E-Business
Weco Systems Partners NNPC on Next Generation Data Centre

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the National Oil Corporation through which the federal government of Nigeria regulates and participates in the country’s petroleum industry.
NNPC by law manages the joint venture between the Nigerian federal government and a number of foreign multinational corporations. Through collaboration with these companies, the Nigerian government conducts petroleum exploration and production.
Like many other large corporations, NNPC faces a changing set of business demands. These include the need to simplify operations, make better use of assets, and reduce costs, while also improving application performance and end user experience through increased availability, speed, and agility of services.
A technological evaluation of suitable network components prompted the question of an overall architecture that could help ensure the future value for NNPC’s data center.
NNPC’s existing infrastructure had served it for years, but was beginning to be challenged by the need to provide more bandwidth for applications while meeting the need to physically separate traffic for the various departments.
Within the data center, bundling links to increase bandwidth was a complicated operation demanding a lot of extra cabling.
Overall business agility was constrained by a shortage of maintenance windows.
User demand meant that there were only two weekend-long maintenance windows each year for major upgrades, and these had to be shared with other teams, such as those managing servers.
NNPC evaluated several proposals and selected the solution presented by Weco Systems, a Cisco Tier one GOLD partner.
Weco Systems investigated the technology options.
While it was possible to upgrade the existing infrastructure it became clear that a far better choice was to re-design the network using ADVANCED CISCO NEXUS SERIES SWITCHES.
This new platform has been specifically designed for data centers and is a major step forward in increasing availability, speed, and ease of operations.
The Cisco Nexus platform is a technology foundation and key enabler of Cisco Data Center Business Advantage, an architectural approach that provides tighter integration of servers, networks, and storage systems, which in turn helps to deliver new improvements in performance and cost efficiency.
With its Cisco and Network refresh, NNPC adopted an enterprise-class network to support increased demands from constituents. Since the solution was implemented, network stability issues have become a thing of the past and IT help desk incidents have declined. As a result, IT staff can make more efficient use of their budget and staff can spend time focusing on more strategic initiatives to improve customer service across departments.
During the commissioning of the state of the art Data Centre, the General Manager, ISD; Don Aholu while welcoming the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Engr. Andy Yakubu and other Chiefs within the corporate said that delivery of the Data Centre is one of the initiatives that IT has successfully undertaken within the last two and half years in a deliberate attempt to transform NNPC to a world class organization.
He explained that the Data Centre was built to host the most demanding and mission critical enterprise and line of business systems and solutions.
He further reiterated that hosting of NNPC mission critical business solutions in the Data Centre instead of with third parties is expected to yield savings of $5 million dollars per annum for the corporation.
He said that to ensure availability of business systems 24/7, the Data Centre will be supported by a state of the art Business Continuity centre that is nearing completion.
With the added Cisco security features, IT management benefits from tremendous oversight of who and what devices are on the network, whether wired or wireless.
IT can also better control the risks associated with that access for some numerous computers serving the large corporation. Weco Systems approach also ensures Web Security Appliance protects users from accessing malicious websites and prevents malware and virus infections.
IT administrators can now control access to online web applications and securely allow users to use social networking sites and other Web 2.0 sites for collaboration.
The prevalence of excellent local expertise for Cisco technology, including the skilled consulting and deployment provided by WECO SYSTEMS, allowed the IT department to achieve a swift, easier-than-expected implementation within critical timeframe.
NNPC can take full advantage of these local resources and the robust features of its new data centre to stay on track with new technologies as they emerge for years to come.
E-Business
Jumia Replatforms its Retail Media Program to Mirakl Ads to Enhance Marketplace Advertising

Jumia, e-Commerce platform in Africa, has partnered with Mirakl to elevate its marketplace advertising capabilities by deploying Mirakl Ads, a retail media solution uniquely designed to optimize performance for both first-party and third-party sellers.
This move strengthens Jumia’s efforts to deliver more value to its sellers, enhance the customer experience, and unlock profitable and sustainable new sources of revenue. Retail media is a rapidly growing sector within the e-commerce industry, expected to reach $204 billion by 2027 with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2%.
Jumia’s adoption of Mirakl Ads positions the company at the forefront of digital advertising innovation in Africa, unlocking significant opportunities to increase revenue generation. With growing usage across its platform, Jumia is well-placed to capitalize on this momentum by delivering improved advertising tools to sellers and more relevant, personalized product recommendations to customers.
“Advertising is a key growth lever in our marketplace strategy, and this partnership with Mirakl allows us to accelerate that journey with speed and scale.
“By integrating Mirakl Ads, we’re empowering our sellers with smarter tools and delivering a better, more personalized experience to our customers. It also positions us to unlock new revenue streams while deepening engagement across our platform. Importantly, this partnership supports our ambition to grow gross profit and accelerate our path to profitability,” said Francis Dufay, CEO of Jumia.
The collaboration is a testament to Mirakl’s ability to rapidly deploy enterprise-grade solutions, with Jumia launching Mirakl Ads in just two months. This showcases the platform’s ease of integration and fast time-to-value. Now live, the solution equips Jumia’s advertising ecosystem with advanced automation, AI-powered optimization, and seamless campaign management.
With Mirakl Ads, all advertisers – from the biggest brands to the smallest marketplace sellers – can now boost their sales by leveraging advertising campaigns in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Ivory Coast.
“Jumia’s decision to replatform to Mirakl Ads is a powerful validation of our platform’s ability to deliver immediate and measurable impact for leading marketplaces. By combining Mirakl’s cutting-edge retail media technology with Jumia’s deep market reach, we are enabling sellers to grow faster and customers to benefit from a more relevant, engaging experience. This partnership is a true milestone, not only for Jumia and Mirakl, but for the future of digital commerce across Africa.” said Adrien Nussenbaum, cofounder and co-CEO of Mirakl.
Through this partnership, Jumia is taking a decisive step in accelerating monetization, improving customer engagement, and advancing its long-term financial performance and profitability.
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone, Rural Electrification Agency Commit to Deepening Digital and Energy Access Across Nigeria

In a major step towards deepening Nigeria’s digital and energy infrastructure, Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at a brief but impactful ceremony held in Abuja.
The MoU signals a collaborative effort between both agencies to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda by integrating reliable energy solutions with cutting-edge ICT infrastructure, especially in higher institutions, Government institutions, underserved and rural communities across the country.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director/CEO of Galaxy Backbone, Professor Ibrahim A. Adeyanju, described the partnership as “a landmark moment in Nigeria’s journey towards a digitally empowered, sustainably powered, and inclusively connected nation.”
“This partnership exemplifies what is possible when two visionary government institutions come together, united by shared goals and driven by the desire to improve the lives of Nigerians everywhere,” he said.
Professor Adeyanju emphasized that while Galaxy Backbone’s core mandate is to provide secure digital infrastructure that powers government operations, reliable and sustainable energy particularly in rural areas is essential to fully actualize digital transformation.
Major highlights of the MoU include:
- Solar electrification of some of GBB’s Metro Fibre sites in Abuja by the REA.
- Powering Hostels of Higher Institutions across the country through the Fibre to Hostel Project being driven by the Federal Ministry of Communications Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE).
- Support for the rollout of the 774 Local Government Digitization Initiative, beginning with six pilot Local Government Areas.
- Provision of LANs, access points, cloud services, colocation infrastructure, and temporary connectivity to enhance REA’s operational facilities nationwide.
The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency Mr Abba Aliyu, in his remarks, expressed optimism that this collaboration will further bridge the digital and energy divide across Nigeria. He noted that by combining REA’s achievements in expanding energy access with GBB’s robust ICT backbone, both agencies are poised to create lasting impact across governance, education, healthcare, and entrepreneurship.
This partnership is also in direct alignment with the Renewed Hope Digital Transformation Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, which envisions an inclusive digital economy powered by innovation and sustainable energy.
The ceremony was attended by top management from both organizations as well as members of the media.
With today’s signing, Galaxy Backbone and the Rural Electrification Agency have set the tone for stronger, smarter, and more inclusive public service delivery powered by strategic inter-agency collaboration.
E-Business
NIMC Says NIN Services Back Online

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced the restoration of its National Identification Number (NIN) verification services nationwide.
This, according to the commission, follows the completion of a system maintenance exercise.
In a statement issued on Friday, the NIMC confirmed that all previously disrupted services have resumed.
“NIMC wishes to inform the general public that the recent technical maintenance has been completed and all services have been restored,” the statement read.
The NIMC urged Nigerians seeking to enroll for NIN to visit the its official website to locate the nearest enrollment centers.
The agency also encouraged individuals to make use of its self-service portal for tasks such as data modification, including name changes.
To further ease the verification process, the Commission recommended downloading the NIMC NameAuth app (oath.app) from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store for quick and secure NIN authentication.
NIMC expressed appreciation for the public’s patience during the service disruption, which had impacted banks, telecom providers, and government agencies that rely on NIN verification for their operations.
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