News
Edo Moves to Connect LGAs with Fibre Optic Cables

Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the Edo State Governor, has entered a new partnership with data centre and ICT infrastructure firm, Geniserve Limited, to connect all 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Edo State with fibre optic cables, to enhance internet connectivity.

Obaseki, at the formal signing of the documents for the partnership, at the Government House, Benin City, said the government, with the deal, targets the installation of about 2,000km of fibre optic connectivity across the state.
According to him, “We are making history today because we have just signed an agreement with our partners to build a fibre optic connectivity across all the 18 LGAs of Edo State. We believe that by the end of the exercise, we would have in excess of 2,000km of fibres connecting various parts of the State.”
He said the deal would ensure that most schools and primary healthcare centres in the state are connected to the internet, noting, “We would create hotspots across several communities in the State. We would make sure that most of our primary healthcare facilities are connected and roll out more services, particularly the telemedicine services to the people in the rural areas.”
Obaseki continued: “We believe this signing is significant given our strategy and plans to make Edo a smart, digital state where the government can deliver services to its citizens using state-of-the-art and modern technology infrastructure which we are making available.
“This journey didn’t start today. We had, over four years ago, signed a deal with Mainone and Facebook to build a digital ring around metropolitan Benin City. On the back of the success of that project, we thought we should extend it to other parts of the State.
“We are glad that we have come to a deal today through this signing and happy that the LGAs in the State have seen the need for this kind of infrastructure and have keyed in. The benefits of what we are doing today are tremendous, both now and in the future as it provides us with a digital network for our State in which we can lay any digital services that we choose.
“We have made our commitment and the funding for this project is now a priority to us.”
He further noted, “Working with you, we have mobilizes our communities and now have a template to make sure youths and leaders are sensitized to see themselves as partners and stakeholders in these services we are providing. We hope to start to roll out the services even before October on this network.
“For the local government, today, we have rolled out electronic governance software with which we run the state government and want to expand that to the local governments, and make sure we are able to provide pension and gratuity service for our elderly as they don’t need to come to the cities to get their benefits as they can get it in rural communities.
“We are in a race against time and never anticipate that we would go cashless. Quickly, we have developed our citizens’ IDs which will have electronic wallet capacity. We expect more than a million citizens of Edo State to process the cards before the end of this year. For such rapid rollout, we would need this kind of infrastructure.”
Obaseki added, “I thank you for the speed with which we have gone about the project as the contracting process started less than 30 days ago because this is a priority.
“All stakeholders in government came together to put in the extra work and without breaking our procurement law, we were able to seal the contract at record time. We look forward to launching this network not later than the third week of October this year and believe with your capacity, we would be able to complete this.”
On his part, the representative of Geniserve Limited, Mr. Tunde Famoroti, hailed the state government for the partnership, adding that the project covers installation of fibre optic cables in Edo’s 18 LGAs, School of Nursing, School of Agriculture, among others.
News
FG Unveils AI Public Services Platform

Federal government has launched GovGuideNigeria, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital platform designed to streamline access to public service information through WhatsApp and the web.

The platform consolidates information from more than 35 federal ministries and over 60 government agencies, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s drive to expand AI-enabled public infrastructure and digital government services.
According to Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, the initiative aims to simplify interactions with government services, particularly for underserved communities that often face challenges navigating complex public-sector systems.
Developed in collaboration with the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Meta, and Publica AI, GovGuideNigeria uses conversational AI to provide real-time responses via WhatsApp and a web interface in English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
Sade Dada, head of public policy at Meta, said the multilingual rollout highlights the growing use of natural language processing within African public institutions to improve digital inclusion and broaden access to services.
Ignatius Willie, chief executive of Publica AI, said the platform demonstrates how Africa’s next generation of digital public infrastructure can be developed locally using African languages.
GovGuideNigeria is intended to address longstanding challenges in Nigeria’s public information system, where citizens often struggle to access reliable guidance because of fragmented government websites, poor communication channels and the expense of travelling to physical offices.
Through AI-driven automation, users can obtain information on immigration procedures, documentation requirements, public programmes and agency-specific services through chat-based interactions.
The launch also reflects Nigeria’s broader ambition to integrate AI into digital governance, while strengthening partnerships between government agencies, global technology companies and local AI startups to modernise public service delivery.
News
Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk
Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.
The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.
Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.
SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.
The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.
The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.
Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.
The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.
The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.
Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.
Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.
Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”
“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.
SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.
The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.
Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.
The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.
Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.
Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.
The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.
Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.
News
Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.
The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.
Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.
Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”
He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.
Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.
According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.
The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.
Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.
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