Telecom
Shittu says Boosting Local Content in ICT Sector will benefit Everyone
Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications, has expressed the ministry’s readiness to partner with any group or stakeholder toward transforming the Information Communication Technology local content for rapid development of the sector.
The minister said this at the second Annual Local Content Roundtable and Technology Fair in Abuja.
The fair, which focused on homegrown solutions to challenges confronting the ICT sector has “The Pathway to Sustainable Digital Transformation and Economic Growth” as its theme.
Shittu reiterated the commitment of the ministry to initiatives that would attract local and international investments into the country, with a view to boosting development in the technology sector.
According to him, the private sector service providers and government have critical roles to play for local content programme to succeed in Nigeria.
He, however, said that while government would provide guaranteed order for the local products, the private sector must ensure quality services and products.
He added that “the Ministry of Communications is committed to the implementation of the local content programme and the executive order on local content.
“Local content does not mean excluding foreign participation in our economy. Rather, it means concerted and collaborative efforts by all players to build a strong indigenous economy.
“For instance, the win-win formula plays out in a situation where the locally assembled computers must run on Microsoft operating system and Intel processors.
“Therefore, for every locally assembled computer bought by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Microsoft and Intel would be the key beneficiaries along with our own local original equipment manufacturers. Everyone benefits.”
He said that the ministry would soon issue directives to encourage MDAs to use emerging technologies and other platforms, noting that: “I am happy to report that there has been an increase in patronage of locally-assembled ICT devices and services in Nigeria since the inception of the present administration.”
The Lead Facilitator of the fair, Mr Inye Kemabonta, emphasised the need to take advantage of the enormous potential in the country to create jobs and wealth.
He said “Nigeria is a country with huge potential, but experts and policymakers have predicted that its development as a regional economic power, can only come from reliance on its own human and material resources.
“Opportunities for utilising and building indigenous human and technological capacity exist in all sectors of the economy.
“There is an urgent need, therefore, to take advantage of the opportunities and harness them for job and wealth creation, and for the overall growth of the country.”
Clydestone Ghana Plc has filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against MTN Ghana, MTN Group Limited and Mobile Money Fintech Limited, alleging unauthorized use of its intellectual property.
The company announced the court action at the Ghana Stock Exchange, confirming proceedings in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Ghana.
The case relates to work commissioned in 2007 that Clydestone alleges was later used without authorisation or compensation.
Clydestone said the claim involves proprietary intellectual property, confidential commercial information and operational methodology developed during the engagement. The company is seeking declarations, damages and equitable remedies.
In a statement, Clydestone said MTN Ghana engaged it in 2007 to develop a commercial and operational framework for a mobile money business.
“The work was developed and delivered by the company’s founder and Group CEO, Paul Jacquaye, and included a full mobile money ecosystem covering the commercial model, operational architecture, implementation methodology and business case.”
Clydestone said the work was commissioned on the understanding that a non-disclosure agreement and memorandum of understanding would be signed.
It alleges these agreements were not finalised despite repeated requests.
The company further alleges MTN Ghana later used its proprietary work and methodology without authorisation or compensation, including in MTN Mobile Money Ghana and other markets.
Clydestone said the alleged use has continued since the launch of MTN Mobile Money Ghana in 2009.
“The wrongful use of that work has been ongoing since 2009. What has changed is the availability of independently verifiable information that documents its scale and commercial significance,” the company said.
It cited the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 and MTN Ghana’s 2025 annual report as evidence of the platform’s scale.
According to Clydestone, the reports show approximately 19.3 million active users and annual revenue of about GHS 6.0 billion ($516m).
The company said it reviewed its records following these publications and concluded there were sufficient grounds to initiate legal proceedings.
It added that it has received no payment or acknowledgement for the work since December 2007, and that pre-action correspondence in 2026 received no substantive response.
“The Board of Directors has unanimously authorised the commencement of these proceedings,” the company said.
Jacquaye said: “This case is about accountability for commissioned intellectual property.
“When independent publications in 2025 and 2026 revealed the scale of the mobile money business, we reviewed all documentation relating to the original engagement and concluded these proceedings were necessary.”
MTN Group Limited, named as a defendant, had not commented at the time of publication.
In a development that underscores the fragile state of Nigeria’s telecommunications grid, an incident of infrastructure vandalism in Delta State has severely disrupted network connectivity, leaving thousands of subscribers stranded.
The breach, where a robber attacked the sites, occurred at an IHS-managed telecom node in the ASB region on July 8, 2026, immediately knocking 33 base stations offline across 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrums.
The situation in the region escalated drastically by morning when a separate fibre-optic cable cut severed primary transmission lines. Because the compromised node serves as a critical fibre convergence point, the secondary fibre cut triggered a cascading failure.
This secondary disruption ballooned the number of dark sites from 33 to 103, temporarily paralysing digital communications, banking, and commerce in the affected communities.
Industry sources reveal that the financial and logistical toll of such incidents is becoming unsustainable for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
Currently, network providers are utilising 20 per cent more spare parts than initially budgeted for the fiscal year.
This unpredictable depletion of technical reserves has stripped operators of their supply buffers, making inventory management and financial forecasting increasingly difficult for telecom executives.
Consequently, engineering teams have been forced to cannibalise materials originally designated for network expansion and new site rollouts just to perform emergency restorations on the damaged sites.
This diversion of resources significantly delays the rollout of new infrastructure, stifling the nation’s broader broadband penetration targets and stalling anticipated revenue generation for the telecom companies.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently noted an average of 1,744 weekly attacks on telecom infrastructure nationwide, including over 1,100 fibre cuts.
As operators endure protracted back-and-forth negotiations with insurance firms to cover these sudden hardware losses, stakeholders are intensifying calls for the strict enforcement of the Federal Government’s recent designation of telecom assets as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) to safeguard Quality of Service (QoS).
Viral rumors about a “Tesla Pi Phone” a new phone, being developed by Elon Musk, CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX, are entirely fake.
AI Generated Tesla Pi Phone and Elon Musk
Instead, the tech giant said on Monday it has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy the constellation by 2028.
It said the system would provide voice, messaging, data and emergency services.
A quick fact-check revealed that Tesla Inc. has never manufactured, developed, or released a smartphone.
Videos and articles claiming a release (often priced between $150 and $800 with solar charging or satellite-only connections) rely on AI-generated concept art and recycled internet hoaxes dating back to 2021.
Musk has only mentioned a phone in hypothetical remarks, stating Tesla would build one only if major app stores completely blocked or censored essential apps like X (formerly Twitter).
On Monday however, his company said that “Amazon looks forward to delivering on the promise of D2D [direct-to-device] connectivity, including to the millions of people living, travelling and working in places beyond the reach of existing networks today,”
The filing is the first step from Amazon into satellite mobile connections, which has until now been dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Musk’s group has signed partnerships with existing operators such as T-Mobile US and the UK’s Virgin Media O2 to provide phone services for customers where their conventional networks do not reach.
Starlink operates across more than 150 countries, offering high-speed internet connections through its constellation of satellites.
Nwokolo, Nollywood Actor Claims Internet Fraud is “Keeping Economy Afloat’
SEC Begins Full e-Registration for Capital Market Operators
Elon Musk Launches Invite-only X Money with Visa Debit Card
CBN Fines Banks N430m for Ignoring Customers’ Complaints
Kaspersky Uncovers New Mirage Kitten Malware Used in Cyber-espionage Campaign Across Africa, Others
NRC, Ponzi Scheme Collapses Resulting Loss of Billions of Naira
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
Tokenization, Blockchain Technology will Transform Financial Institutions – IMF
From Scarcity to Scale: What Africa Can Learn from India’s Agricultural Transformation
BON Establishes Six Ad Hoc Committees to Modernize Broadcasting
News2 days agoHistory as Lagos Becomes First Nigerian State to Launch Greenhouse Gas Registry
E-Business2 days agoUNN to Partner Firm on AI, Smart Mobility Innovation Centre
Telecom2 days agoAI Investment Gap Threatens Africa’s Future Growth
Telecom2 days agoAMCON Puts ntel Up for Sale, Seeks Investors
Telecom1 day agoFact-Check: Elon Musk’s “Tesla Pi Phone” is Internet Rumor
E-Financial2 days agoRemita Raises Alarm Over Nigeria’s Digital Divide, Calls for More Investment
Telecom2 days agoCourt Affirms NDPC’s Powers to Register Major Data Controllers, Processors
General News2 days agoPan-Africanism: Why Integration is Non-Negotiable for Africa’s Future