OduaTel Connects 111 Communities, 664, 000 People as Johnson Commissions BTS

Dr Johnson (c) making the first telephone call at Igbo Olodumare's BTS Commissioning

Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology has commissioned one of several Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), deployed across the South West region by Odu’atel through subsidies provided by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) at Igbo Olodumare, Ondo state.

Through the commissioning of the intervention and commissioning of the BTS, One Hundred and Eleven (111) communities with an estimated population of Six Hundred and Sixty-Four Thousand, Five Hundred (664,500) people hitherto without communication were connected to telephony services.

Johnson who made the first voice call at the commissioning reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring that unserved and underserved communities in Nigeria are connected to ICT services.

She disclosed that in the next implementation phase, the USPF plans to support the deployment of more than 200 BTS across the country. This will enable more than three hundred (300) Communities with an estimated population of I.65m have access to ICTs when the phase is completed.

The Federal Government of Nigeria established the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to facilitate extension of telecommunications services to under served and unserved communities. The law establishing the USPF i.e. Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, empowers it to promote widespread availability and usage of network services throughout Nigeria by encouraging the installation of network facilities and the provision of network services to institutions and to unserved and under served areas and groups in Nigeria.

Johnson who is the Chairman of USPF disclosed that the USPF is initiating various programmes and projects to facilitate the deployment of ICT infrastructure and services which are designed to extend ICT and other telecommunications services to people living in rural areas, where Operators are unlikely to provide services.

One of the programmes according to Dr Johnson designed by the USPF to extend telecommunications services is AMPE (Accelerated Mobile Phone Expansion) Programme which ensures the extension of mobile telephony services to unserved and underserved communities. The AMPE Programme is implemented in collaboration with Network Operators. The Base Transceiver Station (BTS) is one project under the AMPE Programme through which the USPF provides subsidies to Operators to extend telecommunications services to unserved communities.

Dr Johnson disclosed that while this contributes to the tremendous growth of the telecommunications industry witnessed in the last decade, the Federal Government, as part of the transformation agenda, would not lose focus on an estimated forty million (40m) Nigerians that still lack access to ICT services.

She disclosed that in order to strategically address the ICT needs of these people, the USPF has, based on a Geographical Information System (GIS) study, created ICT Gap Clusters of areas that are unserved or underserved. Each Cluster has the requisite attributes – population estimates, size, major towns, main economic activities/occupation, institutions, vegetation type etc. that would  assist USPF in designing projects that address peculiar ICT needs of each community. In addition, Operators/Implementers would utilize the information in creating the appropriate service-mix for each Cluster. The ICT Gap clusters is an innovative way of ensuring that all communities benefit from the immense opportunities that ICT brings and are able to effectively participate in the new digital economy. Through the utilization of the ICT Gap Cluster model, the USPF plans to ensure that universal coverage is achieved in the next two – three years.

The Minister thanked members of the communities where the BTSs are located for cooperating with the Implementers during the deployment phase. She urged the people to protect telecommunications installations located in their communities as vandalism of such ICT infrastructure would result to lack of services, most of which are critical to business and every day activities.

In his remarks,  Abdullahi Maikano, Secretary USPF, said that the commissioned Base Transceiver Station (BTS)  is amongst the very many initiatives of Universal Service Provision Fund towards supporting the transformation agenda of government, though the extension of telecommunications services to rural and underserved areas across the country. He emphasized that the BTS projects are being implemented in collaboration with licensed Operators in order to ensure sustainability of the services, so that the people for whom the facilities are provided will continue to enjoy uninterrupted services. He pledged that the USPF will continue to remain in the forefront in executing government’s Policy on Universal Access and Universal Service to ensure equitable socio-economic development of the country.

  

Security, Power Pull Jonathan Down on Performance Index

 

 

Abuja, Nigeria. November 4^th, 2014 – Latest governance poll results released by NOIPolls for the month of October 2014 revealed that a total of 60% of Adult Nigerians approved of the President’s performance over the past one month; indicating a substantial 14-points decline in the President’s approval rating from September 2014 where it hit its peak at 74%. 

In line with this, a general decline was experienced in the approval rating of the President across all geo-political zones with the greatest decline seen in the North- East (28-points) and the North-West (26-points) zones. This substantial decline in the rating of the President especially in the Northern regions may have been driven by the dashed hopes of Nigerians from failed achievements in pertinent security actions which would have been major breakthroughs in the area of Security; for instance the failure of the ‘cease fire’ deal between the Government and‘Boko Haram’ insurgents, as well as failure in the release of the ‘Chibok school girls’ after reassurance of their possible release in October.
Still in the bid to assess the President’s performance, findings revealed that Nigerians perceived the performance of the President in key elements of his transformation agenda including, ‘Job Creation’, ‘Power’ ‘Economy’, ‘Health’, ‘Education’, ‘Agriculture & Food Security’, ‘Transportation’ and ‘Foreign Policy & Diplomacy’ as average. 

However, his performance on ‘Security’ was rated as very poor, implying that Nigerians are not satisfied with his achievement on this key area of his transformation agenda. 

In addition, an assessment of the current state of power revealed a worsened state in power supply to Nigerian households as reported by (47%) of the respondents with a higher proportion from the North-Central zone(58%). 

This poor state of power supply experienced by households across the nation was generally due to the drop in generated power by 1,000 megawatts in October 2014. 

Finally, this setback in power supply also contributed to the downward direction of the President’s approval rating in October. These were some of the key findings from the Governance Snap Poll conducted in week of October 27^th 2014.
These results represent the tenth in the 2014 monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOIPolls to gauge the opinions and perceptions of Nigerians regarding the approval rating of the President, the performance of the President on key elements of his transformation agenda, and the state of power supply in the country.
Respondents to the poll were asked three specific questions. The first sought to assess the views of Nigerians on the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan over the past 1 month. Respondents were asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of President Jonathan in the past 1 month? Responses revealed that a total of 60% of the respondents approved of the President’s performance, 27% disapproved of his performance, while 13% of the respondents remained neutral as they neither approved nor disapproved.  
An analysis of the President’s performance by geo-political zone reveals that the South-Eastzone (88%: 28%+60%) has the highest proportion of respondents who approved of the President’s job performance and this rating generally impacted on the overall rating of the President. The North-West zone accounted for the largest proportion of respondents who disapproved of the president’s job performance (47%: 36%+11%). 
 

A three-month trend analysis (August to October 2014) of the President’s job approval rating by geo-political zone highlights a general decline in the approval rating of the president across all geo-political zones. In line with this, the greatest decline in the President’s approval rating was seen in the North-East (28-points) and the North-West (26-points) zones. 

This substantial decline in the President’s approval rating especially in the Northern regions may have been as a result of the diminished hopes of Nigerians due to failed achievements in pertinent security actions; such as the ‘cease fire’ deal between the Government and ‘Boko Haram’ insurgents, as well as failure in the release of the ‘Chibok school girls’ after reassurance of their possible release in October. This decline may also have been as a result of the obvious worsened state of power experienced all over the nation over the past one month as shown in a subsequent chart.

Further monthly trend assessment of the President’s approval rating reveals a substantial 14-points decline in the President’s approval rating in October from September 2014 where the approval rating of the President was recorded at 74%. 

Furthermore, the current rating (60%) of the President was almost similar with ratings in the previous months; such as in August (61%)and July (62%) before the high increase recorded in September 2014 (74%) due to some major achievements especially in health, as seen in the NOIPolls Governance Result Release for September 2014.

To see approval ratings over 22 months, please click here

With the aim of measuring the performance of the President on pertinent elements of his transformation agenda, respondents were asked: On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very poor and 5 is excellent, how would you rate the performance of the President Jonathan in the following areas?  (1) Job Creation (2) Power (3) Economy (4) Health (5) Education (6) Agriculture & Food Security (7) Transportation (8) Foreign Policy & Diplomacy and (9) Security.   Nigerians perceived the performance of the President in ‘Job creation’, ‘Power’, ‘Economy’, ‘Health’, ‘Education’, ‘Agriculture & Food Security’, ‘Transportation’ and ‘Foreign Policy & Diplomacy’ as average. However, his performance on ‘Security’ was rated as very poor thus implying that Nigerians are not satisfied with his achievement on this key area of his transformation agenda.

Monthly trend analysis reveals that the President’s performance rating on ‘Job Creation’ ‘Power’ ‘Economy’, ‘Health’, ‘Education’, ‘Transportation’ and ‘Foreign Policy & Diplomacy’maintained an average rating from the previous month. However his performance rating in Agriculture & Food Security’, dropped from a good rating in the previous month to an average rating in October, while his rating on security continued to maintain a very poor rating as in the last nine months.

Finally, with the aim of assessing the state of power supply to Nigerian households over the past month, respondents were asked: How would you describe power supply in your area in the last 1 month?  Findings revealed a worsened state in power supply to Nigerian households as almost half (47%: 26%+21%) of the respondents reported a poor state of power supply to their household over the past month. A total of 36% (26%+10%) of Nigerians saw an improvement in power supply, while 17% of the respondents saw no difference in the state of power supply over the past month.
Analysis by geo-political zones revealed that a higher proportion of Nigerian households across all geo-political zones experienced a poor state in power supply over the past one month except for the South-West zone where an equal proportion of households experienced a poor state (39%) and improvement (39%) in power supply over the past one month. The North-Central zone accounted for the highest proportion (58%) of respondents who experienced a poor state in power supply, while the North-West zone (42%) recorded the highest proportion of the respondents who saw improvements over the past month.

Further trend analysis revealed an obvious worsened state of power supply to Nigerian households in October from the previous month. This is evidenced by a significant 16-point decline in the proportion of Nigerians who experienced an improvement in power supply to their households in October (36%) from September 2014 where improvement was recorded at 52%. This poor state of power supply experienced by households across the nation was generally due to the drop in generated power by 1,000 megawatts. This is evidenced by figures released by the Federal Ministry of Power where the country’s peak generation in October 2014 dropped from 3,513.5MW to 2,500MW, against a peak demand of 12,800 MW.

In conclusion, findings from this poll revealed that 60% of adult Nigerians approved of the President’s performance over the past month. These findings depict a 14-point decline in his approval rating in October from September 2014 where it was recorded at 74%. Based on the  rating of key elements of his transformation agenda,  the President had an average ranking in his performance in ‘Job Creation’, ‘Power’, ‘Economy’, ‘Health’, ‘Education’, ‘Agriculture & Food Security’, ‘Transportation’ and ‘Foreign Policy & Diplomacy’ as average (3).  However, his performance on ‘Security’ was rated as very poor in October 2014. An assessment of the current state of power revealed that a worsened state of power was generally experienced across the nation in October; this is evidenced by a 16-point decline in the proportion of respondents who experienced an improvement in power supply in October (36%) from September 2016 (52%).  Finally, the current security challenges, as well as the general poor state of power in October negatively impacted the approval rating of the President, with a resulting decline by 14-points.

Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted in the week of October 27^th 2014. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise - within a range of plus or minus 3%. NOIPolls Limited, No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa, which works in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. 

Disclaimer
This press release has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the subject matter of the document. Kindly note that while we are willing to share results from our polls with the general public, we only request that NOIPolls be acknowledged as author whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited or published.

NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect its views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or liability is accepted for errors or fact or for any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken as a result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions or views herein constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.

IOC Welcomes Historic UN Recognition of Sport Autonomy

International Olympic Committee, (IOC) President Thomas Bach, has expressed the organisation's deep appreciation for Monday's United Nations General Assembly, (UNGA) historic acceptance of the IOC and sport autonomy.
The UN recognition comes in a resolution adopted by consensus at the 69th regular session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States. The document states that the General Assembly "supports the independence and autonomy of sport as well as the mission of the IOC in leading the Olympic Movement."
In a speech Bach delivered to the UNGA in New York in November 2013, he had emphasied the need for sport autonomy. 
"Sport [is] truly the only area of human existence which has achieved universal law," he said at the time. "But to apply this universal law worldwide, sport has to enjoy responsible autonomy. Politics must respect this sporting autonomy."
The resolution acknowledges sport as a means to promote education, health, development and peace, and highlights the important role of the IOC and the Olympic Movement in achieving these goals. 
It recognises "that major international sports events should be organised in the spirit of peace, mutual understanding, friendship, tolerance and inadmissibility of discrimination of any kind and that the unifying and conciliative nature of such events should be respected". This clearly implies that full participation at sporting events is encouraged, and that in turn boycotts are incompatible with this UN request for respect of the values of sport.
"We highly welcome this resolution as a historic milestone in the relations between sport and politics," President Bach said today. 
"We must form partnerships with political organisations based on this recognition of the autonomy of sport. The excellent relations between the UN and the IOC can in this respect serve as an example for relations on the national level between National Olympic Committees and national governments. This relationship with governments requires that sport always remains politically neutral."
The UN acknowledged the Olympic Charter, and in particular Principle 6, that "any form of discrimination is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement". This acknowledgement reflects the IOC’s responsibility to have Principle 6 and the Olympic Charter fully respected at the Olympic Games and in its Olympic activities.
As a sports organisation, the IOC does not, however, have a mandate to impose measures on sovereign states outside its own fields. The Olympic Games can show the world and the host country that a peaceful society is possible, that competition among people can happen in harmony and with respect for the dignity of all.
In a letter to the Presidents of the 205 National Olympic Committees, the IOC President called on them to strengthen the autonomy of sport in their countries and, in any dialogue with their national political leaders, to encourage them "to give sport due consideration in the context of the UN post-2015 Development Agenda".
"It is essential that NOCs work with national governments to integrate sport into those goals, particularly in the fields of education, health, urban planning, cohesion of society and peace-building," 
President Bach wrote.The announcement by the UNGA was taken after the UN Secretary-General presented a biennial report on Sport for Development and Peace. The IOC, enjoying UN Observer Status since in 2009, was represented by IOC member and Permanent Observer of the IOC to the United Nations Mario Pescante.
In his speech on behalf of the IOC, Pescante said: "The IOC’s collaboration with the UN demonstrates the positive impact that results from effective engagement between sport, business, politics, culture and other aspects of society. 
Sport can change the world, but it cannot change the world alone. That is why the IOC, under the leadership of President Thomas Bach, is engaging more than ever before with political and business leaders at the highest levels.
"The UN Secretary-General will report back to the UNGA at its 71st Session on the implementation of the initiatives outlined in the resolution during an item on the agenda called "Sport for development and peace".

*The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, helping athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.