LG Electronics has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing innovation and smart living across Africa by participating as a supporting sponsor at the Africa Technology Expo (ATE) 2026, where the company is showcasing its latest portfolio of premium consumer electronics and home appliance innovations.

The two-day expo, themed around strengthening Africa’s enterprise technology ecosystem through collaboration and innovation, has brought together industry leaders, technology innovators, multinational companies, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to explore opportunities for cross-border partnerships and digital transformation across the continent.

As one of the supporting sponsors of this year’s event, LG’s interactive exhibition booth has become a major attraction, offering visitors firsthand experience of the company’s latest AI-powered technologies designed to enhance everyday life while delivering greater comfort, convenience, energy efficiency, and connectivity.

Among the innovations on display are the latest LG QNED TV, delivering exceptional picture quality and immersive entertainment; the iconic MoodUP™️ Refrigerator, which combines intelligent cooling with customizable LED door panels; the innovative LG WashTower™️, an all-in-one premium laundry solution that maximizes space and efficiency; the energy-efficient LG ARTCOOL Air Conditioner and LG Air Tower, designed to provide smarter climate control; alongside LG’s advanced Dehumidifier and other intelligent home solutions.

Speaking on LG’s participation, Mr. H.S. ji, Managing Director, LG Electronics West Africa, said: “Africa Technology Expo provides an excellent platform to engage with innovators, businesses, and consumers who are shaping the future of technology across the continent. At LG, innovation goes beyond creating advanced products, it is about developing meaningful solutions that improve everyday life.

“Our participation reflects our commitment to supporting Africa’s digital transformation while introducing intelligent technologies that make homes and workplaces smarter, healthier, and more energy-efficient.”

The Africa Technology Expo was established to foster stronger collaboration among African businesses, emerging enterprises, and multinational organisations. During the opening ceremony, the organisers emphasized the need for deeper continental collaboration to unlock Africa’s innovation and economic potential, noting that previous editions of the expo have facilitated approximately $192 million in business deals among participating companies.

LG’s presence at the event aligns with this vision by demonstrating how cutting-edge consumer technology can support economic growth, digital inclusion, and sustainable development across Africa.

Visitors to the LG booth are participating in live product demonstrations, interactive experiences, and expert consultations, gaining valuable insights into how LG’s AI-powered ecosystem seamlessly connects home appliances and entertainment products to deliver a smarter lifestyle.

As technology continues to reshape industries and everyday living, LG remains committed to driving innovation that empowers consumers, supports enterprise growth, and contributes to Africa’s evolving digital economy.

Nigeria’s weak data protection guardrails may undermine the recent directive by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to banks, fintech firms, and other payment service providers to store payment transaction data generated within the country  local servers.

CBN said that the new rule will start from January 1, 2027, as part of new measures to strengthen oversight of the fast-growing digital payments ecosystem.

This will also provide the country greater control over critical data infrastructure, allowing authorities to easily access records, conduct audits, enforce compliance, and investigate, especially in cases where criminal offenses are involved, reducing delays often caused by intermediation between local and foreign entities.

Apart from data sovereignty, the CBN added that moving transaction records from foreign servers will help drive investments in local data centers and cloud storage capacity.

Though reliable estimates are hard to come by, it is believed that Nigeria loses over N60 billion in hosting data in foreign servers.

But a coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs), has raised concerns over safety measures in place to protect data of Nigerians, despite having data protection laws in place.

The coalition, comprising Media Rights Agenda, Paradigm Initiative, Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative, and Accountability Lab Nigeria, among others, released the “Protected From the State, Not By It: Nigeria’s Data Protection Crisis Is a Crisis of Implementation,” where they criticized regulators’ failure to effectively enforce data protection laws, which led to rising cases of digital fraud and rampant illegal sale of sensitive information.

There have been leaks of sensitive voter, financial, and personal records.

For instance, there was alleged unauthorized access to the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during a nationwide CVR exercise.

INEC earlier released the preliminary findings of its investigation into the matter, saying that it found no external breach of its systems and that the personal information of over 90 million registered voters was not compromised.

Despite this, CSOs argued that the incident underscored the lack of oversight, adding that it showed that while data privacy laws are in place, sensitive information can be easily moved from a secure government database and into the hands of private political entities.

The coalition also pointed out regulators’ failure to conduct human rights impact assessments on public surveillance systems before related programs were deployed, urging the government to act on these issues by subjecting public institutions to the same compliance requirements as private organizations.

“This is the asymmetry at the heart of the crisis: citizens are under-protected from data abuse and over-exposed to state monitoring and punishment,” the CSOs stated.

Additional report by coingeek

Visa, a multinational firm into payment card services says Artificial intelligence enabled scams have emerged as the fastest-growing source of consumer payment fraud globally as cybercriminals increasingly target people.

Visa stated this in its Mid-year 2026 Biannual Threats Report released on Wednesday in Lagos.

The report said scammers were increasingly using AI tools and social engineering tactics to manipulate consumers into authorising fraudulent payments themselves.Premier League Fixtures

It indicated that from July to December 2025, Visa identified nearly one billion dollars in scam-related activity, making scams the largest category of consumer payment fraud.

According to the report, fraudsters now impersonate trusted brands and institutions, create a sense of urgency and deceive victims into completing seemingly legitimate transactions.

The report said stronger network-level security had reduced opportunities for direct system compromises, forcing criminals to shift their focus to exploiting human trust.

It revealed that fraud involving device tokens declined by 9.6 per cent between July and December 2025, compared with the same period in 2024.

The report identified accelerating scams, growing use of AI in fraud, migration of attacks from technology to people, and evolving ransomware trends as key developments shaping payment security.

It stated that global ransomware activity rose by 26 per cent during the review period compared with the corresponding period in 2024.

However, only 23 per cent of ransomware victims paid ransoms, the lowest level on record, reflecting improved resilience and recovery capabilities, according to the report.

Commenting, Mr Paul Fabara, chief Risk and Client Services officer, Visa, said that payments at network level continued to get safer, but threats were evolving faster than ever

Fabara said criminals were increasingly using deception, urgency and AI-enabled tools to exploit trust, requiring stronger collaboration across the payments ecosystem.

Also, Andrew Uaboi, vice president and Cluster head, Visa West Africa, said AI had significantly lowered the barriers to entry for fraudsters.

“What once required deep technical skill can now be executed with a prompt,” Uaboi said.

He said intelligence-driven defence and coordinated action across the ecosystem were becoming increasingly critical to protecting consumers from emerging threats.