General News
Local Content will Increase Internet Traffic—-Omoniyi
Mr. Abiodun Omoniyi, managing director, Vdt Communications, is an entrepreneur that has contributed a lot in the development of the country through the provision of Information and Communications Technology services for the past 20 years. He founded Bitcom in 1989 a company that was engaged in the sale and service of computer hardware, but later expanded into system integration, software as well as a communications solution provider arm, Vdt communications. He spoke to chike onwuegbuchi on industry issues.
Digital Subcriber Line and Fibre Optic
Digital subscriber Line service is not under threat with the deployment of fibre optic cable around the country. When you talk about threat, it is as if one tends to kill the other, but in this case it is different, as it complements fibre optic. In modern business what is described in the olden days as threat is an advantage depending on the side one is looking at it.
The deployment of fibre optic by some telecommunications operators could be a blessing in disguise for DSL. Fibre is laid in the back-hull. As Digital Subscriber Line provider, we deal more with the end customer. The end customer doesn’t discriminate whether as an operator you have your own fibre or not, what they are interested is quality of service which DSL offers. When we have competition it can only improve service delivery at the back-end, fibre is not a threat to DSL but boost quality of service to the customer.
Your DSL Network
I would like to look at the line of our business in two folds, in fact Vdt Communications actually sells two main products, one, is short distant communications, and the other long distant communications. Describing these technologically it is known as Digital Subscriber Line and Wireless communications. With the terms of our license from Nigerian Communications Commission, for our long distant communications services, we are suppose to bulk purchase back-hull facilities, the ones that crosses state lines, for instance, if you lay fibre from Lagos to Ibadan you have crossed state lines such as Lagos, Ogun and Oyo. Our license did not permit us to lay fibre across state lines, aside that, it also involves huge capital to lay fibre across state lines. What we do is to lease bulk capacity on the back-hull trunk and fractionalizing and reselling it.
By our strategic intent, we are simply playing on the long distant through leasing the back-hull infrastructure and using our metro infrastructure which is the one we concentrate on building, to deliver service to the end-user.
We have metro infrastructure which is also known as intra-city infrastructure, this we deploy largely by wireless so that we can grant access into the core facility.
High Downtime in Network Availability
As a solution provider, we are affected by situations around us, we are all striving to achieve perfection, but you can’t do it without the environment. These entire infrastructure I mentioned earlier are powered by electricity, we know the situation with our power supply system. Apart from power, you also need to have back-up batteries, when there is diesel shortage or scarcity, and when there is no power in an area for five days your back-up batteries will run down and it will affect service. If we fix power we would have solve 70 percent of the problems associated with imperfect service. Telecommunications infrastructure depends heavily on power. It is not only power that causes outage in communications services, activities of militants in the Niger Delta is also a problem; unregulated work services on the road is as well as problem, most of these services that we provide runs on fibre backbones, and these fibre are laid on the ground and most often construction works on roads cut fibre cable which affect service delivery. Each time it happens it takes time to fix which translate to downtime at the downstream of the service provisioning.
Wireless services are hoisted on transmission support mast; most of these masts situated at hostile environment are being vandalized. More so, cost of doing business in Nigeria is high and is increasing because the enabling environment or supporting environment is not there and effect of that is what we experience in our network be it telephone or bank network.
When you pick up your mobile phone sometime and you can’t make call it could be that there is a cut on the operator’s back-hull transmission. But we feel it more in the banking hall because you are waiting for the person to pay you money and the money is not forthcoming you will be disappointed.
Curbing Vandalization
This has to do with good governance at all level of government, local, state and federal. What do they do to vandals when they are caught? When you talk about adherence to rule of law, enforcement is fundamental. This is what I refer to as good governance. There are so many things that people do because they know when they are caught nothing they won’t be sanctioned. For instance, government gives permit to an operator to deploy telecommunications infrastructure and unscrupulous people go and damage the infrastructure, it is a slap on the government that gave the permit. We have also witnessed a situation where government officials go to locations that have valid permit and condo it off.
Increasing Broadband Penetration
We can’t run away from the fact that availability of broadband in a country improves the easy of doing business is such country. There are basic infrastructures that guarantee deployment of broadband internet, such as gateway through which the service comes into the country. Today, the largest gateway through which the country gets reliable broadband internet is the Sat-3 and alternative one is Very Small Aperture Terminal (Vsat). Apart from Glo-1 and Main one that are coming to improve the situation, we may still have challenge in increasing penetration of broadband. There are no enough capacity to distribute broadband backbone to various homes and offices. When Glo-1 and Main One cable become operational there will be enough capacity to push broadband internet service to mass market.
It is premature to compare availability of broadband in developed countries such as United States of America, Britain among others to Nigeria, going by lack of backbone infrastructure required to drive it to end-user as well as gateway capacity.
Vdt and Unified Communications
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has constantly emphasized that, it is not licensing technology. What we’ve found out is that the same channel that is used to transmit data transmits voice and video. The issue is not whether we intend to do voice, when you sale Internet, you are also selling voice and video, you are aware of Skype, Google talk, what is done on these platforms is voice. Internet Protocol (IP) has made the issue of the service that goes to the infrastructure irrelevant. For instance, if the technology is there to transmit smoke why are we limiting ourselves to say we are only going to transmit data, while somebody needs smoke. We have the channel to carry voice, data and video today. But, what is important to majority of our customer is data that is why they are using it for data, we have different converters that converts this same channel to be able to take different services be it data, voice or video.
Today, our infrastructure is being used to carry voice, data and video. We must not have unified license to be able to do this, it is a natural thing that comes with the infrastructure, when we provide link to people they will be able to do these things, if they have the right converter to transmit them.
Vdt’s Role in Telecommunications Industry
We come in as an enabler of corporate business communications. We provide communications link to corporate organizations that have more than one branch, so that they can communicate effortlessly and transmit any utility they want over communications channel.
Presently, we have offices in 18 major cities in the country where we serve our different customers. Our customers are mainly the banks and other financial institutions. We are niche player now, but when we go into retail we would have drop our niche ability and move into mainstream. Vdt Communications going forward in 2009 is gradually changing from what it was in 2006, so that our presence will be better felt, because all it takes is for us to turn-on our services in the states we are present to offer retail service to homes, and small offices as against large organization that we are playing now.
ISP and NIXP
The idea of Nigeria Internet Exchange Point (NIXP) is a very noble idea, it will energize activity in the industry, create employment as it makes local content local. But, we are aware that most Internet hubs are located outside the shores of the country, what it means is that as an Internet Service Provider that transmits data for customer I will visit my hub first to be able to transmit data which is outside the country. We are not providing enough local content yet. However, there is some growth in the activities of ISPs when you look at their traffic level, but there is still paltry information generated locally. How many times do people visit Nigerian content site, most times we visit content sites outside, for instance, how many emails identity of people we send mails to are domain on .ng? Many of it is Yahoo, and Yahoo does not have any of its exchange point here. You can’t compare the percentage of people that have foreign domain name to the people that have Nigeria domain name. The issue of regulation of that was not properly handled at the beginning unlike in the case of South Africa which was done by legislation where all South African base companies were mandated to domain their site in .za. In Nigeria situation we saw the intra-fighting that characterized setting up of an association that will coordinate the nation’s domain name before Nigerian Internet Registration Association (Nira) emerged. We need to assist Nira to popularize .ng as well as having enough interesting content to push around the country that will naturally make the IXP to be visible. It must not be by legislation to make people make their content local, there a lot of other things that need to be done for this to pick-up.
General News
Court Orders FG to Reveal Identity of Local Contractors in $460m Abuja CCTV Project

Federal High Court has ordered the Ministry of Finance to disclose the total amount paid under the $460 million Abuja CCTV loan, the identities of local and Chinese contractors who received the funds, the status of the project’s implementation, and details relating to the N1.5 billion reportedly paid for the Code of Conduct Bureau headquarters project.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy to immediately disclose the identities of all local contractors, subcontractors, consultants, vendors, and other entities that benefited from the payments under the National Public Security Communication System project in Abuja, commonly referred to as the $460 million Abuja CCTV Project.
The Federal Ministry of Finance, in response to SERAP’s contempt proceedings, had recently disclosed that: “Records from the Ministry of Police Affairs indicate that while local subcontractors may have been engaged, there is an absence of detailed subcontracting records identifying specific local companies that received funds directly from the Chinese loan.”
The Ministry made the disclosure in a letter dated 15 May 2026 and signed by R. O. Omachi, permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance,.
Responding, SERAP in a letter dated 23 May 2026 and signed by Kolawole Oluwadare, deputy director, said: “We are concerned that although the judgment was delivered in May 2023, the Ministry only released some information after we commenced contempt proceedings and served a Notice to show cause in January 2026.”
According to SERAP, “Nigerians still do not know exactly the names of local contractors for the project. The absence of this information raises serious concerns about record keeping, transparency and accountability, and whether the project was implemented in a manner consistent with the public interest.”
On 15 May 2023, the Federal High Court ordered the Ministry of Finance to disclose the total amount paid under the $460 million Abuja CCTV loan, the identities of local and Chinese contractors who received the funds, the status of the project’s implementation, and details relating to the N1.5 billion reportedly paid for the Code of Conduct Bureau headquarters project.
SERAP said, “The details provided amount to only partial compliance with Justice Emeka Nwite’s judgment. Key questions remain unanswered, and further clarification is needed to ensure full and effective compliance with the judgment.”
SERAP’s letter, read in part: “We would be grateful if the requested details are provided within 48 hours of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall proceed with our contempt proceedings against the Federal Ministry of Finance for failure to fully and effectively comply with the judgment of the Federal High Court.
“SERAP appreciates the steps taken by the Ministry to provide some information concerning the Chinese loan drawdown, counterpart funding arrangements, and certain records on equipment deliveries connected with the project.
“However, there is still no explanation regarding the missing 6,035 items as part of the status of implementation of the project. It remains unclear whether the items were subsequently delivered, whether payment was made for them, whether the contractor defaulted, whether Nigeria suffered any financial loss, and whether any steps were taken to recover public funds.
“The Ministry lists items reportedly delivered in 2013. However, it has failed to clarify how many cameras were installed, if any; where they were installed; whether the cameras are currently operational; and whether the project delivered value for money.
“The inability or failure to disclose these records raises serious public interest concerns about record keeping, contract administration, and accountability for public expenditure.
“For a project financed through public borrowing—debt Nigerians continue to repay—full transparency over all beneficiaries, foreign and domestic, is essential. Nigerians have the right to know how public funds were spent, who received them, and what was delivered in return.
“Compliance with court judgments is fundamental to the rule of law and constitutional governance. Government agencies cannot selectively comply with judicial orders or release partial information while withholding records central to public accountability.”
SERAP, therefore, urged Mr Oyedele and the Federal Ministry of Finance to fully, effectively, and urgently implement the judgment of the Federal High Court ordering disclosure of information relating to the Abuja CCTV project including by:
*Publishing the names of all Nigerian companies, subcontractors, consultants, and vendors involved in the project.
*Disclosing the amount paid to each contractor or subcontractor and the nature of work performed.
*Provide details of the status of implementation of the project including by releasing the certificates of completion, and accounting for the 6,035 project items identified as undelivered.
General News
NCAA Suspends Services to Air Peace, Others over Debts

Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has placed 11 domestic airlines on its updated “No-Pay-No-Service” list over unpaid statutory charges, a move that could affect the renewal of key operational approvals, including Air Operator’s Certificates (AOC).

According to an internal memo dated May 22, 2026, the regulator directed all its directorates to suspend regulatory and administrative services to the affected carriers until they clear outstanding debts or agree on repayment terms.
The directive means that services linked to certification and oversight, such as AOC renewals, Air Transport Licences (ATL), and Airline Operating Permits (AOP), may be withheld, raising concerns over possible operational disruptions in the aviation sector.
The affected airlines include Air Peace Limited, Ibom Air, Arik Air, ValueJet, United Nigeria Airlines, Umza Air, NG Eagle, Max Air, Caverton Helicopters, Overland Airways, and Rano Air.
At the centre of the dispute is the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge and Cargo Sales Charge, which airlines collect on behalf of the NCAA to fund safety oversight, personnel training, and economic regulation in the industry.
The memo, signed by Olufemi Odukoya, director of Finance and Accounts, NCAA, and circulated to regional offices, instructed that no directorate should render services to the listed airlines without financial clearance from the finance department.
It further warned that all services remain suspended pending verification and clearance of outstanding obligations.
While the directive has sparked concerns among industry stakeholders about possible delays in regulatory processes, some affected operators say they are unaware of the order.
Banji Ola, Arik Air’s spokesperson, said the airline had no knowledge of such a directive.
“I am not aware of any such directive or report.” Ola said
Whisky Efe and Anietie Essienette, spokespersons of Air Peace and Ibom Air, respectively did not respond as of the time of filing this report.
The development has raised fresh uncertainty in the sector, with operators and passengers wary of potential disruptions if the standoff persists
General News
FG Classifies Ebola Importation into Nigeria as High Risk

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has classified the risk of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) importation into Nigeria as high amid the ongoing outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, though the agency confirmed that no case linked to the regional outbreak has been detected in the country.

Dr Jide Idris, director-general of the NCDC, in a public health advisory released on Sunday, stated that the assessment followed the World Health Organization’s declaration of the outbreaks as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
According to Dr Idris, the high-risk classification was informed by increasing international travel and population movement, continued transmission in the affected countries, uncertainty surrounding the full scale of the outbreak, and the possibility of delayed detection because Ebola symptoms resemble other endemic diseases such as malaria and Lassa fever.
He, however, assured Nigerians that high-risk states, border communities, major transport hubs, and Points of Entry had already been identified as part of ongoing preparedness efforts.
Despite the risk, Dr Idris noted that the country possesses critical response capacities, including functional laboratories, trained rapid response teams, emergency operations centres, and existing viral haemorrhagic fever preparedness structures strengthened by previous successful responses to Ebola and similar outbreaks.
He also stated that the National Emergency Operations Centre had been placed on alert mode, while the National Incident Management System had also been activated to strengthen coordination, reporting, and rapid response mechanisms nationwide.
He explained that epidemiologists and rapid response teams had been placed on standby for possible deployment, while collaboration among state ministries of health, port health services, and other relevant agencies had been intensified.
According to him, surveillance activities have also been strengthened nationwide through enhanced monitoring of alerts, rumours, and unusual health events to support early detection and response.
Dr Idris said border communities and points of entry are under increased surveillance, while health workers across the country are undergoing refresher sensitisation on infection prevention and control measures, early identification of suspected cases, and proper triage procedures.
He further said that states had been advised to incorporate Ebola preparedness into their emergency response systems by designating isolation and treatment centres, assessing bed capacity, strengthening referral pathways, and ensuring the availability of logistics and essential medical supplies.
He also revealed that plans were ongoing to preposition critical response commodities such as personal protective equipment (PPEs), laboratory consumables, body bags, and emergency medical supplies in strategic locations across the country.
On laboratory readiness, Dr Idris said Nigeria currently maintains Ebola testing capacity in states with international points of entry and within the national public health laboratory network, with surge testing capability available if needed.
He said the agency has intensified public awareness campaigns and risk communication efforts aimed at combating misinformation and false claims circulating online about Ebola.
While urging Nigerians not to panic, Dr Idris advised members of the public to maintain proper hand hygiene, avoid direct contact with bodily fluids of sick persons, refrain from handling corpses of individuals who died from unexplained illnesses, and avoid bushmeat from unknown sources.
He advised travellers arriving from countries with confirmed Ebola cases to monitor their health for 21 days and immediately contact health authorities if symptoms develop.
He also urged healthcare workers to maintain a high index of suspicion for Ebola cases, strictly observe infection prevention protocols, use PPEs appropriately, and promptly report suspected cases through established channels.
Telecom3 days agoNCC Drafts New Rules for Virtual Mobile Operators
Telecom3 days agoAirtel Africa Launches $110m Share Buyback Programme for Capital Efficiency
General News3 days agoWHO Says Ebola Risk Now at Highest Level
E-Business3 days agoLG Electronics Showcases Advanced HVAC Solutions at Mega Clima Nigeria 2026
Telecom3 days agoMTN Nigeria Tops Gender Equality Rankings After Major Workplace Transformation, IFC Report Reveals
News3 days agoFG Unveils AI Public Services Platform
Telecom3 days agoAustralian Court Upholds Fine Against X Over Child Safety Compliance Failures
Telecom3 days agoMicrosoft, Partners Launch ‘LINGUA Initiative’ to Save African Languages From Digital Extinction












