Connect with us

News

Nigeria Faces Shutdown as Energy Crisis Worsens

Published

on

fuel scarcity may persist till June
Kindly share this post

Nigeria faces a shutdown as fuel becomes increasingly unavailable nationwide and prices doubled or tripled in some places.

Petrol, diesel and even kerosene are longer being sold in 80% of fuel stations across Nigeria, according to reports by Daily Trust correspondents.

The situation is so critical that motorists are stranded at filling stations for a whole day.

As a result transport fares have shot up sharply – in some places rising by 100% or more.

Airlines have also cut flights by half, leaving passengers stranded and some angry for being forced to miss crucial business trips.

All these are compounded by power generation which has dropped to all time low forcing critical services like hospitals, banks and telecoms to depend ever more on generator plants.

But Daily Trust correspondents report that even such alternative services are themselves threatened by the current fuel shortages.

Telecom operators have warned that the nation faces shutdown if the situation does not improve immediately.

A few hospitals have also expressed concerns that they will no longer be able to carry out operations should the situation continue for a day or two.

The fuel crisis is coming at a time when about 50 foreign leaders are due in the country for the inauguration of a new president on Friday.

Fuel scarcity in Lagos and some western parts of the country weekend worsened as most filling stations remained closed.

Our correspondent gathered that some of the black marketers got supply of the product from burst pipelines in the outskirt of Ikorodu area of the Lagos and sell to motorists at N250 per litre against the official price of N87.

Commercial bus drivers have hiked transport fare by over 150 percent margin in order to enable them make returns on the cost of fuelling their vehicles.

A transport fare from Ajah to Obalende, which was N300   days ago was N 700 yesterday. Also  Yaba fare to Obalende goes as  high as N400 and N500 as against N100 per trip last week.

Inter state buses also jerked transport fares  for over  100 percent, leaving cost of movement to Ibadan and Abeokuta at N3500 and N3000 respectively as against N2000 and N1500 last week.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr Obafemi Lawore has expressed concern over the worsening fuel scarcity.

MOMAN and other importers are scheduled to meet the Senate in Abuja today.

Two of the major telecoms operators, Airtel and MTN Nigeria have warned of imminent network degradation if the fuel scarcity is not addressed.

MTN said in a statement posted on its twitter handle, that its reserve diesel was running out fast and the network might suffer imminent degradation if it did not manage to procure diesel supplies within the next 24 hours.

The statement read, “MTN’s available reserves of diesel are running low and the company must source for a significant quantity of diesel in the near future to prevent a shutdown of services across Nigeria.”

Corporate Services Executive Akinwale Goodluck said:  “Most of our base stations and switches are powered round-the-clock by Diesel Generators and the current fuel shortage has drastically reduced the availability of diesel fuel supply to key locations”

In the same vein, Airtel Networks Limited also in a statement said the situation is impacting negatively on its commitments to delivering best-in-class quality of service and seamless telephony experience to all Nigerians.”

An official, Mr. Erhumu Bayagbon said:  “While we are currently doing everything within our means as well as going the extra mile to ensure that all our base stations and switches are up and running, it is sad to note that it is becoming increasingly difficult to replenish current stock of diesel due to the lingering scarcity of the products.”

He said, “We are also concerned that, if the situation persists, it may have adverse effects on our network, impacting both voice and data services. Airtel, therefore wishes to assure all customers that we will continue working with all our partners and stakeholders to mitigate any negative impact as we remain committed to our promise of providing exceptional services.”

A 2014 slide-deck presented to foreign investors revealed that MTN Nigeria spends at least 70 percent of operating expenditure on diesel, while the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya also gave an estimated amount of N10billion as annual spending on diesel.

The fuel crisis is forcing businesses to close their doors and if MTN’s grim forecast comes to pass, not only voice and calls will be affected, but also internet services, banks, health, education as well as other sectors of the economy.

The persistent acute power outage coupled with the hot weather being experienced in Kano State has exposed residents to untold hardship, our correspondent reports.

For weeks power supply in Kano State has worsened as residents battle with many days of blackout. This is not helped by the weather condition which has been fluctuating between 39 and 40 degrees.

A civil servant, Aminu Mohammed said his son had been admitted at the Nasarawa hospital as a result of the hot weather and the power outage.

“For the past five days now I have been at the hospital, my son is suffering from high fever which doctors said was caused by the hot weather. I thank God that his is high fever but cases of meningitis have been recorded at the hospital,” he said.

A factory worker in Sharada phase 2, Ibrahim Suleiman said the management of the carpet company he is working with had cancelled overtime because of the power outage.


Kindly share this post

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. So since 2007, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and how they affect lives.

News

FG Unveils AI Public Services Platform

Published

on

Kindly share this post

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.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

News

Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Published

on

Kindly share this post

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

Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

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.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

News

Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

Published

on

Kindly share this post

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.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Trending