Author: ITPulse

After kicking off in Lagos, Martell’s nationwide campaign, Martell On The Move, has officially arrived in Abuja. The road trip features The Swift Ascendant, a monumental 14 foot art installation that is traveling across the country to connect with people through local art and nightlife. The installation is a physical tribute to the Swift, Martell’s iconic sigil and a symbol of freedom and constant motion. This bird represents a spirit that never stands still, much like the “Standout Swift”. A Standout Swift is anyone who embodies that same drive, rising above the ordinary to redefine their own path. The Swift…

By Martin Ekpeke For Africa’s data centre space to bridge the gap between current capacity and future demand, a staggering capital injection of $10 billion to $20 billion will be required, Naomi Mutuku, a Kenya-based trade and investment facilitator, has posited. In a LinkedIn post that has elicited significant engagement from industry stakeholders, Mutuku argued that Africa’s data centre story is one of the largest untapped digital infrastructure opportunities globally, yet it remains deeply underbuilt. She explained that the continent possesses only ~360 MW of active data centre capacity, with ~238 MW under construction and 656 MW planned. According to…

The Artemis mission reminded the world that great achievements begin not with perfection, but with the courage to start. Kenya is at that moment now. By Eric Gumbo The writer is a partner at G&A Advocates LLP, a firm with two decades of experience advising on infrastructure, capital markets, and regulatory law across East Africa. In 1961, John F. Kennedy promised the American people something that, by any rational measure, should have been impossible: that the United States would land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth before the decade was out. The technology did not…

A CBN rule designed to curb fraud is exposing small operators to outages, income shocks, and a market tilted toward dominant fintechs, ITPulse’s Epiphanus Obia writes On 1 April 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria activated the most consequential clause in its October 2025 agent banking guidelines: every PoS agent in the country must now operate exclusively with a single financial institution. No more backup terminals and no more switching when networks fail. No diversifying income across providers. The decision is final, the deadline has passed, and the consequences are only beginning to unfold.  The CBN’s stated rationale is coherent…

Digital Realty has activated a new Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) Point of Presence (PoP) at its flagship Ibeju-Lekki data center, marking a significant milestone for West Africa’s digital infrastructure. This activation links the region’s growing digital economy to global networks. Building on IXPN’s existing PoP at Digital Realty’s campus located in Victoria Island, the newly activated PoP at the company’s Lekki data center extends IXPN’s reach, offering access from 12 data centers across Nigeria. IXPN is now available in all major data centers in Lagos, further positioning the city as a hub for local and regional interconnectivity. Strategically…

 By Mirza Bukva In an era of advanced messaging apps and rich digital experiences, SMS remains one of the most fundamental layers of customer communication. It’s the channel that works when everything else requires a download, a data connection, or an app account. Recent data shows SMS open rates at around 98%, with most messages read within minutes – a testament to its enduring importance in customer engagement strategies. The power of SMS lies in its universality. It works on any device and under almost any network condition, independent of operating systems, apps, or data connectivity. As long as a phone…

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…