Naanlong Daniel Gapyil has emerged winner of the All Progressives Congress House of Assembly primary election for the Mikang State Constituency ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Gapyil secured a total of 5,606 votes to defeat his closest rival, Tindi Nkat, who polled 1,201 votes in the exercise.
The result was announced shortly after the conclusion of the primary election by the Returning Officer, Muhammad Auwal Hamza.
With the victory, the incumbent Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly is expected to fly the APC flag for the Mikang State Constituency seat in the 2027 elections.
The primary election in Mikang Local Government Area attracted significant political attention following earlier controversies and allegations surrounding the conduct of the exercise in some wards.
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—AIICO Insurance Plc has been named Insurance Company of the Year 2026 at the Nairametrics Capital Market Awards, a recognition that underscores the company’s strong financial performance, sustained growth, and commitment to delivering value to shareholders.
The award, presented during the second edition of the Nairametrics Capital Market Awards, honours insurance companies that have demonstrated excellence across key performance indicators, including profitability, premium growth, return on equity, claims efficiency, and market share expansion.
According to Nairametrics, the selection process was guided by a comprehensive evaluation framework designed to assess financial strength, operational efficiency, and long-term value creation. AIICO emerged as the leading performer among its peers, reflecting its ability to maintain growth momentum while navigating an increasingly competitive operating environment.
The recognition highlights AIICO’s consistent execution of strategic initiatives aimed at strengthening its market position and enhancing customer value. With more than six decades of operations, the company has continued to adapt to evolving industry dynamics while maintaining a strong focus on innovation, operational excellence, and customer relevance.
A significant milestone in the company’s transformation journey was the unveiling of its refreshed brand identity in December 2025. The rebranding marked a strategic move to modernise AIICO’s image and strengthen its appeal among younger consumers, while reinforcing the trust and confidence it has built with existing customers over the years.
Since the launch of the new identity, AIICO has increased its visibility across traditional and digital channels, supporting broader efforts to deepen customer engagement and reinforce its leadership position within Nigeria’s insurance sector.
The award comes at a time when the industry is facing heightened competition, evolving customer expectations, and increased regulatory scrutiny. AIICO’s strong showing across the award’s assessment criteria demonstrates its ability to balance profitability with operational efficiency while delivering sustainable value to stakeholders.
Held on June 5, 2026, at the Civic Centre in Lagos, the Nairametrics Capital Market Awards brought together regulators, investors, policymakers, and corporate leaders to celebrate organisations contributing to the growth and development of Nigeria’s capital market ecosystem.
For AIICO, the latest recognition adds to a growing list of industry accolades and reinforces its reputation as one of Nigeria’s most resilient and forward-looking insurance institutions, committed to driving innovation and creating long-term value in the financial services sector.
Nigeria’s data centre market, valued at approximately $288 million in 2025, is projected to exceed $1 billion by 2031, according to industry analysis.
Operators are rapidly expanding colocation and cloud capacity in Lagos and other urban hubs, betting not just on today’s demand but on the emergence of one of the world’s largest digital economies over the next three decades.
While often framed as a technology story, the country’s data centre expansion is fundamentally a demographics story. Africa’s largest economy is already home to more than 240 million people, and United Nations projections indicate the population could surpass 400 million by 2050, making Nigeria the world’s third most populous nation after India and China.
What makes this trajectory especially significant for investors is not just population size, but age and digital profile. Nigeria remains one of the youngest countries globally, with a median age of around 18 years, while internet penetration has surpassed 50%. This combination is creating a rapidly expanding base of mobile-first consumers entering the digital economy each year.
Nigeria’s data centre market, valued at approximately $288 million in 2025, is projected to exceed $1 billion by 2031, according to industry analysis. Image credit: Image FX.
What makes this trajectory especially significant for investors is not just population size, but age and digital profile. Nigeria remains one of the youngest countries globally, with a median age of around 18 years, while internet penetration has surpassed 50%. This combination is creating a rapidly expanding base of mobile-first consumers entering the digital economy each year.
This dynamic is fundamentally reshaping the long-term case for digital infrastructure investment. Investors are positioning for what Nigeria could become over the next two decades: one of the world’s largest digital populations, with rising demand for cloud computing, AI-enabled services, fintech platforms, streaming content, enterprise software, and sovereign data storage.
Data centre: Major players scale up infrastructure
Major operators including Equinix, MTN, Rack Center, and Open Access Data Centers are scaling infrastructure to capture what they see as long-term structural growth rather than a short-term market cycle.
In 2025, MTN announced a more than $240 million investment into a new Lagos data facility designed to support AI and cloud demand. Recent reports suggest nearly $1 billion in broader data centre investments flowing into Nigeria as companies race to expand cloud and AI infrastructure capacity.
Much of the optimism rests on the belief that Nigeria’s digital consumption curve is still in its early stages:
Fintech adoption continues to accelerate across the country
Streaming platforms are expanding local content distribution
Enterprise cloud migration remains relatively underpenetrated compared to more mature markets
At the same time, artificial intelligence is expected to dramatically increase computing and storage requirements globally, creating additional incentives to localise infrastructure closer to end users. For Nigeria, data localisation and sovereign storage are becoming increasingly strategic as governments and businesses seek greater control over where critical information is processed and stored.
Data centre: Energy remains the key challenge
Still, the opportunity comes with significant challenges. Reliable electricity supply remains one of the biggest constraints on large-scale data centre expansion in Nigeria, where operators often rely heavily on backup generation and hybrid power systems.
Connectivity improvements, regulatory clarity, and long-term energy availability will all play critical roles in determining how quickly infrastructure deployment can scale.
“Data centres are becoming critical infrastructure for Africa’s economic future, but none of this growth happens without energy,” NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, said. “Countries like Nigeria are seeing rising demand because of demographics, connectivity and digital adoption, but investors also need confidence that long-term power supply can support that expansion.”
A scale opportunity few markets can match
Nigeria’s population growth alone does not guarantee digital infrastructure success. However, when combined with rising internet penetration, fintech adoption, cloud usage, and AI-driven computing demand, it creates a scale opportunity few emerging markets can match. Investors are looking beyond today’s market to the scale Nigeria’s digital economy could reach by 2031 and beyond.
Key data points summary
| Nigeria’s current population | 240+ million |
| Projected population by 2050 | 400+ million (3rd globally) |
| Median age | ~18 years |
| Internet penetration | 50%+ |
| Data centre market value (2025) | ~$288 million |
| Projected market value (2031) | $1+ billion |
| MTN Lagos facility investment | $240+ million |
| Broader industry investment pipeline | ~$1 billion |
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