MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola earned $3.4 million in 2025
MTN Nigeria chief executive and Vice President, Francophone Africa, Karl Toriola, earned R56.997 million (approximately ₦4.69 billion, $3.4 million) in total compensation in 2025, a 61.2% jump from the previous year. Toriola’s compensation included R17.9 million ($1.07 million) in earnings, including benefits, R15.18 million ($908,571) in short-term incentive (STI) compensation, and R23.9 million ($1.43 million) in long-term incentives (LTI) vesting, according to MTN Group’s 2025 full-year financial report released on Wednesday. MTN Group’s record performance year and a higher share price drove up his bonuses and equity awards. It is Toriola’s highest single-year compensation, including bonuses, since 2021, when he became CEO of MTN Nigeria. Short-term bonuses were determined 70% by company performance and 30% by team performance, while long-term incentives vested after three years and are tied to strategic and sustainability metrics, according to the 2025 report. Performance bonuses tied to annual targets and long-term incentives vested in shares at a price 62% higher than the previous year, according to the report. Karl Toriola’s Total Compensation (2021–2025) Figures represent total single-figure remuneration in millions of Rand (R). Hover over bars for details. R50.05M 2021 R43.34M(Restated: R50.20M*) 2022* R39.07M 2023 R35.36M 2024 R57.00M 2025 *Nuance Note: The 2023 Annual Financial Statements restated his total 2022 remuneration as R50.20 million (from R43.34 million) depending on the accounting methodology for currency splits and share gains. Source: MTN Group’s Integrated Financial Reports, 2021–2025 TECHCABAL TOOLS “The increase in total remuneration between FY 2024 and FY 2025 is primarily attributable to the vesting of long-term incentives and the increase in share price, which was R124.6 in the FY 2024 vesting and R202.2 in the FY 2025 vesting,” MTN Group said in its report. “Furthermore, the increase in company performance weighting to 70% for all executives, combined with strong Group performance, resulted in higher STI payouts.” Toriola’s shares held at MTN—including shares in MTN Nigeria and Scancom (MTN Ghana)—were valued at R43.65 million ($2.6 million), which is 2.94 times his required minimum shareholding, according to the report. Group CEO Ralph Mupita held shares valued at R269.6 million ($16 million)—6.78 times his required minimum shareholding. Executives sold shares in March A March 31 regulatory announcement filing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) shows that Toriola, along with other MTN executives, sold shares in March following their vesting under the Performance Share Plan (PSP). Toriola sold 72,053 MTN shares on March 26 at a volume-weighted average price of R202.2 ($12.06), realising R14.57 million ($869,000) in proceeds. The shares were described as an off-market sale, according to the filing. The Karl Toriola Era: 2021–2025 Hover over or tap the bars to view Revenue, Profit, or Loss figures. Rev: ₦1.65TProfit: ₦307.2B 2021 Rev: ₦2.01TProfit: ₦348.7B 2022 Rev: ₦2.47TLoss: ₦137.0B 2023 Rev: ₦3.36TLoss: ₦400.4B 2024 Rev: ₦5.20TProfit: ₦1.11T 2025 REVENUE PROFIT LOSS Source: MTN Financial reports, 2021–2025 TECHCABAL TOOLS Mupita also sold his entire vested allocation of 239,229 shares for R48.4 million ($2.9 million), while CFO Tsholofelo Molefe sold 50,991 shares and retained 58,666. MTN South Africa CEO Ferdi Moolman sold 69,836 shares for R14.1 million ($841,500), and Senior Vice President, Markets, Ebenezer Asante sold 86,634 shares for R17.5 million ($1 million). According to the filing, MTN said it obtained prior clearance for all transactions in accordance with its policy and JSE’s listing requirements. On April 7, Toriola and other senior executives at MTN were awarded shares tied to the company’s 2010 Performance Share Plan (PSP). The MTN Nigeria CEO received 28,704 shares worth approximately ₦463.7 million ($335,000). The shares carry a three-year vesting period ending in December 2028 and are tied to performance conditions, including fintech growth, 5G expansion, net zero emission in environmental, sustainability, and governance (ESG) targets, and broader group competitive metrics.
Read MoreYC-backed fintech Grey registers as payment service provider in Canada
Grey, a Y Combinator-backed cross-border payments platform, has been registered as a payment service provider (PSP) in Canada under the country’s regulatory framework for payments companies, the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA). The move builds on Grey’s earlier integration with Interac, a Canadian interbank network, which allows Grey users to send Canadian Dollars directly to any Canadian bank account. Between 2019 and 2024, merchandise exports from Canada to Africa grew by 13%, while imports from Africa increased by 109%. Still, payments across the trade corridor rely on multiple intermediary banks, which could lead to slow settlement times and high foreign exchange costs. Founded in 2020 by Joseph Femi Aghedo and Idorenyin Obong, Grey plans to sit at the centre of these global money flows by offering multi-currency accounts in dollars, pounds, and euros, enabling transfers to more than 170 destinations. “Registering under the RPAA framework is an important step in aligning our operations with Canada’s regulatory expectations,” said Obong. “Our goal is to provide a reliable and transparent way for users to send money to Canada, with delivery times that can be near real-time depending on the payment method used.” The RPAA, which came into effect in 2024 and is overseen by the Bank of Canada, sets standards for local and foreign payment service providers, including their registration requirements and how they manage operational risk, safeguard customer funds, and report incidents. By registering under the framework, Grey can now offer payment services directly to users in Canada while complying with local regulatory standards. Under the RPAA, PSPs are required to implement stronger safeguards around customer funds and system failures. Grey will now be expected to provide annual compliance reports to the Bank of Canada and undergo an internal review every three years to assess compliance. Grey said it is also registered as a Money Services Business with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) in Canada and with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in the United States.
Read MoreHe survived a misdiagnosis. Then he built an AI platform for clinical decisions.
On March 20, 2017, Clement Okoh walked into a Lagos hospital with what previous doctors he consulted believed was a muscle strain and routine pain. Hours later, he said he could no longer walk. He later learnt the muscle strain diagnosis was incorrect. What had been dismissed as routine pain was later diagnosed as aggressive multiple myeloma—blood cancer that develops in plasma cells—eating away at his spine. By the time the error became clear, the damage was severe. The tumour had weakened his vertebrae —the bones that form the human spinal column—so much that a minor fall was enough to fracture his spine and leave him paralysed. Within hours, Okoh said he was flown to the United States. The doctors at John Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, he said, gave him four to five years to live, with a range of immediate risks: stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, blood poisoning, and internal bleeding. Surgeons removed the tumour and fused his spine. Okoh recalled his neurosurgeon once telling him that he would never walk again. But he did. That recovery did more than save his life; it shaped his direction afterwards. During his time in intensive care and rehabilitation, he resolved that if he survived, he would return to Nigeria and work on building systems that could reduce the chances of similar outcomes in the future. That promise became Monte Sereno Health, an artificial intelligence-powered platform designed to deliver proactive primary care and continuous health management, founded in 2021. The company is attempting to address a deeper structural problem in Africa’s healthcare systems: fragmentation. Patients often move between informal providers, under-resourced clinics, pharmacies, and labs that rarely share data, while overstretched doctors make decisions with limited information. A 2021 World Health Organisation (WHO) report on health information systems found that 30 of 47 African countries lacked the capacity to accurately register births and deaths, with cause-of-death data largely unavailable. The absence of common data standards further limits the ability to integrate and compare health information across systems. Okoh’s misdiagnosis, he said, was not simply incompetence. It was the predictable outcome of a fragmented system, where doctors operate with limited data, patients carry paper records, and there is little real-time verification or support during clinical decisions. In many cases, diagnosis depends on a single doctor’s judgment, often without access to full patient history or decision support tools. A study by Mayo Clinic, a non-profit academic medical centre, shows that up to 20% of serious conditions are misdiagnosed during initial visits globally. Telehealth, which has expanded access in recent years, does not fully solve the problem. It connects patients to doctors, but offers little oversight or quality control during consultations. “You have no idea who you’re talking to, and there’s no real-time quality check,” Okoh said. Monte Sereno’s answer, Okoh stressed, is not another telemedicine app. It is what he describes as a healthcare operating system: a full-stack digital infrastructure designed to sit above and connect every part of the care journey. A healthcare operating system Instead of isolated consultations, the platform works by embedding artificial intelligence (AI) into every interaction. During a medical session, Monte’s AI agent, called StarPilot, sits alongside the doctor and patient, analysing symptoms in real time, pulling medical records, and querying global research databases. If a patient reports a fever and headache, the system does not stop at common assumptions. It asks where the patient has travelled, cross-references disease prevalence, and suggests follow-up questions or tests. A visit to Lagos, for instance, would trigger prompts to rule out malaria or typhoid and not just flu. The goal for Monte is not to replace doctors but to reduce the margin of error, according to Okoh. A 2025 cross-sectional study of Nigerian medical practitioners found that prevalence rates for medical errors range from 42.8% to as high as 89.8%. “The AI can challenge both the doctor and the patient in real time,” Okoh said. “But the doctor still makes the final call.” One of the platform’s central features is a portable electronic health record that follows the patient across providers and geographies. Monte Sereno’s system digitises records, even from paper, using uploads. Once integrated, the data becomes part of a continuously updated profile that informs every interaction on the platform. The system not only stores information; it interprets it. If a medication becomes unsafe due to new research, the platform flags it automatically. If a doctor prescribes a conflicting drug, it alerts both parties. Designing for scarcity Monte Sereno is being built with Africa’s constraints in mind, according to Okoh. The continent faces a deepening health workforce crisis, with a projected shortfall of 6.1 million workers by 2030. At the same time, data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNECA shows a $66 billion annual gap in health financing. In Nigeria, doctor-to-patient ratios can reach one to 10,000, according to the Nigeria Medical Association. In some rural areas, patients travel more than 30 kilometres from their homes to get medical attention where available. Through built-in translation tools, Monte allows doctors in other countries like India, Egypt, and Latin America to consult with patients in Nigeria without language barriers. In pilot tests, multilingual consultations were conducted seamlessly, with each participant seeing responses in their preferred language. It also supports shared consultations, where multiple patients can be assessed using a single device. Inspired by trials in India, this model helps extend care to communities with limited access to smartphones and reliable internet, where a single phone can serve thousands of patients. But this approach raises privacy concerns. When multiple patients use the same device, sensitive data, such as medical histories, diagnoses, and personal details, can be exposed if safeguards are weak. In low-connectivity settings, where devices are reused, and security is harder to enforce, the risks of data leaks or unauthorised access increase. Without strong encryption, user authentication, and clear data separation, patient confidentiality could be compromised, especially in communities where health-related stigma is high. Okoh
Read MoreChams profit rises 188% as cybersecurity revenue triples
Chams Holding Company Plc, a Nigerian identity management and transactional technology provider, grew its profit by 188.44% to ₦429.40 million ($311,281) in the first quarter of 2026, as rising demand for cybersecurity services boosted its earnings. Revenue rose 8.52% to ₦4.20 billion ($3.05 million), while a 7.18% drop in cost of sales boosted profitability, according to its unaudited Q1 results. The results highlight cybersecurity as a key growth driver for Chams, as Nigerian organisations ramp up spending to defend against escalating cyber threats and stricter regulatory demands. While biometrics and card services still anchor revenue, the security and digital infrastructure are emerging as the next phase of expansion. Revenue from its cybersecurity and infrastructure business jumped 240.11% to ₦730.31 million ($529,417), meaning the company has already achieved 88.44% of its full-year 2025 revenue from the segment in just one quarter. The surge reflects a broader shift in Nigeria’s risk environment. Cyberattacks have intensified across financial institutions and government agencies, with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigeria’s tech regulator, pushing for organisations to begin disclosing breaches and share intelligence to improve collective resilience. Through its subsidiary, Chams Access, which provides cybersecurity solutions, the group is benefiting as organisations ramp up spending on cyber defence. Data Explorer The Chams Revenue Engine While legacy hardware provides scale, Cybersecurity is the new multiplier. Toggle the timeline below to see how shifting revenues and dropping costs drove a massive 188% profit spike. Q1 2025 Q1 2026 Cybersecurity & Infrastructure ₦730.3M Biometrics & Devices ₦1.61B Data Card Products ₦1.80B Total Revenue ₦4.20B Cost of Sales ₦2.87B Net Profit ₦429.4M TechCabal Source: Chams HoldCo Unaudited Financial Statements Biometrics and cards still drive scale Beyond cybersecurity, the company’s more established businesses continue to deliver scale. Card-related revenue, classified as “data card products supply,” generated ₦1.80 billion ($1.31 million) in Q1, driven by increased SIM card production for telecommunications providers. CardCentre, a Chams subsidiary, said it was producing about three million SIM cards monthly and 5,000 bank cards daily as of September 2025. Biometrics, another core revenue line, contributed ₦1.61 billion ($1.17 million) in the quarter. The company remains a key player in biometric identity solutions, with clients across government and financial services, including First Bank and Sterling Bank. In 2025, biometrics was its largest segment, generating ₦10.65 billion ($7.72 million) out of total revenue of ₦17.48 billion ($12.67 million). Since 2025, Chams has aligned its strategy around SIM distribution, payments infrastructure, and digital services. In August, 2025, the company announced plans to raise ₦7.65 billion ($5.55 million) to invest in a card personalisation plant and expand into cross-border digital payments. By February 2026, it had created a new subsidiary, ChamsCorp Plc, to target opportunities in artificial intelligence and data centre infrastructure. For now, one of its fastest-growing opportunities is tied to a more immediate concern for many organisations: cybersecurity.
Read MoreMTN Nigeria says rising fuel costs could wipe $102 million off profits
MTN Nigeria has warned that rising fuel prices could affect its profitability this year, even as the country’s largest telco operator delivers record revenue growth and rebounds from last year’s currency shocks. In its Q1 2026 results released on Wednesday, the company said it expects a 1.8 to 2.0% decline in full-year Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) margins if diesel prices average ₦2,000 ($1.45) per litre in the second half of the year. Based on current revenue levels at ₦1.5 trillion ($1.09 billion), an expected decline of 2.0% would translate into an estimated ₦120 billion ($87.24 million) to ₦140 billion ($101.78 million) hit to profits. After eliminating most of its exposure to foreign exchange volatility, following the repayment of $105 million in dollar-denominated loans in Q1, MTN Nigeria now faces a more structural constraint: the rising cost of power. The outlook reflects mounting volatility in Nigeria’s fuel market, shaped by both global and domestic pressures. In March, an escalation in the US–Israel–Iran conflict triggered the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz, pushing crude prices above $100 per barrel. The shock quickly fed into Nigeria’s deregulated market, raising import costs and tightening supply. Dangote Refinery increased its petrol gantry price to ₦874 ($0.64) per litre from ₦774 ($0.56). In contrast, retail prices at independent fuel stations climbed to ₦1,200 ($0.87) per litre in some states “We continue to monitor developments in the operating environment, including energy price volatility and regulatory dynamics,” MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola said in the Q1 report. “Based on an assumed average Lagos ex-depot diesel price of ₦2,000 ($1.45) in H2, we estimate a 1.8–2.0pp impact on full-year EBITDA margin.” The projected margin squeeze comes despite strong underlying performance. MTN reported a 165.9% increase in profit after tax to ₦355.5 billion ($258.44 million), while service revenue rose 41.8% to ₦1.5 trillion ($1.09 billion). EBITDA margin expanded to 55.3%, up 8.7% year-on-year, supported by cost discipline and pricing adjustments. The company’s profitability is increasingly tied to energy costs, reflecting the realities of operating telecom infrastructure in Nigeria. With an unreliable national grid, MTN relies heavily on diesel generators to power more than 20,000 base stations nationwide. As diesel prices rise, the cost of running the network increases sharply. This creates a mismatch between revenue growth and cost escalation, where higher data consumption does not necessarily translate into higher margins. Data usage continues to surge, with average consumption per subscriber rising to 14.3GB, driving a 56.2% increase in data revenue. But each additional gigabyte carries a higher energy cost, compressing profitability. The pressure is already visible in MTN’s operating expenses. Direct network operating costs rose 13% year-on-year to approximately ₦1.39 trillion ($1.01 billion), reflecting higher spending on diesel, electricity, and power system maintenance. The company also faces indirect energy costs through tower lease agreements. MTN leases most of its infrastructure from companies such as IHS Towers and American Tower, where contracts include “power indexation” clauses that pass rising fuel costs directly to tenants. When MTN Nigeria renegotiated its lease contract with IHS Towers and ATC on August 8, 2024, reducing the energy cost component was cited as one of the main reasons to support the recovery of its capital positions. At the same time, the cost pressure is reshaping MTN’s investment strategy. Capital expenditure nearly doubled to ₦390.3 billion ($283.74 million) in the quarter, with a growing share directed at improving energy efficiency. The company is accelerating the deployment of solar-hybrid systems and exploring gas-powered alternatives to reduce reliance on diesel.
Read MoreAt AVCA summit, investors push pragmatic approach as Africa’s exits surge
The African private capital market is entering a pragmatic phase, delegates at the African Private Capital Association’s (AVCA) annual conference heard, as venture-backed exits reached record levels in 2025 even as fundraising remained tough. Opening the association’s 22nd Venture Capital Summit in Nairobi on Wednesday, AVCA chief executive Abi Mustapha-Maduakor acknowledged the headwinds facing the sector but pointed to shifts witnessed in 2025. AVCA’s annual gathering brings founders, venture capital investors, corporate venture arms, philanthropic foundations, and policymakers “The centre of gravity is moving toward local capital, local expertise, and local conviction,” she said. Her remarks come as venture funding across Africa has slowed from its peak, mirroring a pullback in global risk capital, even as 2025 recorded a 25% year-on-year rebound to $3.4 billion. But investors at the conference argued that the adjustment is forcing a long-overdue rethink of how capital is deployed on the continent. “There’s a tendency to think something is broken when it doesn’t behave like the US,” said Tidjane Dème of Partech Partners. “African venture capital isn’t broken, it’s just young.” Increased deals Annual venture deal volumes have risen from about 30 a decade ago to more than 500 in 2025, while total investment has grown from roughly $400 million to about $4 billion, according to Mohamed Eissa of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Despite that growth, investors said earlier assumptions about valuations and exit timelines have proved unrealistic in African markets, where regulatory hurdles and fragmented demand can slow growth. The question of exits remains a concern. With initial public offerings still rare, investors are now turning to mergers and acquisitions, which increased by 72% in 2025, as the most viable path to liquidity. Patricia Rinke of AfricInvest, a pan-African financial services company, and Andreata Muforo of TLcom Capital, an Africa-focused venture fund, said acquisitions should be treated as the primary exit route rather than a fallback, requiring greater coordination among funds across markets. Local capital Pressure is also building for domestic institutional investors to play a larger role. Alex Rumanyika of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Uganda urged African pension funds to reduce their heavy exposure to government securities and allocate more capital to private companies. “If we don’t get into this space, it is going to be an existential threat,” he said, warning that pension funds risk missing out on sectors driving job creation and economic growth. Alongside venture capital, private credit is emerging as an alternative financing source, particularly for more established businesses. Investors said the asset class offers more predictable returns in markets where exits remain uncertain. “What works in Africa is deploying into stronger, more resilient businesses,” said Nathaniel Micklem of Ninety One, a global investment manager, cautioning against applying traditional private equity models too broadly. Walid Cherif of BluePeak Private Capital, a global asset management firm, said companies across the continent continue to perform even in the absence of clear exit opportunities, but warned that fund managers must demonstrate consistent returns to build credibility with investors.
Read MoreAmazon’s satellite internet unit Kuiper seeks Kenya licence after Nigeria approval
Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite internet project, which rebranded in November 2025 as Amazon LEO, is seeking regulatory approval to operate in Kenya as part of a broader push to expand across Africa. The company applied to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) for a Network Facilities Provider (NFP) Tier 2 licence that would allow it to build and operate telecommunications infrastructure nationwide, according to a regulatory notice dated April 17, 2026, seen by TechCabal. It would operate under the subsidiary Amazon Kuiper Kenya Limited. The move follows its recent regulatory breakthrough in Nigeria. In January 2026, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) granted Project Kuiper a seven-year licence covering satellite transmission, internet service provision, and international data gateway operations, clearing the company to begin operations from February. While commercial services have yet to launch there, Kenya could become another key test market as Amazon looks to establish a foothold in Africa’s evolving broadband landscape. Under Kenya’s telco licencing regime, a Tier 2 permit is meant for companies that build the behind-the-scenes infrastructure, like fibre cables, telecom towers, and data networks. Unlike the top-tier licences used by big mobile operators such as Safaricom, it still allows a company to operate across the country, but it must apply for radio frequencies in specific areas instead of getting one nationwide allocation. For Amazon, this means it can deploy ground infrastructure across Kenya’s 47 counties using a mix of technologies, including fibre backhaul and satellite-linked stations, but would still need to apply for spectrum in specific locations. The licence runs for 15 years and carries an upfront fee of KES 15 million ($115,000), alongside an annual levy of 0.4% of gross turnover. The regulatory requirements also introduce local ownership constraints. Kenya mandates that at least 30% of the licensee’s equity be held by citizens, although foreign firms are typically granted a three-year window to comply. Applicants must also incorporate a local entity, submit a detailed rollout plan, and meet tax compliance standards. Amazon’s entry would come at a time when satellite internet is already reshaping segments of Kenya’s broadband market. Starlink, operated by SpaceX, has emerged as the eighth-largest internet service provider in the country, with just over 22,000 subscribers as of December 2025. Starlink currently holds three primary types of authorisations in Kenya, including an international Gateway Systems and Services (IGSS) licence, Landing Rights Authorisation (LRA), and Application Service Provider (ASP) Licence While Starlink’s overall market share remains below 0.9%, it dominates the high-speed segment, accounting for more than half of all connections exceeding 100 Mbps. That growth has been driven in part by aggressive pricing strategies tailored to local conditions. Starlink offers installment payment plans and hardware rentals to lower the barrier to entry in a price-sensitive market, allowing households and small businesses to spread equipment costs over several months. If approved, Kuiper’s entry into Kenya would intensify competition not only among satellite providers but also with established local players such as Safaricom and Jamii Telecommunications, which dominate the fixed and mobile broadband markets. “The grant of these licences may affect the public and local authorities, companies, persons or bodies of persons within the country,” the CAK notice noted.
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Inside the spam call machine behind Nigeria’s digital lending boom
In early 2025, Peace*, a research assistant at Covenant University, Ogun State, Southwestern Nigeria, had a health emergency and was short on cash. So, she did the first thing that came to mind: open the OPay app to take a loan. She navigated to EaseMoni, a loan product offered through OPay’s lending arm, reviewed the repayment terms, and took some loans. It was ₦6,000 ($4.21) the first time. Then subsequently, ₦24,000 ($16.85). Peace told TechCabal she repaid the loan before the one-month deadline, closed the app, and moved on. The app, however, did not. Image source: Chima David/TechCabal Image source: Chima David/TechCabal A few days later, the calls began: an automated and relentless stream of reminders about loan discounts and improved offers. “It was like an automated response, [talking] about how my loan discount has increased and how I should apply for a new loan,” Peace said. “Mind you, you don’t even have to eventually take the loan for them to bombard you with calls. Just going over the options alone without eventually borrowing will trigger the calls.” Image source: Lanre Adebanjo/ TechCabal Months later, she says, the calls have not stopped. “I’ve been looking for how to turn that [call] thing off, but I can’t find [how to]. It’s so annoying,” she said.Peace is not alone. In January 2026, Lagos-based growth professional Franklyne Ikediasor shared a curious experience on LinkedIn. After embarking on what he described as a personal “exercise” to understand Nigeria’s booming digital lending market, he found himself at the centre of a flood of unsolicited loan pitches. Image source: Chima David/TechCabal Image source: Chima David/TechCabal Ikediasor said his experiment allowed him to “test and experience a wide range of loan applications firsthand, reviewing limits, disbursement speed, interest rates, fees, and repayment structures.” Despite only interacting with a select few platforms, he soon began receiving calls and messages from lenders he had never even heard of, some offering to “buy over” his existing loans in a bid to capture his interest. “This is clearly illegal,” Ikediasor told TechCabal, adding that he scanned the 200-page terms-of-use documents for data-sharing loopholes. “Because I interacted with one application doesn’t mean that data should be passed to another. It’s not just an infringement; it’s predatory.” For a researcher and growth professional like Ikediasor, it did not sit right. “On average, I get about three [spam] calls a day,” he said. “I’ve already had two today. Some are robocalls, but others are human beings speaking to you,” he said. Image source: Chima David/TechCabal Image source: Chima David/TechCabal Their experience points to a broader issue: some digital lending companies and telcos have become persistent in calling their users. Across Nigeria, customers report a barrage of unsolicited promotional calls that disrupt work and invade privacy. For many, the calls continue even after they block numbers, clear outstanding debts, or—in extreme cases—delete the app entirely. Customers say these calls are rarely from human agents. Instead, users claim they are greeted by automated recordings pushing a variety of financial products, from airtime coupons to loan limits. The implications of automation that persists after an app is deleted go far beyond annoyance. It could allow Nigerians to normalise calls from random, unverified mobile numbers, creating a massive opening for vishing (voice phishing) scams, involving tricking people into sharing sensitive information over the phone. According to a 2025 report by the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL), phishing is one of the most frequently reported cybercrimes in Africa. The report stated that cybercriminals regularly impersonate recognised authorities and prominent corporations, exploit widespread unemployment by offering fabricated jobs, and use mobile platforms for prize-related and emergency-based scams. Since users are accustomed to organisations using unofficial channels to push loans, they are significantly more vulnerable to fraudsters who mimic this tone to hijack accounts. TechCabal also conducted a broader survey with 120 respondents across Nigeria. 79.2% said they frequently receive spam calls. The respondents include 54 Nigerian employed professionals whose workdays are being systematically interrupted, while the other respondents are students and unemployed young people. Image source: Chima David/TechCabal Image source: Chima David/TechCabal Of the 95 respondents who reported receiving these calls, 36 named OPay as a primary source of harassment. Other frequently cited sources included associated services such as EaseMoni and OKash, as well as telecommunications giants such as MTN and Airtel. EaseMoni, OKash, MTN, and Airtel did not respond to requests for comments as of presstime. TechCabal also spoke to 20 OPay customers across Lagos, Ogun, Abuja, and Plateau states. Their accounts revealed a consistent pattern: a high-frequency calling model that persists regardless of loan status, often utilising a rotation of mobile numbers to bypass blocks and filters. Adedayo Ojo, an associate consultant at TechCabal Insights, who says he receives OPay calls “at least four times a week,” captured a recording of one. In the audio clip, a female robotic voice said: “Enjoy a daily interest rate as low as 0.3%. Borrow ₦10,000 and repay as little as ₦10,900 in one month. Log in to your OPay app now to check your limited-time offer.” Click below to answer or decline the call. OPay declined to comment as of the time of publication. Seamless onboarding, relentless outreach OPay’s rise in Nigeria, following its entry in 2018, was built on simplicity. Months after entry into the country, the company implemented the strategy of using a phone number as an account number. This design choice lowered the barrier to entry for millions of unbanked Nigerians. However, this same phone-number-as-identity model inadvertently created a double-edged sword. While it made onboarding seamless, it also turned their direct phone lines into the primary target for the company’s customer retention and marketing strategies. Several current users were originally acquired through OPay’s earlier ecosystem approach, which included services like ORide, an on-demand motorbike ride-hailing service, and OFood, a food delivery service. By consolidating those users into a unified database, OPay successfully retained the users as fintech customers. The guardrails of data privacy The Nigeria Data Protection Act
Read MoreNgozi Chukwu chose journalism, then blockchain, and found her function
Ngozi Chukwu’s earliest childhood memory is of writing a song on her balcony. She was in her first year of secondary school, maybe 11 or 12 years old. She had moved to a new secondary school and was having a terrible time. So she went home and wrote. The song had a Hannah Montana beat. It is still in her head. Years later, she would win multiple writing prizes at a petroleum company’s summer camp. But she never imagined that media was something she would do. “It seemed to me a thing that was natural to me, to be able to write things, poems, compositions, essays,” she says. “So I thought that the harder thing was science, engineering.” She studied electronic engineering at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, one of Nigeria’s premier federal universities. When engineering killed the joy Chukwu had started university excited. Then came her first laboratory class, and it was terrible for her. “It was obvious to me that this lab was not for 2013,” she says. “There was no space for us to breathe. I can’t explain to you how deeply my heart sank. I gave up on school.” That is where she says she lost her spirit. Not the joy of learning—the joy of classes, of school, of the structure she thought would guide her. She started spending time at the art faculty instead and became interested in social impact. She volunteered as a grant writer for a non-governmental organisation (NGO). She participated in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), a mandatory one-year program for Nigerian university graduates, as a teacher in Ilorin, the capital city of Kwara State in the North Central region, teaching English, geography, and history. It felt meaningful to her. When she returned to Lagos after her service year in 2020, she wanted to continue to teach. She got a job at a private school with ten kids in her class. But she realised quickly that she did not know how to do the job well. “I felt like the kids were smart, they were learning things faster, and they were already good,” Chukwu says. “ The teachers had to do extra. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough extra. So I had to try to sit down and learn how to teach and come back, or just find something else to do.” Around that time, NFTs and Web3 started trending, and she got curious. After research, she thought blockchain could change the world. She started unpaid writing for projects that would later pause for different reasons. But it made her interested in reporting about tech. Then she saw an opening at TechCabal, a media publication reporting on Africa’s tech ecosystem. With no previous experience in journalism, Chukwu was reluctant to apply, but the publication’s reputation convinced her. “I hadn’t done many interviews then; quite frankly, I hate interviews,” she says. “Being in a formal setting to be assessed causes my brain to freeze.” She said she had gotten the job by being honest, maybe too honest. In her interview, when she was asked what the best thing she had written was, she said, “A joke.” She explained that one of her biggest ambitions was to be a funny person, to make people laugh. “It felt like the most obvious thing to say when I was asked,” Chukwu recalls. “ I talked about the blockchain projects I had written for obvious reasons, but I tried to let my personality shine through in the blogs and poems I mentioned. I was nervous about it, but they said they were good. I guess they were, because I got the job.” The painting and the panic On Chukwu’s first day at TechCabal as a junior newsletter writer, she was sweating because she had jumped buses. She wore tiny braids to look professional. She was nervous. On that first day, she was sitting in one of the offices with other employees and was trying not to panic. Then she looked to her right and saw a painting by Shutabug, a digital artist. A big parachute carrying a danfo, the yellow buses that served as public transportation, plying the roads of Lagos. “I can’t explain to you how that made me feel,” she says. She has written about that painting seven times since. “There’s a function to these things,” she says. “Art does something in the moment, even aesthetically.” In her first three weeks, she said she cried a lot and fell sick. She did not understand newsletters or how to rehash news. Her friends asked if she was sure she could do it. “I don’t believe in myself,” she recalled telling them. “I’m quitting.” But she did not quit. “I’m not a quitter,” she clarifies. “I’m a complainer. But I’m not a quitter.” She had a good manager, Timi Odueso, whom she calls the best manager ever. He taught her how to make rehashing news interesting. The more she wrote, the more interested she became in what was happening in the world. She started to understand the function of the work. People needed stories. People used stories. It felt good to be necessary. What she learned about breaking news Over time, Chukwu discovered what kind of stories she liked. Business and product stories. Breaking news. She covered Chowdeck as a product, the ecosystem’s network with the Paystack Mafia, and an analysis on the impact of failed startups on the ecosystem. She loved being the first to report something. “I loved covering those because people’s idea of what fintech is in Africa is very different,” she says. But she also learned something frustrating: to get the best of these stories, you need sources inside companies. And Chukwu insists that in Africa, this is slightly more difficult. “People don’t really care about their jobs that much,” she says as an observation. “And I think maybe that’s the thing that’s different about our ecosystem versus Silicon Valley. People there love to defend their work. People
Read MoreNigeria moves to mandate organisations to disclose cyber attacks amid rising threats
Nigeria is moving to end the culture of silence around cyberattacks, pushing banks, fintechs, and other organisations to disclose breaches or at least share intelligence in the wake of rising threats. Kashifu Abdullahi, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigeria’s tech regulator, said organisations must begin disclosing breaches, or at the very least, share intelligence, because attacks are becoming more frequent and increasingly interconnected. “The landscape is elevated because of AI and other dynamics, and we are all connected,” Abdullahi told TechCabal on the sidelines of GITEX Africa in Morocco on April 9. “If one organisation is compromised, it can become a launch pad for others.” His comments come as cyber incidents continue to hit both financial institutions and government agencies, more recently, the Corporate Affairs Commission. Despite this, reporting remains weak. In its latest publicly available fraud report, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) said only 60 out of 163 institutions reported fraud incidents in 2023, a compliance rate of just 37%. “Non-reporting of fraud incidents is a breach of the CBN circular on the Establishment of Industry Fraud Desks,” it said. Data from the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) showed that the amount involved in fraud cases reached ₦5.26 billion ($3.81 million) across 14,697 incidents in the third quarter of 2025. For Abdullahi, the reluctance to disclose incidents is rooted in reputational concerns that no longer hold in a connected digital ecosystem. “If you look at what happened recently, they exploited a bank, from the bank they got access to Remita, and so on,” he said. “That notion that if I am attacked and I make it public, it will damage my image has to change.” Instead of silence, regulators want structured information sharing across institutions and agencies to prevent attacks from spreading across the system. NITDA said it is working with the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy to improve coordination among agencies and private sector players. On April 1, Minister Bosun Tijani said the government would partner with industry players to establish a cybersecurity coordination council. Three weeks later, he said the council will focus on building a coordinated national cyber resilience framework anchored on accountability, intelligence sharing, and policy alignment. The Central Bank of Nigeria has also stepped in. On March 30, it introduced a cybersecurity self-assessment tool (CSAT), requiring financial institutions to evaluate their preparedness for threats, while formally recognising AI as a tool in combating financial crime. “We are always trying to be ahead of the game,” Abdullahi said. If Nigeria follows through, it would align with a growing global shift toward mandatory breach disclosure and coordinated cyber defence. In Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires organisations to notify users when a data breach poses a high risk. In Africa, Algeria mandates breach reporting within five days, while Kenya requires initial disclosures within 48 hours. Under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), organisations must notify both regulators and affected individuals after a breach. In April, 2025, regulators tightened enforcement by requiring companies to log incidents through a central portal, detailing what happened, the data involved, and mitigation steps. According to the International Monetary Fund, stronger reporting and information sharing among financial institutions can significantly improve collective resilience against cyber threats. For Nigeria, regulators are now betting that forcing more openness, whether through disclosure or intelligence sharing, will make the system harder to exploit.
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