting.

The Younger Members will also meet after the main branch meeting on the day. The IET Younger Members comprises student, recent graduates and young professional under the age of 30 studying or working in the fields relevant to The IET. The Younger Members’ meeting will consider universities and polytechnics that want to hold an IET event and those that want to establish a Student Section of The IET.

Enquiries or more information could be sourced from gbenga2k@yahoo.com or 234 805 747 0562.

Back to Blogging

Yeah! Im back to blogging. I was off for a long time to really concentrate on my final exams and rounding off my degree. Both went well. Now, I am back to continue to give expression to the passion I have.