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Zakaria @ Airtel Night of Influence Urges Nigerian Leaders to Invest in Future

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(L-r): HRH, Amara III of Amumara, Eze Ositadinma Beneth Nwokocha, chairman Ezinihitte Council of Traditional Rulers, Godfrey Efeurhobo, Airtel’s regional operations director, South Region, Dr. Uche Ejiogu, commissioner of Education, Imo State and Chinda Manjor, CSR manager, Airtel, during the unveiling of plaque at the commissioning of Airtel adopted Community Primary School, Amumara, Ezinihitte, LGA, Imo State recently.
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Dr. Fareed Zakaria, renowned journalist, internationally acclaimed author and host of popular, Fareed Zakaria’s GPS on CNN has urged Nigerian leaders to take charge of the country’s future by investing heavily in the education sector in order to provide quality foundation for Nigerian children.

Zakaria who spoke at the 2012 Airtel Night of Influence under the theme, Africa’s Political Economy: The Challenge of Leadership at the Airtel Night of Influence, observed that a focused investment in human capital development and building strong institutions to safe-guard society from human failings are important requirements for lifting developing nations out of the lowest levels of economic growth.

Airtel Night of Influence 2012 was a high profile gathering of Nigeria’s best and brightest, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The cerebral TV anchorman also advised that rather than “subsidizing the present or buying votes, leaders should invest in education, invest in Infrastructure, invest in healthcare and invest in the future.”

Citing Taiwan and South Korea, he further observed that although these countries do not have natural resources, they have emerged strong economies with impressive GDP growth rates because of their efforts in developing human capital and building strong institutions.
 
He also noted that the United States of America currently exports human capital in Liquefied Natural Gas and other areas because the country had invested in research, training and development in those areas.

Said he:  “There is so much human talent in Africa and in Nigeria. These talents need to be unlocked through education. It is an irony that countries experiencing high GDP growth are countries without natural resources. Look at Taiwan. What they have is typhoon… they do not have any natural resources; yet, they have managed to emerge as one of the countries with the highest GDP growth rate.”

In his remarks President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, commended Dr. Zakaria for his courage and insightful presentation and affirmed his belief in a bright future for Nigeria.

“I must say I am an incurable optimist and I can see that the future of our country is bright. And if we do what we have to do, that future is near,” said former president Obasanjo

Speaking earlier, Dr. Oba Otudeko, chairman, Airtel Networks Limited,  in his opening remarks, restated Airtel’s commitment to providing world class telecommunications services to Nigerians.

“Airtel Nigeria means business and is challenging strongly for leadership in the industry. And I dare say we are demonstrating our commitment by the major initiatives we are embarking on in network coverage expansion, capacity enhancement and quality improvement.

 “We have a network that currently has capacity for double the subscriber base. With over $1.5 billion dollars invested over the past two years, it is only a matter of time before we assume our rightful place in the Nigerian telecoms industry. Don’t forget we were first to commence commercial operations on August 5, 2001!  I am proud to say that we do not only have some of the most highly motivated employees in the industry, we also have the largest and the biggest 3.75G network in Nigeria.”

The Airtel Night of Influence was held at the Eko Hotel & Suites. It attracted high profile guests including the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan  Akiolu; former World Bank Vice President, Ms. Oby Ezekwesili; House of Representatives Member, Abike Dabiri-Erewa and Pat Utomi, among several guests.


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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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