Telecom
How Increased Access to STEM Education Can Curb Nigeria’s Teeming Youth Unemployment
With over 200 million people, Nigeria has the highest population on the continent, representing a large market for services, investments, knowledge, human capital and more. The country also boasts an increasingly youthful population, with the youth making up 70% of the overall population — posing significant economic benefits such as increased future workforce and potential consumers, as well increased innovation and creativity.
However, despite the country’s potential to compete with world economies through its sheer size, teeming youth, and resources, 63% of persons living within Nigeria (133 million people) are classified as multidimensionally poor, per the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics. According to the report, poor people in Nigeria experience just over one-quarter of all possible deprivations across health, education, living standards, and work and shocks.
Youth unemployment, one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria is youth, is a by-product of its ever-rising poverty rates. About 53.40% of young people in Nigeria are unemployed and unemployable due to myriad factors, including the dysfunctional education system and a lack of skills demanded by an accelerating digital-first economy.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is increasingly regarded as the go-to solution to Nigeria’s poverty and unemployment problem. Indeed, the country has seen a transformative tech boom in recent years, with 383 Nigerian tech startups raising a combined $2 billion in funding between January 2015 and August 2022 – more than any other country across Africa.
These numbers point to the transformative power of technology as youths flock to developing skills to escape poverty, solve local problems, and contribute to economic development. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s structural and infrastructural limitations extend to STEM education too, with the public education system seeing slow rates of curriculum update, lack of essential laboratories and practical-based learning tools, inadequate number of STEM teachers, and lack of adequate funding, especially in schools within rural areas – limiting opportunities to only the privileged.
These worrying trends indicate a need for urgent intervention and region-specific solutions from the public and private sectors and development partners. Consequently, state governments have identified STEM education as a key solution to Nigeria’s unemployment issue and have devised plans to make it more accessible to marginalised communities.
However, while these promises have been made in the past and present, recent research shows that less than one per cent of youths across key regions have benefited from social security initiatives from the government.
Frustrated by the lack of an enabling environment, millions of Nigerian youths have assumed the responsibility of lifting themselves out of poverty as they scout for opportunities to build skills in STEM and make themselves employable in Nigeria’s growing tech ecosystem. One of these youths is Clinton Chidubem Amam, a 22-year-old graphics designer, whose curiosity transformed him from undesirable to undeniable.
His transformation began in November 2022, when Homeless Entrepreneur, a private non-profit organisation whose mission is to empower people out of poverty, enrolled him on a course on IBM Skillsbuild, a free education program focused on underrepresented communities that helps adult learners, high school and university students, and faculty develop valuable new skills and access career opportunities.
“Going above and beyond by challenging myself to increase my knowledge outside of the traditional education system was always a desired part of my learning process,” Clinton said.
“I rejoiced when I first heard about IBM SkillsBuild from my professional coach at Homeless Entrepreneur because it was a key element missing in my journey towards entering the professional world.
“It opened me up to previously unavailable opportunities as it taught me something new, which I couldn’t have learned at school, and ultimately, improving my employability.”
With IBM SkillsBuild, Clinton was able to learn and develop the necessary skills needed for a technology-driven world, assuming the status of a sought-after talent and lifting himself out of poverty in the process.
“The IBM SkillsBuild courses have enhanced my confidence while I become a more competitive professional, who is prepared to strive in tomorrow’s business world. I am now more informed than ever. Learning through IBM SkillsBuild is empowering me out of poverty. I used to feel like a liability to society and now I feel like an asset.” Clinton continued.
Now armed with skills such as project management, data analytics, big data foundations, artificial intelligence foundations, and more, Clinton has watched his career ‘soar and take a new turn and dimension for the better.’ Recognising his growing, layered talent, Plastiks.io, a reputable company fighting against global plastic pollution, and Homeless Entrepreneur, contracted him for two graphic projects presented at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. “IBM SkillsBuild impacted my career by providing me with internationally recognised certification for the Future of Work, which connects me to my future employers in a more meaningful way than ever,” Clinton said.
Like Clinton, millions of other Nigerian youths are seeking opportunities in STEM education to become more employable and self-reliant. However, a concerted effort – from individuals, public, and private organisations – is needed to ensure many end up like him. For years, misconceptions have affected interest in STEM education. A recent study from IBM revealed perceptions from interviewed students, career changers, and job seekers interested in STEM roles. While most respondents listed a lack of awareness regarding the diverse roles and concerns about the financial viability of the roles as barriers to skills development, the high cost of STEM training was perhaps the biggest perceived barrier.
However, IBM is busting this myth through SkillsBuild by partnering with 45 new educational partners around the world across social service, economic development, and vocational organizations, as well as government agencies, and universities, to make free online learning widely available, with clear pathways to employment.
Inspired by his transformation through IBM SkillsBuild, Clinton has vowed to be an object of change to many with similar beginnings: “IBM SkillsBuild has improved my professional reputation and inspired me to work to empower people out of poverty.” he concluded.
MTN Nigeria has said that there are plans to deploy an artificial intelligence (AI) technology to monitor and protect its fibre optic cables across the country.
Yahaya Ibrahim, chief technical officer (CTO), MTN, said the technology will detect vibrations, identify the cause, and alert relevant personnels.
According to Ibrahim who spoke during a session for the ongoing MTN Media Innovation Progamme, the proposed innovation comes amid concerns over the growing spate of telecoms infrastructure vandalism, which have led to multiple cable cuts, and the destruction of towers.
This, he said, would enable the company to promptly deploy agents to the site.
The system is being developed in collaboration with Huawei Technologies.
Providing data on fibre cut incidents in an email correspondence, the CTO said MTN recorded over 9,000 cable cuts in 2024.
He said 4,700 cables were destroyed as at the end of June 2025 alone, bringing the total to about 13,700 incidents in 18 months.
A breakdown of the incidents by zone showed that about 2,500 cuts occurred in northern Nigeria, 2,800 in south-west, while 3,500 were recorded in the south-east and south-south regions combined.
“If we look at the cuts per region, the Southeastern and South South states have more cuts and this is where we have the most hotspots for Fibre and site vandalism,” Ibrahim said.
“Akwa Ibom, Abia and Rivers stand out in states. While in specific locations Omoku and Egbema stand out for fibre vandalization.”
The MTN official said vandalism and road construction account for 69 percent of total cable cuts across the country.
Ibrahim said the incidents often disrupt services, with an average downtime of 15 hours recorded per month.
“Some regions are higher than others,” he said.
“All services will be down, that means no one will be able to use any services.
“We spent N17.6b in 2024 and budget for 2025 based on PO issued for maintenance and relocation is N26.3b.”
In addition to the expenditure, MTN is said to also conduct route patrol, route monitoring, and construction bypass — which involves the creation an alternative route that allows for the temporary or permanent relocation of essential resources around a construction site.
Ibrahim said the telco also invests in having a diverse route for resilience, relocation of fibre, holding stakeholder engagement, and working with communities for policing.
The technical officer confirmed that there are collaborations in place with state and federal authorities to secure fibre routes.
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) on Monday, 28th July 2025, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the implementation of “Nigeria First” Policy on Procurement, projects and other related matters.
The Nigeria First Policy is an initiative of the Federal Government, aimed at promoting Nigerian-made goods, services and utilization of Local content, infrastructures and other value chain.
As part of the Renewed Hope Agenda initiative of the Government, the policy seeks to encourage local production and consumption of Nigerian goods or services, also to support Nigerian business and entrepreneurs, foster economic growth and development, reduce dependency on imported goods and to promote Nigerian culture and identity. Also, by prioritizing local content, the policy aimed to create jobs, stimulate economic activity, and increase Nigeria’s global competitiveness.
Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony which took place at the Headquarters of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) office in Abuja, the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of NASENI, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, said, with the signing of MoU and implementation of the Nigeria First Policy, 80% of challenges faced while trying to convince investors and foreign partners would have been solved, as Nigeria will cease to be dumping ground for foreign goods, while focusing on promotion of Nigerian products, goods and services.
Halilu said that with support now coming from BPP, the over 50 market ready NASENI products will be off the shelves and gain patronage of Nigerians, adding that NASENI has gained for the country over 2 billion dollars from its recent partnership activities with China alone.
“One thing that is clear when I took over the leadership of NASENI was the determination to move the Agency from just producing prototypes to commercialization of its technologies and products, this was complemented by the turn around which we did in rebranding the Agency.
“We have 50 market-ready Nigeria branded products. NASENI is building the biggest renewable energy park in Nasarawa and has entered into partnership with Abuja Technology Village to boost Technology Transfer and innovation, enhance local manufacturing capacity, transform NASENI’s research-focused installation into full production facilities, promote national brands and local production”, he further explained.
Buttressing the partnership between NASENI and BPP, he said that it is expected that the policy would have transformative impacts on Nigeria’s economy and human capital development, aligning with national goals for industrialization, youth employment, and economic diversification. “This also shows that our efforts are not in vain:”
Earlier in his speech, the Director-General of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Dr. Adebowale Adedokun said that the MoU between BPP and NASENI offers a structured bridge between production and procurement and how to take locally made solutions off the shelves and to place them at the center of public service delivery, which aimed at aligning Government policies with national priorities as well as giving practical force to the Nigeria First Policy.
According to him, “NASENI’s innovations, from tractors to tablets, from surveillance drones to solar backup systems, will now be actively prioritized in the procurement plans by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. We are institutionalizing a framework that makes local options not just preferable, but the default option before all others.
Specifically, he said further that with the signing of the MoU, the “BPP will now integrate NASENI’s Product catalogue into the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal, NOCOPO, and therefore encouraging other MDAs to follow suit”
He noted that the “Nigeria First Policy is not an act of protectionism, but an act of patriotism grounded in performance, and it is targeted at fastracking Nigeria’s industrial revolution”. He remarked that “NASENI has invested in quality assurance. Its products are certified by national institutions such as SON and NAFDAC. This means NASENI’s offerings will now be visible, verifiable, and measurable across all MDAs. First, we are integrating NASENI’s catalogue into the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal, NOCOPO. Between January and June this year alone, NOCOPO’s enhanced price intelligence has helped Nigeria save over 173 billion naira, 155 million dollars, and 1.7 million euros.”
While calling on all MDAs to follow NASEN’s footprint in promoting Made in Nigeria products, he said that the BPP’s revised threshold is now five billion naira for goods and ten billion for works, meaning that MDAs can act faster, while they continue to strengthen post-review and audit mechanisms.
He emphasized that the role of BPP is to ensure that these standards are rewarded with access, and that MDAs no longer look outside when the best is being made inside. “For the avoidance of doubt, let me say here that we will be backing this commitment with reform actions”.
Telecom
Treepz Launches in Canada, Secures University of Toronto-Supported Program as First Corporate Travel Client
Treepz, Africa’s fast-growing corporate mobility technology company, has expanded its operations into Canada, marking a significant milestone in its global strategy. The announcement was made at Brampton City Hall, Ontario, with full support from the Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown.
The event, which featured key stakeholders and dignitaries, included the official announcement of Treepz’s partnership with the African Impact Initiative, a University of Toronto-sponsored program. Under the agreement, Treepz will provide comprehensive travel logistics—including flights, accommodation, experiences, and ground transportation—for program participants visiting four African countries: South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda.
Speaking at the launch, Mayor Brown described the expansion as “a proud moment for Brampton,” lauding Treepz’s founders for creating a brand that has served over six million customers since its inception in Nigeria in 2019. He added that Treepz’s ability to manage mobility in Lagos, one of Africa’s busiest cities, is a testament to the strength of its operational capacity.
Onyeka Akumah, Treepz Founder and CEO, expressed gratitude to city officials and program partners, noting that the move solidifies Treepz’s role as a globally recognized African brand.
“This launch is a strong statement of intent, not just for Treepz, but for all African startups. We are proud to be serving clients in both Africa and North America,” he said.
Treepz’s entry into Canada was supported by several Canadian organisations, including the World Trade Center’s TAP program, the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance, and the BHive Program.
It follows Treepz’s participation in the Techstars Toronto Accelerator in 2021, which played a pivotal role in its expansion roadmap.
The launch signals a new era for Treepz’s operations and marks a historic moment for African-led innovation in the global travel technology space.
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