Weatherford selected for Nigeria deepwater work

Weatherford International has secured a deepwater integrated completions contract offshore Nigeria from ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (EEPNL), Weatherford announced on Thursday.

The company will provide upper and lower completions solutions, with equipment prepared through its global supply chain and supported locally in Nigeria. The contract falls under Weatherford’s well construction and completions portfolio.

“This contract reflects our ability to deliver integrated completions solutions for deepwater operations. We will provide technologies designed to support well integrity, reliability, and efficient execution in complex offshore environments,” said Weatherford CEO Girish Saligram.

Weatherford is a global energy services company that provides drilling, completions, production and intervention services.

In Nigeria, ExxonMobil engages in oil and gas exploration and production, petroleum products manufacturing and power generation. The company has said it plans to invest up to USD 1.5 billion in the development of Nigeria’s deepwater acreage, including towards the revitalisation of production in the Erha, Owowo and Usan oilfields.

The Energy Year

Nigeria launches AI-driven education platform

The Federal Government of Nigeria has launched the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI), a centralised AI-powered platform designed to consolidate the country's fragmented education data systems into a single national registry covering more than 240,000 schools.

Speaking at the National Stakeholders' Workshop in Abuja, Minister of Education Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa described NEDI as the government's "single source of truth" for the education sector, enabling real-time, evidence-based planning and governance across the country's sprawling and historically underserved school system.

The platform has already captured records for over 32 million learners and 220,000 schools across 21 states.

The launch is partly a response to a damaging pattern the Ministry says persisted for years undetected. According to Ministry data, nearly 80% of development bank and partner investments over the last decade were concentrated in just two geopolitical zones - yet those same regions continue to record Nigeria's lowest literacy and numeracy rates.

"If we had used data before, we would have known where the investment needed to go," Alausa said. He added that future funding models would shift to results-based allocations tracked directly through the system, cutting off the possibility of capital flowing to areas without demonstrated need or impact.

What the platform does

At the core of NEDI is the Nationwide Learner Identification Number (NLIN), a unique student identifier aligned with Nigeria's existing National Identification Number framework that will track each learner's complete academic journey from basic education through to tertiary level.

The system unifies previously siloed datasets from the Universal Basic Education Commission, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund into a single dashboard. School administrators and policymakers can monitor enrolment figures, infrastructure deficits, teacher qualifications, and facility availability, including water and computer access, from one interface.

AI and data analytics tools embedded in the platform will automate real-time tracking of educational gaps and flag localised system vulnerabilities as they emerge. The government also intends to integrate labour market demand data, enabling the system to actively guide students toward courses aligned with current workforce requirements.

"With this platform, we can know the number of students, teachers' qualifications, available classrooms, computers, and even water facilities in any school from one dashboard," Alausa said.

The initiative represents one of the most ambitious education data overhauls on the African continent, targeting full coverage of Nigeria's estimated 240,000-plus schools once deployment extends beyond the current 21-state footprint. By ensuring no child or vulnerable household remains invisible within Nigeria's development planning, the government says NEDI will directly inform budgeting, donor coordination, and policy prioritisation going forward.

Africa Business Communities

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Boko Haram kill 33 fishermen, loggers in Nigeria

Boko Haram jihadists have killed 33 fishermen and loggers in two attacks in Nigeria’s restive Borno state in the country’s northeast, two sources told AFP Wednesday.

Monday’s attacks killed 27 fishermen in Mafa district and six loggers in Dikwa district, according to an anti-jihadist militia and a fishermen union official in the region.

“The fishermen were intercepted by Boko Haram fighters on motorcycles two kilometres from Mafa town,” Babakura Kolo, an anti-jihadist militia assisting the military said.

“All the 27 fishermen were shot dead,” Kolo said.

They were returning with a catch of lungfish from a dried up pond, said Abdullahi Sani, an official of a fishermen’s union in the state capital Maiduguri, 52 kilometres (32 miles) away.

Sani gave the same figure of 27.

Earlier, six loggers were shot dead by Boko Haram fighters while collecting firewood in the bush outside Malam Maja village in nearby Dikwa district, Kolo said.

They were displaced by jihadist violence and were living in makeshift camps in Dikwa town, 90 kilometres from Maiduguri, Kolo said.

Boko Haram and the rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have increasing targeted loggers, farmers, fishermen, herders and metal scrap collectors in the region, accusing them of spying on them and passing on information to the military.

Two weeks ago, Boko Haram fighters shot dead 18 loggers who had gone into the bush outside Abaram village in Borno state’s Bama district, according to anti-jihadist militia and residents.

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the 17-year-old insurgency.

Most of the displaced live in makeshift camps, relying on food handouts from international charities.

But with the drying up of aid due to funding cuts, the displaced are left to fend for themselves.

AFP

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Anti-drug agency shut down large meth laboratory in Nigeria

Nigeria’s anti-drug agency said it has busted a transnational organized drug syndicate involving Nigerians and Mexicans in the southwestern region of the country.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said late Wednesday that its special operations unit shut down “an industrial-scale clandestine laboratory” in a remote forest in the Ijebu area of Ogun state, which shares a border with Lagos, the country’s economic capital. The agency added that it is the biggest drug bust ever in the country.

The agency said in a statement that it arrested seven members of the “cartel,” which included four Nigerians and three Mexicans, during the operation, and three more in follow-up arrests.

“This network did not just traffic drugs; they were actively manufacturing industrial-scale quantities of highly lethal illicit substances right on our soil, threatening the national security and public health of Nigeria,” Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa, the agency’s head, said.

According to the statement, the operation resulted in the seizure of 2.4 tons of chemical materials, including methamphetamine, worth 480 billion naira ($363 million) and two vehicles.

In recent years, West and Central Africa have emerged as a hot spot for global trafficking and manufacturing of illicit drugs due to porous borders and corruption, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

AP

Related story: Growing meth market in Nigeria

Video - East Africa competes for multibillion-dollar Dangote refinery investment

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has held high-level investment talks with Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote as competition intensifies over the location of a proposed multi-billion-dollar oil refinery in East Africa. The debate centers on whether the refinery will be built in Tanga, Tanzania, or in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa. Analysts say the project could strengthen regional energy security by reducing East Africa’s dependence on imported fuel from the Middle East.

CGTN Africa

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