Taking care of the telecoms poor, by Okoh Aihe
The holy book tells us that the poor will always live with us in our societies. It means you can never wish away the poor even if you are offended by their existence. No magic wand will obliterate the presence of the poor, except concerted efforts to change their status. Apart from individual efforts, nations and […]
Technology, always about national interest
By Okoh Aihe I AM not going to write about those who break bones and spill blood to impose themselves as leaders on the hapless people. I will not lampoon those who hoped upon hope expecting the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deliver on a project on which it has shown infinite incapacity to […]
Prof Mahmood Yakubu in the eternal labyrinth of technology
By Okoh Aihe THE other night sleep went far away from me and I found comfort in my little phone as I tried to find out what the rest of the global community was saying about Nigeria after a mismanaged election. You see, in spite of the challenges of our world, in spite of how […]
A President’s final dance, and they accuse technology
By Okoh Aihe PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari sought to use the elections as a redemptive opportunity to burnish his tenure in office, mostly blighted and blemished by sustained bad performance and wrong decisions. He wished to give the nation such a free, fair and transparent election that would seal his place in history as a very […]
For broadcasting, a future ungarnished
By Okoh Aihe IT was pretty good news for the broadcast space the other day when the broadcast regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, gave a report sheet dating back to 2018. For a country seemingly wallowing in chaos, it was a breather to steer us away from the nail-biting Naira scarcity out there and […]
Empowering telcos to reduce the pain of cashless policy
By Okoh Aihe ON my birthday, my prayer for Nigeria is not a cashless crunch that sends nearly everybody to the very nadir of life, but a prayer that Nigerians feel the kind of verve and optimism that have enveloped me this day, and build the kind of hope and audacity that ridicule adversity. Apart […]
A broadcast conversation unbroken by hermetic controls
By Okoh Aihe THERE is something about irony that dresses like an apparition and walks the street to humble man’s best intentioned efforts. On the last day of a two-day programme, last Friday, when a small group of people drawn from various fields of interest were working on a communiqué centering on the independence of […]
Telecoms, a humble review of a minister’s scorecard
By Okoh Aihe IT would have been a whiff of good news for the telecommunications industry last week if the evidence on the ground had not been overwhelmingly negative. It was the turn of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, to make his presentation at the 19th edition of President Muhammadu […]
Time for TV to help the ordinary folks
By Okoh Aihe THE election season has the magic of driving me to images of the past; a particular story brings a wry smile to my face. One day at the National Association of Broadcasters Conference, NAB, in Las Vegas, my friend, who used to play very heavily in Nollywood, was interested in buying a […]
A place for Peace among the stars
By Okoh Aihe OUR dear friend, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, went on a long journey last week, and she is not likely to be back soon. No, not ever. She has gone the way of all mortals, leaving behind a gamut of works packed into her short life span to speak for her in a most voluble […]
Even with technology, time outsmarts the politician
By Okoh Aihe THE ephemerality of time is one thing that gnaws at the innards of the politician. If a wish-list was possible in the New Year, he would ask God for time to stand still, you know, like Joshua making that great declaration for the sun to remain still right in the middle of […]
With NITDA Bill National Assembly prepares hemlock for telecoms industry
By Okoh Aihe WRITING on the NITDA Bill on September 1, this year, this writer concluded aphoristically: This particular Bill is outrageous and annoyingly duplicitous, a grotesque mirror image of the original already in existence. The National Assembly should be wary of all contraptions that come in the name of Bill, including this ostentatious manifestation […]
For 5G, little lessons that build an industry
By Okoh Aihe WHAT seemed a miscarriage of reality last year was righted last week when mobile service provider, Airtel, became the sole contender in a 5G auction scheduled for this month. As the sole bidder, Airtel will now shell out the sum of $273.6 million as payment for a lot of 100 MHz in […]
Startup Act 2022 as apologia for stale reasoning
By Okoh Aihe IT’s obviously refreshing to hear things that make sense and are also well presented; far away from the avalanche of campaign dust and induced violence, far away from the political drama and hugger-mugger that have become a depressing hallmark of our politics. The gentleman was speaking about the Startup Act of 2022. […]
For broadcasting, foreboding times and days of restraints
By Okoh Aihe I LIKE this feeling of optimism that the various laws spring upon Nigerians as the election fever breaks. You know how the holy books put it: “Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new,” especially if you follow the laws of the land concerning elections or even concerning broadcasting […]
5G Spectrum Cap, spectrum auction, and other issues
By Okoh Aihe WITH the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum held in mid-November and the publication of the final Information Memorandum (IM) on the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, it is no longer in doubt that the 5G Auction scheduled for December 19, 2022, will hold. All initial doubt and public apprehension pale into insignificance […]
