General
Silence Laboratories Raises $4.1m for Privacy-Preserving Computing

By Adedapo Adesanya
Silence Laboratories has announced securing $4.1 million in funding to enable privacy-preserving collaborative computing led by Pi Ventures and Anurag Arjun, along with several prominent angel investors.
In a statement shared with Business Post, the company said with the market for privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) growing globally at a compound annual growth rate of 26.6 per cent, there is growing demand.
In recognition of this, Silence Laboratories is offering to provide mathematical guarantees for techno-legal expectations as part of a mission to create infrastructure to enable complex data collaborations between enterprises and entities, without any sensitive information being exposed to the other engaging parties.
This would allow companies to work together on processing data, without needing to share data with the other party – allowing more sectors to benefit from new technology, with less risk.
The funding will be used to scale the company’s tech and business teams and enrich the company’s robust research and development (R&D) pipeline.
In the modern age, large companies are wrestling to leverage their customers’ data to provide ever-better AI-enhanced experiences but a key barrier to leveraging this opportunity is mounting public concern around data privacy, as ever-greater data processing poses risks of data leaks by hackers and malicious insiders.
Founded in 2021 by Dr Jay Prakash (CEO), Dr Andrei Bytes (CTO), and Dr Tony Quek, the firm has also recently been expanding its global leadership team across cryptography, infrastructure business, and engineering.
Leveraging modern cryptography, the company already has one of the fastest distributed signature (authorization) libraries in production (Silent Shard), which has been audited by some of the best security auditing companies like Trail of Bits.
These libraries have led to the establishment of strong partnerships with leading digital asset infrastructure and protocol companies like BitGo, MetaMask, EigenLayer, Biconomy, and EasyCrypto.
These products on offer by the company use multi-party computation (MPC) as its core cryptographic primitives.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr Prakash said, “In today’s digital ecosystem, trust, and privacy are not merely options but imperatives for sustainable growth.
“With this new injection of funds, Silence Laboratories is poised to redefine privacy by enabling businesses to fully embrace the power of AI while rigorously protecting their most vital asset – customer trust.
“Our privacy-enhancing technologies assure that collaboration and innovation can flourish in an environment where the confidentiality and integrity of data are uncompromised.”
On his part, the Managing Director of Pi Ventures, Mr Mr Shubham Sandeep, said, “Secure data collaboration to enable privacy-preserving compute is an ever-growing problem, especially in highly regulated domains such as finance and healthcare. This requires solutions based on zero-trust cryptographic guarantees instead of relying on third-party data vendors who are prone to security breaches.
“The MPC infrastructure developed by the world-class team at Silence Laboratories is the fastest in the world, easily configurable, application agnostic, and provides full control to the user.
“We are excited to double down on our investment as we have seen the fantastic progress of the company over the last 18 months.”
“The Silence team is an amazing team with deep cryptography expertise and is working on a set of groundbreaking products in privacy and authentication infrastructure and I am really excited to support their journey.
“Privacy-preserving infrastructure combined with blockchain and fintech rails is going to be huge!” added MrAnurag Arjun from Kira Studio and former co-founder of Polygon.
General
NCSP Lauds Firm’s $550m Proposed Steel Factory in Ogun

By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The decision of a major player in the domestic steel sector in Nigeria, Inner Galaxy Steel Company, to establish a new plant in Ogun State with a projected annual output of 2 million metric tons (MMT) has been applauded by the Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP).
The director-general of the agency, Mr Joseph Tegbe, said he was impressed that the Abia State-based organisation to invest such an amount in Ogun State.
The funding structure for the new project allocates $450 million from Chinese partners and financial institution and $100 million from Nigerian partners and institutions.
The Ogun State facility will be developed in phases, utilising locally available iron ore, positioning it as a strategic contributor to the government’s goal of achieving 10 MMT in national steel production annually.
According to him, the significance of this investment “extends beyond steel,” noting it is about fortifying Nigeria’s industrial base, deepening partnerships with global investors, and building a manufacturing ecosystem capable of driving long-term economic transformation.
Currently producing about 600,000 metric tons annually, the company believes operational enhancements could lift capacity at the Abia site to 1 MMT per year.
Mr Tegbe, who visited the factory of Inner Galaxy in Abia State on July 30, 2025, had a tour of the facility’s operations, including Neway Power Technology Company Ltd, which manufactures roughly 4 million car batteries annually; Jiu Xing Integrity Industries Limited, which fabricates and assembles trailers from CKD and SKD kits; and Starich Recycle Technologies Company Limited, a plastics recycler and manufacturer.
Industry analysts see the Inner Galaxy expansion as a potential catalyst for foreign direct investment inflows, advanced technology transfer, and large-scale job creation within Nigeria’s steel value chain.
If delivered on schedule, the Ogun State plant would represent one of the single largest boosts to Nigeria’s steel capacity in decades, helping to close the domestic supply gap, reduce reliance on imports, and strengthen competitiveness in regional infrastructure and manufacturing markets.
General
Oando Foundation Unveils Green Youth Upskilling Programme

By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An initiative designed to equip at least 25 Nigerian youths with technical and entrepreneurial skills in the green economy has been launched by Oando Foundation, an independent charity established to support the federal government in achieving its Universal Basic Education goal.
This new scheme, known as the Green Youth Upskilling Programme, will train young persons about ways to make a living from the renewable energy and waste management sectors for nine months.
For the seamless execution of this initiative, Oando Foundation has partnered with the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC).
The launch of GYUP represents a significant milestone in Oando Foundation’s sustainability journey.
As the first program of its kind under the foundation’s ‘PLANET’ initiative, it expands the organisation’s footprint in climate action education and youth enterprise development.
Following a call for applications in early July, the initiative received over 8,000 applications, from which 25 outstanding individuals were selected to become the inaugural cohort of Green Youth Champions.
The Green Youth Upskilling Programme (GYUP) is positioned to drive long-term impact by equipping young Nigerians with practical skills for a climate-smart economy.
The Head of Oando Foundation, Ms Tonia Uduimoh, emphasized the organisation’s long-standing commitment to education and sustainable development, noting that the GYUP represents a strategic response to youth unemployment and the urgent need for climate-responsive skills.
“The Green Youth Upskilling Program was developed in response to two pressing needs – empowering our youth and driving climate action.
“With 12.5 per cent of Nigerian youth not in education, employment, or training, and the potential for over 2 million green jobs by 2030, this programme bridges that opportunity gap.
“Over the next nine months, we will equip 25 exceptional young Nigerians with practical skills in renewable energy, sustainable waste management, and green enterprise development.
“GYUP aligns with the PLANET component of our LEARNOVATE strategy, and through our partnership with the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre, we are creating a scalable, replicable model that empowers young people, supports climate action, and fuels economic inclusion,” she stated.
In his remarks, the chief executive of NCIC, Mr Bankole Oloruntoba, highlighted the importance of building technical capacity among youth and the broader goal of the GYUP partnership.
“To build a thriving green economy, we must invest in the right skill sets—technical, entrepreneurial, and climate-focused. The GYUP is not just a program; it is a catalyst for action, helping us move beyond conversations about unemployment toward building sustainable green jobs that will endure,” he said.
General
PTAD Pays N5.12bn Pension Arrears of 90,689 DBS Pensioners

By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has disclosed that it has paid about N5.12 billion for 90,689 pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
In a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Communications Unit of PTAD, Mr Olugbenga Ajayi, on Monday, August 11, 2025, it was disclosed that, “This payment reaffirms the administration’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that pensioners receive their due entitlements in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.”
This development, Business Post reports, is coming after Mr Tinubu approved measures aimed at improving the welfare of pensioners under the DBS.
In the statement today, PTAD said it paid N276.0 million as one-month pension arrear of 8,626 pensioners under the Customs Immigration and Prison Pension Department (CIPPD), N619.6 million in two-month pension arrears of 9,681 pensioners in the Police Pension Department (PPD), N408.7 million in one-month pension arrear of 12,773 pensioners under the Civil Service Pension Department (CSPD), and N3.8 billion as two-month pension arrears of 59,609 pensioners in the university sector of Parastatals Pension Department (PAPD).
The agency said, “In keeping with its assurance to clear outstanding pension liabilities as funds are disbursed by the federal government, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has finalised the disbursement of N5.12 billion to 90,689 pensioners across the four pension departments, reaffirming its continued dedication and unwavering commitment to pensioners’ welfare.”
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