A new technology transfer agreement between the Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) is expected to open more job opportunities, improve local skills, and expand access to advanced technology for ordinary Nigerians. 

In a press statement reaching Vanguard on Friday, the MoU aims to strengthen industrial development, support local content, and create clearer pathways for Nigerians to benefit from China’s growing investments in the country.

PICTT Chairman, Dr Dahiru Mohammed, said the partnership will immediately begin coordinated programmes that support local participation in infrastructure and industrial projects.

Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr John Uwajumogu, said the deal will help attract high value investments that can stimulate job creation and strengthen Nigeria’s economy.

NCSP Head of International Relations, Ms Judy Melifonwu, highlighted that Nigerians stand to gain from expanded STEM scholarships, technical training, access to modern technology, and collaboration across key sectors including steel, agriculture, automobile parks, and cultural industries.

The NCSP Director-General reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to measurable results, noting that the partnership with PICTT will prioritise initiatives that deliver direct national impact.

The MoU signals a new phase of Nigeria–China cooperation focused on practical delivery, local content, and opportunities that improve everyday livelihoods.

EU regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms on Thursday over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals, hardening Europe’s already tough stance on Big Tech. The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, is the latest action by European Union regulators against large technology firms such as Amazon and Alphabet’s Google as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.

Europe’s tough stance – a marked contrast to more lenient U.S. regulation – has sparked an industry pushback, particularly by U.S. tech titans, and led to criticism from the administration of U. S. President Donald Trump. The European Commission said that the investigation will look into Meta’s new policy that would limit other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp, a potential boost for its own Meta AI system integrated into the platform earlier this year.

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the move was to prevent dominant firms from “abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors”. She added interim measures could be imposed to block Meta’s new WhatsApp AI policy rollout. “AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” she said. This is why we are investigating if Meta’s new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space.”

A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims “baseless”, adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a “strain on our systems that they were not designed to support”, a reference to AI systems from other providers. “Still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.” The EU was the first in the world to establish a comprehensive legal framework for AI, setting out guardrails for AI systems and rules for certain high-risk applications in the AI Act.

Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp’s interface across European markets since March. The Commission said a new policy fully applicable from January 15, 2026, may block competing AI providers from reaching customers via the platform. Ribera said the probe came on the back of complaints from small AI developers about the WhatsApp policy. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com, has taken its grievance to the EU competition enforcer. Spanish AI startup Luzia has also talked to the Commission, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, said if Meta was allowed to roll out its new policy, “millions of European consumers will be deprived of the possibility of enjoying new and innovative AI assistants”. Meta also risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.

Italy’s antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp, expanding the probe in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform. The antitrust probe is a more traditional means of investigation than the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon’s and Microsoft’s cloud services for potential curbs. Reuters

The Senate on Wednesday passed for second reading a bill to designate kidnapping as an act of terrorism. The bill was sponsored by the Senate Leader, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, and co-sponsored by 108 senators during plenary. The legislation is entitled: “A bill for an Act to Amend the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act to Designate Kidnapping, Hostage-Taking and Related Offences as Acts of Terrorism…To Prescribe Death Penalty for Such Offences Without Option of Fine or Alternative Sentence; And For Related Matters, 2025”.

Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, the Bamidele justified the gravity of the prescribed penalty for kidnapping, hostage-taking and other related offences. According to him, such offences have become one of the most pervasive and destructive crimes in the country today. “What were once isolated incidents have escalated into coordinated, commercialised and militarised acts of violence perpetrated by organised criminal groups. Across every region of our country, kidnapping has instilled widespread fear in communities; undermined national economic activities and agricultural output; interrupted children’s education, bankrupted families forced to pay ransom; overstretched our security forces and claimed countless innocent lives.

“The patterns of organisation, brutality and destabilisation associated with kidnapping now carry all the characteristics of terrorism. It is no longer adequate to treat these acts as ordinary criminal offences. The legal framework must reflect the true magnitude of the threat,” he said. The majority leader further stated that classifying kidnapping, hostage-taking and other related offences as acts of terrorism would, no doubt, empower security agencies with broader operational authority and intelligence capabilities. In his contribution, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu said that since the senate had unanimously agreed with the bill, it was natural for the lawmakers to approve it.

“As a consequence, informants, sponsors and everybody involved in kidnapping, hostage-takers and other related offences must face the consequence. Nigerians have suffered in the hands of kidnappers. Young girls have been raped. Women have become widows for no reason. This must not continue again,” he said. Also, Sen. Victor Umeh condemned in strong terms kidnapping and gruesome murder of victims for no just cause. He said that the trend of such crimes would compel men of conscience to rise in support of the bill. “They will collect ransom and still kill their victims. We should do everything to amend the Terrorism Act to classify kidnapping, hostage-taking and other related offences as acts of terrorism.

“We have to dig into the people who facilitate this criminal enterprise. Financial institutions are also part of it,” he said. In his remarks, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said that the bill was not something over which much debate should be done. Rather, he said that the bill should be fast tracked and sent for public hearing, and eventually sent for concurrence to the House of Representatives. Akpabio urged the senators to show resoluteness and seriousness in tackling security challenges in the country. “By the time we pass the bill, it will override whatever is done in the states. We have to protect the future of Nigerians,” he said.The senate president, thereafter, referred the bill to the Senate Committees on Judiciary, National Security and Intelliignce and Interior for further legislative actions and report back in two weeks.