News
Challenges before Buhari’s Ministers
With the clearing of some ministerial nominees by the Senate yesterday, a full component of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘Change’ team is almost ready, according to the Vanguard.
Expectedly, if the Senate ends the screening tomorrow, the President would have no hitches in swearing-in the ministers immediately or at the most next week, to accelerate the change agenda.
The Vanguard reported that indeed, the incoming ministers have a number of challenges waiting for them in the areas of healthcare, power, education, insecurity, poverty alleviation, economy, job creation, agriculture and provision of basic amenities and infrastructure among others.
Power supply challenge
The power challenge is a thorny one. Nigeria is still far away from becoming self-sufficient in electricity. The country’s epileptic power supply has taken a turn for the worse in recent months. Despite investing over $30 billion in the sector in the past 15 years, the total electricity supply as at today is about 5000 megawatts (MW) for a country of over 170 million people. While about 200,000MW is needed to meet our current energy demands, the government is still planning to increase power generation to 6,000 MW by December.
Poor power supply is one of the factors hindering rapid industrialisation and growth of small-scale enterprises, which in turn has led to rising rate of unemployment and worsening poverty among the citizenry.
Rising poverty, unemployment
President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari addresses the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly September 28, 2015 at the United Nations in New York. AFP
FILE PHOTO: President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari addresses the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly September 28, 2015 at the United Nations in New York. AFP
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, nearly two-thirds of Nigeria’s population live below the poverty line, which means over 100 million people live in absolute poverty, surviving on less than one dollar (about N200) a day.
The NBS said that the number of poor is rising; in 2004, 55 percent of people were living in absolute poverty and by 2010, this had risen to 61 per cent.
The situation is particularly bad in northern states where over three-quarters of the population live in absolute poverty. With widespread poverty, particularly in the North, over a quarter of young children (under five) are underweight in Nigeria, while around two-fifths are stunted, the World Health Organisation, WHO, said in its 2000–2009 assessment.
With little development and few social welfare programmes, extremist groups in the North are easily able to recruit poor and desperate young men to their cause.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in June 2014 said that 80 per cent of the Nigerian youth are jobless.
The population of youth aged between 15 and 35 years in Nigeria is estimated to be 64 million.
CBN Special Assistant on Sustainable Banking, Dr. Aisha Mahmood, while delivering a paper on Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principle during the 2014 World Environment Day programme organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment in Abuja, said that unemployment remains a severe threat to Nigeria’s economy.
Severe threat
“As the population is growing, the resources that we all depend on, the food, energy, water, is declining. The demand for these resources will rise exponentially by the year 2030, with the world needing about 50 per cent more food, 45 per cent more energy and 30 per cent more water.
“In Nigeria, there is the issue of youth and employment. 70 per cent of the 80 million youth in Nigeria are either unemployed or underemployed. We are all witness to what happened recently during the immigration recruitment exercise and this is simply because 80 per cent of the Nigerian youth are unemployed,” she said.
Insecurity: Currently, the country is facing major security challenges in all zones of the country. The Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East geo-political zone, which has claimed about 8000 lives since 2009 is still raging. And since April 2014, over 200 Chibok school girls who were abducted by the insurgents have not been rescued. The problem of clashes between local farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the North-Central has so defied measures so also are the problems of armed robbery and kidnapping in the South-East and South-Western parts of the country.
Can the ministers boost efforts to check these breaches? They are expected to do so with discernible results!
Health: Nigeria’s health sector is another area that needs urgent action especially in primary and secondary healthcare. Statistics from the Save the Children organisation, an international non-profit group, has revealed that almost 800,000 Nigerian children die every year before their fifth birthday, making Nigeria the country with the highest number of new born deaths in Africa.
The group said recently that majority of children deaths under age five, particularly in the northern part of the country, are due to treatable and preventable diseases. This is worsened by recurring industrial disputes with doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers always at daggers drawn with the governments over salary and monetisation benefits.
It is therefore not surprising that Nigeria accounts for 13 per cent global maternal mortality rates with an estimated 36,000 women dying in pregnancy or at child birth each year. At least 5500 of these deaths are among teenage mothers.
MinistersNigeria also has about 260,000 neonatal deaths annually, 13 percent of which can be prevented with live saving interventions such as provision of required maternal health medicines and supplies.
Around 3.3 million Nigerians are living with HIV, which equates to 3.6 per cent of the adult population (UNAIDS 2009 data). This compares to 0.2 per cent of adults in the UK.
Data made available by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) however, noted that over the last 20 years, Nigeria has made significant progress in reducing the maternal mortality ratio.
Concerted effort
It also added that Nigeria has to make concerted efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goal of 300 per 100,000 (or under 20,000 annual deaths) by 2015.
Education: Again, the ministers must do something about the falling standard of education in the country. Currently, no Nigerian university is among the world’s top 1,000 list.
The United States alone has eight universities in the top 10, the ranking done by the Centre for World University Rankings show.
The highest ranked university in Africa was the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, which ranked 149th followed by Mansoura University in Egypt which emerged 988th.
In an earlier ranking done by Journals Consortium, only one Nigerian university made it to the list of top 10 African universities. The University of Ibadan came a distant eighth on that list, beaten by six South African schools. This is a far cry from what it used to be given that as recently as in the late 90s many African nationals especially South Africans and Cameroonians attended Nigerian universities. Today, the reverse is the case with many Nigerian students headed for Ghana, South Africa and Benin Republic among others.
Can the ministers halt this trend? Nigerians are hopeful and optimistic.
Patience Okala, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office has urged African countries to stop exporting raw materials and instead focus on adding value to its natural resources if it is to fully harness the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area.
She stated this on Thursday at the Streamsowers & Köhn 20th Anniversary Business Forum, where she stressed that value addition and beneficiation are essential to Africa’s industrialisation and long-term economic growth.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, she said the AfCFTA goes beyond the elimination of tariffs, serving as a framework for industrialisation, value addition, and job creation across the continent.
“AfCFTA is not only about tariffs; it is also about value addition. Africa has to stop exporting raw materials. We need to add value and ensure that beneficiation is done on the continent,” she said.
Okala also said Africa’s economic transformation would depend on the effective implementation of the AfCFTA rather than on the signing of trade agreements alone.
“We have moved beyond negotiations. The success of AfCFTA will be measured by the extent to which businesses can access new markets, trade seamlessly across borders, and benefit from the opportunities created by the agreement,” she said.
She noted that Nigeria had intensified efforts to implement the agreement under the leadership of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, including the development of simplified AfCFTA guides in six languages to help businesses understand and take advantage of opportunities under the trade pact.
Okala called for stronger collaboration among governments, regulators, and the private sector to eliminate barriers to trade and investment and build a truly integrated African market.
“As we move from policy to implementation, our collective responsibility is to ensure that the opportunities created by AfCFTA become practical realities for businesses, particularly MSMEs, women-owned enterprises, and young entrepreneurs across the continent,” she said.
Cisco is exploring artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions to support smallholder farmers in Nigeria, as part of efforts to expand digital inclusion and technology adoption.
The initiative focuses on improving agricultural productivity through accessible, data-driven tools.
The move aligns with growing collaboration between Nigeria and the United States under the Commercial and Investment Partnership, which prioritises the digital economy, agriculture and infrastructure.
Speaking at the 2026 World Business Chicago, Brian Tippens, chief social impact and inclusion Officer at Cisco, said the company is assessing practical AI applications to help farmers combine local knowledge with data insights.
He said Cisco is exploring tools such as AI-enabled WhatsApp communities, geospatial mapping and weather intelligence to support day-to-day farming decisions.
The approach reflects a shift towards low-cost, mobile-first solutions suited to rural environments.
Tippens added that the Cisco Foundation is investing in early-stage startups developing technologies for local agricultural challenges.
Industry analysts note that AI adoption in emerging markets depends on locally relevant solutions, rather than large-scale enterprise deployments alone.
Beyond agriculture, Cisco plans to expand digital skills development in Nigeria through programmes such as the Cisco Networking Academy’s One Million Learners initiative.
Tippens said the programme also supports partnerships with organisations working with persons with disabilities, including those developing tools for people with visual impairments.
He added that Cisco’s social impact strategy aims to improve access to technology and promote inclusion, including in conflict-affected regions such as Borno State.
Cisco’s initiatives form part of broader efforts to link digital skills, connectivity and AI adoption to economic development in Nigeria.
Federal Government has launched a nationwide Artificial Intelligence (AI) capacity-building programme for teachers in Federal Unity Colleges, with about 11,700 educators set to acquire digital skills aimed at improving classroom instruction and preparing students for a technology-driven future.
The initiative advanced with the signing of the Terms of Reference (ToR) between the Federal Ministry of Education and ICEDT Consult Limited, paving the way for the nationwide implementation of the AI Teacher Capacity Development Programme.
The programme, to be implemented through the ministry’s Education Support Services Department, is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to modernise Nigeria’s education sector, strengthen teacher professionalism and equip students with skills required in the digital economy under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Speaking during the signing ceremony in Abuja, the Director of the Education Support Services Department, Gabriel Amudipe, described the initiative as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s teaching workforce and the future of education.
He said the nationwide rollout followed the successful completion of a pilot phase conducted in selected Federal Unity Colleges.
According to him, the implementation model developed by ICEDT Consult Limited will ensure effective coordination and quality delivery of the programme across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Amudipe urged officials responsible for monitoring the project to ensure strict compliance with the implementation guidelines and maintain the standards achieved during the pilot phase.
“The ministry remains committed to supporting innovative initiatives that strengthen teacher professionalism, improve learning outcomes and promote the responsible integration of emerging technologies into education,” he said.
Earlier, the Deputy Director of the Education Support Services Department, Oladele Fapohunda, described the programme as a strategic intervention designed to deepen digital innovation across Federal Unity Colleges.
He stressed that collaboration among all stakeholders would be essential to achieving the objectives of the initiative nationwide.
Also speaking, the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Learning Scientist at ICEDT Consult Limited, Dr Abdulrahman Orosanya, said the Federal Government approved the national rollout after the successful pilot implementation in six Federal Unity Colleges representing Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
According to Orosanya, the pilot demonstrated the potential of Artificial Intelligence to improve lesson planning, classroom delivery, assessment methods and teachers’ productivity.
He said the nationwide implementation would strengthen teachers’ digital competencies, improve instructional delivery and support the government’s vision of building a technology-driven education system capable of producing globally competitive graduates equipped with 21st-century skills.
The ceremony ended with the formal signing of the Terms of Reference by officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and ICEDT Consult Limited, signalling the commencement of preparations for full implementation across all Federal Unity Colleges.
The ministry said the programme would directly train about 11,700 teachers, while thousands of students across the country’s Federal Unity Colleges are expected to benefit through improved classroom instruction, increased digital innovation and the responsible application of Artificial Intelligence in teaching and learning.
It reaffirmed its commitment to working with relevant stakeholders to modernise Nigeria’s education system, improve teacher quality and deliver inclusive, equitable and future-ready education nationwide.
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