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Revisiting The Electricity Question In Nigeria

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The question as to whether the Nigeria’s tech ecosystem can truly develop without steady power supply has always been agitating my mind.

This question keeps coming up because of the epileptic power supply that has consistently been the lot of the citizens of this country for way over 5 decades now. The epileptic power supply has constantly left most of our small, medium and large scale businesses in Nigeria in dire straits. This is because they power their businesses with generators which run on fuel and this shoots up the operating/running expenses of these businesses.

It is no longer news that many industries in Nigeria have either closed shop and relocated to other countries that have relatively stable electricity or disengage a number of their staff and increased the work load of those remaining in a bid to reduce operating/running cost.

This is happening in a country where we already have a very high rate of unemployment. The news gets worse when the reality stares us in the face that, unless the government, through the NERC and the Discos, Gencos and the Transmission companies gets their acts together and cooperate, coordinate and synergize to give us the much required stable electricity supply, more businesses are likely to die, be irrespective of the field of endeavour.

It is worthy to note that, without steady power supply, there simply cannot be any significant technological advancement or innovation and in the same vein, no section of the power ecosystem, (generation, transmission, distribution, billing, the regulator or what have you), can work effectively and efficiently without inputting modern technology. They are all partners in progress.

In many climes, people in government have come to recognize that stable electricity supply is the fulcrum on which many businesses depend, to enable them deliver optimally at relatively cheaper prices. Electricity is also seen as the chief driver of technological innovations that has given birth to the Internet of Things.

This has now turned the universe into a global village through internet connectivity. The Internet of Things is set to take the world by the storm in the next two or three years’ time, when your household gadgets, such as your refrigerator, electronic doors and gates, Television, Microwaves, etc., will be interconnected.

Without stable electricity, I do not see how we will be able to cope in Nigeria in this regards as connectivity is dependent on the availability of electricity supply.

Today, within the twinkling of an eye, you can transact and close business deals with anyone, anywhere in the world, without leaving the comfort of your home through an internet-connected computer device, powered by electricity.

Technology and its variants of innovations, of which electricity is a major one, I have always maintained, has come to make our daily living a lot easier.

There is no doubt that the high unemployment rate we are presently facing in Nigeria can be drastically reduced with relatively stable supply of electricity.

Many people will find their employment bearing in what is usually called the blue collar job sector of the economy, which is capable of accommodating millions of employable Nigerians. Name it; Welding workshops, Barbing saloons, Hair dressing saloons, Internet Café, Fashion designers, Cold room operators, etc., will all have stable jobs and move away from riding bikes, popularly referred to as Okada, with grave implications to their health, if they have access to stable electricity to run their businesses seamlessly.

Also, and importantly too, manufacturing will once again boom in Nigeria as factories will be able to run their machines at cheaper electricity rates compared to the exorbitant cost of running them presently on diesel generators, if the issue of electricity is fixed. This means that there will be a reduction in the cost of production.

A reduction in the cost of production will drive the prices of produced goods down, thus, making them affordable to the average Nigerian.

Further benefits of fixing the electricity issue in Nigeria is that, as reduction in production costs drives down prices, our products will be able to compete for export, especially, in our immediate African market.

This can, indeed, be the beginning of Nigeria earning serious foreign exchange from exports. Exports earnings can improve the strength of the Naira against stronger currencies like the Dollar and save us from the present foreign exchange imbroglio we find ourselves. Nigerians can then start to breathe a sigh of relieve.

One of the reasons adduced for the increase in electricity tariff is that the Disco’s need to gather more funds to invest in old equipment. One is tempted to ask; what did the Disco’s thought they were buying into when they were bidding for the aspect of PHCN which they bought?

Did they inspect the equipment they were buying at all? Did they price down the old equipment they were buying into when they bought, knowing that they have to invest in better equipment? Why should it now be the electricity consumers that should indirectly be funding the Fixed Asset side of the Balance Sheet of the Disco’s by financing their equipment purchase through the increase in tariffs? All these questions are begging for answers.

The truth is that no nation can be truly economically viable if its electricity sector is in the kind of crisis that ours is in Nigeria. There is the need to really deregulate the electricity sector in Nigeria instead of removing it from the government’s bureaucratic shackles and placing it on the laps of investors with oligarchic tendencies.

The issue of alternative sources of electricity should also not be discountenanced in seeking to solve the electricity crisis in Nigeria. Technology has provided various other options, such as wind, solar and many more. The government should look at each community and see how best they can be helped to benefit from these alternative sources of electricity, thus, by-passing the Discos.

We expect to see positive changes in the direction of improving the supply of electricity with the supply of prepaid meters to every consumer of electricity in the nearest future, otherwise, our Tech ecosystem and other businesses will keep crawling.

CFA is the Founder, www.CFAtech.ng & Co-producer/Presenter,Tech Trends on Channels Television

 

 


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FG Unveils AI Public Services Platform

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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.


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

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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.


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Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

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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.


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