NIRA eNewsletter

NiRA President at Ohafia, Abia State with NITDA team

On the 27^th March 2015, I accompanied the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Team to Ohafia, Abia State, to commission a Knowledge Access Venue provided to the Community by NITDA as one of its 2014 projects. The Knowledge Access Venue is a skill acquisition, e-learning, business, and internet access centre for the community. The Director General, of NITDA, Peter Jack, was represented by Engineer Chris Okeke, Director, Software and Outsourcing Department. He also delivered the DG’s speech. I encouraged the leaders of the community to have their village and businesses online by acquiring the .ng domain name. Kudos to NITDA on the project of reaching rural areas.

NiRA AGM on 30^th April 2015

I wish to remind Stakeholders of the upcoming NiRA Annual General Meeting slated for Thursday 30^th April 2015. On the agenda, the 2014 Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements would be presented, the 2015 business plan would also be presented for approval and new members would be elected into the Executive Board of Directors. Do please remember that only NiRA members can elect or be elected, vote and be voted for. Validity as a NiRA member includes being financially up-to-date and having an active .ng domain name.

I look forward to your presence at the AGM on the 30^th April, 2015.

Mrs. Mary Nma Uduma
President

Nigeria comes second in the Affordability Index’s ranking of developing economies

Nigeria was commended by the International communities for the successes attained in repositioning her technology space, through the broadband initiative.
In March 2015, at Barcelona, Spain at the Mobile World Congress, the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), recently ranked Nigeria number two on the Broadband Affordability Index in its 2014 Affordability report. The research, covering 51 countries, was based on its current penetration and usage rates and the policy and the regulatory environment in place that could lead to further progress.
To advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and fixed-line Internet in developing countries, the A4AI, which is a global coalition of private sector, public sector, and civil society organisations, came together from different countries of the world to work. A4AI works to catalyse policy change in order to drive down the cost of broadband and unlock rapid gains in Internet penetration rates across the globe, by partnering governments, companies, policy makers to deliver open competitions and innovative broadband markets.
The Executive Director of A4AI, Sonia Jorge stated her pleasure with the strong leadership and regulation of the Nigerian broadband industry in Nigeria, commenting on its robust broadband strategy, effective competition in the telecommunications sector, efficient spectrum allocation, universal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.
Sonia Jorge read the report stating that “Nigeria comes second in the Affordability Index’s ranking of developing economies, scoring higher than other African developing economies like Kenya, Morocco and Uganda, and higher even than some emerging economies, including Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Tunisia. The backbone infrastructure in Nigeria has improved significantly over the last decade, with multiple players, including Phase 3, Glo 1, Suburban Telecom, Multilink and MTN, building fibre networks that crisscross the country. The Telecommunication’s regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), plans to award seven licenses to regional infrastructure companies to extend broadband infrastructure nationally."

Alan Barrett Appointed AFRINIC CEO

The African Network Information Centre’s (AFRINIC) Board of Directors, on the 27^th March 2015, announced the appointment of Alan Barrett as AFRINIC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Mr. Barrett would assume the position of the CEO as from the 20^th of April 2015 for an initial three-year term. Mr Barrett would replace AFRINIC’s founding CEO, Adiel A. Akplogan.

“After a long recruitment process, we are delighted to announce that Mr Barrett will be coming on board to take this role,” said Mr Sunday Folayan, AFRINIC Board Chair. “Mr Barrett has been an integral part of the development of AFRINIC and Africa’s Internet since 1989, is a long-standing member of the AFRINIC community, and is a familiar and well-respected face on the global Internet scene. With Mr Barrett as CEO, we are ready to take AFRINIC to the next level of its evolution.”
Mr. Barrett had been involved with the Internet since 1989 as a lecturer in the Electronic Engineering Department at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa. In 1990 and 1991, he played a key part in the transformation of the South African universities network to the TCP/IP protocols and in its connection to the global Internet. He operated the primary name server for .ZA at that time and, in 1993, was a co-founder of South Africa's first commercial Internet service provider.
In 1997, he was one of the four authors of the proposal to form AFRINIC, and served on the AFRINIC Board from its inception until 2009. Mr. Barret is currently a member of the Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal (CRISP) Team, which drafted the number resource community's response to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group’s (ICG) request for proposals. He was also one of the founding members of the South African Chapter of the Internet Society, and a founding member of Namespace ZA, an organisation that was intended to oversee the .ZA ccTLD before that role was taken over by legislation.

Mr. Folayan further added “Oh behalf of the Board, our members, the AFRINIC staff, and the local and global Internet community, please join me in congratulating Mr Barrett. We wish him all the best in his new position”.

A Message From The President