General News
WhoGoHost Sees Increased Local Demand for Data Hosting- Obaniyi

‘Toba Obaniyi, CEO of Whogohost Limited, is a graduate of Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University. He finished in the top 5 percentile of his class in 2008.
He is a self taught web developer, server manager and online customer service specialist.
Obaniyi puts everything into what he believes and hates being second best. He has clearly experienced the impacts of being “nearly” accurate.
This is the very success story behind Whogohost as he has surrounded himself with a like-minded team that is very passionate about the business as he has been able to grow the indigenous web hosting provider from a small start up into the world class thriving enterprise and currently the largest hosting provider in Nigeria.
In this interview with peter oluka, Obaniyi shares the Company’s perspective with regards to data hosting, cybersecurity and sundry issues in the industry.
How WhoGoHost Started
WhoGoHost was actually found by Opeyemi Awoyemi, the founder of Jobberman, then as a student in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
He was first, a web-designer, but realised that lot of people needed hosting, and it was difficult to source for international payments, so, he founded WhoGoHost.
WhoGoHost actually started as a reseller, but along the way, we realised that a lot of people would prefer to pay locally.
That was how we got the picture of growth potentials WhoGoHost can leverage in the country. We started as a startup company, however, according to statistics we are currently the largest in the country.
We have over 25,000 active domains hosted with us and growing aggressively and we manage our servers. We have a lot of SMEs hosted with us. In fact, the potentials are really great and we are not relenting on pushing the platform.
Localisation of Data Hosting
The global trends and from the technological point of view, it makes more sense that you are hosted where most of your traffics is coming from.
You will realize that a site that takes about three seconds to load, can actually load in less than a second.
What that also implies is that you don’t need so fast internet to access the website. There are organizations and businesses that most be hosted locally, principally, due to the transactions or the application is very sensitive to latency. So, such people need local hosting.
Partnership With MainOne & Intel
The beauty about the relationship is that, before now, is has been very difficult for small demand to be made for local hosting. That is what the partnership is bringing on the table.
We can be proud of more servers to serve the purpose. Before now, you will probably be talking about a large number of servers before you can even talk to a local hosting provider. But, now you don’t have to walk through the data centre any more, rather, you go through us and we can serve a very small demand and position you on the map.
The Security Point of View
Definitely, it gives organizations that host locally an edge, in terms of security. The truth is that the world has been working very hard to make the internet safe and secured.
No matter how you look at it, at some point, you would have to travel out of the country to access Google, Facebook, and the likes, even though that data is encrypted, there is still a risk of compromise, because the number of routes you have to go through before accessing the server means there is a room for compromise.
Imagine if your data is hosted locally, that means the risk is reduced dramatically. Yes, security might be an issue some times, but let us pretend the internet access between Africa and the rest of the world is blocked.
It implies that every server outside the Continent will not be accessible. Compare that to when you are hosted locally, even when there is fiber cut, you don’t need to have any issues with that, because you are still hosted locally.
Most of the service providers are connected through MainOne; that implies their internet is going to be very fast. I think that is one of the biggest advantages of the partnership.
Estimation of the Market Size (Financially)
I may not give estimation on naira and kobo, but the potentials are huge. Let me us this illustration: a lot of people are prettily concerned about security and they cannot afford to get cloud solutions outside the country.
So, they try as much as possible to host in their office complexes. If you look around, you will see such companies with their servers hosted in-house, which means, they have to worry about power, skill sets, cooling and all that.
Therefore, there are a lot of potentials with customers out there who can move their existing servers to this solution we are providing, so they don’t have to be bothered about hosting within their offices, but will be sure the data are hosted within Nigeria.
Lack of Skills Among SMEs
That is exactly one of the critical solutions we are bringing: taking the burden of lack of skills off the shoulders of the SMEs.
When you are cloud-hosted, it means you are outsourcing, which has been proven to be more cost effective. It means, you don’t need to have a team of about five people managing a server for you. So, as you get the servers from providers like WhoGoHost, we manage it for you or you can have a technical person, who will be mainly concerned with handling the applications, but not bothered about the network card of the server, the hardware, or the disks.
The company’s management don’t have to be bordered about power, cooling, or internet. Data centre readily manages a pool of resources for you; you just focus on your core competent areas.
Cost of Hosting Data Abroad vs Local Hosting
There are arguments about cost of internet provisioning between Lagos and Abuja been more expensive that connecting between Lagos and London, but, in my opinion, if the fibre between Lagos and Abuja is cost, how much will it cost from Lagos to London.
That argument is probably using V-Sat. But, obviously, it is cheaper in-country too. The truth of the matter is that when it data hosting, the cost will be based on demand.
As demand increases, it will be much easier to reduce prices. That is what we are hoping we would achieve in a very short time.
The price is not yet as competitive, however, they are not so high. That’s why we are majoring on those that need local hosting. We do not compete against those international providers. We are not interested in competing with the international hosting providers.
There are a lot of people that demand for local hosting and the interesting things is that hosting locally is usually very expensive. When they get to data centre, they will be required to demand a particular speed, similar to what we have with the internet.
When you get a modem, you have 100MB, 250MB, etc., depending on your demand. That is what it used to be. But with this partnership, the rates will crash.
A lot of things have been considered with this partnership and we are going to do a lot more. This is just a pilot phase, as the demands keep coming, we shall be analyzing them and definitely price will get cheaper and we will start offering unique solutions to Nigerian SMEs, probably what other providers have not thought of.
User Education as Panacea to Curb Security Breaches
We have realized that a lot of people do not understand how to ‘play’ in the internet space. Getting to the internet is easy; you just pay or get is free.
A lot of things are free so people don’t invest on knowing what is important for them to keep safe. the best things to do about internet education is to keep educating people and that is what we have tried to do.
That is where the media come in too, to let people understand the negative impacts of some attitudes they display online. Imagine you acquired a house, very beautiful.
Or, you put a door made of wood, but there is no gate at the entrance to the compound. Or there is a gate, but there is no padlock. So, when you are building a house, you would have put those things into consideration, same way when you are building a website.
When you have a server, you have to put the security apparatuses too. So, service providers can do their beats, but users need to go the extra mile by taking into cognizance the steps to avoid breaches.
It may be something a elementary as not using 123 as your password, or get as complex as upgrading your applications, software or things that some of them may be cumbersome, but at the end, pay off. WhoGoHost will not relent on educating and advising people on security.
General News
New Tax Law Empowers NRS to Fine Offenders up to N10m

The newly enacted Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, has empowered the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), renamed Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), to impose fines for individuals and companies for failing to register, file returns, use tax technology, or disclose basic information like a change of business address.
The Act is among the tax laws signed by President Bola Tinubu on June 26.
The tax administration law is expected to take effect from January 1, 2026, under a renamed agency — the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), currently known as the FIRS.
The Act, which is an updated version of previous fragmented tax enforcement provisions, outlines a comprehensive list of offences and corresponding penalties, with fines ranging from N10,000 to N10 million, as well as prison terms of up to 10 years for serious breaches.
Under the general offences and penalties section of the law, a taxable person who fails to register with the relevant tax authority is liable to a N50,000 fine in the first month and N25,000 for each subsequent month of default.
The Act stressed that companies that award contracts to unregistered vendors will face a N5 million penalty.
The law also imposes a N100,000 fine for failure to file tax returns, plus N50,000 monthly for as long as the failure continues.
“A taxable person who fails or refuses to file returns or knowingly files incomplete or inaccurate returns to the relevant tax authority in accordance with the provisions of this Act, shall be liable to pay an administrative penalty of (a) 100,000 in the first month in which the failure occurs; and (b) N50,000 for each subsequent month in which the failure continues,” the Act reads.
“A taxable person who Failure to books (a) fails to keep accounts, books and records of business transactions and income, to allow for the correct ascertainment of tax and filing of returns to the relevant tax authority; or (b) upon request by the relevant tax authority, fails to provide any record or book prescribed in this Act shall be liable to pay an administrative penalty of- (i) in the case of a person other than a company, N10,000, and (ii) in the case of a company, N50,000.”
Also, the law states that failure to notify the tax authority of a change of address within 30 days of such change, giving a wrong address, or failing to comply with the requirement for notification of permanent cessation of trade or business under the relevant tax laws shall be liable to an administrative penalty.
“A taxable person who fails to notify the relevant tax authority – Failure to notify change of address (a) N100,000 for the first month in which the failure occurs; and (b) 45,000 for each subsequent month failure persists,” the law reads.
In a bid to modernise tax compliance, the Act makes it compulsory for businesses to allow the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to deploy fiscalisation technology or face a N1 million fine for the first day of refusal and N10,000 for each day after.
Any business that fails to process sales through the fiscalisation system will also be fined N200,000, pay 100 percent of the tax due, and accrue interest at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) monetary policy rate.
The Act is especially punitive toward those who fail to deduct or remit taxes.
“A person that deducts, collects, or withholds any tax under this Act, and fails to remit the amount deducted, collected, or withheld by the 21st day of the month immediately succeeding the month in which the amount was deducted, collected, or withheld, is liable to pay,” it added.
“Failure to remit tax deducted source or self-account (a) the amount deducted, collected or withheld but not remitted; (b) an administrative penalty of 10% per annum of the tax deducted, collected or withheld but not remitted; and (c) interest at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria monetary policy rate. “A person convicted of any of the offences under this section shall be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years, or a fine of not less than the principal amount due plus a penalty of not more than 50% of the sum, or both.
“A person who (a) fails to comply with the requirements of a notice served under this Act or any other tax law; (b) fails to attend or provide answers to a notice, summons or process served under this Act or any other tax law; or (c) having attended, fails to answer any question lawfully put to him, is liable to an administrative penalty of N100,000 in the first day of default and N10,000 for every subsequent day where the default.”
General News
Taskforce Arrests Six for over Fake Lottery Scam

Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (Taskforce) has apprehended six suspects allegedly involved in a fraudulent lottery scheme that targeted unsuspecting residents at Iyana-Ipaja.
Those arrested include Amaike Nelson, Kenneth Opuana, Oguntade Olusegun, Ogologo Obi, Goodluck Abel, and Oluwafunmilayo Adebimpe. The syndicate was tracked down following intelligence reports about their activities.
According to the taskforce, the suspects lured a 19-year-old student, identified as Rukayat Kamilu, into a manipulated street game. During the encounter, the group reportedly coerced her into surrendering her mobile phone and personal belongings.
The victim said one of the suspects, later identified as Oguntade Olusegun, posed as a confused passer-by seeking help to pick a “winning number.” After she got involved, her phone was seized, and she was allegedly pressured to pay N100,000 to retrieve it.
Acting on a tip-off, operatives led by CSP Adetayo Akerele, chairman, stormed the area and arrested the suspects. Several empty Android phone boxes, allegedly used as props in the scam, were recovered during the operation.
Condemning the criminal act, Akerele assured residents that the agency is intensifying its crackdown on street scams across the state.
“Our responsibility is to safeguard the lives and property of Lagosians. We will leave no room for such fraudulent activities to thrive,” he stated.
The suspects were subsequently arraigned before a Magistrates’ Court on charges bordering on gambling, extortion, theft, and conspiracy.
They all pleaded guilty. The court ordered that they remain in custody pending further hearing, scheduled for August 7, 2025.
General News
FG Plans N50m STEEM Grant to Support Student Innovation in August

In a giant stride to support innovation, entrepreneurship and economic transformation, the Federal Government is set to unveil a N50 million grant for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical Sciences (STEEM) students in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The project, which is referred to as the Student Venture Capital Grant (S-VCG), is a pioneering initiative designed to empower the students towards building the next generation of scalable, job-creating ventures.
According to a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Education, Folashade Boriowo, Friday, the initiative will be formally unveiled in August by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa.
Boriowo stated that the minister made the disclosure during a stakeholders’ engagement session held in Abuja in the presence of vice-chancellors, provosts, rectors, student leaders, academic staff, and development partners, and will chart a collective course for nurturing student-led innovation.
The statement noted that the grant targets full-time undergraduate students in STEMM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical Sciences), specifically those in 300 level and above.
“Each selected student-led project will be eligible to receive startup funding of up to N50 million, along with access to mentorship, incubation services and business development support.
“The initiative will be implemented in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BoI) to ensure financial transparency, impact measurement and effective project execution.
“S-VCG is not just a grant. It’s a launchpad for bold, young innovators to lead Nigeria’s industrial and technological transformation,” said Alausa.
Speaking at the session, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sa’id Ahmad, described the grant as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s knowledge economy.
“We’re building a stronger, more competitive future by supporting innovation from the ground up,” she said, adding that the programme’s design was informed by months of consultation with students, faculty and institutional leaders.
Participants at the event welcomed the STEMM-Up Grant as a timely, strategic and high-impact initiative that will drive youth innovation, tackle graduate unemployment, and position Nigeria as a hub for student-led entrepreneurship in Africa.
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