“The Stone Age did not end because the world ran out of stones, and the Oil Age will not end because we run out of oil.”

The quote, widely attributed to former Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani, captures a truth Nigeria has grappled with for decades.

Successive governments have long recognised the need to diversify the economy away from oil dependence. Increasingly, experts have pointed to the digital economy as Nigeria’s most promising path to sustainable growth.

The sector has already demonstrated enormous potential, and current developments suggest that its biggest gains may still lie ahead.

Indeed, if projections by communications experts are anything to go by, Nigeria could be on the verge of a major economic transformation through the ongoing review of the 26-year-old National Telecommunications Policy (NTP) 2000.

Officials believe the revised framework could unlock up to two per cent additional GDP growth, create more than two million jobs, and generate nearly ₦2 trillion in additional tax revenues by 2030. The implications are profound.

Now, it is worth recalling that the NTP 2000 laid the foundation for the telecommunications revolution that transformed Nigeria’s communications landscape.

The policy empowered the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to liberalise the sector and attract private investment at a time when access to telephone services was extremely limited.

Speaking at the recent high-level NTP 2000 Review Workshop in Lagos, Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of the NCC, reflected on the remarkable transformation that followed.

“When the NTP 2000 was introduced, Nigeria had fewer than 500,000 telephone lines serving over 120 million people under the monopoly of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL),” he said. “The policy liberalised the market, attracted massive private investment, and, supported by the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, turned scarcity into abundance.”

Dr Maida noted that within a decade, Nigeria moved from endless waiting lists for telephone lines to tens of millions of connected citizens. Reports indicate that today there are over 180 million connected lines.

Today, telecommunications has evolved far beyond voice communication. It now powers banking, fintech, e-commerce, education, healthcare, governance, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and public services.

Dr Maida aptly described telecommunications as the “productivity infrastructure” of the Nigerian economy.

This explains why the review of the NTP 2000 is being positioned not as a routine sector update, but as a national development imperative. The goal is to reposition telecommunications as the foundational infrastructure supporting every aspect of economic activity.

The Presidency echoed this broader vision. Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Policy and Coordination, while acknowledging the success of the 2000 policy in liberalising the market and driving competition, stressed that today’s realities demand a more forward-looking framework. She argued that any modern telecommunications policy must address broadband expansion, affordability, digital inclusion, infrastructure resilience, cybersecurity, digital skills, data governance, and emerging technologies.

The review of the NTP 2000 is a massive opportunity for a fresh start.

The reality is that despite the impressive progress recorded over the past quarter of a century, several challenges continue to hinder the sector’s growth.

Stakeholders constantly highlight issues such as fibre cuts, vandalism, theft, multiple taxation, high energy costs, right-of-way bottlenecks, delayed approvals, and weak coordination between federal and subnational governments.

These problems continue to slow broadband expansion and weaken service quality, especially in rural and underserved communities.

This is precisely why many experts believe Nigeria must now embrace a new regulatory philosophy, one that moves beyond basic market supervision to full ecosystem stewardship.

The emerging digital economy requires policies capable of addressing artificial intelligence (AI), satellite broadband, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud infrastructure, digital sovereignty, and data governance.

The revised policy is expected to preserve the core principles of competition, universal access, and consumer protection while also promoting innovation, investment, resilience, and inclusive growth.

Stakeholders are already developing practical recommendations around regulatory coordination, infrastructure protection, digital skills development, and strategies for accelerating digital transformation.

The ambitions are ambitious but necessary: expand the tax base, improve public service delivery, bridge the digital divide, create jobs, and establish Nigeria as a leading digital economy in Africa by 2030.

Undoubtedly, as Nigeria’s population and economy continue to grow, reliable, affordable, and high-quality digital connectivity is becoming increasingly essential for empowering citizens, businesses, and communities.

Ultimately, the success of the policy review will not be judged by the quality of speeches delivered at conferences and workshops, but by the strength of implementation, the consistency of political will, and the measurable outcomes achieved.

With Africa’s largest population and one of the continent’s most vibrant telecom markets, Nigeria stands at a defining moment.

The ongoing review of the NTP 2000 presents a strategic opportunity to transform digital infrastructure into a powerful engine for sustainable and inclusive national development.

The conversations at the Lagos workshop could shape how Nigerians live, work, learn, communicate, and do business for decades to come. If implementation matches ambition, the projected digital economy windfall could become one of the most significant economic dividends of the Renewed Hope era.

*Elvis Eromosele, a corporate communications professional and sustainability advocate, wrote via elviseroms@gmail.com.

Meetings stop, systems reboot, someone runs downstairs to check if the generator has fuel.

The national grid doesn’t fail once in a while, it fails often. In early 2026, it went down repeatedly within weeks. That followed months of outages in 2025 and several collapses the year before.

For tech companies that depend on constant uptime, those interruptions add up so fast.

Generators used to be the fallback. Most offices had one by default. That option is no longer cheap or reliable. Fuel prices have skyrocketed, spare parts cost more, and maintenance never ends. On top of that, the noise and fumes make long workdays harder than they should be.

Because of this, many tech teams have started looking elsewhere for power they can actually depend on.

Why Solar Became the Best Backup for Tech

As fossil fuels become more expensive and less practical, solar power has stepped in as a smarter, cleaner, and more reliable alternative.

The costs of solar power packages such as panels, inverters, and batteries have dropped significantly in Nigeria because of cheaper imports, local supply growth, and more competition among vendors in the growing market.

Solar systems with batteries provide clean, quiet energy without the uncomfortable noise of generators. When looking at cost, they cost far less per unit of power (between N85–N150/kWh) when compared to grid rates (N220–N270/kWh), or fossil-fueled generators.

For tech operations that need constant uptime, like coding, cloud services, or online platforms, solar energy setups are smarter choices than the noisy, fuel-hungry generators or Nigeria’s unreliable electricity supply system.

They offer a steady supply during outages, reduce carbon footprint, and align with global sustainability goals that attract foreign investors.

Where Solar is Already Powering the Ecosystem

Massive adoption of solar energy is already visible across Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. Across Lagos and Abuja, many co-working spaces and tech hubs now depend on solar power to stay open.

Places like CcHUB and Leadspace, especially around Yaba and Victoria Island, no longer shut down work because the light went out.

The internet stays on, air conditioners keep running, and people keep working, even when the rest of the area is in darkness.

The same thing is happening inside fintech offices, call centres, and corporate teams that cannot afford downtime. Solar systems help them get through busy work hours without stopping transactions, delaying paperwork, or losing contact with customers.

Telecom companies have also moved in this direction. More base stations and internet infrastructure now run on solar, particularly in areas where grid power is weak or unreliable. It’s one of the few ways to keep networks stable in places the national grid doesn’t consistently reach.

Solar’s Role in Reducing Startup Operating Costs

By cutting energy costs, which is a major expense for tech businesses, solar energy directly improves profitability.

Reliable power means higher uptime, fewer hours lost, and higher productivity. Teams can focus more on building and maintaining their products instead of managing generators or dealing with unpredictable power outages.

Some tech hubs and offices can now run 12 to 16 hours daily because of solar power, or even go fully off-grid in cases like certain Lagos-based offices such as Sterling Towers.

This improves scalability as startups can expand their servers, hire more remote developers, or launch new features without worrying about the next blackout.

Also, tech startups that implement solar energy solutions have a competitive advantage because investor confidence relies on execution speed and solar frees up capital for growth rather than endless fuel bills.

Enabling Remote Work and Digital Services

The reliability of solar energy also supports Nigeria’s growing remote work culture. Freelancers, developers, and remote teams in different cities can stay connected without fear of sudden disruptions because of blackouts.

Solar-powered home offices let individuals run their laptops, internet routers, home lights, and even small servers steadily, enabling more participation in software exports, outsourcing gigs, and online services.

To an extent, it levels the playing field, allowing more Nigerians, especially in deprived areas, to join the global digital economy from anywhere and contribute to skill exports and job creation in the tech space.

Local Solar Innovation Meets Local Tech Needs

Home-grown innovation also plays a big role in the adoption of solar energy. Nigerian solar startups and installers, such as Arnergy which raised $18 million to help Nigerians dump generators, and SunFi which also got $2 million in funding are good indicators that the solar energy market is growing and gaining more investors.

Nigeria is currently the second-largest importer of solar energy solutions in Africa, with over 1721 megawatts imported in the first half of 2025. Also, the market is projected to grow from 3.13 GW in 2024 to 5.01 GW by 2029.

These positive trends indicate that solar energy will gain more adoption, and local innovations are important to ensure the market is not dependent on imports.

These startups offer smart inverters with monitoring apps that can track energy usage in real time through smartphones, helping tech teams optimise power for servers and devices.

Pay-as-you-go or flexible financing models also make solar setups more affordable for individuals, startups, and SMEs because it spreads costs over time instead of requiring large upfront payments.

Challenges Slowing Wider Solar Adoption

Despite the progress, there are still challenges involved. High initial costs, worsened by forex volatility for imported parts such as panels, inverters, and batteries, deter some adopters despite falling prices.

Also, fake or low-quality panels are now more rampant in the market, leading to poor performance, quick failures, and reduced trust. These issues slow down adoption as frustrated users spread negative experiences.

Poor installations add extra risks, such as system inefficiencies or safety hazards. Limited government incentives, inconsistent policies, and infrastructure gaps like weak grid integration for hybrids further slow down the adoption of solar energy solutions even as the demand increases.

Thus,

Looking at the next 3–5 years, hybrid setups that combine grid, solar, and batteries could become the standard for tech companies. Solar will evolve from just power backup to a core part of digital infrastructure, supporting expanding data centres, AI tools, cloud services, and general fintech growth.

In the end, solar power works quietly behind the scenes as an important enabler of Nigeria’s complex digital economy. It powers the servers and connects the teams even when the grid collapses.

For founders building the next big app specially made for Nigerians, investors looking for opportunities, and policymakers creating new regulations, embracing this off-grid solution could define the success of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem in the coming years.

The assumption is that better technology will automatically produce better outcomes. In reality, improvements in outcomes are rare unless they coincide with changes in decision-making processes.

Across scaling businesses, particularly in Nigeria’s telecoms, digital infrastructure, and technology enabled services, the biggest constraint to growth is not access to data.

It is the quality of decisions made under pressure. Talent decisions determine how this plays out, whether leadership acknowledges it or not.

Most organisations experience this quietly. They expand into new markets without the right skills in place.

They hire reactively, paying premiums for external talent because internal capability was not developed early enough. They build teams that look strong on paper but struggle to execute when commercial conditions shift.

These patterns are not caused by poor intent. They are the result of decisions made without sufficient foresight, which later manifest as delayed market entry, margin erosion, and inconsistent execution.

Globally, AI adoption has accelerated at a pace that exceeds organisational readiness. From London to Nairobi to Lagos, companies are deploying AI tools faster than they are redesigning the decision frameworks that govern how those tools are used. The result is a widening gap between technological capability and commercial impact.

AI adds value when it helps leaders see pressures earlier. It does not replace judgment. It sharpens it.

When workforce data is connected to commercial planning, leaders gain visibility into how talent supply, capability gaps, and execution risk intersect.

This does not remove responsibility from decision-makers. It intensifies it. Leaders are forced to confront trade offs that were previously hidden, such as whether to reskill existing teams, slow expansion, or absorb higher costs to meet timelines.

In markets like Nigeria, where infrastructure expansion is uneven and growth cycles are volatile, these trade offs directly influence revenue timing and operational resilience.

When organisations position AI as decision support rather than automation, talent ceases to be a downstream concern. It becomes a strategic input. Conversations change. Hiring plans are discussed alongside revenue forecasts.

Skills development is linked to market entry timelines. Internal mobility becomes a commercial lever, not a retention initiative. Companies that operate this way experience fewer rushed decisions, less reliance on expensive external hiring, and more continuity in critical roles during periods of growth.

Treating AI as an authority instead of an advisor tends to have the opposite effect. Decisions accelerate, but understanding weakens. Leaders reference systems rather than explain choices. Teams follow outputs without fully trusting them.

I have seen this scenario play out in a telecoms expansion where predictive hiring models flagged skill shortages six months before a regional rollout. The system was accurate, but because leadership had come to defer to the dashboard rather than interpret it, they missed the underlying issue. The skills existed internally but were locked in siloed teams with no incentive to move.

By the time they recognised this, they had already committed to expensive external hires, which delayed the launch by two quarters. The technology revealed the problem. The over reliance on it obscured the solution.

Over time, talent strategy drifts away from business reality, even as dashboards become more sophisticated. This is increasingly visible in global tech, where rapid AI deployment has created a false sense of certainty in environments that remain fundamentally unpredictable.

The difference is not technological maturity. It is leadership intent.

Organisations that benefit most from AI are deliberate about where human judgment remains essential.

They understand that decisions about talent carry long term consequences that cannot be optimised away. They use technology to illuminate options, not to absolve accountability.

In volatile and fast scaling markets, from Nigeria’s digital economy to global tech hubs, this balance becomes critical. Growth plans change. Markets behave differently than expected.

Infrastructure expands unevenly. In these moments, rigid systems struggle, but decision frameworks grounded in human understanding adapt.

AI does not eliminate uncertainty in talent or business. It makes the cost of ignoring it more visible.

In Nigeria’s digital economy and across global tech hubs, the pressure to scale quickly often outpaces the capacity to build the right teams.

AI will not slow that pressure, but it will make the consequences of misalignment harder to ignore. What organisations choose to do with that visibility, whether they confront it or work around it, is what ultimately shapes their trajectory.

Linda Olumide leads cross-functional transformation and supports digital infrastructure expansion in telecoms, with a focus on designing talent intelligence systems that drive commercial outcomes.