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Tag: Okoh Aihe

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • NITDA Social Media Code…. It begins with a Draft, always – By Okoh Aihe

    NITDA Social Media Code…. It begins with a Draft, always – By Okoh Aihe

    At a time men and women of fertile knowledge of history were celebrating Democracy Day penultimate Monday, a government agency, the National Information Development Agency (NITDA) was releasing a document that could have a very damaging impact on the ability of people to have a say on those who govern them.

    It was totally unexpected. On that very day in 1993, June 12, Nigerians voted in a democratic election that was clearly marked as one of the freest and fairest in our history as a nation. In a most unexpected twist of events, the government cancelled the election and then the process escalated until it claimed the life of the winner, Chief Moshood Abiola,  and threw the nation into further confusion and mourning.

    If the eleven page document titled, CODE OF PRACTICE FOR INTERACTIVE COMPUTER SERVICE PLATFORMS/ INTERNET INTERMEDIARIES, was intended to make a surreptitious entry into the public domain, some keen eyes quickly blew the lid to call attention to such an unfolding opprobrium. At no time was there such a classic irony which had no respect for the victims of that troubling era of our history. Must the document be released that very day, June 13, a public holiday, since June 12 fell on a Sunday?

    All that title, hidden in very beautiful language is just a veneer to put a shine on a document that could turn an instrument of terror in the hands of some government officials. Fortunately, it is still a draft. But that is how it begins, the journey that could gather all the wickedness and debris, and form a total assault on the psyche of the people.

    The government will gather some smart civil servants to do a document, and with the mind that they are fulfilling their official obligations and working for their nation, actually settle down to do a brilliant job; first as a draft, which is then hijacked by some hawks in government and make it an instrument of terror and oppression. The beautiful intentions always form the preambles but the real intentions are buried in the lines which in their beauty also disguise the hemlock.

    The document above which, for the sake of my health and the safety of my tongue, I will call the Social Media Code but which the originators call THe Code of Practice, was an inter-ministerial effort, jointly scribbled by officials of the Ministry of Information and Culture, represented by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, represented by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and NITDA. For months the Civil servants met at the NCC to execute a brief that may have been properly handed to them by two bellicose ministers in this administration. They said there were inputs from industry and professions. The veracity of that claim could unfold with time.

    The scope and application of The Code of Practice which nebulously cover all Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries, and activities conducted on the digital ecosystem across the nation, shall have the following objectives: Set out best practices required of Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries; Set out best practices that will make the digital ecosystem safer for Nigerians and non-Nigerians in Nigeria; Set out measures to combat online harms such as disinformation and misinformation; and Adopt and apply a co-regulatory approach towards implementation and compliance.

    Those who are in the business of information ventilation and marketing, media organisations whose businesses are becoming highly but progressively interactive, whoever is in a position to ever take a short journey into cyberspace or those blessed enough to possess some little tools that could probably enhance what Prof Ola Rotimi of blessed memory called each-one-tell-one, should be interested in the contents of The Code of Practice.

    Some people I contacted were not amused by this draft at all, because for them NITDA is a development agency and not a regulator. For these guys I rely on this cliche for redemption, “The devil is in the details.” Certain things have been allowed to pass or happen without anybody showing interest. That is what has coalesced into the rot that is choking the nation today; some people flaunting some skewed documents to enjoy an advantage even if the nation is hurt or in ruins.

    Under the NITDA Act 2007 ACT NO. 28, the first function of the agency is to “Create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria and all matters related thereto and for that purpose, and which without detracting from the generality of the foregoing shall include providing universal access for Information Technology and systems penetration including rural, urban and under-served areas.”

    I am tempted to believe that the phrase, regulation of Information Technology practices, is being interpreted loosely to accommodate media practices and even some little cyberspace pastimes that some dodos could feel uncomfortable with.

    But should Nigeria be a lawless country where people could spew all kinds of scurrilities in cyberspace to endanger the peace and harmony of the society? God forbid!

    Such possibility, including cyber waywardness, was envisaged by the CYBERCRIMES (PROHIBITION, PREVENTION, ETC) ACT of  2015. Below is the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum: “The Act provides an effective, unified and comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of cybercrimes in Nigeria. This act also ensures the protection of critical national information infrastructure, and promotes cybersecurity and the protection of computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programs, intellectual property and privacy rights.”

    I have always said the framers of the Act did a great job and the contents are robust enough to clip any malfeasance that may appear in cyberspace. But here is my guts-feel. Elections are about going into a full swing. In a couple of months the campaigns proper will commence although clandestine campaigns and disinformation are already heralding the shape of things to come. Those who still accommodate a modicum of truth and have a little shred of humanity in them will agree that this government has ruined Nigeria nearly beyond repair. No doubt a litany of information may pour in the open to flagellate this administration and hold it up for the fraud it is, for the damage it has inflicted on the people. There has to be a way to hide such information under a plank. The Code of Practice may just be one of the instruments.

    It is noteworthy now that NITDA has reached out to the industry and other relevant stakeholders to respond with their observations on The Code of Practice before the close of work of June 24, 2022, for the document to be perfected. What an ambush! The date looks intimidatingly close for such a request to earn quality responses.

    But there is nothing to fear because the Nigerian courts are able to defend the Nigerian people. Here is a recent example. When the Nigeria Broadcasting Code  was being amended in 2019, we served several red flags on this column that some embedded interests were playing tricks with the Code in such a pervasive manner that it might not be useful to the industry or even completely destroy it in  the short run. Nobody really cared and the red flags were quickly kicked out of sight by the powerful in big offices, government and private. By the end of May this year that Code was thumped by a High Court sitting in Lagos.

    Should NITDA try to over reach itself with The Code of Practice by appropriating powers it does not possess, I don’t see any Nigerian court being afraid to confine the document to where it belongs, the thrash.

  • Politicians on reality TV show in Abuja – By Okoh Aihe

    Politicians on reality TV show in Abuja – By Okoh Aihe

    The past few weeks have been great moments for broadcasting, the tv genre to be specific. First was the PDP convention held in Abuja, which enjoyed live coverage on television. Second was the convention by the ruling party, the APC which was held  last week. Again, television provided the engaging opportunity for those who could afford a personal organised rescue mission from darkness (power supply challenges) imposed by a government that, in my own estimation, has not done the people well at all.

    Both events would best have been confined as circus shows were life in Nigeria not too traumatised to be given the rating of frivolity, or even a burlesque where characters are hilarious to the extreme. Most Nigerian politicians provide sustained daily entertainment but are very superficial in understanding the issues relating to the health and well-being of their people. For them party conventions provide convenient bazaars to saloon their perfidy.

    For these politicians, television provides a contradiction – to convey truth that cannot be adulterated or skillfully manipulated to serve a predetermined purpose. This brings me to the story of my friend which I have told several times. While hunting for broadcast equipment at the NAB Conference in Las Vegas, my friend came across a camera lens that he would love to purchase but which was very expensive. Some fellows were watching and volunteered to deliver him from his dilemma. Are you a politician, the fellow asked. It was my friend’s turn to be shocked. Why did you ask that kind of question? The intruder was not selfish with his answer. Oh, it is only politicians that are interested in this kind of thing, so that they can use it to double the number of people attending their rallies. You see the lack of faith in the sincerity of politicians is globally epidemic.

    Back to the politicians at the conventions in Abuja. I was more interested in the epiphany of the ruling party which, like the nza bird in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, is challenging the supremacy of the creator of the heavens and the earth, to rule forever and keep the country blighted into the foreseeable future. I have lived in this nation since when I was small and could not see the world beyond the confines of my town. I have seen governments come and go, including the military whose word was pure command to the bloody civilians. I have seen them fly high like the nza bird after a great meal but then come down to earth in resounding eternal infamy. I was very interested in what the ruling party had to say to defend itself from the trauma that it has imposed on the land.

    Perhaps by way of pointing them to a path of bizarre truth and morbid seriousness of the situation in the nation, some criminals from the pit of hell, just while the party was about to begin its rituals, went to a church in Owo, Ondo State and slaughtered lots of people whose only crime was being born Nigerians and going to a church on a Sunday morning to serve their God. The outrage is in the air and typically, no arrest has reportedly been made.

    But there was another challenge, TV is useless without power supply. You may just have a piece of dark junk box that is as useless as the blackboards in our nation’s universities. I am constrained to say smart boards because the last time I visited one of the most acclaimed universities in the nation, I still carry the memory of what I saw. The boards are in the classes. Very lonely. No teachers to write on them. ASUU has kept the students at home for months and nobody is able to understand the irresponsibility of a government that makes little provision for the tomorrow of our children.

    The first hurdle must be crossed. In the part of the nation where I live, I have not had light for nearly three months straight. The public power supply is in a sorry state; they say the grid always breaks down but there are always reasons for failure although nobody takes responsibility. I needed to buy diesel at N760 a litre, that is when it was still cheap! I hear diesel is over N800 now. It is difficult to understand what is happening in our nation and I thought it would be fitting to hear from a government which came into power on a gossamer of lies and has sustained it ever since.

    The thing about live TV is that it bears the verisimilitude of reality TV, except that some reality TV could just be for pure entertainment. But pray, what is the difference between what we saw in Abuja in the preceding weeks and entertainment. The line is blurred in the level of untruth, the level of diminished tolerance to, or abnegation of reality.

    TV has always been a tool in the hands of the powerful, especially those who go into government and think that they would be there forever. But 1992 made a difference to all that when former maximum leader, Ibrahim Babangida, deregulated the sector. This masterstroke of genius introduced plurality to TV viewing in Nigeria. So at the Eagle Square in Abuja were as many cameras as possible, all feeding live signals to their headquarters for transmission across the nation or even the globe.

    I can testify that live TV does not lie except manipulated, which is not beyond us in this part of the world. The APC that I saw while using the diesel I bought with my scarce resources to power my TV, did not express remorse for the ruination of this nation. Instead, after seven years they still passed the buck to PDP. Why is it impossible for these guys to ever confess the truth?

    I have lived in this nation since when I was a child but had never experienced something close these seven blighted years of the locust. Death has become the cheapest commodity and very epidemic. Death is all over the place, including places of worship; not to talk of those who die on the road everyday or are kidnapped for ritual purposes or organ harvesting. The refrain of this government is to curse perpetrators of these terrible crimes to rot in hell instead of taking concerted action that can give the people hope. In just seven years, the nation’s currency has plummeted to an all time low against the dollar, and the crash continues to intensify. Students have been out of school for months just because the government cannot meet the demands of ASUU members even if the demands may not be able to fund the endowment of a major university in some parts of the world.

    The state of the nation is abysmally chaotic. The roads are bad, infested by bandits; air travel is suffering from the dreariness of an unfocused government; the emerging new bride of movements, the trains, suffered a major hit by terrorists; inflation figures are doctored to reflect a reality that is not available in our stomachs. Life has lost meaning in every sense, and the people needed hope, somebody to inspire them that tomorrow could be pregnant with some answers that can heal the wounds of the past, and provide the energy for the days ahead. Even look at this, the world is in turmoil as a result of the Russian/Ukraine war. Nations are looking for alternative supplies of crude oil. Nobody looked at the direction of Nigeria because even as the APC gathered in Abuja there were queues for fuel at the filling stations and the price of cooking was shooting through the roof. Nobody seeks help from a country that cannot help herself.

    I am watching TV for a moment of confessed truth, instead these politicians in their flowing agbada, tried so hard to lobotomise the present ugliness of life in Nigeria out of my brain. For them, life is a merry-go-round. And come next year, the students who have been at home for months, the parents who buried their deaths at the Lekki Tollgate in October, 2020, and even those who raise money to pay ransom to kidnappers, will return them to power.

    I am watching TV. These people have ruined lives in Nigeria. In the months ahead we shall watch on television too how their ambitions will untangle one after the other. The payback time is not far away.

  • For the NBC, a nightmare that may heal – By Okoh Aihe

    For the NBC, a nightmare that may heal – By Okoh Aihe

    The nightmare which all regulators fear came upon the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) last week. Unable to accept the depth of weakness in the new Nigeria Broadcasting Code which was largely pilloried by all, the NBC allowed itself to be dragged to court by an aggrieved party who challenged some sections of the Code, and the  prayers were granted. As it is, the Code has been thrashed and it can hardly be useful to the industry any more.

    All over the world, no regulator wants to receive a court humiliation. Each defeat  in court hamstrings the regulator and whittles down its capacity for regulation. Some litigations are good to test the capacity of any law, but not this particular case whose end could only bring disaster to the regulator.

    The NBC Act empowers the NBC to work with the industry to produce A Nigeria Broadcasting Code that will guide operations in the broadcast industry. The sixth edition was signed by Ishaq Modibbo Kawu. In all the history of the Code in Nigeria there hardly has been anything so contentious. It may not really be Modibbo’s fault. The hawks took away the process from him, and he was perhaps too weak to cry for help.

    Not everybody was helpless or that weak to take action. Mr Femi Davies went to a Lagos High Court to seek help from a temple which is also taken as the last hope of the common man. There was so much to cry about. The amended sixth edition of the Code  virtually made it impossible for people to transact good business in broadcasting or for a broadcaster to source for premium content to boost his market opportunities. The Code says that after you have done all these things, put special programmes together, or commission prime content like Front Row on M-Net in those days, or even source for football content like premiership or even WWF, you must now make those programmes available to your competitor. It was difficult to locate this development in the realm of common sense, but Davies ran to the Courts to help make sense out of an unfolding development that could ruin the business of so many people.

    Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa did his job clinically without room for emotions. The NBC he said didn’t have the powers to regulate advertising and equally lacks the power to prohibit exclusivity on privately acquired intellectual property right in programme contents of a right holder.

    Said Justice Lewis-Allagoa,  “I agree with the submission that acquisition of exclusive rights to Broadcast a particular program is an investment for returns and by virtue of the above-stated provisions, no one should be forced to surrender same when it is lawfully acquired…

    “I am in agreement with the plaintiff counsel that the said proposed amendment is a violation of the principle of fair hearing and natural justice. The proposed amendment purports that the defendant NBC shall without any fact-finding or recourse to the other party place the advertising agency on its black list, solely based on the complaint of a media house and shall pass its verdict without hearing the other parties.

    “I have determined the questions in the originating summon in favour of the plaintiff. For reasons hereinbefore given, consequently, all the reliefs sought by the plaintiff are granted as prayed. That is the judgment of the court .”

    He therefore set aside the amendment to the 6th Edition of the NBC Code for being ultra vires, incompetent null and void, and perpetually restrained the Commission from implementing it.

    It is the responsibility of the NBC to make a Code but in developing the sixth edition, external but powerful forces took the process away from the Commission and introduced some very unsavoury details which were all primed to create business for some overlords who were not  ready to invest before harvesting.

    There were too many red flags on the Code and we tried to point some out but not so many people have the stomach to accept a truth that is not palatable. We warned that the Code would destroy the industry which is already too fickle but people see the glamour of television and just assume that all is well.

    Here is our position on this matter in June 2020 but which has now been validated by the Honourable Justice Lewis-Allagoa.

    • The broadcast market is an open market where people shop for what they want, just like any open market in Abuja, if stripped of technology accoutrement.

    • All contents are essentially raw until you begin to build them into attractive packages and channels

    • TV especially Satellite, Cable and IPTV, among others, depends on premium programming

    • Broadcasters build premium channels for niche audiences, which sometimes are segmented, for onward marketing to advertisers; niche audiences marketed to advertisers

    • There are business decisions which should be left to business or broadcast partners for them to hammer out a relationship.

    • TV avails are paid for by subscribers and advertisers who are more interested in professionalism than patriotism. But know that patriotism can professionally be packaged to attract commercial interests.

    • Most broadcasters build premium channels to have a special cut of the market. This is not abominable. What is abominable is the fraudulent who wants to hide under patriotism to destabilize the market.

    This writer then concluded at the time that “in spite of some exciting takeaways, the amended Code in the main, is an attack on market democracy. It leaves little encouragement for people to scrutinize why some local broadcast businesses fail in Nigeria and can hardly go beyond our shores while foreigners succeed. What springs hope here is that the life of a Broadcasting Code is four years. It is recommended that the NBC should not begin to savour a mission accomplished but should immediately commence stakeholder engagement on creating a better industry and working on a robust document that will be less discriminatory.”

    With the Code thrashed in court this suggestion has turned the bend to embrace reality. The pronouncement of the court has given my suggestion even more speed. Under this administration, the NBC has suffered the casualty of leadership, so many DGs coming into office in stunning regularity, to the extent that whoever gets into that office will be afraid to take measures that could attract repreminds from the authorities.

    Seven years of this administration hasn’t done broadcasting well. That is not the fault of President Muhammadu Buhari. That is plainly the fault of the supervising minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who is either overzealous or just really has not taken time to understand the business of broadcasting. But whatever it is, it is our opinion here that the NBC has a great opportunity to start afresh, have the strength of character to admit that the sixth edition of the Code was a complete disaster, and then mobilise the industry to develop a document that can do everybody good. So instead of seeing the judgement as a death blow, I see it as a wake-up call to do something more humanising for both man and business.

  • 5G war real, what role for Nigeria? – By Okoh Aihe

    5G war real, what role for Nigeria? – By Okoh Aihe

    Looking at the unfolding scenario in the telecommunications industry, it is coming home real strongly that there was always going to be a scramble for ownership in the deployment of 5G globally. In this scramble, the people will have to be in the frontline and the governments have to add a patriotic flavour of acting in defence of their own people in order to secure a justification for their actions.

    But the real intention is veiled. It’s not really about business or who makes the most humongous amount; no, it is about yesterday, today and tomorrow and well into the future. A guy who tried to give me a schoolboy understanding simply explained that whoever controls 5G will control the future of the world. And really the big superpowers don’t want to have anybody play close to that exclusive propinquity of strength where Armageddon could be activated within minutes.

    Yes. They want to control the mysteries of the world, especially the ones hidden from the understanding of the developing countries whose lot is to scramble for the daily concerns of life. That battle is always defined by leaders, those who really understand the meaning of nationhood and how to nurture it into perpetuity. Those who know that life is real competition and unannounced war games that must be approached with tact. Leadership is not for playboy politicians who stack away the people’s money and, at the least call of headache, run to holiday resorts in the guise of medical tourism, but leaders who could take bruising decisions that could hurt them and even the people in the short run, but yield growth results well into the future.

    While a number of African countries were fighting for independence in the late 50s, the Soviet Union, which had since fragmented into smaller countries with Russia and Ukraine standing out, was already in space with Sputnik launched October 4, 1957. The space war had begun, and the war was unannounced but being fought in the field of technology. Leaders of nations were stoking the war.

    After making several speeches where he declared that the race for space was too important for America to concede to any country, President J.F. Kennedy addressing the Congress on May 25, 1961, issued a strong challenge to his nation, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

    July 20, 1969, America’s Apollo 11 landed on the moon with three astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. While Armstrong was the first to plant his leg on the moon, followed by Aldrin, the two men planted the American flag on the moon with another message on a plaque: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

    Having conquered space, is there peace in the world? Nigerians will confess that with all the killings going on in different parts of the country, they don’t know the meaning of peace any more. With a near obliteration of some cities in Ukraine by Russia, the Ukraineans will spit on the word, peace. In the telecoms ecosystem, the battle is fierce, very fierce and no country wants to yield any space. This is what has instigated this material.

    In the next few months, Nigeria will join some elite countries of the world to enjoy 5G signals after an auction that yielded $273.6m per lot and $547.2m cumulatively for the two lots. The country has remained very effusive, seeing the success of the auction as a vote of confidence by the international community, even if system failures are noticeable across spectrums of the various sectors. After the necessary paperwork and frequency allocation, both Mafab and MTN are putting their houses in order for an epochal service launch. While it will be advised for leaders to lead the country right in picking our pieces together, it will also be advisable that the authorities go beyond the euphoria of 5G launch to look at the stories unfolding in other parts of the world and find a convenient but promising spot for Nigeria.

    China, with her big tech companies leading the 5G revolution, has been at the centre of some of these stories. A country that perennially feels diminished and unappreciated irrespective of groundbreaking achievements, China remains a bright star in the development of 5G technology which it marketed so aggressively around the world until other countries who had similar technology concluded that they could not compete with China in pricing. This has not gone down well with the rest of the world. The scramble to control the future broke in the open and, another word, trust, was thrown in the discourse to attract sentiments over jurisdictional claims. China could not be trusted, and so is their technology!

    The big story in the past few days is the ban placed by Canada on Chinese tech behemoths, Huawei and ZTE, over safety concerns and protection for Canadians.

    The ban, according to industry Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, will improve Canada’s mobile internet services and protect the safety and security of Canadians.

    But Huawei Canada has fired back, saying that this is a political decision that has nothing to do with cyber security and the safety of the people.

    The development was only waiting in the corner to actually happen. All through his stay in government, President Donald Trump had a running battle with China on 5G and took sundry measures to contain the country’s domineering hold on the technology. This is a matter of government policy and not party. It is not the PDP or APC story in Nigeria but decisions taken apolitically from the nation’s point of view that must be sustained over time.

    President Joe Biden inherited that legacy and has sustained it with even more robustness. Biden matched words with action by signing into law a piece of legislation that forbids companies considered as threats from doing business in the U. S. tech sector. The Secure Equipment Act forbids the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reviewing applications from companies ruled a threat.

    FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said at the time that the Secure Equipment Act would “help to ensure that insecure gear from companies like Huawei and ZTE can no longer be inserted into America’s communications networks”.

    The world seems to be closing in on China as they put restrictions on their tech operations. The United Kingdom and Australia have already put their restrictions in place, with all decisions taken as part of security measures to protect businesses and people. While the world does not understand China’s tech growth in sustained moments of orchestrated insularity, its leaders are not prepared to allow them spread their growth, pleading the people and their security as faithful alibi.

    The developed countries also want their tech companies to play a more leading role in the development and deployment of 5G in their domains and other domains of the world, as a way of providing jobs and tech know-how for their people and keeping hold of the future of the world.

    5G is monster technology that will rule today, tomorrow and far into the future. The developed world is taking a declared position to dominate it. The Nigerian authorities should also take a position, by ensuring that Nigeria is not just a user or consumption nation but a developer of, and contributor to a transformative technology whose import could be close to the very day a country’s flag and some messages were left on the moon.

    The 5G war is real. Nigeria should plunge in without restraints.

  • A friend and his Nokia in a challenging telco environment – By Okoh Aihe

    A friend and his Nokia in a challenging telco environment – By Okoh Aihe

    My friend lives in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and naturally feels entitled to the good things coming from the seat of government; or modified slightly, feels entitled to the enhanced quality and bounteous provisions for the status of a country’s capital, the way other capitals of other countries of the world are treated. By way of living the life, he used to walk with some kind of gait, a little swagger which unfortunately has been humbled by reality. Yes, reality is a metaphor that sticks closer than the skin.

    My friend called me within the week and was effusive at the other end but reality supervened. The phone simply went dead while he talked on. When we reconnected much later after several attempts from both ends, the first words that left his mouth was “I am returning to my Nokia 3310.” For me the laughter came very naturally and then, of course, irony quickly obliterated it.

    Yes, the irony of life or even the contradictions that we seem to wear like apparition. My friend is a learned man, not in the manner of the legal practitioners who mock us with being the only learned people around; he got to the zenith of his profession in the civil service before taking a deserved rest. In all his thinking that very day, the only saviour from the down spiral the nation is experiencing in telecom service delivery is the old reliable. Nokia 3310.

    The laughter came because with all my fascination with tech gizmos, I had actually forgotten that specie of Nokia that was very close to me. I loved Nokia and when I had the opportunity to visit their offices and factory in Helsinki, Finland, the fascination grew even stronger; how a company that operated since 1865 as a paper industry could continue to renew itself, going through wars and all the terrible times of history to remain a brand of reference and preference.

    Real growth began in Nigeria’s telecommunication industry in 2001. The Nokia 3310 that my friend remembered a couple of days ago to weather the nation’s telco failing infrastructure, was launched on September 1, 2000. It was a monster product, a direct hit not only in the Nigerian market but globally. Nokia 3310 conveniently replaced the Nokia 3210 and shipped 126million units worldwide. It remains one of the most successful brands of the equipment manufacturer. This was long before Blackberry, iPhone, Samsung, among others, made their hits.

    My friend said Nokia 3310 was rugged; nothing tantalising or seductive. One could forget it in a taxi and the cab driver would call you back to take your equipment.

    How we seem to have made so much progress in the country! Running far into the future and, all of a sudden, everything is put in reverse gear. The journey is not only slowed down but growth and development are compromised or just wiped off by the selfish and or uninformed decisions of those who hold sensitive positions in government.

    I couldn’t tell my friend that the problem was not the tool in his hand or even the networks but some extraneous activities that seem to subterraneously sabotage the business of those who genuinely set out to provide telecom services. Abuja, the seat of government is a very notorious point of reference, and it has worn this garb of infamy since the days of el-Rufai who, as the Minister of FCT at the time, told everybody who cared to listen, that the city was not designed with telecom base stations in mind. Years later, the story continues, and more people are streaming into the city in search of daily survival, and struggling for the little telecom signals floating out there.

    My friend would love to conjure up his Nokia 3310 or simply just wave a magic wand and bring it back to life. But reality forbids certain things except in the field of pure abracadabra where things could be more illusory than real.

    Market deregulation started in Nigeria in 1992 with the telecommunications and broadcast industries enjoying the benevolence of the military who loved to hold on to power and certain industries. That action which was through military decrees has further been cemented by the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 and the National Broadcasting Commission Act CAP N11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

    For instance, the functions of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are clearly spelt out in Section 4 of the Act which, among others include: “the facilitation of investments in and entry into the Nigerian market for provision and supply of communications services, equipment and facilities.” This, for me, is one of the primary functions of the NCC but the execution has been rendered very difficult by all kinds of sundry intrusions that are manifest signs of the times we are in as a nation.

    My friend will need to hear this and stop blaming his receive equipment. Just a little inquisition at the Commission within the week, multiple sources told this writer that one of the biggest problems responsible for quality of service are fibre cuts by construction workers, which happen across the nation. At some point between 50 and 70 cuts were recorded daily. Giving very troubling figures a particular source said that in a single year, between 15, 000 and 26, 000 fibre cuts could be recorded. “How do you get good quality of service under this condition?( the source moaned.

    It is quite clear here that although the NCC is responsible to some key stakeholders which include: the government, the subscribers and the operators, there is the need to add the people factor which seems to be causing overriding health concerns for the telecom industry. Beyond regulation, there may be the need for the NCC to create peace ambassadors, because it is the people that make up the construction workers; it is the people that will extort all kinds of money from the operators and shut down their services with minuscule provocations.

    Of course there are so many things in the plate at the moment that I am sure by now the regulator will be flummoxed. Insecurity is not letting off, power generation has dipped very badly, and the cost of diesel to power base stations and deliver other sundry services has broken all economic wisdom. It is a miracle that there are services at all.

    But the Abuja situation gets more complicated when the above concerns are added to what seems a boiling cauldron already. Industry sources expressed displeasure that authorities of the FCT are taking the collocation services providers through a wringer, either in their demand for superfluous charges or even to get permits for new base stations. Frontlined by the Department of Outdoor Advertising and Signages, (DOAS) the authorities are charging as much as N1.5m for site processing fee,

    N500,000 for administrative renewal fee, and another N20,000 as application fee. The collocation service providers which include: IHS, ATC, SWAP, Communication Towers, among so many others, are carrying a perpetual headache at the FCT which they now also pass to the service providers before the subscribers. And my friend hopes that Nokia 3310 will deliver him from all this. What a joke!

    I am told that the regulator has gone beyond regulation to engage in negotiations with intransigent state agencies, and also promote peace. It has to do more, otherwise the investment and service deployment which it is charged to promote will take a flight to saner environments.

  • Looking at the books to make 5G a success story – By Okoh Aihe

    Looking at the books to make 5G a success story – By Okoh Aihe

    In the euphoric readiness to receive 5G services into the country’s telecom ecosystem, nobody is noticing the fast disappearing line between the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, headed by a Minister in the Ministry. While the regulator is in charge of regulating the industry, the Ministry is mostly concerned with policies properly framed to help grow the industry. That is what the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 says but this in practice can be tossed through the window especially if there is a head of the ministry that is froth with power and indecency.

    A little story in the papers last week troubles the mind. It was reported that the regulator has issued 5G Licences to MTN and Mafab Communications at an occasion where the operators were told to roll out services in August. The other day it was the Federal Government officially handing over 5G Spectrums to the NCC long after the auction took place; meaning that during the auction there were really no products for sale. And a licence cost $273.6m!

    There was something a little bit odd in this development. The NCC has issued major licences since 2001, never has there been this level of sustained, orchestrated jubilee of little feats. For the discerning, the industry needs concentrated attention to redeem it from a litany of problems. But at the moment it seems we are more concerned just with the existence of the industry and organising little episodic celebrations rather than curing it of its ills.

    This writer is apprised of enough information that the regulator would like to go on with its daily regulatory schedules but for external pressures and meddlesomeness which are nearly squeezing life out of it. Or how would one ever explain the regulator directing the two licensees to rollout service from August this year. Was it the regulator speaking or it was just a ventriloquist for another voice? Will the regulator deliberately go against its rules?

    The rules may not be cast in stone but they are out there, in the licensing documents as a guide to what happens in the industry in the days and years ahead. This is captured in the Information Memorandum which appears flexible and quite accommodating of the weaknesses in the industry. This is what the document says about the roll out of 5G commercial services.

    “The launch of commercial services shall be not later than 12 months after the effective date of the Licence.” Really, it is not in months because of the challenging nature of 5G roll out.

    For effective roll out, coverage and full compliance with spelt out service obligations, the successful bidder shall be assigned the 3.5 GHz Frequency licence and the Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) where applicable and shall roll out services as follows: Year 1 to 2 – Starting from the effective date of the licence. Rollout service in at least one State in each geo-political zone: SW, SS, SE, NC (Including FCT), NW and NE.

    From Year 3 to 5, additional 6 States other than those in Year 1 to 2, across the six geo-political zones, while from Year 6 to 10, Operators are encouraged to roll out across all other States. Please note that Service in each state would mean a minimum of 5 sites in a state. Minimum speed of 100 Mbps DL using applicable test measurement tools.

    MTN’s UASL expired last year after a duration of twenty years and was subsequently renewed in August to take effect from September 1, 2021. One can say MTN has been ready ever since for an effective 5G roll out. At the moment, this writer was reliably informed, the UASL licence for Mafab is being processed to enable the rookie organisation achieve a universal (national) service roll out. This also means that Mafab is at the point of crossing what seems to be the final huddle in its audacious attempt to join the elite group of service providers. Things are falling in place pretty well and a stampede into action by any entity should not be encouraged at all.

    Heading towards the 5G licensing, I was fascinated to find everybody occupying his/her lane on the road in the regulatory process. Going through the 5G Policy again one could see the Minister, Dr Isa Pantami, painstakingly explaining his involvement in developing the Policy, quoting the relevant sections of the Act, Section 23, which says: The Minister shall have the following responsibilities and functions pursuant to the Act – (a) the formulation, determination and monitoring, of the general policy for the communications sector in Nigeria with a view to ensuring, amongst others, the utilisation of the sector as a platform for the economic and social development of Nigeria; (b) (Section 25) The Minister shall, in writing, from time to time notify the Commission of and express his views on the general policy direction of the Federal Government in respect of the communications sector.

    The Minister has relied on sections of the Act to develop a 5G Policy for Nigeria, which so far, has been keenly interpreted by the regulator in developing a licensing document, including service obligations that will do the nation good. However, time has come for all parties to follow the second part of Section 25, which says, In the execution of functions and relationship with the Commission, the Minister shall at all times ensure that the independence of the Commission, in regards to the discharge of its functions and operations under this Act, is protected and not compromised in any manner whatsoever.

    We shall return to that. As the nation gears up for 5G services, it may be relevant to recall some industry problems, even listed in the Policy. They include but are not limited to multiple taxation, right of way (RoW) challenges in nearly all parts of the country, and power. At the moment power generation is at an all time low in the country, thus needing genuinely concerted action or even a miracle to elevate it to a minimal level of acceptability. The activities surrounding 5G roll out are intense and demanding. More small unit base stations are needed for service to even happen. It is cost intensive and extremely demanding and challenging in terms of cost and labour. The government therefore must play its role in mitigating the headache of those with the large heart to invest in the industry.

    On a final note, an Annual Stakeholders Consultative Forum on New Technologies was scheduled for Sheraton, Lagos on Monday, May 10, 2022. The forum was highly publicised but cancelled in the last minute after a compressive arrangement had been put in place. The reason for the cancellation is totally disambiguated. Pray, who is afraid to really hold up Section 25 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 and wave it on the face of any intruding supremo?

  • Subsea cables as metaphor for a great future – By Okoh Aihe

    Subsea cables as metaphor for a great future – By Okoh Aihe

    There is a point at which a point of advantage becomes a curse especially if the possessor fails or refuses to mine it’s advantages with the hope and prayer that it will last forever. They fail to observe the speedy evolutionary process of the world, especially in the tech ecosystem, with the fervent prayer that what they hold will become a holy grail.

    My mind is on the SAT-3/WASC undersea cable for which NITEL was the subscriber on behalf of Nigeria. The cable connects Nigeria to some countries in Africa – South Africa and the west coast, and Europe. Nigeria’s subscription to the cable was domiciled in NITEL. At the time the cable was a goldmine and NITEL, occupying the position of industry peacock, enjoyed the advantage while it lasted. Thankfully, I am sincerely encouraged that the cable did not join the realm of the dodos but has remained functional and useful.

    Instead, what has happened is that the ecosystem is changing fast and the continent is simply enjoying some advantages of undersea cable bombardment, literally, being an emerging realm of humanity that holds significant economic promises which the rest of the world is scrambling to benefit from.

    The scramble began from our home front. Some smart investors had looked at the industry to get to the understanding that it could be likened to the big elephant which the beholder can define from different perspectives . The shape and size of the market was beyond what NITEL could handle and they decided to play an audacious role. Glo invested in Glo-1 submarine cable from Europe. It was the first time an individual in the person of Mike Adenuga would undertake such an economic daredevil adventure. Almost at the same time, MainOne, boldly and ingeniously marshalled by Judith Opeke, was weaving another magic loom to be the first woman ever in Nigeria to lead an enterprise to undertake such a risky but profitable venture. The MainOne high capacity cable was born. Just by way of explaining the importance and growing relevance of such enterprise, the business was sold to an American company, Equinix for $320m in 2021.

    There are other ones, translating into what one can describe as submarine cable boom for Africa, thus increasing capacity and data and internet capabilities. They include: SEAS, SEACOM, TEAMs, EASSy, LION, LION2, Africa-1, PEACE, METISS, DARE-1, METISS, ELLALINK and ACE, among others. The interesting story is that from a seeming disadvantaged position just about two decades ago, the continent is awash with cable penetration. The speed is measured in several terabits per second. There seems to be interest and excitement in the unfolding market and that interest is not waning at all.

    However, the conversation around cable penetration in Africa has only heightened with recent developments, exemplified in the landing of the Google cable in Lagos. Creatively named Equiano in order to enjoy some historical recall, the cable launch attracted lots of government and industry attention but equally brought renewed interest on the necessity and economic potential of such a project, and why Google would be the one to put funds into executing the project. The future Equiano holds for the country couldn’t be buried in the high level politics which tried to steal its importance. The lesson however being that a significant tech development has just taken place in the country, more so, when the funding was external at a time Nigeria is in perpetual low.

    In announcing the development, Google’s West Africa Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, waxed lyrical in a note which was also laced with some analytics,

    “Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy. Still, the share of people using the internet stood at approximately 35% as of 2020 – double what it was in 2012. Across much of the country, people lack affordable, reliable & quality access, which limits their ability to benefit from, and contribute to, the digital economy.”

    She acknowledged the digital transformation initiatives of the government since 2017,

    which have proven pivotal to the success of many industries in the country, especially the start-up space. In the last five years, start-ups in Nigeria have produced five unicorns (start-ups valued at over a billion dollars). Businesses are also benefiting significantly from the usage of internet platforms, with total e-commerce annual expenditure predicted to climb to $75 billion by 2025, up from its current projection of US $12 billion.

    Equiano, she informed, is expected to deliver up to 20 times more capacity than the region’s prior cables.

    “A recent economic impact assessment conducted by Africa Practice and Genesis Analytics states that Equiano’s arrival in Nigeria is expected to result in faster internet speeds and significantly improve people’s experiences while online. Internet speeds in Nigeria are expected to grow almost six fold by 2025, and retail internet prices are forecasted to decline by 21% over the same period. The same study found that by 2025, real GDP in Nigeria is forecast to be USD 10.1 billion higher than it otherwise would have been without Equiano and that the cable would indirectly generate roughly 1.6 million new jobs between 2022 and 2025,” she said.

    No politician sees a begging opportunity and leaves it unharvested. Pursuing a ready advantage, the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, soaked in the euphoria of an unfolding history.

    “There is much to be excited about, at a time like this in the unfolding history of Lagos State and of Nigeria. We are seeing an unprecedented inflow of investments into every part of Lagos, from local and foreign investors who understand the immense business and commercial potential that the State symbolizes. We say it often, that wherever Lagos goes, Nigeria and West Africa follow. With this in mind, as the government of Lagos State, we are more than ever determined to deliver on our promise to make and maintain Lagos as a safe, livable, innovative and prosperous megacity,” he enthused.

    If you were in the Governor’s shoes, you would say even more. Lagos is the commercial pride of the nation. Despite some clumsiness in handling some issues, it has endured the vicissitudes of a troubled nation. Lagos is the state playing host to all the cable dramas in the country. But interpreting what is happening there seems to give the indication that the world takes us too seriously as a nation. Here is a country that gives just 3,500 megawatts of electricity to its over 200m population while another country within Africa, just about five hours of flight time from Nigeria, gives about 60,000 megawatts to a population of 50m.

    The world takes us too seriously. But they are right because they see what our leaders don’t see. They look at the nation’s contribution to the global human capital index, they look at survival instincts of the tech companies that make up the tech ecosystem in Nigeria, and how well they are doing, they look are the floundering huge population immersed in harsh socio-political climate, which someday, will survive their various governments to pry open the appurtenances of the last big market in the world.

    The stats are too strong to fail. The collage of subsea cables in Lagos presents an instructive metaphor of a beautiful but promising future that the nation must approach with deliberate speed and caution. This future is too bright to be betrayed. A communications superstructure is being put in place at a huge cost to the investors. The responsibility of the government is to create the right channels and opportunities for the citizenry to take advantage of such efforts.

  • Spiritual Intelligence shoots Prof Aibinu to the Summit – By Okoh Aihe

    Spiritual Intelligence shoots Prof Aibinu to the Summit – By Okoh Aihe

    The first time I saw him, there was something comfortably weird about him. His intellection was exuberantly provocative but also quite attractively magnetic. There was some level of enthusiasm about him that naturally infected those around him, which instantly mobilised them to share and participate in his strange search for some kind of esoteric ideas and possibilities that weigh above human comprehension and some level of acceptability.

    Yes. I met Prof Abiodun Musa Aibinu at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, a few years ago, where he was lead lecturer in Mechatronics, an evolving genre of study that he was pushing towards Spiritual Intelligence. For the nerd, you may have heard of Artificial Intelligence, which was included in his pedagogy, native intelligence and all that stuff, but Spiritual Intelligence was in the upper limit, and I remember that in one of his presentations, it drew quite some absurd expectations and even more hilarious responses, until he struck his point.

    “Spiritual intelligence,” he said, “can be described as “the adaptive use of spiritual information to facilitate everyday problem solving and goal attainment,” explaining that his research interest on spiritual intelligence will focus on its adaptation to advancing learning, innovation, problem solving and development of self-consciousness.

    Yes. Aibinu is an audacious fighter in his academic pursuits, and that is one reason his students at the institute where he mobilised them for new pursuits, love him. And there are stories that are very moving. A young graduate who had finished National Youth Service had visited her department to find out how the research they started was going. On getting there to see the level of work, the young lady was trapped and simply refused to return home. The Intelligence bug had hooked her and her excitement was beyond limit when this writer visited the school. So was the case of two young men who had done so well in their research pursuit that a branch of the security service simply snatched them away even before they could do their National Youth Service. Their work with the security would cover all that.

    In his Inaugural Lecture, titled: Spiritual Intelligence : Beyond Mechatronics Engineering and Artificial Intelligence, Prof Aibinu captured a slice of his object of teaching as reproduced below.

    “Presently, the objectives of our Bachelor degree programme in Mechatronics include: producing graduates with competences in engineering design and analysis, providing research opportunities in Mechatronics Engineering or related disciplines, and providing required advanced professional knowledge in the industrial set up.

    “Our Mechatronics Engineering programme at DOME, FUT Minna, focuses on the following key elements, namely: Artificial Intelligence, Signals and Systems, Digital Signals and Image Processing, Sensors and Actuators, Physical Systems Modeling, Software and Data Acquisition and Human Machine Interface,” he enthused.

    But there is another thing that is a little bit intriguing. Aibinu is a product of the telecommunications industry, apart from his academic proclivities. He had worked in the industry and had street experience and face-to-face contacts with the ordinary people and their needs for daily communications.

    Prior to venturing into academic field, he had worked with: MTN Communications (Nigeria) Limited; GS Telecom (Nigeria) Limited; DCC Satellite and Networks Limited; Oganla Consulting and Investment limited; Communications Associates Limited, just to mention but a few. Not many people will remember some of these companies, but all I can say here is that the journey to build an enduring tech ecosystem started in the country long ago. Some of these companies featured prominently in that process. At some point, and I remember this point with gratitude, Communications Associates offered free lectures for tech reporters as a way of preparing them for the journey ahead. An organisation like MTN, where Aibinu had worked first as Microwave Transmission Planning Engineer and later as Materials Planner under the Capital Projects group, only came in the last two decades but fortunately has made redeeming contributions to rescuing the nation’s telecoms sector from shame, the sort we have seen in other sectors, signs of failed leadership that have pushed the country to the edge.

    The point here is that Aibinu is combining industry and street experiences with academics in other to deliver valuable knowledge to the society.

    Two of his projects were particularly very exciting to me, perhaps because of my biases on one hand and his ability to incorporate the students on the other. Part of the pitch process for a research grant at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) then was the readiness of the lead researcher to include students in the work. Aibinu did that with zest. Two of his completed projects with his students for the NCC are: Multiple Operators SIM Card (MOES) and the Intelligent Walking Cane Robot (I-Walking Stick).

    The MOES card is expected to provide subscribers with the privilege of enjoying good services from available mobile network operators without the added expenses of having more than one phone or a phone with multiple SIM slots. The developed MOES card in the form of a new cognitive phone is expected to guarantee all time access to networks with the best available signal strength and quality of service (QOS), even while in transit on Nigerian highways and roads.

    Similarly, the Intelligent Walking Cane Robot (I-Walking Stick) was introduced in order to provide ambulatory support to the aged, persons with disability, and persons lacking the ability for autonomous ambulation. Apart from providing basic walking aid support, the walking stick has an inbuilt mobile phone, intelligent fall detection and obstacle detection. The projects are in the process of commercialisation.

    Prof Aibinu has won some other research grants from within and outside Nigeria which include: Nigerian Communications Commission research grants in 2015, 2016 and 2019; TETFUND Research grants in 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020; Royal Academy of Engineering Research Grant Award, 2019; University of Leeds E-Waste Grant, 2020; and Kaduna State Government Research Grant, 2020.

    At the moment Aibinu calls himself an advocate of Spiritual Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence and AcadoPreneurship. The last word smells of obscurantism. But it simply means an academic who is delving into the world of business. He needs our prayers however as he tries to commercialise some of his research works.

    Prof Aibinu needs our prayers even more today, for the euphoric reason that on April 22, 2022, he resumed as the Vice Chancellor, Summit University, Offa, Kwara State. I have been lucky to have relationships with a number of Vice Chancellors in some of our universities. From discussions with them I know a little bit of the politics that comes in the way of scholarship. My little advice for Aibinu is to do more of administration than politics, stay in the classroom, and stay even closer to the students whose contributions have escalated his academic sojourn with good speed.

    I wish him well.