Dear All,
<div><br></div><div>I come with a heavy heart with the below announcement. Still in shock and grieving. The African Internet Community has lost one of its hardest working sons. </div>My,and ICANN's, most heartfelt condolences go out to his family, the African ICT community and Nigeria. May he rest in peace.<div>
<br></div><div>AR</div><div><br></div><div>**************************</div><div>PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br><br>NIRA President, Engr Ndukwe Kalu, passes on<br><br>Lagos.
Wednesday 9 September, 2009. The Nigerian Internet Registration
Association (NIRA) regrets to announce the demise of its pioneer
President, late Engr Ndukwe Kalu, who died in Lagos yesterday.<br>According
to Vice President, NIRA, Mrs Mary Uduma, with the death of late Engr
Kalu, “the country has lost a dedicated ICT professional who dedicated
his expertise, resources and short presence with us to the overall
growth and development of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252674762_2">information and communication technology</span> (ICT) industry in Nigeria.”<br>Under
the leadership of late Engr Kalu, Nigeria recently recorded the
successful full redelegation and local management of Nigeria’s country
code top level domain name, the .ng.<br>“With his passing away, we have
lost an irreplaceable individual who was passionately committed to
ensuring the growth and development of the Nigerian Internet community
and pursued this with zeal to his last day on earth”, added Mrs Uduma.<br>“For
us at NIRA, we were shocked to learn of his demise but have taken
comfort in the conviction that it was the way his Maker had willed it.
But we remember him for the zeal he has contributed to the activities
of NIRA particularly the landmark achievement of full control of
Nigeria’s domain name on May 13, 2009<br>leading to full local management of the registry ”, added Mrs Uduma.<br><br>According
to the NIRA Vice President, the body will liaise with the family which
is expected to announce further burial arrangements in due course.<br>Before
his passing on, late Engr. Kalu was into design and installation of
various networks for over a decade. Also noteworthy was the fact that
Engr. Kalu pioneered IT publications in Nigeria.<br>This was through
the publishing of Nigeria’s first IT magazine called IT WATCH AFRICA in
1994. From there, late Engr. Kalu revolutionized newspaper IT reporting
by conceptualizing and commencing the first robust IT section in the
Nigerian Newspaper history, tagged InfoTech ThisDay in 1998.<br>He was
a member of several professional bodies some of which are Nigeria
Society of Engineers, Nigeria Computer society, Nigeria Institute of
management, Chartered Institute of Administration, Institute of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252674762_3">Data processing</span> and management (IDPM) London, among others.<br>Late
Engr. Kalu also served on various boards some of which are Amsco
Telecoms Limited, Amsco Nigeria Limited, Admiral Insurance Company
Limited, Pricehouse Communication Limited, Alphastream Solutions
Nigeria Limited, among others.<br>He also recently served as a joint
committee of the Nigeria Communications Commission and ISPN on
developing a suitable regulation for the use of ISM band. In 2004 he
was elected as <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252674762_4">National Vice President</span> of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252674762_5">Internet Service Providers Association</span> of Nigeria (ISPAN). Also he served on the NCC Industry committee set up to advise on VoIP regulation.<br>
Late Engr. Kalu also served on the National Cyber crime Working Group, a body set up by <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252674762_6">former President Olusegun Obasanjo</span> to fashion out effective legislation and system to fight cybercrime in Nigeria.<br>
Engr.
Kalu has recently spearhead several initiative to improve teledensity
and Internet penetration in Nigeria, one of which is Naijawifi, an
alliance of Nigerian ISPs set to blanket all of Nigeria with <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252674762_7">Wi-Fi Internet Access</span>. He was also the Chairman of NCC/Presidential Committee to actualize a sustainable Internet Exchange for Nigeria.<br>
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