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Using Blockchain To Re-Tool Nigeria’s Economy, By Chimezie

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Africa is home to 16.3 percent of humanity but home to less than one percent of the world’s billion-dollar companies and only about four percent of global GDP. Africa cannot afford, nor does it have to miss the possibilities of the fourth Industrial Revolution (4RI) to better her lot.

 

Blockchain, one of the most disruptive technologies of the 4IR is a type of distributed ledger technology best known as the architecture that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, but its potential applications go much further. Indeed, it promises to revolutionize the business and financial environment by reinventing processes, improving productivity and quality, reducing costs, and enhancing transparency.

 

According to Chuta Chimezie, coordinator Blockchain Nigeria User Group, combining blockchain with other technologies such as analytics and machine learning could make it even more powerful. He said that the profound changes the technology can deliver in unlocking value apply as much to the financial services industry as any other – and as much to the Nigeria as anywhere else in the world. Therefor, understanding blockchain’s potential is vital to banks, entrepreneurs, businesses and government agencies at different tiers across the country.

 

He stated that decentralized economics is already opening the door to a global, equitable “econosphere” enhancing the common man’s equality of opportunity to lift himself out of the poverty trap of debt bondage. For the first time in human history, mankind’s ingenuity and technological advancements have created the environment for the freedom to transact with hard money, sound money, ideal money, even pure money.

 

He said Nigeria’s most valuable asset is not its crude oil reserves, adding that its the 200million citizens, and their natural labour, harnessed equitably through DLT, which can collectively produce a powerful economic force, raising the GDP of the nation 10times without any external foreign intervention or investment.

 

Every Nigerian person has the right to be informed of this “fourth industrial revolution”, and take their rightful economic place.

 

He posited that the upcoming Blockchain, AI and Digital Assets conference in Lagos will highlight the new global emerging phenomenon of decentralized money, transacting, finance, investment, which will be accessible to the common man and oligarchs in equal measure. Decentralized economics is already opening the door to a global, equitable “econosphere”enhancing the common man’s equality of opportunity to lift himself out of the poverty trap of debt bondage.

 

According to him, at the event scheduled to hold in Lagos from 24 to 25 May 2019, attendees will discover how blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT, big data and virtual financial assets are altering and disrupting incumbents and creating new opportunities for forwarding thinking individuals.

 

Chimezie said that it would be an interactive event around the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) to provide attendees with actionable insights that can be applied immediately to accelerate progress in any chosen career path.

 

Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Director-General/ CEO National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), will be guest of honor and Mr. Andrew Nevin, Chief Economist at PwC, will deliver a keynote.

 

Panel discussants will be Akeem Ogunseni, Senior Manager Tax Services at EY; Boye Ademola, partner, Technology Advisory & Digital Transformation lead at KPMGAdvisory Services; Wole Oyeniran, Enterprise Platforms/Systems Integration Leader, West Africa, at Deloitte Consulting; Dr. Segun Aina, Chairman Fintech Associates/ President Fintech Association of Nigeria, Shamim Khan, Director, Lex Futurus (UK) Blockchain Regtech & Law Limited, Salisu Kaka Assistant Director, Head Blockchain at NITDA, and Ian Friend, cofounder/ COO Ferrum Network, NYC, among many others.

 

Others are Shamim Khan, Director, Lex Futurus (UK); Olutoyin J Oloniteru MD/CEO, Spindlar Cyberlaw Centre & Chairman, CEIAfrica; Tola Joseph Fadugbagbe CEO Cryptocurrency Master Class, Lagos, Nigeria, and Dr. Shadrach Egbokwu.

 

Chimezie said the conference would feature a melding of the AI and Blockchain/ Virtual Financial Assets communities in Nigeria and across the world, exploring the possibilities at the intersection of these technologies.

 

He also stated that the conference will bring together business leaders, government and regulatory agencies, data practitioners, AI and blockchain tech pioneers who are applying artificial intelligence to solve today’s problems and creating tomorrow’s opportunities, while leveraging available tools, to create entirely new values.


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E-Business

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

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”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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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NITDA, API Partner Against Harmful Online Content

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National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the Advocacy for Policy and Innovation (API), has convened a one-day workshop in Abuja to advance dialogue on the draft Online Harm Protection (OHP) Bill to confront harmful online content.

NITDA, API Partner Against Harmful Online Content

The bill, a rights-based, locally rooted, and multi-stakeholder initiative, is aimed at addressing the challenges of the digital age.

The event, which held yesterday, brought together government officials, civil society, academics, digital platforms, and legal experts to shape a policy framework designed to combat online ills such as cyberbullying, disinformation, hate speech, digital exploitation, and gender-based violence, while safeguarding democratic freedoms and digital inclusion.

In his keynote remarks, Kashifu Inuwa, director general, NITDA urged a paradigm shift in the way society engages with digital technologies.

“For almost two decades, we have viewed digital technology through a consumer lens. But these technologies are not just products and services. They are transforming how we live, work, and interact. They shape our politics, our society, and our democracy,” he said.

Warning against unaccountable digital power in the hands of private corporations, the DG likened the digital journey to the tale of Alice in Wonderland, where initial fascination with innovation has given way to deeper concerns about privacy, autonomy, and manipulation by big tech platforms.

“We thought we were using Google, but now we realise Google is using us. Social media, once a tool of expression, has become a tool of surveillance and influence,” Inuwa noted.

He, therefore, emphasised the urgency of developing a democratic and accountable framework.  He explained that following the 2021 Twitter ban, NITDA facilitated dialogue between the government and platform operators, leading to a Code of Practice that stressed Nigeria’s sovereignty and legal standards.

According to him, the same process birthed the multi-stakeholder steering committee and the OHP White Paper in December 2024, laying the foundation for the current legislative push.

Earlier in her opening remarks,  Victoria Manya, co-founder, API, observed the moral and civic necessity of the bill.

Her words: “The internet did not break society, it merely revealed its unfiltered version. Every day, Nigerians are exposed to harassment, disinformation, exploitation, and even algorithmic violence. The OHP Bill is not a war on the Internet. It is a peace offering to its users, a social contract for a digital future that is safe, inclusive, and democratic.

“We cannot answer the question of algorithmic power with unchecked state control. We must answer it with shared, rights-based governance. This bill must not be written for the people, but with them.”


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