DBI Insight: Nigeria’s digital economy maintains strong growth momentum - ITREALMS

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Nigeria’s digital economy continues to demonstrate strong growth, driven by expanding internet penetration, mobile connectivity, and rapid adoption of digital financial services.

According to the DBI Nigeria Digital Economy Outlook 2026 (Q1 Intelligence Report), the convergence of telecom infrastructure, fintech innovation, and public sector digitisation is reshaping economic activity and unlocking new opportunities across sectors.

— Source: DBI Nigeria Digital Economy Outlook 2026 (Q1 Intelligence Report)

Airtel Africa reports strong growth in customer base, data usage despite currency headwinds - ITREALMS

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The Airtel Africa plc has recorded strong growth in customer base and data usage despite currency headwinds, reports ITREALMS.

These indications was contained in the financial results for the year ended March 31, 2025, available to ITREALMS, which demonstrated robust operational growth despite the impact of currency devaluations across its markets.

Growth: Transcorp delivers strong performance, raises revenue by 21% - ITREALMS

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Transnational Corporation Plc has released its financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2022, demonstrating significant improvements in its major income lines to the tune of 21 per cent previous year, reports ITREALMS.

The conglomerate with investments in the hospitality, power, and oil & gas sectors, recorded growth in its profit before tax, which rose by 8 per cent to N30.3 billion compared to N27.9 billion in December 2021.

AfDB shows strong performance ahead of key investment forum - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Ahead of its maiden African Investment Forum next month, the African Development Bank continues to see another year of sustained indicators, underlined by a stellar Triple A rating by all three major agencies and sharply increased earnings.

The inaugural Forum takes place 7-9 November 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa, offering a platform for sourcing funding for bankable African projects, brokering infrastructure deals and providing innovative financial solutions. The event will attract key global companies, financial players, and public officials who will address the continent’s critical infrastructure investment gaps.

The Bank’s performance and ratings are based on the solid support from its shareholders, including in the form of strong callable capital. Net operational earnings for 2017 showed a 63-percent jump to US$597 million from US$109 million in 2016 – capping a five-year upward trend from 2013.

In projects performance, the Bank disbursed a record US$5.1 billion to projects and programs across Africa in 2017, an increase of 14 percent over the previous all-time high of US$4.5 billion in 2016.

The Bank’s financial performance and overall achievements across other key metrics like volume of new development assistance, disbursements and governance, were excellent in spite of a well-recognized difficult operating environment.

“Of all multilateral development banks, African Development Bank operates in the most challenging ‘operating environment’ defined by rating agencies as a reflection of the risks associated with the countries of operation,” Senior Vice President, Charles Boamah, noted.

The Bank’s core agenda targets lifting out of poverty 38 African countries considered as the continent’s most vulnerable and least developed. Since its founding in 1974 the Bank has invested a total of US$45 billion in operations across Africa with significant focus on the LDC countries.

Boamah said the Bank’s challenging operating environment was offset by the institution’s intrinsic financial strength, which prompted shareholders at this year’s Annual Meetings in May to approve the formal commencement of discussions for a possible seventh General Capital Increase for the Bank Group.

Such an increase “would further strengthen the financial base of the Bank, thereby enabling it to further scale up its support to African countries, including those facing conditions of fragility,” Boamah added.

Nenye Dom/GEE with additional report from APO.

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Pix: AfDB President, Adesina

Strong persons, have healthier brains - Research reveals

ITREALMS:

If you are a strong person, definitely you may have a healthier brain, so says the latest study of the The University of Manchester, reports ITRealms.

According to a study of nearly half a million people, ITRealms gathered, has revealed that muscular strength, measured by handgrip, is an indication of how healthy our brains are.

Dr Joseph Firth, an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Manchester and Research Fellow at NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University, crunched the numbers using UK Biobank data.

A press statement made available to ITRealms, by using data from the 475,397 participants from all around the U.K, the new study showed that on average, stronger people performed better across every test of brain functioning used.

Tests included reaction speed, logical problem solving, and multiple different tests of memory.

The study shows the relationships were consistently strong in both people aged under 55 and those aged over 55. Previous studies have only shown this applies in elderly people

“When taking multiple factors into account such as age, gender, bodyweight and education, our study confirms that people who are stronger do indeed tend to have better functioning brains,” said Dr Firth.

The study, published in Schizophrenia Bulletin, also showed that maximal handgrip was strongly correlated with both visual memory and reaction time in over one thousand people with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.

He said: “We can see there is a clear connection between muscular strength and brain health.

“But really, what we need now, are more studies to test if we can actually make our brains healthier by doing things which make our muscles stronger – such as weight training.”

Previous research by group has already found that aerobic exercise can improve brain health.

However, the benefit of weight training on brain health has yet to be fully investigated.

He added: “These sorts of novel interventions, such as weight training, could be particularly beneficial for people with mental health conditions.

“Our research has shown that the connections between muscular strength and brain functioning also exist in people experiencing schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder – all of which can interfere with regular brain functioning.

“This raises the strong possibility that weight training exercises could actually improve both the physical and mental functioning of people with these conditions.”

Baseline data from the UK Biobank (2007-2010) was analysed; including 475,397 individuals from the general population, and 1,162 individuals with schizophrenia.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Nelson Mandela Institute Abuja makes strong strides with cancer treatment

ITREALMS:

Just 17 years after Nelson Mandela sold the dream of a state of the art institution to drive Africa’s advancement in science and technology to former World Bank President Jim Wolfenssohn, the Abuja-based institution inspired by Mandela dream is making strong strides in the battle against cancer, reports ITRealms.

Three students of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, whose Board Chair is Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and President is Professor Kingston Nyamapfene, have in separate research efforts come up with very promising findings that are likely to make a difference in the global search for a cure to the deadly disease.

The studies include the work of Kwabena Kan-Dapaah on “Implantable Composite Devices for the Localised Treatment of Breast Cancer”; John David Obayemi’s work on Nano- Particles For Breast Cancer Detection And Treatment and Salifu T. Azeko’s work which was centred on “Biodegradation among others.

These efforts are in addition to the widely reported groundbreaking discovery in cancer treatment by a young Sierra-Leonian female student of African University of Science and Technology, Sandra Musujusu. Musujusu is developing an alternative treatment for a subtype of breast cancer commonly found in black women.

According to the student: “My research is actually centered on the development of biodegradable polymers for treatment of breast cancer… I will be focusing on triple negative breast cancer, which is actually the aggressive subtype of breast cancer that is common with women from African ancestry.”

The Sierra Leone native’s research was unveiled in July last year  when World Bank director Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi visited the Nigerian school as a part of his assessment tour of the 10 African Centers of Excellence locations, funded to encourage research to benefit African countries facing problems.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

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Digital economy needs strong 5G foundation - Ekholm

ITREALMS:

The President and chief executive officer at Ericsson, Mr. Börje Ekholm has adduced some reasons why digital economy needs strong fifth-generation (5G) foundation, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at the just concluded 2018 Mobile World Congress in a keynote fireside chat with Karen Tso, co-anchor of Squawk Box Europe on CNBC, Ekholm reiterated that 5G has moved from buzzword to a commercial reality, highlighting the company’s 38 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and several commercial contracts with service providers.

This, he said, avails 5G to position service providers at the center of the digital ecosystem.

“We see 5G as a way to show the value of the network. A lot of technology depends on a strong mobile infrastructure,” he said, stressing that while increased speed will be important with 5G, lower latency and longer battery life could be even more so.

5G, he said, has been designed to be the industrial internet, with remote control of machinery and maintenance with augmented reality as two prime examples.

“At the same time, the consumer will see this too, for instance, in health care and autonomous vehicles where low latency will be a critical factor,” Ekholm said.

On the need for the right regulatory regime, he also said deregulation in Europe and easier site permitting processes, will allow for the rapid build out of sites necessary for 5G.

“It’s important for governments to see networks as critical natural resources. 100 years ago, we built out railways and roads. The future roads are digital highways,” he declared and looking ahead to the future on several levels – commercially, in terms of new devices and in how 5G will dramatically change lives.

“5G will be a commercial reality for a couple reasons,” he said. “The first is data traffic.  We need 5G to bring cost per gigabyte down.  We also see that early movers in new technology gain a benefit.  We saw that with early movers in 4G – they get higher average revenue per user and higher market share.”

Ericsson predicts there will be a billion 5G devices on the market by 2023, and they could likely shift how we interact with our connected devices.

“We’ll see more wearables. And fragmentation on the device side will be larger. Today the smartphone is the center of ecosystem.  That could look different in a 5G world.”

But it’s also about opening up possibilities.

“Think about the smartphone. Did we think that we would use it to stream video and music, order food and order a cab?  No. The new use cases will come as the technology matures,” Ekholm said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Orange brand in Liberia, continues strong presence in West Africa

ITRealms:

In line with its Essentials2020 strategic plan, Orange has launched its brand in Liberia with Cellcom Liberia becoming Orange Liberia, reports ITRealms.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Orange Group and Chairman and CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, Bruno Mettling, said that following the rebranding of Cellcom, Orange Liberia has joined one of the world’s most powerful brands and stands to benefit from being part of a large international group.

ITRealms gathered that Orange would provide its marketing expertise and world-class technical capability to further strengthen the operator’s established network and enhance customer service in Liberia.

ITRealms reports that with over 1.6 million customers at the end of February 2017, Orange Liberia is the leading mobile operator in Liberia in terms of customers.

Founded in 2004, the mobile operator has been a driving force in democratizing access to telecommunication services across the country, despite difficult market conditions. It has always been a precursor in terms of network deployment and in 2012 was the first operator in Liberia to launch 3G (HSPA+) services following by 4G-LTE services in 2016. Orange will pursue this strategy and will continue to invest in the development of its network where the company is already a market leader.

With a population of 4.6 million people and relatively low mobile penetration rate (70% of the population) the country has a high growth potential for Orange. To support this development, the Group will work to reinforce the quality of access in several areas:

Chuks Egbune/GEE 

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Strong encryption essential for future digital economy – ISOC

ITRealms:

The Internet Society (ISOC) has called for strong encryption, describing it as an essential for future digital economy, reports ITRealms.

ISOC in its submission to the Group of 20 (G20) discussions wrap-up in Düsseldorf, Germany on Digital Economy Declaration, outlined a path for a strong digital future.

According to ISOC President and CEO, Kathy Brown, the current level of interconnection will only boost the market, where there is secure and trusted environment.

This, she said, cannot happen without a serious commitment by all parties to security and privacy.

Strong encryption, Brown noted, is an essential piece to the future of the world’s economy and the Internet Society believes it should be the norm for all online transactions.

“It allows us to do our banking, conduct local and global business, run our power grids, operate, communications networks, and do almost everything else,” she said.

ISOC president also said that encryption is a technical building block for securing infrastructure, communications and information; hence, it should be made stronger and universal, not weaker.

She lamented that rather than being recognized as the way to secure online transactions or conversations, all too often the debate focuses on the use of encryption as a way to thwart law enforcement.

“To undermine the positive role of encryption in the name of security could have devastating consequences,” she insisted.

Many great minds, ISOC chief pointed out, have already devoted considerable effort to resolving the conundrum posed by competing public policy objectives: providing security, safety and trust on the one hand, and law enforcement and legitimate policy goals on the other.

“But, it is time to stop kicking the encryption football up and down the field. Instead, we should recognize that encryption is key to the future digital economy and stop treating it as simply an obstacle to law enforcement. We need to deconstruct the issues faced by law enforcement and policy makers and agree together how we can achieve a trusted digital economy underpinned by encryption,” Ms Brown said.

ITRealms reports that this was the first time the G20 countries held a Ministerial on digital matters and also the first time that G20 is inviting non-government stakeholders to contribute to these issues.

Describing it as turning point that should not be missed, ISOC president emphasized that all views, including the technical perspective, must be at the table if the global community is to achieve progress on the G20’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) goals.

“If the G20 countries are serious about strengthening their economies and continuing to deliver economic and social prosperity to their citizens in future, there are three key principles they should endorse and implement immediately,” she outlined.

These, Brown said, include that encryption is an important technical foundation for trust in the digital economy and should be the norm. Stressing that all users whether government, business or individual should use encryption to protect infrastructure, communications and the privacy and integrity of their data.

“Encryption technologies should be strengthened, not weakened,” ISOC president asserted.
Secondly, she said, is the fact that security of the digital economy is a shared responsibility that needs the expertise and experience of all stakeholders, across border and across disciplines.

“It is an urgent need that will require open, inclusive collaboration,” she said. 

Thirdly, the ISOC chief executive said that users’ rights should be at the heart of any decisions related to the digital economy, because both the customers and contributors to the success of the digital economy, has to be involved.

Therefore, she said, Internet Society called for ubiquitous encryption for the Internet.

“We strongly believe that this is the best foundation for trust in the digital economy, and we urge the G20 nations to stand behind encryption,” ISOC maintained.

ITRealms gathered that currently, there are estimated 360 million people that take part in cross-border e-commerce, with some 28 per cent of output in mature economies is digital. The Internet is thus set to contribute $6.6 trillion a year, or 7.1 per cent of the total GDP in the G20 countries.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Senate backs DMO, says strong advocacy to boost debt management

PR@ITRealms:

The Senate has stressed that with more advocacy on the issue of debt management and servicing, Nigerians will be better placed to lend their support to government’s effort in raising funds from the capital and bonds’ market for development purposes.

The chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senater Shehu Sani, made this known at a three-day retreat organised for members of the committee by the Debt Management Office in Minna, Niger State on Thursday.

Sani said that if there was aggressive advocacy on what such debts were taken for, Nigerians would support such initiative aimed at driving development and engendering development.

According to him, it was imperative for the DMO to develop a framework in the major languages in the country to get the citizens to understand why debts are taken, for what purpose and what the society stands to benefit from such borrowing.

“There is need for strategy mix anchored on proper advocacy on what debt management is all about. Nigerians want to know why governments borrow, to what purpose such debts are taken and I can say that once it is well explained, the people will key into the programme.

“I therefore hope that the DMO will rev up its advocacy especially in the major languages because a whole lot of Nigerians don’t seem to understand why their states governments will take loans and they cannot see why the loan was taken in the first instance.”

Speaking further, Sani said “debt is a veritable tool for economic growth and development if properly managed. I also believe that an effective debt management that emphasizes transparency due process, and fiscal discipline can precipitate a turnaround in the economy.”

According to him, the Senate will look at the DMO Act to amend it to meet the realities of the present economic situation, noting that the legislature should be involved in the negotiations of loans as it will not only enhance their capacity but offer a clear insight into the terms and conditions of such loans.

Also, a member of the committee, Senator Sani Yerima, said there was need for greater collaboration between the National Assembly and the executive so that Nigerians can stand to reap the benefits of borrowed funds.

Yerima said loans help to fast track development, employment generation and helps government to bridge the funding gap but decried a situation of arbitrary borrowing by states without a ceiling.

“As governor we had caps to what we could borrow. But today states borrow arbitrarily and leave debts that will be repaid for the next 3- to 40 years. The National Assembly will work closely with the DMO to develop a framework on this matter,” he said.

In his remarks, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, Director General of the DMO, said the workshop with the theme; Processes and Procedures for External and Domestic Borrowing and Settlement, has become imperative given the funding of the 2016 budget from loans.

According to Nwankwo, the federal government does not just borrow for borrowing sake but to address the challenge of development and infrastructure growth.

He explained that the workshop is to not only keep the lawmakers abreast of developments in the Nigerian debt sector but to get their buy-ins in the DMO’s drive to seek for funding from the capital market.

The DMO boss also said that states have not been barred from raising funds rather that the National Economic Council was against borrowing from commercial banks but supports states seeking for capital from bonds, which is cheaper and more sustainable in the long run. 

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