E-Business
Microsoft & Journey to Nigeria’s Education Transformation Via LP+365 Solution
Learning is not a destination nor can it be solved by just the introduction of technology, but it is indeed a journey, as emphasized by Jordan Belmonte, education programs manager, Microsoft Nigeria at the recent launch of the anticipated LP+365 learning solution by Microsoft in partnership with Dynamiss Digital Learning Solutions Limited, a teaching and learning digital solutions company and Learning Possibilities, the largest learning solutions provider in United Kingdom.
Belmonte went ahead to remind the pious gathering comprising of education scholars, teachers, technology developers, government functionaries, among others: “A human behavior that involves constant transformation and evolution in which multiple stakeholders need to come together, obviously the student themselves, the parents also have a role to play, teachers, educational institutions, and the local community – it’s a very important journey in which we all embark upon together – And Microsoft sees it’s self as one of the partners/players in furthering this journey”.
Here, learning prettily focused on the learning outcome is surly inevitable, because such outcome has a lot to do with helping individuals, students to realize their true potential.
Obviously and as she would put it, “to make sure that they find a job, employment and opportunity in life that accomplishes their passion and at the same time ensures their communities and economy as a whole works”.
As a country, we are in a crossroad, a zigzag occasioned by soaring rate of Unemployment.
With unemployment up to 8.2% of the population. A disproportionate number of those unemployed are youth as it was reported recently that almost 18% of youths between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed. Yet at the same time employers and companies tell us that there is a short supply of skilled and talented people!
Yet, about 33.7 million out of 173.6 million people in Nigeria aged 15-35 are youths.
Of the about 57 million out of school children globally, 10.5 million of them are Nigerian children, making Nigeria the country with the second highest concentration of out of school children globally.
There is no need flogging ourselves for missing the industrial revolution, however, posterity will judge us should we remain ‘idle’ in the face of, “Globally, job opportunities are shifting away from manufacturing economies to information economies that services largest sector of the 25 largest economies”.
Microsoft aptly captures the trend thus, “We have shifted to an information society that is based on Information economies… It used to be important for people to be able to calculate complex math in their head or to know how to memorize and repeat an action. But most of those things can now be completed through technological compensation. This means our global job market has changed. Services, Information Technology and E-Commerce are some of the fastest growing economies”.
And the biggest impact of this shift is what has happens to the occupations available. Most jobs today are unrecognizable to what they were 15, 10 or even 5 years ago. So true!
The International Data Corporation reported in 2014 that “More than 50% of today’s jobs require some technology skills, which percentage will increase to 77% in the next decade. And within ten years, 60% of the jobs that will be available are ones that don’t even exist today”.
Aside computer jobs or ICT jobs at tech companies like Microsoft, the fact is that majority of the jobs already require some degree of understanding of technology, everyday jobs in the community, bankers, store clerks, doctors, civil servants, name it!
Unfortunately, the gap is just too big without the majority of classrooms in Nigeria not inspiring and becoming more and more obsolete; complete opposite of today’s working style.
Technology induced system is the only way out of an education system that still relies on the old formula of memorize, regurgitate and flush and caters to a learning environment that more closely mirrors the modern workplace and sets student up for professional success.
That is why we at Nigeria CommunicationsWeek believe that LP+365 learning solution by Microsoft is timely and should be embraced by the Government, and other education stakeholders to move the sector to a better status.
We are reliably informed that LP+365 digital learning classroom solution is a cloud-based learning platform which transforms the Microsoft Office365 into a school’s virtual learning environment, enabling teachers to design and plan the curriculum, deliver subject material, manage coursework and communicate with learners using simple drag and drop technology.
Thus, LP+365 solution provides 24 hours access to learning for both teachers and students, virtually everything you are learning in the classroom is on line and it can be accessed anywhere you are.
The Dynamiss LP+365 offers educators and students the opportunity to access Always-On access to knowledge, Personalized learning, Better engagement, Improved communication and collaboration.
The apparatus is such an expedient measure on rethinking how to develop technology competency skills in Nigerian youths and equip them to solve real world problems. To remain relevant in today’s world demands our problem solving capabilities.
To this end, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, public sector director, Microsoft Nigeria, enlightened attendees on the evolution in education.
According to him, “Youth Empowerment and life-long learning is core to Microsoft’s identity and we have made a huge investment in Nigeria in this area. 1.66 Million Nigerians have gone through Employability and Entrepreneurships programs in the past 1 year and 6 months; 60,000 + Youth Trained on ICT skills; 10,000 + youth Trained with Build youth Business Curriculum and 5,000 + Teachers complete train their trainer ICT training”.
These are commendable owing to the fact the “future of learning and innovation is in this room! Somewhere outside this room- or possibility, if any of you are sneakily working on your phone or tablets, somewhere inside this room- the next unimaginable, unpredictable innovation is about to arrive and transform education all over again. What we are doing here is democratizing education for the 21st century”, Adeniji-Adele said.
We count it as Microsoft is on “mission critical”: to help every person and every organization in Nigeria to achieve more.
A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring.
The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs.
It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD.
Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .charity, .menu, .paris and .ceo). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand.
The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online.
However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking.
Key findings from the research include:
- After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list.
- 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD.
- Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application.
- The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs’ potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment.
The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%).
A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet.
An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today’s environment, where users often don’t know whether they can trust the source on the Internet.
Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: “The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests.
Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands.”
To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants.
Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) experts at the 10th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2025 held recently, talked about supply chain attacks and reported that by the end of 2024 a total of 14,000 malicious packages were found in open-source projects, a 48% increase compared to the end of 2023. 42 million versions of open-source packages have been examined by Kaspersky throughout 2024 in search for vulnerabilities.
Open-source is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. Popular open-source packages include GoMod, Maven, NuGet, npm, PyPI, and others.
These are tools that power countless applications and help developers easily find, install, and manage pre-built code libraries, making it simpler to build software by reusing code others have written. Attackers take advantage of the popularity of these and other packages.
In March 2025, the Lazarus Group was reported to have deployed several malicious npm packages, which were downloaded multiple times before removal. These packages contained malware to steal credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data, and deploy backdoors, targeting developers’ systems across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The attack leveraged GitHub repositories for added legitimacy, highlighting the group’s sophisticated supply chain tactics. Kaspersky’s GReAT also found other npm packages related to this attack. Malicious npm packages could have been integrated into web development, cryptocurrency platforms, and enterprise software, risking widespread data theft and financial losses.
In 2024, a sophisticated backdoor was discovered in XZ Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1, a widely used compression library in Linux distributions. Inserted by a trusted contributor, the malicious code targeted SSH servers, enabling remote command execution and threatening countless systems globally.
Detected before widespread exploitation due to performance anomalies, the incident highlighted the dangers of supply chain attacks. XZ Utils is integral to operating systems, cloud servers, and IoT devices, making its compromise a threat to critical infrastructure and enterprise networks.
In 2024, Kaspersky’s GReAT discovered that attackers uploaded malicious Python packages like chatgpt-python and chatgpt-wrapper to PyPI, mimicking legitimate tools for interacting with ChatGPT APIs.
These packages, designed to steal credentials and deploy backdoors, capitalised on the popularity of AI development to trick developers into downloading them. These packages could have been used in AI development, chatbot integrations, and data analytics platforms, endangering sensitive AI workflows and user data.
“Open-source software is the backbone of many modern solutions, but its openness is being weaponised. The 50% rise in malicious packages by the end of 2024 shows attackers are actively embedding sophisticated backdoors and data stealers in popular packages, which millions rely on.
“Without rigorous vetting and real-time monitoring, a single compromised package can trigger a global breach. Organisations need to secure the supply chain before the next XZ Utils-level attack succeeds,” comments Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center for Russia and CIS at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.
The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.
Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.
Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.
It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.
Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.
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