Champion Infotel gathered at the weekend that NCC has approved the take off fund for the IXPN board of trustees led by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) magnet in the country, Chief Chima Apugo Onyekwere.
It was also gathered that the fund would mature for access as from today, Wednesday or at most before Friday.
Although the actual figure of the seed fund for IXPN expected to be in billions was not disclosed by our sources, Champion Infotel was reliably informed that it does not give the apple time needed to actively put some structures in place before it could be commissioned by President Obasanjo, who is to leave office in less than five working days, that is, by Tuesday, May 29, 2007.
It would be recalled that Chairman, Linkserve Limited, Chief Onyekwere, was recently appointed as the chairman of the newly inaugurated 11-man board of directors of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN).
While announcing this, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, said that it was in tandem with the directives of Mr. President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Also, Champion Infotel notes that following the conclusion of the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis 2005, the need for Internet Exchange Point/Gateway for Nigeria came to the forefront in the nation’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development.
Consequently, President Obasanjo directed NCC to urgently establish an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) for the country.
This paved the way for the setting up of a Presidential Committee on the Nigeria Internet Exchange Point headed by Mr. Ndukwe Kalu of Amsco Telecom, at the first quarter of 2006. The committee has since completed the first phase of the project, which was to set up the Lagos branch made of three exchanges, namely Ikeja, Victoria Island and Neccom House, Onikan-Lagos.
The Presidential committee also supervised the registration of a company by the name Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria Ltd (IXPN) by guarantee to handle the operations of the exchange.
IXPN is also a Public Private Partnership where all the nation’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers are stakeholders to collaborate, just as the company is neutral and not-for-profit organization.
Members of the board drawn from stakeholders and academia and to continue the process of expansion of Internet exchange presence in other parts of the country that was initially slated to be seven in number.
They include Mrs. Zubaida M. Rasheed of Transcorp, Dr. Sylverster A. Ehikioya, NCC, Mr. Sam Adeleke of Digitek Teevee Cunsulting and president, Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Prof. K.R. Adebayo of FTU Minna, Mr. Aminu Tijjani of Multilinks, Mr. Yen Choi of Netcom, Mr. Chioke Ogugua of Celtel, Mr. Sunday Afolayan of Scannet, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck of MTN and Managing director of IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman.
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