E-Business
COVID-19: Building Skilled Digital Capacities as Recovery Strategy

By: Engr. Prof. Mohammed Ajiya
The entire world is currently in the throes of a deadly pandemic. So far, there have been over 2.5 millionconfirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, resulting in more than 170,000 deaths, many of whom, incidentally, were critical human resources whose knowledge and expertise the world may initially struggle to replace.

Prof. Mohammed Ajiya
As a result, an unprecedented global lockdown is in place, with restrictions imposed by majority of governments on both international and local travel as well as on intra-city movement by their citizens.
This has led to the temporary closure of all but essential businesses and services, forcing many of those businesses, as well as the governments that imposed the lockdowns, to embrace the new reality of having their staff work from home for an extended and indeterminable period of time.
The COVID-19 pandemic will have lasting economic repercussions long after it has been vanquished, with a global recession certain to follow. According to the Asian Development Bank, the pandemic is projected to cause a global loss in GDP of up to $4.1 Trillion before it is over.
One critical factor in this is the fact that the pandemic descended upon a world that was essentially unprepared for it.
Whether or not there was adequate medical planning globally for a pandemic of this scale is up for debate, and many points can be made both for and against.
What is indisputable, however, is that most businesses, governments and other organisations were largely unprepared for the prospect of their entire workforce suddenly unable to show up for work, and their customers no longer able to come physically to them – for the foreseeable future.
One of the legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore, should be that we are never caught unawares again, at least in terms of preparedness for necessary social distancing. ICT planning is the optimal way to ensure this, with special focus on the concepts of e-commerce, e-government, remote work, and e-Learning.
E-commerce: E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of goods and services electronically (over the Internet). E-commerce is thriving under the conditions of the current pandemic as consumers are forced to shop mainly from home.
According to Forbes, the wealthiest person in the world is currently Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of e-commerce behemoth Amazon.
While the pandemic has resulted in several of his fellow billionaires losing large chunks of their net worth, Bezos’ net worth is actually increasing due to the pandemic. His company Amazon is currently hiring 100,000 new full and part-time workers to help meet increased demand from consumers staying home and shopping online.
Locally, e-commerce giants Konga and Jumia are also poised to benefit from the lockdown imposed by the Federal Government, as traditional shopping outlets are largely unavailable to consumers or, when available, may be counterproductive to the objective of social distancing.
Konga has already confirmed “a significant increase in shopping activity, especially for groceries and other essentials” during the ongoing pandemic.
Both Konga and Jumia carry their own products in addition to providing a platform for business owners to sell their goods online without having to set up their own e-commerce sites.
So, what has the COVID-19 pandemic taught us about commerce? Traditional retailers without the option of conducting their commercial activities online will lose business at times like this, while businesses that engage in both traditional and e-commerce will continue to thrive.
Post COVID-19, businesses not wanting to be caught out again in similar situations will need to plan for including e-commerce capabilities in their business model as a matter of urgency.
E-government: E-government is defined as government’s use of technology, particularly web-based Internet applications to enhance the access to and delivery of government information and services to citizens, business partners, employees, other agencies, and government entities.
The deployment of e-Government solutions has been known to accelerate government decision-making processes, provide additional employment, aid youth empowerment, and even spur gender inclusiveness. E-Government is also a key factor for sustainable development and wealth creation.
With the current lockdown, all but essential government offices in Nigeria are shut down, meaning that many government services are currently unavailable to citizens and other stakeholders. While this is unavoidable due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity for social distancing, it highlights the urgent need for alternate means of work and productivity in our government.
For example, Estonia, a small country in Northern Europe, possesses by far the most digitally advanced government in the world. In addition to the fact that all government activity is entirely paperless, 99% of government public services are also available online 24/7. This includes voting, ID issuance, e-signature (all documents can be signed electronically), taxes, police services, healthcare, notary services, census, education, company registration, the justice system, immigration, public transport ticketing, and much more. The only government services not currently available online are marriage, divorce, and real estate transactions.
Even with a lockdown in place, Estonia’s citizens and residents will clearly still be able to access public services seamlessly from their government.
Estonia, by the way, is not a particularly wealthy country. Its estimated GDP for 2020 is $32.742 Billion; for comparison, Nigeria’s is $504.57Billion. Estonia shows what is achievable with proper digital capacity building, planning and execution. Public services do not have to become unavailable to Nigerians in the event of a similar situation reoccurring. Citizens should not have to wait for a lockdown to be over if they have urgent government transactions to conclude. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, Nigeria needs to urgently re-examine its strategies for work and productivity, and its attitude to e-government.
Remote Work: On 23rd March 2020, one week before the Federal Government declared a full lockdown in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun State in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19, a circular was passed ordering all non-essential public servants on grade level 12 and below to work from home until further notice. While a small percentage of workers have managed to discharge some of their duties from home starting from then and during the subsequent lockdown, the unfortunate reality is that majority of staff supposedly “working from home” have not been properly equipped with the required digital skills and tools, and are therefore, unable to accomplish any meaningful work during this time.
This loss in productivity has affected both the public and private sectors and looks set to continue for as long as lockdown measures remain in place. The economic consequences of this are yet to be quantified but will continue to be felt nationwide long after things return to a semblance of normality. Could it have been different if the tools, capacity, and infrastructure for effective remote working were in place and pervasive? The answer is a definite yes.
Majority of today’s work tasks can be performed using information and communications technology in addition to the more traditional methods. There are technology solutions for tasks ranging from meetings and collaborative work to data analysis, marketing, and customer relationship management. Remote working software solutions can be deployed by employer organisations to enable their employees remotely and securely connect to the organisations’ servers, edge-computing or cloud via Virtual Private Networks, and access documents, files, services and tools pertaining to their job roles just as if they were sitting in their offices within the organisations’ premises. These are the tools required for modern work tasks, both on-site and remotely.
However, for a workforce to be effective at using these tools, they need to possess a certain level of digital literacy as well as proficiencies specific to their job roles and tools required for those roles. This is where capacity comes in. The final piece of the puzzle is infrastructure. This encompasses widespread availability, reliability, and affordability of broadband Internet resources across the country, reliable voice communications networks, and reliable power supply. With these three factors securely in place, any organisation can theoretically continue to function at close to full productivity regardless of any lockdowns or similar situations. Any required meetings would be conducted using video and web conferencing solutions, staff would continue to deliver on their assigned tasks, and collaboration among teams would be seamless regardless of the geographical locations of team members.
Capacity building in post-pandemic Nigeria: In recognition of the fact that majority of organisations (both public and private) were largely unprepared for the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have explored avenues for better preparedness going forward, via e-commerce, e-government, and remote work.There is, however, an underlying capacity building requirement to all three concepts, the absence of which would make it impossible to attain the level of future preparedness sought.
SMEs engaged in commercial activities (buying and selling) who do not currently have digital skills and e-commerce capabilities may simply have no idea where to begin.
Coordinated and comprehensive capacity building on e-commerce should be made available to SMEs post-COVID-19 to provide them with the required knowledge and available options for adding e-commerce to their current business model.
E-government is another core area where massive capacity building is required, in the light of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Decision makers in MDAs need to understand how e-government solutions can be applied to the delivery of their organisations’ mandates; their IT departments need to learn how to implement, deploy and maintain those solutions; while their key staff need capacity building on the operation and administration of the platforms.
Finally, for remote work to be viable and sustainable, a certain level of digital literacy is required in staff of both public and private organisations, with additional digital proficiencies required according to their specific job functions. This is essential if the staff are to effectively complete their job functions mainly using digital tools from remote locations. Also, due to the highly dynamic nature of information and communications technology, regular retraining and upskilling is necessary even for directors, management and staff that are already digitally literate. In addition, digital security matters. It has now become mandatory for organisations to design and deploy their own ICT Security Policy. IT departments in these organisations must learn how to select, deploy, integrate and maintain secure remote working platforms that are suitable for their organisations’ specific needs. These organisations must seek the capacity building that is required for their staff, if they are to be immunised from loss of productivity during any subsequent lockdowns or similar situations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that nothing is beyond the realms of possibility. Scientists, as well as various works of fiction, have long predicted a scenario like the one we currently face, but the truth is that most of us never thought it would actually happen.
Now that we know otherwise, it is imperative that we ensure that the loss in productivity and economic effect of this pandemic is mitigated for any similar future events. The current pandemic has shone a spotlight on the ways in which we were unprepared for the situation and provides us with the opportunity to plug those gaps in case of any future reoccurrences. We must seize that opportunity with both hands and run with it.
Digitally retooling the workforce and enthroning the mastery of digital knowledge and capability is the ultimate roadmap and gateway to national development and survivability for Nigeria and Africa.
Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), established by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is Nigeria’s foremost Centre of Excellence in Information & Communications Technology training and education with campuses in Abuja, Lagos and Kano, and three further campuses upcoming in Yola, Enugu, and Asaba.
DBI’s mandate is to build skilled digital capacities for Nigeria at all levels, making it uniquely placed to help the nation tackle the issues discussed above. DBI offers digital capacity building in areas ranging from Digital Literacy to Cybersecurity, Networking, Network Security, Office and Productivity Tools, Software Development, AI, IoT, Robotics, 3D, VR, Blockchain, etc. In addition to traditional learning methods, DBI offers comprehensive e-learning capabilities, enabling the Institute to deliver world-class capacity building programmes both on-site and remotely.
Engr. Prof. Mohammed Ajiya is President/CEO Digital Bridge Institute – DBI
E-Business
NIMC Denies Blocking Police Commission from Verification Server

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has clarified that all its verification service platforms remain fully functional and accessible to all authorized partners, including security agencies.

Abisoye Coker-Odusote, DG, NIMC
In a statement on Thursday, the Commission firmly denied claims that it had denied the Police Service Commission (PSC) access to its verification server.
Dr. Kayode Adegoke, head of Corporate Communications, NIMC, described the reported “inability of the Police Service Commission to access the NIMC verification server” as misleading and inaccurate.
He suggested that any challenges faced by the PSC may be due to internal issues within the commission itself, not from NIMC’s end.
The statement reads: “To set the record straight, the NIMC granted verification access to all Nigerian Police formations for the verification of the National Identification Number (NIN). The NPF, PSC and other security agencies have been enjoying uninterrupted verification services for over five years.
“NIMC has provided top-notch verification services for recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force, as conducted by the PSC and at no time have there been any complaints or issues regarding NIN Verification by the NPF or PSC.
“The Commission has a robust and harmonious working relationship with the Nigerian Police Force and the Police Service Commission. The Information Communications and Technology (ICT) department of the Nigeria Police Force is actively managing the long-standing verification and integration service between the NIMC and all Nigeria Police formations.Entertainment tourism packages
“NIMC will continue to provide flawless verification services for the purpose of recruitment, security mapping, cybercrime control, and any other security matters.
“The framework by which NIMC provides services to the security agencies was recently restructured for standardization and effective implementation, following consultation with the Office of the National Security Adviser, and NPF has confirmed the verification services have continued to be available. We therefore believe that any service interruption experienced by PSC may be due to internal matters.
“NIMC is committed to providing excellent verification services to the PSC, NPF and all its partners but the terms and conditions inherent must be adhered to for uninterrupted flow of service.”
E-Business
Nigeria Strengthens Cybersecurity, Launches National Cleanup Plan

Nigerian government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has announced a strategic collaboration to strengthen cybersecurity and clean up the nation’s cyberspace.
Recognizing that cybercrime knows no borders, Nigeria also reaffirmed its commitment to fostering stronger global partnerships within the cybersecurity ecosystem.
This announcement was made during a press conference before the inaugural National Cybersecurity Conference, which is scheduled to take place in Abuja from July 9th to 11th, 2025.
Sa’ad Abubakar, national cybersecurity coordinator from the Office of National Security Advisor, said fighting cybercrime must take the whole of society and the whole of the government approach.
According to him, “Apart from the deterrent approach whereby government agencies such as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrest individuals, take them to court and prosecute them, the youth can be nurtured into better citizens who can showcase their capacity in better ways and be useful to the country.”
Similarly, Kashifu Abdullahi, director-general, NITDA, also stressed the need for collaborative efforts in fighting cybercrimes.
According to him “Then, in addition to that, we also want to build a stronger global collaboration with the global cyber security ecosystem, because when you look at cybercrime in general, it doesn’t respect the borders.
“Someone can commit a crime from Ghana using a Nigerian ID in the US. So you can look at him physically in a different jurisdiction, pretending to be in another jurisdiction, committing the crime in another jurisdiction.
“So without that kind of synergy and working together, it will be difficult to address these challenges. The third one is challenge. The third one is getting an alternative to cybercrime for our kids in Nigeria. We have this as a major challenge.”
Inuwa further highlighted the upcoming conference’s importance, noting that it would tackle key issues through workshops, discussions on emerging threats, cross-border cybersecurity collaboration strategies, and training programmes.
He also announced that the National Cybersecurity Conference 2025 would feature the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, recognising top contributions in the field.
The DG extended an invitation to global partners to collaborate with Nigeria in building a safer digital future.
The press conference was attended by notable figures, including Ahmad Sa’ad Abubakar, National Coordinator of, the National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCCC); Hanniel Jafar, Representative of the President, of Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN); Ankit Shukla, Managing Director, QNA Marketing Management LLC and members of the press and other stakeholders.
E-Business
AXIAN Telecom Invests in Jumia Post-MTN Era

XIAN Telecom has acquired an 8% stake in pan-African e-commerce company Jumia Technologies, citing the platform’s fintech and logistics strengths as key drivers of its backing.
This marks the first major telecom investment in Jumia since MTN Group’s exit in 2020.
AXIAN, a fast-growing telecom and digital services provider with operations across Africa, disclosed the purchase in a Schedule 13D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
While the financial terms were not disclosed, AXIAN Telecom CEO, Hassan Jaber, described the move as a strategic alignment with Jumia’s growth trajectory and digital ecosystem.
“Jumia’s achievements in digital retail and fintech, particularly through JumiaPay and its logistics network, make it a very attractive investment for us. We believe in Jumia’s potential to promote financial and economic inclusion, which aligns with our core values,” said Jaber.
Once dubbed the “Amazon of Africa,” Jumia became the first African-founded tech company to list on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019.
But years of underperformance, leadership changes, and competitive pressures dented investor confidence.
In October 2020, South Africa’s MTN Group offloaded its 18.9% stake for $138 million, well below the $698 million value it once held post-IPO.
Since then, Jumia has undergone a significant transformation. Under CEO Francis Dufay, appointed in 2022, the company exited low-performing markets like South Africa and Tunisia, cut costs, and doubled down on core markets – Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco.
The firm is now focused on high-growth verticals, including everyday essentials and digital financial services.
Jumia’s regional CEO for East Africa, Vinod Goel, recently revealed plans to scale up international brand offerings and open its logistics network to third-party businesses.
Jaber underscored that AXIAN Telecom’s investment signals renewed confidence in Jumia’s long-term potential.
The telecom firm’s CEO said the company views Jumia as a key player in advancing Africa’s digital economy, aligning with AXIAN’s mission through its fintech and digital infrastructure brands such as Yas and Mixx by Yas.
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