Nigeria’s university regulator, National Universities Commission (NUC), is processing about 303 applications for private universities in the nation. Today, Nigeria has 43 federal, 48 state and 79 private universities. But note that ABU Zaria admits more than 30% of the combined 79 private schools on capacity. So, looking at the number of private universities may seem like they are many, but examining the access they enable, you will see the impacts have been marginal.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) said it is processing about 303 new applications for the establishment of private universities in Nigeria.

Nigeria currently has about 170 universities (43 federal universities, 48 state-owned universities, and 79 private universities).

The NUC chief, Abubakar Rasheed, said this in Abuja at a two-day summit on Nigerian private universities. The summit had the theme: “Private University Education Delivery In Nigeria; Challenges and Opportunities.”

My proposal is M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the private university space to deepen capacity through the economies of scale. Sure, pure acquisition will not happen, because by law, private universities in Nigeria are charities making the institutions harder for direct acquisition. So, mergers will be the likely option.

Nigeria needs to look for expanding access over just awarding licenses where every local government area will have a university where about 200 students are admitted in a year. Today, all the private universities account for about 6% of the total capacity in the nation. One federal university, NOUN (National Open University of Nigeria), admits more in one year than what the private schools enroll in four years: “NOUN admits over 100,000 every year, has 450,000 students and is targeting 750,000 in the next few years”. We need access; we also need quality. Most times, scale helps to get both done. That is why NUC should explore looking at how these schools can combine!

The National Universities Commission (NUC) on Monday said the 75 private universities Nigeria account for less than six per cent of students’ population in the country’s university system.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Abubakar Rasheed, disclosed this at a retreat organised for Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities in Abuja.

According to Daily Trust newspaper, the Executive Secretary said the number of students being admitted each year by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was more than what the 75 private universities enroll in four years.

By Nnamdi Odumody

Walmart will deploy thousands of robots to its stores. By 2020, it will have 920 autonomous floors scrubbers in 1860 of its more than 4700 stores. It will also have robots that scan shelf inventory in 350 stores, and bots at 1700 stores that can automatically scan boxes as they come off delivery bucks and sort them by department onto conveyor belts.

According to Walmart, these smart assistants will reduce the amount of time workers spend on repeatable, predictable and manual tasks in stores, and allow them switch to selling merchandise to shoppers and other customer service roles.

CEO Doug McMillon said that automating certain tasks will give associates more time to do work they find fulfilling and to interact with their customers. He believes that deploying robots will increase sales and make stores more efficient in operations because while robots can unload trucks and keep up stores overnight, it will prove difficult with humans.

Walmart has been testing out this technology in hundreds of its stores over the past year. Running operations in its 178,000 square foot supercenters are expensive as more shoppers prefer ecommerce. It invested more than $2billion in 2018 to remodel stores across the country and equip them to handle online purchases for in store pickup.

Its strategic redesign has seen it leverage emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain to deliver the best customer experience better than its physical competitors. Today, the race is between Walmart and Target in the physical retail space, and Walmart and Amazon in the digital retailing space.

Africa’s leading retail brands Shoprite and Spar should learn from Walmart and invest in robotics to deliver smart services for its customers across the continent. Besides saving labour costs, they can improve efficiency and build stores for the smart economy which will improve margins.

There is a new All On (a grid energy impact investment fund) opportunity for those working in the renewal energy space: $3.2 million available fund, seeded by Shell Nigeria, to support energy entrepreneurs. The financing terms beat the typical bank terms in Nigeria, TC Daily newsletter explains. Download the form here and apply if you work in the renewal energy domain.

All On Energy has announced the launch of a N1 billion Bank of Industry and All On Niger Delta Off Grid Energy Debt Fund. All On Energy is an off grid energy impact investment fund for Nigeria seeded by Shell. The fund will provide local currency debt financing to facilitate the deployment of energy solutions by access-to-energy companies in the Niger Delta at 10% interest rate per annum (with a one-year moratorium) and tenor of up to seven years. According to All On Energy, the goal of the Debt Fund is to stimulate the growth and spread of off-grid energy businesses in the Niger Delta. Find out how you can apply here.

I have made my prediction that Uber will buy Lyft within three years. Someone did note also, on LinkedIn, that car companies can band together and take it off the public market. Largely, it will be hard for Lyft to thrive in a world of Uber. Alliance of car companies buying Lyft to deepen their ridesharing future is a better possibility since Uber buying can hit antitrust challenges.

On July 14 2017 (see video), I made a case that Uber will merge/acquire Lyft. As Lyft loses steam, post-IPO, and Uber coming to party, the pressure will heat up on Lyft. Then Lyft will surrender, and Uber will buy it within three years. Similar rivalries have ended together: Elance/Odesk (now UpWork),  Groupon / LivingSocial,  Sirius / XM and  Rover / DogVacay.

These numbers below are from Uber and Lyft respective Securities and Exchange Commission Form S-1s.

2018 Revenue

Uber: $11.3 billion

Lyft: $2.2 billion

2018 Loss

Uber: $1.85 billion (Adjusted EBITDA loss)

Lyft: $911 million

Total Cities

Uber: 700+ (globally)

Lyft: 300+ (across U.S. and Canada)

2018 Booking revenue from ride-hailing service

Uber: $41.5 billion

Lyft: $8.1 billion

Users in 2018

Uber: 91 million (including other services like Uber Eats)

Lyft: 30.7 million

Drivers in 2018

Uber: 3.9 million

Lyft: 1.9 million

Rides in 2018

Uber: 5.2 billion (includes scooter and bike rides, Uber Eats deliveries)

Lyft: 619 million

After Jumia Day 2, I declare for Andela and Interswitch to abandon any alternative plan that is not New York (NYSE or NASDAQ) listing. Forget London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and hit the land of Yankees. Nonetheless, I remain convinced that Alibaba Group through Ant Financial will buy Interswitch in order to have presence in Africa since it has picked properties in other global regions as it pursues payment system unification.

I have been tracking acquisitions by Ant Financial, an affiliate company of Alibaba Group. The Chinese company which is already bigger than Goldman Sachs is on spending spree, buying the world. London-based FT reported , few weeks ago, that it was in talks to buy WorldFirst, the UK-based international payments group, for about $700 million. The U.S. government had blocked its love-songs to MoneyGram, rejecting the proposed acquisition.

Did you see that 12,857,332 volume on Jumia Day 2? That is a solid whet of appetite from investors.

Andela identifies and develops software developers. The company launched operations in Nigeria in 2014, to help global companies overcome the severe shortage of skilled software developers and has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United States. It has raised millions of dollars as it pursues its mission – a really great one in this age where “software is eating” the world!

Interswitch is an Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company that facilitates the electronic circulation of money as well as the exchange of value between individuals and organisations on a timely and consistent basis. The company started operations in 2002 as a transaction switching and electronic payments processing company that builds and manages payment infrastructure as well as deliver innovative payment products and transactional services throughout the African continent.