Author: ITPulse

The African Development Bank has approved a $200 million loan to support Nigeria’s flagship digital infrastructure initiative, Project BRIDGE, aimed at expanding broadband access across the country. The funding forms part of a broader financing package involving multiple development partners, including the World Bank, which has committed $500 million, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, expected to provide $100 million. Project BRIDGE, also known as the Digital Value Chain Infrastructure for Boosting Employment (D-VIBE) programme, seeks to expand Nigeria’s national fibre backbone from about 30,000 kilometres to 120,000 kilometres. The project is designed to connect all 774 local…

By Epiphanus Obia The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service has extended the deadline for filing individual annual income tax returns to April 21, 2026, citing heavy traffic on its electronic filing platform. The agency announced the extension in a statement on Monday, noting that the decision follows a surge in usage of its eTax portal as the previous April 14 deadline approached. LIRS said the additional time is intended to enable taxpayers to complete their filings accurately without disruption caused by system congestion. Executive Chairman, Ayodele Subair, described the extension as necessary to accommodate the high volume of users while…

By Epiphanus Obia Nigeria’s Federal Government has approved the rollout of a biometric passenger verification system, known as VPASS (Verified Passenger System), across domestic airports to strengthen identity checks and aviation security. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced the initiative in a statement issued through his spokesperson, describing it as part of ongoing reforms aimed at improving transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency in the aviation sector. The VPASS platform will use facial recognition technology to verify passengers, replacing manual identification processes that authorities say have been prone to abuse. Officials say the system is designed to…

Nigeria is charting a course toward technological independence, prioritizing national interests over the geopolitical tug-of-war between global superpowers, Kashifu Inuwa, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has declared. The NITDA DG made the declaration during an engagement with the management of Ericsson at the GITEX Africa in Morocco. He emphasized that Nigeria’s digital strategy is designed to protect data sovereignty and foster local capacity rather than take sides in international rivalries. Inuwa clarified that Nigeria’s push for a robust national software infrastructure is not a political move against specific nations or companies. Instead, it is…

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has formally petitioned President Bola Tinubu to launch a comprehensive probe into the alleged disappearance or diversion of ₦2.9 billion from two key federal agencies: the Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT) and the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA). The demand follows the release of the Auditor-General’s annual report on September 9, 2025, which reportedly documented significant financial irregularities within both institutions. In a statement posted on its official X handle and released on Monday, SERAP urged the President to direct the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, along with…

…. Advancing Its global ESG vision through renewable energy-powered community infrastructure LG Electronics (LG) has officially commissioned a solar‑powered borehole in Omuafor community in Aboh-Mbaise, Owerri, Imo State, extending sustainable water access to residents while marking the company’s first renewable energy‑driven water intervention in South‑Eastern Nigeria. The project was officially unveiled at a commissioning ceremony attended by community leaders, residents and the Royal Father, highlighting the cultural and social significance of the initiative. The intervention is designed to provide reliable access to clean and safe water while operating independently of grid electricity through renewable solar power. Speaking at the event,…

By Martin Ekpeke African financial leaders and policymakers have issued a powerful call to overhaul how the continent’s technological future is funded, shifting the focus from a shortage of ideas to a shortage of well-structured capital. At a high-level session during the 58th Session of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI)—known as the Africa Club met to tackle the primary bottleneck holding back the continent’s digital revolution: The cost and structure of money. Africa’s digital economy is expanding at a breakneck pace. However, the infrastructure behind it remains starved of affordable, long-term…

By Epiphanus Obia Play Network Africa has partnered with European smart technology firm MediaKing to deploy what could become one of Nigeria’s largest high-density public Wi-Fi networks, beginning with Lagos and Abuja. The initiative marks MediaKing’s entry into Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital economy and reflects growing international interest in the country’s connectivity infrastructure. The company is collaborating with Play Network Africa to deliver thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots across high-traffic public areas, including markets, transport hubs, commercial centres, schools and hospitals. Under the rollout plan, between 5,000 and 10,000 hotspots are expected to be deployed in each major city. The project…

By Epiphanus Obia MTN FibreX users in Nigeria have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to report service disruptions, delayed installations, and poor customer support, raising fresh concerns about the telecom giant’s fibre broadband rollout. The complaints were triggered by a post from user Feyi on Wednesday April 9, who alleged that the service failed shortly after installation despite aggressive marketing in their residential compound. “I was enjoying my Starlink… your staff came to advertise FibreX… after paying, this product hasn’t worked at all,” the user wrote, adding that repeated calls to customer support yielded no resolution. The post has since…

African nations must establish domestic cloud infrastructure and secure data sovereignty or risk falling into a state of “permanent digital subservience, Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of NITDA, has declared. Speaking during the 2026 GITEX Africa summit in Morocco, Inuwa argued that Africa can no longer afford to be a passive consumer of foreign technology. Instead, the continent must become the primary architect of its own digital ecosystem to prevent fragmentation and external disruption. Characterizing the global landscape as one defined by high-velocity data and pervasive AI, Inuwa used a striking analogy to describe the importance of the cloud. “In today’s…