Davidorlah Farms CEO Segun Alabi told people at the National Assembly that the country burns through roughly 10 billion dollars every year on wasted crops after harvest. He said somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of what farmers grow just rots because of sketchy storage, busted roads, and weak processing setups. Alabi pushed for cold storage chains, better rural roads, and solar dryers that smallholder farmers can actually afford.
He mentioned cutting waste would pump up GDP since farmers keep more cash from what they grow, and it opens jobs in logistics and food processing that could help young people and women get work. The exec said turning waste into animal feed, bioenergy, and fertilizer creates new business angles. Less spoilage...
Rural Electrification Agency boss Abba Aliyu snagged a public sector CEO award at the Nigerian NewsDirect anniversary event in Lagos, and he said the recognition belongs to regular people whose lives changed because of power access. The agency has been rolling out programs like DARES and the Nigeria Electrification Project that bring renewable energy to areas that never had reliable electricity before. Aliyu mentioned market vendors no longer burn through half their money on diesel, and students can actually hit the books at night.
The managing director thanked President Tinubu for the chance to run things, and he gave props to his team plus development partners for backing the mission. He told young people at the ceremony that hard...
First City Monument Bank grabbed the best SME-focused bank trophy from the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria after controlling 24 percent of the industry's 1.8 trillion naira small business loans last year. Managing director Yemisi Edun said the bank wants to keep hooking up entrepreneurs with capital and tech tools since they basically run the economy. The financing hits sectors like crop production, trade, and telecom that make up the biggest chunks of GDP.
The Chartered Institute handed out the award at their annual dinner in Lagos, and they based it on Central Bank data tracking how much different banks actually lend to small enterprises. FCMB also runs training programs and advisory services to help business owners figure...
Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company kicked off their free smart meter giveaway under two programs called MAF Tranche B and DISREP Phase 1. The company plans to drop 33,450 meters through MAF for people on Band A feeders and another 22,104 through DISREP for both A and B bands. Angela Olanrewaju from corporate services said customers should not pay anyone for installation or the actual device since everything is covered.
The utility warned that messing with meters or trying to bypass them counts as energy theft with penalties attached. People with unpaid bills can still get meters, but they need to sort out their arrears at an office to switch over to prepayment. The company mentioned that customers blocking installers from...
MTN Nigeria handed out 5 million naira checks to 20 startups that went through their 12-week cloud accelerator thing, and the telco basically said risk aversion keeps holding back the ecosystem. Chief strategy guy Babalola Oyeleye pushed for more teamwork between development groups and founders since most cash flows into fintechs, while other sectors struggle. Victor Asemota jumped on a video call, saying MTN should buy whole companies through mergers instead of just grabbing products, and he mentioned regulatory red tape as a huge blocker for startups across the continent.
The program threw 100 million naira at companies working on fintech, healthtech, agritech, edtech, and cleantech solutions. Lynda Saint-Nwafor from MTN said African...
The Nigerian Society of Engineers just opened its 93rd branch in the Lekki Peninsula area because tons of engineers live and work around there. Abiodun Adelokun got tapped as chairman, and he said the group wants to focus on professional development plus making an impact on the community. Margaret Oguntala's rep talked about how the move strengthens support for practitioners in that fast-growing part of Lagos.
The inauguration event featured a talk on domestic gas infrastructure challenges led by ASPEN Energy boss Nathaniel Oyatogun and gas specialist Nathan Unugbua. The new branch executive team includes people handling everything from technical stuff to publicity and finances. Adelokun promised the chapter will cook up interesting...
Lagos dropped a fortified rice brand called Eko Rice that's packed with iron, zinc, and a bunch of B vitamins after setting up a blending machine at their mill. Agriculture adviser Oluwarotimi Fashola said the state is one of the few mills in the country that can actually fortify rice with micronutrients, and they're putting it into school feeding programs for pregnant women, kids, and older people. The World Food Programme and TechnoServe are backing the whole thing.
The global fortified rice market is supposed to hit 36.6 billion dollars by 2033, and Lagos wants a piece of that action since malnutrition is still messing people up. Permanent secretary Emmanuel Audu mentioned the government is throwing money at better processing gear...
ICP HUB Nigeria content strategist Mana Lamja says tech people and students need to check out Caffeine AI because it lets them build websites and apps without hiring devs or dropping cash on hosting. The no-code platform launched last year by Dfinity Foundation, and users just describe what they want, and the system spits out working digital tools in minutes. Over 400 students have been testing it at spots like Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, where more than 120 people showed up to a session and built actual projects.
Lamja says development costs keep climbing, so this gives young Nigerians a way to skip the technical barriers and focus on their ideas instead. Students have thrown together booking systems, landing pages, and...
Scientists at Ahmadu Bello University's agricultural research arm cooked up sorghum varieties that help farmers dodge security problems in the north. Professor Ado Yusuf said the new plants only grow about one meter tall instead of the usual two meters, and that makes it harder for criminals to hide in the fields. The institute also rolled out biofortified versions packed with iron for people dealing with anemia, plus strains that can fight off pests like striga.
The three releases called SAMSORG 52, 53, and 54 mature faster and can pull 1.3 tonnes per hectare compared to the old 500-kilogram average. Yusuf mentioned that sorghum creates massive demand from breweries trying to cut foreign exchange costs, and production across the...
