Transcort May Lose NITEL as Nigerian Govt battles to Save the ailing Telco -Intelligence Report

7th Nigerian Information Technology & Telecom Awards (NITTA 2008) holds November 14 @ MUSON Centre, Lagos

‘Save NITEL Now or Let It Die Completely’

Mother hen and her chicks
Mother hen made a quick dash to the back of the hut where her chicks were innocently having a field day feeding on insects and ants, oblivious of the danger that lurked. Mother hen made a sound the chicks have instinctively become familiar with, for it spells danger and warns of imminent death unless the chicks run for cover – under the wings of mother hen, who knows the predatory intrigues of the kites and hawks. And, these predators were already flying over the area this moment. Mother hen has to protect her chicks – even at the risk of her own life. It is so natural. By MKPE ABANG

South Africa's Poverty Brand called Xenophobia

– the miraculous, the outstanding, the bad, and the atrocious. The “flames of hate” (to borrow one media usage) that engulfed many South African urban squatter camps last month stay somewhere on this continuum.

It all began in a moment of ostensible communal self-reflection. A “community group” in one of the more depressed corners of Alexandria, a black township in northern Johannesburg, decides that it’s time to deal with the endemic problem of crime. Most of these people bear all the physical marks of deprivation. They migrated from very poor rural communities, but have yet to find succour in their new urban settings. The vast majority are uneducated, have no trades and are jobless. The dominant form of housing in the vicinity is tin-shacks, which because of the large numbers, form a frightening sprawl. Many residents subsist on grants provided by the state for child support, ill health or disability. Better life for all – that ubiquitous and most powerful ANC slogan – is not yet theirs to claim, even though the evidence of the government’s effort in improving the quality of social existence for the vast majority is visible everywhere.

Deliberations at the meeting veer from the serious to the mundane. Why do we suffer the double affliction of poverty and crime (rape, drugs, robberies, and the like)? Who are behind township crimes? What is the way forward?

Why are we not finding jobs? Could we have been elbowed out of opportunities by the poor from elsewhere? Could it be that our names have been replaced by those of “outsiders” in the job registries? Could it be that the labour market has been compromised by desperate foreigners

“It’s just eight months to February 2009, yet I can’t see what we are doing about this impending reality

that technology has brought to us once again; a reality we can’t do without.”

“What reality, my friend? You are always dreaming; yet you seem to always have this uncanny attitude of calling your dreams reality. So, in which planet are you dreaming this evening?”

“At least I can dream; that means I can imagine, and that means I can see reality. The likes of you are never in the picture, never in touch with the times. So, you mean you don’t even know the significance of February 2009? And you call yourself an enlightened person; you call yourself a technology savvy person. Don’t worry; when your wife and children call for your head over dinner, you will realise how significant February 2009 is.”

Barth Ebong

for a long time to come. And as has been identified severally, such rare accomplishment from an industry that was under immense distress to one that is setting the pace in the Nigerian economy remains subject of economic study.

Between 2006 when consolidation of the sector was concluded and now, the boom in the financial sector continues to attract commendations and the industry’s key players continue to receive accolades for their ingenuity and dexterity against what appeared an impossible task in 2004 when the policy of recapitalisation was first announced.

In the wake of that bold and courageous move, true giants in the industry have emerged providing the minions in their midst a platform upon which to stand and remain in business. Such giants in the Nigerian banking business is Union Bank Plc; with Dr. Bartholomew Bassey Ebong as the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of Nigeria’s second largest bank and the 502nd bank in the world, confirming it as a big, strong and reliable bank.

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