E-Business
NITDA Boss Woos Venture Garden Group To Join Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria

Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general, National Information Development Agency (NITDA), has urged a leading provider of innovative, data-driven solutions, Venture Garden Group, to join the Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria.

Abdullahi made this call during a visit to Vibranium Valley, the company’s headquarters in Lagos, on Friday.
He added that “NITDA recently came up with Bridge the MassChallenge Nigeria initiative in order to promote Nigeria as an emerging entrepreneurial hub and leader of innovation in Africa, foster the growth and success of Nigeria’s startup enterprises by connecting its entrepreneurs with markets, networks, and capital in the global innovation ecosystem, and facilitate key strategies to complement growing innovation initiatives within Nigeria.”
Abdullahi further noted that a critical activity of the initiative is the hosting of quarterly technology innovation challenge. While working with Stakeholders, key challenges within the Nigerian economy and challenge the startups to come up with solutions for them. He therefore urged the Venture Garden Group (VGG) to come onboard the Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria initiative.
The Director General (DG) indicated that NITDA is keen on working with the tech community to develop use cases as the technology evolves so that everything can be regulated.
He said the Agency has developed key regulatory instruments in this fashion. The Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), for example, was developed and perfected through close collaboration with stakeholders. This, he said, is the strategy the Agency is adopting for each of the technology innovation use cases.
Citing one of the seven pillars of NITDA’s Strategic Road Map and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021-2024, the DG said: “The general understanding with regulation is that it does not allow or stifles innovation. This is the more reason why we in NITDA came up with Developmental Regulation.” “With this approach,” he said, “we work with stakeholders like you, develop the product, innovate then develop relevant regulatory instrument to regulate it”.
“The regulation is aimed at protecting you and your consumers because technology is about the future and there is no data about the future, the data we have is on the past and present and that is why it is hard to regulate the innovation industry,” he added.
Abdullahi outlined the seven pillars of SRAP as: Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity, Emerging Technologies and Promotion of Indigenous Content.
“We have identified six key stakeholders we need to bring onboard to achieve our initiatives; Universities as they produce the human capital, talent is needed to drive the digital economy and we work with universities and corporate organizations that will absorb these talents.
“We also have the entrepreneurs as they need access to the talent and corporate organizations because they are selling the products to them” he said.
The DG further indicated that, “Venture capitals and funding is a challenge, having the idea without the funds and government cannot provide funds for everyone and there are people with money doing nothing, bringing them onboard to invest in these startups will help boost the nation’s economy”.
He averred that Government’s role, as an enabler, is to create the enabling environment and the Agency would want to co-create with stakeholders because NITDA does not operate alone, that is why the ecosystem is engaged.
He added that NITDA also intervenes in the area of infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities.
While responding to the DG’s demand, the Group Head, VGG, Idowu Oladiamonds, said they invest in and develop technology solutions that address inefficiencies in automation, data collection, payment and revenue assurance across multiple sectors.
Oladiamonds stated that VGG has invested in over 30 companies in various sectors including financial sector infrastructure, education, financial technology, SME-focused technology and many other initiatives.
The VGG Group Head added that foreign countries scout talents from Nigeria, offering them residential Visas and higher pay and absorb them into their countries, taking more and more talents away from Nigeria.
He stated that joining the Bridge to MassChallenge initiative would be an opportunity that would benefit the Agency, companies and Nigeria’s digital economy.
“VGG is always on the hunt for talent so we hire corp members who are passionate about technology, give them time within their ability to work on real life projects and understand what it takes to deliver proper robust software solutions within six months. It is interesting that foreign companies like Microsoft do hire some of them.” the Group Head stated.
Oladiamonds said “VGG has a creative space for work and encouraged work from home idea even before the lockdown and have achieved the highest result in the organisation across all our businesses.”
The Group Head further stated that the company is filled with 22–23-year-olds, mostly those that are comfortable with the structure of work which is redefining the everyday idea of work especially in Lagos with the hectic traffic.
“The company’s message behind using containers which would be usually scrapped as office spaces is they can use the ruins of Nigeria to build the beauty of Nigeria,” he concluded.
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) aligns with and celebrates the successful announcement by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the achievement of a Paperless Civil Service, a significant milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform and digital transformation agenda.

The milestone was formally highlighted at a press briefing led by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who commended Galaxy Backbone for its sustained support and contribution throughout the implementation of the programme.
GBB has played a critical role in enabling this transition by providing secure, scalable, and shared digital infrastructure that supports the digitisation of government processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Through the 1Government Cloud, MDAs have been empowered to migrate from paper-based workflows to digital platforms, improving efficiency, collaboration, data security, and service delivery across the Federal Civil Service.
In addition, GovMail, GBB’s secure government email platform, has strengthened official communication, enhanced records management, and reinforced cybersecurity standards—key pillars in sustaining a paperless operating environment.
Galaxy Backbone acknowledges the collective efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of ICT, consultants, partners, and dedicated public servants whose commitment and collaboration ensured the smooth delivery of this initiative.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, was represented at the press briefing by Akintayo Bamisaye, Acting Group Head, Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS).
GBB describes the achievement as a strong close to 2025 and reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Federal Government in building a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled public service.
E-Business
Jumia CEO says Black Friday Signals Nigeria’s E-Commerce Maturity

At the close of 2025, Temidayo Ojo, the CEO of Jumia Nigeria, reflected on a year-end shopping season that points to the growing maturity of the country’s e-commerce market. “Black Friday is no longer a single, short-lived spike in activity,” he said.

“It has become a familiar, anticipated moment in the retail calendar, where consumers shop deliberately and with confidence.”
Preliminary KPIs for the two months ended November 30, 2025, show strong year-on-year growth in both orders and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), with GMV growth outpacing order growth. This indicates that customers are placing fuller, more considered baskets rather than shopping in fragmented transactions. Nigeria ranked among Jumia Group’s better-performing markets, with engagement remaining steady throughout the Black Friday period rather than spiking briefly and tapering off.
A key factor behind this performance is the growing familiarity of consumers with online shopping. Customers are increasingly leveraging platform features such as saved carts, brand stores, and price comparison tools to plan purchases in advance. This trend suggests that digital commerce is becoming embedded in everyday habits rather than being viewed as a one-off event.
Ojo also highlighted the role of Jumia’s JForce network in connecting digital commerce to local communities. “Our agents are critical to ensuring that customers across Nigeria, including secondary cities and smaller communities, have access to variety, consistent pricing, and reliable delivery,” he said. “During peak periods like Black Friday, JForce agents can respond faster, serve more customers efficiently, and build stronger local relationships. This isn’t just a distribution channel—it’s a pathway to sustainable income and inclusion.”
Reflecting on the overall performance, the CEO concluded: “What we’re seeing this year-end is steady engagement across categories, stronger consumer confidence, and partners like our JForce agents benefiting from increased activity.
“It confirms that Nigeria’s e-commerce ecosystem is maturing, growing in a more structured and resilient way. As the December Holiday Sale continues, we expect these patterns of familiarity, trust, and participation to sustain momentum and drive both commerce and community impact across the country.”
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) has been ranked first overall in the 2025 Federal Government Website Performance Scorecard.

This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s digital economy.
The ranking, conducted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), is the definitive benchmark for digital excellence and transparency across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, received the award during a ceremony in Abuja.
He described the feat as a validation of the agency’s“Nigeria First”data sovereignty strategy and its relentless pursuit of service excellence.
This recognition comes as the Federal Government intensifies its push to achieve a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025.
GBB has been the primary architect of this transition through its 1Gov Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform, which now hosts the operations of almost all federal MDAs.
The award adds to a growing list of accolades for Galaxy Backbone in 2025, following its recent win of the “International Standard Excellence Award for Best IT Service Provider.”
As the central hub for government shared services, GBB’s performance serves as a blueprint for other agencies currently undergoing digital transformation.
With its expanded fiber-optic backbone now covering over 13 states and its secure cloud solutions, Galaxy Backbone remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s vision to become a leading digital nation by the end of the decade.
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