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Need for Infrastructure that Supports Convergence-Chiakpo

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Endy Chiakpo is the country general manager, IBM Nigeria and West Africa.  He has a 20-year career with IBM in Nigeria and the U.S, spanning hardware and software as systems engineer, senior engineering manager and programme director. He was part of the team that crafted the IBM Linux strategy and the successfully commercialized IBM Blue Gene supercomputer. He has scores of technical publications and holds invention patents. Chiakpo spoke on a range of issues.

Extracting Value from Smarter Infrastructure
We have long known that organizations are living systems – made up of smaller components and systems.  As the world becomes smarter – and more human beings, man-made systems, and natural systems become interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent – we begin to achieve unprecedented freedom to build, assemble, reassemble, loosely couple, and link resources in the organization.  Organizations that are prospering most are those that are dynamic and resilient enough to stay ahead of the change required of them. And it is not just about pervasive connectivity.  For the first time, massively powerful computers can be applied affordably to processing, modeling, forecasting and analysing just about any workload or task.  New approaches to service delivery are taking hold, like cloud computing models – creating a new kind of user experience – particularly in the consumer Web space – in search, social networking, retail and productivity applications.  From the user perspective, cloud computing holds promise for organisations large and small to acquire services without needing to understand the underlying technology.  Utility wires, cars and packaged goods are becoming increasingly “instrumented” with sensors, transistors, or RFID tags.  We are all now “interconnected” no matter where we are, thanks to the Internet.  We are also becoming ever more “intelligent” because of advanced software that communicates with vast supercomputing data centres.
Major Shift Underway
There is rapidly accelerating change unfolding.  There are mergers of hundred year old companies, creation of new industries and the demise of others.  There is also the emergence of new economies, the opening of long isolated markets, the imposition of new government regulations and the relaxation of others and so on.  Today, the PC model of the 1980s and the highly distributed model of the 90’s must be replaced by a new, more integrated paradigm.  This new computing model or paradigm is based on openness, networks, powerful new technology and the integration of digital intelligence into the fabric of everyday work and life. Given our service delivery challenges in Nigeria across education, power, transport and e-government infrastructure, we are best placed to leapfrog old technology to latest technology that is based on common, standardized set of applications.  New technology allows for the running of business processes on consolidated platforms, unleashing potential synergies and operational efficiencies
Change Gap
Recent surveys indicate that 98% of CEOs plan business model changes and 83% expect substantial change.  But the gap between those who expect change and those who believe they can handle it has tripled in the past two years.  For instance, take the utility industry.  Who would not want to better manage demand with available capacity rather than build expensive new power plants?  Or if you actually knew what consumer demand was, automatically reroute power rather than overload the grid and end up with another power outage. So what is holding them back? To do that, they would have to take their IT assets out of their silos.  Utilities have to take their business or “operational” assets – that network of power plants and distribution systems – out of their silos. They could then integrate them into a “smarter grid” which would allow them to manage all those transformers and breakers, and even the smart metres and thermostats in our homes and harvest all that intelligence from their IT systems. In the food industry, consumer pressure and government regulations now mandate that food producers ensure the safety of the food supply across the supply chain.  So what is holding back the food industry?  The way the food companies monitor and control the temperature of their perishable goods is not working.  They do not have an infrastructure in place that connects the farm to the truck to the supermarket shelves. So whether it is food or utilities – while they are totally different industries, they all share something in common.  What is holding them back is what we call a “change gap.”  Their business or “operations” and IT assets are highly fragmented and highly distributed thereby creating an environment that has business and IT operations working in silos.  There is a large gap between our progress digitizing and instrumenting critical applications and processes and the rigidity of the underlying infrastructure. 
Smart Infrastructure for Smart World
What is needed today in this digitally-connected world is an infrastructure that supports the convergence of business and IT needs and assets, creating integrated “smart” assets that will enable organisations to reduce costs, manage risk and improve service while reducing costs. The key requirements that such an infrastructure has to address include the integration of digital and physical infrastructure, the need to manage, store, and analyse a massive amount of data and reduce huge inefficiencies of energy, data centre and server utilization.  The underlying technical capabilities that allow for the development of such a converged, dynamic and smart infrastructure include: Virtualization – breaking out of the barriers of physical devices in a data centre, servers, storage, networks, data and applications giving businesses improved Total Cost of Ownership, resiliency and flexibility; Energy Efficiency – optimizing the energy efficiency of the IT infrastructure to reduce costs, resolve space, power, and cooling constraints; Service Management – integrated visibility, control and automation across all of the business and IT infrastructure components that support differentiated service delivery and accelerated business growth; Asset Management – enhanced asset reliability, availability and uptime that underpin quality delivery of service according to the priorities of the business while also maximising return on lifetime asset investment along with inventory optimisation, labour efficiency, and mitigating the risk of equipment failures that jeopardise the environment and the health and safety of people; Security – adopt a new approach to managing risk and security across organisations, processes, and information as the IT and business infrastructure become more interconnected; Business Resiliency – build in capabilities to rapidly adapt and respond to risks, as well as opportunities, in order to maintain continuous business operations, reduce operational costs, and enable growth in an increasingly connected world; and Information Infrastructure – supported by a resilient infrastructure for securely storing and managing information and mitigating business risks.
These are unique and challenging, yet exciting times.  These times have great possibilities. Smart systems are transforming energy grids, traffic systems and supply chains. They are ensuring the security of financial transactions and the safety of our food supply. They are changing our business models and how we work together.  Rising cost pressures, higher service expectations, new risks and threats and emerging smarter and more adaptive technologies, such as cloud computing, virtualisation, and Web 2.0 are some of the driving forces that are further accelerating the need for this change.  In fact, in this globally integrated economy, a converged and dynamic infrastructure that enables a business access, and extracts value from all types of assets, whether it’s physical, digital, or virtual is becoming the basis of competitive advantage


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NIA Questions Legality of Reps’ Financial Probe

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The Nigerian Insurers Association has urged the House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions to respect the constitutional separation of powers as it carries out a probe on over 20 insurance firms.

In a statement on Tuesday night, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NIA, Mrs Bola Odukale, said the decision of NIA and the affected firms to approach the court was to seek clarity on the constitutional limits of the House Committee’s probe.

It would be recalled that the House of Representatives on Monday is investigating no fewer than 25 insurance companies operating in the country for various financial infractions spanning financial reporting, claims settlement, premium remittance, and issuance of policies.

The Chairman, House Sub-Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Kwamoti Laori, during a meeting with the management of the insurance companies at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, said the meeting was convened following the receipt of a petition on infractions by the insurance companies.

In the statement, Odukale said, “The Association wishes to state unequivocally that all actions taken by the NIA and the affected member companies in response to the Committee’s invitations and pronouncements were based entirely on legal advice by its Solicitors. It was on the firm instruction of legal counsel that recourse was made to the courts.

“The objective of approaching the Court is to seek judicial guidance on the legality, propriety, and constitutional limits of the Committee’s intervention in order to safeguard institutional integrity, uphold regulatory independence, and ensure that legislative oversight remains within the bounds of law.

“The Court action seeks to determine whether the current posture of the Committee reflects an exercise of legislative judgment, which, by constitutional design, is the exclusive province of statutory regulators, such as the National Insurance Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Exchange, Financial Reporting Council, Nigeria Data Protection Commission, and the National Information Technology Development Agency.

“This raises serious questions about legislative overreach and an erosion of the doctrine of separation of powers, a cornerstone of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.”

Odukale maintained that the NIA was committed to lawful and constructive engagement with all arms of government, provided that such engagement respects the autonomy of statutory regulators and the boundaries established by the Constitution.

“The NIA will continue to provide its full support to all member companies while upholding the principles of legal compliance and sector-wide integrity,” Odukale concluded.

17 of the companies that went to court were represented by their lawyer, Mr Abimbola Kayode, at the meeting with the committee.


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Horn of Africa Leaders Seek Enhanced Digital Integration for Increased Regional Growth

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Finance ministers and development partners from the Horn of Africa have called for enhanced digital integration to boost trade, drive economic growth and promote regional stability during the 25th Ministerial Meeting of the Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI).

Held in Nairobi, on July 14, the meeting was co-chaired by the African Development Bank’s Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, Nnenna Nwabufo and Somalia’s Minister of Finance, Bihi Iman Egeh. Discussions underscored the critical role of digital integration in reducing trade barriers, boosting government service delivery and creating employment — particularly for the region’s youth.

“Digital technologies are shaping today’s economy and tomorrow’s industries. By embedding these technologies into our programs, we can not only improve inclusion but also leapfrog outdated development models,” said Nwabufo.

She called for digital integration a “central enabler” in each of the Horn of Africa Initiative’s pillars – trade, infrastructure, resilience, and human capital,

Learning through experience

Drawing from global and regional success stories, speakers highlighted the transformative potential of technology-led development. The ministers pointed to the Philippines as a strong example, where ICT has generated millions of jobs in business process outsourcing. Similarly, Kenya’s fintech innovation—especially the success of M-PESA—was cited as a model for scaling digital financial services across the region.

Participants urged governments to proactively foster digital ecosystems by capitalizing on the demographic dividend, identifying infrastructure upgrades, tighter regulatory reforms, and digital skills trainings as priorities to enable broader participation in the digital economy.

Minister Egeh reiterated the need for more coordinated regional efforts to create the enabling environment required for accelerated digital integration and expansion. He referenced the HoAI Digital Policy Matrix, adopted in 2023 which provides a blueprint on how to address key obstacles to achieving effective digital integration across the region.

Barack Makokha, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, underscored the importance of regionally-aligned public private partnerships and advocated for blended financing to reduce investment risk and expand digital access in underserved areas.

World Bank Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Ndiame Diop, called for a comprehensive multi-pronged approach, combining cross-border coordination, large-scale financing, robust policy support, and digital infrastructure investments. He pointed out that such measures could transform digital integration into, “a powerful engine of economic transformation” for the Horn of Africa—ensuring no one is left behind in the digital era.

The meeting concluded with a shared recognition that sustained political will and the determination to implement a multifaceted approach are essential to unlocking the region’s economic potential and driving long-term growth.

The event also welcomed observers from the East African Community, Agence française de développement, and Shelter Afrique, reflecting strong regional and international backing for the HoAI in the development community.


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CSCS Inaugurates Custodian Portal to Enhance Digital Access, Operational Efficiency

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Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), Nigeria’s capital market infrastructure provider, has launched its Custodian Portal, a user-centric digital solution designed to optimise custodian operations through intuitive, secure and efficient features.

Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CSCS, announced this in a statement on Monday.

The CSCS is a Public Limited Company with a diversified shareholder base, which serves as the Central Securities Depository for the Nigerian Capital Market.

It serves as the Central Depository for Equities, Commercial Papers, Corporate Bonds, Sub-National Bonds, certain Sovereign Bonds like the FGN Sukuk and the FGN Savings Bond, Equity-traded Funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts, Mutual funds and Commodities.

Jalo-Waziri said that the custodian portal offered a streamlined experience for market participants with powerful tools that facilitate comprehensive portfolio and trade management, document tracking, share transfer operations, client symbol search, and real-time access to vital data.

He explained that the portal, designed to operate through a flexible subscription-based model, empowered users to manage their records effortlessly and securely through convenient payment channels such as GTPay and Paystack.

According to him, “Digital transformation remains at the core of our strategy to enhance the efficiency, transparency and accessibility of Nigeria’s capital market services.

“The custodian portal is a significant leap in that direction, offering custodians a centralised platform to manage critical processes in real-time.

“We are excited about the value this innovation brings to our stakeholders, and we will continue to evolve the platform in line with users’ needs and industry trends.”

The CEO also explained that the portal was designed with user experience in mind with feature tools like portfolio viewing and downloads in PDF or Excel format.

He further said that it also featured tracking of stock movements across date ranges, inbox messaging and request tracking, as well as robust user management capabilities including role assignment and status tracking.

Similarly, the Divisional Head, Business Technology and Digital Innovation, CSCS Plc, Tobe Nnadozie, said that the portal aligned with CSCS’s drive to automate the market.

“In addition to the normal features, the platform is a part of an omnichannel platform for custodians, and includes API services.

“It also connects to the market-wide workflow, which CSCS has built to ensure secured communication and approvals across all major stakeholders in the market.

“The platform is well secured with best-of-breed cybersecurity solutions and our SOC,” he said.

The Custodian Portal reinforces CSCS’s commitment to leveraging technology to streamline back-office functions and support a more agile, data-driven capital market ecosystem.

All custodians in the Nigerian capital market have now been successfully on-boarded on the Custodian Portal, marking a significant milestone in CSCS’s ongoing drive to enhance collaboration, standardise operational processes, and promote digital adoption across the market.


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