Thursday, 07 November 2019

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Thursday, 07 November 2019

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Thursday, 07 November 2019 11:00

Nigeria's Government orders NCC to reduce cost of data with immediate effect

The federal government of Nigeria on Tuesday, November 5 insisted the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) must work out modalities to reduce the price of data in the interest of Nigerians.

This was the position of the minister of communications and digital economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami.

Pantami said his office has been inundated with complaints from concerned Nigerians about the high cost of data by telecoms operators. He mandated the management of the NCC led by its board chairman, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, to work out the modalities with other stakeholders in the industry to address the complaints as soon as possible.

Senator Durojaiye had led members of the board on a courtesy visit to the minister.

“I am urging the management of NCC to work towards reducing the price of data in Nigeria. It is too costly and people are complaining every day,” The Nation quoted the minister as saying.

Last month, the minister had directed the NCC to bring to stem the tide of illegal deduction of the data of subscribers and work towards the downward review of the cost.

In a related development, the federal government recently the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to develop DNA replication and encoding laboratories to help in the detection and prosecution of criminals in the country.

The minister of state, science and technology, Mr. Mohammed Abdullahi, said this at the 2019 National Identity Day organised by NIMC on Monday, September 16.

He stressed the need for NIMC to look into the possibility of strategic partnerships with other government agencies to ensure new innovations are introduced to help in combating crime in the country.

Published in Telecoms

Thursday, 07 November 2019 09:29

Zimbabwe: RBZ Removes 'Bond Note' Inscription On New Currency

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has released the main features of the country's new currency effectively re-designated in June but having had its place held by the surrogate bond notes indicating the only major difference will be the removal of the words "bond note".

The new currency is due this month according to RBZ Governor John Mangudya.

According to RBZ's Statutory Instrument 231 of 2019, the two dollar note will maintain a green colour and a dominant feature of Parliament on one side and balancing rocks on the other, similar to its two bond note.

The five dollar note will also maintain its purple colour, a dominant feature of the three giraffes and three palm trees.

"There shall be issued, in terms of the Act a two dollar banknote and a five dollar banknote.

"On the front side of both the two dollar note and the five dollar note the dominant feature shall be the logo of the RBZ (three balancing rocks) with the visually impaired recognition feature to the left, latent image showing the denomination, optical variable ink with colour shift from gold to green, security thread with the inscription 'RBZ' and see through of the Zimbabwe bird looking to the left in perfect register," the Apex Bank said in the Government Gazette.

"In respect of the two dollar note, on the back side there shall be an impression of the Parliament of Zimbabwe Building and the Eternal Flame. In respect of the five dollar note, on the back side there shall be an impression of three giraffes and three palm trees."

Mangudya announced last week that the RBZ will be introducing the new notes as a way of dealing with cash shortages as well as bringing the currency reforms to finality.

The Zimbabwe dollar makes a return 10 years after it imploded out of circulation as the country's economy took a hit from a combination of bad policies and especially the effects of the land reform programme as well as political bickering.

Credit: New Zimbabwe

Published in Bank & Finance

Thursday, 07 November 2019 08:40

488 people escape death as Boeing 777 makes emergency landing in Moscow

A Boeing 777 bound for Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and with 488 people on board, has made an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

Sputnik quoting media reports, said the pilots had to land the plane due to an oil leak, discovered in one of the aircraft’s engines.

“Aircraft flight No. 7571 Moscow – Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) made a safe landing at Sheremetyevo Airport. The plane had problems with an engine”, a source told the Russian media.

According to a representative of the Russian emergency services, the oil pressure sensor in one of the engines went off shortly after takeoff. Per preliminary data, 488 people were on board the aircraft.

On Monday, a Boeing 737 aircraft from Frankfurt also landed on the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow after a hydraulic system sensor showed a malfunction in the system.

Published in Travel & Tourism

Thursday, 07 November 2019 06:15

Glo topples Airtel as second-largest network operator

National telecommunications operator, Globacom, has emerged the preferred network for 2 million new subscribers in Nigeria in September, the largest in the industry, according to latest statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

In the report for September 2019, Globacom added a record 1,945,846 new subscribers. With the addition, the company’s subscriber base leapt from 47,265,628 in August to 49,211,474, the second-largest customer base in the industry.

Airtel which had briefly occupied the second position in the industry now has a subscriber base of 48,909,678 at the end of September, after adding 987,787 new customers, representing 50% of Globacom’s new addition within the period under review. Its figure at the end of the preceding month of August was 47,921,891. It is now the third-largest operator in the country.

The NCC statistics showed that it was only Globacom and Airtel that added new subscribers to their networks, as MTN and 9mobile recorded a decline in active subscriptions for the month.

According to telecom industry sources, Globacom’s record performance in September was buoyed by improved service delivery following the continuous upgrade of its infrastructure.

Although MTN remained the largest mobile operator in Nigeria, it lost 379,795 subscribers in the month under review. This brought its total subscriptions down to 65,328,104 from the 65,707,899 it recorded in August.

The fourth mobile operator, 9mobile, lost 268,159 subscribers in September, going down from 15,602,255 in August to 15,334,096 in September.

According to the industry regulator, the number of active mobile users in the country rose from 176.6 million recorded in August to 178.9 million in September.

With this, the country’s teledensity, which measures the number of active telephone connections per 100 inhabitants living within an area, also increased to 93.8 per cent.

Published in Telecoms

Thursday, 07 November 2019 05:42

Before we make mistakes when Building The Ibom Deep Seaport

A port is a maritime facility which may comprise one or more wharves where ships may dock to load and discharge passengers and cargo. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, some ports, such as Hamburg, Manchester and Duluth, are many miles inland, with access to the sea via river or canal.

What is a Deep Water Ports?

A deep water port, from its nomenclature can be suggested that is different from regular ports in respect of the depth of water. A port is usually an area or platform entered into from the sea, by vessels, boats, ships, which also allows for protected staging and anchoring or docking for these ships to load and unload consignments and continue up towards its destination. A deep water port handling containers for LO/LO vessels is expected to have at least moveable and more regularly track run cranes with capability to lift containers 22 rows deep without vessel turn. A port that can only handle container lift on/lift off with ship's own gear is not considered a deep ocean port. In fact, a deep water port that expects to have any traffic had better have at least three and more regularly 8 to 10 container cranes capable of simultaneous operation for at least two panamax ships at the same time or it will not be viable. Furthermore, due to the on quay storage required for most panamax and post panamax operations, finger piers are very hard to work and impossible to work for more than one such vessel at a time with yard hustling equipment.

A deep water port for post panamax ships will increasingly be required to have at least 45 foot sea draft (summer) with 50 required for many larger post panamax ships in service and on order. There may be increasing pressure for minimum air draft for post panamax vessels as well in the definition of deep ocean ports once the Panama Canal widening is complete.

However a deep water port is usually made up for the usage of very large and heavily loaded ships. The depth of water helps get them access to the deepwater ports. Regular ports are by and large of recreational types where the water is not more than 20 feet deep, whereas deep water port is compatible with the large heavy loaded ships which may require the water to be 30 feet deep or even more.

Deep water ports are also defined to be any port which has the capability to accommodate a fully laden Panamax ship, which is determined principally by the dimensions of the Panama Canal’s lock chambers. Under 33 U.S.C.S. § 1502(10) deep water ports are delimitated as “any fixed or floating man-made structure other than a vessel, or any group of such structures, located beyond the territorial sea and off the coast of the United States and which are used or intended for use as a port or terminal for the loading or unloading and further handling of oil for transportation to any State” (except as otherwise provided, and for other uses not discrepant with the Act). The term ‘deepwater port’ includes all concerned components which denote pipelines and pumping stations, and also service platforms, mooring buoys and similar paraphernalia to the extent they are located onshore of the high water mark.

However the ownership, construction and operation of the deep water ports are not beyond law and ethics. The induction of the Deepwater Port Act in 1974 and the amendment in 1984, 1990, 1995 and 1996 furnished conditions to meet the necessary requirements such as deducing adverse effects on the marine environment, which might come about as an aftermath of the development of such ports and submitting detailed plans, including financial, technical information, location and the capacity for construction and operation and maintenance of the proposed deepwater ports.

The act also encouraged the promotion of the deepwater ports as a safe and efficient medium of oil transportation with minimized tanker traffic and associated risks.

For the sake of safety measures latest technologies available are used in the construction and operation of the deep water ports which also impose economic, social and environmental effects for national interests.

The concerned authorities of the deepwater ports are responsible for oil spill prevention, containment and cleanup, effect on oceanographic currents patterns, potential dangers from waves, winds, weather, and geological conditions etc.

Deepwater Port Facilities:

Modern diversified facilities

Deep sheltered waters

Track record in oil and gas

On and offshore renewable support

Premier Cruise destinations

Good communication links

Skilled labour force

24 hour access

The ideal place to build a port has, among other characteristics: adequate depth, shelter from waves and sea currents, good logistic access and proximity to areas with export and import demands because a Ports constitute an important economic activity in coastal areas. ... Ports are also important for the support of economic activities in the hinterland since they act as a crucial connection between sea and land transport. As a supplier of jobs, ports do not only serve an economic but also a social function. The main functions of seaports are: To ensure safety for seagoing vessels entering, operation in and leaving the seaport. To provide facilities and equipment necessary for seagoing vessels to anchor, load and unload cargo, and embark and disembark passengers.

Basic Concepts:

Seaports are important interfaces in the supply chain between sea and land transportation and a component of freight distribution as the entrance of produce, merchandise and passengers to a country, but as well as the exit door to all the exports to the international markets.

Seaports are points of convergence of inland and coastal transportation systems, defining a seaport's hinterland. This function may be direct, as freight reaches a port directly through road transportation, or indirect as freight reaches a seaport through an inland port (e.g., rail station) or through traffic consolidation at a regional seaport and shipped by coastal transportation. Likewise, seaports are points of distribution to inland and coastal transportation systems, defining a seaport's foreland.

Seaports perform different type of operations:

-Embarking, disembarking and transferring of passengers and crew

-Loading, unloading and transshipment of cargo to and from the vessels

-Storage and warehousing of merchandise on land and stevedoring to and from vessels

-Provide inland access and intermodal connections

-Complementary services to shipping carriers

-The main functions of seaports are:

-To ensure safety for seagoing vessels entering, operation in and leaving the seaport

-To provide facilities and equipment necessary for seagoing vessels to anchor, load and unload cargo, and embark and disembark passengers

-To provide cargo transportation, loading and unloading, warehousing and preservation service in the seaport

-To provide shelter, repair, maintenance of necessary services to seagoing vessels and other crafts in emergency cases

-To provide other services to seagoing vessels, people, cargo and Container Ports.

The operations of container seaport include four steps:

Ship-to-shore: stage when cargo is discharged

Transfer: cargo is unloaded to a temporal area

Storage: stage where containers are hold for a longer period of time

Delivery and receipt: is the movement of delivery (clearance) of the cargo or receiving into the terminal

To Build Ibom Deep Seaport as a Modern ports copycatting the building of Successful and workable Ports around the world and their Operational Concepts must is Allowed:

...Whereas early ports tended to be just simple harbours, modern ports tend to be multimodal distribution hubs, with transport links using sea, river, canal, road, rail and air routes. Successful ports are located to optimize access to an active hinterland, such as the London Gateway. Ideally, a port will grant easy navigation to ships, and will give shelter from wind and waves. Ports are often on estuaries, where the water may be shallow and may need regular dredging. Deep water ports such as Milford Haven are less common, but can handle larger ships with a greater draft, such as super tankers, Post-Panamax vessels and large container ships. Other businesses such as regional distribution centres, warehouses and freight-forwarders, canneries and other processing facilities find it advantageous to be located within a port or nearby. Modern ports will have specialised cargo-handling equipment, such as gantry cranes, reach stackers and forklift trucks.

Ports usually have specialised functions: some tend to cater mainly for passenger ferries and cruise ships; some specialise in container traffic or general cargo; and some ports play an important military role for their nation's navy. Some third world countries and small islands such as Ascension and St Helena still have limited port facilities, so that ships must anchor off while their cargo and passengers are taken ashore by barge or launch (respectively).

In modern times, ports survive or decline, depending on current economic trends. In the UK, both the ports of Liverpool and Southampton were once significant in the transatlantic passenger liner business. Once airliner traffic decimated that trade, both ports diversified to container cargo and cruise ships. Up until the 1950s the Port of London was a major international port on the River Thames, but changes in shipping and the use of containers and larger ships, have led to its decline. Thamesport, a small semi-automated container port (with links to the Port of Felixstowe, the UK's largest container port) thrived for some years, but has been hit hard by competition from the emergent London Gateway port and logistics hub.

In mainland Europe, it is normal for ports to be publicly owned, so that, for instance, the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are owned partly by the state and partly by the cities themselves. By contrast, in the UK all ports are in private hands, such as Peel Ports who own the Port of Liverpool, John Lennon Airport and the Manchester Ship Canal.

Even though modern ships tend to have bow-thrusters and stern-thrusters, many port authorities still require vessels to use pilots and tugboats for manoeuvering large ships in tight quarters. For instance, ships approaching the Ibom Seaport, a greenfield deep sea port project located on the Atlantic coast about 65km to the southeast of Uyo in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. The port is an integrated development with the proposed Ibom Industrial City that will be established on 14,517 ha Should obliged the use of Akwa Ibom pilots when navigating on that part of the estuary that belongs to the Akwa Ibom to engage our Local Pilots.

The Government of Akwa Ibom State Must as a matter of fact engage her Local Port Builders/Shipping Administrators to contribute Ideas based on their Expertise Experiences(EE) for the smooth reality of Building a standard port with Standard Facilities at the lowest cost that can compete with other Nations Ports around the World.

My Name is:

Mr Itohoimo Udosen

#ItocoShippingCompany

Call: +234-901-819-4985

WhatsApp: +27-7887-44577

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in Opinion & Analysis