General News
Cloud Computing is Future of Business Development – Layo Ajayi
Olufunlayo Ajayi is the country manager of Oracle Corporation in Nigeria, part of the an American multinational computer technology corporation.
In the last three years of her stewardship, Ajayi’s leadership prowess has rubbed off on Oracle’s presence in Nigeria as the Company’s presence permeates into both private and public corporations.
With the present emphasis on cloud computing, Ajayi believes the vintage is opening new vistas for Oracle with prerequisite solutions and hardware to leverage on. She spoke to Peter Ugwu.
Oracle’s Hype on Cloud Business
Oracle’s strategy is to reduce complexity and simplify Information Technology, offering choice and flexibility with the most comprehensive, modern and secure portfolio of cloud products and services: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service.
We are focused on offering our clients greater agility, less risk, and lower costs through Oracle Cloud solutions.
Oracle Cloud Roadmap and Inadequate Broadband Infrastructure
The Nigerian market has been very receptive, with lots of interest being expressed in cloud solutions.
However, the issue of security is what has slowed the adoption of cloud computing, especially in Nigeria. Somehow, they prefer to have their cloud in Nigeria.
We intend to partner with other service provideres in Nigeria to be able to provide whatever we need.
We had some concerns about that, but now we have broadband companies and other investors like MainOne, Glo1, MTN, who can actually help solve the problem.
We have solutions as far as that is concerned to enable organizations achieve their purpose almost in a seamless manner.
Apprehensions among Customers
Basically, up to now the fear has been centered on security. But it is like a perception. The way we have our yahoo mail, Gmail and host of others hosted outside the country is the same way that the cloud works.
They are already in the cloud; in other words we have already been in the cloud for years. That perception appears to be dying down now, but there are other challenges like regulatory compliance and concern over the evaluation of cloud operations.
Containing Intellectual Property Theft
Security and reliability are critical aspects of any discussion about the cloud. Organizations need to be able to trust that their cloud solution protects and controls access to private information.
Oracle provides world-class security that offers security and encryption at every layer of the technology stack, utilizing the latest physical and logical data security and protection solutions.
We provide federated and consolidated identity management and access control across clouds, systems and on-premise applications.
And Oracle’s best practice processes, controls and tools help customers cost-effectively and proactively comply with the regulatory requirements across industries and countries.
The Growth of Oracle Business in Nigeria
Oracle has been active in the West African market for many years and officially opened the Oracle office in Lagos in 2010.
We have seen tremendous growth and adoption of Oracle technologies during this time. We are very strong in the telco and financial services industries and through our continued focus on innovation to simplify IT, we are committed to continued investment and growth across all sectors in Nigeria.
Shifting Focus from Hardware To Software
Oracle maintains commitment to both software and hardware. Oracle is simplifying IT by engineering hardware and software to work together—from servers and storage to database and middleware to applications.
The idea behind Oracle’s integrated technology stack is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. There are best-of-breed products throughout the stack, and every product and every layer of the technology stack is designed and engineered to work together.
Oracle With Several Solutions
Yes Oracle has a large set of solutions and products to offer customers, but our focus is to simplify IT so that customers can use technology for business innovation, not just for business as usual.
While Oracle is committed to open technology that works within a heterogeneous IT environment, its technology is engineered specifically for the
Oracle stack, with solutions fine-tuned and optimized between, within, and across the layers.
The Oracle technology stack optimizes performance by including manageability, security and reliability engineered into every layer. The result is IT better than what our customers can build on their own.
Oracle is also simplifying IT by investing in best-of- breed components and engineering them to work together for specific industries.
So instead of customers focusing their technology and expertise on managing complex IT, they can focus on the innovation to drive their business.
Oracle’s Visions for SMBs in Nigeria
I have been the Oracle’s country manager for three years. As a company our aim is to ensure that we bring affordable and efficient enterprises to Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Nigeria. We are also involved in activities like providing Oracle Academy to universities.
What we do is that we train the lecturers so they can also train the students. As a company with presence in over 142 countries, we want to stamp our footprint in Nigeria as well.
To stress further on our vision, going forward is the key thing, especially to help our customers build their businesses with best-of-breed technology solutions.
Building Datacenter in Nigeria
We have a datacenter at our headquarters in San Francisco. It’s not about building datacenters, what the emphasis should be on is how we are adding value to the growth of the economy.
We want to bring Oracle’s innovation to the market, to support business innovation and growth in Nigeria.
Motivation to Focus on Nigeria Market
Nigeria is an emerging market offering vast opportunity to investors from around the world.
We believe that Oracle has best-of-breed, world class solutions that can assist businesses in Nigeria to realize their full potential and support their business requirements as they grow.
Oracle Solutions and Others in the Cloud Competing World
Unlike competitors with limited cloud options – for example software as a service only, virtualization only, or hardware only – Oracle provides the broadest, most complete and most integrated set of cloud offerings in the industry.
Only Oracle enables customers to choose between on-premise or in-cloud solutions – and move applications and data seamlessly between themselves.
Our cloud offerings span public and private clouds and extend to every level of our product portfolio – applications, middleware, database, servers, storage, networking and associated operating systems and virtualization software.
Virtualization and Moving to the Cloud
Cloud computing encompasses a wide range of services, beginning with infrastructure as a service, and escalating up to platform as a service and software as a service.
Each level should be able to operate independently of the layers below it, which are separate and automatically maintained.
The journey to cloud computing doesn’t happen overnight. It must not only benefit IT organizations but also the business user who consumes cloud services.
Virtualization is just one phase of cloud computing. A cloud strategy must be implemented using a phased approach, aligned to business pace, where each phase can be mapped to measurable business goals and benefits.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has ordered all international airlines flying into Nigeria to enforce the $10,000 currency declaration rule.
The authority said the rule is required for passengers to declare cash or negotiable instruments above the limit, as part of efforts to strengthen anti-money laundering compliance.
According to the NCAA, the directive, referenced as NCAA/CPD/ABV/298, dated 24 April 2025 seeks to address gaps in the enforcement of existing currency declaration obligations for inbound passengers.
This was announced in a statement issued by the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, via his official X account on Tuesday.
“International carriers must take two key actions, which include “Make inflight or pre-landing announcements informing passengers of their legal obligation to declare any currency or Bearer Negotiable Instruments exceeding $10,000 USD or its equivalent upon arrival in Nigeria.
“Distribute currency declaration forms onboard for passengers to complete before landing. The NCAA has received reports indicating that some airlines are yet to comply with this directive”, the statement read.
The NCAA said these requirements are consistent with international best practices and are vital to preventing the illegal movement of large sums of money across borders.
The Authority warned that full cooperation from international airlines is essential, saying, “Please note that the cooperation of all international airlines operating in Nigeria is critical to supporting the country’s efforts to align with global financial standards.”
Accordingly, the authority emphasised that full implementation of this directive, particularly as it concerns inbound passenger declarations, is of utmost importance.
“Compliance will be closely monitored, and non-compliant airlines will face appropriate sanctions,” it added.
The court of appeal in Lagos has asked the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to revoke the certificate of registration of “KPMG Professional Services”.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday, the appellant court granted the reliefs sought by KPMG Nigeria against CAC and KPMG Professional Services.
The judgment was read by Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero, the judge.
The two other judges are Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo and A.M. Talba.
In 2002, KPMG Professional Services was registered as a company with CAC despite the existence of KPMG Nigeria, comprising its audit, tax, and consulting arms.
The KPMG Nigeria has long been registered in Nigeria before 2002.
KPMG Audit was registered in 1969, KPMG Tax Consultants in 1990, and KPMG Consulting in 1969.
Displeased with the registration of KPMG Professional Services, KPMG Nigeria approached the federal high court.
The consulting firm had argued that the name “KPMG Professional Services” was deceptively similar to its long-established identity.
In 2005, the lower court dismissed KPMG Nigeria’s case, citing an alleged merger between KPMG Nigeria and Akintola Williams Deloitte as reason the company could no longer assert rights to the name.
The lower upheld the second respondent’s (KPMG Professional Services) counterclaim and ordered that KPMG Nigeria’s name be struck off the CAC register.
The lower court had premised its decision on newspaper articles stating that KPMG Nigeria reportedly merged with Akintola Williams Deloitte.
Delivering the judgment, Bayero ruled that the lower court erred by relying on newspaper articles to ascertain that KPMG Nigeria allegedly merged with another company.
The judge said the documents showing the alleged merger were not presented before the lower court, and the form of the alleged merger could not have been known.
“In any event, the only branch of KPMG, if any, that entered into a merger with Akintola Williams as stated in the newspaper articles 18, is KPMG Audit,” the judge ruled.
“The other spheres were totally unaffected. It would therefore be wrong to state that the merger (which has not been shown to this Court) of KPMG Audit with Akintola Williams means all the other areas of business, including KPMG Consulting and KPMG Tax Consultants, also ceased to exist.
“Even if the Appellants (KPMG Nigeria) had ceased to do business as the Court seemed to have held, the 2nd Respondents (KPMG Professional Services) should not have been carrying on business until the Appellant’s certificate of registration is withdrawn or set aside.
“They cannot use the name until the Appellant’s certification of registration is withdrawn or set aside. They cannot use the name until the name is removed from the 1st Respondent’s (CAC) Register of Names.
“The 1st Respondents can only assign the name to the 2nd Respondents after first taking it away from the Appellants.”
The court ruled that CAC erred by registering KPMG Professional Services despite the existence of a business name, which is already registered.
The judge reversed the earlier ruling of the lower court and reaffirmed the primacy of statutory protection for existing business names under Nigerian corporate law.
Air Peace has announced the launch of direct flights from Abuja to London Heathrow and Gatwick airports, with operations scheduled to begin on October 26, 2025.
The airline said in a statement on Sunday that round-trip fares for the Abuja–London service will start from N1m, making it the first Nigerian carrier to offer direct connections from the capital to both of London’s major international airports. This was contained in a press release issued on Sunday by the airline’s spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey.
“Direct international flight services from Abuja to both London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports, effective October 26, 2025.
“Air Peace becomes the first Nigerian carrier to offer direct services from Abuja to both of London’s major international airports, further solidifying its role as a leader in regional and intercontinental aviation.
“Travellers originating from any of Air Peace’s domestic destinations across Nigeria can now book through fares via Abuja to either Heathrow or Gatwick using a single ticket, eliminating the need for multiple bookings or baggage re-checks,” the statement read.
Similarly, the new route opens convenient access for inbound passengers from the UK to cities across Nigeria.
“Travellers from London can access multiple destinations across Nigeria using a single Air Peace ticket through Abuja every morning. These destinations are Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin, Warri, Owerri, Kano, Yola, Gombe and Asaba, for now. Other destinations will be added later,” Osifo-Whiskey stated.
Air Peace is also offering what it describes as unprecedented value in pricing and service.
Osifo-Whiskey said, “It provides a distinct competitive advantage, enabling passengers to travel between Nigeria and the United Kingdom with greater ease, efficiency, and value, due to the possibility of choosing multiple cities entry and exit points.
“Has the cheapest fares ever, starting from only 1 Million Naira round trip. Huge baggage allowance.”
The Abuja–London launch comes months after the airline began Lagos–London Heathrow flights, which started earlier in 2024.
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