E-Business
NITDA Commences Tech Startups Forum in Public Sector

In line with its commitment to turn Nigeria into a technology innovation hub in Africa, the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), a special purpose vehicle established under National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Act, has commenced a strategic interactive program among federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and ICT startups.
The OIIE was setup to nurture, cultivate and expand ICT innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria in line with NITDA Act 2007 and the National ICT policy.
In his opening remarks at a two-day event in Abuja, Arch Sonny Echono, permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications, said information communication technology (ICT) is a key tool in the change agenda of the current administration.
He stressed that President Buhari’s administration would deploy ICT to tackle youth employment, wealth creation, economic growth, efficiency and transparency in government.
According to him, the objective of the retreat was for the OIIE to start an active engagement between the ICT start-ups and government. “It is expected that through these initiatives and programmes, there will be an increase in the contributions from ICT to the national GDP, which will include more jobs and wealth creation”.
National Coordinator, OIIE, Mr. Bunmi Okunowo, stressed that government the world over is a huge market for ICT entrepreneurs as there are challenges in government processes and service delivery requiring solution.
He further stressed, “As it’s often said, charity begins at home. There is a need to infuse new ICT innovations into government to improve efficiency in its service delivery to its stakeholders, as well as increase transparency and accountability”.
There is an increasing number of ICT startups and entrepreneurs with government-facing technologies, Okunowo explained, that have evolved over time and can solve specific challenges in government. “We have startups like Talentbase with HR solution, Prowork with mobile-based project management app, Slimtrader, an agro-allied based app, e-Pump solution from Africania, Wecyclers, an incentive-based recycling company, Wizitup with an educational solution and many others across the country”.
Specifically, he explained that the aim of the Government Startup Interactive Program (GSIP) would be to establish networks and dialogue between the Heads of ICT in MDAs and IT start-ups towards improving efficiency in government service delivery through innovative and trendy technologies, as well as creating market opportunities for startups.
Mrs. Moni Udoh, secretary, Council of ICT Heads in MDAs, offered that the council would collaborate with IT startups in the provision of required assistance that would enable them deploy IT tools to address public sector challenges.
She disclosed that though the Council was inaugurated on April 4, 2013, as an advisory body with no authority to make decisions, it could encourage ICT transformational changes within the MDAs.
She opined that the aim is “to promote collaboration among ICT leaders in the MDAs and organize experience, knowledge and information sharing sessions to promote identification of leading practices and organizational improvement, act as agents for the diffusion and adoption of leading IT practices across MDAs, promote professionalism among IT cadre while grooming future leaders in the IT industry”.
While presenting his paper, senior manager, Technological Growth Platform at Accenture Nigeria, a leading global professional service company, Mr. Babatunde Adebola disclosed that Nigeria has emerged the sixth highest spender in the world on ICT in 2015, with USA, UK and Germany as the three top ICT spenders from 2013 to 2015.
“Outcome of the comparative analysis between USA and UK and developing countries like Nigeria, suggested that western countries spend more on IT services, data centre system and internal services while developing countries spend more on devices and telecommunications,” he said.
In his own contribution, CEO and Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone, Arch. Yusuf Kazaure emphasized the need for capacity building among the MDAs and entrepreneurs work in a manner that is sustainable, inclusive and contributory to the progress of the country as a whole.
The highlight of the retreat was the demo session by the ICT startups. Five startups displayed their solution to over 50 heads of the council. Some of the solutions include Prowork, Wizitup, Talentbase, Medismart and Mobi Agric.
E-Business
Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.
The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.
In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.
Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.
E-Business
Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.
China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.
The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.
“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.
The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.
It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.
Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.
Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.
Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.
A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.
“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.
Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.
Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.
It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.
Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.
E-Business
NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.
According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.
NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”
The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.
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