At its core, this move reinforces the country’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy, where digital infrastructure, space technology, and secure connectivity form the backbone of national productivity and global competitiveness.

As Nigeria accelerates its digital transformation agenda, the message is increasingly clear: terrestrial fibre infrastructure alone cannot meet the demands of a modern, resilient digital economy.

Under the leadership of Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Honourable Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, the country is closing long-standing gaps in national connectivity.

While progress on the 90,000km national fibre backbone, now over 60 percent complete, is commendable, fibre must be complemented by satellite infrastructure to achieve universal coverage, redundancy, and security.

The future of connectivity is hybrid: fibre plus satellite.

Satellites as Critical National Infrastructure

Through NigComSat, led by Jane Egerton-Idehen, the managing director and CEO, Nigeria is strengthening its space-enabled communications capabilities across key sectors, including broadband access, aviation, maritime operations, defence, disaster recovery, and remote-area connectivity.

Satellite communications are no longer optional, they are a core pillar of national infrastructure and digital sovereignty.

Global engagements at Space-Comm Expo Europe in London, alongside industry and investment exhibitions across the United States and Canada, reinforce a clear international consensus: satellite communications remain the most scalable and practical solution for last-mile connectivity, particularly in regions where fibre deployment is economically prohibitive, physically insecure, or geographically impractical.

For emerging and frontier markets, satellites are not a fallback, they are a strategic advantage.

From Vision to Execution

The focus now must shift decisively from policy intent to execution.

This includes:

• Mobilising diaspora capital and venture investment into Nigeria’s digital, defence, and space-technology ecosystem
• Structuring partnerships with OEMs, satellite operators, defence contractors, and space-technology firms
• Driving capacity development, CAPEX optimisation, and indigenous technical capability
• Championing the protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII)
• Embedding strong Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) frameworks aligned with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), Cybercrimes Act, and regulatory oversight from NCC and NITDA

These efforts are backed by commitments exceeding ₦1 billion in combined CAPEX and OPEX across infrastructure deployment, enterprise platforms, software upgrades, OEM partnerships, and workforce development.

A Call for Strategic Partnerships

Nigeria’s space and digital infrastructure ecosystem is open to serious, long-term partners.

We are actively engaging with strategic investors in satellite communications, secure connectivity, and digital infrastructure; OEMs and technology partners across space, defence, and cybersecurity, and institutional and diaspora investors seeking structured, compliant entry into Africa’s fastest-growing digital markets

For stakeholders based in Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, or Canada, this is a timely opportunity to participate in space-enabled connectivity, last-mile broadband solutions, and secure digital infrastructure partnerships across Africa.

Nigeria’s future is space-enabled, secure, and globally connected. The window for early, strategic collaboration is open.

Olanrewaju Sulyman Lanre, is a member, N&CBN Toronto GTA Hub. He is also the ED/CEO, Equinoxcore Technology Limited.

Held at Irene Country Lodge in Pretoria, the event convened over 100 industry leaders, including auto-mobility, mining, and logistics professionals, to address critical challenges in scaling electrification across the region.

Giulio Airaga, managing director of Desco, emphasised the urgency of building robust battery recycling ecosystems to support South Africa’s electric vehicle (EV) transition.

“The challenge isn’t just recycling batteries – it’s ensuring they reach recyclers efficiently.

“A fragmented collection system and informal disposal channels hinder progress. Partnerships between manufacturers, logistics providers, and policymakers are essential to close this gap,” he stressed.

Desco’s core focus is mechanical processing for lithium-ion battery recycling. However, the company is researching better options, either hydrometallurgical or pyrometallurgical extraction.

Given the wide variability in battery chemistries, choosing between these advanced methods is complex and often influenced by market availability and cost considerations.

The decision to invest in one over the other requires careful analysis, as no single approach is universally suitable for all battery types.

He said the need for ‘mandatory take-back programs and deposit schemes’ to secure end-of-life battery flows, highlighting DHL’s potential role in reverse logistics.

Airaga also highlighted partnerships with OEMs like Daimler Truck Southern Africa and logistics leaders like DHL to streamline collection.

“Daimler could integrate battery take-back into dealer networks, while DHL develops specialised transport protocols for hazardous materials,” he explained.

DHL outlined the company’s EV logistics solutions, including safety-compliant battery transport and circular supply chains.

EV Logistics also emphasised DHL’s investments in fire-resistant packaging and regional infrastructure to support electrification.

In addition, Daimler Truck Southern Africa discussed strategies to boost electric commercial vehicle adoption, including localised supply chain resilience and dealer network adaptations.

In response to the closing question on scaling recycling, Airaga urged policymakers to enforce traceability standards like battery passports and incentivise closed-loop systems. Other panellists echoed the need for regional infrastructure investments and regulatory alignment to accelerate Africa’s electrification.

The panel marked the launch of the Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence (EV CoE), a collaborative initiative to drive innovation in South Africa’s auto-mobility sector.

Desco’s participation underscores its commitment to advancing circular economy principles and positioning Africa as a leader in sustainable EV ecosystems.

Traditionally quite modest, with capacities ranging from one to three Megawatts (MW), West Africa now features numerous high-capacity datacentres; with plans underway to build its first Tier-4, 1500 rack data centre later this year.

But with size comes complexity.  Building a Tier-4 data centre is not simply a matter of scaling up from a 1 MW facility; technical requirements and complexities increase exponentially.

Let’s use UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) as an example, while commissioning a single unit is quite straightforward, paralleling multiple systems to achieve higher power outputs introduces significant complexity.

Here, you require an experienced design engineer that can plan for the integration of multiple systems from get-go, ensuring that components like bus bars and cables can handle the combined power load.

Without this foresight, designs may fall short and necessitate costly and time-consuming revisions.

It’s double-edged sword, West Africa is going through a wonderful growth era but at the same time facing a lack of skilled individuals that can handle these big data centre projects.

And unlike our peers in countries such as Sweden and Ireland, which have extensive experience with 40 MW or even 100 MW data centres, West Africa is still building its capacity.

Also, this skills gap spans from design and technical implementation to the ongoing maintenance of operations facilities, once up and running. There is therefore a critical need to develop a workforce capable of supporting both 1 MW facilities and large-scale 100 MW operations.

OEMs’ part to play

As global entities with extensive experience and expertise, OEMs can transfer knowledge and best practices to the West African data centre market.

And it works, in East Africa, Schneider Electric is proactively leveraging its global expertise to upskill local teams in countries like Kenya to among others bring in specialists from Europe to work alongside local engineers.

This hands-on, on-the-job training leaves a lasting impact, building local capacity and importantly ensuring that the skills remain within the region.

However, OEMs can’t do it alone, and they shouldn’t.  To accelerate the upskilling process, OEMs should form strategic partnerships with local companies, data centre operators, and educational institutions.

In turn, these partnerships can facilitate comprehensive training programmes, internships, and graduate placements, creating a pipeline of skilled professionals ready to meet the demands of the growing market.

There is also another element to consider; the positive impact Africa’s data centre growth will have on the rest of the world. These facilities are becoming integral to the global digital infrastructure, supporting a wide range of services and applications.

It is therefore in all role players’ best interest to ensure that these data centres are built and operated to the highest standards. This investment will not only support local economies but also enhance the reliability and resilience of the global digital ecosystem.

Through strategic, local partnership, OEMs like Schneider Electric can contribute to an environment that fosters knowledge transfer and relevant, comprehensive training programmes.

Success is always reliant on the sum of its parts and OEMs have an important role to play in establishing West Africa as key player in the global data centre industry.

New features, optimized commercial models, and pricing make it easier for end users, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and systems integrators (SIs) to develop and scale HMI/SCADA applications from edge-to-cloud, with the ability to incorporate analytics and CONNECT, AVEVA’s industrial intelligence platform.

AVEVA InTouch Unlimited empowers system integrators with the most comprehensive suite of HMI/SCADA technology available in the market today.

It is an all-inclusive licensing package available in perpetual and subscription models with unlimited tags, clients, and scalability.

The InTouch Unlimited package features comprehensive process historian and reporting functionality, equipping users with the ability to collect and unlock the value of data sourced at the edge, and from multiple plants and systems spanning the enterprise.

The modernized development tools are now available free of charge and include prebuilt templates to accelerate design productivity, as well as simplified tag and application development workflow leveraging industry standard protocols such as OPC-UA and MQTT.

SIs and users can easily develop, deploy, and scale HMI/SCADA applications using InTouch Unlimited. As a component of the broader AVEVA Operations Control software portfolio, InTouch Unlimited can utilize hybrid-cloud architecture to easily integrate AI features such as predictive quality, throughput, and energy efficiency into traditional HMI/SCADA applications.

By pairing AVEVA Operations Control with CONNECT, developers can consolidate operations data from various production lines, plants, and value chains.

This provides a centralized view of operations and allows the system to scale with business growth without the need for application redevelopment.

InTouch continues to be an innovation leader in HMI/SCADA since the technology’s inception over three decades ago. AVEVA is committed to delivering products that make it easy to evaluate our software portfolio, develop tailored solutions, and scale to meet growing business needs. Doug Warren, AVEVA’s senior vice president, Monitoring & Control Business, emphasizes this user-focused approach. “AVEVA InTouch Unlimited provides unprecedented value for our system integration partners,” says Warren. “This new offer, coupled with our focus on technical enablement through the Heroes HQ forum and bite sized video-based training content, makes choosing AVEVA HMI/SCADA products easier than ever.”

A trial of AVEVA InTouch Unlimited is available  at AVEVA InTouch HMI Trial.

Flip to 2023, NCC carried out its mandate in a manner that further strengthened consumer protection while safeguarding the interest of telecom consumers.

In that period, in addition to continuing to implement the policy that ensured improved access to broadband connectivity, the Commission, through Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) constantly alerted consumers to cyber threats that could have led to the compromise of their financial profile through the execution of malicious codes by threat actors, Prof. Danbatta reminded stakeholders as the Commission marked this year’s World Consumer Rights Day.

Here are eight key takeaways from the EVC’s speech on the occasion of WCRD 2023:

1. Telecom Infrastructures are Able to Absorb the Surge in Cashless Transactions

“By the time cashless banking fully took off in late 2023, the connectivity platforms on which electronic transactions ride have become robust to the extent of being able to absorb the surge in demand for cashless transactions.

“Arising from the successes in implementing initiatives to realize last year’s theme, the Commission is poised to realize the theme for this year, which is “Empowering Consumers through Clean Energy Transition”.

The theme is geared towards delivering a smooth transition for consumers experiencing a high cost of living as the globe responds to the ongoing energy crisis caused by supply and climate issues.

He added that this theme is very relevant given Nigeria’s recent licensing of the 5G spectrum networks, which consume twice as much energy as 4Gs, although they are more energy-efficient per gigabyte.

2. Increased Demand for Energy Consumption

“With the recent licensing of the Fifth Generation (5G) spectrum, Nigeria will witness an increased deployment of telecom infrastructure to satisfy the wireless service coverage requirement for 5G services.

“This anticipated growth in the number of 5G coverage will trigger high demand for data services which will result in increased energy consumption for the network infrastructure especially the Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), Internet of Things (IoT), 5G Customer Premise Equipment (CPEs) and mobile devices for example. This requires the industry to look for green and sustainable power solutions required for the connectivity of IoT devices and network optimisation.

“All over the globe, telecom companies are among the biggest energy users, as a result of the stiff industry competition which causes them to try to satisfy their consumers by providing higher-speed networks”.

The EVC said that with the rising utility costs, it is critical for companies to reconsider the sustainability of their operations by lowering the operational impact on the environment.

“This is more so because it has been found that implementing energy efficiency measures could potentially reduce the operating costs of telcos by up to 20%.

“Some of these energy-efficiency measures include the redesign of the Radio Access Networks (RAN) of Base Stations which were initially built to maximise connectivity, not energy efficiency.

“More than 75% of the time, the radio base station resources remain unused because of the hardware components activated at all times to transmit system information and synchronisation and reference signals. Therefore, to avoid waste heat, some of 5G’s newest RAN is equipped with an energy-saving measure allowing for the automatic switching of components. Some other energy efficiency measures can also include the use of renewable energy sources (hydrogen, wind, solar etc.) to supply the energy needed.

3. Renewable Energy Option

“The Commission, as a responsive world-class organization, has been proactive in responding to the realities and challenges posed by the impact of using fossil fuel as a power source in the telecommunications industry.

In this regard, the situation in Nigeria is peculiar. Owing to the overall energy challenges of the nation, the fifty-four (54) thousand BTS scattered across the country depend on diesel generators with the attendant noise and environmental pollution.

Some of these BTS operate on diesel generators for 24 hours across seven days of the week in some locations. Therefore, transitioning to a renewable energy source like solar power will significantly reduce the menace of pollution from individually-powered generators.

This will be zero carbon emission from the BTS just as noise pollution would be a thing of the past.

4. MNOs and the need for energy-efficient networks

“Consequently, to minimize the environmental impacts of climate change caused by carbon emissions, telecom network providers need to come up with a modern and more energy-efficient network. This includes the use of Solar-powered Cells, wireless electricity or a hybrid system to replace higher energy-consuming equipment that will lead to a reduction in capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) and by implication, a reduction in service costs to consumers.

“Transitioning to renewable energy is predicted to result in a lower cost of operation as operators will be able to save on the cost of diesel, which accounts for a large chunk of the costs incurred by these licensees. The competition that the Commission consistently promotes among industry players has a natural consequence of the savings on the cost of diesel passed on to consumers, which would potentially result in lower prices for services.

“Therefore, I want to use this opportunity to call on MNOs and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to come up with innovations in sustainable energy in line with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Recommendation ITU-T L.1380 on smart energy solutions for telecom sites’ performance, safety, energy efficiency and environmental impact. This is vital to address the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation.

“In this regard and for the industry stakeholders, especially consumers, to benefit from the advantages of renewable energy, the Commission is working on a policy to encourage the adoption of renewable energy sources by operators.

When operational, the Policy will ensure that using clean energy sources for power has the potential to resolve the three key needs of the telecom industry, namely: reduction in diesel usage; expansion of telecom infrastructure to off-grid areas; and reduction in carbon emissions.

5. Collocation and Infrastructure Sharing Framework

The Policy on renewable energy in the telecom sector is an additional layer of other policies that contribute to protecting the environment. In recent years, the Commission introduced a regulatory framework on infrastructure sharing and collocation among the licensees which has encouraged operators to fully maximize their already-deployment infrastructure.

“By sharing infrastructure, some operators do not need to entirely build a telecoms site in an area where another operator had deployed one. With the challenge of inadequate public electricity supply in Nigeria, telecom companies rely on diesel-powered generators to keep their telecom sites live round-the-clock. A regulatory framework such as infrastructure sharing, and collocation is helping in this regard and the Commission has recorded appreciable adoption of this regulation.

6. Factoring in energy efficiency in Type Approval

“Another regulatory initiative in this regard is NCC’s Type Approval Regulations. For the sake of educating our media stakeholders, Type Approval is an official authorisation by the Commission prior to the use or supply of an Equipment Type in Nigeria.

Our Type Approval of devices factors in energy efficiency, among others, which ensures a reduction of power consumption. It also ensures that Radio Frequency devices used in Nigeria operate effectively, without causing harmful interference and otherwise comply with the Commission’s technical requirement prior to importation or marketing.

7. ICT competitions focusing on renewable energy

“The annual tech innovation competitions we organize for young innovators in Nigeria also make considerations for inventions that address the challenges of renewable energy. Some of the entries submitted in this regard are in the process of being commercialized as the innovators are seeking investors to make their discoveries available to the public. The Commission will continue to support research and innovations that contribute to transitioning to renewable energy sources.

8. Regulations on e-Waste

“Also connected to NCC’s regulatory efforts in dealing with issues of sanitizing our environment is its efforts in 2019 to commence activities that will result in the formulation of a Regulation on E-Waste in Nigeria. Today, the global concern for the regulation of e-waste is two-pronged. First, is the acute awareness of the hazardous properties and the potential risk to human health, as well as their capacity to degrade the environment. Secondly, is the business case and vast Potential for wealth creation in recycling e-waste into more benign and productive uses”.

The EVC further explained in his WCRD 2023 speech that in line with its regulatory mandate and to keep pace with efforts at managing e-waste-related issues, in a manner that reduces cases of indiscriminate burning of electronic devices with the potential for increased carbon emission in the environment, the Commission has been working, with other relevant agencies, to develop a Regulations on E-waste.

The Regulations, he said, will represent a holistic intervention aimed at providing clarity and delimiting the responsibilities of various stakeholders in the e-waste value chain within the Telecommunications industry.

While the proposed Regulations are industry-specific, they, nonetheless, key into other initiatives at national and international levels.

He added that the Commission’s Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) will sensitize telecom consumers about these interventions aimed at making the environment better for all of humanity.

As part of activities marking 2023 World Consumer Rights Day, the Commission on Thursday, March 16 2023 launched its Telecom Consumer Assistance, Resolution and Enquiries (TELCARE) Desk, in the Arrival Lounge of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Abuja.

“The TELCARE Desk in Abuja will be a pilot as we plan to set up the desk at strategic locations across the country to provide information to telecom consumers”, the EVC said.