Omenugha Reveals Secret of Anambra’s High Educational Performance

Omenugha Reveals Secret of Anambra’s High Educational Performance

The Anambra State Commissioner for Basic Education, Prof Kate Omenugha has finally revealed the secret behind the recent streak of excellence recorded by the state in both international and national academic contests.

Speaking on Tuesday at the “Meet the Media” forum organized by Governor Willie Obiano’s team in Awka, Prof Omenugha attributed the dazzling performance of Anambra school children to the successful transfer of Anambra’s Shared Values to them. Anambra has 10 Shared Values which are recited by school children every morning.

Anambra’s Ten Shared Values include; to make a positive impact on everyone I meet and everywhere I go, to be a solution provider and not a part of the problem to be solved, to be a role model worthy of emulation, to be my best in all I do, particularly the things I am naturally good at, to do the right thing at all times regardless of who is doing the wrong thing, to value time and make the best use of it, to care and show respect through my words and actions, to consciously build a great legacy starting now, today and every day, to live a life of integrity and honour and to make my family, my state, my nation and my God proud.

“We have made them to believe in themselves and who they are,” explained Prof Omenugha. “How did we do that? In the first retreat that Governor Obiano had in 2014 with his political appointees and EXCO members, we developed what we call Ten-shared values. I am always proud to talk about our 10 Shared Values because that is something that was done by this administration to begin to build the confidence of our school children. To begin to change their psyche about who they are and what they can do. To begin to make them believe in their capacities and capabilities.”

Prof Omenugha explained that the dazzling performance of Anambra school children in national and international academic, scientific and technological contests is a clear indication that the children had deeply assimilated the state’s Ten-Shared Values.

Said she: “That’s the key. That’s what I am saying, because we have driven it in. Education is about ideology. It is what you believe in that you profess and what you profess, that you do. We have our mantra – We say, ‘Nothing is impossible. I do not accept Failure. Yes, we can!’ Ask any Anambra child; he will tell you “I do not accept failure. Nothing is impossible. Yes, I can.” That’s our mantra. And what we do is to get it into the head of every Anambra child that nothing, absolutely is impossible! The can-do spirit. And therefore each time we tell them to go for laurels, we tell them you have to be the best you are, particularly in things you are naturally good at. You have to value time and make the best use of it, to consciously build a great legacy, starting now, today and every day. To live a life of integrity and honour, and to make my family, my state, my nation and my God proud, so help me God. It has worked like magic.”

Throwing more light on the psychological boost that was given to the legendary Regina Pacis girls that won Gold at the World Technovation Challenge San Farancisco in 2018, Prof Omenugha recalled that the actual journey to the Gold Medal began with a visit to Governor Obiano during a full session of the Anambra Executive Council in Awka.

“When the Technovation girls were going to America for the competition, I brought them to the EXCO Chamber to see the governor”, Omenugha recalled. “The governor told them, Ndi ocha enwero isi n’abo (the white people do not have two heads on their shoulders). You can win. You go there and bring the laurel and see what I can do. And they went and brought the laurel.”

Professor Omenugha also revealed that contrary to the speculation that the Golden Girls had been abandoned, the state government had set up a trust fund for their education covering SS2 to the university.

“We have in trust for them with the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha, their school fees up to the university level. Six years in the university. From SS2 and SS3 to the university. Six years of university. We have all the money put in trust for them with the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha. They are our stars. We are following up on them. They are our role models,” she further explained.

It would be recalled that since the inception of the Obiano administration, Anambra State has been a consistent super performer in all external examinations and other academic contests for students and teachers.

Following closely on the heels of the Gold Medal won by the Regina Pacis girls at the World Technovation Challenge, four boys from St John’s Science and Technical College, Alor in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state had also won Bronze medal at the International Festival of Engineering, Science and Technology that took place in Tunisia in March 2019.

James Ezeh

NETCOM AFRICA ANNOUNCES ITS PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE TOP GLOBAL PROVIDERS IN IT SECURITY

NETCOM AFRICA ANNOUNCES ITS PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE TOP GLOBAL PROVIDERS IN IT SECURITY

In today’s changing business environment, the need to have a robust virtual security architecture has become imperative. Having this in mind, Netcom Africa, Nigeria’s foremost managed IT service provider and outsourcing firm has brought to the fore a bouquet of information technology ( IT ) security solutions for businesses in Nigeria. 

With the high rising incidents of breaches in various organizations today, investing in IT security becomes more imperative in order to secure critical assets and information. According to reports, over N127 Billion losses annually as a result of security breaches in the country, and $2.1 Trillion USD worldwide. Over 60% of small and medium sized busineses that suffer a cyber security breach will go out of business within 6 months of the breach due to reputation damage, customer and financial loss, and legal actions. Netcom Africa has introduced top-notch security solutions that would address the issue of breaches. Over the years, Netcom has solidified its footprint in Nigeria’s tech market with the deployment of robust cyber security services targeting Nigerian corporate where high-end tech services are steadily on the rise.

“Security is best when it’s silent, our solutions feature both cloud and on-premise SSO, multi-factor authentication, user provisioning with self-service and access governance, password synchronization, self-service password reset and even AD & NTFS auditing tools”, Harrington Charles, Vice President, Corporate Development & Marketing, Netcom Africa.

Organizations are to enjoy the latest deployments in the cyber security system. According to Netcom Africa, the company opined that their security information and event management (SIEM) service collects and analyses security information in real time from across your organization. A combination of powerful proprietary technologies and human intelligence helps to prevent attacks on your network, and protect your commercially sensitive information.

One of the best preventative measures that any organization can undertake is education of its people. Providing cybersecurity training for your employees is by far the best value for cost and too many users don’t know the basic practices such as updating software, recognizing a phishing email, and use of strong passwords.

Netcom Africa have designed these types of trainings as well as partnered with global reputable brands to bring Nigerians the best cyber security solutions available in any part of the world.

“We’ve partnered with Shelt, the European Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), to offer the first cloud-based cybersecurity platform in Nigeria, FirstWave Cloud Content Security Platform (CCSP). The Email Security, Web Security, and Firewall Security suite is based on the most robust enterprise solutions of Cisco, Palo Alto and Fortinet and does away with the need to have an on premise appliance. The suite is available on per user model and can be easily scaled for any size business and gives small and medium sized companies access to high end solutions that would normally be suited for Fortune 500 companies with 1000+ users. In addition, we also have partnerships with Microsoft, Kaspersky, Tata Communications, and Sophos, the global leaders in Cynbersecurity including Endpoint protection, Firewall, DDoS Detection and Mitigation, UTM (Unified Threat Management), and Penetration testing, to complete our suite of security solutions allowing us to give your company the right balance between value and cost to meet your objectives,” Charles Concluded.

NCC Explains Reasons for Revising Complaints Categories, Service Level Agreements

NCC Explains Reasons for Revising Complaints Categories, Service Level Agreements

… Says revision to strengthen consumer protection

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it undertook a revision of the framework stipulating the processes for resolving consumer complaints arising from service delivery by telecoms operator in order to achieve greater effectiveness in the sector and to strengthen the protection of telecoms consumers and other stakeholders.

Tagged: Complaints Categories and Service Level Agreements (CC/SLA), the framework was revised by the Commission in November 2019 at a programme attended by representatives of telecoms operators, consumers and other consumer rights advocacy groups in the country.

“The 2019 review of the CC/SLA, in collaboration with operators and other stakeholders, was essentially to strengthen effective and prompt resolutions of consumers complaints by reviewing the timelines, broaden and streamline complaint categories and establishing applicable sanctions on operators that fail to meet the timelines stated for resolving issues related to services delivery to their consumers,” the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said.

In the reviewed CC/SLA, with respect to the broad category of Quality of Service and Quality of Experience (QoS and QoE) in the data segment, when a telecom subscriber experiences fluctuation in service, such as instability in the Internet services, the subscriber shall be contacted by the service provider within four hours of reporting the incident and the disruption shall be restored within 72 hours.

If the matter is escalated to the Commission, the consumer is expected to receive feedback within two hours, while the Commission ensures the issue is resolved within 48 hours. Additionally, the subscriber shall be offered an apology and the expiry date of his data bundle shall be extended by the number of days the disruption lasted.

Under the broad category, ‘Billing’, complaints connected to any unexplained change in account balance resulting in a drop in balance, due to overcharging subscriber’s account for calls, Short Messaging Services (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), shall be resolved by the operator within 24 hours. Should there be a need by the subscriber to escalate the complaint to NCC, the Commission shall ensure the matter is resolved within 12 hours. The subscriber shall be notified of resolution and where applicable, compensated with five percent of overcharged amount which is payable daily to the consumer for every 24hrs of default.

Similarly, within the framework of QoS/QoE in the voice segment, the revised agreement stipulates that, when there is call interference or challenge with voice clarity, resulting in the inability of a subscriber to carry out uninterrupted conversation, the subscriber shall receive response from the service provider within four hours of reporting the incident and the service provider shall ensure the challenge is resolved within 72 hours. Should there be a basis for the subscriber to escalate the matter to NCC, the Commission shall revert to the subscriber within two hours of receiving the report and ensure that the matter is resolved within 48 hours in line with the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations and the subscriber shall be communicated.

Also, under the new CC/SLAs that have now come into force, in the case of Sales Promotion and Advertisement, when a subscriber does not receive (within stipulated time) bonus or incentives won during promotions, the service provider shall resolve the matter within 12 hours of receiving the complaints, instead of 24 hours as stipulated in the hitherto existing categorisation and agreement. Should the matter be escalated to NCC, Commission shall ensure it is resolved within six hours in line with the Guidelines on Advertisement and Promotions. As in all cases, the subscriber shall be communicated on steps taken towards resolution of complaints.

Similarly, in the expansive category of Call Centre/Customer Care, the NCC agreed with stakeholders that when a subscriber is unable to connect to Call Center or Service Provider Help Line, the matter shall be treated by the Service Provider within four hours of receiving the report. Where the matter is escalated to the Commission, NCC shall ensure that the issue is resolved within two hours of receiving the complaints, and steps taken towards resolution shall be communicated to the subscriber in all circumstances.

On matters connected to faulty terminals, such as defective devices that stifle a subscriber’s ability to use phones, modems, routers and related devices appropriately, the Commission said such incidents shall be resolved based on Terms and Conditions for all devices.

Meanwhile, Danbatta equally stated that matters relating to Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), such as problems arising from installation and location of base stations, masts or towers, shall be resolved by the concerned operator(s) within the 48 hours, as stated in the revised CC/SLA. In case the Commission is notified by the affected consumer, the matter shall be referred, immediately to Commission’s Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department, which shall ensure resolution of the matter within 48 hours and inform the complainant accordingly.

The EVC added that the CC/SLA document, which is available on the Commission’s website, contains 17 broad categories and about 90 subcategories. He enjoined all stakeholders, particularly the telecom consumers, to create the time to study the document in order to understand their rights and privileges.

Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde
Director, Public Affairs