General News
Affordable Smartphones, Tablets Answer to Broadband Penetration
Two recent polls by independent international ICT agencies have confirmed long held views that Nigerians are very resilient and are moving towards meeting global competitiveness inspite of government’s indifference towards upgrading the nation’s poor IT infrastructure. A survey by Zoomsphere shows that South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt top Africa’s LinkedIn subscription put at about 5.7 million. Statistics from the agency shows that there are lots of opportunities for growth for LinkedIn in the continent. LinkedIn statistics put figures from the countries on the professional social networking site as South Africa 1, 700, 672, Nigeria 656, 528 and Egypt 543, 699. Perhaps viewed against the backdrop of factors like literacy level and infrastructure adequacy, one would surmise that Nigeria was making giant strides in citizen education. At the 2011 Microsoft’s global Imagine Cup competition, Nigeria didn’t fare as much as Egypt and that despite the latter’s social upheaval that led to deposition of long term president Hosni Mubarak. In an earlier survey by Alexa.com, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria also topped the continent’s facebook user account. Egypt registered 9 million users on the social networking site which continues to be a favourite in Africa. South Africa ranks second with 4.8 million users and Nigeria 4.3 million. But it is evident that with the mobile broadband explosion in the country, it is just a matter of time before Nigeria overtakes both nations using its huge population advantage as evidence in the mobile phone revolution. According to Alexa.com 3.2 million Users in these three countries were added to their combined 18.1 million in the last six months alone. Nigeria faces huge infrastructure challenge including public power supply, broadband penetration amongst others. Despite the huge mobile phone customers base put at over 110 million and the landing of two submarine fibre optic cables to the country in 2010, Nigeria still lacks in critical telecom infrastructure development in much of the country. For example, the two privately owned undersea cables, MainOne and Glo1 systems are only effective in Lagos commercially. “There has to be a government assistance to take the fibre up country from Lagos. We have landed the fibre in the shores of Lagos, but it will cost huge financial investment to take this infrastructure to the hinterlands,” said Ms. Funke Opeke, CEO of MainOne. Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director of Bharti Airtel noted that for countries in sub-Saharan Africa like Nigeria, the answer lies with cheap tablets to spur adoption of the fast evolving technological trends. Mittal who spoke at last weeks’ mobile world congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain advocated that OEMs should focus on bringing down cost of tablets and smartphones to enable access in emerging markets like Africa and India. The Airtel chief recommended retain tablet price range of about $50 to give these markets access. He was speaking from a position of customer point of view from a poor market economy, not necessarily as an operator who aims for the profit alone. Both the India sub-continent and sub-Saharan Africa have a common bond of poverty and Mittal understands. While stating that smartphone market penetration in India accounts for about five per cent, he lamented that the need for affordable access to mobile broadband was even more pressing in Africa than on the sub continent. He believes cheap and affordable devices would increase mobile penetration and capacity building in both markets. “We are seeing tremendous uplift in the data usage in the developing world. The problem is on the devices side. We need to be able to build very affordable smartphones.” “The cost of operations in Africa is very high. We can’t bring the tariffs down yet. In India the first dollar goes on phone and then the next goes on telephony. In Africa, any savings on telephony will go into food.” The high point of Mittal’s speech was his recognition of the fact that Africa lacks the critical transformational middle class. India, he stated has a subsidized middle class which takes the heat off the wealthy. This contrasts with Africa where you are either very poor or wealthy! The advantage of mobile broadband was quite evidenced in the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions that witnessed age hold political dynasties dethroned in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Nigeria had a taste of this new media ascendency last January when masses of people converged on major streets across the nation in carnival moods and shutting down the economy over a period of seven days following government’s announcement of increase in fuel pomp prices. The government was forced to backpedal midway when it became apparent the people would precede to totally shutdown the entire petroleum production process if it did not soft pedal. The outcome was hailed as victory for people’s power and triumph of democracy. But more than democracy and people’ power, what took place in Nigeria last January was a triumph of the emerging mobile broadband evolution in Nigeria. Due to the dearth of critical telecom infrastructure in the country, much of the acclaimed 40 million internet subscriptions are mobile driven. And here the call for cheaper tablets and smartphones becomes even more critical. The Nigerian PC OEMs have been challenged by no other than the Qualcomm managing director for West Africa, Alex Dadson to begin the process of producing tablets locally. He believes local production of tablets would drive down cost, generate employment and fast track the learning process in the education sector. Again, nobody talks about what government could do because the government isn’t just responsive to the people it claims to govern.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is reportedly nearing completion of a $2.5 billion private placement that values the company at about $40 billion ahead of its planned public listing.
Private placement is the direct sale of company shares or bonds to pre-selected investors instead of the general public and it is used to raise money quickly while avoiding strict public reporting rules.
People familiar with the transaction said investors acquired as much as 6 per cent of the refinery, according to a BusinessDay report.
The reported terms would value the business at approximately $40 billion.
Neither Dangote Group nor the refinery has publicly announced the final amount raised, the identities of most subscribers or the precise percentage sold.
The figures should therefore be treated as transaction details supplied by unnamed sources rather than confirmed company disclosures.
The reported $2.5 billion total is nevertheless significant as it indicates strong demand for exposure to a privately controlled refinery that has rapidly become central to Nigeria’s fuel supply and an increasingly important exporter of petroleum products.
The placement was said to have attracted more demand than the available shares, allowing the company to secure substantially more than the amount initially associated with the fundraising exercise.
Femi Otedola, chairman, First HoldCo, is the only major participant publicly identified in the report.
He reportedly committed $100 million to the transaction and sold his investment in Geregu Power Plc to finance the acquisition.
Nigeria’s pension industry was also reportedly cleared to participate.
Access to more than $17 billion in retirement assets would broaden the refinery’s potential investor base beyond wealthy individuals and conventional institutional buyers.
Participation by Pension Fund Administrators would, however, require careful attention to valuation, liquidity and portfolio-concentration limits.
Retirement funds must balance the attraction of a large Nigerian industrial asset against their responsibility to protect contributors’ savings.
The implied $40 billion valuation represents investor expectations about the refinery’s future earnings rather than only the physical cost of constructing the facility.
Its ability to process 650,000 barrels of crude daily gives it a central role in supplying Nigeria and other markets, but its commercial performance remains connected to crude availability, product prices, exchange rates and regulation.
The refinery has struggled to obtain all the Nigerian crude it requires under the government’s naira-for-crude arrangement.
It has consequently purchased some feedstock internationally and recently moved local petroleum-product pricing into dollars to align sales revenue more closely with its foreign-currency expenses.
Those constraints will be important during any public offering.
Prospective shareholders will want greater clarity on crude-supply contracts, debt, operating margins, export revenue and the company’s relationship with Nigerian regulators.
It is also unclear whether the private placement involved newly issued shares, a sale by existing owners or a combination of both.
That distinction determines whether the reported $2.5 billion becomes fresh capital for the refinery or proceeds received by selling shareholders.
The transaction could provide a useful price reference for the planned initial public offering.
Federal government will next month launch Nigeria’s first national organized crime strategy to strengthen the country’s response to terrorism, cybercrime, human and drug trafficking, kidnapping, illicit financial flows, and other forms of organized crime.
Major General Adamu Laka, national coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser, disclosed this in Abuja during the validation of the strategy document.
He said the strategy provides a coordinated national framework for tackling organized crime through improved intelligence sharing, stronger collaboration among security agencies, and closer cooperation with the criminal justice system, civil society organizations, and international partners.
Major General Laka explained that the document was developed through a partnership involving the Federal Government, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United States Government, and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the event, Cheikh Toure, UNODC representative, said the strategy would strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to combat transnational crimes, including drug trafficking, cybercrime, human trafficking, kidnapping, and illicit financial flows.
Also speaking, Douglas Grane, acting director of the United States Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, reaffirmed the U.S. government’s support for Nigeria’s efforts to tackle organized crime through stronger inter-agency and international cooperation.
Representatives of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, and the National Cyber Security Centre also endorsed the initiative, describing it as a major step towards improving Nigeria’s fight against organized crime.
FATE Foundation, with funding from the Citi Foundation, has launched the Youth Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme to equip young people in Nigeria with financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills.
Delivered through free, safe, and accessible platforms, the programme supports the incubation and scaling of youth-led enterprises, enabling income generation and job creation.
In October 2025, FATE Foundation was selected as a recipient of Citi Foundation’s 2025 Global Innovation Challenge to Accelerate Youth Employability. Joining the cohort of 50 organisations globally, the Foundation will receive $500,000 over two years to advance its youth employability initiative.
“We are excited to be selected for Citi Foundation’s 2025 Global Innovation Challenge,” said Ayomide Akindolie-Igwe, Executive Director of FATE Foundation.
“This support enables us to equip young entrepreneurs in Nigeria with the financial literacy and skills needed to build and scale sustainable businesses.”
The programme addresses youth employability by tackling Africa’s growing jobs crisis. By 2030, the African continent will be home to 40% of the world’s youth, and with one in three under 35 already unemployed, this initiative will support Nigerian youth with a two-phase approach. It begins with financial literacy training before progressing to entrepreneurship development, incubation support, and access to tools needed to build viable, job-creating businesses.
“Through this innovative initiative, FATE Foundation is supporting low-income Nigerian youth to develop essential financial and entrepreneurial skills using accessible platforms.
“This support is not just helping individuals to succeed; it is building a solid foundation for sustainable enterprises that will drive job creation and contribute significantly to our nation’s economic vitality. This initiative is empowering and investing in the future of Nigeria, one youth at a time,” said Nneka Enwereji, MD/CEO Citibank Nigeria Limited.
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