Federal government has banned  the use of personal email accounts, such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Hotmail, for official public-sector transactions, mandating that civil servants transition to a secure, institutional digital platform.

This ban requires all government officials to use secure institutional platforms with the approved .gov.ng domain to safeguard sensitive data.

The announcement was made in Abuja by Didi Esther Walson-Jack, head, the Civil Service of the Federation, during a digital transformation summit held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Galaxy Backbone.

According to Walson-Jack, the government has activated more than 115,000 official GovMail accounts to ensure that communication within the federal civil service remains secure, professional, and easy to track.

She said government activities should no longer rely on personal email services or informal channels that make record-keeping difficult.

The Head of service explained that official information must remain within government systems even when an officer leaves a position.

This, she said, will help preserve important records and prevent the loss of government information tied to individual workers.

The Head of Service also disclosed that the Federal Government achieved a major target by completing the digitalisation of work processes across all 38 federal ministries and extra-ministerial departments before the end of December 2025.

She described the development as proof that reforms can succeed when there is clear leadership and commitment from government institutions.

According to her, the achievement shows that the civil service is capable of adapting to modern methods of operation.

Walson-Jack recalled that in the past, government files could easily be delayed, misplaced, or trapped in lengthy approval processes.

She said the shift to digital systems now makes it easier to monitor documents, improve accountability, and measure progress in government operations.

Walson-Jack added that the paperless civil service initiative is aimed at making government work more efficient by cutting delays, reducing unnecessary bureaucracy, improving transparency, and allowing records to be retrieved and processed faster.

Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) has reaffirmed its commitment to implementing a National Digital Postcode System to assign a unique digital address to every addressable building across the country.

Speaking at the unveiling of the Post Code Delineation Model Validation 2026 in Abuja, Tola Odeyemi, postmaster general and chief executive officer, NIPOST, said the initiative would establish a machine-readable standard location-address framework for buildings nationwide.

“Postcode is basically a framework used to have a machine-readable standard location address for every addressable building in Nigeria,” Odeyemi said.

She explained that the project would place Nigeria among the first countries in Africa to develop a postcode system down to the unit level, ensuring that each standing building is assigned a unique code.

According to her, the digital postcode system is expected to enhance service delivery, logistics operations, emergency response, and national planning by improving the identification of locations across the country.

Odeyemi noted that the diversity of Nigeria’s geography necessitated different approaches to address mapping and postcode allocation.

“Nigeria is a large country. We have all the way from the top of Nigeria, which is almost like the Sahel, to the Savannah, to the Middle Belt, to the tropical South and even to the riverine areas.

“The logic that will work for Jigawa is not the same logic that will work for Bayelsa because they have completely different geographical expressions, density of buildings, population distribution, and topography,” she said.

She said the postcode delineation process was designed to ensure that postcode boundaries align with existing administrative structures and do not overlap local government boundaries.

“Delineation has to make sure the postcode does not pass administrative boundaries, and it must not go across two local government areas,” Odeyemi stated.

The NIPOST boss further explained that the validation exercise involves testing aerially mapped polygons against actual settlement patterns and geographical realities in different parts of the country.

“To test the polygons we have drawn aerially, we must ensure they accurately reflect realities on the ground. For example, the density of buildings in Lagos, particularly in Mushin, is very different from the density of buildings in Abuja. We are making sure that density maps and topographical features are properly captured for each state in Nigeria,” she said.

She described the Post Code Delineation Model Validation exercise as a critical stage in the agency’s broader digital addressing initiative, which seeks to create a comprehensive and standardised postcode framework for the country.

Nigeria has long grappled with an inefficient addressing system, making it difficult to accurately identify locations for postal services, logistics, emergency response, and public planning.

NIPOST’s National Digital Postcode System is part of efforts to create a standardised and technology-driven addressing framework that assigns a unique code to every addressable building in the country.

As digital financial services continue to grow globally, cyber threats are becoming more advanced, more automated, and more financially damaging. In Nigeria, where digital payments are becoming a part of everyday life, these threats pose significant risks to both consumers and financial institutions.

Industry reports continue to show that account takeover remains one of the dominant fraud issues in Nigeria, accounting for a significant share of 43% banking-related losses reported to Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). Between early 2023 and mid-2025, the financial sector is estimated to have lost hundreds of billions of naira to digital fraud, while 281,500  user accounts have been exposed through breaches and leaks in Q1 alone.

Responding to this kind of threat environment requires more than a single line of defence. It requires a broader security model that combines intelligence, automation, identity verification, and ecosystem collaboration.

PalmPay, leading digital payments platform, has built its cybersecurity framework on a multi-layered security architecture designed to anticipate, detect, and mitigate risks before they escalate. Rather than relying on a single line of defence, PalmPay integrates AI-driven fraud monitoring, continuous risk assessment, behavioural analysis, and multi-layer authentication to strengthen account protection.

One important part of this approach is biometric and facial verification. As account takeover attempts increasingly exploit stolen credentials, identity verification has become one of the most effective tools in combating fraud. By combining facial verification with PIN and OTP authentication, PalmPay introduces multiple layers of protection that help ensure access is tied to the legitimate account owner, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Complementing this is PalmPay’s Fraud Case Management System that enhances how potential fraud incidents are detected, analysed, and managed. By centralising fraud intelligence and enabling faster response times, the system helps security teams identify emerging patterns and intervene more proactively.

PalmPay’s Anti-Fraud Manager, Omoruyi Aiyudu, commented: “Fraud prevention today requires a shift from isolated security controls to a connected, intelligence-driven security ecosystem. At PalmPay, we leverage AI-driven fraud detection, behavioural analytics, and multi-layered authentication to identify and mitigate risks in real time. We continue to invest in advanced technologies to strengthen account security and build a safer, more resilient digital financial ecosystem for our users.”

Ecosystem Collaboration

Cybersecurity does not stop at internal controls. Stronger outcomes also depend on collaboration across the wider financial ecosystems.

PalmPay continues to work with regulators, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to support stronger cybercrime detection and response capabilities. One example is collaboration with the Nigerian Cybersecurity Unit of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), including support through the provision of advanced equipment designed to enhance fraud detection and investigation capacity.

The company also recently collaborated with the Nigerian Data Protection Commission on a specialized data protection training to enhance internal data governance practices and advance compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023.

These efforts reflect a broader view of security, one that recognizes that customer protection depends not only on technology, but also on governance, institutional cooperation, and responsible data handling.

PalmPay also believes that effective cybersecurity requires active participation from every stakeholder in the digital ecosystem. This is why user awareness remains an important part of its approach. Technology can reduce risk, but informed behaviour remains one of the strongest protections against fraud.

As cyber threats continue to evolve, the future of cybersecurity will depend on organisations adopting intelligent, adaptive, and collaborative security models. AI-led security solutions are no longer optional; they are becoming essential to staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated threats, strengthening customer trust, and the digital economy.