The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to reduce the cost of living and doing business while accelerating job creation as Nigeria marks its 66th Independence Anniversary. Engr. Leye Kupoluyi, LCCI President, made the call in the Chamber’s Independence Day message issued on September 30, 2026, reaffirming its commitment to a prosperous, productive and private-sector-led Nigerian economy. Kupoluyi said the anniversary offered an opportunity to assess the state of the economy and the conditions facing households, businesses and investors. He acknowledged what he described as encouraging signs from the Federal…
Author: Elvis Eromosele
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) and MTN Nigeria have confirmed their participation in the Africa Sustainability Forum 2026, further strengthening the breadth of stakeholders expected at the sustainability focused gathering scheduled for October 20, 2026, at Oriental Hotels, Lagos. The Forum, themed “Sustainable Futures: Driving Just Transitions, Green Growth & Shared Prosperity,” will convene leaders and practitioners across government, business, regulation, development, finance, sustainability and civil society to examine practical pathways for advancing sustainable development across Africa. The NCC’s role in regulating and supporting the communications sector intersects with conversations around sustainable digital…
OpenAI has unveiled a new artificial intelligence assistant called “dots”, designed to carry out tasks autonomously for users, even as the company delays the release of a highly anticipated AI model over safety concerns. The company introduced dots on Tuesday at its annual developer event in San Francisco, where CEO Sam Altman described the technology as an “always-on” AI assistant capable of handling a wide range of tasks on a user’s behalf. “You just give your dot a responsibility… and your dots will just get to work and keep working,” Altman said. The launch comes as OpenAI faces growing scrutiny…
US battery start-ups are turning to sodium-ion technology in an effort to rebuild domestic battery manufacturing and reduce reliance on China for critical energy-storage components. The push is gaining momentum as demand for battery storage rises, driven partly by extreme weather and the growing electricity needs of data centres. San Diego-based Unigrid is among the companies seeking to establish a foothold in the emerging market. The company makes a nine-kilowatt-hour battery for homes and has reported rising demand from European consumers seeking to store cheaper grid electricity and use it to power air conditioners during periods of peak heat. “We…
Apple has offered its clearest explanation yet for removing ICEBlock and similar immigration enforcement tracking apps from the App Store last year, saying concerns about the safety of federal officers and others prompted the decision. The company said concerns raised by officials in the Trump administration, including then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, led it to review the apps after a deadly shooting at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas in September 2025. Apple’s explanation was contained in a July 2026 letter to US Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.…
Nigeria’s external debt has increased by about $11.4 billion since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office, with fresh multilateral, commercial and syndicated financing adding to the country’s borrowing obligations. Data reviewed by Nairametrics Research show that Nigeria’s total external debt stood at about $54.5 billion as of June 2026, compared with approximately $43.1 billion when Tinubu took office. The increase has coincided with the Federal Government’s efforts to finance economic reforms, infrastructure and other spending commitments through a combination of multilateral loans, Eurobonds and other financing arrangements. Domestic debt has also risen sharply, increasing from about N59.1 trillion to approximately…
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc has announced that its National Payment Stack (NPS) has surpassed 100 million successful transactions, marking a significant milestone in Nigeria’s payments modernisation drive. NIBSS said the milestone was reached on Friday, September 25, as the payment infrastructure continues to support the expansion of digital financial services across the country. Built to comply fully with the ISO 20022 global messaging standard, the NPS provides a unified infrastructure for seamless, secure and data-rich payments across Nigeria’s financial ecosystem. The ISO 20022 standard enables greater interoperability and improves straight-through processing while providing richer transaction data for…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the completion of the banking sector recapitalisation exercise marks the beginning of a broader reform phase, with banks now expected to strengthen governance, risk management and productive lending. The apex bank said stronger capital buffers alone would not guarantee a resilient banking system unless banks are able to deploy the additional capacity effectively while maintaining sound risk controls. The CBN made this position known at its 38th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Abuja, themed “Towards a Robust and Resilient Financial System in the Post-Banking Sector Recapitalisation Era.” Speaking at…
Delta State emerged as Nigeria’s largest recipient of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) funds in the second quarter of 2026, displacing Lagos, which topped the allocation table in the first quarter. The 36 states collectively received N2.39 trillion from the Federation Account between April and June 2026, representing an increase of N259.41 billion, or 12.2 per cent, from the N2.13 trillion distributed in the first quarter. An analysis of FAAC disbursements shows that the second quarter brought a significant reshuffling among the biggest beneficiaries, with Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa recording substantial increases, while Lagos experienced a sharp decline.…
Nigeria’s vast natural resource endowment has yet to translate into commensurate jobs, industrial growth and economic value, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) has said. The Council said Nigeria’s subsoil contains more than $582.4 billion worth of documented non-renewable natural resources, but the country remains heavily dependent on the export of largely unprocessed raw materials. Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Muonso, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of RMRDC, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at a press briefing ahead of the second Africa Raw Materials Summit (ARMS 2026). Ike-Muonso said Africa’s 54 countries were endowed with significant deposits of critical transition…