Uduma, Ilukwe for Internet Governance forum

The Vice President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mrs. Mary Uduma and the chief executive officer of the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Mr. Muhammed Rudman are gearing up for the first-ever Nigeria Digital Sense forum billed to hold in Lagos, tomorrow.

Affirming this, the Executive Director, Operations, Digital Sense Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, said that the forum with the theme: Internet Governance: Creating Opportunities for All Nigerians, the Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Plc, Mr. Gerald Ilukwe would present the input of Galaxy to the explosion of Internet access in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government in the country.

She also said that Mrs. Uduma of NiRA would take participants on Internet Governance: The Role of NiRA, while Mr. Rudman is expected to explore how the eXchange could drastically bring about cheap internet access in the country.

She also said that the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Mrs. Dora Akunyili has confirmed active participation at the forum slated to hold at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi-Lagos, where she is billed to officially declare the Nigeria Digital Sense Forum open.

Mrs. Nweke noted that Mrs. Uduma who is the Director of Licensing at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), presides over NiRA as the chief executive since the demise of the pioneer president, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu in September.

Mrs. Uduma, she recalled, had headed several departments of NCC including Corporate Planning and Research, Tariff & Charges, and Finance.

Before joining the Commission, she pointed out that Mrs. Uduma worked with Deloitte and Touché a public accounting firm, for the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation, and at an investment bank, all in Nigeria. Just as she is a member of the National Committee on the Implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS); and also a member of an interim Board of Trustee for the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) responsible for the country code Top level domain name .ng.

Further, Mrs. Uduma coordinated the Africa Regional Preparatory Meeting in 2005 for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s World Telecoms Development Conference.

A trained and certified teacher, Mrs. Uduma is a Chartered Accountant and holds B.Sc (Hons) in Accounting from the University of Lagos, even as she worked with the Ministry of Education as a teacher before now.

On the other hand, Mr. Gerald Ilukwe, is an Electronic Engineering graduate from University of Nigeria, Nsukka and holds an Executive MBA degree as well.

Over the past 20 years, he has acquired extensive experience working for a string of well-known IT companies.

The pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive of Galaxy Backbone Plc, Ilukwe was the General Manager of Microsoft Nigeria, with responsibility extending across English speaking West Africa.

A widely traveled man, Ilukwe has established and maintained first-rate relationships with key influencers and ICT stakeholders in Nigeria and other African countries, which earned him many honours including the ‘Outstanding Contributor’ award Microsoft Global Briefing 2002 and West, East, and Central Africa General Manager’s award 2003.

Before his appointment with Microsoft, Ilukwe was in South Africa with SAP, the global leader in Enterprise Planning applications as a consultant. In the course of his career, he has also had stints at other blue chip companies such as IBM, Nigerian Bottling Company Plc and MTS (now MTS 1st Wireless).

Also, Mr. Muhammed Rudman is the pioneer Chief Executive Officer of Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), and a veteran Information Technology (IT) professional with over nine years extensive experience in network design and operations.

He joined IXPN, after working with many organizations including Galaxy Information Technology & Telecommunications Ltd, where he pioneered the deployment of rural telephony project, the Personal Handy phone System (PHS) and an internet Hub for Wide Area Network (WAN) across the country.

Though a graduate of University of Jos in Geology, Rudman is a member of many professional organizations and has contributed immensely to the development of the ICT industry in Nigeria, attending several training courses both within and outside Nigeria alongside.

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