General News
Knowledge Based Economy is Key Solution to Recession- Adegboye
Ayo Adegboye, PhD, is the new Managing Director at Business Connexion Nigeria/West Africa.
A Fellow of Institute of Information Management Africa, seasoned professional with combined sixteen years wealth of first-hand experience that cut across both Public and Private Sectors in Telecoms, IT, Consumer Electronics and Marketing.
Adegboye is an alumni of famous Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) Sales Team; the pioneer Business Manager at Galaxy Backbone; under the Presidency also lead a change management at MTN Nigeria with BT Consultants before he proceeded to IBM, Samsung Electronics, South Korea and Schneider Electric West &East Africa as the Vice President, ITB for the region where he was responsible for Overseeing APC by Schneider Electric Go To Market Strategy, IT business and Operation across the region which include P&L.
Adegboye spoke to selected ICT journalists; peter oluka was there for Nigeria CommunicationsWeek. Excerpts.
Business Connexion
BCX is a 35-year old company with about 7000 staff strength. It is the foremost IT system integrator with operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Until recently, BCX was acquired by the biggest telecoms Company in Africa which is Telkom South Africa.
Today, we pride ourselves in providing customer solutions in the areas of specialize services, IT services, system integration and we partner with the best club of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Oracle, Dell, Schneider Electrics; just to name few.
Business Connexion is also one company that is in the forefront of internet of things. It is obvious that IT transverses all aspects of human life today.
Therefore, we are business enablers. Also, we are that company that has been able to offer one-in-all-solution to offices, including large, medium and small businesses. In many organizations today you still see a lot of architectural work, networking provided by BCX.
Plans to Lead BCX (Nigeria’s) Vision
I am excited about working for BCX with combined sixteen years working experience. As the leader of the new BCX drives in Nigeria, one principal vision for us is to come up with value differentiation programme.
We are not going to channel our efforts on the competition; rather our drives are geared towards superior customer satisfaction.
Hopefully, when the customers are happy, our competitors will come behind. We intend to remain the trusted advisers to our customers; offering them consultancies as well.
Going beyond that, we understand the terrain/environment in Nigeria today. We are lining up blue ocean strategy that will keep us distinct from others.
Recession: Need for Knowledge-Based Economy
Talking about what government should be doing to harness ICT potentials in pushing the country’s economy forward; well, those challenges have be there for years.
Considering the situation we have found ourselves, government needs to come up with strong policies that will create enabling environment.
However, in as much as government is diversifying to other sectors; it must take into cognizance that diversification to knowledge-based economy is key now. When you talk about knowledge based economy, it is about exporting knowledge.
A typical example of knowledge-based economy is India. There are a lot of software from India used across the world. They rake in billions of dollars yearly. Thus, the Nigerian government needs to channel its interest around IT.
In addition, encourage local content. BCX has taken an initiative by appointing a Nigerian to lead its business in the country. This is the kind of initiative that should be encouraged among other multinationals.
Most importantly, ICT policies should encourage local talents to building exportable knowledge so that in few years from now we can leverage that aspect of our resources.
The way policies around ICT are written, the government needs to encourage private-public partnership. Gone are the days’ policies are drafted without inputs from the private/technocrats.
Specific Policy Areas Government Must Consider
No doubt, government has done a lot in enacting policies surrounding IT Governance; I give the officials all deserved credit.
But there are still more areas to be covered like encouraging training. Today, processes around getting forex for ICT companies are not as smooth as should. How do you encourage foreign direct investment with such restrictions.
NITAD, NOTAP, NCC and other are doing very well, however, there are certain areas that shouldn’t be left unattended. I must reemphasis that private/technocrats should be involved in drafting policies that concern this sector. That will be a significant step in the right directions.
Plans for Customers in Present Economic Realities
Still on the recession, Business Connexion is truly African; we are not naïve of the environment we operate in. Recession is something we know that denies you some privileges. So, BCX has taken a lead by mulling initiatives on how to help the customers.
We realized that it is a tough business environment; hence we are ready to help customers save capex, and building resilient business.
We are in the business of taking away the burden of capex by building infrastructure/services so they can pay over time. That way it becomes win-win for all parties.
And because we understand the challenges companies are facing today, our models are designed to empower businesses. Power, for instance, has been a perennial issue in Nigeria. Therefore, the cloud infrastructure was designed around taking care of that gap.
IoT as Evolution Strategy
Yes, I did mention in the beginning that we are pushing the internet of things (IoTs) drive in this ecosystem.
It is still part of our evolution strategies. When I mention customers, they cut across enterprises: large and small.
We are making huge investments on cloud technology. What that translates to is that a typical SME does not need to invest a lot in infrastructure, software or hardware.
Again, it is our business model to take everything to the cloud. In a layman’s term, when you take a business to the cloud, there is going to be economy of scale. So, we are undertaking a pre-investment on behalf of several SMEs.
To a large extent, we are here to support SMEs and large enterprises; providing solutions for them to manage their operations more efficiently. There are several segments of SMEs that we want to cover; so we are doing a survey that will help us understand them more for better services and products.
IoT, Cloud Computing and Skill Sets
I will start with the internet adoption. The talk about millennia started around 1996. From my experience as then public sector officer with Galaxy backbone, when the usage of technology was introduced in offices there was slow adoption.
But as government has taken up the challenge, today, we talk about e-governance, so, the civil servants are adapting to it. Likewise, in IoT and Cloud computing, there are going to be processes of adoption.
Once that is done it becomes seamless. An average person with a phone knows how to send message via Facebook. You are not trained on how to use Facebook; IoT will become a way of life.
That does not mean we are creating enabling environment for SMEs to leverage IoT or cloud, we want them to access the suites or several applications with ease.
Set Targets for BCX
I actually have my priorities for short, medium and long terms. One of the things I want to be remembered for is actually to bring Business Connexion to top position among IT companies in West Africa.
Again, I will lead the journey into the cloud for BCX, because that is the new phase of business. I want to have a proper handshake with both private and public sectors.
I have had the opportunity to work as a public servant, so brining these experiences together will enable me lead the course, especially in driving SMEs going into the cloud. BCX will unveil a lot of cutting-edge technologies.
I have mentioned that we investing millions of dollars on cloud technologies in the country and you will soon see the impact in this environment.
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The newly enacted Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, has empowered the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), renamed Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), to impose fines for individuals and companies for failing to register, file returns, use tax technology, or disclose basic information like a change of business address.
The Act is among the tax laws signed by President Bola Tinubu on June 26.
The tax administration law is expected to take effect from January 1, 2026, under a renamed agency — the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), currently known as the FIRS.
The Act, which is an updated version of previous fragmented tax enforcement provisions, outlines a comprehensive list of offences and corresponding penalties, with fines ranging from N10,000 to N10 million, as well as prison terms of up to 10 years for serious breaches.
Under the general offences and penalties section of the law, a taxable person who fails to register with the relevant tax authority is liable to a N50,000 fine in the first month and N25,000 for each subsequent month of default.
The Act stressed that companies that award contracts to unregistered vendors will face a N5 million penalty.
The law also imposes a N100,000 fine for failure to file tax returns, plus N50,000 monthly for as long as the failure continues.
“A taxable person who fails or refuses to file returns or knowingly files incomplete or inaccurate returns to the relevant tax authority in accordance with the provisions of this Act, shall be liable to pay an administrative penalty of (a) 100,000 in the first month in which the failure occurs; and (b) N50,000 for each subsequent month in which the failure continues,” the Act reads.
“A taxable person who Failure to books (a) fails to keep accounts, books and records of business transactions and income, to allow for the correct ascertainment of tax and filing of returns to the relevant tax authority; or (b) upon request by the relevant tax authority, fails to provide any record or book prescribed in this Act shall be liable to pay an administrative penalty of- (i) in the case of a person other than a company, N10,000, and (ii) in the case of a company, N50,000.”
Also, the law states that failure to notify the tax authority of a change of address within 30 days of such change, giving a wrong address, or failing to comply with the requirement for notification of permanent cessation of trade or business under the relevant tax laws shall be liable to an administrative penalty.
“A taxable person who fails to notify the relevant tax authority – Failure to notify change of address (a) N100,000 for the first month in which the failure occurs; and (b) 45,000 for each subsequent month failure persists,” the law reads.
In a bid to modernise tax compliance, the Act makes it compulsory for businesses to allow the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to deploy fiscalisation technology or face a N1 million fine for the first day of refusal and N10,000 for each day after.
Any business that fails to process sales through the fiscalisation system will also be fined N200,000, pay 100 percent of the tax due, and accrue interest at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) monetary policy rate.
The Act is especially punitive toward those who fail to deduct or remit taxes.
“A person that deducts, collects, or withholds any tax under this Act, and fails to remit the amount deducted, collected, or withheld by the 21st day of the month immediately succeeding the month in which the amount was deducted, collected, or withheld, is liable to pay,” it added.
“Failure to remit tax deducted source or self-account (a) the amount deducted, collected or withheld but not remitted; (b) an administrative penalty of 10% per annum of the tax deducted, collected or withheld but not remitted; and (c) interest at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria monetary policy rate. “A person convicted of any of the offences under this section shall be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years, or a fine of not less than the principal amount due plus a penalty of not more than 50% of the sum, or both.
“A person who (a) fails to comply with the requirements of a notice served under this Act or any other tax law; (b) fails to attend or provide answers to a notice, summons or process served under this Act or any other tax law; or (c) having attended, fails to answer any question lawfully put to him, is liable to an administrative penalty of N100,000 in the first day of default and N10,000 for every subsequent day where the default.”
Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (Taskforce) has apprehended six suspects allegedly involved in a fraudulent lottery scheme that targeted unsuspecting residents at Iyana-Ipaja.
Those arrested include Amaike Nelson, Kenneth Opuana, Oguntade Olusegun, Ogologo Obi, Goodluck Abel, and Oluwafunmilayo Adebimpe. The syndicate was tracked down following intelligence reports about their activities.
According to the taskforce, the suspects lured a 19-year-old student, identified as Rukayat Kamilu, into a manipulated street game. During the encounter, the group reportedly coerced her into surrendering her mobile phone and personal belongings.
The victim said one of the suspects, later identified as Oguntade Olusegun, posed as a confused passer-by seeking help to pick a “winning number.” After she got involved, her phone was seized, and she was allegedly pressured to pay N100,000 to retrieve it.
Acting on a tip-off, operatives led by CSP Adetayo Akerele, chairman, stormed the area and arrested the suspects. Several empty Android phone boxes, allegedly used as props in the scam, were recovered during the operation.
Condemning the criminal act, Akerele assured residents that the agency is intensifying its crackdown on street scams across the state.
“Our responsibility is to safeguard the lives and property of Lagosians. We will leave no room for such fraudulent activities to thrive,” he stated.
The suspects were subsequently arraigned before a Magistrates’ Court on charges bordering on gambling, extortion, theft, and conspiracy.
They all pleaded guilty. The court ordered that they remain in custody pending further hearing, scheduled for August 7, 2025.
In a giant stride to support innovation, entrepreneurship and economic transformation, the Federal Government is set to unveil a N50 million grant for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical Sciences (STEEM) students in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The project, which is referred to as the Student Venture Capital Grant (S-VCG), is a pioneering initiative designed to empower the students towards building the next generation of scalable, job-creating ventures.
According to a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Education, Folashade Boriowo, Friday, the initiative will be formally unveiled in August by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa.
Boriowo stated that the minister made the disclosure during a stakeholders’ engagement session held in Abuja in the presence of vice-chancellors, provosts, rectors, student leaders, academic staff, and development partners, and will chart a collective course for nurturing student-led innovation.
The statement noted that the grant targets full-time undergraduate students in STEMM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical Sciences), specifically those in 300 level and above.
“Each selected student-led project will be eligible to receive startup funding of up to N50 million, along with access to mentorship, incubation services and business development support.
“The initiative will be implemented in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BoI) to ensure financial transparency, impact measurement and effective project execution.
“S-VCG is not just a grant. It’s a launchpad for bold, young innovators to lead Nigeria’s industrial and technological transformation,” said Alausa.
Speaking at the session, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, described the grant as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s knowledge economy.
“We’re building a stronger, more competitive future by supporting innovation from the ground up,” she said, adding that the programme’s design was informed by months of consultation with students, faculty and institutional leaders.
Participants at the event welcomed the STEMM-Up Grant as a timely, strategic and high-impact initiative that will drive youth innovation, tackle graduate unemployment, and position Nigeria as a hub for student-led entrepreneurship in Africa.
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