Telecom
Nnamani calls for Deliberate Moves Towards AI Regulation, Data Center Growth
The need to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an ethical solution has been highlighted by the Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty, Nigeria, Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani.
L-R: Mr.Chike Onwuegbuchi, Chairman,Nigerian Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), Engr.Ike Nnamani, CEO, Digital Reality, Mrs.Chioma Ezike, Treasurer of NITRA and Mr.Chidiebere Nwankwo,Secretary general of NITRA during a courtesy visit to Digital Reality head office in Lagos.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA) as a fall out of the Association’s ICT Growth Conference with the theme “Impact of AI On National Development: Prospects, Policies, and Challenges in Nigeria”, Nnamani noted that people developing ethical solutions for AI are few compared to people producing non-ethical solutions, but have come to take advantage and make money.
Nnamani explained that this trend is not peculiar to Nigeria, but also the reason most developed countries are seeking ways to regulate AI as soon as possible.
“Even the U.S. have a major effort, both in their congress as well as the Executive, to ensure there is work being done on AI Safety and Best Practices, reason being that some companies or individuals are only looking at AI from the value it adds to them, without thinking of what the consequence for any value is. One start looking at it from an ethical standpoint
U.S. and every other country, their governments are actively involved in creating the right policy, to be sure that it is not abused. But more importantly, to be sure they are able to answer it well.”
While applauding the regulators, he said that on the side of regulation in Nigeria, it is a work in progress. “I don’t even see it is a problem or challenge because to the best on my knowledge AI has not gone too far in its adoption in Nigeria. That means our government, across all areas, need to look back and ask; is there any potential harm from this service or technology? How do we mitigate it? What do we do to stop that harm? And these are things they are doing now by asking people to check things, just to be sure that whatever applications you are running, you are running it ethically.”
Nnamani however allayed fears of unnecessary job less, noting that the advent of AI will further drive up-skilling of Nigerians. “Some have said AI will take jobs away. So, should we stop? Truth is that it is not AI taking anybody’s job away, it is just a case of people needing to be re-trained and find out how to use AI for better efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Also speaking on the state of Data Centers in Nigeria, Nnamani noted that although Nigeria have increased the number of Data Centers operational in the country in the past few years, it is not yet enough to take care of its bourgeoning data and digital economy.
“Some report that was published some years back indicated that Nigeria, as at now, should have at least 600 megawatts of IT load, giving the size of our economy, population, GDP, and what it should be if we are a truly digital economy.
“Today we have about 30 megawatts. So, you can see the percentage of what we have compared to what we need to have. That is even in terms of the size of IT load which is a matrix we use.
“Now in terms of quantity, for instance, if you go to a city like Toronto, last time I checked there were over 30 Data Centers in that city.
The reality is that we have not started, we are not even anywhere close to starting, if we really understand what needs to be done to have a truly digital economy.”
He observed that the Data Center sub-sector needs a lot of people with foresight to draw investors and put up infrastructure.
“And then, of course, from the government side, it requires a lot of support. Not just from regulation as a means to extracting income to the regulators, but regulation as actually a way of growth for that industry.
“Luckily we have very good regulators who understand this part of the telecom industry, so they are as supportive as can be, but we still need a lot. All these must come together for us to see a fully digital economy, which I believe is the goal of everybody,” he said.
“In Lagos, for instance, there is a lot of progress in the build-out of this infrastructure, but you hardly see much in every other State. So there is still a lot of work that still need to be done.
“There are still some cross-city service that still need to be run for the overall growth of the economy and social wellbeing of the people that the infrastructure still do not exist,” he said.
Nnamani listed some of the key challenges facing Data Center operation in Nigeria to include Power and FOREX, which he said the Federal Government should do good to tackle.
“The truth is that doing business in Nigeria is challenging. Everybody knows that. And the biggest challenge, probably, is FOREX. Initially, having access to FOREX was the issue.
“But for us that have access to FOREX, it is how is the FOREX trending? And does it create a measure of stability for you to be able to make business projections.
Look at power, for instance. Power that you assume should be available to you if you are a business person, you pay for the power and it won’t be delivered,” he concluded.
The NITRA ICT Growth Conference gathered industry stakeholders to discuss the way forward in the deployment and use of AI in the system.
Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has named the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) among the top three Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government with the Best Ranking in Website Performance for 2025.
L-R: Head Special Projects, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Salamatu Andu; Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Engr. Abaraham Oshadame; Director General Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Head Customer Support Service, Galaxy Backbone, Rosemary Ehize; Secretary to the ES. Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Tahir Aminu at the BPSR award ceremony for top four MDAs in BPSR Website Performance and Ranking 2025 at the BPSR office on Tuesday, 23rd December, 2025.
This is coming barely three weeks after the telecom regulator was recognized as one of the top five best-performing Federal Government agencies for 2025 by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) – a testament to the Commission’s consistency in investment in technology for ensuring efficient service delivery.
In the BPSR 2024/2025 scorecard ranking of agencies’ websites, the NCC came second in the ranking, trailing behind Galaxy Backbone Limited, which came first while the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) clinched the third position, from a pool of 235 MDAs, whose website were evaluated.
BPSR deployed 14 evaluation criteria in include MDA’s website compliance with .gov.ng domain name, appearance and aesthetics (look and feel) of the website, content, relevance to MDAs mandate/government policy and the website’ structure.
Others include website’s responsiveness (device compatibility), security, load time, usability/ease of navigation, availability/uptime, functionality, interactivity, accessibility and capacity building.
The recognition was announced at the official release of Federal Government 2024/2025 Scorecard Ranking for MDAs’ Website held at the Federal Ministry of Finance Auditorium in Abuja on Monday (December 22, 2025) while the award presentation took place at BPSR’s Office on Tuesday (December 23, 2025).
The award, which is an important index metric of the National e-Government Masterplan for determining the Nigeria e-Government Status, was received by the Commission in recognition of its commitment to maintaining a world-class website that enhances service delivery to the citizens.
Receiving the award on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, the NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Abraham Oshadami, appreciated the BPSR for the recognition, describing the award as “another encouragement for the Commission to be a better public service institution leveraging digital platforms such as our web presence to enhance public service delivery to our various stakeholders, thereby implementing the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business policy direction.”
While presenting the award to the NCC, alongside other two agencies, BPSR’s Director-General, Mr. Dasuki Arabi, commended the top three for their proactive decisions in maintaining world-class websites, which are compliant with the Federal Government’s policy direction in effective and efficient service delivery to the citizens.
According to the DG, the 2024/2025 MDA’s websites’ ranking represents a collective effort of federal public institutions in Nigeria to be transparent, accountable and open in governance, as well as a confirmation to align with global best practices in service delivery to the citizens.
Developed about six years ago, Arabi said as a result of the annual ranking, more public institutions have indicated readiness to embrace reforms, and align with the policy direction of the current administration’s Renewed Hope agenda on improve governance for effective service delivery, as introduced by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The ideals of harnessing and deploying technological tools for service delivery has become imperative following the COVID pandemic, and distortions of socio-economic system of nations, culminating in the evolution of competitiveness, cost effectiveness, and agile governance.
“As engine room of governance, it behoves on us in the public service to perform our statutory duties and we must put in place technological innovations and standardized websites to operate services as well as deliver service needs to citizens,” he said.
The Scorecard exercise, he said, is part of the BPSR reform broader function of conducting research on reform implementation efforts and presenting ‘best practice’ models to the entire Public Service, and to among others, improve access to government information, facilitate seamless financial transaction, eliminate corruption and cyber theft, as well as facilitate access to government services.
Speaking on the rigorous nature of the exercise that produced the top three winners, the DG said “in the past few weeks members of the Scorecard Jury drawn from inter-Ministerial Agencies, had worked tirelessly to mill websites of selected MDAs through a rigorous process of enduring criteria for the ranking and the outcome had also passed through a quality assurance mechanism to validate the outcome.”
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has dismissed reports that bank accounts not linked to a Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be frozen or automatically debited from January 1, 2026.
Taiwo Oyedele
Oyedele described the claims as false and misleading, warning Nigerians against panic over misinformation surrounding recent tax and financial reforms.
In a post on his X handle Tuesday morning, he wrote: “Don’t let anyone manipulate you. Your bank account is safe. Misinformation makes you panic and fear a reform that is designed to help you.
“When they tell you that your account will be frozen or automatically debited from January 2026, ask them for the evidence in the new law. Be wise.”
He stressed that no provision in the new tax laws authorises the freezing of bank accounts, adding that the rumours are part of widespread misrepresentation of the reforms.
The committee chairman reiterated that the reforms are intended to simplify Nigeria’s tax system and ease the burden on ordinary citizens, not to impose punitive measures on bank customers.
US tech giant, Amazon has disclosed that it blocked more than 1,800 North Koreans from applying for jobs, amid growing concerns that Pyongyang is deploying large numbers of IT workers overseas to earn and launder funds.
Amazon
In a LinkedIn post, Amazon’s Chief Security Officer, Stephen Schmidt, said North Korean nationals have been attempting to secure remote IT roles with companies around the world, particularly in the United States.
He noted that the company recorded nearly a one-third increase in such applications over the past year.
According to Schmidt, many of the applicants operate through so-called “laptop farms” — computers physically located in the US but remotely controlled from abroad.
He warned that the issue is not unique to Amazon and is likely occurring at scale across the tech industry.
He added that common red flags include incorrectly formatted phone numbers and questionable academic credentials.
The issue has previously drawn the attention of US authorities. In July, a woman in Arizona was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for running a laptop farm that helped North Korean IT workers obtain remote jobs at more than 300 US companies.
Officials said the scheme generated over $17 million in revenue for both the woman and North Korea.
Last year, South Korea’s intelligence agency also warned that North Korean operatives were using LinkedIn to pose as recruiters, approaching South Koreans working at defence companies in an attempt to steal sensitive technological information.
“North Korea is actively training cyber personnel and infiltrating key locations worldwide,” Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.
He added that, given Amazon’s business model, the motivation behind such operations is largely economic, with a high likelihood of attempts to steal financial assets.
North Korea’s cyber warfare programme dates back to at least the mid-1990s and has since expanded into a cyber unit of about 6,000 personnel known as Bureau 121, according to a 2020 US military report.
In November, Washington announced sanctions against eight individuals accused of being state-sponsored hackers, alleging their illicit activities were carried out to fund North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
The US Treasury has also accused North Korea-linked cybercriminals of stealing more than $3 billion over the past three years, primarily through cryptocurrency-related crimes.
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