Experts have called for the use of fixed wireless access to address the digital divide in Africa.

The experts spoke at a panel session during the sixth Sub Sahara Spectrum Management Conference on tackling global and regional digital divides.

They said across Sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 800-million people are not connected to the mobile internet.

They added that about 270 million people do not have the requisite coverage, adding 520 million can access the mobile internet.

“Remote locations and geography affect infrastructure development, as do the dispersed nature of some populations and cultural practices such as nomadism,” said Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo, Acting Executive Director, UCC.

“Economics is another issue that comes into play. Many underserved areas have low consumer purchasing power, meaning that network operators are unlikely to go into those areas.”

Luke Bathopi, Director, Technical Services, Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA), points out, FWA fits in nicely with some of the other interventions that can help bridge the digital divide.

“We can also leverage mobile penetration, small communities, cheaper devices, alternative energy (for powering base stations), and the acceleration of economies of scale brought about by COVID-19 to overcome many of the supply side causing the digital divide,” he said.

Samuel Chen, Vice President for Huawei Southern Africa region said: “The combination of technologies of 4G/5G and FWA democratizes broadband connectivity in Africa and empowers people and businesses for a sustainable and inclusive future.”

From the demand side, Sewankambo pointed out that achieving consensus on spectrum and standards will not only make providing mobile broadband more affordable but will also make end-devices cheaper for users, driving up their adoption and use.

READ ALSO: Glo connects Lekki Estate to its fixed network

“We need to get our priorities right and start with small gains,” added Bathopi. “Government services, for example, are needed by everybody and are a great driver for closing the digital gap.”

The experts noted that by putting a high-gain antenna on top of a hospital or other important community building, for example, it becomes possible to provide mobile broadband to people up to 20km away.

That kind of coverage can go a long way to addressing other prevalent issues when it comes to providing broadband access to the region.

An Omdia (previously Ovum) report, titled “Fixed-Wireless Access Drives Broadband Development in Sub-Saharan Africa”, finds that there’s a very large opportunity for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as the historical of poor fixed-network coverage to bridge the digital gap with FWA.

“The capabilities of 4.5G and 5G can also be provided by FWA to enable a fibre-like experience, especially in those areas where fibre is impractical or where it would take a long time to deploy. Return of investment (ROI) is less than three years and hence FWA can also be a more profitable proposition for operators.

‘’This makes FWA a commercially feasible technology for investors,” said a statement issued after the virtual conference.

Let’s be honest, we do not adore those African traditional movies anymore. The ones where coronation ceremonies are held; where the king will be forced to drink one or two concoctions, perform some ritual rites and then finally sit on his throne and have people sing great songs to him. While some of us have stopped consuming that form of Nollywood entertainment, we forget that we live it everyday.

We want to become kings and masters at our workplaces, or in businesses we manage, we want to have those skills that make us “boss”. So, we perform the rites needed to become a king; from the concoction of sleepless nights to the long strolls on the internet; researching what isn’t lost but must be found.

We put in the work, so we can finally call ourselves Kings and Queens of mastery; either at that Design job, Photography gig, Business and Life in general!

The only question left to ask is, “why don’t we channel this same energy into Forex trading?” Yes, think on the question for a second because I’m sure you have a “Why” to the question being asked. Great, the truth remains that as Nigerians, we are always ready to put in the work, get the job done, earn as much as we can and be one step closer to financial freedom. Now that’s where trading with OctaFX comes in.

As we hustle our way towards combining multiple jobs and businesses, we can also trade forex, all we need to do is learn, put in the work, and become masters at it.

Forex might not be a walk in the park but like kings, we have built the resilience required for the challenge. And OctaFX is always ready and available to make the process easier by providing proper guidance to traders on its website.

As an international forex broker operating in Nigeria, it’s the brand’s mission to provide traders of all skill levels with new and exciting opportunities to increase their financial gains.

So, stop reading the article. Begin your journey to mastery here and this side too.

By Alao Abiodun

The management of Overland Airways has clarified none of its aircraft was involved in any accident over the weekend at the Ilorin Airport in Kwara State.

It frowned at the use of its plane picture to illustrate a report by The Nation on Saturday in its online edition titled: “Passengers escape as plane crashes in Ilorin,” stating it could mislead the public.

Read Also: FAAN eyes 40% revenue from non-aeronautical services

The Airways, in a statement, explained: “Overland is an IATA member, which operates to the highest global safety standard with the globally acclaimed IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Registration, a global benchmark of operational safety amongst the world’s biggest airlines.

“Overland Airways has been consistently operating scheduled and charter services for almost 20 years in Nigeria and West Africa region. Overland Airway is committed to providing safe and efficient air transport service to support our passengers as we well as Nigeria’s and the region’s economies.”

We’ve all got big dreams. For you; it might be dancing in the O2 Arena, alongside one of the biggest artists in Nigeria. For someone else; it could be developing a great product that will get your startup the right funding, while for others it could just be making legitimate money, regardless of how much time is invested in the job.

The tricky part of life is; for one to take a dream out of sleep-time, it takes WORK, in reality. And like the 10,000-hour rule says; the key to achieving true expertise in any skill is simply a matter of practicing…for 10,000 HOURS! A solid proof that everything deserves mastery.

Just as your career or dream needs mastery, so also does Forex Trading. It’s different because it’s an avenue for many young and old Nigerians to expand their stream of income. While you may see it as a tough task, we believe if you could master your 9-5, or that sport activity, or that creative job, then, you can master Forex with OctaFX.

You might be confused as to how to go about it, but OctaFX is right here for you! We’ve simplified forex trading with the OctaFX Trading app and we’ve provided useful courses from your favorite celebrities on the OctaFX website; to help reach that state of financial independence you are looking to achieve. Yes! It’s practically forex made easy and fun!

So, how about you get started by visiting OctaFX.com. Learn, and become a pro on your terms. You can also download the OctaFX Trading app on the Google Play Store, and let’s enjoy financial freedom together.    

By Our Reporter

The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with tech giant Huawei that will see African countries and organisations build capacity for ICT transformation.

Under the agreement, Huawei will provide training on skills development, including reskilling and upskilling for ATU members. The MoU will also see the two organisations collaborate to support local innovation, share information on the latest trends, challenges and solutions in Africa and globally, and expand the digital economy as well as rural connectivity, in the continent, through furthering research.

A 2019 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on digital economies established that Africa and Latin America together account for less than 5 per cent of the world’s data centers. If left unaddressed, the report concluded, divides will worsen existing income inequalities. This, coupled with the fact that in least developed countries (LDCs), only one in five people use the Internet as compared with four out of five in developed countries, is part of the motivation for the Huawei-ATU partnership.

Speaking during the signing ceremony held in Nairobi-Kenya at the ATU headquarters, Mr. John OMO, Secretary-General of the ATU, praised Huawei for their contribution to Africa: “Huawei has transformed connectivity and made a major contribution to the continent through its investments in digital infrastructure, ICT skills, environmentally-friendly connectivity solutions, and cutting-edge technologies for rural areas. The organisation is a trusted development partner of Africa. The document we are signing today aims at strengthening this partnership.”

READ ALSO: Huawei launches largest global Cyber Security Centre

He added: “Africa has a tremendous opportunity to fully grasp the potential from new technologies.”

The two organisations have a long history of working together and this new agreement will support African countries, regulators, and citizens benefit from the transition to a digital economy, adopt new technologies, promote secure and resilient networks, and gain the digital skills necessary to drive their economies forward.

Samuel Chen, Vice President at Huawei Southern Africa region thanked the ATU for leadership and promotion of ICTs in Africa: “The ATU is playing a critical role in the region supporting member countries with their policies and strategies, sharing best practices, building capacity and driving innovation and we are delighted to be able to support them”. He noted: “We have connected hundreds of millions of Africans to secure, high-speed broadband and cloud solutions in the last two decades and earned the trust and support of our customers and regulators; we look forward to doing even more.”

According to the MoU, the partners will also start offering cutting-edge trainings to ATU members, access to global experts to discuss the latest technologies and trends, and collaboration on research to help progress the continent’s digitisation

Nigeria is a lovely country for many reasons. There are many amazing destinations that people can visit here. People can have fun in different locations and enjoy nature in different ways. However, one of the activities that also matters for people that come here is gambling. It is one of the favorite activities among locals as well, but the regulations and laws are not quite easy to understand. 

Without any doubt, online and offline gambling is supporting the economy of the most populated country of Africa, and we will talk about it later. However, if you want to enjoy this entertaining activity to the fullest, it is essential to understand the laws and regulations and ensure your own safety. Keep in mind things you will read below are probably a bit confusing, and we all hope things will change. 

First of All – Is Gambling in Nigeria Legal? 

When things are not confusing as in this chase, the most obvious answers would be yes or no. However, in the case of Nigeria, both answers are correct. Gambling in Nigeria is legal and illegal. The answer to this question depends only on the type of gambling, casino itself and the way it operates as well as the status of each game that people can enjoy. 

There are two pieces of good news for all the people that live in the country. First of all, the national government of Nigeria started to invest a lot of effort to modify the laws and make them clear to everyone. Another good thing is that there are the online casinos shown here where people can enjoy a wide range of games and get familiar with the bonuses, variants of the games, and other important features. In that way, people will remain safe and ensure they do not become the victim of a scam. 

We can’t precisely say when the entire process of law changing will end. There is a big difference between the opinions that state lottery boards and federal agencies share and fight for. However, we all hope some sort of compromise will appear in the future (as soon as possible). 

So, How Exactly Gambling Impacts the Economy of Nigeria?

South Africa is the country that is the leader of the gambling activity in Africa. However, the Nigerian gambling market has the chance to grow because Nigeria is a more populated country. However, that surely won’t happen if the Nigerian government does not make the necessary changes that we talked about. 

As we said, gambling is illegal and legal at the same time. The only law that exists about gambling is the National Lottery Act of 2005 (you can check it out here). However, that regulation is only focused on land-based gambling. In theory, that would mean that all the laws that regulate traditional gambling also count for the modern one. Well, even when you read this, you know that something is not functioning properly. 

Things started to change in this industry in 2019 when the state of Lagos started to provide licences for all the sports betting and gambling sites. Since then, there are many Nigerians that started to enjoy offshore online casinos like the ones we previously attached at the above part of this article. 

It is about time to get to the point. There are three different types of impact gambling has on Nigerian economy:

• Social Impact
• Bigger Number of Jobs
• Better Revenue

Let’s describe them one by one:

Social Impact 

Check out the research from the above. As you see, more than 50% of adults enjoy gambling at least once a day. However, was gambling in Nigeria always popular? Believe it or not, even today, there are many people that are strictly against this activity. A certain group of people still believes gambling can cause different mental issues associated with addiction. However, the studies, like the one we shared, confirm not all the adults have the same type of opinion. At least, there are 53% of them that gamble daily while 39% of them do that once in two days. When you see how many citizens Nigeria has (around 206 million), that number is not small at all. 

To make things clear, the social impact of gambling is strong. There are many young people that consider gambling as one of the ways to ensure a decent income. That means the mentality of the younger generation has changed, and they deserve to get the laws that will protect them from any type of frauds and scams. 

Bigger Number of Jobs 

Let’s use the official statistics from the United States. Believe it or not, in around 1000 casinos, more than 750 000 people got the opportunity to get the job and show their talents and skills. On the other hand, around 10% of Macau residents work in the gambling industry. Can you imagine how many people would get a job if 10% of Nigerian resistance work in this industry? 

However, gambling industry is closely connected with some other business fields as well. For instance, the hospitality sector will also get the chance to hire more people. On the other hand, people will get the desire to come and visit Nigeria because of gambling. That means there will be plenty of work for people that were in the travel industry. 

What about online casinos? Well, a lot of talented graphic and web designers, web developers, and other individuals with different computer networking skills will not have to chase their luck outside of the country. The online casinos that work inside the country will need to hire them and ensure the best possible gambling experience for all the players. We hope Nigerian government is aware of that as well. 

Better Revenue 

Offline and online gambling is experiencing growth every single year. Logically, together with the improvement of advanced technology and availability of online casinos, the popularity started to grow even faster. Many gamblers in Nigeria like that because they can enjoy a wide range of games from the comfort of their room on their tablets, smartphones, and laptops (another industry that can improve thanks to gambling). 

As previously mentioned, South Africa has the most successful online gambling market in Africa. Technically, online gambling in that country is illegal. However, companies can offer online betting services only if they get the local license from the responsible authorities. 

Speaking of Nigeria, it is the second-largest gambling market on this continent. So far, it has managed to gain a revenue of 59 million dollars a year. However, different studies confirm the gambling revenue will grow by 16% in the next 2 years. If you have in mind that gaming taxes in this country are 20%, then you can imagine how good that can be for the overall economy of the country. 

Final Thought 

As previously mentioned, Nigerian government will have to improve and change the gambling regulations and laws. There are many unlicensed online casinos that still manage to work in this industry without paying any taxes. Unfortunately, that’s not the only problem. Many individuals use gambling sites for different illegal actions such as money-laundering and terrorism. Only good laws can stop that! 

The first thing that needs to happen is the agreement between all the state and federal regulatory agencies. It is not a secret they have never had the same approach and opinions. However, all the local gamblers truly hope that will change because it can positively impact the economy of the entire country. 

Besides, these laws should not only serve as a tool to gain better revenue and open new workplaces. Many people are truly interested in this industry, and they are often enjoying this activity from the comfort of their room. If the government truly wants to ensure their safety as well as the safety of all foreign gamblers, then it will change the laws as soon as possible and make some sort of compromise with other parties.

By Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Beneath the obvious national contradictions and challenges we face, there is a deep revolution brewing that is “innovation at the speed of thought”. One of the biggest perks of the Office of the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is the privilege of meeting the smartest people in Nigeria and beyond. I had looked forward to visiting the technology ecosystem in Lagos since early 2020 but COVID struck. So, we kept in touch virtually.

During COVID, the tech ecosystem made huge contributions to the nation, especially through the Tech4Covid committee. I had the privilege to inaugurate the committee under the supervision of Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami. Thanks to the advice of that committee and other efforts, the digital ecosystem was able to help Nigeria out of COVID induced recession that promised to deal a death blow to our national economy.

On the 19th of May 2021, I had my long-sought opportunity to begin a 3-day tour of Lagos to meet with the innovation industry. After a breakfast meeting with the press, we hit the road to brave the legendary Lagos traffic to get to the Governor’s office.

The Lagos State Government had just implemented the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) for the health sector. Please take a pause to note that this scale of data protection implementation has not been reported anywhere in the world. Yes, we did it in Nigeria!

My team scheduled a visit to validate the work done by the Lagos Ministry of Health, but Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu decided to host us despite his busy schedule. In the meeting, the Governor and I compared notes. He reeled out the smart Lagos projects and innovative initiatives Lagos implements across the state. You could see passion, vision, and a clear strategy to take Lagos to the next level of excellence. I had the opportunity to brief Mr Governor on the groundbreaking initiates we also implemented in Lagos to support the State Government. So far, NITDA has implemented more than 40 projects in the state.

Furthermore, I shared our Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024) document with Mr Governor, wherein I discussed the seven strategic pillars that would help catalyse Nigeria to greatness. Mr Governor’s remarks, “with you, Nigeria’s information technology sector is in safe hands”, humbled me. The Governor and I agreed that we would set up a team to support Lagos Smart Initiatives and that the state would host NITDA’s proposed NDPR Toolkits for the health sector.

Our next stop was at Rack Centre, a tier-3 data centre located at Oregun. The welcome reception from the Rack Centre Managing Director, Mr Ayotunde Coker, was thrilling. We had an exciting and productive engagement going around the state-of-the-art facility. We got first-hand information on the capacity of Nigeria to be the leader in data hosting and cloud service provision for Africa.

I saw faith at work in this complex. While many are checking out, some Nigerians are not just digging in. They are attracting foreign investment into the country. I took notes and stressed that we as government must do more to support enterprises like this.

The next day we visited the AfriOne factory, a licensed original equipment manufacturer in Lagos. I was pleased to see that technology hardware are assembled from the minute components. Some phones, laptops, tablets come with indigenous Nigerian languages such as Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. Many young Nigerians work in this place while also training people to become phone and computer technicians. It was quite interesting, and we are working diligently to promote the indigenous content as a core pillar of SRAP. Our next stop was MainOne MDXi, another iconic data centre. We had a first-hand understanding of what we have in the country in terms of data centre as a solid infrastructure for the digital economy. With what I saw at Rack Centre and MainOne MDXi, I am proud to say that we have the massive computing power needed to process any amount of data in Nigeria. We are on track to securing our digital sovereignty as a country and Africa at large. These companies must be encouraged, promoted and patronised by all government and private entities.
On the 21st of May 2021, we started the day with a breakfast session with shakers and movers of the African largest innovation ecosystem. Top startups such as Innovation Support Network, Future Africa, Smile Identity, 54gene, Advocacy for Policy and Innovation, amongst others, graced the occasion.

We had an insightful session and discussed some issues affecting the tech ecosystem and areas that needed urgent intervention, including talent, demand, infrastructure, regulation, and capital. We also deliberated on the need to include the tech industry representatives in the SRAP projects steering committee and structured engagement between the government and private sector to implement all the initiatives across SRAP pillars and disseminate information across the ecosystem.

We had many invitations from different innovation companies, but time would not permit us to visit all. But there was one more stop I could not resist. Vibranium Valley (Venture Garden Group) which is located within the Lagos local and international airport premises. It is a story that I love to relive repeatedly. For context, this Valley is bunkered inside the factory of the former Concord Press, which signifies the symbol of what Nigeria can do. Concord newspaper was so successful that it was being sold on London and New York streets in the 1970s/80s.
So, for some intelligent young people to take over this abandoned factory and re-purpose it for a technology hub is the single most profound statement of Nigeria’s intent to reimagine and take our place in the world for good. In the Valley, we saw used cargo containers and old bus parts being turned to offices. Young people in t-shirts, shorts and dreadlocks were busy solving national and international problems in governance, healthcare, education, traffic and many more. The Valley has tens of products, lots of experienced programmers and hundreds of staff.

This last stop is a fitting reminder to me that we have the talent to be the best we can. With the kind of smart digitally native guys, I met Nigerian digital economy vision, and our aspiration to be the African leader is possible; our only limitation is our imagination.

At NITDA, our belief is we cannot succeed in implementing our mandate in isolation. We are part of the innovation ecosystem. Therefore, we need to strengthen the partnership and broaden the collaboration. Together we can create and capture value in the digital economy.

NITDA pledges to be a close partner and broker between the tech ecosystem and government to ensure cohesion of purpose, direction and implementation of initiatives to make Nigeria achieve its digital economy vision. In a journey like this, some see despair and find excuses to jump ship, but we have many unsung heroes working hard to solve the Nigerian problems and make us great in the tech and innovation ecosystem. For such patriots, NITDA is here to serve.

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE
Director General/CEO,
NITDA

In the fast-paced realm of digital transformation, Haruna Ogweda has emerged as a strategic force, elevating enterprise software through secure, agile, and scalable cloud infrastructure. During his tenure at Instiq Professional Services, Haruna’s influence has extended far beyond coding—he has reimagined how financial institutions and corporate enterprises secure, deploy, and manage mission-critical systems.

Specializing in secure cloud architecture, Haruna has played a key role in developing cloud-native systems tailored for high-stakes environments such as loan underwriting and investment management. His efforts have helped organizations transition from legacy frameworks to modern, automated platforms that meet both compliance mandates and performance benchmarks.

Notably, Haruna led the deployment of encrypted authentication systems across multi-tenant architectures. This initiative resulted in a marked improvement in access control efficiency and a measurable drop in credential-based security incidents. His ability to refine authentication workflows across platforms has been pivotal in achieving consistent enterprise security postures.

Haruna’s background in infrastructure-as-code and deployment automation has also contributed to a culture of reliability and speed. By leveraging custom PowerShell modules and declarative YAML configurations, his team has eliminated major sources of deployment friction, accelerating development timelines while maintaining robust security practices.

His contributions at Instiq reflect a broader commitment to building enterprise environments that are not only secure, but sustainable and adaptable. Through his leadership, Haruna Ogweda has helped define a future where enterprise software is less about revolution—and more about evolution through precision, integrity, and long-term resilience.