NITDA rejigs, ready to fulfil mandate – DG

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has hinted that the Agency will now focus on its core Mandates, in a renewed move to serve the ICT industry and the economy better.
NITDA established in May 2001 has been a waltzing story of failures and inadequacies, unable to meet its clear mandate of fostering the development and growth of IT in Nigeria.
But Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, director general of the agency said all that is about to change because NITDA was not established as a mere ‘contract’ awarding agency. ‎
He stated this at a meeting ‎with heads of parastatsls under NITDA, CEOs, presidents of Associations and other stakeholders in the ICT industry, ‎ ‎at eNigeria conference and exhibitions 2016.
“We need collaborations to reform NITDA and make it more productive. First, I am reiterating that I am not in NITDA to award contracts. If we must, such contract must take us closet to implementing our core mandates; it has to lift the nation from economic quagmire. I have spent few months into my appointment

Gov. Ahmed to build N500m Computer Village in Ilorin

The Kwara State Government commitment’s to the expansion of employment opportunities and entrepreneur development has received a boost with the groundbreaking of Harmony Hub (Computer Village) in Ilorin, the state capital, by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed.
Speaking at the groundbreaking, Governor Ahmed said the Computer Village would directly employ about 600 youths when fully operational.
This will be apart from the hundreds of indirect jobs that would be created in the process of its construction.
The Governor noted that the Computer Village, which is estimated to cost N500 million, would be funded through contractor financing as well as pre-sales or off-taker arrangements.
He noted that Information Communication Technology has huge potential of employment generation and empowerment.
“Nigeria’s ICT sector is reputed as the largest in Africa with $18 billion investments and 28 per cent internet penetration as of 2013,” the governor said.
Governor Ahmed promised that his government would continue to work with the network of investors and

NCC receives 4,304 complaints on unsolicited telemarketing in 9 months

The Nigerian Communications Commission received a total of 4,304 complaints concerning unsolicited telemarketing, both voice and text, within nine months, Ayoola Oke, the Chief Executive Officer of ICT Derivatives Ltd, has said.
Oke made this known at the 4th Quarter Meeting/Open Forum of the Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) on Thursday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the theme of the forum is: “Do-Not-Disturb: Panacea To Unsolicited Messages”.
He said that the complaints were received from telecommunications consumers through ‘Walk-in, Outreach Events, Letters, Emails, Consumer Web Portal and the Call Centre (622).
According to him, in the first quarter of 2016, the regulatory body received a total of 2,325 complaints on unwanted and disturbing telemarketing.
He said that of the 2,325 complaints, 13 were through walk-in to NCC’s centre, outreach events and letters from telecommunications subscribers, 28 were through emails and CWP, while 2,284 were received through

Minister urges OPS to provide support for informal sector

The Minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has identified non-availability of resources and poor marketing skills as the major ills militating against the Nigerian Informal sector growth, urging the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to provide advertising support for the industry.
The informal sector is a sector, which encompasses all jobs which are not recognised as normal income sources, and on which taxes are not paid. It sets the foundation for promoting the evolution of large firms that ultimately dominate the formal sector.
The Minister, while addressing participants during the KPMG Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of companies’ forum held in Lagos on Tuesday, stressed the need to stimulate the sector for growth, noting that the sector plays a very important role in the development of the economies of nation.
He lamented that limited access to capital and lack of skills are major constraints for operators working in the informal sector.
He explained that operators in the sector should be provided with the needed finance and advertising support to grow their businesses to enable the economy achieve the required production potentials.

mCash will help realise government’s cashlite policy – Globacom

Next generation telecoms company, Globacom, has thrown its weight behind the new value payment solution, mCash, recently launched by the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System in collaboration with financial institutions and telecoms operators in the country.
The innovation is aimed at making e-payment easily accessible to peasants, petty-traders, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and other low income earners who carry out their transactions in cash through the services of telecoms operators.
The company said that its advanced network is well positioned to accommodate the new payment system.
Esaie Diei, Globacom’s Head, Mobile Money Financial Business, praised the initiative and commended the NIBSS for a solution that is geared towards the cashless policy and financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Security firm Optiv files for IPO, seeks to raise $100 million

Cybersecurity company Optiv Security, majority owned by Blackstone Group, filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of its common stock on Friday.
The company set a nominal fundraising target of $100 million in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing showed that both Optiv and its shareholders were offering shares in the IPO, but did not disclose the number of shares being sold or their expected price.
Optiv was created when cyber security companies Accuvant and FishNet Security merged in 2015. Blackstone made a majority investment in Accuvant in 2014.
On a pro forma basis, the company posted a loss of $5.7 million on revenue of $643.8 million in the nine

Automobile technicians decry multiple taxations, embark on warning strike in Niger

The Niger State chapter of the Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association, on Friday embarked on a two-day warning strike in protest against alleged multiple taxation on its members by the state government.
According to its Chairman, Ayuba A-Oluobor, the taxes imposed on the technicians “have become simply unbearable”.
A-Oluobor told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Minna that the levies were “so many and heavy”, making it impossible for members to break even.
“We pay for business premises, development levy, Local Government levy, sanitation levy and now registration and certification levy,” he fumed.
He explained that the association was not against the payment of taxes, but that members were paying more than the money accruing to them from their trade.
The association’s chairman said that the levy in contention, registration and certification of business, was recently imposed on the association by the Vehicle Inspection Office of the Ministry of Works.

ICT contributes 12.6% to GDP in second quarter – Shittu

As at the end of the second quarter, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector increased its contribution to the country’s nominal GDP by 0.37 per cent, moving from 12.25 per cent in first quarter to 12.62 per cent.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, who disclosed at the ISACA Abuja’s eighth yearly international conference, said the Federal Government was redoubling efforts to increase ICT’s contribution to the country’s GDP, “as we consider it to be a veritable alternative to the oil sector whose contributions have dwindled over the past year.”
At the conference, which discussed cyber security, technology optimisation and national development, Shittu said without any equivocation, virtually all developmental moves in the world involve the application of ICT, but added that the challenge remains the security implications.
According to the minister, in his keynote address, the traditional banking was essentially