The recent 50 per cent tariff increase approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission is expected to generate an additional N1.6tn in tax revenue while driving investment in telecommunications infrastructure.

The Global System for Mobile Communications Association in a statement on Wednesday, described the tariff adjustment—the first in 12 years—as a significant step toward bridging Nigeria’s digital divide.

The policy is projected to expand 4G coverage to 94 per cent of the population and provide mobile internet access to an additional nine million people, including two million in underserved areas.

The global advocate for sustainable policy reforms in the telecommunications sector said it welcomed this decision as a major step forward for consumers and the economy.

By enabling mobile operators to invest in expanding and upgrading their networks, the tariff increase will bridge the digital divide and drive innovation across key sectors, including healthcare, education, and agriculture.

Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at GSMA, Angela Wamola, commented on the development: “This decision by the NCC is an important milestone for Nigeria’s digital future. By enabling sustainable investment, we are improving the quality of service for consumers and fostering opportunities for innovation and economic growth.

“However, to fully unlock the potential of this reform, it is critical to implement additional measures such as simplifying Right of Way permits, implementing a critical national Infrastructure plan, and reducing the mobile sector’s tax burden.

These steps will be essential to accelerate digital adoption across sectors.

“It is estimated that increased digitalisation in agriculture, manufacturing, transport, trade, and the government will increase GDP by around two percentage points by 2028. This would also create nearly two million jobs and raise an additional N1.6tn in tax revenue.”

The body said the tariff increase is projected to unlock over $150m in additional investment, expanding 4G network coverage from the baseline 90 per cent  to 94 per cent l of the population.

This improvement, according to GSMA, will benefit around 9 million people, with nearly 2 million expected to gain access to mobile internet services based on current adoption levels in rural areas, according to GSMA Intelligence.

“This milestone reflects the successful partnership between the Nigerian government, industry stakeholders, and the GSMA, demonstrating how collaborative policy reforms can drive economic development and digital inclusion.

“By advocating for policies that balance affordability with the need for sustained investment in infrastructure, the GSMA has played a critical role in ensuring the benefits of mobile connectivity are accessible to all Nigerians.”

On January 20, the NCC announced its approval of a 50 per cent tariff increase for telecom operators, citing rising operational costs and the necessity to maintain industry sustainability.

In a statement signed by Reuben Muoka, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, the Commission emphasised that the decision aligns with its regulatory responsibilities under Section 108 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003.

However, the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers has expressed its intention to challenge the approved tariff hike in court.

In a similar development, a document from MTN Nigeria obtained by The PUNCH has revealed that Nigeria’s telecom industry may experience a significant $870m drop in capital expenditures by 2026 as a result of 11 years of delays in tariff increases.

 This decline in investments, which would have been used to expand and upgrade telecom infrastructure such as network coverage, technology upgrades, and the deployment of new services, is largely attributed to tariff hike delays.

The document revealed that in 2022, Nigerian telcos invested $1.41bn in capital expenditure, but this figure dropped to $1.16bn in 2023.

This is expected to fall even further to $0.47bn in 2024. By 2026, the investment is forecasted to remain low at $0.50bn, marking a $0.87bn shortfall compared to the baseline figures from 2022, the document showed.

This 18 per cent decline in planned capital expenditures is primarily driven by the inability of telecom companies to raise tariffs, which are crucial for offsetting operational costs and financing network expansion.

United States President Donald Trump has signed a legal settlement that will result in Facebook and Instagram parent company, Meta paying out roughly $25m (£20m).

Trump in 2021 sued the social media giant and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg over the suspension of his accounts after the 6 January Capitol riots that year.

In July 2024, Meta lifted the final restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the lead-up to the US presidential elections.

Around $22m of the settlement will go to a fund for Trump’s presidential library.

The balance will be used to cover legal costs and the other plaintiffs who signed on to the lawsuit.

Meta will not admit wrongdoing. The company suspended Trump’s accounts in 2021 and said that it would ban him from the platforms for at least two years.

Following Trump’s election win in November, Zuckerberg visited his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. This gesture was interpreted as a sign of a possible warming of their previously cool relationship.

The following month, Meta donated $1m to an inauguration fund for Trump.

LEADERSHIP reports that Zuckerberg was a guest at Trump’s inauguration at the US Capitol earlier this month, seated near other global tech billionaires.

For years, Trump had been highly critical of Zuckerberg and Facebook, calling the platform “anti-Trump” in 2017.

The relationship between both parties soured further after the president’s accounts were banned. He called Facebook an “enemy of the people” in March 2024.

Twitter, which is now named X and owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, also “permanently” suspended the president from its platform.

After buying the firm for $44billion, Musk reinstated Trump’s account in 2022 after a poll he ran on the site narrowly backed the move.

Separately on Wednesday, Meta defended its $65bn investment in artificial intelligence (AI) after tech stocks were rocked in the wake of Chinese AI app DeepSeek’s sudden rise.

Zuckerberg told investors there was a lot to learn from DeepSeek, but it was too soon to have “a really strong opinion” about what the app means for the future of AI.

“If anything, I think the recent news has only strengthened our conviction that this is right thing for us to be focused on,” he added.

Many US tech stocks sank this week after DeepSeek surged in popularity, though Meta’s has bucked this trend by rising.

The stock was up in after-hours trading after it posted better-than-expected financial results on Wednesday.

However, questions remain about what advances in Chinese AI will mean for the US AI market generally considering DeepSeek’s claim it was developed at a fraction of the cost of its US rivals.

Zuckerberg said in a call to investors following the results on Wednesday that DeepSeek’s rise strengthened his conviction in his company’s embrace of “open-source” AI.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, took a different tack from many US companies by releasing an open-source AI model for free.

Zuckerberg on Wednesday said he thought that approach was important to keeping the US at the cutting edge, as countries around the world compete to become the key players in the still-emerging industry.

“There’s going to be an open source standard globally and I think for our own national advantage it’s important that it’s an American standard,” he said.

“We take that seriously. We want to build the AI system that people around the world are using.”

An American airline carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided on Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.

Witness reports confirmed multiple fatalities, but the precise number of victims was unclear as rescue crews search for survivors.

An Army official said three soldiers were onboard the helicopter.

There was no immediate comment on the cause of the collision. However, all operations at the airport were halted as dive teams scoured the site and helicopters while law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search for bodies.

“We are going to recover our fellow citizens,” District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a sombre news conference at the airport on Thursday morning where she declined to say how many bodies had been recovered.

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said, “When one person dies, it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it’s an unbearable sorrow.”

President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed on this terrible accident” and, referring to the passengers, added, “May God Bless their souls.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred before 9 p.m. EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter on a training flight while approaching an airport runway.

The crash occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

Investigators will try to piece together the aircraft’s final moments before their collision, including contact with air traffic controllers as well as loss of altitude by the passenger jet.

American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet and a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of altitude over the Potomac River, according to data from its radio transponder.

The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet, manufactured in 2004 can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers.

A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National which was confirmed by pilots.

Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.

Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight.

The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.” Seconds after that, the two aircraft collided.

The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the river.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Centre showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.

“I know that flight. I’ve flown it several times myself,” said Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas.

He said that he expected that many people in Wichita would know people who were on the flight.

“This is a very personal circumstance,” he said.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom expressed “deep sorrow” over the crash, saying the company was focused on the needs of passengers, crew, first responders and families and loved ones of those involved.

“It’s a highly complex operation,” said D.C. fire chief John Donnelly. “The conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders.”

The U.S. Army described the helicopter as a UH-60 Blackhawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

The helicopter was on a training flight. Military aircraft frequently conduct training flights in and around the congested and heavily restricted airspace around the nation’s capital for familiarisation and continuity of government planning

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has given states and employers till the end of March to implement the new national minimum wage across the country.

The NLC said that stringent measures have been place against defaulters after the expiration of the ultimatum.

The President Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, stated this at a one day National Leadership Retreat organised for the union’s National Administrative Committee Members on Wednesday in Abuja.

The theme of the retreat was, ”Leadership Challenges amongst Activists”.

According to Ibrahim, who is also the National Internal Auditor of the NLC, the measures were imperative due to the continuous delay by states and institutions to manipulate wage payments.

He added that one of the issues in the implementation of the minimum wage is that of insincerity.

“The national minimum wage has been signed into law, and payments should have commenced nationwide.

“But in most institutions and states, what they did was just to award a certain amount or a figure they are merely using to play with the intelligence of workers as minimum wage.

“But I am happy that the NLC is not sleeping on this matter and we have been engaging.

“But going forward, I can assure you that we are taking very stringent measures to ensure that between now and the end of this first quarter, that the minimum wage and consequential adjustment will be implemented.

“Any state or employer of labour that refuses to implement the national minimum wage and the adjustment in workers’ salaries accordingly will face the consequences.

“The labour laws are there and we have all that it takes to enforce our rights against those employers,” he said.

Speaking on the theme of the retreat, Ibrahim said that some members sabotaged strike actions, weakening the effectiveness of industrial actions.

He also admitted that industrial actions had lost their effectiveness due to government indifference and worker fatigue.

The SSANU president explained that while strikes remained a last resort, the union would explore alternative negotiation strategies.

He emphasised the need for continuous training of university staff and better funding of tertiary institutions.

Ibrahim, however, said that universities must remain the centers of learning and innovation, requiring continuous capacity building for staff.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, on Wednesday, announced that the Federal Government has cleared the outstanding $7bn foreign exchange following a successful verification exercise by forensic auditors.

Cardoso disclosed this at the launch of Nigeria’s Regulatory Policy Framework organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council.

The event, which was tagged the regulators’ forum, took place at the State House Conference Hall in Abuja.

Cardoso explained that they are optimistic the clearance of the $7bn backlog would ease off the bottlenecks associated with repatriation of funds by businesses, multinationals and foreign investors.

According to the CBN governor, the outstanding forex clearance took far longer than they earlier anticipated.

He said, “In addressing foreign exchange liquidity constraint, decisive steps have been taken to clear outstanding $7bn forex backlog to ensure that businesses, multinationals, corporations and foreign investors can repatriate funds seamlessly

“This initiative has restored confidence among market participants and reinforced Nigeria’s commitment to honouring financial obligations in a timely and efficient manner. Talking about the $7bn backlog, we have cleared the verified claims.

“We also looked at the unverified ones, and I believe that we are at the final stages of separating what qualifies as fully verified, and we will surely be paying out those money that have been verified by the forensic auditors. It is unfortunate, to be honest, that it has taken so long.

“But the truth of the matter is that there were a lot of practices that went on that really should never have happened in the first place. That said, we are going to ensure that we do what we need to do to strengthen our market and create a better trust in what you investors naturally desire and deserve.”

Earlier in her address, PEBEC Director-General, Princess Zahrah Audu, explained that one of the key indicators for the commission was that the majority of the companies expected the government to provide them with a stable and predictable policy environment.

She said, “We are going to help you become a part of the formation of this policy because one of the things we actively encourage our MDAs to do is to have a sectoral stakeholder engagement in smaller groups. Now there is a more thorough process to go through before a policy is passed into law.

“It is very important to note that this administration will do things differently. We are constantly asking for your input because we don’t think we know it all. When you look at business from a government perspective, it is very different from looking at it from a private sector view.

“It is important that we always balance the two and see ourselves as stakeholders. Our doors will always be open, and we will be very responsive when it comes to calls and emails. As earlier said, my predecessor has left a viable platform for us to build on.”

A former governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande, has alleged that the historic EndSARS protest that shut down the nation’s economy in 2020 was orchestrated to destroy President Bola Tinubu.

Speaking in an interview, State Affairs with Edmund Obilo, published on Wednesday via YouTube, Akande alleged that the protest was manufactured in America by the Obidient movement.

According to the former governor, the EndSARS, which was “organized with a lot of money from America”, aimed at stopping Tinubu’s presidential ambition.

He said, “EndSARS was designed to be the end of Tinubu. Those behind the protest know that that was what they were doing.

“The Obidients were behind EndSARS; it was manufactured in America and brought in just to stop him.

“They came from America to do the EndSARS and later became a movement to form a party but they can’t form a party. It was well planned and organized with a lot of money from America”.

Grammy-nominated afrobeat artist, Seun Kuti, has said he will exit heaven if he sees any Nigerian politician there.

He said it’s surprising that most Nigerian politicians want to make heaven despite being corrupt.

The singer emphasised that if Nigerian politicians are allowed into heaven, it then means that the place is another level of corruption.

Speaking in an Instagram live video, Kuti said, “Despite how corrupt Nigerian politicians are, they still want to make heaven. Yemi Osibanjo is also a pastor. With everything that is happening in this country, these politicians still want to go to heaven.

“If I died and the Christian and Muslim fantasy heaven happens to be true and see that people are actually going to heaven if I see one single Nigerian politician for heaven, I will go outside. Because that would mean that there’s corruption in heaven.”

Nigeria’s electronic payment transactions hit a historic high of N1.07 quadrillion in 2024.

This feast was revealed in recent data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System.

The data showed that the N1.07 quadrillion mark is about $702.6 billion based on the closing exchange rate of N1,535 per dollar on December 31, 2024.

Accordingly, the value recorded on the NIBSS Instant Payment, NIP, represents a 79.6 percent increase over the N600 trillion recorded in 2023.

While the e-payment data shows a steady increase throughout the 12 months of the year, the highest value was recorded in December.

Being a festive period with lots of spending activities, Nigerians spent a total of N115.1 trillion over electronic channels in December 2024 only.

Meanwhile, the volume of transactions processed by NIBSS for the year also jumped from 9.7 billion in 2023 to 11.2 billion in 2024.

This represents a 15.5 percent increase in the volume of electronic transactions year on year.

Similarly, NIBSS data indicated that active bank accounts in Nigeria hit 311.6 million in 2024

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has described President Bola Tinubu as an embodiment of a desperate politician.

Atiku, in a statement on Wednesday by his media aide, Paul Ibe, said Tinubu is no longer the activist that people know as he has turned against the ideals that birthed his political career. 

He also accused the President of turning state institutions into an extension of his will by appointing his political loyalists into such places thereby extending his monopolistic tendencies.

Naija News reports the position of Atiku comes as a direct response to a statement by the APC which berated the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate over an allegation claiming that President Bola Tinubu’s administration paid ₦50 million bribe to buy out opposition parties ahead of the 2027 election.

Recall Atiku made the allegation while speaking as a panellist at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.

In response, the APC on Tuesday, said an elder statesman like him should not been seen making flippant allegations and challenged the former presidential candidate to provide proof to back his allegation.

Atiku, however maintained that he only spoke the truth to power and urged the APC under the leadership of Tinubu to stop undermining the democratic process in Nigeria by trying to force a one-party state on Nigerians. 

He charged the President and the APC to desist from personal attacks and focus on issues.

The statement reads: “On the 27th of January, the Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development convened a distinguished gathering of civil society organizations for a two-day national conference. This event was intended to offer a platform for deep and critical reflection on Nigeria’s democracy and the pressing question of its sustainability.

“It was meant to be a moment of intellectual engagement, an opportunity for civil society to collaborate with political leaders in the pursuit of solutions to reinforce and elevate democracy in Nigeria.

“Among those invited to participate was Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria, a man whose reputation for statesmanship and deep understanding of the political landscape made him a key figure in the discourse.

“During the course of the discussions, Atiku voiced his profound concern regarding the APC’s growing monopoly on power, warning that the party’s actions were steadily eroding the pluralism essential to a true democracy. He accused the ruling party of undermining the autonomy of opposition factions, casting a dark shadow over the future of Nigeria’s democratic integrity.

“Rather than engage in a substantive dialogue to explore these critical issues, the APC, led by President Bola Tinubu, chose to descend into the depths of petty personal attacks against Atiku Abubakar. This was not a mere lapse in decorum, but a repeated symptom of a party gripped by paranoia and struggling under the weight of its own tarnished credibility.

“If there is any political figure in Nigeria who truly embodies the essence of desperation, it is none other than President Tinubu himself. Through his unchecked actions, he continues to blur the line between state power and personal ambition, magnifying his control over both the nation and its institutions.

“The fact that the APC has become a mere extension of Tinubu’s will is a matter of little consequence. What truly alarms political observers — both inside and outside the APC — is the president’s calculated and insidious strategies to systematically cripple any form of social or political opposition. These actions, which Atiku rightfully warns against, are a direct threat to the future of Nigeria’s democracy.

“It is an irony most bitter that a man who once rose to prominence on the back of civil activism and the call for democratic renewal has now found himself in opposition to the very ideals that birthed his political career. This shift from proponent to adversary of multi-party democracy is both tragic and dangerous.”

Atiku’s prophetic warnings have already begun to manifest. He was among the first to call attention to President Tinubu’s plans to populate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with members of his own political party, the APC. Today, the nation bears witness to this very scheme unfolding before our eyes.”

Tinubu On The Wrong Path

Atiku further submitted that since coming into power, President Tinubu has prioritized personal interest above national interest and therefore called for a change of ways by both the President and the APC before they lead Nigeria farther down the wrong way.

The PDP chieftain accused Tinubu of putting his loyalists in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a way of illegally perpetuating himself in power.

“Atiku also raised alarm over the president’s blatant conflict of interest, particularly with regard to the awarding of lucrative contracts to companies with direct ties to his family. He cautioned the nation against the authoritarian tendencies of the Tinubu administration, warning that it sought to suppress fundamental human rights by charging protesters with treason — a tactic eerily reminiscent of repressive regimes of the past.

“These warnings, though dismissed by some at the time, have proved prescient as each one materializes into a clear pattern of authoritarian behaviour by the current administration.

“Now, the opposition parties find themselves fighting for survival, infiltrated by fifth columnists who have been planted within their ranks, ensuring that no party— whether APC or opposition — remains capable of functioning independently of the president’s whims.

“Moreover, the Tinubu administration continues to consolidate its power by packing the Independent National Electoral Commission with loyalists, further hollowing out the institution’s independence and integrity.

“Therefore, it is with a heavy heart and a sharp admonition that we urge the ruling party to stand before the mirror and gaze upon the true face of desperation — a face that mirrors their own actions and ambitions,” the statement concluded. 

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has declared that eight tertiary institutions in the country would not be allowed to admit candidates into law for the 2025/2026 admission session.

This was made known on Wednesday by JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, who disclosed that the LL.B programme in these institutions has been suspended by the Council of Legal Education (CLE) for the period.

The affected institutions were listed as the Kwara State University, Bingham University in Nasarawa; Redeemers University in Osun, Western Delta University in Delta state, Taraba State University, Arthur Jarvis University in Cross River, Alex Ekwueme Federal University in Ebonyi state, and Nigerian Police Academy in Kano.

Benjamin said the suspension of the law programme at the Nigerian Police Academy will extend beyond the 2025/2026 academic session, and will cover the 2026/2027 session as well.

At the time of filing this report, Naija News could not independently report the specific criteria over which CLE suspended admissions to law programmes in the affected institutions.

It is, however, understood that the CLE regularly puts measures in place to ensure compliance with legal education standards.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Said Ahmad, has reaffirmed the commitment of the federal government to addressing the out-of-school children crisis.

Naija News reports that Mrs. Ahmad emphasized that investment in girls’ education was necessary for the empowerment of families.

She stated this on Tuesday while speaking at the National Traditional and Religious Leaders Conference, which had the theme ‘Effective Partnerships on Girls’ Education and Addressing the Challenges of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria.’

The Professor of Science Education said the government was committed to a Nigeria where every girl can learn, thrive, and contribute to our nation’s development.

Professor Ahmad described the out-of-school children issue as a troubling reality