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WorldRemit Identifies Top 20 Migrant Moments of 2020 @ International Migrants Day

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WorldRemit, a leading cross-border payments company, celebrated International Migrants Day yesterday by announcing its list of the top 20 Migrant Moments of 2020. This list features developments which have had significant impacts on communities across the world.

From the first COVID-19 vaccine to the US presidential election to SpaceX – each of these milestones have been influenced by migrants from around the world. 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of International Migrants Day and the 30th anniversary since the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families1.

WorldRemit has compiled this list to bring attention to all those who have managed to make a positive difference during this exceptionally challenging year. The company aims to support migrant communities as well as their family and friends every day, whilst celebrating their many successes throughout the year, and for many years to come.

The 2020 list includes: COVID-19 Vaccine: German couple of Turkish descent, husband and wife Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, have been credited with the discovery of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine that is being distributed across the globe.

Senator Kamala Harris: Kamala Harris became vice-president elect following the 2020 US Presidential election. In 2017, she was sworn in as a United States Senator for California, becoming the second African-American woman and first South-Asian American senator in history. Though she was born in Oakland, California, Harris’ parents emigrated to the United States from India and Jamaica.

Future Stars: WorldRemit and Arsenal Football Club welcomed the winners of the Future Stars competition to London in January. Chinasa Mandy Ukandu of Nigeria and Luis Alejandro Castañeda from Colombia, won an all expenses paid trip to London to take part in a personalized training program with Arsenal Football Club’s Development coaches.

Zoom boom: Zoom, the videoconferencing platform which has allowed friends, families and colleagues to stay in touch during Covid-19, was founded by Eric Yuan, a Chinese migrant to the United States. At its peak, the firm counted more than 300 million daily participants in virtual meetings, while paying customers have more than tripled.

Project 8000: WorldRemit was the main sponsor of the Project 8000 programme in Singapore. Project 8000 is a community outreach initiative to give thousands of handwritten ‘thank you’ cards to frontline Covid-19 healthcare workers at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in Singapore, led by student Marion Lee.

Deliveroo and DoorDash: DoorDash, America’s most popular meal delivery app, was started by a Chinese American migrant, Tony Xu. Meanwhile Deliveroo was co-founded by William Shu, a Taiwanese American entrepreneur. DoorDash has launched a number of initiatives during the pandemic. In October, it launched the Reopen for Delivery campaign, with the stated aim of bringing together brick and mortar restaurants that have closed due to the pandemic.

Patoranking: WorldRemit signed Patoranking as the Global Brand Ambassador for its Africa-focused WorldRemit Entrepreneurs Program. The WorldRemit Entrepreneurs Program will run simultaneously in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, from November 2020 through to the end of January 2021. WorldRemit customers from around the world are encouraged to send a minimum of £50 (or its equivalent value in their local currency) to recipients in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, or Zimbabwe to win the opportunity to nominate a lucky entrepreneur.

WorldRemit celebrated Philippine Independence Day by highlighting the many achievements of the Filipino diaspora which included one of the youngest ever recipients of the Royal Bank of Canada’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award.

Transfer Tracker app: WorldRemit launched The WorldRemit Transfer Tracker mobile app for recipients of money transfers, which allows them to track their remittances. The WorldRemit Transfer Tracker App is now available through the Google app store and is also free to download through the app store in 90 countries in iOS and Android.

SpaceX Dragon 2: The spacecraft made its first crewed flight to the International Space Station on May 31, 2020 as part of the Commercial Crew Program, enabling American human orbital spaceflight capability for the first time since the Space Shuttle’s retirement in 2011.

Television Commercial: WorldRemit released global television commercials across key markets to promote its transparent pricing strategy and the opportunities created by connecting people through international money transfers.

NHS workers: Almost 1 in 17 (14%) of the NHS’s 1.28 million staff report a non-British nationality, amounting to approximately 170,000 key workers. India is responsible for the most NHS workers from outside the UK, followed by the Philippines.

Earlier this year, WorldRemit gave away £400,000 worth of vouchers to NHS workers as a token of appreciation for their service and the sacrifices they are making throughout the pandemic.

Edward Enninful and Misan Harriman: Edward Enninful is the Editor-In-Chief of British Vogue and an advocate for better representation in the fashion industry. He is the only black editor in history to lead Vogue magazine. Enninful commissioned black photographer Misan Harriman to shoot Vogue’s UK September issue – traditionally the magazine’s most important edition. As well as being one of the most widely-shared photographers of the Black Lives Matter movement, Harriman is the first black person to shoot a cover of British Vogue in the magazine’s 104-year history.

Netflix launches Selena series: Netflix released its biographical drama that follows Selena Quintanilla Lopez’s rise to fame and the sacrifices she and her family make along the way charting her enduring legacy as a Mexican-American icon.

David Olusoga: David Olusoga is a British-Nigerian historian and writer. In response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Olusoga’s Black and British: A Forgotten History was broadcast on the BBC. The documentary was awarded a BAFTA when originally produced in 2016. Olusoga was also named on the 2021 Powerlist.

Parasite: Parasite, a film written by South Korean native Bong Joon-ho, became the first non-English language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture in the 92-year history of the awards.

Adewale Adeyemo: Among Biden’s team of top cabinet picks and economic advisers is Nigerian-born Adewale Adeyemo, who served as a senior international economic adviser in the Barack Obama administration. Adeyemo will be the first African to occupy the seat of Deputy Treasury Secretary.

As part of efforts to create opportunities for those in developing countries, WorldRemit gave away tablets to students in countries including India and Guatemala following the pandemic-related disruption to schooling.

A 90-year old lady named Margaret Keenan from Coventry, became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer & BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which was administered by Filipina nurse May Parsons.


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No More Leaks: FIRS Slaps ₦5m Fine on Info Disclosure

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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.


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FIRS Rolls out e-invoicing System for Large Corporate Taxpayers

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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.

 


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Google Hit by AI-driven Cyber Attack

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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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