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Expert Asks FG to Develop National ICT Framework

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Mr Jide Awe, an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) expert, has called on Federal Government to develop national framework to grow smart ICT systems and data economy in 2019.

 

Awe made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.

 

According to him, another area of interest that stakeholders are on the lookout for in 2019 is in the area of policy implementation, which will move the industry forward.

 

He said: “2018 was a mixed bag for the ICT sector, as the digital economy was definitely on the rise.

 

“ICT is hugely important and contributed more than what it ever recorded as most sectors experienced greater digital adoption and application.

 

“Domestic and foreign investments are being attracted according to the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) figures.

 

“Some other high points in 2018 are the setting up of innovation hubs by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and agency’s implementation of Government’s Executive Orders which prioritises indigenously developed IT content in procurement by MDAs.

 

“Nigerians are increasingly adopting digital channels to shop, to educate, do business and attend to personal matters.

 

“There has also been greater cloud adoption by businesses and individuals to improve performance.

 

“Young people continue to inspire as they win awards on the global stage.

 

“In 2018, a young Nigerian also developed a programming language that allows programmers to code in Yoruba.

 

“Significantly, NITDA announced that tech startups contributed 101 million dollars to the Nigerian economy in 2018.

 

“These and many more are how the ICT industry has fared in 2018, but with the development of the National ICT framework and implementation of the e-government inter-operability framework, 2019 will be more productive,” he said.

 

Awe said that in spite of new initiatives in 2018, the sector witnessed bad spots such as quality of service which was still a big issue in the telecommunications industry.

 

He said that though broadband penetration had improved, multiple taxations and other serious challenges were militating against the progress of broadband penetration efforts, affecting the seven licenced infrastructure companies (infracos) in particular.

 

Awe said that large segments of the populace such as women, the elderly, individual living with disabilities, people outside the formal sector, the poor and the rural populace were still digitally excluded.

 

He added that the level of national cyber security coordination was also low and public awareness of cyber threats was quite poor as well.

 

Awe said that in 2019, industry players were hopeful that policies of government, advances and development of technology would help unfold shifts that would affect their operations and performances, especially in terms of opportunities and challenges.

 

“Emerging issues and technologies will be of particular interest.

 

“Industry players that wish to stay ahead will always be interested in exploring the use and development of new technology to create disruptive and innovative business solutions.

 

“I expect new forms of digital collaboration that will continue to grow, leading to an increase in meetings, trainings, conferences and team work engagements in virtual pace.

 

“Also, with the right enabling environment, there should be more collaboration between industry, the academia and government,” he said.


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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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