Telecom
Reps Summon 9Mobile, Globacom over Tax Remittances
For allegedly failing to pay their statutory taxes and the required percentages of their profits to federal government, House of Representatives yesterday summoned the Managing Directors of 9mobile and Globacom Nigeria to appear before it.
Hon. Ahmed Abu, chairman, House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the operations of telecommunications service providers, equipment and vendors, conveyed the message at a hearing at the National Assembly Complex.
The chairman who were specific on the Managing Directors of 9mobile, Boye Olusanya and Hakeem Bello -Osagie said that the summons became necessary following the failure of the companies to honour repeated invitations sent to them.
He said that the committee might be compelled to issue bench warrants against the companies should they continue to turn down invitations from the federal lawmakers.
He said: “This is not about me. It’s about the House of Representatives, and we’re representing Nigerians. A situation where invitations will be issued to telecommunications companies over issues that affect Nigerians and they fell to appear before us, is rather unfortunate.
“What we are saying is that if things are done right, the creative industry, for instance, can generate so much revenue for the players in it and the government.”
The Chairman also decried poor remittances from the National Lottery Trust Fund to the federal government coffers, saying that with the existing laws governing the lottery activities in the country, the Funds ought to have made appreciable impacts.
But making his presentation, Engr. Habu Gumel, Executive Secretary of the Fund, said that the Fund had attracted N530m in the last nine years for the government from the companies doing business in the country.
He however said the poor remittances, which represented value for lottery money, was on account of “issue of under-declaration of remittances by operations, lack of credible database to ascertain the actual and precise amount due to government as returns for good causes”.
In his submission, Okechukwu Odunna, representative of National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), also corroborated the position of the Lottery Funds Executive Secretary, saying that the mechanisms for tracking businesses of the telecommunications firms were to be measured by the government.
Ruling on the issues, the Chairman of the Committee said that the panel was not working at cross purposes with the standing committee of the House responsible for over-sighting the companies.
He said that the House set up the panel due to the sensitivity of the matters to be probed.
SHELT, a leading cybersecurity-as-a-service provider, has earned inclusion in the 2025 MSSP 250, the annual ranking of the world’s top 250 Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) by MSSP Alert, a CyberRisk Alliance publication.
SHELT
The list evaluates firms on business performance, service breadth, and industry impact, spotlighting those excelling in growth, operational excellence, and advanced managed security amid rising cyber threats. Selection criteria include annual recurring revenue, profitability, workforce expansion, business growth, and the depth of managed security offerings.
SHELT’s recognition underscores its investments in scalable security operations, threat intelligence, and tailored managed services across multiple regions, enabling clients to navigate complex risk landscapes effectively.
“Being recognised in the MSSP 250 is a meaningful milestone for our team,” stated Youssef Abillama, CEO of SHELT. “It validates our focus on building practical, resilient security services that help organisations manage risk and respond effectively to today’s evolving cyber threats.”
The company hailed the honour as testament to its teams’ dedication and expertise worldwide, reaffirming commitment to enhancing capabilities and delivering trusted cybersecurity solutions.
Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, has appointed Dina Powell McCormick, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, as its new president and vice chairman, bolstering its leadership amid aggressive AI and infrastructure expansion.
Dina Powell McCormick
The announcement, made on Monday, positions Powell McCormick – who recently stepped down from Meta’s board after eight months – to guide overall strategy, including multi-billion-dollar investments in data centres and global partnerships.
A Goldman Sachs veteran with 16 years in senior roles and prior stints as deputy national security adviser under Trump and in the Bush administration, she brings deep finance and international ties to the role.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed her as “uniquely qualified” for the company’s next growth phase, while President Trump praised the move on Truth Social as a “fantastic choice”.
The hire signals Meta’s efforts to strengthen White House relations, following recent dinners with Trump and U.S. investment pledges worth hundreds of billions
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has suspended the @Twitter account, replacing its profile with a standard notice citing violation of platform rules.
Musk
The action, which occurred on Sunday, January 11, left users encountering the handle greeted by a bold “Account Suspended” message on a black screen, with no details provided on the specific rules broken or the duration of the suspension.
The development has sparked widespread confusion and nostalgia among users, given that Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X in July 2023, approximately six months after acquiring the platform for $44 billion in late 2022.
The @Twitter handle had remained dormant since before Musk’s takeover, serving as a legacy remnant of the platform’s original branding, and its suspension appears to mark the final erasure of the Twitter name amid X’s ongoing efforts to combat spam, impersonation, and rule violations.
X’s official statement on the suspended page simply reads: “X suspends accounts that violate our rules,” without offering an appeal process or further explanation, unlike standard user suspensions.
Public reactions on social media ranged from humorous laments of “RIP Twitter” to speculation that the move resulted from automated moderation or a deliberate cleanup of legacy trademarks.
xAI’s Grok AI described it as a purposeful retirement of outdated elements rather than a genuine infraction, while neither Elon Musk nor X spokespeople issued any comment as of Monday morning.
This incident underscores the evolving identity of the platform under Musk’s ownership, which also saw a domain shift to x.com in 2024, further distancing it from its Twitter roots.
Industry observers note that while the suspension aligns with X’s stricter enforcement policies, the lack of transparency has fueled debates on consistency in applying rules to high-profile legacy accounts.
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