The Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division, interim injunction on 24 April 2026 restraining MTN Nigeria Communications PLC and Airtel Networks Limited from suspending or interfering with Nairtime’s access to critical telecommunications platforms has helped to ensure access to essential airtime and data services for millions of Nigerians.

The Order, issued in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/779/2026, prevents any disruption to essential infrastructure such as Short Codes, SMS, USSD, and billing services following a directive issued by the FCCPC that left Nigerians without a safety net.

This ruling ensures that millions of Nigerian consumers, particularly those without access to traditional banking can continue to access airtime and data on credit, services that are increasingly vital for daily communication, work, education, and digital participation.

The Court’s intervention provides policy certainty and helps preserve continuity for users who depend on these services not just for connectivity, but also as a gateway to financial inclusion and digital identity in an increasingly connected economy. The decision also reinforces the legitimacy of Nairtime’s operations, which are conducted under a valid Value-Added Service (VAS) licence issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission.

Nairtime maintains that it has consistently complied with all regulatory requirements and contractual obligations. The company noted that the suspension linked to the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025 risked disrupting services relied upon daily by ordinary Nigerians.

Speaking on the development, Ms Uchenna Agbo, Chief Commercial Officer, Optasia, and Chief Executive Officer, Nairtime Nigeria Limited said: “This decision is ultimately about protecting underserved Nigerian consumers. It ensures that millions of people many of whom are underserved by traditional financial systems, retain uninterrupted access to essential digital services.

“Over time, using these services responsibly can help them prove reliability and improve their chances of accessing bigger financial opportunities in the future. Our platform enables responsible, data-driven lending that keeps people connected when they need it most and we look forward to working with our partners to restore services in a manner that resumes full service value to the Nigerian consumers without further delay.”

Nairtime Nigeria reaffirmed its commitment to consumer and data protection through stringent governance frameworks and ethical use of artificial intelligence.

The company emphasized that it shares the broader consumer protection objectives of the Federal Government and remains committed to constructive engagement with regulators and industry partners.

She added: “We have built a system that supports inclusion at scale, while maintaining strong risk controls for industry stability and economic impact. This ruling allows us to continue delivering safe, reliable services that Nigerians depend on every day. We remain focused on ensuring that the Nigerian consumer stays at the centre of innovation and will continue working with regulators and our partners, including MTN and Airtel, to promote a fair, transparent, and inclusive digital ecosystem that benefits Nigeria and all Nigerians.”

Optasia, which listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in late 2025, was founded in Nigeria 14 years ago and provides the infrastructure layer that connects mobile network operators and banks to millions of underserved customers.

Through its global partnerships with 50 distribution partners and 17 financial institutions —including some of Africa’s largest mobile network operators (MNOs) and tier-one banks — the platform leverages proprietary AI which processes credit decisions in under one second, using alternative data to assess risk for customers who have never held a formal credit product.

Beyond telcos, the company is also developing new propositions including SME and merchant finance, longer terms and higher-value credit, telco BNPL and revolving credit lines, and embedding its platform across adjacent ecosystems and verticals.

PalmPay’s Managing Director, Mr. Chika Nwosu, delivered a compelling address on the transformative role of embedded finance in Africa, at the third edition of Payments Forum Nigeria (PAFON 3.0), held on Friday, April 24, 2026, in Lagos.

PAFON 3.0

Speaking on the theme “Embedded Finance in Africa: Powering Payments Where People Live, Work, and Trade”, Nwosu emphasized that the story of finance on the continent is not merely about innovation but about solving everyday problems.

He recalled that as recently as 2017, only 43 per cent of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa had access to formal financial services, with Nigeria facing even deeper exclusion. Even for those included, challenges such as network downtime and failed transactions plagued the system.

“The average Nigerian wants to synergise life, work, and business without friction. That is where embedded finance comes in,” Nwosu said, stressing that the solution lies in integrating financial services directly into platforms people already use and trust.

Highlighting the role of smartphones as gateways into the financial ecosystem, he noted that Nigeria’s large base of smartphone users presents a unique opportunity to expand access.

With small businesses and informal trade driving the economy, contributing over 80 per cent of employment and more than half of GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nwosu argued that financial services must meet people where they are: in markets, on ride-hailing platforms, at POS terminals, and in online shops.

PalmPay, he explained, has focused on building infrastructure that guarantees reliability at scale, achieving a 99.95 per cent transaction success rate. “Trust is everything,” he said, adding that the company’s fraud prevention systems and human oversight have been critical to sustaining user confidence.

Beyond infrastructure, PalmPay has expanded through a network of over 500,000 agents, bringing services to the last mile, while leveraging data and AI to personalize experiences and strengthen security.

Nwosu underscored that embedded finance is already reshaping Nigeria’s digital economy by improving cash flow for small businesses, creating jobs, and moving beyond financial inclusion to meaningful usage, cautioning however, that more work remains to be done.

He outlined three priorities for unlocking the full potential of embedded finance: reliability at scale, deep ecosystem integration, and accessibility. Success, he said, will be achieved “when a trader in a remote market can transact with the same speed and confidence as a corporate executive in Lagos.”

Nwosu affirmed PalmPay’s commitment to building this future, where payments become so seamless that users no longer have to think about them at all.

By Olumide Balogun

There was a time when using a search engine felt like cracking a code. You typed two or three carefully chosen keywords, hoped the machine understood, and waited to see what came back. People had to learn the language of machines, shrinking complex needs into stilted phrases.

Olumide Balogun, Director, West and East Africa at Google.

That era is ending. Today, a person can ask a question the same way they would ask a colleague, and the technology is finally learning to respond in kind. Nowhere is this shift more visible than in Nigeria, where a young, mobile-first population expects tools to keep pace with how they actually think and speak.

This change carries weight far beyond convenience. It is reshaping how Nigerian businesses reach customers and how customers find what they need.

For years, marketing online meant wrestling with rigid keyword lists. A small business owner had to guess every possible phrase a customer might type. If you sold ankara dresses, you tried “ankara dress,” “Nigerian print fabric,” “traditional wear Lagos,” and a dozen variations, hoping you covered the gaps. Anything you missed was a missed customer

The new wave of conversational search makes those lists feel ancient. People now ask layered, specific questions: “Where can I find a sustainable tailor in Yaba who makes office wear?” Older systems would have stumbled on a query like that. Newer ones, powered by artificial intelligence, can read intent and stitch ideas together. They connect a question to a relevant local website that a basic keyword search might never have surfaced.

The shift is starting to show up in concrete tools. Google’s AI Max for Search ads, now a year old, is one of the more visible examples. In plain terms, it lets a business describe what it sells and who it serves in everyday language, and the system figures out which searches to match it to, instead of forcing the owner to write hundreds of keywords by hand. Early adopters report stronger revenue growth than peers, and users say results feel more useful because the technology connects ideas for them, often surfacing local sites that would not have appeared before.

There is a quieter benefit too. When advertising becomes more relevant, it stops feeling like an interruption. An ad that answers a real question is no longer noise; it is information. That changes the texture of the internet. The marketplace gets less cluttered, and people spend less time wading through results that do not fit what they were looking for.

None of this is automatic. The technology only works if it can understand human nuance, and human nuance in Nigeria is not the same as human nuance in California. A search for “owambe outfit” or “small chops for fifty people” demands cultural context, not just linguistic translation. Newer features try to bridge that gap. AI Brief, a part of the same Google toolkit, lets a business owner type plain instructions, like “focus on sustainable traditional wear, keep a premium tone,” and the system follows them. This is steering by intent, not by keyword bingo.

There are gains for businesses with deep catalogues too. A retailer with thousands of items no longer has to match every question to the right page by hand. Tools such as Google’s Final URL Expansion read the search and send the customer straight to the page that fits, in real time. In travel, finance, and healthcare, where compliance matters, the same systems can carry mandatory legal text into every ad automatically. Regulated industries can grow without cutting corners.

These are not abstract wins. They are the difference between a small business being found by a customer in Abuja at 9 p.m. and being lost in a sea of generic results, between a hospital reaching the right patient and a tailor in Surulere being discovered by a bride planning her wedding.

We should not pretend the transition is finished. AI is imperfect. It can misread context, amplify mistakes, and require careful oversight. Regulators, businesses, and users all have a role in shaping how it develops in our market. The broader direction, however, is clear, and it is one Nigeria should engage with rather than resist.

Nigeria is a nation of storytellers and traders. Our markets, physical and digital, have always been about conversation. The technology of search is finally beginning to mirror that. It is becoming less of a vending machine and more of a market stall, where you can ask a question, get a real answer, and discover something you did not know you needed.

That is the bigger story behind any single product launch. It is about how a country full of voices is finding new ways to be heard. For Nigerian businesses willing to adapt, the opportunity has never been clearer.