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Senate, Ministry Differ on Safety of 3rd Mainland Bridge

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David Mark, Senate President
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The Senate, the upper legislative arm of the National Assembly has set up a committee to investigate a fresh alert on the imminent collapse of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

This is coming as the Federal Ministry of Works, in a report, entitled: “Federal Ministry of Works’ Report on the Third Mainland Bridge,” at the weekend, dismissed claims credited to Senator Gbenga Ashafa that the Third Mainland Bridge might collapse soon.

But officials of the ministry are part of the committee set up by the Senate at the weekend to investigate fresh alert on the possible collapse of the bridge.

The committee made of Senate committee on Works and officials of the Federal Ministry of Works, is expected to submit its report back to the house in two weeks.

Senator Ashafa, representing Lagos East Senatorial District, had last week, in a motion co-sponsored by 55 other Senators sought for an investigation to ascertain the true state of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

This followed a report by Professor JHT Kim, head of The Concrete Structural Engineering Laboratory, Yousei University, Seoul Korea, who came on research in December 2012 and conducted an underwater examination of the structures holding the bridge and reported that the damages to the structure was worse than what he had been briefed.

Ashafa, while commenting on the development at briefing in Lagos, yesterday, said the setting up of the committee was for an immediate independent investigation into the report with a view of averting calamity by finding out the true state of the bridge and make recommendations.

According to him: “A report produced by a company experienced in underwater surveys indicated that the underwater metal casing housing the concrete piles on which the bridge stands have rusted and this accounts for the vibration experienced in some portions of the bridge.

“This led to the closure of the bridge for repairs between 7th July and 30th October 2012 by the Federal Ministry of Works.”

He said Professor Kim’s report indicated that there was progressive steel deterioration in about 1,318 foundation piles and that there was extensive reinforcement bar deterioration in eight piles.

Ashafa lamented that the repair works done during the last quarter of 2012 by the Ministry of Works, were mere window dressing on the expansion joints of which reports had confirmed that some parts had since become disjointed.

The senator said: “The implication is that, the Third Mainland Bridge between Adeniji Adele, Adekunle and Oworonshoki ends could collapse and therefore require comprehensive works to be carried out on the foundation immediately.”

But the federal governemt has, again, declared that the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos is not going to collapse.

Aniete Effiong, dDirector of Highway Design (Bridges), Federal Ministry of Works, Aniete Effiong, said “the ministry has taken proactive steps, in line with its mandate to ensure that the Third Mainland Bridge, a very important infrastructure investment of government, is protected and kept in an acceptable service state.”

The bridge, according to Effiong, was 11.8 km long and was constructed in two sections.

The first section, from Lagos Island to Ebute Metta (Adeniji Adele Interchange–Adekunle Interchange), which has a box girder arrangement cantilevered from the pier to the mid-span, was completed in 1979 by PGH, a consortium made up of Messrs Borini Prono, Messrs Girola and Messrs Hiconi.

The second section from Ebute Metta to Oworonshoki, which was later completed in 1990 by Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, is a multi-span structure.

Effiong observed that the Third Mainland Bridge was a vital artery of the network of Federal Highways and commanded high patronage in Lagos Municipal Area, considering the importance of the city as the major commercial centre in the country.


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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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