NITEL becomes Ntel, to deploy 4G network in Nigeria’s telecoms market

NITEL becomes Ntel, to deploy 4G network in Nigeria’s telecoms market

The Managing Director of Ntel, Kamar Abass, said this in Lagos during a media luncheon organised by the company
Natcom Development and Investment Limited on Thursday said it would deploy 4 Generation network to show its relevance in the Nigerian telecommunications market.
The Managing Director of Ntel, Kamar Abass, said this in Lagos during a media luncheon organised by the company.
Ntel is the company that acquired the assets and liabilities of the defunct NITEL and MTEL.
Abass said the company would now be known as Nigeria Telecommunications and would offer high speed data, high-definition voice and video to customers.
He added that there were still spaces in the marketplace for new SIMs, hence NTel as a new entrant had many opportunities.
According to him, the company will be doing video over data and ensure Nigerians get high quality broadband, rather than cheap broadband.
He said: “Nigeria is in extreme ‘data hunger’, with just 92.7 million active Internet users as at June 2015, but the surprising issue is that only 27.6 million of the users access the Internet are on 3G/4G networks.
“It shows that more than 65 million go on the Internet on 2G, which means that we are losing the broadband race by using 2G network, since 4G is the heart of broadband.
“Our story is that of pure 4G network, with high speed broadband and better technology.
“We see ourselves as offering Nigeria the key ingredient with the deployment of 4G.”
The NTel boss said the assets acquired from NITEL included cellular spectrum/microwave frequencies, telecom operating licences, international submarine cable, which is the SAT-3, and cell towers.
Abass added that the company also acquired fibre and duct network (including Right Of Way), prime buildings and satellite earth stations.
Abass said the company would roll out services simultaneously in three cities before the end of 2015.
These are Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
He noted that some of the equipment acquired from NITEL were obsolete, hence they would not be used to deploy the 4G services.
According to him, the 4G network to be built by NTel will be better than what is presently obtainable in the industry.
The company would start deploying fixed service in the second half of 2016, he said.
NTel’s ownership of SAT-3 would also help with superfast Internet from West to South Africa and Europe, all the way to Asia.

NAN.

BREAKING: Saraki loses to CCT at appeal court

BREAKING: Saraki loses to CCT at appealcourt 

The appeal court sitting in Abuja has dismissed the appeal of Senate President Bukola Saraki against his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The court on Friday dismissed the argument of Saraki that the CCT was not a court of competent jurisdiction to handle the criminal charges preferred against him.
“The CCT is a court of criminal jurisdiction, albeit limited jurisdiction,” the court stated.
“The immediate question is whether it is a court or not. There is no inherent difference between a court and a tribunal. The only difference is that tribunals in most cases handle special cases.
“The tribunal has power to impose sanctions according to the law. It is a court with specific criminal jurisdiction.”
Regarding whether the CCT was properly constituted to try Saraki, the three-man panel of judges led by Moore Adumein held that the tribunal was properly constituted to try the senate president.
Adumein stated that the two-man panel of the CCT was the minimum quorum required according to the interpretation act to sit in judgment on any issue; hence the tribunal did not err in law to commence trial against Saraki with a two-man panel.
On October 19, the appellate court had adjourned ruling on the case between Saraki and the code of conduct tribunal (CCT).
In September, Saraki approached the court seeking to stop his trial for alleged false declaration of assets at the CCT.
Arguing the appeal on October 16, Joseph Daodu (SAN), Saraki’s lawyer, urged the court to halt the trial of his client at the CCT on the grounds that the tribunal was not properly constituted, and that it had no powers to handle criminal matters.
“The composition of the tribunal during the trial of my client violated paragraphs 15(1) of the 1999 Constitution by sitting with two members instead of three,” he had said.
“My Lord we are seeking the court’s understanding to nullify the CCT proceedings of last month due to lack of quorum.”
The trial of the senate president is expected to continue at the CCT on November 5.

The Cable 

Tribunal sacks Wike, calls for fresh elections in Rivers State

Tribunal sacks Wike, calls for fresh elections in Rivers State

The Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has nullified the election of Governor  Nyesom Wike.

The Tribunal in a judgment delivered on Saturday by Justice Mohammed Ambrosa agreed with the APC candidate that the election was marred by wide spread irregularities and non compliance with the electoral law.

More later

Dogara unveils committee chairmen, deputies Dogara

Dogara unveils committee chairmen, deputies 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, on
Thursday released a list of 96 chairmen of the House standing committees and their deputies at plenary.

48 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were picked as chairmen, while 46 members of People Democratic Party (PDP) will also head committees of the House.

One member each from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) got committee chairmanship positions.

The Niger Delta committee is yet to get a chairman.
For the deputy chairman positions, APC got 54, while PDP had 38.
Two members from APGA were also picked as deputy chairmen of House committees.

There was grave silence when Dogara read out the names of the committee chairmen and their deputies.

While Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin was named the Chairman of the House
Committee on Appropriations, Hon. Nnena Elendu- Ukeje will head the
Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Others are – James Faleke (Customs and Excise), Rita Orji (Diaspora),
Adeyinka Ajayi (Aids, Loans and Debt Management) ), Nkiruka Onyejeocha (Aviation), Linus Okorie (Agricultural Colleges and Institutions), Betty Apiafi (Health Institutions), Tobi Okechukwu (Works) and Herman Hembe (FCT).

INEC IS NOT COMPETENT TO OPERATE WITH TWO NATIONAL COMMISSIONERS - FEMI FALANA SAN

INEC IS NOT COMPETENT TO OPERATE WITH TWO NATIONAL COMMISSIONERS - FEMI FALANA SAN

The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced the fixture of dates for the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States. In addition, a number of the Governorship/Legislative Election Petition Tribunals sitting in the various states of the Federation have annulled some results of legislative elections due to proven cases of electoral malfeasance. The Tribunals has ordered the INEC to conduct fresh elections in the relevant constituencies within 90 days with effect from the dates of the verdicts.

 

But since the INEC  is currently constituted by two national commissioners it lacks the power to fix dates for elections and conduct them. In other words , as the INEC is not validly constituted as required by section 159 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 asamended its decisions are liable to be set aside. Even when the INEC was constituted by a chairman and three other national commissioners in 2010 the Federal High Court held that the electoral body was not competent to take any decision.

 

That was the case of Action Congress of Nigeria v. Independent National Electoral Commission & Ors.(Unreported Suit No: FHC/CS/36/09) where the Court declared the composition of the INEC  illegal and unconstitutional on the ground that the four national commissioners who were in office at the material time could not take any valid decision as the quorum of the INEC should not be less than five national commissioners at any point in time. In concluding the judgment the trial judge, the Honourable Justice Liman had this to say:

 

“Before I end this judgment, let me remark on a very sad note. The Independent National Electoral Commission constitutes the most important indispensable bedrock on which our  democratic institutions are built. Its function is central to the smooth and enduring evolution of our political structures. It is not an understatement to say that without a functioning INEC, no election into any political office will be possible. Then how comes that in the 11th year of the country’s journey into constitutional governance we do not have an electoral body with its full complement of members. We continued to pretend that all was well with our electoral system while the membership continued to drop from 13 down to 4 and it seems, we remain complacent as if all is well. I think something is wrong somewhere and the earlier both the executive and legislative departments of the government acted to reverse this shameful trend the better for the people of this country.”

 

 

As the Counsel to the plaintiff in the afore-mentioned case I can say, without any fear of contradiction, that the said decision of the Federal High Court was not challenged at the Court of Appeal by the Federal Government. In fact, instead of rushing to the Court of Appeal in the circumstance, the Federal  Government filled the vacancies in the INEC by appointing 11 national commissioners. The 5- year term of office of the national commissioners of INEC has since expired by effluxion of time. In the same vein, the term of office of over 20 Resident Electoral Commissioners  has since expired.

As the judgment of the Federal High Court cited above is binding on the Federal Government by virtue of section 287 (3) of the Constitution  President Mohammadu Buhari ought to fill the existing vacancies in the INEC without any further delay. Otherwise, the results of the forthcoming governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States as well as those of legislative elections in the various states of the Federation are liable to be set aside on account of the illegal composition of the INEC. 

 

 FEMI FALANA SAN.

Four injured in Lagos explosion

Four injured in Lagos explosion

South West Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, confrimed that there was an explosion inside a locked beer parlour that is yet to open toady at Oworonsoki, inward Mayaki, Lagos State.

He said four people including a girl were injured and had been rushed to Afolabi Hospital for treatment.

“Fire service and police are trying to find out the cause of the explosion as the shop was locked at the time of explosion.

“Crowd are greatly impeding emergency works.

“We call on the crowd to leave the area entirely. The explosion partly affected a building next to the beer parlour,” he said.

PUNCH

Abductors Of Ex-Delta Assembly Clerk’s Wife, Children Jailed 67 Years

Abductors Of Ex-Delta Assembly Clerk’s Wife, Children Jailed 67 Years

A Delta State High Court sitting at Asaba, the state capital, on Friday
sentenced four persons to a total of 67 years imprisonment with hard labour for
kidnapping one Mrs. Ighowoh Yavbiere and four children.

Mrs. Yavbieri is the wife of Mr. Raymond Yavbieri, a former Clerk of the Delta
State House of Assembly.

The court presided over by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Marshal
Mukoro, in its verdict sentenced the accused persons to 67 years imprisonment
for their involvement in the abduction of the lawmaker’s family members.
Three of the accused persons got 20 years each, while the 4th accused who
was convicted on only one charge was sentenced to seven years in prison.

They were convicted on charges of conspiracy, kidnapping and demanding
property with menace as they received the sum of N7million from Yevbieri
before his family regained freedom.

The convicted persons initially requested for N50million ransom before it was
reduced to N7million.

Terrorism : British boy , 15 , jailed for life

Terrorism : British boy , 15 , jailed for life

A 15- year -old boy, thought to be the youngest Briton to be convicted
of a terrorism offence , was given a life sentence on Friday for inciting an attack
on a World War One commemorative event in Australia from his bedroom in
northern England.

The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, pleaded guilty in July to sending
messages online encouraging an attack on police officers at an event in April to
mark Anzac Day – a day of remembrance for military dead in Australia and New
Zealand. He was just 14 at the time.

The discovery of the boy’ s actions sparked a massive police operation in
Melbourne , which led to the arrest of five teenagers who were planning an
Islamic State-inspired attack on an event to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli
landings, Australian authorities said.

British police said had the plot not been uncovered , it was likely someone would
have been seriously injured or killed.

“ From the early communication we could read, it was obvious the Anzac Day
memorial service was going to be a target, ” said Detective Chief Superintendent
Tony Mole of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit.

“ People will be understandably shocked by the age of the boy. However , this
should not detract from the horror of what he was planning . ”

The boy from Blackburn , who had admitted a charge of inciting another person
to commit an act of terrorism , was sentenced to life in a youth detention centre
and will have to serve a minimum of five years.

Manchester Crown Court heard he was initially arrested by police on suspicion of making threats to kill his teacher . When detectives examined his phone they
found extreme images, including a screen saver of Islamic State militants.
There was also evidence he had searched the internet for instructions on making explosives and building a detonator from scratch.

During nine days in March he shared more than 3, 000 heavily encrypted
messages with fellow plotter “ Illyas ” in Australia, in which they discussed a plan to run over a police officer at an Anzac Day parade.

The boy also suggested Illyas break into someone ’ s house to “ get your first taste of beheading ” and they shared images , including an exact replica of a knife used in the “ Rambo ” films . The boy said it had a handle which is “ perfect for tearing through throat ” .

( Reuters)