E-Business
Digital Rights and Internet Freedom in Nigeria
As Nigeria becomes a more digital-driven nation, it is quite necessary and important for policy makers to come out with the necessary laws that will guaranty the rights of the users and customers, while ensuring that internet remains free for the use of all.
I recently had a chat with Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiatives, and he shared his thoughts on internet security and data privacy in the country.
Giving his reasons for being passionate about Digital Rights, Gbenga said that setting out policy for Digital Rights is quite important to ensure that it does not lag behind or stand in the way of innovation.
He gave the analogy of earlier days when the internet first came, where security officers invade cyber cafes and arrest everyone just to extract money from the users in form of bail with no cybercrime cases to nail them.
There is, therefore, the need to have the policies and laws in place so that security operatives will not take advantage of the loopholes to exploit internet users, thus, truncating innovations.
Gbenga said he will like to see some changes in the cybercrime laws that we have on ground. He stated that there were about thirteen sections of the Cyber Crime Act of 2015 that needed to be reviewed.
The first one, he said, is Section 24, which deals with Cyber Stalking. He said that the definition of Cyber Stalking has to be re-defined because, as it is presently, bloggers and other online writers ate being arrested for expressing their opinion in writing rather than arresting and prosecuting real cyber stalkers. “Not one case if a proper cyber criminal has been taken to court”, he stated.
Gbenga also mentioned Section 38 of the Cyber Crime Act which deals with Data Retention as one that should be reviewed. He maintained that Nigeria has a data privacy problem, especially, in a situation where people sell other people’s email addresses.
He stated that in a situation where about 7 Agencies of government collect biometric data of people, the tendency is for these data to be stolen and used in crime.
He gave the example of a bank that unintentionally leaked the information from a hospital where data of HIV patients were kept and no one is punishing the bank for this. A situation where the taking of BVN without the Privacy laws in place means that, if anything goes wrong with the data, nobody will answer questions.
Gbenga believes that in order to solve these problems, there is the need to continue to engage in this type of conversations to enlighten people because they do not know. He said that many institutions that have been collecting people’s information do not need them.
He also advised people to stop writing their mobile numbers, etc., on any piece of paper that is being passed around to avoid being scammed.
All these, Gbenga stated, need to be codified in the law. He said an Internet Freedom Declaration for Nigeria has been transformed into the Data Privacy draft bill which is already in the National Assembly and this has passed through the first and second reading as well as public hearing. What remains now, he said, is for the committee report. In his opinion, he stated that most of the bad laws are quickly signed into law while good laws are not looked at.
Gbenga said that NIMC is mandated to gather a centralized biometric database of all Nigerians, but this has not been successfully done because many people want want a piece of the action by landing contracts from it.
He hopes that the President or other relevant authority will garner the political will and put their feet down to ensure that this is done.
He also stated that, maybe, by the time some of those in authority lose their data and find out that it is being used in crime in another clime or they lose money, then, they will take this seriously.
Gbenga is of the opinion that it is not possible for us to regulate the internet as some people are calling for because the problem is not with Facebook and the rest of the platforms on the internet. The problem, he identified, is that when crime is committed no one is punished for it, so, people will continue to commit more crimes.
He noted that “yahoo yahoo” crime is not an innovation that came with the internet but was in vogue before the internet came.
People, he stated, were committing “419” crimes via the use if FAX and letters. “We should not say that because water can drown us, we will not take our bath for seven days”, he stated. He also noted that the internet is a tool that can be used by bad and good people just as the sun shines on both good and bad people. We cannot stop the sun from shining on bad people. Gbenga emphasized that we need the internet more in Africa, and in Nigeria in particular, because we have lost out in many of the world’s revolutions, such as the industrial revolution.
He concluded by stating that we need the internet to be relevant in the next revolution, which is the Internet of Things and Internet Innovation.
CFA is the Founder, www.CFAtech.ng & Co-producer/Presenter,Tech Trends on Channels Television
Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of Interior, has announced the launch of an Online Visa Approval Center to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks and reduce corruption in the visa application process.
Commissioned by the President in December, the new system ensures that applicants no longer need to visit a visa office, know anyone in the system, or lobby for approvals.
At a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on the implementation of the Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) 2025, yesterday in Abuja, Dr. Tunji-Ojo said the visa is considered a very important document by the government because it is an instrument of migration management and an instrument of economic development.
The minister explained that Nigeria has to strike a delicate balance between national security and, of course, the ease of migration.
“And we think that it’s something that we can do and something we will do.
“We don’t have a physical Visa Approval Center. If you apply for a Nigerian visa anywhere in the world, you do so online. We process it here in Nigeria, and if approved, you receive your e-visa in your email,” he explained.
To enhance efficiency, the government has set a 48-hour deadline for processing e-visas.
“It is unprofessional and unacceptable for the Nigeria Immigration Service not to approve or provide feedback within 48 hours,” the minister stated.
“It breaks my heart that people need to lobby to even get visas to Nigeria. It shouldn’t be so. It shouldn’t be.
“For anybody that is qualified, for anybody that wants to do legitimate activities in Nigeria, such people should be able to come to Nigeria easily. And this is why we are opening our space. Mr. President is interested in foreign direct investments.”
Further, he said Nigeria is interested in partnering with the rest of the world to develop its economy but, “We can’t do that when we allow bottlenecks to hold us down. So these reforms, basically, are aimed at opening our space, enhancing national security, and we hope that the primary responsibilities of the visa scheme will be achieved.”
Kemi Nandap, controller general, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), said the NIS would fully digitize its e-visa platform and reduce visa classifications from 79 to 44 to enhance accessibility, transparency, and efficiency in the new visa policy.
She said, “At the core of this policy is the new e-visa platform—a fully digitized, centralized system that revolutionizes how foreign nationals interact with our country’s entry procedures. As part of this transformation, the Nigerian Visa Policy 2024 underwent a comprehensive review, resulting in a significant reduction in visa classifications from 79 to 44.
“These categories have been logically grouped to simplify procedures, reduce complexities, and greatly improve the user experience. Importantly, we have maintained the original purpose and intent of each visa class throughout this reform.”
Mr. Takao Shimokawa, director general, Economic Development Department at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has visited the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to discuss the forthcoming launch of the Nigeria-Japan Startup Hub Project.
Mr. Dejo Olawunmi, director of IT Infrastructure Solutions at NITDA and Mr. Takao Shimokawa, director general, Economic Development Department at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
This is in a strategic move to strengthen Nigeria’s startup ecosystem.
During his visit, Mr. Shimokawa was received by Mr. Dejo Olawunmi, director of IT Infrastructure Solutions at NITDA.
Their discussions focused on advancing technological innovation, fostering entrepreneurship, and enhancing venture capital development to support early-stage startups in Nigeria.
The Nigeria-Japan Startup Hub Project is designed to provide Nigerian startups with access to Japanese expertise, mentorship, and investment opportunities.
The initiative aims to create a collaborative environment where local entrepreneurs can scale their businesses by leveraging Japan’s advanced technology and business models.
By bridging Nigerian startups with Japanese investors and industry leaders, the project seeks to drive sustainable growth and innovation in Nigeria’s tech industry.
This partnership underscores the increasing economic and technological cooperation between the two nations, positioning Nigeria as a key player in the global startup landscape.
With the hub set to launch soon, stakeholders anticipate that it will provide critical resources for startups, enabling them to compete in the global market and contribute to Nigeria’s digital economy.
Kaspersky has identified and helped patch a sophisticated zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome (CVE-2025-2783) that allowed attackers to bypass the browser’s sandbox protection system.
The exploit, discovered by Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), required no user interaction beyond clicking a malicious link and demonstrated exceptional technical complexity. Kaspersky researchers have been acknowledged by Google for discovering and reporting this vulnerability.
In mid-March 2025, Kaspersky detected a wave of infections triggered when users clicked personalised phishing links delivered via email. After clicking, no additional action was needed to compromise their systems.
Once Kaspersky’s analysis confirmed that the exploit leveraged a previously unknown vulnerability in the latest version of Google Chrome, Kaspersky swiftly alerted Google’s security team. A security patch for the vulnerability was released on March 25, 2025.
Kaspersky researchers dubbed the campaign “Operation ForumTroll”, as attackers sent personalised phishing emails inviting recipients to the “Primakov Readings” forum. These lures targeted media outlets, educational institutions, and government organisations in Russia.
The malicious links were extremely short-lived to evade detection, and in most cases ultimately redirected to the legitimate website for “Primakov Readings” once the exploit was taken down.
The zero-day vulnerability in Chrome was only part of a chain that included at least two exploits: a still-unobtained remote code execution (RCE) exploit that apparently launched the attack, while the sandbox escape discovered by Kaspersky constituted the second stage. Analysis of the malware’s functionality suggests the operation was designed primarily for espionage. All evidence points to an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group.
“This vulnerability stands out among the dozens of zero-days we’ve discovered over the years,” said Boris Larin, principal security researcher at Kaspersky GReAT. “The exploit bypassed Chrome’s sandbox protection without performing any obviously malicious operations – it’s as if the security boundary simply didn’t exist.
The technical sophistication displayed here indicates development by highly skilled actors with substantial resources. We strongly advise all users to update their Google Chrome and any Chromium-based browser to the latest version to protect against this vulnerability.”
Google has credited Kaspersky for uncovering and reporting the issue, reflecting the company’s ongoing commitment to collaboration with the global cybersecurity community and ensuring user safety.
Kaspersky continues to investigate Operation ForumTroll. Further details, including a technical analysis of the exploits and malicious payload, will be released in a forthcoming report once Google Chrome user security is assured.
Meanwhile, all Kaspersky products detect and protect against this exploit chain and associated malware, ensuring users are shielded from the threat.
This discovery follows Kaspersky GReAT’s previous identification of another Chrome zero-day (CVE-2024-4947), which was exploited last year by the Lazarus APT group in a cryptocurrency theft campaign.
In that case, Kaspersky researchers found a type confusion bug in Google’s V8 JavaScript engine that enabled attackers to bypass security features through a fake cryptogame website.
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