NITEL: The hard
sell
by
Abi Bilesanmi
The liberalization of telecommunications has
been a key component of the socio-economic
agenda in developed and developing economies
over the last 25 years instigated by the
dominant free market Thatcherite/Reaganomics
ideology of the 1980s which not only
precipitated the privatisation of state
controlled industries but was accentuated by
the proliferation of mobile phone technology
and ownership which has challenged the
impact and the role of state-owned and
controlled telecoms operators – which was
particularly the case in developing
economies.
The critical element in the development of
the Nigerian telecommunications
infrastructure and the death knell for NITEL
has been the explosive growth of mobile,
which has benefited from a compelling
technology and an increasingly liberal
policy environment that has challenged the
NITEL’s existence and purpose. At its pomp,
NITEL served the few and telephony was a
luxury but in a today’s world where
prevalent and common sight we observe is of
street vendors, rickshaw pullers and
newspaper hawkers routinely talking on their
mobile phones, it has lost its raison detre.
In the on-going saga of the failure of the
sale of NITEL, lies the paradox of
liberalisation. Contemporary thinking point
at faulty process and poor due diligence
which, in my own opinion have contributed
but by no means have solely been responsible
for the failure of the Federal Government to
sell the Nigerian Telecommunications
Limited.
We need to understand the fundamental
principle that a sale is a compromise
between a buyer and a seller and inherent in
the worth of anything is how much anyone is
willing to pay for it. Of course there is
room for negotiation but that is dependent
on the strength of one’s negotiating hand.
Sentimental claims of NITEL once considered
a prime asset, is a limp wrist rather than a
strong hand.
Adhering to a liberalisation agenda, the
central question does NITEL at point of sale
, either in terms of its infrastructure and
assets or indeed as a functioning on-going
concern meet the valuation placed on it by
those, who for all intent and purposes, are
not as objective as the market?
Paradoxically the reason why NiTEL should be
sold is exactly why the process is proving
difficult. This catalogue which include: the
need for a deregulated and competitive
market structure; private ownership with
strong foreign investment; a reduced role
for government; cost-reflective prices; and
universal service policies to deal with
market failure as a remedy for the ills of
incumbent and inefficient monopoly with
dilapidated infrastructure and riddled with
corruption as epitomised NITEL are the same
reasons why its valuation is contentious.
Regardless of the merits of liberalisation
i.e. the introduction of competition serves
the public interest by inducing suppliers to
become more efficient and to offer greater
choice of products and services at lower
prices, it is the very nature of such
liberalisation that NiTEL has to be sold but
the combination that buyers are forever
looking for a basement bargain, that in an
economy like Nigeria’s, the entrepreneurial
class capable of purchasing NiTEL is very
small and the fact that NiTEL was a basket
case all have a significant bearing on the
chasm between its valuation and what
prospective buyers are willing or indeed
able to pay.
This piece is not suggesting that the sale
should not go ahead nor does it deprecate
the frustration that stems from how long the
process is taking. It simply highlights the
fact the cause and the effects of the hard
sell of NiTEL are exactly the same. It may
well drag on much longer as seller and buyer
become more entrenched in their positions
and play hard ball.
As the National Council on Privatisation,
approves the negotiated sale strategy for
the privatisation of NITEL, and of course
with this approval, the Bureau of Public
Enterprises, BPE, would yet again begins a
new process for the sale of the ‘premier
national carrier’ after several failed
attempts, it is a case of ‘here we go
again’. Don’t hold your breath.
Cyberschuulnews 417
Are
convergence and regulation mutually
exclusive?
by
Abi Bilesanmi
Back in June last year, the lead paper at
the WiMax Forum in Lagos delivered by
Professor Raymond Akwule entitled
‘Regulatory and Policy Imperatives of
Emerging Last Mile Technologies’ clearly
established that with the digitilisation of
content, the emergence of IP, and the
adoption of high speed broadband by end
users have been a catalyst for the
convergence of networks, services and
devices which have remarkably transformed
the market with the fusion of triple and
sometimes quadruple offers providing data,
televisual, fixed and mobile services.
The trend towards the convergence of the
broadcasting and telecom sectors is widely
acknowledged but not without the thorny
issue of the regulatory consequences with
regard to telecom and broadcasting networks,
services and operators, including the new
emerging markets such as broadcasting to
mobile devices, broadcasting over the
Internet, over broadband networks, and the
like which remains to be assessed, fully
understood and tackled.
With Prof Akwule’s assertion that ‘we live
in a converging world but our regulatory
institutions are very un-converged’ and
exemplified by the ensuing debate at the
Forum about the proposed merger between the
Nigerian Communications Communication (NCC)
and the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation
(NBC), where industry players all agreed on
the need to accomplish convergence to
streamline the allocation of broadcast and
telecommunications frequency spectrum, there
is a school of thought that suggests the
reality of that bottlenecks may arise
because of convergence that might result in
the appearance of new monopolies that
restrict access to certain resources, such
as networks, spectrum and content, might
have been oversimplified or completely
ignored. Regulation to guarantee fair
competition and access to scarce resources
will need to be addressed, focusing upon the
regulatory approaches that are being applied
or considered. In this context Professor
Akwule said the prevailing regulatory
framework has done reasonably well in
achieving its socio-economic objectives of
ensuring effectively competitive markets,
investment as well as improved access and
quality of service.
To alter this regulatory system that has
served the industry well thus far to
accommodate the impending converging
phenomenon, the questions for consideration
and focus for stakeholders need to address
and focus upon are:
Should all service providers be subject to
the same regulation?
Who has access to the necessary resources?
How should access to networks or spectrum be
provided and regulated?
Who shall be authorised or licensed?
Who can access, develop and deliver content?
Who is entitled to distribute self-generated
content? and
What sort of competition should be
encouraged and guaranteed in order to access
content?
Answers are not easy to come by. In
contemporary debates, analysts are saying
that today’s convergence frenzy is couched
in mass hysteria in the telecom sector and
some realism needs to be injected into the
debate. They argue that by solely
concentrate marketing and operations based
upon a so-called multi-utilities concept,
convergence is now seen, however, in joint
offers of integrated communication services
that bundle fixed telephony and broadband
access to the Internet for a double-play
package, the addition of audio-visual
content for triple play and, finally, the
inclusion of mobile services to create a
quadruple-play bundle.
It is still difficult to say how these will
contribute to the growth of individual
operators and the impact it will have on the
growth of the industry and the economy. This
piece is by no means anti-convergence which
is inevitable, its simply saying things are
not as simple as they seem and we need to
exercise caution so as not to throw the baby
out with the bath water. We need to be
cognisant of the fact that if these
services are to succeed, the government, the
industry and the regulatory institutions in
particular, need to adopt a long-term
strategy that fosters and facilitates the
dissemination of convergent services; to
understand that convergence is reliant on
the urgency to build update and modernise
the telecom infrastructures - especially the
broadband networks and convergence needs to
at least tolerate practical , administrative
and operational boundaries.
Cyberschuulnews 410
Broadband in
2011: Show us the way to go
by
Abi Bilesanmi
As services move online, more changes are
afoot in terms of the provision and access
to digital services in 2011.
Last year was an eventful one for most
service oriented organisations from
government departments to businesses who saw
in increase in the proportion of their
services that became available online and
consequently more customers interaction.
This trend is set to continue in 2011 as
more of these organisations will be
providing more of their services online to
help them deliver better, more efficient
customer service and more of their customers
digitally aware and are encouraged to use
them more.
Where we will most benefit from the
proliferation of broadband is via mobile.
For most of the latter half of the last
decade, analysts in emerging communications,
media and technology markets, have been
saying Africa and the Middle East will lead
the world in terms of mobile broadband
through 2012. They expect mobile broadband
adoption in Africa and the Middle East to
grow faster than the global average over the
next five years and with the launch of 3G
services in much of the region means that
its internet market should experience
transformation on a scale comparable to the
advent of mobile communications famously and
dramatically transformed AME's voice
telecommunications sector.
In relation to our market potential, we
should be a hotbed of mobile broadband
activity but structural problems of
inadequate fixed infrastructure and
insufficient competition in the market which
has made internet services either
unavailable, unaffordable or both, we are
not. Our people remain "starved" of internet
access, even though they will double their
share of global mobile data revenue by 2014.
It is a clear indication that broadband
access is not a hard sell and the public
have already bought the idea and principle.
It is now up to the government and business,
with the support of a dynamic industry, to
‘give the people what they want’
Technology is undoubtedly positioned at the
forefront of most of what we do in various
capacities. It will redefine the way
services are delivered and accessed and our
government needs to wake up to this reality
and put measures in place to effect the
change that is inevitably on its way and
focus on the provision of broadband
infrastructure and access not some accessory
but rather as long-term strategic priority
to inform and educate our people as well
grow our economy
It can be done
Despite political volatility, across the
Middle East region, telecoms infrastructures
are expanding and modernising. Most
fixed-line incumbents remain majority
government-owned but greater liberalisation
and competition are impacting the market in
a positive manner. Identifying the critical
role of telecommunications in economic
development, governments are making
significant investments. More
technologically diverse services are
becoming available to businesses and
consumers alike and private companies are
taking the lead in the provision of services
such as Internet access and mobile
telephony. Internet usage, broadband
penetration, services and access
technologies such as WiFi, WiMAX and
satellite Internet) are on the rise across
the region making it a hot house of
development for key broadband technologies.
The mobile market continues to boom, with
the Gulf countries having some of the
highest penetration rates in the world. 3G,
HSPA and mobile TV services are growing.
This is what we need to emulate. The
industry has shown its willingness to grasp
the nettle. The Association of
Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria in
its outlook for 2011 has nailed its colours
to the mast. Where they lead, we must
inevitably follow
Cyberschuulnews 400
Comparing
‘like with like’?
by
Abi Bilesanmi
‘Over the last 10 to 12 years, the mobile
communications market has been booming.
Before 1998 public debt crisis, mobile phone
ownership was a privilege of affluent
consumers; today the number of registered
SIM cards greatly exceeds ……... This is not
so surprising. Mobile phones are used even
by pre-schoolers and grannies who no longer
need to walk all the way downstairs for a
chat with a neighbour.’
The above statement very much fits the
description of the development in
telecommunications particularly mobile
telephony in Nigeria over the last 10 years.
But in fact the above is about Russian
telecommunications. This piece is intended
to provide a comparative analysis of the
development in telecommunications in Nigeria
and Russia by focusing on, its history, user
demographics and the policy choices of each
country. Using Russia as a template because
it is comparable on a number of levels, it
will be necessary for the Nigerian
government and telecoms industry to continue
to provide users with the appropriate tools
to allow them to understand the importance
of ICT and telecoms, the context in which
their information exists and to enable them
to select appropriate levels of information
sharing as well as enact appropriate
protections upon their information is used
to bring about empowerment and
self-determination that is meaningful to its
populace.
In both countries like anywhere else on the
globe, new applications and diversified
holding companies are the key future trends
in telecoms as mobile technology enters a
new experimental phase. While we can readily
celebrate the development in ICT
particularly mobile telephony in Nigeria,
development in Russia clearly indicates that
we still have a bit to go.
Like Nigeria with a population of
approximately 150 million, Russia has a
population of approximately 143 million. The
dominant player in Nigeria's mobile
telecommunications industry is the South
African company, MTN, with 43 percent market
share with other major competitors Globalcom
Nigeria and Zain. In the market is dominated
by MTS which serves 33pc of Russian
subscribers. The other members of the "Big
Three" group of cellular operators include
Beeline (VimpelCom) and MegaFon – each with
a market share of 24pc.
In both countries major trends that underlie
telecom development are liberalization of
the long-distance telecom market and
introduction of new operator interconnection
regulations mobile-sector penetration and
value-added services (VAS)-sector growth.
Both are anticipating increased competition
in the long-distance market segment where
fixed-line operators will further diversify
their services, particularly among broadband
and convergent services with other leading
market sectors including are digital
subscriber line technology, Internet
protocol television (IPTV) solutions,
next-generation network equipment, and
passive optical network technology. The
mobile sector will feature increasing
competition for subscriber loyalty, offering
heavy VAS content (mobile television and
interactive games) as operators deploy 3G
networks. Cable television, broadcasting,
and satellite operators will enrich content
and expand their offerings to subscribers.
Despite similarity in population and
comparable ambition, the reality is that on
Russians have about 209.1 million SIM cards,
mobile market penetration has reached
147.3pc in Russia compared to Nigeria’s
78.1million. The difference can be put down
to the prevailing expansion of 4G and
broadband internet access in the Russian
telecoms market. Russian mobile operators
are coming up with increasingly
comprehensive service packages and are now
about to roll out their fourth-generation
project with faster data transmission. In
2009, MTS expanded its broadband customer
base by 39.8pc over the 2008 level to a
total of 1.3 million subscribers. Another
prominent trend is consolidation of mobile
companies seeking to maximise their service
offerings. In order to gain a stronger
foothold in the long-range communications
and broadband market, MegaFon plans to
acquire a 100pc stake in Sinterra, a
national fixed-line operator. In Nigeria an
inability to sell NITEL at a reasonable
price to a reasonable suitor still poses a
huge problem.
Broadband penetration in Russia currently at
6 or 7pc though lacking in comparison to
15pc in Hungary and Poland and 30pc in
Europe, still far exceeds Nigeria indicates
vast potential for the market in both
countries. An analysis from Frost &
Sullivan, Mobile Broadband in Central and
Eastern Europe, notes that the market
generated revenues of €1.1b in 2009 and
forecasts that revenues will reach €5.2b in
2014, with Russia accounting for 50pc of
that growth.
However, everything may soon change on the
Russian telecommunications market. Moscow
and other major cities are actively
developing wireless WiMAX networks, and two
companies are already offering 4G internet
access in the Russian capital, including
Comstar-OTS. Nigeria, it appears, is
following suit.
All in all in both countries, though
enveloped by socio-economic problems of
endemic corruption, organised crime poor
human right records, the telecommunications
sector stepped into 2010 in good shape after
having sorted out various domestic
socio-economic issues and ridden the
problems inflicted by the global economic
downturn. The good news is that this
positive trend is likely to continue.
There is a tendency when looking at a city
like Lagos or Jarkata from one’s seat on the
plane to have a mixture of emotions –
apprehension about the unknown and
excitement about the unpredictable. Both
cities are heavily populated sizeable urban
sprawls. Both cities are the respective
commercial capitals of Nigeria and Indonesia
and therefore a good barometer in assessing
both countries.
As Nigeria approaches its 50th anniversary
of its independence, now is probably as a
good a time to make a comparative analysis.
Back in 1975, the World Bank in its global
development plan had grouped Nigeria as an
emerging oil producing nation with Indonesia
and other tiger economies of the far East
like South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan. So
how well have we done in comparison to a
country like Indonesia?
Why Indonesia? you may ask, the answer is:
because they are comparable. Both are the
giants of their region, with a population of
hundred of millions of people (Nigeria’s 154
to Indonesia’s 204). Both were formed as one
nation by Europeans around 1900. Both were
governed by the colonial system of "indirect
rule". Both once made money from palm oil,
and later discovered oil and gas. 50 years
ago, the standards of living in the two
countries were comparable on most measures.
And since independence, both have suffered
three decades of military misrule and
corruption. Their first coups were launched
within months of each other - in September
1965 in Indonesia and in January 1966 in
Nigeria - and their military regimes died
within 12 months, in May 1998 and 1999.
But in reality from all socio-economic
indicators, the two countries can not be
more different. In 1960, Nigeria and
Indonesia produced more than three quarters
of the world's palm oil, since the discovery
of oil and gas in both countries, Indonesia
is now the worlds leading producer with more
than half the world’s of palm oil, while
Nigeria now only produces just 7%. The
impact is that Gross national income, per
capita of Indonesia is almost twice
Nigeria’s $2,010 and $1,160 respectively; as
is Gross Domestic Product $510.73 billion
and $207.12 billion respectively; adult
literacy in Indonesia stands at 92%, 20
points better than Nigeria.
In 1967 when Indonesia's second president,
Haji Muhammad Suharto, took power and just
about when war broke out in Nigeria, the
number of people living in poverty was about
the same in both countries - around six out
of ten. Three decades later, it had fallen
from six to two in Indonesia while sadly in
Nigeria it had risen from six to seven.
Since 1960, in Indonesia the life expectancy
of a child at birth had risen from 45 to 70
years. Over the last 50years life expectancy
of the same child remains stuck just above
45; today it is around 47.
Certainly, Indonesia has had many troubles
not least the bloody secession of East Timor
and Aceh very early on this century but
today, for all its problems past, Indonesia
is holding elections that the world
applauds, while Nigeria's last elections, in
2007, were heralded as riddled with election
malpractices and one of the worst held in
Africa that year.
They are just as comparable on
telecommunications. Like Nigeria, until
1989, the Indonesian government had a
monopoly in the telecoms sector. In 2000,
policies governing the telecoms sector were
amended in order to create a competitive
environment for the entry of new telecom
players. Internet services were first
introduced commercially in Indonesia in
1994. Before 1994, Internet access was only
available to a few universities and research
institutes through ‘IptekNet’, the National
Science and Technology Network.
On the fronts where we have made
considerable progress such as mobile
telephone penetration with the number of
subscription in excess of 70million, the
mobile market in Indonesia has grown even
more rapidly over the past decade Indonesia
is by far regarded as the most profitable
mobile market in East Asia with the highest
mobile subscriber growth in the region. In
fact, the country is the 3rd largest and
most vibrant market in Asia with over
150million subscribers and projecting that
growth in the number of broadband
subscribers in Indonesia will increase by
24% in 2010, which will also enable
reasonable revenue growth for digital
content providers. While Nigeria suffered a
slowdown in 2009 incorrectly attributed to
the global downturn, it was a breakout year
in Indonesia for broadband services, and Netbook
PC's are seeing signifcant growth as is the
Indonesian online gaming market
As Nigeria turns 50, Indonesia lies almost
50 places above Nigeria on the United
Nation's Human Development Index. It is not
to say that it is all bad but it sure is far
from all good. A comparative analysis simply
tells us where we are in comparison to where
we need to be. After all a fool at 50 who
takes no notice of their contemporaries
likely to be a fool forever.
Cyberschuulnews 390
The calm
before storm
by
Abi Bilesanmi
It will appear that for reasons of
pragmatism or an unwillingness to stir the
hornet’s nest by players in the Nigerian
telecoms industry, the palpable aura of
impending crisis is still manifesting itself
as mere discontent – for the time being. But
look not too many layers down and there is
clear, even if not abundantly, that there
are issues that are creating a ‘pressure
cooker’ situation within the industry -
pushing the bounds of what the industry
might be willing to put up with - inevitably
confrontation will ensue.
It will not be an unreasonable point to make
that with this piece, safe and far away in
the UK, I am poking a rattle snake with a
long stick, but before you make that
judgments, please step back and examine the
facts and if you come to same conclusion, I
hope you accept it as a misinterpretation.
The first of these issues is one of attitude
- the wrong one to be precise. In the
context of the industry and as demonstrated
by the Minister’s ‘face-off’ with telecoms
operators in Abuja last week, the government
can ill-afford to adopt an unmoving position
of consciousness – a.k.a the wrong attitude
- in its relationship. To fully utilise the
residual human capital and goodwill the
industry has to offer, it must take all
manner of different positions in
relationship to all sorts of concepts,
ideas, thoughtforms, thoughtfields and data.
Changing one’s vantage point or attitude on
anything is bound to change your mind - you
will get a whole new set of data,
information and perspectives to work on and
with. A shift in, for example the Honourable
Minister’s attitude to a more conciliatory
(from confrontational) will engender a
culture of better co-operation and access to
more and better information. And the more
information it has, the more functional, in
a very practical sense, policies become.
The issue of the wrong attitude is within
the gift of the government or the minister
to address and which they or she can choose
not to exercise. However what is not within
their remit, as here-today-gone-tomorrow
participant/players in the industry is to
foist anyone on the industry that its
stewards deem incapable, not qualified or
both to lead it. These temporary custodians
would do well to recognise that the
industry, while appreciative of the
government support, has largely achieved
what it has in spite of rather than because
of, such support. The government and the
Honourable Minister should be appreciative
of the fact that the industry, amidst
governments less-than exemplary leadership
on Telecoms (it made NITEL a basket case
that it can not sell or the 2.3GHz debacle
are a few that spring to mind), corrupt and
skirmishing politicians and woeful
infrastructure, is the institution that is
worth shouting about. If, through political
machinations and chicanery, the political
class thinks it can impede or indeed imperil
the progress that the industry has made thus
far, then the least it can expect is that
those who have toiled to make it what it is
today to put up a good fight and they can
also expect that those of us who write about
this great industry will nail our colours to
their mast.
In conclusion, the supreme function of
stewardship is to provide against
preventable ills. In seeking to do so,
stewards of the industry will encounter
obstacles which are deeply rooted in human
nature. One is that by the very order of
things such ills are not demonstrable until
they have occurred; also at each stage in
their onset there is room for doubt and for
dispute whether they be real or imaginary.
The stewards of the industry need to
understand that they can be ambushed the
perpetrators who will use the age-old
argument that what is coming is miniscule in
comparison with current troubles in order to
attract as little attention as possible
because it is in their nature to concern
themselves with the immediate present at the
expense of the future.
Above all, people are disposed to mistake
predicting troubles for causing troubles and
even for desiring troubles. Pragmatism or
otherwise, this is the calm before the storm
Cyberschuulnews 389
Convergence
Misunderstood
by
Abi Bilesanmi
In common parlance we can found the true
meaning of convergence in the reciprocal
relationship between one or more entities.
It denotes a synthesis where the sum total
is bigger and infinitely larger than of its
constituent parts. The bones of convergence
its policy imperatives and implication was
the theme of the lead paper at the WiMAX2010
forum delivered by the President Digital
Bridge Institute, Professor Raymond Akwule
entitled ‘Regulatory and Policy Imperatives
of Emerging Last Mile Technologies in the
Era of Convergence: WiMax and NGNs’
What this captivating and enlightening paper
reveals is that our policy makers have
misinterpreted the meaning and spirit of
convergence in ICT. They, in their own
inimitable style, have used it as a buzzword
to stir up the ICT landscape as exemplified
by the proposed unification of the functions
of the Nigerian Communications Commission,
NCC, and the Nigerian Broadcasting
Commission, NBC – something that attracted
reaction and controversy at the Forum
industry players vented their spleen on the
notion that the planned unification was
imperative to fast-track the convergence of
Nigeria’s ICT industry under one umbrella.
The proposed merger action may seem rational
and a natural response given Professor
Akwule’s assertions that ‘Convergence is the
new trend in the global ICT industry’ and
that ‘we live in a converging world but our
regulatory institutions are very
un-converged.’ Some argue that the proposed
merger is something whose time has come as a
result of converging of telecoms,
broadcasting and computing technologies.
However there have been incongruous voices
over the merger, this included, that
interpret the proposed merger to be a
misinterpretation of both the letter aqnd
spirit of convergence.
Firstly while it is the case that
convergence refers to fixed-mobile telephone
digital content, networks, services and
devices and the implication that all data,
voice and video services will finally
converge in an IP-based Next Generation
Network, it will fall to a regulator (and a
strong one at that), to coalesce and
regulate network operators who will have to
position themselves in other areas of the
value chain and provide services in a more
integrated way, if they want to remain
profitable.
Consumers in this advanced information
society will subscribe to several
independent ICT services: fixed telephone,
mobile telephone, Internet access and
services, as well as cable TV most which
may be provided by different provider
companies, or get some services in a bundle.
It begs the questions, who will regulate
the newly emerging industry where providers
are providing a multitude of services? How
independent can the newly formed NBC/NCC
organisation objectively and independently
regulate cable TV companies that provide a
package including Internet access and
service, or some fixed network operators
provide a fixed-mobile converged service?
There is also the issue of which is the
senior organisation in the coalition and all
the egos that goes with that . Is NBC
merging with NCC or vice-versa?
Discounting that this proposed merger is
functionally bereft, there are no guarantees
that the golden rules of any successful
merger - due diligence, continuity, proper
transition and synergy will be adhered to.
What convergence is and what the nation
needs as articulated by Engr. Titi Omo-Etu,
CEO of Telecoms Answers Associates
addressing the forum, is not convergence of
bureaucrats and bureaucracies of NCC and NBC
but convergence of their operational
technologies under the auspices of a robust
regulator
Prof Akwule’s paper upheld the effort and
conduct of the regulator – the NCC – as one
which, through the frenetic pace of the last
decade, has been professional and exemplary.
It has overseen light touch rather than easy
touch regulation willing to show its teeth
but not intervening for the sake of it also
vast improvement on the more prescriptive
style of regulation
Convergence is happening. The effects will
strongly influence the businesses of the
involved players. It has the power to make
companies either vanish from the market or
blossom, if they play the convergence game
right. But for that to happen the industry
need a regulator that will listen hard and
will champion the empowerment of industry
stakeholders by being flexible and
light-touch, transparent, protect
investment, proportionate and clear.
It can not effectively do that if it merged
with a player. It is a bit like having one’s
accountant as an auditor
Cyberschuulnews 374
Google Vs
Facebook:
It’s like the Rumble in the Jungle All Over
Again
by
Abi Bilesanmi
An eminent American once said:
‘You’re in the midst of a war: a battle
between the limits of a crowd seeking the
surrender of your dreams, and the power of
your true vision to create and contribute.
It is a fight between those who will tell
you what you cannot do and that part of you
that knows/and has always known/ that we are
more than our environment; and that a dream,
backed by an unrelenting will to attain it,
is truly reality with an imminent arrival’
Indeed. How apt.
In case you had not notice there is a battle
of epic proportions going on out there. And
before you say anything it is not the
customary struggle between unequally matched
sides which usually end with heavy
casualties. This is like a heavy weight
championship of the world bout
We are going to write about it anyway for
two reasons. Primarily because it has the
industry salivating on who will win what
looks like a perpetual battle between two
giants of technology and secondly we need to
chronicle events like this which are often
known but little-understood as we can
ill-afford to let history like this be lost
in the fog of time.
Forget the battle of yesteryears between
Microsoft and Apple, today there rages a
battle between Google one of the biggest,
‘baddest’ and most innovative outfits in
corporate history, only been at around for
about 11 years and built with one purpose –
‘to search’ but lately appears have added
‘to destroy’ – (their competitors that is).
Facebook - launched in February 2004, the
largest social network on the web with more
than 350 million users, around 50% of which
log on daily and 35 million users who update
their status each day really show what a
force it is and has been gaining market
share, and more significantly a supportive
user base. Since they are Google’s biggest
competitor in financial muscle and reach,
Facebook it is fair to say, has got wind of
the plan and equally fair to say they are
sending their troops in to the battle for
supremacy’ with “Let’s get ‘em!” ringing in
their ears
Strange though when you think that one of
the big questions in the summer of 2007 was
Google would buy Facebook with talk that
not only was there was an offer on the
table, but that Facebook was seriously
considering it. At the time, money was not
the stumbling block as Google was willing to
pay whatever it took, but the impact an
acquisition of Facebook will pose on their
$900 million agreement with MySpace which,
was yet to be formally executed and was
increasingly a source of downstream traffic
to Google.com, the search engine.
But a lot has happened since those hazy
summer days. Relations have become frosty,
deteriorated and taken an increasingly
hostile turn as it usually does when the
romantic advances are rejected and one party
usually feels jilted. Well as they say life
changes, love changes and sometimes best
friends become strangers.
In July 2009, two years after ‘flirting’,
the indication that ‘love was no longer in
the air’ came with Google announcing
international launch of ‘Friend Connect’
which allows publishers to integrate a
Google login with their website, thus
letting their visitors comment using their
Google ID in direct competition with
‘Facebook Connect’ with which users can post
comments using their Facebook account.
And as if that was not enough, about a
fortnight ago Google again moved onto
Facebook’s turf announcing another
challenger Google Buzz which looks
unhealthily similar to the blue giant of
social networking but with the added
features that can incorporate feeds from
external applications – such as Twitter,
Picasa and Flickr as well as location-based
features such as the ability to tag and
update a location.
Will this encourage a sizeable percentage of
Facebook’s 400m subscribers to switch? No
one really knows and a prediction will be
based on the presumption of Google’s end
game. Only time will tell. Perhaps Google is
doing this simply because it can. Events
indicate Google, by continually encroaching
on Facebook’s path, is declaring war. Having
had its advances rejected, and since we are
indeed talking about epic fights, Google is
perhaps like Muhammad Ali satisfied to see
the big bad George Foreman in that epic
fight 35 years ago in Kinshasa hit the deck
without landing that last punch. Facebook,
like the George, disheveled, shrunk and
fraction of the colossus it used to be.
Who will win this epic battle is unknown and
unknowable from this point. Facebook looks
like it is on the ropes but so was Muhammad
Ali when he fought George Foreman who was a
formidable and almost invincible at the
time, but was laid on his back after wearing
himself out after five gruelling rounds. The
lesson there being aggression is not
necessarily always a demonstration of might.
Those who have lived long enough know
history has a funny way of repeating itself
but then again perhaps Google Buzz needs to
allow users to see their friends Facebook
updates…I think not. This mother of fights
is bound to go on for quite a while.
CyberschuulNews 358
ICT in Nigeria: A Proposed Direction of
Travel
by
Abi Bilesanmi
From a plethora of communiqués, symposiums,
data and all conceivable indices and
indication, mobile telephony as a platform
of development and social change is largely
incontestable. How so? You may ask but the
facts speak for themselves. The African
mobile market is fastest growing in the
world with 17 percent of Sub-Saharan
population owning mobile phones. We have
also reported on a host of initiatives to
extend ICT revolution to broadband for
Internet users. The fact that currently,
less than 1 percent of Africans have access
to high-speed Internet also speaks for
itself.
When we ask the questions like ‘Is the web
your window to the world?’ or ‘Are you
struggling to connect?’ What kind of
response will we get?
Without being patronising, telephony is not
telecommunication but an integral part. With
the advent of high speed broadband internet
and its capacity to make a difference to
people's daily lives, we can not rest on our
laurels for we are a long way from the
‘technological promise land’
The internet is not helping most business
owners expand and make links; or students
study for qualifications online as
educational institutions are not connected;
or tourist operators attract visitors; or
musicians promote their music online; or
farmers grow crops and their market?
The facts are still that in Nigeria, not
enough of us are connected. Those who are,
feel held back by slow download speeds and
expensive costs
Political leadership (or lack of) on this
issue has been well documented and so there
is no mileage in ‘flogging that dead horse.’
The Telecoms industry is doing a
considerable amount but because it, more
than any other sector, know the cost of not
embarking on this ‘ICT revolution’, it must
double its efforts by putting forward a
range of measures to enhance the value of
ICT to the populace. The industry need to
educate the Government that, like it is the
case in other developed nations, it ought to
run some of the country's largest computer
systems. It needs to expand the political
leadership’s imagination (should not have
to… but hey) and enlighten them that these
systems are an essential element in the
delivery of public services, be it helping
people into jobs or storing digital x-rays.
Hundreds of thousands of public servants can
use their desktop computers to work far more
efficiently than we could ever dream.
The industry’s short term goal is to
transform the value it offers both its
members and other key communities by
introducing a wide range of new
qualifications, products and services
designed to do this.
One such measure is to open ‘Academies’ of
computing, expanding nationally. It should
start a new networking group, launching a
new national website and job site. It needs
to fine-tune its qualifications by adding
"Chartered Institute for IT" to its
portfolio. This is nothing new as individual
and private organizations like The
Cyberschuul in Lagos is already doing this
but there needs to be a national rollout
programme. Institutions like these represent
a reservoir of expertise and could represent
a good template for training as well as
learning
This ‘reorganization’ would be in
anticipation that the changes will help it
to address the main issues that face the ICT
industry which include the digital divide,
information vulnerability, poor information
management, the conspicuous absence of
worthy IT projects, IT skills shortages and
a lack of clear career paths for IT
professionals.
It should aim to extend its international
reach, by securing proper accreditation so
that its qualifications are recognized and
graduates are competent enough to meet
demand for IT personnel particularly at home
but also abroad. The industry should seek to
establish better and deeper working
relationships with domestic and
international organizations that can help
deliver services and qualifications to IT
professionals.
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) is a major user of energy and natural
resources. As technological innovation
gathers pace and computers and accessories
quickly become obsolete, we have to think
about the use and disposal of computers,
servers and printers (simply because we will
be unable to get parts for them.) This has
to happen in a sustainable way and not have
a negative impact on the environment. We
have already heard about the green shoots of
‘green IT’ when Reime West Africa in its
presentation at the Co-location of
Telecommunications Infrastructure forum back
in May focused on Green Telecom as a means
of to reducing and fuel consumption,
eliminating waste and generally improve
energy management through better, smarter
and greener technology. This needs to be
adopted nationwide with further
accreditation and incentives for green IT
practitioners.
It will be naïve as it would churlish to
think that this would take place outside the
context of existing woeful infrastructure,
and dire economic circumstances which are
the responsibilities of the government –
responsibilities which they have not
discharged with any veracity. The industry
is already doing its fair share, but the
responsibility to make the case, in no
uncertain terms, that the ability to
process, share and manage information will
determine the success of society and its
ability to face up to future challenges.
The reality is that we need a
high-performing ICT education system, ICT
literate policies, a respected and
well-supported ICT profession and a
population with the skills and the
opportunities to be active and informed
citizens. If the industry says this loud
enough, often enough and for long enough,
the government and indeed the people will
have no choice but sit up and take notice
CyberschuulNews 356
ICT needs to
extend to the Health Sector in Africa
by
Abi Bilesanmi
It has become customary to report about ICT
simply in terms of business and economic
development. In so doing, we play down the
significant role it plays in all our lives
and its impact on the health sector is often
ignored. In public health, information
management and communication processes are
pivotal and are facilitated or limited by
the availability of information and
communication technology. In addition,
beyond the formal health sector, ICT acts as
a mediator in the ability of particularly
impoverished communities to access services
and engage with and demand a health sector
that responds to their priorities and needs,
is importantly influenced by wider
information and communication processes.
This week the GridTalk project launches its
8th GridBriefing at the Enabling Grids for
E-sciencE (EGEE) conference in Barcelona.
The report covers how information and
communication technologies (ICTs), are used
in the health and biomedical sectors of
European research. EGEE has supported this
research community since the project's birth
and it is the second largest user group
after physics research.
In recent times there has been increased
dissemination about the need of the grid
technologies in public health, explaining
that the needs of the grid for disease
control and public health issues is
tremendous for several reasons. Back in
June, the Centre for Diseases Control CDC in
its session on Global Public Health Grid,
gave a lecture about the actions it needs to
take. It highlighted the requirement of
effective data storage and speed for
transmitting and accessing of already
existing huge volumes of patients and
medical data which will make the sourcing of
data for research and for public health
information easier.
This latest GridBriefing gives an overview
of the impact grid research has had in this
area, as well as discussing the challenges
which arise when using grids for eHealth
covering topics of key interest to the grid
computing community, providing timely
summaries of policy-oriented reports. There
were contributions from experts working on
projects from medical imaging to grid-based
paediatrics, neuroscience offering an
insight into how grids are helping to shape
the future of healthcare.
Going by the number of Africans,
particularly Nigerians, who are medical
practitioners and the technological
innovation in medicine, it is imperative
there is an organisation and a regulatory
framework that fosters partnership between
researchers, practitioners and patients. It
should assist health projects access vital
resources and expertise. Part of the remit
of such organisation and projects will be to
demonstrate the results of their work. It
should aim to establish an e-Infrastructure
that will provide medical practitioners with
the most advanced ICT to help defeat a wide
range of degenerative diseases, such as
Alzheimer's and cancer. This will also
potentially allow for the effectiveness of
potential drugs to be tested rather than
waiting years for a patient's condition to
worsen.
Radiotherapy is one of the most important
tools for treating cancer. It involves
firing X-rays at the tumour while minimising
damage to surrounding healthy tissue and
organs. To make sure treatment is as
effective as possible, physicians use
computer simulations to strike a balance
between the length of the treatment and the
accuracy of the dose. On doctors' desktop
computers, these computational resources to
help speed up this process and optimise the
treatments.
No doubt ICT will offer many advantages to
the health community, one of the biggest
being its ability to combine data from
various sources quickly and securely. This
could be of great benefit to doctors not
giving them access to a storehouse of
medical imaging data to help them identify
and treat a variety of illnesses or
particularly unusual conditions that they
may not see every day. But the sensitivity
of this data however, means that there
should be a framework that adheres to secure
data protection protocols.
Given the widespread affliction of Malaria,
HIV/Aids and other immuno- degenerative
diseases, Africa needs an organisation that
provides computing support infrastructure
for the health sector. This will engender a
partnership with medical researchers
world-wide to develop a knowledge map that
considers the current state of and major
gaps in knowledge related to the role of ICT
in the health sector in Africa; manage an
online consultation in relation to the
knowledge map to tap into the experience and
ideas of a broad range of practitioners;
Write a framework paper which identifies key
issues and opportunities relating to the
role of ICT in health, and identifies key
lessons and recommendations for action.
ICT would not just make us economically
developed, through initiatives that will
reinforce public health data management,
thus allowing lower cost solutions to some
of the major healthcare problems, disease
control and epidemic mapping, it will
lengthen and improve our lives.
CyberschuulNews 353
If India’s
future is bright, then so should ours
by
Abi Bilesanmi
India is the world's largest democracy. We
are the world largest black democracy. Since
gaining independence 62 years ago, its
economy has come a long way and it remains
one of the fastest growing in the world.
Since we gained independence almost 50 years
ago, our economy once the largest in Africa,
is in decline. Recent elections in India
marked another milestone for the country,
creating some economic and political
stability after months of uncertainty.
Elections in Nigeria is a different
proposition exemplified by US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, who recently talking
to an audience of activists in Abuja, drew a
parallel between political corruption in
Nigeria and George W Bush's contested
election win in Florida in 2000. India's
election was the largest in world history
with 420 million voters, ours was 'business
as usual' - tales of missing ballot boxes,
inflated voter counts and even of voters
being shot at polling stations.
Back in 1991 India embarked on a program of
free market reforms, moving away from the
Soviet-style, centrally planned economy.
These reforms were led by the finance
minister Manmohan Singh, well regarded for
his pro business instincts, who subsequently
became Prime Minister. His reforms have
arguably led to the Indian economy
quadrupling in size in the last 20 years.
India euphoric rise economically is a clear
demonstration that there is link between
democracy (of which elections is an integral
part) and economic development. The Indian
market has reacted positively to the outcome
of the elections shooting up 17% triggering
an automatic shutdown. This is largely
because the government won with a larger
than expected majority, giving them a strong
voice over the other coalitions. This in
turn should help them push through new
policies quickly. Now that the euphoria has
subsided it can revert back to focusing on
India's future growth prospects.
India is now in a position to push forward
the reforms India needs to keep its
expansion plans on track. It can, at its own
pace, increase the voting rights of foreign
investors in banks, making these more
attractive for overseas investors.
Additionally, there are plans to privatise
some of the state-run companies which should
encourage them to streamline and improve
efficiency - something we are unable to do
successfully (see NITEL).
Like Nigeria, there is little doubt that
India still requires significant domestic
investment. Power, roads, ports, airports,
housing (there is a supply shortfall of over
30 million homes) and urban infrastructure
are massively undersupplied. But economic
advancement has meant that the government
can plan to spend $500 billion over the next
five years on these areas which should be a
key driver of growth. Our total GDP,
according to 2007 figures, is a mere
$127.95bn.
India is not immune to external events like
the global credit crunch which initially led
to a flight of foreign capital out of the
country as investors became risk averse.
However their banking system is arguably
more robust. A cloud on the horizon could be
the oil price as India is a huge importer of
oil which is where Nigeria could possibly
have the upper hand. But to mitigate any
potential crisis, India has begun a charm
offensive The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, announced duty-free access to Indian
markets for the world’s 50 “least developed
countries”, 34 of which are in Africa, as
part of a package of measures designed to
highlight New Delhi's commitment to
deepening relations with the continent.
Inaugurating the first India-Africa Forum, a
two-day summit in New Delhi in April this
year he declared India’s intent to become “a
close partner in Africa’s resurgence” and
called for a “new architecture” in
relations. The first step came with the
signature of an Africa-India Framework for
Co-operation and a “Delhi Declaration”.
There is a multitude of reasons we believe
the future is so bright for India some
demographic (60% of the population is of
working age and this is likely to rise
leading to greater productivity and less of
a pension drain on public finances) others
economic (currently, economic growth is
predicted to be in the region of 5-6% and
the flow of foreign investment is
strengthening Indian rupee having
depreciated 19% relative to the US dollar in
2008). The lesson we have to learn is that
after under-performing most of Asia last
year, the Indian market has leapt to life in
recent months with the Bombay Sensex Index
up 60% in the last six months (Source:
Lipper, 9/12/08 to 9/06/09). Though this is
not an indication of future performance but
in the short term, the market looks fully
valued with the long term growth story
remains compelling. India's business climate
is likely to improve rapidly and private
investment should accelerate as a direct
consequence of the election victory. It also
provides a stable government for the next
five years. This means reforms will be
pushed through more smoothly and the
implications for the stock market should be
extremely positive.
This is a lesson we must learn and
replicate. If it works for India, it surely
can work for us.
CyberschuulNews 352
Can the
Digital economy lift us out of crisis?
by
Abi Bilesanmi
In Titi Omo-Ettu's lecture 'Politics and
reality of telephone subscriber registration
in emerging markets', he highlighted the
success of mobile telephony from a
socio-political and economic perspective,
based on the subscription figures as well as
being at the centre of the efficacy of the
new social media as a news distribution tool
and its usefulness as an agent of political
change. He articulated challenges and made
recommendation of a shift in cultural
attitudes which elevate ICT to a level where
it is perceived as a public good. In
addition to the merits of improved
accountability and governance, there is an
overwhelming case for economic development.
If we still need to ask the question 'what
is in this digital economy for us?' The
answer is that the digital economy has
tremendous potential to generate huge
revenues across all sectors. The big
challenge is to turn this advantage into
sustainable growth and create new jobs. It
is therefore incumbent on governments to
show leadership by adopting coordinated
policies that dismantle existing barriers to
new services. They should seize the
opportunity of a new generation of Nigerians
who will soon be calling the shots in the
African market place. These young people are
intensive internet users and are also highly
demanding consumers. To release the economic
potential of this sector of the populace -
the 'internet cafe natives', we must make
access to ICT and digital content an easy
and universal.
With Seacom international cable fully
operational from July 2009, the fibre
project due in 2010 and France Telecoms LION
project that will connect various of the
Indian Ocean islands to mainland East
African countries, we see ample evidence
that in that part of Africa the digital
sector has made strong progress with more
Africans now regularly using the internet,
many of them via a high-speed connection
making South and East Africa a true and
emerging force in broadband internet. With
the proliferation of mobile telephony and
digital technology in parts of Africa, we
can ill afford to be left behind. The
digital economy can advance even further as
a generation of "digitally savvy" young
Nigerians becomes a strong market driver for
growth and innovation. Building on the
potential of the digital economy is
essential for Africa's sustainable recovery
from the economic crisis simply because of
the scope for development. Today we need to
ask the public what future strategy the
governments should adopt to make the digital
economy run at full speed.
Where is the link between the digital
economy and economic advancement? People of
working age are the most active internet
users. They will regularly use advanced
services to create and share online content
almost on a daily basis. By extension they
will have more advanced internet skills than
the rest of the population. They will
download or view online content like videos
or music. And even if they begrudge paying
for these services, many of them will do so
compared to the rest of the population and
many will pay more for offers of better
service and quality. As a result, internet
use will soar as these "digital natives"
begin their professional lives, increasingly
shaping and dominating market trends. As
traditional business models stall, companies
will have to offer services attractive to
the next generation of users. It is
therefore incumbent on legislators that they
create the right conditions to facilitate
access to new online content while also
ensuring remuneration for the creators.
The Blueprint
Indonesia (a country of similar geographical
size and population) embarked on a
preparatory Assistance Project on
Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) for Human Development. This is a
one-year project aimed at forming a
broad-based national partnership, develop a
national strategy for using ICT for human
development, especially poverty reduction
and convert the national strategy into
future projects. The project is focusing on
future initiatives that serve the poor
directly with information required to
improve their lives by most appropriate
technology. Examples include the promotion
of radio backed by strong information
service in rural communities, farmer access
to the Internet for national and
international market information, and
web-based eco-tourism promotion for remote
villages. Its achievements include a
national dialogue and strategy on ICT for
human development and poverty reduction; a
programme document to implement the strategy
and short term pilot projects.
While those in the industry bemoan the
nation's leadership on its snail's pace (or
ignorance to be precise) in getting to grips
with the revolution of ICT that appears to
be passing the nation by, one is forced to
make a comparative analysis with what is
going on in another emerging market -
Malaysia. In 1994, a National IT Council (NITC)
was established. Though we have the National
Information Technology Development Agency,
the Malaysian equivalent is chaired by its
President Mahathir and made up primarily of
government ministers and a number of top
company executives. This indicates the
government is taking a lead on the
objectives of enhancing the development and
utilization of ICT as a strategic technology
for national development. While in Nigeria
it appears there is a power struggle between
the government and players in the telecoms
industry (e.g. the sale of NITEL or not), in
Malaysia the telecoms industry acts as a
think-tank at the highest level and advising
the government on matters pertaining to the
development of ICT.
This essay recommends that upcoming
challenges for digital economy should be
raised in a public consultation launched by
a Commission as the first step towards a new
ICT strategy which the Commission should aim
to present within a reasonable timeframe
within a context of establishing the role
and potential of the digital economy for
economic modernisation and in generating
sustainable growth and jobs by delving into
the potential benefits of developing high
speed broadband Internet infrastructures and
outline plans for best stimulating the
demand side of digital economy.
What is the proof of the sustainability of a
digital economy in the face of an economic
downturn? Well there are several signs that
the IT job market in the UK is beginning to
improve, with fewer high profile, large
scale lay-offs and more job market surveys
producing reasons to be positive. Figures
for the second quarter of the year, while
still painful, show the number of IT jobs on
offer is increasing and The Chartered
Institute of Personnel and KPMG say in their
quarterly report that IT vacancies are set
to increase in the third quarter as IT is no
longer seen in the majority of companies as
a service that can be cut - it is recognised
as a way to reduce costs and provide
businesses with a competitive advantage.
There is an overwhelming sense that other
emerging markets have stolen a march on the
ICT/Digital revolution and it is 'catch up'
time. The digital economy is here and here
to stay. Ready or not
CyberschuulNews 351
Welcome to
the Future. No sleepwalking
by
Abi Bilesanmi
Barely had we settled with the predominant
role of information and communication
technologies - the exchange of information
and data as the basis of human development
and rebalancing the distribution of power
within societies and among nations, the game
appears to have moved on. The current
information revolution (IR) has morphed into
new bodies of knowledge such as Megatronics
Engineering, Bioinformatics, and Nano-technology.
As far back as 1994, Professor Leonard
Adleman at the University of Southern
California was looking at DNA computing,
commonly called biomolecular computing then
an emerging field that used DNA and
biochemistry instead of silicon-based
electronics. The original objective was to
use biomolecules to beat electronic
computers at solving large complex problems.
Indeed there was skepticism about
biomolecular computing surpassing electronic
computers but 10 years later, researchers
showed a DNA computer so small that roughly
a trillion of them could fit into a
microlitre (a millionth of a litre) and
since then they have shown off new
computational systems that make use of
enzymes that naturally occur in a living
cell.
Shapes of DNA have been used to enhance the
production of circuits for next-generation
computer chips. Researchers reporting in
Nature Nanotechnology have now shown how to
get engineered DNA to self-organise on
silicon. The arrangement or ‘origami’ can be
designed to serve as a scaffold for
electronic components just six billionths of
a metre apart. Making chips with components
closer together leads to smaller devices and
faster computers - about eight times better
than the current industry produces.
DNA that had hitherto been used to do simple
number crunching are now used to effectively
solve classic logic conundrums with strands
of DNA designed to give off a green light
corresponding to "yes". In nanotechnology,
researchers are already working on programs
which bridge the gap between a computer
programming language and DNA computing code.
The talk is of computers that can diagnose
and treat cancers autonomously. Using more
sophisticated biochemistry, they are able to
implement simple logic programs, which are
more akin to the way people program
electronic computers.
The purpose of highlighting these
advancements in computer technology is that
it serves a riposte to those who argue that
regardless of the fact that the telecoms
industry stands out as a beacon and a symbol
of hope that at least something (or some
thing) can work in Nigeria, despite
operators, regulators, vendors and even
network users all agree to the fact that
Nigeria is a real market for the telecoms
business and because we live in a country
where years of savage military rule that has
pillaged the country, we should place some
sort of moratorium on development. Whilst
there may be arguments in favour of this
view, the technology industry (of which
telecoms is an integral part) industry is
one that uniquely lives or dies by results -
results which are specific, measurable and
visible. If these results in Nigeria are as
described i.e. specific, measurable and
visible, then we should them from the roof
top with pride. We should encourage, amplify
support for the industry and use it as a
vehicle and a blueprint for other
industries.
Besides we have no choice. Technology is
like a conveyor belt better still a rolling
juggernaut. If you can not keep up, you are
fresh out of luck. You simply can not stop
the wheels of innovation and progress or
indeed jump off just because you can not
cope with its speed neither can it nor
should it wait for us to get our act
together. I share the sentiments that our
infrastructure, governance and economy do
not indicate we are an emerging market in
the broader sense but telecommunications has
proved the exception to the norm and that is
no small measure down to the dynamism and
hard work of those in the industry.
The point is that when educating a smarter
planet, its systems that may need schooling.
From a telecoms perspective, it appears that
the people are already signed up. Carping is
not exactly what is needed right now because
while we carp about what the fuss about
third generation network is, in Europe the
EU and operators are pouring money into
fourth generation broadband technology which
is a hundred times faster. We have got to
shape up or ship out
CyberschuulNews 350
The Rise and
Rise of Twitter
by
Abi Bilesanmi
In this technological age you may be
surprised to find out not everyone is
overjoyed. For this group of malcontents the
enormous strides made in information
exchange between peoples, its role in the
realm of politics by this I am particularly
referring to the role of social network
sites in Barak Obama's historical
presidential victory or indeed the infamous
Iranian presidential elections of 12 June,
is peripheral verging on irrelevant. For
these modern day Luddites at a time when we
are asking whether social networks are a
force driving socio-political change or
whether they pose a challenge to more
established media as an effective means of
disseminating information, their focus seem
to lie elsewhere.
You know you are on to a winner when
criticism emanates from established
religion. Where such criticisms arise, you
are almost guaranteed victory based on the
illogicality, inflexibility and the dogma of
your opponents. And so true to form, in the
UK Archbishop Vincent Nichols - the
Archbishop of Westminster, the head of the
Catholic Church in England - in an interview
with The Sunday Telegraph while decrying the
loss of loyalty and the rise of
individualism in British society which he
said threatened to undermine communities (on
which he happened to be right), decided to
take a swipe at social network sites such as
Facebook and MySpace as 'encouraging
teenagers to view friendship as a
"commodity" and are leading them to
suicide'. He said the sites are leading
teenagers to build "transient relationships"
which leave them unable to cope when their
social networks collapse. He said the
internet and mobile phones were "dehumanising"
community life and blamed social network
sites for leaving children with impoverished
friendships.
It is typical of religious ideologues to not
just rail against things they do not
understand, but to also throw the baby out
with the bath water. The background to the
Archbishop's swipe at social networking
sites was the death of 15-year-old
schoolgirl who took a fatal overdose of
painkillers after being bullied on Bebo,
another networking site. The Archbishop
argues we are losing social skills, the
human interaction skills, how to read a
person's mood, to read their body language,
how to be patient until the moment is right
to make or press a point -
To argue as the Archbishop does that while
social networking sites can improve
communication, they do not build rounded
communities, is to completely miss the
point. Social network sites will not
substitute but augment and complement social
associations that people have family,
school, work etc. Why let facts get in the
way of a good rant? The fact that Facebook
has more than a million developers and
entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries;
that every month, more than 70% of Facebook
users engage with Platform applications;
that more than 200 applications have more
than one million monthly active users; or
that more than 15,000 websites, devices and
applications have implemented Facebook
Connect since its general availability in
December 2008. That the death of a 15 year
old, tragic as it is, throws the impact of
social networking sites into some kind of
aberration, is laughable. It is a clear
indication the Archbishop refuses to see
social network sites beyond the individual.
There is evidence to support that businesses
in the US and the UK are using social media
to build awareness and relationships between
them and their respective markets. These
businesses see social media as an ideal
resource to further their brand in a
meaningful, high-reach and low-cost manner.
They use tools such as Twitter, Facebook,
YouTube, LinkedIn and employee blogs and
tweets to build awareness and affinity with
the market.
Contrary to the assertions of the
Archbishop, we have a global social media
platform for community building,
collaboration and knowledge sharing. This
internal platform has resulted in the huge
development of organic brand building, which
has taken their newfound voices and
confidence as spokespeople to the external
social network airwaves.
The Archbishop may not be on his own but the
pace of technological pace carries own
unabated regardless. In their annual
ranking, Business 2.0 has compiled an
unabashedly subjective list of people which
they aptly named '50 Who Matter Now' where
they list people trends, and ideas that are
transforming the world of business, they
ranked In this illustrious list are Gina
Bianchini CEO, Ning - a site which lets
users create their own mini communities,
complete with customisable layouts,
profiles, blogs, videos, and ads branded the
most exciting thing in social networking
right now - 48; Evan Williams CEO Twitter -
the site which gives each user a webpage,
where short text updates (known as "tweets")
can be posted to the site via IM, SMS, or
blogging tools; and Mark Zuckerberg Founder
and CEO, Facebook who at 19-year-old Harvard
student when he launched a social-networking
site called Facebook for the in-the-know
college crowd. Three years later Facebook
was the sixth most visited site on the
Internet, with some 24 million active users
and enough clout to turn down a reported
billion-dollar buyout offer from Yahoo
ranked 34.
Again contrary to the Archbishop's
premonition of doom, Twitter CEO Evan
Williams in recent BBC interview revealed
that London is the top Twitter-using city in
the world with the UK second to the US in
Twitter use in terms of user numbers.
Williams refutes the Archbishop claim that
Twitter creates a false sense of community.
He says "It's not false, it allows people to
communicate and is no less false than using
the phone." And as for the challenge Twitter
poses to journalism, Williams says "It's not
necessarily journalism - certainly not in
the classic case. But it does enable people
to report news and events as they are
happening. And often from the ground.’
"As we just saw in Iran, people on the
streets reporting what was going on. It was
newsworthy content that people were
tweeting. There's also a lot of commentary
about what is going on. But it doesn't take
the place of journalists or new because you
still need analysis, you still need
verification of this information - but it
adds another layer to the information
ecosystem"
On the criticism by the Archbishop, Williams
says 'It's kinda silly, "Anyone who says
that isn't really familiar with the service
because it's about humans connecting with
each other. And often in ways that other
ways couldn't have. It's the opposite of de-humanising."
When asked if Twitter just a fad, Williams
replied: "The only reason Twitter could be a
fad is if someone else comes along and does
it better."
Indeed
CyberschuulNews 348
Competition.
The Catalyst for Growth in East Africa's
Telecoms
by
Abi Bilesanmi
The notion of introducing competition in
any industry, particularly in the developing
world, has often been met with skepticism.
This is because it customarily involved the
government selling its stake in such
industries often bought to foreign firms who
subsequently become a monopoly because of
economies of scale and financial muscle.
However this notion is reported to have been
turned on its head in the telecoms industry
in East Africa. The leading markets in the
region - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with
10million subscribers, have all been test
beds for competition and are adjudged to be
the most liberal on the continent.
Tanzania and Uganda have pooled resources in
what is known as a unified licensing
framework. This has encouraged operators to
offer mobile broadband to their subscribers
who are now several hundred thousand in
number in each country and who now access
the internet via their mobile phone. Opening
up these market (Tanzania has issued seven
mobile licenses and Uganda has issued six)
with a multitude of operators has brought
about in increased investment and marketing
spend and this in turn has benefited
consumers as the cost of owning and using a
mobile phone has fallen
Data gathered for a new report from
Balancing Act - another source for
information on the telecoms, internet and
audio-visual media industries in Africa -
reveal there have been a fall in mobile
charges, opening the market to a wider
number of users. In Kenya, for example, the
cost of calls to other subscribers halved
and the cost of sending SMS text messages to
subscribers on another network fell by a
fifth between the third quarter of 2007 and
the final quarter of 2008.
In the less populous and more affluent
Indian Ocean Islands of Seychelles,
Mauritius, Mayotte and Djibouti which are
renowned tourist destinations the effect of
this liberalisation is more pronounced. With
The Seacom international cable operational
from 23 July 2009, the EASSy the fibre
project due in 2010 and France Telecoms LION
project that will connect various of the
Indian Ocean islands into these new
international cable awaiting approval, the
mainland East African countries currently
connected by satellite will see a large
increase in international bandwidth used as
prices come down his cheaper bandwidth price
should lead to cheaper Internet prices for
consumers.
The sun is truly rising in the East
Telecommunications: The rise and rise of
India
by
Abi Bilesanmi
In the face of a global economic downturn
the telecommunications industry remains
relentless in harnessing the power and
opportunities of information technology to
drive productivity in anticipation of future
economic growth via h the 3G and WiMAX
spectrum auction. With the objective of
providing an opportunity for telecoms
experts - infrastructure, broadband solution
and value added services providers, telecom
operators- and investors to exchange views
on a host of issues concerning the industry
and opportunities for further growth, The
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry
of India (ASSOCHAM) under it’s Expert
Communications Convergence Committee and in
conjunction with India's Department of
Telecommunications, Government of India held
an annual Summit the “5th ASSOCHAM GLOBAL
TELECOM SUMMIT” on Thursday 23rd & Friday
24th July, 2009 in New Delhi.
The Minister of State for Communication &
Information Technology Shri Sachin Pilot, in
attendance of big name partners such as
Cisco, Intel, Ericsson inaugurated the
Summit- with a lecture on “Boradband for
Digital Democracy and Inclusive Growth” in
which he said he hoped that the benefit of
voice and broadband connectivity will be
available on mobile handheld devices. The
availability of these technologies, he
argued will offer the convenience of
mobility with rich multi media content of
the internet.. He attributed this rapid
growth to various proactive policies
initiated by the Government with the active
contribution of the industry India has
become the second largest wireless network
in the world after China with over 4.25
million mobile connections and huge growth
in the sector had made India one of the most
sought after telecom manufacturing
destinations. Its rapid rise in mobile
technology exemplifies blue-sky thinking
matched with practical policies on the
ground. Its Department of Telecommunication
(DOT) has been able to provide
state-of-the-art world-class infrastructure
at globally competitive tariffs.
The telecoms industry has collaborated in
the efforts of reducing the digital divide
by extending connectivity to the unconnected
areas thus improving accessibility to its
citizenry. The result is that the
teledensity which was merely 5% five years
ago has now reached about 40%. Such
increased accessibility in a population of
450million people implies phenomenal growth
not just in Indian telecom industry sector
but with ripple effect extending to the
entire Indian economy of the country
-something Titi Omo-Ettu in his July 14
essay 'Politics and reality of telephone
subscriber registration in emerging markets'
advocated should be replicated in Nigeria.
Footsteps in
the Dark-
The failure of a Power Holding Company
by
Abi Bilesanmi
‘My reputation grows with every failure.’
George Bernard Shaw
Google the acronym NEPA and you get pages of
information on the North East Productivity
Alliance - a UK regional business
improvement initiative that helps
manufacturing companies drive down lead
times, reduce waste and stock and generally
improve productivity to stay competitive;
the National Educational Printer Agreement -
open to all institutions of Higher
Education, the Research Councils and HE
consortia-affiliated Colleges of Further
Education; The New England Press Association
- promotes growth and excellence in New
England newspapers through technology,
networking, education and recognition among
its members. Wikipedia shows various
acronyms which include the United States
National Environmental Policy Act (1970);
the North Eastern Pirates Association - a
large group specializing in pirating games
for the video gaming community.
There was reference to Nigeria’s National
Electric Power Authority - the organisation
governing the use of electricity in Nigeria
but appears to have more kudos for running a
football team. It was Ashley Montagu - a
British-American anthropologist who said the
deepest ignominy we suffer is constituted by
the difference between what one was capable
of becoming and what one has in fact become.
This could not be more apt if NEPA is better
recognised as football team rather than
providing electricity.
But of course NEPA is now the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria. If NEPA was a bigger
failure than ECN (and it was) then the
logical extension is that PHCN would be a
bigger failure. But the signs on PHCN's
website point to the contrary. There is an
informative website which allows you request
for a meter, submit a complaint check and
pay your electricity bill even e-mail your
district. On a graded scale it raises a
chuckle to a roar of laughter. Who the hell
are these guys? The clues are obvious. They
surely elevate presentation over reality,
they definitely know nothing about the
reality of electricity supply in Nigeria;
they certainly blind-built this website from
the template of another company or, more
likely, a combination of all of the above.
How much did all these cost? We hardly know
how much is being put on this electricity
privatisation tab, but we can deduce from
this all-singing and dancing website with
certainty that the numbers are massive and
the result in terms of electricity supply -
its primary objective - has deteriorated.
This is because a host of companies are on
the gravy train handsomely paid from the
privatisation fee i.e the government sale of
its stake in NEPA which is millions of £ of
taxpayers money. Their fees would of course
have been factored in (in an ITT-esque
fashion) 'miscellaneous' cost which would
include kickbacks and hidden costs to those
under whose auspices contracts were awarded.
In this atmosphere of reciprocal back
scratching, it is easy to overlook the
inconvenient fact that most households have
little or no electricity supply. If these
spivs and financiers were local, they would
know that after 25 years of power failure
(in a plethora of forms), Nigerians tend not
to complain – especially not about failure
of any kind. Failure has permeated into the
national consciousness manifested as
unbridled optimism and/or resignation often
met with customary shrug of apathy. Even if
there were a culture of complaining, who do
they suppose customers complain to? Surely
not to the self-serving officials who,
according to Waheed Majekodunmi play God as
to who enjoys electricity supply and who
does not. I wonder if these guys care to
know that in areas like Agege it is alleged
that PHCN officials defuse transformers
plunging the whole areas into darkness
rather than maintain an already unacceptable
power sharing arrangement. I wonder if they
knew that for the residents of Isale Oja and
Papa-Uku for whom there has been no power
for 3 months, e-mailing their respective
complaints is not really a viable option.
And of course it bodes well for customer
service when officialdom of PHCN, it is
said, claim that residents of the areas are
‘chronic debtors’ and undeserving of the
luxury of electricity? Under such
circumstances one wonders what would such a
complaint achieve. If PHCN brands these
residents 'chronic debtors' one is prompted
to ask what exactly are these residents
supposed to be paying for? Non-existent or
poor service it would appear but demanding
for a service not provided -is that what is
defined as demanding payment under false
pretences a.ka extortion?
On this website it is interesting to see
that new customers can request for a
electricity meter. Discounting the fact in
the UK for example it is adjudged that the
less well off and more vulnerable, via meter
pay more than other users and there is a
concerted campaign this system described as
‘a complete rip-off’, one is confronted by
the somewhat obscure fact that electricity
meters actually work on electricity consumed
and should one need to complain about one’s
non-existent service by e-mail, one will
need to have a computer which works on
er..electricity. Nigerian homes are insecure
enough without having some device that keeps
cash ...in the house!
Below this PR facade, running like a list of
credits from your favourite movie, is a list
of banks from Afribank through GTBank to
Wema rolling across your screen. Their job
is to grease the machinery of privatisation
by facilitating who the nation’s asset has
been pawned to as well as create the
illusion that the ‘new broom sweeps clean.’
But you can not fool all the people all the
time. The 'impracticalities' demonstrate the
'incompleteness' of thought in procedure and
application, but there an even bigger and
more worrying absence of forethought in the
ideology underpinning a wider privatisation
agenda. This ‘ideology’ has been based on a
narrow perspective on the simple premise
that governments have neither the aptitude
nor expertise to run industries and
therefore need to hand these to private
sector. It forms a segment of policy
initiatives imposed, primarily by the IMF
(aptly referred to as the International
Monsters Fraternity), as part of its
dogmatic approach for laissez faire
principles of market deregulation and public
sector privatisation i.e - as the prescribed
panacea for economic development where there
is less (or abandonment) of governance by
the governments in the provision of services
and on economic issues.
Largely this ideology has been a failure and
done nothing but burden the underdeveloped
countries in the areas of socio-economic
development and international trade.
The nation’s electricity (not exactly the
family silver as it was non-existent at the
best of times) has gone like Malaysia’s
water system, India’s healthcare, education
and airports infrastructure, Pakistan’s
electricity, banks, and hundreds of
state-owned enterprises in the
underdeveloped world which have been placed
on the market. The result of this rushed and
flawed privatisation agenda is universal. A
sizeable controversy quotient. Students are
up in arms, unions are crying foul, poor and
rural communities are vocal because they
disproportionately bear the brunt of the
failure and uncertainties of privatisation
while the private companies exclusively
enjoy the benefits -monopoly profits.
To fully understand this, you only need to
look at the address by Atiku Abubakar at the
inauguration of the Board of Directors of
PHCN Plc on 31st May 2005 when he hailed the
inauguration as ‘another significant event
in our journey to a reformed, financially
viable power sector for Nigeria’ and lauded
the Government’s efforts ‘at meeting the
present and future electricity needs of our
country’ by the President's signing the
Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 into
law on March 11th 2005. The preoccupation of
this act is not reform of the totally
inefficient NEPA but rather that the
National Council on Privatisation (NCP), in
accordance with the powers conferred on it,
take steps to establish the initial holding
company to take over the functions, and more
importantly the assets, of NEPA within one
year be transferred to the successor
companies. Time is obviously of the essence.
Take an even closer look at the corporate
responsibilities of the board which include
overseeing the management of operational and
reform matters, assessment and approval of
major budgetary expenditures, strategic
issues in the restructuring of the company,
consideration of all major decisions
necessary for the expedited transition of
the Holding Company to successor companies
and recommend to the NCP for approval;
setting operational goals and targets for
management of the Holding Company; ensuring
proper corporate and legal transition from
NEPA financial statements, budgets,
schedules of assets, liabilities and
employees are prepared on a timely basis;
ensuring that the true and accurate position
of NEPA’s indebtedness and financial
exposure is established with a feasible plan
for addressing the indebtedness
Conspicuous in its absence is any reference
to the government's regulatory framework not
even 'light touch' regulation. Without this
regulatory framework where successor
companies have basic service level
agreement, targets in the discharge of their
corporate responsibilities and any possible
consequences should they not be met,
Abubakar simply said the board must ensure
‘that the Holding Company is fully committed
to building a new electricity sector for
Nigeria’ and ‘adhere strictly to the best
principles of ethical corporate governance.’
He said the company stood ‘on the threshold
of history and the dawn of a new era in the
Nigerian electricity sector’ and 'should
ensure fairness and transparency as
individual Directors and collectively as a
Board.' He reminded that their task was
difficult (no kidding). However he had 'no
doubt that were able to meet the challenges
with dedication, sacrifice, honesty and hard
work' and they 'will be able to do us
proud'. Really?
And with the customary 'thank you, good luck
and God bless',declared the Board of
Directors of the PHCN Plc inaugurated
leaving an overwhelming perception that the
government completely washes its hands of
this failing organisation, 'do with it as
you deem fit.'
Is failure of privatisation inevitable? Not
necessarily. But the assumption that the
private sector (the successor companies)
would immediately and adequately fill the
gap hitherto occupied by the government is
misplaced. In ideal world the objective of
the government, particularly in this case,
ought to be ensure that services are
improved while simultaneously safeguarding
the national interest and securing the best
value for its taxpayers in, considering what
PHCN was getting, was essentially a bargain
basement sale. On the other of this equation
are the private companies. Their objective
is the bottom line - profit. This divergence
in objective has grave implications. They
are less attuned to altruism of service
provision or social costs and will do what
they have to including breaking up the
organisation, laying off staff in other
words they will morph into any position if
it guarantees the bottom line. To understand
this modus operandi, it is worthy of note a
parallel situation going on in the telecoms
industry where NITEL is up for sale and the
allure of rich pickings (hence expanding
profits) is prompting prospective buyers and
their cohorts to claim the value of NITEL’s
assets might have plummeted (what a
surprise). Highlighting this kind of
chicanery has fallen to those in the know
like Titi Omo-Ettu, a telecommunications
engineer and consultant who argue NITEL
(like NEPA) as the First National Operator’,
is where its incontrovertible true value
resides, it is the First National Operator’s
License that is attraction for prospective
buyers and according to Engr Omo-Ettu,
‘makes a world of difference.’ Prospective
buyers are adhering to the simple principle
of ‘buy cheap’ with monopoly powers will
allow them to charge whatever they want.
The failure of this kind of this
privatisation rests on a conflation of
ideological, implementational and strategic
failures. Firstly the fervour at which the
privatisation agenda is pursued is based on
a misplaced ideal of triumph of ideology
over evidence-based policy – a defunct
ideology that the private sector can quickly
meet everybody’s needs with an obstinate
disregard that profit and not ‘meeting
everybody’s needs’ is their main objective
and that for the very fact that in
underdeveloped countries it is because
markets fail in the provision of essential
services that government undertake these
activities. The entrepreneurial class is
unable to purchase the NEPA’s operator’s
license, infrastructure and liabilities, in
the absence of government enterprise,
acquisition inevitably falls to foreign
companies (exactly what the IMF want) who
will do their level best (as we saw with
telecoms) to get their hands on a country’s
electricity lock, stock and barrel for
pittance. If according to the PHCN chairman,
$10 billion is needed to revamp the power
sector for uninterrupted electricity supply
and investors are bemoaning $6 million funds
that they say are now ‘trapped’ in PHCN Plc,
without the government we have a clear
indication of who is capable of investing
and the intent of those who have invested in
this privatised industry. Secondly this is
also flawed on implementation grounds in
that privatisation, as in the case, proceeds
and precedes any regulatory or competition
framework – Atiku Abubakar’s speech attests
as much. To these companies, once they
acquire such state assets (on the cheap)
their monopoly is effectively a license to
print money as they can maintain their
monopoly by raising prices so high with
scant regard for the fact that the majority
are prised out. In Cote d’Ivoire where such
privatisation proceeded, there was a
monopoly of both telephone and cellular
services and the ‘lucky’ firm raised prices
so high that internet connection became
unaffordable. If privatisation is the only
way to get the investment that poor
countries need in the provision of services
like, telecommunications, electricity and
water, then it is imperative that it
accompanied by good regulatory arrangements.
Thirdly and strategically, this kind of
privatisation is dubious for the simple
reason – corruption. Customarily
privatisation of an unregulated monopoly
yield more money for the government. Hence
the drive to privatise quickly because of
vested interests and no guesses for what
happens to the money for the government –
yes you are right. It is not privatisation
but rather ‘briberization’. In society like
ours where the government (and the people
one must add) are corrupt, a below market
price sale ensures that those in power can
appropriate more for themselves rather than
augment the public purse while its advocates
falsely maintain that assets would be better
managed. It did not work with rail
privatisation in the UK, electricity
privatisation in California telecoms
privatisation in Cote d’Ivoire, or water
privatisation in Guinea, Gambia nor Ghana.
There are no grounds for optimism that it
will work in Nigeria and so far PHCN have
not convinced us otherwise.
What Now?
We need to understand this privatisation for
what it is. It is part of the ideologically
and operationally flawed structural
adjustment programme which, according to my
recollection marked the beginning of
Nigeria’s economic woes. 25years of
implementing structural-adjustment
programmes, Nigeria’s r economy remains weak
and in terminal decline incapable of
transformation to sustain accelerated growth
and development with widespread poverty,
high unemployment declining manufacturing
and agriculture and our external and
domestic debts much too heavy a burden to
bear. Since then the World Bank pushed the
Nigerian Government to develop specific
options to privatize the country's assets.
Customarily it is the poor who have been
systematically deprived of their right of
access to electricity.. Pro-privatization
consultants hand-picked by the multilateral
financial institutions doing the bidding on
behalf of the transnational corporations
interested in taking over Nigeria's
electicity.
Designing
a business framework that divides the
country into regions for generation and
distribution facilitates cherry-picking the
lucrative regions of service for the
incoming corporations, leaving the lucrative
bits for state authorities and communities
worried about their service levels . That is
why after a sustained period of poor
electricity supply being experienced
currently by consumers and . in its
determination to ensure that residents of
the state who are connected to the national
grid enjoy steady supply of electricity,
Nasarawa State Government has purchased
twenty 500 KVA transformers valued at over
one hundred million and donated to Power
Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). So after
the false promise of privatisation and the
pofit motive delivering efficiency, we have
a clear case of the state subsidising a
private company But herein lies the problem.
Governor Doma rather than admonish and ask
questions of PHCN for the poor supply of
electricity which has hindered smooth
operation of commercial activities in his
state has has used the state’s taxpayers
money to buy transformers (for which the
Business Manager of the company in Lafia,Dr
Halidu Balami must be eternally grateful who
described it as a ‘kind gesture’) and
donates (with no regulatory agreement,
stipulated target or service level) to PHCN
‘urging’ them to reciprocate his
administration’s effort by improving on the
supply of electricity! And what can the
taxpayers of Nasarawa expect for this
expensive ‘kind’ gesture? ‘Judicious use’
according to Dr Balami which will deliver 12
hours power supply – the equivalent of what
they get in Baghdad despite being in the
middle of a full scale war!
What is required is utilization of the
groundswell of resistance to the
privatization agenda, global financial
institutions, their corporate allies and in
particular the poor delivery of service from
PHCN. Teachers, students, NGOs, churches,
farmers need to be more vocal that they are
increasingly unable to cope with this poor
service. The medical and other lawyers,
accountants and community leaders, the urban
working-class population need to form
coalitions against further privatization.
The the largest unionized labour
organizations need to be at the forefront of
the struggle. In other countries like Ghana
and Bolivia, pressure exerted by the people
has led to the revision of bids and in some
cases a complete reversal of the
privatisation process. We need to make
PHCN’s success and its profit motive reliant
on a preparedness to engage with the public
and the delivery of service and send a clear
message to the management of PHCN f the
current 12-hourly nationwide power rationing
arrangement, nor its reversal is acceptable.
In a statement on Tuesday the PHCN said
rotational rationing from 12 midnight to 12
noon and 12 noon to 12 midnight, the
schedule will be reversed starting from
Thursday September 11, 2008.
. We need to deny the Government a silent
and dignified bow out. The degree of
mobilization against PHCN locally and
nationally should push electricity supply
high on the electoral and political agenda.
Let the government know that there is a
price to pay at the ballot box for
inactivity.
To put in stark terms, there is a war here.
Electricity is vital to our very existence.
We are therefore not going to surrender our
lives on a silver platter neither would they
expect us to. The least they can expect from
us is a fight that is comensurate to that
they will be putting up in the fight for
their expected profits; since we will be
fighting for our very lives, we have
desperation (not to talk of morality) on our
side. The genie can not wait to get out of
the bottle if only we will give it the
proverbial rub
Abi Bilesanmi is a politics graduate and an
activist for social, political and economic
justice.
