Telecommunications subscribers across Nigeria have regained access to emergency airtime lending services as major operators, Airtel Nigeria and Globacom, restored the platforms following the suspension of the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending (DEON) Regulations 2025 by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

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The restoration followed a Federal High Court order restraining the commission from enforcing the regulations pending the determination of a suit challenging its authority over telecom-based airtime lending services.

Confirming the development on Monday, Chairman of the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN), Ayo Stuffman, said the services had resumed on both networks.

“As we speak, the services in question are already active on Airtel and Glo,” he said.

The return of the services is expected to provide relief to millions of subscribers who rely on emergency airtime advances for communication and small-scale business activities.

Industry estimates place the annual airtime lending market at more than N400 billion.

The FCCPC had earlier introduced the DEON Regulations 2025 to regulate airtime lending platforms, arguing that the services fall within the scope of digital consumer credit.

The commission said the move was aimed at protecting users against alleged abuses, including unfair lending practices and data privacy violations.

According to the FCCPC, it had received over 11,000 consumer complaints relating to digital lending operations.

However, stakeholders in the telecommunications sector opposed the regulations, maintaining that airtime advances are telecom value-added services and not conventional consumer loans.

The dispute intensified after Justice A. Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Lagos issued an order stopping the enforcement of the framework.

Reports also indicated that contempt proceedings were initiated against the Executive Vice Chairman of the FCCPC, Tunji Bello.

In a statement issued on Friday, FCCPC Director of Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu, said the commission suspended implementation of the regulations in obedience to the court order.

“As a law-abiding institution, the commission, in deference and in obedience to the rule of law, hereby suspends the implementation and enforcement of the DEON Regulations 2025,” the statement said.

Despite the suspension, the commission indicated plans to challenge the ruling, stating that its legal team had been directed to contest both the court order and the competence of the suit.

Industry stakeholders said the development had restored temporary stability within the telecom sector but warned that uncertainty surrounding the regulatory framework could affect investor confidence and long-term sector growth.

Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, had earlier called for clearer regulatory boundaries and greater policy predictability within the industry.

Observers say the outcome of the court case will shape the future regulation of Nigeria’s growing digital credit and airtime lending ecosystem.

According to Kaspersky telemetry, the number of NFC-based attacks on Android smartphones aimed at stealing victims’ funds have surged by 188% in the first four months of 2026, compared with the same period in 2025.

From January to April 2026, Kaspersky cybersecurity solutions blocked 35,600 attacks of different Android malware families that use NFC techniques, including SuperCard X, PhantomCard, NGate, as well as other malicious modifications of NFCGate tool, compared to over 12,300 attacks blocked during the first four months in 2025.

According to Kaspersky, users in Russia face NFC relay mobile threats more often, nevertheless Kaspersky experts note that users in other regions — especially in Latin America and Europe — also encounter NFC-based attacks. At the end of 2025, Kaspersky predicted an increase in the number of attacks on NFC payments in 2026.

At the moment, there are two main schemes of NFC-based attacks:

Direct NFC. Fraudsters contact victims via messaging apps and, under the guise of verifying users’ identity, trick them into downloading malware that is disguised, for example, as a financial application. Victims are then prompted to tap their bank card to an infected smartphone, as well as to enter the card PIN. As a result, the card data is handed over to the attackers.

Reverse NFC. Scammers send users a malicious application and, using social engineering techniques, persuade them to set this application as a primary contactless payment method on their compromised smartphones.

Such application generates an NFC signal that ATMs recognise as the scammers’ card. Victims are then persuaded to go to an ATM and deposit funds into a ‘secure account’ using their infected phone. In reality, the scammers receive the victims’ money.

“While previously attackers relied on ‘direct NFC’ scheme, now the ‘reverse NFC’ appears more common,” comments Sergey Golovanov, chief security expert at Kaspersky.

“The danger of a newer, more sophisticated scheme is that this type of fraud is harder to detect and fight against, because victims themselves transfer money to the attackers’ accounts and such transactions are hard to distinguish from legitimate ones.

“We do not rule out that NFC relay malware itself continues to evolve and geography of attacks will expand. That’s why this threat should be further closely monitored.”

“The first publicly reported attacks that used a modified legitimate NFC tool occurred in late 2023. Those attacks were primarily detected in Europe. Then users from Russia and other regions faced similar mobile malware attacks.

Later it became known that cybercriminals packaged NFC relay malware into malware-as-a-service (MaaS) offering, potentially simplifying access to malicious tools for other attackers. NFC relay campaigns demonstrate how threat actors adapt and reuse new methods to steal users’ funds,” added Dmitry Kalinin, cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky.

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has intensified efforts to foster a more enabling environment for innovation by inaugurating a Technical Working Group (TWG) aimed at strengthening regulatory collaboration and advancing a coordinated sandbox framework for Nigeria’s digital economy.

Group photograph of the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, represented by the Acting Director of Regulation and Compliance, Barrister Emmanuel Edet, with the newly inaugurated members of the Technical Working Group (TWG) for the National Regulatory Sandbox, at the Agency’s Corporate Headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, represented by the Acting Director of Regulation and Compliance, Barrister Emmanuel Edet, emphasised the critical need for stronger cross-agency cooperation to address structural regulatory challenges that often hinder the pace of innovation.

Inuwa noted that members of the Technical Working Group were deliberately selected based on their strategic institutional roles and capacity to contribute practical solutions tailored to the evolving realities of Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.

He explained that while regulatory agencies have legitimate and clearly defined mandates, the increasing complexity of digital technologies requires greater institutional alignment and collaboration to ensure regulatory frameworks support, rather than constrain, innovation.

“As government institutions, our core responsibility is to provide solutions to the challenges faced by Nigerians. The issue is not a lack of commitment, but a structural one. Regulators often operate in silos while implementing their mandates, and in today’s digital environment, that model presents significant limitations,” he said.

The NITDA Director General observed that the rapid expansion of the digital economy continues to outpace conventional regulatory systems, creating gaps that can inadvertently delay or obstruct the deployment of innovative solutions capable of improving livelihoods and driving national development.

To address these challenges, he said the Agency is championing a multi-agency regulatory framework designed to bring regulators together, foster understanding of overlapping mandates, and collectively develop adaptive mechanisms that create room for innovation while maintaining effective oversight.

Central to this strategy, Inuwa explained, is the adoption of regulatory sandboxes—controlled environments where innovators can test emerging technologies and solutions under the supervision and guidance of relevant regulatory authorities.

“Our guiding principle is that we learn by doing. Through these sandboxes, regulators can contribute to building safe spaces where innovation can be nurtured, tested, and scaled for the benefit of Nigerians,” he added.

He further reassured stakeholders that the initiative is not intended to weaken or override any agency’s statutory powers, but rather to improve coordination and build a more responsive regulatory ecosystem capable of keeping pace with technological advancement.

According to him, stronger inter-agency collaboration is essential to ensuring that Nigeria remains competitive in the global digital economy and fully harnesses innovation as a driver of inclusive economic growth and national prosperity.

Inuwa expressed optimism that the Technical Working Group would serve as a strategic platform for shaping forward-looking regulatory solutions while advancing NITDA’s broader vision of repositioning the Agency as an ecosystem orchestrator committed to enabling digital transformation and sustainable national development.

Presenting an overview of the National Regulatory Sandbox, the National Coordinator of the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), Victoria Fabunmi, said the initiative is designed to provide a structured, legal, and multi-agency framework that enables innovators to test emerging technologies under regulatory supervision before obtaining full market approval.

According to her, despite rapid advancements across sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, fintech, health technology, and blockchain, innovators continue to face significant challenges due to siloed regulations, fragmented approval processes, and the absence of coordinated mechanisms for testing new technologies.

Fabunmi noted that while Nigeria’s digital economy continues to witness remarkable growth, the lack of harmonised regulatory engagement has often delayed innovation and increased uncertainty for startups and technology-driven enterprises.

Describing the National Regulatory Sandbox as more than just a digital platform, she explained that it is fundamentally a governance and legal framework aimed at creating an enabling environment where innovation can thrive responsibly.

Unlike traditional sandbox models often associated primarily with financial services regulation, Fabunmi said Nigeria’s approach is intentionally sector-agnostic, allowing regulators from multiple sectors—including agriculture, digital health, mobility, clean energy, and digital public infrastructure—to collaborate in supporting innovative solutions.

Under the framework, startups and innovators will be able to engage multiple regulators simultaneously within a controlled testing environment, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks and significantly shortening time-to-market for emerging solutions.

She added that the sandbox will also generate shared, evidence-based regulatory insights, enabling participating agencies to make informed decisions collectively and develop adaptive policies that support responsible innovation.

The inauguration of the Technical Working Group marks another significant step in NITDA’s efforts to build a more agile, collaborative, and innovation-friendly regulatory environment—one that aligns with Nigeria’s broader ambition of becoming a leading digital economy in Africa.