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Tag: NCC

  • As IoT beckons, Pantami assures of proactive regulation

    As IoT beckons, Pantami assures of proactive regulation

    Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ibrahim Pantami on Thursday in Lagos assured the nation that Nigeria’s telecom regulatory framework has been designed to address the challenges that may arrive with the advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the country.

    Pantami, who spoke at the twin event – Stakeholders Consultative Forum on Regulatory Roadmap for IoT Ecosystem in Nigeria, hosted by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); and presentation of two books authored by the Minister, declared that Nigeria has already exhibited its preparedness to harness the potentials of this new service, as demonstrated in the reduction in incidences of cybercrimes in Nigeria over the past two years.

    He emphasized the need for the type of consultations and brainstorming being hosted for IoT, as the International Data Cooperation (IDC) revealed that, “By 2025, there will be about 46.1 billion IoT devices that are going to be interconnected globally…and through this connection, the data to be generated will be up to 79.4 zeta bites.”

    At a gathering that featured presentations by local and international experts, with the Secretary of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Houlin Zhao, in virtual participation, Pantami said IoT is crucial to present day emergent technologies considering its connectedness to devices in facilitating productivity, minimize waste as well as ensure a faster decision making process where massive amount of data can be analysed and presented for decision making.

    Earlier in an address of welcome, the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, explained that, in the process of undertaking its responsibility of regulation, the NCC has made it a consistent practice to interact with experts and key players in the industry on how best to facilitate the development of robust regulations for emergent technologies in the country.

    Danbatta said this consultation presents a unique opportunity to appraise the emergence and future deployment of IoT products and services for the benefit of consumers in Nigeria.

    In his goodwill message and review of one of the books authored by Pantami titled ‘Datafication of Society to Foster an Internet Economy,’ the ITU scribe, commended Nigeria’s cooperation within the international telecommunications community and how Pantami assisted in the facilitation of programmes of the ITU, including his recent chairmanship of the World Summit on Information Society at the ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

    In the review of Pantami’s second book titled: ‘Cybersecurity: Initiatives for Securing a Country’, Prof. Mike Hinchey of the University of Limerik, Ireland, who doubled as keynote speaker at the event, commended the Minister, stating that the book is a bold statement that Africa is no longer waiting on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry side-lines but now creating content for its institutions.

    In a panel discussion, featuring experts from various sectors of the ICT industry, the challenges and prospects of IoT within the Nigerian telecom ecosystem were reviewed, with a view to preparing the country for the future application of IoT products and services.

  • Book: Nigeria Drivers of Digital Prosperity – A Review

    Book: Nigeria Drivers of Digital Prosperity – A Review

    The Trajectories of the Digital Evolution, Sector Analysis and Players’ Contributions, By Aaron Ukodie

    CONNECTING THE DOTS, FROM ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL AND VIRTUAL NIGERIA

    A Review By Biodun Bayo, Veteran ICT Journalist and Communications Specialist

    In the emerging world economies, powerful nations classify the following sub-heads such as ‘Information’, ‘Technology’, ‘Telecommunications’, and ‘Computing’ among others as the nucleus of the new power configurations. Whoever wants to be something and anything in the global arena must basically give attention to computing skills, data analysis, robotics, cybersecurity, programming, business development and sales, blockchain, fintech, food value chain, logistics, hospitality and tourism, sporting skills, music, entertainments, creative arts, fashion, and automobile among others because that is where the likes of global in-demand skills are maximising their opportunities. Brands like Netflix, Google, Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Alibaba, and other multinational giants are already plying their trade on those frontiers.  It is the space for the millennial. This is the pedigree that this book authored by Aaron Ukodie has brought to the fore. This is an interesting, very intriguing, and lucidly written book, in simple prose, which puts the totality of Nigeria’s Telecommunications, Technology, and Computers’ vital details in a single document.

    It is a well-documented experiential perspective of the author who for more than 36 years had been a consistent chronicler of the events, activities, actions and inactions of the active and inactive players and other stakeholders in the various compositions and segments that constitute the ICT and Computer space within the socio-economic trajectories in Nigeria.  The foundation; the beginning of the race to where we are today contained some of the rear details ever written or documented. The roles of players in the public and private sectors, the perspective of the public and private institutions, too, in shaping and moulding the ICT Empire, now, thriving in Nigeria are also included in this book.

    Rather than the traditional designation of a book, made up of various themes, into Chapters, the author preferred to treat the themes and sub-themes in a different nomenclature classified as Sections. There are, therefore, five broad sections in the entire 472-page book.

    With the effort of this author in putting the records in this book form, students, researchers and industry enthusiasts will definitely glean the roles played by some of the key actors, which had remained hitherto cryptic, in the nation’s critical economic and developmental pathways.

    Section One is dedicated to the formative years of telecommunications evolution in Nigeria. This is prior to the independent era in the nation’s governing progressions. The extensive narrations on the pathways to the expansion of telecommunications to the nooks and crannies of the nation also gained traction in this section. This full-blown account of the historical foundation of telecommunications development in Nigeria would help readers extract the parochial underbelly for the introduction of this critical infrastructure by the colonial masters.

    The transition from the core colonial structure of the nation’s telecommunications network, the town by town tracking of the network rollout and what informed the choice of locations for the network rollout helps the reader to understand the apathy of the foreign usurpers in our leadership structure at the time.

    The book also put in perspective the circumstances that triggered the transfer of knowledge, in the running of the telecoms network, to the few Nigerians engaged in the less critical aspect of the network configurations. When, why and how the first Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) emerged is also well detailed here. More interesting is the exposition on the concepts of globalisation, deregulation, liberalisation, commercialisation and privatisation in the telecoms sector. This will help anyone going through the book to appreciate the transition of those global market imperatives and today’s success stories in the telecoms sector.

    Most Nigerians, perhaps, everyone interested in the sudden and massive transformations in the nation’s telecoms sector, will connect well with the contents in the third section because that is the part that brought Nigeria to the limelight in the global telecommunications index.  The author did an incisive unveiling of the telecommunications regulator and the landmark mandate it had to contend with even when there were no antecedents to lift it out of the inherent knowledge mystery. It is an interesting read to note that the journey of DML in Nigeria was not just an instant success story. Aside the curious gang up to push Ernest Ndukwe out of NCC, readers will get insights into the several failed attempts, spanning almost ten years, before the final push which resulted in the global acclaims recorded by the regulator in the auction, award, issuance and the operations of the Digital Mobile Licences in Nigeria.

    The interests of Nigeria’s former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha and the Chagouri family in the GSM market are also profoundly enunciated in this book. The author, in this book, regales us with the intrigues, the ‘battle warriors’ and the traps in the auction processes. The roles of the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chairman NCC Board, late Ahmed Joda and erstwhile EVC NCC, Dr Ernest Ndukwe in by-passing the surreptitious plot to frustrate the successful completion of the DML auction by high ranking government officials is also detailed in this book.

    Also recorded for posterity in this compendium are the developmental strides of broadband growth in Nigeria. Readers will also come to terms with the sacrifice made by NIGCOMSAT to pave the way for the 5G spectrum soon to roll out in Nigeria.

    Why was ‘Surulere’ branded Nigeria’s version of “Silicon Valley” in the 80s and how did this sprawling Lagos Mainland community became the toasts of computing enthusiasts and entrepreneurs? What roles did Chams played in Nigeria’s fertile field of computing expertise and how did data communications emerge in the corporate Nigeria? Did NITEL frustrate or complement the private sector initiative that introduced Data Communications for operational exigencies? These and much more are available in this book. Many will find very interesting details of the pioneering roles played by Corporate Nigeria in the adoption and integration of computers into their operations. The head start initiative by UAC, and how the success story inspired Lever Brothers Nigeria (now Unilever) and First Bank of Nigeria to take a plunge into the uncharted computing highway also featured in this book.

    The book also explored the various ICT interventions in the education sector. The rigorous initiative to make the nation’s tertiary institutions align with global best practice and the struggle with this effort is sufficiently expounded in section two of the book. The transition from the brick and mortal to the virtual classrooms and the various shortcomings with adopting the electronic platforms for teaching and learning are well articulated in the book.  The roles of the national examination bodies; WAEC, NECO, and JAMB among others in embracing the change from the hard-core paper works into the mobile and electronic processing through the portal administration of examinations provides deep connection with the inglorious struggles in the past and the emerging dynamics of the new dawn.

    The author also gave perceptive narration of the various flip-flops in the attempts to create a reliable national IT Policy in Nigeria. The supremacy struggles among the power brokers resulting in the delayed approval of the national IT Policy and how it impacted the nation’s trajectories in IT skills and services/products development, are well documented in this book. How the IT industry fraternal bodies also emerged, transformed or metamorphosed into different nomenclatures featured prominently in this book. The travails, the opportunities and the lessons learnt from the bitter feuds were clearly outlined in this book. Also well detailed is the blow by blow story of how NITDA emerged from the rubbles after years of fits and starts by the stakeholders charged with the establishment of an IT regulator and an industry policy.

    Individuals who led corporate entities and left their names in the quick sand of time in the ICT community are also given credit in this book. It is a loaded field of Ministers, CEOs of regulatory agencies and Blue chip corporations as well as government owned ICT companies. It is a mixed grill of the good, the bad and the ugly patches in their sojourns.

    There is so much to read about some of the great minds who were the bedrocks for the various ICT regulatory agencies and the various brands having a swirl time of roller-skating in the telecoms and IT markets today. From the analogue to the digital transition, the good times and travails endured by the forebears in the industry is robustly captured. The contributions of men and women of distinctions, impeccable character and integrity, who braved the odds to sacrifice so much to carve the niche for Nigeria’s noble contributions to the global index in the computing and ICT global market rankings are also detailed in this book.

    Some of these noble men including the late Ahmed Joda, late Olawale Ige, Ernest Ndukwe, Richmond Aggrey, Raymond, Akwule, Bashir and Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Annie Okonkwo, Demola Aladekomo, Leo Stan-Ekeh, Austin Okere, Chris Uwaje, Titi Omo-Ettu, Emmanuel Ekuwem, Florence Seriki, Gerald Ilukwe, Gbenga Adebayo and Lanre Ajayi are well celebrated in this compendium.

    The last section of the book is dedicated to the Role of the ICT Media in the making of the economic powerhouse that the industry has been transformed into. Readers would enjoy the intrigues that characterised the media fraternal association in the early days.  The ups and downs of the early times in reporting the industry was also aptly captured. The author tried to underscore the rigorous and painstaking processes that the industry reporters endured to generate news item worthy of consideration by the gatekeepers in the various platforms where competition for news space was very keen among reporters. This was particularly more challenging for reporters covering a news genre that was just evolving to gain public attention and readers’ interest. How the beat reporters overcame the initial inertia and became the pride of their Editors is eloquently elucidated in this book.

    It also captured the ruggedness that helped these journalists survive the tidal waves of intrigues to eventually evolve from being mere reporters to media entrepreneurs and publishers of note. The author also recorded for the keen observers of the fourth Estate of the Realm the delicate paths that Journalists often walked in the course of carrying out their constitutionally recognised responsibilities. A classical case in point was encoded in this book when beat reporters almost got entrapped in the high-wired intrigues of a military coup d’état.

    This book’s layout is uniquely expressive in its font choice, design, and formatting. The binding also meets the national standard for tenuous preservation of the book. The layout and font types and size presents a good flow from being very pleasing to the eyes, soothes the mind while galvanising a breath-taking read and engagement page after page. The structure of the book also helps in the compartmentalisation of the thematic focus that the author tried to articulate.

    This book is unique in its own style of presentation of statistics, values, narration and the facts and figures in the ICT development from the pre-independent era till date in Nigeria.

    In concluding, I will like to say that we have a book that has dug into the depth of Nigeria’s ICT roadmap connecting the footprints of the analogue and digital paths to create a virtual future that holds a promising profile for building further prosperity and critical knowledge for industry expansion.

    However, this is not foreclosing the opportunities for other perspectives from the rich intellection of other chroniclers of the industry, among who are also with us in this hall today.

    I challenge these history makers to also put their rich and reach experiences, network of contacts and expertise into a knowledge compendium just as Aaron has uniquely done. So, I am recommending this book for the public and private sectors as there are inherent values that are capable of triggering explosive interactions and knowledge articulation to further open the space and expand the ICT ecosphere in this clime.

    The author has got the pedigree having authored several acclaimed titles in the sub-sector. These include Phones 4 All (2004); Ndukwe & Telecom Regulation: A Walk in Tandem (2007); The Story of NITEL (2015) and Nigeria @ 50: NITDA in National Development. He is also the author of a mini-autobiography titled: The Lead Story: A Diary of an ICT Reporter (2014) and another biography titled: Olagunju: Strides of a Porter’s Son (2013). He is also a co-author of the celebrated 600-page classical book which chronicled the journey of The Guardian titled: The Making of the Nigerian Flagship: A Story of The Guardian.

    Therefore, Research Institutes, Tertiary Institutions, the Academia, Scholars, industry regulatory bodies i.e. NCC, NITDA, NBC, NIPOST, and operators like MTN, Airtel, Globacom, 9mobile, MainOne, Nigcomsat,  Zinox Technologies and other industry operators would be adding value to their private libraries if this book is an addition to their collections.

    When the revised edition of this book shall be imperative, I will particularly like to see the inclusion of maps, charts, tabulated stats, drawings and iconic pictures of events and places from time immemorial across the telecoms, technology, and computing spheres of the industry. It will also be nice to see in the revised edition of this book analytical stats on the trajectory of human capital index in the industry, charts and exclusive pictorial presentations of some of the iconic evolution in the industry.

    There were also issues like the circumstances of the death of Engineer Charles Joseph, the late President of the defunct Mobitel Limited which has remained unresolved decades after. Such unfinished mandate of the media could have added the needed energy to the uniqueness of this book. Perhaps, this also serves as a challenge to the other veterans who watched the evolution of the industry from the time past to the period its history is now being documented to also put their own reckoning of the stages into a book form. Besides, it would have been more apt to have interviews with some of the living legends in the ICT ecosystem. The likes of Ndukwe, Professor Pat Utomi who was a Consultant to NCC during the auction of the DML, Demola Aladekomo, Cletus Iromantu; first EVC of NCC, and Bashir El-Rufai among other leaders of thoughts in the industry who contributed in no small measure to the foundation of the sector’s development.

    On behalf of the author, readers are enjoined to pardon some printer’s devil and a few proof-reading slips which occurred in the book.

    Thanks and enjoy reading the book.

    Olubayo Abiodun

  • Atiku finds a place in telecoms history – By Okoh Aihe

    Atiku finds a place in telecoms history – By Okoh Aihe

    It was my friend’s day last week, July 7, 2022. Aaron Ukodie, Arumata, as l call him with fond love, excavated a piece of telecoms history and burnished it into the nation’s telecoms walk of fame, that will outlive all of us, even those who pray to live forever. 

    One of the very few pedantic guys in the journalism profession who is given to sustained scholarship, Ukodie released yet another book on the telecommunications industry, titled: Nigeria Drivers of Digital Prosperity. This is not a review of the book, which will come with time but I salute his tenacious spirit and such a selfless commitment to force a reading culture on a people that are mostly discomfited by unhealthy politics and epidemic misgovernance.

    The beauty of non-fictive work is its capacity to be contentious while equally yielding opportunities for verifications. The constellation of faces at the event is a validation that Ukodie has attributed honour to those deserving apart from a few faces that were obviously interlopers and of little consequence to the industry as far as history is concerned. 

    The story of telecoms growth in Nigeria which Ukodie will not let go, is an emotional one. Those born after 2001 and grew up to the fancy of mobile phones would not know that for years Nigeria’s telecoms industry was compared to the worst in the world; people who were not fortunate and rich enough to own a table phone (and there were less than 350, 000 for the nation’s huge population),  went to stay in NITEL offices across the nation to make or receive international calls. We lived with that situation and lived with so many governments who didn’t know what to do about the sector and truly held the people down to Stone Age practices. 

    One day the story changed. Events from 1999 preceded this. One of those on ground to unveil Ukodie’s book was Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who was hailed in the book for being a primary player in the events leading to an industry tipping point in 2001. 

    Speaking through Barrister Uyi Giwa-Osagie, Atiku who thanked Ukodie for giving him a place in the chronicles of the telecoms industry, recalled the times leading to a groundswell of growth in the industry, adding that it is possible now to take the industry to the next level of growth. As Vice President and head of the economic team which included some of the best brains Nigeria offers the world, Atiku witnessed first hand the fruits of modern telecommunications technology and its transformative capacity in the life of a nation. 

    In his words, “The evolution of the country’s ICT and telecoms industry, started with the GSM which was launched in August 2001 under our administration, and has since revolutionized the face of ICT in Nigeria. In February 2002, I inaugurated a 22-member Telecommunications Sector Reform Implementation Committee, aimed at increasing access to phone services for Nigerians, primarily through the GSM, and further facilitated all necessary licensing for GSM to come into effect in Nigeria. This is an achievement I am entirely proud of and further reinforces my credentials as a digitally inclined leader, aware of revolutions that need to take place for our country to move forward and reach her full potential.”

    He confessed that “as a leader, I have seen first hand the significant impact digital technology creates across the different sectors of our economy, and the endless opportunities that remain untapped.  On this continuous journey, I feel a responsibility to continue to support Nigeria and the young people of Nigeria, on its digitization agenda, and this forms a core part of my campaign promise and delivery to the Nation, in my current quest to be the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, come May 29, 2023.”

    This was the peg line for most of the stories that were published from that event. It is my opinion that track records are important. They become more ennobling if the holder initiated a process which with more understanding, he further wants to consolidate. The problem with us is that quite a number of people canvassing for public office have little to point to apart from an entitlement mentality or just to fulfil an ambition that invalidates other people’s pride and claim to humanity.

    One other significant development for me was Atiku’s profuse acknowledgment of the contributions of other people who made up the team, unlike most other politicians who think every achievement is traced to their might and brilliance. He demonstrated that he is a team player with a knack to mobilise rich human resources to achieve results. He readily commended the role of the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and a number of the industry players who were in that hall.

    Engr Ernest Ndukwe was in the hall. The man who eventually earned the sobriquet, Mr GSM (by the way, GSM means global system for mobile communications), told a gathering at a programme in Abuja in October last year, that Atiku had a hand in his appointment as the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC and also created such a perfect working relationship for the Commission to flower into a growth that would attract the envy of the world. Atiku was at that event in Abuja as well and his repartee jolted memories of a period in history that landmark achievements could easily be pointed to. 

    Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, Secretary to the Government of Akwa Ibom who was an industry player at the time also answered the call by Ukodie. Each time we needed to canvass deep knowledge of the industry, each time we needed somebody to bring simple understanding to tech lingos, Ekuwem was there as a ready resource personality. 

    So it is a little bit nauseating for me that so much  invectives flow in the social media and Atiku attracts quite a percentage, which is plainly ironic. Here you have a man who played a primary role in instigating a process that put mobile phones in the hands of his people becoming a victim of a system that would fail progressively, as governments come and go.

    I do not expect the younger generation to understand the emotions that swirl inside me. But I remain grateful to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his vice, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for their unselfishness in bringing life and growth to the telecommunications sector. It was shameful at the time, really embarrassing to travel to a remote part of the world and be unable to communicate with people at home. 

    It is not only personal communications that were enabled. Their effort provided an enabling superstructure to carry the rest of the industries, whether manufacturing, engineering, construction, banking, entertainment, hospitality business, ticketing for road, rail and air travels, social relationships and in fact in nearly every strand of life. Telecommunications affect them all. 

    We were never part of the global telecoms story except when consigned to failure. The lethargy and official myopia in high places now also enjoyed preponderance pre 1999 when the base for a change of story was gradually erected. My little appeal is that when you hold that little tool – mobile phone – in your hand and you plan to do evil with it, always be constrained by the fact that those who brought it to Nigeria meant well. 

  • The Cybercrimes Act comforts no cyber misdemeanour – By Okoh Aihe

    The Cybercrimes Act comforts no cyber misdemeanour – By Okoh Aihe

    As the nation hobbles towards a potentially explosive election period, there is the need to sound a note of caution that things may spiral out of control, desperation may push people to thread on the path of the unorthodox, and to manipulate information for their own inordinate end.

    A personal experience has informed this preceding cryptic opening. My wife had received a WhatsApp message from a certain country in Europe containing a quote taken from a previous material I wrote supposedly in support of Mr Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party. Conveniently placed side by side with my passport photo, the quote rested on a Vanguard logo, meaning the material was purportedly taken out of my Wednesday column in the Vanguard. There the wimps got it all wrong. That photo is used by only two other organisations, not the Vanguard. The quote attributed to me was not written by me at all.

    Take it this way. It will be creatively stimulating to write something on Obi but nobody has to help me to, or stampede me into expressing a political opinion which at the moment enjoys no accommodation in my entire system. You don’t have to be my ventriloquist.

    I am not bipolar or schizophrenic. No mental degeneration whatsoever to invalidate my ability to recall the content of my materials. Even then within the week I still needed a third party validation of the soundness of my mental capacity by pulling my last week’s material from the online version of the Vanguard, titled: INEC and machine promises, a little skepticism may help. I read it line by line to my wife, nothing sneaked in. The most painful aspect of this drama of the absurd is that when I discussed the matter with a junior colleague after sending him the material, he gave a candid advice but in whispers, perhaps in the fear that he might be overheard. “You know the people supporting this man, you really have to be careful or they will come after you on social media or otherwise.”

    Oh my God! This cannot be happening all over again. Over seven years ago, we built a political future on the foundation of wholesale fraud and pervasive information manipulation and got APC into government. Just less than a year to the end of this administration, the country is in turmoil; tears, sorrow and blood have become the experienced homogeneity across homes in all parts of the country. Those who want to promote a new government through episodic renaissance should follow the path of truth and not create bogies like the very government they are struggling to supplant.

    Those who have followed us on this page will affirm that we have fought some little tech battles as we have stood against sundry attempts by the government to use bogus regulatory instruments to put the Nigerian public in dire straits. We waged an unrelenting fight against attempts by highly placed interests to hijack the 6th edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code for their private interests and advantages until the document was thrashed in the last week of May by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos; we called attention to the incongruity of the NITDA Bill that was sent to the National Assembly; we have been vociferous in condemning the regulatory capture of both the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) while appealing to the supervising ministers to release their choke hold on the agencies so that they could really thrive, and we have not been timid in pointing attention to policies with embedded adverse returns on the life of the people.

    Conversely, we have also written copiously on the CYBERCRIMES (PROHIBITION, PREVENTION, ETC) ACT, 2015, which has the robust capacity to track and deal with every misdemeanour and malfeasance in cyberspace. From the time it was signed into law in 2015, we have looked at the content deeply and can say any day that the law stands heads above anything the government has tried to invent since then, including the social media bill that was roundly defeated at the National Assembly and even the recent subterranean Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries, that was arrow headed by NITDA, the Cybercrimes Act dwarfs them all.

    From the very first day a friend became one of the first guys on the wrong side of that Law and was immediately apprehended, I have spoken about it even as a lay man, that the Act has the provision to deal with every fluid infraction in the cyber ecosystem. The Act has no comfort for Cyber threats/bullying, identity theft and impersonation, Cyberstalking, Cybersquatting and a whole of other intervening infractions.

    For instance, Section 13 states as follows:  A person who knowingly accesses any computer or network and inputs, alters, deletes or suppresses any data resulting in inauthentic data with the intention that such inauthentic data will be considered or acted upon as if it were authentic or genuine, regardless of whether or not such data is directly readable or intelligible, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 3 years or to a fine of not less than 7,000,000.00 or both; while Section 14 deals with Willful misdirection of Electronic Messages, Unlawful interceptions, Computer Related Forgery and Computer Related Fraud with fines and punishment also clearly defined for those who run foul of the Act.

    Meanwhile, Sections 24 and 25 bring the matter home very clearly as they focus more on cyber threats, bullying, intimidation, cyber stalking and all kinds of associated crimes that could lead to the hurt of an individual or organisation. This is what Section 24 says: Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that – (a) is grossly offensive, pornographic or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character or causes any such message or matter to be so sent; or (b) he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent: commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment.

    (2) Any person who knowingly or intentionally transmits or causes the transmission of any communication through a computer system or network – (a) to bully, threaten or harass another person, where such communication places another person in fear of death, violence or bodily harm or to another person; Cyberstalking. (b) containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to harm the person of another, any demand or request for a ransom for the release of any kidnapped person, to extort from any person, firm, association or corporation, any money or other thing of value. There are fines and punishment for the guilty.

    Here is my point of interest and I hope the young minds can attempt to reason from my point of view. There is a seeming lack of governance in the land but the laws aren’t dead yet. The courts have demonstrated this always. Those who may want to hide under political candidates and all kinds of amorphous structures in the name of politics should carry a pouch of caution because there are enough laws in the land to address electronic infractions and inconveniences, and even harm to others.

  • NCC’s Director who midwived auction for 5G roll out in Nigeria retires

    After 17 years of meritorious service, former Director of Spectrum Administration Department of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Engr. Oluwatoyin Asaju has bowed out of the regulatory body, with encomiums from management and industry experts, after turning 60.

    Engr. Asaju who led the team that managed the 3.5Ghz Band Auction process that attracted fame and fortune to the Federal Government through the transparent auction process for the sale of the 5G licenses conducted by the Commission, was hosted to a valedictory session to celebrate his performance, by the leadership and staff of the Commission.

    Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta, who presided over the event, described Engr. Asaju’s performance in superlatives, stating that the retiring staff epitomizes hard work, resilience, professionalism and humility.

    “I have worked closely with the celebrant while he was the Director in the Special Duties Department, and later Spectrum Administration Department, and in his capacity as Director in these departments, he demonstrated high level of professionalism and excellence. He was also impartial, forthright and resoluteness in discharging his duties. This is worthy of commendations and emulation from younger staff present in this room,” he said.

    Professor Danbatta, described the retired engineer as one staff of the Commission who “exceeded all expectations throughout his service years at NCC. He is so competent, confident and resourceful. I am happy to have come into NCC at a time when there are resourceful people like Engr. Asaju in the system to help drive our digital agenda for the Nigerian economy”.

    He particularly expressed the gratitude of the staff and management of the Commission for Engr. Asaju’s dedication to duty. “I recall your efforts which led to successful auction of two slots in the 3.5 gigahertz spectrum for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) services in December, 2021. “Of course these are just examples of your many contributions to the achievement of the strategic vision of the Commission and we cannot thank you enough”, Danbatta stated.

    “On behalf of the board, management and staff of the Commission, I wish to thank you for your dedication throughout your 17 years of commendable, laudable and dedicated service to the Commission in particular and to the Nigerian telecom sector in general.”, he declared.

    A rain of tributes poured on Engr. Asaju from Colleagues, led by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Engr. Ubale Maska, and other friends and members of the family of the celebrant who joined the Commission in 2005, as a Senior Manager, and later rose through the ranks to become a director at the Commission. Before he joined the Commission, he had worked at then Federal Ministry of Communications where he rose to the position of Chief Engineer.

    Engr Asaju began his career after obtaining a Bachelor of Engineering degree specializing in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Ilorin. He also holds a Master of Business Administration and a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science from same university in addition to a Master’s Degree in Telecommunications Regulation and Policy with a distinction from the University of West Indies, through a scholarship offered by the International Telecommunications Union, ITU.

    Engr. Asaju, a fellow of many professional bodies, expressed deep appreciation for the opportunity to serve at a globally respected institution like the NCC, and commended Prof. Danbatta for his remarkable leadership qualities which has repositioned the Commission as a flagship Nigerian public sector institution, committed to championing the Federal Government’s vision for a robust digital economy and culture.

    Joined by his wife, Ayisat, children and family members and friends, Engr. Asaju expressed gratitude to colleagues of many years with whom he shared the vision and commitment to a better digital Nigeria.
    Engr. Asaju’s career was one of exemplary professionalism, expressed in his top level fellowship and membership of many professional bodies including the Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronics in Engineers, NIEEE, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE), West Africa Society for Communication and Administration (WASCA), and the Nigerian Institution of Information and Communications Engineers (NIICTE).

  • Nigeria races to deploy 5G services using expiring satellite

    Nigeria races to deploy 5G services using expiring satellite

    The federal government of Nigeria has approved the migration of C-Band services on NigComSat-1R Satellite with a seven and a half (7.5) years life span to accelerate the deployment of 5G systems in the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dr Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant (Research & Development) to Professor Isa Ali Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy made this known in a statement on Thursday.

    According to Dr Adeluyi, the approval to migrate C-Band services on NigComSat-1R Satellite, which currently operates C-Band services on the 3.4 – 3.9GHz spectrum range, with which the country hopes to deploy 5G services, was given at the Federal Executive Council meeting of 29th May 2022.

    Recall that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had requested that a part of the C-Band spectrum within the country’s telecommunications industry be cleared of any encumbrances and current users on the affected spectrum be migrated, towards the successful roll-out/deployment of 5G technology in the country.

    Following the presentation of three (3) memos by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy at the FEC meeting, the request was granted. According to the statement by Adeluyi, the FEC also approved an Enterprise Licensing Agreement for Microsoft Products.

    The statement reads: “The Federal Executive Council approved an Enterprise Licensing Agreement for Microsoft Products and the clearing up of C-band Spectrum, in order to accelerate the deployment of 5G services in the country.

    “These took place during the meeting of the Council on the 29th of May, 2022. This followed the presentation of 3 memos by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami).

    “The Government-wide Enterprise Licensing Agreement for Microsoft products is a software acquisition cost-reduction strategy for government and it will be implemented by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMC&DE).

    “This agreement is part of the Federal Government’s efforts towards keeping the cost of IT projects within sustainable levels.

    “The Agreement will give the government access to discounted prices and other cost benefits, as well as reduce project duplication across Federal Public Institutions (FPIs). It will also guarantee proper technical support for Microsoft products and services, thereby ensuring protection against cybersecurity threats, which will guarantee availability and reliability of government IT services.

    “The Enterprise Licensing Agreement will provide a projected savings of a minimum of 35% of Governments current investment in Microsoft Products and Services. This will not only substantially reduce the cost of license procurement for FPIs, it will reduce and simplify licensing complexity, facilitate accounting and cash flow predictability and monitor utilisation and impact of Government investment. The Council directed all FPIs to key into the Agreement in the procurement of Microsoft licenses and services.

    “Council also approved the request of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to clear part of the C-band spectrum within the country’s telecommunications industry of any encumbrances and migrate the current users on affected spectrum, towards the successful roll-out/deployment of 5G technology in Nigeria.

    “Furthermore, with seven and a half (7.5) years before the end of the lifetime of NigComSat-1R Satellite, operated by Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), which currently operates C-Band services on the 3.4 – 3.9GHz spectrum range, NCC and NIGCOMSAT have come to an agreement to relocate/migrate the operations of NigComSat-1R C Band service to another frequency (Standard C Band) and release its current frequency for immediate deployment of 5G in the country.

    “The approved memos will accelerate the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), especially the pillars on solid infrastructure (broadband) and service infrastructure (platforms). The Ministry will continue to promote initiatives that will transform Nigeria into a country with a sustainable and thriving digital economy”.

    TNG reports Nigeria launched NigComSat-1R in 2011 to replace NigComSat-1, which failed in orbit. The satellite was launched with a life span of 15 years, and it is expected to expire in 2026. However, NIGCOMSAT had said it would launch two new satellites, NigComSat-2 and NigComSat-3 in 2023 and 2025 respectively to replace NigComSat-1R.

    Recall that after 11 rounds of bidding that lasted eight hours in December 2021, Mafab Communications Ltd and MTN Nigeria Plc dislodged Airtel Networks Ltd to emerge as the two successful winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction for the deployment of 5G technology to support the delivery of ubiquitous broadband services in the country.

    ALSO READ || NCC confirms MTN, Mafab have paid for 5G licences

    Nigeria, barring any last minutes changes, is expected to commence the rollout of the 5G technology services by August, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta has said.

  • INEC and machine promises, a little skepticism may help – By Okoh Aihe

    INEC and machine promises, a little skepticism may help – By Okoh Aihe

    Some interesting developments are taking place before us. Elections come up next year but the heat is on, already. Young people are trooping out across the nation to register as a precursor to getting their permanent voter cards (PVCs). The excitement is high but so is the foreboding on the part of dubious politicians who are not so sure any more what the next wave of reaction may be.

    Forced into undeserved concerts by the European Union (EU), the usually sanctimonious Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was forced into extending the registration period after a choreographed response of no to every reasonable appeal made by well-meaning individuals and organisations.

    I am not surprised at all that there is a renaissance in the reasoning of these young people whose lives and future have been compromised and put in absolute jeopardy by this government. Reasons come in painful droves but I give only two.

    One painful evening, on October 20, 2020, a number of young people, mostly students who were engaged in a peaceful protest code-named #EndSARS, to force the Nigerian government to look into the ignoble operations of an arm of the Police Force called SARS, were killed by the Nigerian Army and the Police at the Lekki Tollgate in what the local, national and international media described as a massacre. There was a litany of evidence but the government declared the contrary and went after organisations who dared to ventilate the truth that was clear even to the visually challenged. Our young people lost friends and colleagues and played ugly host to wickedness in high places while singing the National Anthem and waving the Nigerian flag. The judicial panel of enquiry set up even by the Lagos State government stayed on the side of the people as it confirmed there was indeed a massacre. This is not a story you forget overnight.

    The second reason. Since February 14, 2022 or March 14, 2022, depending upon the date your tolerance can accommodate, Nigerian university students have been at home courtesy of a strike called by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). For over four months, their lives have been put on hold, like a telephone call that is paused. Even with all the technology the call can suddenly drop and conversation is terminated. We are not a nation of figures, so nobody is calculating the cost of the strike to the students, their parents, the lecturers and how all that impacts on the quality of scholarship or pedagogy in our institutions and the overall health of the nation. Obviously there is a wrench in this generation that may be very difficult to heal. Although so many phantasmagoric tales are being told about the reawakening of these young people, I am forced to confess that it would have been irresponsible if they did not harvest this opportunity to send a clear message to some of the politicians that have turned their lives upside down. After seven years, this government has stubbornly refused to accept responsibility for any ill in the land. The youth may just be ready to send a message. Who benefits is a different matter and it is not anything that anybody can willfully appropriate.

    Seeing that it cannot move against the tide, INEC has promised to send more machines into the field, beginning from Abuja, with the overall boss, Prof Mahmood Yakubu saying that everybody that has come out for the exercise will be registered. For instance, about 50 more voting machines will be sent to the Area 10, Old Parade Ground in Abuja. Without claiming to be overwhelmed, I am sure that even INEC is not amused by the frothing interest of the people, and must now bend over backwards to accommodate all such interests.

    And this is where my fear creeps in, looking at the unsavoury history of this nation when it comes to data capturing. We are not good at it all. Data is captured at the banks, (bank verification number, BVN). Data is captured when you process your national identity card, and must therefore carry a national identity card number (NIN) like a blood sample. Data is captured when you buy a SIM (subscriber identification module) card, through the process of SIM registration. Data is captured when you process your birth certificate at the National Population Commission (NPC). Data is captured when you process your driving license. And data is captured when you process your international passport at the Immigrations. Everywhere you turn is data capture without control and appropriate deployment but the hapless Nigerian is forced to endure every arising inconvenience.

    My concern with the ongoing voter registration is that the frontend seems to be enjoying some attention and sunshine but what is happening at the backend? At what time will all the data captured be migrated to the main server for keeps and onward processing? Yakubu has promised that all those registering now will get their PVCs by October. What this communicates is that the backend may also have been taken into consideration. But as they say, talk is cheap. There is every welcome need to be cynical until the final output, which are the PVCs, are delivered.

    Oh, this red flag is not necessary? I appeal that you take a look at only two examples. SIM registration began in Nigeria in 2011. Seven tech companies were initially engaged by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to carry out the exercise. Further down the road, the operators themselves also became implementers who were involved in the process of SIM registration. But there was always a problem between the frontend and the backend, tedious data scrubbing to achieve some level of integrity and cumbersome harmonisation problems which continued to prove a nightmare. The operators were to carry the blame, unfortunately.

    The NIN/SIM data verification process which began in December 2021 has not been weaned from such convoluting uncertainties. NIMC originally had the responsibility to issue national identity cards but did not have the capacity to perform. The situation worsened when the data verification process was dropped in its plate of engagement. After the initial rodomontade claim of capacity, the telecom operators were later pressured into joining in the data verification process. This writer is aware that the operators invested massively in buying hardware for the exercise. Till date quite a number of these machines have not been properly formatted, and the data captured by the various operators go through a verification process that is nightmarish. Again the biggest drawback is the relationship between the frontend and the backend. Closure to the verification exercise is open-ended after repeated threats and there are no indications that it will end in the foreseeable future.

    I am of the considered opinion that INEC doesn’t have the capacity to perform magic. Not even the assurances from the chief executive will influence my position on this. The story that is unfolding before us may not be too different from the examples listed above especially when weighed against a past that is woolly. Is it not the same INEC that recorded a perfect score in terror-ravaged areas where the internally displaced people (IDPs) voted more than states where there was relative peace then?

    Whatever INEC is saying, the youths, more than the various political parties, should keep an eye on them. The capacity for mischief is not far from this organisation. I believe in the saying of my forebears that a leopard does not change skins overnight. Not even tech supremacy in terms of voter registration can make INEC achieve that feat.

  • BREAKING: Nigeria to start rolling out 5G services from August

    BREAKING: Nigeria to start rolling out 5G services from August

    Nigeria is expected to commence the rollout of the Fifth Generation (5G) technology services by August, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta has said.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Prof Danbatta made this known on Thursday at the 90th Edition of Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) held in Lagos State.

    Danbatta said that NCC, through the support of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, would ensure the deployment of the spectrum to further accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s broadband services.

    “The final letters of the award have been issued to MTN and Mafab Communications, which emerged winners of the 3.5GHz Spectrum auction conducted on Dec. 13, 2021.

    “In line with the information memorandum, the licensees are expected to commence the rollout of 5G services effective from Aug. 24, 2022.

    “The successful completion of the process leading to the final letters is confirmation that the rollout of 5G technology services in Nigeria is on course,” Danbatta said.

    The EVC reiterated that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) had revealed that 5G network would ensure Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB); Massive machine-type Communications (mMTC) and Ultra-reliable and low-latency communications ( URLLC).

    He said with the estimated population of 214 million Nigerians; with an average growth rate of 2.6 per cent annually, approximately 76.46 per cent of the population should be under the age of 35.

    ”In line with the demographic changes, internet penetration grew from three per cent in 2004 to 73.82 per cent as of September 2022 while broadband penetration increased from less than 10 per cent in 2015 to 40.01 per cent in September 2021.

    “The potential for expansion is a great opportunity for 5G deployment as operators are certain of recouping their investment,” he said.

    He noted that some challenges of the spectrum identified by ITU included the requirements for more spectrally efficient technologies, which were more than what the current 3G and 4G systems required.

    He said ITU also identified intrinsic propagation characteristics of millimetres waves, which may require a greater number of base stations.

    ”It is a challenge that stakeholders must collaborate to address as Nigeria rolls out 5G technology services,” the EVC said.

    Danbatta reiterated that the goal of the commission was for Nigeria to be one of the leading nations with 5G technology deployment that would benefit all stakeholders and contribute maximally to the digital economy policy of the Federal Government.

    The theme of the meeting was “5G Technology: Opportunities and Challenges”.

  • Reuben Muoka appointed NCC’s Director of Public Affairs

    Reuben Muoka, an innovative journalist and consummate public relations practitioner has been appointed as the new Director of Public Affairs (DPA) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Muoka takes over from Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, who has assumed duties as the Director of Special Duties Department of the Commission.

    The new NCC’s spokesman was recently promoted a substantive director, alongside Ismail Adedigba, now Director of Research and Development (R&D); and Gwa-Tobi Mohammed, who has also assumed duties as Director/Secretary to the Board of the Commission.

    Muoka was in 2021, appointed to head the Special Duties Department, which superintends the International Relations Unit; Emergency Communication Centres Unit; the Public Private Partnership Unit; and the Security Services Unit of the Commission.

    He was promoted as Director of the Department before his current redeployment to lead the Public Affairs Department, the arm of the Commission mandated to manage the image and visibility of Nigeria’s telecom regulator and a leading light of the Nigerian public service.

    Muoka is expected to bring his rich and versatile experience in both specialized and traditional journalism, public relations, integrated marketing communications (IMC), corporate communication and people management, to bear on the Commission’s vision to expand the frontiers of its public goodwill and the impact of its reputational assets.

    A former Deputy Communications Editor of the Vanguard Newspapers, former Deputy General Manager at MTS First Wireless (Nigeria’s first mobile telephone operator), Muoka joined the NCC in 2007 as a Principal Manager, and was deployed to the Public Affairs Department where he headed the Media and Public Relations Unit.

    He later rose from the rank of Principal Manager to the position of an Assistant Director in 2010, and by 2015, as a Deputy Director, appointed to head the re-engineered Public Relations Unit of PAD. In 2017, he was redeployed to the Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis Department to head the Economic Analysis unit of department.

    Muoka earned M.Sc. degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, specialising in Public Relations and Advertising, where he had earlier successfully completed a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in the same field of Mass Communication. Much earlier, he had obtained a bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts at the University of Ilorin.

    As a mark of his distinctive journalism career, Muoka received a fellowship of the Egyptian Embassy in Nigeria to undertake a Pan-African training and tour of Egypt in 1999, leading to an award of a continental Diploma Certificate in Journalism at the instance of the Egyptian Ministry of Information, and the African Journalists Union (AJU) in Cairo, Egypt.

    The focused, innovative and illuminating coverage and analysis of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the pre and immediate post liberalisation period of telecom industry in Nigeria is credited to the insights of visionary journalists like Muoka, whose pioneering initiative led to the establishment and institutionalisation of the Hi-Tech Desk in Vanguard Newspapers in late 1990s.

    As the Chairman of the League of Communications Correspondents (LECCO), Muoka led his colleagues to give voice and focus to the advocacy for the liberalisation and deregulation of the telecom industry in Nigeria in the 1990s.

    During his active days in journalism at Vanguard Newspapers, Muoka served concurrently as Africa’s contributing editor to the London-based CommunicationsWeek for four years beginning from 1998, during which he undertook copious reportage of the African telecom landscape. The London-based magazine shared Muoka’s work to an enthusiastic global audience in a rare showcase of Africa’s promise as a flourishing point for the emergent converging telecommunications industry.

    Between 1995 and 2001, Muoka leveraged his expertise to provide part-time public relations consultancy to notable companies and institutions in the telecommunications industry, including the Nigerian Mobile Communications Limited, Abuja; Multi-links Telecommunications Limited, Lagos; Satellite Telecommunications Limited, Lagos; Pulse Marketing Communications Ltd, Lagos; and the Nigerian Communications Commission, Abuja, years before he joined the Commission as a staff.

    Reuben Ejike Muoka is a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ); a full member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (mnipr); and an associate member of the Registered Practitioners of Advertising (arpa), regulated by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

    On behalf of the Board and Management of the Commission, I heartily congratulate Reuben on his new role and look forward to working closely with him and his team in Public Affairs Department, as key internal stakeholders in the Commission’s re-engineering processes to meet and surpass Federal Government’s expectations for a robust telecommunications sector and a remarkably emergent digital economy.

  • Beyond banning pornography – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Beyond banning pornography – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    In a rather dramatic twist last week, the Federal government gave online interactive platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and others 24 hours deadline to remove, pull down or disable, block access to all pornography on their platforms which include full or partial nudity, sexual acts or content that exposed a person’s private parts targeted to corrupt, harass, intimidate or to bring others into disrepute. These platforms were also asked to exercise due diligence in order to ensure that henceforth no pornographic material or any such offensive materials is uploaded to their platforms. The Code of Practice containing the prohibition of pornographic materials was developed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in collaboration with the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) with inputs from Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google and TikTok.

    This is praiseworthy. I remember attending a stakeholders’ meeting at the NCC headquarters in Abuja three years ago to deliberate on the offensive materials uploaded on the Internet. In that meeting, the NCC assured all of us attendees that it was poised to eliminate pornography on the Internet and social media spaces in Nigeria. Also I remember having a meeting with the NBC Monitoring Team at the NBC headquarters in Abuja last year for the same purpose. Also in that meeting, the NBC Monitoring Team did not mince words in assuring me that the NBC was working hard to rid the TV in Nigeria of sexual and pornographic materials. It is gladdening that both the NCC and NBC are finally living up to their promises and now tackling porn and eroticism on the Internet and social media.

    Pornography is a bilion dollar business. Movies, musical videos, Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok are fraught with erotic and sleazy scenes and immoral sexual cues. Nudity is promoted and dished out in spades. The minds of the younger generation are gradually becoming attuned to thinking that a woman’s body is an object that has no other value except sexual value. Explicit commercial pornography, which appeals to the prurient interest in sex and eroticism, damages a country’s moral ecology in an analogous way in which oil pollutant damages a country’s ecology and environment. A report recently released in the US says that adult pornography contributes to child sexual exploitation. The report also shows that men act out with child prostitutes what they view in internet adult pornography and that pimps use internet adult pornography to instruct child prostitutes.

    In case you don’t know, porn has destroyed many marriages. A husband or wife who is a porn addict is unlikely to be faithful to his or her spouse in marriage. You may be aware that the TV Reality Show BBNaija is classified as porn. In December 2007 the NBC slammed a gargantuan fine of N10 million on Multi-choice Nigeria for airing BBNaija containing pornographic scenes (If you are in doubt of this, just google “Multi-choice fined for showing BBNaija porn in 2007”). Earlier, Multichoice had been dragged before the House of Representatives Committee for Information and National Orientation. After deliberating on the pornographic content of BBNaija, members of the Committee unanimously agreed to punish Multichoice for violating the NBC laws. Officials of Multichoice pleaded for leniency. The then MNET tendered an apology to Nigerians for showing pornography. Heads rolled at MNET. Some MNET staffers have been fired. MNET’s operation director, Mr. Joseph Hunda, was quoted as saying that he regretted the pornography because MNET is supposed to be protecting the image of Nigeria.

    The most frightening aspect of porn addiction is that the greater majority of viewers and recipients of porn debauchery are children. Times have changed. We have lost the control of our children. We are experiencing online child terrorism. Most Nigerian children now watch porn online or on their mobile phones. With their eyes glued to their smartphones, many children nowadays can hardly tell the difference between truth and illusion. They can hardly differentiate between the real-world and imaginary world of the internet and social media. The high incidence of rape and child sexual molestation in Nigeria are traceable to pornography. As I earlier said, times have changed. Parenting is failing or has failed in Nigeria. Workism-the adoption of professional work as one’s highest value-is taking a big toll on Nigerian families. Engrossed in the hustle and bustle of urban life in order to earn enough money to pay school fees and fend for their children, most parents in urban areas have little or no time to look after their children. The consequences of this neglect have been devastating. One major consequence of this shirking of parental responsibility is the increase in child pornography. Armed with their respective mobile phones, most children are now porn addicts. Aside from child porn, child LGTB culture is gaining ground in Nigeria. Disney and other morally-bankrupt agents of the West are now promoting gay movies, gay cartoons and LGTB ideology among under-6 children in Africa (Nigeria inclusive) in order to damage the character of these kids before they grow up. Is this not criminal? Of course, it is. I remember travelling to Abuja and getting the National Film and Video Census Board (NFVCB) to stop a gay film which had been advertised and scheduled to be shown at a popular Abuja Cinema Hall.

    So the latest initiative of the authorities to ban porn on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google and Tik Tok, as I earlier said, is praiseworthy. But beyond placing a mere paper ban porn on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google and Tik Tok, the authorities should figure out effective ways of getting Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google and Tik Tok to remove or pull down porn from their platforms. Nigeria’s problem is not paucity of laws: it is enforcement of the existing laws or obedience to the existing laws. For example, the 24 hours given to Twitter, Facebook, WhtsApp, Instagram, Google and Tik Tok to yank off the porn on their respective platforms had since last week elapsed and no compliance yet from Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google and Tik Tok. The BBNaija porn was banned in Nigeria as far back as 2007 yet the porn is still being aired today on almost all the media and platforms in Nigeria including Nigerian TV. Nigeria remains one of the few countries in the world whose soil serves as a dumping ground for all sorts of fakeries and hazardous things. The Nigerian market is littered with adulterated drugs, pesticides, obsolete computers, hazardous already-used UK mobile phones, fake batteries, fake tyres, fake biros, fake building materials, fake “pure” water and so forth. I have given the NCC the following advice in the past and I feel obliged today to give them the same advice if they would listen to me. Borrowing the Internet Censorship practices in the United Kingdom, Russia, India, China and other countries, the NCC should commence the Internet Protocol (IP) blocking, Domain Name Servers (DNS) filtering and redirection, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) filtering, Packet filtering, Man-in-the middle attack, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) reset in Nigeria. As done abroad, the NCC should create censorship watchdogs. Such watchdogs, comprising, maybe NGOs or members of civil society, shall be responsible for alerting the NCC when porn or any other objectionable content is intercepted. The watch dogs should be in charge of preparing a comprehensive list of IP addresses to be blocked or blacklisted for non-compliance with NCC directives. As practiced in most countries now, the NCC should get the ISPs to filter away porn from the internet as well as information on the Internet promoting unlawful conducts such as economic fraud or encouraging children to commit suicide or acts endangering their lives or information inciting ethnic violence, or incitement political secession or promoting drug addiction, bestiality, homosexual and lesbian lifestyles or information promoting terrorism or banditry or kidnapping. The citizens should be encouraged to send grievances and complaints to the NCC on the aforesaid crimes.

    In essence, the NCC should adopt the internet filtering methods practised in other countries. For example, former British Prime Minister David Cameron had marked out concrete ways to block access to online pornography in the United Kingdom. Cameron had repeatedly warned the British public that internet pornography is capable of “corroding childhood”. “In a really big step forward, all the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have re-wired their technology so that once your filters are installed, they cover any device connected to your home internet account”, said Cameron. In copying the good example of the United Kingdom in this matter, all Nigeria ISPs should be made to rewire their technology so that once filters are installed, it will cover any device connected to home internet accounts. Kamlesh Vaswani, the lawyer who pushed for the ban on internet sites hosting pornography in India, said that online pornography has a direct co-relation with crimes against children and women. According to him, “watching porn itself puts the country’s security in danger, encourages violent acts, unacceptable behaviour in society, exploitation of children and lowers the dignity of women”. China’s internet filtering methods are very wide and more extensive than in other countries. They include Internet Protocol (IP) blocking, Domain Name Servers (DNS) filtering and redirection, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) filtering, Packet filtering, Man-in-the middle attack, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). In Russia, an internet user does not browse anything. Russia has what is called the blacklist laws. For example, in July 2012 the State of Duma enacted a law that calls for blacklisting of certain internet sites especially sites that promote drug addiction, porn addiction, suicide advocacy or sites with harmful contents against children.

    Many lawsuits relating to colossal damage done to children online have arisen in the United States in recent years. One of such lawsuits is the famous case involving a teenager from California called Justin Berry. At 13, Justin Berry thought the internet was the best place for him to make friends but he ended up becoming a drug addict and sex addict that led to the ruin of his life. Testifying before members of the Congressional Panel, Justin said that they were many kids like him in the US who unknown to their parents had been ruined by online drug and sex addiction. That is why in many States in the US today it is illegal to post or text suggestive or sexually explicit images to minors. In fact, child pornography charges are being brought against internet users in the U.S. Also charges are brought against people in the U.S. for luring children into the online activity known as “sexting”. It is said that 1 out of every 5 children in the US has had sexual solicitation from the internet chat room. This explains why most U.S. parents are now being encouraged to be proactive in supervising how their children use the Internet.

    I believe Nigeria can take the same safety measure as the U.S. It is sad that despite the fact that child pornography is outlawed in Nigeria, Nigerian minors are still having unimpeded access to pornography. This should stop. Nigerian parents are in a hurry to purchase mobile phones for their kids including kids in junior secondary school forgetting that they are exposing their kids to potential dangers. Nigerian parents should complement the work of NCC by supervising that their children stay away from browsing pornography on their phones.