E-Business
NOTAP Commits to Strengthen Implementation of NITTF Scheme
The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has commenced a regional stakeholder’s forum to put machineries in place to strengthen the implementation of the NOTAP-Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF) scheme for efficient and speedy technology development of the Country. The process of strengthening includes review of Bond (agreement) with the stakeholders and implementation guidelines.
Speaking at a one day interactive meeting with key stakeholders of the scheme made up of the beneficiaries, their supervisors as well as the sponsoring companies at Kano for the Northern region, the Director General of NOTAP, Dr DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim said that there was need to look into the existing agreements signed between the Office and beneficiaries of the NITTF program with the view to making some amendments to reflect the experiences gained from the inception of the scheme in 2015.
The DG noted that in carrying out one of its statutory mandates, NOTAP discovered a huge gap between the academia and the industry especially in linking Research and Development (R&D) results to the manufacturing sector of the economy.
He stated that in order to address the weakness and bridge the gap in the process of acquiring and adopting foreign technologies in Nigeria, NOTAP initiated a programme known as NOTAP-Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF).
Dr. Ibrahim stated that based on some noticeable lapses in the agreement as well as the implementation guidelines, there was need to review the documents to address the challenges and reflect current realities, all the stakeholders will adhere strictly.
He added that the beneficiaries of the NITTF scheme under the agreements were to furnish the Office with quarterly reports of their progress and challenges but in most cases, they wait for the Office to demand for that before they send their report.
He also noted that as part of the agreement, the sponsoring companies are supposed to allow the beneficiaries to undertake industrial visit to their facilities for practical experience.
The NOTAP Boss further stated that the scheme was for three to four years sponsorship but according to him, some candidates were able to graduate within the stipulated time while others have spent over seven years, hence the need for the interactive meeting to ascertain what the challenges are and proffer solution where applicable.
Also while declaring open the Southern region NITTF stakeholders forum held in Lagos recently, the Director General who was represented by the Director Consultancy Services of NOTAP, Dr. Adamu Tandama noted that the Office was established to regulate the inflow of foreign technology into the Country through the Registration of Technology Transfer Agreements and at the same time promote the development of indigenous technologies.
He added that the Office carries out the registration of technology transfer agreements after evaluating the agreements under three major perspectives; economic, legal and technical perspectives.
The DG stated that sometimes agreements are drafted abroad by the foreign technical partners without recourse to the laws of our Country and when such infractions are noticed during evaluations, such agreements are usually not registered.
He further noted that some agreements are drafted without taking cognisance of the need for capacity building in the technology transfer components to ensure the development of skilled critical mass for socio-economic development of the Country.
He said that the NITTF scheme was an initiative designed to develop the technical competencies of young and talented Nigerians with master’s degree but have unwavering interest in academia to pursue their doctorate degrees in any field of choice by the sponsoring company.
He added that multinational companies usually embark on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by building schools and digging boreholes for their host Communities which according to him is good but could be better by building capacity of the citizens, hence the introduction of NITTF for manpower development.
The Director General encouraged the beneficiaries and other Nigerian researchers to first file for patenting of their inventions before publishing their R&D results in any international journal as according to him, any research finding that is published before filing for patent is already in the public domain and can be exploited by anybody.
He encouraged more companies to show interest in the scheme so that some of their challenges which hitherto were referred to their mother companies abroad can be solved within the country at quicker and cheaper rates. The NITTF stakeholder’s fora for North and South achieved the set out objectives as areas for improvement have been identified.
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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