Saturday, May 7, 2011

Al-Qaeda Suspect Arrested in Deadly Marrakesh Bombing


The deadly blomb blast In Marrakesh killed 16 people, many of them foreigners (AFP/File, Abdelhak Senna)


Moroccan Response to Bombing Shows Deep Commitment to Human Rights Protection

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The lead suspect arrested by Morocco in its ongoing investigation of the deadly April 28 terrorist bombing in Marrakesh has been linked to al-Qaeda, according to a report by Morocco's Interior Ministry. The terrorist bombing at Cafe Argana in Marrakesh's central square killed 17 people—most of them Europeans—and injured 20.

World leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have condemned the bombing. Morocco has won praise for its thoroughness and restraint in investigating the bombing.

Three Moroccan suspects were arrested in Safi, 220 miles south of Casablanca. The lead suspect, who was "linked to Al-Qaeda," had "made two explosive devices, which were triggered from a distance" by mobile phone, said the Interior Ministry. He "chose the Argana cafe because it is popular with Moroccan and foreign tourists."

Investigators found the suspects learned how to make the bombs on the Internet and "were absorbed by jihadist ideology," with "allegiance to al-Qaeda, and had already made several attempts to join some of the hotbeds of tension," including Chechnya and Iraq, before deciding to carry out their attack in Morocco.

Immediately following the attack, His Majesty King Mohammed VI called for respect for "the primacy of the rule of law" and vowed that the bombing wouldn't derail Morocco's new program of constitutional reforms, which he outlined in a speech to the nation on March 9.

Earlier this week, Moroccan Islamists said "they felt reassured that authorities acted with restraint and did not carry out mass arrests as they did in the wake of 2003 attacks," reported AFP. A leader of the Islamic opposition noted the contrast with the reaction following the 2003 Casablanca bombings that killed 45 people, when hundreds of Islamists were arrested.

The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. For more, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org.

This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

SOURCE Moroccan American Center for Policy

CONTACT: Garth Neuffer, +1-202-470-2055, gneuffer@moroccanamericancenter.com

Web Site: http://www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org



10 Years of GSM in Nigeria


President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria on BlackBerry mobile phone, the most popular smart phone in the most populous country in Africa with over 90 million users of GSM phones..

10 Years of GSM in Nigeria

• The Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) was introduced into Nigeria in August 2001 with only 400, 000 lines, and a dismal 0.4 teledensity. But today the active lines are over 90 million with a teledensity of 64.16!

• Nigeria is ranked as the largest and fastest growing telecom market in Africa and among the top ten fastest growing telecom markets in the world.

• The leading GSM operators in Nigeria are, MTN, Airtel, Etisalat, Globacom, Starcomms, Mtel, Visafone, Zoommobile, Multilinks



MTN Kiosk

• The Nigerian telecom industry has attracted over $18 billion in private sector investments, including direct foreign investment, contributing over N300 billion to the coffers of the Nigerian government through frequency spectrum sales and the annual revenue from mobile services is about four percent of the nominal GDP.



Nicolas Cage Won't Be Charged in New Orleans Case



American movie star and Hollywood heartthrob Nicholas Cage will not be charged after his April 16 arrest in New Orleans.

The popular actor was arrested in the French Quarter after disrespecting his wife in an argument over renting a new house. He was booked for domestic abuse, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness.


Cage had been free on $US11,000 bond put up by bail bondsman Duane Chapman, known as Dog the Bounty Hunter to reality TV fans.

See the details in the following press release.


Nicolas Cage Won't Be Charged in New Orleans Case


NEW ORLEANS, May 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement is being issued by Nicolas Cage's defense attorney, Harry Rosenberg is as follows:
"The New Orleans District Attorney has confirmed that no charges of any kind will be pursued against Nicolas Cage.

After the investigation, the District Attorney's Office refused all charges against Nick and this matter has been closed.

We are pleased that the process led to the correct result, despite the inaccurate media reports, and that Nick has been cleared and all charges have been dropped."

SOURCE Harry Rosenberg

CONTACT: Annett Wolf, +1-310-887-0737, for Harry Rosenberg



Smartphone Sales Will Account for 53% of Global Handsets in 2015



Smartphone Sales Will Account for 53% of Global Handset Sell-Through in 2015, Pyramid Finds



CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Total handsets sold to end users globally will reach 1.46 billion in 2011, while smartphone sales will account for 27 percent of total handset sell-through. Driven by demand for inexpensive Android models, this figure will almost double to 53 percent in 2015, according to Pyramid Research's quarterly smartphone forecast released this week.

Offered as a quarterly-updated subscription or as a one-off resource, Pyramid's Smartphone Forecast provides annual sell-through of total mobile handsets and smartphones for a ten-year period, including five historical years and five forecast years. Smartphone sell-through data is also segmented by vendor and by operating system. Granular data is provided for key emerging and developed markets, with ten new countries added to its coverage in its latest release, making Pyramid's smartphone forecast the most detailed on the market today.

Download the Smartphone Forecast Insight , a summary of the findings from the Smartphone Forecast just released this week, written by Stela Bokun, Senior Analyst and Practice Leader for Mobile Devices at Pyramid Research.

"Much of the projected total market growth in 2011 will come from the Africa and Middle East (AME) region, which will see a strong demand for low-end smartphone models, ultra low-cost handsets and dual-SIM and full touch-screen feature phones," says Bokun. "The main drivers of the demand in the developed markets will be the launches of a number of flagship high-end devices and new features and technologies," Bokun explains. "However, inexpensive smartphone models, particularly those from Huawei and ZTE, also will be in high demand in some of the richest Western European, Asian and North American markets."

Android-based smartphones will continue to shake the smartphone world, but Pyramid's recent findings predict that by 2015, Windows Phone will overtake Android and other major competitors and establish itself as the leader in the smartphone OS space.

Download the Smartphone Forecast Insight here: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/downloads.htm?id=2&sc=PRN050611_SMRT.

To learn more about the new expanded smartphone coverage, or to download a forecast template, click here: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/SmartphoneForecasts.htm?sc=PRN050611_SMRT.

For more information about Pyramid Research's products and services, please visit www.pyr.com or email us at info@pyr.com.

CONTACT: Jennifer Baker, +1-617-871-1910, jbaker@pyr.com

SOURCE Pyramid Research

Web Site: http://www.pyr.com



"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" breaks iTunes Record!



6 May 2011 20:42 Africa/Lagos


New Trailer for Michael Bay's Transformers: Dark of the Moon Downloaded Over 6 Million Times in First 24 Hours on iTunes Movie Trailers, Breaking Previous Record

PR Newswire

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 6, 2011



HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The new trailer for Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" has been downloaded more than 6 million times in its first 24 hours on iTunes Movie Trailers (http://www.apple.com/trailers), becoming the most-viewed trailer in the site's history.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/19991206/PARLOGO)

The trailer, which recently debuted exclusively on iTunes Movie Trailers, gives fans a visually stunning sneak peak at this summer's highly anticipated "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." When a mysterious event from Earth's past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us. The third installment of the hit franchise, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" stars Shia LaBeouf, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, with John Malkovich and Frances McDormand.

"Transformers represents big summer fun at the movies and iTunes Movie Trailers was the ideal place to debut the latest installment to a global entertainment audience," says Amy Powell, Paramount Pictures' Executive Vice President Interactive Marketing & Film Production.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

SOURCE Paramount Pictures Corporation

CONTACT: Katie Martin Kelley, EVP, Publicity, +1-323-956-2821, KMK@Paramount.com, for Paramount Pictures



Friday, May 6, 2011

Nigeria and UNESCO launch $6 million national literacy programme


Photo Credit: 31 Exchange


6 May 2011 18:37 Africa/Lagos


Nigeria and UNESCO launch $6 million national literacy programme

PARIS, May 6, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Efforts to achieve Education for All in Nigeria received a major boost today with the signing of an $6 million agreement between UNESCO and the Nigerian Government. Under the agreement, Nigeria will finance a project managed by UNESCO to revitalize adult and youth literacy in the country. It was signed today at UNESCO's Paris Headquarters by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Nigeria's Federal Minister of Education Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa'i.

Although Nigeria has made considerable progress towards Education for All, illiteracy remains a major problem, with an estimated 50 million adults who cannot read or write. Furthermore, some 8.6 million Nigerian primary-age children are out-of-school.

“The importance and enormous benefits of literacy both for individual empowerment and national development are well known and documented,” said Irina Bokova, following the signing ceremony. “As the UN's specialized agency for education, UNESCO has at its disposal a huge reservoir of expertise and experience. Every effort will be made to mobilize and effectively deploy these resources for the benefit of Nigeria.”

“This is a project charged with great expectations and it is in the spirit of achieving these expectations, together, that we envisioned our cooperation (Nigeria and UNESCO) for the achievement of the important goal of this major endeavor,” said Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa'i, who currently chairs the E-9 initiative*. “It is our hope that Nigeria's successful implementation of this programme will serve as a model, not only for the E-9 countries, but also those in the Africa region and elsewhere, facing the literacy challenge. We count on UNESCO to continue to provide appropriate and adequate support for its success.”

The agreement will open the way for a vast programme to strengthen national capacities for designing, delivering, evaluating and monitoring quality literacy programmes. It will be implemented by UNESCO's office in the Nigerian federal capital, Abuja over 42 months, in close cooperation with the relevant Nigerian authorities.

This if the fourth “self-benefitting” agreement signed between Nigeria and UNESCO since 2004, when the Government in Abuja committed almost $1million for a programme to reform the Nigerian Science, Technology and Innovation System. In 2005, Nigeria provided over $3 million for a UNESCO programme to boost science and technology education in primary and secondary schools and colleges of education. In 2008, the government in Abuja committed $565,000 to support technical and vocational education in Nigeria (this programme was complemented by an additional $1.5 million implemented directly by Government services. These three programmes are all ongoing.

* The E-9 Initiative is a forum for nine high-population countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan) to discuss their experiences in education, exchange best practices and monitor progress on achieving Education for All (EFA). Since its launch in 1993, the E-9 network has also become a powerful lobby for EFA and South-South cooperation.


Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)


Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
6 May 2011
19:25 Cote d'Ivoire / UNOCI's future role under preparation
18:55 World Bank President Supports Further Moroccan Reforms and Civic Participation
18:53 Hennessy Advisors, Inc. Announces Second Quarter Earnings of $0.06 Per Share and Declares Quarterly Dividend
18:49 Experts and Policy Makers conclude CODIST II with resounding call to invest in Science Technology Innovation
18:37 Nigeria and UNESCO launch $6 million national literacy programme
17:59 El proyecto del Lago Kivu de ContourGlobal recibe la garantía de la Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency del Banco Mundial
17:32 South African Airways Selects Expedia Affiliate Network to Power Hotel Offering
17:31 Defense Logistics Agency Warfighter Support Representatives Assist Troops in Libya, Africa
15:33 Powerful Start to 2011: BASF Remains on Growth Track
14:30 Researchers Join Forces To Cure Deadly Childhood Disease
14:00 The Female Health Company's Brazilian Distributor, Semina, Awarded Contract For Up To 20 Million FC2 Female Condoms
14:00 Smartphone Sales Will Account for 53% of Global Handset Sell-Through in 2015, Pyramid Finds
13:42 ICE Futures Europe Announces Daily Volume Records for Brent Crude and RBOB Gasoline Futures
13:30 The Female Health Company Reports Second Quarter Operating Results and Confirms Annual Guidance
13:00 Wines of South Africa Launches New Sustainability Seal and Video at Earth Day New York
13:00 InspireMD to Participate in Benchmark Company, LLC 2011 One-On-One Investor Conference
12:29 Sasol Announces Appointment of Chief Executive Designate
11:18 Canadian Pharmacy Intermediary's Top Reasons U.S. Customers Choose Canada Online Pharmacies Revealed by SaveRxCanada.com
11:02 First Quarter 2011 Earnings Release and Conference Call for Harvest Natural Resources
10:46 Slovenia National TV Renews Broadcast Relationship With Eutelsat With new 10-Year Contract at the Hot Bird(TM) Neighbourhood



Source: African Press Organization



UNITY Calls for Release of Al Jazeera Journalist Dorothy Parvaz


Dorothy Parvaz


6 May 2011 14:00 Africa/Lagos

UNITY Calls for Release of Al Jazeera Journalist Dorothy Parvaz

PR Newswire

MCLEAN, Va., May 6, 2011

MCLEAN, Va., May 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UNITY: Journalists of Color is calling on the government of Syria to release Al Jazeera reporter Dorothy Parvaz and allow her to continue her important work in the country.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110506/DC97026 )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110310/DC62460LOGO )

Parvaz, a former reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a 2009 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, was apparently detained shortly after arriving in Damascus on Friday to cover anti-government protests in the country. Al Jazeera has been told by Syrian officials that they're holding Parvaz. She is a citizen of the United States, Canada and Iran. She joined Al Jazeera in 2010.

UNITY joins the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and other media organizations in urging President Bashar al-Assad to immediately free Ms. Parvaz, and to cease efforts to hinder the work of the international media.

UNITY believes that a free press is one of the pillars of a democracy and it is our hope that Syria will adhere to the principles that guarantee the free flow of information and ideas.

About UNITY: Journalists of Color




UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is a strategic alliance advocating news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenging its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation's diversity. UNITY is comprised of four national associations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association together with an outreach to more than 8,000 journalists of color. In addition to planning the largest regular gathering of journalists in the nation, UNITY supports research and advocacy initiatives that promote its mission. For more information on UNITY, visit www.unityjournalists.org, email info@unityjournalists.org or call (703) 854-3585.

Media Contact:

Onica N. Makwakwa, Executive Director

UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.

Tel: (703) 854-3585

executive@unityjournalists.org

SOURCE UNITY: Journalists of Color

Web Site: http://www.unityjournalists.org/



So Where are the Jobs?



So Where are the Jobs? For The U.S. Economy, Bouncing Back Is Hard To Do
Construction, Finance, State/Local Government Holding Recovery Back

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, May 5, 2011

NEW YORK, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to recessions, the U.S. economy doesn't bounce back like it used to, The Conference Board reports in an analysis released today.

By March 2011, the number of people employed in the U.S. was only 0.2 percent higher than in June 2009, when the recession ended, notes the report, entitled So Where are the Jobs?

The current recovery is the second slowest on record since 1961 – continuing a trend that began in 1991 of weak growth in both jobs and GDP. In the last three recoveries, neither GDP nor employment "roared back" as was typical after earlier downturns.

In the current recovery, some industries are doing better, others worse. "When looking across industries, the current recovery is showing some unique trends," says Gad Levanon, Associate Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board, and author of the report. "For example, employment in construction, finance and state/local government is not only declining, but declining much faster than in any other recovery since 1960. The decline in these industries is a result of forces that go beyond the ups and downs we see in typical recessions, and a strong bounce back is unlikely in the near future." Since the end of recession, total employment in construction, finance and state/local government declined by 1.06 million jobs, while the rest of the economy added only 1.3 million jobs.

The Conference Board report includes a breakdown by industry, including a listing of job recovery rates by sector and over time. For example:

* Hardest Hit : The number of jobs in construction (-8.1 percent), finance (-1.8 percent), and state and local government (-1.0 and -2.6 percent respectively) continued to decline in the 21 months after the end of the recession.
* Disappointing : Healthcare and leisure and hospitality jobs have recovered, but at a rate slower than any since 1960.
* Doing OK : Manufacturing suffered less job loss than in recent recessions, and in the last 12 months, manufacturing employment has grown at the highest rate since the 1990s.
* Shrinking Government : The growth in federal government jobs during the recovery has been historically high (38,000), but not enough to offset the unprecedented losses in state and local government jobs (-429,000).


Employment Outlook

In the near-term, employment growth will continue to be slow. The housing downturn, high oil and commodity prices, government austerity measures and limited consumer spending will prevent GDP growth from being more robust. Unemployment is likely to remain above 8 percent through 2012. The Conference Board forecasts GDP to grow at about 2.5 percent in 2011 and 2012, much lower than the rate of 3.5 to 4 percent typically reached during expansions.

Adds Levanon: "Longer-term prospects are more promising, however. In the last six months, employment outside of construction, finance and state and local government has already been growing faster than nearly any other six-month period in the last decade. Once constraints in these hard-hit sectors loosen, overall job recovery is likely to pick up pace."

Source: So Where are the Jobs? For the U.S. Economy, Bouncing Back is Hard to Do

Executive Action No. 349

The Conference Board

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

Follow The Conference Board

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

SOURCE The Conference Board

CONTACT: Carol Courter, +1-212-339-0232, carol.courter@conference-board.org, or Jonathan Liu, +1-212-339-0257, jonathan.liu@conference-board.org

Web Site: http://www.conference-board.org



Thursday, May 5, 2011

Chevron fights justice in Ecuador on two fronts, but needs to win everywhere

~ By Marco Simon, Legal Director, Earth Rights International



Since February, Chevron has been facing what is probably the largest environmental judgment in history-- an $8 billion award from an Ecuadorian court for contaminating the Ecuadorian Amazon. (That judgment is now available in English, below, courtesy of Chevron.) They've gone on the offensive against this judgment on two fronts. But they need to win not just these cases, but every other one that the plaintiffs might file.

The plaintiffs' strategy has become known through the release of the so-called "Invictus" memo. That memo, drafted by law firm Patton Boggs for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs, outlines a global enforcement strategy. The Ecuadorians can go after Chevron in the US, but they can also try to enforce the judgment in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and dozens of other countries where Chevron operates or has assets. Not surprisingly, Chevron is working hard to prevent that.

Chevron's first assault on the Ecuadorian case was an international arbitration against Ecuador, filed in September 2009. (Although such arbitrations are typically secret, Chevron posted its complaint to its website.) Under the guise of international investment law, Chevron wants to have the Ecuadorian government interfere in its own court system, to tell the courts that Chevron's not responsible for the pollution in the Amazon.

I think Chevron's case in the arbitration is thin. Working with the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Ecuadorian indigenous rights group Fundacion Pachamama, ERI filed an amicus brief with the arbitration tribunal last fall, arguing that the tribunal shouldn't even hear the case. We learned last week that the arbitration tribunal rejected our brief, unfortunately--but it still hasn't decided whether it will hear Chevron's case.

(The amicus process in arbitrations is far from transparent. Both Chevron and Ecuador apparently made several submissions to the arbtirators concerning whether our brief should be accepted, but we were not able to see or respond to any of them. Chevron even claimed that ERI has "a longstanding record of asserting baseless claims against Chevron." Note to Chevron: just because you keep getting accused of environmental and human rights abuses does not mean the charges are baseless.)

Chevron's second attack is in its lawsuit against the Ecuadorian plaintiffs and their lawyers in New York. So far they've had some success--federal district court judge Lewis Kaplan has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Ecuadorians and their lawyers from taking steps to enforce the Ecuadorian judgment. But that success may not last.


As a preliminary injunction, Judge Kaplan's order is subject to immediate appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the plaintiffs' lawyers have already filed their notice of appeal. At this stage of the case, Chevron is entitled to some presumptions in its favor, so even if they ultimately have no grounds to attack the Ecuadorian judgment, it is possible that a preliminary injunction will stand. But Chevron's entire case is premised on the notion that Judge Kaplan has jurisdiction over the Ecuadorian plaintiffs and other members of the plaintiffs' class action. That is a highly questionable position, and one that will receive considerable scrutiny from the Second Circuit. Even if Judge Kaplan can prevent the American lawyers from proceeding to enforce the judgment, if he doesn't have jurisdiction over the Ecuadorians, he cannot prevent them from going to other countries to seek enforcement (as outlined in the "Invictus" memo).

The Second Circuit may also be concerned with the propriety of interfering with foreign countries' judicial processes. I'm not aware of any case where a court has ever even tried to restrain foreign plaintiffs from enforcing a foreign judgment in foreign jurisdictions. Chevron has every opportunity to challenge the judgment in the Ecuadorian courts; Chevron chose to litigate in Ecuador over the plaintiffs' objection, and the Second Circuit may well hold them to that choice. In fact, in a recent decision in a related case, the Second Circuit said that Chevron was bound by its original promise "to satisfy any judgments in Plaintiffs' favor, reserving its right to contest their validity only in the limited circumstances permitted by New York's Recognition of Foreign Country Money Judgments Act.

Chevron argued, and Judge Kaplan accepted, that the judgment is unenforceable under that law for two reasons: because Ecuador does not provide due process, and because the judgment was obtained by fraud. But Chevron's own predecessor, Texaco, argued that the case should be sent to Ecuadorian courts in the first place, even though the plaintiffs then objected that those courts did not provide due process; Chevron may not be able to complain about that now. And what Chevron calls "fraud" was fully aired in the Ecuadorian court--all of the supposedly fraudulent evidence that Chevron is now presenting to Judge Kaplan was also presented in Ecuador, so Chevron can't really say that the plaintiffs defrauded the court.

Ultimately, even if Chevron wins the enforcement battle in the US, that doesn't end the matter, because the plaintiffs will go to other countries to enforce the judgment. The plaintiffs only need to win once or a few times, while Chevron needs to win everywhere. Even Chevron wins twenty cases, just one loss could cost the company hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.



Click here for more details



Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Mobile Communication: Umuodagu Ntu and excruciating poor network



Mobile Communication: Umuodagu Ntu and excruciating poor network

~ By Nwaorgu Faustinus


The advent of Mobile telecommunication industry in Nigeria is traceable to 1999 and present democratic government. Prior to 1999, telephone be it landline or walkie-talkie was seen as one of the rare luxuries of the rich. But the coming of mobile telecommunication operators changed the situation for the better as every Tom, Dick and Harry have accesses to one or two handsets. That is why its arrival and operation was seen as a great achievement of the former President of Nigeria, Chief. Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.


Initially, MTN, the first mobile telecommunication company was given license to operate followed by ECONET which metamorphosed into Vmobile first, then Zain and now Airtel. The last mobile telephony network but not the least is Etisalat. Apart from these four major telephony networks, there are also others that are regionally based.


Though the impacts of these four major mobile networks are well felt in urban areas the reverse is the case in some rural communities. Since half a decade of the advent of some of the mobile networks, it is sad to state that their signal, service or network have been abysmally poor in rural villages. It is the expectation of mobile telephone users in the villages that given the inception of mobile telephony industry, their areas would have been covered with the mast of various mobile telephone network operators.


One of such villages is Umuaka, in Umuodagu Ntu, which is in Ngor/Okpala Local Government Area. It is disheartening to note that in this quiet and serene village one hardly makes or receives calls from the comfort of his or her bedroom, parlor, kitchen or compound without walking for two to three kilometers in search of network signal. This is not good for rural mobile telephone users.


This writer who has written a related piece titled “Overt letter to Etisalat”, “concluded it by stating thus: “Others who cannot buy external antennas have resorted to climbing all sorts of trees ranging from mango, orange, avocado, cashew, oil bean, palm trees among others in search of network. It is therefore imperative for Etisalat and other telephony operators to cover such communities by building their base stations or masts there in order to reduce the rate at which subscribers climb trees. In the case of the above community (Umuodagu Ntu), land where the base station or mast will be sited is available, as the Eze and his cabinet, as well as the elders and youths are ever ready to work with any telecommunication company that indicates interest”.


This piece is an appeal to the four major mobile telephony networks – MTN, AIRTEL, GLO and Etisalat to come to the aid of the above community and village so that they can stay in their various homes to make and receive calls. No doubt, if the mast is hoist or built, the community will remain grateful to any of the network operators that honoured their appeal.



Nwaorgu Faustinus Chilee, writes from Igboeche, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Mobile: +2348035601312. Email: fausteness@yahoo.com


Top Headlines

Death of Osama Bin Laden

So Where are the Jobs? For The U.S. Economy, Bouncing Back Is Hard To Do

Viacom Announces MTV Networks Chairman and CEO Judy McGrath to Step Down

U.S. CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SAGS AS FUEL PRICE WORRIES MOUNT: RBC CONSUMER OUTLOOK INDEX

Southeastern Tornadoes & Floods

April U.S. Retail Sales

CEOs Rank Best, Worst States for Business

Rentrak Announces Top DVD Sales and Rentals for Week Ending May 1, 2011

Halle Berry Tops List of America's Favorite Unexpected Musicians; Warren Buffet Ties for Second; Millenials Choose Funnyman Conan O'Brien Over 'It' Man Robert Pattinson

Mothers Day

Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time 5 May 2011

06:30 Interim Management Statement for the Nine Months Ended 31 March 2011

4 May 2011

22:08 ContourGlobal's Lake Kivu Project Receives Guarantee From the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank

19:54 Casa África cambia de piel para presentar el programa de África Vive

12:00 Bristow Group Announces Fiscal Year 2011 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Earnings Release and Conference Call Schedule

10:00 Corruption Risks in Egypt, Middle East Increased in Run-up to Revolutions, Study Finds

3 May 2011

21:15 Grand debut for CODIST II as MPs launch African Inter-Parliamentary Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation

18:41 FDI Into Africa on the Up

18:01 Africa increasingly attractive to emerging market investors / FDI into Africa on the up / Ernst & Young's first Africa Attractiveness Survey

17:52 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders / Communiqué de presse

16:06 IOM Appeals for its Boat to Dock in Misrata to Carry out Urgent Life-Saving Evacuation Mission