E-Business
Oceanic Bank Inks SAP Business Suite to Phase out Manual System
SAP Africa has completed one of its largest ERP implementations in Nigeria following the completion of the Greenfields rollout at Oceanic Bank, one of the country’s largest financial institutions. The project is the first by an indigenous bank to settle on SAP as its primary business management solution.
The implementation centered on SAP Business Suite, which enables the bank to continue using its core banking solution that integrates seamlessly and swiftly with the ERP back-end functionality and management tools. Oceanic Bank bought a 4216-user license to be deployed across its 400 branches.
“Oceanic Bank is a premier customer for SAP Africa and Serve Consulting, a key SAP partner in Nigeria and we are extremely proud to have concluded this deal and implementation,” said Ayokanmi Ayuba, alliance and channel manager WA for SAP Nigeria. “One of the major reasons for looking for an ERP solution was to jettison their manual processes, and thereby improve efficiencies across the board. They now have full visibility at board and management level and can see what is going on in the bank on a day-to-day basis.”
Ayuba says the bank is now in a far stronger position to drive efficiencies and performance, both operationally and financially, thanks to the control that SAP brings to managers’ desktops.
This is made possible due to the breadth of services delivered under SAP Business Suite, which includes Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Budgetary Controls, Supply Chain Management modules, as well as Materials Management and HR, including Payroll and Employee and Manager Self-service tools.
Cornel Ononeze, head of the SAP Competency Center at Oceanic Bank International PLC said, “The bank’s investment in the SAP implementation has begun to pay dividends since going live with the initial modules. The decommissioning of seven legacy applications has also resulted in savings on multiple licensing, individual support infrastructure, multiple support personnel and maintenance of several interfaces in the bank. The overall benefit is a reduction in operating costs.
“The SAP system has given our bank greater process transparency as the status of all transactions can be tracked online in real time through appropriate workflows and authorizations without recourse to very expensive follow-ups via telephone, fax or other channels. Today all policies relating to expense controls and budgets are effectively deployed and monitored on SAP without leakages bank–wide, thus providing the bank with reliable consumption data for decision making.”
Ononeze went on to add that SAP ERP has given the bank the capability to evaluate work load across the various departments for objective assessment of resource allocation bank-wide. This implementation has equally facilitated the reduction and redeployment of personnel in several departments without adversely affecting service delivery.
“Clearly, the SAP platform is a key facilitator of our current reengineering efforts aimed at inculcating best practices on all processes, transparency, good corporate governance and compliance with all international and regulatory requirements,” said Ononeze. “Above all, the skills for first line support have also been transferred to a dedicated Competence Center, thus effectively reducing the need for constant consulting interventions as all new business requirements have been implemented by the team since the initial go-live.”
The project planning and implementation was completed by one of SAP Africa’s leading partners in the region, SERVE Consulting.
Adeola Adejuyigbe, company’s Managing Director, said the project had its own unique challenges, particularly as it was a brand new implementation that required a definitive mind-set change from the bank and its executives.
“The quality of data that we had to migrate to SAP Business Suite was particularly troublesome, but we eventually overcame these challenges to complete the project,” he says. “Change management and user acceptance, as with all such implementations, was critical to the success and we have made steady headway in guiding the bank and its staff through this process.”
Benefits to the bank include the improved visibility, but also significantly tighter control of budgets and spending across all of its operations, he says. Adejuyigbe said there is a great sense of achievement in concluding a Greenfields project of this magnitude, with the team comprising up to 40 members at its peak.
While Oceanic Bank is becoming accustomed to the new system, it is already exploring additional modules and functionality – such as Business Intelligence – which it may implement later this year.
Ayuba says the project demonstrates SAP’s capabilities in the region, which is central to the company’s drive to establish sustainable and long-lasting partnerships on the continent.
Nigeria has emerged as one of Africa’s most regulated online gambling markets, even as illegal operators continue to dominate the continent, according to a new report by Gaming Compliance International (GCI).
The report, the first comprehensive assessment of online gambling across all 54 African countries, showed that Africa’s online gambling Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) reached $23 billion in 2025.
However, only $5.2 billion (23 per cent) was generated by licensed operators, while $17.8 billion (77 per cent) remained in the unregulated market.
In West Africa, total online gambling revenue rose to $4.8 billion in 2025 from $4.3 billion in 2024. Of the 2025 figure, regulated operators accounted for $1.5 billion (31 per cent), while $3.3 billion (69 per cent) flowed to unlicensed platforms, highlighting the region’s persistent enforcement challenges.
Nigeria stood out as the region’s strongest performer, recording the lowest unregulated market share at 56 per cent, compared with the West African average of 69 per cent and the African average of 77 per cent.
The study also found that online gambling participation across Africa increased from 198 million people (13 per cent of the population) in 2024 to 215 million (14 per cent) in 2025.
Despite this growth, GCI estimated that illegal operators deprived African governments of about $3.55 billion in tax revenue in 2025. The number of unlicensed gambling platforms targeting African consumers also rose to 4,129, up from 3,644 in 2024.
Commenting on the findings, Matt Holt, chief executive officer, GCI, said the report provides regulators with the first continent-wide benchmark for strengthening oversight and consumer protection.
Ismail Vali, president, GCI, urged governments to develop competitive and well-regulated markets that encourage consumers to patronise licensed operators, boost public revenue and attract greater investment.
Online gambling in Nigeria is regulated by the Nation Lottery Regulatory Commission.
At the height of the Northern Hemisphere tourist season, demand for communications and mobile Internet services rises sharply. Kaspersky’s security experts have uncovered scams that target anyone purchasing mobile connections or SIM cards worldwide.
Fraudsters create counterfeit websites that look like the portals of major regional and international telecom providers to trick users into revealing their phone numbers, personal details or banking information.
Kaspersky is sharing several examples of these fake login pages that mimic legitimate telecom operator sites and giving recommendations on how not to be deceived.
In the first case, scammers exploit the brand name of an international telecommunications company operating services in Asia, Africa and Europe. Fake authentication pages encourage users to put in their phone number and credentials.
While the first example shows the different design, the second scam site closely mimics the original log in page, making it hard for users to tell the difference and spot a fake. Entering authentication or payment data on fraudulent web sites may result in money or data loss and become a reason for more frequent spam and fraudulent calls.
Another example is a scam page which poses as another international communications company, working in North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In this scheme scammers encourage users to top up their mobile data/Internet plans by entering their personal information and bank cards details.
Kaspersky experts have also identified a scam when cyber criminals suggest users enter their personal data to check and pay a bill inquiry. Such scam schemes are usually aimed at gaining victims’ personal data for further fraud or account hacking and stealing money.
“Because of the active use of AI, scammers can now create fake pages with ever increasing accuracy and speed, targeting the most popular user interest areas. We constantly see scams revolving around sports events, music concerts, seasonal sales and holidays. Unfortunately, the telecoms industry is no exception.
To keep your data and money safe, be vigilant when purchasing mobile or Internet plans online. Using an eSIM – purchased through an official app – is one way to avoid fake telecom sites, as it eliminates the need to enter personal details on questionable web pages.
If you’re unsure about a site’s legitimacy, search for the brand name directly in a search engine and enable a security solution that blocks phishing links for you,” comments Tatyana Kulikova, cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky.
In a strategic push to bridge the gender digital divide, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has partnered with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) to advance women’s digital inclusion and drive the nation’s transformation agenda.
Dr Aristotle Onumo and some NITDA staff, pose for a group photograph with the President of the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Comrade Aisha Ibrahim, and members of the delegation following a strategic engagement at the Agency’s Headquarters in Abuja.
The partnership was cemented during a courtesy visit to NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, by a NAWOJ delegation led by National President Comrade Aishatu Ibrahim, who introduced the agency to the forthcoming Women in Security (WINSEC) Summit & Awards 2026.
Inuwa, represented by Dr. Aristotle Onumo, the Director of the Stakeholders Management and Partnerships Department, assured the association that NITDA would not only participate in the conference, but also support the success of the conference.
Inuwa hailed the NAWOJ for creating a platform for peacebuilding, dialogue on security and women’s inclusion, which he described as one of the critical areas NITDA is focused on to ensure that more women obtain digital literacy and skills under the National Gender Inclusive Strategy.
Beyond NITDA’s plan to participate in the conference, the DG noted that a robust partnership between the organisations would engender meaningful opportunities and initiatives through which many more women can access digital literacy.
“Inclusivity is the key to everything we do at NITDA. We clearly defined that 40 per cent of our programmes must recognise the issue of gender. We ensure that women are adequately represented and positioned to benefit greatly from the programmes that we organise in the agency.
“We graciously accept to participate actively in that conference. Apart from acquiring skills among journalists themselves, partnership with NAWOJ will also serve as a platform through which we can also reach out to various women’s groups across the federation,” Inuwa said.
Earlier, Comrade Ibrahim commended the DG for his visionary and transformational leadership which has continued to position NITDA as the catalyst for Nigeria’s digital economy through its various programmes.
She explained that the Women in Security (WINSEC) Summit and Awards 2026 is an initiative of NAWOJ designed to promote collaboration among government institutions, security agencies, technology experts, the media, and other stakeholders to address contemporary security challenges.
According to Comrade Ibrahim, the association also aims to recognise outstanding individuals and institutions that have demonstrated excellence in security, governance, and innovation while fostering meaningful dialogue on the role of technology in building a safer and more resilient Nigeria.
“We deeply appreciate your exemplary leadership, passion for innovation, and unwavering commitment to building a digitally empowered Nigeria. We respectfully invite the agency to partner with NAWOJ in making this landmark initiative a success.
“We look forward to establishing a long-term partnership with NITDA that will empower women journalists with cutting-edge digital skills, support digital inclusion and contribute to innovation, digital literacy, and human capital development,” the NAWOJ president added.
Both organisations expressed optimism that the meeting would lay a solid foundation for a rewarding partnership agreement with specific and clearly defined objectives that will support digital inclusion and contribute to innovation, digital literacy, and human capital development.
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