Telecom
FG Connects 111 Communities to Telephony Services at Igbo Olodumare
Dr Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology has commissioned one of the several Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) deployed across the South West region by Odu’atel through subsidies provided by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) at Igbo Olodumare in Ondo state.
Through the commissioning of the intervention and commissioning of the BTS, One Hundred and Eleven (111) communities with an estimated population of 664,500 people hitherto without communication were connected to telephony services.
Dr Johnson who made the first voice call at the commissioning reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring that unserved and underserved communities in Nigeria are connected to ICT services.
She disclosed that in the next implementation phase, the USPF plans to support the deployment of more than 200 BTS across the country. This will enable more than three hundred (300) Communities with an estimated population of I.65m have access to ICTs when the phase is completed.
The Federal Government of Nigeria established the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to facilitate extension of telecommunications services to underserved and unserved communities. The law establishing the USPF i.e. Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, empowers it to promote widespread availability and usage of network services throughout Nigeria by encouraging the installation of network facilities and the provision of network services to institutions and to unserved and underserved areas and groups in Nigeria.
Dr Johnson who is the Chairman of USPF disclosed that the USPF is initiating various programmes and projects to facilitate the deployment of ICT infrastructure and services which are designed to extend ICT and other telecommunications services to people living in rural areas, where Operators are unlikely to provide services.
One of the programmes according to Dr Johnson designed by the USPF to extend telecommunications services is AMPE (Accelerated Mobile Phone Expansion) Programme which ensures the extension of mobile telephony services to unserved and underserved communities. The AMPE Programme is implemented in collaboration with Network Operators.
The Base Transceiver Station (BTS) is one project under the AMPE Programme through which the USPF provides subsidies to Operators to extend telecommunications services to unserved communities.
Dr Johnson disclosed that while this contributes to the tremendous growth of the telecommunications industry witnessed in the last decade, the Federal Government, as part of the transformation agenda, would not lose focus on an estimated forty million (40m) Nigerians that still lack access to ICT services.
She disclosed that in order to strategically address the ICT needs of these people, the USPF has, based on a Geographical Information System (GIS) study, created ICT Gap Clusters of areas that are unserved or underserved. Each Cluster has the requisite attributes – population estimates, size, major towns, main economic activities/occupation, institutions, vegetation type etc. that would assist USPF in designing projects that address peculiar ICT needs of each community.
In addition, Operators/Implementers would utilize the information in creating the appropriate service-mix for each Cluster.
The ICT Gap clusters is an innovative way of ensuring that all communities benefit from the immense opportunities that ICT brings and are able to effectively participate in the new digital economy. Through the utilization of the ICT Gap Cluster model, the USPF plans to ensure that universal coverage is achieved in the next two – three years.
The Minister thanked members of the communities where the BTSs are located for cooperating with the Implementers during the deployment phase.
She urged the people to protect telecommunications installations located in their communities as vandalism of such ICT infrastructure would result to lack of services, most of which are critical to business and every day activities.
In his remarks, Abdullahi Maikano, secretary USPF, said that the commissioned Base Transceiver Station (BTS) is amongst the very many initiatives of Universal Service Provision Fund towards supporting the transformation agenda of government, though the extension of telecommunications services to rural and underserved areas across the country.
He emphasized that the BTS projects are being implemented in collaboration with licensed Operators in order to ensure sustainability of the services, so that the people for whom the facilities are provided will continue to enjoy uninterrupted services.
He pledged that the USPF will continue to remain in the forefront in executing government’s Policy on Universal Access and Universal Service to ensure equitable socio-economic development of the country.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that it was strengthening collaboration with state governments and industry players to develop a transparent, cost-based pricing framework for sharing telecom ducts as part of efforts to speed up broadband expansion across Nigeria.
Ayuba Shuaibu, director of Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis, NCC, disclosed this at the Stakeholders’ Forum in Abuja.
Shuaibu said the initiative was designed to build consensus among all parties.
“The primary purpose of this forum is to ensure seamless synergy between the Commission and all stakeholders,” he said.
The director said the consultation was prompted by longstanding complaints over permits, levies and other charges imposed by different levels of government.
He said bringing together state commissioners, telecom operators, tower companies and representatives of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum had helped improve understanding of the issues.
“This engagement is a work in progress. We expect more input from stakeholders before presenting the outcome to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum,” he added.
Dr Helen Adeneye, commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Kogi State. welcomed the consultation, saying Nigeria needs a harmonised policy that clearly defines the responsibilities of both the federal and state governments.
“We need a harmonised policy that allows states to collaborate better with telecom operators and creates a more business-friendly environment,” she said.
Dr Adeneye added that adopting the Dig-Once policy would establish a uniform pricing system and help resolve disputes over charges for telecom infrastructure deployment.
Chidi Ajuzie, chief executive officer, WTES Projects Limited, whose firm is conducting the consultancy study, said the proposed framework would introduce a common cost structure for duct sharing to support broadband investment and economic growth.
“The study is designed to create a uniform pricing model that will drive broadband growth, economic development and wider adoption across the country,” he said.
Ajuzie explained that the consultants had developed preliminary floor and ceiling prices to guide operators while allowing flexibility within the approved range.
He added that the recommendations remain open to industry input before the NCC finalises the framework.
The Dig-Once Policy is designed to reduce the cost and disruption of deploying broadband infrastructure by requiring fibre ducts to be installed whenever roads are constructed or rehabilitated.
The NCC is developing a cost-based pricing framework for sharing these ducts to promote fair pricing, reduce duplication of infrastructure and encourage investment.
The proposed model is expected to support the Federal Government’s broadband expansion targets while improving collaboration between telecom operators and state governments.
Meta is rolling out Muse Image, the companyʼs first image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, now available in Meta AI . Muse Spark made Meta AI a smarter assistant; now, Muse Image acts as the creative partner that knows your world, making it easy to turn your ideas into high-quality visuals that you can download and share anywhere, including directly to your feed, story, or chat.
The model also powers new creative tools across Metaʼs apps. You can use more than 30 new AI-powered effects for Instagram Stories and generate images in your direct chats with Meta AI on WhatsApp — starting in limited countries with more locations on the way.
Simple Prompts, High-Quality Outputs
Whether you’re starting from scratch or working with an existing photo, you can describe what you want in simple, conversational language, and Meta AI handles the rest thanks to Muse Image. Ask it to mock up an image of you in front of a historical landmark, cleanly erase a photobomber from the background of a shot, or write a custom prompt to build a functional QR code. It will also render text cleanly inside your visuals, meaning you can ask for a how-to guide or a detailed infographic on a specific subject, and the text comes out legible and styled to match.
Suggested Presets to Help You Get Started
Sometimes the hardest part of creating is getting started. Meta AI now includes a presets panel with suggested prompts to help inspire you. One tap restores an old family photo, lets you see yourself with trending hairstyles, or reimagines you as a claymation character or a 16-bit video game hero. Whatever you create, itʼs easy to share with friends across Metaʼs apps so they can try the same preset on their own photos.
Shop Your Room Redesigns
You can also snap a photo of your room and ask Meta AI to redesign it with real products from the web or Facebook Marketplace. Suggest a style you love or ask Meta AI to pull from whatʼs trending to see what your space looks like with a full makeover.
An Intelligent Creative Partner
Muse Image doesn’t just build an image; it thinks through your prompt first. By pairing up with Muse Spark, the model takes multiple steps behind the scenes — planning its layout, looking up real-time web context, and intelligently blending multiple visual references at once. Whether you want to place your pet in a famous painting or combine a selfie with a vacation photo to create a custom postcard, Meta AI handles the complex reasoning for you so the final visual matches your vision perfectly.
Rooted in Your World
You can also @-mention Instagram accounts in the Meta AI app to bring specific Instagram profiles right into your images. Whether you want to design a custom event invitation, mock up a collaborative creative concept, or generate a personalized graphic, tagging a username lets Meta AI use public photos to build a visual thatʼs ready to post. You have control over how your content can be tagged for AI creation with an easy setting to turn this feature off at any time.
Edit Directly on the Photo
To make a change, just tap the markup icon on your creation to circle, sketch, or annotate edits right on top of the photo. Since Meta AI remembers the full context of your conversation, you can keep refining by swapping styles, adding elements, or tweaking details — all without starting from scratch.
Whatʼs Next
Soon, Meta will bring Muse Image to more countries and the places where people use Meta AI, including Facebook and Messenger, and additional surfaces on Instagram and WhatsApp. In the coming weeks, advertisers and agencies will be able to tap into Muse Image through Advantage+ creative.
Using Meta AI with Muse Image is free for everyday creation. For people who want to create even more, itʼs available as part of Metaʼs subscription plans.
Images are just the beginning. With Muse Video already in development, Meta is building entirely new ways for you to bring your ideas to life, getting one step closer to personal superintelligence.
Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a pan-African digital rights and inclusion organisation, says it has engaged more than 1,300 stakeholders across 11 African countries through a series of forums, training sessions and policy dialogues aimed at strengthening digital rights, inclusion and online civic participation.
The organisation disclosed this in a statement, saying the engagements were carried out during the second quarter of the year through 26 programmes focused on election monitoring, judicial capacity building, digital literacy and policy development.
According to PIN, the initiative brought together policymakers, judges, lawyers, journalists, civil society organisations and community groups to promote a safer, more inclusive digital ecosystem across the continent.
The organisation said the programmes focused on safeguarding electoral integrity in Zambia, The Gambia and Ethiopia, while also strengthening the capacity of Nigeria’s judiciary on issues relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI), data privacy and digital evidence.
In partnership with Meta, PIN trained 35 judges in Lagos across two cohorts on privacy, data protection, AI and digital evidence.
It described the initiative as a significant step towards equipping Nigeria’s judicial officers to effectively handle legal disputes arising from an increasingly digital society.
The organisation also expanded its Digital Rights and Elections in Africa Meetings (DREAM) to Ethiopia, The Gambia and Zambia.
According to the statement, the programme equipped 110 civil society organisations, media professionals and election management bodies with skills to monitor digital rights violations and protect online civic spaces during election periods.
PIN further said its Digital Rights Academy (DRA) trained more than 100 lawyers, law students and digital rights advocates from Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The academy focused on strengthening participants’ capacity in strategic litigation and promoting accountability for digital rights violations.
The organisation also hosted a Digital Policy Engagement Roundtable, bringing together 34 stakeholders, including organisations representing persons with disabilities, to discuss accessibility and inclusion in digital policy development.
It said Afrocities roundtables held in Nigeria and Tanzania attracted 80 participants who explored ways of improving informal workers’ access to digital social protection and financial services.
According to the statement, a ministerial roundtable in Zambia also aligned the country’s digital priorities with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) review process.
PIN said it also implemented the Digital Rights and Inclusion Board Learning Experience (DRIBLE) Ambassadors Training in Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal.
The programme reached 315 participants and strengthened their capacity to deliver digital rights education through experiential learning approaches.
The organisation said the training improved participants’ understanding of digital rights and increased interest in practical digital rights education across communities.
PIN also highlighted the successful hosting of the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum 2026 (DRIF26) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The forum, themed “Building Inclusive and Resilient Digital Futures”, attracted 415 participants from more than 39 countries.
According to the organisation, the event brought together policymakers, civil society organisations, media professionals, academics, legal experts, technologists, human rights defenders and development partners to promote dialogue, partnerships and knowledge sharing on Africa’s digital future.
PIN said the engagements underscored the growing importance of collaborative efforts in advancing digital rights, promoting inclusion and strengthening digital governance across the continent
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