Save the Consumers, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has condemned MultiChoice for reducing prices for its DStv and Gotv services in South Africa while hiking the same in Nigeria.

The NGO described the move as as discriminatory and exploitative.

In a statement on Sunday, Aliyu Ilias, executive director, Save the Consumers criticised the 21 percent increase in subscription fees.

The group highlighted the contradiction in MultiChoice’s pricing policies, pointing out that while Nigerian consumers are being charged more, South African subscribers are enjoying price reductions of up to 38 percent along with additional channels and improved services.

The NGO also accused MultiChoice of defying Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), directive to suspend all price adjustments pending an ongoing investigation.

“This action is not only insensitive and exploitative, but also blatantly discriminatory,“ Ilias said.

“Even more troubling is the company’s simultaneous enhancement of service offerings and reduction of prices for South African customers.

“In South Africa, MultiChoice has lowered fees on various products, added new channels, and introduced features that improve the user experience, all while acknowledging the financial pressures faced by South African households.

“This double standard, lowering prices at home while increasing them in Nigeria, amounts to economic discrimination and reinforces long-standing concerns about MultiChoice’s exploitative approach toward the Nigerian market.

“It is indefensible for MultiChoice to cite inflation in Nigeria as justification for the hike while offering consumer-friendly pricing in South Africa.

“This reflects a disturbing double standard, with Nigerian consumers continuing to suffer under a near-monopolistic market structure that MultiChoice exploits with impunity.

“While MultiChoice claims the price hike is necessary to deliver “world-class content,” Nigerian subscribers still face persistent challenges that remain unaddressed despite repeated complaints.

“These include repetitive content, frequent service disruptions, and poor value for money.

“Rather than resolving these issues, MultiChoice has chosen to penalise its loyal Nigerian customers with higher prices, once again proving that profit, not service or fairness, is its primary motivation.

“Meanwhile, South African subscribers benefit from reduced pricing, such as the “Add Movies” bolt-on slashed by 38% to R49, alongside additional channels and enhanced streaming features.

Ilias also said the justification by Byron Du Plessis, chief executive officer (CEO), MultiChoice, that the changes are due to “financial pressures faced by households further demonstrates the company’s hypocritical and disingenuous treatment of Nigerian consumers, who are themselves grappling with a severe cost-of-living crisis”.

“This double standard—lowering prices at home while increasing them in Nigeria—amounts to economic discrimination,” he added.

The recent demand by Abuja Municipal Area Council’s (AMAC) for a business owner in the area council to pay a N500,000 levy for owning a television set has sparked outrage across AMAC.

Nyesom Wike Minister, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria

The demand notice, which surfaced online, has triggered widespread criticism and legal challenges over excessive taxation in Nigeria.

The controversy began when AMAC issued a demand notice to Tela Network Ltd, an Abuja-based infotech firm, requiring it to pay N1 million in arrears for 2023 and 2024, a N500,000 fine, and a N500,000 levy for 2025—totaling N2 million.

The notice directed payment to a designated bank within 14 days.

In response, Tela Network Ltd, through its legal representatives, contested the levy, arguing that the company does not engage in radio or television broadcasting and should not be subject to such charges.

The firm requested AMAC to clarify the legal basis for the demand.

AMAC defended its position, citing a 2012 by-law that classifies businesses into tax categories. The council maintained that “Computer Service Generally” falls under Category B, requiring an annual TV/Radio license fee of N1 million.

The levy has drawn sharp criticism from Abuja residents and legal experts. Many describe it as an unfair financial burden, especially in light of Nigeria’s economic struggles.

Residents argue that taxation should be tied to service delivery, questioning why they should pay exorbitant fees for television ownership when public services remain inadequate.

Social media users have also condemned the levy, with many calling it excessive and exploitative.

A legal expert, Iroh, representing Tela Network Ltd, described the law as draconian and suggested it should be challenged in court.

He acknowledged that while AMAC has the authority to make by-laws, the levy’s implementation appears arbitrary and oppressive.

Liborous Oshoma, human rights lawyer criticized the tax, stating that such levies disproportionately affect low-income individuals while the wealthy often evade enforcement. He urged residents to challenge the demand legally.

Efforts to reach Emeka James, spokesperson, AMAC, were unsuccessful, further fueling speculation and frustration among the affected parties.

By Linda Saunders, country leader and senior director solutions engineering Africa at Salesforce

Generative AI has transformed how people interact with technology through prompts, and the next frontier promises an even greater impact. As organisations refine their AI strategies, we are witnessing the next chapter of work and the emergence of digital labour with agentic AI.

Since the launch of Chat GPT  many business leaders focused on what they thought was the right topic – the Large Language Models ( LLMs). But these models are quickly becoming a commodity, as each one races to build the best for a specific use case.

To truly unlock value from AI, you need to focus on everything around the model such as the orchestration, the low code / no code approach to building and refining, the metadata framework and a data engine that compliments the data strategy. It’s this platform advantage that is seeing agents across the globe stand up and deliver value with real data, leveraging real integration in a few short weeks.

To unlock the action and value of generative AI requires  a deeply integrated and connected platform with a one code base, but this takes significant time and money to build unless you have already been empowering your human employees on the Salesforce platform. Our platform leverages everything you have built to empower your digital workforce. Its a win-win where even for those who are not quite ready for a digital workforce – will be unlocking their ability to pivot to an agentic workforce with every flow, cloud, integration and build – Ultimately  future proofing their business.

Agentic technology is a multi-trillion-dollar industry opportunity. The agentic enterprise  will operate with unprecedented independence capable of responding to queries and handling complex tasks autonomously. This autonomy will optimise workflows, drive innovation, and break down barriers related to the need for continuous human intervention.

By 2028, Gartner predicts that 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI, up from less than 1% in 2024, allowing 15% of day-to-day work decisions to be made autonomously.

Yet, AI agents are only as good as the data they have. They need connected data—both structured and unstructured—to understand user queries and make informed decisions. That’s where integration and APIs come in, building a solid foundation for these agents.

While 93% of IT leaders are either implementing or planning to implement AI agents within the next two years, they face significant integration challenges that hold back the full potential of these agents.

According to the latest MuleSoft Connectivity Benchmark Report, which surveyed more than 1,000 IT leaders globally, 95% struggle with data integration across systems. On average, only 29% of applications are connected, which really affects the accuracy and usefulness of AI agents.

The report found that, on average, enterprise organisations are using 897 applications, and those with AI agents are using even more—1,103 applications. 90% of IT leaders say data silos are creating business challenges.

The more applications and AI models there are, the harder it gets to integrate everything. Data silos make it even tougher, limiting agents’ access to the data they need and leading to less accurate and useful outputs.

Disconnected data also places major strain on IT resources. IT leaders are looking for ways to boost efficiency and productivity, but they expect their teams’ workload to increase in the next year. Balancing current capabilities with integrating AI agents across hundreds of unique applications while maintaining those systems, is a real challenge.

To unlock the full potential of AI agents, businesses need to align their integration and AI strategies. APIs and integration solutions can simplify and unify data infrastructure, allowing AI agents to access critical data and interact with existing systems and automations. This can significantly improve IT infrastructure, enable data sharing across teams, and integrate disparate systems.

Organisations that have successfully integrated their data and systems using APIs are reaping the rewards: increased productivity (49%), faster response to business needs (49%), and higher revenue generation (45%). On average, half of an organisation’s internal software assets and components are available for reuse, which means companies can leverage their existing investments, instead of starting from scratch.

The reliance on IT teams highlights the need for a clear automation strategy, along with robust governance and monitoring to ensure everything runs smoothly and securely.

A well-rounded automation strategy is crucial for integrating AI effectively, but many teams are still working on theirs. One key part of this strategy is making AI accessible to non-technical users, which is essential for broader adoption and creating a solid foundation for employees to build on, and this is where agents are changing the game.

Every company, team, and employee will soon have an agent. But how useful is a team of agents if they can’t interact with other systems or agents to coordinate and take action across the entire business? AI must have a smooth handoff to a human, and if that transition isn’t well-coordinated and seamless, any benefits are quickly undone

As AI, integration, automation, and API use continue to drive transformation and performance, organisations that invest in these technologies to harness unlimited digital labour are best placed to stay agile, efficient, and ultimately succeed.