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Angst Over $2m Spent by Banks on None Core Banking Software

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Indigenous software stakeholders have decried a trend in the country’s financial sector software consumption where banks spend as much as $2million to implement foreign none core banking software.

Angst Over $2m Spent by Banks on None Core Banking Software

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations have revealed that a bank in the country spent $2million to implement foreign software that is not its core banking application for a module.

Dr.Yele Okeremi, president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) in his response, said that if you look at 20 banks implementing at $2Million that is $40million for just one module. “The question is if we put $20million on the table which is half of the amount are we saying we cannot get two to three Nigerian firms to create alternatives to this software.

“If we leave our financial system in the hands of foreigners it opens us up as a government to crisis. Meaning that our financial system can be shut-down from overseas, that is the easiest way to topple a government. If anybody wants to topple any government, just shut-down the payment systems, if money cannot move from one person to another then you see that Nigerians can be very angry and if you are leaving this in the hands of foreigners it means we do not have national security.

“What smart countries are doing is to ensure that anything that is critical to their national security is domesticated.

When you look at our economy, a lot of thing is going on in oil and gas. How much have we domesticated and that is why the wealth of the nation is not in the hands of Nigerians. It is even bad for them to even have access, now we are giving them free control. These are issues that threaten national security but we don’t understand it.

“I’m not against importing software but, it is not right to import anything on a long term basis if you can do it competitively by yourself. Even when you import software it should be with the view to developing capability to domesticate it.

He added that: “it is not going to be possible to say people should not sale foreign software except if they can prove the country doesn’t need foreign software, which is impossible to prove just as long as people can prove that Nigeria has a need for it and Nigeria doesn’t have a solution at the moment then there is room for people to sale foreign software and anybody as far as I’m concerned that derives value using software is a member of ISPON.

However, the issue about local software should not be seen as ISPON challenge rather it should be seen as national challenge if the national leadership is smart. The idea we are discussing here are even issues of national security and sovereignty.

However, let us analysis whether some of the things we have or even the ones that we are importing are things we are capable of creating for ourselves in a comparative competitive manner, if we can find comparative advantage, meaning why should we be paying millions of dollars?

Bimbo Abioye, group managing director, FinTrak Software, said: “As developers of application in Nigeria, the challenge that we have is absence of regulation, despite coming up with products that are even better and have been successfully deployed where foreign options have failed still for whatever reasons operators would opt for foreign software.

“Even for mere travelling abroad for training, it is as small as that. For technical training which allows them to go shopping and collect estacode both in the private and public sectors.

“Where under heavens foreign solutions are to be acquired, technical training must happen in Nigeria. Because our hearts bleed when we see what happens and at eNigeria 2017 I made one comment, that Nigeria ranks among the poorest nations on earth despite the abundant resources and one index that was given to us is that Nigeria is also ranking first among the most foolish nations on earth.

“Because it is difficult to expect that when you spend $1billion every year enriching foreign nations, providing employment overseas, why won’t your youths be unemployed and they are finding job in Kidnapping and other crimes and nobody is immune from that.

“Where ever foreign software will be bought for whatever reason there should be software import tax which should be punitive as high as 35 per cent. When I go to Ghana they tax my software 33 per cent. We can use this fund to develop the ecosystem and provide single digit loan for software companies in Nigeria.


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E-Business

Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

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Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.

The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.

In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.

Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.


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Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.

The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.

“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.

It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.

Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.

Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.

Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.

A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.

“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.

Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.

Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.

It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.

NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”

The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.


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