Category: Business Day

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has called for stronger safety standards, regulation and emergency-response capacity as Nigeria accelerates the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered vehicles.

The Corps said the transition towards cleaner and alternative-energy mobility should not be treated solely as an energy or environmental issue, but also as a critical road-safety concern requiring corresponding changes in regulation, training, vehicle inspection and emergency response.

Osondu Ohaeri, deputy corps commander and corps public education officer at the FRSC National Headquarters, Abuja, in a report said the position reflected the strategic direction of Shehu Mohammed, the Corps Marshal on technology, innovation and safer mobility.

According to Ohaeri, while EVs and CNG vehicles offer opportunities to reduce emissions and support more sustainable transportation, changes in vehicle propulsion do not automatically eliminate road crashes.

He explained that a vehicle powered by electricity, CNG or petrol still operates alongside pedestrians, motorcycles, trucks, cyclists and other road users and remains exposed to risks associated with speeding, poor road design, mechanical failure, driver distraction, fatigue and reckless driving.

‘The EV and CNG initiative aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, especially the SDG 11 and SDG 12, which provide a strong framework because CNG and EVs contribute to cleaner transportation, reduced emissions and more sustainable urban mobility through safer roads and transport systems, cleaner air and healthier communities and more resilient infrastructure,’ Mohammed said at a recent summit of the Nigerian Auto Journalists Association in Lagos.

He said Nigeria’s commitment to international road-safety conventions required the country to ensure that the transition to alternative-fuel vehicles was accompanied by adequate safety measures.

The Corps Marshal also highlighted the FRSC’s National Crash Reporting Information System, FRSC Mobile App and National Community Post Crash Care Initiative as part of the agency’s broader technology-driven approach to road safety and emergency response.

The FRSC said the increasing presence of EVs would require changes in how road-safety agencies, emergency responders, technicians and motorists approach vehicle safety.

Unlike conventional vehicles, EVs rely on high-voltage battery systems, electronic controls and sophisticated software, creating new considerations during crashes, repairs and rescue operations.

One concern is the potential hazard associated with damaged or overheated lithium-ion batteries.

The Corps said emergency responders would need specialised knowledge of high-voltage systems and procedures for safely isolating power sources when responding to crashes involving EVs.

This means that road safety must extend beyond crash prevention to include the ability of emergency personnel to safely manage incidents after they occur.

The relatively quiet operation of EVs at low speeds also presents another consideration, particularly for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users in busy urban environments, residential areas and markets.

The FRSC said public awareness, technological interventions and appropriate regulation would be important in managing such risks.

The emergence of EVs will also require a new generation of technicians trained in high-voltage systems, battery diagnostics and electronic vehicle safety.

The Corps warned that unqualified repairs, unauthorised modifications and incompatible components could introduce additional risks.

The FRSC also stressed that the expansion of CNG-powered vehicles must be supported by effective standards for vehicle conversion, certification, inspection and maintenance.

Nigeria’s significant natural-gas resources provide an opportunity for CNG to play a larger role in the country’s transportation system, particularly as motorists and governments seek alternatives to petrol and diesel.

However, the safety of CNG vehicles depends heavily on the integrity of gas storage systems and the quality of conversion work.

The Corps warned against conversions carried out by unqualified technicians or at unauthorised facilities.

Potential risks from poor conversion include improperly fitted gas cylinders, damaged fuel lines, inadequate ventilation, unsafe modifications to vehicle structures, poor-quality components and failure to carry out appropriate inspections and maintenance.

The FRSC therefore called for stronger standards covering conversion centres and technicians, alongside regular inspection and certification of CNG vehicles.

Drivers and fleet operators, it added, also need adequate information on how to respond to suspected gas leaks, vehicle damage and other emergencies involving CNG systems.

As Nigeria’s vehicle fleet becomes increasingly diversified, the FRSC said existing vehicle inspection and roadworthiness systems would need to evolve to account for the characteristics of new propulsion technologies.

The Corps said the principle that mechanically deficient vehicles should not be allowed on Nigerian roads applies regardless of the source of energy powering the vehicle.

It identified public education, vehicle inspection, personnel training, inter-agency collaboration and technology-driven enforcement as key areas requiring attention.

FRSC personnel, rescue officers and emergency responders would need continuous training to understand the characteristics of EVs and CNG vehicles, particularly during crash response, recovery and evacuation.

The Corps also called for greater cooperation among regulators, vehicle manufacturers, importers, conversion centres, emergency services, fire authorities, transport operators and road users.

The FRSC said Nigeria’s transition to cleaner mobility should be accompanied by continuous review of vehicle safety standards, importation requirements, CNG conversion rules, EV battery and charging safety, inspection procedures, emergency-response protocols, technician certification and fire and rescue preparedness.

The objective, it stressed, should not be to discourage technological innovation but to ensure that new technologies are introduced responsibly.

This approach is consistent with the Safe System model of road safety, which recognises that preventing deaths and serious injuries requires multiple layers of protection involving safe road users, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads and effective post-crash care.

The Corps said no single component could guarantee road safety on its own.

A safer alternative-fuel vehicle, for instance, cannot compensate for unsafe road infrastructure, just as an advanced vehicle cannot eliminate the consequences of reckless driving or poor maintenance.

The FRSC said Nigeria’s road-safety framework must therefore evolve alongside its transportation system to ensure that cleaner mobility also delivers safer mobility.

As EV and CNG adoption expands, the Corps said safety considerations should be incorporated at every stage of the vehicle lifecycle, from manufacturing and importation to conversion, registration, maintenance, driving, crash response and rescue.

The agency said its focus under Mohammed’s leadership would increasingly include preparing Nigeria’s road-safety system for emerging mobility technologies while maintaining its traditional emphasis on enforcement, public education, vehicle roadworthiness and emergency response.

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, four Governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State have rallied behind the party’s candidate, Sharafadeen Alli.

The development followed a strategic meeting involving key APC stakeholders on Sunday at the residence of former frst lady, Kemi Alao-Akala held in Ibadan.

The four Governorship aspirants are former Deputy Governor of Oyo,Rauf Olaniyan; Hakeem Alao, Musibau Ashanike and Usman Bakare.

The alignment with Alli represents a significant step towards resolving differences and consolidating the party around its recognised candidate for the 2027 Governorship election.

The stakeholders agreed that the collective interest of APC and the welfare of Oyo residents should take precedence over previous political differences.

The meeting also reportedly reaffirmed the importance of reconciliation, cooperation and a united structure capable of strengthening APC’s grassroots mobilisation and electoral preparedness.

The development comes as the Oyo APC Reconciliatory Committee intensifies consultations with leaders, former aspirants and other stakeholders to address grievances and establish common political ground.

Sources said the stakeholders resolved to support initiatives strengthening Alli’s candidacy, while encouraging other aggrieved members to embrace dialogue and work toward a common political objective.

Political pundits described the development as a boost to APC’s 2027 preparations, saying the convergence of prominent stakeholders around Alli could enhance the party’s cohesion, mobilisation and prospects in the general election.

The Presidency and Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President have clashed over Nigeria’s worsening security crisis, with Atiku linking 5,091 reported deaths in three months to alleged fiscal waste and governance failures, while the Bola Tinubu administration countered that security agencies killed between 13,000 and 20,000 terrorists and rescued more than 10,000 Nigerians during the same period.

Temitope Ajayi, a senior special assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made the rebuttal in an interview, responding to a statement issued earlier on Sunday by Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.

The dispute has turned security into a broader political and economic argument ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with Atiku questioning whether government spending is delivering adequate protection for citizens, while the Presidency insists that intensified military operations are producing measurable results.

Ajayi accused Atiku of highlighting deaths while ignoring the financial and operational costs of the government’s offensive against terrorists, bandits and kidnappers.

‘In the last three months, the security agencies have, according to official figures, killed between 13,000 to 20,000 terrorists. They have rescued at least 10,000 Nigerians across the DSS, the police, the military,’ Ajayi said.

He cited the rescue of 308 Nigerians abducted in Kwara and Niger states as evidence that security agencies were making progress, adding that women, children and men had been rescued from kidnappers, bandits and Boko Haram insurgents across the country.

Ajayi accused Atiku of deliberately ignoring such achievements because they did not fit his political narrative.

‘He cannot focus on that because it doesn’t serve his politics of despair. All he wants to focus on is despondency to sell fear to Nigerians,’ he said.

Atiku, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, had described the reported 5,091 deaths as a ‘damning indictment’ of the Tinubu administration, arguing that protecting lives and property remained the government’s most fundamental constitutional responsibility.

‘Behind every number is a Nigerian whose life was cut short, a family thrown into mourning, children deprived of parents and communities condemned to fear,’ Atiku said.

The former Vice President linked the insecurity to what he described as fiscal indiscipline, wasteful spending and poor implementation of appropriated funds, arguing that security agencies could not effectively confront terrorism and kidnapping without adequate equipment, operational funding and welfare.

‘A government that cannot protect its citizens has failed the first test of governance,’ he said.

Atiku also welcomed the recent increase in military pay but said improved salaries alone would not resolve the operational challenges confronting troops on the frontline.

His intervention has widened the security debate into an economic argument, with insecurity disrupting farming, trade and investment while increasing the cost of doing business in affected communities.

The Presidency, however, maintains that security agencies are not only conducting rescue operations but are eliminating terrorists, disrupting their logistics networks and arresting suppliers and informants.

Separately, Force spokesperson Ani Iniedu disputed Atiku’s assessment, saying available security intelligence indicated that violent crime had ‘drastically reduced’ over the past six months.

The confrontation comes as Tinubu’s administration seeks to demonstrate that increased security operations are translating into greater protection for Nigerians, while Atiku seeks to turn insecurity into evidence of wider failures in governance and fiscal priorities.

With the 2027 election approaching, the security debate is increasingly becoming a contest over more than casualty figures. It is also a battle over whether government spending is delivering security, economic stability and confidence for Nigerians.

David Mark, National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and Atiku Abubakar, the party’s Presidential candidate, have urged Osun voters to protect their votes and resist any attempt to manipulate the electoral process ahead of Saturday’s Governorship election.

Mark gave the charge in Osogbo, Osun State, while handing over the party’s flag to Najeem Salaam, as the ADC candidate for the election.

The call was contained in a statement issued by Kola Ologbondiyan, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the ADC national chairman.

Mark urged ADC supporters to remain vigilant, organised and determined, warning against any attempt to subvert the will of the electorate.

The former Senate President charged party supporters to remain committed to the electoral process while mobilising voters across the state to deliver victory for Salaam.

Atiku, who also addressed the gathering, said the ADC had assembled some of Nigeria’s finest political leaders and professionals capable of providing effective leadership at both state and national levels.

He assured Nigerians that the party possesses the competence, capacity and vision required to transform the country and improve the welfare of citizens if given the opportunity to govern.

The ADC leaders’ comments came as political parties intensify their final mobilisation ahead of Saturday’s Osun governorship election, with the contest expected to test the strength of the major political platforms and their ability to translate campaign support into votes.

Meanwhile, Titilola Adeleke, the First Lady of Osun State, on Monday led a protest by women to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Osogbo, over alleged killings and arrests ahead of the August 15 Governorship election.

The protesters demanded a free and fair election and called for the invitation of Francis Fadahunsi, Senator representing Osun East; Wole Oke, member of the House of Representatives representing Obokun/Oriade; and Kehinde Raji, an APC chieftain for questioning.

They also called for those they accused of involvement in the alleged killings to be questioned and made to sign undertakings to maintain peace ahead of the election.

The protest began at Laro Grammar School and passed through Lameco and WOCDIF before ending at the State CID.

The women further expressed concern over reports that their leaders could be arrested during the week during the protest that began at Laro Grammar School and passed through Lameco and WOCDIF before ending at the State CID.

Responding to the protesters, Samuel Etaifo, Commissioner of Police deployed for the election, said there had been relative peace in the State since his arrival, warning that the protest could cause fresh tension if rival groups were to converge.

‘Let us assume that you come out now and the other party comes out, then both of you meet, what will happen?. We are going to go back and restrategise to attend to all your demands.

‘Why I am discussing with you is because we don’t want tension before the election, we want peace, we cannot conduct election in an insecure environment. I have the mandate from the IG to come to the state to stabilize things, give an enabling environment for every political actor to exercise their franchise, to create public confidence for everyone to come out to vote on election day.

‘If you are a manipulator of any election, that is even the worst, the IG and Nigeria will not forgive you, I will arrest you and take you to Abuja because this election is a federal election we must get it right, ‘he said.

In a regulatory push to eliminate increasing luggage delays and missing baggage across domestic and international terminals, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is preparing to mandate Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology across Nigerian airports.

The automated system will replace the traditional barcode-centric framework, granting both airlines and passengers real-time, non-line-of-sight visibility of checked luggage from the point of check-in to final reclaim.

Speaking at a stakeholder engagement forum on Tuesday, Michael Achimugu, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the NCAA, emphasised that baggage-related complaints remain one of the most frustrating pain points for Nigerian travelers, secondary only to flight delays and cancellations.

‘For many years now, one of the biggest complaints in the industry has been that of baggage, it’s either passengers’ bags have been short-landed, missing, lost, or destroyed,’ Achimugu said.

‘After delayed flights, baggage issues are the biggest problem. So what we’ve decided to do is improve the system by automating it. The technology we are looking to use now is RFID to replace the current technology being used.’

Traditional barcodes require ground handlers to manually align a laser scanner with a printed paper tag on every luggage. If a tag is twisted, torn, dirty, or obscured, the scanner fails to read it.

RFID tags, by contrast, embed a tiny microchip and antenna that broadcast location data via radio waves. Scanners can instantly read multiple tags through containers, baggage belts, and cargo holds without needing a direct line-of-sight.

RFID reader mounted on conveyor belts and ramp loaders automatically flag misrouted items before they enter the hold, making it virtually impossible to accidentally load a bag bound for Kano onto a Lagos-bound aircraft.

‘Standard regulations allow airlines up to seven days to locate and reconcile short-landed baggage with domestic travelers. With RFID tracking, missing or misrouted luggage can be identified and located instantly,’ Achimugu explained.

A central component of the rollout is a dedicated mobile application designed to put tracking data directly into the hands of travellers.

Through the app, passengers can monitor their bag’s exact progression in real time, confirm that baggage has entered the sorting belt, monitor updates as the bag reaches the foot of the aircraft and is stowed in the cargo hold and see live status confirming when the luggage arrives at the carousel.

‘Even while you have boarded, you can check to be sure that your bag is on that flight,’ Achimugu explained.

‘And if for any unforeseen circumstance your bag has not landed with you, you can tell even without complaining to the airline where your bag is. So when you call to complain, you can tell them specifically, ‘I’ve landed in Lagos, but my bag is in Enugu.’

While the technical implementation is being driven in collaboration with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as the infrastructure owner, the NCAA is currently reviewing civil aviation regulations to make automated RFID tracking mandatory for all airlines operating within Nigerian airspace.

Integration with various airline operating systems is already underway, with the contract expected to be finalized shortly and operations targeted to commence before the end of the year.

One of the biggest misconceptions I’ve encountered throughout my career in product management is the belief that more features automatically make a better product.

I’ve been in conversations where success was measured by how many features made it into the next release. Teams celebrated shipping faster, roadmaps became longer, and backlogs kept growing. On the surface, it looked like progress. But over time, I realised that releasing more features doesn’t necessarily create more value.

In fact, I’ve seen products become more complicated because every customer request was treated as something that needed to be built. The result was often a product with an impressive list of capabilities but a frustrating user experience. Customers weren’t asking for more buttons, more menus, or more options. They were looking for a product that solved their problems without making their lives more complicated.

That realisation changed the way I think about product management.

Today, I don’t judge a product by the number of features it offers. I judge it by the number of problems it solves. The products that earn customer loyalty are rarely the ones with the longest feature list. They’re the ones that consistently remove friction, simplify difficult tasks, and create experiences people genuinely want to return to.

I’ve come to believe that great product management isn’t about saying ‘yes’ to every feature request. It’s about understanding the problem behind the request, making thoughtful trade-offs, and building solutions that create meaningful value over time.

For me, that has become the real measure of a successful product, not how much we’ve built, but how much better we’ve made life for the people using it.

Why customer problems should drive product decisions

One of the biggest shifts in my thinking as a product manager happened when I stopped looking at products through the lens of technology and started looking at them through the eyes of the customer.

Early in my career, it was easy to get excited about what was possible. New technologies, innovative features, and ambitious ideas always felt like the right direction. But over time, I realised that customers rarely care about how technically impressive a product is. What they care about is whether it solves a problem they face every day.

That realisation changed the questions I ask before any product decision is made. Instead of asking, ‘What can we build next?’ I now find myself asking, ‘What is frustrating our customers?’ ‘What are they trying to achieve?’ and ‘How can we make that experience simpler?’

I’ve learned that great product management begins with curiosity. It means spending time listening to customers, observing how they use a product, paying attention to their frustrations, and sometimes reading between the lines. In my experience, customers don’t always tell you the solution they need, but they almost always reveal the problem they’re trying to solve.

Some of the most valuable product insights I’ve encountered didn’t come from dashboards or feature request lists. They came from conversations with users who explained why they abandoned a task, what slowed them down, or what they wished was easier. Those moments have taught me that empathy is just as important as analytics.

When product managers genuinely understand the people they are building for, decision-making becomes much clearer. Features are no longer added because they’re trendy or because competitors have them. They’re built because they solve real problems and create meaningful improvements in the customer’s experience.

For me, that has become one of the defining responsibilities of product management. Before thinking about roadmaps, releases, or new functionality, I believe we have to understand the people behind the product. When we start there, building something customers truly value becomes a much more achievable goal.

From building features to delivering outcomes

If there’s one mindset I’ve had to unlearn over the years, it’s the idea that shipping more features automatically means we’re making progress. Early on, I found myself celebrating product releases because they represented months of hard work. But as I gained more experience, I realised that launching a feature is only one small part of the journey. What matters is what happens after customers start using it.

I’ve seen teams work tirelessly to deliver new functionality, only to discover that adoption was low or that the feature didn’t solve the problem it was intended to

address. Those experiences taught me that shipping a feature and creating value are not the same thing.

Today, before I get excited about adding something new to a product, I try to step back and ask a few simple questions: What customer problem are we trying to solve? How will this make our customers’ lives easier or better? And how will we know if we’ve actually made a difference?

Those questions have changed the way I approach product decisions. They shift the conversation away from outputs and toward outcomes. Instead of focusing on what we’re building, we focus on the impact we want to create.

For me, success is no longer measured by the number of features we release or how

Quickly we ship them. It’s measured by whether customers can accomplish their goals more easily, whether their experience improves, and whether the product delivers value that keeps them coming back.

I’ve come to believe that great product managers don’t chase feature counts; they chase meaningful outcomes. They understand that every feature should have a purpose, every release should solve a real problem, and every product decision should move customers closer to success.

In the end, customers rarely remember how many updates a product received. They remember whether that product made their work easier, saved them time, or solved a problem they genuinely cared about. And to me, that’s the outcome worth building for.

Creating products that customers continue to choose

One thing I have learned throughout my experience in product management is that building a successful product is not about creating something customers use once. The real challenge is creating something they continue to choose over time.

A product can attract attention when it launches, but long-term success comes from the value it continues to provide. Customers stay with products that understand their changing needs, solve their problems consistently, and improve alongside them.

I have seen teams become so focused on launching the next big update that they forget one important question: Are we still creating value for the people who already use our product? Growth is important, but maintaining customer trust and loyalty requires just as much attention.

For me, great products are built through continuous learning. Every customer interaction, piece of feedback, and usage pattern provides an opportunity to understand what is working and what needs to improve. The best product teams do not assume they already have all the answers; they create systems that allow them to keep learning from their users.

Feedback loops play a major role in this process. Listening to customers is not just about collecting opinions; it is about understanding the experiences behind those opinions. Sometimes a customer asking for a specific feature is actually revealing a deeper challenge they are trying to solve. The responsibility of a product manager is to uncover that underlying need and find the right solution.

I believe the strongest products are never truly finished. They evolve. They adapt to changing customer expectations, market conditions, and new opportunities. The products that last are not always the ones that launch perfectly; they are the ones that continue improving because the teams behind them are committed to listening and learning.

At the end of the day, customers do not build relationships with products because of individual features. They stay because the product continues to make their lives easier, helps them achieve their goals, and proves that the company understands what they need.

That is where lasting customer value is created.

The evolving role of product managers

One of the biggest misconceptions I have encountered about product management is the idea that product managers are simply responsible for deciding what features get built.

While features are part of the job, I have learned that great product management goes far beyond managing a roadmap or prioritising a list of requests. At its core, product management is about solving problems. It is about understanding customers, identifying opportunities, making difficult decisions, and bringing people together around a shared vision.

A product manager sits at the intersection of many different worlds. We have to understand the needs of customers, the goals of the business, the possibilities and limitations of technology, and the importance of creating experiences that feel intuitive and valuable.

Balancing these priorities is not always easy. There are times when customer needs may conflict with business objectives. There are moments when an exciting idea may not be realistic from a technical perspective. There are situations where we have to decide what not to build, even when there is pressure to do more.

Those decisions are where product management truly happens.

Over time, I have realised that the best product managers are not the ones who simply have the authority to make decisions. They are the ones who can influence, collaborate, and bring different teams together toward a common goal.

Product management requires leadership without always having direct authority. It means earning trust from engineers, designers, executives, and customers. It means being able to communicate a vision clearly and help teams understand why a particular problem is worth solving.

I believe the role of the product manager will continue to evolve as products become more complex and customer expectations continue to rise. The future product manager will not be defined by the number of features they deliver but by their ability to identify meaningful problems and guide teams toward creating solutions that truly matter.

Because ultimately, great product managers are not feature owners. They are advocates for customers, strategic thinkers for businesses, and problem solvers responsible for creating lasting value.

After everything I have learned throughout my journey in product management, I have come to believe that customers rarely remember how many features a product has.

They remember how that product made their lives easier.

They remember the problems it helped them solve, the moments when it saved them time, and the experiences that made them feel understood. That is the difference between a product that is simply used and a product that becomes valuable.

I have seen teams put enormous effort into building more features, expanding roadmaps, and delivering faster releases. But the products that truly stand out are not always the ones with the most capabilities. They are the ones that continue to solve meaningful problems and create experiences customers genuinely appreciate.

For me, great product management has never been about building more for the sake of building. It is about making thoughtful decisions, understanding people deeply, and creating solutions that have a real impact on their lives.

The best product managers are not measured by how many features they deliver or how long their backlogs become. They are measured by the value those decisions create, the problems they solve, the trust they build, and the customers they continue to serve.

In the end, great product management is not measured by what we build. It is measured by the difference what we build makes.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday inaugurated 18 township road projects constructed by Governor Bala Mohammed.

Jonathan, at the ceremony held at Bauchi State Radio Corporation (BRC) Yelwa, said that there is no any society that can achieve sustainable growth without reliable roads.

He said that roads remain critical for development, connecting communities, facilitating commerce, creating opportunities and promoting inclusive growth.

‘This 49.7km road network is more than asphalt. It is a celebration of visionary leadership, responsible governance, and purposeful investment in infrastructure that directly improves the quality of life of our people’, the former president noted.

But, Governor Bala Mohammed expressed his appreciation to the former president for coming to inaugurate 18 township roads in Bauchi State.

‘We are always encouraged by your enduring contribution to Nigeria’s democratic development and even our personal development as people who learn from you as your mentees. Your presence has added great honour and national significance to this occasion’, the governor said.

The governor said the N58.7 billion road projects were undertaken and are up to standard with durable pavement, drainage, culverts, road markings, and solar-powered street lighting on selected routes.

He further said that the impact of the 49.7km intervention was already evident in improved mobility, a boost to economic activity, and job creation.

‘Our desire was to develop about 5,000 kilometres of roads, but so far we have done about 3,000 kilometres since we came on board. Our infrastructure program is not about road construction. It is about opening economic opportunities, improving livelihoods, and laying a solid foundation for the prosperity and growth of Bauchi State,’ he noted.

He said that all the achievements would not have been possible without the support and cooperation of the good people the State, especially members of the State Assembly and the Commissioners.

‘The resources are not inexhaustible that we can do them all, but those who have not been able to get roads, I believe if you vote APM Governorship Candidate, Yakub, to come in 2027, he’s going to continue from where I will stop’, he added.

Also speaking at the occasion, Titus Saul Ketkukah, Professor and Commissioner for Works and Transport, said Governor Bala Mohammed had consistently demonstrated that good governance must translate into visible and meaningful development that directly improves the lives of citizens.

The Commissioner said Governor Bala’s investment in roads and other critical infrastructure is a clear indication of his determination to creating a better, more connected and economically vibrant Bauchi State.

‘As the Ministry responsible for works and transport, we are committed to supporting this vision by ensuring that all projects under our supervision are properly executed and delivered according to approved specifications and required standards’, he said.

Nigeria’s fight against insurgency is entering a phase where firepower alone may no longer be enough.

The country’s ability to win on the battlefield could increasingly depend on how soldiers can communicate securely, share intelligence quickly and keep their networks alive when terrestrial infrastructure fails.

That is putting satellite communications, artificial intelligence and resilient networks at the centre of Nigeria’s security challenge.

Jane Egerton-Idehen, managing director of NIGCOMSAT, in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay, said satellite technology has long supported Nigeria’s military operations, particularly in areas where conventional telecommunications infrastructure is unavailable.

The next challenge, however, is to build a communications system that can survive attacks, work across difficult terrain and automatically move between different technologies when one network fails.

‘Technology itself doesn’t solve the problem. It is the tool that you use to gather intelligence, to take actions in real time based on the data used,’ Egerton-Idehen said.

Her comments point to a broader weakness in Nigeria’s counterinsurgency campaign, in that, having military hardware is only one part of the equation. The advantage comes when intelligence gathered from different sources reaches commanders quickly enough to support decisions and when troops remain connected while operating in remote areas.

The communications battlefield

Nigeria’s insurgency has exposed the limits of terrestrial communications infrastructure in parts of the country. Military operations can take place in forests, deserts, mountains, waterways and other locations where mobile networks and fibre infrastructure are either weak or unavailable.

This is where satellite becomes strategically important.

NIGCOMSAT provides communications support to the Army, Navy and Air Force, including ground, maritime and aviation operations.

Satellite connectivity allows military traffic to be carried beyond the reach of conventional networks. A soldier, aircraft or naval platform operating far from a mobile base station can still communicate if the appropriate satellite equipment and coverage are available.

For the military, that is more than a connectivity issue, as it is a command-and-control issue.

If troops cannot reliably communicate with commanders, intelligence cannot be transmitted quickly, orders can be delayed and battlefield decisions can be made with incomplete information.

Dave Davis, senior technical director, Global Government at iDirect, told BusinessDay that communications resilience is central to modern warfare.

‘Resilience is not a case of stopping from being attacked because you will be attacked. It is more about how quickly you can bounce back from being attacked,’ Davis said.

That distinction is important for Nigeria. The objective is no longer simply to prevent a network from being disrupted. It is to ensure that when a network is disrupted, another communication path is immediately available.

Nigeria needs a ‘system of systems’

NIGCOMSAT is moving towards what Egerton-Idehen described as a multi-orbit strategy, combining geostationary satellite capacity with low-Earth orbit technology.

The logic is straightforward: no single communications technology can reliably cover every battlefield condition.

Fibre can provide high-capacity connectivity but is fixed and vulnerable to physical disruption. Mobile networks offer broad consumer coverage but may not reach remote military operating areas. Satellites can cover difficult terrain but require appropriate terminals and supporting infrastructure.

The answer, according to Egerton-Idehen, is to connect these systems rather than choose one over another.

Davis described this as a ‘system of systems’, where different communications technologies provide layers of protection.

For the military, that could mean switching between terrestrial networks, satellites and other communication links depending on what is available at a particular moment.

This is where artificial intelligence could become increasingly important.

iDirect is working toward automated network management that can determine which communication path should be used as conditions change. Davis described the approach as ‘auto-PACE’, automatic switching between primary, alternate, contingency and emergency communications.

In a high-pressure battlefield environment, the value is not only technical. It reduces the cognitive burden on soldiers and commanders.

A battlefield commander should be focused on intelligence and decisions, not on figuring out which communication system is working.

The intelligence gap

Nigeria’s insurgency problem is often framed around weapons, troop numbers and military platforms. But the technology challenge is also about how quickly information moves from the field to the person making the decision.

Drones, satellites, sensors, mobile devices and other systems can generate intelligence. But intelligence has little operational value if it cannot be transmitted securely and quickly to the right people.

That makes communications infrastructure part of the intelligence chain.

Egerton-Idehen said technology must be viewed as part of a wider system involving intelligence gathering, inter-agency coordination and real-time decision-making.

‘There will be no perfect systems. That is why resilience matters,’ she said.

A military network designed around a single technology creates a single point of failure. A network with multiple technologies, frequencies and satellite orbits can continue operating even when one layer is disrupted.

For Nigeria, that could be critical in areas where insurgents and bandits operate across large territories and difficult terrain.

Cyberattacks are becoming another battlefield

The physical battlefield is not the only threat. As military operations become more dependent on connected systems, the communications infrastructure itself becomes a target.

NIGCOMSAT says it is adopting security measures including zero-trust architecture, identity management, authentication, password protection, software and firmware updates, disaster recovery and business continuity.

The objective is to ensure that an attacker who penetrates one part of the system cannot automatically compromise the entire network.

This is increasingly important because the satellite infrastructure supporting military communications can itself become a strategic target.

Davis said iDirect is also looking at post-quantum encryption, anticipating a future in which advances in computing could undermine some of today’s encryption technologies.

That illustrates the pace of the security race.

‘The threat evolves. The defence must evolve with it,’ Dave’s stated.

The 2028 deadline

The urgency is also being driven by the age of Nigeria’s existing satellite infrastructure.

NIGCOMSAT-1R is due to reach the end of its operational life in 2028.The agency plans to replace it with two new assets.

A new geostationary broadband satellite is planned for 2028, while a dual-band satellite is expected in 2029, with the latter intended to serve defence and military users. NIGCOMSAT also plans a software-defined satellite as part of the next generation of its infrastructure.

That transition gives Nigeria an opportunity to redesign its military communications architecture rather than simply replace an ageing satellite with another one.

The strategic shift is from a satellite to a network. From a single asset to multiple orbits and from static communications to systems capable of automatically choosing the most resilient path.

The rural connectivity test

The same infrastructure is also being tested outside the battlefield.

NIGCOMSAT’s 774 Local Government Connectivity Project aims to provide broadband connectivity to local government secretariats across Nigeria.

So far, 45 locations across eight states have been completed. The second phase is expected to cover the remaining 28 states. The pilot has exposed some of the practical difficulties of connecting Nigeria’s most remote communities.

Egerton-Idehen said teams had to use canoes to transport equipment to some locations, while power shortages created another problem: even after connectivity infrastructure was installed, unreliable electricity could prevent equipment from remaining operational.

Those challenges mirror the military problem. Nigeria’s hardest-to-reach locations are also some of the places where communications are most strategically valuable.

The next generation of military communications

NIGCOMSAT’s planned transition to multiple satellites also comes as the global satellite industry moves closer to direct-to-device connectivity.

Unlike traditional satellite broadband, direct-to-device technology allows compatible phones and other devices to connect directly to satellites without a conventional satellite modem.

NIGCOMSAT is exploring partnerships in the area. The potential military and commercial applications are significant.

Power companies could connect remote infrastructure. Farms could connect Internet-of-Things devices. Mobile operators could extend coverage into areas where building terrestrial infrastructure is uneconomic.

For the military, the technology could eventually provide another layer of communication in areas where conventional networks are absent.

But the larger lesson is that Nigeria does not need to choose between fibre, mobile networks and satellites. It needs all of them to work together.

The real technology gap

Nigeria’s biggest technology gap in the insurgency war may therefore not be the absence of satellites, drones or advanced equipment. It is the ability to connect these technologies into a resilient system that can turn information into action.

A satellite can provide coverage. A sensor can collect intelligence. AI can process information. A military radio can carry an order.

But if those systems do not communicate with one another, the technology advantage is lost.

Davis said effective intelligence shared quickly can give a military force a decisive advantage.

That puts communications at the heart of command and control.

For Nigeria, the next stage of the insurgency fight may therefore require a shift in thinking: from acquiring individual military technologies to building an integrated communications and intelligence architecture that remains operational when parts of it are attacked or fail.

The country’s military does not necessarily need a perfect system. It needs a system that can keep working when the battlefield becomes imperfect. And as insurgents increasingly adapt to the technology used against them, Nigeria’s advantage will depend on how quickly its own systems can evolve.

For a long time, data engineering operated quietly in the background – the discipline responsible for moving data from one system to another, building ETL pipelines, and keeping databases running efficiently. Important work, but rarely seen as strategic. Conversations about growth, innovation, and competitive advantage happened in boardrooms, while data engineering stayed firmly behind the scenes.

That has changed, though not everyone agrees it needed to. Some CFOs still see it the old way: ‘We’ve run this business on spreadsheets and quarterly reports for twenty years,’ one manufacturing finance chief said, unconvinced that another platform investment was worth the line item. It’s a reasonable position if nothing else had changed. But everything else has. As organisations become increasingly dependent on data to understand customers, improve operations, and embrace AI, the quality of their decisions is determined by the quality of the data supporting them – and that quality doesn’t happen by chance. It’s engineered.

The real shortage is confidence, not data

Having access to vast amounts of data is no longer the hard part. Every business already generates more information than it can use, from customer interactions, digital platforms, operational systems, and connected devices – the real challenge is turning that constant stream into something reliable, timely, and meaningful. One of the biggest obstacles organisations face isn’t a shortage of data; it’s a shortage of confidence in it.

It’s strikingly common for different departments to report different figures for what should be the same business metric. Finance, sales, and operations may each present their own version of revenue or customer numbers, leaving leadership debating which report is accurate instead of discussing what to do next. These situations are usually symptoms of fragmented systems, inconsistent definitions, and disconnected processes, not isolated reporting errors. Modern data engineering addresses this directly: instead of information living in silos, it’s integrated, validated, and governed so everyone across the organisation works from the same trusted source. When leaders have confidence in the data in front of them, decisions become faster, more collaborative, and far more effective.

Sceptics are right that this takes real effort – untangling years of inconsistent definitions is slower and less glamorous than buying a new dashboard. But the alternative is what most organisations are already living with: a standing tax of every leadership meeting starting with ten minutes of reconciling numbers before anyone can discuss what those numbers mean.

This isn’t just a reporting problem

The effects compound in ways that rarely get named directly. Analysts who spend their careers reconciling conflicting reports don’t stay engaged for long, and the best ones leave for organisations where their skills go toward analysis instead of arbitration. The organisations bleeding data talent this way rarely blame their data foundation for the departures – they blame compensation, or culture, or the market – without noticing that the daily experience of the job was the real problem.

A useful test for any executive team: pick a metric that matters – customer lifetime value, order accuracy, whatever the business actually runs on – and ask three different departments to report it independently. If the numbers match without a meeting to reconcile them first, the data foundation is doing its job. If they don’t, the gap between those numbers is a rough estimate of how much slower every strategic decision in the company is running compared to a competitor who passed that test.

Yesterday’s reporting cadence is now a liability

Speed has become a defining factor of its own. Not long ago, waiting until the next day for a report was considered perfectly acceptable. Today, that delay can mean a missed opportunity. Retailers need to monitor demand as it shifts in real time. Financial institutions need to detect suspicious transactions as they happen, not after settlement. Manufacturers need to catch production issues before they become costly disruptions. Healthcare providers increasingly depend on timely information to support patient care. Businesses are no longer operating in yesterday’s economy, and yesterday’s reporting models are no longer sufficient.

Modern data engineering enables organisations to process information as events unfold instead of reacting after problems occur – identifying patterns earlier, responding faster, and making decisions while there’s still time to influence the outcome. That shift, from hindsight to real-time insight, has become a genuine competitive advantage rather than a technical nicety.

The unconvinced CFO’s twenty-year-old spreadsheet model isn’t wrong about the past – it’s just describing a business that competed on a different clock speed. A manufacturer that used to review defect rates monthly and now catches a drifting sensor reading within the hour isn’t running the same business with better tools. It’s running a business its slower competitors can no longer keep pace with, one quarter at a time, without ever noticing exactly when the gap opened.

The same logic applies inside a single department, not just across an industry. A support team that can see a customer’s full history the moment they call responds differently than one waiting on a report from yesterday. A pricing team that sees demand shift this afternoon can adjust before a competitor does, rather than reading about the shift in next month’s summary.

AI doesn’t fix bad data. It amplifies it.

The excitement around artificial intelligence has only reinforced the importance of getting data right. Organisations are investing heavily in AI, expecting it to unlock efficiency and new opportunities, yet many discover that sophisticated algorithms cannot compensate for poor-quality data. If the information used to train a model is incomplete, inconsistent, or outdated, the results will reflect exactly those weaknesses – just faster and with more confidence.

In most cases, successful AI initiatives begin long before the first model is built: with well-designed data platforms, clear governance, reliable pipelines, and strong quality controls already in place. Data engineering provides the structure that lets AI deliver meaningful outcomes, rather than an impressive demo with no real business value behind it. The unconvinced CFO’s spreadsheet-and-quarterly-report model, notably, never needed to answer this question – nobody expected a spreadsheet to make an autonomous decision. An AI system is a different kind of tool, judged by a different, less forgiving standard.

Consider a demand-forecasting model built for a retailer’s holiday season. It performed well in testing against six months of historical data. Three months after launch, a supplier consolidation quietly changed how inventory data was categorised upstream, and the model kept generating forecasts – confidently, and increasingly wrong – for weeks before anyone traced the drop in accuracy back to a pipeline nobody had flagged as changed.

Scale and governance aren’t separate problems

Scalability is where modern data engineering quietly creates strategic value that’s easy to overlook. Businesses evolve, customer expectations shift, new digital products emerge, acquisitions bring in new systems, and data volumes grow at remarkable speed. Infrastructure that performs well today can struggle to meet tomorrow’s demand if it wasn’t designed with growth in mind. Cloud-native platforms and modern architectures let organisations expand without constantly rebuilding their technology landscape, treating growth as something to design for rather than a problem to solve later. Organisations that wait until scale becomes a crisis tend to pay for it twice: once in the emergency migration required to keep the business running, and again in the opportunities missed while engineering attention was consumed putting out that fire instead of building whatever came next.

Of course, as organisations collect and use more data, responsibility scales right alongside capability. Customers expect their information to be handled securely. Regulators expect proof of compliance. Executives need assurance that the number behind a major decision is accurate and traceable. This is where governance becomes more than a compliance exercise – effective data engineering embeds it directly into the platform’s design through access controls, lineage, quality monitoring, and security measures that keep information trustworthy throughout its lifecycle. Built well, governance isn’t the tax on innovation critics assume it is; it’s the reason leadership can move fast without gambling on data it can’t verify.

It’s worth being honest that this is genuinely more work than the spreadsheet era ever required. A shared drive with quarterly reports never needed an access-control policy or a lineage diagram. But a shared drive also never automated a credit decision, personalised a product recommendation, or flagged a fraudulent transaction in real time. The extra discipline isn’t bureaucracy for its own sake – it’s the price of the capability, paid once, at the platform level, instead of repeatedly, at the point of every individual mistake it prevents.

The real shortage, revisited

It’s worth returning to that manufacturing CFO one more time, because the objection was never unreasonable – it was incomplete. Spreadsheets and quarterly reports worked fine for a business that made decisions once a quarter. They stop working the moment that same business tries to automate a decision, personalise an offer, or catch a defect before it reaches a customer. The tool that was good enough for yesterday’s cadence simply isn’t built for today’s, and no amount of familiarity with the old tool changes that math.

Beyond the dashboard

Business leaders should think past individual dashboards and one-off reporting projects, which is a different mandate than most data teams are currently funded for. The real opportunity is building a platform that supports innovation for years, regardless of which specific technology or vendor happens to be fashionable this budget cycle. That’s a harder sell in a boardroom that still measures data engineering by uptime and cost rather than by the speed and confidence of the decisions it enables – but it’s also exactly the sell that separates the organisations still explaining a failed AI pilot from the ones already three initiatives ahead.

Looking ahead

Perhaps the most significant shift is how organisations now view data engineering itself. It’s no longer simply an IT function responsible for keeping infrastructure running. Increasingly, it’s a driver of business agility – organisations that can quickly turn raw data into actionable insight are better positioned to spot market trends, respond to customer needs, and adapt to changing conditions than those that can’t.

The competitive advantage was never about who holds the most data. It’s about who turns it into action fastest and most reliably. As AI, automation, and predictive systems become more deeply embedded in everyday operations, that gap will only widen. The businesses still treating data engineering as invisible infrastructure are the ones that will be explaining, a few years from now, why their AI investment never delivered. The ones treating it as a strategic foundation will already have moved on to the next opportunity.

Liverpool supporters’ group Spirit of Shankly has called for greater transparency over a reported bid by a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to acquire a significant minority stake in the Premier League club.

The group urged Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), to put the interests of the club and its supporters first amid reports that the consortium is closing in on a deal for 30 percent of Liverpool stake.

The investment group is led by Amit Bhatia, son-in-law of Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, and also includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Bezos.

FSG confirmed in July that it had received an approach from Bhatia’s consortium.

However, a report by Sky News on Monday claimed the group was nearing an agreement to acquire roughly one-third of Liverpool, with FSG potentially preparing to announce the transaction as early as this week.

Supporters demand transparency

Spirit of Shankly has written to Liverpool requesting further information about the proposed deal and a meeting to discuss its potential implications for the club.

‘Putting the interests of LFC and its supporters first is fundamental to us all,’ the supporters’ group said.

‘The latest report of a 30 percent sale and the consortium set up to buy it is significant. The ownership and custodianship of our club is paramount to SoS and all supporters.

‘We have witnessed similar sales at other clubs resulting in notable changes in the running of that club and football operations, leading to decisions and behaviours that many would not want to see at Liverpool.’

The group’s concerns centre on the potential impact of a new minority shareholder on Liverpool’s ownership structure, decision-making and football operations.

Bezos-led consortium targets Liverpool stake

Bezos, 62, is among the world’s wealthiest individuals, with Forbes estimating his fortune at more than $280 billion. Saverin’s wealth is estimated at $33 billion.

The Amazon founder has previously explored opportunities to acquire stakes in major American sports franchises, including the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders, although neither deal materialised.

A transaction involving Liverpool would make Bezos one of the latest high-profile billionaires to invest in English football.

Liverpool’s value has risen significantly since FSG acquired the club in 2010, with reports valuing the Premier League champions at around £4.4 billion ($6 billion) in the proposed transaction.

FSG would, however, retain control of Liverpool under the reported structure.

FSG faces scrutiny over ownership

The potential investment comes as Liverpool continue to operate under FSG’s ownership, with the American sports investment group having explored external investment while maintaining overall control of the club.

Supporters are now seeking assurances that any new investment will not alter Liverpool’s identity or influence decisions affecting the club’s sporting operations.

Liverpool won the Premier League title in the 2024/25 season under Arne Slot, but the Dutchman was dismissed in May following a turbulent campaign, with Andoni Iraola subsequently appointed as his replacement.