Business

Underwater Cables Bring Faster Internet To W’ Africa – Opeke

Published

15 years ago

March 7, 2012

Stretching some 7,000 kilometers along the West African coastline, a submarine fiber-optic cable emerges off the coast of Nigeria to help bridge the digital divide in the continent.

Dubbed Main One Cable, the system links West Africa with Europe, bringing ultra-fast broadband in the region. It runs from Seixal in Portugal through Accra in Ghana to Lagos in Nigeria and branches out in Morocco, Canary Islands, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.

The cable, which has a capacity of 1.92 terabits a second, first went live in July 2010, becoming the first subsea cable to bring open-access, broadband capacity in West Africa, according to Funke Opeke, chief executive of Nigeria’s Main One Cable Company who spoke to CNN, recently.

She says high-speed, low-priced, reliable broadband is key in transforming African economies and creating job opportunities.

“When you think of Africa coming into the information age, you think of educational institutions, you think of business opportunities, you think of social awareness, better communication, transparency in government,” says Opeke, a former executive at U.S. telecoms giant Verizon.

“In order to make Africa (and) Nigeria competitive again and in order to make our schools competitive, to make businesses here competitive and … to give young people access to opportunities, access to markets, access to ideas … we need a society, as a population to be better connected to the internet,” she adds.

After the launch of Main Cable One, more undersea fiber-optic projects have been rolled out in the region, including Glo 1 by Nigerian telecoms group Globacom. Similarly, several other efforts have been deployed in eastern and southern Africa in recent years.

Yet, slow connectivity and high internet costs are still major problems — according to figures by the International Telecommunication Union, Internet-user penetration in sub-Saharan Africa was 10.6% in 2010, far behind the world average of about 30%.

“Even in the countries in which we’re already in-land, broadband penetration is still under 10% rate, so there’s a lot of road for growth and improvement,” says Opeke.

Born in Nigeria, Opeke moved to the United States in 1984 to study at Columbia University. After a 20-year-old career in the U.S. telecommunications industry she returned to Nigeria in 2005, where she saw “first-hand” the country’s absence of internet infrastructure and the need for better web connectivity.

“I just felt personally the need was so glaring and that was what motivated me to start trying to solve the problem,” says Opeke. “The more I looked at it on my kitchen table the more visible it became to put a business together and that’s what I did.”

Starting all by herself, Opeke managed to raise $240 million after securing the support of various investors from the continent.

“It’s all African financing,” she explains, “I look at those people who wrote checks … the angel investors when I had no license, it was a business sheet on a piece of paper and it really wasn’t about making money, it was really about a deep understanding and desire to transform a society and to say that we could address some of these problems Africa had.

“That we understood the challenges, there was a lot of work to be done and that we wanted to pull people on board, pull ourselves together to address those problems,” she adds.

Today, Opeke says, the system has helped improve the availability of internet services, especially in Lagos and Accra, as well as lowering wholesale prices significantly, by up to 80 per cent.

But despite the big decrease in wholesale cost, Opeke notes that consumers have still not seen a difference in the price they pay — she says that Nigeria’s entire infrastructure is self-provisioned by different retail operators, which keep charging the same prices for the domestic part of the services.

“The people who own the distribution networks are not passing on the saving, there’s no open-access distribution or common carriers like you would have in a developed market,” says Opeke.

The lack of a national backbone infrastructure on an open-access basis is also making expensive to move capacity within Nigeria, according to Opeke. As a result, she says, connecting people from the company’s landing point in Nigeria to London costs less than connecting people across Lagos.

“You have to buy that infrastructure from people who own it for their own proprietary use, so it’s a cartel-like situation,” she says.

Therefore, Main One Cable, which does not sell its capacity directly to homes or small and medium-size businesses, has also started investing in distribution infrastructure, building its own networks when it can’t find “commercially reasonable rates,” as Opeke explains.

“The biggest challenge that we see is getting the capacity we have in this big pipe that we brought into Nigeria and Ghana across the region to reach the people and businesses where they need the service,” she says.

Business

Bayelsa To Spend N1.24trn As Diri Presents 2027 Appropriation Bill …Works, Education, Sports, Others Gulp Lion’s Share

Published

1 day ago

November 6, 2026

The Tide

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri has presented the 2027 Appropriation Bill of the State to State House of Assembly.
Christened the ‘’Budget of Assured Prosperity for Sustainable Growth and Development”, the appropriation bill was based on a projected revenue of N1,242, 688,970,520,22.
The Governor said the 2027 proposals were derived from broad stakeholder engagements involving traditional rulers, technical experts, the organised private sector and citizens across the state, noting that it was a historic budget being the first as the state was beginning its fourth decade and presented at a time sustained investments were visible in all the local government areas.
“Our fiscal priorities remain clear: roads and bridges that connect communities, better health and education services, reliable power and an environment in which businesses and families can thrive”, he said.
Presenting the estimates, governor Diri said N840.791 billion representing approximately 68 per cent was proposed for capital expenditure while recurrent expenditure was put at N401.897 billion representing approximately 32 per cent.
He observed that the proposed budget was approximately 22 per cent larger than that of the 2026 fiscal year, which was N1.016 trillion, just as he listed some strategic projects that would continue to receive priority attention in 2027, saying they were all at advanced stages of completion.
The projects according to the governor, include the Ekeremor–Agge Road Phase I, Nembe–Brass Road Phase I, Akaba–Ayakoro Road with spur to Otuegwe 1, Glory Drive Phase 3, Agbere-Elemebiri Road, the 30,000-seater stadium at Igbogene, and the nine-storey state secretariat complex.
The governor expressed the conviction that with work progressing on the three senatorial roads, all local government headquarters would be connected to the state capital and boost socio-economic activities across the state.
“With work progressing on all senatorial causeways, we are moving closer to an ambition our people have held since the creation of the state: to connect the capital to every local government headquarters and open up access to our coastal communities. This will boost fisheries, marine and blue economy enterprises, and tourism.
“These projects demonstrate that our beautiful terrain should not limit our ambition. With resolve, sound planning and prudent management, Bayelsa is building what many once thought were impossible”, he added.
Giving a breakdown of the sectoral allocations, Works and Infrastructure got the lion’s share of N422.84 billion followed by Education ¦ 126.97 billion and Sports ¦ 68.50 billion.
Also, Health was allotted ¦ 53.32 billion, Security N24 billion, Public Utilities N22.94 billion and Agriculture got N17.74 billion.
Diri charged the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to enforce coordination, transparency and accountability and ensure effective implementation of the budget.
According to him, government would continue to improve its model schools, support accreditation of programmes in tertiary institutions, strengthen science and technical education and introduce digital learning tools in schools.
He added that the administration would pursue the upscaling of its 60 megawatts independent power plant to 100 megawatts and prioritise water provision in 2027.
He also remarked that the allocation to the sports sector would enable government accelerate work on the stadium project as the state prepares to host the National Sports Festival.
In his remarks, Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Michael Ogbere, commended Governor Diri for the successful implementation of the 2026 budget, and appreciated him for his visionary leadership.
Hon. Ogbere described Diri as a peace maker, bridge builder and a leader who has constructed roads and bridges across 80% of all communities in the state, expressing confidence that the projects outlined were achievable.
The Deputy Speaker assured the governor of the 7th Assembly’s support and speedy passage of the budget while the Majority Leader, Rt. Hon. Monday Bubou, moved a motion for the members to pass a vote of confidence on Governor Diri and the administration, which was unanimously endorsed by the lawmakers.

Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa

Business

NNPC Targets Two Million Bpd Productions In 2027

Published

2 days ago

November 6, 2026

The Tide

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said that ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector have lifted national crude oil production by 600,000 barrels per day, from about 1.2 million barrels per day to 1.8 million barrels per day.
According to the company, the improvement has strengthened Nigeria’s position as a destination for international energy investment.
Group Chief Executive Officer ( GCEO) of NNPC Limited, Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, made the remarks last week at an Energy Talk titled “Nigeria’s Reform Agenda: Competing for Energy Capital”, moderated by John Defterios, Chairman, MENA, APCO, at the 2026 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Ojulari linked the production growth to the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, an improved investment climate, better investment decisions, and stronger collaboration between NNPC Limited and its partners.
He said the current output level is a milestone in NNPC Limited’s journey towards its 2 million barrels per day target by 2027.
The Company, he explained, is focused on maintaining infrastructure, protecting base production, increasing output from existing assets, and advancing new projects designed to lift production further.
“The figure of 1.8 million barrels per day is a stage in a journey towards our objective.
We are concentrating on the basics, which are maintaining our infrastructure, protecting base operations and executing the projects that will take production higher,” Ojulari stated.
On the domestic market, the GCEO said the removal of petrol subsidy has been accompanied by an expanded Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) programme.
He noted that over 400 CNG conversion centres have been established, while more than 1,000 trucks are transporting petroleum products

Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos

Business

SEREC Demands Independent Forensic Audit Of NIMASA CVFF Funds

Published

2 days ago

November 6, 2026

The Tide

The Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC) has call for an independent forensic audit of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), following conflicting claims over the management and currency status of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).
The centre said the controversy surrounding the fund had reinforced its earlier concerns about transparency, accountability and the possible erosion of contributions through currency conversion and administrative decisions.
In a reaction titled, “Cocks Crow at Dawn — On the CVFF Audit Crisis,” forwarded by SEREC’s representative, Eugene Nweke, the organisation said the latest revelations had vindicated its earlier calls for a comprehensive examination of NIMASA’s accounts from 2004 to date.
SEREC said former NIMASA Director-General, Temisan Omatseye, had disclosed that dollar-denominated contributions were converted into naira and invested in fixed deposits during his tenure, while the incumbent Director-General, Dr Dayo Mobereola, maintained that the fund remained in dollars with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The organisation said the conflicting accounts raised questions about the actual value, location and management of the fund, which was to provide financing support established for indigenous shipowners under the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act.
It argued that shipowners, as contributors to the fund, deserved documentary evidence showing how much had accrued, where the money was domiciled, the interest generated and the amount currently available for disbursement.
SEREC also warned that converting dollar contributions into naira exposed the fund to significant foreign exchange losses, given the depreciation of the local currency over the years.
According to the organisation, if the contributions were converted into naira and retained in that currency, the fund could have suffered a substantial erosion in its real value, undermining its original objective of strengthening indigenous shipping capacity.
It maintained that the CVFF was contributors’ money and should not be treated as government largesse, stressing that shipowners had a legitimate right to demand accountability.
The centre further criticised maritime industry stakeholders, particularly shipowners’ associations, for allegedly prioritising access to the fund over sustained demands for transparency in its management.
SEREC insisted that no disbursement should take place without a comprehensive forensic audit to establish the fund’s financial history and current position.
It said the audit should cover all contributions, currency conversions, investments, accrued interest and administrative transactions relating to the fund from 2004 to date.
The organisation said the findings would provide the necessary clarity on the financial position of the CVFF and help restore confidence among indigenous shipowners seeking access to the facility.

Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos