How many of you started walking the day you were born ? How

much do you know about NiRA ? What is it about comparing a

Nation that has failed over a hundred years to realize what

nationality means to a Nation within a Nation that is just

absorbing democracy and development in the Information

Technology ?

NiRA is just two years old...it got registered of recent with

the Corporate Affairs and is willing to grow. Domain

registration is still free and still fine tunning itself for

stardom and all we can do is tear it apart with words ? I

believe we can do better than words of destructive analysis but

constructive notions that should put us side by side with South

Africa.

On this note, if you feel you understand how it should be run,

the technology needed to sustain the domination and consistent

stability of all domain, speak out ! We have a site that takes

care of such complaints which i feel will further strengthen

our backbone.

I am a youth...a member of the Nigeria iNTERNET Registration

Association (NiRA), a true born of the west of of Africa and a

citizen of Nigeria. Am Black and proud, what about you ?


Akinbo A. A. Cornestone
Continental Director, SCN-Africa,
Save Children Now.

www.savechildrennow.org
akinbo@savechildrennow.org
+2348064464545

http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/pscornerstone




The above was posted in reasponse to this concerned nigerians

who demands NiRA must function by international standards. It

is well.

=================
1. Yomi Adegboye
=================

http://www.yomisays.com/?p=390


==============
2. David Ajao
==============

http://www.davidajao.com/blog/2007/06/27/nigerian-cctld-somethi

ng-wrong/

Important notice:
Due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to cancel the Focus Day. The main conference will be going ahead as planned. Special Rate for Nigerian Delegates: £200

The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation is organising the second Connecting Rural Communities Conference in Nigeria scheduled to take place between 10th -12th October. The CTO are also pleased to announce that the event be hosted by the Ministry of Communications. This is the second in a four-event series which focuses on the development of information and Communications Technology (ICT) – and in particular the progress which is being made on connecting rural communities. With the rapid projected development of rural communications in developing countries there has never been a greater opportunity for ICT companies to stake their claim on this lucrative market.
The first Connecting Rural Communities conference took place in January and was proud to have the support of the Indian Department of Telecommunications and the invaluable assistance of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
The event emphasized the sharing of practical experiences while highlighting the role of place and place- based innovation in local development, rural health, education, culture and environment, with attention to implications for rural policy and governance. Government initiatives, regulatory strategies were also discussed that could allow businesses to advance in rural communities.
Connecting Rural Communities 2006 is a must-attend event for anyone involved in the ICT industry featuring presentations from high-level industry professionals and public sector representatives. The agenda will cover several topics essential to enhancing your company’s understanding of the market, including:
• Latest regulatory initiatives for promoting ICTs in rural areas
• Marketing strategies to drive rural revenues
• Best practice case studies of successful rural communications projects
• An overview of the variety of current and upcoming ICT technologies for connecting rural communities
• How ICTs can be used to deliver e-health, e-education, e- agriculture, e-government and e-commerce to rural areas
• Future financing mechanisms for setting up rural communications
• Governments’ plans to expand rural ICT access
• Developments on mobile Communications
• Satellite communications

I guess the first question on your mind would be, “what’s NIRA?” I’ll explain: NIRA is the acronym for the Nigerian Internet Registration Association.

After many years of many things for a lack of some better expression (including one of such meetings in Lagos shown in the picture above), some stakeholders met at the Shell Hall of the MUSON Center today, from about 11am till 6pm. The announcement was quite late, and wasn’t helped by the census work-free week preceding the event, but enthusiasts showed up in their numbers — though a far cry from the space available in the hall. The meeting started at 12:12pm, with an interim chairperson in the person of Dr. Chris Nwannena (President of the Nigeria Computer Society) who stood in for Prof. I. S. Diso (Vice Chancellor of the Kano University of Technology, who was delayed in such a way he couldn’t have helped).

Beginning with brief remarks by both the chairman and the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Prof. Cleopas Angaye, the assembly considered the minutes of the last meeting and adopted after a few changes were made. Then, the major business of the day started — presentation and ratification of the draft constitution. You should have been there to see how Nigerians make intellectual contributions that could make a school consider awarding them a doctorate in a field they are not trained in. One must also acknowledge (among others) the intellectual input of the Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN) that obviously did their home work well and contributed — along with others — to the success of some knotty technical issues (which is their turf anyway).

The issue of how many people would form a quorom for an annual and special general meeting was debated extensively. The other platform, the eGeneral Meeting (Electronic General Meeting) seemed to have a general appeal and was immediately accepted. At the end of the day (not as short as my blog will make you think) , the general agreement was that 15% of the members should be accepted as the quorom. For specific details, you may wish to become a member and request a copy of the constitution. Membership was also extensively discussed, and two issues caught my attention there — age limits and fees. The issue of fees enjoyed interesting suggestions but I couldn’t stand the idea of leaving young Nigerians under the age of 18 out of the community. After a few minutes of discussions, it was agreed that anyone (regardless of how young — even toddlers ) can become a member of NIRA, as long as there is parental consent for those who are recognised by law as minors.

Things moved fatser towards the end of the meeting, and a great highlight was the election of the members of the Board of Trustees. The nominations (not in any specific order) from the assembly included Prof. I. S. Diso (outgone interim chair), Dr. Nwannena (NCS President), Dr. (Mrs) Osofisan (CPN), Dr. Odeyemi (first PhD holder in Computer Science in Nigeria), Y. Z. Yau (CITAD, Kano), Mrs. Odusote (Ministry of Information and Digitest founder), Mr. Alao (NIG), Shina Badaru (Technology Times), Akinbo A. A. Cornerstone, Sunday Afolayan (ISPAN/Skannet), ‘Gbenga Sesan (:)), Ndukwe Kalu (ISPAN) and Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu (Infographics). The last four declined the nominations for various reasons, and there was then no need for any form of voting.

NIRA now has its Board of Trustees, would be registered, and the .ng flag is about to rise high! The door will soon be flung open for membership and I’m sure qualified people are looking forward to that. Its another day in the history of Nigeria’s internet presence and participation, and I look forward to a great new day. Welcome, NIRA. Hello, world!

I marked mine with a crop of Old and Young Minds, coutesy of the Digital Vilage, Lagos. Under the able moderatorship of Nigeia's First IT Ambassador, Gbenga Sesan, we have began a process of Mentorship in the development of ICT in Nigeria.

It kicked off at about 11.00am and ended with such zeal in the face of a trying Nation. Mentors present were:

=================================
Hajiya Jummai Umar of Action Aid Nigeria,
Tope Fashedemi of Netcomm Africa, and
Micheal Gbadebo of creotec.
=================================

Moreso, i feel so much elated to have celebrated my WSIS Day in the mist of the concerned future of Nigeria. This is a first of many.

Watchout for more update.