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Four Nigerians, Including a Woman, Make Prestigious Africa Prize Shortlist

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Four Nigerians have earned spots on the prestigious Africa prize for Engineering Innovation shortlist. The Prize recognizes the most promising entrepreneurial engineers from across sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Elizabeth Kperrun – the first Nigerian woman to ever make it onto the Africa Prize shortlist – developed Zenafri. This is a series of mobile apps that teach toddlers and young children basic numeracy and literacy in their own language.

 

Teseem, the first app, teaches toddlers their first words and numeracy in vernacular languages such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Swahili.  When children get old enough to follow story lines, Afrotalez narrates original stories based on traditional African folklore, with an educational element added in.

 

Developed while pregnant with her own child, Zenafri had been an idea of Kperrun’s for years. After recruiting a secondary school classmate to develop the app, Kperrun and colleague Eremia married, and three years later, their daughter is an avid tester of their apps.

 

Today, Zenafri apps have been downloaded more than 100,000 times, with about 1,200 users logging on every day. The team continually improves the apps using feedback from current users, and has also launched a decision-based storytelling app for teenagers.

 

Professor Dele Sanni developed the 3-D-3-P dryer is a simple system that dries grains and cereals using conduction rather than hot air, conventionally used in industrial dryers.

 

Sanni’s system, developed over more than six years in conjunction with students of his over the years, is far more affordable than conventional dryers. Based on the same principle as simply heating grain in a pan over fire, a series of three drums are heated to directly dry out the grains travelling through them. Rollers ensure that grains don’t burn, and the gas heating the system is adjustable at each stage.

 

As an alternative to drying grains in the sun – a method used by the majority of farmers who cannot afford industrial dryers – the 3-D-3-P dryer is faster and safer. Thousands of Nigerians buy spent grains from local breweries to dry out and use as animal feed – but incur losses through sun drying from animals, and due to fermentation from humidity. Two pilot machines have been sold, and are being used to dry out sawdust before the high-energy waste product is turned into briquettes for sale to European countries.

 

“There’s a common perception that imported technology is better, but the 3-D-3-P dryer is a locally made, appropriate and affordable solution to so many problems faced by hard-working Nigerian farmers,” said Sanni.

 

Another innovation on the shortlist is WellNewMe. Designed by Dr Obi Igbokwe, the assessment tool uses algorithms to analyse users’ risks of contracting non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

 

Using years of experience from medical professions, research, and algorithms, the system takes data provided by individual users to predict the risks each faces from their lifestyles, genetics and environment. Users provide simple data such as family history and habits, but also supplement it with blood pressure, blood sugar and other readings from clinics or pharmacies.

 

Igbokwe, a medical doctor who taught himself to code, created the system in order to give people more insight into their own health. WellNewMe is aimed at pharmacies, clinics, and employers, but will be available to every day online users as well. The data, anonymised, will be shared with government healthcare advisors who are planning resources across the country, further removing guess-work from the approach the public sector takes to non-communicable diseases.

 

The KAOSHI mobile app, developed by Chukwunonso Arinze, connects money senders across the globe. The app facilitates a peer to peer money swap, circumventing the need to literally send money across borders.

 

The app tackles the high cost of transferring money to and between African countries, and the hassle of long queues at financial institutions, or buying forex on the black market.

 

Instead, it allows users who want to send money in opposite directions to swap between themselves, which is cheaper and more convenient.

 

KAOSHI connects users both within and outside of Africa, allowing each to specify the currencies they want to exchange and matching them to users making inverse exchanges.

 

“We want to do for international money transfer what peer to peer systems like mobile money has done for domestic payments. Imagine a mother in Ghana being able to send money to her son in California from her mobile phone – KAOSHI is the first of its kind!” said Arinze.

 

The Africa Prize, which is celebrating its fifth year, is run by the Royal Academy of Engineering. It provides a unique package of support, including funding, comprehensive business training, bespoke mentoring and access to the Academy’s network of high profile, experienced engineers and business development experts.

 

As well as the chance of winning up to £25,000, each of the 16 shortlisted engineers will develop skills that last a lifetime, and become part of a growing community of talented African engineers working to accelerate socio-economic development through business. The shortlist come from six countries, with five female engineers among them.

 

“The shortlist has come to represent the most talented engineers on the continent,” said Rebecca Enonchong, Africa Prize judge and Cameroonian entrepreneur.

 

“Through the Africa Prize, we’ve seen cutting edge technologies and world-firsts develop into businesses that manufacture locally, and drive research and development on the continent. We can’t wait to meet the new group of engineering pioneers.”

 

After seven months’ mentoring and training, four finalists will be selected from the shortlist. In June 2019 the finalists will present their businesses to judges in front of a live audience in Kampala, after which one winner will receive £25,000, and three runners up will be awarded £10,000 each.

 

 

 

 


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Toll Collection on Lagos-Calabar Highway Begins December

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Senator David Umahi, the Minister of Works, has announced that a section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be tolled starting in December.

Umahi disclosed this during an interview for a forthcoming State House documentary marking the second anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

He said: “By December, we will toll Section 1 of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. We project a 10-year return on investment.

“The road has solar-powered lighting and CCTV infrastructure, and offers carbon credit advantages.

“It is more than a road; it is an economic corridor and a catalyst for regional growth.”

According to the minister, 30 kilometres of Section 1 have already been completed, with an additional 10 kilometres in Section 2 nearing delivery. Both segments feature six-lane concrete-paved carriageways, designed to meet modern standards for safety and durability.

Umahi further revealed that construction had commenced on Sections 3 and 3B of the highway, spanning a total of 65 kilometres, covering 38 kilometres in Cross River State and 27 kilometres in Akwa Ibom.

He described the positive response from local communities as a clear indication of the project’s wide-reaching socioeconomic benefits.

“Just days ago, we flagged off Sections 3 and 3B—65 kilometres in total, covering 38 kilometres in Cross River State and 27 kilometres in Akwa Ibom. The host communities’ excitement speaks to these projects’ transformative impact,” he said.

Umahi also highlighted the administration’s renewed focus on the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway, which he noted was part of a broader vision dating back to colonial-era trade plans.

“The Trans-Saharan trade route dates back to colonial-era planning. President Tinubu is now bringing these long-abandoned visions to life,” the minister explained.


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Kaspersky Uncovers Dero Crypto Miner Spreading via Exposed Container Environments

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Kaspersky Security Services experts have identified a sophisticated cyberattack campaign targeting containerized environments to deploy a miner for the Dero cryptocurrency.

The attackers abuse exposed Docker APIs — parts of Docker, an open-source container development platform. In 2025, there are a significant number of Docker API default ports that are insecurely published, accounting for almost 500 occurrences worldwide on average each month.

In the discovered campaign, cybercriminals inject two types of malwares into the compromised systems: one is the miner itself and the other is a propagation malware that can spread the campaign to other insecure container networks.

Kaspersky experts discovered this malicious campaign as part of a compromise assessment project. According to expert estimates, any organisation that operates containerized infrastructure — while exposing Docker APIs without robust security controls — can be a potential target. These may include technology companies, software development firms, hosting providers, cloud service providers and more enterprises.

According to Shodan, in 2025, there are 485 published Docker API default ports¹ worldwide each month on average. This figure illustrates the campaign’s potential attack surface by tallying the “entry points” — or insecurely exposed ports that attackers might target.

Once attackers identify an insecurely published Docker API, they either compromise existing containers or create new malicious ones based on a legitimate standard Ubuntu image. They then inject two malware types into the compromised containers: “nginx” and “cloud”.

The latter is a Dero cryptocurrency miner, while “nginx” is a malicious software that maintains persistence, ensures execution of the miner and scans for other exposed environments. This malware allows attackers to operate without traditional Command-and-Control (C2) servers; instead, each infected container independently scans the Internet and can spread the miner to new targets.

“The campaign has the potential for exponential growth of infections, with each compromised container acting as a new source of attack, if security measures are not immediately put in place in the potentially targeted networks,” explains Amged Wageh, an incident response and a compromise assessment expert at Kaspersky Security Services.

“Сontainers are foundational to software development, deployment, and scalability. Their widespread use across cloud-native environments, DevOps, and microservices architectures makes them an attractive target for cyber attackers. This growing reliance demands organisations adopt a 360-degree approach to security — combining robust security solutions with proactive threat hunting and regular compromise assessments”.

The attackers embedded the names “nginx” and “cloud” directly in the binary — an inflexible executable file composed of instructions and data for the processor, not for humans. This is a classic masquerading tactic that lets the payload pose as a legitimate tool, trying to deceive both analysts and automated defenses.


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Manager, Others Arraigned for Allegedly Hacking into Premium Trust Bank’s Server

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Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday, charged five defendants before a Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly hacking into the server of Premium Trust Bank.

Manager, Others Arraigned for Allegedly Hacking into Premium Trust Bank’s Server

The defendants are listed as the bank’s e-payment service manager, Matthew Adeniyi; Kehinde Odeyemi, a nursing mother; Samson Latshin, Bolaji Omotosho and Sunday Okunnola.

They were charged before Justice Alexander Owoeye, on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, cybercrime and unlawful access to the bank’s database.

They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Mrs. Zeenat Atiku, prosecutor, alleged that they committed the offence between April and May this year, in collaboration with three others, now at large.

Those still at large are Isa Ismaila, Victor Joshua, also known as ‘Oracle’ as well as one other, simply identified as Humble.

According to the charge, the first defendant unlawfully disclosed sensitive credentials, including the bank’s server IP and domain details, to these parties.

She said this enabled an unauthorised access to the bank’s database and the consequent data breach allegedly resulted in financial gains of $10,000.

The prosecutor also alleged that the defendants attempted to intercept the bank’s network and procured a Hewlett-Packard ProBook 440 G9 laptop (serial No. SN#5CD2473N6G) configured to bypass the bank’s security systems.

The anti-graft agency said the alleged offences contravened the provisions of sections 12(1)(b), 27, 28(1)(b)(c) and 28(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition Act, 2015 (as amended in 2024).

Following their pleas, the prosecutor, requested for a trial date and sought an order to remand the defendants in custody.

Meanwhile, the court declined an oral bail by the defence counsel and directed that a formal bail application be filed.

He adjourned the case until June 30, for trial and ordered that the defendants be remanded at the Nigerian correctional centre, pending bail.

The court, however, added that the defence may apply for an earlier trial date, upon filing their bail applications.

 


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