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E-Business

NITDA Boss Woos Venture Garden Group To Join Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria

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Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general, National Information Development Agency (NITDA), has urged a leading provider of innovative, data-driven solutions, Venture Garden Group, to join the Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria.

Abdullahi made this call during a visit to Vibranium Valley, the company’s headquarters in Lagos, on Friday.

He added that “NITDA recently came up with Bridge the MassChallenge Nigeria initiative in order to promote Nigeria as an emerging entrepreneurial hub and leader of innovation in Africa, foster the growth and success of Nigeria’s startup enterprises by connecting its entrepreneurs with markets, networks, and capital in the global innovation ecosystem, and facilitate key strategies to complement growing innovation initiatives within Nigeria.”

Abdullahi further noted that a critical activity of the initiative is the hosting of quarterly technology innovation challenge. While working with Stakeholders, key challenges within the Nigerian economy and challenge the startups to come up with solutions for them. He therefore urged the Venture Garden Group (VGG) to come onboard the Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria initiative.

The Director General (DG) indicated that NITDA is keen on working with the tech community to develop use cases as the technology evolves so that everything can be regulated.

He said the Agency has developed key regulatory instruments in this fashion. The Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), for example, was developed and perfected through close collaboration with stakeholders. This, he said, is the strategy the Agency is adopting for each of the technology innovation use cases.

Citing one of the seven pillars of NITDA’s Strategic Road Map and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021-2024, the DG said: “The general understanding with regulation is that it does not allow or stifles innovation. This is the more reason why we in NITDA came up with Developmental Regulation.” “With this approach,” he said, “we work with stakeholders like you, develop the product, innovate then develop relevant regulatory instrument to regulate it”.

“The regulation is aimed at protecting you and your consumers because technology is about the future and there is no data about the future, the data we have is on the past and present and that is why it is hard to regulate the innovation industry,” he added.

Abdullahi outlined the seven pillars of SRAP as: Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Skills, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity, Emerging Technologies and Promotion of Indigenous Content.

“We have identified six key stakeholders we need to bring onboard to achieve our initiatives; Universities as they produce the human capital, talent is needed to drive the digital economy and we work with universities and corporate organizations that will absorb these talents.

“We also have the entrepreneurs as they need access to the talent and corporate organizations because they are selling the products to them” he said.

The DG further indicated that, “Venture capitals and funding is a challenge, having the idea without the funds and government cannot provide funds for everyone and there are people with money doing nothing, bringing them onboard to invest in these startups will help boost the nation’s economy”.

He averred that Government’s role, as an enabler, is to create the enabling environment and the Agency would want to co-create with stakeholders because NITDA does not operate alone, that is why the ecosystem is engaged.

He added that NITDA also intervenes in the area of infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities.

While responding to the DG’s demand, the Group Head, VGG, Idowu Oladiamonds, said they invest in and develop technology solutions that address inefficiencies in automation, data collection, payment and revenue assurance across multiple sectors.

Oladiamonds stated that VGG has invested in over 30 companies in various sectors including financial sector infrastructure, education, financial technology, SME-focused technology and many other initiatives.

The VGG Group Head added that foreign countries scout talents from Nigeria, offering them residential Visas and higher pay and absorb them into their countries, taking more and more talents away from Nigeria.

He stated that joining the Bridge to MassChallenge initiative would be an opportunity that would benefit the Agency, companies and Nigeria’s digital economy.

“VGG is always on the hunt for talent so we hire corp members who are passionate about technology, give them time within their ability to work on real life projects and understand what it takes to deliver proper robust software solutions within six months. It is interesting that foreign companies like Microsoft do hire some of them.” the Group Head stated.

Oladiamonds said “VGG has a creative space for work and encouraged work from home idea even before the lockdown and have achieved the highest result in the organisation across all our businesses.”

The Group Head further stated that the company is filled with 22–23-year-olds, mostly those that are comfortable with the structure of work which is redefining the everyday idea of work especially in Lagos with the hectic traffic.

“The company’s message behind using containers which would be usually scrapped as office spaces is they can use the ruins of Nigeria to build the beauty of Nigeria,” he concluded.


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

E-Business

Human Hacking: When Cyber Criminals Target You

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By Nancy Werteen

When you get anti-hacking advice, you’ve probably heard “Don’t use a simple password,” or “Don’t plug in that USB you found on the ground.”

Human Hacking: When Cyber Criminals Target You

But there’s one form of hacking that doesn’t always require a computer, and it costs businesses about 4.88 million dollars a year.

Modern hackers aren’t trying to get into your computer; they’re trying to get into you.

“They’ll try to learn about you a little bit, and they’ll try to use that information against you to try to get you to complete some action, maybe to send somebody some money,” said Kevin Moran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Cyber Security and Privacy Cluster, University of Central Florida.

IBM calls this human hacking, because it exploits human error instead of system error.

“With people just being busy and maybe not very carefully checking some of the emails or the phone calls that they get, can be something unfortunately that people can fall victim to,” said Moran.

Also known as social engineering, this often takes the form of phishing, where the hacker tries to “fish” the information out of you by impersonating family, friends, or even your bank.

There’s also baiting, where the hacker baits you with something of value. Remember the Nigerian prince scam?

That’s a famous example of baiting. There’s also pretexting, where the hacker will claim the victim has already been hacked, and that the hacker can fix it if you just send over your passwords. So, what can you do?

“Just as a rule of thumb, instead of clicking on links and emails, just go to the website yourself. And that will prevent, a lot of these types of attacks from happening,” explained Moran.

Phishing can take many forms.

Spear phishing targets people with access to confidential information, often to get access into an entire business, and whale phishing targets CEOs or political figures.

Search engine phishing is when hackers create fake websites promising services or goods you’ll never receive.

Angler phishing is when hackers create fake social media accounts impersonating famous people or companies.

Finally, vishing and smishing is phishing done through phone calls and texts respectively.

 

 

 

 

 


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FG Enrolls 59,786 Inmates on NIN Platform

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Federal government  has said that it has successfully captured 59,786 inmates, representing approximately 74 percent of the total prison population into the National Identity Number (NIN) database.

FG Enrolls 59,786 Inmates on NIN Platform

This figure is based on a total of 80,879 inmates across 256 custodial centres across the country.

Abubakar Umar, spokesman, Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Deputy Controller of Corrections, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, dismissed recent media reports alleging that the NIN registration had yet to begin in custodial centres.

Umar described such report as misleading, inaccurate, and not representative of the current situation.

According to Umar, the NIN registration exercise within the correctional facilities was ongoing and has achieved substantial progress.

He credited the achievement to collaboration between the NCoS and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which has enabled successful enrollment of majority of inmates into the national identity database.

According to him, “As of June 7, 2025, a total of 59,786 inmates, roughly 74 percent cent of the total inmate population have been captured on the NIMC platform,” Umar said.

“Efforts are ongoing to register the remaining inmates, and necessary mechanisms have been established to ensure the seamless completion of the process.”

He emphasised that the assertion that NIN registration has not started in custodial centres was factually incorrect and overlooks the extensive work already carried out.

The Service reaffirmed its commitment to integrating all inmates into national data systems, including NIN registration, as part of broader efforts to support rehabilitation, reintegration, and digital inclusion for individuals in custody.

Umar also urged media outlets to confirm their information with appropriate authorities before publication to prevent the spread of misinformation that could undermine the Service’s progress and public understanding.


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NIMC Denies Blocking Police Commission from Verification Server

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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.

NIMC Denies Blocking Police Commission from Verification Server

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.”


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