Bola Tinubu has officially signed the 2024 Appropriation Bill into law, underscoring his unwavering commitment to a timely, predictable, and efficient budget cycle. The signing ceremony took place at the State House on Monday, following the President’s return to Abuja from Lagos.

In a statement during the bill signing, President Tinubu assured Nigerians that the implementation of the budget would be pursued with efficiency and closely monitored. He emphasized, “All the institutional mechanisms shall be held to account in ensuring diligent implementation.”

To enhance transparency and oversight, all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) have been directed to take responsibility by providing monthly Budget Performance Reports to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. The President highlighted the importance of these measures, stating, “The Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy shall hold regular reviews with the Economic Management Team, and, in addition, I shall chair periodic Economic Coordination Council meetings.”

The key priorities of the N28.7 trillion 2024 budget include defense and internal security, job creation, macro-economic stability, improved investment environment, human capital development, poverty reduction, and social security.

President Tinubu emphasized his commitment to enhancing investment promotion and creating a rules-based society. Key reforms in the Nigerian judiciary, funded through the 2024 Appropriation Act, signify a pivotal step towards this vision. “Funding the judiciary is a major element in our effort to support a just, rules-based society. Statutory transfer to the Judiciary has been increased from 165 billion naira to 342 billion naira,” stated the President.

The budget breakdown includes capital expenditure at N10 trillion, recurrent expenditure at N8.8 trillion, debt service at N8.2 trillion, and statutory transfers at N1.7 trillion.

Present at the signing ceremony were President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas. Other senior government officials included Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, and National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

The MEST Africa Challenge (MAC) (MeltWater.org), an Africa-wide pitch competition for early-stage technology startups, is proud to announce the top 5 Regional Winners who will compete for the grand prize of $50,000 in equity.

These startups have emerged victorious after rigorous pitch sessions, beating out 40 competing startups from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa. The finalists represent diverse sectors, including fintech, health tech, e-commerce, and edtech.

Meet the Winners:

• Letaji (Kenya): Revolutionizing the construction industry, Letaji is an online marketplace streamlining the process of purchasing building materials. It connects homeowners, contractors, and hardware stores directly with top suppliers.
• Chestify AI (Ghana): This innovative platform enhances patient care by facilitating seamless connections and support among clinical professionals.
• OneHealth (Nigeria): At the forefront of health tech, OneHealth offers an integrated platform for virtual consultations, connecting patients with doctors and diagnostic centers while managing prescriptions and test results online.
• Sanya (Senegal): A visionary in IT edutainment, Sanya creates a unique blend of educational and entertainment digital products, fostering a community-based approach to tech learning for companies.
• Koa Academy (South Africa): Pioneering the future of online education, Koa Academy stands at the forefront in South Africa with its innovative approach to digital learning.

The finalists are expected to pitch for the winning prize money at the end of January, an event that will be organized and hosted by MEST Africa.

Ashwin Ravichandran, Portfolio Advisor at MEST expressed his excitement about the upcoming finals: “The top 5 finalists of the 2023 MEST Africa Challenge are a testament to the remarkable innovation and potential within Africa’s tech ecosystem. Each startup has shown incredible prowess in their fields. We eagerly anticipate their presentations at the Final Demo Day, where they will connect with our dynamic network of entrepreneurs, investors, and partners.”

The MEST Africa Challenge, a flagship initiative of MEST Africa, plays a pivotal role in nurturing aspiring and early-stage tech startups across Africa. As a comprehensive training program, seed fund and network of hubs, MEST Africa is dedicated to empowering the next generation of African tech startup innovators.

This year’s challenge, in partnership with Absa Bank — a leader in African financial services committed to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship — highlights the collaborative spirit driving Africa’s technological advancement.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has said that the promotion of patriotism and nationalism is a strategic approach to curb violent crimes such as banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism in the country.

Idris, who stated this in Abuja on Friday when he received the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa on a courtesy visit to his office, said the surest way to counter the wave of crime is to instill a sense of patriotism among citizens and foster a strong national identity as a united front against violent crimes.

“The concept of nationalism, nationhood, and patriotism must return, for us to have the unity and prosperity that all of us seek. We have seen a gradual erosion of our values – those values need to be reclaimed and we have to recover our senses as Nigerians.

“We need to go back to the drawing board and see where we got it wrong with the aim of getting it right this time around.

“I thank you so much for coming. We think that the collaboration that you require is for all of us to come together so that we fight insurgency and forge unity, development, and peace in this country. There is no way you can successfully fight this war without a frontal role for the Nigerian Media and Nigerians themselves,” he said.

Idris said violent crimes have adversely impacted the image of Nigeria hence the ministry bears the responsibility to manage and reshape the narrative about the country.

The Minister, who stressed that information management is critical to the fight against insurgency, said collaboration between the Ministry and the Military is crucial to forge a narrative that strengthens national security and launder the country’s image.

Idris said the ministry would soon launch a campaign of national rebirth as a deliberate effort to instill a renewed sense of patriotism among the citizens.

“Some of those things that we are talking about will take centre stage early next year when the President, hopefully, will lead the campaign of national rebirth. We want to talk about this concept of citizenship again,” he said.
The Minister also requested the military to reintroduce the programme of embedding journalists in military operations to provide firsthand insight into the theatre of operations thereby fostering a more informed and balanced narrative.
Earlier, the CDS, General Musa, said the visit to the Minister is part of their non-kinetic operations to build synergy between the military and the media because the challenges of asymmetric warfare being waged by the military, are people-centric where both the military and the criminals are fighting for the hearts and minds of Nigerians.

“This is part of the lines of operations that we are conducting to build synergy between the Armed Forces and members of the public and there is nowhere to start better than where information emanates from,” he said.

He called for the support of the public in the war against insurgency, terrorism, and banditry, stressing that the war is a collective endeavor of all Nigerians to defeat criminal elements challenging the sovereignty of the country.

General Musa said strategic communication is a key component in the war against terror as most of the terrorists were brainwashed to take up arms against their country.

He said through strategic communication and advocacy, the military was able to influence some of the terrorists to lay down their arms and surrender to the authorities. He noted that so far about 140,000 terrorists have voluntarily surrendered to the military.

He acknowledged that violent crimes have now moved beyond the realm of ideology to economic motivation, where criminals make huge sums of money through kidnappings, and banditry, among other crimes.

Heads of public information organs who accompanied the minister to receive the Defence Chief were the Directors General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTÀ), Malam Abdulhamid Dembos; the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Dr. Mohammed Bulama; the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Malam Jibrin Ndace; the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Lanre Issa- Onilu; the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Charles Ebuebu and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Press Council, Mr. Dili Ezughah.

KnowBe4 (www.KnowBe4.com), the provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, announced its 2024 cybersecurity predictions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from its team of local industry experts.

Cyber threats are more sophisticated and complex than ever and evolving quickly with new technology like AI becoming increasingly advanced every day. Cultivating a security culture is paramount to strengthen an organization’s human firewall.

The predicted cybersecurity trends for 2024 include:

1. Cloud service attacks 

A rise in attacks on cloud services unfortunately means that we will see successful attacks on either cloud providers or cloud-based applications or both. This will potentially result in loss of availability of services, breach of personal data and intellectual property. It is interesting to note that the UK is the most targeted country in EMEA and therefore has a higher likelihood for attacks.

2. Collaboration and information sharing

We will see an increased focus on collaboration and information sharing between national and international cybersecurity agencies; and ultimately between public and private partnerships to combat cybercrime, address nation and state threats; and to proactively detect and respond to emerging cyber threats.

3. Legislation on AI

Much needed legislation on AI, more specifically generative AI, will come to fruition throughout Europe in the next year. The laws are incredibly vague at the moment leaving them open for misinterpretation and abuse by organizations. The Digital Service Act and the proposed European Union AI Act are some of the legislation that will force generative AI providers in the EU to be more transparent and adhere to disclosure requirements, which will bring about clarity for organizations in terms of what is and isn’t allowed.

Similarly, Africa lacks AI legislation right now. However, three African countries, Mauritius, Egypt and Kenya, have made efforts to advance policy documents dedicated specifically to AI.

In contrast, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has already enacted amendments to its Data Protection Regulations earlier this year. New requirements on the processing of personal data via autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, like AI, were introduced and were applicable as of 1 September 2023. This marks some of the first legislation in the UAE with regards to AI.

4. Ransomware attacks to aim for supply chain services

Ransomware cybercriminal groups will continue to increase their attacks but will be more targeted and work to attack supply chain services to disrupt and damage organizations around the world.

5. Internal training and AI to lessen the cybersecurity skills gap

According to ISACA, the EU currently has a shortage of between 260,000 to 500,000 tech workers. Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report shows that the demand for cybersecurity skills has grown by an average of 35% in Africa in 2022 alone, and a recent study by Trellix found that 66% of IT managers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia think that their organizations do not have the right people or processes in place to be cyber resilient.

This gaping hole in skills shortage is not going to be filled any time soon, leaving organizations vulnerable to cyber attacks. Organizations will have little choice but to employ tech workers with less desired qualifications and certifications to attempt to combat cybercrime. In addition, they will continue to fill the skills gap by training employees across departments to become the human firewall against cyber attacks; and using AI-powered defense for better threat detection and incident response.

6. Disinformation campaigns to lead to extortion schemes

Disinformation campaigns will be used to launch attacks or distract from ongoing attacks. We can expect to see related service offerings on the dark web, giving rise to disinformation as a service. This will impact politics and the private sector. Disinformation becomes a tool in the tool set of cybercriminals seeking to extract money from legitimate private businesses through extortion schemes. Attackers will increase their use of deep fakes, including video and voice.

7. Privacy by demand

Privacy regulations are forcing organizations to adapt and we will see privacy by design and user experience privacy gain traction. In particular, the use of generative AI in organizations, ethical considerations and privacy by design will become more prevalent.

8. Cyber resilience will become a priority

Ensuring that organizations continue to function despite cyber attacks will continue to be a top strategic priority for many, acknowledging that having such a strategy in place is vital. Organizations will place greater emphasis on developing and nurturing a security culture, as it’s one of the best ways to protect their data and systems from cyber attacks; and to ensure that attacks are detected and reported quickly if successful.

“Cyber attacks like phishing are getting more difficult to detect,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “It is imperative that employees keep the threat of phishing attacks top of mind and not become complacent. This is only made possible by recurrent security awareness training and simulated phishing so that end users have the knowledge to identify phishing attacks, report them and better protect their organizations. It comes down to building a strong security culture and we will see organizations continue to focus and build on this in 2024.”

The predicted trends were collected from KnowBe4’s EMEA’s team of security awareness advocates who are experts with decades of experience in the cybersecurity field. For more information on KnowBe4’s team of experts, visit https://apo-opa.co/3R6ALM5