News
Spotlighting the Diverse Opportunities in the Nigerian Hospitality Industry

By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke
The global hospitality industry is a trillion dollar industry. This is because everyone at some point in their lives has been part of contributing to the fastest growing industry in the world – tourism. Whether you’ve stayed in a hotel, hopped on a plane or paid to go on a tourism tour, you have made a contribution to the global hospitality industry.
Understandably, a large chunk of the contributions is being scooped by the so developed nations. The 2018 edition of the UNWTO report reveals the top 10 countries that make the most from tourism. The countries: USA, $299 billion, Spain: $96 billion, France: $86 billion, Thailand: $81 billion, United Kingdom: $72 billion, Italy: $62 billion, Australia: $59 billion, Germany: $57 billion, Macao (China): $51 billion and Japan: $48 billion.
Where is Nigeria?
In monetary terms, the sector contributed approximately N2.3 billion to the GDP as a direct contribution and N6.2 billion as a total contribution to the GDP. This is according to the Nigeria Hospitality Report published by Jumia’s Hotel and Flight Services.
In Africa, Nigeria is number 4 in terms of earnings from the hospitality according to the UNWTO report. South Africa, Egypt and Morocco hold the first three positions respectively.
This is not surprising as the African Hospitality Report discovered that Africa only received 5% of international arrivals.
Regardless, what is stopping Nigeria from earning the most income from tourism in Africa with all her ‘hospitality goodies’? The answer is because we have not fully explored the diverse and innumerable opportunities in the hospitality industry.
The opportunities in Nigeria’s Hospitality industry
Travel agencies
There is a good number of travel agencies that can serve not only the Nigeria market but also the international market. Indeed, one of the popular travel agencies is Jumia‘s hotel and flight marketplace where you can book hotels, flight and packages at the best available rate.
Tour operators
Nigeria has so many tourism destinations; some are yet to be explored while others are yet to be discovered. In-between, the attractions that have been discovered are barely toured or visited in the past. This is no longer the case. With the emergence of tour businesses like Tour2Nigeria, Irinajo, Social Prefect and TVP adventures, managed by young and vibrant Nigerians, more and more Nigerians are visiting these destinations.
Museums, festivals and other cultural venues
Museums are located in all of Nigeria’s geopolitical zones. Some of them are Badagry Museum (Lagos), Gidan Makama Museum (Kano), National War Museum (Abia) and Slave History Museum (Calabar) among others. These museums have to be repositioned to attract visitors because they can be a source of income for the government. For festivals, the country is blessed with a potpourri of festivals. From the Osun-Osogbo festival in the West to Calabar carnival in the South, Mmanwu & New Yam festival in the East and the Durbar in the North; Nigeria is home to colourful festivals and other cultural valuables.
Concert and theatre venues
The Lagos Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr Steve Ayorinde, revealed that the tourism sector recorded major success in the last quarter of 2018. The state earned an excess of N50bn in cash transactions, especially in weeks preceding and following the Yuletide season. If you were in Lagos, you would be aware that a lot of concerts were held. If other states in Nigeria can earn as much as what Lagos is earning from the hospitality industry, then the contributions of the sector to the GDP will be doubled.
Other opportunities: conferences and conventions centres, spas and wellness centres, cruise companies, event management, food tourism, medical tourism, religious tourism, theme parks, fitness clubs and sports organizations (such as gyms, golf clubs, and tennis facilities), hotel development and construction and manufacturers and suppliers of hospitality equipment.
To ensure that these opportunities are fully explored so that Nigeria’s hospitality industry will attract both local and international visitors, the government have to be committed to boosting tourism infrastructure and supporting businesses in the sector.
News
No More Leaks: FIRS Slaps ₦5m Fine on Info Disclosure

Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) Act has introduced strict penalties for the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information and documents by its staff, with offenders facing fines of up to N5 million, imprisonment for up to three years, or both.
The NRS Act is one of four bills recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, alongside the Nigeria Tax (Fair Taxation) Law, the Nigeria Tax Administration Law, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Law. The regulations will take effect on January 1, 2026.
In Part VI of the NRS Act, covering miscellaneous provisions, the law designates all internal records—including institutional information, memoranda, and communications—as confidential.
“Without prejudice to the provisions of any other Act concerning data privacy or data protection, institutional information or communication, all internal information, communications, documents or memoranda of the Service are confidential,” the law states.
It further warns that, “Except as otherwise provided under this Act, any other law or any enabling agreement or arrangement or as otherwise authorised by the Executive Chairman or management of the Service, any person who discloses or attempts to disclose institutional information, communication, document or memorandum of the Service is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N5,000,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both.”
The provision applies to all officials and individuals involved in the administration of the Act. The NRS also specified that business records, tax returns, notices, assessments, and documents relating to a person’s assets, liabilities, or profits must be “treated as secret.”
Exceptions to the confidentiality rule include disclosures authorised by the service, those mandated by court order, or situations where the information is needed for the enforcement of Nigeria’s tax laws.
The development follows a February 20, 2024, warning from the federal government cautioning civil servants in ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) against leaking sensitive documents to the public.
News
FIRS Rolls out e-invoicing System for Large Corporate Taxpayers

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has launched a national electronic invoicing system, seen as a significant step toward digitising the country’s tax infrastructure and boosting compliance among large corporate taxpayers.
The system, known as the Merchant-Buyer Solution (MBS), officially went live on August 1 after a successful pilot phase that began in November 2024. It is being rolled out in phases, starting with companies that have an annual turnover of at least ₦5 billion. According to FIRS, these large taxpayers represent over 5,000 businesses nationwide.
More than 1,000 companies — roughly 20% of eligible firms — have already integrated with the platform, including telecoms giant MTN Nigeria, which became the first to transmit live electronic invoices to the tax authority. Other major players such as Huawei Nigeria and IHS Towers are completing their onboarding and are expected to go live in the coming days.
“The launch of the e-invoicing regime ushers in a new era of transparency, accuracy, and real-time monitoring of commercial transactions,” Dare Adekanmbi, who is the spokesperson for Zacch Adedeji, FIRS Chairman, said in a statement on Sunday.
The e-invoicing solution forms part of the agency’s broader Electronic Fiscal System (EFS), which is designed to ensure authenticity and completeness of invoice data and limit opportunities for tax evasion. It also aligns with Nigeria’s Revenue Services Reform Act — a legislative framework aimed at harmonising revenue collection and providing a single source of truth for government receipts.
The FIRS said it is working in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to incorporate system integrators and access point providers into the onboarding ecosystem. These providers are tasked with supporting the integration process and helping companies manage their transition onto the e-invoicing platform.
While the original deadline for onboarding was set for August 1, the tax agency has granted a three-month grace period to allow companies facing operational challenges to comply. The new deadline for mandatory integration is November 1, 2025.
“In the spirit of encouraging voluntary compliance, the FIRS management has graciously approved a three-month extension of the deadline,” the agency said. “We also acknowledge the genuine efforts of many taxpayers who strove to meet the 1st of August 2025 deadline but encountered operational constraints.”
The system will eventually be extended to medium and smaller enterprises, but for now, the focus remains on onboarding the largest players, who contribute a significant share of Nigeria’s corporate tax base.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest population, has been ramping up efforts to boost non-oil revenues amid volatile crude prices and growing fiscal pressures. Tax-to-GDP ratio remains among the lowest globally, estimated at just over 10%, according to official figures.
The FIRS has increasingly leaned on technology to expand the tax net and reduce leakages.
“The e-invoicing platform gives us real-time visibility into the business-to-business segment, which has historically been under-reported,” a senior FIRS official familiar with the rollout said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “It significantly enhances our ability to track transactions and enforce compliance.”
To facilitate onboarding, the FIRS e-Invoicing Implementation Team is conducting webinars, workshops, and town hall sessions across the country, targeting tax consultants, financial controllers, and compliance officers within affected firms.
The Federal Government expects the digitisation effort to streamline tax administration, reduce disputes and simplify audit processes for both taxpayers and regulators.
The FIRS has not disclosed projected revenue gains from the e-invoicing rollout, but industry experts believe it could yield significant medium-term improvements in tax efficiency and administration.
News
Google Hit by AI-driven Cyber Attack

Google has become the latest company to fall victim to cyber criminals increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to bypass security measures and trick users with highly-realistic documents that install malware on networks.
This Google attack, following a similar incident targeting Microsoft SharePoint servers globally, was confirmed earlier this week.
Google, one of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” US tech companies, revealed that one of its corporate Salesforce instances was compromised by a financially-motivated threat cluster known as UNC6040.
AI is rapidly becoming hackers’ tool of choice for crafting convincing e-mails and phone calls that mimic familiar voices or sound authentically human. E-mails often include attachments that appear legitimate, prompting recipients to click and unwittingly allow malware to infiltrate networks. Meanwhile, phone calls push targets to click links sent via SMS or WhatsApp.
Richard Cassidy, Europe, Middle East and Africa chief information security officer at Rubrik, says: “We are definitely seeing these incidents become more prevalent. What’s driving this surge is a combination of rapidly-evolving AI-enabled attack tools, and the ever-expanding attack surfaces created by widespread digitalisation, without proportional investment in cyber resilience.”
The UNC6040 group targets Salesforce environments by impersonating IT support to deceive employees into installing malicious connected apps, often disguised as Salesforce’s Data Loader. This enables the attackers to covertly access networks and extract sensitive data.
Quick response
In the most recent attack, Google said it “responded to the activity, performed an impact analysis and began mitigations”. The breach affected systems storing contact information and related notes for small and medium businesses.
“Analysis revealed that data was retrieved by the threat actor during a small window before access was cut off. The data retrieved was confined to basic and largely publicly available business information, such as business names and contact details,” Google said.
Google also reported that the extortion involved calls or e-mails to victim organisation employees demanding Bitcoin payments within 72 hours. During these communications, the threat actors have consistently claimed to be the group known as ShinyHunters.
Large-scale attacks
SentinelLABS and Beazley Security recently uncovered and analysed a rapidly-evolving series of infostealer campaigns delivering the Python-based PXA Stealer. This malware uses Telegram bots to sell stolen data in a manner that is nearly undetectable.
The actors, reportedly Vietnamese hackers, have compromised more than 4 000 unique victim IP addresses across at least 62 countries, including South Korea, the United States, the Netherlands, Hungary and Austria.
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