E-Business
Nova Merchant Bank Reaffirms Commitment to Bridging Infrastructure Gaps

NOVA Merchant Bank, one of Nigeria’s premier Merchant Banks has reaffirmed its commitment in bridging Nigeria’s infrastructural gaps.

Nath Ude, chief executive officer and managing director of NOVA Merchant Bank
Nath Ude, chief executive officer and managing director of NOVA Merchant Bank, disclosed this during an interview with CNBC Africa monitored by our reporter recently.
Ude noted that their strategy is to bridge the huge infrastructural gap that currently exists in the country.
According to him, “As Merchant banks, we are supposed to bridge a huge gap, especially on the infrastructural side… there is a huge gap.
“Merchant banking is not sprint, it’s a marathon, so what we do is to actually identify infrastructural gap existing in the economy and see how we can help.
“For instance, if you know the size of the imports that happen in Nigeria, you would understand clearly that we literally import virtually everything, but we have capacity and what it takes to be able to start manufacturing these things ourselves.
“So what do we do? We identify infrastructural gaps – which we need to fund. These are areas that are long term in nature.
“We look at the manufacturing side – what are the things we need to manufacture, what are the things people need to do.
“I usually look at this to say, this is a huge opportunity for us as a nation and Merchant bank to step into our real core areas, which is to say, how do we become a huge partner in terms of bridging infrastructural gaps and i think this Covid-19 has created a huge opportunity for us to see the things we should be doing ourselves and that’s actually what we are doing.”
Speaking on the bank’s plans for the second half of the year, Ude said that the bank is focusing on the impact it’s bringing to the table rather than profitability.
He said, “For the second part of the year, I want to talkless about profitability… I really want to focus on the impact we should be bringing to the table as opposed to measuring our growth by PBT,” he said.
“Profit before tax (PBT) is very good, we have done good work, but honestly, we want to measure ourselves with impacts we are bringing to the table.
The CEO while providing insight on its financing plan, revealed that the company strategically took advantage of a bond to match funds with long term investment.
“We took huge advantage, a bond. We will use it to go into core long term infrastructural areas.
“It has helped us in terms of planning, in terms of matching of funds, matching long term funds we are receiving with long term investment.
“This was a strategy from NOVA Merchant bank and it’s the style we want to adopt for the rest of the year”, he concluded.
“It was actually N50 billion bond. We have done the first 10 billion.
“In the coming months, we are going to taking up second and third. It has helped us with planning and matching long term funds – with long term investment.
“It was a strategy for NOVA, and it is a style we want to adopt for the rest of the year. We will be doing a lot of fund matching .”
E-Business
NDPC Probes Suspected Data Breach in Examination Centres

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.
E-Business
Nigeria Among Hotspots as Kaspersky Warns of Rising Ransomware Threat in Africa

Cyber security firm, Kaspersky, has once again warned that sophisticated cybercriminals increasingly target Africa as ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) escalate across the region.
Speaking at the company’s annual Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region, the cybersecurity firm’s Global Research and Analysis Team highlighted growing digital threats affecting African nations.
Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa emerged as hotspots, with Kenya recording one of the highest web threat incident rates at 20.1% in first quarter 2025.
“While ransomware is less prevalent in Africa due to lower levels of digitisation and economic constraints, countries like South Africa and Nigeria are seeing a sharp rise in attacks,” said Sergey Lozhkin, head of META and APAC regions at Kaspersky.
Kaspersky noted a 0.01 percentage point increase in African ransomware cases year-on-year, reaching 0.41%, still below global and Middle Eastern averages, but a troubling sign for the continent’s emerging digital infrastructure.
Experts warned that attackers are refining their tactics, shifting focus to unconventional entry points like IoT devices, smart appliances, and misconfigured hardware.
“As these economies expand digitally, sectors such as manufacturing, finance and government are becoming key targets,” said Lozhkin
The cyber-crime landscape is evolving quickly, fuelled by AI tools and dark web access to large language models, which enable less skilled actors to launch convincing phishing and malware campaigns.
Groups like FunkSec, which uses AI-generated code and a low-cost ransom model, are redefining ransomware operations.
“African organisations face the dual challenge of expanding digital footprints and limited cybersecurity awareness. This makes layered defense strategies, including network segmentation, real-time monitoring and regular staff training, essential,” stated Lozhkin
Kaspersky continues to monitor 25 active APT groups in the META region, including SideWinder and MuddyWater, some of which are known to target African institutions.
To bolster defenses, the firm recommends using tools such as its free Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business and the Kaspersky Next suite for threat visibility and response.
E-Business
Nigeria Launches Cybercrime Team with Commonwealth, UK Support

Nigeria recently launched a new joint case team to step up its response to cybercrimes that affect people and businesses at home and abroad.
The ‘Joint Case Team on Cybercrime’ brings together Nigeria’s key justice and security agencies to work as one, making it easier to detect, investigate, and prosecute digital offences.
It is supported by the UK National Crime Agency, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, as part of a wider effort to promote international cooperation on cybercrime.
Speaking at the launch in Abuja, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, minister of justice and attorney general of the federation described the initiative as “a bold and transformative stride in Nigeria’s justice system.”
He said that although Nigeria has a national legal framework to address cyber offences, laws alone are not enough.
Nigeria is among the countries most affected by cybercrime around the world, with increasing financial losses.
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