TikTok has restricted late-night LIVE access for Nigerian users as part of a safety investigation tied to harmful-content concerns. The platform has not stated how long the restriction will remain.
The move reflects rising global and local pressure on social platforms to tighten safeguards around livestream risks.
Source: Punch, 2025-12-08
Mohbad’s father reiterated support for a transparent DNA process regarding the late singer’s son amid intense public debate and legal attention.
The dispute remains a flashpoint in the broader demand by fans and stakeholders for clarity and justice around the singer’s death and legacy.
Source: Punch, 2025-12-09
Planned withdrawal of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) short code service that enables bank transfer from mobile device, has been suspended by telecommunications operators in the country.
The withdrawal of the said suspension of service, which was to take effect from Monday, March 15, came as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced that bank customers would begin to pay N6.98 kobo per USSD transaction as against N4.
The telco’s decision to suspend the USSD bank transfer service was justified by the failure of banks and other financial service providers to remit the sum of N42 billion debts incurred by banks in the last eight months through the use of the service.
But at a meeting of stakeholders on Monday evening in Abuja by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, the telcos agreed to suspend service withdrawal.
All parties at the meeting on Monday agreed that effective March 16, USSD services for financial transactions conducted at DMBs and all Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) licensed institutions would be charged at a flat rate of N6.98 per transaction. The agreed new price regime now replaces the current N4 per session billing.
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Osita Nwanisobi, and the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, said in a joint statement that the new approach will ensure transparency and same cost, regardless of number of sessions per transaction.
With the new USSD price structure, there is now a flat fee per USSD session however long or whatever the number of messages making up the session.
Before this new rate, a session usually last 20 seconds, meaning that for each session N4 is charged, even if the transaction is not completed or failed along the line. But in this new rate, 20 seconds session has been abolished, and no cost implication until a transaction is completed.
According to CBN’s Nwanisobi and NCC’s Adinde, the new USSD charges will be collected on behalf of MNOs directly from customers’ bank accounts. It pointed out that banks would not impose additional charges on customers for the use of USSD Channel.
On the N42 billion USSD service debt owed by banks, stakeholders came to terms on settlement plan for outstanding.
The statement restated DMBs and MNOs’ commitment to strategies that lower cost and enhance access to financial services.
“With the above resolutions, the impending suspension of DMBs from the USSD channel is hereby vacated. Therefore, DMBs shall no longer be disconnected from the USSD channel.
“The general public is hereby reminded that the USSD channel is optional, as several alternative channels such as mobile apps, Internet banking and ATMs may be used for financial transactions.
“The CBN and NCC shall continue to engage relevant operators and all stakeholders to promote cheaper, seamless access to mobile and financial services for all Nigerians,” the statement read.
A source at the meeting told The Guardian that the two sectors agreed on N1.63k price and N4.50 price cap while a flat fee of N6.98k will be for the transaction.
According to the source, banks will now charge customers for the USSD transaction done on their accounts and settle the telecom operators.
He said the two parties also agreed to work together to deepen and expand digital financial inclusion of the Federal Government and come out with modalities and strategies on USSD.
Stakeholders who attended the meeting included the Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability Central Bank Of Nigeria, Aisha Ahmad, who represented the CBN Governor, Godwin Emfiele; Access Bank Group MD, Herbert Wigwe, Chairman of the Committee of Bank CEOs; MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola; Airtel Nigeria CEO, Segun Ogunanya; 9mobile Executive Director, Abdulrahman Ado; the EVC of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta; and Executive Commission, Technical Services, NCC, Ubala Maska and among several banking and telecom stakeholders.
The N20 USSD fee imposed by Nigerian telecommunications and National Identity Management Commission on subscribers for National Identification Number retrieval requests has been canceled.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami directed the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Identity Management Commission to remove the fee.
Recently, NCC directed telecommunication service providers to block SIM cards not registered with NIN, giving a two weeks deadline for SIM holders in Nigeria to respond.
Authorities had listed 173 centres and 30 state government institutions approved for NIN enrolment across country.
Part of issues arising from the directive was that subscribers who had enrolled for NIN in the past might not remember their identification numbers, a situation telecos and government’s registration agency, NIN sought to exploit by requiring citizens to pay a fee for the retrieval.
According to a statement on Friday by the spokesperson for the minister, Uwa Suleiman, the government ordered telcos to stop the deduction for NIN retrieval.
“The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, Orders Cancellation Of NIN Retrieval Charge Across All Networks’.
“The Minister’s directive which takes immediate effect, is an intervention aimed at making the process easier and affordable.
“In a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, the Executive Vice Chairman NCC and the Director-General of NIMC informed Dr Pantami that the relevant authorities had met with, and negotiated a waiver with the Mobile Network Operators in that regard.
“By this waiver, all Nigerians, subscribers and applicants can access the service using the *346# code for their NIN retrieval at no charge for the duration of the NIN/SIM Card integration exercise”, the statement read.
As part of measures aimed at enhancing clients’ efficiency, an independent public relations (PR) measurement and evaluation agency, P+ Measurement Services has revamped its Independent public relations(PR) performance audit reporting services.
This was contained in a statement by the firm’s media representative, Glory Nnabugwu Tuesday, stating that the newly improved audit reporting template will help the agency broaden and maximise its offerings, by providing inference driven PR measurement and performance audit services for stakeholders in the communications industry.
According to the agency, the revamped performance audit reporting “aims to create an easy-to-read and ready-to-use dashboard for clients and communications analysts, using a multi-platform strategy to incorporate all communications efforts into one dashboard.
“It also features a multiple view dashboard, inclusive of trends, themes, sentiment, CEOs performance, using qualitative and quantitative data which allows structured analysis and inference”, the statement read.
The Chief Insight Officer of the Company, Philip Odiakose said. “We have moved fast to come up with a comprehensive audit report that helps PR agencies, media planners, analysts and marketing communications clients make a difference in their business.”
Odiakose affirmed that the company reviews its audit report annually and upgrade when necessary for clients’ easy implementation into their PR strategy.
“The organisation upgraded its audit report for easy-to-read, dark-mode feel and valid metric in line with clients PR objectives in eradicating the request for AVE as well as noises from the machine” Odiakose stated.
The P+ boss pointed out that having the right data, insights and recommendations goes a long way in scaling and analysing communications effort, while an easy-to-read dashboard propagates quick-decision-making for clients.
“We remain committed to promoting awareness for the Independent media monitoring and measurement market in Nigeria, and by creating world-class structures and standards such as this. We believe we are on the right path to facilitating a balanced communications industry for brands and organisations in the country.
“The report is valuable to communication and PR professionals wanting to define the value they bring to the brand having return on objective (ROO) in mind rather than AVE that is industry denounced, subjective, inconsistent in delivery value and can be manipulated”, he said.
The company which celebrated its fifth-year anniversary last month, also celebrated its recently concluded AMEC measurement month as the only AMEC Member in the country.
As Nigeria’s fast growing media intelligence agency, P+ Measurement Services continues to spur media measurement and evaluation literacy campaign for brands, agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government agencies, in a bid to standardise a procedure that enables stakeholders to understand that implementing the right media measurement and evaluation campaign is critical.
The need to be cybersecurity-conscious to guarantee online safety for Internet users is said to be everyone’s business and not reserved for a group of people,
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta made the remark during at an event held in commencement of series of enlightenment and awareness campaign activities being embarked upon by the Commission for this year’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM).
Internet users across mobile networks in Nigeria, according to Danbatta, currently stand at 149.8 million as at August, 2020. He noted that more users are expected online as services in different sectors of the economy are becoming digitalised.
He called on individuals and corporate internet users to exhibit greater responsibility in protecting themselves against cybercrimes, especially with the increase in digital financial transactions for e-commerce activities.
Speaking on the Commission’s activotoes on various policy initiatives to drive pervasive broadband penetration to achieve increased digital inclusiveness, Danbatta notes that NCC is not unmindful of those who use Internet to carry out nefarious and dubious activities in the cyber space.
“To keep the genuine individual and corporate Internet users’ safe, the NCC, as regulator of the telecom sector, annually joins the rest of the world to create a lot of enlightenment around cybercrime in the month of October every year. We ensure that consumers are empowered through awareness and sensitisation campaigns, by providing information on both the positive and negative potentials available online, and measures required to safeguard themselves and their loved ones.
“Security is not reserved for a group of people, it is truly everyone’s business; bringing competence and knowledge to help build a safer and more inclusive information society”, The EVC said.
Danbatta however restated NCC’s commitment to continually embark on policy initiatives to enhance online security as well as educate and equip the consumers of telecoms services with information they need to be protected online.
In October every year, the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) holds globally, aimed at raising awareness about cybersecurity, and to provide the public with general knowledge and tools required for online safety.
By Tobiloba Kolawole
The Federal Government and State governments in Nigeria are consolidating efforts to take advantage of the far-reaching potentials in the deployment of information and communications technology for social and economic gains.
At the opening ceremony of the 6th regular meeting of the National Council on Communications Technology, which held last Thursday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the Executive Governor of Ogun State, His Excellency, Ibikunle Amosun reinforced the need for governments at all level and the private sector to invest in ICT to fast track development and reduce unemployment rate to the barest minimum.
In his opening address, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who was the chief host of this year’s NCCT meeting underscores the impact of communication technology on development. He said, “The interests to share and the ideas to exchange among the people have assumed a multi-dimensional proportion and have totally become driven by technology. These evolving challenges of information management have led to advancements in Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cryptography and Robotic Engineering.”
It is imperative that a society that is desirous of continued growth and development must not only put in place necessary machinery to ensure seamless information and communication but must also place a high premium on the various means of communication. This is why the conception and hosting of the 6th National Council on Communication Technology in our dear State, is a welcome development at this critical time in our nation’s development.”
Governor Amosun further emphasized that there is a nexus between modern development and Information technology, which necessitates that any country that is desirous of achieving a turn around transformation in the economy, social welfare delivery, employment, effective agricultural process, education, and other areas must proactively invest in ICT.
Amosun said “on our part as an Administration in Ogun State, we appreciate the need to deploy technology in all our programmes and policies. Our belief is that, in Ogun State, by building an ICT ecosystem and leveraging on the benefits of technology, we will not only sustain the momentum of the achievement of our Administration, but we will also fast-track the process of development.”
The Ogun State Governor highlighted his government’s efforts to identify and help channel the exuberant energy of youths in Ogun State towards innovation. He said the aim is to encourage a crop of tech-savvy people who will deploy disruptive innovation technologies to solve society’s socio-economic challenges.
“This is one of the major reasons, amongst others, for featuring Technology in our 2018 Investors Forum and, the hosting of the 2018 TechSummit Ogun on Thursday 18th January 2018”, Amosun said.
He also said “Apart from opening up a wide range of opportunities in employment generation for our teeming youth on a macro level, the TechSummit Ogun was also conceived to explore the potential for creating new economies along the ICT value chain, such as web development and maintenance; programming; software design and hardware engineering. It is my joy that our dear State has continued to take full advantage of the expected manpower needs by facilitating ICT hubs to provide needed skills acquisitions.”
FrontPage recalls that about two weeks ago, the Ogun State Executive Council approved a new ICT policy that highlights the development of human resources; provision of infrastructure; the roles of Government and other stakeholders; and strategies to be adopted in the deployment of ICT towards the development of vital economic sectors such as education, health, Agric, commerce and industry, tourism, etc.
The Chairman of the National Council of Communications Technology and Minister for Communications, Hon. Adebayo Shittu reiterated the impact of ICT as a veritable tool for advancing the growth and economic diversification in countries. The minister noted that a World Bank econometric study carried out in 2009 showed that every 10% increase in ICT investments generates a 1.38% increase in GDP.
In his address, Shittu said that “the Nigerian ICT sector today is one of the fastest-growing despite the economic recession and contributed 9.8% in GDP in 2014. The challenge is how to address the issues of revenue, investments, cost savings, employment generation, and national productivity among others.
“In pursuit of national agenda, we have continued to reposition the ICT sector in the areas of infrastructure and industry development, local content optimization, enabling policy, legal and regulatory framework; deepening of ICT in Government and mainstreaming of ICT into all spheres of national life among others”, Shittu said.
While highlighting some of government’s efforts towards ICT integration, the Minister said that through Galaxy Backbone, internet access has been provided to about 40 MDAs, over 11,000 nodes of wireless LAN to all MDAs at the Federal Secretariat, over 40,000 email addresses for government officials under the gov.ng and mil.ng domains, which is aimed at ensuring that government data is hosted locally on a secured website with data back-up to MDAs and 200 servers hosting 94 MDAs.
“We are working to have ICT infrastructure designated as critical national infrastructure. Efforts are being made to procure additional communication satellites to complement the existing NigComSat-2 as a means of reaching areas that cannot easily be covered by terrestrial fiber”, the Minister explained.
He said further “we are also working to make more investments in building the capacity and harnessing the talents of our youth. In particular, we are increasing Accelerators and Incubator programmes as a means of building and harnessing the capacity of our increasingly ICT savvy youth population.”
“Going forward, the government will expand its investment in ICT infrastructure to extend connectivity to un-served and underserved areas. In this regard, attention will be paid to the issue of multiple taxations of ICT infrastructure. A robust, safe and resilient infrastructure is the key enabler of a digital economy.”
Also, the Special Adviser on ICT to the Governor of Ogun State, Bunmi Adebayo stressed the need for a synergy between ICT professionals and service providers on one hand with the aim to recognize problems and attendant solutions for alleviation. He further emphasized the Government’s role in creating and enacting necessary social policies to address such problems.
Adebayo highlighted some of the achievements of the Ogun State Government through the Bureau of ICT.
“We have been innovative in this end in Ogun State and it may interest you that Ogun State is the First State to provide the longest Government Sponsored 250-kilometer Fiber optic layout in the Country in partnership with MainOne Cable, a private sector company, in a “Quid pro quo” arrangement by giving concession on Right of Way fees. The first to deploy a Satellite-based ICT solution to deliver Precision Management to Agricultural potentiality of our land, Pertinent positioning of our Agro-cluster and Agricultural yields.”
The first to host the only CISCO Networks Academy Support center (ASC) for English Speaking West and Central Africa stretching to the Gambia and Southern Nigeria which is managed by the center”, Adebayo said.
The theme for this year’s meeting of the National Council on Communications Technology was Leveraging ICT as a Vehicle for Economic Recovery and Growth. It began with a technical session on Monday 19th November and ended on Friday 23rd November. The meeting focused on how the highly acknowledged potentials of the ICT sector can be used to achieve the main policy objectives of economic recovery and growth.
The National Council on Communications Technology is the highest governmental policy advisory body in the ICT sector with the Federal Minister for Communications as the Chairman.
Members of the NCC includes the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications, State Commissioners and highest state official in charge of ICT matters across the 36 states of the Federation; Chief Executives of Government agencies and parastatals in charge of ICT and key private sector stakeholders.