By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that Nigeria’s foreign reserves have exceeded its annual target and has climbed above $52.5 billion as of July 17, 2026, representing a 17-year high.

The apex bank attributed the country’s rising foreign reserves to renewed investor confidence and sustained capital inflows, saying its ongoing economic reforms are restoring stability to Nigeria’s financial system.

The Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Department of the CBN, Hakama Sidi Ali, revealed this while delivering the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso’s opening remarks at the CBN Fair held on Tuesday at the International Conference Centre, Gombe.

She said the increase was supported by sustained foreign exchange inflows and renewed investor participation across various asset classes in the Nigerian economy, reflecting growing confidence in the country’s economic management.

According to her, the reforms introduced under the leadership of CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso are beginning to produce measurable gains, including improved macroeconomic stability, easing inflation and greater confidence in the foreign exchange market.

She noted that headline inflation declined slightly from 15.93 per cent in May to 15.91 per cent in June 2026, while both food and core inflation also moderated during the period due to disciplined monetary tightening, exchange-rate unification and improved market transparency.

The CBN Acting Director of Corporate Communications further stated that the naira has continued to strengthen, with the gap between the official exchange rate and Bureau de Change rates narrowing to below two per cent, a development she described as evidence of improving foreign exchange market stability.

She highlighted other reforms undertaken by the apex bank over the past 34 months, including banking sector recapitalisation, the launch of the non-resident Bank Verification Number (BVN), the B-Match foreign exchange trading platform, the Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 and the introduction of the Nigerian Overnight Financing Rate benchmark.

She reaffirmed the CBN’s commitment to maintaining monetary and price stability while implementing policies that encourage investment, strengthen financial markets and promote sustainable economic growth.

The Branch Controller of the CBN Gombe Branch, Yunusa Buba Mubi, described the CBN Fair as an annual engagement platform designed to educate the public on the Bank’s policies and provide an avenue for stakeholders to ask questions and offer feedback.

He urged participants to actively engage in the sensitisation sessions to enhance public understanding of the Bank’s initiatives and their impact on the nation’s economy.

By Isaac Asabor

For years, a familiar refrain has echoed across parts of South Africa: “Foreign Africans are stealing our jobs.” It has been shouted in protests, repeated in political speeches, amplified across social media, and, tragically, translated into violence against migrants from Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, and other African countries.

Shops have been looted.

Businesses have been torched. Families have fled. Thousands have returned to their home countries, not by choice, but because they no longer felt safe. Yet as the dust settles, an inconvenient question refuses to go away: if fellow Africans were truly the problem, who is now doing the jobs they supposedly stole?

An even harder question follows: why are businesses struggling now that so many migrants have left? That question deserves an honest answer from the leaders of Operation Dudula and the March and March movement, the figures who head South Africa’s most prominent anti-immigrant and nationalist advocacy groups.

Recent reporting from international media and South African observers suggests that the exodus of migrant workers has exposed how dependent several sectors of the economy had become on their labour and entrepreneurship. Agriculture, construction, transport, retail, and food distribution are all beginning to feel the strain.

The irony is hard to miss. For years, migrants were blamed for taking jobs from locals. Today, many businesses cannot find people to replace them. That reality alone should force a rethink of the narrative that foreigners were solely responsible for South Africa’s unemployment crisis. That crisis did not begin when Nigerians, Ghanaians, Zimbabweans, or Ethiopians arrived, and it will not end now that many of them have left.

South Africa’s unemployment problem is rooted in structural issues: sluggish economic growth, a shrinking manufacturing base, chronic electricity shortages, weak investment, mismatched skills, and policy uncertainty, factors behind one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. None of this was caused by a Somali or Ghanaian shop owner. None of it was caused by a Nigerian trader or a Zimbabwean artisan.

Blaming migrants for the troubles facing township businesses only distracts from these deeper issues. When foreign-owned spaza shops, South Africa’s neighbourhood convenience stores, began closing after weeks of anti-immigrant protests, many township residents assumed the only change would be who owned the till. Instead, they found themselves paying more for everyday essentials. The resulting price hikes have fuelled heated debate on social media, where videos of foreign shopkeepers packing up and leaving have dominated public conversation.

Beneath the political noise lies a bigger business story. The real contest for South Africa’s estimated R900 billion ($53.6 billion) township economy will not be settled by nationality. According to government officials and fintech companies, the future of local spaza shops will hinge on their ability to adopt digital payments, use merchant data, access embedded finance, and build more efficient supply chains. Those factors, not who owns the shop, will decide whether township retailers can stay affordable and viable.

That alone is a troubling story. But the most revealing findings are the ones documenting the unintended economic fallout of driving migrants out.

Reuters has reported that construction, farming, retail, and transport rely heavily on migrant labour, warning that their departure could deepen labour shortages and slow economic activity. The report also cited earlier research showing that migrants contribute meaningfully to South Africa’s GDP without necessarily displacing local workers. None of this should come as a surprise.

Before the recent wave of hostility, township retail strips were dotted with foreign-owned grocery stores, restaurants, tailoring shops, salons, mechanics’ workshops, and convenience stores. These businesses did not simply employ fellow foreigners, many employed South Africans, rented from South African landlords, bought stock from South African wholesalers, paid municipal charges, and fed local supply chains.

Forcing such businesses to close hurts South Africans nearly as much as it hurts migrants. One Nigerian businessman put it plainly: if he shut down and left, dozens of South Africans working for him would lose their jobs too. That statement should provoke reflection, not anger.

Economic activity is interconnected. When one business closes, suppliers lose customers, landlords lose tenants, transport operators lose passengers, consumers lose access to goods, workers lose income, and communities lose investment. No economy prospers by driving away productive people. None.

To be clear, every sovereign nation has the right to enforce its immigration laws. Illegal immigration should be addressed through lawful institutions, not mob justice. Anyone who commits a crime, citizen or foreigner, should be arrested, prosecuted, and punished under the law. But criminality should never be used to stigmatize an entire nationality or continent. Collective blame is neither justice nor policy.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has himself warned against scapegoating migrants and cautioned citizens against taking the law into their own hands. But the danger here goes beyond economics.

South Africa has long presented itself as a champion of African solidarity. Its liberation struggle inspired millions across the continent. Many African nations, including Nigeria, gave political, diplomatic, and material support to the anti-apartheid movement. That shared history makes today’s hostility all the more painful. Africans should not become enemies within Africa.

The African Continental Free Trade Area envisions deeper economic integration, freer movement of trade, and stronger regional cooperation. Persistent xenophobia undermines all of it. Investment follows stability. Entrepreneurs seek certainty. Workers seek safety. Tourists seek welcoming destinations. Hostility drives all four away.

Ultimately, South Africa must confront a difficult truth. If thousands of African migrants have left, yet unemployment remains stubbornly high and businesses are struggling to fill the gaps they left behind, then foreigners were never the principal problem. The real culprits are decades of weak growth, inadequate job creation, governance failures, infrastructure constraints, and policy shortcomings.

It is easier to blame outsiders. It is harder to confront structural realities. But only one of those paths leads anywhere.

South Africa’s future will not be secured by emptying shops of fellow Africans. It will be secured by filling factories with investment, classrooms with skills, power stations with reliable electricity, and boardrooms with policies that inspire confidence.

Dinesh Balsingh

For decades, the telecommunications industry competed on connectivity. Success was measured by the size of our networks, the number of subscribers we served, and the volume of voice and data we carried.

That era connected millions of Nigerians and laid the foundation for today’s digital economy. But connectivity alone is no longer enough.

According to the GSMA, mobile technologies and services contributed eight per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, equivalent to approximately $19bn, in 2023, while the sector supported hundreds of thousands of jobs directly and indirectly.

As Nigeria pursues its ambition of building a $1tn economy, the question is no longer how many people we connect, but how technology can help businesses become more productive, competitive and innovative.

The businesses that will lead the next decade will not necessarily be those with the biggest networks or the fastest speeds. They will be those that transform connectivity into productivity, intelligence and innovation. That is why the conversation across the telecommunications industry today is shifting from being a telco to becoming a techco.

Digital platforms are reshaping communication, with customers expecting more personalised experiences, while technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing and the Internet of Things are changing how organisations create value. Today, the more important question for us is not simply, “How do we connect people?” but “How do we help people and businesses achieve more through technology?” This shift fundamentally redefines the role of technology companies in society.

Organisations are no longer looking for connectivity in isolation. They want technology solutions that improve efficiency, strengthen security, automate processes and enhance customer experiences. A retailer wants to connect hundreds of stores securely. A manufacturer wants real-time visibility across its operations. Hospitals need reliable digital infrastructure to improve patient care, while schools increasingly depend on technology to expand learning opportunities.

In every case, the objective is the same. Organisations are no longer buying connectivity. They are investing in outcomes.

For business leaders, this means digital transformation can no longer be viewed as an IT initiative. It is a strategic business imperative. According to International Data Corporation, global spending on digital transformation is expected to exceed $4tn by 2027, reflecting how technology has become central to competitiveness, operational efficiency and long-term growth.

Artificial Intelligence provides a clear example of this shift. At Airtel Nigeria, we recently introduced our AI-powered spam alert solution, which analyses network intelligence in real time to identify suspected spam calls before customers answer them. The technology itself is important, but the bigger lesson is that innovation should do more than connect people. It should protect them, simplify everyday experiences and solve real problems.

Mobile technology also presents a significant opportunity to deepen financial inclusion. According to the World Bank, millions of Nigerian adults remain outside the formal financial system. Through SmartCash Payment Service Bank, Airtel Nigeria is leveraging digital platforms to expand access to secure and convenient financial services, enabling more Nigerians and small businesses to participate in the digital economy. This reinforces an important reality: the future of technology lies in building ecosystems that empower people.

The Internet of Things represents another important frontier. The next generation of connected devices will extend beyond smartphones to include smart meters, medical devices, logistics assets, security systems and industrial equipment. These technologies will help businesses improve efficiency, reduce costs and make faster, data-driven decisions.

Nigeria is uniquely positioned to benefit from this transformation. With one of Africa’s youngest populations, expanding broadband infrastructure and a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, the country has the opportunity to use technology to improve productivity across agriculture, healthcare, education, manufacturing and financial services.

However, this transformation cannot happen in isolation. It requires sustained collaboration between government, businesses, educational institutions and technology providers. Technology companies must continue investing in digital infrastructure and innovation. Businesses must treat digital transformation as a strategic priority. Policymakers must create an enabling environment for innovation, while educational institutions must equip young Nigerians with the skills required for an increasingly digital economy.

Ultimately, the future of the telecommunications industry will not be defined by who owns the most spectrum or builds the most towers. It will be defined by who helps customers create the most value.

Customers are no longer buying connectivity. They are buying productivity. They are buying intelligence. They are buying security. They are buying convenience. Above all, they are buying growth opportunities.

The journey from telco to techco is, therefore, more than the evolution of one industry. It is about reimagining how technology can unlock economic growth, improve lives and build a more inclusive digital economy for Nigeria.

The future is no longer connectivity. The future is productivity.

Dinesh Balsingh is the CEO of Airtel Nigeria