Nigeria doesn’t want to be caught off guard again. It’s a lesson every nation learns eventually: in a global crisis, self-sufficient is important for survival, not just for pride. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the country had to wait months while wealthier nations hoarded vaccine supplies. By the time Nigeria…
Author: Smart Megwai
Smart Megwai
Smart is a technology journalist covering innovation, digital culture, and the business of emerging tech. His reporting for Innovation Village explores how technology shapes everyday life in Africa and beyond.
When you think of a Civil Servant, you may picture stacks of paper, formal processes, and long queues. When you think of an AI Expert, you might imagine a world of technology and data. These two images seem very different. But what if combining these two roles could improve government…
Starting November 1, 2025, Nigerians will see higher bills when using ChatGPT and other paid OpenAI services. This is because Nigeria is enforcing a new rule that requires foreign companies to add a 7.5% VAT on their services for Nigerian users. So if you were paying ₦31,500 per month for…
₦6,000,000,000 divided by 250,000 businesses equals ₦24,000 for each business. It’s the math behind one of Nigeria’s largest youth entrepreneurship initiatives in years. The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) are working together to invest ₦6 billion in the economy. They…
Apple has just lost one of its top talents, Ke Yang, who was recently appointed to lead a crucial team tasked with revamping Siri. Reports indicate that he will be joining Meta instead. This transition reflects not only internal upheaval but also highlights the escalating competition for AI talent. Who is…
Something big is quietly happening in Lagos this week, and it could change the game for how Africa builds its future. The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is hosting the first-ever OpenAI Academy on the continent. This isn’t just another tech workshop. It’s a signal that Africa is done being just…
I remember when I first started writing. It was on Facebook. My vision was never to build a career. I just wanted to share ideas. People liked my posts. Some even shared them. And naturally, I thought the next step was monetisation. So, I did what every “smart” person on…
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) conducted a series of coordinated raids on Friday, placing official seals on supermarket doors and confiscating boxes of illegal products. This targeted action disrupted daily business in the city and prompted questions from the public about how these items…
Starting December 16, 2025, Meta will fundamentally change its online privacy rules. The company will begin using your conversations with its AI assistant on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to personalise the ads you see. This process transforms your direct questions into valuable information for advertisers. This marks a significant shift.…
When you think of Nigeria’s digital backbone, the conversation usually begins and ends in Lagos. The country’s tech capital is home to most of the nation’s high-end data centres, the kind of infrastructure that keeps fintech apps, streaming platforms, and banking services alive around the clock. Abuja holds a smaller…
Back in the 1960s and 70s, activists and engineers connected teletypewriters (TTYs) to phone lines so people who couldn’t hear could send typed messages. It was a simple fix, but it opened the door to something bigger: the text messaging we all use today. The lesson is simple: real progress…
Since its launch, the business case for integrating ChatGPT has been clear: it’s a powerful productivity multiplier. By providing instant answers and solutions, it empowers employees to slash research time, accelerate content creation, and resolve technical problems with greater speed. The core value has always been about driving efficiency. That…
The battle for artificial intelligence dominance has always been fierce. But this week, it turned personal. Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has filed a lawsuit in California federal court accusing OpenAI, the very company Musk co-founded in 2015, of waging a “coordinated, unlawful campaign” to steal its most valuable trade…
A year ago, Meta rolled out Teen Accounts on Instagram. The move was framed as a safeguard, a way to protect younger users with built-in restrictions, after lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe accused social media giants of putting profit ahead of children’s safety. Now, Meta says that hundreds of…
At Apapa Port in Lagos, containers pile up like a towering wall. Some of them have sat there for years, abandoned after disputes, unpaid duties, or sheer neglect. Each idle box eats into space, slows down new shipments, and drives up costs for traders already wrestling with Nigeria’s tough business…
Apple’s latest flagship, the iPhone 17 Pro, is priced at $1,099 in the U.S. For many in Silicon Valley, this is a painful but manageable expense, equivalent to roughly a month’s wages for the average American worker. However, in West Africa, purchasing the same phone requires years of labour, highlighting…
In Africa’s race toward a digital future, Airtel Africa wants to make sure no one gets left behind. On Tuesday in Lagos, the company’s philanthropic arm, Airtel Africa Foundation, unveiled an ambitious plan: by 2026, it will train 26,000 Nigerian youth, connect 300 schools to the internet, and provide digital…
For anyone in a multilingual chat, the experience is all too familiar: you see a new message, copy the foreign text, jump to a translation app, then toggle back to WhatsApp to reply. That cumbersome process, however, may be over. This week, WhatsApp began rolling out built-in message translations for…
For years, you’ve edited photos on your phone by dragging tiny sliders and navigating confusing menus, or trying to remember what “shadow” versus “exposure” actually does. Now, Google wants to make that whole process feel more like a conversation. On Tuesday, Google announced that it is rolling out a new…
For months, business owners across the country have publicly complained online about the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). They cited payments that failed to reflect, applications that stalled indefinitely, and approvals that were delayed for weeks. This frustration stemmed from a severe internal issue: the commission was grappling with a backlog…