Ghana will be hosting the 7th Africa Public Sector Conference & Awards (APSCA 2026) in Accra from October 14th-16th, 2026.

The Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra will welcome governors, ministers, heads of public service, directors-general, C-level executives, and leaders of state-owned enterprises from more than 15 African nations for this landmark gathering.

Convened under the theme: “Governance 2030: Resilient Institutions for a Digital, Green & Secure Africa,” APSCA 2026 marks seven years of advancing public sector excellence and cross-border innovation. Organised by InstinctWave Group, the conference will feature 12 specialised forums examining critical development priorities, including Governance and Institutional Leadership, Women in the Public Sector, Energy, Public Procurement, Public Finance, Trade, Digital Government, Education, Public-Private Partnerships, ESG and Sustainability, Customer Experience, and Youth Empowerment.

The summit will also host the Made in Africa Festival, the premier exhibition showcasing homegrown public-sector solutions, technology, trade, and economic opportunities. The three-day programme will culminate in the prestigious APSCA Awards, recognising outstanding leaders, institutions, and project teams delivering measurable public value across the continent.

Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will assume a prominent role, with National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda leading a high-powered delegation of governors, ministers, and public policy leaders. He is expected to deliver a keynote address titled “The Party as Platform: How Governing Parties Can Architect Digital, Green and Secure Governance for 2030,” positioning governing parties as active architects of institutional development beyond electoral cycles.

Kenya will also bring significant weight to the conversation. Hon. Felix Koskei, Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, will lead the Kenyan delegation, which includes senior government officials and leaders of public institutions and state-owned enterprises. Kenya will further showcase its public-sector innovations at the Made in Africa Festival, creating a valuable platform for knowledge exchange between two of Africa’s most influential democracies.

Ghana’s own National Petroleum Authority (NPA) will serve as Gold Sponsor and lead the Africa Energy Governance & Sustainable Development Forum. The forum will bring together policymakers, regulators, and energy executives to examine how stronger governance, regulation, and investment can expand energy access, support industrialisation, and build more resilient energy systems across the continent.

Commenting on the significance of the summit being hosted in Ghana, Akin Naphtal, Group Chief Executive Officer and Group Publisher of Public Sector Global Magazine, stated: “Ghana’s role as host of APSCA 2026 is both symbolic and strategic. As the continent looks toward 2030, the true test of leadership is shifting from campaign promises to the durability of public institutions.

Accra offers the ideal setting for this critical conversation. Bringing together heavyweights such as Nigeria and Kenya under Ghana’s roof creates an unprecedented platform for practical knowledge exchange, enabling political and administrative leaders to build state mechanisms capable of withstanding economic disruption.”

He added: “The inclusion of political party leadership, such as the APC delegation from Nigeria, alongside public service heads marks a vital evolution in how we view governance. Real, lasting transformation happens when political mandates are deliberately mapped onto institutional capacity, digital infrastructure, and sustainable energy policies. APSCA 2026 is designed to bridge the gap between policy formulation and public value delivery, ensuring that African public sectors do not merely adapt but lead with purpose and resilience.”
Attendees are expected to register online at www.africapublicsector.com

Public Sector Global magazine is a free bi monthly publication that delivers cutting edge news, analysis, reports and exclusive interviews about challenges, opportunities and progress on the global public sector space.

As artificial intelligence automates tasks and reshapes how work gets done, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has unveiled a refreshed Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam, launched globally in July 2026, to equip project leaders for the skills employers need now.

With roughly half of technical skills at risk of becoming obsolete within five years, PMI says the urgency for project professionals to move beyond tools and timelines has never been greater.

“We regularly refresh the exam to ensure it continues to reflect how project professionals work, the challenges they face, and the capabilities organisations expect from them. The 2026 refresh is part of that ongoing evolution,” said George Asamani, Managing Director, PMI Sub-Saharan Africa.

The updated PMP places greater emphasis on business alignment, strategic decision-making, stakeholder engagement, leadership, sustainability, and delivery in AI-enabled environments. Rather than testing only project management theory, candidates must now demonstrate how they would apply judgment in real situations — managing competing priorities, orchestrating stakeholders, and keeping projects focused on value.

The shift reflects what organisations are demanding. PMI research shows 35% of CEOs identify the disconnect between planning and execution as their top barrier to reinvention, with 34% citing failure to upgrade talent for the future.

“Organisations need project professionals who can close that gap, people who understand what the business is trying to achieve and have the skills to turn those priorities into successful projects,” Asamani adds.

Demand is rising fast. Organisations globally will need up to 30 million additional project professionals by 2035 to deliver transformation, infrastructure and technology programs. In Africa, the need is even more critical.

“By 2050, Africa is expected to account for 85% of the growth in the world’s working-age population. Our opportunity is not to compete with AI, but to ensure that this growing workforce has the skills to harness it,” said Asamani.

“The PMP certification is designed to validate those capabilities and equip them to deliver the projects that will shape the continent’s future.”

Founder & Managing Director, Hope For Hopeless People Foundation, Francis Olanrewaju Boluwaji, who recently earned his PMP, described the new exam as “very practical.”

“You couldn’t rely on rote answers; you had to think through the situation and decide what to do. The scenarios reflected real-world project challenges, particularly around stakeholder engagement, leadership and adapting to change,” Boluwaji said.

PMI reports that PMP certifications granted increased by 36 per cent year-over-year in the first five months of 2026.

The refresh does not affect existing PMP holders. Certifications remain valid and globally recognised with active status, Asamani further said.

The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, has concluded a series of high-level engagements with China’s leading power engineering firms and financial institutions.

He restated government commitments to accelerate delivery of Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) projects and to broaden Chinese participation across the full value chain of Nigeria’s electricity sector, from generation and transmission to project financing and industrial manufacturing.

The engagements, held in Beijing as part of the ongoing Nigeria–China power sector mission, were designed around a single test: whether each partnership can be converted into a bankable project, a financed investment and completed infrastructure that Nigerians can measure in megawatts delivered, kilometres of line energized and hours of reliable supply.

At a strategic meeting with Sinomach Group and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), two of the largest contractors in Nigeria’s generation and transmission programme, the Minister pressed for firm, accelerated completion schedules on all ongoing PPI projects and for a shift from conventional engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts to a full-scope partnership.
Under the expanded model proposed by the Minister, Chinese partners would move beyond building assets to co-investing in them: bringing capital, technology and technical expertise to generation, transmission, hydropower and associated industrial investment. Building on CMEC’s established footprint in Nigeria, the Minister set out the Ministry’s expectations that this partnership should deliver faster project completion, additional wheeling capacity and blended financing structures.

The minister also visited China National Electric Engineering Corporation (CNEEC) to advance EPC cooperation on Nigeria’s transmission network, the segment of the value chain where bottlenecks most directly translate into load-shedding for homes and industry. Giving practical expression to the ministry’s commitment to transmission expansion, the delegation witnessed a factory acceptance test for high-voltage cables and related transmission materials at Hengfei Cable’s Changsha Industrial Park. The test confirms that equipment destined for Nigerian transmission projects meets the required technical standards before shipment, a step that shortens installation timelines and reduces the risk of delays once materials arrive in-country.

Recognizing that reliable electricity is only valuable when it powers productive activity, the minister invited Chinese corporations to invest in strategic sectors that are both major consumers of power and drivers of economic growth: steel, automotive manufacturing, digital infrastructure and data centres, cold-chain logistics and sugar processing.
He proposed a structured Nigeria–China industrial cooperation platform to originate, screen and develop bankable projects aligned with Nigeria’s industrialization priorities, ensuring that new generation and transmission capacity is matched by anchor industrial demand, creating jobs and improving the commercial viability of the power sector itself.

The engagements reinforce the ministry’s strategy of leveraging international partnerships to mobilize capital, expand infrastructure, increase system capacity and improve electricity reliability, while creating new opportunities for industrial investment.

PalmPay has launched ‘PalmPay Dey For You’, a customer-focused campaign reinforcing its commitment to secure, reliable, and accessible banking for millions of Nigerians.

As conversations around the safety, stability, and reliability of financial institutions receive increased attention, PalmPay is reassuring customers that it remains committed to providing a dependable banking experience backed by strong regulatory oversight, security infrastructure, and customer protection.

PalmPay is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with eligible customer deposits insured by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). Today, Millions of Nigerians use PalmPay for everyday financial services, including transfers, bill payments, savings, and other banking needs.

The ‘PalmPay Dey For You’ campaign is built around a simple promise: customers should be able to use their money with confidence, knowing that the platform they rely on is designed to protect them and provide support at all times.

Beyond reinforcing PalmPay’s institutional strength, the campaign will also help customers understand and make better use of the security tools already available on the platform. It will give users greater clarity on how to protect their accounts, what security measures they can activate, and the safeguards working behind the scenes to keep their funds secure.

At the centre of the experience is PalmPay’s Security Center, which gives customers access to security features designed to provide greater control over their accounts and transactions.

One of these features is Location Guard, which allows customers to set up to six trusted locations, providing an additional layer of protection against suspicious activity originating from unexpected locations. At a time when account compromise remains a concern for digital financial service users, the feature gives customers greater control over where their accounts can be accessed.

Customers can also use NightGuard, which provides additional protection during selected periods, while PalmPay’s in-app security tools help users review and strengthen the security of their accounts.

For customers who lose access to their phones or cards, PalmPay also provides quick-response options. Users can lock their PalmPay accounts by dialling 86112#, while cards can be locked using 8617*5#.

PalmPay has also strengthened its dispute-management experience through its Dispute Page, giving customers a dedicated channel to submit and monitor transaction disputes directly within the app.

Speaking on the campaign, Managing Director, PalmPay Nigeria, Chika Nwosu, said: “Trust is fundamental to banking. Customers need to know that the institution they rely on is regulated, secure, dependable, and available when they need it. At PalmPay, protecting our customers and giving them greater control over their banking experience is central to how we operate.”

‘PalmPay Dey For You’ reinforces that commitment. We want customers to understand the security tools available to them, use those tools confidently, and know that PalmPay remains a reliable financial partner for their everyday needs.”

The campaign reflects PalmPay’s broader approach to security by design, where protection is embedded into the customer experience rather than introduced only when something goes wrong.

Nigerian actor, filmmaker and producer Etta JoMaria has emerged as one of seven finalists selected for the British Council’s Film Lab Africa 2 Producers Lab, following a competitive selection process that attracted more than 1,000 applications.

Delivered in partnership with EbonyLife Creative Academy and Iconic Steps, the Producers Lab is part of Film Lab Africa 2, the British Council’s flagship film and television accelerator programme.

The programme is designed to support emerging African filmmakers and industry professionals through practical training, mentorship and opportunities to develop original screen projects.
Etta’s selection places her among a group of emerging producers given the opportunity to further develop their skills while working on an original project through the programme.
Speaking of the experience, Etta said the programme has significantly broadened her understanding of what it means to be a creative producer and the responsibilities involved in taking a story from an idea to the screen.

“Being selected from over 1,000 applications was already a huge encouragement for me, but the real value has been everything I’ve learned throughout the programme. It has challenged me to look at producing beyond the administrative side and understand the producer as someone who is deeply involved in shaping the story and the creative vision,” she said.

According to Etta, the experience has also strengthened her confidence in working collaboratively with writers, directors and other members of a creative team.

“I’ve gained a much deeper understanding of creative producing, from shaping a story and working closely with a creative team to navigating the practical, strategic and collaborative demands of bringing a project from development to the screen. It has made me more confident in the decisions I make as a producer and more intentional about the kind of stories I want to tell,” she added.

She further noted that through the Producers Lab, she has gained practical insight into the producer’s role as both a creative and strategic force within filmmaking. The experience has further reinforced her commitment to developing stories that reflect African realities while connecting meaningfully with audiences.

“One of my biggest takeaways is that a producer has to be able to see both the creative and strategic sides of a project. You have to understand the story, the audience, the team and the realities of production, and find a way to bring all those elements together.
That is something I will continue to carry with me beyond this programme,” Etta said.

With seven finalists selected for the Producers Lab, the programme continues its focus on nurturing the next generation of African film and television professionals and equipping them with the skills, mentorship and industry exposure needed to develop original projects.

The federal government has launched a crackdown on massive energy theft along the 132kV Ikorodu–Sagamu industrial corridor, where unaccounted power losses have climbed to 100 megawatts, inflicting an estimated annual revenue loss of N120 billion on the electricity market.

The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, announced the intervention on Friday during a high-level stakeholder meeting with industrial operators, key market participants, and energy regulators in Lagos.

Addressing the gathering, Tegbe issued a firm directive mandating a transparent, science-based investigation into the substantial discrepancies between the volume of electricity transmitted along the axis and the energy officially billed and accounted for by distribution companies.

The Ikorodu–Sagamu corridor has expanded rapidly into one of Nigeria’s primary industrial manufacturing hubs, serving major heavy consumers.

However, enhanced visibility from technological monitoring tools deployed by the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) exposed troubling loading anomalies and severe commercial losses across the network.

Reaffirming the administration’s commitment to industrial growth under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the minister assured manufacturers of sustained power supply while maintaining that uninterrupted energy must be met with strict accountability and accurate billing.

Tegbe declared that the government will no longer tolerate meter tampering, deliberate data manipulation, or infrastructure interference, emphasizing that every consumer must remain accountable for actual power consumed.

The critical stakeholder engagement drew senior leadership across the energy value chain, including the Managing Director and Executive Directors of NISO, representatives from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and the chief executives of both Ikeja Electric and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company alongside corridor industrial representatives.

Stakeholders have been charged to cooperate fully with technical investigators to eliminate revenue leakages and safeguard the financial stability of the national grid.

In demonstration of the spirit of giving back to its Alma Mata, the Great Ife Alumni District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia States (DMV) Branch, United States of America, recently renovated Block L of Mozambique Hall, of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife in Nigeria, with a view to improving the quality and living conditions of the students.

At the official commissioning ceremony of the project held on Tuesday, August 25, at Mozambique Hall, both staff and students were unanimous that the intervention couldn’t have come at a better time.

The ceremony which had in attendance key university management including; the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simeon Bamire, Professor Adesola Aderounmu, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic; Professor Emmanuel Akinfala, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration; Professor Adeolu Odedire, the Dean of Student Affairs; and other Principal University officials, alumni and residents in attendance.

The university Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simeon Bamire, expressed appreciation to the alumni and other supporters for their commitment to the development of the University, describing their contribution as that of a valued partner in progress which is helping to sustain the legacies of the university as a collective effort of all stakeholders. “We are blessed with an alumni that is very passionate about our institution as they keep engaging and partnering us in different areas needing intervention,” Bamire said.

The Vice Chancellor further stressed the importance of a good maintenance culture of the renovated building, urging students to ensure the responsible use of the facility and commit to the highest standards that has made the University one of the most prestigious public institutions in Nigeria over the years. “Now that this place has been renovated, the only way we can make sure that those who committed their resources into this initiative, is to ensure we put the appropriate mechanism in place to preserve and protect our amenities. Each of the hostels, residents, must have active Block Representatives to work with the Hall Exco and management for proper monitoring and continuous maintenance of this place”, he emphasized.

Prof. Bamire pointed out that the critical role played by the alumni has informed the University’s decision to strategically strengthen its engagement with the alumni as part of efforts aimed at addressing the challenges facing the institution. “We set up machinery through the Office of Advancement to enable us maximize our robust alumni body and today we can see the evidence as it keep yielding positive results like this” he stated.

In his remarks, while speaking on the significance of the project, the President of the Great Ife Alumni Association, DMV Branch, Mr Oluwole Akinyede, noted that except alumni members stay connected to the University, many will not understand what is going on in the system. We believe from our time back in the days that Mozambique Hall was the abode of Beauty and Brains and it was something of pride.
In his words: “If we wish to sustain the prestige of our Alma mater, we need to reconnect with it and the values. Though we did not really know much about what was going on here, we relied on insiders who sent us some pictures of the state of the hostel and it was difficult to comprehend the level at which the facilities have degenerated, we couldn’t come to terms with how students were living in that kind of condition, it was simply pathetic for our beloved Mozambique Queens.”

The Maryland Branch USA based Alumni President, further added: ‘We believe that education is the most powerful tool for societal transformation. Therefore, for students to thrive academically, they require an environment that fosters comfort, focus, and inspiration. As such, this project is supporting the University’s efforts to provide a conducive living and learning environment for students.”

Akinyede also expressed appreciation to the Hall Warden, Mrs Juliana Adesopo, the University management, the Project Committee and members of the Association for their contributions to the successful completion of the project. He urged the residents of Mozambique Hall to take ownership of the facility and treat it with care, saying, “As you reside here, remember that you are part of a legacy of excellence”

The Hall Warden, Mrs Juliana Adesopo expressed immense gratitude to the Great Ife Alumni DMV USA Branch for their positive intervention and helping to improve the living conditions of the students in the renovated block.

She recalled that the process started in 2024 when she resumed and met the state of the hostel in a very terrible condition. Then she reached out to her alumni network some of whom had help bring succor to residents of Alumni Hall through their renovation efforts appealing that they extend a similar gesture to Mozambique Hall.

A resident of the newly renovated Block L, Nifemi Omoniyi, (Part 1 Sociology and Anthropology), said: “Though the renovation came as an impromptu notice, as it was towards the end of our first semester exam, it was a pleasant welcome development that we loved because when we first got to the hall, the place was like a refugee camp.”

The renovation included detailed interior and exterior works with provision of fans, lightings, plumbing systems, toilet fittings, flooring and tiles as well as painting, giving the building a comprehensive face lift.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has commended the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Abba Aliyu, for his transformational leadership at the agency.

Speaking at the launch of the Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO) in Abuja yesterday, the minister praised the agency’s achievements under Abba Aliyu, stating: “We are seeing the genius in you, and the way you are managing REA is phenomenal. The proactiveness shown in the last two years exceeds what was achieved in the entire previous decade cumulatively.”

He highlighted practical gains in the education sector, pointing out that the University of Abuja now operates a 3.2MW installation that provides 24-hour electricity to power uninterrupted research.

“We are witnessing a different Nigeria today,” he added.

Speaking on the broader impact of energy on education, Dr. Alausa noted that dependable power is fundamental to effective teaching, research innovation, and the overall student experience.
He emphasized that maintaining renewable energy requires technical competence, timely component replacement, effective monitoring, and clear accountability.

“The creation of RAMCO represents a necessary transition from simply deploying renewable energy assets to sustainably managing them. We expect RAMCO to bring greater professionalism and accountability to the management of these installations. We must ensure these assets continue to perform optimally, adopting a proactive rather than reactive approach,” the minister further stated.

The Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN) has formally raised concerns regarding the recently released Virtual Asset Tax guidelines introduced by the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), warning that taxing transaction movement rather than realised profit threatens to drive crypto trading into unmonitored peer-to-peer (P2P) channels.

In a statement issued by SiBAN President, Mela Claude Ake, the association highlighted critical flaws in the current structure, which layers stamp duty, withholding tax (1–10%) and VAT on top of single transactions, irrespective of whether a trader makes a profit or incurs a loss. On a ₦1 million trade, this cumulative model produces a ₦64,250 tax burden, exceeding the full capital gains tax rate in most comparable jurisdictions before profit has even entered the picture.

“Taxing capital before any profit exists is not merely unfair, it is self-defeating. It teaches people to avoid the very regulated exchanges the guidelines are meant to formalise,” said Barr. Mela Claude Ake in the statement. The president also pointed out that the current stamp duty regime on fiat involves a N10,000 or its equivalent threshold above which a flat N50 rate applies. This approach, Barr. Ake argues, could and should be applied to stablecoins and cryptocurrency transactions.

The statement pointed to international examples to highlight the risks of turnover-based virtual asset taxation. First, Kenya imposed a 3% Digital Asset Tax on gross transfer value in 2023 but scrapped it by 2025 after it pushed trading activity into unregistered channels. Second, India’s refusal to allow loss offsets under its 30% flat tax is widely recognized as a critical design flaw that drove liquidity off domestic platforms.

Ake, recommends four key adjustments for active trading. First, Nigeria should adopt a realised gains model that aligns virtual asset taxation with traditional securities and property by taxing only net gains with cost recovery, ensuring internal wallet transfers and loss-making trades incur no tax.
Second, if a transaction-based tax is necessary for data collection, the government should implement a single-leg transaction levy of 0.1%–0.5% on one side of the trade to replace stacked withholding fees and stamp duties. Third, policy guidelines must incorporate explicit loss relief to allow traders to offset losses against gains and maintain liquidity on domestic, licensed exchanges. Finally, the framework should insert a mandatory review clause 12–18 months post-implementation to evaluate its success based on Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration figures and exchange volume rather than short-term revenue targets.

The statement by SiBAN also acknowledged the NRS’s ₦40.7 trillion revenue target for 2026, but emphasized that sustainable tax policy must prioritize long-term market visibility over high initial levies.
“The point is not to tax virtual assets lightly as a matter of principle; it is to tax the right event, once, at a rate capable of withstanding competition from the informal market,” Ake further said.

Emma Okonji

CEO of Computics Limited, Mr. Moses Braimah has welcomed the recent Federal High Court judgment in Emmanuel Harunna vs. Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), where the court affirmed the commission’s authority to regulate major data handlers, including decentralised Point-of-Sale (PoS) agent networks. 

According to Braimah, the judgment has officially ended the era of treating data protection as an IT department responsibility, and has unlocked one of Nigeria’s most overlooked economic opportunities.

“Far beyond a legal victory, the judgment redraws Nigeria’s digital economy. It is a corporate wake-up call, a regulatory milestone, an economic opportunity and, above all, a victory for millions of Nigerians whose personal information has too often been treated as an unprotected commodity,” Braimah said.

The court ruling has effectively armed the NDPC with the legal certainty to enforce compliance across Nigeria’s digital ecosystem. Under the NDPA, non-compliant organisations face administrative penalties that can be as high as N10 million or two per cent of annual gross revenue, depending on the severity of the violation. That transforms data governance from a routine compliance checklist into a board-level financial, legal and reputational risk requiring immediate executive oversight, Braimah further said.  

Analysing the judgment, Braimah said every organisation classified as a Data Controller or Processor of Major Importance must now register, conduct periodic compliance audits and strengthen internal governance. “That requirement creates sustained demand for licensed Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCOs), cybersecurity professionals, privacy lawyers, compliance auditors and certified Data Protection Officers (DPOs). Thousands of qualified Nigerian graduates can now build careers in a rapidly expanding profession instead of competing for shrinking traditional employment opportunities,” the expert said.

He explained that for government, the implications remained equally significant, as registration fees, annual compliance filings and lawful enforcement will create sustainable internally generated revenue while expanding the formal digital economy.

Recently, a foundation, known as the Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation, transformed 21 street-roaming children in northern part of Nigeria, known as Almajiri children, with technology skills in six months. The plan is to graduate more of the over 30 million street children to further drive Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda, writes Emma Okonji

If 21 children could be transformed in six months, what could happen to over 30 million on the streets? This question lingered throughout the graduation ceremony of the Almajairi’s as speakers, policymakers, religious leaders and education advocates reflected on what they had witnessed. Before them sat young boys and girls who, only months earlier, had little or no formal education in English Language but today, confidently demonstrate skills many university graduates have never acquired, courtesy of the foundation that trained them on basic technology skills.

For years, they were known only by what they lacked. They lacked homes, formal education and opportunities. To millions of Nigerians, they were simply just the Almajiri children roaming the streets with bowls in their hands, and surviving on alms. However, those same hands that once stretched out for survival now hold screwdrivers, assemble computers, repair electronic devices, and build drones. The applause that filled the hall was not merely for 21 graduates receiving certificates, it was also for a new possibility and a future many had never imagined, a future where the Almajiri child is no longer defined by poverty, but by potential.

Tech Skills Graduation

Addressing the audience during the graduation ceremony in Abuja, the Founder, Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation, Mr. Tim Akano, spoke with conviction born from experience and not theory. Rather than waiting for grants or government intervention, Akano chose to finance the tech-training programme with his own resources. He reached into his own pocket, pulled out N100 million to use for the programme because he believed that they are Nigerian children and that action was needed to empower a single child.

Akano expressed that the transformation should permanently change how Nigerians view vulnerable children as the children are not incapable nor unintelligent but have simply been denied opportunity. Akano’s vision stretches far beyond the 21 young pioneers who crossed the graduation stage as he hopes to help take 30 million children off Nigeria’s streets by 2031, by expanding a model that combines technology education, practical skills, entrepreneurship and holistic support. He has however, appealed to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to provide a fully equipped workshop where the graduates can continue to practice their skills and serve paying customers.

Endorsement

Khafilat Ogbara, who is widely celebrated as the “Mother of Almajiri and Out-of-School Children,” endorsed the programme and described it as a practical demonstration of what inclusive education could achieve.

“This is the true Renewed Hope” she declared. Ogbara said the success of the Almajiri-to-Tech Foundation should not remain an isolated achievement. She challenged private schools, corporate organisations, philanthropists and well-meaning Nigerians to become active partners in reducing the number of out-of-school children across the country as every child, regardless of their background or circumstances, deserves an opportunity to learn in order to contribute meaningfully to society. 

Similarly, the programme also received endorsement from the Islamic leader affectionately referred to as the “Father of Almajiri and Out-of-School Children,” IGP MD Abubakar. While acknowledging Nigeria’s abundance of knowledge and capable personalities, he argued that the country’s greatest challenge is not a lack of ideas but the willingness to act. He therefore questioned the widely quoted estimate of 30 million out-of-school children, suggesting that the actual number visible on Nigeria’s streets may be even higher. He expressed that “If leaders fail to take care of those they are supposed to serve, we are in serious trouble as it will become difficult to sleep peacefully in beautiful mansions or drive freely on our roads because these children will eventually become a problem for everyone.”

“A nation cannot abandon millions of children and expect lasting peace, security and prosperity. Every child denied education, skills and opportunity represent not only a personal tragedy but a growing national risk. Imagine a child who stands before a large audience and recites the entire Qur’an from memory. That is an intelligent child. That same child could have used the same capacity to study and excel in almost any other subject in our conventional schools,” Abubakar said.

In the same vein, various speakers at the programme called on the global media such as the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, to project African stories like the technology training for street-roaming children, instead of the continuous reporting on kidnapping, banditry or political crisis. According to them, not that those stories should be ignored, but they should not be projected as the only stories through which Nigeria is often viewed.

Founder’s Views

Expressing his views over the six-month technology training programme, its founder, Tim Akano, described the six months training in two words: Incredible Revelation. “The Almajiri children met and exceeded all expectations. Before now, we all believed that it was not possible for an individual to master more than one or maximum of three electronics repairing.  The Almajiris children broke the ceiling, each of them mastered how to repair and build the following: telephone handsets, desktops, laptops, fans, microwave ovens, power banks, televisions, rechargeable lamps, washing machines and pressing irons- 10 items in all. They can build the following from scratch: battery inverters, telephone handsets, desktops and drones and fly it. That is incredible,” Akano said.

Speaking about the challenges encountered during the training, Akano said: “Originally, my budget was N50 million for three months. But after three months we realised we needed to put them on attachments for practicals, and the budget suddenly jumped to over N100 million. Because I feed them daily, pay them money for coming to school and bought tools for them from China. At a level my Accountant was murmuring that Almajiri project was gulping too much money.  Again, there were so many analysts who expressed doubts saying “can anything good come out of Almajiris.” Some even  telling me “Almajiris phenomenon is a deliberate creation of Northern Muslim elites, what is the business of a southern christian in fixing it?”  Others were of the belief that the Almajiris could not communicate in English, and therefore not trainable. These were some of my challenges.”

Of all my charity initiatives: Adoption of the Federal School of the Blinds Oshodi Lagos; Adoption of Baptist Day School Oluponna; Scholarships to 20,000 youth yearly, among others, the technology training of the Almajiris is one of my favorites, Akano further said.

Foundation’s Support

Speaking about the kind of support that the foundation will continue to provide to help them transition into work or business, Akano said the cost of setting them up was beyond the Almajiri children. “Therefore, I rented an office space and paid for one year. I equipped it with all the tools needed to carry out their jobs satisfactorily.  Now, they have an address called Almajiri Republic Technicians Workshop at Wuse 2 Abuja, besides New Horizons office. My team and I will monitor them daily.  I have two experienced mangers dedicated to the project exclusively.  We shall be reporting their progress and put the lessons into consideration in tackling the second phase,” Akano said.  

He however said the biggest challenges ahead would be marketing, financial management, and continuous improvement and adaptability challenges.  

He therefore called on state governments, NGOs and corporate organisations that are willing to partner with the foundation in taking the 30 million out- of -school and Almajiris children off the streets between now and 2031, to contact Almajiri -to-Tech Foundation ().

Nigeria has spent decades debating the Almajiri question. However, the young graduates seated in Abuja during graduation, suggested that perhaps the answer has been hiding in plain sight all along, not in another policy document, but in practical education, compassion and the courage to act.

Emma Okonji

Telecoms’ operators (Telcos) under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), have called on the federal government to ensure policy consistency, regulatory certainty and the protection of investments in the telecoms sector, in order to attract further investments.

The operators said this in Lagos at the 12^th edition of ICTEL EXPO 2026, organised by the ICT Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

In his keynote address, themed: ‘Building Nigeria’s Digital Economy: Telecommunications as the Foundation for Investment, Innovation and Inclusive Growth’, the Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, emphasised on the need for the federal government to create an investment-friendly environment for the telecoms sector, insisting that Nigeria requires sustained investment running into billions of dollars to expand fibre networks, improve rural connectivity, deploy 5G and prepare for emerging technologies.  

According to him, such investment can only occur where investors have confidence in the operating environment.  

“An investment-friendly environment requires policy consistency, regulatory certainty, protection of investments, efficient Right-of-Way processes, reduction of multiple taxation, elimination of infrastructure vandalism, and faster approvals for network deployment. Every improvement in the investment climate translates directly into improved digital infrastructure for businesses and citizens,” Adebayo said.   

He also called for public-private partnership to further drive investment in the telecoms sector, adding that government alone cannot build the digital economy.  

“The private sector cannot succeed without supportive public policy.  Our greatest successes have always emerged through collaboration. As business leaders, policymakers and industry stakeholders, we must deepen partnerships that encourage innovation while protecting investments and promoting competition.  

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry remains an important platform for advancing this dialogue,” Adebayo further said.   

He explained that telecommunications remained one of the most capital-intensive sectors of the Nigerian economy, and he further emphasised that every kilometre of fibre deployed, every base station constructed, every 5G site commissioned and every rural community connected, would require significant long-term investment.  

He however commended the federal government for the strategic tariff adjustment it approved in 2025 that led to 50 per cent hike in telecoms tariff. He said the policy intervention played a pivotal role in restoring industry sustainability, enabling operators to move from a period of severe financial pressure to one of renewed capital reinvestment and network expansion.  

“The results are already evident. In 2025, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Tower Companies and other industry players invested approximately ₦2.13 trillion in capital expenditure. For 2026, the industry has planned an additional ₦1.86 trillion in investment to expand network infrastructure, modernise technology, improve resilience and enhance quality of service across the country. These figures demonstrate that, despite prevailing economic headwinds, telecommunications operators remain firmly committed to building Nigeria’s digital future,” Adebayo said.  

He however said investment would not be measured solely by foreign capital inflows, adding that substantial proportion of telecommunications investment is financed through domestic capital, reinvested earnings and other financing mechanisms that are not fully captured by conventional capital importation statistics. This, according to him, creates a gap between reported investment figures and the actual level of infrastructure deployment taking place across the country.  

He said ALTON has therefore proposed closer collaboration between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to develop a more comprehensive investment-reporting framework.

“A transparent and accurate investment profile will better position Nigeria as a credible destination for telecommunications investment, strengthen investor confidence and support sound public policy. Investment follows confidence, and confidence is built on policy consistency, regulatory certainty, infrastructure protection and transparent market information. If Nigeria is to remain Africa’s leading digital economy, we must continue creating an environment in which investors are encouraged to deploy long-term capital with confidence,” Adebayo said.

Addressing the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in building Nigeria’s digital future, Adebayo said: “AI represents one of the greatest economic opportunities of our generation. However, AI cannot thrive without trusted digital infrastructure.  

AI requires high-capacity broadband, resilient data centres, secure cloud infrastructure and reliable power. The telecommunications sector is therefore laying the foundation upon which Nigeria’s AI future will be built.” 

Visualising the benefits of telecoms investment in Nigeria, Adebayo said one could imagine a Nigeria where every business has affordable high-speed broadband, where every school is digitally connected, where every hospital will benefit from telemedicine, where manufacturers operate smart factories, where agriculture is powered by precision technology, and where young entrepreneurs build globally competitive digital businesses. 

He however said the vision could be achieved, but would require sustained investment, policy stability, infrastructure protection and collective commitment.  

Emma Okonji

At the recent regional stakeholder validation workshops held separately in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; and Lagos, Nigeria, stakeholders pushed for practical solutions that would strengthen the sustainability of the African social impact ecosystem.

Organised by African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA), a Pan-African network for social investors that are interested in collaborating to increase the flow of capital into social investments across Africa, the various workshops discussed the issue of Africa’s grant dependency that has resonated with remarkable consistency across Southern, East and West Africa.

The stakeholders were of the view that the future of Africa’s social impact sector should move beyond grant dependency, towards financially resilient, investment-ready organisations and ecosytems.

With the support of its funder, Porticus, AVPA is running a research on ‘NGO Transitions to Sustainable, Investment-Ready Social Ventures in Africa’ and recently, in collaboration with implementation partners, Private Equity Support (PES) and enAble Advisors, convened a series of regional Stakeholder Validation Workshops that brought together NGO leaders, funders, policymakers, corporates, intermediaries and impact investors to validate research findings and, more importantly, co-create practical solutions for strengthening the sustainability of the African social impact ecosystem.  

While each region brought unique perspectives, the conversations focused around a shared reality, about how traditional funding models are evolving, requiring organisations to rethink how they finance impact, strengthen organisational readiness, build new competencies and forge stronger cross-sector partnerships. Participants also reinforced that sustainability was no longer simply about securing the next grant, but it’s about building resilient institutions capable of attracting and generating diverse forms of capital and exploring market-based solutions for sustainable impact while remaining true to their mission. The sessions also showcased case studies of organisations that are already demonstrating the reality of thriving beyond grants.

Founder and CEO, enAble Advisors, Dr. Angela Gichaga, said: “At enAble Advisors, we believe that any sector can enhance performance by increasing self-awareness, challenging limiting beliefs, and fostering a “can-do” mindset in leaders and teams, empowering them to navigate complexity and drive exponential impact in their individual lives, organisations and in the world.”

AVPA’s CEO, Dr. Frank Aswani, said: “Africa remains a major impact opportunity in the world but is largely held back by inadequate financing for social investments and especially catalytic or risk capital. Progress towards mobilising sufficient social investments to address our SDG financing gap will only be achieved if we can creatively mobilise and deploy private capital for social investments, and catalytic capital is important in unlocking this capital.”

According to Aswani, the insights gathered from the three regional workshops will shape AVPA’s final research report, policy recommendations and practical roadmap for NGO transitions to more sustainable, less grant-dependent organisations.

“More importantly, they will help inform the conversations at the forthcoming 2026 AVPA Conference, themed: ‘Beyond Aid – Financing Africa’s Future for Sustainable Impact’, holding in Cape Town, South Africa, November 9-11, where we will take the regional insights to a continental stage,” AVPA said in a statement.

According to the statement, the conference will explore how Africa can mobilise more capital, including domestic and international, strengthen investment-ready organisations and build an ecosystem that delivers sustainable impact long after traditional aid has diminished. 

The federal government has performed the groundbreaking ceremony for a total of 13.92 megawatt-peak (MWp) interconnected hybrid solar mini-grid projects across five key locations in Yobe State.

The flag-off ceremony took place on Wednesday, across sites spanning Damaturu, Bade, Nguru, and Potiskum.

The initiative forms part of a strategic drive to stabilize power supply, stimulate local commerce, and reduce energy overheads in key urban and semi-urban communities, supported by the delivery of 40 distribution transformers.

Executed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) with support from the World Bank, the project directly aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at modernizing Nigeria’s power infrastructure.

The initiative targets major commercial and residential hubs, deploying a 1.76 MWp solar installation serving the Waziri Ibrahim Estate in Damaturu, a 2.98 MWp system in Gashua (Bade), a 3.20 MWp installation in Nguru, and two developments in Potiskum, a 3.20 MWp plant at Yarimaram and a 2.78 MWp project at Rugan Fulani.

Delivering his remarks at the event, the Executive Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, highlighted the state’s progress in electrifying public institutions, rural communities, and educational centers.

Expressing gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and commending the REA for its operational commitment, Governor Buni noted that the projects align with his administration’s vision for resilient infrastructural growth designed to boost local industrial capacity and agricultural productivity.

In his speech, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, Dr. Abba Abubakar Aliyu, explained that the interconnected hybrid mini-grids are engineered to integrate seamlessly with existing distribution networks to supply reliable, affordable solar power to households, enterprise hubs, and public institutions throughout the state.

“We are not merely connecting communities to electricity. We are connecting them to opportunity. We are creating an environment where businesses can grow, young people can innovate, farmers can process more of what they produce, healthcare facilities can provide better services, and local economies can flourish,” Dr. Aliyu stated.

Tracing the origin of the project, Dr. Aliyu noted: “Today’s event did not happen by chance. It is the product of deliberate planning and strategic collaboration. On 26th June 2025, the Rural Electrification Agency convened the REA–Yobe State Strategic Roundtable with the Government of Yobe State under the theme ‘Powering Yobe, Powering Growth: Unlocking Energy Access for Agriculture, Innovation, and Local Investment.’ That engagement culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the REA and the Yobe State Government, reaffirming our shared commitment to accelerating electricity access, attracting private sector investment, and unlocking the economic potential of Yobe State. Today’s groundbreaking is a direct outcome of that strategic engagement and demonstrates that when visionary leadership is matched with purposeful collaboration, transformational projects become a reality.”

He noted that beyond the 13.92MWp developments, the Rural Electrification Agency has 14 additional pipeline projects underway across Yobe State with a combined capacity of 15.3MWp, expected to deliver electricity access to 23,870 new connections.

These ongoing initiatives cover Jawur Katamma, Federal Polytechnic Damaturu, Dibbwol, Dogonkuka, Malori, Turmi, Zangaya, Dole, and Falimaran, as well as supplementary interconnected mini-grids in Gashua, Nguru, Rugan Fulani, Waziri Ibrahim, and Yarimaram with a combined capacity of 13.6MW.

This project follows recent REA groundbreaking projects by the agency including a 20MW mini-grid in Egume (Kogi State), a 1.5MW mini-grid in Pankshin (Plateau State), an 11.9MWp project in Ogu-Bolo (Rivers State), a 10MW project in Kofare (Adamawa State), and a 3.5MW mini-grid in Ambursa (Kebbi State).

A former chairperson of South African parliament’s portfolio committee on health, Dr. Sibongiseni Dhlomo, has shared his experience on the country’s Tobacco Bill in an article titled: “What I Learnt on the Tobacco Bill as Chair of the Health Committee,” which was originally published by Sowetan, one of South Africa’s leading daily newspapers.

According to him, “When I took on the chair of parliament’s portfolio committee on health, I held a view on nicotine regulation that I no longer hold.”
He explained that the story of how that view changed became more useful to share than any policy argument he might make today, particularly now that the committee has voted to advance the bill and the detailed work of resolving it properly belongs to others.

He said smoking-related diseases accounted for an estimated 50,000 South African deaths every year, roughly seven percent of all deaths, adding that the case for legislative attention is not the question. The question is what form that attention should take.

“I came into the work with what could broadly be called a “harm is harm” view of nicotine products. A cigarette, a vape, a pouch — all delivered nicotine, all carried risk, and all warranted similar treatment under the law. At the time that view seemed logical and consistent. It was also, as I came to understand, incomplete.

“The committee’s consultation was deliberately broad. By the time its deliberations on the bill concluded, it had held hearings in 27 municipalities across all nine provinces, drawing close to 7,900 attendees, more than 1,100 oral submissions and some 40,000 written ones — by any measure, one of the most thoroughly consulted pieces of health legislation parliament has handled,” Dhlomo said.

He further said the submissions that stayed with me most came from medical and scientific specialists.

“As a medical doctor by training, I am accustomed to revising my views when experts in a given area present credible evidence, and the evidence presented during the process was difficult to set aside.

“The argument, in essence, was that the harms most strongly associated with traditional cigarettes flow from combustion. Burning tobacco produces the carcinogens that drive smoking-related cancers; nicotine on its own does not. From a regulatory standpoint, that distinction matters.

“It means that products which deliver nicotine without combustion, and products which combust tobacco directly, do not sit at the same point on the risk spectrum and that treating them as if they did is a regulatory shortcut rather than a regulatory strategy,” Dhlomo explained.

He however said the detailed architecture of the bill would properly be a matter for the current committee and the legislature, and that clause-by-clause work now lies ahead.

What I hope South Africa is left with is a framework grounded in evidence rather than habit, one that addresses the disease burden honestly, protects the next generation and remains open to revision as the evidence continues to develop, he said.

Speaking about the endorsement of the bill by the committee, Dhlomo said the endorsement of differentiation was the product of the committee’s own deliberations and the weight of the submissions before it. “If anything held steady for me even as the specifics of my thinking shifted, it was a few principles rather than any single conclusion,” he said.

The first is the order of priorities. Supporting smokers to quit is and should remain the most direct public health objective. Any pathway to lower-risk alternatives is most defensible as a complement to cessation, not a substitute for it.

That ordering shapes what kind of regulation is being built — one that primarily helps people stop, with provisions for those who genuinely cannot, he further said.

Comrade Taofeek Ajibike, the Founder and Managing Director of White-eagles Educational Services Ltd, a United Kingdom-based international education consultancy, has been appointed as the Executive Secretary, Global Diaspora Secretariat of The Bridge for Renewed Hope, by the Board of Directors.
The appointment is in recognition of his distinguished record, leadership qualities, and professional credentials as a Chartered Manager (CMgr) and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

According to a statement from the body, Comrade Taofeek will serve under the supervision of the Director, Diaspora Affairs & Mobilisation, who provides overall policy direction and strategic oversight for all its diaspora-related activities.

In his capacity, Comrade Taofeek is to manage the day-to-day operations and administration of the Global Diaspora Secretariat, execute programs, projects, and engagements as directed by the Director, Diaspora Affairs & Mobilisation and approved by the Board, coordinate communication and data management across all diaspora chapters and networks, prepare reports, briefs, and workplans for consideration by the Director and the Board, among other responsibilities.

Accepting his appointment, Taofeek said that he is committed to supporting the vision of The Bridge for Renewed Hope by strengthening engagement with Nigerians in the diaspora, promoting strategic partnerships, improving coordination across global diaspora networks, and contributing to programmes that encourage sustainable development, knowledge exchange, investment, and civic participation.
“The Nigerian diaspora represents one of our nation’s greatest assets. Across the world, Nigerians are making remarkable contributions in education, healthcare, technology, business and public service. I am committed to building stronger connections that will harness this wealth of knowledge, expertise and investment for the benefit of our country and future generations,” he said.

Taofeek holds a Master of ������Ƶ Administration (MBA) in Strategic Leadership and Management from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, where he graduated with Distinction. He also holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Environmental Management from the University of Nottingham, where he was awarded the prestigious Developing Solutions Scholarship. In addition, he earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Leadership and Management from the University of Roehampton, alongside other academic and professional qualifications that have strengthened his multidisciplinary approach to leadership and organisational development.

Emma Okonji

Salesforce, a global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, and its Nigerian solution implementation partner,

arravo, have assured Nigerian businesses of data security and business growth, through its Agentforce Marketing solution.

They gave the assurance in Lagos, during a breakfast meeting, themed: ‘Unlocking the Agentic Enterprise: Elevating Customer Experience in the AI Era’.
Director, Sales at arravo, Oyinlola Okunfolami, said the breakfast meeting was organised to showcase Salesforce technology solutions that address internal data security and help grow customer businesses, using the Salesforce CRM platform.

“With the deployment of Salesforce CRM solution, organisations are rest assured of improved customer experience that will impact on revenue generation for organisations,” Okunfolami said.
In her presentation, Salesforce Specialist, Martha Makokha, spoke about how organisations could use Agentforce Marketing in enhancing customer experience.

According to her, Salesforce is a full, comprehensive end-to-end system, from customer acquisition to maintaining customers, and engaging the customers until they become loyal customers.
Addressing the Salesforce perspective through its Agentforce Marketing, Makokha said: “Agentforce Marketing is pretty much bringing in AI to help the human customer. The solution works in tandem with the human customer, it works in tandem with data, it works in tandem with other IT systems, to unify, and harmonise customer data, and automate the customer journey.”

She also spoke about the CRM solution of Salesforce and how the solution could help manage the entire customer journey end-to-end, and also address the issue of inconsistent data.

“The challenge with inconsistent data is that a lot of companies are data rich, but the data sits in backend systems that cannot be brought forward into the customer journey or into helping the business or even giving insights to the sales teams, customer engagement teams, and marketing teams. So, most organisatons have data in silos that do not connect to each other,” Makokha further said. She however said the Agentforce Marketing solution could help organisations achieve so much with little budget.
According to her, Salesforce offers a combination of generative AI, predictive AI, and agentic AI to orchestrate everything between customer engagement, such that AI is working for organisations 24-7, servicing customers, and selling to customers across different channels, thus making customer engagement very interactive and digital.

Regional Executive at Salesforce, Jean-Claude Kabeya, spoke about data foundation and how Salesforce technology solutions could drive agentic enterprise and enhance digital transformation across organisations.

Emphasising the need for systems in an organisations to talk to each other, Kabeya said: “We are building agent AI that understands the ecosystem of other AI that exists within the environment, and they’re able to talk to each other for a specific outcome.”

Prime Territory Manager in charge of Africa for Informatica, Salesforce, Davis Muthoka, spoke about organisations’ data trust and efficiency. According to him, fragmented data can give conflicting results and cannot be trusted, adding that Informatica, a solution from Salesforce, can help organisations organise their data and make it efficient for positive results.

“Organisations with unified data, will have clean and trusted data to process information in real-time. To address the issue of fragmented data, Informatica has a data catalog and lineage that help understand where the data is coming from. Our solution unlocks and moves data across the different systems, and also cleans data to avoid data duplication,” Muthoka said.

Emma Okonji

Industry stakeholders, including investors that attended the quarterly UBA ������Ƶ Series in Lagos, organised by the United Bank for Africa (UBA), have called on business developers and business owners to pay more attention to customers’ challenges than the solutions they developed to solve such challenges.  

According to them, consumers’ feedback is necessary for business growth and sustainability. They insisted that until the consumer accepted the solution and product and had reasons to pay for them, the developer would not boast of a product that is commercially viable and scalable.

The UBA ������Ƶ Series, with the theme: ‘Building for Africa’s Realities: Turning Consumer Feedback into Technology-Driven Solutions’, brought together, investors, business owners, entrepreneurs, startups, and innovators in Africa’s technology ecosystem, to discuss how consumer insights can be transformed into innovative and technology-driven solutions that drive business growth across the African continent.    

In her opening remarks, the Group Head, Remittances at UBA, Mrs. Uzoamaka Onyeka, said the UBA ������Ƶ Series was about fostering meaningful conversations among industry leaders that would help grow small business and startups to scale.

“Africa’s greatest opportunities for innovation are always based on the realities of its people. The most effective solutions are built not on assumptions, but on addressing and listening to our customers and providing responses to their needs.
Customer feedback is more than insight. At UBA, we have a philosophy that addresses how the insight from the customer will help us build the foundation for innovation. And that innovation, when combined with technology, enables us to create solutions that are relevant, inclusive, scalable, and transformative.”

Head, Enterprise Sales for Bvndles at UBA, Mr. Oluseyi Seyi Johnson, spoke about the challenges facing small businesses and how UBA has used customer feedback to develop technology-driven solutions that have addressed some of the challenges. 

“Today, consumers are navigating rising costs, and countless digital choices. But SMEs are also facing high acquisition costs, thinner margins, and customers that easily switch brands. For SMEs to remain in business and compete favourably, customer feedback is key. It’s no longer a marketing campaign. It’s really about creating critical business infrastructure, whether you’re an enterprise or you’re an SME,” Johnson said.

He also spoke about the Leo chatbot that is helping customers to innovate and transact better.

During a panel session, there was a consensus among panelists that financial inclusion, the creative economy, sports, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent the sectors most likely to produce Africa’s next billion-dollar companies. 

Speaking at the panel session, moderated by Technology Leader & Innovation Strategist, Adaora Mbelu, the panelists discussed consumer pain-points and how solution developers could leverage technology in addressing customer challenges. 

Co-founder & CEO, Chowdeck, Mr. Femi Aluko, who featured as one of the panelists, said customers needs and demands increased by the day, which Chowdeck saw and created a platform where customers could transact at the best prices, and solve their challenges. He spoke about the need for additional investments for business expansion in order to meet customers’ needs.   

Another panelist, a Nigerian rapper, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Creative Entrepreneur, Investor & Technology Advocate, Mr. Jude Abaga, popularly known as M.I., stressed the need for business owners and business developers to leverage AI technology for business efficiency and scalability. He spoke about the need for integration of technology with entertainment in order to do scripting in song writing and edit digital video with ease that will produce the best of music.

“In video production and songwriting, people are colouring, editing, and creating podcasts, using AI and software. And that’s the hope, that we are able to learn quickly enough and leverage AI to amplify what we are naturally good at,” Abaga said.

Another panelist, who is the Managing Partner, Octerra Capital, Ashim Egunjobi, stressed the need for content creators and business developers to pay more attention to the challenges of the consumer, rather than focusing more on the solution they are developing for the market.

“At Octerra Capital, we do equity and venture capital and we believe that having the right debt element at a certain time in a business, especially a fast-growing business, will enable those businesses to rise to fast-track growth,” Egunjobi, said.

PalmPay Group, a multinational fintech company providing digital financial services across high-growth emerging markets, has appointed Samuel Oluyemi as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its Nigerian operations with immediate effect.

The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for PalmPay as it looks to reach more underserved communities and continuously strengthen the reliability and security of its services. It also comes as Nigeria’s broader financial services sector continues to modernise, bring millions more Nigerians into the formal financial system, and strengthen the cybersecurity and fraud-prevention standards that underpin public confidence in digital payments.

As COO of PalmPay Nigeria, Oluyemi will oversee PalmPay’s Nigerian operations — where the company provides a full suite of digital financial services to individuals and businesses — and communicate with regulators to ensure the company’s growth happens harmoniously with the country’s financial, digital, and social inclusion goals.

Oluyemi brings more than two decades of experience at the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). During his tenure as the ������Ƶ Development Lead, he championed the development of key national payment services — including the Digital Validation of Nigerian International Passport (e-Passport Validation), Electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS), and the Electronic Pensions Contribution Collection System (EPCCOS) — and played a pivotal role in introducing and driving early adoption of NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), Nigeria’s first online, real-time, inter-bank transfer system in 2011 and its subsequent extension to the Other Financial Institutionsb (OFI) segment of the Nigeria Payments System. He holds an M.Sc. in Monetary Economics from the University of Ibadan with extensive local and international professional training.

Commenting on his appointment, Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, Mr. Chika Nwosu, said: “Samuel joins PalmPay at an important stage in our journey to strengthen the foundations that will support our long-term goal of driving financial inclusion. His extensive experience makes him well positioned

to help us scale sustainably while maintaining the operational discipline, governance and customer-first culture that define PalmPay.”

Responding, Oluyemi said: “PalmPay has established itself as one of the most impactful fintech companies in emerging markets by making financial services more accessible and affordable for millions of people. I am excited to join the company and look forward to working alongside an exceptional

team to strengthen operational excellence and support PalmPay’s vision of building a leading digital financial services platform. Together, we will continue delivering secure, reliable, and customer-focused financial solutions while contributing to the continued evolution of Nigeria’s digital financial ecosystem.”

As Nigeria’s digital financial services sector continues to mature, this appointment reflects a broader commitment guiding PalmPay across all markets it serves: building financial services that are secure, reliable, and effective enough to earn a permanent place in people’s everyday lives. 

As the world commemorates International Widows Day, the Hands of God Widows Support Initiative (HOGWIN) has called on the federal government, lawmakers, financial institutions, corporate organisations and community leaders to take urgent steps to end the systemic neglect, economic exclusion and harmful cultural practices confronting millions of widows across Nigeria.

In a statement titled ‘She Did Not Choose This: The Invisible Crisis of Nigeria’s Widows and Why the Nation Must Now Act’, HOGWIN’s Executive Director, Phranklin Audu, said widowhood in Nigeria often marks the beginning of another tragedy, as many women are stripped of their homes, livelihoods, dignity and legal rights after losing their spouses.
According to Audu, the stories of Sharon, a 31-year-old widow of a fallen soldier who was forced to leave military barracks with her two children and seek shelter in a classroom, and Amaka, whose late husband’s relatives resurfaced only to claim a share of her benefits after years of abandonment, reflect the daily reality faced by millions of Nigerian widows.

“These are not isolated cases. Across Nigeria, the geography may change, but the architecture of abandonment remains the same. A woman loses her husband and is then made to lose almost everything else,” Audu said.

With an estimated 3.7 million widows in Nigeria, he warned that discriminatory cultural practices, weak enforcement of inheritance laws and limited access to justice continue to push widows deeper into poverty and vulnerability.
Audu further noted that while Nigeria has constitutional and legal provisions protecting women’s property rights, many widows are still dispossessed of their homes and assets due to harmful customary practices, lack of legal representation and institutional failures.

He highlighted the plight of widows affected by conflict, insurgency and the loss of military personnel, stressing that many fall through the cracks of humanitarian and government support systems.

Beyond advocacy, HOGWIN is championing a shift from charity to economic empowerment through its ‘Widows Financial Inclusion Initiative (WiFIn), which seeks to provide widows with financial literacy, access to savings and credit, enterprise support and sustainable livelihood opportunities.

“Widows are not charity cases. They are productive economic actors whose potential has been suppressed by exclusion. Investing in widows is not merely an act of compassion; it is a national economic and social imperative.

“As we mark International Widows Day, this must be more than a symbolic observance,” Audu added. “It should serve as a national call to action. No woman chooses widowhood, but together we can choose to ensure that losing a husband does not mean losing dignity, opportunity and hope,” Audu noted.

He reaffirmed HOGWIN’s commitment to advocating for the rights, inclusion and economic empowerment of widows across Nigeria through the WiFIn platform and other interventions aimed at restoring dignity and creating sustainable futures for widow-headed households.

Balancing rapid technological growth with robust guardrails has become the defining challenge of the tech ecosystem, as Nigeria accelerates its adoption of Artificial Intelligence, Debola Ibiyode, the Founder and CEO of CarbonAI has cautioned.

Speaking in Lagos at the AI Summit 2026 in Lagos, Ibiyode, stated that sustainable economic growth from AI can only be unlocked through a framework of Responsible AI and a new global and local approach she terms AI Diplomacy.
Addressing the summit’s theme, ‘The AI Conversation – Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nigeria: Balancing Regulation and Innovation’, Ibiyode challenged the notion that regulation acts as a brake on economic progress. Instead, she argued that without clear rules, the trust required for commercial success will collapse.

“Innovation without regulation is a risk, and regulation in itself without innovation is stagnation. We should apply AI for economic growth. However, at some point, without regulation, economic growth will not happen because there will not be profitability. If we do not apply AI responsibly, we cannot profit from it,” she argued further.

Drawing from her experience leading CarbonAI, a sustainability AI platform built for the carbon market, Ibiyode highlighted that large corporate clients are increasingly hesitant to adopt AI tools without strict data protections.
“As we scale to large corporate clients, the questions we get are: ‘How can I trust your model? What are the regulations that protect my customer or my employee using your model?’ There is a critical trust element right now, and only regulation can deliver that peace of mind. Corporations want to know the traceability of the model and demand that we explain how the AI arrived at its answers.”

Ibiyode noted that while foundational AI algorithms and deep learning techniques have existed for years, the explosion of Generative AI, driven by transformers and advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) has created an urgent need for guardrails against human nature.

“As humans, we know how to do one thing well: to always seek the negative part of a good thing. We need to put regulations in place so citizens are protected from threats like deepfakes,” she added.

Meanwhile, to successfully navigate this era, the CarbonAI founder introduced a structural framework to balance competing ecosystem needs by introducing the concept of “AI Diplomacy” as the missing link. In this framework, she explained that innovation drives economic growth and showcases the capabilities that AI can achieve.

Concurrently, regulation provides the baseline security and protection for users and enterprise data, even as AI Diplomacy secures national and corporate sovereignty, giving stakeholders control over how local data is collected, utilized, and modeled.

“AI diplomacy must happen at both the national level and the corporate level. Everyone must be involved in the conversation about what the regulation should entail and how it can be objectively and practically implemented to protect users. Innovation brings growth and regulation gives security, but AI diplomacy is what will actually give us sovereignty over our tools and our data,” she emphasised.

Emma Okonji

2Clicks Nigeria, the next-generation mobile-first classifieds marketplace, that is enabling Nigerians across every state to buy and sell anything online, is set to make online shopping a lot much easier for Nigerians by offering a flexible online marketplace and addressing identified customer challenges.

With over 100,000 downloads achieved in under two months since its public launch in January 2026, 2Clicks has since become one of the fastest-growing classifieds platform in Nigeria.

It currently has over 11,000 verified registered users on its platform, with more than 100,000 live listings spanning every major category, reflecting genuine marketplace depth from day one.

The online marketplace app, which has expanded its online transactions from vehicles and real estate to electronics, fashion, and services, with speed, trust, and zero cost, reached the top 10 in the Google Play Shopping category in Nigeria in under three weeks from its launch date.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, its Country Manager, Mr. Bakare Olaoluwa, said Nigeria has one of the most dynamic gig economies on the continent with entrepreneurial spirit, but lacked accessible, professional-grade tools to reach buyers at scale. He however said 2Clicks was founded to change that scenario.
“We are committed to democratising commerce: giving every Nigerian — from a university student selling textbooks from a hostel room, to a Lagos-based car dealer or an Abuja property developer — access to the same powerful marketing engine that was previously only available to well-funded corporations,” Olaoluwa said.

Speaking about the 2Clicks value proposition that forms the foundation of all campaign messaging, Olaoluwa said listings of items remained completely free of charge, thus empowering Nigerians to list any item on the 2Clicks platform without any subscription.

“2Clicks is entirely free to use. Every buyer and seller can register, post, and browse at no cost with no listing fees, no caps on the number of items posted, and no paywalls blocking discovery. This is not a temporary promotion, it is a foundational commitment. We believe that access to a powerful sales platform should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford listing fees. The same tools available to Nigeria’s largest enterprises are available, completely free, to a student entrepreneur,” Olaoluwa said.

He however said 2Clicks would offer optional premium promotion packages for sellers who wish to accelerate their visibility, adding that such packages deploy sophisticated, battle-tested algorithm that significantly boosts listing visibility within search results and category feeds — giving sellers more eyes on their products at exactly the right moment. He further explained that 2Clicks premium packages remained significantly lower in price.
According to him, 2Clicks is the only classifieds platform in Nigeria to deliver high-definition imagery and full video support for every listing. Sellers can upload multiple high-quality images and video walkthroughs directly within the app, while buyers enjoy a rich, immersive browsing experience.

Our search infrastructure is fast, smart, and deeply filterable — by location, category, price range, condition, and more — ensuring that every user reaches the right product at the right price with minimal effort, Olaoluwa said, adding that trust is the foundation of commerce.

In the area of onboarding, he said every seller on 2Clicks would undergo automatic identity verification: their NIN (National Identification Number) or BVN (Bank Verification Number) is cross-referenced against their registered name in real time, via a direct integration with Nigeria’s NIMC database — a process powered by Mastercard. This means that every seller on 2Clicks has been identity-verified before their first listing goes live.
Through a deeply optimised WhatsApp integration, a buyer can discover a product and initiate a conversation with the seller in a single tap — at the point of discovery, without navigating away, without copying numbers, and without unnecessary steps.

This frictionless contact experience, requiring significantly fewer interactions than any competitor platform in Nigeria, is designed to convert browsing into transactions faster than has ever been possible on a Nigerian classifieds platform, he said.

He also explained that 2Clicks operated a dedicated customer support function that rivals the best-in-class globally, with professional handling of dispute resolutions.

He added that 2Clicks introduced an innovative map-first discovery experience that allows users to explore properties visually and geographically.

Emma Okonji

In order to drive Nigeria’s national backbone expansion plan through the deployment of fibre-optic cable that will boost broadband penetration and improve network resilience, industry stakeholders have been urged to embrace mass Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) adoption across the country.

To achieve this, governments across board have also been advised to support FTTH deployment through Right of Way (RoW) reforms, simpler approval processes and better protection of infrastructure, while operators and infrastructure providers must deepen investment, uphold standards, share infrastructure where efficient and expand beyond already-served areas.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), gave the advice in Lagos, during ATCON forum on FTTH, with the theme: ‘Addressing Challenges, Strengthening Standards and Ensuring Sustainable FTTH Deployment in Nigeria’.

In his keynote presentation, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said the path to mass FTTH adoption would not be delivered by the regulator alone, by operators alone or by government alone, but by collective participation.

“Fibre infrastructure is now foundational to Nigeria’s digital economy, inclusive growth and global competitiveness. Addressing deployment challenges, strengthening standards and ensuring sustainable rollout must therefore be treated as a national development priority. If internet connectivity now underpins how Nigerians learn, work, trade, heal, govern and prosper, then we cannot afford to treat fibre deployment as anything less than a national imperative,” Maida said.

According to him, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s Project BRIDGE represents one of Nigeria’s most ambitious digital infrastructure programmes. By extending the national fibre backbone through the deployment of approximately 90,000 kilometres of additional fibre-optic cable, the project is expected to expand broadband availability, improve network resilience and extend high-capacity connectivity to all 774 Local Government Areas.

Maida stressed the need for Nigerians to protect telecoms infrastructure and national asset, adding that between January and December 2025, the industry recorded over 27,685 fibre cut incidents, over 27,000 access denials and 4,210 theft cases across operators. “These figures underline why the protection of telecommunications infrastructure must now be treated as a shared national duty.

This is why the full operationalisation of the Presidential Order designating 

telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) is so important,” Maida added.    

Creating the right conditions for sustainable deployment of FTTH across the country, Maida said Nigerians must first ensure that the broadband market would support sustainable investment and healthy competition; improve the deployment environment through Right of Way approvals. He said RoW approvals remained one of the most significant factors affecting fibre rollout. “Excessive charges, unpredictable approval timelines and multiple permitting requirements increase deployment costs and slow national progress. State governments must increasingly recognise that the long-term economic value of digital infrastructure far outweighs the short-term revenue from RoW charges,” Maida further said.

He however explained that 13 states have completely waived RoW charges, while sixteen others have adopted the National Economic Council’s recommended rate of N145 per linear metre, promising that NCC will continue to engage the remaining states towards full alignment and, ultimately, the elimination of unnecessary barriers to broadband deployment.

Addressing the importance of FTTH for Nigeria’s next phase of growth, Maida said: “Fibre provides the speed, resilience and scalability required for increasingly data-intensive services. It also gives the country an infrastructure base that can support future upgrades without having to rebuild the entire access network each time technology advances.”

President of ATCON, Mr. Tony Emoekpere, in his welcome address, said every fibre project had two lives, public and private.  According to him, Nigeria’s

FTTH challenge is not only how to lay more fibre, it is rather how to build the compact that allows fibre to survive.

As technology, fibre is fast, scalable, and future-ready. But as infrastructure, fibre must survive economics, regulation, construction, vandalism, power instability, market pressure, and household affordability, Emoekpere said.

Speaking about the need to adopt FTTH and to protect fibre from willful destruction, Emoekpere said: “If broadband infrastructure is critical national infrastructure, then protection cannot begin after the cable is cut. Protection must begin before the excavator arrives. Law is not enforcement. Recognition is not protection. Sympathy after damage is not a protection framework. Every fibre cut is more than a technical fault. It is an economic injury. It affects the customer who loses service, the business that cannot transact, the school that cannot connect, the hospital that depends on access, the public office that needs continuity, and the operator whose reputation is damaged by a failure he may not have caused.”

In one of the panel sessions that discussed ‘Technical Standards and Infrastructure Resilience’ in FTTH deployment, the panelists stressed the need for fibre duct to be available and ready with connectivity points, such that three points are made available for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), while the fourth connecting point should be reserved for future purposes. Director, Strategies at Huawei, Mr. Eric Chen, also stressed the need for designing fibre with standard specifications, as part of a building, during the building design, to enable easy FTTH deployment.      

CEO, Open Access Data Centre (OADC), Dr. Ayotunde Coker, who featured as a panelist, highlighted the need for infrastructure sharing to reduce cost when adopting FTTH deployment. 

Infrastructure and ICT agencies from Oyo, Edo and Kogi states that also featured at the panel session, pledged their support for FTTH rollout in their states. They also pledged to protect fibre and other telecoms infrastructure in their states, through regulation and awareness creation among the citizens.

Director General, Kogi Utility, Infrastructure Management & Compliance Agency (KUIMCA), Dr. Taufiq Isa, shared perspective on how the state was collaborating with telecoms operators to ensure hitch-free deployment of fibre across the state.

Emma Okonji

PalmPay has reinforced its commitment to responsible data governance and customer information protection through a specialised two-day data protection workshop for employees.

It also launched its internal Privacy Champions Programme, an initiative designed to strengthen awareness, accountability, and responsible data handling across the organisation.

The initiative comes at a time when data protection is increasingly critical following recent reports of recorded 281,500 compromised user accounts in the first quarter of 2026, ranking 34th among the world’s most breached countries, according to a new quarterly data breach analysis by cybersecurity firm, Surfshark.

Facilitated by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and leading Data

Protection Compliance Organisation (DPCO) TechHive Advisory, the two-day workshop equipped employees with practical knowledge on privacy governance and data protection obligations, incident awareness, and the role each employee plays in protecting personal data. The initiative forms part of PalmPay’s ongoing efforts to advance compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023. It also reflects the company’s continued investment in safeguarding customer information and fostering a culture where privacy remains everyone’s responsibility.

The Privacy Champions Programme establishes a network of employee representatives across business functions who will support awareness, promote best practices and help strengthen the organisation’s privacy culture. By integrating privacy considerations into day-to–day activities the initiative aims to further enhance accountability and reinforces customer trust.

Speaking on the initiative, Managing Director of PalmPay, Chika Nwosu, stated: “At PalmPay, protecting customer information is fundamental to maintaining the trust our customers place in us everyday, and remains central to our operations. Statistically, 10 out of 100 Nigerians have been affected by data breaches. Hence, we have a greater responsibility to ensure that personal information is collected, processed, stored, and protected responsibly. This specialised training reflects our continued investment in strengthening internal awareness and ensuring our teams remain equipped to uphold the highest standards of data privacy and protection.”

As a digital financial services platform serving millions of users, PalmPay reaffirmed that privacy and data protection remain embedded in its operational culture, with continuous investments in data governance practices.

PalmPay also encourages customers to remain vigilant and adopt safe digital practices, including protecting account credentials, exercising caution when sharing personal information online, and reporting suspicious activities promptly. The company maintains that building a secure digital ecosystem requires a shared commitment from organisations, regulators, and users alike.

The Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria, EXMAN, will hold its 2026 Annual General Meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, from July 16 to 19, as it pushes for tighter collaboration and stronger standards in Nigeria’s experience economy.

The four-day convening, themed: Collaboration as Currency”, will bring together agency principals, brand managers, marketing professionals, academics, and students to chart the future of experiential marketing in a landscape shaped by digital disruption and economic headwinds.

According to EXMAN, the AGM reinforces its role as the recognized sectoral body for experiential marketing before the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON, and the wider marketing communications industry.

“In today’s interconnected world, collaboration has become the currency of growth. No agency, institution, or brand can thrive in isolation. The future belongs to those who build partnerships, share knowledge, and create value together,” said Chairman of the AGM Planning Committee, Agnes Ailuelohia.

Publicity Secretary of EXMAN, Olayiwola Jegede, said: “The choice of Uyo signals EXMAN’s commitment to national inclusion and geopolitical equity.”

By anchoring its flagship meeting in the South-South, the association says it is engaging practitioners and agencies across all zones, not just Lagos and Abuja.

“The Government of Akwa Ibom State and the University of Uyo are key partners. EXMAN will run structured industry-academia sessions with the university to expose students to careers in brand experience design and consumer engagement. Over 5,000 students and early-career professionals, tagged ‘Future Practitioners’, will be integrated into the dialogue,” Jegede added.

A major highlight will be the release of EXMAN’s State of the Industry Report, a data-driven review of trends, challenges, and opportunities in experiential marketing. Other sessions include strategic discussions on professionalism and regulation, induction of new member agencies, and networking forums for business development.

The event will close with The Adire Mix Masked Ball, EXMAN’s signature celebration of creativity and fellowship among member agencies.

EXMAN thanked the Akwa Ibom State Government, University of Uyo, Ceedapeg Hotel, Ibom Air, and other partners for their support, saying their commitment reflects the AGM theme: shared purpose unlocks greater value.

“As Nigeria’s umbrella body for experiential marketing agencies, EXMAN continues to champion professionalism, ethics, and self-regulation while advocating for the sector’s role in driving brand equity and consumer engagement,” Ailuelohia further said.