The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has challenged the South East Development Commission (SEDC) leadership to provide transparent details on achievements recorded in its inaugural year despite an approved budget of N140 billion for 2025.

SEDC

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, disclosed that the group’s researchers found no concrete evidence of infrastructure projects executed in the South-East region for the benefit of the Igbo people since the commission’s inception.

Efforts to obtain specifics from Senate Committee Chairman on SEDC, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, and Governing Board Chairman, Chief Emeka Wogu, yielded vague responses, with Wogu citing a mere “road map” and Kalu claiming no information was available.

The rights group recalled that the National Assembly approved N140 billion for SEDC in the N54.9 trillion 2025 budget passed on February 14, matching allocations for other regional commissions like South-West, South-South, and North-Central, while North-West received N145.61 billion and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) got N626.53 billion.

President Bola Tinubu signed the SEDC Establishment Bill into law on July 24, 2024, with the board inaugurated on February 12, 2025, under Chairman Emeka Wogu and Managing Director Mark Okoye.

Okoye, in his inaugural address, quoted the World Bank estimating a $10 billion annual investment need over 30 years to bridge the region’s infrastructure gap, pledging collaboration with states, private sector, and partners to build a $200 billion economy by 2035.

Priorities outlined include security and investment infrastructure, agriculture, industrialisation, technology, innovation, and human capital development, amid challenges like insecurity, low ease-of-doing-business, unemployment, and 2,500 erosion sites displacing thousands.

HURIWA noted that while the commission’s creation sparked optimism to address post-Civil War neglect, bureaucratic hurdles, political meddling, and funding opacity threaten its potential, aligning with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for inclusivity.

The group described SEDC’s performance as a “spectacular failure,” urging Igbo youths and intellectuals to demand accountability to prevent elite capture of funds meant for roads, housing reconstruction, ecological remediation, agriculture, manufacturing, technology, railways, and energy projects in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.

Onwubiko warned that pocketing the cash-backed N140 billion would betray the Igbo people’s development aspirations, calling for immediate disclosure of expenditures and verifiable outcomes.

Quickteller successfully hosted the maiden edition of InsomniaQ recently in Lagos, delivering a 12-hour non-stop celebration of African music, culture, and creativity.

A statement from the firm on Sunday stated that the event attracted a diverse audience of music lovers, culture enthusiasts, and festive diaspora returnees, marking a strong debut for what organisers described as a potential signature December event.

InsomniaQ featured a dynamic mix of live performances and DJ sets, showcasing Africa’s rich musical diversity and creative depth. From soulful sounds to high-energy performances, the festival offered a thoughtfully curated journey designed to follow the natural rhythm of its audience’s circadian cycle, sustaining energy, connection, and excitement throughout the night.

Beyond the performances, InsomniaQ emerged as a platform for shared cultural expression, creating space for celebration, discovery, and community. The experience reinforced Lagos’ position as the heartbeat of Africa’s December entertainment season and highlighted the growing appetite for premium, culturally grounded experiences.

Commenting on the success of the event, the Executive Vice President, Group Marketing and Communications, Interswitch Group, Cherry Eromosele, described InsomniaQ as an organic extension of Quickteller’s place in everyday moments of connection, culture, and celebration.

“InsomniaQ was created as a space to celebrate African creativity in its full expression, the music, the energy, and the people who make our culture so powerful.

“Seeing that vision come to life, with thousands of people connecting through sound, movement, and shared experience, has been truly rewarding. This debut edition reinforces our belief in creating platforms that bring people together and spotlights the richness of African talent in meaningful ways,” Eromosele said.

The success of InsomniaQ, according to the organisers, reflects a broader commitment within the Interswitch ecosystem to support experiences that extend beyond transactions into everyday life. By championing platforms that blend culture, innovation, and community, Interswitch continues to shape how people connect, celebrate, and experience Africa’s evolving creative economy.

With its strong debut, InsomniaQ has set the tone for future editions and established itself as a new fixture in Africa’s December calendar, celebrating culture, driving connection, and creating memorable experiences.

In an era where global tech giants dominate headlines, two Nigerian entrepreneurs are quietly revolutionizing financial services across Africa, proving that world-class innovation can emerge from homegrown talent and local institutions.

Tosin Eniolorunda and Felix Ike, co-founders of Moniepoint Inc, have built one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech companies, not despite their exclusively Nigerian education, but in many ways, because of it.

Their journey from the lecture halls of Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Lagos to the TIME100 Most Influential Companies list stands as a powerful testament to the caliber of talent nurtured within Nigerian universities and the transformative potential of locally-rooted vision.

Tosin Eniolorunda’s path exemplifies how Nigerian educational institutions can cultivate entrepreneurial excellence. After earning his degree in Mechanical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, he didn’t follow the well-trodden path abroad but instead chose to build solutions for Nigerian challenges within Nigeria itself. This decision proved prescient.

Understanding the unique financial ecosystem and infrastructure gaps firsthand from the work at TeamApt Ltd where they were building from majority of the country’s banks, Tosin pioneered several industry firsts: introducing instant POS transfers to Nigeria, launching the country’s first virtual account services, and constructing a vertically integrated payments processing switch with full switching and processing licenses.

These feats and technological achievements must be viewed from the prism that these were deeply contextual innovations born from intimate knowledge of local needs, the kind of understanding that comes from being educated and embedded in the communities one serves.

Felix Ike’s contribution complements this vision with technical brilliance equally rooted in Nigerian educational excellence. Graduating with first-class honors in Computer Science from the University of Lagos, Felix brought to Moniepoint the kind of engineering rigor required to build mission-critical financial infrastructure.

As Chief Technology Officer, he has architected systems that are not just functional but scalable, resilient, and secure enough to serve over 10 million businesses and individuals across Nigeria and Africa. His work demonstrates that Nigerian universities are producing software engineering leaders capable of building world-class technology that can compete on the global stage with technology that processes millions of transactions daily and underpins the financial dreams of an entire continent.

Since its founding in 2015, Moniepoint has evolved into Africa’s largest distributor of financial services in Nigeria, with presence across all 774 local government areas. The company’s all-in-one financial ecosystem offering seamless payments, banking, credit, and business management solutions reflects a sophisticated understanding of what African businesses and individuals actually need to thrive.

The accolades have followed: recognition by TIME as one of the 100 Most Influential Companies in 2025, listing among CNBC’s top UK fintech firms, and ranking in the Financial Times’ Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies for three consecutive years.

The Moniepoint story as an indigenously rooted but globally compliant player challenges prevailing narratives about where innovation must originate and what credentials are necessary for building transformative companies. Tosin and Felix’s success illustrates that Nigerian universities, when their graduates are empowered with vision, opportunity, and determination, can produce founders who don’t just participate in the global economy but reshape it.