Joy Onuorah, THEWILL

Between late 2024 and mid-2026, keeping money in a Nigerian bank account or sitting on the same stock portfolio stopped making financial sense.

Artificial intelligence is finding practical uses in Nigeria beyond chatbots and content generation. Founders are applying it to medical documentation, agriculture, pharmaceutical data, education, financial analysis, customer service and African languages.

Speaking to journalists on August 25, 2026, MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita confirmed that Africa’s largest mobile network operator is actively exploring deposit-taking banking licences in select operating markets.

The corporate ties between Nigeria and South Africa have long been defined by a simple, lopsided binary. Crude oil flows south, while multinational giants push north. MTN Nigeria wants to rewrite that script. Sponsoring the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce (NSACC) Breakfast Forum at Eko Hotel on August 27, the telecom operator is shifting the bilateral conversation away from high-level trade policy and straight into local supply chains.

The company told customers on August 25 that MonieWorld was entering a transition period as Moniepoint redirected strategic resources towards financial tools for businesses across Africa. The service remains operational for now, with customers expected to receive further information about the closure timeline and any changes affecting their accounts and transactions.

Oil marketers said some financial institutions are partnering with vehicle owners and prospective CNG users to finance cylinder installations, reducing the upfront cost of switching from petrol.

Deron Lewis-Payne, 23, has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison after prosecutors said he used ChatGPT to prepare for an armed bank robbery in Omaha.

Nigeria's financial markets head into the final week of August with investors weighing a potentially transformative refinery IPO, a relatively stable naira, high oil prices and the government's claim that its economic reforms have restored investor confidence.

Nigerian businessman, Tony Elumelu, said oil theft losses at his company's assets have fallen from 97% to 2%, saying the turnaround has restored profitability and made it easier for the company to obtain dollars without relying on personal connections at the central bank.

For 17 years, Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second run at the 2009 Berlin World Athletics Championships has defined the outer limits of human sprinting. In Beijing on Saturday, a machine covered the same distance faster and finished the 100 metres in 9.39 seconds.