Dr. Monisoye Olorunsola Afolabi has had a professional career of over 30 years as academician, administrator, diplomat, computer specialist and international development expert.
After obtaining a first class degree in Mathematics at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria in 1973, Dr. Afolabi was awarded a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship to the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1974 where he obtained a Master of Mathematics (M.Math) Degree in Computer Science (1976) and a Ph.D in Computer Science (1979).
Dr. Afolabi assumed duty in the Department of Computer Sciences of the University of Lagos in 1979 and later joined the University of Ilorin, in 1982 as Chief Systems Analyst and Head of the Computer Center and was appointed Director of the Centre in 1987.
Dr. Afolabi was appointed the Pioneer Director of the Community Computer Centre of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in May 1989.
In 2005-2007, Dr. Afolabi served as Acting Deputy Executive Secretary Of ECOWAS in charge of Integration Programmes. In this capacity, he supervised Technical Departments responsible for Human Development (Education, Health, Youth, and Gender, Drug Control, etc.), Infrastructure (ICT, Energy, Transport), and Agriculture including Rural Development. He retired from ECOWAS Commission in October 2010.
Dr Afolabi served as Director of Business Environment at the USAID West Africa Trade Hub in Accra, Ghana in from March 2011 to July 2013. In this role, he coordinated trade facilitation policy implementation (trade, customs, transport, and ICT) towards improving the business environment in the ECOWAS sub-region. He directly supervised the establishment of the Borderless Alliance, a private sector advocacy platform for trade and transport facilitation. Also, he supervised the establishment of Border Information Centres for information dissemination, technical assistance, and advocacy at 8 borders in West Africa. These initiatives derived from the recommendations of a meeting with the ECOWAS Member States, ECOWAS, UEMOA, CILSS, and
Development Partners, to discuss the reports of the Trade Hub, ATP and the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organizations on trade facilitation challenges in West Africa.
Dr Afolabi later served, from July 2013 to April 2014, as the Business Environment Adviser at the Borderless Alliance where he provided strategic orientation to the Executive Secretariat and the Executive Committee of the Alliance.
Dr Afolabi is currently the Trade and Transport Enabling Environment Lead at the USAID West Africa Trade Hub Network and African Partnership Project (Project) where he coordinates trade and transport facilitation towards enhancing the business environment in West Africa.
Dr Afolabi was born in 1950, and is married with children and grandchildren.
The workshop proposal submission form is now live via: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/workshop-proposals/workshop-proposal-submission-form
Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the Guidelines for Workshop proposals first via http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/workshop-proposals/igf-guidelines-for-workshop-proposals-2015 and the considerations for Workshop Proposers (http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/workshop-proposals/considerations-for-workshop-proposers) before attempting to fill out the form:
Visit IGF website for more information.
Africa ICT Alliance (AfICTA) and Global knowledge Partnership Foundation (GKPF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) February 10, 2015 during the ICANN 52 meeting in Singapore.
The MoU is aimed at collaboration to foster outreach program to NGOs ("NGO Program") in the African region devoted to Internet development and capacity building.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, AfICTA Chair, Jimson Olufuye said “the signing of this MoU would enable AfICTA to move closer to its vision of fulfilling the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa through broader outreach for active African participation in the Internet we want and for capacity and capability building for stakeholders.” He thanked Rudi Vansnick and Klaus Stoll of GKPF for the rapprochement and also ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehade and his team for providing the conducive platform that brought about this initiative.
ICANN President/CEO Fadi Chehade, speaking earlier expressed delight at the development and thanked all the players for taking outreach collaboration to new heights. Rudi Vansnick board member of GKPF said “All my life has been devoted to making the Internet benefits available to all and taking it to Africa is part of that life-long goal” He thanked AfICTA for their commitment to shared goals and aspiration.
Also in attendance at the ceremony were David Olive, ICANN VP Policy, Jean-Jacques Sahel, ICANN VP Europe, Marilyn Cade CEO mCade llc among other key stakeholders
l-r: Judi Vansnick, GKPF, Fadi Chehade, ICANN President/CEO & Jimson Olufuye AfICTA Chair
About AfICTA
AfICTA (Africa Information & Communication Technologies Alliance) is a private sector led alliance of ICT Associations, Multi-national Corporations, Companies, Organisations, Institutions and individuals in the ICT sector in 20 African countries. AfICTA’s vision is to fulfil the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa. Its mission is to encourage multi-stakeholder dialogue fostering accelerated and ICT enabled development in Africa and the use of cutting-edge innovative technologies including mobile, computing and satellite technologies to achieve an Information society in Africa. It was formed on May 1, 2012 and registered in Nigeria on December 30, 2013 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantees.
About GKPF
As an evolving network of public, civil society, and commercial organizations, GKPF provides members, access to global knowledge and innovation; links with organizations within and across regions; supports capacity development and provides opportunities for resource mobilization to advance development. The goals are to engage and empower partners and stakeholders at all levels of the society and community in the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance and improve usage of the powerful domain name system for the benefit of all people across the world.
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| AfICTA | GKPF |
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Jimson Olufuye |
Rudi Vanscnick Klaus Stoll |
On Monday 26 January 2015 the Greater Washington DC Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-DC) and the Institute of International Economic Policy (IIEP) presented Governments and Internet Governance . Despite their long experience in global and domestic governance, policymakers from many nations struggle to find their way in Internet governance. On one hand, only governments can join international organizations such as the UN or WTO. However, the same governments do not have a privileged role in Internet governance institutions such as the Internet Governance Forum (IGF); the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); or the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), where governments are just one among many actors. Meanwhile, many other stakeholders are increasingly concerned about increased participation by governments in the technical infrastructure and governance bodies that underpin the Internet. This event will examine several different perspectives on participation by governments in Internet governance. Panel: Amr Aljowaily, Embassy of Egypt, NYC; Sally Wentworth, Vice President of Global Policy Development, Internet Society; Veni Markowski, Bulgaria, VP for UN Engagement, ICANN; Dr. Andrea Gloriosio, EU Commission; Carolina de Cresce El Debs, Embassy of Brazil; David Satola, The World Bank. Moderator: Nancy Scola, The Washington Post.
Transcribe on AMARA: http://amara.org/en/videos/BCU33E1Fn9wu/
Twitter: @isocdc + #governance | #IntGov2015
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MainOne, Nigeria’s leading provider of innovative telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa, has commissioned its premier Tier III Lekki Data Center to address the growing demand for colocation, cloud and disaster recovery services in the sub-region. It said the purpose built facility designed to international TIA 942 standards will be managed under a new subsidiary branded as MDX-i.
Chairman of MainOne, Fola Adeola reiterated the company’s commitment to nurture the growth and impact of the Internet ecosystem through the provision of high-quality infrastructure to power businesses and governments across West Africa.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Executive Officer, MainOne, Funke Opeke said: “We are delighted to launch West Africa’s largest and best-connected data center. This reaffirms our capabilities in meeting the needs of business for reliable connectivity and data center services in a dynamic and fast paced global economy”
The facility was declared open by the Minister of Communications Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, as well as other notable industry leaders.
In her comments, Dr. Johnson said that the launch of MDX-I data center facility is a notable accomplishment that complements initiatives required to further drive the realization of the National broadband plan Nigeria. “Availability of world class data centers in Nigeria is critical infrastructure required for the implementation of our Broadband initiatives. The accomplishment by MainOne is indeed significant as it provides an outsourcing and cost effective model to further drive ICT adoption.”
MDX-i’s Tier III Lekki Data Center is the first of many planned data centers by the company in Nigeria. It is a N7 billion investment and has capacity for 600 racks. The data center provides Corporate customers with world class Colocation, Cloud and Managed Services and the first set of customers will enjoy services starting from next week.
