Broadcasting
Honeywell Flour Mills Plc: A 12 Month Glance Into The Nigerian Food Manufacturing Sector
By Arike Willoughby
Nigeria’s 200 million estimated population provides huge opportunities for food supply. However, the supply is limited by low productivity in the agriculture sector despite the sector contributing 24% of the country’s GDP.
According to PwC, the agricultural sector, which includes food manufacturing, faces the following issues: lack of access to finance, shortage in the supply of inputs, conflict and insecurity, outdated methods of agriculture, and so on.
Another factor responsible for the demand-supply disparity rests upon Nigeria’s infrastructure limitations, all of which contribute to the increased cost of production. It is also a result of the global oil price instability and the general effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains and spending power.
But these challenges notwithstanding, there are a few foods manufacturing companies that have weathered the storm and produced remarkable results in the past year. One of such is Honeywell Flour Mills Plc.
The pandemic has significantly changed consumer spending and eating habits. People now rely more on foods that are easy to cook and have longer shelf life. This made it even more expedient for food manufacturers like Honeywell Flour Mills Plc that produce high quality, nutritious staple food products to step into the gap and meet the feeding needs of Nigerians.
In its FY 2021, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc reported the highest-ever revenue in its 23-year history, despite the manner in which the pandemic impacted businesses and the many challenges facing the food manufacturing sector, as discussed above. With revenue of ₦109.5 billion, the company joined the centurion club, an exclusive list of Nigerian companies that have generated over ₦100 billion in annual revenue. This new record represented a 36% increase in revenue for Honeywell, up from the ₦80.4 billion it generated in 2020. The performance was underpinned by initiatives focused on driving customer loyalty, product differentiation, and improving operational efficiency.
Another major contributor to the company’s FY 2021 performance and growth was its increased production capacity. For instance, its over two-year-old pasta factory in Sagamu, Ogun State boosted production capacity with 138,600 metric tonnes of pasta, injecting over ₦19 billion to the company’s revenue figures. Its factories in Apapa and Ikeja also contributed ₦90.5 billion to this growth.
Altogether, this increase in production capacity also meant that the factories could employ more people, a much-needed value addition during trying times. Employing more people also meant that Honeywell directly contributed to the welfare of several families, making it easier for parents to keep food on the table while working in healthy and safe conditions.
However, companies like Honeywell and others within the food manufacturing sector still must battle the effects of the increased cost of production, which is inevitably reflected in food prices. In recent weeks, the conversations around the rising cost of food items in the market have become more prominent. A recent report by the World Bank in Nigeria shows that food prices accounted for over 60% of the total increase in Nigeria’s inflation rate. This contributed to pushing seven million Nigerians below the poverty line in 2020 alone.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. As both the public and private sectors further invest in agricultural and food manufacturing policies and practices, with more significant and deliberate efforts to improve the value chain, and with a commitment to reduce Nigeria’s import-dependency, things will only get better. If one company can optimise its operations so well that it turns out a significant profit in spite of a pandemic, there’s so much more that can happen when we have more human resources, better government policies and more capital investments from the private sector at play.
By Arike Willoughby is a writer and journalist living in Ikeja, Lagos.
More than 100 channels have signed on to broadcast free-to-air digital content under Nigeria’s Digital Switchover (DSO) programme, marking a major milestone in the country’s transition to digital broadcasting.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, saying the development followed the unveiling of FreeTV, a free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) national platform supported by satellite and Internet Protocol (IP) delivery.
According to the commission, the platform offers a broad mix of content targeted at Nigerian households.
It said the channel line-up includes 14 news and current affairs stations, 15 general entertainment channels, six kids and family channels, two lifestyle and talk shows, three music and entertainment channels, one business and finance station, and five movie channels.
The commission added that 57 of the channels are already live and accessible through the FreeTV app and the NigSat satellite platform.
It advised viewers to download the FreeTV application from Google Play Store to access the services.
Director-General of NBC, Charles Ebuebu, said the initiative would improve television access and viewing quality for Nigerians.
“We will deliver digital TV with clearer pictures, more free channels, and opportunities for every family.
“It is one simple change for a better future,” he said.
Ebuebu noted that with over 100 stations onboard and a satellite-led strategy, Nigeria’s digital migration was making significant progress.
The DSO project was launched in 2008 following the Geneva 2006 Agreement (GE06) as part of efforts to modernise the nation’s broadcasting ecosystem.
Its objectives include improving picture and sound quality, freeing up spectrum space for broadband development, and supporting Nigeria’s creative industry.
The commission acknowledged that the project had faced delays despite its official launch in 2016 and an earlier pilot phase in Jos.
It said nationwide implementation had remained slow due to infrastructural and logistical challenges.
According to NBC, a major turnaround came after President Bola Tinubu approved a N10 billion intervention fund in August 2024 to accelerate the project.
The commission said the funding enabled the adoption of a new satellite-first model under a partnership between NBC and the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).
The strategy replaces the earlier terrestrial tower-heavy rollout with direct satellite broadcasting using the NigComSat-1R satellite.
“This technological leap is expected to accelerate nationwide rollout by over 65 per cent while avoiding infrastructure bottlenecks,” Ebuebu said.
He added that about 10 million Nigerian households already own satellite-ready televisions or DVB-S2 set-top boxes and can immediately access the channels.
For households without compatible devices, NBC said hybrid set-top boxes combining satellite reception and internet streaming would be introduced.
The commission added that the DSO initiative would also support local content creation, with 40 per cent of channel slots allocated to independent and regional producers.
It said plans were also underway for local production of five million set-top boxes annually, a move expected to generate more than 20,000 jobs.
Music streaming platform Spotify has introduced a new verification system, “Verified by Spotify,” to help users identify authentic human artists and distinguish them from AI-generated music content.
Spotify
The company disclosed that the new verification badge, represented by a green checkmark on artist profiles and search results, would be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Spotify said only artists who meet specific authenticity requirements would qualify for verification.
According to the company, eligibility criteria include consistent listener engagement, compliance with platform policies, and proof of an active presence beyond the platform, such as live performances or verified social media activity.
“In the AI era, it is more important than ever to be able to trust the authenticity of the music you listen to,” Spotify said in a statement.
The company added that more than 99 per cent of artists actively searched by users are expected to be verified at launch, covering hundreds of thousands of musicians across multiple genres and regions.
Spotify’s move comes amid a rapid rise in AI-generated music on streaming services.
Music platform Deezer recently reported that approximately 44 per cent of daily uploads on its platform are fully AI-generated, while Apple Music has also recorded growing uploads created using artificial intelligence tools.
Spotify stated that profiles primarily dedicated to AI-generated music or virtual personas would not be eligible for the verification badge.
The company said the policy forms part of broader efforts to improve transparency and build user trust on the platform.
In addition to the verification badge, Spotify is also rolling out expanded profile details for all artists, including release history, touring activity, and career milestones.
The company described the feature as similar to “nutrition facts” for music, offering listeners clearer insight into an artist’s background and credibility.
Spotify noted that the initiative is part of wider measures to address growing concerns around AI in the music industry, including impersonation, spam uploads, and reduced visibility for human creators.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) have jointly sued the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) over what they described as an “arbitrary, unconstitutional, and unlawful” threat to sanction broadcast stations and presenters.
The development was disclosed in a Sunday statement signed by Kolawole Oluwadare, deputy director, and Onuoha Ukeh, general secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
According to the statement, SERAP and NGE challenged a recent directive by NBC, warning presenters and journalists against “expressing personal opinions as facts,” “bullying or intimidating guests,” and failing to maintain neutrality.
The statement reads, “SERAP and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) have filed a lawsuit against the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) over the arbitrary, unconstitutional, and unlawful ‘Formal Notice’, which threatens to sanction broadcast stations and presenters for allegedly ‘expressing personal opinions as facts, bullying or intimidating guests, or failing to maintain neutrality.’
“The NBC had recently threatened to sanction broadcast stations and presenters who ‘express personal opinions as facts’ or ‘bully and intimidate guests,’ claiming it had ‘identified a sustained increase in breaches of the 6th Edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code across news, current affairs, and political programmes.’”
In the suit marked FHC/L/CS/854/2026 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos State, SERAP and NGE asked the court to determine whether the various provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code relied upon by the NBC in the directive are inconsistent with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) and the country’s international human rights obligations.
According to the statement, the groups disclosed that Femi Falana (SAN), human rights lawyer, would lead a team of senior lawyers to represent SERAP and NGE in the lawsuit.
SERAP and NGE asked the court to declare that the provisions of the 6th Edition of the Broadcasting Code used by the NBC are vague and constitute a fundamental breach of press freedom guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights standards.
The statement added, “SERAP and NGE are asking the court for a declaration that the provisions of the 6th Edition of the Broadcasting Code used by the NBC are vague and overly broad and constitute a fundamental breach of freedom of expression and media freedom guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights standards.”
The groups also sought an interim injunction to restrain the NBC, its agents and other authorities from imposing sanctions on broadcast stations and presenters based on what they described as “unlawful provisions of the 6th Edition of the Broadcasting Code”, pending the hearing and determination of the motion.
“SERAP and NGE are also seeking an order of interim injunction restraining the NBC, its agents or privies, whether jointly or severally or any other authority, from imposing sanctions on broadcast stations and presenters based on the patently unlawful provisions of the 6th Edition of the Broadcasting Code, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed simultaneously in this suit,” the statement concluded.
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