When I received copies of MNI versus MNIPR in NIPSS: Tackling Institutional Bullying and AI in Crisis Communication in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects, both authored by Yushau A. Shuaib, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), I expected two very different books. One appeared to be a memoir of institutional conflict; the other, an academic work on emerging technology and crisis communication.

Having read both, I discovered they are, in many respects, companion volumes. Together, they tell the story of how personal adversity can become intellectual opportunity, and how an interrupted academic journey can ultimately produce work of lasting national and international significance.

As Associate Editor of Spokespersons Digest—the publication behind the National Spokespersons Awards—I was naturally drawn to Chapter Eight of the memoir, “The NIPR Betrayal,” spanning pages 139 to 161. Having covered the activities of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) for several years, I approached the chapter with professional curiosity. What I found was an emotionally compelling account that raises broader questions about institutional relationships, professional loyalty and the delicate balance between organisational discipline and support for members.

According to the memoir, shortly after his withdrawal from the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47 at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Shuaib was invited to appear before the Ethics Panel of the NIPR Council over actions arising from the dispute.

For someone whose professional life had been closely intertwined with the Institute for more than three decades, the experience was understandably painful.

Shuaib traces his relationship with the NIPR back to his undergraduate days at Bayero University, Kano, where he specialised in public relations and, in 1992, became the first recipient of the NIPR President’s Prize for the Best Graduating Public Relations Student. Three years later, he was honoured as the Kano/Jigawa Chapter’s Public Relations Person of the Year.

His career subsequently expanded beyond Nigeria through advanced studies, including a Master’s degree in Public Relations from the University of Westminster, London, professional research in online public relations, and affiliations with international organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). Under his leadership, IMPR also earned multiple international recognitions, including SABRE Awards Africa and IPRA Golden World Awards.

Against this backdrop, one seemingly minor incident in the memoir becomes symbolically significant. The invitation from NIPR reportedly addressed him as “ANIPR” rather than “MNIPR,” the professional designation he had used for many years and which, according to him, had previously appeared in official correspondence from the Institute.

At first glance, it appears trivial. Yet anyone familiar with public relations understands that titles, professional designations and institutional language often carry symbolic meaning. They communicate recognition, identity and belonging.

Shuaib writes that after drawing the Registrar’s attention to the issue, another invitation was issued, this time omitting any professional designation altogether.

Whether intentional or not, the incident deepened his perception that his decades of contribution were no longer receiving institutional acknowledgement.

Equally striking is the memoir’s account of the National Spokespersons Awards.

The book explains that the initiative was conceived in 2019 during the tenure of Mallam Mukhtar Sirajo as President of the NIPR. Its inaugural edition was independently organised by IMPR in 2021 with the Institute’s endorsement before both organisations entered into a formal partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding in 2023.

The awards have since grown into one of Nigeria’s foremost platforms for recognising excellence in strategic communication, honouring spokespersons, public information managers, corporate affairs practitioners, military communicators and crisis communication professionals.

According to the memoir, however, the partnership was terminated before the expiration of the agreement by Dr. Ike Neliaku led NIPR.

What surprised me further was when the institute, following the termination, introduced another awards platform under a different name.

Reflecting on the episode, Shuaib writes: “Organisations can withdraw endorsements. Partnerships can be terminated. Titles can be withheld. But one’s name—carefully built over decades—must remain answerable first to conscience, history and truth.”

That statement captures the emotional centre of Chapter Eight.

If that chapter represents the wound, Chapter Nine—”A Blessed Disappointment”—represents the healing. In my view, it is the memoir’s most inspiring chapter.

Rather than dwelling on conflict, it chronicles how an interrupted academic journey became the catalyst for some of the author’s most significant professional achievements.

Shuaib begins by acknowledging the personal toll of the crisis.The combined effects of the NIPSS withdrawal, the NIPR investigation and the ensuing legal battles resulted in something he had never previously experienced—hypertension.

His opening reflection is both simple and profound: “As someone who had spent decades helping individuals and institutions navigate reputational crises, I suddenly found myself at the centre of one.”

Yet the chapter is far from a catalogue of grievances. Instead, it documents how adversity redirected his energy towards new opportunities.

One source of encouragement came from his family, whose support inspired him to take a restorative vacation in Canada. Equally moving were the visits and messages from graduates of the Young Communication Fellowship, many of whom travelled long distances simply to encourage their mentor.

These moments reinforced one of the book’s enduring messages: “True success is not measured by certificates, titles or institutional recognition. It is measured by the positive impact one leaves in the lives of others.”

The memoir also recounts how the NIPSS experience unexpectedly strengthened his vision for expanding the Young Communication Fellowship.

Inspired by the residential model at NIPSS, he developed plans for hostel facilities at the PRNigeria Centres in Kano and Ilorin. During a visit to the Kano Centre, Professor Adamu Abubakar Gwarzo, President of MAAUN, asked whether similar facilities existed in Abuja.

When Shuaib explained that such a project was beyond his financial capacity, Professor Gwarzo donated a large building in Lugbe, Abuja, to serve as a training and residential centre for the Fellowship.

It is an extraordinary example of how one setback unexpectedly created room for another opportunity.

Perhaps the chapter’s most compelling narrative, however, concerns the research project that eventually became “AI in Crisis Communication in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects.”

Originally approved as a research proposal during SEC 47 at NIPSS, the study was titled “Artificial Intelligence and Crisis Communication in Nigeria’s Public Sector: An Assessment.”

Following his withdrawal from the programme, the institutional framework supporting the research disappeared. Many scholars would understandably have abandoned the project.

Shuaib chose otherwise. Driven by professional conviction and encouraged by colleagues at the Centre for Crisis Communication, he completed the study independently within three months.

The findings proved remarkably relevant. The research identified what he describes as Nigeria’s “awareness-adoption gap.” While many communication professionals are increasingly familiar with artificial intelligence, institutional use remains largely limited to drafting documents, monitoring media content and generating reports.

More advanced applications—including predictive analytics, crisis forecasting, sentiment analysis and misinformation detection—remain significantly underutilised.

The study also highlights a “trust paradox.” Although AI improves speed and efficiency, communication professionals remain cautious about relying on it during crises because of concerns over deepfakes, misinformation, algorithmic bias and the irreplaceable role of human empathy and judgment.

Its central conclusion is both balanced and timely: artificial intelligence should enhance human decision-making, not replace it.

Beyond diagnosis, the research identifies structural barriers to AI adoption, including inadequate digital infrastructure, inconsistent electricity supply, limited broadband penetration, shortages of specialised expertise, weak institutional coordination and underdeveloped policy frameworks.

Importantly, the work did not remain confined to academia. It informed discussions at the Centre for Crisis Communication and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), contributing to the National Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Crisis Communication held at the National Defence College, Abuja, in November 2025.

One outcome of that symposium was the establishment of the Crisis Communication Hub (CCHub), a multi-stakeholder platform aimed at improving crisis management and combating misinformation in Nigeria.

The research subsequently evolved into the 200-page book “AI in Crisis Communication in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects,” endorsed by NITDA Director-General Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Major General Chris Olukolade (Rtd), Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu and Professor Abiodun Adeniyi.

Its most remarkable achievement came when the book was shortlisted as a finalist for the 2026 International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Awards in Athens, Greece.

There is considerable irony in this outcome. A research project interrupted within one institution ultimately gained wider relevance beyond it.

Had it remained solely an academic exercise at NIPSS, it might have concluded as another research paper in an institutional archive.

Instead, it became a national symposium, a published book, a catalyst for policy conversations and an internationally recognised work.

That is perhaps the memoir’s greatest lesson. Institutions undoubtedly create opportunities. They nurture ideas, shape careers and provide platforms for scholarship. But ideas, once fully developed, often transcend the institutions that first gave them life.

The enduring strength of MNI versus MNIPR in NIPSS lies not in its recounting of institutional disagreements but in its demonstration that resilience can transform disappointment into lasting contribution.

The closing reflection captures this beautifully: “Institutions may grant opportunities, but they do not own ideas. Once knowledge becomes a mission, it acquires a life of its own. No withdrawal letter can take that away.”

That single sentence summarises not only Chapter Nine but also the relationship between the memoir and its companion volume on artificial intelligence.

Together, they tell the story of an interrupted journey that ultimately reached destinations far beyond where it first began.

Kabir Abdulsalam is Associate Editor of Spokespersons Digest He can be reached via kbabdulsalam03@gmail.com.

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Some journeys end abruptly. Some ambitions collapse under the weight of institutional power. And sometimes, a certificate is denied—but the idea behind it refuses to die. That is the quiet but powerful message at the heart of Yushau A. Shuaib’s memoir, MNI versus MNIPR in NIPSS: Tackling Institutional Bullying. While the book documents the author’s ordeal at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), its most compelling chapter—Chapter Nine, “A Blessed Disappointment”—offers a story far richer than conflict. It is the story of a research project that outlived its disruption and found a larger purpose beyond the institution that tried to contain it.

The chapter begins with a simple but profound question: Who truly owns an idea? In Shuaib’s case, the idea was a research study titled Artificial Intelligence and Crisis Communication in Nigeria’s Public Sector: An Assessment. Approved during Senior Executive Course 47, the project sought to examine how AI could strengthen crisis communication across Nigeria’s public institutions. It was ambitious, timely and rooted in the author’s decades-long experience in journalism, public relations and crisis communication.

Then came the interruption.

Following Shuaib’s withdrawal from NIPSS—an episode he describes as emblematic of institutional bullying—the academic scaffolding supporting the research collapsed. The certificate he had hoped to earn vanished. Access to institutional resources disappeared. What had begun as a formal academic project suddenly became a personal struggle.

Many researchers would have abandoned the work. Nigerian institutions are littered with unfinished theses, abandoned dissertations and promising studies halted by bureaucracy, funding gaps or administrative hostility. But Shuaib’s project refused to die. As he writes, the research “outlived the controversy,” surviving not because of institutional support but because of its relevance to Nigeria’s crisis landscape.

That relevance is undeniable. Every major crisis in Nigeria now unfolds on two fronts: the crisis itself and the information war surrounding it. Terror attacks, disease outbreaks, floods, communal clashes—each is accompanied by a flood of misinformation, recycled videos, fabricated statements and manipulated casualty figures. In today’s Nigeria, misinformation is not a side effect of crisis; it is part of the crisis.

Shuaib’s study, anchored on Situational Crisis Communication Theory, Networked Crisis Communication Theory and Diffusion of Innovations Theory, explored how Artificial Intelligence could help institutions respond more effectively. Using a mixed‑methods approach, it surveyed communication professionals across security agencies, emergency management bodies and public institutions, while interviews with key stakeholders provided deeper insight into institutional readiness.

One of the study’s most striking findings is what Shuaib calls Nigeria’s awareness–adoption gap. Communication professionals increasingly understand AI. Many have attended workshops, experimented with generative tools and followed global trends. Yet institutional adoption remains shallow. AI is often used only for drafting statements or monitoring social media, while more advanced applications—predictive analytics, misinformation detection, intelligent crisis response—remain largely unexplored.

Nigeria has never lacked ideas. It has often lacked the institutional courage to implement them.

Ironically, the research that began inside NIPSS found its true life outside it. After the author’s withdrawal, the study continued to grow. Its findings were shared with the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), sparking conversations on integrating AI into Nigeria’s crisis communication ecosystem. Those conversations contributed to the National Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Crisis Communication at the National Defence College, where government officials, security agencies, academics and technology experts examined the future of crisis communication in Nigeria.

The project eventually evolved into a 200‑page book, AI in Crisis Communication in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects, endorsed by leading figures in technology, strategic communication and academia. More remarkably, it earned international recognition, shortlisted for the Golden World Awards (GWA) of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in Athens, Greece.

This achievement is significant not only for the author but for Nigeria. It demonstrates that research rooted in Nigerian realities can compete globally. A project that could have died in the shadow of institutional conflict instead became an internationally recognised contribution to crisis communication scholarship.

This irony is not lost on the reader: the institution that approved the research also interrupted it. Yet the interruption became the beginning of a wider journey—one that carried the work beyond the classroom into policy discussions, national engagement and global recognition.

Chapter Nine stands out because it reframes disappointment as possibility. It reminds us that institutions entrusted with nurturing leadership must be careful not to silence ideas capable of benefiting society. The real loss in such situations is not always borne by the individual; sometimes, it is borne by the nation.

In the end, A Blessed Disappointment is not merely a chapter title—it is a thesis. It argues that some ideas are too important to remain confined to the place where they began. They find their own audience, their own purpose and, sometimes, the recognition they always deserved.

Shuaib’s memoir is a testament to intellectual resilience. It shows that while institutions may interrupt a career, they cannot stop an idea whose time has come.

Shuaib S. Agaka
Tech journalist and digital policy analyst, Kano

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By Fom Gyem,

In today’s interconnected world, every online bank transfer, e-commerce purchase, hospital record, government portal login and video conference relies on an unseen yet indispensable foundation: cloud infrastructure. While billions of people interact with digital services every day, few stop to consider the complex technological ecosystem that powers these experiences. Quietly operating behind the scenes, cloud infrastructure has become the backbone of the modern digital economy, supporting everything from smartphones and social media platforms to artificial intelligence (AI), financial technology (fintech) and critical national security systems.

As countries race to build resilient digital economies, cloud infrastructure is no longer viewed merely as a technological necessity; it has become a strategic national asset. At its core, cloud infrastructure comprises interconnected data centres, servers, storage systems, networking equipment, software and virtualisation technologies that deliver computing services over the internet. Rather than relying on individual computers or on-premises servers, organisations can securely access computing resources remotely, enabling greater flexibility, scalability and efficiency.

This transformation has fundamentally changed how governments and businesses operate. Organisations can now scale computing resources on demand, reduce infrastructure costs, improve operational efficiency and deploy digital services faster than ever before. Whether streaming a movie, attending an online class, booking a flight or processing millions of financial transactions, cloud infrastructure ensures these services remain secure, reliable and accessible around the clock.

Beyond convenience, cloud infrastructure has become a cornerstone of economic competitiveness. Countries with robust cloud ecosystems attract technology investments, stimulate innovation, create high-skilled jobs and strengthen their digital economies. Cloud services facilitate digital trade, enable seamless cross-border business operations and provide the computing power required for emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT). They also enhance business continuity by distributing data across multiple locations, reducing the risks posed by hardware failures, cyberattacks and natural disasters while ensuring that essential services remain operational.

Nigeria’s expanding digital economy has heightened the urgency of developing resilient cloud infrastructure. With millions of citizens relying on digital banking, e-commerce, online education, healthcare technologies and e-government services, the country requires secure, reliable and scalable digital systems capable of supporting future growth.

Recognising this imperative, policymakers have intensified efforts to strengthen local cloud capacity, improve data governance, encourage investment in data centres and establish standards that inspire confidence among businesses and international investors. These initiatives are expected to stimulate indigenous innovation, create employment opportunities, enhance public service delivery and position Nigeria as one of Africa’s leading digital economies.

For decades, nations measured sovereignty through the strength of their borders, military capabilities and economic resilience. Today, however, a new frontier has emerged: digital sovereignty. In an era where government services, financial transactions, artificial intelligence and national security increasingly depend on digital infrastructure, a country’s ability to control, secure and govern its own data has become a defining measure of national development.

It was against this backdrop that government officials, private sector leaders, development partners, academics and technology experts gathered to witness what many described as a watershed moment in Nigeria’s digital transformation journey.

At the centre of the event was the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which formally commenced the implementation phase of the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI). Through the unveiling of a comprehensive regulatory framework, the agency signalled Nigeria’s determination to reshape its digital landscape. More than the signing of regulatory documents, the event represented a bold declaration of intent to build a trusted digital ecosystem capable of supporting innovation, safeguarding national interests and attracting global investment.

The highlight of the ceremony was the signing of three foundational regulatory instruments by NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi. These included the National Cloud Computing Guideline, the National Cloud Technical Guideline and the National Digital Infrastructure Assurance Framework (NDIAF). Alongside the unveiling of the National Cloud Investment Strategy, these instruments establish the policy, governance and technical architecture required to guide cloud adoption, strengthen digital infrastructure assurance and stimulate long-term investment in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital economy.

The milestone marked the culmination of years of consultation involving government institutions, indigenous cloud providers, international hyperscale cloud companies, data centre operators and development partners. It also builds upon the Federal Government’s Cloud First Policy, ensuring that Nigeria develops cloud infrastructure that aligns with global best practices while protecting national interests.

Beyond policy formulation, NITDA plans to establish the Sovereign Cloud Governance Committee to provide strategic oversight of the initiative. Before October 2026, the agency also intends to operationalise a national digital regulatory platform that will streamline the registration, assessment, certification and compliance processes for cloud service providers and digital infrastructure operators.

The certification programme is expected to become one of the most significant confidence-building mechanisms within Nigeria’s digital ecosystem. By certifying cloud providers, data centre operators, managed service providers, AI infrastructure providers and sovereign compute operators, the framework seeks to assure government institutions, financial organisations and businesses that certified providers meet nationally approved standards for security, resilience and operational excellence.

Ultimately, the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative marks the beginning of a new chapter in Nigeria’s digital evolution—one in which sovereignty extends beyond physical borders into cyberspace, where data is recognised as a strategic national asset and trusted digital infrastructure serves as a catalyst for innovation, economic growth and regional leadership.

If effectively implemented through sustained collaboration among government, regulators, industry and development partners, the initiative could become one of the defining milestones in Nigeria’s journey towards a resilient, secure and globally competitive digital future. In an increasingly digital world, the nations that control and protect their digital infrastructure will be best positioned to shape the future. Nigeria has now taken a decisive step in that direction.

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Elon Musk has a gift for reducing a large anxiety to a sentence. “Nigeria alone had 4 million more births than the entire EU last year!⁠” he recently wrote on X.

The statistic admits two readings. In an ageing Europe, it sounds like a warning. In an Africa commonly described through poverty and scarcity, it can be received as evidence of future power. Neither reading goes far enough.

For much of the modern development debate, African population growth has been viewed through a Malthusian lens: more people competing for limited food, employment and public services. Musk begins from the opposite fear, as he has consistently canvassed, that falling fertility will leave societies without enough people to renew themselves. Nigeria’s birth figures bring both anxieties into the same argument.
Eurostat recorded 3.55 million births in the European Union in 2024⁠, when fertility fell to 1.34 children per woman, the lowest in the present series. The EU’s median age had reached 44.9 years⁠ by the beginning of 2025. Nigeria’s population structure is markedly younger.

By 2050, Africa is expected to have about 2.5 billion people⁠, close to one-quarter of humanity. Under the medium projection in the United Nations’ World Population Prospects 2024⁠, Nigeria will approach 360 million. The infants represented in Musk’s post will then be young adults. Their health, education and prospects will already have been largely determined.

Musk’s argument therefore reaches beyond fertility. If human numbers matter to civilisation, Africa’s children cannot sensibly be regarded mainly as future customers, data producers or migrant labour. The companies and governments expecting to benefit from Africa’s demographic scale have a direct interest in the health, education, research capacity and productive systems that will shape it.

Potential is not a dividend

A high birth rate alone does not amount to a demographic dividend. Rapid growth can increase the dependent population faster than schools, clinics, housing, sanitation and employment can expand. A dividend becomes possible when children survive, families become smaller by informed and voluntary choice, women gain greater agency, and the working-age share of the population rises. Employment and productivity must grow with it.

In a published essay⁠, Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, makes the essential distinction: a large population creates possibilities, not prosperity. He calls the health, nutrition, learning and skills built over a lifetime “grey matter infrastructure”. Human capability determines how well a society uses every other form of capital.

A child born today is not yet an engineer, farmer, physician, teacher or entrepreneur. Between infancy and adult life lie years of exposure to nutrition, disease, insecurity, family income, teaching quality and public institutions. Childhood stunting can impair cognitive development. Weak foundational learning makes later education harder. Certification without competence narrows the range of useful work.

Nigeria’s human-capital deficit gives the argument urgency. In the World Bank’s 2025 Human Capital Index Plus⁠, the country scores 64 on education, compared with a median of 88 among lower-middle-income countries. Nigeria also faces maternal and child mortality, malnutrition, exclusion from school and learning poverty. National averages conceal wide regional, rural-urban and income differences. Unequal welfare today becomes unequal productive capacity tomorrow.

Women cannot be treated as instruments in a contest over fertility. A sound demographic transition depends upon girls remaining in school, women surviving childbirth, access to reproductive healthcare, and families having the freedom to decide their size. African governments should resist Western alarm that presents African births as a threat, and African boasting that neglects the women who bear and raise the children.

Human capital and mobility

Population acquires economic weight when capability meets opportunity. Health and education cannot carry the burden alone. Power, transport, finance, industry and trade must support firms able to employ skilled people. Otherwise, Africa may educate workers for richer economies while remaining short of the professionals it trained.

Europe’s ageing creates an awkward dependence. Its health services, care systems, engineering firms and technology companies need workers, while migration has become one of its most divisive political questions. Africa, for its part, may spend scarce public and family resources training professionals who leave because the economies that educated them cannot offer work equal to their abilities. The issue concerns where skills are formed, where productive opportunity is located and which societies receive the return on investment in human capability.

Workers must remain free to leave. Mobility should be organised more fairly. Nigeria’s National Policy on Health Workforce Migration⁠ and World Health Organization guidance⁠ point towards ethical recruitment, circular pathways and co-investment by destination countries in the systems from which they recruit.

Where a richer country repeatedly draws from a fragile health service, it should help to enlarge the training pipeline. That is the defensible meaning of a human-capital royalty: the worker remains free, while the systems that produce scarce capability share the cost more fairly. Joint training institutions, faculty support, better laboratories and recognised qualifications can strengthen source and destination systems alike.

Human capital is also a matter of sovereignty. A continent that exports raw materials, data and trained labour while importing the most valuable products of knowledge will remain dependent, however large its population becomes.

A continental bargain

The African Union’s demographic-dividend roadmap⁠ joins four areas too often separated in national policy: employment and entrepreneurship; education and skills; health and wellbeing; and rights, governance and youth empowerment. Skills have little value without work; growth remains fragile where health and rights are weak.

At the African Development Bank, President Sidi Ould Tah’s Four Cardinal Points⁠ place demography within a wider economic programme: Unlock Africa’s Capital; Rebuild Africa’s Financial Sovereignty; Turn Demographics into Dividends; and Build Resilient Infrastructure and Competitive Value Chains. African savings and institutional funds must finance productive investment. Infrastructure must support industry, and industry must create work on a scale equal to the continent’s growing labour force.

The African Continental Free Trade Area⁠ belongs in the same argument. Fragmented national markets limit the scale of firms and weaken bargaining power. A connected market approaching 2.5 billion people could support regional value chains, larger investments and more specialised production.

Global technology companies already see Africa as a major market for connectivity, artificial intelligence, finance and energy. African governments should negotiate from the same fact. Foreign capital and technology remain necessary, but their terms should leave more knowledge, production and ownership within Africa. Market access and public procurement can support local suppliers, research, technical training, data infrastructure and domestic manufacturing.

The test of delivery

Continental plans cannot teach a child to read, keep a mother alive in childbirth or provide electricity to a small manufacturer. Delivery remains national and local. In Nigeria, primary healthcare, basic education, nutrition, water, sanitation and economic opportunity depend as much upon states and local governments as upon Abuja.

Institutions should be judged by results: mothers who survive, children who are nourished and learning, young people with useful skills, and firms able to employ them. Budgets are demographic documents. They reveal what governments are prepared to invest in citizens who cannot yet vote and whose adult lives will begin after many present office-holders have left public service.

Musk’s comparison does not settle a contest of fertility. Europe is wealthier, more productive and better equipped to turn individual ability into economic value. Nigeria and Africa have time, youth and scale. Whether these become power will depend on decisions now being made in homes, clinics, classrooms, workplaces and public institutions.

The figure that should concern Nigeria is how many of its children will reach adulthood healthy, educated, skilled and able to find dignified work.
By 2050, numbers will have altered the world’s demographic balance. Power will depend on what societies have made of those numbers.
Elon Musk has counted Nigeria’s births. History will count what Nigeria did with them.

Chinedu Moghalu is a lawyer, strategic communications expert, and public policy adviser with over two decades of leadership across government, international organisations, and development institutions. Currently, senior special adviser to Nigeria’s coordinating minister of health and social welfare.

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By Yushau A. Shuaib

When a sponsored attack song backfires, it reveals everything about the sponsors — and nothing damaging about the target.

A brief disclosure is necessary before I proceed. In December 2018, Jamilu Gwamna — then Managing Director of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) — personally approved the removal and reinstallation of electric poles to support the expansion of the PRNigeria Centre in Kano. That gesture of institutional goodwill remains unforgettable. His spokesperson, Ibrahim Shawai, who still serves in that role today, has also been a long standing professional colleague. I state this up front because transparency about relationships is the foundation of credible commentary, and what I am about to say directly touches on the political contest in which Gwamna is now a participant.

I must also clarify my relationship with Isa Ali Pantami. I have closely monitored the evolution of Nigeria’s digital economy ecosystem since his days as Director General of NITDA and throughout his tenure as Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. That monitoring led to active promotion of legitimate achievements and a sustained effort to counter malicious narratives directed at him. It also resulted in a book documenting his trials and triumphs. My engagement with Pantami has always been based strictly on public service record — nothing more, nothing less.

For more than two years, Pantami has openly signalled his intention to contest the governorship of Gombe State. There were early indications that Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya might not remain neutral in the APC primary. I raised this concern with the Governor’s spokesperson, Ismaila Misilli, during the launch of Pantami’s books in Abuja in January 2024. Misilli consistently reassured me that the Governor would be fair to all aspirants.

When Shawai later informed me that Jamilu Gwamna would also be contesting after securing the APC ticket, I did what fairness required: I told him directly that any press release or material his candidate issued would be published on our platforms at no cost — the same courtesy extended to Pantami, who had paid his dues in national service. Equity demanded nothing less.

This week, precisely last Thursday’s evening after Shawai discussed a release and a new photograph of his candidate with me — which we published immediately — a video began circulating less than twenty four hours later.

In it, APC Hausa praise singer Kahutu Rarara did not merely criticise Pantami; he accused him of drug addiction, alleged corruption, and issued thinly veiled threats of referral to anti corruption agencies. He then, in the same breath, lavished praise on Jamilu Gwamna, the APC governorship candidate. The sponsorship was not implied. It was announced.

The response was swift, fierce, and deeply instructive. Clerics who had previously criticised Pantami came out in his defence. Scholars who had held reservations issued statements of solidarity. Politicians in opposing camps expressed sympathy. Social media influencers with no particular allegiance condemned Rarara in terms sharper than anything he had directed at his target. Without spending a kobo or uttering a word in his own defence, Pantami gained more followers, more sympathisers, and more vocal supporters in forty eight hours than any conventional campaign event could have delivered.

The attack produced the exact opposite of its intended effect. This is not a coincidence. It is a textbook case of demarketing by incompetence — a lesson written in real time for anyone willing to read it.

I have made this point repeatedly in professional settings, and it bears restating with the specificity this episode demands. There is a fundamental difference between publicity, where noise and trend matter, and public relations, where substance and credibility matter. Many politicians and campaign managers behave as though the two are interchangeable — assuming that anyone with a large audience or a talent for generating noise is automatically a useful campaign instrument. This is a costly error.

Publicity measures reach and volume. Public relations measures credibility and consequence.

A praise singer with hundreds of thousands of followers can generate trend after trend, but if his credibility is already compromised, every trend he generates carries the stench of that compromise. The audience does not simply receive the message; it filters it through what it already knows about the messenger. When a campaign instrument is perceived as mercenary, every message it carries is contaminated.

Kahutu Rarara is not an artist in the tradition of musicians who use their platforms to advocate justice or accountability. He is, by his own pattern, a hired tongue — available to praise whoever pays and to attack whoever his current patron designates. He has performed this function against former Kano Governors Ibrahim Shekarau and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, among others. In each case, those he vilified were, in other seasons, recipients of his flattery when patronage flowed in their direction. Nigerians are not unaware of this. His credibility as an independent voice is precisely zero. That is why there can be no basis for comparing a global musical icon like Davido with Rarara after their public clash in June 2026 over Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis.

Any campaign strategist who deployed him for this assignment either failed to conduct the most basic perception audit or conducted one and ignored it. Either way, the professional failure belongs to the architects of the strategy — not to Rarara, who simply did what Rarara does.

While publicity chases attention, public relations earns trust. And the most damaging form of demarketing is when an opposition relies on a weak, hate-driven campaigner who resorts to ignorance, arrogance, and indecency. Such tactics almost always backfire, instantly boosting public sympathy and solidarity for the reputable competitor — without them spending a single penny. That is exactly what we are witnessing in the case of Rarara’s attack song against Pantami.

Yushau A. Shuaib is the author of “Pantami: Trials & Triumphs of a Digital Economy Maestro.” Email: yashuaib@yashuaib.com

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By Abbas Badmus,

New regulatory regime seeks to end costly IT failures, strengthen cybersecurity and position Nigerian software for global competitiveness

For years, Nigerians have grown accustomed to an all-too-familiar experience. Government websites suddenly become inaccessible at critical moments. Online portals crash under heavy traffic. Digital services designed to simplify public administration become sources of frustration, while businesses and government agencies grapple with software vulnerabilities that expose sensitive data to cyber threats.

Behind many of these challenges lies a common denominator—poor software quality.

As Nigeria’s economy becomes increasingly digital, the consequences of unreliable software have grown more severe. A single malfunction in a banking platform can disrupt millions of transactions. A compromised government database can threaten national security. An unstable digital identity system can undermine confidence in public institutions. These realities have reinforced an important lesson: digital transformation is only as strong as the software that powers it.

It is against this backdrop that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has introduced what many technology experts consider one of the most consequential regulatory reforms in Nigeria’s digital history—the National Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Framework.

Signed by the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, under the authority of the NITDA Act 2007, the framework establishes, for the first time, a comprehensive national standard governing how software is conceived, developed, tested, certified and deployed across Federal Government institutions, regulated industries and the country’s wider digital ecosystem.

The initiative represents a shift in national thinking. Rather than responding to software failures after they occur, Nigeria is adopting a preventive model in which quality, security and reliability become mandatory requirements from the earliest stages of software development.

Why Nigeria Needs a Software Quality Revolution

Nigeria’s digital economy has expanded remarkably over the past decade. Public services are increasingly delivered online, financial technology has transformed banking and payments, startups continue to innovate across multiple sectors, while businesses depend more than ever on digital infrastructure.

Yet this rapid digital expansion has not always been matched by corresponding improvements in software quality assurance.

Numerous digital projects have suffered from inadequate testing, poor documentation, security loopholes and interoperability challenges. In some cases, software systems have required expensive redesigns shortly after deployment. Others have struggled to cope with increased user demand or evolving cybersecurity threats.

The financial implications are enormous. Beyond the direct cost of failed IT projects, unreliable software undermines investor confidence, reduces productivity and weakens citizens’ trust in digital governance.

NITDA’s new framework seeks to change this narrative by institutionalising quality assurance as a compulsory component of software development rather than an optional afterthought.

A Comprehensive Framework Built on Three Pillars

At the heart of the initiative is an integrated regulatory structure combining three complementary instruments that together address every stage of the software lifecycle.

The National Software Development Guideline introduces internationally recognised software engineering standards. Developers are expected to follow structured development methodologies, implement secure coding practices based on OWASP standards, maintain comprehensive system documentation and ensure citizen-facing applications comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA). This means digital services must not only function effectively but also remain accessible to persons living with disabilities and other vulnerable users.

Complementing this is the National Software Testing Guideline, which establishes mandatory benchmarks for evaluating software before deployment. Applications must demonstrate functionality, cybersecurity resilience, performance under peak operational loads and seamless interoperability with other systems before they can be approved for public use.

Perhaps the most transformative aspect of the framework is the Software Testing Organisations Licensing (STOL) Guideline. Through this initiative, NITDA will license and regulate independent Licensed Software Testing Organisations (LSTOs), creating an impartial certification system that separates software development from software validation. This independent assessment model aligns with international best practices and enhances transparency in government technology procurement.

No Certification, No Deployment

One of the framework’s most significant provisions is its mandatory certification requirement.

Government software projects will no longer proceed directly from development to deployment. Every qualifying project must first undergo independent third-party testing and receive official certification before going live.

Compliance with the framework also becomes a prerequisite for obtaining IT Project Clearance, effectively placing software quality assurance at the centre of Nigeria’s digital governance architecture.

For technology vendors seeking government contracts, software quality will no longer be measured solely by functionality or cost. Independent verification will become an essential requirement.

Recognising That Not All Software Carries Equal Risk

One notable innovation within the framework is its risk-based classification system.

Instead of applying identical compliance requirements to every software application, NITDA categorises software into three classes according to operational impact.

Class A covers critical national infrastructure and other high-risk systems, including core banking switches, national identity management platforms and power grid control systems. These applications will undergo the highest level of security assessment, penetration testing and specialised audits conducted by top-tier accredited testing organisations.

Class B applies to enterprise-level platforms supporting significant institutional operations, while Class C encompasses lower-risk internal applications that require proportionate quality assurance measures.

This differentiated regulatory approach ensures that compliance remains both practical and risk-sensitive while protecting systems whose failure could have far-reaching national consequences.

Strengthening Nigeria’s Cybersecurity Defences

The framework arrives at a time when cyber threats continue to evolve in sophistication and frequency.

Security experts increasingly agree that many cyber incidents originate not from external attacks alone but from vulnerabilities introduced during software development.

By enforcing secure coding practices, rigorous penetration testing and independent quality assessments, the framework seeks to eliminate weaknesses before software reaches end users.

This preventive strategy complements Nigeria’s broader cybersecurity objectives by reducing the likelihood of successful attacks against government platforms and critical digital infrastructure.

Creating a New Technology Industry

Beyond regulation, the framework also represents an economic development strategy.

The licensing of independent software testing organisations is expected to stimulate an entirely new segment of Nigeria’s technology ecosystem.

Demand will grow for software quality assurance specialists, penetration testers, cybersecurity analysts, compliance experts and certification professionals.

This emerging market has the potential to generate thousands of highly skilled jobs while encouraging Nigerian professionals to obtain globally recognised certifications in software quality engineering.

Rather than relying extensively on foreign expertise, Nigeria could develop a vibrant indigenous software assurance industry capable of supporting both domestic and international markets.

Raising the Global Profile of Nigerian Software

As African technology companies increasingly compete for international contracts, software quality has become an important competitive advantage.

Global investors, multinational corporations and development partners routinely evaluate quality assurance processes before engaging software providers.

NITDA’s framework therefore extends beyond domestic regulation.

By establishing nationally recognised quality standards, Nigeria is positioning locally developed software to compete more effectively in global markets, attract foreign investment and strengthen confidence in products developed by Nigerian technology companies.

The initiative also aligns with the country’s ambition to become a regional digital innovation hub.

Building Public Confidence in Digital Government

For ordinary Nigerians, the most immediate benefits may come through improved public service delivery.

Citizens expect digital government services to be available when needed, process requests efficiently and safeguard personal information.

Reliable software means fewer system outages, reduced processing delays, stronger data protection and more dependable online services.

Ultimately, software quality becomes an important pillar of public trust.

Speaking on the significance of the framework, NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi captured this broader vision.

“Quality is the foundation of digital trust. With this Framework, every software solution serving Nigerians—whether built for government or the private sector—will meet clear national standards for security, reliability and interoperability. This is how we modernise government technology and position Nigerian software to compete on the global stage.”

Although the Software Quality Assurance Framework will officially take full effect in the second quarter of 2027, NITDA is allowing stakeholders time to prepare.

The Agency plans nationwide stakeholder engagements, extensive capacity-building programmes and the accreditation of Licensed Software Testing Organisations.

An Expression of Interest will also be issued for prospective testing organisations seeking licences, giving technology firms the opportunity to strengthen their technical capabilities before the framework becomes fully operational.

This phased implementation is expected to encourage compliance while minimising disruption to ongoing technology projects.

The National Software Quality Assurance Framework is more than another government regulation. It is a statement about the future Nigeria hopes to build—a future where digital systems are secure, reliable and globally competitive.

If effectively implemented, the framework could reduce costly software failures, improve cybersecurity, strengthen public confidence in government technology, stimulate indigenous innovation and create an entirely new software quality assurance industry.

In an era where nations increasingly compete through digital capability rather than natural resources alone, software quality is no longer a technical concern reserved for programmers. It has become a strategic national asset.

For Nigeria, the launch of the Software Quality Assurance Framework may well mark the beginning of a new chapter—one in which digital trust, innovation and excellence become defining characteristics of the nation’s technology ecosystem.

The post How NITDA’s Software Quality Framework Could Rewrite Nigeria’s Technology Story appeared first on Tech Digest News.

Something unusual—and deeply encouraging—has happened in Nigeria’s development landscape.

FutureMap Foundation, a mission-driven organisation known for promoting technology, innovation, youth empowerment and digital inclusion, chose to invest in a dialysis centre not in Lagos, Abuja, Kano or another major urban capital, but in Hadejia, Jigawa State.

That decision is significant.

Development projects, particularly those involving advanced medical services, are too often concentrated in large cities where visibility is greater, infrastructure is stronger and access to influential stakeholders is easier. By locating a technology-enabled renal care facility in Hadejia, the Foundation has demonstrated that innovation should not be defined merely by sophistication. Its real value lies in its ability to solve urgent human problems, especially in communities that have historically received little attention.

The facility, named the Senator Oluremi Tinubu Clinic, was commissioned by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who visited Jigawa State for the occasion. She also inspected other innovation centres facilitated by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) under the leadership of its Director General, Malam Kashifu Inuwa.

Beyond the symbolism of the commissioning, however, lies a far more important story: the quiet but devastating burden of kidney disease across the Hadejia–Jama’are River Basin and neighbouring communities.

Kidney disease rarely dominates national headlines. It does not command the same urgency as epidemics, outbreaks or other highly visible public health emergencies. Yet every year, it quietly devastates hundreds of families.

The crisis continues to grow, not because treatment is entirely unavailable, but because access remains beyond the reach of too many patients.

Available survey findings indicate that more than 200 new cases of kidney disease are diagnosed annually across the region. Even more troubling is the fact that at least 85 per cent of these cases are identified only after the disease has progressed significantly.

Nearly three out of every four patients requiring dialysis reportedly arrive with Stage IV or Stage V kidney disease, when treatment becomes more complicated, more expensive and less effective. Almost half of those diagnosed eventually require dialysis simply to remain alive.

These figures should concern anyone interested in the future of healthcare in Northern Nigeria. They reveal not only the burden of kidney disease, but also the consequences of unequal access to specialist medical services.

For many patients, surviving chronic kidney disease is not simply a question of receiving treatment. It is a question of whether they can physically reach it.

Specialist renal services remain concentrated in a limited number of urban centres, forcing patients to travel hundreds of kilometres several times a week for dialysis. The financial and emotional consequences can be overwhelming.

Families exhaust their savings on transport, accommodation, medication and treatment. Breadwinners lose productive working days. Caregivers abandon their livelihoods to accompany sick relatives. Children miss school, while households already struggling with poverty are pushed further into financial distress.

For many families, the journey to dialysis becomes almost as punishing as the disease itself.

This is precisely why the Senator Oluremi Tinubu Clinic deserves national attention—not simply as another healthcare facility, but as a practical response to one of the region’s most pressing health challenges.

Designed and managed by FutureMap Foundation, the clinic represents an important shift in thinking. Instead of expecting patients to chase specialist care across distant cities, it brings life-saving treatment closer to the communities where it is most urgently needed.

It affirms a simple but important principle: access to quality healthcare should not depend on a patient’s postcode or ability to travel hundreds of kilometres in search of survival.

The impact is already becoming evident.

One patient receiving dialysis at the clinic travels from Maigatari in Jigawa State, covering approximately 200 kilometres on every round trip. Another comes from Jama’are Local Government Area of Bauchi State, travelling about 169 kilometres each time treatment is required.

Across the wider region, some patients routinely cover between 200 and 300 kilometres merely to access dialysis.

Reducing those journeys changes far more than the distance recorded on a map. It lowers transport costs, preserves household income, improves treatment adherence and allows patients to spend more time recovering with their families rather than enduring exhausting hours on the road.

Healthcare becomes more humane when it becomes more accessible.

Although the dialysis unit is still relatively new, patients have already accessed services from several states across Northern Nigeria. Behind every person treated is a family spared repeated hardship, another household protected from avoidable financial pressure and another reminder that decentralising specialist healthcare is both possible and necessary.

Yet the clinic now faces a challenge that has become all too familiar in Nigeria’s health sector: demand has quickly outgrown capacity.

The dialysis unit currently operates with only one machine. Each treatment session lasts approximately six hours and 55 minutes, meaning that the number of patients who can be treated daily remains severely limited.

The problem is no longer the absence of medical personnel or patients. The doctors are available. The need is evident. The constraint is infrastructure.

This is where a relatively targeted investment could produce extraordinary returns—not in financial profit, but in lives prolonged, families preserved and communities strengthened.

The addition of three or more dialysis machines would fundamentally transform the clinic’s capacity. Multiple machines operating simultaneously could more than triple the number of treatment sessions, reduce waiting periods and enable many more patients from Jigawa, Bauchi, Yobe and neighbouring states to receive life-saving care closer to home.

The benefits would extend well beyond the dialysis ward.

Greater capacity would reduce referrals to already overstretched tertiary hospitals, lower household healthcare expenditure, minimise productivity losses caused by repeated long-distance travel and improve the chances of patients receiving timely treatment before complications become irreversible.

Expanding dialysis capacity would therefore strengthen both individual health outcomes and the wider regional healthcare system.

The clinic also reflects the broader philosophy of FutureMap Foundation: that innovation must respond to society’s most urgent challenges wherever they exist.

Although the organisation is widely associated with talent development, startup support, entrepreneurship, digital inclusion and technology ecosystems, it has applied the same problem-solving approach to healthcare. The clinic combines specialist renal care with technology-enabled services, community outreach, preventive health programmes and strategic partnerships.

Its ambition extends beyond operating a dialysis unit.

The longer-term vision is to establish a regional centre that integrates dialysis, early kidney disease screening, specialist consultations, digital health solutions, community education, preventive care and workforce development within one coordinated system.

This is precisely the type of integrated healthcare model that many underserved communities urgently require.

Achieving that vision, however, cannot remain the responsibility of one foundation.

Improving access to dialysis requires genuine collaboration among federal and state governments, philanthropists, corporate organisations, development partners, charitable foundations, healthcare institutions and private citizens willing to invest in life-saving interventions.

There are many practical ways to support the project. These include donating dialysis machines, providing consumables, establishing patient-support programmes, funding biomedical equipment maintenance and supporting awareness campaigns and early screening initiatives.

These are not ordinary donations. They are investments in health equity.

Every additional dialysis machine creates new treatment capacity. That capacity enables another patient to begin treatment on time. Another family is spared a 300-kilometre journey. Another household avoids catastrophic medical expenses. Another life receives a stronger chance of survival.

Healthcare is often discussed in the language of statistics, budgets and infrastructure. Yet behind every number is a human story.

There is a father hoping to return to work, a mother determined to watch her children grow, a young person refusing to surrender to illness and a family praying that specialist care will not remain too distant or too expensive.

Expanding the dialysis capacity of the Senator Oluremi Tinubu Clinic is therefore about far more than acquiring additional equipment.

It is about expanding access, restoring dignity and giving more patients the opportunity to live.

Few investments offer a return more meaningful than that.

What FutureMap Foundation has begun in Hadejia should therefore be seen as more than a local intervention. It is a model of what can happen when innovation moves beyond elite spaces and urban centres to confront the realities of underserved communities.

The opportunity before us is not merely to build a larger dialysis centre. It is to establish a sustainable, technology-enabled and equitable model of renal care that can be replicated across Northern Nigeria and beyond.

That would be innovation in its most humane and transformative form.

Shuaib S. Agaka is a technology journalist and digital policy analyst based in Kano.

The post Innovation Beyond Urban Centres — Oluremi Tinubu’s Dialysis Initiative in Hadejia, By Shuaib S. Agaka appeared first on Tech Digest News.

When Nigeria announced an investigation into Google, Meta, X and several generative artificial intelligence platforms, many viewed it as yet another regulatory confrontation with global technology companies. I believe it represents something far more significant. It is one of the most consequential tests of Nigeria’s digital policy in recent years because its outcome could determine whether the country’s media industry remains economically viable in an era where technology platforms increasingly control how news is discovered, distributed and monetised.

At first glance, the complaint filed by the Nigerian Press Organisation appears to centre on lost advertising revenue. In reality, it raises a much deeper question: have technology companies built enormously profitable businesses by relying on journalism they neither produce nor adequately compensate?

It is necessary to point out that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) regulates global tech giants and large digital platforms operating in Nigeria primarily through its Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries. These guidelines mandate local registration, data compliance, and the removal of harmful, illegal, or misleading content.

By the guidelines, major tech platforms must adhere to several strict regulatory and operational parameters to maintain their license to operate within the country.

Meanwhile, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence has made that question even more urgent. Nigerian publishers argue that their reports are being used to train AI systems capable of summarising, synthesising or reproducing their content without licensing agreements, meaningful attribution or fair financial compensation. In some cases, these AI-generated responses may even reduce the incentive for users to visit the original news sources.

This is no longer merely a dispute over advertising revenue. It is a global debate about who creates value in the digital economy—and who ultimately captures it.

Over the past two decades, digital platforms have fundamentally reshaped how people consume news. Millions of users no longer visit newspaper websites directly. Instead, they rely on Google searches, Facebook feeds, WhatsApp groups, X timelines and increasingly AI-powered assistants to access information.

While this transformation has expanded audiences, it has also disrupted the economics of journalism.

News organisations continue to bear the costs of reporting, fact-checking, editing and investigative journalism. Yet a substantial share of the digital advertising revenue generated by those audiences now accrues to technology companies equipped with unparalleled data analytics, sophisticated advertising algorithms and global digital ecosystems.

The consequences have been profound. Across the world, newsrooms have downsized, local newspapers have disappeared, investigative journalism has become increasingly expensive, and regional reporting has steadily declined. Ironically, journalism has never reached more people, yet sustaining it has rarely been more difficult.

Nigeria is experiencing the same disruption.

With over 154 million active internet subscriptions, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission, digital platforms have become the primary gateway to information for millions of Nigerians. Their influence extends well beyond content distribution. They increasingly shape who profits from journalism, who attracts audiences, and ultimately, who survives in an increasingly competitive media landscape.

Artificial intelligence has further complicated this equation.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained using enormous volumes of publicly available online information, including news reports. Publishers worry that if AI systems can answer users’ questions using knowledge derived from their journalism—without licensing agreements or fair compensation—the media industry risks financing technologies that may eventually compete directly with the very organisations that produced the original reporting.

This concern is neither theoretical nor uniquely Nigerian.

Around the world, governments are grappling with the same challenge, albeit through different regulatory approaches.

Australia was among the first to challenge the long-standing assumption that digital platforms could monetise news content without paying for it. Its 2021 News Media Bargaining Code fundamentally altered the balance of power between publishers and technology companies.

The resistance was immediate. Google warned it might withdraw its search engine from Australia, while Meta temporarily removed news content from Facebook, inadvertently blocking emergency services and public information. Public backlash forced renewed negotiations, ultimately leading to commercial agreements worth hundreds of millions of Australian dollars between digital platforms and Australian news organisations.

Australia demonstrated that governments can successfully rebalance negotiating power when regulation is backed by political commitment.

Canada pursued a similar path through its Online News Act but encountered a different outcome. Rather than negotiate, Meta chose to remove news entirely from Facebook and Instagram. Google eventually reached a settlement with the Canadian government, but Meta’s continuing news blackout illustrates an important lesson: regulation can influence corporate behaviour, though not always in the manner policymakers anticipate.

South Africa adopted a more measured strategy.

Instead of framing the issue primarily as a political dispute, its Competition Commission conducted extensive market studies examining digital advertising, search visibility and revenue distribution before recommending targeted remedies. That evidence-based approach secured commitments from Google to provide substantial support to South African publishers while avoiding prolonged political confrontation.

These international experiences reveal that no universal solution exists.

Australia illustrates the effectiveness of strong legislative intervention. Canada highlights the potential for unintended consequences. South Africa demonstrates the value of competition-based regulation grounded in rigorous economic analysis rather than political rhetoric.

For Nigeria, these lessons are particularly instructive.

Our media ecosystem differs significantly from those of Australia or Canada. Digital subscriptions remain relatively limited, advertising markets are comparatively smaller, and many news organisations continue to rely on business models developed long before the digital revolution.

Simply compelling technology companies to make financial payments will not, by itself, resolve these structural challenges.

The ongoing investigation should therefore pursue broader objectives.

It presents an opportunity to examine competition policy, copyright protection, AI training practices, digital advertising markets and the commercial relationship between multinational technology companies and Nigerian media organisations.

The objective should not merely be compensation.

It should be the creation of a fairer digital marketplace—one that rewards technological innovation without undermining the sustainability of credible journalism.

The investigation also signals Nigeria’s growing confidence in regulating multinational digital corporations.

From data protection and consumer rights to competition policy and artificial intelligence governance, the country is increasingly demonstrating that global technology firms are not beyond the reach of domestic regulation. Whether one agrees with every regulatory decision is secondary to a broader reality: Nigeria is asserting its right to shape the rules governing its own digital economy.

That confidence is both timely and necessary.

Journalism remains one of democracy’s essential public goods. It informs citizens, scrutinises power, exposes corruption and promotes accountability. Yet quality journalism is expensive. It demands skilled professionals, rigorous editorial processes and sustained financial investment.

Technology platforms undoubtedly create enormous public value by making information widely accessible. But they also benefit from an information ecosystem sustained by news organisations. If that ecosystem continues to weaken, the consequences will extend far beyond publishers’ balance sheets. Public trust, democratic accountability and the quality of national discourse will inevitably suffer.

Whether the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) ultimately finds evidence of anti-competitive conduct or other legal violations is a matter for due process.

What is beyond dispute, however, is that the questions now being asked are both legitimate and long overdue.

Nigeria may have entered this global conversation later than many advanced economies, but that timing could become its greatest advantage. Others have already absorbed the costs of experimentation. Their successes, failures and unintended consequences provide valuable lessons.

With NITDA’s guidelines in place, Nigeria now has an opportunity to craft a regulatory framework that reflects its own market realities while protecting innovation, encouraging investment and ensuring that those who produce credible journalism are not excluded from the value their work creates.

If approached with wisdom and balance, this investigation may ultimately be remembered not as another confrontation with Big Tech, but as the moment Nigeria began redefining the relationship between technology, artificial intelligence and journalism for the digital age.

Shuaib S. Agaka is a tech journalist and digital policy analyst based in Kano.

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Another day, another collapsed investment platform. Another wave of tears. Another chorus of “I have lost everything.” Another social media trend filled with screenshots of failed withdrawal attempts and desperate appeals for help. This time, it is National Reading Culture (NRC), an online platform that convinced thousands of Nigerians to part with their money on the promise that they would earn extraordinary returns within a matter of weeks. Predictably, the website has gone dark, withdrawals have stopped, and the operators have disappeared, leaving billions of Naira in losses and countless investors wondering how they were deceived.

But perhaps the more important question is this: when will Nigerians learn?

The truth is uncomfortable but necessary. Every Ponzi scheme survives because people choose to believe that they have found a shortcut to wealth. The promise is always the same—invest a little today and receive much more tomorrow. Logic is suspended because greed takes over. The warning signs become irrelevant because everyone wants to believe they got in early enough to beat the system. Yet the outcome has remained remarkably consistent for decades.

National Reading Culture did not introduce anything new. It simply wrapped an old fraud in a different package. Participants were encouraged to complete simple tasks such as reading articles, clicking links and referring friends to earn daily rewards. Those who wanted even greater profits were persuaded to deposit their own money into higher investment tiers with assurances of larger daily earnings. The platform projected itself as an innovative online earning opportunity, but investigations later revealed that the website had previously operated as a Chinese job search platform before it was repurposed into an investment scheme. That alone should have raised serious questions.

As with every Ponzi operation, the illusion of profitability depended on fresh deposits from new participants. Early users received payments funded not by legitimate business activities but by money contributed by newer investors. Those initial payouts created excitement, attracted testimonials and convinced more people to join. The cycle continued until the inflow of new money slowed, at which point the inevitable collapse followed. It is the oldest trick in the financial fraud playbook.

This script has been performed repeatedly in Nigeria, yet each new production attracts a fresh audience. From MMM Nigeria, which collapsed after trapping millions of Nigerians with promises of 30 per cent returns in just 30 days, to MBA Forex, which lured investors with claims of lucrative foreign exchange investments before billions vanished, the story has remained unchanged. Racksterli promised wealth through networking before crashing. Chinmark Group attracted investors with unrealistic returns and later found itself at the centre of widespread allegations of unpaid investments. Imagine Global, Twinkas, Loom Money and Ultimate Cycler all enjoyed their moment in the spotlight before collapsing under the weight of their own deception. Their names may differ, but their business model never does.

One would imagine that after so many painful lessons, Nigerians would develop an instinct for spotting these schemes. Instead, every new platform is greeted with excitement, glowing testimonials and endless social media campaigns urging people not to “miss the opportunity.” Some investors even mock those who express caution, insisting that “this one is different.” It never is.

There is a saying that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Yet countless people continue to ignore this simple principle. No legitimate investment doubles your money within weeks. No sustainable business consistently guarantees outrageous returns without corresponding risks. No genuine wealth is created simply by clicking links, reading articles or recruiting friends into a platform. If making money were truly that easy, banks, investment firms and multinational corporations would have abandoned their traditional business models long ago.

The uncomfortable reality is that many victims are not deceived because the fraudsters are exceptionally clever. They are deceived because they convince themselves to ignore obvious warning signs. They see unrealistic promises and choose optimism over reason. They hear unbelievable claims and silence their doubts with stories of people who supposedly got paid. They mistake early payouts—funded by newer victims—for proof of legitimacy. By the time reality catches up, the operators have disappeared.

This is not to excuse the criminals behind these schemes. They deserve to be investigated, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. They deliberately prey on people’s desire for easy money, exploiting trust and manipulating emotions for personal gain. But while authorities pursue the fraudsters, individuals must also accept responsibility for exercising basic financial judgment. Personal responsibility remains the first line of defence against financial scams.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect is that every collapse is followed by vows that “it will never happen again.” Yet history suggests otherwise. Before long, another platform with a respectable-sounding name, a polished website and a flood of social media testimonials will emerge. It may claim to trade cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, agriculture, digital advertising or some other fashionable industry. The language will change. The logo will be different. The promises, however, will remain exactly the same.

National Reading Culture has now joined the long and embarrassing list of failed Ponzi schemes that have drained billions of Naira from unsuspecting Nigerians. Sadly, it is unlikely to be the last. As long as people continue to believe that wealth can be created overnight without genuine economic activity, fraudsters will continue to flourish.

The collapse of National Reading Culture should not merely be another news story. It should be another lesson. The tragedy is that Nigeria has had far too many lessons already. The real question is no longer why Ponzi schemes keep collapsing. We already know the answer to that. The question is why so many people continue to enrol in the same expensive class, expecting a different result every single time.

Shuaib S. Agaka is a technology journalist and digital policy analyst based in Kano.

The post Another Ponzi Scheme Down the Drain, When Will You Learn? By Shuaib S. Agaka appeared first on Tech Digest News.

By Abbas Badmus,

For decades, identity management in Nigeria has been more than a bureaucratic exercise. It has represented one of the country’s most persistent governance challenges, affecting everything from financial inclusion and national security to social welfare delivery and economic planning. Millions of Nigerians have struggled with fragmented identity systems, duplicate registrations, weak verification mechanisms, and limited access to essential services.

With the signing of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act, 2026, President Bola Tinubu has initiated what many experts consider one of the most transformative digital governance reforms in Nigeria’s recent history. More than simply replacing the 2007 law, the new legislation lays the legal and institutional foundation for a comprehensive digital identity ecosystem capable of supporting the country’s ambitions in governance, commerce, cybersecurity and economic growth.

At its core, the legislation signals Nigeria’s transition from a traditional identity registration system to a modern digital trust infrastructure where identity becomes the gateway to secure online transactions, efficient public services and inclusive economic participation.

When the National Identity Management Commission was established nearly two decades ago, Nigeria’s digital economy was still in its infancy. Internet penetration was relatively low, electronic payments were limited, and government services remained largely paper-based.

Today, however, digital transformation has reshaped nearly every aspect of society. Banking, healthcare, education, taxation, immigration, elections, e-commerce and social intervention programmes increasingly rely on secure digital identities.

Recognising this shift, the new NIMC Act significantly expands the Commission’s mandate beyond identity registration.

Perhaps the most consequential provision is the designation of NIMC as Nigeria’s Root Certification Authority, placing it at the centre of the country’s National Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). This effectively transforms the Commission into the institution responsible for establishing digital trust across both government and private-sector platforms.

This means that digital signatures, authentication systems, encryption services, identity verification and electronic certificates can now operate within a unified legal framework designed to enhance confidence in online interactions.

The legislation reinforces the National Identification Number (NIN) as Nigeria’s foundational identity credential under the guiding principle of “One Person, One Identity.”

While the NIN has gained prominence in recent years through mandatory SIM registration, banking verification and passport applications, the new law elevates it into the country’s universal identity backbone.

Rather than maintaining multiple disconnected identity systems across various agencies, the law seeks to create a single trusted source of identity that government institutions, financial organisations and private businesses can securely access when verifying individuals.

A unified identity ecosystem promises to reduce duplication, minimise fraud, improve planning, simplify service delivery and ensure that government interventions reach their intended beneficiaries with greater accuracy.

Building Trust in Nigeria’s Digital Economy

One of the greatest obstacles to digital transformation worldwide is trust.

Consumers hesitate to transact online when they fear identity theft. Businesses worry about fraud. Governments struggle to verify citizens efficiently while protecting sensitive information.

The new law addresses these concerns by establishing comprehensive digital authentication services capable of supporting secure electronic transactions across sectors.

Under the legislation, NIMC will oversee digital certificates, secure identity verification, trusted authentication frameworks and encryption systems designed to improve confidence in Nigeria’s expanding digital marketplace.

As electronic commerce continues to grow, these systems are expected to reduce fraud, accelerate online business operations and encourage greater adoption of digital services.

Strengthening Cybersecurity Through Identity

Cybercrime has become one of the defining security challenges of the digital age.

Identity theft, impersonation, financial fraud and unauthorised access to digital systems continue to threaten individuals, businesses and governments across the world.

Nigeria is no exception.

The new legislation introduces stronger legal safeguards against identity-related crimes by prescribing stricter penalties for multiple registrations, impersonation, identity theft and other offences that compromise digital trust.

Equally significant is its alignment with the Nigeria Data Protection Act and internationally recognised privacy standards.

By strengthening legal protections around personal information while improving authentication systems, the Act seeks to strike the delicate balance between digital innovation and individual privacy.

Inclusion Beyond Urban Nigeria

Perhaps one of the most socially significant aspects of the legislation is its deliberate focus on inclusion.

Identity exclusion remains a major obstacle for millions of Nigerians, particularly those living in rural communities, internally displaced persons, nomadic populations and individuals without permanent residences.

Without recognised identity, many citizens remain excluded from banking services, healthcare, education, voting opportunities and government social programmes.

The new Act introduces an innovative identifier system specifically designed for vulnerable populations while mandating special enrolment measures to ensure underserved communities are not left behind.

This reflects a growing recognition that digital identity should not become another source of inequality but rather an instrument for expanding access to opportunities.

Driving Public Service Reform

Governments worldwide increasingly rely on integrated digital identity systems to improve efficiency and transparency.

From tax administration to healthcare delivery, identity verification enables agencies to share information securely while reducing administrative bottlenecks.

The new NIMC framework empowers the Commission to facilitate secure data exchange among government institutions, financial organisations and private-sector operators.

Such interoperability has the potential to eliminate repetitive documentation, reduce processing times and simplify citizens’ interactions with public institutions.

For ordinary Nigerians, this could translate into faster access to government services, fewer bureaucratic hurdles and improved user experiences across multiple sectors.

Supporting the One-Trillion-Dollar Economy Vision

President Tinubu has repeatedly emphasised technology as a central pillar of Nigeria’s long-term economic transformation.

The government has articulated an ambitious vision of building a one-trillion-dollar economy, with digital innovation expected to serve as one of its principal drivers.

Modern economies increasingly depend on trusted digital infrastructure.

Secure identity systems encourage investment, facilitate cross-border commerce, enable digital financial services and improve the ease of doing business.

By strengthening Nigeria’s digital trust architecture, the NIMC Act positions identity management as a strategic economic asset rather than merely an administrative function.

International investors often evaluate a country’s digital infrastructure when making investment decisions. A robust identity ecosystem can therefore improve Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global digital economy.

Passing legislation represents only the first step. The true measure of the reform will depend on effective implementation.

NIMC has already announced plans to issue detailed regulations and operational guidelines while working closely with government institutions, private-sector organisations and development partners to ensure a seamless transition.

Successful implementation will require sustained investment in technology infrastructure, public awareness campaigns, institutional collaboration and cybersecurity capacity.

Equally important will be maintaining public confidence through transparency, accountability and responsible management of citizens’ personal information.

The National Identity Management Commission Act, 2026, represents far more than a legislative update.

It reflects Nigeria’s recognition that identity has become the foundation upon which digital economies, modern governance and inclusive societies are built.

By strengthening legal protections, modernising digital authentication systems, expanding inclusion, enhancing cybersecurity and positioning the National Identification Number at the centre of national development, the legislation offers a comprehensive blueprint for Nigeria’s digital future.

If implemented effectively, the reform could redefine how Nigerians interact with government, conduct business, access financial services and participate in an increasingly digital world.

For a country seeking to unlock the full potential of technology-driven development, the new NIMC law may ultimately be remembered not simply as an identity reform, but as the cornerstone of Nigeria’s next phase of digital transformation.

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