Telecom
Public Procurement Act: NIMC DG Charges Management on Compliance, As Expert Calls for Amendment
Engr. Aliyu Aziz Abubakar, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has charged members of the Management of the Commission to ensure strict compliance with the provisions of the country’s Public Procurement Act.
NIMC DG, Aliyu Aziz (4th R), ID4D Project Coordinator, Musa Solomon (4th L) and a cross section of NIMC Management Team at the Procurement Workshop
The NIMC helmsman gave the charge in Lagos on Monday, while delivering his remarks at a 3-day Interactive Workshop on Procurement and understanding of the World Bank procurement process, procedures, and Ecosystem Enrolment readiness, organized by the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) Project, in collaboration with NIMC.
According to a Press Release, jointly signed by the Nigeria Digital ID4D project Communications Manager, Dr. Walter Duru and NIMC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke, the NIMC CEO stressed that the event was put together to enhance the capacity of the Management team on the provisions and application of the country’s Public Procurement Act.
He spoke on the need for similar training to be held more frequently to ensure improved capacity of team members on contemporary issues in public procurement.
In his statement of the workshop objectives, Project Coordinator, Nigeria Digital Identification Project, Musa Odole Solomon described the meeting as geared towards updating participants on contemporary issues in procurement, adding that “there was the need for understanding the meeting point between the country’s procurement laws and the World Bank’s procurement regulations.”
Also speaking, Director, Legal and Regulatory Affairs at NIMC, Hadiza Dagabana called for the amendment of Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act.
According to her, “the Public Procurement Act was passed in 2007. We are in 2023. A lot of things have changed over the years and there are so many gaps in the Act. It is time for an amendment.”
She described the workshop as impactful, urging the participants to put into practice the knowledge acquired.
In her “Overview of Public Procurement Act (2007) and its convergence with the World Bank Procurement Regulations for Borrowers,” Ag. Director of Procurement at the National Identity Management Commission, Princess Nkoyo Iwok, called on public institutions in Nigeria to embrace transparency and accountability in all their transactions, reiterating that sanctions apply for violation of the public procurement law.
Iwok identified some common offences in procurement as “bid rigging, collusion, splitting of contracts, procurement fraud, altering procurement documents, willful refusal to allow bureau and its officers access to any procurement records and using fake documents.”
She highlighted some of the sanctions for violation of the Public Procurement Act to include imprisonment, upon conviction, among others.
On the convergence between World Bank Procurement Guidelines for Borrowers & Nigeria Public Procurement Act 2007, Iwok stressed that “both the World Bank Procurement Guidelines and Nigeria’s Public Procurement Law emphasize the importance of procurement planning.”
On transparency and competition, she explained that “both the World Bank Procurement Guidelines and Nigeria’s Public Procurement Law promote transparency and competition in procurement processes.”
Continuing, she argued that “while there are some similarities between the two procurement frameworks, it is important to note that the World Bank Procurement Guidelines are generally more comprehensive and detailed than Nigeria’s Public Procurement Law. As such, borrowers in Nigeria that are subject to the World Bank Procurement Guidelines will need to ensure that their procurement practices are consistent with both frameworks,” she stressed.
In his presentation on Proposal and Bid Evaluation procedures/Project Risk Management and Control strategy, Procurement Officer, Project Implementation Unit of the Nigeria Digital ID4D, Ibrahim Abu, argued that “procurement is infused with numerous risks,” even as he made a case for proper risk management practices and tactics to reduce same.
MTN Nigeria’s commitment to digital innovation took center stage at MarkHack 4.0, the annual marketing and technology conference held at Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday, May 23, 2025, with the theme ‘Experience Ignited: Fueling the Customer’s Journey’.
L-R: Akinbulejo Onabolu, Head, Enterprise Segment, MTN Nigeria; Eneyi Obi, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Rise; Tobi Olanisimi, Marketing Manager, AB InBev; Martha Kayode, Marketing Head, PZ Cussonz; Sulaiman Shaibu, CEO, BFT Consulting Service and Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor, Condia Business at the MarkHack 4.0 Conference held at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday, May 23, 2025.
In a celebration of innovation, technology, and storytelling, the company also took home the award for Best Use of Data in a Marketing Campaign at the Nigeria MarTech (MarkHack 4.0) Awards Night. This award recognizes brands that have successfully transformed data into compelling narratives and actionable insights to meaningfully engage their audiences.
Akinbulejo Onabolu, Senior Manager, Segment Management, Enterprise Business at MTN, joined a panel to discuss the power of immersive technologies on consumer behaviour. Drawing from MTN’s launch of its 5G Digital Experience Centre in Abuja last year, Onabolu highlighted the rapid evolution of immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) stating “Our 5G centre is a sandbox for our customers to come and see how technology can shape things. At the launch event, we unveiled a smart city to customers, clients and dignitaries in attendance, with gaming and other tech experiences.”
On the intersection of data, AR and VR, he added: “Co-creating with MTN takes our minds to a platform where different partners, companies and creators can bring their buildings, products and businesses for people to see via augmented reality and connectivity, just swiping through and following through that journey.
“As a part of impacting our customer’s lives, a few years ago, we also played around with the Metaverse and we ended up creating some of our back-office processes with some of our customer journeys on augmented reality and virtual reality such that a customer somewhere can engage with a virtual agent to solve real life problems and integrating that back into our operating systems. As an organization, at a lot of our events, you will find a lot of AR and VR experiences.”
Speaking on how MTN is embedding immersive technology into its day-to-day operations, he explained that the company is prioritizing both internal capability development and external engagement. “85% of our organization has undergone extensive training on AI and that already is a great addition to our daily lives. We’re using it to do things differently, developing user journeys and brainstorming different things. In terms of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, we are working with organizations to develop training programs which we use internally.”
He described the bases for this tech as stable connectivity, high bandwidth, high speed and low latency. “Over the past year, we’ve doubled our 5G capacity across the entire country. Wherever you are, you’ll probably start to pick up 5G. With our FibreX service, we’re going way beyond connectivity to create the systems and platforms to support the ecosystem, AR and VR. In addition to this, we’re also engaging regulatory systems to start to tease this out and build the proper governance.”
The session, moderated by Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor at Condia Business, also featured insights from leaders in FMCG, consulting, and global marketing, all underscoring the transformative potential of immersive technologies for Africa’s future.
MTN Nigeria has announced a massive capital expenditure (CAPEX) drive for 2025, nearly doubling its investment to almost 900 billion Naira, as it seeks to significantly enhance network service quality in major cities like Lagos and Abuja and extend improvements to other areas.
Karl Toriola
This financial commitment, up from a combined total of approximately 440 billion Naira spent in 2023 and 2024, was detailed by MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr. Karl Toriola, during a recent interview on Arise TV.
Toriola highlighted that a key focus of the increased CAPEX will be on “putting additional capacity in a city like Lagos, particularly in Abuja, where you have a lot of buildings coming up, you need additional sites because there are coverage issues.”
Beyond these critical urban centres, the investment aims to bolster network resilience and ensure power stability for its infrastructure nationwide. This includes proactively addressing site outages by ensuring timely payment for operational necessities such as diesel for generators, a persistent challenge in the Nigerian operating environment
The CEO outlined the comprehensive nature of the upgrade process, which involves “placing orders formally, opening letters of credit, and then the equipment gets shipped in and installed.” He added that where necessary, MTN will be “acquiring new sites” and “laying fiber to the base station to create better stability.”
While the immediate CAPEX is geared towards improving existing service quality and capacity, this investment aligns with MTN’s broader goals, which include enhancing financial inclusion in underserved rural areas, suggesting a long-term vision for network expansion and service improvement that extends beyond metropolitan areas.
Customers are expected to begin experiencing the positive impact of these investments with a “significant improvement in quality of service” anticipated by the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2025, according to Toriola.
Airtel Nigeria, telecom service provider, has announced that its AI-powered Spam Alert Service issued over 9.6 million spam alerts between March 13 and May 20, 2025.
As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting customers from unwanted and potentially fraudulent communications, Airtel designed the AI Spam Alert service to analyze traffic patterns and detect anomalies.
In the period since launch the AI pinpointed a total of 9,667,008 SMS as potential spam messages in the two months after its launch.
Of these, the system identified 528,080 on-net (Airtel-to-Airtel) and 9,138,928 off-net (from other networks) numbers as suspected spam messages, demonstrating the scale of the threat and Airtel’s advanced processing capability.
Airtel Nigeria is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa.
Commenting on this development, Dinesh Balsingh, CEO, Airtel Nigeria, restated Airtel`s commitment to protecting its customers.
“This milestone demonstrates the strength of our AI-driven infrastructure in combating the growing menace of spam and scam calls. At Airtel Nigeria, we are focused on connecting Nigerians and ensuring their safety and confidence while using our network.
“We understand that trust is the cornerstone of digital communication. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in intelligent systems that not only detect potential threats but also learn and evolve with data. As threats become more sophisticated, so will our solutions. As a company, we remain focused on leading the industry in innovation and customer satisfaction, ensuring that every Nigerian can enjoy a safer and smarter digital experience,” Mr. Balsingh said.
The Spam Alert Service is part of Airtel Nigeria’s broader strategy to integrate artificial intelligence into its core offerings to deliver smarter and safer experiences for its customers across the country.
Recall that the Spam Alert Service was launched on March 13, 2025. A groundbreaking and free solution from Airtel, it notifies users in real-time of suspected spam SMS messages by analyzing over 250 parameters.
The Airtel AI Spam Alert Service is available to all Airtel subscribers on smartphones and feature phones.
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