The Airtel Africa Foundation, through Airtel Nigeria, has officially opened the application portal for the DigiLeap Tech Drive, a core initiative in the Foundation’s digital inclusion agenda. The application portal will be open until 8th May 2026.

Targeting 200 underserved young women in the Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State, the programme is designed to bridge the gender divide in the digital economy by providing intensive, industry-standard technical and digital literacy training at no cost to the beneficiaries.

The DigiLeap Tech Drive is a strategic collaboration between the Airtel Africa Foundation, the ISHK Tolaram Foundation, and Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), with implementation carried out by the SAIL Innovation Lab, a leading centre for digital talent development in Nigeria.

Strategically engineered to transform high-potential individuals into workforce-ready professionals, this high-impact project will provide technical instruction, mentorship, and job-placement linkages, directly tackling regional unemployment and the systemic underrepresentation of women in the global technology sector.

Commenting on the project, Dr Segun Ogunsanya, Chairman of the Airtel Africa Foundation, emphasised that the partnership between the Foundation, Ishk Tolaram, and CcHub is central to the Foundation’s holistic mission of advancing both digital and gender inclusion across the continent.

“Our mission at the Airtel Africa Foundation is to accelerate digital inclusion across the continent,” he said. “By bringing the DigiLeap Tech Drive to the women of Ikorodu alongside Ishk Tolaram and CcHub, we are providing 200 young women with a definitive competitive advantage in the modern economy. This initiative ensures the digital revolution is truly inclusive; it isn’t merely a training session, but a professional pipeline designed to transition these women directly into internships and sustainable careers.”

In his remarks on the flag-off, Dinesh Balsingh, Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, highlighted Airtel’s dedication to ensuring that women are integrated into the country’s rapidly evolving digital economy.

“At Airtel Nigeria, we believe that empowering women with digital skills is a fundamental catalyst for national economic growth. With the DigiLeap tech training, we are creating a sustainable pathway for young women in underserved communities to move from the sidelines of the digital economy into the heart of the tech workforce. This initiative reflects our deep-rooted commitment to social impact and our belief that when women lead in technology, entire communities thrive,” he said.

Focusing on industry-standard competencies that enhance both employability and entrepreneurship readiness, application entry into the programme is now live and open to women aged 18–35 living in Ikorodu.

Cross River State Government said it has identified and isolated 10 persons who interacted with a Chinese national who reimported COVID-19 into Nigeria.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) while confirming a case of COVID-19 in the state, assured the public that there is no evidence of widespread transmission.

But, Dr. Inyang Ekpenyong, state epidemiologist, disclosed that the individuals were traced through contact tracing after interacting with the index case (Chinese national) and have since been placed under movement restriction.

“We’ve restricted their movements to their homes, so that they do not spread the symptoms to other persons,” Ekpenyong said, noting that the contacts were under close monitoring by health officials.

She added that surveillance teams had visited the expatriate’s workplace in Akamkpa to track possible exposure and prevent further transmission.

The affected Chinese national is currently receiving treatment at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), where authorities said he was responding positively.

Ekpenyong reminded residents that COVID-19, despite first emerging about six years ago, has not been eradicated, urging continued adherence to preventive measures.

She advised the public to maintain regular hand sanitisation, use face masks where necessary, and follow public health guidelines issued by experts.

But, Dr. Jide Idris, director general, NCDC, said, “Public health surveillance systems remain active nationwide, and we are working closely with state authorities to ensure early detection and swift response to any case.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Dr. Idris, said there is no cause for alarm, adding that “We are monitoring the situation closely and our response systems are active and working,”.

Earlier, Dr. Henry Egbe Ayuk, state commissioner for Health,  confirmed the first case and assured residents that all necessary containment protocols had been activated.

According to Ayuk, the index case involves a 53-year-old Chinese national who arrived in Nigeria on March 17 and later developed symptoms while in Akamkpa.

He explained that the patient’s condition worsened while receiving treatment at a state facility before he was transferred to UCTH for advanced care.

“At the facility, samples were taken in line with established protocols, and it was confirmed that the patient showed symptoms of COVID-19,” Ayuk said.

“We are, however, happy to report that he is doing well,” he added.

The commissioner stressed that the state’s health system has been strengthened to respond effectively to outbreaks, with surveillance mechanisms fully operational across Cross River State.

He acknowledged the presence of occasional silent infections but maintained that the government remained prepared to manage any public health threat.

“But we are determined that for every ailment, every disease or outbreak, if it is identified here in the state, there should be no alarm. The state will do well in terms of surveillance or containment of an outbreak. Whatever it is, we will do our best to contain it. So, there is no alarm,” Ayuk stated.

Ayuk further noted that COVID-19 remains a global concern, warning that cross-border movement of infected individuals continues to pose risks.

“COVID-19 is not peculiar to Nigeria. But we’re determined to contain it. There’s no cause for alarm,” he said.

By Ememobong Udofot

There is a persistent assumption in modern business that attention is progress. If people are seeing you, engaging with you, and talking about you, then you must be growing. On the surface, this feels true. In practice, it is one of the most expensive misconceptions companies carry.

Visibility is not legitimacy. And confusing the two creates fragile businesses that look successful long before they actually are.

Visibility is distribution. It is how often you are seen, how far your message travels, and how loudly you exist in a market. It is driven by campaigns, partnerships, content, and media. It is measurable in impressions, reach, mentions, and recall.

Legitimacy is something else entirely. It is not what people see. It is what they conclude. It is the quiet but critical judgement a user makes when deciding whether to trust you with something that matters. Their money, their time, their reputation, their belief. Legitimacy is not declared. It is inferred. This is where most companies miscalculate.

A platform can be highly visible and still feel unsafe. It can be everywhere and still feel uncertain. It can dominate conversations and still fail at conversion when the moment of decision arrives. Because today, users are not asking, “Have I seen this before?” They are asking, “Do I trust what happens next?”

In financial services, especially in emerging markets, this distinction becomes sharper. Users do not operate from abundance. They operate from risk awareness. Every transaction is evaluated, consciously or not, through a lens of potential loss. What could go wrong? How fast can I recover if it does? Who is accountable if it fails? Visibility does not answer these questions. Legitimacy does.

Legitimacy is built through signals that reduce perceived risk. Not theoretical safety, but experienced reliability. It shows up in consistency of outcomes, in how predictable your system is under pressure, and in whether your platform behaves the same way every time, not just when everything is working but also when something breaks. It is reinforced by clarity. Users trust what they understand, not what is explained to them in long paragraphs, but what is immediately obvious in interaction. What happens next, how long it takes and what they can expect. It is strengthened by accountability. Not in policy documents, but in visible behaviour. How issues are handled, how quickly they are resolved, whether responsibility is assumed or deflected.

These are not branding elements in the traditional sense. They are operational realities. But this is exactly where branding is often misunderstood. Brand is not what you say about your product. It is the system of signals that shape how your product is perceived before, during, and after use. While visibility amplifies your presence, legitimacy sustains your relevance.

When companies prioritize visibility without building legitimacy, they create a dangerous gap between expectation and experience. Growth accelerates, but trust does not compound at the same rate. Eventually, the system corrects itself. Users withdraw, reputation weakens, and recovery becomes significantly harder than initial growth.

On the other hand, when legitimacy is established first, visibility becomes an accelerator rather than a risk. Every new user acquired enters a system that can hold them. Every interaction reinforces the same conclusion. This works; I can rely on this.

This is slower to build, but far more durable. The strategic implication is simple but rarely followed. Do not ask how to be seen more; ask what conclusions users are forming when they see you. Do not optimise for attention in isolation, optimise for the alignment between what is promised and what is experienced. Do not treat trust as a communication problem, treat it as a systems problem that communication must accurately represent. Because in the end, markets do not reward visibility. They reward reliability that has been observed, tested, and believed. And that is legitimacy.

Ememobong Udofot E. is a branding and communications executive specialising in strategy, systems thinking, and trust design within financial technology. She currently leads Branding and Communications at FlashChange, a digital value exchange platform focused on enabling reliable, efficient movement of digital assets.