Tech Innovation Awards Set to Celebrate Digital Excellence In Africa

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October 22, 2025
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Building on the success of its eighth edition, which illuminated groundbreaking achievements across Africa’s ICT and digital economy landscape, the Tech Innovation Awards (TIA) announces the launch of its ninth annual event.

The awards ceremony is slated for November 29, 2025, at the Oriental Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The TIA event will recognize and celebrate Africa’s foremost innovators, policymakers, and industry titans. It is designed to honor those who are propelling the continent’s digital transformation through cutting-edge technologies and forward-thinking solutions in telecom, AI, fintech, and beyond.

Organized by the InstinctWave Group in partnership with Digital Economy Magazine, the 9th TIA highlights Nigeria’s pivotal role as a hub for technological advancement. The organizers invite submissions from organizations, individuals, teams, and government entities with operations across Africa.

With a rigorous selection process ensuring merit-based recognition, the awards spotlight innovations that enhance connectivity, foster economic inclusion, and drive sustainable growthaligning seamlessly with Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the global push for equitable digital access.

The award event proudly introduces a dynamic lineup of categories designed to spotlight excellence across Africa’s transformative tech landscape, reinforcing the continent’s leadership in sustainable and inclusive innovation:

Sustainable Innovation: Categories such as Best Bank in Sustainability and Innovative Renewable Energy Provider of the Year honor organizations championing eco-friendly practices.

Financial Inclusion: The Financial Inclusion Bank of the Year and Cross-border Fintech Solution Award recognize trailblazers expanding access to financial services.

Ingenuity & Infrastructure: The Technology Person of the Year and Innovative Tech Delivery Company of the Year celebrate individual and corporate ingenuity. These are complemented by Connectivity & Cloud Services Company of the Year and Digital Bank of the Year, which highlight advancements in digital infrastructure.

Key Sector Transformation: Additionally, AgriTech Innovation of the Year and Innovative Shipping Company of the Year highlight the critical role of technology in revolutionizing agriculture and logistics sectors vital to Africa’s economic growth and global competitiveness.

Past editions have not only celebrated luminaries but also catalyzed collaborations that have scaled startups into regional powerhouses, amplified underrepresented voices in tech, and attracted billions in investments to Africa’s digital infrastructure.

Akin Naphtal, Chief Executive Officer of InstinctWave Group, shared his views: “The Tech Innovation Awards have consistently served as a beacon for Africa’s burgeoning digital economy, where groundbreaking ideas not only receive the recognition they deserve but also ignite collaborative ecosystems. As we gear up for the 9th edition, we are more committed than ever to fostering an inclusive platform that empowers diverse innovators to tackle pressing challenges in telecom, AI, and sustainable tech, ensuring Nigeria leads the charge in the global innovation narrative.”

Group Publisher of Digital Economy Magazine, emphasized the event’s transformative potential: “Through the TIA platform, we have witnessed how visionary leaders and organizations, armed with audacious technologies, are dismantling barriers to digital inclusion and economic empowerment in Africa, turning Lagos into a veritable Silicon Savannah that rivals the world’s foremost tech hubs. For the 9th awards, we invite all trailblazers to submit their stories of resilience and ingenuity, knowing that this celebration will not only honor excellence but also blueprint the next wave of investments and policies that will redefine our continent’s technological destiny for generations to come.”

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October 23, 2025
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Dangote Reveals Plans to More Than Double 650,000 bpd Oil Refinery to 1.4 Million bpd

•Set to list 10% of company’s shares by next year

•S&P reports oil firm secured $4bn critical financing agreement in August

•Says company pursuing Middle Eastern partners

•40,000 bpd upstream assets to begin production by end of October

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery is set to more than double its current refining capacity to about 1.4 million bpd, becoming the world’s largest refining facility and surpassing the 1.36 million bpd refinery in Jamnagar, India.

President and Founder of the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, told S&P Global Commodity Insights, in an interview, that the management of the $20 billion refining and petrochemicals complex, is also thinking of altering its current business model and is set to list up to 10 per cent of its shares by next year.

According to the 68-year-old founder, although the ambition to develop African energy independence is a “herculean task”, it remains a ‘labour of love’ since no government in Africa is willing to put its money into such humongous projects.

“We have to build the refinery again, either here or somewhere else. But really, somewhere else is not possible because we’d have to go and spend so much building infrastructure, and we have the infrastructure already here,” Dangote said.

In Nigeria alone, S&P Global Commodity Insights projects that net petrol imports could more than double from 2026-27 to hit almost 200,000 bpd by 2030, underpinned by economic development and rapid population growth.

In July, Dangote unveiled plans to expand the refinery from its current 650,000 bpd to 700,000 bpd by the end of the year. Now, the target is to reach 1.4 million bd, with no specified date, it added.

Engineers working at the Lekki complex say it was designed with room for growth, pointing out empty concrete plots capable of holding a second refining system. Now Nigeria’s largest power producer, the Dangote Group already generates twice the electricity it consumes, insuring its operations against chronic shortages that plague the rest of the country.

Expanding could involve building a second refinery with the same configuration, one engineer said, potentially with the addition of a vacuum distillation unit to boost light ends yields, the S&P report said.

The company is also working on potential linear alkylbenzene and base oils projects, and aims to grow its annual polypropylene capacity from 1 million mt to 1.5 million mt in the next few years, Dangote said.

However, Dangote rejected a model that leaves Africa dependent on imported fuel, and said he remains determined to disrupt a market shaped by economies of scale. He is not optimistic for state-backed African projects, and warns that the continent will “really be in trouble” without huge private investment.

“Most African governments will not have the capacity to build a refinery,” Dangote said, calling smaller projects like Angola’s new Cabinda facility “a drop in the ocean.”

“In places where interest rates are 30 per cent, some countries 20 per cent, the cost of funding is high. And the infrastructure is zero,” he said.

According to the report, the Nigerian company’s own maturing debt was recently seen as a key funding hurdle, before it secured a critical $4 billion financing agreement in August.

To expand the refinery and develop a new petrochemicals project in China, Dangote is actively considering a strategic partnership with Middle Eastern companies, the group president remarked. “Our business concept is going to change. Now instead of being 100 per cent Dangote-owned, we’ll have other partners,” he said.

Within the next year, Dangote disclosed that the refining business will list 5 per cent to 10 per cent of its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, mirroring a playbook established by the group’s cement and sugar businesses.

“We don’t want to keep more than 65 per cent to 70 per cent,” Dangote told S&P, explaining that shares will be offered incrementally subject to investor appetite and market depth.

According to him, the door remains open for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to boost its stake after the state oil company trimmed its interest to 7.2 per cent, but not before its next phase of growth is well underway.

“I want to demonstrate what this refinery can do, then we can sit down and talk,” Dangote said. A close aide, who was not authorised to speak publicly, told S&P that the company would exert caution before inviting additional participation from NNPC.

While there are bold expansion plans amid ongoing efforts to stabilise the refinery, it stated that the plant’s main petrol engine, the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), recently went offline in September shortly after a three-week turnaround in August, fueling rampant speculation over future downtime.

A Vice President at Dangote responsible for overseeing refinery operations, Devakumar Edwin, said the RFCC restarted around October 7 and should soon be back at full capacity.

“We have resolved most, not all, but most of the problems. And I think we’re looking for a window when we shut down for another month,” Dangote said, in a rare comment on maintenance plans.

The month-long turnaround will involve shutting down the RFCC, but not the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and other secondary units. The entire refinery only requires a full turnaround every five years, Edwin said. Dangote said that the RFCC turnaround will be planned to avoid clashing with a seasonal demand peak towards the year-end, without providing dates.

The company recently highlighted employee sabotage as a potential business risk, before its decision to fire 800 staff members sparked an acrimonious labor strike in September. After government-brokered remediation talks, the conglomerate has committed to find new employment for all dismissed workers, mostly outside the refining business.

“We don’t have any worries with the unions,” Dangote said, sharing that the reorganisation was almost complete and deemed sufficient to abate recent tensions.

As the refinery grows, the report said that early challenges sourcing crude oil only risk becoming more acute. However, Dangote welcomed a breakthrough deal with NNPC to alleviate supply concerns.

Under a current “crude for naira” swap agreement, NNPC supplies Dangote with 14 crude oil cargoes, or sources the equivalent value of US dollars, in exchange for the same volume of petrol and gasoil to be supplied in the domestic currency.

Besides, Dangote’s upstream assets in the Niger Delta, Oil Mining Lease 71 and 72, could soon provide another supply injection, with production expected to start this month and reach up to 40,000 bpd.

Dangote remains interested in new upstream opportunities, which could add to an expanding asset base for the wider conglomerate. Recent investments include a major Namibian storage terminal, an Ethiopian fertilizer plant and a fleet of 4,000 CNG trucks, as well as a potential energy project in Senegal.

•Set to list 10% of company’s shares by next year •S&P reports oil firm secured $4bn critical financing agreement in August •Says company pursuing Middle Eastern partners •40,000 bpd upstream

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October 23, 2025
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Yusuf Tuggar: Tinubu Pursuing Nigeria’s Strategic Autonomy Amid Trump’s Tariffs, China Ties

•Says world must show respect in trade with Nigeria, other African nations

•Denies Christian persecution claims

•Reiterates Nigeria will not accept deportees from US

•Says tariffs imposed by US do not markedly harm the country

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, yesterday maintained that President Bola Tinubu is pursuing Nigeria’s strategic autonomy amid tariffs imposed by the United States as well as the country’s relationship with China.

Besides, the minister noted that rich countries must show respect to Africa in their dealings with the continent, insisting that they should not approach trade with Africa as a game of ‘Minecraft’.

Speaking at the Reuters NEXT Gulf summit in Abu Dhabi, Tuggar stated that the relationship should be based on mutual respect and the need for Africa to develop, stressing that the recent tariff increase by the US did not markedly impact the country.

“Sometimes it’s like the game Minecraft: There’s oil, there’s gas, there’s critical minerals, rare earths. We put a bit of this, we invest in this. No, that’s not the way it goes. The engagement should be based on mutual respect, based on shared interests and based on the fact that Africa needs to develop. If it doesn’t develop, we continue to deal with irregular migration, with all these other challenges,” he argued.

The minister stated that Nigeria remains a major power in Africa, highlighting the country’s huge internal market with a population of 230 million, expected to grow to 400 million by 2050, and its relationships with other major trading partners such as China, India and Brazil.

Besides, he dismissed claims that President Donald Trump does not care about Africa, but stressed that the country continues to absorb the effect of the recent tariffs by the Trump administration as it extends trade with other countries.

“ We have the right and the basis to engage with as many countries as possible to trade and our relationships are not based on ideological considerations, they’re based on interests, beginning with our national interests.

“So we trade with the U.S., we trade with China, we trade with Brazil, we trade with India and our focus is not necessarily on one axis or the other, especially in a multipolar world,” he argued.

Tuggar also referred to a recent surge in claims of a “Christian genocide” circulating online and amplified by some U.S. media figures, dismissing them as false.

“One of our major challenges at the moment is the false narratives that are being created about Nigeria, this issue of religious persecution, Christians are being persecuted, which couldn’t be further from the truth, and it’s something that I think the investors need to come and see for themselves,” he said.

The engagement with the West, he said, should be based on mutual respect, shared interests and based on the fact that Africa needs to develop. The foreign minister also said there were no plans to accept deportees from the US, noting that Nigeria has gone beyond the stage.

“ I think that ship has sailed. We made our point and I believe it’s no longer on the discussion table. We continue to enjoy a good relationship with the United States. We do not see the need to take in other nationals under duress from any country because we already have a population, like I said, of 230 million people.

“So we’re not short of people and we, our focus is, as we move closer to becoming 400 million population, which we will be in the next 25 years, to train our workforce to tackle the issue of poverty, of unemployment, so that we have the right dependency ratio that would be able to sustain us as we move into the future.

“So there are lots of opportunities. We can partner with all comers to tackle our challenges as well as to provide the opportunities for those that are working with us. It’s a really striking figure and as one gets older, you realise 25 years is a much shorter time than you originally might imagine”, he stated.

On job creation, the minister explained that the first thing is for Nigeria to be able to feed itself, and will be creating lots of jobs as it works towards expanding agriculture and manufacturing and import substitution.

Tuggar said that there has to be a mindset change by the world on how they interact with Africa, stressing that the continent has come of age.

“As I said earlier there’s a tendency to take a Minecraft approach to Africa. It’s not a game and we are not infants. We know what is good for us, what’s in our interest so we don’t need to be protected.

“We can protect ourselves when we’re dealing with China. China’s initiative is good for Africa. It is something that is already benefiting countries like Nigeria, the linkages, and we are looking towards achieving similar results with Europe, with the global gateway initiative, and of course other partners like the US, India, Brazil,” he stressed.

•Says world must show respect in trade with Nigeria, other African nations •Denies Christian persecution claims •Reiterates Nigeria will not accept deportees from US •Says tariffs imposed by US do

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