Telecom
Stakeholders Seek Increased Adoption of IT in Governance
Information and Communications Technology stakeholders have urged Lagos State Government to increased adoption of Information Technology in its governance.
They made this call at the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) Lagos 2019 Stakeholders Forum held in Lagos on Wednesday.
The theme of the event was ‘NCS @ 40: NCS Lagos Roadmap in the next Dispensation’.
Speaking at the event, Mr Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, Managing Director, Infographics, said that in order to build Lagos of our dream, there is need to build the capacity of the people, who will in turn build the mega city that we desired.
According to him, everything today is digital and so the need to ensure that the country’s capable hands in many fields do not leave the country.
“Our software people are leaving the country and this is so because they become instantly in demand and our local companies cannot afford to pay for them.
“There is need to rapidly scale the capacity of the state to produce the human capital that is needed to push the state forward”.
Mba-Uzoukwu, said that as regards the educational sector, there should be huge deployment of broadband and creation of local cloud that would enable the sector to go to the next level.
He added that broad partnership with private sector would help in the development of educational sector in the country.
He noted that the only way to grow technology was to grow the NCS and the Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria, urging that all ICT projects should be given to registered members of these bodies so as to enable them monitor their performance and apply sanctions where necessary.
Dr Charles Onyeukwu, Managing Director, ETO Investment said that transport was a big issue in the state and if not well managed would affect productivity.
According to him, if there were adequate lagbuses, people will gladly pack their cars and join the buses to checkmate the constant gridlock on the roads.
“A partnership with NCS and CPN will ensure that local content is adopted in tackling the transport issue in the state,” he said.
Mr Bayo Atekoye, Managing Director, PowerSoft said that the state had the capacity to build rail system in the state but the issue is that there is no political will to make it happen.
He advised the state to use ICT to curb the menace of yellow buses by adopting e-ticketing system, noting that the failure of lagbus was their inability to adopt e-ticketing system.
Mr Bayero Agabi, Managing Director, DigiVation Network, said that there is need to make Lagos a digital hub in Africa, adding that to attain that we need to make Lagos a digital environment.
He also called on the state to massively embark on the catch them young system for children in order to ensure that they are part of the digital process.
Mr Rogba Adeoye, Member National Executive Council, NCS, said that the constant outflow of the countries experts was not good, adding that it would not drive the smart city that we are clamoring for.
He said that identity management would ensure that the state had a smart city, stressing that Lagos must take its prominence in data management, noting that identity management is important in making Lagos a smart city driven state in the country.
Dr Femi Hamzat , Deputy gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) said that if elected, they would address these issues raised by the stakeholders.
Hamzat who was the special guest of honour at the event stated that for Lagos state to attain the mega city status, it needs to leverage on the private sector participation.
He also said that if elected into government, they would set up an incubation centres where the youth would converge and come out with technological solutions that would aid the state in achieving the mega city initiative.
“As a city we need to first of all fix our home and this will come in form of training of the youths with the digital skills that will help them in the future.
“Lagos on its own has 518 tech startups and what we must do is to leverage private sector in building their capacity, using these startups solutions to try and tackle the challenges that are facing in the state,” he said.
He further noted that local content development is an integral component in achieving the smart city of our dreams.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have finalized a consumer protection framework to swiftly resolve complaints from failed airtime and data purchases caused by network outages, system errors, or user mistakes.
NCC, CBN
Developed after months of consultations with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Value Added Service (VAS) providers, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), and other stakeholders, the framework responds to surging reports of debits without service delivery and prolonged resolution delays.
It unites telecom and financial sectors by pinpointing root causes—like debits without service credits—and enforces a Service Level Agreement (SLA) defining roles for all parties in transactions and refunds.
Key provisions include refunds within 30 seconds for debited but undelivered airtime or data (extendable to 24 hours for pending cases), mandatory SMS notifications on transaction status, and remedies for errors such as recharges to ported numbers, wrong purchases, or misdirected transactions.
NCC Consumer Affairs Director, Mrs. Freda Bruce-Bennett, highlighted a new Central Monitoring Dashboard, co-hosted by NCC and CBN, for real-time tracking of failures, culprits, refunds, and SLA violations.
“Failed top-ups are among the top three consumer complaints. True to our mandate, we prioritized a rapid solution,” she stated.
Bruce-Bennett thanked stakeholders, especially CBN leadership, noting that MNOs and banks have already refunded over N10 billion pending formal approval.
Implementation begins March 1, 2026, following regulator approvals and technical integrations by MNOs, VAS providers, and DMBs.
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has announced the launch of an Inter-Agency Innovation Competition and Awards to stimulate creativity and technological advancement among Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.
NASENI
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, NASENI said the initiative was designed to harness innovative ideas from public servants that can drive indigenous industrialization, job creation and national progress.
According to the agency, the competition will provide a platform for MDAs to propose solutions in critical sectors such as health, agriculture, education and infrastructure, leveraging science and technology to improve public service delivery and enhance the quality of life for Nigerians.
“The competition seeks to promote collaboration and creativity among MDAs while addressing pressing national challenges through innovation,” the statement said.
NASENI urged interested MDAs to submit their entries through its innovation portal at naseni.gov.ng/innovation.
The agency reiterated its statutory mission “to develop and maintain a dynamic infrastructure to drive Nigeria’s indigenous industrialization, job creation and national progress,” adding that the competition would further strengthen efforts to unlock the nation’s potential through science and technology.
Users of satellite internet service provider Starlink in Nigeria are being required to complete a biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) process as a precondition to continue enjoying their services, according to .biometricupdate.
According to local reports, more than 66,000 Starlink subscribers in the country had a December 31 ultimatum from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to complete the biometric verification or have their connection discontinued.
The process essentially entails linking a Starlkink account with the subscriber’s national digital ID.
The NCC, which is Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator, is said to have first issued the directive in August last year, setting a three-month deadline which was to elapse on November 19, TechCabal reports.
The body however later extended it to December 31 after consultations with industry stakeholders. The internet account-NIN linkage, the NCC said, is to enhance identity verification and strengthen security within the country’s telecoms space.
Just a few days to the December 31 deadline, Starlink’s Nigeria office sent an email to its subscribers reminding them of the KYC requirement, and warned that all those who fail to comply would be disconnected.
And that once disconnected, reconnection would depend on network capacity in the concerned area.
The service provider said in its email that the process takes less than two minutes and users can complete it by logging in to their account via an app.
One user, quoted by TechCabal, said one needs to upload their selfie biometrics, provide their national identification number (NIN) and then give their consent for the account to be linked to their ID information.
Starlink’s internet service is present in about 155 countries with nine million users, as of 2025. Its growth in Nigeria is said to be rapid, making it the second largest internet service provider in the country, according to The Traffic.
Biometric identification for Starlink subscribers could become a continent-wide trend given that some countries have expressed reservations in opening up their internet space to the company over security concerns.
There’ve been fears that jihadists in countries like Mali and Nigeria may have exploited Starlink terminals to coordinate terror operations, and cybersecurity experts have also warned of risks related to weak regulation, digital sovereignty and data breaches.
The requirement for Starlink internet users to have their accounts linked with the NIN is similar to the SIM-NIN linkage policy which the Nigerian government battled to implement for many years, with many deadline extensions.
In October last year, the NCC, which is was at the forefront of the policy implementation, announced that all active SIM cards across all network providers had complied with the directive which was issued in 2020.
The idea, the federal government argued, was to strengthen security and curb criminality such as kidnappings which are aided and abetted by improperly identified mobile phone numbers.
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