Business

From Hurdles to Growth: Inside the NCC’s Push for a Connected Nigeria

Published

3 months ago

May 30, 2026

Preport

BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—When Dr. Aminu Maida took the helm at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in October 2023, he stepped into a challenging landscape marked by soaring operational costs and stubborn infrastructure gaps.

Yet, over the past few years, the commission has successfully turned these hurdles into stepping stones, steering Nigeria’s telecommunications sector toward a new era of steady growth and digital inclusion.

At the heart of the NCC’s recent success is a massive push to bring reliable phone and internet access to everyday Nigerians, especially those in rural and underserved communities.

By 2025, these deliberate efforts pushed the country’s internet broadband penetration rate to an impressive 48.81 percent, while teledensity—the percentage of the population with telephone connections—reached 79.65 percent.

Industry experts note that this rapid expansion didn’t happen by accident; it is the direct result of the regulatory stability and clear, reliable policy direction the NCC has established.Beyond simply expanding networks, the commission has taken aggressive steps to protect them.

In a major victory for the industry, the NCC actively championed a Presidential Executive Order that officially designates telecom facilities as Critical National Infrastructure.

This critical legal shield gives the government the teeth to fight back against the theft, vandalism, and sabotage that have long plagued network operators, disrupted daily services, and driven up business expenses.

Financially, the NCC has proven to be a vital engine for the nation’s economy. In the 2024 fiscal year alone, the commission generated roughly N195.8 billion through spectrum fees, operating licenses, and other regulatory revenues.

Proving its commitment to national development, the NCC sent more than N111 billion of those earnings straight into the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Looking toward the future, the NCC is also reshaping how technology businesses operate in Nigeria. The commission has introduced discussions for a fresh General Authorisation Framework alongside updated licensing systems. This modern approach is designed to cut through red tape for tech startups, welcome innovative business models, and make it much easier to deploy next-generation digital tools.

Ultimately, the NCC has managed a delicate balancing act. Even while navigating tough economic pressures like inflation and rising business expenses, the commission has successfully maintained investor confidence through open, transparent communication with network operators.

At the same time, it has kept its focus squarely on everyday citizens by strictly monitoring service quality and creating tools that help ordinary phone subscribers check network performance, ensuring that Nigeria’s digital future remains both strong and consumer-friendly.

The post From Hurdles to Growth: Inside the NCC’s Push for a Connected Nigeria appeared first on Business Today NG.

Related Topics:Connected growth hurdles NCCs Nigeria Push

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Sanwo-Olu Sets Fresh Agenda to End Blackouts, as Lagos Targets 3,500MW Power Supply

Published

12 hours ago

August 21, 2026

Preport

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to ending the persistent blackout and aim for a twenty four hours electricity in the state.

He said the Lagos State Government is ready to work with the critical stakeholders to actualise the targeted increase in available electricity supply to about 3,500 megawatts (MW) through coordinated action on generation, transmission, distribution and metering.

Governor Sanwo-Olu made the commitment on Thursday at the Lagos State High-Level Strategic Power Town Hall, held at Lagos House, Marina, to critically assess the state’s electricity situation and develop practical solutions to the challenges affecting generation, transmission and distribution.

The high-level engagement was attended by stakeholders across the electricity value chain, including regulators, power distributors, transmission operators, asset managers, investors and representatives of the Federal Government and Lagos State Government.

The town hall meeting focused on how Lagos can leverage its enormous electricity demand, existing infrastructure and emerging state electricity market to attract investment and deliver more reliable power to homes, businesses and industries.

Speaking at the town hall meeting, Governor Sanwo-Olu called for stronger coordination, smart metering, better data management, enforcement and revenue assurance as panacea to the perennial challenges facing the sector. He said stakeholders must work together to build consumer confidence and attract investment.

Also speaking, the Minister of Power, Mr. Joseph Tegbe, who was represented by the Director of Distribution Services in the Federal Ministry of Power, Engr. Baba Mustapha, said Lagos requires more than 6,000MW, but currently receives far less from the national grid.

He stressed that increased generation would have limited impact without adequate transmission and distribution infrastructure, identifying gas supply, generation, transmission capacity, distribution bottlenecks and metering as key priorities.

The Special Adviser to the President on Power and Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Power Sector Reset and Restoration, Dr. Rilwan Lanre Babalola, said the challenge before Lagos and Nigeria was no longer simply about generating more electricity, but about building a functional and sustainable electricity market.

He said the country must move away from a system where government continuously acts as buyer, guarantor and absorber of losses across the electricity value chain.

Babalola explained that the proposed Clean Lagos Electricity Market (CLEM) could provide a practical model for transforming Lagos’ huge electricity demand into a structured and investable market through demand aggregation, bilateral contracting, open access, payment assurance and transparent settlement.

He said stakeholders must be able to establish where the demand and customers are, where electricity and gas will come from, whether the network can deliver the power, the efficient tariff and how payments will move transparently to generators, network operators and gas suppliers.

Babalola also highlighted the importance of decentralisation following constitutional amendments and the Electricity Act, which have opened the way for states to establish and regulate their electricity markets.

Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Abiodun Ogunleye, said the town hall meeting was convened to bring an end to what he described as the culture of blackout in Lagos.

He said Lagos State would develop clear action points and establish a baseline for measuring progress at the proposed six-month review.

On tariffs, Ogunleye stressed that improved electricity supply must accompany payment, insisting that consumers should not be made to pay for darkness

He explained that achieving the target would allow more feeders to operate and provide increased electricity to homes and industries that require reliable power for productive activities.

Ogunleye also disclosed that newly commissioned substations would contribute to the state’s power infrastructure, while the government would work with distribution companies to monitor selected feeders and measure improvements in electricity supply.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Temitope George, identified constraints in generation and transmission, energy theft, vandalism and non-payment of electricity bills as major challenges affecting the sector.

George urged electricity consumers to pay for the power they consume, warning that non-payment distorts the electricity market and ultimately affects the ability of other consumers to receive adequate supply.

She said Lagos State is also exploring embedded power generation to complement electricity from the national grid and reduce overdependence on the national system.

The town hall ended with a commitment by stakeholders to translate the discussions into concrete action points, establish measurable baselines and periodically assess progress.

The post Sanwo-Olu Sets Fresh Agenda to End Blackouts, as Lagos Targets 3,500MW Power Supply appeared first on Business Today NG.

Business

AI could help Nigeria, other developing economies achieve century of progress in decade

Published

20 hours ago

August 20, 2026

Preport

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help developing countries achieve in a decade what might otherwise take a century, according to the World Bank’s report.

The lender said governments must act swiftly to address gaps in electricity, connectivity, skills and institutional quality that could leave them behind.

The World Bank disclosed this in its latest World Development Report 2026, titled ‘The Promise of Artificial Intelligence’.

The report surveyed enterprises’ AI adoption in developing economies, sampling 777 firms in Nigeria.

The World Bank, in its report, urged developing economies to adopt an optimistic mindset, noting that AI could help governments reach billions of underserved people with medical, legal, educational, and agricultural services more quickly.

“AI could help extend otherwise costly medical, legal, educational, and agricultural services to the underserved billions—doing in a decade what might otherwise take a century,” the report stated.

It noted that jobs in high-income countries are more than three times as likely to be at risk of automation by generative AI as those in low- and middle-income countries, where 4.5 per cent of existing jobs are at risk, compared with 14.2 per cent in high-income countries.

At the same time, 16.2 per cent of jobs in developing economies could see their productivity meaningfully boosted by AI, close to the 18.7 per cent expected in high-income countries.
The greatest promise for developing countries lies not in replacing workers, but in amplifying what they can do, the report said.

“AI has thrown developing economies a lifeline, and they should seize it,” Indermit Gill, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group, added in the report.

He explained that developing economies do not need large models or big data centres to reap the benefits of AI adoption.

By adapting small, low-cost AI tools to local conditions, they can bring better medical care, education, judicial services and agricultural extension within reach of millions, the World Bank chief stated.

The report is the first comprehensive assessment of AI’s implications for developing countries, revealing how businesses and governments there have begun to use AI.

It revealed that AI is already helping people, businesses, and governments solve problems, analyse information, improve forecasts and deliver services on a larger scale.

These capabilities are especially valuable in countries where trained professionals, reliable records and public capacity are often limited.

According to the World Bank, AI tools can make it easier for doctors to diagnose patients, farmers to make better crop decisions, and businesses to become more productive.

Governments, too, could use AI to improve tax collection, social programmes, disaster response, healthcare, and education, it added.

The lender said AI could significantly boost the weak growth performance of developing countries before the end of the 2020s while delivering tangible benefits to people.

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The report added that the opportunity is limited, noting that most developing economies still lack the power, internet access, data, skills and institutions needed to use AI effectively.

The report stated that, without deliberate action, AI could widen disparities between countries, increase inequality within them, concentrate market power, weaken trust in public institutions, and create new risks to safety, rights, and social cohesion.

The report outlines a clear three-stage approach: adopt available tools, tailor them to local circumstances, and gradually progress towards frontier AI development.