The African E-Gov Forum 2007 - Utilising ICT for more efficient, effective and inclusive governance

Below is the notice of a very important event holding in Ghana later this month.

http://www.events.cto.int/default.aspx?event=EGovAfrica07

Hosted by the Ministry of Communications, the Government of the Republic of Ghana
La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra, Ghana,
Tuesday 27th March 2007 – Thursday 29th March 2007

IF YOU ARE LEADING THE DEVELOPMENT OF E-GOV IN AFRICA, YOU NEED TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS CRUCIAL EVENT.PLEASE CONTACT MATTHEW DAWES ON 0044 20 8834 1575 OR m.dawes@cto.int

The African E-Gov Forum 2007 is the latest event to be organised by the International Events Department of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation. Following huge successes in 2006 and already in 2007, in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Great Britain, Jamaica, Mauritius and Nigeria, this crucial forum is drawing near and we would like you to participate.

Therefore, if you are involved in the development of ICT’s in Africa, and in particular your work is focused on the development of digitised government and the benefits that it will bring, please contact Matthew Dawes who is leading the development of this vital forum on 0044 20 8834 1575 or by email m.dawes@cto.int

With the lead and support of the Ghanaian Ministry of Communications, it is expected that this forward looking event will fit perfectly with Ghana’s 50th anniversary celebrations of independence. As you can see from the list below, the speaker line-up already boasts some of the continent’s leading ICT specialists.

The Speaker Faculty Includes:

· Hon. Prof. Mike Oquaye, Minister of Communications, Government of the Republic of Ghana

· Dr. Tomas Janowski, Head, UNU – IIST – EGOV, Research Fellow, Center for Electronic Governance, United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology

· Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation

· Dr. Cheick Bocoum, Director of ICT, Government of Mali

· Dr. Abubakr Hamad, Director E-Government Programme, National Information Centre, Council of Ministers, Republic of Sudan

· Engr Ernest Ndukwe, EVC and CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission

· Mrs. Joana Portia Antwi-Danso, Lecturer, University of Education Winneba

These speakers and their peers, more and more of whom are confirming their participation, will focus on the core topics that form the wide ranging E-Gov brief. By delivering papers that will concentrate on case studies, best practice and bench marking projects, the knowledge sharing at this conference will be of an extremely high standard. This will be augmented with a large amount of time set aside for scheduled and informal discussion.

The CTO is an ICT developmental organisation, and therefore if you are a local Ghanaian business, an international organisation, such as Nokia who have already agreed to be an event sponsor, or a individual who is committed to the public sector, please contact the CTO because we want you to be involved in this seminal African E-Gov Forum.

Report of The IET Nigeria Younger Members Networks’ Young Expert Forum 15 – 16 December, 2006

Theme: Youth and Technology Entrepreneurship: Catalysts for Africa’s Development

The Young Expert Forum of The IET Nigeria Younger Members Network is a quarterly program designed to improve on the quarterly General Meeting of the oragnisation. The objectives are to continue to build the capacities of members in all the fields relevant to the IET and also focus on a technical matter of national and/or international interest, discuss it and make recommendations generated from such discussions to the appropriate quarters.

While welcoming participants to the forum, ‘Gbenga Adeyemo, Chair of The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks, noted that recent attention being given to youths and issues about them by governments and other international organisations, especially that of The IET UK, have lent credence to the decision to focus on the vital issues of making youths entrepreneurs with the opportunities that new and emerging technologies provide. He lamented the poor state of African economy blaming this on a non-existent technology sector that can spin off profitable inventions. This, he hope a long term training and investment in African youths can redress noting that the YEF is a perfect pedestal to do that.

The first presentation titled Entrepreneurship in ICT/ The ICT Entrepreneur was made by Mr Jide Awe, the Managing Director of Jidaw Systems. Starting from the 'what' and 'why' of entrepreneurship, Mr Awe emphasised the need for African youths to take advantage of entrepreneurship opportunities that ICT provide. In his words, “ICT is an opportunity to enable Nigeria compete more effectively in an increasingly technology and knowledge driven world. A strong economy depends on educated, competent and creative users, business people, ICT professionals, ICT solution providers and ICT entrepreneurs.” Mr Awe’s presentation was followed by a moderated interactive discussion during which the participants asked Mr Awe to enlighten on practical steps to start making money on the internet. This Mr Awe responded to by enlightening the participants on how to make money online by using Google Adsense.

A major breakthrough during the session was Mr Awe’s decision to grant any IET Nigeria Younger Member a reduction in all the training courses offered by his company. Jidaw Systems is one of the leading IT training providers in Nigeria. This was well applauded by the participants.

In line with global trend and the need to have an input into the future of the Internet, the afternoon session featured a workshop on Internet Governance. The workshop coordinated by ‘Gbenga Adeyemo had Tope Soremi of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria and 'Gbenga Sesan, Vice-Chairman of UNECA’s Africa Technical Advisory Committee, as facilitators.

Tope Soremi kicked it off with his presentation titled "An Overview of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS)". This proved a useful session to precede 'Gbenga Sesan's presentation tiled "Internet Governance Demystified". It was interesting to note that many of the participants were completely unaware of the WSIS process which concluded just about a year ago. Tope's presentation outlining the beginning of the journey in Bamako, Mali to the Rural Youth Campaigns conducted throughout Nigeria really gave the participants the foundation needed to understand what Internet Governance is all about.

'Gbenga Sesan, in his presentation, made it clear that Internet Governance is not purely a technical subject but one that we all should be concerned about because of its significance and importance to our future. At the end of the two presentations, questions from the participants revealed that they now have some basic understanding of Internet Governance and demonstrated their enthusiasm to contribute to the process.

The second day of the forum had Dr Robinson I. Ehirobo, Managing Director, Havillah Trends, Lagos, as the main speaker. Dr Robinson’s presentation titled ‘Youths' Entrepreneurship: Advantages and Disadvantages” was a combination of lifeskills and details needed to be an entrepreneur in a technical field. Drawing from his own experience of transiting from the Vice-President of ABB Nigeria, a leading electrical company in Nigeria, to establishing his own flourishing company, Dr. Robinson advised the participants to build trust and goodwill in all the people and company they come across as this will prove very helpful when starting out as an entrepreneur. The discussion that followed Dr Robinson’s presentation turned out to be a mentorship session where participants shared their business ideas and were given guidance and relevant advice.

The afternoon session witnessed the general meeting of The IET Nigeria Younger Members Networks presided over by ‘Gbenga Adeyemo and other executives of the body present at the meeting. This meeting focused on membership recruitment and branch expansion across Nigeria.

The Young Expert Forum will be organised in other zones of Nigeria in 2007. Any enquiry on the Young Expert Forum should be sent to ‘Gbenga Adeyemo at gadeyemo@theiet.org or 234 805 747 0562.

Welcome address The Young Expert Forum held on December 15 & 16, 2006 at The Yaba College of Technology

As we are in the thick of planning our second Young Expert Forum in this present IET Year, whuch runs from October - September, I feel I should share my address and the report of the previous edition held on December 15 & 16, 2006 at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. The two documents are also available for download on our website, www.ietnymn.org.

Theme: Youth and Technology Entrepreneurship: Catalysts for Africa’s Development

Welcome address by ‘Gbenga Adeyemo, Chair of The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks

All truths, they say, are parallel. Recent attention being given to youths and issues about them by governments and other international organisations have lent credence to our decision to focus on the vital issue of making youths entrepreneurs with the opportunities that new and emerging technologies provide at this quarter’s Young Expert Forum.

Our country in particular and indeed Africa in general has, for long, been an ardent consumer, trading in technologies that were invented outside her shores. To me, this has largely been responsible for the poor state of our economy. A cursory look into the depth of some successful nation’s economy will clearly reveal a virile and strong technological sector that constantly spring off inventions.

As a group made up of students, recent graduates and young professionals under the age of 30, The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks is a perfect group to begin to redress this trend with long term training and investment in her members and the Young Expert Forum (YEF) is a perfect pedestal to do that.

The YEF is our quarterly program that has been repackaged by the present leadership of The IET Nigeria Younger Members to improve on our usual Quarterly General Meetings. The objectives are to continue to build the capacities of our members in all the fields relevant to The IET and also prove ourselves a serious and worthy member of the society we operate in by focusing on a technical matter of national and/or international interest, discussing it and making inputs generated from the YEF on the adopted matter of discussion to the appropriate quarter.

For the first YEF in 2006/2007 and the second of such, we have chosen the theme “Youth and Technology Entrepreneurship: Catalysts for African’s development” which aptly capture our mind as expressed above. We have also decided to focus on the global issue of Internet Governance as our subject of discussion. The Internet has revolutionised our lives and ‘has come to stay”. All effort that will ensure its continuous existence and ensure our continuous reaping of its benefits must be supported. Such effort definitely requires the inputs of youths and a group represented here today.

We have meticulously sourced for competent speakers to handle all what we seek to address at this forum and we are grateful to have all of them in our midst.

I am optimistic that the Young Expert Forum, as a process, has come to stay and out of it will spring up many ideas and positive effects. Other YEF are planned for other zones of the country in 2007. This will eventually culminate in our first, major, truly international event with speakers and participants from within and outside Nigeria. This, we believe, we can achieve. However, we solicit the support of everyone in every way in making this a reality. We are open to productive collaborations in this set objectives.

Ladies and gentlemen, with this picture painted in our hearts, I welcome you to the first quarter 2006/2007 IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks’ Young Expert Forum. Relax, enjoy yourself, learn all you can, task the speakers and, most especially, participate actively during the interactive discussions. I am very much optimistic you would have been imparted at the end of the day.

Let me use this medium to thank all my colleagues on my committee and that of the Yaba College of Technology Student Chapter, who have worked with me to make this forum a reality. Our labour will not go in vain. The task of developing ourselves, our nation and our world is what we have embarked upon and we will make a great success out of it.

Once again, I welcome you to The Young Expert Forum.

Thank you all.

IDC Small and Medium Business Roadshow in Lagos

The Small and Medium Business Roadshow, organised by IDC and which has been held in selected cities worldwide, was held on Tuesday 20 February 2007 in Lagos, the second African country to host the event.

Recognising the essential role SMBs play in establishing a business environment conducive to growth, the Roadshow was organised as a forum for SMBs to learn how IT solutions usually associated with large and very large enterprises can benefit smaller organizations, to demonstrate the effectiveness of solutions designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses and to establish lasting relationships that help ensure continuing business success.

The Lagos event was held at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island and started at 11:00 am.

Dr. Phillip van Heerden, Research Manager, IT Services, Verticals, Consulting, IDC MEA, welcomed all the participants and made the first presentation titled "Small and Medium Enterprises in an Integrated World." His speech and presentation gave a background of the event and the intervention the event was designed to make.

Thereafter, different manufacturers and vendors of IT products took turns to showcase their products specifically designed for small and medium businesses. An interesting aspect of this was that each of these manufacturers and vendors also came with one of their clients who have deployed the products they are showcasing. These clients shared their experiences of using the products.

Other presentations made include

• Building the Scalable Enterprise: From the Desktop to the Datacenter by Akin Banuso, Enterprise Business Manager, DELL
• Smart Office Solutions for SMBs by Chioma Nadia Iwuchukwu, SSP District Sales Manager- HP Africa, HP
• People Ready Business by Ejike Maduka - Ezeadiugwu, Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft Nigeria
• Keep It Real and Watch your Business Grow by John Okereke, Licence Compliance Manager, Microsoft Nigeria
• Working Smarter not Harder- Big Breakthroughs for Small Businesses by Edmund Sigmund McBaidene, CEO, Doxyware
• Re-engineering Business Process - Information Systems - Imperatives for SMBs by Chris Uwaje, Principal Consultant & Chief Executive Officer, Connect Technologies Ltd.

The presentation that interested me most, due to its style and content, was that of Ejike Maduka - Ezeadiugwu from Microsoft. However, I was curious when she mentioned that the client she will showcase to us came from Ghana. I was curious because I thought there should be a client in Nigeria worthy of this honor. I put this to her as a question and she responded that the client represent the best example in using the particular product, Windows Small Business Server 2003, she will like to talk about. She also said the company is small but operating like a big company due to the effective use of the product. She further explained that Microsoft Nigeria is responsible for Microsoft's operations in West Africa and thus the client was invited in the spirit of 'One West Africa'.

Dr. Chris Uwaje, in his usual self, dissected IT business during his presentation and highlighted some strategies that account for the success of Zinox Technologies, the company on whose behalf he made the presentation.

The event came to an end and we all had a nice time networking over the lunch in the restaurant of Eko Hotel.

IDC really did a good job in organising the event to the highest standard. Their invitation and follow-up was second to none and goes to show their mastery of organising events.

Personally, the roadshow imparted me and is one event that will aid my medium term plan. At the event, I also got an invitation to Microsoft's launch of Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 in Lagos on 22nd February 2007 at the Civic Center, Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Year 2007

Its been a quite a while since I blog and, as experience has shown, you just need to do something to break the jinx. Thus this short post.

I was reflecting again on 2006 and it dawned on me that I had to write about some of the things that happened in 2006. A friend of mine said he is passionate about blogging because they will be his archives in the future. I don't think its too late to blog about anything. Afterall, you can blog about your past, present and future as you perceive them, not only as they occur.

Youths commences e-Consultation on Internet Governance

A global youth eConsultation on Internet Governance started on 26^th November 2006. The eConsultation which has as its theme “What is Internet Governance? And why should Youth care?” is a process set to get youths’ view on the IGF process and to set the tone for their full participation in the process. The objectives of the eConsultation are:

1. To build on the past activities of the World Summit on the Information Society youth caucus while empowering a new generation of young leaders interested in follow-up activities around the Internet Governance Forum

2. To provide an opportunity to learn more about Internet governance in an informal, online environment.

3. To identify areas of interest and importance to young people within the context of Internet governance

4. To help plan for youth leadership at the Internet Governance Forum 2007

The eConsultation which will run through 16^th December, 2006 will have a special focus each week as below

Week 1: Demystifying Internet Governance

Week 2: Decoding the Internet Governance Forum

Week 3: Progressive Involvement: Youth @ Rio - IGF 2007

Young people passionate about the potential of Internet technologies who want to get involved in a global debate about its governance, Youth working in the area of the Information Society/ICT4D, Youth-oriented organizations, Networks/Community of Practice on IG, Youth issue supporters and interested individuals are encouraged to participate in the consultation.

To participate in the eConsultation, send a blank email to YouthandIG-subscribe@groups.takingitglobal.org. For enquiries, please email titi@mindset.co.za.

AfriHUB and Digital Bridge Institute delivers the Digital Awareness Programme

Digital Awareness Programme (DAP), a project of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Abuja in conjunction with Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) designed to introduce secondary school students (especially those in the rural areas) in Nigeria on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools kicked off last week in Anambra and Enugu States (Eastern part of Nigeria). The training is being delivered by AfriHUB, a leading ICT training and solution provider in Nigeria. Earlier, the Nigeria Communication Commission, major sponsor of the DAP Project, had kitted 53 secondary schools in Nigeria with 20 new computer systems and accessories complete with a KU-Band VSAT Internet link. This is a largesse that has been commended by many people across the country. However, the interesting thing about the largesse for me is the type of schools that got the equipments.

It is assumed, and many do lay claim to it for many reasons, that African children are disadvantaged. But, I have always argued that this is not totally true. As an African, living in Nigeria, I know so many of my mates whose living condition is better than some of those we hear about in other countries. It would not have interested me if the beneficiaries of the largesse from NCC had been those secondary schools attended by children of the rich in Nigeria. The NCC beneficiaries are schools with students whose eyes glowed when they had the opportunity of seeing, touching or working on a digital equipment. That, in itself for me, is the motivation and joy of being among the facilitators of the project.

It looked like any other day when two of my colleagues at work and myself were told to go on a site survey to see the state of the equipment supplied to the school and ensure that they are in good working condition for the project to commence. Getting to the two of the schools, Queens Comprehensive High School and Union Secondary School, both in Enugu, my first thought was how the schools got the attention of NCC. Now, I know anyway (J). The teachers and students of the school were all ready and have been informed of our coming. They gave us all the necessary cooperation we needed to make our work successful.

Then, last Monday, 20^th November 2006, the one week training kicked off for 70 students and 10 teachers of the school. The idea is that the selected students and teachers will be able to impact the training in other students and teachers of the school.

The training for the school, Queens Comprehensive High School, ended on Friday, 24 November 2006 with a short ceremony and distribution of certificate to the participants. This was performed by Dr Ochaa of Digital Bridge Institute and Mr. Vitalis Ndu, Head of Operations of AfriHUB Nigeria in the South East.

And so, yesterday, 27 November 2006, my team moved to the next school, Union Boys Secondary School, Enugu. The training has commenced and the reception by the student and teachers has been very encouraging.

It is worthy to note that another set of AfriHUB’s facilitators have been deployed to Anambra State and are executing the project in the selected schools in the state.

From what I gathered, the NCC has promised to extend the largesse to other schools in the country.

Looking at the faces of the children as they eagerly asked and answered questions during the interactive training, my mind ran back to my secondary school days and I just wondered how it would have been if I had seen or touched a computer in my first year in secondary school. I just hope the students in the school I attended are having a better experience now. Talking about a better experience, the present training is one the students that are selected by their schools to participate in the training will not forget in a lifetime and I’m happy to be part of the effort in shaping their future. It also goes to emphasise that any opportunity to impart something positive in the lives of the younger ones should be used properly. Do not think it’s a waste of time. You’ll discover a lot of potentials in them. Nurture them and spur them on to greatness. J

Kudos to NCC! Kudos to DBI! Kudos to AfriHUB!

Invitation to The IET Nigeria Younger Members 2006 Conference, Lagos Nigeria: November 9&10

The IET (formerly IEE) Nigeria Younger Members Networks hereby invites you to The IET Nigeria Younger Members 2006 Conference holding November 9th and 10th 2006 starting at 1:00pm and 8:30am respectively.

Venue is the Events Centre, Hakeem Balogun Street , Off Cadbury-Agidingbi Road, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos , Nigeria

The conference is aimed at creating avenues for students and young professionals to network and share ideas on best practices, provide information on potentials of the IET to the Nigerian students and young professionals and acquaint them with the Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry.

The event which is open to all, particularly welcomes friends, colleagues and allies in the field of engineering, information and communication technology, power, engineering management, science and physics.

Features of the conference include:

2006 IET YM Conference Live Webcast (with Online Q/A facility)
o Lifeskills Session : Conflict Management by Isobel Brown
o Present Around The World Final by Colin Foote
o The IET - An Overview - by John Loughhead and Dr Agnes Segal

Lecture and Technical Presentation
o "Telecommunication in Nigeria " by Mr. Olubola Sanu, MD/CEO, Broadband Technologies Limited, Ikoyi, Lagos , Nigeria
o "The role of software in developing economy and the road ahead for the African community" by Deji Eniojukan, Chief Solutions Architect, SiNet Technologies Inc. USA
§ Young Professional Network

Benefits of attending the conference are:

§ Broadband Live webcast of 2006 IET Younger Members Conference in UK
§ Certificate of Participation
§ Free Wireless Internet Access
§ Free IET branded promotional materials
§ Free IET Magazine
§ Membership/Subscription Counseling

Refreshments will be shared on both days.

For proper event planning, kindly confirm your participation to femibadejo@theiet.org on or before Monday, November 6th 2006. Enquiries could also be sent to the email address above or gadeyemo@theiet.org.

I look forward to seeing you at the event.

Youth Agenda 2006 - Nigerian Youths set to take ICT to their Rural Communities

During the time I was off blogging, I took part in many meetings and events that are worth blogging. I had been toying with the idea of blogging about some of them so I can have them in my archive. While thinking, two of such events came to my mind. ‘Why these ones,’ I asked myself. The answer I came up with is that the two events represent a move that will eventually require the participation of other youths to carry the initiative further. The participants at each of the meetings could be considered as privileged to be part of the process from the very beginning.

The two meetings were the Mentorship Roundtable organized by The Lagos Digital Village to mark the World Information Society Day on May 17 and the Youth Agenda 2006 held on May 27.

Here is my report of the Youth Agenda 2006. You can read about the event and get my report and that of other participants at http://www.lagosdigitalvillage.org.ng/youthagenda.php.


Youth Agenda 2006: Nigerian Youths Mapping Out Strategies to get ICT to Rural Communities

My thought since I got the invitation to the Youth Agenda 2006 had been intermittently punctured with my purpose and inputs at the event. I had schooled and stayed in every divisions of Ogun State – Abeokuta (Egba), Ilaro (Yewa), Ago-Iwoye (Ijebu), Sagamu (Remo), some of which by every standard can be defined as rural areas, and so my mental calculations were how ICT can be used to develop these areas. I had also in the course of my activities in The IET, visited some universities and polytechnics in some rural parts of the country where I easily identified with schooling in such areas. These experiences raised my expectation for the meeting.

On the day of the event, I had woken up very early in the city of Ijebu-Igbo after talking into the night with a good friend on a project we are both working on. It was really a short but fulfilling sleep because of the news I got the previous day.

I got to the park, board a Lagos bound car and sat at a very comfortable seat beside the driver. All these made the journey to be very smooth and short.

The program started late due to some reasons, which are quite understandable, and we kicked off with the video on Internet Governance. Being a lover of research, I would have been happy to win a copy of the DVD up for grabs at the end of the day. But, it went to one of the ladies from Fantsuam Foundation.

David Mutua, Project Manager of Fantsuam Foundation then came up to share the story of his work in using ICT in rural parts of the country. David is a Kenyan who came into Nigeria in 2002 through the VSO as a volunteer and was sent to the Oke-Ogun Community Development Center in Ago-Are area of Oyo State. David was there for two years till he joined Fantsuam Foundation in Kafanchan. These two places are very remote and rural. Not many Nigerian would desire working in those places but David left Kenya to work there. I salute his courage.

There was then the Speed Geek Session, which I was one of those called up impromptu to handle. We were five taken by surprise and the house was divided into five. The five of us called out were simply to tell OUR STORIES to each of the groups in four minutes succession. We were expected to share the experience of our work and organization and any new project we are on with the participants. Simply put, I delivered my shortest and purposeful speech. I got back home and wrote down what I presented during the session. This is very important to me as I used to do what I did during the session in a longer time. To do it in less than four minutes will aid my work.

Ayo Oladejo’s presentation was on how youths, NGOs and communities can take the advantage of new technologies and FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), to improve their works. Doing this, he noted, will greatly reduce the cost of operation by removing the cost of acquiring licenses for proprietary softwares. I know about FOSS and I know Microsoft softwares, the most common and frequently cited example of proprietary softwares. I know how to use both to a large extent. However, I have carefully avoided the debate on which one is better at every occasion. My position has been to acquire the necessary competence in both so that I can rise to any occasion. For the purpose of our strategy to take ICT to rural areas, I feel everyone involved must be trained on how to deploy and maintain their operations on any of the platforms they choose. A very good way of achieving this is using the technical committee set up during the event.

‘Gbenga Sesan handled two sessions during the event. One before the much needed break and the other after. His presentation centered on using the experience of India in establishing telecenters across the country. He noted in particular that India has made all the mistakes we should avoid in Nigeria. His report from a journey to India on the “MSSRF/GKP South-South Traveling Workshop” was also considered noting the specific examples to be copied and mistakes that could be avoided.

The house then broke into three groups according to the regions we came from. Basically, we were divided into the North, East and West on the basis of the proximity of the participants to each other. Each group was to map out the strategy of how to penetrate our regions with ICT in the next one year. My group tackled this by focusing on the work of each member of the group in this regard and how we can help to strengthen the works. Our decisions include

• Establishing a Digital Village in Ajegunle


• Strengthening the Nigerian Youth ICT for Development Network (NYIN) as a platform to seek sponsorship for our works


• Producing a Digital Village Guide to aid any organization that may want to start one


• Forming committees to produce the Guide, Implement the technical aspects of setting up the Digital Village as volunteers and map out Strategies for Sustainability


• Taking the enlightenment to secondary schools and market places


• Developing online training to build local capacities

Based on our advice, three committees were formed to handle each of the tasks during the general discussions to harmonise the strategies of each group.

Then, the event officially closed but trust us that was the beginning of the human networking sessions that continued till everyone dispersed.

The NYIN meeting started afterwards but I could not wait for it as the next day was my birthday and a party was planned. Apology if you were not aware. You can mark the date, May 28, in your calendar so that you will not miss the opportunity of sowing a gift into my life every year. Merci!!!

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.

LA Times Article on Nigerian fraud: "I will eat your dollars"

FESTAC, Nigeria — As patient as fishermen, the young men toil day and night, trawling for replies to the e-mails they shoot to strangers half a world away.

Most recipients hit delete, delete, delete, delete without ever opening the messages that urge them to claim the untold riches of a long-lost deceased second cousin, and the messages that offer millions of dollars to help smuggle loot stolen by a corrupt Nigerian official into a U.S. account.

Read the complete story here

'They have started- The Scammers have started again'

Is it not enough that patriotic Nigerians are mourning at the moment? Is it not enough that many families are directly concerned, having lost one of their dearest? Yet, some disgruntled elements have chosen to see the other side of this and continue to perpetrate their act. In just less than 72hrs after the death of the Nigerian first lady, these scammers have decided to launch their attack using the unfortunate demise of the first lady as a tool. The first lady definitely deserves a good rest in peace and not the pains that these bad elements may want to launch on their targets. Please beware of the mail below.

I have copied it unedited. It is fake.

"From: Iyeke & Associate Subject:

Breaking News!!! Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 05:06:15 +0200

I am Barrister Iyeke Nicholas, private attorney to the Late Mrs Stella Obasanjo, wife of the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo,Who died yesterday Sunday the 23 of October 2005 at a hospital in Spain. She had traveled to Spain to undergo surgery and died from complications resulting from that surgery. As the personal attorney to the deceased, I handle every of her affairs, mostly properties and funds both domestic and in overseas. In this case my clients who left huge amount of million GB Pounds Sterling and so many investment with my signatures abroad. Very soon my client`s family will call me to account for my client`s properties and fund offshores.

At this juncture, I seek your consent to present you as the benefactor to my client`s fund deposited in Europe which I will disclose to you, since I have all the documents regarding the depositing of the funds will procure all necessary legal documentation that can be used to back up any claim we might make. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us seeing this Deal through guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law, I promise that you and I can Share the money 50/50%. Also call me if it's possible for you to call +2348038361642

I believed my letter received a favorable consideration from you as I await your respond as soon as able possible. On your reply I will attach my copy International Passport for proper proof of my indenting.

Best regards Bar. Iyeke Nicholas(ease.)

Iyeke Nicholas & Associate

123 Alaska muse way,

abuse FACT,"

nigerian-scammers-time-for-sober

AROJINLE

Nigerian scammers - A time for sober reflection

May be I should start by congratulating all those that constitute the 'Nigerian scammers' and are locally referred to as ' Yahoo Boys' for winning the 2005 Ig® Nobel Prize for literature http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html. This just goes to show the extent to which the attention of the whole world has been drawn to the actions of these people.
I just wonder why christening the act 'yahoo,yahoo'. One, may be the perpetrators saw a comparison between their act and the exemplary feat of the founders of yahoo. That seem to have been rewarded with their award. The other reason is just the fact that they make use of Yahoo mails andIMs to perpetrate their awful act.

Let me give you the bad and the good news.

The bad news is that your actions and inactions are not doing justice to the millions of dollars Nigeria is spending to repair her international image. Legitimate mails emanating from Nigeria are being scrutinized and given a second thought. Have you also paused to think of the damage done to the person you are defrauding?

The good news, however, is that the presidential committee set up to look this case, The Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG) has come up with a draft of the "COMPUTER SECURITY AND CRITICAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION BILL 2005". As soon as the bill is passed, and all effort has been put in place to ensure its accelerated passage before the end of the year, it will be extremely difficult to engage in the act successfully and go free.

One good thing about the proposed bill is that it has gone beyond providing a legal framework for prosecuting the perpetrators to putting in place all measure that will protect intellectual properties transmitted electronically.

The growth in the telecoms sector in Nigeria, with particularr reference to GSM, has proven that things can work in Nigeria if all necessary machineries are put in place. One of the right step in the right direction is the proposed bill. Its advantages are just too numerous.

Nigerian Scammers, please reflect.

It could have been me. What about you?

11 year old boy burnt alive in Lagos!

(Please click the link above to read the full, pathetic story of an 11 year old boy that was burnt alive in Lagos.)

It is a known fact now that all it takes to get anybody killed on the street of Lagos now is just for somebody to shout, 'thief, thief'. And before you know it, hundreds of people (probably those who are more 'criminal' than the suspect) will surround you, give you the beating of your life, give you a 'necklace' ( that's a used tyre on your neck) , pour petrol on you and then... just a strike and ...(you can imagine the rest)

Such was the case of the the young boy above. I don't want to bother writing about it again as Edward has done a good job on that. The striking thing about the incident to me is what could have been termed 'a child theft'. There are lots of instances where many things happen and we just don't get the correct picture. Then anybody gives it a different meaning.

In 2004, I did my internship with an ISP in Victoria Island, Lagos. You know those kind of V/I jobs that you have to leave your house by 5.30 am so you can make the 8.00 am resumption time. And you close 'officially' at 5.30 pm (more often than not, there are things that will keep you in office till 6.30 pm). On this day, I closed early and joined other tired workers in struggling to catch an early bus back home in Obalende. And just as we were struggling to board the bus, my hands touched the breast pocket of a man who was also struggling to board the bus and what next? The man turned back and started cursing me that I wanted to steal the money in his breast pocket and mentioned that people like that get burnt. Hear him,

"Shege, barawo, dem dey burn people like you" ( Thief, they burn people like you)

I was very tired that I just didn't have enough strength to argue with the man. I tried explaining but he just continued his abuses. Then the miracle happened. HE JUST LEFT.

You don't believe that's a miracle? Ok, what if the man had gathered people around me like they did for Samuel? All they will just want me to say is that I touched his pocket and that will suffice an evidence of 'stealing'. But a miracle happened.

Anytime I remember the case of Samuel, I am forced to think it could have been me. And I know it could have been you. You don't have to be guilty.