Telecom
PMI Nigeria Expo 2022 Returns to Lagos & Abuja, Focuses on Improving Project Outcomes

The need to address lingering challenges in project management will be at the centre of discourse during the Project Management Institute (PMI) Nigeria Chapter Expo 2022.

L-R: Paul Omugbe, President, PMI Nigeria Chapter; George Asamani, Managing Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, Project Management Institute (PMI) and Joe Cahill, Chief Customer Officer (CCO), Project Management Institute (PMI) at the 7th annual PMI Africa Conference in Lagos.
Billed to speaker at the event are Anthony Okungbowa, Head of Service, Edo State, Precious Ajoonu, Managing Director, John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy, Edo State, Dr. Edmund Otaigbe, Group Head, Risk Management & Project Monitoring at Access Bank Plc, Katharina Felgenhauer, Delegate, Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, Ife Adebayo, Special Assistant to the President on Innovation (Office of the Vice President), and Adeola Akande, Transformation and Change Management Lead, Dangote Group amongst others will unpack the expo and conference theme, “Resolving project failure issues in public and private sectors”.
Several workshops and panel discussions have been planned to allow attendees to sharpen their skills by engaging with peers and industry experts. They will also serve as an avenue for professionals looking to advance their careers with sector specific certifications and a launchpad for changemakers seeking a career move.
In many parts of the world and Nigeria, post-Covid-19 recovery policy measures have featured investment in infrastructure projects. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report published ahead of the G20 leaders meeting in 2020 argued synchronised infrastructure investment push could invigorate growth, limit scarring, and address climate goals. When many countries act simultaneously, public infrastructure investment could help lift growth domestically and abroad through trade linkages.
In Nigeria, the Federal Government has established the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) with a seed capital of N1 trillion. That said, research into Nigeria’s project landscape suggests that project delivery remains an ongoing concern. According to the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), there exists a large quantum of uncompleted projects in Nigeria estimated at N12trillion. Moreover, the report also points to some 56,000 abandoned projects in all sectors across the country.
The IMF also found that countries waste about one-third of their infrastructure spending due to inefficiencies. Governments need robust frameworks to plan, allocate, and implement quality public infrastructure, it said.
“The success of large scale capital projects is dependent on how a project manager brings diverse and multi locational teams together. In the public sector, this is more pronounced as project managers must also deal with multiple stakeholders whose opinions can strongly influence the outcome. This creates an increasing need for developing competences (knowledge and most importantly power skills. The expo is a collaborative space to build bridges between private and public sectors, share learning and find solutions to problems associated with project failure”, says Emeka Unachukwu, Sales & Marketing Associate, PMI.
In Lagos on Nov 07 at the MUSON Centre and in Abuja on Nov 11, 2022, at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Conference Centre, this gathering of project talents and stakeholders in the project economy will feature a conference, an exhibition as well as a career fair.
Paul Omugbe, PMI Nigeria Chapter President, says, “The event presents an enormous opportunity for professionals and changemakers to discuss and discover their next career move. If you have a specific career path you want to pursue and don’t know who to ask, you’ll find the PMI Nigeria Chapter volunteers helpful. If you want to pay forward, contribute to building the project management community, you can join the Nigeria chapter. “
“There is a need for governments and organisations to focus on appropriately planning and executing projects that can create business value, deliver benefits, and drive return on investment. To this end, the annual PMI Nigeria Chapter Expo is curated with your career goals in mind and deliver solutions, all under one roof.”
Attendees will receive certificates of participation, and souvenirs, earn 8 PDUs, enjoy opportunities for networking and be eligible for a raffle draw to receive free PMI Global membership and a membership discount code.
“There are many skillsets that go into delivering a return on infrastructure investment, project management being key as it enables delivery on time, within scope and budget. Given the impetus on infrastructure, there is no doubt that professionals in this field have a huge future ahead of them in Nigeria. PMI’s certifications are globally recognised, which makes the holder highly employable anywhere in the world, “adds Unachukwu
Th PMI Nigeria Chapter was formed in 2005 and has over 1,300 members. It has actively promoted the best practices in project management and standards in private industries-led projects as well as government-led projects.
Telecom
MTN Nigeria Wins Award for Best Use of Data @MarkHack 4.0 Awards Night

MTN Nigeria’s commitment to digital innovation took center stage at MarkHack 4.0, the annual marketing and technology conference held at Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday, May 23, 2025, with the theme ‘Experience Ignited: Fueling the Customer’s Journey’.

L-R: Akinbulejo Onabolu, Head, Enterprise Segment, MTN Nigeria; Eneyi Obi, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Rise; Tobi Olanisimi, Marketing Manager, AB InBev; Martha Kayode, Marketing Head, PZ Cussonz; Sulaiman Shaibu, CEO, BFT Consulting Service and Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor, Condia Business at the MarkHack 4.0 Conference held at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday, May 23, 2025.
In a celebration of innovation, technology, and storytelling, the company also took home the award for Best Use of Data in a Marketing Campaign at the Nigeria MarTech (MarkHack 4.0) Awards Night. This award recognizes brands that have successfully transformed data into compelling narratives and actionable insights to meaningfully engage their audiences.
Akinbulejo Onabolu, Senior Manager, Segment Management, Enterprise Business at MTN, joined a panel to discuss the power of immersive technologies on consumer behaviour. Drawing from MTN’s launch of its 5G Digital Experience Centre in Abuja last year, Onabolu highlighted the rapid evolution of immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) stating “Our 5G centre is a sandbox for our customers to come and see how technology can shape things. At the launch event, we unveiled a smart city to customers, clients and dignitaries in attendance, with gaming and other tech experiences.”
On the intersection of data, AR and VR, he added: “Co-creating with MTN takes our minds to a platform where different partners, companies and creators can bring their buildings, products and businesses for people to see via augmented reality and connectivity, just swiping through and following through that journey.
“As a part of impacting our customer’s lives, a few years ago, we also played around with the Metaverse and we ended up creating some of our back-office processes with some of our customer journeys on augmented reality and virtual reality such that a customer somewhere can engage with a virtual agent to solve real life problems and integrating that back into our operating systems. As an organization, at a lot of our events, you will find a lot of AR and VR experiences.”
Speaking on how MTN is embedding immersive technology into its day-to-day operations, he explained that the company is prioritizing both internal capability development and external engagement. “85% of our organization has undergone extensive training on AI and that already is a great addition to our daily lives. We’re using it to do things differently, developing user journeys and brainstorming different things. In terms of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, we are working with organizations to develop training programs which we use internally.”
He described the bases for this tech as stable connectivity, high bandwidth, high speed and low latency. “Over the past year, we’ve doubled our 5G capacity across the entire country. Wherever you are, you’ll probably start to pick up 5G. With our FibreX service, we’re going way beyond connectivity to create the systems and platforms to support the ecosystem, AR and VR. In addition to this, we’re also engaging regulatory systems to start to tease this out and build the proper governance.”
The session, moderated by Daniel Adeyemi, Managing Editor at Condia Business, also featured insights from leaders in FMCG, consulting, and global marketing, all underscoring the transformative potential of immersive technologies for Africa’s future.
Telecom
MTN Nigeria Invests ₦900Bn in 2025 to Boost Network Quality in Lagos & Abuja

MTN Nigeria has announced a massive capital expenditure (CAPEX) drive for 2025, nearly doubling its investment to almost 900 billion Naira, as it seeks to significantly enhance network service quality in major cities like Lagos and Abuja and extend improvements to other areas.

Karl Toriola
This financial commitment, up from a combined total of approximately 440 billion Naira spent in 2023 and 2024, was detailed by MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr. Karl Toriola, during a recent interview on Arise TV.
Toriola highlighted that a key focus of the increased CAPEX will be on “putting additional capacity in a city like Lagos, particularly in Abuja, where you have a lot of buildings coming up, you need additional sites because there are coverage issues.”
Beyond these critical urban centres, the investment aims to bolster network resilience and ensure power stability for its infrastructure nationwide. This includes proactively addressing site outages by ensuring timely payment for operational necessities such as diesel for generators, a persistent challenge in the Nigerian operating environment
The CEO outlined the comprehensive nature of the upgrade process, which involves “placing orders formally, opening letters of credit, and then the equipment gets shipped in and installed.” He added that where necessary, MTN will be “acquiring new sites” and “laying fiber to the base station to create better stability.”
While the immediate CAPEX is geared towards improving existing service quality and capacity, this investment aligns with MTN’s broader goals, which include enhancing financial inclusion in underserved rural areas, suggesting a long-term vision for network expansion and service improvement that extends beyond metropolitan areas.
Customers are expected to begin experiencing the positive impact of these investments with a “significant improvement in quality of service” anticipated by the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2025, according to Toriola.
Telecom
Airtel’s AI Spam Alert Flags 9.6m Spam Attempts

Airtel Nigeria, telecom service provider, has announced that its AI-powered Spam Alert Service issued over 9.6 million spam alerts between March 13 and May 20, 2025.
As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting customers from unwanted and potentially fraudulent communications, Airtel designed the AI Spam Alert service to analyze traffic patterns and detect anomalies.
In the period since launch the AI pinpointed a total of 9,667,008 SMS as potential spam messages in the two months after its launch.
Of these, the system identified 528,080 on-net (Airtel-to-Airtel) and 9,138,928 off-net (from other networks) numbers as suspected spam messages, demonstrating the scale of the threat and Airtel’s advanced processing capability.
Airtel Nigeria is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa.
Commenting on this development, Dinesh Balsingh, CEO, Airtel Nigeria, restated Airtel`s commitment to protecting its customers.
“This milestone demonstrates the strength of our AI-driven infrastructure in combating the growing menace of spam and scam calls. At Airtel Nigeria, we are focused on connecting Nigerians and ensuring their safety and confidence while using our network.
“We understand that trust is the cornerstone of digital communication. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in intelligent systems that not only detect potential threats but also learn and evolve with data. As threats become more sophisticated, so will our solutions. As a company, we remain focused on leading the industry in innovation and customer satisfaction, ensuring that every Nigerian can enjoy a safer and smarter digital experience,” Mr. Balsingh said.
The Spam Alert Service is part of Airtel Nigeria’s broader strategy to integrate artificial intelligence into its core offerings to deliver smarter and safer experiences for its customers across the country.
Recall that the Spam Alert Service was launched on March 13, 2025. A groundbreaking and free solution from Airtel, it notifies users in real-time of suspected spam SMS messages by analyzing over 250 parameters.
The Airtel AI Spam Alert Service is available to all Airtel subscribers on smartphones and feature phones.
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