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LASG, Tech Co-create Solutions for Smart City Agenda

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In fulfillment of Lagos State’s promise to engage with the technology ecosystem in co-creating solutions for its Smart City agenda, Art of Technology 1.0, themed ‘Bridging The Gap’ was held on the 5th and 6th of December at the Lagos Oriental Hotel.

Sponsored by the Lagos State Government, through the office of the Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology and the Eko Innovation Centre, the event attracted over 1,500 people drawn from government, tech, finance and academics.

According to the Curator of Art of Technology Lagos 1.0 and Founder of Eko Innovation Centre, Mr. Victor Gbenga Afolabi, the two-day summit was building on the earlier engagement of government and the tech community during the design thinking parley which saw the co-creation of solutions in the areas of access, infrastructure, talent and capital culminating in the Lagos Innovation Master plan.

He said, “For the first time in this country, whether state, sub-regional, or national, we are having a government committed to an innovation master plan. It is part-product of the co-creation session. It is called Lagos State Innovation Master Plan; it tells us where we are going, where we need to be and how we can achieve more.”

The Lagos Innovation Master plan was unveiled by Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State, in the company of Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Deputy Governor, Lagos State; Mr. Hakeem Popoola Fahm, Commissioner of Science and Technology, Lagos State and Mr. Tunbosun Alake, Special Adviser, Innovation and Technology to the Governor of Lagos State.

In addition, the Governor announced a tech fund of N250 million to be managed by the Lagos State Science, Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC) headed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe. This will support research and development of tech-focused solutions across the six pillars of his administration’s development agenda. LASRIC will also invest in research and development in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, health informatics and green energy.

Buoyed by its commitment to deepening collaboration between government and the tech ecospace, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also launched the Open Government Initiative, and Lagos State Solution Hub. It is expected that these initiatives will further drive synergy between policymakers in the public sector and innovators in the private sector.

Commenting on the Lagos State Solutions Hub, he said, “Democratising access to state actors is a critical strategy of this government as such, the Lagos State Solutions Hub serves as the first point of call for innovators, solutions providers and innovators on proposing their solutions to the state. It will enable us to evaluate different solutions from you, our most important stakeholders. The website is LagosSolutionsHub.com.”

On the Open Government Initiative, he stated: “Data Access is seen as critical for the building blocks of a solutions culture. Open data promotes inclusiveness, participation and more fit for purpose solutions. The Open Government initiative has kicked off and we will be communicating subsequent milestones with the public soon.”

Andrew Nevin, Advisory Partner & Chief Economist, PwC made a case for Lagos becoming a major player in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem given the growing number of Nigerian startups coming up with innovative solutions to societal problems during his keynote address.

Juliet Ehimuan, Country Director, Google Nigeria, also a keynote speaker, discussed how technology is being deployed to solve problems in education, transportation, health and business.

Kola Aina, Founder, Ventures Platform shared practical ways for government and tech to work together in his keynote address, ‘The Enabling Role of Stakeholders in Innovation.’ He posited that Lagos should focus on enabling market creating innovations and strengthening the ecosystem.

Amauche Emenari, Doctoral Researcher, M.I.T., looked at how humans can leverage on artificial intelligence to build better solutions to individual and societal challenges during his keynote address.

The highly interactive event also featured hard talk conversations as well as plenary and breakout sessions on tech & culture, building MVPs, consumer-centric products (not just apps), the future of work, funding mechanics and women in tech.

Mr. Tunbosun Alake, Special Adviser, Innovation and Technology to the Governor of Lagos State, launched Idea Hub, a mentorship platform designed to help innovators take their ideas from conception to actualisation.

He said, “The platform allows people to input their ideas, get matched with mentors to get their ideas validated for execution.” He added: “The Idea Hub is supposed to professionalise your idea, structure it properly, so that you get a minimum viable product and then launch into the market.”

Another high point of Art of Technology Lagos 1.0 was when StanLab claimed victory in the keenly contested maiden edition of Collaborate Lagos Pitch Competition. StanLab is a 3D virtual laboratory that leverages Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to provide practical science education to schools without traditional science laboratories.

Mr. Job Oyebisi, CEO, StanLab said, “It was an awesome experience exhibiting our product and participating in the pitch competition. We had insightful feedback from judges and participants who came to know about our EdTech product. The highlight was the MoU from the Lagos State Government and the acceleration support from Eko Innovation Centre.”

Commenting on the involvement of Eko Innovation Centre, Mr. Afolabi said, “Our emphasis is on localising technology to solve our problems. As part of our commitment to Collaborate Lagos, Eko Innovation Centre will offtake the winner, StanLab and accelerate them for government adoption.”

He also expressed his satisfaction with the high turnout and quality of engagement recorded at Art of Technology Lagos 1.0. “AoTLagos is positioned to continue the engagement. We have to solve our problems ourselves, let’s get to work now!”


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Trump Threatens More Strikes in Nigeria

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President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could carry out further military strikes in Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed, reigniting a sensitive debate over religious violence and foreign intervention in Africa’s most populous nation.

Trump Threatens More Strikes in Nigeria

President Donald Trump

Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times, published on Thursday, while responding to questions about a US military strike carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day.

At the time, the US military said the operation targeted Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria and was conducted at the request of the Nigerian government.

Nigeria, however, described the operation as a joint counterterrorism effort, stressing that it was aimed at armed groups designated as terrorists and “had nothing to do with a particular religion”.

“I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” Trump was quoted as saying. “But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”

Pressed on comments by his own Africa adviser that extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria, Trump acknowledged that Muslims were also victims but insisted that Christians were being targeted disproportionately.

“I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly raised alarms about the safety of Christians in Nigeria, beginning in late October when he warned that Christianity faced what he described as an “existential threat” in the country. He has accused Nigerian authorities of failing to adequately protect Christian communities and has openly threatened US military intervention if the violence continues.

Nigeria has firmly rejected claims of systematic persecution of Christians. The government maintains that the country’s security challenges are complex and largely driven by insurgency, banditry and criminal violence rather than religious targeting.

With a population of more than 230 million people, Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Christians, who are concentrated mainly in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north. Islamist insurgencies, particularly Boko Haram and its offshoots, have plagued parts of northern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands and displacing millions.

Nigerian authorities have repeatedly pointed out that militant attacks have claimed the lives of both Muslims and Christians, arguing that framing the violence along religious lines oversimplifies the crisis and risks inflaming tensions.

Following Trump’s earlier threats, the Nigerian government said it was willing to continue cooperating with Washington in combating terrorism but rejected language suggesting that Christians alone were under threat.

The latest comments are likely to strain diplomatic relations further, as Nigeria balances its partnership with the United States against concerns over sovereignty, security cooperation and the portrayal of its internal conflicts on the global stage.


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OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health

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OpenAI maker of ChatGPT is rolling out a health-focused feature to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that’s used by nearly a billion users.

Named ChatGPT Health, the new feature aims to provide users with health and wellness information. This, as health is one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT, according to OpenAI.

In a blog post, Microsoft-backed OpenAI says de-identified analysis of conversations show that over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness-related questions on ChatGPT every week.

ChatGPT Health will also “securely” connect medical records and wellness apps to ground conversations with a user’s own health information, making responses more relevant and useful.

“Designed in close collaboration with physicians, ChatGPT Health helps people take a more active role in understanding and managing their health and wellness – while supporting, not replacing, care from clinicians.”

According to OpenAI, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs, and medical notes making it hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own.

“ChatGPT Health builds on these so responses are informed by your health information and context. You can now securely connect medical records and wellness apps – like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal – so ChatGPT can help you understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with your doctor, get advice on how to approach your diet and workout routine, or understand the trade-offs of different insurance options based on your healthcare patterns.”

According to the company, ChatGPT Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care, adding that it is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. “Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time – not just moments of illness – so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations.

“To keep your health information protected and secure, Health operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data. Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models. If you start a health-related conversation in ChatGPT, we’ll suggest moving into Health for these additional protections.”

OpenAI adds that access to ChatGPT Health has started with a small group of early users to learn and continue refining the experience, adding that users with ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans outside of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK are eligible.

“As we make improvements, we plan to expand access and make Health available to all users on web and iOS in the coming weeks.

“Medical record integrations and some apps are available in the US only, and connecting Apple Health requires iOS.”


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Kaspersky Shares AI Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026

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Kaspersky experts outline how the rapid development of AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape in 2026, both for individual users and for businesses. Large language models (LLMs) are influencing defensive capabilities while simultaneously expanding opportunities for threat actors.

Deepfakes are becoming a mainstream technology, and awareness will continue to grow. Companies are increasingly discussing the risks of synthetic content and training employees to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to it. As the volume of deepfakes grows, so does the range of formats in which they appear.

At the same time, awareness is rising not only within organisations but also among regular users: end consumers encounter fake content more often and better understand the nature of such threats. As a result, deepfakes are becoming a stable element of the security agenda, requiring a systematic approach to training and internal policies.

Deepfake quality will improve through better audio and a lowering barrier to entry. The visual quality of deepfakes is already high, while realistic audio remains the main area for future growth.

At the same time, content generation tools are becoming easier to use: even non-experts can now create a mid-quality deepfake in just a few clicks. As a result, the average quality continues to rise, creation becomes accessible to a far broader audience, and these capabilities will inevitably continue to be leveraged by cybercriminals.

Online deepfakes will continue to evolve but remain tools for advanced users. Real-time face and voice swapping technologies are improving, but their setup still requires more advanced technical skills. Wide adoption is unlikely, yet the risks in targeted scenarios will grow: increasing realism and the ability to manipulate video through virtual cameras make such attacks more convincing.

Efforts to develop a reliable system for labelling AI-generated content will continue. There are still no unified criteria for reliably identifying synthetic content, and current labels are easy to bypass or remove, especially when working with open-source models. For this reason, new technical and regulatory initiatives aimed at addressing the problem are likely to emerge.

Open-weight models will approach top closed models in many cybersecurity-related tasks, which create more opportunities for misuse. Closed models still offer stricter control mechanisms and safeguards, limiting abuse.

However, open-source systems are rapidly catching up in functionality and circulate without comparable restrictions. This blurs the difference between proprietary models and open-source models both of which can be used efficiently for undesired or malicious purposes.

The line between legitimate and fraudulent AI-generated content will become increasingly blurred. AI can already produce well-crafted scam emails, convincing visual identities, and high-quality phishing pages.

At the same time, major brands are adopting synthetic materials in advertising, making AI-generated content look familiar and visually “normal.” As a result, distinguishing real from fake will become even more challenging, both for users and for automated detection systems.

AI will become a cross-chain tool in cyberattacks and be used across most stages of the kill chain. Threat actors already employ LLMs to write code, build infrastructure, and automate operational tasks.

Further advances will reinforce this trend: AI will increasingly support multiple stages of an attack, from preparation and communication to assembling malicious components, probing for vulnerabilities and deploying tools. Attackers will also work to hide signs of AI involvement, making such operations harder to analyse.

“While AI tools are being used in cyberattacks, they are also becoming a more common tool in security analysis and influence how SOC teams work. Agent-based systems will be able to continuously scan infrastructure, identify vulnerabilities, and gather contextual information for investigations, reducing the amount of manual routine work.

“As a result, specialists will shift from manually searching for data to making decisions based on already-prepared context. In parallel, security tools will transition to natural-language interfaces, enabling prompts instead of complex technical queries,” adds Vladislav Tushkanov, Research Development Group Manager at Kaspersky.

 


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