Interestingly, in a deeper chat with Terry,i found out something, I realised there are very simple things he would have done himself to startup his idea. I have observed that people will only support you when they see you have invested what you have to at least get the idea started. This whole thing is like dancing, people starts liking your dance and clapping for you when they see you are really into your dance.I can deduce from Terry’s statement that most of us have great ideas but very few go the extra mile to get it started,having an idea is not just enough these days. We are all waiting for the convenient time when all the resources needed will magically get into our hands, and when that is yet to happen many get frustrated and clueless about life in this interesting digital age of unlimited possibilities.

What am simply saying is that no matter what the reasons are, there is always a way to get your idea started!Where there are a lot of problems lies a lot of solutions only waiting to be discovered as opportunities. The truth is that African youths with Technology have a future.Technology is thattool that can help the young people in Africa achieve whatever their desires arein life. Technology has the answer to the several questions in the minds of our young people who are passionately seeking for a way to make positive impact in their world.

Exploring the opportunities of new technologies especially the Internet in our world today has several benefits for Africans.From Tunisia to Egypt,Libya,Nigeria,African youths have demonstrated that they can use technology to drive social and political changes in their environment.It is now time to also use those technologies to give our ideas a quantum leap after all Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube we all use and admire were all founded by young people elsewhere in the world who also had their own daunting challenges in their environment as Startups.

Having established the fact that there is no reason whatsoever for failure in life, It’s now time for the African youths to start asking those critical questions like – in what simple form can I get my idea started with the technologies readily available to me? Where lies the opportunities around me that I can leverage from?what can I do to position myself for the future? Finding the answers to these pertinent questions leads you in the right path of fulfillment.

But how do African Youths use the Internet?

Let me even ask, How do an average African youth use the Internet, what do they use it for? .The Internet is one of the greatest inventions on earth today. Most young people all over the world especially in America making great impact in the technology space, have their successes connected to the internet in one way or the other. A great number of African youths who use the internet have no idea how the internet can be used positively to improve their lives. The very few who understand this are already making impact in their chosen endeavor. I recently saw an infograph of how Africans use tweeter, how they tweet, very interesting statistics, but I was wondering what where they tweeting about?The world as a global place has metamorphosed into a web with unlimited opportunities and that is the Internet.The interesting thing about the Internet is that it is still evolving and changing with the times.We haven’t seen the best of websites yet. There is room on the internet for that great idea of yours if you can just start up!Africa is just waiting to celebrate you and the world is waiting to honor you!

The following points will guide you in starting out your ideas and making a global impact.

Learn the necessary skills in technology:With the way things are going,not every skill,vocation or training will be relevant for the future.It is time for African youths to start getting into the field of Software Engineering, Microelectronics,Nanotechnology,Computer and information sciences,Physics,Mathematics and related courses. Here, am not just talking about getting the certificate or degrees and then go to look for a job, am talking about learning it so you can start up something with what you have learnt, you begin to create value in the society as well. For instance,the IT certifications you have today in those specific products might not be relevant tomorrow for the future tech products. Ever thought of that?

Generate Ideas from problems in your environment

Africa is faced with a lot of problems no doubt; it simply means that there are a lot of opportunities in finding the solution to those problems. Studying the problems and proffering a solution to them using technology is what am talking about here. Generate ideas that will address those problems like poverty, lack of quality Education, unemployment, social changes, bad governance, environmental challenges, Technology deficiency, health and many others.

You should also explore the use of Mobile phones and Mobile Internet then Mobile Applications; these are growing so fast in Africa. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com said this about the Internet just before he started his online bookstore” Anything growing that fast is going to be ubiquitous very quickly” Seeing this about the Internet at that time motivated him to start Amazon.com and today Amazon is the leading bookstore on the internet. m-Commerce, m-Health, m-learning, m-agriculture, m-governance, m-social etc. are some of the areas you can develop a mobile focused idea because Mobile is the future of Africa.

Imbibe the Success Attitude

The words of Thomas Edison,the great inventor suitably summarized the attitude you need to have. He said”The most important factors of invention can be described in few words.They consist first of definite knowledge as to what one wishes to achieve,one must fix his mind on that purpose with persistence and begin searching for that which he seeks,making use of all accumulated knowledge on the subject.He must keep searching no matter how many times he may meet with disappointment.He must refuse to be influenced by the fact that someone else may have tried the same idea without success.He must keep himself sold on the idea that the solution of his problem exists somewhere and that he will find it.When a man makes up his mind to solve any problem,he may at first meet opposition, but if he holds on and keeps on searching, he will be sure to find some sort of solution. The trouble with most people is that they quit before they start. In all my experiences, I do not recall having ever found solution to any problem connected with my work on my first attempt. And one of the most surprising things is the fact that when I discovered the thing for which I am searching, I generally find that It has been within my reach all the time; but nothing except persistence and a will to win would have revealed it”

Then open your eyes and ears for opportunities

It is now time to open your eyes and ears for opportunities you can leverage to grow your idea. The money you seek to grow your business can come in any form. Use the Internet to explore several ways/places you can get venture funds for African startups, partnerships etc.These days there are various competitions,awards, grants going on for Africa Startupsyou should be part of, who knows one day, you may meet that Angel you seek!

Africa,one of the largest continents of the world,blessed with great human and material resources no doubt,it becomes unfortunate that even with these abundant resources,our nations are still very poor,underdeveloped and living in the third world.When i look at emerging economies and the vintage role Africa should play, i say to myself, why is Africa still sleeping.Are we really ready for the coming wealth and power transfer? How are we positioned?

We seem to become eternally clueless about technology, its place in African development and what the future holds.My fear is that in this ew knowledge economy driven by technologies,Africa has started playing the same ignorant and i –don’t- care role they played during the Agricultural and industrial age which left us with hunger, poverty and lack.It even took our self esteem away.In this digital age,the consequences cannot be imagined because of the speed associated with digital advancement and if nothing is done now, Africa might never recover from this digital colonisation.

I am writing this with the mind that if Africa can realize what she has, find ways to develop the continent using technology as the driving force,we will be the next continent to beat in the global arena of technology competitiveness and overcome this digital enslavement!It is clear that any nation or continent that cannot develop and grow its own technologies has no future and will depend on others.They will hardly regain their freedom.

Our over dependency and consumption of technologies(with none made in Africa)have left us as a digital colony while we plough the fields of other smart nations making them Digital giants and singing their songs in Africa.Digital colonization enslaves Africa in her domain making her fully dependent on the global IT savvy nations for all her technology needs, thereby compromising her critical resources and her sovereignty without her knowing.

Chris Uwaje in his book-e-Knowledge-Time is running out!aptly captures the entire scenario of a digital colony,he said”some shortsighted nations will wake-up at midnight one day,in the early decades of this century and suddenly realize that they have been digitally colonized.The resultant effect of this will seriously impact on the future generations to come.It simply means that the entire life,culture and sovereignty of a nation and her citizenry have been unknowingly to the people traded off and taken over by IT-smart, powerful and knowledge- centered information force and/or forces on the globe.”

The following points to the fact that we have been digitally colonised:Technology Products Consumption in Africa,Technology and Security in Africa,Data storage and management in Africa,Technology Entrepreneurship in Africa.I look around Africa and i see no technology product of African origin that is serving the tech needs of the people ,not to talk of ones for export,still our technology consumption is very high in Africa.Our countries have turned into a digital dumping ground for used and out dated tech stuffs.

Right now as you are reading this, if you are in Africa, look around where you are,can you identify any Made in Africa Tech Product?That is how deep the truth of the matter is.From the websites we visit daily to the cars we drive,the computers and laptops,servers, our mobile phones with the SIM cards,you name them, to even the smallest of gadgets.They are shipped to us from other nations.None is made in Africa and yet we take so much delight in promoting and associating ourselves with the Global brands of other continents; have you ever given this a thought?It’s even a bigger shame when you find out that most times it is Africans in diaspora that drive those tech developments around the world,why can’t we use our knowledge and experience to develop our Africa via technology.I see many African intellectuals all over the world, with PhDs with no invention to their credit, no contribution whatever to the development of Africa. All they do is speak and give speeches at forums without any thought of how to move the continent forward.I see them as academic derelicts of African descent!I began to imagine-What do Africans use their PhDs for?To suppress their brothers and sisters? While others improve the lives of their brothers and sisters in other continents.

Yes,i know there are several reasons why no one should live in Africa,from bad government to bad policies but those are the same reasons that keep bringing investors(oyibos) into Africa to explore what the people do not know exist with them.True development in Africa can only be done by Africans.

Let’s briefly look at Security and Technology in Africa,since we cannot develop our technologies in Africa;our technology needs for National security and critical information management in Africa like in our central and commercial banks,stock exchanges,Government information system,Military and defense information system, other vital information of the state,who handles them?What software run them? Many interesting questions that can come out of this.These important aspect of security in Africa are always outsourced to India,China, US or other tech savvy nations.For example,Nigeria launched her second satellites with critical information management outsourced to China because we don’t have what it takes to handle such.That has clearly put us at the mercy of China and the government seems not to know the implications of such in time to come.It has very grave consequences and cracks on the sovereignty and the ability of Africa to really protect,control and manage her territories. The Governments have failed to make the needed investment to grow her local technology, at last they lose control of their countries and at the end everyone is asking why African nations are war-torn.

I watch with keen interest the controlling effect of technologies in developed economies ,this have made the government of such tech savvy nations fully interested in these technology companies and their well being.They are seen as a national pride and they represent the future of those countries. Their government goes ahead to protect them against international influences, i remember vividly when Google was having issues in China, it was not only a fight for Google but American government plays key role in that.We have also witnessed the Canadian government throw her full support at RIM/Blackberrry as their national pride.Across the African countries, where lies our national pride in technology?Which brand can we export to the world that can stand as a global brand in technology,that’s what am talking about.We have no pride in Technology all over the world,we are all dependants and that is digital slavery.

In recent times following the exponential growth in Mobile related businesses in Africa,We have all agreed that the future of Africa lies in Mobile,yes,I agree but how many African companies will benefit directly from these mobile boom.It is clear that the people that will directly benefit are the equipment manufacturers(like Nokia, Samsung,Blackberry and others), Software and application developers then the network providers.Which among these have Africa entrepreneurs positioned themselves to benefit from?

A deeper look into this subject brings us to the question:How is the Internet exchanges in Africa developed?Do we have efficient Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) to route our internet traffic and data carrying our critical resources and information?The Internet Exchange Point is an important infrastructure to be considered in national development.

The most worrisome is that this negative effect is handed down from generations to generations;the young generation of African Youths are the ones to lead the change and make things right despite the daunting challenges.We cannot leave Africa the way we met her,We need to take our destinies in our hands.I applaud several tech based initiatives being powered by Young people across Africa,from Kenya,Ghana,South Africa,Egypt,Nigeria, Zambia,Cameroon to other nations in Africa.In all of these, we should understand where we are now,where we need to be and how to get there.We should also know the type of Start- ups we need in Africa right now to make the needed impact.Startups that can put us in the world map among the comity of nations like Facebook,Google, Twitter etc they are not there to fight their government.I have full conviction that African youths have great potentials that can change the world if harnessed and given the right environment.We need to start encouraging more young people to study Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, Software development, Computer Science and related courses.We have dearth of competent professionals in these areas.

I won’t conclude this without suggesting a few things that we need to do now to avert this perpetual digital enslavement.Africa urgently needs her own technologies,technology companies of global repute and a technology work force to handle all her tech needs.The African Union should see technology as a tool that will leapfrog Africa’s development and therefore develop a pragmatic road map for its achievement.The government of African nations should develop policies aimed at developing their nations through technology.They should make special preferences for Africa owned technology businesses and give them the support,protection and encouragement to grow into a global brand.

Investment in technology development should be a deliberate and conscious effort by all Africans.Our leaders and people in government who have stolen public funds should also have the mind to invest in Africa in the area of technology development rather than stash the money in faraway Swiss boosting other economies.

There should be several organisations,government,individuals and businesses who will provide grants,venture funds to young Africans to help them grow their ideas.This is really lacking in Africa.And there lies our future.

And finally our orientation about ourselves should change,we are not inferior in anyway!Viva Africa!!

Nigerians in Diaspora

Nigerians at home

Foreigners in Nigeria

Foreigners abroad

In  the  Internet  marketplace, Nigerians  in Diaspora will  like  to  shop  for  their  relatives  at home  while still abroad. Also  foreigners in Nigeria will like  to  shop  for  their relatives abroad  while still  in  Nigeria . Nigerians in Diaspora will like to shop in Nigerian marketplaces for their consumption, while foreigners in Nigeria will like to shop for themselves in foreign marketplaces. Lastly, foreigners abroad will like to shop in Nigerian marketplaces for foreigners in Nigeria. The  above classes of  shoppers  will require two distinct  marketplaces, one  floated  from Nigeria and  the other  floated  from abroad, and an  effective  Internet  payment  option to enable the exchange  of  goods  and  services  via the internet. The dominant Internet payment   options are PayPal and credit card.

eBay is an example of a  marketplace  floated  from outside Nigeria.  VTN serves some market places in  Nigeria as  a payment gateway, and it  is floated  from  Nigeria. eBay  and Amazon are  marketplaces  that  in  theory will allow one  to  buy and  sell from  anywhere  in  the  world, but  in practice you  will  find out  that  some  countries have  been blacklisted (Nigeria  inclusive because  of  non-delivery of products and chargeback). This means that these marketplaces have written off the Nigerian Internet space. As  a  country, we  are missing out on opportunities when  the  likes  of  Amazon, eBay, and  clickbank are shutting  their  doors  on  us . These are stakeholders on the Internet. It feels  good  when you order a  John Grisham novel from  Amazon, read  it in a  couple  of days and  place  it  back on  Amazon  to get half of its  selling  price. Last Christmas, the Internet market place recorded about $1 billion sales of petty goods in a single day.  Some of the  market places  like eBay own  their online banks, this  gives  them  power to  easily blacklist  a  country.  Online banks are critical in eCommerce. Online banks like PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Clickbank etc can handle payment efficiently in eCommerce.

Foreigners in Nigeria can effectively pay for goods and services abroad. The problem is   Nigerians in Diaspora and at home shopping   for   products   online. Since  Nigeria  is  a  consumer  nation, we  will buy  more  finished  goods from  foreign   marketplaces. But  foreigners  could  order  for  the  following products  from  Nigerian  marketplaces: Nigerian  home videos, Nigerian  art, books, raw  materials, etc, but   the  problem still  remains  a  reliable  payment option. Foreigners  will hardly  insert  their credit  card  numbers in  Nigerian  floated  websites  for  fear   of abuse, since those  numbers will  be automatically  collated  in a  database of  that  website  or  payment  gateway. On  the  other  side  of the  coin, PayPal   which is now  a  default  payment  option on  the Internet, will  not  accept  membership  directly  from   Nigeria; this  resulted from bitter payment abuses from  Nigerian   buyers. This is possible because from your IP address your location will be visible, and PayPal  will  not partner  with  Nigerian  banks. Even if  you  eventually  circumvent  PayPal’s  protective  barriers, merchant  sites  abroad  will  block  your  IP address  from  transacting  on their  sites, coupled with  the  fact  that  there are  other  features  that  could  give you  away as  a  Nigerian  buyer.

Some Nigerians  go as  far  as relying  on  friends abroad  to  open  PayPal  accounts  for  them  using  their  foreign  addresses, bank  accounts  and phone numbers, this  is  a  serious  security breach since  a third  party  is  involved . To mitigate this risk, some organized ies  for credit card purchases  on foreign  marketplaces. They do this by opening accounts with Nigerian bank.  You  give them  the link  to  your  purchase page, when  you  make  payment  to  them  in Nigeria  they then  help you make  PayPal  or  credit card payments

More so,  online companies like VTN have  partnered with  some  Nigerian  banks,  and  online  banks  like  Graphcard and Clickbank. When  you  deposit  money  in their  partner banks , you  can  export  the  money less commission  charges  into  VTN  and  from VTN to  Graphcard which  will  reflect in   dollars. Graphcard  has  a  facility to  generate VISA card  for  online transactions, grant  check  payments and  sell  virtual  US  phone numbers  and  physical address for  the  creation of  PayPal  accounts. This system works, but is cumbersome with multiple commission junctions at each point of transaction.

Softpay is  an  Internet payment  option in  Nigeria , it  is  a Nigeria’s version of  PayPal  with  a  gateway  to  PayPal where Nigerians  in  Diaspora can send  money to  their  folks  or  make  purchases on  Nigerian  websites that   use  softpay as  their payment gateway, but   very  few  businesses   in   Nigeria  own  websites, and those  that   own  websites   do  not  give room for  online transactions. Kalahari.com which recently disappeared is a Nigerian marketplace operated outside Nigeria, but Nigerians at home could not directly   list their merchandise on the site. Interswitch  is  the  payment  gateway  that  will allow Nigerians   at  home  to  shop  on  Kalahari.com, but  Interswitch  only  operates a debit  card, therefore  they need   to  operate like  PayPal because they  are integrated   with  all  banks  in Nigeria.

Other online marketplaces that feature classified ads in Nigeria are:

http://dealfish.com.ng/

http://www.tradestable.com.ng/lagos/

http://dealdey.com/

http://www.google.com.ng/africa/trader/home

http://bestbuynaija.com/

http://www.naijaindex.com/

http://www.mynaijalist.com/

http://www.goodluckadverts.com/

http://www.halanow.com/

http://www.mocality.com.ng/

http://notifynigeria.com/

http://dudomart.com

All these marketplace that  offer  free listing of  product don’t have  payment options  linked  to  them.

In this regard, how do we integrate Nigeria into the online marketplace? First we need to learn to transact and trust our online banks. As entrepreneurs, if we shun Internet payment options due to online scams, then we will be losing on lots of opportunities. When engaging on an online payment scenario, you have to strike a balance between ‘trust’ and ‘distrust’. When we develop good online banks with global ratings, then foreigners will patronize our Internet market places.   Online banks  in Nigeria have to  establish gateways with  foreign banks  to  allow websites abroad  use  local  payment  gateways as a  payment  option. We  want  a  situation  where all eateries  for instance will  accept  payment from  people outside  Nigeria and  delivery can  be made   to people  in  Nigeria.

Mobile Payment System is another payment option that cannot be ignored. By CBN definition and regulations, Mobile Payment System refers to the various components required to deliver person-to-person mobile payment to the banking and non-banking community. The telecom industry plays a critical role in mobile payment system. There are three major models for the implementation of mobile payments services namely;

1. Bank –Focused- Financial Institutions as Lead Initiator

This is a model where a bank delivers banking services to existing and prospective bank customers using the mobile phone as a delivery channel. A licensed deposit-taking financial institution can only deploy this model. Licensed deposit-taking financial institutions, under this model shall include, deposit money banks, microfinance banks and discount houses.

1. Bank Led – Financial Institution(s) and/or its Consortium as Lead Initiator

This is a model where a bank, or a consortium of banks, collaborating with other organizations, jointly seeks to deliver banking services leveraging on the mobile banking system. This model shall be applicable only in a scenario where there exists collaboration between a licensed deposit-taking financial institution(s) and an organization duly verified by the partner bank(s). Licensed deposit-taking financial institutions, under this model shall include, deposit money banks, microfinance banks and discount houses.

1. Non-Bank Led- A corporate organization as Lead Initiator

This model allows a corporate organization that has been duly approved by CBN to deliver mobile payments services to consumers. This model shall be applicable to any organization other than a licensed deposit money bank and telecommunication companies. Corporate organizations, under this model, include switching companies and payments system service providers.

In mobile payment system, money is moved electronically. E-Money is monetary value stored electronically in a centrally held electronic device. It shall possess the following characteristics to be classified as e-money:

• issued on receipt of funds
• accepted as a means of payment by parties other than the issuer
• its value shall be transferable

We  are now  in  the  era  of  IP version 6 with  lots  of  devices  moving on to the  internet and  surfing  independently. It means while you are asleep your  refrigerator  can  order  for milk online  by sending an email  to  your  supplier when  the milk falls  below a  certain level.  It  also  means  your  drug store  accounting  software  can independently  send  an email  to  a  pharmaceutical  company  to  restock  a  particular drug.

The Internet has actually provided us with gazillions of opportunities to transact. But  it  can  be  a  double  edged  sword  because  you can spend  a  long  time  on  the   Internet without achieving anything. That means we need a change of attitude toward the   use of the internet. You find people spending a whole night chatting on Facebook or yahoo messenger searching   for emotions online. It  is  not   good  when  you  find  people  permanently on  Facebook trading  pictures and  love  stories instead of trading  goods and  services to expands  our  markets. A  couple  of  examples  to  show  how  unproductive  people  can  be   on the  internet, try  to  initiate  a  conversation on  Facebook about the  business  strategies employed   by  Dangote and  you get  only three responses, but try  to initiate  a  conversation  about  Dangote’s  latest custom  built  Range  Rover jeep  and  you will  get  four  hundred  responses. Also, try  to initiate  a  critic about  Chimamanda’s  latest  publications  on  Facebook and  you  get  only five responses, but try   initiating  a  conversation about the  dark blue  jeans   Genevieve Nnaji wore during the last KORA award and you will  get  five  hundred responses. This is not a good internet attitude for Nigerians.

Destiny says, we can’t all be smart, but we can all drink from the wealth of our patriotic knowledge, embedded in just a few, to enable us smash the world knowledge Olympics record. Yes we must! It is a fundamental task that must be done and with accelerated dispatch. However, it is significant to emphasize that the concept of bringing them home is not just physical but linking and connecting with the Diaspora Knowledge worldwide – irrespective of where they are and reside. The Home runs will be left to and dictated by constructive circumstances, opportunities and competitiveness passion.

Bring them Home – Nigerian Knowledge workers in the Diaspora. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Dr. Adeniji, Mr. Peter Obi, Prof. Emmanuel Aniebonam, Prof. Bolaji Aluko – to mention but a few – are key among indicators of the enormous Nigerian knowledge resources wasting abroad ( and contributing to the development of other nations) and represent a significant Roadmap on how to strategically prepare for the 21^st Century Knowledge Olympiad. The Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) in 2001 embarked on a major project of re-connecting with Nigerian Knowledge Resources abroad, by mounting the first Nigerian Information Technology Summit at George Washington University in Washington DC. USA. This digital knowledge adventure was what has today led to and emerged as the Nigeria Diaspora Day – now celebrated every 25^th Day of July each Year. Not only that, it has also led to the establishment of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission by the Federal Government.

However, the above is just a tip of the ice berg of the mission critical assignment that a nation such as Nigeria – the single largest concentration of people of African decent under the universe – is expected to undertake and accomplish. Now that we have established the Ministry of Communications Technology (what a name!), perhaps the greatest assignment it should accomplish as part of its mandate is to embark on the reversing the Technology

Brain Drain (TBD) and creating a knowledge multiplayer model for coordinated and sustainable development.

Numbers speak indeed!  Reliable estimate has it that there may be more that 10 Million Nigerians living outside Nigeria – around the world. It is amazing that over the years, our delegated Ambassadors have been unable to collate the real figure! How long do we have to wait to know? However, what we do know is that, currently, there are 1.15 Million Nigerians in the United States (Last US Census) There are 45,000 Nigerian Medical doctors in the 50 States of USA.

There are over 15,000 Full Time Nigerian Professors and another 10,000 academic staff of Nigerian extraction in US higher institutions (Universities and colleges). There are over 15,000 Nigerian pharmacists, 28,000 Nigerian nurses, and 7,000 Nigerian lawyers in the US. There are over 174,000 Information Technology (IT) Specialists of Nigerian descent in the US, with most of them in telecommunications, Helpdesk Support, Programming, Database Admin., Software Project Management, and general application development.

For Nigeria to survive the emerging serious impact of IT, be relevant and benefit from the immense opportunities provided by Information Society, she must build a formidable army of Software CODE WARRIORS in preparation for the fierce competition of the global knowledge industry. Above all, she must take some high risks to net high gains.

The major IT race this century (as far as developing countries are concerned) will be determined, demonstrated and won or lost in the software Domain. Therefore, converging our global knowledge resources in Software workforce becomes a strategic imperative for success. We must design a Grand Master-Plan (GMP) to harness and bring our knowledge base in the Diaspora back home. Perhaps, the best way to do this is to start a massive establishment and deployment of “Resident Knowledge Parks” nation wide – knowing that nothing short of a National knowledge re-construction (NKR) will sanitise this monster-creature identifiable with the big letter ‘N’! (Naija?)

But at least, clustering residential knowledge parks where investors and operation are granted a 5-10 year “Income and Company Tax-fee” incentive will be a good start.  Considering the fact that the task of this write-up is to share knowledge across the board, the following information was delivered by Goubadia Oswald and sourced from FORTUNE Website on an article on Technology, titled

“Reverse Brain Drain” written by Erven Brown and David Kirkpatrick as served below http://www.fortune.com/fortune/careers/articles

Reversing Technology Brain Drain: Foreign-born techies head home as they lose their jobs–and work visas.“Tech executives have plenty to worry about. Stocks in the dumps. PC sales at a crawl. Layoffs from San Jose to Austin. And then there’s the people problem: the reverse brain drain. With tech entering the third year of its slump, a significant number of foreign-born engineers who flocked to America in the ’90s are heading home, either by choice or, increasingly, because they’ve been laid off and have lost their work visas. Take Rama Velpuri. The Indian-born engineer is a U.S. citizen with a degree from Louisiana State, and he spent the ’90s working at Oracle. But when he started his own software firm, Oramasters, he decamped for Hyderabad, India. There he runs his company for only $30,000 a month (including payroll for his 25 employees) and pays $1,000 a month for a five-bedroom house in Hyderabad’s tony Jubilee Hills (complete with three maids, a chauffeur, and a gardener).

There’s plenty of evidence that thousands of less lucky foreigners have been forced to leave the U.S. too. Thom Stohler, a lobbyist for the American Electronics Association, points out that the number of temporary work visas, known as H-1Bs, has dropped from more than 163,000 in 2001 to a projected 90,000 in 2002. Girish Gaitonde, CEO of Xoriant, an IT services firm in San Jose, says he employed 400 H-1B workers in 2000 but has only 125 today. This trend has begun to hunt Nigerians in Diaspora and something must be done at home to prepare how to respond to the surge of Home-comers this century!  Least we forget, the next wave of the digital revolution points to the emerging culture of e-nationalities and digital-colonies!

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Waserise.com is, therefore, a probabilistic job search engine that is not just keyword-based search but also tag-based. Now you don’t have to search for jobs, we would make jobs search for you.
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The encounter that led to the formation of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria(ISPON) occurred in the month of September 1996,and the two professionals in this encounter were Chris and Chris!Today,these names continue to spur us positively within the cockpit of the national IT development domain.Now let us get back to the subject.It all started when Chris Uwaje,the CEO of Broadway Computers limited placed an advert in the Guardian on that faithful Sunday(not Tuesday)in September 1996,for the sale of his newly acquired product-WIN 95 CD-the hottest O/S at the time.

And guess who first responded on the second day of the advert placement in search of the product?Dr.Chris Nwannenna-now past president of Nigeria Computer Society(NCS).It will be recalled that based on the proposal of the COVAN delegate on a courtesy call to The Guardian,the publication of the computer section(which was published on Sundays,before it moved to Tuesday)was later changed from ‘Computers’ to ‘Information Technology’ and moved from publishing on Sundays to Tuesday and later Wednesdays and renamed ‘Compulife’.Other newspapers soon followed suit.

Our argument at that time was that computer news is featured on Sunday when corporate IT business is asleep.I argued that just like the Property page on Mondays,there should be an IT page on Tuesdays when the corporate business is alive and active.
During the encounter,the following dialogue ensued:

Chris U:Good day Sir,Welcome to Broadway Computers,how can we help?
Chris N:I’m attracted by your recent advert in the Guardian and interested in the WIN 95 product.
Chris U:Sure,we have the quality product and can demo it for you right away.
Chris N:Wait a minute!your advert claimed that the Visual Basic programming tool is inclusive,is that correct?
Chris U:Sure,that is our edge over other WIN 95 products.Others are just O/S,but ours is bounded with utilities.Here,take a look at this.
Chris N:OK what is your asking price?
Chris U:Quite affordable,it costs X Naira
Chris N:Anyway,to be frank,i am only interested in the Visual Basic Program.Can that be sold separately?
Chris U:Am sorry,the CD is bundled and can only be sold as it is.
Chris N:Alright now,maybe i have to look elsewhere and get back to you.
Chris U:My pleasure Sir,but tell me,what exactly do you do?
Chris N:I am the CEO of Condata System.Former lecturer at UNIPORT
Chris U:Boy!you must have been having the best of times in the campus!
Chris N:Far from it,the University system here is not quite what is obtainable in UK,where i did my Doctoral degree.But how is it in the industrial sector?
Chris U:Oh!I am also rather new in town.I have been in Germany for about a decade,studying and doing just Software,Electronics Engineering and specialising in strategic IT projects implementation.To be precise,designing,analysing and writing code lines on Mainframes and Minis with some policy interfaces.Between 1978-79,i also had the opportunity of contributing through peer review proof-reading assignment-to the National Digital Data and personal Privacy Security document on Digital Personal Privacy-which was a policy document of the German Government at that time.By the way,are you a member of COVAN(Computer Vendors Association of Nigeria)?
Chris N:No,those are hardware people.I belong to COAN(Computer Association of Nigeria)which happens to be group of intellectuals from the academia!
Chris U:Really,then there is a critical missing-link somewhere,if the academia and industry are disconnected.
Chris N:How do you mean?
Chris U:COVAN is hardware focused.There is a software missing –link and there is fundamental need to connect them together by establishing a specialised professional body/entity for software.My little experience at CoVAN tells me that the IT industry in Nigeria is still at the infancy.It is a very young organisation but currently not nationally focused!The future of IT lies in the establishng of a roapmap for concrete policies and the mastery of software,sophisticated command and instruction code lines.In deed,Nigeria does not have a National IT policy.
Chris N:I agree completely with you,software is very important in IT development cycle.
Chris U:Then you must also agree that the Nigerian Youths can be groomed to become code warriors and engage global competitiveness?Above all,we must recognise that without an institutional framework to craft the vision to deliver this software mission,there may be no future to hold on to!
Chris N:True,but that will take some time.Now i have to go and catch up with another appointment.
Chris U:Before you leave,i wish to invite you to the next monthly general meeting of CoVAN,so we can further explore and set up a framework for a National Software Development Association.
Chris N:I will think about it.Goodbye and see you some other time.
Chris U:Good bye,but don’t forget buying my software pack and more importantly,to think about my idea of forming a National Software Association.
Chris N:I will

Both us of parted ways for many months,Then in june,1997,Chris and i met at the national Conference organised by COAN.After many months elapsed,i braced up the challenge and placed a call to Condata Systems at Opebi.Chris N was out of his domain.Needless to say that the Nitel 93xxxxx line was a hilly task to catch-up a stable call.This was a time when Nigeria’s tele-density profile was at ground zero!
A time when 150 million people had about 720,000 lines-out of which only 400 was functional.And more than 10 million would-be subScribers were on waiting list to secure a phone line nation-wide.

But on the third day,i got him on phone and insisted for a meeting of a larger group to discuss the formation of a National Software Association.We agreed to call our individual contacts and meet at Chris N’s office at Opebi.I called on two software developer firms:Pius Okigbo(jnr)CEO of InfoSoft Limited and Tony Udoh of Progenics Corporation,who are personal friends and head-deep in the trenches of software engineering and development.

The first meeting was held on a Tuesday morning in February 1998 with three in attendance:Chris U,Chris N and Pius Okigbo(jnr)with an apology from Tony Udoh.The vision was clear:To establish a software profession and industry body with the objective to promote Software Nigeria,build a critical mass of indigenous Software developers with a mission to harness the indigenous Software potentials of our nation for improved productivity,economic growth, creation of wealth and national security for our people and above all,for legitimate global competitiveness.

Some of the highlights of the meeting included,but not limited to creating a common front to endorse the need for establishment of a national Software Development Association,create national awareness on the potentials of Nigerian developed software,enlarging the contact group;Examine the modalities for the official registration of such a body with Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC) and developing strategies for collaborating with other existing IT bodies(that is COAN and CoVAN respectively)

During the next meeting which was also held at Chrs N’s office,only two people were in attendance-Chris and Chris.Both of us agreed to continue meeting while ensuring that the advocacy for the establishment of a National Software Association is carried far and wide to the door steps of other practitioners.It is pertinent to emphasise that at that point in time,there was no name considered for the dream association.After a few months of meeting by the duo of Chris and Chris,we decided to change the strategy,by taking the meeting to the offices of some of the targeted potential members.We moved the meeting venue to 90 Opebi road,the office of Pius Okigbo(jnr).

This ensured that we had a useful three man meeting made up of Chris Uwaje,Chris Nwannenna and Pius Okigbo(jnr).At this meeting,we unanimously agreed that Dr Chris Nwannenna should serve as main coordinator and Chris Uwaje as secretary.

Three very significant developments further helped to shape and sustain the formation of the National Software Development Association as we moved on.They are:The official election in 1999 of Chris Uwaje as the President of COVAN(computer vendors association of Nigeria)which later became ITAN;The global challenges of the Millennium bug otherwise known as the Y2K Bug and preceded by the west Africa/country road show and Lauch of Microsoft Windows XP at lagoon restuarant-Ozumba Mbadiwe street on Victoria Island,Lagos.
These three interfacing development happening almost inter -connectedly in time helped to upscale the dream to actualise a National Software body.In the first place,the new president elect of CoVAN-carrying along its NEC,changed the name CoVAN to Information Technology(Industry)Association of Nigeria(ITAN) and went ahead to pioneer the articulation of a program to foster and promote a Framework on National Policy for Information Technology as the central focus of ITAN Project agenda for 1999/2001.

Secondly,the global challenges and related issues of the millennium(Y2k)bug accelerated the importance of software component in information technology revolution.And thirdly,the Microsoft road show on windows xp that same year brought under one roof a flood of software enthusiast and developers in attendance.In our estimation,about 650 youthful stakeholders in the software developers/user domain were present.This was incredible at a time when hardware was king.I was there with Chris Nwannenna and we couldn’t believe our eyes!These are target group and stakeholders we have been looking for in the past one year only to find just three of us,meeting to carry the gigantic software challenging load of the Nation?What is the reason for this?Nwannenna and I went out of the presentation hall to ponder on this very disturbing and highly challenging issue steering us boldly at the face!

The following discussion ensured between Nwannenna and I:’’How do we analyse and explain this incongruity of non-commitment to service the fatherland and resolve our software challenges?’’-I said to Nwannenna,My brother,this is rather strange.We have been looking for and calling for Software Developers for almost one year without positive response and suddenly here they are in their hundreds!-he responded.Not satisfied i took the punch-line again and asked,’why do we call software Developers to a meeting and receive near-zero response and here we have a full hall for Microsoft?’’Nwannenna responded again and said:’’Going by your analysis,i am beginning to think that we need a big-shot with a credible face to move the national software dream forward.This means we need a lot of resources to create massive national awareness on software and related matters’’in my response,i asked:Do you know anyone we can contact to fill the gap?’’Yes,i have someone in mind-he is Engr.Simeon Agu,the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Computer System Associates(CSA).I am sure he is the man to move the dream forward.Though,he is a very strict personality,but if both of us appeal to him,he will oblige us.Let me approach him first.I will call him up and set up a meeting,and we will take it up from there’’ok,i’m committed.Please,call me up as soon as you set up the meeting and i will be there’’,i responded and we departed after windows XP presentation.

We both left the lagoon restaurant with an uplifted zeal to engage the mission and actualise the National Software dream.Two weeks later,we visited CSA office at 38 Warehouse Road,Apapa,Lagos,the Head Quarters of Computer Systems Associates,and had a wonderful meeting with Engr.Simeon Agu.On first encounter,he strikes you as an intimidating personality,especially with his large physical frame and the sculptured art work of a lion strategically positioned on his table-reminding and or presenting one with one of his personal characteristics.

But indeed,i found Simeon Agu (the Software Business Lion) to be an amiable personality and above all,a shrewd entrepreneur.He is very observant and straight on the point.His intermittent smile instantly gives him away as a very shrewd manager of men,with a logical vision and focused business goals.He is a software veteran,not by professional assessment,but by his immense wealth of experience in strategic Software project articulation and management,as well as his embodiment of skills and experience as an investor and employer of labour in the software industry.Undoubtedly today,with CSA,now transformed into Neptune Software Systems,Agu remains the leader of the largest and most successful software company in Nigeria today.Indeed,Neptune Software is a global plc company with HQ in the United Kingdom.

Incorporation of ISPON:The institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria(ISPON)was officially incorporated in 1999 with 5 trustees.The first name of Software Institute of Nigeria(SIN)was rejected because of the nomenclature.ISPON was preferred and ratified.The first election was held in 2001,with Engr.Simeon Agu as the 1st President and Chris Uwaje as the 1st Vice President and Kola Ogulana as 2nd Vice President,Mr Salisu Afolabi as secretary and others.

Today ISPON is a founding member of Nigeria Computer Society(NCS) and remains greatly indebted to Engr.Simeon Agu for his inspirational courage,determination,exemplary commitment and dedication to national duty.He had not only nurtured ISPON to the state of manhood,but indeed shouldered all ISPON’s financial and official responsibilities for more than 8 years.Not only that,he did not only foster the establishment and promotion of the National Software Development Initiative(NSDI),but championed the aspirations of the Software profession and industry to attain a state of international observation status and recognition.

His 10 point agenda for National Software Development and engagement remains a formidable milestone in the annals of history of software development process in Nigeria.Agu’s successful handover of the baton of leadership to Chris Uwaje is a testimony of his professional accomplishment for the software Industry.

Uwaje took over as President of ISPON in November 2009 and has not only sustained the collective dream of the software profession and industry,but accelerated the momentum for government intervention,through his advocacy for National Software Policy-prompting the federal government to set up a 22-man committee to undertake the assignment.

Framework for Sustainable National Software Development Strategy-ISPON’s long- term mission:The challenges are tough and the road maybe long and thorny,but ISPON is determined to succeed.The following is an attestation of the mission critical assignment:Mapping National Software Development Direction:National Software Policy Direction and legal empowerment;Establishment of a National Software Developers’ Directory;promotion of Nigerian Development Software(Local Content);National Software Lobby Group-in collaboration with Economic Summit Group;Establishment of ISPON Software Testing Standards-through the adaptation of international Standards;deliberate on issues regarding open standards and open source;others.

Capacity Building:ISPON intervention on National Software Development Curriculum in Education;conduct International Software Engineering Development Training for ISPON members;Establish software industry academia Program(Special Training Program/workshop-Hands-on for lecturers and students;special IT leadership for policy makers.Funding:engage and lobby NITDA,NCC,Banks,Mobile network solutions providers,oil and gas and ETF to allocate special fund/grant to software developers;venture capital investment and funding program for Software Nigeria and particularly for ISPON members.

Implementation Strategy,Policy Direction:Generate position paper on National Software policy Direction/Critical isssues-Submit to NITDA board;Government white paper on National Software Policy;Establishment of Software Knowledge parks;

Funding:Produce financial proposal for a Software Marshal Plan as special knowledge infrastructure grant estimated at Five Billion naira(N5billion)to software Engineering entities and developers to jump start high level National Software Development.It will lobby the NITDA,NCC and NOTAP boards;SME funding,NNPC,CBN, and others for special software funding incentives form the banks;financial proposal to ETF for accelerated Software Industry capacity building(Training and Research) Capacity Building:Establishment of Software Engineering Development Institutes(Private and or through PPP-assisted with grant);Establish Software Developers Clubs(Code warriors)in schools;Explore Developers Consortium approach to secure big tender/bid.

Promotion and publicity:National Software Exhibition at e-Nigeria;establish Software forum on radio to promote Nigerian Developed Software;Electronic and print publications on Software;monthly software bazaar at strategic locations.
ISPON was also instrumental to establishing the federal Government’s official directives-through a circular from the secretary to the government of the federation(SGF)-Compelling MDAs to buy only Nigerian Developed Application Software,unless it is not available in the country.

ISPON has grown to become a formidable and resourceful professional Software organisation with significant contributions to national development and innovative membership,and matured leadership.
At the academia level,ISPON under the leadership of Chris Uwaje has set up software clubs in about 32 Nigerian Universities.

Nurturing innovative Nigerian Youths to create Wealth through Knowledge and National Security fortified by Software,is at the centre of ISPON’s development agenda.As we break new grounds with organisation of the 1st National Software Conference-Calabar 2011,ISPON has indeed come of age and fully ready to engage global competitiveness.

The entire fuel subsidy crisis can simply be defined as an unorganized information cacophony -an environment myopically entangled in consumption. Instead, we’d do well to view this as a crisis of national information resources and governance.

The time has come to shift our focus away from our dependence on consumption, and concentrate instead on seizing immense new opportunities for building within, and firmly,finally, controlling our own destiny. These are the opportunities of high technology and the Information Age. By understanding them, by using them, we can expand prosperity, we can
manage our country properly, and we can drastically reduce the chances that “economic and social earthquakes” such as our current fuel subsidy crisis will occur.

Nigeria has arrived at a defining moment in its history. Our problems are real, and, in darker moments, we may fear they can overwhelm us. But this climate of anxiety, of fears for our future, need not exist at all. The answers are within our grasp – we can see them in action all over the world. The answers have to do with the new tools, the new way of thinking that is the
Information Age. This, demands a lot from us; a deeper comprehension of the path to building a merit-centric, knowledgeable, prosperous, wealthy and peaceful future – driven by Information Technology. And this can and must be done. The ominous headlines about Nigeria now being read around the world shout the message to us – we must do it. The Information
Age, the high Technology Society is here and we cannot continue to wish and carry on as if we still exist and live in the feudal era. The present approach is like prescribing Panadol to treat leprosy!

Our primary focus should be on a degree to which Information Technology can accomplish large-scale, permanent change for a better and sustainable Nigeria, and, by extension, the future of nations throughout the African continent.

Technology skills can effect positive change in the most immediate matters of everyday living;things such as more innovative and effective methods of governance, education, information exchange, dialogue-based communication technique, agriculture, better management and use of natural resources, general economic development, health care, everyday communications,social vibrancy – and perhaps most important, the conscious need conflict management and gradual minimization of reasons for physical conflict and warfare; the spread of peaceful alternatives.

Applying high technology in the pursuit of crisis management and peace is central to the vision of the Nigerian Nation. The Global Early Warning System Association of USA is developing one promising approach. This is a group associated with Columbia University in New York City and the Millennium Institute in Washington, DC. The system involves deployment of a network of mini-supercomputers capable of gathering and efficiently processing massive amounts of data concerning critical, fundamental issues. This information is then used to assist in formulating decision-making alternatives based on rational, objective facts. Today, for example, Nigerians
could be using the system to place reasonable, truthful policy options regarding fuel subsidies in the hands of our country’s decision makers and the Nigerian youths and people.

This one, single application of high technology has the potential for attracting massive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Nigeria and engendering fundamental, positive, sustainable change.

There is a similar concept called the National Database System (NDS). This is a prerequisite for effective planning, organizing and delivering a transparent model of how our nation’s vital affairs are being conducted. It is a foundation for building the trust of citizens, confidence that basic services are functional and effective, and that life and property are being protected.
The economic and political character of a nation is largely defined by its basic structural framework, or “constitution”; it’s organizational capability; its administrative efficiency; and reliable management of its information systems. Today in Nigeria all these are fraught with deficiencies. This is why we state that the root-cause of the current fuel subsidy crisis revolves
around the non-existence of a centralized National Database System (NDS), which ensures that these basic elements of a healthy society are in place, functioning and transparent.

Thus the NDS is simply an amalgamation of available data and information variables which translates to budgetary process and distribution of resources; the implementation of policy.The constitutional divisions of the Nigerian government ‘Executive; Legislature and Judiciary’ and its administration organs (MDAs) are designed to function in a ‘separation-of-powers’ relationship.

However noble in concept, this has evolved into a classic snail-speed model of file-carrying administration that has not only strangled the information flow, it has created enormous loopholes for corruption: Information manipulation, the denial of rights, subversion of merit,ignoring, discouraging or otherwise eroding of potential of Nigerian youths, and slamming the
door to the dynamic innovation, participation, and creativity of the people.

It is, then, no wonder that today we witness all the bottled-up anger and visible suppressed national development, at all levels. It will be recalled that in year 1999-2000, Nigeria was a nation with a population of 140 million people served with 720,000 telephone landlines out of which only 400,000 were functional! That translated to a telephone acquisition waiting list of 5
years for its citizens.

Today not much has changed in our Government Information Network System. In the new language of the Information Age, a significant chunk of millions of terabytes of information is isolated, analogue and dormant or minimally digitized, isolated and unconnected.

This means that information as critical national resource is inaccessible and therefore, effective governance is denied to the citizenry. The message is that it is not possible to effectively govern 155 million people through a traditional manual file movement model, especially when about
43 million of the people are connected to the Internet. A robust and automated Information and Communications Technology system is urgently required to resolve the endemic challenge.

As for oil, suppose we forget about that for a moment. New sources of energy and renewable energy are emerging, and emerging very fast. Two years ago, I road in an electric–powered car on the streets on New York City and instantly got the jarring message that indeed things have
changed, and it won’t be long before it dawns on us that the game is up for consumer nations –like us — as we face innovation at the speed of light and stiff global competitiveness.

Today, humanity can be classified as living in a “machine society’ where technological tools are predominant at different levels, interfacing in the day-to-day activity of man. These livelihood activities constitute and deliver economic, social and political benefits and potential risks to the survivability of nations – especially developing nations like ours. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Human Capital have become the centre of gravity and indeed the heart of sustainable National Development and in particular for structured effective
governance, education, advanced knowledge and intelligence activities, product development,manufacturing techniques as well as organizational financial and management systems – all of which are the cornerstone of global competition through automated globalization.

Automated IT-based systems are performing many of the tasks previously done manually by humans. ICTs have also enabled more efficient, information-centered management and contributed to the breakdown of the bureaucratic/industrial organizational model. Public and private sectors are downsizing and flattening the hierarchy as systems become more accurate and efficient.

Wisdom also warns that within this development cycle and its embedded opportunities and benefits, the risk of techno-crime grows. Systems must be designed accordingly.

For future governments to function effectively using e-government tools and skills, major ministerial structures, functions and the human resource base must be completely re-defined and overhauled. Indeed, it is a tragic irony that while the private sector is busy restructuring,re engineering, and upgrading its operations to use the advantages of things like cloud computing and nano-technology, the operating structures of governance remain unchanged!

It has been demonstrated that ICTs can provide opportunities to change traditional practices.This is especially important in Nigeria and our sister nations in Africa, where short-sighted divisions, personal quests for power and wealth, and the priorities of foreign powers have so impeded progress. The introduction of ICTs can change the accepted social distribution of
power. This is why the interfacing relationship of Government and Citizens, through technology must be systematically understood, strategically organized, constantly examined, tracked,monitored and managed for sustainable development of national resources and the survival of our national sovereignty.

The shift towards knowledge-based jobs has accelerated the rise of the services sector, creating new opportunities. Time and distance from a business need no longer be the problems they once were. Outsourcing, as well as various forms of telework, either within or outside organized work units, can generate an increasing proportion of national wealth. “Telework”, or“telecommuting” as it’s sometimes called in the West, can create the opportunity to work from geographically isolated locations, as if the same person were in a big city office. For Nigeria this could be significant not just in reducing personal travel expense, but also as a means of keeping young people in their own rural communities. It’s also an incentive for the creation of small businesses serving local needs.

As mentioned previously, there are dangers. As with all things, ICTs may fall prey to the baser side of human nature. Vigilance in system design and operation is essential to prevent cyber and economic sabotage, financial crimes and politically destructive data manipulation.

Indeed, the Digital Culture may also be used to manipulate, magnify and multiply national security issues; it can be exploited by foreign interests and shadowy “online managers”–unseen ghosts in Cyber Space whose insidious purpose is to create permanent crises –especially for developing countries who have neglected to properly safeguard their data. It would be irresponsible and naive to overlook the fact that for some, there is profit in chaos, and in warfare. Security issues must have the highest priority from the outset.

Typical cyber-crimes target the cell/mobile phone culture. This has become a conduit for economic, social, and financial crimes. There is currently no national database of owners of cell phones and other wireless technologies, including computers. We in Nigeria should be acutely
aware the mobile phone was instrumental in the successfully executed short down of the government, economic and social activities in our country during the past week!

The challenge now is to join in the very real excitement among those who know all the new technology best; those who see it all at work in their laboratories and workshops, and join hands. The time has come for constructive and practical implementation. We must fashion an actionable approach capable of igniting development and celebrating knowledge. The moment is ours; we must greet it with the pride, the bearing, the fierce determination that is our right and our heritage.

Major implications for governance
First, existing over sized Government and ministerial structures and functions must be redefined and re-structured. They must be smaller in size, but far more effective. To pretend that this is not necessary would be a national deceit. Furthermore, market forces alone for a developing economy such as Nigeria are incapable in producing the required change – we can’t
sit by and “let nature take its course”. The initiative must be ours. We must comprehend and master the enormity of complexities and the rapidity of change that is the Information Age Revolution. A mix-mode approach model regarding private industry is necessary.

What will the future look like? Can future government and commerce cope and survive the new age without for example, a ‘Ministry of Infrastructure’? What purpose will the Ministry of Commerce and Industry serve without the sophistication and competence to manage digital technology trade and commerce? How will education be improved and positioned without the
innovation intensive and knowledge applications, diffusion and use of informatics and communications technologies? How will government respond to the high velocity of trade and commerce – with respect to balance of trade issues – in the information age? Indeed, who should be in government and govern in the information age? What skills would/should such people require to perform?

To resolve the national challenges and attain the aspired knowledge-based state of affairs in our nation, there is need to re-structure and reorganize the entire education system to focus on self-reliance, creativity and innovation. Software Development strategy may hold the key for Latecomers in the national development life cycle, including developing nations like Nigeria, by developing her I.T. Industries. At the same time the manufacturing capability in the hardware sector and local content development should also be fortified.

Long ago, the International market for the export and consumption of software generated more than $300 billion US dollars in 1996. A number of governments and firms in the third world said, “Why can’t we do this too”? They recognized the fact that software production has emerged as a major global industry of substantial economic significance. A number of Asian and
Latin American like India, Chile and Uruguay have taken advantage of this fact to boost their economies through the export of locally developed software.

To make an impact in the computer industry with world standard package software, Nigeria has to follow the example of these countries by deliberately working out a scheme and policies to achieve this goal. The main thrust of such a policy will be the provision of locations,infrastructures, highly skilled manpower and the relevant enabling environment.

Again we must carefully regard the dangers. A “global meltdown” of sorts is challenging financial institutions, the finest technical minds, and the best leadership. This involves the complexities of undefined and carefully laid out parameters, guidelines and global supervisory controls for globalized services, lifestyles. USA and Europe are typical examples of what can befall nations where greed is king.

All those acts of financial recklessness and cyber-carelessness have consequently subsumed our human abilities to meditate and see into the future. At the global level, the resultant effect is that we have built a monumental cyber web patched by layers of greedy human minds. This has established and left us in heavily techno-beclouded rooms where gross fixing and number crunching manipulation of quantum data – even beyond the comprehension of computational machinery – have become the order of the day. Now, the moral centre of gravity can no longer hold. As I write, the new revelations from the perceived causes of Global Financial Meltdown are compounded by the Information Pyramids of Technology jargons that are added to our digital world-mindset from nanosecond to nanosecond.

Similarly, digital-savvy and electronic criminals continue to search and smoke-out the loots and unsecured green notes around the globe. Developing counties such as Nigeria will remain vulnerable, to Oil and Gas theft, unless urgent and smart steps are taken. Indeed, the bailout adventure may lead nowhere for Nigeria, unless multi-parallel actions of leadership political will for re-structuring government, re-designing, rebuilding and fortifying our National Information infrastructure(NII) – as well as building commensurate Information Society code-warriors are
taken seriously – simultaneously.

A developing country such as Nigeria stands to gain immensely from unleashing development information resource through I.T.; Nigeria should take full advantage of its quantum opportunities. There is a fundamental need to prepare her work force to have access, apply and use IT facilities like the computer. In the developed world, IT is permanently established in education, human knowledge, research and socio economic activities. It is available to us, and the most populous nation on the African continent must use it. If nothing else, it is a primary obligation to our Youth.

Summary and Recommendation: Nigerian runs a suppressed development model at the moment. This must change. e-Government is mandatory as a significant part of the current and other solutions to the crisis. Information Technology is a global revolution and an important nation such as Nigeria must be involved.

Nigeria’s main objective should be reactivating its governance, educational and institutional structures with an overriding purpose: The attainment of a confident and respected player status among the information age societies. This is a new path to status in the world that is ours for the taking; it is a paramount assignment, which should top the list of national development priorities. Its framework should be supported with a dynamic IT Policy, capable of achieving and sustaining meaningful growth using technological skill. The entire national workforce should be re-tooled. A critical minimum competence goal must be established and attained.

This should be followed by enhancing the national technological capability. Knowledge is essential for harnessing and building the potentials of this great nation. Government must play a significant, active role. The role of Government should be driven by a positive interventionist strategy capable of networking the entire IT development phases. Apart from utilizing
technology government has an important role to play with respect to its regulations –these should embrace technical, financial and techno-legal Frameworks. This offers options for resolving issues like the fuel subsidy, the improvement of electoral processes, resource allocation, improving government structures, education, economic development, legislation,
health-care, international relations, environmental protection –the list goes on.

It is mandatory that the development of IT be controlled by Nigerians themselves -even as we recognize that international cooperation in this field is absolutely healthy and necessary. On the other hand, for meaningful IT development growth to be attained and sustained, the private sector, academia, professional bodies, government, as well as the local community must form an alliance and work out an enduring national IT policy. Such a policy should recognize IT Education in Nigeria as the engine room of our future. Within the context of this paper, the following recommendations are presented as a path-analysis to workable solutions.

IN CONCLUSION: Nigerian youths should take their destiny in their hands, ensuring that it is accomplished through sincerity, hard work, transparency and accountability. Equipped with technology, Nigeria should pursue innovation and creativity, applying the use media in a fashion appropriate to the times, their demands, and opportunities. The onset of the Information Age is one of those moments in time when matters of importance are evolving too quickly for earlier patterns of thinking to grasp. The Information Age is here and permanent.The clock cannot be turned back. Nigeria has the choice of embracing it, or being consumed by it.

By Chris Uwaje with contributions from Daniel Molina (Houston, USA).Chris Uwaje is the CEO of Connect Technologies, Fellow NCS and President of ISPON and Dan Molina is a Journalist, former Correspondence for NBC News and Film Producer.

I quickly recalled that some months ago,it was Dorothy Gordon,the Director General of Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT,Ghana,in an email communication ,brought my attention to this very important bills that can change everything about the Internet.We have no doubt enjoyed the openness of the Internet and the World Wide Web,Internet activists and hacktivists have opined that the Acts are meant to break the internet and restrain it from its growth and openess.

SOPA and PIPA are geared towards protecting copyright infringement and Intellectual proper theft on the Internet.Wikipedia in its explanation says these bills are presented as efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign websites but they do so in a way that would disrupt free expression and harm the Internet.It further explains that the bills are threats to open,secure and free Internet and will surely stifle expression on the Internet.

The bills no doubt,have pitched content developers/providers especially in the music and film industry against websites that host contents on the Internet.The proponents of the bills are of the view that the bills when passed will help bring innovations,create more jobs in their industry,stop internet piracy and illegitimate internet activities.

Notable websites kicking against the legislation are Google,
Facebook,Wikipedia,Mozilla,Wordpress,Tweeter,Twitpic etc. They are of the opinion that the web should not be censored in that manner arguing that there are already existing copyright laws protecting copyrights.Wikipedia further explains that the bill would put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for unnecessary blocking of entire sites.Small sites won’t have sufficient resources to defend themselves.Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors,even if copyright isn’t being infringed.Foreign websites will be blacklisted,which means they won’t show up in the search engine and that will build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

In the wake of this online protest,it is remarkable to note what Mark Zuckerberg,founder Facebook said about SOPA and PIPA on his facebook status”The Internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world.We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the Internet’s developement.Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA and will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet”.Google in her own words said”Tell the Congress:Please don’t censor the web”Interesting views!

I have seen clearly from the on going discussions on SOPA and PIPA that there are several interests being presented,what is US government’s interest in these bills?what’s the content providers’ interest?What are the successful internet businesses interests?Does the present state of information sharing on the Internet favour governments?Who wants to control the Internet through these Laws and legislation?Will these laws only affect the US?Where is Africa(with her size,human and material resources) in all of these?What will be the effect of these bills on the Future of African start ups.These are questions upon questions that bother my mind right now.One thing is sure,these legislation if fully enacted,will affect everyone(whether positively or negatively),it will have a global effect like the global melt down.

My thought is that Africa should speak out and participate in this,we should have a stand,but hey!how far will our voices be heard?Which successful Internet businesses do we have to protect or will lead in this global voice on SOPA and PIPA.That is what am talking about!

It reminds me how Africa over the years has been playing ‘catch up’in every age,we missed the industrial age now can we afford to sleep in the knowledge- based era,where knowledge with the speed of technology drives economies?.

Not only have we become digital colonies but are comfortable being digital slaves busy ploughing the fields of others while our nations have hunger,disease,bad leadership to bring us down!This is the new war to fight in all African countries.

Our over dependence on the government to point the way for us has lead us to this disadvantaged position.Government in almost all the African nations have failed her people,they are entirely clueless especially in the issues of technology development and empowerment.Technology,especially the Internet is that tool that can bring back hope to Africa.We need to play active roles in issues and policies that will shape the future of the Web and Internet.

Talking about the future of Internet in Africa,have we ever thought of what to do with the optic fibers crisscrossing the continent?.It is when we begin to realize the enormous potentials and possibilities in Africa,then we will maximize them.Nobody will be so interested in developing Africa than the Africans.

In conclusion,i think this is an opportunity for Africa Internet Governance Forum and her affiliates,stakeholders promoting internet development in Africa,to intensify efforts in their activities.We need more awareness,We need to have a stand,we need to protect our future,importantly we need to understand what the future holds for Africa on the Internet,until then i will keep asking the question,do Africa have Internet?

It is one articulated by Ms Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne Cable Company in a Guests’ Comment Register at the breakfast meeting by CEO members of ATCON for Engr Victor Haffner’s 92nd birthday last September. Therein, she wrote:

‘Very informative about the history of accomplishment that previously existed in the telecoms sector in the country. How did we totally loose the way?’.
Most people of reasonable intellect let alone someone of such prominence in the industry will be left scratching their heads how, in a relative short period, things have degenerated so far and so fast. Funke Opeke, along with others, must have listened with sheer incredulity when she heard me say in a welcome address that less than 50 years ago, in 1963 precisely, the first telecom company in Nigeria provided the needed communication resources for the inaugural satellite launch by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, USA) into space from the Lagos Marina, back to Goddard Space Flight centre in USA; and that some 10 years later, Engr Haffner and his team of Nigerians who provided the resources also conceived the NECOM House, the pioneering architectural feat of a rotating restaurant at the summit of a functional telecom building designed to be 37 levels above the ground floor.

For answers, a semblance of understanding or some comparative analysis, I put the question ‘How did we totally loose the way?’ to Google Search but that venture yielded nothing.

But to pretend to be ignorant of the root causes of this degeneration is simply burying one’s head in the sand. The issue is whether one wants to found solutions or meet the problem(s) with the customary shrug of despondency.

The few people who write our history depict different era by those who have had the misfortune to rule us hence we chart our historical path by the ‘Obasanjo’s regime’, ‘Shagari’s era’, ‘Gowon’s days’, Abacha’s period, Babangida’s time, Obasanjo’s second time second term, etc.

The difference between those heady days when Mr. Haffner worked and today is that back then, the states were not going to Federal Government routinely with a begging bowl to collect dues but rather, through ingenuous means, they generated revenue and contributed agreed sums to the central Government. This ‘funnel like’ system was effective and its reversal put the gearstick of progress in reverse. To understand the moment that precipitated this regression, we need to go back – as far back as 1966.

The fellow who had the misfortune of implementing that retrogressive decision, is no other than the distinguished elder-statesman and prayer-warrior, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.), who will have us believe that the only solution he thinks can be employed to solve our problems is ‘prayer’.

If the only solution that the distinguished elder statesman can offer in the face of a multitude of problems is prayer then we should ask him to look at the issue more closely. One can say with a level of certainty that that solution does not work as I can think of no people that pray more than Nigerians. The share number of billionaires we have produced through prayer-companies and empires attest to this. I also can think of no more morally bereft set of people than these people who package hopelessness and sell it to our people as hope. This is because if prayer is the thing, it is a deferral to a superior being for the manifestation of the good decisions that we take to protect ourselves given all the intellect the Almighty has endowed us with. It is difficult to rely solely on prayer when we deliberately depart from the original and efficient position where the states were self- sufficient and truly confederal. Is it difficult to know that?

A President goes to church routinely to make pronouncements on affairs of state and to give more impression of hopelessness than hope. What signal is that capable of sending to infantile minds of religion fanaticism? What really is leadership about, if we may ask? Wearing different national dresses?
And to imagine that those young ‘brilliant economists’ (economic team indeed) who surround to impress on him that economic indices are more important and more respectable than the wishes and true feelings of Nigerians. And that our economy regarding fuel consumption is being threatened by small countries who share border with us and whose total population, consumption, and corruption quotient are only very insignificant fraction of Nigeria’s.
A newspaper revealed that the 37-Story NECOM House which Mr. Haffner conceived and constructed when he was 44 years old had actually been converted by a top official of today ( also in his forties) to augment his family harem of loots. And for a fee of N4 billion. And nobody exists to tell us what has happened to the obscene purchase of our commonwealth? How many subsidies will Nigerians have to get removed to save themselves from today’s leaders.
The good story is that Nigerians now appear united to say No to all this nonsense.

What I find more galling is that no one sees it fit to challenge the respected General Gowon or indeed the success factor of his panacea. To be brutally honest I don’t think even he actually believes in the sacrosanct of prayer and perhaps, just perhaps, a lack of leadership, aspiration and will might have something to do with the prevailing situation.

Our failure to challenge orthodoxy cripples us. For our best moments come from discomfort and dissatisfaction because in those moments we are propelled to step out of what rubbish we are standing in and search for better solutions. A lack of aspiration means we are unable to truly judge a system either by its operations or manifestation.

Quite frankly we do not need an Army General to tell us what has gone wrong or how to solve them , we simply need anyone who works like a General – essentially a courageous leader.

There are two kinds of economic people in the world, the patient and the impatient. The patient  people  possess  the  discipline of saving money towards future expenditures, while  the  impatient   people  lack  the  discipline  of  savings. The business  world  is  impatient  in  nature,  that  is  why   the  banking  institution comes in  the game to  help  channel money  from the  impatient   people   to  the  patient people  at  an  interest   charge  which  helps keep them   in  business. The  global  economy  is  dominated by  the  impatient  people who  have   only  their jobs as a  guarantee  for credits. Then,   comes  the   wave  of  technological  advancement   and  the kiss  of  automation that   gave  birth  to  the  credit   card  system  where purchase, authentication, and fund transfer can be  done   instantaneously.  In this regard you can   move with a card without carrying cash.

A  credit  card  company  or  a  credit  card  processor like  VISA, MasterCard, American Express etc, establishes  a  network  that  allows  different  banks  to plug into  their    network  and   communicate. Therefore, this is what happens. Your  bank issues  you  with  a  credit  card  displaying your  name, issuing bank, credit card number, expiry date, and  a  verification number. When  you enter a phone store  to buy a  Nokia  phone  that  cost  N10,000 for instance, if  the  store  accept  credit card like VISA. It  means   the  phone  store  has  an  account  with  a bank  called  an  acquirer  bank  that  is  plugged into  VISA network. They  are called  acquirer banks   because   they  acquire retailers   and  authorize  them   to  accept  credit  card payment  by  supplying  them  with  a  swiping machine called Point of  Sale (POS)  or  a  code on their website.

Now  this  is  what  happens, the    phone  store  takes  your  card  and  swipes  it into a  machine (POS). The  machine  sends  the   message   to  the  acquirer  bank, from the  acquirer   bank  to  VISA  network. Visa will  recognize the  card  owner  and  transmit  the  signal  to  the  issuer bank  where  the  buyer  is  maintaining an  account. The issuer bank checks its database in other to okay your transaction.

It is   important   to  realize  that  the issuer  bank  is   only  offering   you  a  credit   which   must  be   repaid   with  an  interest in  a   future  date.  Therefore  if  the   Nokia  phone  cost  N10,000,  there  will  be  a   2-3 percent  commission  deduction  on  the  N10,000  depending on  the processor which will be  shared between  the  issuer  bank, the acquirer bank  and the credit card  company in this  case  VISA. In the   commission  sharing  formula, the  issuer  bank  will  get  about   70  percent  of  the commission,  followed  by  the acquiring bank, and   the  least   percentage  goes to VISA.

Looking at the bigger picture, credit  card  companies  make tremendous  amounts of  money  as  they  handle millions  of credit  card  transactions from  different   banks  on  daily basis. The  70  percent  commission  charge  that  goes  to  the  issuer  bank  is  called  the  interchange  rate  which  is  set  by  the  credit   card  company. Therefore , the  issuer bank  will  transfer N10,000   less the  interchange  fee  to  VISA, VISA then  transfers the remaining  fund less its own  commission  to  the  acquirer bank which also credits  the phone retailers account less its  commission. It  seems  like  a  cumbersome  process,  but  all transactions  are  completed  within   few seconds.

Similarly, when  it  comes  to   making a   purchase  on  the  phone store’s website, the  processes  are  slightly  different. This  is because  the  phone   store  has  a  direct  contact  with  the credit  card  company which  places  a   gateway  on  the  phone store’s website. During  purchase on  the phone  retailer’s  website  the  buyer   is  expected   to choose a  payment   option for  any credit  card  company  on the   phone  retailer’s website. The buyer punches in his  VISA  number  into  a  box on  the retailer’s  website, the  gateway  runs  a  check and display  the  cost  of  the  phone  plus  a  commission charge  to  be deducted . The buyer okays   the deduction and the transaction is completed awaiting delivery or instant download. Both the buyer and   the retailer have an   online dash board they use to manage their accounts.

Some Nigerian  banks have  partnered  with  VISA to  issue debit  cards  for  online payment when  you  run a domiciliary account with such  banks. Banks   like United Bank of Africa could even issue you VISA card (Africard) without having an account with them. The issue is that not all websites and foreign online banks accept those cards.

Below are some popular payment gateways in Nigeria

3Line Card Management Ltd

End-to-end card management firm.e-Payment, eData and eIdentity solutions.

Address: 7a Idejo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Phone: +234 1 4627701, 4627702

Email: info@3lineng.com

Website: http://www.3lineng.com

Cards Technology Limited

Transaction Switching & Processing, Card Printing/Personalization, Cards & e-Commerce Training,

e-Payments Software Solutions, e-Business Consulting

Address: 24A Campbell Street, Lagos Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 2646353, 2646255; Fax: +234 1 2646385

Website: http://www.cardstechnology.com

eTranzact Nigeria Limited

Electronic payment solutions

Address: 25/27, AdeyemoAlakija Street, Victoria Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 2701162; Fax: +234 1 2701163

Website: http://www.etranzact.com

Intermarc Consulting Limited

Prepayment Solution Platform, RFID and other Identification Solutions, Training and Capacity Building, Consulting Services, e-Fraud & Risk Management Solutions

Address: 2nd Floor, 161B Rafiu Taylor close,    Off Idejo Street, AdeolaOdeku, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Phone: +234 1 4367125, 4721160, 08037420002; Fax: +234 1 2623770

Website: http://www.intermarc-ng.com

InterSwitch Limited

Electronic payment solutions, ATM machines, debit cards etc

Address: Plot 1648C, Oko-Awo Close, Victoria Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 4739101, 4616300, 4617822; Fax: +234 1 4616299

Website: http://www.interswitchng.com

Smart Switch Nigeria

Payment solutions company .fully integrated payment, switching, settlement and identification system

Address: 19 SakaTinubu Street,, Victoria Island, Lagos

Phone: +234 1 2719972, 7612006; Fax: +234 1 2718343, 2719978

Website: http://www.smartswitch.com.ng

VTNetwork Limited

Suite S8 Febson Mall, Plot 2425 Herbert Macaulay Way

Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, Nigeria

https://www.virtualterminalnetwork.com

Tel:  07041911945

SoftPay.Org LTD

788 Finchley Road, London. NW11 7TJ

Nigeria Office: Plot 891 Onitsha crescent, Garki, Area 11, Abuja. FCT.

https://www.softpay.org

-Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2012: Europe, the Middle East and Africa. You can find more details at

http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea/

-Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities. You can

find more details at http://www.google.com/studentswithdisabilities-europe/

The deadline for both scholarships is 1st February 2012. Scholarship

recipients will each receive a 7,000 EUR scholarship and in June 2012 all scholarship recipients and finalists will be invited to visit a Google

office in Europe for a networking retreat. It will include workshops with a series of speakers, panels, breakout sessions and social activities, and will provide an opportunity for all finalists to meet and share their experiences. You can find out more about the scholarships and retreat through the videos.

YouTube Nigeria will now offer some of the most informative and entertaining video content from around the world through a local interface, www.youtube.com.ng  ,that promotes content that is most relevant to Nigerians.
There is something on YouTube for everyone, as shown by individuals such as Jason Njoku, the entrepreneurial spirit behind Nollywood Love , or companies such as 37th State , which set up an urban, African culture and lifestyle channel.

From amateur to professional content, from the unexpected to the emotionally affecting, the educational to the entertaining, Nigerians now have greater flexibility to tell their stories, and find videos most useful to them.

At the YouTube launch event in Lagos today, Google Country Manager Juliet Ehimuan welcomed Patrick Walker, YouTube’s Senior Director, content Partnerships, for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “With over 3 billion views a day, YouTube is the world’s largest audience, and a mode of communication that allows everyone’s voice to be heard”, said Walker. “Nigerians are passionate about music, entertainment and many other genres that YouTube offers. By launching YouTube locally, we help people to find the most popular videos in Nigeria, along with those that are rising in
popularity”.

YouTube Nigeria makes it easier for Nigerian users to find and view the videos most relevant to them. Content uploaded by Nigerian users will show up as “browse pages” on the YouTube Nigeria site, creating a new virtual space for the national community and giving Nigerians the opportunity to increase their exposure online. Also at the YouTube launch event in Lagos today, Nollywood Love announced the launch of iRok TV, whilst Storm 360 announced the launch of 6 new YouTube channels. 37th State announced the premiere of its first short film and documentary, Nkiru, which is to take place on December 18, 2011.

“The power of the internet presents great opportunities. YouTube gives people the power to broadcast themselves,” said Obi Asika from Storm360, a leading entertainment company in West Africa. “Our channel has helped connect us with local and international fans and artists all over the world, and is helping us to achieve our full potential. For users with slow connections, they can use YouTube Feather for better performance”.

One of YouTube’s key priorities, in addition to the making the platform a
comprehensive destination is to ensure that videos load and play quickly, even in places where bandwidth is at a premium.

Improving Internet access remains a key challenge across Africa which in my opinion Google should support Africa fully in increasing internet access especially in rural areas before unleashing her products on us!
In addition to the standard YouTube experience, users have the option to watch videos with YouTube Feather. This “light” version only includes the site’s most basic features, to help ensure that those with low-speed Internet connections are able to play videos play faster. YouTube Feather can be found in TestTube, the area on the site where new products are tested.
It is our  believe that Nigerians will explore the opportunities with YouTube to positively change our image online.

The company which started this year by two young Nigerians- Amaete Umanah and Ime Etim are already making impact with their popular Nigerian card game WHOT!,the company’s first title recently launched for iOS, Android and Facebook and has already grown to be one of the largest social games on mobile and also setting the standard for financial performance.

WHOT! similar to Uno card game is easy to learn,offering players challenges and rewards,has the following key features:

·      Detailed Graphics

·      iOS & Android – Intuitive style menu manipulation and selection using your finger

·      Universal app for iPhone™, iPod™ touch and iPad™ and Android devices

·      4 fun and challenging levels!( With more to come)

·      Real life rewards for achievements and points in the game using Kiip Rewards

·      Automatically tracks and saves all of your game stats

·      Free to play on Facebook

·      Online Achievements with Game Center support

·      Select your favorite card faces to use, just $0.99.

·      On-screen “How to play” instructions and button actions.

·      PC-style menus allow easy and intuitive configuration and navigation.

·      Retina Display support

·      Heyzap Integration for widespread discovery

·      Multiplayer – Coming Soon

Amaete Umanah, the founder and CEO of nKanika said “ This is a splendid achievement. The bar has been raised, the gauntlet has been thrown down and we can’t wait to show the world our vision of our next generation of WHOT! and our upcoming titles”.

Get to interact with new and old players and also share views on the game on Facebook.

SECURICO has more than 3,400 employees, 900 of which are women, making it the largest employer of women in the private sector. The company exemplifies the vital role played by entrepreneurs in creating economic growth, prosperity, and realising opportunity in Africa.

“It is such an honor for me to be recognized by the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship and included in such a talented, dynamic group of entrepreneurs”said Divine Ndhlukula, Founder and Managing Director of SECURICO. “I hope that my story of creating SECURICO, and those of my fellow finalists, will help to inspire other African entrepreneurs to seek opportunity, embrace risk, and above all,believe in themselves.”

A record 3,300 companies from 48 African countries submitted entries to compete for the Grand Prize of US $100,000, and six additional prizes of US $50,000 each,including the new Coca-Cola Award for an Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur, granted to Victoria Seeds, an agribusiness based in Kampala, Uganda. The Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship recognises and rewards business leaders who embody the entrepreneurial spirit and qualities required to succeed in business and who are the inspirational role models for the next generation of African entrepreneurs .

Five further finalists were recognized and each awarded a prize of US $50,000:

· Chocolate City Group, Abuja, Nigeria

· Expand Technologies., Phoenix, Mauritius

· Pepperoni Foods, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

· Unique Solutions, Serrekunda, The Gambia

· soleRebels, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Philip Vassiliou, Managing Director of Legatum, commented, “Legatum firmly believes that entrepreneurship is the most effective mechanism for distributing scarce resources around an economy. Entrepreneurs have the ability to see an opportunity and build a business around it, and the profit these businesses generate is evidence that needs are being met in the optimal way.” He added “We are pleased to recognise all of our 2011 Award finalists for the vital contributions they have made in promoting prosperity across the continent.”

The ten finalists underscore the diversity of entrepreneurs in the competition,representing eight countries including Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria,Senegal, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The top ten, which includes three woman-owned businesses, work in a range of industries, from software to entertainment to agribusiness.

“The winners of the 2011 Africa Awards represent a diversity of backgrounds,industries, and geographies, but they also share a common determination in building and scaling a successful company,” said Matt Bannick, Managing Partner of Omidyar Network. “We congratulate each of the winners, and welcome them to the Awards’ growing network of business leaders who are fostering innovation, job creation, and positive social impact from within Africa.”

To determine the winners, finalists gathered in Nairobi to present to a prominent jury of African business leaders and investors. The panel was chaired by Malik Fal,Managing Director of Endeavor. The jury also included some of Africa’s most prominent entrepreneurs and investors, including Kamal Budhabhatti, CEO of Craft Silicon and Grand Prize Winner of the 2010 Africa Awards; James Manyika, Director of the McKinsey Global Institute; Ayisi Makatiani, the CEO of Fanisi Capital; and Tokunboh Ishmael, co-founder and Managing Director of Alitheia Capital. The winners were evaluated on profitability; return on investment and growth; long-term business strategy; leadership, culture and values; investment in employees; innovation to address market needs; and contribution to the community.

It gives me a great pleasure to welcome you all-and indeed a special honor to welcome our distinguished guests,guests of honor,members of the NITDA Board,Our keynote speakers,captains of the IT Profession and industry and in particular,the honorable minister of Communications Technonology-Mrs.Omobola Johnson(CFR) and our Chief Host,His Excellency,Senator Liyel Imoke,Governor Cross River state.ISPON is happy to have you here today at this critical moment of history in our national development.

If I make the following statements therefore,it is because ISPON is deeply concerned,involved,committed and dedicated to ensuring that Software perhaps our last development hope for this century,is transformed into a sustainable reality and a legacy for future generations.

There are certain moments in life when you can predict and in deed see the future with such clarity that nearly takes your breath away!ISPON clearly sees that positive future in Nigerian Developed Software (NDS).

Therefore,I wish to amplify the fact that no nation can succeed in the new(21st century)economy without a framework for constructive investment in, and incubation development and mastery of its indigenous software knowledge-base.

Today,software technology can simply be defined as the cement that holds the world together and no nation will succeed without earning and mastering its development,application and service dynamics.Thanks to the advances in information technology and the new media.

One can therefore rightly state that software has become-not only the vehicle but the centre of gravity of humanity’s quest to unravel the   complex equation presented by the new economy,knowledge acquisition and the development processes for the emerging information society(IS).

Leaders and decision makers in government,education and business today find themselves trapped in a complex spider-web of knowledge engagement,asking key questions such as:what defines national economic success,community values,ethics,equity,progress,development,quality education,justice,wealth,prosperity etc?

Has Nigeria kept pace with a rapidly changing world in today’s global information-centric and knowledge-based economy?Are there proactive and reliable models for domain reform that we can adopt?In deed,are we capable of originating knowledge architecture as a dynamic framework and functional platform to suit our development purposes?

Your excellencies,distinguished ladies and gentlemen,ISPON views today’s gathering as a meaningful attempt to rub minds and re-examine key software issues that engage and challenge our nation and the ECOWAS sub region at various levels of her development.

As we are aware,there is a paradigm shift in global development life cycle,which was principally originated by information gathering and processing activities and currently sustained by software knowledge engineering.The industrial development era is gone and we totally lost out as a nation-making us mentally and economically dependent on global forces.Today,we live in a software-first world and must collectively engage its challenges and immense opportunities as well as master and manage its risks and national security components.

Many authors of reliable research works have recognized the complex role that software plays in national economic development strategies,pointing out that the domestic application and use of software products and services must be considered strategic imperatives in parallel with the development of a nation.

What makes software particularly interesting is the diverse characteristics of its global network requirement and effectiveness.This factor has continued to fuel the adventure of globalization and its inherent opportunities.

As the demand for application software increases around the world-accelerated by its diversity and potential capability to efficiently resolve complex development problems,technologically unconscious nations such as ours,will sooner or later,find herself caught up and entangled in the consumer addicted spider web-aided and abated by our current attitude embedded in Software Thinking Poverty

ISPON is concerned that,if our software thinking poverty is not engaged with conscious political will and strategies to reverse its current direction,the nation may become a classical example of the Digital colony of the 21st century

ISPON therefore desirous and hereby solicits your support to proffering solutions for sustainable policy,strategies and accelerated intervention into the following areas:

a.Software intervention and constructive engagement in education and health

b.Software intervention and constructive engagement in governance and public administration

c.Software intervention and constructive engagement in science and technology

d.Software intervention and constructive engagement in critical information infrastructure

e.Software intervention and constructive engagement in Agriculture and food security

f.Software intervention and constructive engagement in industry and commerce

g.Software intervention and constructive engagement in research and development

h.Software intervention and constructive engagement in public-private partnership

i.Software intervention and constructive engagement in global knowledge competitiveness

j.Software intervention and constructive engagement in rural community development

k.Software intervention and constructive engagement in arts and culture

The institute of software practitioners of Nigeria(ISPON)was established in 1999 to fulfill the following objectives amongst others:

To accelerate the creation of an enabling environment for sustainable growth of the Nigerian Software industry.To produce a large pool of software knowledge innovators and creative developers,capable of producing software that meet and surpass international standards,applying best practices and contributing to the advancement of global software engineering research.

ISPON’s software advocacy in the past,led to amongst other:the formulation and adoption of the National IT policy,the establishment of an inter ministerial committee on Software and the birth of the Nigeria Software Development Initiative(NSDI).We were part of the team who re-engineered Nigeria Software Exhibition(NISE).ISPON was instrumental to the establishment of ICT departments in federal ministries.For all the above achievements,i wish to recognise the untiring efforts of my Immediate past president-Engineer Simeon Chijioke Agu-Who initiated the popular ten point agenda for the Nigeria Software Industry-and laid a strong foundation for the take off of Software Nigeria.Thank you Sir.

My appreciation also goes to the NITDA board and in particular to Prof.Cleopas Angaye,DG NITDA for facilitating a major part of this conference and software competition.To all members of the National Executive Council of ISPON and to Dr.Chris Nwannenna-a founding member and trustee of ISPON,I salute your courage and team work attributes.

And finally,let me recognize and appreciate the tenacity and magnanimity of HE,Senator Liyel Imoke,the Governor of Cross river state and our formidable Chief host,for the confidence reposed in ISPON and his inspirational commitment to the actualization of this conference and Software Nigeria mission.

Your excellencies,distinguished ladies and gentlemen,welcome to the world of software.Welcome to the National Software Conference and Competition.Welcome to Tinapa, Calabar and enjoy your stay in Cross river state-acclaimed as perhaps,the most hospitable and secure state in Nigeria today.Welcome.

As a concerned Nigerian, and part of the long suffering citizenry, while I think we should revisit the subject matter, I think it is too serious to be left to the trivialities of social media.

As a member of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, and its serving President, I adjudge it my responsibility to not only make it publicly known that we remain unimpressed by current plans for energy reform of the Nigerian Government but to postulate that it will be a  miracle if the current proposals  actually take us out of darkness.

We had harboured hopes that  the managers of the ongoing energy reform would take a leaf  from the modest progress made in telecommunications development in the past eighteen years replicating the things that we did right while avoiding those we did wrong, On the face of it, those hopes now seem misplaced.

At the epicenter of what we did right, was genuine liberalisation which saw us give out licenses to investors to open up our market and provide, sell, as well as augment their investment and networks. By creating a progressively fair investment environment, we turned aspiration into reality and a subsidized loss making sector into one that returned funds into government’s coffers – all with minimal government intervention. We also made the point to Government to stop throwing money at our problems.

Although these energy reform managers are inviting investors to participate in power supply process, they are merely presenting an illusionary version rather than genuine liberalisation and are deluded in thinking they will impress genuine and world-class investors in the present circumstance. They would do well to remember that for all the development in our telecommunications sector, we have failed to attract world-class investors to date for reasons. For reasons, perhaps not for mentioning in this intervention, the best of the emerging markets is all we have been able to attract thus far.

Producing electricity and feeding such into a national grid is not attractive to investment especially if the buyer of the product is a government rather than consumers. We observed that the government eventually identified this lapse and is presenting the creation of the Nigeria’s Bulk Electricity Trading Company as the answer. – yet another illusion which is bound to fail for it is merely establishing a bureaucracy (regardless of the name ‘Company’) where a true business model solution is required.

Selling our generating plants to private investors is an open invitation to full scale corruption which we should not allow under any circumstance and to that extent we align with those who oppose privatization of anything at this time.

Regrettably, the word ‘privatization’ has been confused with ‘liberalization’ thus making  communication (with a small ’c’) very difficult, even when there is a genuine attempt to have a dialogue. Liberalization is about motivating investors to determine what sectors of the community they want to provide services for – and they often and most successfully do this without the encumbrances of dealing extensively with government bureaucracies, aside the regulator.

In my estimation and one which has hitherto been recommended, is a model of decentralized architecture, Engr. John Ayodele, FNSE recommended it in the form of Distributed Generation for our public electricity supply system when he delivered the NIEEE Annual Lecture in 2009 while I, Engr Titi Omo-Ettu, FNSE gave similar recommendation when I delivered the 2010 edition (Pathway to connecting the Last Man) of the same Lecture. Granted, of course, that since we put those recommendations in books, we might have been truly hiding them.

With such a viable model, we can provide 24/7/365 supply of electricity to many parts of this country within six months. We can also generate more than 40,000 megawatts to serve various communities of the country in 3 years.  Today we probably do more than 30,000 Megawatts except that everybody does his own generation while government augments with less than 5,000 Megawatts.

Regrettably, our energy managers  rather than thinking about the  ‘regular supply of power’ via a decentralized architecture – the forgone alternative deployed successfully in the telecommunications sector, are, for narrow self- interests, fixated on thinking in ‘megawatts’ in grid supply.

I am aware that the managers of energy are busy navel gazing just like we in the telecommunications sector did several years ago – an attitude that we had to change before we could take Nigeria out of telecom darkness.

Also regrettably, the shift stick of progress that has become a hallmark of the  telecommunications sector in spite of very poor electricity, is not only stuck in neutral but rather in danger of being stuck in reverse as it is now inconceivable that we can move forward without real improvement in infrastructure and access to adequate electricity supply. Knowing what we do, inaction is not an option as it will inevitably lead to the desecration of not only the energy but the telecommunication sector too.

The pain in one’s neck is that we keep groping and give an impression that we cannot do it. The good story is that we have demonstrated elsewhere that we can.

A painful error was made when an aspiring Minister told our Senators that he could not guarantee regular electricity until after 3 years and yet he was allowed to wear the badge of “Minister of Power”. That brings tears to my eyes and to ask what manner of representative democracy this is.

And to ask myself , how do we get out of this quagmire?

Interestingly the Students Circle Network’s team is comprised of young Nigerians who are poised towards changing the way Students, Teachers and Institutions approach education.

Mr Ukanwoke said in his interview said”We are getting into the African market and working towards a general adoption that will enable us reach more students and teachers alike”.He adds  that the educational social network hopes to become the hub for all students globally.

Students Circle Network allows students to interact and communicate over educational resources, making online education and learning more social and human by providing unlimited resources, study groups, social connections, scholarships offers and university placements.“We are committed to our vision of “building a body of knowledge” that is FREE and accessible to everyone across the globe. We hope to take online education to the next level in the coming months and years”

The Idea

Our business idea is to integrate social experiences and free open online learning. This will enable students to have that ‘classroom effect’ when studying and interacting with educators. This will drive better learning and e-education.We are particularly excited about the African market because our materials come from the top global 200 Universities and these resources will be helpful for the creation of local content in Africa.

The Uniqueness of the Idea

Our idea is unique because we have gone a step ahead of the regular online Education. We have also gone a step ahead of the normal social networking as we have found a unique way of mating these two markets in one. Most importantly is our membership with the OpenCourseWare Consortium, which gives us access to unlimited course resources that we have ordered and prepared in the best usable way for students.We also partner with individual schools to provide our premium academic solutions to them for free, giving them exposure on our network and help them get across to our over 200,000 prospective student list. They in turn help us grow within their institution.

What Have You Learned with this Project?

I have learned that one has to work with a committed team that is oriented towards the growth of the network. It is a task to find those who are capable of doing the best they can in their areas. It’s been amazing working with my team so far.

How have you changed since you started?

Yes we have changed greatly. At the end of August 2011, we released Students Circle 2.0 a new version of Students Circle that allows better User experience for our users. We have reduced the clutter on the network and allowing users to have better concentration on what’s most important.

Plans for the future?

Once we start to gain our stronghold in Africa and most importantly Nigeria,we will start further expansion into other continents and countries in Asia and South America.

Our expansion will be in two stages

1. Students / Teachers:  We will be reaching direct users who will use Students Circle Network to both teach and to learn. In this light we will be working on making the platform to be multi-lingual in all aspects. Currently our courses are starting to be rolled out in different languages; the next stage is to activate different languages for all aspects of the network.

2. Institutions: We will be partnering with more institutions to build a custom learning platform that they will be used to deliver a better e-learning solution to their students.How we can help Students, Teachers and Institutions are highlighted in our For Who Page

Interestingly, facts have shown that the population of young people in Nigeria(even in Africa )is greater than any other group; therefore it becomes important to channel the energy and effort of the Youth towards the development of the country using the Youth Population through ICTs which is a sure tool for meaningful development in recent times.It becomes necessary at this time that a  summit is set to explore the potentials and capabilities of the Nigerian Youth in contributing their quota to National Development through technology and innovations. The time for such change is now and we are the ones to make the needed change, no one will do it for us!

National Youth Summit on ICT for Development(NYSonICT) is the largest gathering of Nigerian Youths from all over the world that are promoting and using ICT tools in one way or the other to bring about Development in different fields of human endeavor. The summit brings together Young Nigerians who are passionate about ICT for Development to learn, share ideas, collaborate and develop strategies on how to use ICTs to solve some of the problems Nigeria is facing as a developing nation.

This summit is set to create the environment to help realize the potentials of the Nigerian Youths. Great ideas will be generated at the summit and with the support of the government, private and public sectors, international and local organizations, stakeholders in the ICT sector etc. These ideas and strategies will be put to use in solving our problems using ICTs. Therefore the summit is not an avenue to criticize the government at any level but a platform to generate ideas that will assist government in planning for the Youths.

The NYSonICT also promotes the National Youth Summit Awards (NYSA) set to reward Young Nigerians using ICTs to help fight challenging problems as listed above and also pioneer different developments through their e-content, applications, projects, initiatives.

The key Objectives of the Summit are:

• To create a Platform for Nigerian Youths all over the world to come together, explore the opportunities in ICTs and share relevant ideas that will help in the development of the country.
• To contribute to nation building through ICT for Development
• To create agenda on how the Youths can be part of National development and hence partner with the Government, Private and Public sector on this.
• To create opportunities for Youths to become entrepreneurs and job creators thereby reducing unemployment and other social vices they are linked with.
• · To create an avenue to reward the efforts of young people contributing towards ICT Development through the National Youth Summit Awards.

• To create a platform for networking with Technology CEOs,International organizations,Government,experts and top figures in ICT.

If you are young and passionate about Nigeria’s development using technology and innovations then get involved today!

To learn how, visit http://www.nationalyouthsummitonict.com.ng

Register for the summit

Submit your project for the National Youth Summit Awards(NYSA)

Follow us on twitter @NYSonICT

Join us on Facebook

The AGM which took place at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, on the 24^th of November, 2011 was the perfect opportunity to hand over the mantle of leadership of the Association after four years of visionary leadership by the Immediate Past President (IPP), Dr. Jimson Olufuye and his National Executive Council. Dr. Olufuye who took over as President at the 2007 AGM served for two terms and was able to lead the Association to international spotlight through various steps which include making ITAN a member and the regional secretariat of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) as well as hosting the IT CEOs Summits in collaboration with NASSCOM, India.

Mrs. Seriki who also served as the 1^st Vice President during Dr. Olufuye’s tenure will now be at the forefront of ITAN’s push toward a truly digital society in the coming years. She will not be alone in championing these goals as she will be joined by the other newly elected officers of the Association. They Include:

1^st Vice President – Mr. Amos Emmanuel (CEO, Programos Software)

2^nd Vice President – Mr. Yunusa Yau (Executive Director, CITAD)

Treasurer – Mr. Matthias Ifesieh (CEO, Sagita Systems Ltd)

Council Members – Mr. Dele Ajisomo (Mandriva Africa), Mr. Emma Onuegbu (Zinox Technologies), Mr. Tola Sogbesan (Chace Systems Ltd), Mr. Adeniyi Ekine (Obita Crescent Audio Visual Industry), Mr. David Onu (Interra Networks Ltd), Mr. John Nwosu (Jetlink Nigeria Ltd), Mr. Sagir Mohammed (Intersystems Ltd), Mr. Oamen Okhilua (Yobel Integrated Ltd). Statutory members of the Council are Dr. Jimson Olufuye (Immediate Past President and CEO Kontemporary Ltd), Mr. Tayo Adeniyi (Worldwide Computers Ltd and Initiator of ITAN), and other past presidents in line with the newly approved constitution.

Culled from www.itan.org.ng

When are we going to wake up from this slumber?we have all been taken hostage digitally and yet we dont seem to know,even our government have no clue about this.We have been digitally colonised,where are our own digital brands like Facebook,Twitter,Google,Apple,Nokia,Microsoft,Blackberry you name them.Interestingly from letter A-Z no digital brand from Africa that can hold her own on the Global arena of competitiveness,yes in deed we have been digitally colonised if all we do and want is work for this brands and help them make more money in our Africa!

Well,this is not what i intend writing about right now,i will in a detailed approach bare my mind on how deep this digital colony called Africa is fast evolving.But right now i like to intrioduce to you whereYouDey.com

Early this year,Akin Olaoye and his team at whereyoudey.com were at the Mobile Web Africa where they presented the platform,few days ago,we got talking and it is amazing how their platform has grown and i decided to let you know about them.

Whereyoudey.com as a business directory is one of the fastest growing internet brands in Nigeria with coverage in 10 cities in Nigeria. They currently have listings for 80 percent or more of businesses in Abuja,Asaba, Warri, Benin, Yenagoa, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Nsukka and recently Lagos

For me,thisbrand has proven that Nigerian startups are capable of competing ona global scale considering their zeal for constant innovation and productdevelopment on all facets making the most tech savvy and less experienced mobileand web users enjoy their array of  products.

Their Mobile Apps for Nokia, Android, Blackberry, Samsung and Sony Ericsonoffers users a variety of choices to experience their services on the move.

Their search technologyhelps you find businesses offering the services you want within your location ,byentering the name of the type of business  that you’re looking for as wellas the name of your city. The search tool will then automaticallygenerate listing of businesses that offer the service and not only that, it takes the uniqueness of its service one step further by providingdirections to the business, hours of operation, the businesses website, discountsand other services offered by the business as well as ads associated with thebusiness.

The Whereyoudey platform includes an Events section that allows users to view eventsby categories, locations or other parameters they wish to apply while viewing eventlistings.Their Movie Schedules provides information of movie schedules in various cities withcurrent box office,showtime and movie.

The platform also features features a section called iDey, whichallows users to create classified adverts. These adverts can be placed at the samecost of sending a standard SMS message. To increase the value and expand the numberof users, free submissions can be done online by creating a user login account tosubmit a post.

Their social media integration has very unique qualities, as users can share favoritebusiness listings, event information or other information to friends and family in aseamless manner.

Users can review business using a grade system that is published in real time. Thiswill definitely serve as a feedback mechanism to businesses wishing to understandpublic perception about their brands.

Their mapping feature integrated with Google maps, allows a user to view the exactlocation of business in the city where they operate.They definitely tookthis feature an extra mile in Port Harcourt by updating Google map’s street and roadlayouts to achieve near perfection.

Banner Ads of businesses can be viewed on the home page search results creatingmaximum exposure for subscribers of this service.

Their Mobile Apps experience is something to talk about where

userscan search for listings, access event information, view the classified section andmovie listings on their mobile devices at no cost. For most mobile users inNigeria with Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, SonyEricson and Android phones all have fully functional mobile Apps for free. Users candownload the mobile app for free by visiting their mobile app store from theirdevices or by simply texting the phone identifier to 33812.

For example a Nokia userwill text “NokiaApp” to “33812” and doing so a standard SMStext rate obtains, after which a link will be sent to the device to download the application. For Sony Ericson text “SonyApp” to “33812”, Blackberry text“BlackberryApp” to “33812”, Samsung text “SamsungApp” to “33812” and Android phonetext “AndroidApp” to “33812. The mobile app provides similar features available onthe website and allows users to stay connected while “on-the-go”.

With these array of services and many more on WhereYouDey,advertisers will benefit from advistising their product and services on their platform.