E-Business
NITDA Can Finance Nigeria’s Annual Budget- Reps
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) can finance the country’s annual budget if given the necessary environment, according to Wole Oke, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts.
Oke who expressed optimism during the investigative hearing into the queries issued by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (oAuGF) against NITDA, frowned at the flagrant abuse of the extant financial regulations.
He requested for a brief on the NITDA mandate and progress made so far with the view to the proposed relevant amendment to the NITDA Establishment Act for the smooth running of the agency.
Oke said “Nigerians want to know what you have done with the tax-payers’ money. Nigerians are watching you free of charge; we are not charging you for that. So it’s good PR for you to also market what NITDA is doing.
“People hear about NITDA, NITDA they don’t even know what you stand for. Not many people are aware until a few days, I saw your DG on Channel, some of us don’t even know your mandate. But this is a window for you to showcase what you also do. For Nigerians to also appreciate what you’re doing. The law setting you up is here. And from the information I gathered is that you can actively finance Nigeria’s budget if you’re given the wherewithal.
“The information I gathered is that NITDA alone can finance Nigeria’s budget if they are given the wherewithal, they are supported, they are given the environment to operate that we don’t even need to go borrowing.
“So these are the gains we are taking away. We did not just bring you here. We are very civil here, you elected us, we don’t harass, we don’t intimidate but we work as citizens of this country, and through the medium, you are able to render an account to Nigerians.
“Where you err, we will show Nigerians. Nigerians will know. If you give a contract to any contractor and he or she fails to perform, we will expose the person, okay, so we are not here to witch-hunt anybody. So please calm down and feel free,” Hon. Oke urged.
While responding, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general, NITDA, explained that before the advent of NITDA, ICT contributed less than 1% of the GDP, but today contributes more than 14% to the GDP, adding that in 2016 NITDA came up with strategic roadmap framework to transform the ICT sector in line with Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
He argued that the Agency has done so much in terms of “what people are doing with IT and making money. Like in NITDA we are not a revenue-generating organization, we just get levy from certain categories of companies so the money we are getting is small.
“What the chairman said if we can get what we need we can fund Nigeria’s budget. Let me give you an example of the Netherlands. Netherland is not as big as Kano and Jigawa States combined together, in terms of landmass and population but Netherland is using information technology for agriculture.
“What Netherland generated from agriculture export in 2019 was $106 billion while Nigeria generated only six-point something billion dollars from oil and gas.
“So what the chairman was saying is that if we can annex the powers of ICT, we don’t need to bother about any other thing because almost everything we do today is powered by ICT. So we can use ICT to boost our agriculture, our commerce and trading, almost everything.”
He noted that while other sectors of the world economy lost so much during the pandemic, those who invested in ICT were insulated, and “making money. One person, the owner of Amazon made almost $36.2 billion between the middle of March and June.”
The NITDA helmsman explained that the agency generated funds from the 1% levy from national information technology development fund (NITDeF) paid by the IT companies operating in the country and collected by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
While responding to question on the alleged exclusion of Sokoto and Zamfara states from the 218 personnel employed in 2018, which the lawmakers argued was in breach of federal character policy, Mr. Inuwa however noted that 3 people were employed from Sokoto State in 2019.
On his part, Hon. Emmanuel Akpan requested for details of how NITDA contributes over 14% to Nigeria’s GDP during the status of an inquiry being initiated by the Committee.
“It will be important for this Committee and for Nigerians to know how much that translate to in naira and kobo that has come into the coffers of the Nigerian government vis-a-vis what you have spent that could have helped in advancing” the funding of the annual budget.
While responding to questions, Mrs. Titilayo Olusanya, NITDA deputy director Finance, explained that both appropriation and IGR for the year 2014 to 2018; audited account and management accounts as well as budget performance for the year under review were submitted for the Committee’s consideration.
She explained that the evidence for the submission of the audited accounts for 2014 to 2018 as well as evidence of remitted of internally generated revenues/operating surplus were part of the documents submitted to the Committee.
While speaking, representatives of office of the Auditor General of the Federation confirmed that the agency had submitted all relevant documents in line with extant financial regulations.
On his part, Hon. Mark Gbillah asked whether there was any value added to the agency sequel to the recruitment of the personnel.
However, while expressing his view, Hon. Oke argued that: “in our national life, sometimes a public organisation we may not relate employment generation to profitability; rather we may relate that to productivity, growth and development. And it was one of the tools that our late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo deployed in South West.”
Meanwhile, at the investigative hearing held on Monday, Hon. Oke directed the Clerk of the Committee to issue a fresh letter to Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to cause appearance over the non-remittance of audit report since 2015 to 2019.
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.
Titan Trust Bank Selects Oracle FSS for Core and Digital Banking Technology
IMF Appoints Elumelu, Nigerian Businessman to Advisory Council
NCS to Launch Electronic System for Cash Declarations at Airports
IHS Nigeria Hosts Telecom Industry Stakeholders to Discuss Protection of Critical National Infrastructure in Lagos State
Aquaterra Energy Secures Multi-million-dollar well Intervention Contract with Intrepid Energy in Nigeria
Telecom3 days agoAgain, Labour Fumes, Threatens Shutdown of Telcos over Non-Implementation of 15 Percent Tariff Reduction
News3 days agoNNPC Ready to Go to Capital Market for IPO- CFIO
E-Business3 days agoFG Launches Online Visa Approval Centre
E-Business3 days agoQNET Disassociates From Fraudulent Academy in Abuja, Supports EFCC Arrest
Telecom2 days agoIHS Nigeria Hosts Telecom Industry Stakeholders to Discuss Protection of Critical National Infrastructure in Lagos State
E-Financial2 days agoTitan Trust Bank Selects Oracle FSS for Core and Digital Banking Technology
General News2 days agoNCS to Launch Electronic System for Cash Declarations at Airports
News2 days agoSanwo-Olu Hails Jumia for Giant Strides in Growing Nigeria’s E-Commerce Sector