Telecom
FG Launches National Policy on 5G, Directs Security Institutions to Leverage the Technology
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed all the security institutions to immediately leverage Fifth Generation (5G) technology to enhance security in the country.
The president gave the directive Tuesday at the launching of the National Policy on 5G for Nigeria’s Digital Economy at the State House, Abuja.
The launched policy was presented and approved at the Federal Executive Council meeting on the 8th of September 2021, following a robust debate.
According to a statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, President Buhari said the Federal Government will take full advantage of the opportunities that 5G provides for the economy, security and well-being of the nation.
He also allayed fears over the health safety of 5G, affirming that such issues have been ‘effectively addressed’ in developing a policy that suits the country.
On the benefits of 5G technologies, the president noted it can support virtually every sector of the economy, including enhanced connectivity, improved healthcare, support for education while fostering smart cities, and boosting agriculture, among other advantages.
‘It will also support security institutions with real-time communication.
‘5G technology is significantly faster than earlier digital technologies and it provides near real-time communication. This can play a key role in boosting our efforts towards enhancing security across the nation.
‘It will enable our security institutions to effectively deploy robotics, autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality to address any security challenges that we face,’ he said.
President Buhari explained that the National 5G Policy includes a deployment plan to ensure that major cities across the country benefit from the technologies.
He added that the policy, which is in line with the commitment of this administration to supporting the digital economy as an enabler for the diversification of our national economy, also seeks to make 5G a major driver of the economy, a catalyst for smart cities in the country and a platform for the creation of jobs that support the digital economy.
He assured investors that the Federal Government would continue to provide an enabling environment for their businesses to be very successful as Nigeria begins the roll-out of the technology.
President Buhari directed the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, to supervise the implementation of the policy, being done by the Nigerian Communications Commission with the support of other government institutions.
The president also used the occasion to provide a rundown of how his administration has created an enabling environment for investments to thrive in Nigeria’s digital economy.
He recounted that the journey to the launch of the 5G National Policy started with the launch of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy in November 2019 as well as the launch of a number of policies to strengthen the digital economy, including the Nigerian National Broadband Plan and the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector.
The president noted that under his watch the agreement of the National Economic Council to peg the cost of the Right of Way at N145 per linear metre which was made in 2013, was only implemented in late 2019, after the intervention of the Federal Government.
According to the president, the Information and Communications Technology sector played a prime role in enabling Nigeria’s economy to swiftly exit the recession that was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘The GDP Report of the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the ICT sector was the fastest growing sector in the fourth quarter of 2020 and entire year 2020, recording double-digit growth rates of 14.70 per cent and 12.90 per cent respectively.
‘The sector also recorded a 17.92 per cent contribution to our GDP in the second quarter of last year- this was its highest ever contribution. All these impressive and significant achievements have justified our efforts to support the growth of our digital economy.’
Describing the process of developing the National 5G Policy as ‘painstaking, inclusive and focused,’ the president recalled that 5G trials commenced in some selected locations in November 2019.
‘Multi-sectoral stakeholders then deliberated on the report of the trials to ensure that health, security and other concerns were effectively addressed in developing a policy that suits our country.
‘The National 5G Policy will position Nigeria to harness the potentials of 5G technologies to further develop the economy and improve the indices of well-being in the nation,’ he said.
Pantami in his remarks affirmed the sector has recorded unprecedented achievements with increased remittances to the Federation Account, resolution of lingering issues in the industry and successful auctioning of the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for the deployment of 5G technology.
He thanked the president for the consistent support to the sector, announcing that within two years the Federal Government completed 1,667 ICT related projects.
‘As at August 2021, the sector remitted over N1 trillion to the Federation Account and this is unprecedented because the usual remittances are around 200 billion annually and this has been increased substantially,’ he said.
On the spectrum auction for the 5G, Prof Pantami explained that from the reserve price of N75 billion per spectrum, each spectrum was assigned to the winners at the price of over N250 billion per spectrum.
MTN Nigeria today held the opening ceremony for the 2025 edition of 21Days of Y’ello Care, the company’s annual employee volunteerism initiative.
This year’s campaign, themed “Connecting at the Roots – Connecting Communities through Digital Tools,” will run from June 1 to June 21, 2025, and focuses on supporting communities that continue to face barriers to digital access and connectivity.
MTN Nigeria kicked off on Sunday June 1 with trainings across different locations in Lagos where staff of the company volunteered to delivered training in valuable areas such as digital marketing and personal branding and employability skills.
In line with the Group-wide campaign theme, MTN Nigeria is implementing a series of grassroots initiatives aimed at expanding digital inclusion and connectivity in underserved areas.
Planned activities include equipping schools and community youth centres with devices, digital literacy workshops, deployment of community Wi-Fi access points, support for digital entrepreneurship and the establishment of an all-in-one Y’ello Pods across the country that will provide a digital hub for learning and support financial inclusion.
Speaking at the opening ceremony held in Lagos, Karl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria said, Y’ello Care matters to us because we’re a digital company and we’re operating in an environment where there are so many needs. At MTN Nigeria, we care, and we want to show our direct connection and responsibility to the communities we operate in.
Now in its 18th year, Y’ello Care is a groupwide flagship MTN employee volunteering initiative that encourages MTNers to volunteer their time and expertise to support positive social change.
The campaign reflects MTN’s purpose to enable the benefits of a modern connected life for everyone and is anchored in the company’s core values.
In 2024, in a remarkable demonstration of corporate volunteerism, MTN staff, through the Y’ello Care initiative, reconstructed a school block at Iwerekun Community High School, Lakowe. This effort has restored hope and significantly improved learning conditions for both students and teachers.
For further information, updates on “21 Days of Y’ello Care”and MTN Nigeria’s commitment to social development, please visit yellocare.ng or follow us on social media.
Fresh, on-the-ground evidence from health planners and climate analysts in Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa shows how the Open Buildings dataset, which maps more than 1.8 billion structures, is helping frontline projects close service gaps and strengthen community resilience.
Across the continent, artificial-intelligence tools are graduating from pilots to public-service workhorses, powering everything from crop-price forecasts to live language translation. Open Buildings—developed by researchers at Google Research Africa—is part of that shift, proving that open, locally guided AI can turn sparse data into timely decisions without locking African problem-solvers behind paywalls or proprietary gates.
In Rwanda, the Ministry of Health and Kigali-based Sand Technologies resited rural clinics with help from the dataset. Their new blueprint aims to bring 92% of citizens within a 30-minute reach of care, trimming journeys that put mothers and newborns at risk.
Across Northern Nigeria, epidemiologists at AFENET and geographers from WorldPop uncovered 10,250 buildings, guiding vaccinators who reached 70% of the zero-dose and under-immunized children identified through the mapping in just six months.
Meanwhile, the World Resources Institute (WRI) has already applied this flood-risk modelling in Dire Dawa, Kigali, Musanze, Gqeberha and Johannesburg, combining two-dimensional hydraulic simulations with building footprints to create block-by-block exposure maps.
The need is pressing: Nairobi is still recovering from the May 2024 floods that displaced more than 278 000 residents, while Johannesburg’s rapid growth along the flood-prone Jukskei River continues to heighten vulnerability
These projects tackle challenges felt across the continent. Africa still has about 8.7 million “zero-dose” children who receive no routine vaccines each year, while the urban population is projected to almost double to nearly one billion people by 2035— forcing new homes into high-risk floodplains and informal settlements.
By giving ministries, city engineers and NGOs a street-level view of where communities are growing and how they change over time, the Open Buildings dataset lets limited budgets flow to the people and places that need them most.
Dr Aisha Walcott-Bryant, Research Scientist & Head, Google Research Africa, “These projects show what happens when local expertise meets open, scalable technology: mothers reach clinics sooner, children receive long-overdue vaccines, and city planners get ahead of the next flood.
“We’re thrilled to stand beside partners who turn data into decisive action, proving that AI’s highest calling is to solve real-world challenges.”
From lifesaving clinics to climate-smart cities, these projects show how open AI is fast becoming Africa’s quiet engine for equitable progress.
The Open Buildings dataset—along with sample code, tutorials and its new 2.5D layer—is freely available at g.co/openbuildings.
To deliver simpler, smarter banking solutions, Union Bank of Nigeria has partnered with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) network, a Financial Market Infrastructure that provides hassle-free and convenient cross-border money transfers to some selected African countries.
This revolutionary payment solution for implementing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is designed to transform how payments are made across Africa.
With PAPSS, customers can send money instantly to Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Nigeria and more African countries in the future.
Using PAPPS offers numerous benefits to customers, including, but not limited to, instant payments or transfers, cheaper foreign transaction costs, no need to source FX, enhanced security, and intra-African trade opportunities.
Commenting on this partnership that goes across borders, Peter Amadi, Head of Transaction Banking at Union Bank of Nigeria, said,
” At Union Bank of Nigeria, we are committed to driving innovation and excellence in banking. Our focus is on providing seamless and efficient banking through simpler, smarter solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.
“We believe in fostering strong relationships and delivering exceptional value to our customers, ensuring their success in today’s dynamic financial landscape.”
Mike Ogbalu III, CEO of PAPSS, commenting on this partnership, said, “I am very excited and proud to see Union Bank of Nigeria, a bank with over a century of banking legacy, joining the PAPSS network.
“This shows how PAPSS will be a game changer for the continent by enabling infrastructure to spur the growth of intra-African trade and commerce, with the active participation of regional economic communities, private sectors, and other stakeholders.”
Union Bank’s partnership with PAPSS marks a significant milestone in the Bank’s commitment to driving innovation and excellence in banking.
By providing seamless and efficient banking solutions through simpler, smarter means, the Bank aims to meet the evolving needs of its customers.
This collaboration enhances the Bank’s service offerings, fosters strong relationships, and delivers exceptional value to customers, ensuring their success in today’s dynamic financial landscape.
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