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#StartUPNaija: Pantami Says Nigeria Closer to Having Own ‘Zuckerberg’

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(L-r): Dr. Isa Pantami, the director general and chief executive officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), presenting certificate of participation to one of the startups, while Dr. Amina Sambo Magaji, acting national coordinator of OIIE, observes.
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The Nigerian startup ecosystem, with proper regulations and support, has capacity to become the strong catalytic force for sustainable economic growth across nations, even producing the like of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.

Dr. Isa Pantami, the director general and chief executive officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), dropped the comment at the seventh StartUP Nigeria, the brainchild of the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE).

The DG alluded to OIIE’s position that ICT “is not only indispensable for developing new products and services but also for ensuring the survival of any business in the competitive world by providing ample opportunities for growth and profitability”.

He said that NITDA has raved up its processes for proper regulation and development, crucial for supporting the startup and entrepreneurs ecosystem in the Country.

The NITDA’s interwoven roles are relevant for the country to achieve its purpose of “creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into new products, processes, or services meeting market needs, which culminates in successful enterprises”.

He believes that the competitiveness of any economy in the long term depends on innovation potential of the economy gained through entrepreneurship and effective technology transfer, especially now that revenue from the ‘oil and gas’ industry is on downward trend.

Dr. Pantami warned that Nigeria cannot remain an ‘ oil and gas resource’ based economy, as every projections show other countries are making a turn away from oil.

The NITDA DG said, “StartUPNigeria held in Lagos today (Saturday) is a prelude to GITEX 2017, as NITDA tends to select the best startups to represent the country. This is critical in helping even the regulatory aspects of the IT sector. We identify with startups that need our technical, financial supports to push their solutions forward.

“We believe Lagos is home to innovative startups; thus, we intend to assist them improve on their works. The truth is this: our country relies solely on oil and gas sector; in UK for instance by 2040 they intend to ban diesel or petrol cars, so our reliance on oil is disturbing.

“We have to move from oil resource to knowledge-based economy. ICT has the answer to this. The contribution of 12.6% of ICT to GDP is second to oil at the moment, but will soon takeover. India depends on ICT as $143billion annual comes from ICT; Nigeria accounts for 180million with 60% young people who are addicted to ICT.

“Today, you can’t do without smart devices or not connected; it’s not worth trying. We as ICT natives are addicted to it. The best way is not importation, but using our intellects to develop. No country will survive depending on ICT importation. We have met with OEMs to see how to reduce the level of importation. We want to have a ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ in Nigeria. Nigeria is closer to having own Zuckerberg and we shall surely support the process that will produce that platform”.

Earlier, Dr. Amina Sambo Magaji, acting national coordinator of OIIE, thanked the exemplary leadership of the NITDA DG and the management for giving OIIE platform to meet with startups and solve needs in the ecosystem.

She said that OIIE’s vision to drive ICT innovation and entrepreneurship through policies, initiatives, partnership and programs implementation by focusing on socio- economic impact, competitiveness, and sustainable & inclusive growth, was carefully crafted to ensure the startups are impacted positively.

She said the Office is not relenting on its focus, amongst others, on innovation and entrepreneurship by fostering a more innovative digital economy through turning new ideas and inventions into products and technologies that spur job growth and competitiveness while promoting economic development.

She announced that over 60 pitches were received online for StartUP Nigeria held, while 11 startups made pitched at the event held at the Admiralty Conference Centre, Naval Dockyard Complex, Wilmot Point, Ahmad Bello Way, Victoria Island.

Startups that Pitched:
Accounteer- a smart cloud based platform meant to create professional invoices with ease and get paid faster; accept instant payment from your customers using their favourite means of payment.

TheFarmyard, a mobile platform for farm monitoring and assists in making informed decisions.

BeatDrone- a multi-sector drone service project that uses drones-As-A-Service for Agric

“Six”- IOT solution to road safety concerns in Nigeria

Nicademia- an online distributions platform for African inspired cartoons.

Livekampus, an online platform to book accommodation for students

Comestibles Nigeria- a mobile platform targeted at farmers, consumers and grocery stores

Novael- a mobile platform aimed at using using technology to drive the creative (art) industry in Nigeria, to empower youths (Writers)

TapPay- online voucher platform that enables bank customers to deposit at the comfort of their homes, anytime

SwiftCheckup- a secured online platform to book medical tests easily.

Middleman.com.ng- an ecommerce platform connecting buyers and sellers while providing other auxiliary services.

The Selection Process
To get to the point of pitching, the Ag., National Coordinator of OIIE said, “NITDA is trying to create jobs in Nigeria; it is huge task. Basically, we seek approval from the management of NITDA to start notifying the public; the startup community in particular, through the social media, traditional media and radio jingles. The essence is to have a wide range reach where every Nigerian is given opportunity to send their pitches to the opened portal.

“Once we get the pitches we create a panel of judges drawn from the academia, business, legal and other areas we believe the startups would be needing mentorship too. The judges spend time collating the pitches. So, it is done in stages. For the StartUP Nigeria the pitches were reduced to 70 using different criteria; then we looked at the innovation of the technical presentation. From there, the figure came down to 30. At each level, we have different set of judges.

“The final set of judges comes from the business community. That was how we narrowed the pitches to 12, spending time with them at a bootcamp, teaching them (startups) how to pitch. So, it is a generally rigorous and transparent process”. 

 


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E-Business

Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

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Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.

The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.

In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.

Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.


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Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.

The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.

“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.

It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.

Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.

Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.

Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.

A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.

“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.

Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.

Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.

It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.

NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”

The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.


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