Telecom
Ndukwe, Ekuwem Reminisce On ICT Milestones, Praise Ukodie for His Book
Engineer. Ernest Ndukwe and Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, two key players in the remarkable days of the ICT industry, when a motley of events, activities, workshops, exhibitions, and conferences stirred the birth of the ICT industry, and set it on the current growth trajectory, went memory lane yesterday, at the launch of a book written by Aaron Ukodie.
The book is titled: Nigeria Drivers of Digital Prosperity: The Trajectories of The Digital Evolution, Sector Analysis and Players Contributions.
Ndukwe, was former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), while Ekuwem, who founded a telecom firm, Teledom International, was at various times president of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and Nigerian Internet Group (NIG).
Ndukwe is currently chairman of MTN Nigeria. Ekuwem is Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government.
Both also poured praises on Ukodie, for his exemplary courage and tenacity in writing books, mostly on the ICT industry, a feat Ekuwem particularly referred to as a mark of a true intellectual.
Ndukwe took note of the quality of the book, especially the quality of the print saying “many books come out badly, but this one came out well”.
He said he has been planning to write a book on his days at NCC, as many have been asking him to do, but Aaron has further gingered him to write it.
“I am still preparing to write a book about my tenure at the NCC. This book (Aaron’s book) has gotten me out of my slumber; many people are on my neck to put my experiences on paper. There are many perspectives. When I write my own I will talk in detail about the many battles we fought at the NCC”.
He said, Aaron “provided the bridge that connected all those years together and the last section –of the book— talked about the role of the media.
“I must commend them for their work over the years. Aaron talked of many battles, indeed there were.
“He talked about the one where we were at the hotel where the auction was to take place. There was indeed a call and an attempt to stop the auction.
“When I got that call from… Aaron has bitted me to it… it was going to be one of the highlights of my books…
“when I got the call I had some stubborn streak in me to continue. I had determined that we were not going to stop the auction. I called the chairman ( late Alhaji Ahmed Joda).
“He was more settled than me. He asked if I had the phone number of the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“My brother worked at the presidency as his physician, so he gave us the VP’s number. When we called him, I was very impressed with his reaction. He asked if somebody asked that you stop the auction, for what.
“He said he was the last person that saw the President (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) and they never discussed anything like that.
“I think that was courageous. I think that was a mark of a decision-maker. Some other people would have said wait let me confirm”.
Ndukwe said the reason they wanted to stop the process was that some people wanted two companies to be disqualified. If we did that then only three that would be left would automatically get the three licenses that were on offer.
He said because of the courage the Atiku demonstrated the process continued. He said some other persons would have said wait let me confirm that from the president.
Ndukwe said there were other times some ministers wanted to scuttle the process and the matter went to the president, but he stood his ground.
“I was not desperate for the position of EVC. I was the MD of a company and I was already living in a big house in Ikoyi. What I really wanted to be at the time was MD of NITEL, and not EVC of NCC, a regulatory body, because NITEL had huge prospects but it was being badly managed.
When Iromantu ( Ogbonnaya) was EVC I wrote several papers on deregulation and liberalization, so it was possible they wanted me to go and do what I have been talking about.
One thing we insisted on was the independence of the regulator. The independence of the regulator is very important. It does not have to do with the party you belong or the person you are related to.
In his comment, Ekuwem said he was motivated to attend the book launch because “it was important to celebrate the past, because if we lose sight of what led us to where we are today; the men and women that drove the prosperity the way he Aaron used that word, then we have lost something important.
Ekuwem praised the role of the media saying the media drove the narrative towards where we are today and Ndukwe was supporting them.
He went memory lane to mention some of those key media men: Sonny Aragba Akpore, Tayo Adewusi, Remmy Nweke, Ufuoma Dairo, Shina Badaru, Bayero Agabi, Don Pedro-Aganbi, Sylvester Ebhodaghe, Biyi …, Mkpe Abang, who worked assiduously, and Ndukwe was supporting them to attend conferences and workshops.
He said the media helped the NCC to drive thirst and amplify passion, to get the market ready for where we are today. He also remembered such key industry players as Engineer Ogbonaya Iromantu, Engr. Emmanuel Nnama, Dr. Eugene Juwah, Shola Taylor, Johnson Asinugo, and Professor Gabriel Ajayi.
“We use to hold workshops for federal permanent secretaries on the use of the computers, myself and Professor Ajayi, helping them on how to use and move the cursor and mouse. It was that bad then. It was a status symbol to have a computer that was not being used. Computers were covered with dust.
He urged Ndukwe to write his own book because it would inspire the young ones.
Commenting on the Ukodie book, Ekuwem said; “Very few people do not shy away to put their thoughts on paper because you would be challenged. It is a mark of an intellectual, for having the audacity to put your thoughts on paper”.
He reminded the NCC not to rest on its oars because “we are not there yet”. According to him the public services is still deplore ICT tools and applications for productivity and governance.
“We have security challenges today. How can you have security challenge and you have 4G, 5G and you cannot capture them”.
He spoke of the Telecom Summit which the NCC used to organize during the years of Ndukwe, which provided stakeholders to interrogate the NCC and galvanize ideas.
“Don’t be afraid of exchanging ideas, you will not lose anything”, he urged the NCC. He said we do not yet have the applications and tools to boost productivity, and wealth creation, create jobs, take youths out of the job market and secure our country.
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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