Technology
Nigeria to Host National Cybersecurity Conference Amid Rising Challenges
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria will spotlight critical cybersecurity efforts to tackle the scourge in the country.
This comes as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), QNA, and other key stakeholders, will convene the National Cybersecurity Conference 2025 from July 7-10 at the Abuja Continental Hotel.
The event will be hosted by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and themed Building a Resilient Digital Future.
The four-day summit seeks to address Nigeria’s digital vulnerabilities while spotlighting strategies to empower the next generation of cyber defenders.
The global cybercrime landscape is evolving fast, with damages projected to hit $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. Nigeria, now Africa’s top startup hub, must protect its digital gains — including a 17.68 per cent GDP contribution from the digital economy in 2024 — from rising threats, many powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
With over 134 million internet users and growing 5G reach, experts say robust cybersecurity isn’t optional — it is critical, according to a statement about the event.
“As Nigeria embraces digital transformation across sectors, the threats to our digital infrastructure, economy, and individual citizens grow increasingly sophisticated,” said Mr Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.
“Recognizing the critical need to address these challenges with foresight and collaboration, NCSC emerges as a timely and strategic platform for fostering resilience, knowledge exchange and cross-sector partnerships. I commend the National Information Technology Development Agency for convening this crucial gathering and for their leadership in advancing Nigeria’s cybersecurity framework.”
He explained that the central focus of the conference will be on youth empowerment.
“With over 60 per cent of Nigerians under 25 and internet penetration among youths at 90 per cent, the potential to close Africa’s cybersecurity workforce gap — currently at 68,000 unfilled roles — lies in Nigeria’s hands.”
Workshops, panel discussions, and a high-stakes Cybersecurity Hackathon will spotlight youth-led solutions, startups, and innovation.
He added that the government is already laying the groundwork. Initiatives such as the 3 Million Tech Talents (3MTT) program, Digital Literacy for All (DL4All), and President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda are channeling energy toward economic diversification and tech talent acceleration.
On his part, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, NITDA’s Director General, called on all IT enthusiasts, relevant key stakeholders, and critical players in the public and private sectors to be a part of the groundbreaking conference.
He stressed that the conference is not just about defending against threats, but about building a future where cybersecurity is a key enabler of trust, innovation, and national prosperity.
By 2025, Nigeria’s cybersecurity sector is projected to grow by 20 per cent in job opportunities, with salaries for entry-level roles expected to reach N4–N6 million per annum.
The event will culminate in the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, honoring individuals and institutions driving digital safety across sectors.
It is expected that at the end of the conference, there would be a clear roadmap towards fully establishing the Cybercrimes Act; there should also be a stronger global collaboration built, as synergy is required to curb the threats posed by digital criminals.
Most importantly, the government says it hopes to use this conference to harness talents and provide mentorship to young talents who, if not guided, might otherwise use their cyber skills to become menaces to society.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the players in the Nigerian gaming industry, Secure Electronic Technology (SET) Plc, has appointed Ms Leticia Otomewo as its acting secretary.
This followed the expiration of the company’s service contract with the former occupier of the seat, Ms Irene Attoe, on January 31, 2026.
A statement to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday said Ms Otomewo would remain the organisation’s scribe in an acting capacity, pending the ratification and appointment of a substantive company secretary at the next board meeting.
She was described in the notice signed by the Managing Director of the firm, Mr Oyeyemi Olusoji, as “a results-driven executive with 22 years of experience in driving business growth, leading high-performing teams, and delivering innovative solutions.”
The acting secretary is also said to be “a collaborative leader with a passion for mentoring and developing talent.”
“The company assures the investing public that all Company Secretariat responsibilities and regulatory obligations will continue to be discharged in full compliance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act, applicable regulations, and the Nigerian Exchange Limited Listing Rules,” the disclosure assured.
Meanwhile, the board thanked Ms Attoe “for professionalism and contributions to the Company during the period of her engagement and wishes her well in her future endeavours.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Russian government on Thursday confirmed it has blocked the WhatsApp messaging service, as it moves to further control information flow in the country.
It urged Russians to use a new state-backed platform called Max instead of the Meta-owned service.
WhatsApp issued a statement earlier saying Russia had attempted to “fully block” its messaging service in the country to force people toward Max, which it described as a “surveillance app.”
“Today the Russian government attempted to fully block WhatsApp in an effort to drive people to a state-owned surveillance app,” WhatsApp posted on social media platform X.
“Trying to isolate over 100 million users from private and secure communication is a backwards step and can only lead to less safety for people in Russia,” it said, adding: “We continue to do everything we can to keep users connected.”
Russia’s latest move against social media platforms and messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram comes amid a wider attempt to drive users toward domestic and more easily controlled and monitored services, such as Max.
Russia’s telecoms watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has accused messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp of failing to comply with Russian legislation requiring companies to store Russian users’ data inside the country, and of failing to introduce measures to stop their platforms from being used for allegedly criminal or terrorist purposes.
It has used this as a basis for slowing down or blocking their operations, with restrictions coming into force since last year.
For Telegram, it may be next, but so far the Russian government has been admittedly slowing down its operations “due to the fact that the company isn’t complying with the requirements of Russian legislation.”
The chat service, founded by Russian developers but headquartered in Dubai, has been a principal target for Roskomnadzor’s scrutiny and increasing restrictions, with users reporting sluggish performance on the app since January.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian startup, Decide, has emerged as the fourth most accurate Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent for spreadsheet tasks globally, according to results from SpreadsheetBench, a widely referenced benchmark for evaluating AI performance on real-world spreadsheet problems.
According to the founder, Mr Abiodun Adetona, the ranking places Decide alongside well-funded global AI startups, including Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Mr Adetona, an ex-Flutterwave developer, also revealed that Decide now has over 3,000 users, including some who are paying customers, a signal to the ability of the startup to scale in the near future.
SpreadsheetBench is a comprehensive evaluation framework designed to push Large Language Models (LLMs) to their limits in understanding and manipulating spreadsheet data. While many benchmarks focus on simple table QA, SpreadsheetBench treats a spreadsheet as a complex ecosystem involving spatial layouts, formulas, and multi-step reasoning. So far, only three agents rank higher than Decide, namely Nobie Agent, Shortcut.ai, and Qingqiu Agent.
Mr Adetona said SpreadsheetBench measures how well AI agents can handle practical spreadsheet tasks such as writing formulas, cleaning messy data, working across multiple sheets, and reasoning through complex Excel workflows. Decide recorded an 82.5% accuracy score, solving 330 out of 400 verified tasks.
“The result reflects sustained investment in applied research, product iteration, and learning from real-world spreadsheet workloads across a wide range of use cases,” Mr Adetona told Business Post.
For Mr Adetona, who built Decide out of frustration with how much time professionals spend manually cleaning data, debugging formulas, and moving between sheets, “This milestone highlights how focused engineering and domain-specific AI development can deliver frontier-level performance outside of large research organisations. By concentrating on practical business data problems and building systems grounded in real user environments, we believe smaller teams can contribute meaningfully to advancing applied AI.”
“For Decide, this is a foundation for continued progress in intelligent spreadsheet and analytics automation,” he added.
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