By Son Tertsea, Abuja

To achieve the strategic food security quest for citizens, Burkina Faso inaugurated its first government-owned rice mill on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, in Bagré according to reports.

The Mill processes 100 tonnes of paddy rice per day. The entire facility was funded from the state’s own resources. No World Bank loan. No IMF conditionality. No foreign partner involved.

The mill is managed by Faso Agropôles (SOFA), a state-owned company. It runs a complete processing line—cleaning, husking, whitening, polishing, optical sorting, and automatic bagging.

The factory is designed to turn the paddy rice stocks the state has been buying directly from farmers into finished white rice for the market.

The timing is deliberate. Burkina Faso suspended all rice imports in April 2026. Domestic paddy production has crossed one million tonnes, driven by the Presidential Initiative for agricultural mechanisation.

The missing link was processing. The Bagré mill closes it.

Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo framed it in terms that go beyond economics. “The fight against imperialism also involves conquering food self-sufficiency,” he said. “Producing and transforming our agricultural resources locally is an essential condition of national sovereignty.” He called on Burkinabè to “produce and consume Burkinabè” and urged citizens to protect the facility.

This is the 2026–2028 Agro-Pastoral, Water and Fisheries Offensive in practice. Not a speech. A factory. A state that feeds itself is a state that cannot be starved into submission.

Abuja

Following the success of Run-Am, an AI-powered misinformation detection and fact-checking mobile app it developed for the 2023 Nigerian elections, Rise Networks, in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Google, Microsoft, Meta and other partners have launched the #AI4Elections Hackathon to support the 2027 electoral process.

Other partners include NITHUB at the University of Lagos, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), CLEEN Foundation, Tap Initiative for Citizens’ Development, International Press Centre (IPC), Legal Naija, Ahmadu Bello University and Federal University of Akure (FUTA), with support from the MacArthur Foundation and Luminate.

In her welcome remarks at the launch of the #AI4Elections Hackathon, Elections Development Hub and Elections Community of Practice in Abuja, the founder of RiseNetworks, Dr. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji said the #AI4Elections Hackathon is not intended to develop partisan campaign technology, influence voter preferences, or interfere with electoral administration.

“The programme operates on principles of non-partisanship, equal treatment, respect for electoral law, protection of personal information and human oversight. Unauthorised testing of live electoral systems or access to institutional infrastructure is strictly prohibited and winning the competitiondoes not constitute approval for operational deployment. Any future institutional pilot or deployment remains subject to relevant legal, institutional, technical and security approvals”, she noted.

According to her, the programme, which will connect innovators, researchers, civil society and electoral stakeholders, is structured around three interconnected pillars: the #AI4Elections Hackathon, where participants design, develop and demonstrate solutions to electoral challenges; #AI4Elections Development Hub, which will support the further testing, refinement and development of promising solutions; and the #AI4Elections Community of Practice, which will connect participants, researchers, mentors, institutions and other stakeholders for continued learning, collaboration and knowledge-sharing beyond the Hackathon.

She said the competition will focus on five principal tracks, including AI and Trustworthy Electoral Information, Electoral Data Analysis, Operational Insights & Decision Support, Inclusive and Multilingual Electoral/Civic Technology, Electoral Cybersecurity and Resilience, Election Observation and Citizen Accountability and an optional Crosscutting Area in Climate Resilience and Environmental Innovation.

Participants may develop applications, software prototypes, AI-enabled tools and models, data-analysis pipelines, accessible civic technology, multilingual interfaces, open-source components and other technically credible solutions appropriate to their selected challenge area.

The #AI4Elections Hackathon, which opens on October 22nd and closes on November 12th, features a total ₦10 million cash prize pool across overall and special innovation awards, with the 1st Place Overall Champion to win ₦4,000,000, 2nd Place winner to receive ₦2,500,000 and the 3rd Place winner to receive ₦1,500,000. Four additional ₦500,000 Special Innovation Awards will recognize outstanding solutions in Research and Policy Innovation, Electoral and Civic Inclusion, Responsible AI and Safety and Cybersecurity and Resilience.

In her remarks at the occasion, the Head of Public Policy, Anglophone West Africa and Connectivity and Innovation Policy Manager, Africa at META, Dr. Sade Dada, said Nigeria was very important to META because if the country gets it right in elections, it will have a positive impact on the entire continent of Africa.

“Specifically, Nigeria matters so much, enormously to META. The 2027 elections matters far beyond Nigeria’s borders. If Nigeria gets it right on trustworthy information, the continent will learn from and, indeed, the world”, she stated.

She noted that “Elections are decided by voters and they decide based on what they believe. And what they believe depends on what they trust. I’m especially excited about the innovators that are going to be applying for this programme. META is here as a key innovative partner. Elections are one of the single most important civic moments – people come to WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, etc., to debate about their future”.

Mrs Dada disclosed that over the past decade, META has invested over $30bn dollars in safety and security. We have global elections in several operations; we have around 40 people who are working on security- removing content that is harmful, that interferes with people’s ability to vote; we remove viruses so that they don’t go viral.

Presenting a keynote address, the chairman of INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan hailed the initiative by RiseNetworks and her partners, saying it presents an opportunity for young Nigerians to harness their potential and contribute to electoral process.

Represented by the Director of ICT, Dr. Lawrence Bayode said “The #AI4Elections hackathon presents an opportunity to harness the creativity of young Nigerians in addressing real electoral challenges. We welcome the innovation that can improve voter education to enhance accessibility for PWDs, bridge language barriers, strengthen information integrity and make information more accessible to citizens”.

By Seyi Balogun, Lagos

Having learned some hard lessons, Shoprite Nigeria has rejigged its strategies, as it plans to return to business in Nigeria.

The new model under consideration is the standalone neighbourhood stores as part of efforts to revive its operations, following financial difficulties that forced the closure of its doors to customers.

This was disclosed by Adekunle Adebiyi, the Executive Director, Investments at MBO Capital Management Limited, an investor in Shoprite Nigeria, in an interview on Nairametrics’ Drinks and Mics on Friday, where he discussed the supermarket chain’s financial challenges and recovery plans.

He added that three Shoprite outlets had since reopened after the company temporarily shut its operations to negotiate with suppliers and address outstanding financial obligations. In his words:

“We took a very, very drastic decision to just shut everything down whilst we negotiated with suppliers. Now three stores are back open.”

He explained that the company planned to expand through smaller standalone outlets in residential neighbourhoods rather than relying primarily on large shopping malls.

“We’re going to be opening standalone neighbourhood stores, which was always the plan,” Adebiyi said.

The approach is expected to allow the retailer to concentrate its resources on supermarket operations rather than committing substantial capital to property development.

Adebiyi said supermarkets typically operate from leased premises, with investments focused on equipment such as shelves and refrigeration systems.

However, he noted that this business model could create financing difficulties in Nigeria, where banks often require tangible assets as collateral for loans.

He disclosed that MBO Capital encountered challenges securing bank financing during the acquisition of Shoprite Nigeria because lenders struggled to identify sufficient physical assets to support the transaction.

Despite the retailer generating billions of naira in revenue, the structure of its business made it difficult to obtain conventional asset-backed financing, prompting the investors to explore alternative funding arrangements.

Adebiyi also identified foreign exchange volatility as a major factor behind Shoprite Nigeria’s financial difficulties.

According to him, about 17 of the retailer’s 28 stores had rental agreements denominated in dollars when the acquisition took place.

The depreciation of the naira subsequently increased the cost of those leases, putting additional pressure on the company’s operating expenses.

He said rent should ordinarily account for between eight and 10 per cent of a supermarket’s revenue, but some Shoprite locations faced substantially higher rental costs.

The executive also cited operational challenges, including weaknesses in inventory management and the loss of access to the enterprise resource planning system used by the former parent company.

He said replacing the system required billions of naira in additional investment, diverting funds that could otherwise have been used to support the business.

Shoprite’s current recovery efforts follow a series of operational challenges and changes in ownership.

In June 2021, a consortium led by Persianas Investment Limited completed the acquisition of Shoprite Nigeria after South African retailer Shoprite Holdings decided to exit direct ownership of its Nigerian operations.

The business subsequently continued under Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited through a franchise arrangement.

The retailer later faced further pressure from rising operating costs and difficult trading conditions. In June 2024, Nairametrics reported the closure of its outlet at Novare Wuse Central Mall in Abuja.

In March 2026, Shoprite told Nairametrics that it was not leaving Nigeria but implementing a phased restructuring programme that began in August 2025.

The Chief Strategy Officer at Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited, Bunmi Adeleye, had also disclosed plans to reopen outlets at The Palms Shopping Mall and Circle Mall in Lagos while exploring smaller neighbourhood store formats to reduce expenses on rent, electricity and diesel.

However, the company has yet to disclose the number of new neighbourhood outlets it intends to open, their proposed locations or a timeline for the expansion.