The House of Representatives on Wednesday launched an investigation into allegations of telcom providers linking National Identification Numbers (NIN) to subscribers’ lines without their consent.

This decision is sequel to a motion sponsored by Patrick Umoh, member representing Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara federal constituency and Julius Ihonvbere, representing Owan federal Constituency during plenary on Wednesday.

Umoh, leading the debate expressed concerns that this action exposes subscribers to criminal activities and subjects legitimate NIN holders to grave risk.

He argued that the action is a clear violation of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) 2019, which guarantee the right to privacy and protection of personal data of every Nigerian;

“Aware that the National Identification Number (NIN) was established to streamline the verification and identification of persons and enhance security in Nigeria.

“Also aware that the potential risks and consequences of this unauthorized data linking includes identity theft, financial fraud, and other forms of cybercrime that have become rife in Nigeria lately”, he said.

The Lawmaker stressed that innocent citizens have been wrongly implicated in crimes, suffer reputational damage, harassment and legal challenges for crimes they know nothing about.

The House therefore mandated its Committees on Communications and Interior to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter and report back to the House for further legislative business within four weeks.

The lower chamber also urged the Nigerian Communications Commission to investigate and take immediate actions against any telecom service provider found to be culpable in this practice.

The House further asked the National Identity Management Commission to confirm whether the linking of NIN numbers by telecom service providers was authorized and in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

Zoho Corporation, a global technology company, today expands the scope of Zia with the announcement of Zia Agents, Agent Studio, and Agent Marketplace. Together, these solutions empower enterprises to access, build, and distribute intelligent, autonomous digital agents across their organisations.

Beginning today, Zoho and ManageEngine will be previewing pre-built, task-specific Zia Agents, which will deploy across Zoho Corporation’s combined portfolio of 100+ products in the coming weeks.

“The speed of disruption and quality of innovation we’re seeing in our industry right now has encouraged me to focus on my passion area, technology. I will devote more time to hands-on technical work for the company, spearheading several deep R&D initiatives, beginning with AI,” said Sridhar Vembu, Zoho Corporation’s Co-founder and Chief Scientist. “Utilising Zoho’s deep engineering expertise, its own data centres, and shared data model, we will develop powerful and usable solutions that drive customer value while retaining our commitment to customer flexibility and data privacy.”

Zoho Corporation’s in-house AI has evolved over the past decade from proactive to prescriptive to generative to agentic:

Zia: Launched in 2015, Zia is Zoho Corporation’s foundational AI, facilitating all intelligent and contextual actions across the company’s ecosystem of apps. Zia possesses a vast and diverse skillset. New skills are being implemented regularly to boost customer experience and drive productivity.

Ask Zia: Launched in 2018, Ask Zia has developed into a system-wide conversational assistant that helps employees work smarter and accomplish tasks more effectively. For example, an account manager can review a report of customers at risk of churn, summarise the outcomes of each customer’s recent interactions, filter and summarise helpdesk tickets, analyse trends in their industry, and reach out to that customer for a meeting based on the employee’s upcoming travel schedule, without leaving the Ask Zia interface. Ask Zia is powered by Zoho’s unified data platform and will be contextually embedded across all applications.

Zia Agents: Today, Zoho Corporation has previewed some of the several dozens of pre-built Zia Agents that will be rolled out in the coming months, including an Account Manager Agent, SDR Agent, HR Agent, Customer Support Agent, IT Help Desk Agent, and a SalesCoach Agent. For customers, partners, and developers looking to create their own agents, Zoho is launching Zia Agent Studio, allowing them to build and deploy customised agents with inherited skillsets, which can then be distributed through Zoho’s Agent Marketplace.

Zia Agent Studio: Offering no-code and low-code experiences, Zia Agent Studio enables users to build autonomous agents with skills relevant to their specific needs. Zia Agent Studio users can also access a wide range of pre-existing Zia Skills, tools from across the Zoho ecosystem, data from a unified data platform, and a range of language models. These can be agents within a function (like an SDR agent or email support agent) or natively cross-functional agents (like an RFP agent or loan approval agent).

They can be deployed on any Zoho application and summoned using Ask Zia. Moving forward, Zia Agents will be deployable in any third-party application as well. Additionally, Zia Agents with complementary skillsets can be combined using Zia Agent Studio, creating a single agent capable of cross-functional work.

Agent Marketplace: Agents created using Zia Agent Studio can be published in the Agent Marketplace. Zoho Corporation will offer a pre-built roster of agents, while the company’s ecosystem of partners and developers can build and distribute specialised AI agents through the marketplace, which can be reused and instantly deployed by organisations.

Organisational Differentiation

Today’s announcement follows record growth for Zoho Corporation, which onboarded 110,000 new customers globally in 2024. With over 850,000 customers globally in diverse industries, using a range of tools across Zoho and ManageEngine, Zoho Corporation’s AI solutions are informed by a vast range of functional data. This is a core differentiator for the company, putting it in a unique position to serve businesses with cutting-edge technology.

Technological Differentiation

Zoho Corporation’s distinct technological breadth and depth is a fundamental differentiator, particularly in AI development and deployment. Leveraging its shared data model, owned and managed tech stack, including global data centres, and a broad application portfolio, Zoho Corporation’s highly secure, privacy-compliant, usable, capable, and deeply knowledgeable AI agents deliver superior technology at a high value to its growing customer base.

Availability

These capabilities will begin to roll out to a limited set of customers, which will expand monthly.

National Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN), launched yesterday, aims to close the internet gap for Nigeria’s 27.91 million living in underserved and unserved areas.

According to the Universal Service Provision Fund, 27.91 million Nigerians are living in areas underserved and unserved by telecom service.

NBAN is a policy initiative that aims to expand internet access to these areas, particularly key areas in these communities like schools, healthcare facilities, religious centres, and markets.

It aligns with the National Broadband Plan (2020–2025) and the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy’s strategic blueprint that aims to achieve broadband penetration of 70 percent by 2025, with minimum data speeds of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural areas, expanding population coverage to 80 percent by 2027, and increasing broadband investments by 300–500 percent by 2027.

The initiative aims to achieve its goal through collaboration between public institutions such as schools, hospitals, and government offices, telecom operators and infrastructure providers, technology companies, civil society organizations, and international partners.

“The NBAN is more than just a policy initiative. It is a commitment to a future where every Nigerian has access to the tools and opportunities needed to succeed in a connected world,” said Bosun Tijani, minister of communications.

The initiative will start off in Edo, Ogun, Kwara, Katsina, Imo, Abia, Borno, and Nasarawa states because they have addressed challenges like right-of-way fees and created an enabling environment for broadband expansion.

Broadband refers to high-speed internet connection, and broadband penetration is measured by the number of broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Expanding broadband access has been linked to increased jobs and reduced poverty.

“In today’s digital era, broadband connectivity is not just a necessity; it is the backbone of economic growth, innovation, and inclusion,” stated Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The government is ramping up efforts to hit its 70 percent broadband target for 2025, with broadband penetration at 44.43 percent as of 2024’s end. In February 2024, it unveiled plans to provide internet and digital access to all the 774 local government secretariats in the country. One year later, implementation has only reached over 50 local government secretariats across nine states.

Tijani says achieving broadband’s transformative goals requires more than just policy. “It requires collaboration. The NBAN is founded on the principle that no single entity can achieve universal broadband access alone,” he added.