To Ugi Agustine Jnr, CEO Nugi Tech, the importance of giving back to a society that has in some way shaped you, your ethics & values, and contributed to your success should never be overlooked.

As part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, the culture of giving back and helping others in need is one of the values that we have always believed in, participated in severally and in turn, has helped shaped Nugi Technologies as a whole.  In essence, 7th June 2021, at the re-opening of their new Development Hub in Calabar, Ugi Augustine Ugi Jnr, accepted and  committed to being the Board Chairman for Atycare Initiative, a charity organization based in Calabar.

Atycare Initiative (ACI) is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-political and non-religious charity organization birthed and situated in Calabar, Cross River state. ACI, a pathfinder in humanitarian service for orphans and vulnerable children, youth empowerment and development in Nigeria, aims to facilitate the provision of comprehensive care and support to vulnerable households initially in Cross River state, and other states eventually.

Since 2018, ACI has been working to provide educational support, healthcare and protection to women, vulnerable children as well as the youths in the community. For 2years now, ACI has proved its consistency in the provision of of scholarship to over 300 vulnerable children and provided school fees as well as materials ranging from school uniforms, books, bags, sandals, and more, to several hundreds of school children in Calabar South Municipality, Odukpani and Akpabuyo LG of the state.

Nugi Technologies is elated to be part of this initiative as we believe education is key to transforming a society. To defeat poverty, improve lives, and seek a unique opportunity to build a true democracy in Nigeria, we must ensure children go to school to gain that knowledge for a better understanding of life.

”As a child growing up, there were times my parents could not afford my fees, and in one of those times, a teacher threw my bag out of the class and said a lot of mean things to me. I was sad and left school that day and never returned there. There were countless times I had to use cocoa-yam leaf above my head to shield the rain, which mostly resulted to me getting pneumonia.’ So many kids are going through similar situations or even worse, which is why I am committing myself to this cause and accepting the position.” – Ugi Augustine Jnr., Chairman Atycare Initiative.

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The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has remained faithful and consistent in assisting Nigeria, particularly in the training of members of the armed forces, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

The President spoke Friday at State House, Abuja, while receiving General Nadeem Raza, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Islamic Republic.

Said the President: “We greatly appreciate your help in terms of training members of our armed forces, officers and men. Some of my colleagues trained in your country, and you have remained consistent in assisting us. We benefit a lot from Pakistani, and we are grateful.”

General Raza said Nigeria was the most important country in Africa, “and we value our collaboration. We learn and benefit a lot from each other.”

Femi Adesina

Business Email Compromise (BEC) and cyber attacks are on the increase worldwide. Conveyancing firms, their clients, and other organisations effecting many large non-recurring type transactions are particularly vulnerable to BEC fraud. Ryan Mer, Managing Director, eftsure Africa, a Know Your Payee™ (KYP) platform provider says gaps in organisations’ payment systems not only pose massive financial and reputational risks, but can have serious legal implications as well.

According to a global survey conducted by Mimecast Cyber Security Services in 2020, six out of ten companies globally were infected with ransomware and there was a 64% increase in email threats. An Accenture report from May 2020 confirms South Africa had the third most cybercrime victims globally, resulting in losses topping R2.2 billion.

All too aware of large deposits made to and from conveyancing firms, criminals target and intercept email accounts and scam victims into making payments into the incorrect account. While legislation like the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and Protection of Personal Information Act legally requires attorneys and estate agents to responsibly gather and scrutinise an individual’s information, Business Email Compromise remains a threat to any organisation and its clients. In South Africa there is case precedence for firms being held liable for payments that did not reach the intended recipient; a situation that demands email correspondence containing bank details and personal information be handled with caution.

In circumstances where organisations are unable to meet their financial obligations as a result of a BEC attack, third parties may seek compensation for disrupted business operations and other losses, particularly where a firm is found to be in breach of its duty to take adequate measures to mitigate the risks of BEC attacks. It’s critical that attorneys and clients should take additional care in verifying account details before making payments and should be made immediately aware of sudden changes in email addresses and bank details. 

Most threats can be avoided with the correct financial controls as well as server, IT and email monitoring processes together with the following measures:

• Be Informed, keep up to date with the latest scams and ensure your employees, colleagues and trading partners are aware of how they work in practice.
• Review your company practices in relation to password and security controls.  Never share passwords across multiple sites or permit weak password. 
• Acknowledge the fact that employee email accounts are gateways to sensitive information and attacks and enforce policies restricting what information can be kept in email inboxes prior to secure archiving. eftsure’s secure, digitised payee onboarding platform can assist with the collection and management of payee information.
• Re-evaluate your financial procedures for approving payment release. A platform like eftsure can help limit the risks of BEC attacks by cross-referencing the payments an organisation is about to release with a database of verified bank account details. eftsure’s fully integrated platform will clearly alert to any suspect payments, at point of payment, allowing an organisation to deal with it before making payment i.e.: before the flow of funds have occurred.

About eftsure

eftsure is a comprehensive, system agnostic solution, designed from the bottom up to give businesses the ability to manage, control and secure the full lifecycle of a payee from onboarding through to the actual point of payment. Not only does eftsure’s secure payee management portal allow companies to onboard and verify payees with more efficiency, accuracy and certainty, but it also automates 100% of the payment checking process, in real time, at the point of payment, prior to any payment release.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, have rejoiced with Alhaji Aminu Ado Beyero on his coronation as the 15th Emir of Kano.

Prof Danbatta, who hails from Danbatta Local Government Area of Kano State, paid homage to the Emir, Friday evening, to congratulate him in his personal capacity and also deliver a similar congratulatory message on behalf of the Hon, Minister, Board of Commissioners and the entire staff of the Commission.

Danbatta in a congratulatory message during the visit, said: “On behalf of the Board, Management and staff of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), I heartily felicitate with Your Highness and the Kano Emirate Council on your coronation and presentation of Staff of Office as the 15th Emir of Kano”.

He said the Commission, while rejoicing with the monarch, also prays that peace, progress and prosperity continue to be the hallmark of his reign. 

“As we delightfully share in the bliss of this historic event with Your Highness and the good people of Kano Emirate, we also pray for Almighty Allah’s (SWT) health, wisdom and guidance as you receive the staff of office,” he added.

Meanwhile, the EVC noted that the Commission will continue to work with traditional institutions towards advancing the course of telecommunications infrastructure deployment for the rapid socio-economic development of their communities.

“In the matrix of our stakeholder engagement, traditional rulers are the closest to people at the grassroots and therefore play a very important role. 

“The Commission, therefore believes by working closely with the traditional rulers, we stand a better chance to seek understanding from the locales towards creating the needed conducive environment for telcos to build their telecoms infrastructure in their domains, thereby extending telecoms services that will transform the lives of the people,” he added.