News
Broadband is Key to “Education to all’- UN Broadband Commission
Mobile phones, tablets and e-readers with broadband connectivity could prove the long-sought panacea in the global effort to bring quality, ubiquitous multidisciplinary educational opportunities to people everywhere, especially the world’s poorest or most isolated communities, according to the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which held its 11th meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, yesterday.
A report by the Commission’s Working Group on Education, led by UNESCO, indicated that, worldwide, over 60 million primary-school age children do not currently attend school; almost half that number never will.
The situation worsens as children get older, with over 70 million not enrolled in secondary school.
And while classroom computers can help, lack of resources remains critical. If an average of eight children share each classroom computer in OECD nations, in Africa teachers can struggle to share each computer among 150 or more pupils.
But with increasingly sophisticated mobile devices now packing more computing power than the famed ‘supercomputers’ of the late 1990s, the Commission believes broadband-connected personal wireless devices could be the solution.
ITU figures show that mobile broadband is the fastest growing technology in human history.
The number of mobile phone subscriptions now exceeds the world’s total population of around seven billion, and active mobile broadband subscriptions exceed 2.1 billion – three times higher than the 700 million wireline broadband connections worldwide.
Even more encouragingly, most of this progress has taken place in the developing world, which has accounted for 90% of global net additions for mobile cellular and 82% of global net additions of new Internet users since early 2010.
“Education is one of the most powerful uses to which broadband connectivity can be put,” said Houlin Zhao, ITU secretary-general.
“For the first time in history, mobile broadband gives us the chance to truly bring education to all, regardless of a person’s geographical location, linguistic and cultural frameworks, or ready access to infrastructure like schools and transport. Education will drive entrepreneurship, especially among the young – which is why we must strive harder to get affordable broadband networks in place which can deliver educational opportunities to children and adults,” he said.
Established in 2010, the Broadband Commission is a top-level advocacy body which focuses on strategies to make broadband more available and affordable worldwide. It is chaired by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helú, with ITU Secretary-General and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova as co-Vice Chairs. As the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals fast approaches, Commissioners are now focusing on ensuring broadband is recognized as a fundamental pillar of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which will be agreed at the forthcoming Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September.
Today’s meeting of the Commission was held in conjunction with UNESCO’s flagship ICT education-focused event, Mobile Learning Week (MLW), co-organized this year with sister agency UN Women.
Broadband Commissioners participating in the MLW High-level Policy Forum of “Leveraging technology to empower women and girls” took advantage of the opportunity to interact with Ministers of Education and senior representatives of international organizations on the uses of mobile broadband for education.
“Every day, everywhere, women and men are inventing new ways to use broadband, mobile telephones and computers to be empowered, more autonomous and free,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
“We need to tap this inventiveness to improve education, especially for girls and women. But we have a long way to go. Two thirds of illiterate adults are women, and two thirds of the world’s out-of-school primary-age children are girls. This is a huge injustice, and a gap that we must fill. The continued expansion of broadband combined with technology can help us make giant strides towards this.”
Speaking at the opening of the Commission session earlier today, President Paul Kagame stressed that broadband should be regarded as a basic utility, like water and electricity. “In Rwanda, investing in ICTs has been indispensable to the attainment of our development goals. Broadband enables business and social entrepreneurs to find ways to offer world class education at low cost, to populations that have never had access.
These centres of knowledge already exist, but in order for developing countries and isolated communities, to access and use them productively, they will need faster, more reliable, and more affordable Internet. The same principle extends to government more widely, particularly in delivering essential services. Broadband technology can enhance public administration efficiency and accountability to citizens, no matter where they live.”
President Kagame was joined by co-Chair, Carlos Slim Helú, who asked Commissioners to consider whether the power of ICTs was being sufficiently exploited in today’s school environments. “Broadband and ICTs are now available in many schools around the world – but are we seeing a concrete impact in the quality of education? We need to be sure that the potential of broadband for education is fully leveraged so that successful initiatives, such as new online course platforms, and many valuable education and training contents, become quickly available to people worldwide. Technology should be used for inclusion, and we should make vigorous efforts to ensure this.”
The Broadband Commission first tackled the key issue of education in 2013 through a special Working Group on Education, led by UNESCO. At the morning session of the Commission earlier today, important reports emerging from ITU’s m-Powering Development and Smart Sustainable Development Model Initiatives were also presented to the group.
The m-Powering Development Initiative report, developed by a multistakeholder Advisory Board led by ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), finds that technological innovations and initiatives that use mobile phones can potentially bring exponential benefits to entire communities and make a valuable contribution to the global development agenda.
The report by the Smart Sustainable Development Model Initiative, also led by BDT, focuses on the link between ICT for Development (ICT4D) with ICT for Disaster Management (ICT4DM) and their role in sustainable development processes.
The key findings of the Broadband Commission Working Group on Education can be downloaded here. An Executive Summary of the report can be found here, and the full report is available here.
To learn more about the current state of broadband connectivity worldwide, read the 2014 edition of ITU’s State of Broadband Report: Broadband for All, featuring country-by-country rankings based on broadband access and affordability for over 160 economies.
Benjamin Kalu, deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, has emphasized the critical role of parliaments in promoting multilateralism through digital trade.
Kalu, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Levinus Nwabughiogu, stated this at the World Trade Organization/Inter-Parliamentary Union (WTO-IPU) Steering Committee session of the WTO Public Forum 2025 on the sidelines of the ongoing 55th Parliamentary Conference, Geneva, Switzerland.
The statement noted that the deputy speaker, who spoke on the theme “Promoting Multilateralism Through Digital Trade: What Role for Parliaments?”, stated that digital trade is a defining contemporary governance challenge that shapes the daily reality of entrepreneurs and the future opportunities for youth.
He stated that that Africa is proactively building its own regional multilateralism through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and its Protocol on Digital Trade, aiming for a harmonized and integrated digital market.
Kalu, while citing Nigeria’s legislative actions, including the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023 and the forthcoming National Digital Economy Bill, stressed that parliaments across Africa are also actively legislating the future of digital trade.
According to him, “the digital economy is no longer a distant promise; it is the daily reality of our entrepreneurs and the horizon of opportunity for our youth. In Africa, we have chosen not to wait for others to write our future.
“Through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and its Protocol on Digital Trade, we are building our own regional multilateralism, a blueprint for a harmonized, integrated digital market.
“But blueprints alone do not build houses. Success depends on the laws we pass, the trust we create, and the predictability we guarantee. In Nigeria, we have acted: the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023 safeguards privacy, while the forthcoming National Digital Economy Bill will anchor e-commerce and investment in legal certainty.
“Across Africa, parliaments are not spectators; we are legislating the future. Let us be frank, rules without enforcement are illusions. For smaller economies, a binding, two-tier dispute settlement system is not optional; it is survival.”
He added that “we all know that speeches do not build futures; actions do. For us to move to coordinated action, I propose three steps: a Legislative Tracking Mechanism that engenders peer‑to‑peer accountability, requiring us to report back on how we translate our collective resolutions into concrete action within our national parliaments; Concrete WTO support for AfCFTA implementation to further deepen digital trade in Africa; and a Model Digital Trade Legislative Toolkit developed with UNCTAD and ITC, to equip parliaments with best-practice laws for a pro-development digital economy.”
Nigeria has upgraded its passport production system to meet global standards, now able to process up to 5,000 passports every day.
According to TVC, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of Interior, disclosed this during an inspection of the new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters in Abuja.
He explained that the development is part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which has cleared backlogs and ended long delays in passport processing.
According to him, Nigerians can now get their approved passports within 24 hours.
“The era of backlogs and manual personalisation is over. Nigerians can now expect faster, more reliable service as we strengthen the integrity of our travel documents,” Tunji-Ojo said.
The Minister added that Nigeria has now joined countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and India in adopting advanced passport systems that ensure speed, transparency, and global authentication.
He also commended the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mrs. Kemi Nandap, and other key officials for their contributions.
Tunji-Ojo stressed that the project, delivered through a partnership with IRIS Smart Technologies Ltd., was achieved without direct government funding.
“This project underscores our resolve to build enduring institutions rather than systems dependent on individuals,” he said.
With the new system, production has moved from 250–300 booklets per machine daily to between 4,500 and 5,000.
The Minister described the achievement as a major milestone in Nigeria’s 62-year Immigration Service history, saying it has restored confidence in the country’s travel documents.
News
AfDB Approves Equity Investment in The Currency Exchange Fund to Support Access to Local Currency Financing Across Africa
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved an equity investment of USD 25 million in The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX), a global leader in offering long-term local currency hedging solutions in emerging and frontier markets.
This strategic investment will strengthen TCX’s capital base, enhance its risk-bearing capacity, and expand its ability to offer hedging instruments in illiquid and less liquid currencies across the African continent.
The transaction will help mitigate the foreign exchange risks faced by borrowers in Africa, particularly those operating in fragile states and underserved markets. TCX operates as a development-focused fund that provides tailor-made FX hedging instruments to enable local currency lending in countries where conventional hedging markets are either underdeveloped or non-existent.
The Bank’s investment will crowd in additional DFIs and private investors, reinforce Africa’s integration into global capital markets, and support sustainable growth by reducing the mismatch between the currency of debt and revenue for local borrowers.
Ahmed Attout, Director of the financial Sector Development Department, at the African Development Bank Group, stated: “This investment in TCX marks an important milestone in the Bank’s effort to deepen African capital markets and address the root causes of debt distress. The Bank’s support to TCX will unlock local currency financing for MSMEs, infrastructure and many sectors across Africa.”
He added : “The transaction forms part of the Bank’s broader objective to promote access to adequate financing through innovative alternative solutions.”
The investment builds on the Bank’s prior participation in TCX and reflects its continued confidence in the fund’s track record and impact-driven model. TCX has hedged more than USD 17 billion in notional amounts since inception, including over USD 4 billion across 31 African countries.
The Bank’s participation is expected to facilitate increased hedging volumes in priority sectors such as the public sector (Debt Management Offices and Public Development Banks), infrastructure, energy access, microfinance, and SME development. TCX also plays a unique role in fragile and low-income countries, with around 18% of its global outstanding portfolio currently focused on such markets.
Ruurd Brouwer, TCX’s Chief Executive Officer stated : “We are thrilled to welcome African Development Bank Group to TCX’s capital base, joining fellow development finance institutions, impact investors and governments that support our local currency hedging solution. It marks the start of a close partnership in protecting AfDB’s public and private sector borrowers from currency risk and promoting the development of African capital markets. We very much look forward to increasing our joint impact on the continent.”
This operation is aligned with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy 2024–2033. It complements the Bank’s broader capital markets strategy, which includes support for local currency bond issuance, Partial Credit Guarantees, and private sector local currency lending.
The investment is expected to deliver strong development impact. The African Development Bank remains committed to fostering resilient capital markets in Africa, supporting de-risking mechanisms for the private sector, and expanding access to local currency finance to promote inclusive and sustainable development.
Afreximbank Decries $330Bn MSME Financing Gap in Africa
Airtel AI Blocks 84 Percent of Spam SMS in Nigeria
Kalu Champions African Digital Trade Multilateralism
Kenya Airways Pays NCAA Sanction over Passenger Rights Violation
Nigeria Launches 24-Hour Passport Processing, Boosting Capacity to 5,000 Daily
E-Financial2 days agoFCMB Partners Truecaller to Reinforce Customer Communication, Trust
News2 days agoAfDB Approves Equity Investment in The Currency Exchange Fund to Support Access to Local Currency Financing Across Africa
E-Financial2 days agoDon’t Spray, Mutilate Naira – CBN
General News2 days agoWhy Elon Musk Halted Sales of Starlink in Lagos, Abuja
Broadcasting2 days agoGlo-sponsored African Voices Features Star Author, Chimamanda Adichie
News2 days agoShoprite Struggles to Stay Afloat as Stores Shut across Nigeria
Telecom2 days agoGoogle Expands Digital Infrastructure with Four New Subsea Cable Hubs and $9m AI Fund for Africa
E-Business2 days agoFG Plans to Make 95 Percent of Nigerians Digitally Literate by 2030