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Philately Business is a Serious Business- Ugo
King Fhud of Egypt describes philately as king of hobbies and hobby for kings. Postage stamps are considered the most effective medium for immortalizing monuments and past histories, yet not many people know that there is more to stamp than mere affixing it on the envelope as a postal condition for carrying of letters. The name philately may sound strange to some people who do not understand what the business is all about, but for those in the known are actually making their millions silently in this business which A.U Okpara of the Dept. of Fine and Applied Arts, Imo State University Owerri once described as treasure in the trash.
The implication of the definition of Treasure is that the philatelist collects stamps from the trash cans- the useful part of the discarded envelope and recognizes its value as a work of art and places value on it.
In this period when the world is experiencing economic meltdown with its ugly consequence on the capital market, Mr. Ugo C. Ugo, manager Philately Bureau Lagos has said that attention is now shifting to philately as a cool and sure way of making money. He said philately business is all about collecting and studying of stamps.
In talking about stamps collection and sale, Ugo insists that first and foremost there is need to know how the stamp is produced. He said that all the postage stamps you see in Nigeria are printed for Philately Bureau by the Security Printing and Minting Company (SPCMC).
He went further to say that there are two different types of stamps namely the definitive and commemorative stamps. Definitive stamp, he said, is the one that is produced to last for about five years while the commemorative stamp lasts just for six months. But Ugo said that the Philately Bureau can still sell commemorative stamps beyond six months even when they are not available in the general post offices. In fact he said the office can sell commemorative stamps for up to two years saying that this differentiates Philately office from the general post office business. When stamps are produced, he said the chief finance officer of Postal Order and Stamp Supply (the unit that distributes the stamps) will collect the stamps and distributes to territories.
Ugo agrees that not many people know about the business of stamp studying and collection in Nigeria and says the few people that know about it are among the literate class quite unlike in developed countries of U.S, Britain, Germany and others whose postal services make a whole lot of money from philately business. Ugo says that philately business is a serious business and that there are stamp clubs all over the world where people who similar interest can belong.
Tracing the origin of postage stamps, Ugo said that postage stamp was invented by Sir Roland Hills, an Englishman who lived between 1795-1879. In Nigeria, he said that the history of postage stamp dates back to 1859 when a hand struck stamp with the inscription “Paid in Lagos was used.” In June 1874 the first consignment of stamps were released in Lagos.
Stamp collection as a hobby started in Great Britain around 1840 when the first stamp issue was released but Ugo says it is general belief that the idea of collecting stamps came from a Belgium school master who asked his pupils to adorn their atlases with stamps . He said that this adornment became so appealing that in 1854 stamp collecting was taken more seriously and stamp clubs started emerging afterwards. In Nigeria, philately as a hobby was run on a small scale before 1969. in order to improve the standard and quality of Nigerian stamps and provide adequate philately services to Nigerians and foreign collectors, the Nigerian Philatelic Bureau was established in 1969.
Awareness about stamp collection and study is generally low in the country and Ugo says his bureau has been making efforts in recent times to sensitize the people about what philately is all about through the print and circulation of flyers and corporate gift items to members of the public. “ In abroad most postal services make about 70 per cent of their revenue from philately but in Nigeria, the philately is not developed and we are not making the type of money we are supposed to be making”, Ugo said .
To register as a stamp collector, what you need to pay is just a thousand naira and account will be opened for you. Those abroad pay a minimum of forty U.S dollars for the same purpose and they can do everything online. Ugo says that some of the two thousand eight hundred philately members registered with the Nigerian Philately Bureau are white people. Each stamp collector, according to Ugo must have a particular interest of stamps he is collecting whether on animals, telecommunications, music , costumes etc saying that the longer the year of stamp produced, the higher the amount it can attract on sale. He said that when one pays one thousand naira as registration fee that the bureau uses that money to supply the member with postage stamps of various denominations for almost a year and that as soon as the money is exhausted, the Philately accounts officer will alert the member to come for renewal.
Nipost Philately position as the 196th member of International Philately Federation five years ago underscores the fact that philately is a growing business worldwide and Nigerians stand to gain a lot from it. The biggest challenge therefore is creating of awareness by the Nigerian Postal Service to educate the people on what they stand to gain from the hobby.
Chief J. Ade Fagbeminro is in his seventies but he has been in the philately business since early sixties when he said a friend introduced him to the business. Then he said the money they were getting from the business was not much but had real value. He said he has a network of buyers and belongs to international dealership associations. We have dealership association all over the world and whenever there’s need for stamps they call me. I deal in Nigeria stamps and other countries as well. People from abroad contact me on email and telephone to request for stamps”, Fagbeminro disclosed to Nigeria Communications Week. You too can tell the same beautiful story in future if you start now to invest into this gold mine.

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E-Business
Firm Discovered a New Corporate Phishing Technique using a Popular AI Web Development Platform

Kaspersky has discovered that attackers have begun exploiting another legitimate service for malicious purposes – this time it is Tencent EdgeOne Pages, a platform for creating and hosting web applications.

Attackers are misusing its capabilities to generate phishing emails targeting corporate users. Previously Kaspersky has described similar attacks leveraging Google services and web applications generated by Bubble, an AI-powered app builder, to hunt for corporate credentials.
Employees across multiple industries including the industrial sector, sales, and government are among the targets. The goal of the attack is to steal login credentials for corporate resources. Over the past 30 days, the company’s experts have detected more than 8,000 phishing emails using this tactic, including messages in English, Korean, and Russian.
The Tencent EdgeOne Pages service is positioned as a platform for quickly creating and deploying web applications using AI. Scammers misuse it to generate and publish phishing pages in minutes with virtually no web development skills.
Attackers host phishing pages on EdgeOne’s legitimate cloud infrastructure and use trusted domains. As a result, such sites appear to be established and secure to many protective solutions, complicating the detection of such attacks.
How the attack begins
The user receives an email from the alleged “corporate email support team”. The message states that the account login credentials will expire in 48 hours, and that failure to update them may result in problems receiving or sending emails.
To avoid restrictions, the user is prompted to click a link and enter relevant information. Phishing emails are not limited to this narrative, and could deliver any corporate message, such as a message from the HR department or a notification of a received document that should be downloaded.
Clicking the link in the email opens a page with a form for entering the victim’s name, email address, and password. It is a simple design, with virtually no additional elements.
After the user enters their login and password, the data is transferred to a server controlled by the attackers.
“We are seeing a continuation of the trend in which attackers use AI and no-code platforms as part of their phishing infrastructure. We’ve previously observed a similar scheme using the Bubble platform, and here we have yet another example.
“While the communication used in these phishing attacks is typical and has been used before multiple times, the attack technique itself significantly lowers the barrier to entry for attackers and accelerates the creation of phishing resources.
“Previously this required at least basic web development skills, but now an infrastructure for fraudulent emails can be created in minutes,” comments Roman Dedenok, Anti-Spam Expert at Kaspersky.
General News
MSMEs Paucity of Funds Receives Boost as Senate Backs Bill Seeking to Unlock Cash for them

Businesses across Nigeria, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), may soon be able to convert unpaid invoices and credit sales into immediate cash without relying on conventional bank loans following the passage of the Factoring, Assignments and Receivables Financing Bill for second reading in the Senate.

The bill, which seeks to establish a legal framework for factoring and receivables financing, is expected to improve access to credit, boost liquidity for businesses and enhance domestic and international trade.
It also seeks to provide legal certainty for the assignment of receivables through factoring, promote transparency, modernise assignment laws and facilitate greater access to credit for businesses across the country.
Leading debate on the bill which was sent from the House of Representatives for concurrence, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said on Tuesday that the proposed legislation would create an enabling environment for debt factoring to thrive in Nigeria while defining the rights and obligations of creditors, factors and debtors involved in such transactions.
He explained that the bill provides for factoring contracts between sellers and factors and clarifies the legal relationship among parties in receivables financing arrangements.
According to Bamidele, the legislation has already passed all legislative stages in the House of Representatives and has complied with the Senate’s procedural requirements under Order 78(3) of the Senate Standing Orders.
He told lawmakers that the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Compliance, chaired by Abdul Ningi, had scrutinised and cleared the bill for concurrence.
“The committee confirmed that all procedural requirements for consideration and concurrence by the Senate have been fully met,” he said.
Seconding the bill, Adetokunbo Abiru said the legislation would provide businesses with an alternative source of financing by enabling them to turn credit sales into cash and improve their working capital.
Abiru noted that factoring has become increasingly popular across Africa over the last decade, largely through initiatives supported by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
He disclosed that the African factoring market is currently valued at over $50 billion, but Nigeria’s participation remains below one per cent.
According to him, countries such as Egypt and Morocco have benefited significantly from the financing model, adding that Nigeria risks missing out on the growing market without a clear regulatory framework.
“I think that passing this major legislation will help support our micro, small and medium enterprises in terms of converting most of their credit sales into cash without going through the normal borrowing arrangement,” Abiru said.
In his remarks, Ningi also assured lawmakers that the compliance committee had reviewed the bill and found no legal impediments to its passage.
Following a voice vote, the Senate approved the bill for second reading and subsequently referred it to the Committee of the Whole for clause-by-clause consideration.
Telecom
Airtel Nigeria Launches Web Data Calculator to Give Customers Greater Visibility into Data Usage

Airtel Nigeria has launched the Airtel Web Data Calculator, a new digital tool designed to help customers estimate and better understand their internet data consumption based on real-life usage patterns.

The launch comes amid a broader industry effort to improve transparency around data consumption and strengthen customer confidence in mobile broadband services.
It also aligns with ongoing collaboration between telecommunications operators and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to address customer concerns about data depletion and improve quality of service across the sector.
Recent industry initiatives have included customer education campaigns, daily usage notifications, billing audits, customer engagement forums, and the development of new tools that provide greater visibility into how data is consumed.
Available through Airtel’s website, the calculator enables customers to estimate data usage across common digital activities such as video streaming, social media engagement, voice and video calls, and everyday web browsing. By translating online behaviour into understandable data estimates, the tool empowers customers to make more informed decisions about their data plans and digital habits.
Speaking on the launch, Oladokun Oye, Customer Experience Director, Airtel Nigeria, said the initiative reflects Airtel’s commitment to customer empowerment and service transparency.
“As Nigerians become increasingly dependent on digital services for work, education, entertainment and communication, it is important that customers have clear visibility into how their data is consumed. The Airtel Web Data Calculator was developed to help our customers understand their usage patterns better, make informed choices, and enjoy greater confidence in their digital experience,” he said.
Oye added that customer concerns around data depletion have remained a recurring topic across the telecommunications industry, making transparency a critical component of customer experience.
“We believe that trust grows when customers have access to clear information. This tool is another step in our ongoing efforts to simplify the customer experience, provide greater clarity around data consumption, and support informed decision-making,” he said.
The launch follows a period of intensified engagement between telecom operators, regulators and consumers on data usage awareness. The NCC has consistently emphasized that many instances of perceived rapid data depletion are linked to factors such as high-definition video streaming, automatic application updates, cloud synchronization, background app activity and evolving smartphone capabilities. The regulator has encouraged operators to improve customer education and develop tools that help subscribers better understand their consumption patterns.
Industry data underscores the importance of such initiatives. Nigeria recorded more than 13 million terabytes of internet consumption in 2025, reflecting the country’s accelerating digital transformation and growing dependence on mobile broadband services.
Commenting on the significance of the launch, Dinesh Balsingh, Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, said the company remains focused on building a network and customer experience ecosystem anchored on trust, transparency and continuous improvement.
“The future of telecommunications will be defined not only by network investments but also by how effectively operators help customers understand and manage their digital lives. The Airtel Web Data Calculator represents a practical innovation that places more information and control directly in the hands of our customers.”
He noted that Airtel continues to invest heavily in network modernization, customer experience initiatives and digital tools that improve service quality while making telecommunications services easier to understand and use.
“We welcome the industry’s collective focus on transparency and commend the NCC’s continued collaboration with operators to strengthen consumer confidence. As data becomes increasingly central to everyday life, Airtel will continue to develop solutions that make connectivity more accessible, transparent and rewarding for every customer.”
The launch also builds on Airtel Nigeria’s recent customer engagement initiatives, including forums dedicated to helping subscribers better understand data usage, value optimization and service quality. These engagements have brought together customers, regulators and Airtel executives to foster greater awareness and dialogue around digital consumption.
The Airtel Web Data Calculator is now available to customers nationwide and can be accessed via Airtel Nigeria’s website.
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