The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), FCIIS, FBCS, FNCS, wishes to bring to the attention of the digital economy stakeholders and the general public the Ministry’s activities before, during, and after the 2023 Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

It may be recalled that on the 14th March, 2023, the Office of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy released a Press Statement regarding the activities of the Ministry and its parastatals before, during and after the Presidential and National Assembly elections. As a follow up to that and in line with the Ministry’s mandate as well as in our efforts aimed at supporting the initiatives of securing the Nigerian cyberspace, the Honourable Minister directed the Ministerial Standing Committee on Advisory Role for the Protection of Nigerian Cyberspace and ICT Infrastructure to further enhance the cyberspace surveillance activities of the three cybersecurity Centres of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB).

It may also be recalled that the Committee, inaugurated by the Honourable Minister on the eve of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, was charged with the following responsibilities, among others:

Monitoring of Telecommunication Infrastructure for the successful conduct of the 2023 General Elections:

1. Developing and implementing plans to enhance the resilience of critical digital infrastructure against cyber threats;

2. Designing procedures and using technologies to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber-attacks, as well as developing the ability to quickly recover from any damage that is done;

3 Developing a comprehensive risk assessment, analysing the nation’s current cybersecurity capabilities, and identifying gaps that need to be addressed; and

4. Providing professional advice to the Government on the effective utilisation of digital technologies in the conduct of the 2023 General Elections.

Based on Honourable Minister’s directives, the Committee provided close oversight on the activities of the cybersecurity Centres, from Friday 17th March, 2023 to Monday 20th March, 2023. During this period and as previously reported, a series of hacking attempts were recorded, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), email and Internet Protocol Spoofing (IPS) attacks, SSH Login Attempts, Brute force Injection attempts, Path Traversal, Detection Evasion, and Forceful Browsing. A total of 3,834,244 attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria. Daily breakdown of these attacks are:

1. Friday 17th March, 2023: 1,046,896

2. Saturday 18th March, 2023: 1,481,847

3. Sunday 19th March, 2023: 327,718

4. Monday 20th March, 2023: 977,783

It is interesting to note that the activities of cyberthreat actors on the Nigerian cyberspace during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections are much lower than those during the Presidential and National Assembly elections. This is neither surprising nor unexpected as, Nigeria being Africa’s largest democracy, the Presidential and National Assembly elections are bound to attract much attention of everyone, including cyberthreat actors, than during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

Furthermore, the Honourable Minister is confident that the implementation of some recommendations as well as measures taken to fortify our cyber defence mechanisms might have helped in this.

The Honourable Minister reiterates that these attainments would not have been possible without the continued support of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR in particular, and the administration in general, towards ensuring Nigeria’s successful transition into the digital economy.

The digital economy sector has enjoyed Mr President’s unprecedented support and it is highly appreciated.

The Federal Government has announced the removal of excise duty for telecom sub-sector of Nigeria’s Digital Economy Industry in line with the recommendations of the Committee it constituted to review the applicability of the Duty to the telecom sector which is considered already overburdened with taxation and sundry levies.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, disclosed this on Tuesday (today) at a press briefing organised to provide updates on the status of the 5 per cent excise duty, whose applicability to the telecom sector was objected by the Minister in August 2022, following which President Muhammadu Buhari suspended its application to the telecom sector and set up a Presidential Review Committee on Excise Duty in the Digital Economy Sector.

Pantami, who is the Chairman of the Committee, specifically set up for the purpose of reviewing the proposed excise duty in the telecom sector, said the Committee had carried out its national assignment and accordingly submitted its report to the President, justifying why the sector should be exempted.

The Minister said the Committee’s submissions can be summed up in three arguments put forward to justify why additional burden in form of taxes or any level should not be imposed on the telecom sector to prevent a reversal of the important contribution the sector is making to the growth of the Nigerian economy.

“Our justifications are based on three premises: First, is the fact that operators in the telecoms sub-sector of the digital economy industry currently pay no fewer than 41 different categories of taxes, levies and charges; secondly, that telecoms has continued to be a major contributor to Nigerian economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product Contribution (GDP).

“The third ground for contesting the Excise Duty in telecom sector is the fact that, despite increase in the cost of all factors of production across sector, and naturally leading to increase in costs of products and services, telecom sector is the only sector where cost of service has been stable and in many cases continued to go down over the past years and therefore, adding more burden will destroy the sector,” the Minister said.

The Minister also informed the gathering that the President, having looked into the arguments put forward by the Committee and relying on the provision of the Section 5 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, as amended, has therefore, exempted telecom sector from the list of sectors to pay the excise duty as stated in Finance Act of 2021 and other subsidiary legislations, all of which are not as superior as the Constitution which permits the President to grant such waiver.

Pantami said: “I am happy to report to you that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the exemption of the digital economy sector from the five percent excise duty to be paid and this is because of the strength of the argument presented to him by the Committee that additional burden on telecom sector will increase the sufferings of Nigerians and that other sectors that are not making as much contribution to the economy should be challenged to do more and pay the 5 per cent excise duty.”

The Minister assured Nigerians, who are telecom consumers, that the presidential exemption given to the telecom sector shall be sustained by the incoming administration as “the decision by the President is not about any political party or any administration but about Nigeria and welfare of Nigerian citizens.”

The Minister further noted that the Digital Economy Sector has continued to contribute significantly to the growth of the Nigerian economy, having contributed 14.07 per cent to the GDP in the first quarter of 2020; 17.79 per cent in the second quarter of 2021; and 18.44 per cent in the second quarter of 2022.

He said the sector has also increased its quarterly revenue generation for government from N51 billion to over N480 billion, representing a growth of 594 per cent; while the cost of buying data has also reduced from N1,200 in 2019 to N350 presently, despite the increase in the cost of operations, including the energy challenge that has caused mobile network operators to power base stations with over 32,000 power generating to provide seamless services to their teeming consumers.

Ecobank Nigeria Limited said it is partnering with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), to train and also provide support services to 16,000 Nigerian youths on wealth creation through agriculture. The training is targeted at young Nigerians between the ages of 18-40 years and will cover key areas of specialization including poultry, aquaculture, horticulture, and value addition.

Announcing the training partnership in Lagos, Ms. Ayo Osolake, Head, Public Sector and Agricbusiness said the training is designed for both digital and physical audiences and is structured into phases. The first phase will last 4 weeks and will be strictly online while the second phase will be hybrid, entailing practical sessions and farm visits.

She stated that Ecobank “as a Pan-African institution, it is important for us to continue to sow the seeds of growth in the communities where we operate, especially among young people who are the future of our nation and in real economy-impacting sectors like Agriculture. This is at the heart of our partnership with IITA, where we are combining the full scale of our expertise to empower and equip young Nigerians with the prerequisite knowledge for success in Agriculture. Our commitment to helping young people create wealth is unwavering, and we are keen on working with similar-minded stakeholders in other sectors to help nurture the dreams of our youths.”

“The program is designed with a view to expanding the frontiers of agricultural opportunities for Nigerians, especially in terms of research, development and wealth creation. Now is a great time for anyone considering a future in agriculture to be a part of this training. The structure and areas of specialization have been carefully chosen to boost the capabilities of all attendees. The training will also cover both theoretical and practical aspects of everything they need to learn. It is a pleasure to work with a foremost institution like the IITA for this, seeing that we share similar values.” she stated.

“This training offers an opportunity to learn new technologies along the focus value chain, build business skills and competencies in agribusiness management, mentoring, and coaching opportunities, linkages to finance, exposure to business plan development, and loan application. She stated that there will also be post-training support to improve start-up identity and market linkages.

The training is open only to Ecobank account holders who are encouraged to register through this link: https://forms.office.com/r/DNQmKRkw55 . Interested persons who would live to take advantage of the training can easily become Ecobank accounts holders by downloading the Xpresspoint App and signing up or by visiting any Ecobank branch nearest to them.

Cross River State has been Plunged Into Darkness as Officers of the Nigerian Naval Command – NNS Victory, in Calabar the Cross River State capital allegedly kidnapped staff of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) Plc on Saturday, March 11, 2023 in their regional office in Calabar, the capital city of Cross River State.

The incident was said to have occurred in the afternoon when ten men identified to be Navy officials stormed the company premises fully armed and whisked away staff of the company who were on duty. The Naval officials we gathered carried out the illegal operations on the orders of Commodore Vincent Gbaranwi of the NNS Victory Command and Rear Admiral Mike G. Oamen, Chief of Staff to the Flag Officer in the Command.The invading officers were said to have stormed the business premises of the electricity distribution company and kidnapped the staff, in protest for the disconnection of Akim Navy barrack and Atimbo barrack. The Naval Command is alleged to be owing the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) Plc over N740m in unpaid electricity bills accumulated over the years, and an additional current monthly electricity bill charge of N22m.

Although, the command is said to have countered the allegation of kidnapping, eye witnesses who saw the incident noted that no warrant of arrest was presented before the action and no charge has been brought against the over fifteen staff of the company whom the officers claim they did not kidnap but arrested, yet they are still incommunicado as at the time of this report.
Meanwhile, as the officer executed the alleged kidnap, customers in the company and other members of staff scampered for safety, abandoning their duty post, work tools and millions of naira they had collected from responsible customers who come to the office to pay their electricity bills.

Unfortunately, a female staff of the company and a nursing mother, Mrs Abigail Omori, who had collapsed in the process was secretly rushed by the Officers to the Reference Hospital, a Naval medical facility in Calabar for treatment. As at the time of this report, the company has not been allowed access to Mrs Omori and nobody is able to tell her condition.

Following this incident, all PHED sub-stations in Cross River state have been shut down and the state plunged into darkness, out of palpable fear of arrest or kidnap of its workers in the state by officers of the Naval Command who had announced to the kidnapped PHED staff that they had orders to shoot any PHED staff found around any electricity infrastructure supplying power to the Naval Command.

Meanwhile, the Regional Manager of the company, Dr. Gabriel Modupe confirmed the incident, insisting that millions of naira collected by staff before the attack are currently missing. He informed that efforts had been made at engaging the Command to pay their electricity bills without success. The matter has been reported to the Nigerian Police and the Directorate of States Security (DSS) respectively whose attempt to intervene has proved abortive.

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The Peak Performer (TPP) African is set to honour the Executive Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Mr Sanwo-Olu, The Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse 111, Chairman, Shoreline Energy Group, The Agbaoye of Ibadanland, The Publisher/Chairman of ThisDay Newspaper, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, Dr Benson Uwheru, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) Plc, and others, on Thursday, March 23, 2023 at the Muson Centre in Lagos.The honourees are exceptional leaders on the African continent who are being celebrated for their performance as industry leaders, culture shapers, and game changers in transformational leadership in their respective spheres as peak performer.According to the organisers, other personalities among the 100 personalities  to be honoured from Nigeria are: the Chairman, Shoreline Energy Group, Agbaoye Kola Karim; Group CEO of The Guardian, Lady Maiden Ibru; Ex-Chairman, KPMG Africa, Mr. Kunle Elebute; Founder, StanbicIBTC Group, Mr. Atedo Peterside and Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui Okauru.Others Honourees are: the Country Managing Director, Access Bank (Rwanda), Mr. Faustin Byishimo; Managing Director, CLM Africa, Mr. Mbulelo Clive Khoza, (South Africa); Ghanaian Celebrity Blogger, Mr. Ameyaw Debrah, (Ghana); MD/CEO, United Bank of Africa (Sierra Leone), Mr. Mohammed Alhaji Samoura; CEO, MOREM Consulting & Advisory Services Limited, Mr. Mohammed Gillen (The Gambia) and CEO, Enterprise Group, Keli Gadzekpo (Ghana).The awards covering fourteen (14) categories ranges from TPP Elite, TPP Hall of Fame, and TPP Legacy to Excellence, across multiple professions and sectors in the African continent.According to the Editor-in-Chief of TPP, Dr Abiola Salami, “A panel was set up to select the nominees who are captains of industries. Dr Salami informed that the selection involved a rigorous process of sifting from the 1,683 entries that was received from various leaders and sectors across the continent before the 100 TPP emerged. He noted that these 100 recipients are being honoured for their commitment to excellence and sterling contributions to greatness in diverse sectors on the African continent. Dr Abiola noted that having worked with leaders over the past decade, they have discovered that to inspire growth across the continent, the authentic African story should be told by spotlighting credible leaders with admirable skills on the continent. Therefore, the quest to find credible leaders resulted to the call for the nominations of Peak Performers on the continent late last year, leveraging the 27 Skills in Xceptional Leadership TM. Meanwhile, TPP 100 recognition comes alongside the debut of The Peak Performer (TPP) magazine, a premium African thought-leadership publication that delivers content online and offline. According to him, The Peak Performer magazine will be available in both print and e-version.According to the performer strategist, “leadership development and leadership branding are two strategies global leaders leverage to record outstanding results. This is what we are birthing in Africa with The Peak Performer”.He informed that the magazine features inspiring stories and experiences of leaders in sectors ranging from technology; problem-solving & change; leadership and entrepreneurship; environment, social and governance; personal growth and transformation; people, productivity and synergy, among others. All these align with our resolution to build Africa, one mind at a time,” he added.He explained that Peak Performing Africa started unofficially in 2012 with CHAMP, a full-service consulting firm trusted by high-performing business leaders for providing workforce development, advisory services, and executive coaching for C-level executives.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and four other government agencies have been recognised among the top five most business efficient and transparent agencies for the year 2022.
The announcement was contained in Federal Government’s 2022 Executive Order 001 Compliance Report released recently by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

Other government agencies which made the top five of the award are Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board Export-Import (NCDMB), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC), Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Executive Secretary of PEBEC, Jumoke Oduwole, said that the agencies have performed extremely well to meet consumer demands in the best and most efficient ways to promote businesses in their bids to achieve excellent service delivery.
“In the latest EO1 Compliance Report, NCDMB emerged first at 81.11per cent; SON second at 78.68 per cent,” said Oduwole who is also Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business.
She added, “The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (3rd, 68.37 per cent); Nigerian Export-Import Bank (4th, 64.59 per cent); and Corporate Affairs Commission (5th, 63.68 per cent).”
Oduwole said the report was released in line with PEBEC’s promise to continuously track and keep the business community updated on the compliance with the order on transparency and efficiency in the Nigerian business environment.
Recall that the Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, had always emphasised on the need for government agencies to be business facilitators rather than perceived as bottlenecks to the business community.
In this regard, SON recently commenced the digitalization of its process to fast track ease of doing business and seamless processes, thereby reducing Hunan touch.
SON has also stepped up its game by investing massively in laboratory testing and calibration and measurement process to advance testing of Nigerian products for local consumption and export.
This feat will help Nigeria participate actively in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement ( (AfCFTA).
On May 18, 2017, Executive Order 001 on Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment was issued as the current administration’s first executive order to strengthen the implementation of business climate reforms.
It was issued to also deepen collaboration among ministries, departments and agencies by instituting a systemic change management process for reforms.
The order mandates MDAs to submit monthly reports to the PEBEC secretariat, the Offices of the Head of Service of the Federation, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, as well as SERVICOM.
In the last six years, PEBEC has consistently published an EO1 Compliance Report, which captures a periodic empirical analysis of the monthly reports received from MDAs.(END)

“Nigeria’s leading financial institution, Sterling Bank Plc, has reiterated its determination to empower and energise the creative industry because of its strategic importance to the economic growth of Nigeria.”

Head of Media and Entertainment Financing at Sterling Bank, Mr. Olanrewaju Olalusi, disclosed the above at the weekend in Lagos while addressing participants at a seminar organised by the Legends of Nollywood with the theme: “Empowering the Nigerian Film Industry – Actualizing Your Resources.”

He said the bank had begun exploring financing of the creative industries in addition to its HEART sectors programme because of its importance to the national economy.
Sterling Bank has become renowned for its strategic focus and investments in the Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation sectors of the Nigerian economy. These sectors have been affectionately dubbed the HEART of Sterling, and our HEART has contributed immensely to the growth of the bank, the sectors and the Nigerian economy.

Olalusi said it is important for artists to leverage funding from financial institutions to scale the level of their operations, remarking that the bank has set up a desk for the purpose of financing practitioners in the creative industry, information technology (IT) and animation, among others.

“We are open to having conversations with partners in the creative industry on the way forward.” He said.

He said that the industry was bustling with amazing talent and potential. But he highlighted a key challenge confronting the industry; a lack of viable business plans on the commercial perspective of creativity to show investors.

He continued by saying that there is a growing need for artists to separate their businesses from themselves and focus on improving their access to infrastructure and a ready market for their creative expressions.

Through collaborations with dedicated partners like Sterling, creatives can better their lot, both creatively and commercially, by leveraging financial advisory services, commercial loans, and other specially designed products to further capacity building and move the industry forward.

In a keynote address by Lagos State Commissioner of Planning and Budget, Mr. Samuel Egube, urged operators in the creative industry to think more deeply about how to seize available opportunities in the industry. He noted that if the industry must grow, then it should be able to attract financial resources from investors, adding that government alone cannot drive the growth in the industry.

He said the business plan should present a strong case to encourage investors to invest. He disclosed that the Lagos State Government has plans to build a media city in the Lekki axis for practitioners in the creative industry to leverage on under its 30-year development plan.

Also speaking, the President of the Association of Movie Producers, Mr. Paul Obazele encouraged his colleagues to lift the industry to a show business level by leveraging financial institutions to scale their operations instead of relying on grants alone. 

A call has gone to organizations operating across all sectors in the country to create opportunities that empower women to fulfill their full potential for the good of society.

The call was made by CEO of Digital Jewels, Adedoyin Odunfa while speaking as a Guest Speaker at the Webinar organized by Polaris Bank Limited themed: Advancing Women Empowerment through the Adoption of Technological Innovation and Digital Education to mark the 2023 International Women’s Day which held in Lagos last week.

Focusing on the IWD 2023 theme: #EmbraceEquity, Odunfa while addressing gender imbalance in the workplace, cited statistics that show that women make up only 46 percent of the workplace and less than 25 percent of them end up in leadership positions.

She pointed out the need to address gender imbalance and prevailing conscious and unconscious biases against women. She also emphasized the need to intentionally empower women with technological innovation rather than just pay lip service to it.

According to Odunfa, one of the ways to create these opportunities is to have more women in the workplace to develop products and services that empower women. She also highlighted the need to intentionally target women for instance, in the design of financial services and products to make them more accessible, affordable, and relevant.

To achieve this, Odunfa called for improved financial literacy and investment in education, as well as training for gender parity in the workplace and marketplace. This sentiment was echoed by two other Panelists at the webinar: Chinyelu Chikwendu, a Director with Vatebra TechHub and Ededayo Durosinmi-Etti, CEO of Herconomy.

Also contributing at the session as a Panelist, Dr. (Mrs.) Amina Sambo-Magaji, an AI specialist, Researcher and Tech policy maker, emphasized the need for collaboration and a system approach to promote gender equality in the digital space.

Dr. Sambo-Magaji, a distinguished Humphrey Fellow, who doubles as a Director at National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) also called for measures to promote women’s participation in all aspects of digital, including technological innovation, and digital governance. She emphasized the need for policies that actively promote gender equality and empower women to be partners, consumers, and creators of technology and innovation.

Earlier, Polaris Bank’s Group Head, Customer Experience Management & Sustainability, Bukola Oluyadi spoke on why the Bank organised the Webinar. “The goal of this event is to address the various challenges faced by Women in diverse professions, identify skill gaps needed to be addressed, and how technology, innovation, and digital education can be leveraged to empower the woman so that Gender equity can be felt more in our economy.”

According to Oluyadi, “Polaris Bank is committed to Women Empowerment, and consciously raising awareness on gender equity and ensure that no woman is financially excluded, or is disadvantaged in any way. In her words: “Only 30 percent of commercial banks in Nigeria have over 30 percent female representation on their board and Polaris Bank is one of such banks. The Bank is also supporting women-led businesses with single-digit interest loans in celebrating IWD 2023 and women’s month. The Bank is also driving women empowerment internally by inaugurating its Women’s Network this month”, she disclosed.

Polaris Bank is a future-determining Bank redefining banking products and services that meet the needs of individuals and businesses. The Bank was adjudged Digital Bank of the Year in 2021 and 2022.

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The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) Plc, Dr Benson Uwheru has reconstituted and inaugurated the Health and Safety committee at the energy distribution company.
The committee is led by Dr Uwheru, who is an ESG champion and Risk expert took the bold step in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Health and Safety code, as provided for in section 5 [a] [1] Subsection 2 of the Nigerian Electricity Health and Safety Code.
According to the code, every employer shall constitute a Health and Safety Management Committee that will provide valuable services to the organization as it pertains to risk and safety management planning. Dr Uwheru charged the committee to meet periodically and exchange risk and safety management ideas and information that could help make their assignment effective.
The committee shall have oversight responsibility for implementing the company’s Health and safety policy and the Nigerian Electricity Health and Safety Code. In ensuring compliance with the provisions of the code, the committee shall be guided by provisions of part V section 5 [a] [3] of the Nigerian Electricity Health and Safety Standards Manual which states that every employer shall take a comprehensive insurance policy to adequately cover its facilities, employees and third parties as appropriate without prejudice to other national laws on insurance.
In his inauguration speech, the MD/CEO commended members of the committee and reminded them that in line with the provisions of the code, the committee is saddled with the responsibility of effective management of the Health and Safety Management System in the company. He urged them to work hand in hand with the HSE/ESG department to ensure that the policies translate into effective risk management in the company with a view to achieving reduction in work related and public incidents.
According to Dr Uwheru, the achievement of zero tolerance level in workplace accident begins with promoting and imbibing safety culture. He informed the committee that it is their responsibility to institutionalise the safety culture in the company and ensure that every risk indicator point is managed in a proactive manner to reduce or eliminate health and safety loses in the company.
Other members of the committee include, Friday Agillo, the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Kvva Tyanarayana, CTO, Micah Ledee, CPO, Itoro Essienobom, Head, of the company’s Health, Safety, Environment and Social Governance (HSE\ESG) and Secretary of the committee among others.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3, 2023 to the effect that the Old N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes rememain Legal Tender til the 31st of December 2023

The directive according to the apex bank is in compliance with the established tradition of obedience to court orders and sustenance of the Rule of Law Principle that characterized the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and by extension, the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as the regulator, of the banking system in Nigeria

A statement by the Acting Director Corporate Communications Communications of the CBN, Isa Abdulmumin disclosed that Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3, 2023.
The CBN at a meeting with the Bankers’ Committee revealed that the old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes remain legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31, 2023.

Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly.