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Nigeria’s Competitiveness Survey Will Spur Growth-Friendly Policies- NCCN

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By peter oluka

The National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN) has said that Nigeria’s first national competitiveness report in November is part of its efforts in driving the viability of States in Nigeria and spurring viable policies for sustainable national prosperity.

Speaking at a press panel discourse on the theme “Competitiveness: The Viable Path to Job Inclusive Growth’”, Chika Mordi, NCCN CEO, explained that the move would help spur growth-friendly policies.

The forum brought together stakeholders in policy advocacy space and also financial, business and economic experts. Panelists at the forum agreed that States were vital to Nigeria’s quest to attaining a productive and viable economy.

According to the NCCN, the index evaluates the competitiveness of Nigeria’s 36 states and FCT through metrics that examine growth, development and productivity potential.

Explaining the findings of the new report to be released by his council, Mordi said, “There were some states where you saw a clear path when it comes to education and skills. What we hope is that the policy and interventions that have worked will be transferred from the states where they have worked to the states that haven’t done it yet. The goal we have is all about poverty reduction. We feel that competitiveness will drive inclusive growth.”

The NCCN report, which was compiled over the last 20 months with support from the Ford Foundation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the World Bank and a host of other reputable international organisations, looks into how economically competitive states in Nigeria are.

“What we did was to set parameters for assessing the competitiveness of every state,” Mordi said. And based on parameters that have pillars and sub-pillars around macroeconomics, human capital, infrastructure, trade and around things like settlement and enforcement, we did surveys across the country.”

“We did one of the largest surveys you are going to see in this part of the world. We had 8,000 plus households, over 2,000 business surveys and we had a response rate of 91 percent.

“So we asked them a series of questions about their businesses, their experiences and all of these were plugged into the pillars, after some analysis. We also had primary data that we used as well, and cross-validated all of this information to see where it made sense and cleaned it up.

“Based on those results, we now ranked every state on each pillar, aggregated it and now ranked the states, in terms of their competitiveness.”

The NCCN’s index drew from resources of the World Economic Forum, World Bank, Mexico’s IMCO and HBS’s Prof Michael Porter.

The NCCN also stated that it received funding from Ford Foundation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, and resource support from the EU Energy Initiative Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF) to drive initiatives targeted at fiscal balance, healthy public-private policy contestation and unleashing private enterprise potential.

“The NCCN Sub-National Index is a potent tool for catalysing business-friendly policies that will spur job-rich growth in Nigeria’s 36 states,” NCCN Chief Executive Officer, Chika Mordi said. The findings of NCCN Sub-National Index underscore the salience of state governments in Nigeria’s overall economic growth potential.”

The NCCN sub-national is expected to enable states to identify ways to maximise growth and development potential. State policies and actions hold the key to boosting Nigeria’s overall growth.

It added: “Nigeria faces a well-documented overdependence on oil for fiscal revenue that has stifled incentives for private sector growth and remains insufficient for sustainable poverty reduction.”

According to OPEC, the oil and gas sector accounts for about 35 per cent of gross domestic produc t and petroleum exports revenue represents over 90 per cent of total exports revenue.

Gross capital formation as a percentage of GDP remained inadequate for growth compared to other emerging economies (Algeria 51%, Mexico – 23%, South Africa – 21%, Nigeria – 15%).

Also, operational costs are high, the lack of adequate infrastructure constitutes a binding constraint for manufacturing and agriculture, and structural rigidities suffocate diversification and industrialisation efforts.

“Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of today’s context is Nigeria’s rising youth population, which is an unutilised demographic window of opportunity that is fast turning to a ticking demographic bomb in the form of a massive army of unemployed youths. 62.27% of the population is under the age of 25, Countries such as the US, China, Japan, and South Korea achieved economic growth and poverty reduction by exploiting a similar demographic window of opportunity.

Meanwhile, during the round-table discussion, which was held in Lagos, one of Nigeria’s foremost data analyst companies, BudgIT, said the nation’s current fiscal structure does not motivate state governments to look within and solve their own problems.

BudgIT’s co-founder, Oluseun Onigbinde explained that the current system of federal allocations and bailouts cripples the imagination of state governments to increase internal revenue.

“The incentive is grossly lacking and this is partly because the Nigerian political elites do not like to answer hard questions,” Onigbinde said.

NCCN is a nonpartisan private effort aimed at enhancing the productivity of businesses operating in Nigeria with the ultimate goal of improved socio-economic outcomes for Nigeria,” it added.


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

E-Business

Kaspersky Warns of a New Phishing Technique Leveraging Bubble, a no-code AI Platform

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Kaspersky has discovered a new phishing tactic used to evade traditional security controls that exploits Bubble, a platform that allows users to build web and mobile applications through a visual interface without writing code.

Attackers are increasingly adopting innovative tools designed for legitimate software development and repurposing them to boost phishing campaigns.

Traditional phishing attacks often rely on malicious links or obvious redirection techniques, which are typically flagged and blocked by modern security systems.

However, attackers are now leveraging Bubble’s no-code environment to generate intermediary web applications which are hosted on Bubble’s legitimate infrastructure and trusted domains such as *.bubble.io, which improves their credibility and helps them bypass security filters.

These applications function as disguised redirectors, silently forwarding victims to malicious credential-harvesting websites.

In the observed campaign, victims were ultimately redirected to a convincing imitation of a Microsoft login page, protected by a Cloudflare verification layer designed to further obscure malicious intent.

This technique is likely being integrated into broader phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platforms and phishing kits. These kits enable a wide range of malicious capabilities with ready-made tools, including real-time interception of session cookies, driving phishing campaigns through legitimate services such as Google Tasks and Google Forms, and carry out adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) attacks that can bypass multi-factor authentication.

They also support the generation of phishing emails using AI, implement geo-filtering and anti-detection mechanisms to evade security crawlers and are often hosted on reputable cloud services like AWS to avoid blacklisting.

“The use of legitimate platforms like Bubble introduces a new level of trust abuse, making it harder for both users and automated systems to distinguish between safe and malicious content. This significantly increases the likelihood of credential theft, unauthorised access and potential data breaches,” comments Roman Dedenok, Anti-Spam Expert at Kaspersky.

 

 


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NITDA Takes Over National Digital Architecture System

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Nigeria has taken a major step toward strengthening its digital governance framework as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) officially assumes control of the Nigeria Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA) infrastructure.

NITDA Takes Over National Digital Architecture System

The handover ceremony held in Abuja, marks the culmination of a high-level partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

This transition signals a shift from fragmented IT projects to a unified, disciplined approach to national digital investment.

The NGEA initiative forms a core part of the e-Government Masterplan 2.0 (Ne-GMP 2.0), aimed at establishing a unified and structured approach to managing government IT investments and digital resources.

The framework is designed to ensure that technology deployment across public institutions aligns with national priorities while improving efficiency and accountability.

With the system now operational, government agencies are expected to adopt more integrated digital processes, allowing seamless data sharing and interoperability.

This is anticipated to reduce duplication, strengthen risk management, and translate policy objectives into measurable digital outcomes.

Over the past two and a half years, Nigerian technical experts worked closely with their Korean counterparts to develop the architecture framework, create reference models, and execute pilot programmes in key institutions.

These include the National Identity Management Commission, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, and NITDA.

Officials say the NGEA represents a shift from fragmented digital efforts to a more coordinated, citizen-focused system.

The infrastructure is hosted by Galaxy Backbone Limited, providing a secure and reliable platform for nationwide deployment.

Looking ahead, NITDA is expected to work with government stakeholders to expand and sustain the system, while the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy will provide policy guidance to ensure its adoption across the country.

 

 


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FG Shifting Focus to “Meaningful Connectivity” to Drive Inclusion  – Minister

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Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, has said the government is shifting focus from expanding access to ensuring “meaningful connectivity” that drives economic growth and inclusion.

FG Shifting Focus to “Meaningful Connectivity” to Drive Inclusion  - Minister

Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy

The minister made the statement on Friday while addressing stakeholders at the inauguration of board members of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) in Abuja.

He said that although Nigeria had made significant progress since the introduction of GSM services, millions of people, particularly in rural and underserved communities, remain either unconnected or unable to fully benefit from digital services.

Dr Tijani highlighted ongoing investments in digital infrastructure, including plans to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic network and nearly 4,000 telecom towers nationwide.

He said initiatives under the USPF had improved access through projects such as rural connectivity and digital facilities in schools but stressed that the next phase must prioritise effective usage.

“It is not enough to connect a community. We must ensure that schools can teach with digital tools and that small businesses can access market opportunities,” he said, citing a pilot project in the Kura community where connectivity has enhanced access to communication, education and healthcare.

Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also called for a shift towards meaningful connectivity, noting that while data usage had grown significantly, it remained concentrated in urban areas.

According to him, recent data shows that telecom usage has increased by about 160% over the past two years, largely driven by urban demand.

“When we drill down, we see that a lot of that growth is actually in urban centres. So, the gap between those who are not connected or not meaningfully connected is growing,” he said.

Dr Maida added that the trend underscored the need for the USPF board to intensify efforts to bridge both access and usage gaps across the country.

Both officials emphasised the importance of collaboration, sustainable investment models and improved digital literacy to ensure that connectivity translates into real economic benefits for Nigerians.

 

 


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