News
State of Emergency: Growing Army of Half-Baked Graduates
The future of over 80,000 computer science students in the county look bleak unless something urgent is done to underpin the educational curriculum and halt the spiraling decay in the system, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
These students are about to join the growing army of half-baked graduates who are victims of the mess in the current curriculum in Nigeria’s schools because it lacks information and communications technology (ICT) ingredients.
Problems ranging from lack of political will on the part of the government; brain-drain; and poor facilities have all joined hands to prevent Nigeria from producing graduates who can contribute to the creation of knowledge driven economy or so called new economy.
Chris Uwaje, president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (Ispon), described the situation as dire while expressing worries that the country is unwittingly exposing itself to unregulated and unwholesome deployment of foreign application software in key, critical and sensitive areas of the national economy, especially in Federal Government operations.
He said that students under the aegis of Nigerian Association of Computer Science Students (Nacoss) must be bequeathed with laboratories, software incubators and integrated into governments’ contracts execution, as major economic players.
Uwaje also called for a national software development policy and conscious IT legislation to mitigate the negative impact of dearth in infrastructure and bridge the digital divide.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Nigeria’s several attempts to develop a comprehensive blueprint for the ICT sector have failed because they are either short in prescription or deficient in outlook.
Engineer Florence Seriki, managing director/CEO, Omatek Computers, at the recent the stakeholders meeting on the ICT draft policy captured it aptly when she said that the document did not have any incentive to grow ICT based institutions for on-ward manufacturing.
Seriki said that “No ICT document will be such flourishing if it fails to recognize the importance of manufacturing revolved round ICT, diversification of manufacturing.
An ICT based institution may not be fruitful without manufacturing, particularly in SME level. The need for a concerted effort to ensure local content, or locally based manufacturing blueprint cannot be over emphasized.
As it is the draft policy is in short of this aspect economic development, especially as we are targeting vision 20:2020.”
But Uwaje said that Nigeria can still rebuild the economy if it can galvanize the teeming youth into the economic transformation agenda through IT master plan that incorporate software development.
“Nigeria can (in collaboration with her science and technology Diaspora knowledge base) build large software development entities and factories and consequently reduce the nation’s unemployment index by creating abundant employment of about 10 million Nigeria youths, who currently harbour uncountable software factories in their heads; willing to explode and be converted into national wealth, but currently wasting away and forced to sell nothing but pure water” he added.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that Uwaje’s call is not new to the government which has consistently ignored compelling need to raise a new generation of ICT driven graduates.
Nigerian leaders still pay no attention to the complete makeover of the schools’ curriculum.
When they pretend they pay attention, it is too little to make any impact and that why the country has continued to produce semi educated school leavers.
Particularly disturbing is the fact that most Nigerian graduates leave institutions of higher learning without even touching a computer, leaving them without requisite skills to integrate into the ICT driven business environment.
It is still common place to find the traditional chalk and duster approach in school pedagogy because most school teachers from primary to tertiary lack the skills to fully utilize technology in curriculum implementation.
It is so bad that 80per cent of the Nigerian universities and polytechnics, offering Computer Science as a course still include obsolete topics in their curriculum.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek had in recent editorial urged the government to develop an effective curriculum that includes communications, numeracy, information technology, and social skills units, with specific, specialized teaching of each.
The newspaper also urged to government to important to attract and retain qualified and experienced IT lecturers as well as build state_of_the_art laboratories.
This is because education is widely seen as one of the fastest ways to promote development.
The argument is that education empowers people and provides them with skills that stimulate all facets of development.
Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has awarded a total of N13 million in grants to three standout tech startups at the 2025 Techpreneur Summit held in Lagos, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and inclusive growth among Nigeria’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The winners include: BuyScrap, a digital marketplace for recyclable materials – N6 million; Qiqi Farms, which connects local farmers to hospitality and export markets – N4 million; Eco-Cyclers, a youth-led recycling initiative based in Enugu – N3 million
Alongside the grant awards, DBN also launched a new digital data asset, a first-of-its-kind platform aimed at enabling data-driven decisions within the MSME ecosystem.
The platform offers deep insights into business trends, sector-specific challenges, and growth opportunities—supporting smarter policymaking and targeted investments.
In his keynote address in Lagos, Tony Okpanachi, managing director/ CEO, DBN, described the event’s theme, “CTRL + SHIFT: Tech Empowered Movement for Naija,” as a strategic call to reimagine enterprise development in Nigeria.
“This isn’t just a keyboard shortcut,” he said. “It’s a mindset reset—powered by technology—to build a more inclusive, innovative, and resilient business landscape. From financing to innovation, DBN remains committed to enabling MSMEs to thrive.”
Okpanachi emphasized that the Summit aligns with DBN’s AMPLIFI Strategy, which integrates digital transformation, sustainability, and scalability into its core programs.
He highlighted initiatives such as the Digital Shift Workshops and the Eco-Innovation Challenge as key steps toward embedding innovation in Nigeria’s MSME sector.
Encouraging young innovators, he added: “The future belongs to those bold enough to imagine and build it. DBN is proud to support the ideas that will shape tomorrow.”
A major highlight was the unveiling of the DBN Data Asset—a digital platform designed to provide real-time, evidence-based insights into Nigeria’s MSME landscape.
The platform combines DBN’s proprietary data with external sources like the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to offer a comprehensive view of MSME performance by region and sector.
Jeremy Dan Okayi, DBN’s Head of Strategy, Policy & Innovation, described the platform as: “A reservoir of insight, potential, and direction—built on two years of collaboration and shared vision. This tool will support informed decision-making across the public and private sectors.”
News
FCCPC Shuts France, Belgium, and Italy Visa Centres in Abuja Over Alleged Consumer Rights Violations
In a bold enforcement action, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), supported by the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has sealed off the visa application centres of France, Belgium, and Italy in Abuja over alleged consumer protection breaches and obstruction of regulatory investigations.
The affected centres—located at Mukhtar El-Yakub House in the Central Business District and operated by TLS Contact, a Teleperformance Company—were shut down following reports that they refused to accept formal correspondence from the FCCPC regarding a consumer complaint. The Commission cited further infractions, including obstruction of investigation and alleged assault of its officers during lawful duties.
Speaking to journalists at the scene, Mrs. Boladale Adeyinka, Director of Surveillance and Investigations at the FCCPC, explained: “This is an enforcement operation against TLS. On March 25, 2025, we served them a letter to address a consumer complaint, which they refused to accept. Instead, TLS officers assaulted our team, and in a subsequent visit on June 17, they also allegedly assaulted uniformed police officers.”
Citing Section 33 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), Mrs. Adeyinka emphasized that failure to comply with Commission directives constitutes a criminal offense, punishable by imprisonment, fines of up to ₦20 million, or both.
TLS has been ordered to appear before the Commission on June 20, 2025, to provide testimony, submit evidence, and make formal depositions. The company may be held liable for any financial losses suffered by applicants due to the disruption of visa services.
Despite multiple requests for comment, management at TLS Contact declined to respond as of press time.
Adedapo Segun, chief financial officer (CFO), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), has explained why there is a missing sum of N210 trillion in the company’s audited financial statement spanning from 2017 to 2023.
According to Segun, the missing funds are cash calls requested by joint venture (JV) partners and settlement to the JVs.
He spokeat a session of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts chaired by Aliyu Wadada.
Segun was responding to an alarm raised by the committee over missing N210 trillion in NNPCL’s audited financial statement.
Recall that Wadada issued a one-week ultimatum to NNPCL to account for the missing N210 trillion.
Reacting, Segun said, “The N103 trillion and N107 trillion are made up of joint venture cash calls that have been requested by the JV operators and JV cash call payments made by NNPCL, which are yet to be reconciled because governance procedures were not done at that time.
“That is why you see the description reflecting those two items would be washed out because they are two sides of the same transaction, which is the cash calls by JV partners and the settlement by NNPCL.”
However, Habu Sadeik, a financial analyst, in a post on X on Thursday, said Segun’s response was unsatisfactory.
Saidik faulted NNPCL’s response about the fund discrepancies, noting that something is not right with the audited financial statement.
“Forget about the senators’ lack of knowledge.
“The CFO’s response is not satisfactory. Are you saying that cash calls worth hundreds of trillions are just appearing on your FS only in 2024 without 31 disclosure?
“If it’s a cash call, why hasn’t the disclosure said so?
“Which cash call is over 100 trillion?
“Something is definitely not right, and I hope they retrospectively correct that FS.
“Someone somewhere did a chef’s work,” he wrote on X.
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