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SEVEN STORIES. EVERY MORNING AT SEVEN.

Yesterday,
brought into
focus.

The morning seven today looks at Nigeria’s telecom service-quality fight, new tap-to-pay infrastructure, digital-tax rules for foreign platforms, and big finance/infrastructure moves from JPMorgan, FAAN and the upstream oil regulator.

22 October 20267 a.m. WAT~5 min read
THE MORNING SEVEN, READ TO YOUAI-narrated · 9 min listen
0:00 / 8:28

The morning seven

01.
InfrastructureNigeriaTHE BIG PICTURE

NCC faces pressure to move telecoms from subscriber growth to service quality

Nigeria’s telecoms regulator and operators were pressed at the 95th Telecom Consumer Parliament in Lagos to treat call reliability, transparent billing and complaint resolution as the real test of the sector, not just the size of the subscriber base. Consumer advocate Chiso Ndukwe-Okafor pointed to 197.4 million active telephony subscriptions and 158.5 million internet subscriptions in the NCC’s August 2026 data, but argued that those numbers do not show whether users are getting stable service or clear remedies. NCC chief Aminu Maida said the commission had recorded more than 6,500 network interventions this year, 75 million airtime compensations and nearly three million refunds for failed airtime and data purchases. For Nigerian users and businesses, the issue is practical: poor connectivity and failed transactions are now direct costs in a digital economy.

Read at Digitnomics ↗
02.
FintechNigeria

Interswitch pushes tokenised tap-to-pay plumbing for Nigerian payments

Interswitch says it is enabling tokenised tap-to-pay payments for banks, financial institutions, card schemes and major merchants in Nigeria, with related work across Kenya and Uganda. Tokenisation replaces sensitive card details with a transaction-specific digital token, reducing the exposure of real card data when a customer pays with a phone, card or wallet. Interswitch’s role, as described in the report, is infrastructure rather than a single consumer product: issuer connectivity, tokenisation and payment processing that other financial providers can build on. If widely adopted by banks and merchants, the practical benefit for Nigerian consumers would be safer and smoother contactless payments, while merchants and issuers may see better approvals and lower fraud exposure. The development also shows how payment security is becoming a core competition point as digital payments scale.

Read at BusinessDay ↗
03.
PolicyNigeria

NITDA’s Nigeria Tech Outlook to measure adoption gaps across five sectors

NITDA and the SATH Foundation are preparing a Nigeria Tech Outlook, an annual assessment intended to measure technology access, adoption and productivity impact across financial services, telecoms, healthcare, commerce and government services. NITDA director-general Kashifu Inuwa said the work should give policymakers, investors, businesses and innovators evidence on where Nigeria’s technology ecosystem is underperforming. Early findings suggest a large digital-health gap: more than 80% of over 2,000 Nigerians surveyed said they were willing to use telemedicine, but fewer than 20% had done so. The assessment will also examine AI, cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud computing, digital trust and infrastructure. Its usefulness will depend on whether the report becomes more than another launch document and actually shapes investment, regulation and public digital-service delivery.

Read at BusinessDay ↗
04.
PolicyAfrica/Nigeria

More African states tax foreign digital services as Nigeria’s 7.5% VAT regime sits in a wider shift

A new PwC survey says 32 of Africa’s 54 countries now charge VAT or GST on digital services sold by foreign suppliers, up from 21 in 2024, showing how quickly governments are extending tax systems to streaming, cloud software, online ads and marketplaces. The rules are fragmented: rates, thresholds, registration requirements and whether business-to-business transactions are covered differ widely by country. Nigeria’s regime applies a 7.5% VAT to non-resident suppliers of services such as cloud computing, streaming, online advertising and e-learning, with affected suppliers acting as VAT agents and remitting collections to the Nigeria Revenue Service by the 21st of the next month. For Nigerian businesses buying foreign software or selling across Africa, the operational burden is not just tax cost but compliance across many separate national systems.

Read at tech.africa ↗
05.
FinanceNigeria

JPMorgan deposits ₦50 billion with CBN in push for Nigerian merchant bank licence

JPMorgan Chase has moved closer to a licensed banking operation in Nigeria after depositing ₦50 billion with the Central Bank of Nigeria, meeting a key capital requirement for a nationally authorised merchant bank. The deposit does not amount to approval: the CBN still has to decide on the application, and Bloomberg reported the bank expects a licence by late 2026 or early 2027 if approved. A merchant banking licence would take JPMorgan beyond its long-standing Lagos representative office and advisory work on Nigerian Eurobonds into wholesale financial activities that could include corporate lending, treasury services, capital markets transactions and asset management. For large Nigerian companies, the potential entry matters because it could deepen access to international capital and increase competition for big-ticket corporate banking mandates.

Read at BusinessDay ↗
06.
InfrastructureLagos, Nigeria

FAAN starts earning from MMA2 after long Bi-Courtney dispute is settled

The Federal Government, FAAN and Bi-Courtney have formalised a settlement of the long-running dispute over Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two, allowing FAAN to begin collecting revenue from MMA2 after nearly two decades of conflict. Aviation minister Festus Keyamo said the settlement followed Federal Executive Council approval and covers the domestic terminal concession as well as related leases for the abandoned hotel and conference centre near the Lagos airport. A central point of the deal is that the General Aviation Terminal will remain federal property and be operated by FAAN, despite earlier litigation, while Bi-Courtney will be allowed to expand its apron and move regional African flights to MMA2 subject to capacity. For passengers and airlines, the significance is less legal history than whether the settlement clears the way for better terminal planning and investment.

Read at PUNCH ↗
07.
PolicyNigeria

NUPRC says idle oil blocks face “drill or drop” revocation

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission says it will begin recovering idle oil blocks from licence holders that have failed to start development within required timelines. NUPRC chief Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan told holders of Petroleum Prospecting Licences in Lagos that operators who have held onshore assets for three years or offshore assets for five years without action risk losing them by the end of the month. Her warning targets a recurring problem in Nigeria’s upstream sector: winning a licence without the technical, financial or managerial capacity to move into exploration, development or production. Eyesan said inability to secure partners or financing would not be enough grounds for extension. For Nigeria, the policy test is whether revocation can push assets into productive hands without creating fresh uncertainty for serious investors.

Read at PUNCH ↗

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