E-Business
CBi Unveils Web-Based Solution to Help MSMEs

Convention on Business Integrity (CBi), in collaboration with ActionAid and Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), have unveiled a web-based solution (ethicsqed.cbinigeria.com) to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) meet COSO 2013 standards.
The unveiling was detailed in a communique made available to the media in Lagos on Tuesday.
Mr Soji Apampa, chief executive officer, Convention on Business Integrity (CBi), explained that the web-based designed aimed at preparing MSMEs meet the COSO 2013 standards on internal controls and to establish certifiable anti-bribery, anti-corruption standards (ABAC).
Apampa said that notwithstanding the various challenges faced by businesses in Nigeria, MSMEs could distinguish themselves from other organisations by being compliant with international standards as a competitive edge and subscribing to the COSO 2013 framework.
He said that donor organizations as well as development banks have had cause to stop MSMEs from participating in their activities because of integrity issues in a process called Debarment.
“MSMEs in Nigeria are severely challenged by issues of undercapitalization, lack of records, difficulty to access of bank credit, high cost of doing business, irregular power supply.
“Additionally, inability to separate personal finances from business, corruption, infrastructural inadequacies like bad roads, government lack of interest in the sector, amongst a host of others summarily explain their challenges.
“Issues such as falsification of their year of incorporation, doctoring the value of reference contracts and tampering with the experience of key personnel.
“However, compliance with international standards and subscribing to the framework can help address these challenges and put your business in a vantage position to ensure competitiveness,” he said.
Presenting the business model of the platform, Mr Maduka Okafor, Information Technology Manager, Integrity Organization Limited, explained that the value proposition of the platform was to enable MSMEs understand ethical and anti-corruption standards.
Okafor explained that it also served as a marketplace of service providers, who provide regulatory interface services and also help MSMEs internally assess themselves and show credible evidence of conformance with standards and regulations.
He said that the customer segments expected to make use of the platform are International Donor Agencies, Banks and Other Financial Institutions, Venture Capital Firms, Large Enterprise Companies and most importantly MSMEs.
The manager disclosed that the key partners supporting the initiative are Center for International Private Enterprise CIPE, Department for International Development (DFID), other international donor agencies, financial institutions and service providers.
Okafor said that the platform was secure and compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards on data protection and covered the requirements needed to comply with the COSO 2013 framework.
“It includes segments such as having a controlled environment, risk assessments, controlled activities and information and communication.
A panel session headed by Mr Solomon Aderoju, chairman, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), agreed that more incentives could be used as a motivation tool to drive the usage of the platform amongt other benefits.
“MSMEs remain the backbone of major developed economies and they are important contributors to employment, economic and export growth.
“While MSMEs contribute 48 per cent of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), account for 96 per cent of the private sector and 84 per cent of national employment; they are still faced with challenges hampering their growth.
“It is thus important for MSMEs to work towards thriving in this economy by differentiating themselves from the crowd and building processes on systems, not on individuals, in order to ensure sustainability,” he said.
E-Business
Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.
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”.
E-Business
NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.
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.
E-Business
NITDA, API Partner Against Harmful Online Content

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API), has convened a one-day workshop in Abuja to advance dialogue on the draft Online Harm Protection (OHP) Bill to confront harmful online content.
The bill, a rights-based, locally rooted, and multi-stakeholder initiative, is aimed at addressing the challenges of the digital age.
The event, which held yesterday, brought together government officials, civil society, academics, digital platforms, and legal experts to shape a policy framework designed to combat online ills such as cyberbullying, disinformation, hate speech, digital exploitation, and gender-based violence, while safeguarding democratic freedoms and digital inclusion.
In his keynote remarks, Kashifu Inuwa, director general, NITDA urged a paradigm shift in the way society engages with digital technologies.
“For almost two decades, we have viewed digital technology through a consumer lens. But these technologies are not just products and services. They are transforming how we live, work, and interact. They shape our politics, our society, and our democracy,” he said.
Warning against unaccountable digital power in the hands of private corporations, the DG likened the digital journey to the tale of Alice in Wonderland, where initial fascination with innovation has given way to deeper concerns about privacy, autonomy, and manipulation by big tech platforms.
“We thought we were using Google, but now we realise Google is using us. Social media, once a tool of expression, has become a tool of surveillance and influence,” Inuwa noted.
He, therefore, emphasised the urgency of developing a democratic and accountable framework. He explained that following the 2021 Twitter ban, NITDA facilitated dialogue between the government and platform operators, leading to a Code of Practice that stressed Nigeria’s sovereignty and legal standards.
According to him, the same process birthed the multi-stakeholder steering committee and the OHP White Paper in December 2024, laying the foundation for the current legislative push.
Earlier in her opening remarks, Victoria Manya, co-founder, API, observed the moral and civic necessity of the bill.
Her words: “The internet did not break society, it merely revealed its unfiltered version. Every day, Nigerians are exposed to harassment, disinformation, exploitation, and even algorithmic violence. The OHP Bill is not a war on the Internet. It is a peace offering to its users, a social contract for a digital future that is safe, inclusive, and democratic.
“We cannot answer the question of algorithmic power with unchecked state control. We must answer it with shared, rights-based governance. This bill must not be written for the people, but with them.”
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