Opinion
Social Media providers and Nigerian Content creators

By Sonny Aragba-Akpore
On Monday September 16,2024,ByteDance and it’s short video platform,Tik Tok appeared at a crowded court in Washington DC,the United States of America (USA) before a panel of three judges to appeal against a law that is likely to ban the company from doing business in the USA by January 2025 if it does not divest its operations.
Although,this legal tussle is ongoing,Nigerian content creators appear to be the first victims of this long drawn battle between Tik Tok and the American government.
While the content creators wonder what becomes of their trade,Facebook and Instagram are making things more difficult for them.
Tik Tok ,Facebook and Instagram may have strong reasons for their actions but not as much as we know.
Meta Group,owners of Facebook,Instagram and WhatsApp last week deleted over 1,600 users in Nigeria for alleged scamming activities.
The deleted 1,600 Facebook groups are allegedly linked to Yahoo Boys.
This purge, which happened on October 17,2024 , follows the one in July 2024 that saw 7,200 Facebook assets removed. The company also announced that the recent removal of 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria were tied to financial sextortion scams.
On Thursday ,October 17,2024 Meta revealed that these groups attempted to organise, recruit, and train new scammers. It said, “Yahoo Boys are banned under Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy — one of our strictest policies — which means we remove Yahoo Boys’ accounts engaged in this criminal activity whenever we become aware of them.”
“While we’ve been removing violating Yahoo Boys accounts for years, we’re putting new processes in place which will allow us to identify and remove these accounts more quickly.”
In addition to targeting scammers, Meta introduced new safety features aimed at protecting users, particularly teens, from sextortion scams. These measures include blocking suspicious accounts from following teens and making it harder for scammers to view follower lists, which are often used to blackmail victims.
The TikTok face off with the U.S. government in federal court specifically argued a law that could ban the platform in a few short months saying it is unconstitutional .
But the American Justice Department said it is needed to eliminate a national security risk posed by the popular social media company.
In the more than two-hour appearance before a panel of three judges at a federal appeals court in Washington, attorneys for the two sides – and content creators – were pressed on their best arguments for and against the law that forces TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance to break ties by mid-January or lose one of their biggest markets in the world.
Andrew Pincus, a veteran attorney representing the two companies, argued in court that the law unfairly targets the company and runs foul of the First Amendment because TikTok Inc. – the U.S. arm of TikTok – is an American entity. After his remarks, another attorney representing content creators who are also challenging the law argued it violates the rights of U.S. speakers and is akin to prohibiting Americans from publishing on foreign-owned media outlets, such as Politico, Al Jazeera or Spotify.
Despite the spirited arguments put forward by Tik Tok is already licking its wounds and in what seems a transferred aggression visited its spleen by deleting over two million accounts of Nigerians mid last week.
This is the second time in the last one year that it will visit its anger on Nigerians.
By last quarter of 2023, no fewer than 1.7 million accounts were deleted.
Figures published in ByteDance’s advertising resources indicate that TikTok had 23.84 million users aged 18 and above in Nigeria in early 2024 according to DataReportal.
ByteDance allows marketers to target TikTok ads to users aged 13 and above via its advertising tools, but these tools only show audience data for users aged 18 and above .
ByteDance’s figures indicate that TikTok ads reached 20.8 percent of all adults aged 18 and above in Nigeria at the start of 2024.
TikTok’s ad reach in Nigeria was equivalent to 23.1 percent of the local internet user base at the beginning of the year, regardless of age according to DataReportal.
In early 2024, 40.9 percent of TikTok’s ad audience in Nigeria was female, while 59.1 percent was male.ByteDance’s advertising resources only publish audience gender data for “female” and “male” users.
DataReportal explains that, ad audiences often only account for a subset of a platform’s total users, and given that TikTok’s ad tools only publish data for users aged 18 and above, it’s important to remember that trends in TikTok’s ad reach figures may not necessarily match changes in the platform’s overall user base. In reality TikTok’s ad reach in Nigeria was equivalent to 23.1 percent of the local internet user base at the beginning of the year, regardless of age.
The battle in the American courts is especially calculated to upturn a Presidential Executive Order which specifically directs Tik Tok to divest its operations by breaking away from the Chinese appendages.
The measure, signed by President Joe Biden in April, 2024 was the culmination of years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China.
The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.
Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to alleged manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.
So what is the offence of Nigerian content creators in all of these?
During the second quarter of 2024, approximately 21.6 million TikTok accounts owned by Nigerians were removed from the platform due to suspicion of being operated by users under the age of 13.
“During the last measured period, around 171 million fake accounts were removed from fake accounts removed from TikTok” as alleged by the company saying that the deleted accounts allegedly consistently violated Community Guidelines and so stood banned from TikTok.
“If your account has been banned, you’ll receive a banner notification when you next open the app, informing you of this account change” Tik Tok stated.
Some of the accounts were deleted because they were said to be inactive and were not used to access TikTok for at least 180 days.
“Whether an account is inactive is not publicly visible and duplication of user name is inadmissible.”
“In most instances, we cannot reassign a username. We suggest using a variation of your desired username by adding numbers or underscores, or using an abbreviation.
If you believe that a username infringes your intellectual property rights, view our Intellectual Property Policy.”
TikTok’s Community Guidelines Enforcement Report provides insight into how the platform maintains safety and integrity. With over 40,000 trust and safety professionals working alongside cutting-edge technology, TikTok enforces strict guidelines and policies to ensure a positive experience for all users.
With a global proactive detection rate of 98.2%, TikTok is more efficient than ever at preventing harmful content from reaching its audience.
The platform’s ongoing investment in cutting-edge moderation technology is coupled with its commitment to transparency, ensuring a secure space for its diverse Nigerian and global users.
TikTok’s report is part of its broader mission to inspire creativity and foster a joyful, safe environment for all users.
These actions reflect TikTok’s focus on ensuring user safety by addressing harmful content swiftly. The platform continues to invest in advanced technologies to detect and remove inappropriate material.
Globally, TikTok removed over 178 million videos in June 2024, with 144 million of these removed through automated systems.
These improvements have helped reduce the exposure of moderators to harmful content, as well as the speed of detection.
“In its Q2 2024 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, Tik Tok emphasized its commitment to maintaining a safe and positive environment for Nigerian users.
This report provides transparency into the platform’s content moderation efforts, highlighting the videos and accounts removed for violating community guidelines” according to agency reports.
The 2.1 million videos deleted from Nigeria are less than 1% of all content uploaded in the country.
The social media platform attributed this action to violations of its Community Guidelines.
It noted Nigeria’s presence among the top 50 countries for such policy breaches during Q4 of 2023.
Globally, 176.5 million videos were removed during this period, with the top 50 offending markets responsible for about 90% of these removals.
According to the report, the deleted videos violate TikTok’s restrictions pertaining to safety, and civility. Additionally, they violate mental and behavioral health, privacy and security, integrity, and authenticity restrictions, among others.
TikTok claimed that within the period under examination, it had deleted 169 million accounts that had been found to be fraudulent or spam.
Agency reports quoted TikTok Ada’s saying “From October through to the end of 2023, we removed more than 169 million fake accounts globally. Also, we have removed about 1.2 million bot comments on content tagged with hashtags related to the Israel-Hamas war.”
“However, we remain vigilant in our efforts to detect external threats and safeguard the platform from fake accounts and engagement.
“These threats persistently probe and attack our systems, leading to occasional fluctuations in the reported metrics within these areas.”
Since its launch, TikTok has become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, using recommendation algorithms to connect content creators with new audiences.
In April 2020, TikTok surpassed two billion mobile downloads worldwide.
Cloud flare ranked TikTok the most popular website of 2021, surpassing Google.The popularity of TikTok has allowed viral trends in food and music to take off and increase the platform’s cultural impact worldwide.
TikTok has come under scrutiny due to data privacy violations, mental health concerns, misinformation, offensive content, and its role during the Israel–Hamas war.
Countries have fined, banned, or attempted to restrict TikTok to protect children or out of national security concerns over possible user data collection by the Chinese government through ByteDance.
TikTok, started as Douyin in China and Hong Kong as a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes.It can be accessed with a smart phone app.
ByteDance planned on Douyin expanding overseas. The founder of ByteDance, Zhang Yiming, stated that “China is home to only one-fifth of Internet users globally. If we don’t expand on a global scale, we are bound to lose to peers eyeing the four-fifths. So, going global is a must.”
ByteDance created TikTok as a global version of Douyin. TikTok was launched in the international market in September 2017.On November 9,2017, ByteDance spent nearly $1 billion to purchase Musical.ly, a startup headquartered in Shanghai with an overseas office in Santa Monica, California.Musical.ly was a social media video platform that allowed users to create short lip-sync and comedy videos, initially released in August 2014.
TikTok merged with Musical.ly on August 2,2018 with existing accounts and data consolidated into one app, keeping the title TikTok.
On January 23,2018, the TikTok app ranked first among free application downloads on app stores in Thailand and other countries.TikTok has been downloaded more than 130 million times in the United States and has reached two billion downloads worldwide,according to data from mobile research firm Sensor Tower (those numbers exclude Android users in China).
In the United States, celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk, began using the app in 2018.Other celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Will Smith, and Justin Bieber joined TikTok as well as many others.In January 2019, TikTok allowed creators to embed merchandise sale links into their videos.
On September 3,2019, TikTok and the U.S. National Football League (NFL) announced a multi-year partnership.The agreement occurred just two days before the NFL’s 100th season kick-off at Soldier Field, where TikTok hosted activities for fans in honor of the deal.
The partnership entails the launch of an official NFL TikTok account, which is to bring about new marketing opportunities such as sponsored videos and hashtag challenges.
In July 2020, TikTok, excluding Douyin, reported close to 800 million monthly active users worldwide after less than four years of existence.
In May 2021, TikTok appointed Shou Zi Chew as their new CEO who assumed the position from interim CEO Vanessa Pappas, following the resignation of Kevin A. Mayer on August 27, 2020.In September 2021, TikTok reported that it had reached one billion users.
In 2021, TikTok earned $4 billion in advertising revenue.
In October 2022, TikTok was reported to be planning an expansion into the e-commerce market in the US, following the launch of TikTok Shop in the United Kingdom. The company posted job listings for staff for a series of order fulfillment centers in the US and is reportedly planning to start the new live shopping business before the end of the year.
Douyin was launched by ByteDance in September 2016, originally under the name A.me, before rebranding to Douyin in December 2016.
Douyin was developed in 200 days and within a year had 100 million users, with more than one billion videos viewed every day.
While TikTok and Douyin share a similar user interface, the platforms operate separately.
Douyin includes an in-video search feature that can search by people’s faces for more videos of them, along with other features such as buying, booking hotels, and making geo-tagged reviews.
Opinion
REQUIEM FOR THE QUINTESSENTIAL “OMO ISALE EKO” : ALHAJI WASIU ADEGBENRO ANJOUS

BY BOLAJI AFOLABI
Last week, was the 10th week in 2025. That over two months had gone in quick successions is surprising. For the writer, it was not a pleasant week. Characterized by shocking and fearful developments. A family friend survived a sudden health scare. Two other persons were involved in near-death road mishaps. Two painful deaths. In the early hours of Tuesday, a phone call announcing the death of a friend’s elder brother; Reverend Pius Femi Oladele did not only jolt but elicited moody mode. Questions, puzzles, and posers kept running through my heart; begging for responses. Still in a foul state of pain, and confusion, a late-night message woke me up. Professor Tunde Olusunle of the University of Abuja, who was my former boss at the Office of Public Affairs, The Presidency, broke the news of the death of Alhaji Wasiu Adegbenro Anjous.
The writer’s immediate response was that of doubt, disbelief, and disapproval. Within fast and racy minutes, the message was read numerous times. Why do good people die? Why has death taken Anjous? What may have happened? All night, through the early morning of the next day; being Saturday and usually set aside for long hours of jogging, sleep became scarce and scant. Reminiscences of the last phone call, chats, and messages with Anjous kept re-appearing, and re-echoing in one’s consciousness.
Wasiu Adegbenro Anjous, whom many preferred to call Alhaji, having fulfilled one of the foremost Islamic rights by visiting Mecca very early in life, was a perfect example of peoples man. Given his cosmopolitan upbringing; born and raised in Lagos by parents who were exposed and educated, Anjous was very friendly, extremely accessible, and genuinely loving. He was simple, charismatic, and fair-minded in his dealings and interactions with people. He was a likeable personality, very outgoing, and highly sociable. Though extremely knowledgeable and intelligent, he preferred to remain humble, unassuming, and welcoming during discussions, and exchange of ideas. His sense of humor, candour, and laughter were easily noticeable, and often times disarmingly contagious.
Fate and faith brought Anjous, the writer, and few others in our group together. How? When? Where? After his inauguration on May 29, 1999, at the beginning of the Fourth Republic as Nigeria’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo gave approval to initiatives to deepen public affairs management in the new government. Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, and Prof. Tunde Olusunle; who were presidential adviser; and presidential senior assistant respectively, were said to have been the architects of the presidential benevolence. Obviously concerned and worried about how to accommodate professionals who worked in the media and publicity directorate of the Obasanjo presidential campaign organization; by the way, Ugochukwu and Olusunle were the Director, and Press Secretary respectively, and the urgent need to rejig information management, they both met, canvassed their thoughts, and got approvals thereafter. This led to the mass appointments of many people including those from the Obasanjo’s media and publicity team, and others who benefitted from the gesture that was driven by Ugochukwu and Olusunle’s far-thinking attributes and advocacy.
After being deployed to the office of Olusunle, few of the new “government pikins” including Tumo Ojelabi; Vincent Oyefeso; Ebele Aghaonu; Beatrice Edet; Taiwo Akinyemi, and the writer resumed formally on August 21, 2000; a Monday. Barely a week later, precisely August 29, which was a Tuesday, close to lunch time, a tall, handsome, broad-shouldered man clad in sky blue kaftan and trouser, well-embroidery black/white cap, and matching black sandals walked into the well-light, and air-conditioned office. After exchange of pleasantries, like a ready combatant he declared, “I am Anjous. Oga (Olusunle) told me we have new colleagues, and that is why I’m here. To formally meet with you, and introduce myself. I pray that we will enjoy working together as colleagues.”
Impressed by his simplicity and humility, the newbies took turns to appreciate the “august visitor.” Not done, Anjous ordered snacks and drinks to consummate the new relationship. As a passing shot, he said, “today is my birthday. If you don’t mind I’ll come after office hours for us all to mark the day somewhere in town.” A few hours later, we were at the popular “Tiv Joint” behind the National Library around Area 2, Garki District. We all savoured numbers of neatly spiced and fresh-from-oven chicken with “criminally cold” beverages, and other drinks. One recalls with nostalgia that few of us still did “take away” on the promptings of Anjous. The experience became a regular, and timely fixture for about seven years.
Anjous gave true meaning to friendship and relationship. He was the rallying point of his numerous colleagues; former and present; old and young; female and male. It was almost a taboo to see him walking alone. From resumption to the close of work, the office will always have one or more people with him, or waiting to see him. A completely detribalized Nigerian, he had friends that cut across tribes, ethnicity, and geographical locations. For religion, he was totally, thoroughly, and truly tolerant. Even as a practicing Muslim, Anjous, once in a while participates in morning devotions in the office. He was that good, easy-going, simple and calm. Through him, as new intakes, we knew some staff in The Presidency; within a short time. Though one can’t recall their surnames, it includes Alhaji Bashir; Alhaji Balogun; Akpan; Chukwuma; Hajia Khaltume; Toyin aka Gashi; Jaclyn; Andoor; Ijeoma; Abubakar; Rasheed; Shola; Titi; Isong; Adigun; Yusuf; Morgan; Joshua; Kemi; Vivien; Manasseh; Ade, and numerous others.
Anjous was an experienced civil servant, very versatile with a rich knowledge and understanding of the rules, regulations, ethos, and nuances of the bureaucracy. Described as an encyclopedia of information about the service, he was the go-to person by colleagues and friends who desire to find solutions, and responses to knotty issues, and challenges in their various beats. Given his long years of experiences, and mobility in the civil service, with a massive network of friends across MDAs, Anjous, within the snap of fingers knows who to call for any inquiry, request, and information. For his reliability, delivery, and problem-solving skills, he was an unofficial advisor to some presidential appointees, colleagues, and friends. Having worked in various sensitive and powerful MDAs, and offices; particularly during the IBB and Abacha regimes where he was one of the aides to the late Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, who was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, his data base of institutional memories, sequence of events, and other necessary details did not come as a surprise.
One of the major attributes of Anjous is building and nurturing friendship. His guiding principle was, “your friend is my friend.” It is always almost possible to see him in one part of the country or the other; mostly weekends for one social event or other related functions. Given this rare, and enviable attribute, aside Yoruba and English, he could fairly speak or have passing understanding of Hausa, Igbo, and few other languages. One recalls his persistence that “we have to be there for our colleague, and show love to her,” during the traditional wedding ceremony of Ebele; whom he called EB, which took place in Ozobulu, Anambra state, in the last few days of 2002. He did not only attend but dragged two other friends to attend the traditional and marriage solemnization of my friend, and brother, DCM (then SRC) Oladele Femi, in Ilorin sometime in 2001. The writer cannot forget his solidarity, love, and gesture at the wedding ceremonies of two siblings in Kaduna, at different years. How about the writer’s wedding in Lagos, where Anjous did not only attend but also mobilized some of his friends in Abuja and Lagos.
Arguably, the writer was the closest of the “class 2000” to Anjous. Realizing that both shared few attributes; in some ways, it was naturally easy to flow together. That he was interested in anything about the writer was not an over-statement. Unknown to many people, in 2008, he was one of the first-three individuals who broached the idea of publishing to the writer. He was full of ecstasy, and excitement when “Rethinking Nigeria” was formally presented to the public in June 2015. Indeed, in the past four years, as late as January 2025, aware the writer was working on three books, Anjous always sought to know the launch-dates. Back in August 2004, at the Holiday Inn, on the outskirts of Athens, Greece; as part of the Federal Government delegation to the Olympics, facilitated by Olusunle, while savouring lunch, Anjous spoke gently; “Mr. B (his moniker for the writer), I advise you not to stay long in civil service. Your potential and gifting can find better fulfillment outside government bureaucracy.” Years later, after exiting civil service, the writer and Anjous had breakfast together somewhere in Garki, and he stretched his hands, saying, “I congratulate you for the wise, and bold decision.” That is vintage Anjous; no inhibitions, straight from the heart.
Reactions and comments about the sudden and shocking demise of Anjous have been tearful, encouraging, and inspiring. Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, pioneer Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) said, “it is unbelievable that we have lost a man that was so committed in all he was doing. He was such a hardworking and dedicated staff member who contributed his quota while at The Presidency.” Olusunle wondered why, “Anjous died at this period of time. He was a very reliable, dutiful, and multi-tasking staff whose knowledge of the civil service proved very useful.” For Chief Dickie Ulu, “what a shame! Anjous dead? Why? What is this? I’m lost for words.” DCM Oladele Femi of the Federal Roads Safety Corps, (FRSC) described him as, “a very friendly, helpful, and humble person. He was very open, and a peaceful man.” Ojelabi, a retired Director in the federal civil service, and one of the “class 2000” reasoned that, “only God gives and takes when He wills. Anjous touched many lives, he positively impacted on the lives of people. He was a friend to all, with no form or shade of discrimination.” Ebele, a serving Federal Director, and former colleague of Alhaji quipped, “it is unbelievable that he is dead. Somebody who was always full of life, accessible, and committed to friendship….it is a sad development.” Yes, we are hurting and grieving. Perhaps, the timeless words of departed legends may be trite at this moment. Abraham Lincoln said, “in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count…it’s the life in your years,” and Irving Berlin added that, “the song is ended, but the melody lingers on.”
Indeed, Anjous’ life was a gift to us; his family, friends, and colleagues and we all will not only carry his sweet memories with us forever but ensuring that we sustain his service to mankind wherever we are, and in any way possible. Though we weep, we wail, we mourn but we cannot forget his good virtues, and death may have taken his body, but the love we all shared with him remains paramount.
Adieu, man of the people!
Adieu, the original “Omo Isale Eko!!!!
BOLAJI AFOLABI, a Development Communications specialist was with the Office of Public Affairs, The Presidency, Abuja.
Opinion
In pursuit of 70% broadband penetration

By Sonny Aragba-Akpore
Despite the rising depletion of data used by subscribers,the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says there is nothing to worry about.
It has however asked network operators to audit their networks to have an understanding about what is really wrong.
While subscribers groan over the data depletion and the associated poor services,the NCC claimed that broadband penetration peaked at 45% in January 2025.
NCC said that in January 2025, figures showed Nigeria’s broadband penetration stood at 45.61%, with a surge in internet usage driven by rising demand for digital services, though infrastructure and costs remain challenges.
This is still below the 70 % mark, despite a surge in data usage.
The NCC reports that mobile internet subscriptions stood at 141.67 million, while broadband subscriptions were 98.88 million in January 2025.
Internet usage has seen a significant increase, reaching an all-time high of 1,000,930 terabytes in January 2025.
This surge is driven by increased reliance on digital services like video streaming, social media, remote work, and fintech innovations.
The rise is stifled by Poor infrastructure and high phone and internet costs as major issues, according to Global System of Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).
Only about 29 percent of Nigerians (about 58 million) use the internet regularly.
What this means is that attaining 70% broadband penetration by 2025 is a pipe dream especially taking into consideration infrastructure deficit and poor network penetration leading to just 29% internet connectivity.
The Federal Government sought to address the country’s significant broadband penetration gap by implementing the National Broadband Plan (NBP 2020-2025).
The NBP aims to achieve a broadband penetration target of 70% and population coverage of 90% by 2025.
The Nigerian Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN) initiative brings together government agencies, private sector leaders, non-profits, and civil society to accelerate broadband penetration in Nigeria.
The NCC is driving this and supporting high-speed broadband connectivity through various initiatives.
These include licensing InfraCos, licensing 2.3GHz spectrum for wholesale wireless last-mile services, and streamlining regulatory processes.
But the Infracos initiative remains in the box despite huge financial incentives to actualise it.
In 2020 when the NCC initiated the National Broadband Plan (NBP)a 25-man committee, headed by Ms. Funke Opeke, Managing Director/CEO of Main One Cable Company Limited, was inaugurated to coordinate the development of the new National Broadband Plan.
The plan was focused on recommendations in four critical pillars: Infrastructure, Policy, Demand Drivers, and Funding & Incentives.
The plan was officially launched by Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, in March 2020 at that time.
The plan was to ensure that the price of 1GB of data was not more than N390 (2% of median income or 1% of minimum wage).
The NBP 2020-2025 aimed to increase broadband penetration to 70% and ensure 90% of the population had access to affordable and reliable internet, with data speeds of at least 25Mbps in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas.
The goal was to boost broadband penetration from its coverage of 37.8% in 2020 to over 70% within five years(2025).
Its aim was to ensure that at least 90% of Nigeria’s population had access to affordable and reliable broadband.
The plan aimed to deliver data download speeds of at least 25Mbps in urban areas and 10Mbps in rural areas.
Despite the crisis of trying to actualise the 70% broadband penetration by 2025 ,government launched the Nigerian Broadband Alliance in February 2025 but acknowledged the problems.
“Many of the networks remain underutilised. In numerous parts of the country, the capacity of existing fibre infrastructure far exceeds the demand. This is primarily due to a lack of access to necessary infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas, compounded by significant barriers to broadband adoption.
“These barriers include limited access to devices, lack of awareness, inadequate digital literacy, cumbersome regulatory processes, and power supply challenges. This underutilisation of existing infrastructure hinders our digital transformation and also negatively impacts the return on investment. This creates a vicious cycle—one that we must break in order to realise the full potential of broadband and its contribution to our digital economy.”
In his keynote address, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, who was represented at the event by Dr. Aminu Maina, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), said, “Despite our collective goals of achieving 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025; Delivering minimum data speeds of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural areas; Expanding population coverage to 80 per cent by 2027; Increasing broadband investments by 300–500 per cent by 2027, including the growing availability of fibre networks, Nigeria faces an unfortunate paradox.
The National Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN) initiative brought together government agencies, private sector leaders, non-profits, and civil society to accelerate broadband penetration in Nigeria. It aims to transform broadband into a catalyst for socio-economic development by aggregating demand across key sectors including educational institutions, healthcare facilities, religious centres, and markets.
The event was attended by representatives of the private and public sector agencies including Dr. Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner/CEO, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC); Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, MD/CEO, Galaxy Backbone Limited; Jane Egerton-Idehen, MD/CEO, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT); and Tola Odeyemi, Postmaster General/CEO, Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).
There were 37.2 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in Europe in 2024, the highest figure among global regions. The Americas recorded the second-highest broadband penetration rate at 26.6 subscriptions, while the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region had 25.3.
Meanwhile, Africa continues to lag far behind, with less than one fixed subscription per 100 people. Fixed wireless access (FWA) technology has been highlighted as a potential solution to Africa’s lack of fixed infrastructure, allowing the delivery of high-speed internet without the need for fixed networks.
As of 2023, Africa had the lowest Broadband Penetration Rate globally, averaging around 28% [World Bank]. However, several countries, including South Africa (70%) and Morocco (52%), boast higher rates than Nigeria [DataReportal, April 2024].
European nations generally enjoy much higher Broadband Penetration Rates. Leading countries include Iceland (99.8%), Finland (98.4%), and Denmark (98.2%) [Speedtest Global Index, 2024].
North America: North American countries like Canada (94.2%) and the United States (93.7%) have exceptionally high Broadband Penetration Rates according to Speedtest Global Index, 2024.
Opinion
Emergency Rule: How so called leaders led Fubara into a bottomless pit

By Emmanuel Agaji
On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu vividly and clearly displayed rare leadership qualities as he ended the unnecessary display of naked murder of democracy in Rivers State.
The president after several interventions to make a now former Governor Siminalayi Fubara to see reason had to use the big stick to trouble shoot the poor state of things in Rivers State.
He politely reminded Fubara of how he bulldozed a democratic structure (Rivers Assembly Complex) and 14 months after the structure remained untouched, the lawmakers were not paid one dime.
Quoting all the relevant portions of the Supreme Court verdict on Rivers headache, Tinubu had no choice than to do what most presidents consider a last option.
Giving Mr President a clearer view about what to do was the action of the militants last Monday night when they set a major pipeline on fire.
Barely 24hours after, precisely on Tuesday, another pipeline was punctured by same militants who had boasted to destroy oil installations immediately after Supreme Court verdict.
Asari Dokuboh a big beneficiary of Tinubu’s legacy for so many years was one of the first to threaten to demolish oil installations and even one strand of hair was not touched in his head.
Tinubu being a true democrat patiently watched as the events unfold as so many videos of hooded militants real or fake trended on social media networks threatening to turn Rivers into a massive inferno.
Mr President felt undaunted and kept his cool still watching the trend until Monday night that they touched his very sensitive nerve by destroying a major pipeline.
The so called leaders that Fubara swore an allegiance with continue to spur him that he has their backing.
Like a drunken sailor, Fubara followed his leaders and even after the Supreme Court verdicts that tied him from head to toe he continued to follow them sheepishly.
Last Tuesday, they met with Mr President and sought for an amicable resolution of the Fubara imbroglio but less than one week after oil installations were attacked.
The leaders instead of creating avenues for reconciliatory talks with the lawmakers and their well known leader stoked the fire to high heavens.
They called Nyesom Wike names that are unprintable and even sent a memo to Mr President all in a bid to discredit him.
These so called leaders were not there when Wike single handedly delivered their Ijaw brother instead he was tagged a hater of Ijaw Nation.
Wike’s polite response must have taken them unawares when he reminded them that if it’s true he hated the Ijaw people how come he made their son Fubara a governor?
Till date, even till tomorrow, the question is still begging for an answer as the leaders have no ready made answer to it till eternity.
The leaders gave him hope where there was no hope and led him into a bottomless pit.
Fubara was a nobody in Rivers politics, Wike made him somebody.
Clothed and bathed Fubara with hyssop to make him adorable, even his Ijaw kinsmen rejected him but against all odds Wike delivered him.
Wike never knew Fubara was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Emmanuel Agaji, a public affairs analyst wrote from Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
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