By Sonny Aragba-Akpore

In March 2024 Mobile Network Operators (MNOS) lamented losses of revenue when services were negatively impacted as they suffered internet outage due to damage to some fibre optic cables.

Earlier in 2023 alone, MTN Nigeria suffered more than 6,000 cuts on its fiber cable. The operator relocated 2,500 kilometres of vulnerable fiber cables between 2022 and 2023 at a cost of more than N11bn —enough to build 870 kilometres of new fiber links in areas without coverage.

In August 2024 ,Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Carl Cruz, while speaking during an industry forum, said the telecom company had been recording an average of 1,000 cases of fibre cuts every month.All of these cost money and avoidable losses of revenue.

Both operators which are believed to be dominant service providers suffered a series of setbacks so much that even some of their Mobile Switching Centres (MSCs) and Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) were also affected thus creating negative impact on Quality of Service (QoS).

While they swallowed the bitter pills of trying to resolve the infrastructure issue,some of them have not been able to meet the QoS threshold effectively,as expected by industry regulators,the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

> Globacom Limited and 9mobile ,though not publicly quoted ,have no figures available in the public space on their financial losses but both too have suffered losses in that regard.

Each of the four MNOs has suffered incalculable losses so much that these have affected QoS and while subscribers groan over the poor quality of service and depleting data in the face of unavailable network and where available in poor coverage especially in some areas of the country, the operators appear helpless.

Vandalism by miscreants is another cross many operators bear.

There are also frequent instances of official high handedness by certain categories of government officials who are empowered by cruel legislations to go after operators for payments on Right of Way (RoW) fees and illegal taxes not known to any law.And the operators have had to contend with these too.

And so the operators are trapped inescapably between the vandals and government officials.The subscribers suffer in all of these.

In all of these,the subscribers swallow the bitter pills as they are made puns in the vicious cycle of the gods-vandals,none state actors and regimented state and local government officials riding on crooked legislation to fleece the operators.

Apart from frequent harassments operators encounter in the hands of vandals and alleged unscrupulous government officials at state and local council areas across the country,there have been reported cases of revenue losses sustained by the operators through the burden of high operational expenditure.

Some of them have even lost millions of subscribers in the last 20 months so much that these have led to dwindling revenues.

For instance in the first eight months of 2024, Globacom Nigeria experienced a significant loss of 42 million active subscribers, representing a 73% reduction thus losing its market share by moving from number two to three on the subscriber chart.

While the telecommunication sector in Nigeria has shown resilience, Globacom’s subscriber decline is worrisome.
By pioneering per-second billing—unlike the ₦50-per-minute norm—it immediately disrupted the market, forcing rivals to return to the drawing board to rejig their billing templates.

“If per-second billing was a game-changer for the industry, Globacom pulled off another stunt in October 2004 by offering free Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) cards—at a time competitors were selling theirs for ₦2,000 per SIM card.
“This too rocked the market with aggressive price war and inspite of its late market entry status ,Globacom backed it with hefty marketing campaigns, signing Nigeria’s biggest celebrities as ambassadors” according to an analyst.

MTN Nigeria reported a N400 billion post-tax loss in 2024, marking a significant financial setback. “
But the company bounced back last week when it announced a profit after tax of N133.7 billion for first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2025, from a loss of N392.7 billion declared in the first quarter of 2024. MTN announced a total revenue of N1.06 trillion, representing an increase of 40.5 per cent from N752.96 billion in Q1 2024.
The telecommunication giant listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) said it invested N202.4 billion in Q1 2025, a 159 per cent increase year-on-year, to upgrade and expand network infrastructure, enhancing service quality and capacity.

Airtel Africa reported a loss after tax of $89 million for the full year ended March 2024. This loss was primarily attributed to foreign exchange (FX) headwinds in Nigeria and Malawi. Airtel Nigeria’s revenue also fell by 40.34% to $738 million in 2024, mainly due to the devaluation of the Nigerian naira.

Despite the revenue decline, data usage per customer in Nigeria increased by 37.2% accounting for 8.4 Gigabyte (GB)per month.

Airtel has a subscriber base of 56.6 million, as the second largest operator by numbers.

To mitigate further foreign exchange induced losses, MTN and Airtel cut FX liabilities.

MTN Nigeria slashed its outstanding letters of credit (LC) dollar obligations from $416.6 million as of 31 December 2023 to $20.8 million by the end of 2024.

Airtel Africa, on its part, repaid $739 million in foreign currency debt over the last year, reducing its foreign currency debt exposure.

Both companies believe that reducing their foreign currency obligations is key to strengthening their financial positions.

With over 10 million of its subscribers lost to other networks out of its 13m subscribers base,and a desperate quest for $3billion loan to stay afloat,9mobile is clearly in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the telecommunications sector.

Its pathetic situation is almost beyond redemption after it managed to scale through its initial hiccups as a result of over a billion dollar debt Overhang to a consortium of Nigerian banks.

It survived through the interventions by the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which offered a reprieve for new owners to take over.

It rebranded from Etisalat to 9mobile with a lot of promises which later turned out to be
mere pipe dreams as the company is now comatose.
Its now on the bottom of chart.

Its new management led by Obafemi Banigbe is shopping for over $3 billion in investment to rejig its services in the face of internal wrangling of shareholders.

“9mobile is also facing issues from competitors, especially Globacom, as regards its spectrum lease agreement with MTN.”

A telecom analyst explained last week that “the spectrum lease agreement,was framed in the form of infrastructure sharing, where 9mobile could make use of MTN’s wave bands, where it has no coverage , and MTN can also do the same.”

But in order to cushion the serial losses sustained by operators,the government approved a tariff hike in March 2025 by about 35% down from the 100% the operators proposed initially.

Industry regulators the NCC,
in January this year, approved the request by telecoms operators for tariff adjustments in the telecoms industry.
It announced a 50 per cent increase in telecoms tariff.

But the Nigerian Labour Congress ( NLC) resisted this and took its protests to the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) which called a tripartite meeting of his office ,labour and operators after which the tariff was pegged at 35%.

“Telecom operators had requested for 100 per cent hike in telecoms tariff for industry sustainability, which was rejected by different groups of telecoms subscribers, who felt that any increase would impose further hardship on the subscribers.”

The NCC riding on its power under Section 108 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 (NCA) to regulate and approve tariff rates and charges by telecommunications operators, approved tariff adjustment requests by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in response to prevailing market conditions.

The adjustment, capped at a maximum of 50 per cent of current tariffs, though lower than the over 100 per cent requested by network operators, was arrived at, taking into account ongoing industry reforms that will positively influence sustainability.

“These adjustments will remain within the tariff bands stipulated in the 2013 NCC Cost Study, and requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis as is the commission’s standard practice for tariff reviews. It will be implemented in strict adherence to the recently issued NCC Guidance on Tariff Simplification, 2024”the NCC said.

But will the adjustment make any difference to the myriad of problems in the industry especially with declining purchasing powers and general apathy of subscribers?
>> Will the NCC re-examine the financial health of the operators in a wobbling economic environment?

There are far more questions than available answers.
>> Time alone will tell.

A quiet revolution is unfolding in the often-noisy landscape of Nigerian governance, where reform announcements can feel as routine as rainfall. It is not wrapped in fanfare, nor driven by political expediency. It is measured, genuine, and gathering momentum in a place where reform has long been needed yet stubbornly resisted: public procurement.

On 30th April 2025, the Federal Government launched the National Procurement Certification Portal (NPCP), a new digital platform designed to professionalise, sanitise, and modernise the country’s procurement architecture.
Though seemingly technical, this development is anything but mundane. It is a significant milestone, part of the broader Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) programme, a collaborative effort between the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the World Bank.

At first glance, SPESSE might look like just another acronym in Abuja’s alphabet soup, like many lifeless government committees. But behind the tidy name lies a far-reaching and urgent initiative designed to institutionalise professionalism, build capacity at scale, and restore credibility to the systems through which public funds are spent.

● Procurement reform as governance reform

Procurement accounts for over 60 per cent of government expenditure. It is the invisible scaffolding behind how roads are built, hospitals equipped, classrooms furnished, and public utilities maintained. However, Nigeria’s procurement ecosystem has suffered for decades from manual inefficiencies, uneven capacity, and a tolerance for the occasional swallowing of millions of naira by infamous snakes. The result? A system that has been too easy to game and slow to serve.

The NPCP aims to change all that. By supporting structured certification programmes and digital training, the platform equips procurement officers across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) with the clarity, consistency, and competence that modern governance demands.

As the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris aptly put it, “The portal is not merely a technological upgrade. It is a tool of accountability for citizens and the state.”

I cannot overstate this point. Certification, now mandatory and accessible, ensures that procurement officers are compliant and globally competitive. The portal also empowers the public to demand better outcomes and enables oversight institutions to monitor performance with new precision. It is not just for government; it is for governance.

● Key reforms and achievements

Since assuming office, the Director-General of the BPP, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, has moved with quiet but unmistakable determination to recalibrate Nigeria’s procurement culture. From elevating capacity building as a national development priority to accelerating digitisation and enforcing harmonised standards, Dr. Adedokun has demonstrated that effective public sector leadership does not need a megaphone. It simply needs to deliver.

On his watch, Nigeria is recording several notable reforms in procurement governance within the SPESSE framework. With the NPCP as its linchpin, these reforms have begun to bear fruit. These include:

■ e-Procurement Platforms: Digitised processes reduce errors, curb manipulation, and allow for real-time tracking.
■Monthly Contract Award Reports: MDAs must now publish updates on awarded contracts and their implementation status.
■ Project Approval Categorisation: Classification guidelines streamline approvals and cut red tape.
■ Revised Standard Bidding Documents: Updated to meet global best practices and improve clarity.
■ Twenty-One Day Processing Cap: Procurement processes are now time-bound, without sacrificing due diligence.
■ Price Intelligence and Benchmarking: New tools ensure value for money and help eliminate over-invoicing.
■ Community-Based and Affirmative Procurement: Designed to promote inclusivity by prioritising local contractors and disadvantaged groups.

When subjected to community appraisal, these reforms do more than tidy up procedures. They are helping to birth a governance culture where value for money, fairness, and speed are not distant goals, but everyday expectations.

● Addressing the skills gap

It is a no-brainer that no matter how well-designed a system might be, it cannot function without competent people. The skills gap among procurement officers has been one of the system’s most persistent problems. Many officers were able to navigate high-stakes transactions with little more than intuition and a handful of outdated circulars.
This is where SPESSE, particularly the NPCP, proves its worth. Through structured certification and training modules, the portal is building a new generation of procurement professionals who are not just digitally literate but fluent in public procurement ethics, law, and economics.

Implementation has already begun, starting with more than 7,000 procurement officers and graduates from six designated Centres of Excellence. In partnership with professional bodies, these institutions deliver training tailored to sector-specific needs, from infrastructure and defence to health and education. The aim is not just to tick training boxes but to produce professionals who can hold the line when it matters most.

Let us not forget that the procurement officer is often the last line of defence between public funds and institutional chaos. In a country where a single signature can spell disaster, this training is not a nicety but a necessity.

● Institutionalising reform across government

To give these reforms staying power, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) have moved to institutionalise them. Public Service Rules and Circulars are under review to mandate certification as a prerequisite for any officer handling procurement.

The Head of Service, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has gone further, urging MDAs to dedicate budget lines for ongoing training. Her message is clear: public procurement is too important to be left to chance. It demands professionalism, rigour, and routine investment.

Moreover, what of officers who refuse to step up and bring themselves up to date? The era of sweeping misconduct under the carpet with a wink and a clerical excuse is over. This new regime provides room for discipline, which is how institutions earn trust.

● Ethics and accountability at the core

Beyond technology and training, reform must be moral. No software can substitute for integrity. This is why SPESSE and BPP place ethics at the centre of reform.
Procurement officers are now expected to operate with heightened transparency and an unwavering commitment to professional standards. Lapses in integrity will trigger consequences in line with civil service rules.

It is a long-overdue recalibration not just to satisfy internal controls but also to renew public confidence. A government that takes procurement seriously is a government that takes its citizens seriously. That message is now baked into law, practice, and institutional memory.

● Leadership, quietly delivered

What makes this moment particularly noteworthy is the leadership style behind it. Dr Adebowale Adedokun, Director-General of the BPP, has pursued reform with steady focus and without theatrics. He has nudged Nigeria’s procurement ecosystem from the periphery of governance to its centre.

Similarly, Mrs Walson-Jack has exemplified what strategic civil service leadership can look like, clear on expectations, bold in enforcement, and unrelenting in pursuing results.

That this work is being quietly but firmly led by public servants like Dr. Adedokun and Mrs. Walson-Jack should inspire more profound reflection on effective leadership in our public institutions. Not all reformers speak in made-for-social-media video clips, some work in era-defining blueprints, with the courage to execute them quietly.

● The road ahead

As the SPESSE programme expands its reach and deepens its roots, the actual test will be durability. Indeed, as the programme enters its next phase, it must be admitted that rising complexities will dog the dynamic evolution of initiatives, systems, processes, procedures, and programmes.

However, as with every worthwhile programme, sustainability is key. Will future governments build on these foundations? Will procurement officers internalise the new norms? Will MDAs continue to invest in training once external support fades?

These questions are real, but so is the progress already made. Time, as always, will tell how all of this will play out in the future.

What we know now is that for the first time in decades, Nigeria is not just tweaking procurement. It is reimagining it, not as a bureaucratic obligation, but as a strategic engine for national development.

This revolution may be quiet, but its implications could be thunderous. What is unfolding is worth noting, worth commending, and worth preserving.

A new procurement culture is being written into the software and soul of the Nigerian public service, a tribute to the high-quality input made by quiet public servants like Dr Adedokun and Mrs Walson-Jack. It is hoped that their good work will endure for posterity; and, that, eventually, Nigeria will reap the benefits.

● Sufuyan Ojeifo, publisher/editor-in-chief of THE CONCLAVE, attended the launch of NPCP by BPP in Abuja.

Leading up to the recent superlative annual reports showcasing one of the most significant growth experienced by a Nigeria Financial Institution in recent years I was forced to ask “what is Fidelity Bank” doing right?

My banking and financial sector experience got me digging deeper into the statistics of the report-Fidelity Bank recorded a substantial 210.0% growth in PBT, reaching N385.2 billion in FY 2024. Deposits increased by 47.9%, from N4.0 trillion in 2023FY to N5.9 trillion in 2024FY, Gross earnings shooting by 87.7% to N1,043.4 billion which was primarily caused by a 106.9% increase in interest and similar income. Was I impressed? Absolutely 👍🏾

Now to the scary part, they opened the year with a bang implying that 2025 year end results was going to be nothing but spectacular; check this out-Fidelity reported a whooping 167.8% increase in PBT (Profit Before Tax)to N105.8 billion in Q1 2025, compared to N39.5 billion in Q1 2024. Gross earnings from January to April had reached some N315.421 billion signaling a 64.21% increase year-on-year.

These results were nothing short of astonishing and with great hope I sat my team to review our Investment Strategy to accommodate taking up equities in Fidelity and advising our portfolio investors to do same.

We quickly appraised the fundamentals and Key Success Factors to include their focus on the strategic youth economy that the Creative and Digital Transformation sector promises, the banks bullish inroads in MSME promotion and financing, their glowing penchant for Gender inclusion without abandoning the core sectors of Mining, Renewables and other key industries

Then came the dissecting of Leadership, my team of analysts mostly female went on about Fidelity MD being one of the most experienced and affable Amazons in the industry; done this, achieved that and all the entreaties you’d expect from smart ladies who feel mentored from a distance. I didn’t hesitate to draw their attention to the experience of the menfolk within the organization like I had any measurable data to establish that mix…truth remains you can’t but admire the Banks Leadership and strides

A deeper look at the banks expansion globally could reveal a strategic and noiseless acquisition of Union Bank,London and their planned incursion into African and other European financial markets, you just can see that such daring strides and impact would give competition and detractors sleepless nights. Not in an era where sleeping pills are sold strictly by prescription and no thanks to the high cost of medication for peddlers of cheap propaganda

Within barely 30days of announcing such magnificent results little wonder how pundits would cook or spin a narrative to suggest a bank that has announced herself as First Tier with shoulders leveled up with other Banking giants would shudder over a judgement against her customer G.Cappa or even the contribution they would be required to cough out over that said Sagecom saga. With that judgement not going the way of pundits a contemptuous attempt at calculating interest at unclassified rates from an initial N14b to cause an unnecessary scare or negative press on the bank speaks volumes of how we unrepentantly strive to destroy value in our economy.

One would think that interpretation of the judgment and computation of due figures which will understandably come with a payment plan be awaited instead of the usual bad blood generated and envisaged by toddler media characters.

It is not in doubt that the discerning public sees through the cruise and flat falling attempt of dramatic clout chasers ever ready to stain Fidelity’s white apparel which savvy Investors and analysts are filled with bridal admiration

Like Joseph Campbell hinted in his famous quote “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” We cast our treasures and bets on Fidelity Bank as the Nigerian treasure house to beat in the years ahead!

■ Udeme Etukeyen is an Abuja based Pan African Investment Advisory Expert.