NIG’s 2013 e-Business Conference Begins Tomorrow

Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) in conjunction with the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) said that preparations have been concluded for the hosting of this year’s annual e-business conference, which holds at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Lagos beginning from tomorrow, December 12, 2013.

Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology, will lead other dignitaries to the conference with the theme, E-Business: Broadband Technology, an Important Tool for Accelerated Growth & Development.

NIG is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization promoting the Internet in Nigeria.

According to Engineer Adebayo Banjo, NIG’s President, the e-business is simply an internet technology driven business and has continued to be a catalyst to accelerated economic growth in many countries globally.

“With so many developments in the Nigeria’ ICT sector, the country is set and has already joined the rest of the world in driving its economy with e-Business,” he said.

Banjo pointed out some of the most significant developments in the sector which include the African mobile phone personal computers and liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing plant set up by RLG, a $10 million factory that will be sited in Osun State, and would be opened before 2013 closes.

He said: “When completed, aside from being the first in the country, it would attract about 120 million active telephone subscribers.

“This is cheering news because major foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) have consistently shunned the idea of citing assembly plants in Nigeria, blaming infrastructural deficit as a major challenge.

The NIG president also said the Public Security Communications System (NPSCS), $470 million NPSS project, a multi-faceted high tech infrastructure for e-policing and public safety built for the country by the Chinese equipment vendor ZTE, which enhanced the capacity of the police to fight crime in Nigeria as acknowledged by Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, Inspector General of Police (IGP) during an official visit by the Chairman of the National People’s

Zhang Dejiang, Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China, to the main switch centre of the NPSS at Abuja, indeed is a giant stride in the sector.

Banjo said the major achievements previously recorded in the sector include the sale of 2.3 GHz spectrum, re- delegation of .ng TLD, the budding e-payment services, emerging international fibre cables from MainOne and Globacom.

These achievements, he said, are what ignited the strong desire in NIG to organize the important annual e-business conference 2013 in collaboration with the NCC.

A statement by the group indicated that the conference will examine critical success factors to e-business adoption in Nigeria such as improved broadband penetration, pervasive e-payment services, skilled manpower, appropriate legal and regulatory framework and the political will of government to implement the right policies among others.

The conference will attracts experts from in and outside the country.

Other Dignitaries include; Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).