FG extends deadline for NIN-SIM linkage to April 6

 

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami

 

The Federal Government has extended the deadline for the linking of National Identification Number (NIN) with the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) by 8 weeks. The new deadline for the completion of the exercise is April 6, 2021.

 

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) disclosed this during the meeting of the Ministerial Taskforce on NIN-SIM registration on the 1st of February, 2021.

The minister said the extension became necessary to give Nigerians and legal residents more time to integrate their NIN with the SIM.

 

A joint press statement signed by Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, Director, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Kayode Adegoke, Head Corporate Communications of the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC) disclosed that the meeting was attended by key stakeholders, including the EVC/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), DG/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), DG/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

 

Others include the MD/CEOs of MTN, Airtel, 9Mobile, Ntel, Spectranet and SMILE, as well as the COO of Globacom.

It was reported at the meeting that the mobile network operators had collected a total of 56.18 million NINs. Each NIN is usually tied to an average of 3 to 4 SIMs and this infers that the current figure accounts for a significant portion of the existing SIMs.

This number of NINs collected represents a significant increase when compared with the 47.8 million reported by the Technical Committee on January 18, 2021.

Furthermore, over 1060 registration centres for NIN have been activated and made operational by NIMC across the country, while Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have opened hundreds of centres and are rapidly deploying resources to open thousands of other NIN enrolment centres across states of the country.

Pantami reiterated the need for Nigerians and legal residents who are yet to register for the NIN to be diligent and take advantage of the extension to enrol for their NIN and link it with their SIMs.

It would be recalled that the 4th of February, 2020 was the initial date of the commencement of the National NIN-SIM Registration Policy.

Pantami implored applicants to follow the safety guidelines at all the NIN enrolment centres and ensure compliance with the booking system in place.

“This protocol is in line with the Executive Order on COVID-19 2020 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 27th of January 2021, in keeping with the provisions of the Quarantine Act 2004,” the statement further disclosed.

It is noteworthy that Sections 27 and 29 of the National Identity Management Commission Act 2007 provides for the mandatory use of National Identity Number for transactions, including application and issuance of a passport, the opening of personal bank accounts, purchase of insurance policies, voter registration, and obtaining credit, among others.

 

Shutting down GSM service is not helping war on terror

Nigerians woke up this morning to the sad news of terrorists hitting several military bases in Maiduguri. Number of casualties is not yet known.

It must be clear to the authorities by now that shutting down communication to fight Boko Haram is not as smart as they originally thought it was. Shutting down GSM services is a double edged sword, which cuts both ways; and from the incident of yesterday it is clear that it is cutting the society more than it is cutting the insurgents.

How can you explain over 400 terrorists invading a city for 6 hours and everywhere they got to, they still had the element of surprise in their favour? This is a city where at least one person in every household must have a phone.

Terrorists overran a military formation and headed for the next target and then the next, and all of them were taken unawares?!!!

This is the sort of thing you would expect in the day and age when NITEL held sway and only your traditional ruler and a handful of rich men had phones, not in 2013.

Where there is efficient communication, the element of surprise is lost the moment the first target is hit. In a few minutes, everyone else knows what is going, and those who want to run can run while the security forces can get prepared.

 I hope the authorities will draw useful lessons from this horrible incident and restore GSM services immediately.

Related stories

Police Affairs Minister got that right
Where is our emergency number?
National emergency number 112 not ready
 

BlackBerry Abandons Sell-Off Plans - CEO Resigns

 

Latest news from ­BlackBerry is that the planned sale of the company has been ditched. The company now will seek an additional $1 billion in funding. Its CEO, Thorsten Heins, has resigned.

According to CellularNews, the company's largest single shareholder, Fairfax Holdings, which proposed a US$4.7 billion buyout of the company was unable to secure the necessary funding for its highly conditional offer.

Other rumoured bidders also failed to materialise by the Monday deadline.

Instead, the company will raise $1 billion in fresh funding, of which a quarter will be provided by Fairfax Holdings.

Former Sybase CEO, John Chen will serve as interim chief executive while a long term replacement is found.

Another company director, David Kerr has also resigned.

BlackBerry currently has a market value of around US$5 billion and also has some US$3 billion in cash and equivalents. The fresh funding will lift its cash to around $4 billion, giving whoever takes on the role of CEO more time to try and turn the company around.

 

Hundreds queue as iPad Air hits the stores today

iPad Mini and iPad Air  Credit: Daily Mail

Your iPad just got a generation older!

Apple's new iPad Air becomes available in 41 countries today, pulling hundreds of fans to the front doors of Apple Stores, jostling to be among the first to get their hands on the high-end device.

Customers in Australia and Japan were among the first to get their hands on the 9.7-inch tablet as stores opened at 8am in each country.

Philip W. Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, unveiled the newly named iPad Air earlier this month.

It is the fifth 9.7-inch model to be sold by the Californian firm and is 20 per cent thinner than the iPad 4, with a 5MP camera.

Schiller also unveiled the new iPad mini which has a 7.9-inch Retina display for the first time, plus 10 hours battery life.

The iPad Air also went on sale on Apple's website in various regions at midnight local time, although reports claim only the Hong Kong store has sold out.

The release is part of a double-launch strategy in which the iPad Air is released today followed by the iPad mini 'sometime in November.'

Apple has not officially announced when the new 7.9-inch model goes on sale, although rumours claim it could launch on 21 November in time for Thanksgiving in the U.S and ahead of Christmas.

Reports suggest the new iPad Mini is delayed because of production problems surrounding the device's new Retina Display.

Apple shipped around 8.9 million of its first-generation iPads earlier this year, and even this wasn't enough to satisfy demand.

If Apple does ship only 3 million new devices - around a third of the old amount - it could leave at least two thirds of customers disappointed as the IHS iSuppli report predicts demand for the new tablet will exceed 9 million.

Blackerry Agrees to $4.7 Billion Buyout from Major Shareholder

Oh dear! Blackberry top guns could not pull the company out of the woods. They are selling it to a shareholder. Fairfax Financial Holdings, which has the largest share in the company has made an offer and is seeking to take it private in a deal that values the smartphone manufacturer at just US$4.7 billion -- a far cry from its peak in 2009 when the company was worth US$84 billion. How art the mighty fallen!

BlackBerry confirmed the deal. The directors of the company are recommending the offer.

The consortium is offering US$9 per share to buy the company - a premium on the share price earlier today, but below the average of US$10.60 per share the company was trading at before it announced last week's billion dollar loss and 4,500 redundancies.

At the end of the second quarter, Blackberry had around US$2.6 billion in cash and equivalents in the bank -- so the net cost to the buyers of the company comes in at just US$2.1 billion.

Fairfax, which owns approximately 10 percent of BlackBerry's shares, intends to contribute its stake into the transaction.

Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax, said: "We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees. We can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world."

The due diligence on the company is expected to be completed in early November, and the company is free to seek out competing offers from other buyers. Considering the patent pool owned by the company, and its large BBM consumer base, other handset and service providers may be keen to launch a hostile counter bid.

BlackBerry Introduces the New BlackBerry Z30 Smartphone

Blackberry Z30

For all of you gadgets gatherers, a new toy is in town: BlackBerry Z30, which the company says is its fastest ever model.

Featuring BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2, the new smartphone comes with a 5" display and the largest battery yet on a BlackBerry smartphone.

"The new BlackBerry Z30 smartphone builds on the solid foundation and engaging user experience of the BlackBerry 10 platform with features like the powerful BlackBerry Hub, its exceptional touchscreen keyboard and industry leading browser," said Carlo Chiarello, Executive Vice President for Products at BlackBerry.

The hardware comes with a 1.7 GHz processor with quadcore graphics and new antenna technology that dynamically tunes reception to give users better connectivity in low signal areas.

The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone will roll out from select carriers and retailers around the world beginning next week in the UK and Middle East, and all other regions going into the holiday season. Specific pricing and availability will be announced by partners at the time of their respective launches.

Subject to mobile network approvals, BlackBerry OS version 10.2 is expected to be available beginning mid-October.

 

Cat caught smuggling mobile phones into prison

 

Credit: Press Service Of The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service For The Republic Of Komi
 

A cat has been trained to smuggle mobile phones into prisons, but was caught by prison officials during its latest visit.

The cat was caught on Friday while climbing the fence of a Penal Colony near the city of Syktyvkar, the capital of the northern Republic of Komi.

 

"Two packages were taped to the animal's back. When the packages were unwrapped, guards found objects prohibited in the penitentiary facility - two cell phones with batteries and chargers," the Republic of Komi penitentiary service department said in a statement posted on its website.

 

Cats are sometimes used by Russian inmates to deliver drugs, although this is thought to be the first time they have been caught smuggling phones into this particular prison.

 

The fate of the cat is unknown, the RIA news agency added.

 

On the web: RIA

Where is our emergency number?

The Goodluck Jonathan government has stayed long enough to roll out a uniform, nationally known emergency number that people can call to provide hints to security operatives about potential security risks or report a crime.

I’ve said this on my Facebook wall many times before. Where the police and other security operatives achieve wonders, it is not juju they are using. They are tapping into the power of information. It is a collaboration of the public with the forces. The public in these countries are able to effortlessly provide information to the police by dialling a short-code that is known even by kids.

 If you hear a strange shooting or you sight a band of suspicious-looking people in your neighbourhood, you can easily call the number and a police man on patrol nearby is despatched to check things out. It may turn out to be nothing, or it may be serious. Where is our own short code for emergency? Where is the communication equipment for the police? How are the forces sharing information? Is there a central system for warehousing information on terrorism that is accessible online to the operatives of all the forces deployed to fight terrorism? These are issues that the govt should focus on. It is not enough to threaten to fish out terrorists. What are we doing to make that possible aside from barricading the streets?

QoS: Regulator to check promos in telecom sector

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson has admitted that natural and man-made disasters have taken their toll on the quality of service obtainable in the country’s telecom sector lately.

She said the situation has also not been helped by a rash of promotions being carried out by the major telecom operators, MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat.

According to her the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will be taking steps in the days ahead to check the promotions with a view to improving service delivery.

Johnson who spoke in Abuja on Sunday when she fielded questions at an organised forum said because of the growth of the sector, operators had been facing demand challenge.

Lucky mistake

Published in Off the cuff in Nigerian Tribune

 

On account of the incredibly good fortune inadvertently visited on a young lady by an official of MTN recently, it pays to include this item of prayer in your prayer points. “Lord confuse and confound GSM operators to favour me.”

The young woman, Miss Chinenye Onyema was minding her business and doing what all young women do, which I presume included flashing the living daylight out of every person whose name appears in her phone-book. Then suddenly, a call was put through to her by an MTN official, saying she had become a proud owner of a brand new Kia Optima.

The girl reacted like any girl her age would at such news, vis-à-vis, “it’s a lie! Are you serious? S-c-r-e-a-m!!!.” Of course, she no doubt immediately flashed her dad, mum and boyfriend to share the news.

It is all so good. The snag was, it was not her number that the MTN official announcing the winner of the “MTN’s Y’ello Season Promo” meant to call. He meant to call 0806 543 4897, but because, I suspect, Miss Onyeama had very early in the morning prayed an MFM prayer point “Lord, cause the high and mighty to commit errors to favour me this day”, the MTN official could not help calling out instead 0803-543-4897.

Realizing the error and the potential embarrassment this might cause the girl in question and the company, the yellow people had to deep their hands further into their yellow pocket and pay for another car.

Regardless of who intervened or who did not, in the end, the original winner, Mr. Isaac Dike got his brand new Kia and the luckier girl also got her unsolicited , unexpected gift of a brand new Kia.

Are you listening, somebody? It is your turn. You have suffered long enough. It is your turn to shine. I can see it happening to you already. Pray this prayer with holy aggression and you will see wonders.

Say after me: “Oh Lord, as from today, cause any announcer of a promo grand prize to stutter, stammer and babble until and unless they call out my name” Oya, what are you waiting for?

==========

419 again

I experienced some fairly long period of respite from Nigerian fraudsters who bombarded my email and phones with their now popular unsolicited messages. But about a week ago, one dumb soul thought I had had enough respite and called me early in the morning. As usual the number was withheld.

“Hello”

“Hello, bawo ni? “ the chap launched into Yoruba at once, without first finding out what tongue I spoke. Apparently, this was a gamble meant to boost his chance of success if it turned out that the receiver of the call was Yoruba. It was meant to lure the receiver into a false sense of security that the caller knew him well. But if it turned out I did not speak Yoruba, the chap would just drop the call without any further word and try his game on somebody else.

“Emi ni o, lati lu oyinbo” he said, meaning it is me o, from abroad. I knew it was a fraudster at once and played along.

“Ha Uncle Taju, eku ojo meta. Awon omo nko?” I said. Translated, that means UncleTaju, long time How are the children.”. He was pleased with the name I gave him. He said he was okay And the children were fine too. Before I could say anything else he launched into what he wanted me to do for him since it had appeared that he would not be able to come home as he had earlier planned. That too was meant to cut me short from asking some questions that might expose him as not being the genuine Uncle Taju.

He said somebody was in Nigeria with a package containing a Nokia camera phone among other goodies and that I should call him immediately. He gave the man’s name as Pastor Ademola Ajayi and his number as 0806 311 0057. I sounded very grateful to my beloved uncle and offered profuse prayers which I meant to elongate the talk time and decimate the fraudster’s credit. One long minute later I was still praying for him. He probably read my mind and cut the conversation before I could do too much damage. I have not heard from him and his pastor friend ever since, though he promised to call in one hour to find out how things went. Dumb soul!

# # #

Nigerian ladies go man-baiting

Nigerian ladies go man-baitingSome Nigerian ladies leverage on technology to advance the old art of flirting, reports JOHN AWE.

"Quand je dis i,aime cest de tout mon coveur. Hey stop gettg confused. It's just d French way of sayg I just thought of u with all my heart. LUV U WIT ALL MY HEART."

This text will extract the same set of feelings and reactions from any man, whatever his background, race or creed- broad smiles and general feelings of accomplishment and appreciation. Except of course, if the text is from a source he does not know, in which case the next sure thing the recipient wants to do is to call the sender and clarify things.

Welcome to the world of man-baiting. Once you make the call, you are already in a game contrived by a lonely female in search of a romantic liaison. Lonely female? Well, not every time. Sometimes it is a female who is bored or broke, or both.

The sole purpose of the game is to pick up men without manifestly appearing to be doing so. It is mostly being resorted to by young women in tertiary institutions who are finding it tough keeping up with the financial demands of their rich life styles.

The targets are rich men who can afford to spend a few thousands on strangers of the opposite sex. But hitting these targets take a little time, wiles, and patience. All these the players have.
The numbers of those to try this game on is randomly chosen. A set of numbers that appear exotic however seem to be more picked upon than the others. Some numbers do point to the wealth, connections and power of their owners. Owners of such numbers, for example, one ending with 1234, do get preyed upon by man-baiters very often.

As a rule man-baiting texts look as innocuous as possible and are wired to excite curiosity. They look every inch like the senders know the receivers like Adam knew Eve. They have no fixed format, and come in different tones, tempo and character lengths.

There was one that simply stated: “C u tmrw”. For the benefits of those not versed in text language, that means “See you tomorrow”. Another variety of this that someone shared with Infosystems asks a question: “Are we seeing tomorrow?”

Those who receive these texts naturally spend the next few minutes trying to recollect what appointment they fixed but that they have forgotten. But if with their best efforts they cannot seem to recall who has the number from which the text originated, they will naturally reach for their phones to call. And when they do, the sender of the text is waiting with her sexiest voice.
And once this conversation starts, it takes a man who is able to resist the charms of a skilful temptress not to fall prey.

“Hello” you say as the phone is picked.
“Hello” a sexy female voice answers.
“You just sent a text now to this number. Are you sure you didn’t get the number wrong?” you ask the sexy voice.
“Oh I’m sorry; I meant to send it to a friend. This is so embarrassing. I hope your wife didn’t see it first?” she says giggling. Now, this is where she gets to know if she has landed a willing player or not. The answer, whatever words you choose can be categorized into two.
First: “No, lucky me. It is ok then. Bye.” That is the likely answer from any married man who has ears only for his wife’s voice.

Two: “I don’t have one yet. By the way, this is a very lovely voice”. This is the likely answer from a typical man not done with playing the field, married or not. And he is the one the lady is looking for. How technology solves the problem of two people in need!
In a few minutes, what they will be talking about next is where each party is located. A few calls later, they will be talking about where to meet.

As Infosystems investigation reveals, it is not every time the initiator of the game is interested in romantic escapades. Sometimes, all she wants is the next credit to continue her frequent calls to friends and lovers.

In this instance, after a few calls from the victim, the man-baiter requests for recharge voucher. If the victim plays along and sends it, she asks for more until the victim is annoyed and signs off permanently. That fits the description of what can be called advanced fee love fraud.

“What you call man-baiting is not totally new” said Tayo, a technical support staff of a Lagos based Internet Service Provider. “It is simply the domestication of a cyberspace practice. We have ladies going into online chat rooms for the sole purpose of picking up men. Some post their pictures on the web and when men respond they start an online affair”.

Indeed, pictures of Nigerian ladies seeking foreign lovers from cyberspace are numerous. Some genuinely want a man earning foreign currency who will come to rescue them from the grinding poverty in Nigeria.

Others are interested in the collecting some money they can use to set up themselves and their Nigerian lover at the expense of a foreign 'idiot'.

Some Nigerian men also go to online chat rooms to introduce themselves as women with the sole aim of picking up men. When any man falls into their traps, they use every trick in the book to convince him he has landed a pretty, lonely lady who is ready for marriage. After a while they demand for money and when the victim obliges, he begins a fruitless journey where he continues to part with his money till he is fed up and gives up.

Whether it is French-couched love professions sent out to strange mobile phones, or it is lurid pictures sent into cyberspace, the game is the same. And the facilitator is the same- technology.