Mali lifts Starlink ban, Liberia says welcome

안녕하세요,

Victoria from Techpoint here,

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

Mali lifts Starlink ban, Liberia says welcome
From chasing debts to falling for scams
Blockchain drama: NITDA’s 2-week ultimatum

Mali lifts Starlink ban, Liberia says welcome

A Starlink dish placed on a fence next to a house — Gbadebo’s Starlink setup

Mali’s military government has decided to lift its seven-month ban on Starlink satellite Internet kits, letting citizens reconnect to the service for six months while they work on a new regulatory framework.

The government put the ban in place in March 2024 because they were worried that armed groups in the north and east were using Starlink for communication. With threats from factions linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), there were serious concerns about how the technology could be misused.

Now, even though there are still security risks, the return of Starlink is a big deal for Mali. This satellite tech has been a lifesaver for getting Internet to remote areas, and in a country dealing with political and security instability, it could be both a blessing and a challenge.

It’s focusing on controlling its use in conflict zones, but many believe cutting off Internet access could hurt economic growth and education, especially in rural areas.

On a related note, over in Liberia, the Telecommunications Authority has just signed a one-year licensing deal with Starlink.

This deal is a game-changer for Liberia, bringing universal Internet access closer than ever. Starlink plans to launch its service in the first week of November, aiming to boost Internet coverage from about 60% to nearly 100%.

Plus, having Starlink as a backup will help fix the outages caused by the current infrastructure—definitely a win for everyone!

One thing I’ll never understand is how some people are so sweet when asking to borrow money, but when it’s time to repay, it’s like you, the lender, are begging for your own money. It’s honestly frustrating.

Take this one experience I had back in school. Someone asked me for ₦8,000 — a lot of money for a student. They promised to pay me back in two weeks, and since I needed the money by then, I agreed.

But two weeks turned into four, and when I called, they ignored me. Left messages, no response. It was like I became the one borrowing.

Then, one day, I saw them walking towards me at the cafeteria. You won’t believe what happened next — they looked me dead in the eye and pretended not to know me. I was stunned. That was when I learned my lesson: never lend money that you can’t afford to lose.

Chude, the person Oluwanifemi’s spotlighting in this week’s Work Life, totally gets it. Debtors are the worst, especially the aggressive ones. They’ll avoid you, lie, or even get violent.

Chude’s had so many close calls with debtors that he’s lost count. Once, a debtor even accused him of assault, called the police, and he spent a night in jail. This happened while he was working as a loan officer at a microfinance company — talk about occupational hazards.

For Chude, it’s been a rough ride! He was physically, mentally, and emotionally drained from constantly chasing people — first to give them loans, then to get them to repay.

After over three years of this stress, he took a break in 2021 and started looking for government jobs. Since then, he’s applied to every opening he could find, from local government to paramilitary jobs, but no luck.

To top it all off, he’s been scammed three times in the process, losing over ₦500K. Yet, Chude hasn’t given up on landing that government job. Is it just bad luck, or something more? You can find out all the details in Oluwanifemi’s latest story.

Blockchain drama: NITDA’s 2-week ultimatum

Obinna Iwuno, SiBAN President — Obinna Iwuno

What happened? The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has given Stakeholders in the Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN) two weeks to sort out its leadership mess, or the government will stop recognising them.

Chimezie Chuta, who chairs the National Blockchain Policy Implementation Steering Committee, made it clear that if SiBAN doesn’t sort things out and come up with a peace plan soon, they’ll lose their official recognition.

But how did we get here? The drama started in September 2024 when SiBAN’s Board of Trustees (BoT) kicked out President Obinna Iwuno and his team for violating trust and governance rules. Iwuno fired back, claiming he officially registered and trademarked SiBAN, and said it’s those trying to oust him who are causing the real trouble.

Well, the BoT already suspended Iwuno in May 2024 over claims of financial mismanagement and set up a caretaker committee to take charge, but he’s been ignoring that completely. Now, the situation has divided SiBAN into two factions, both dealing with the government separately, making everything messier.

Iwuno insists there’s no real crisis, but a former SiBAN President and current BoT member, Senator Ihenyen, pointed out that most of the executive council had resigned, leaving Iwuno with just one other person.

The BoT believes this made the executive council non-existent, so they needed to set up a caretaker committee. Iwuno, though, has brushed off his expulsion as nothing but a “joke.”

Why does it matter? The issue could damage the reputation of the blockchain industry in Nigeria, especially when companies are already trying hard to build trust with regulators. SiBAN’s internal drama could make things tougher for blockchain adoption in the country, though Chuta remains optimistic.

He believes the industry will keep progressing with or without SiBAN, thanks to the government’s blockchain policy, which emphasises talent development and new use cases.

So what now? The clock is ticking for SiBAN to sort itself out; otherwise, it risks losing government recognition. Whatever goes down could seriously affect how blockchain is embraced in Nigeria.

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