E-Business
Minister Seeks Digitisation of Governance for Transparency, Cost Reduction
Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, has called on government at all levels to digitise governance processes to reduce cost, enhance efficiency and entrench transparency.
The minister made the call at the end of a four-day 8th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Communications and Digital Economy (NCCDE) held in collaboration with Imo Government in Owerri.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the minister was represented by Musa Istifanus, permanent secretary in the Ministry
Patanmi said that the IPPIS was initiated by the Federal Government to reduce the cost of printing payment vouchers, slips and other documents associated with payment of its numerous workforces.
He said that the decision reached at the 8th NCCDE meeting would create great impact on Nigerians in the penetration into broadband for e-learning across the nation.
The minister advised Nigerians to embrace Information Communication Technology (ICT) for effective communication and transmission of ideas.
Earlier, Istifanus had said that the Federal Government, through the ministry, had developed policies and master plan, including Broadband (2020-2025) targeted at covering 90 per cent of Nigerians, irrespective of their locations.
Speaking on the theme “Leveraging Digital Economy Policies and Strategies for Economic Recovery in a COVID-19 Era and Beyond”, he said that with ICT, people could communicate effectively with one another and do their buying and selling online.
Istifanus said that ICT had helped to break the barrier of close contact and overcome the hurdle of COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Yakubu Oseni, chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, said ICT was pivotal to the transformation of economies and had accelerated the pace of globalisation and completely impacted on life and work in the society.
Represented by Ayoh Ogon, clerk to the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, Oseni said ICT had made the world a much safer place as the major vehicle for security surveillance and investigation.
He said that ICT had also become the key infrastructure in security and intelligence, education, banking, agriculture, health services, manufacturing, aviation, power generation, marine services, building technology and immigration services, aside others.
Oseni expressed regret that criminal elements around the world had turned the ICT revolution into a nightmare with sophisticated and severity attacks.
Oseni said that the yearly meetings of the national council, the highest advisory body to the government on policies, programmes and strategies on digital technology, had helped, in no small way, in the attainment of numerous objectives of the country in the area of technology.
He said the senate committee had been engaging in activities aimed at addressing the challenges of cybercrime.
Ikechukwu Umeh, the Imo Commissioner for Science and Technology, said the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy was created to facilitate ICT in the transformation agenda of Nigeria in the areas of job creation, economic growth and transparency in governance.
He said it was also to solve the problems of the various aspects of the economy notably education, health, taxation, commerce and industry, agriculture, tourism, transportation, banking, infrastructure development and skills acquisition.
Umeh described communication as key to technological advancement of any developed or developing economy.
He said the state ministry of science and technology had the mandate of developing ICT infrastructure, formulating state ICT policy, automation and re-engineering of government processes and businesses.
“It has, therefore, become imperative that technology must be embraced to enable a digital state that is more efficient, effective, accessible, secure and transparent that meets and serves the needs of individuals, businesses and institutions in the country.
“We firmly believe that ICT is the enabler for e-governance at both state and federal levels to catalyse economic recovery, revenue generation, job creation, security surveillance and service delivery,” he said.
NAN reports that the participants, drawn from across the states of the federation, commended the organisers for convening the event meant to update ICT stakeholders.
They said they had received more information on ICT in the country.
A participant, Sani Mohammed with the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Niger State, said they had been updated with ICT innovations from different states in the country.
He said one of the innovations was the upgrade from commercial domain name .com to top level domain .gov.ng for organisations and agencies.
“We are in the digital world, but the youth need encouragement from government in terms of capacity building and sponsorship. We commend the Federal and state governments for the efforts put in place for this programme,” he said.
Amaka Eboh, an entrepreneur from Imo, urged youths and women to embrace information technology for a better tomorrow instead of waiting for white colour jobs
The University of Nigeria (UNN) is set to partner with The Roxettes Group to establish a research and innovation centre focused on artificial intelligence (AI), smart and green mobility, and digital technologies, in a move aimed at strengthening research, entrepreneurship and technology-driven industrial development.
Chairman of The Roxettes Group, Arc. Dr. Kaycee Orji-Kelechi, announced the proposed partnership while delivering his acceptance speech after receiving an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration (Honoris Causa) during the university’s convocation ceremony.
The proposed facility, to be known as the Dr. Kaycee Orji Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Smart/Green Mobility and Digital Innovation, is expected to provide a platform for research, innovation and collaboration between academia and industry, with a focus on developing commercially viable solutions to local and continental challenges.
Orji-Kelechi said the initiative was conceived as a long-term investment in human capital and technological advancement rather than simply another physical infrastructure project.
He said the vision was to position the University of Nigeria among Africa’s leading institutions in artificial intelligence, smart mobility and digital innovation through research, entrepreneurship and technology development.
According to him, the centre will house five specialised laboratories covering artificial intelligence and machine learning, smart and green mobility, robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT), digital finance and financial technology, as well as cloud computing and advanced data centre technologies.
He also announced plans for the proposed Kaycee Orji Founders Innovation Challenge, an annual programme intended to identify, mentor and support innovative ideas from students, researchers and academic staff with the potential to become scalable businesses.
“Every student of this University should know that a great idea conceived in a classroom should have a pathway to becoming a patent, a startup, a global enterprise, and a solution that transforms society,” he said.
Orji-Kelechi disclosed that preliminary conceptual work on the project had commenced, with architectural and engineering designs being prepared by K.KH Contractors Ltd., a subsidiary of The Roxettes Group.
He added that discussions with the university would begin on identifying a suitable site for the project, while a comprehensive proposal containing architectural drawings, engineering designs and an implementation framework would be submitted after completion of the design phase.
Reflecting on his career, Orji-Kelechi said Africa must move beyond consuming innovation to creating it through investment in manufacturing, technology and entrepreneurship.
“We have pursued one simple vision: that Nigeria and Africa must move from consumption to production; from importing innovation to creating it; and from waiting for opportunities to building them,” he said.
He urged graduating students to see their education as a foundation for solving societal challenges through innovation, leadership and enterprise, adding that he remained committed to promoting industrial development, youth empowerment and sustainable economic growth.
The proposed collaboration forms part of broader efforts to strengthen university-industry partnerships, which are increasingly seen as critical to improving research commercialisation, innovation capacity and technology-led economic development in Nigeria.
National Population Commission (NPC) has announced commencement of full digital registration of births and deaths through the VitalReg platform, which became operational nationwide on July 1, 2026.
Chidi Ezeoke, federal commissioner representing Anambra, disclosed this in Awka during a press conference to announce commencement of full digital birth and death registration under the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system and the marking of World Population Day commemorated every July 11.
He revealed that a total of 131 registration centres had been opened in the 21 local government headquarters and several communities in the state, adding that more centres would be opened later.
Ezeoke described the initiative as a major milestone in Nigeria’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system, to ensure every birth and death in the country was captured through a digitally enabled registration platform.
“It builds on the launch of the E-CRVS system and the inauguration of the National Coordination Committee on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics by President Bola Tinubu on Nov. 8, 2023.
“A total of 4,011 functional registration centres has been established across the 774 LGAs of the federation and the commission iswas working to expand the number to about 8,000.
“In Anambra, 131 registration centres have been opened in the 21 local government headquarters and several communities. More centres had been proposed for the state,” he said.
According to the Commissioner, the VitalReg platform would provide faster registration services, 24-hour online access, digital certificate issuance where applicable, reduced paperwork and waiting time, improved data validation and a more secure national CRVS database.
While noting that the platform would serve as a foundational database to support other national data systems and strengthen interoperability across Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem, Ezeoke urged Nigerians and other stakeholders to support the initiative by ensuring prompt registration of all births and deaths.
Speaking on the 2026 World Population Day themed, “Realising the Hopes and Aspirations of Young People – Today and for the Future”, the Commissioner called for greater investment in education, healthcare, skills development, decent employment opportunities and youth participation in governance for sustainable national development.
Earlier, Mr Obiakonwa Okagwu, state director, NPC, said the occasion served as a reminder of great opportunities provided to harness young people’s capabilities, which he said would shape the future of the country when adequately harnessed.
He called on residents to take registration of births and deaths as national responsibility, just as he urged the media to take the message on civil registration to all parts of the State.
E-Business
Report Says Cybercriminals Deploy Malware to Hijack Crypto Wallets, Monitor Browsers Telegram
Cybersecurity researchers at Kaspersky have uncovered a sophisticated malware framework, dubbed OkoBot, that is targeting cryptocurrency users by stealing wallet recovery phrases, browser credentials and other sensitive information through a multi-stage attack campaign spanning more than 25 countries.
The researchers said the malware, active since April 2025, employs more than 20 malicious payloads and has evolved into an advanced cybercrime platform focused on compromising digital asset holders. According to Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), the campaign remains active and has already affected hundreds of users worldwide.
Kaspersky disclosed that one of the framework’s most dangerous components, known as SeedHunter, injects malicious code into legitimate cryptocurrency wallet applications, including Ledger Wallet, Ledger Live and Trezor Suite, before displaying fake recovery phrase prompts designed to trick victims into surrendering their seed phrases.
The security firm explained that once attackers obtain a victim’s recovery phrase, they gain complete control over the cryptocurrency wallet, enabling them to transfer digital assets with virtually no chance of recovery.
Commenting on the discovery, Dmitry Galov, security researcher at Kaspersky’s GReAT, said.
“This campaign has been running for more than a year and remains active. OkoBot is not just a single piece of malware but an extensible framework built primarily to compromise cryptocurrency users.”
Galov added that the malware is continuously maintained and enhanced, underscoring the attackers’ long-term focus on financial theft.
According to Kaspersky, victims are typically infected through ClickFix phishing attacks or malicious GitHub repositories masquerading as legitimate software downloads. In one instance, a fake Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio repository secretly installed a trojanized version of the Audacity audio editor embedded with malicious code.
Following the initial compromise, the attackers deploy a PowerShell downloader called TookPS,which establishes an encrypted SSH connection to attacker-controlled infrastructure.
The malware then harvests browser cookies, wallet files, stored credentials and system information before downloading additional malicious modules.
Among the additional payloads is OkoSpyware which monitors more than 100 applications, which includes cryptocurrency wallets and password managers—records user activity and captures keystrokes and video of application windows. Another module silently installs malicious browser extensions capable of stealing financial information and authentication tokens.
However, Kaspersky’s telemetry indicates that the largest concentrations of victims have been recorded in Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico and Türkiye, although the malware campaign has spread to users across more than 25 countries.
The cybersecurity firm advised cryptocurrency users never to enter wallet recovery phrases into prompts displayed by desktop applications or websites unless they have independently verified their authenticity.
Furthermore,It also urged users to download wallet software exclusively from official sources, enable multi-layered endpoint protection, and remain cautious of software offered through unofficial repositories or phishing websites.
Kaspersky noted that while hardware wallets themselves remain secure, attackers are increasingly exploiting the software that accompanies them, making user awareness a critical line of defence against evolving cryptocurrency-focused cyber threats.
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