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NREN: How, Why Nigeria Produces Half-Baked Graduates
Flaws in the educational system particularly the unavailability of a national research and education network have been blamed for the mass production of graduates who cannot fit into modern day working environment, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has leant.
The spiraling decay in the system is also attributed to lack of political will on the part of the government; brain-drain; and poor facilities.
Luckily, information and communications technologies (ICTs) experts, some of who are products of Nigeria higher institutions are ringing hope.
First, they x-rayed why Nigeria remained at the outskirts of the changing information age and concluded that government and indeed the school system are to blame.
They were worried that Nigerian graduates leave institutions of higher learning without even touching a computer, leaving them without requisite skills to integrate into the ICT driven business environment.
The experts who gathered for the third EduNet Africa Conference held in Lagos said the way forward is the Research and Education Network (REN).
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that REN is a special Internet service provider that connects research institutions, libraries, universities and other higher institutions of learning.
This special network facilitates the exchange and sharing of information within connected institutions and makes for great research and also enables other services like e-learning, data management, content development, cloud computing, Internet protocol services, and further technology development.
Funke Opeke, CEO, Main One Cable Company, owners of Main One Cable, said the formation of an NREN in the US served as a basis for the creation of the Internet as we know today.
Elsewhere, developing countries have keyed in and the result is the proliferation of RENs like; Kenya Education Network (KENET), TENET –South Africa, EUN –Egypt, RNU – Tunisia, CERIST – Algeria.
All these RENs are backed by political wills of their various home countries.
Others are: UbuntuNet Alliance – an alliance of several southern and eastern African NRENs and EUMEDConnect project, funded by European Union with Links Mediterranean African countries with Europe through GEANT.
Opeke said with approximately 144 governments’ controlled tertiary institutions in Nigeria, none is ranked among the best in the world.
“Universities around the world are ranked by their research output and publications in world renowned journals and books. In the 1960’s, 1970’s and early 1980’s, Nigerian universities were routinely ranked as some of the best in the world. In 2012, of the top 100 universities in Africa, only three Nigerian institutions listed (all below the top 10)” she said.
Nodding in agreement, Biodun Omoniyi, managing director/ CEO, VDT Communications Limited, said broadband Internet is an extremely powerful and fast communications tool for both consumers and businesses, as well as a source of educational and research material.
To ensure that Nigerian graduates are empowered with requisite skills to contribute to nation building, the experts said government must recognize the importance of broadband in the economy and to the everyday life of citizens.
Tosin Amusa, Datacenter/Virtualization and Cloud Solution Architect at Cisco, proposed the use of Cisco CloudVerse for education which according to him will provide the essential architectures, solutions and integrated systems for customers building clouds: public, private and hybrid.
“These include our highly differentiated products such as our unified computing system, our switching and routing products such as Nexus and CRS/ASR/ISR, our cloud enabling services (WaaS, Ace) which radically simplify the building of the cloud infrastructure,” Amusa said.
Pointing at a success model, Omoniyi of VDT said that his company’s partnership with the Lagos State University (LASU) has resulted in a multi-campus university with three major campuses in Ojo Main campus, Epe campus and Surulere campus.
Opeke said various options are under development to form the nucleus of the Nigerian NREN including the government, international assistance and private sector.
She however said that efforts are too slow and there are no compelling incentives for all institutions to join while recognition on a global scale and interconnection with other NRENs is weak or lacking.
She described Some private initiatives Main One is involved with to include wide networks at American University, Yola and Covenant University, Google University Access Programme, University of Nigeria Nsukka, and University of Benin, Opeke said her company has the capacity and reliability.
Muhammed Rudman, CEO of Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) said that all these initiatives can be brought under a single cluster.
Having done the needful, they experts said that the government must now lend its political weight on the educational system to halt the spiraling decay.
Legend Internet Plc has announced the full and timely repayment of its Series 1 Commercial Paper under its N10bn multi-layered issuance programme, marking a key milestone in the company’s engagement with Nigeria’s debt capital market.
Aisha Abdulaziz, chief executive officer, Legend Internet Plc,
The repayment, completed on schedule and in full, underscores the company’s financial discipline and its continued commitment to maintaining strong investor relations in a tightening funding environment.
The Series 1 issuance had earlier attracted significant demand, recording a 119.7 per cent oversubscription at launch, reflecting strong investor appetite and confidence in the company’s credit profile, operational performance, and long-term expansion strategy.
Speaking on the repayment, Aisha Abdulaziz, chief executive officer, Legend Internet Plc, said the outcome reinforces the company’s credibility and operational strength.
“The successful repayment of our Series 1 Commercial Paper demonstrates Legend Internet’s unwavering commitment to meeting its financial obligations and maintaining the trust of the investment community.
This milestone further reinforces the strength of our business model, operational discipline, and long-term vision for building resilient digital infrastructure across Nigeria,” she said.
She added that investor confidence has remained central to the company’s funding strategy, saying, “We remain deeply appreciative of the confidence shown by our investors, advisers, issuing houses, and market partners during the issuance and throughout the tenor of the programme. Their support continues to position Legend Internet for sustainable growth and expansion.”
The Commercial Paper programme forms part of Legend Internet Plc’s broader capital strategy aimed at supporting broadband infrastructure expansion, strengthening working capital efficiency, and accelerating investment in Nigeria’s digital connectivity.
Legend Internet Plc operates as a digital infrastructure and broadband services provider, with a focus on fibre connectivity, enterprise solutions, and next-generation digital services designed to expand access and support economic inclusion across Nigeria
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.
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.
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