The usage of the Contactless Passport Application System app would commence on the 1st of December, 2024.

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) announced this in an update it provided on its official X account on Sunday evening.

“The Contactless Passport Application System app is now available on Google Play store as “NIS Mobile”,” NIS announced.

“Please remember that the worldwide usage would commence from the 1st of December, 2024.”

According to the statement, the current Geo-fencing feature means it is only available for use by Nigerians in Canada and the United States of America (USA).

The Federal Government, meanwhile recently partnered with the United Kingdom (UK) to strengthen security in Nigeria and also work on a lasting contactless biometrics solution.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo disclosed this in a statement on his official X account after meeting with the Home Secretary of the UK, Rt Hon Yvette Cooper early November.

Tunji-Ojo said the FG’s commitment to building strategic partnerships that enhance security and public service delivery was reinforced after the meeting.

“We discussed mutual goals to strengthen security, efficiency, and service delivery, showing our administration’s dedication to sustainable development through cooperation and shared purpose,” he said.

“In line with our initiative to extend contactless biometrics solution to the UK, having successfully launched in Canada with impressive success rate, I also led senior officials, including the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, on an oversight visit to the Nigeria High Commission.”

According to Tunji-Ojo, the visit reaffirms the federal government’s support for the attachés working to improve their services to Nigerians abroad.

The NIS decided to implement the contactless biometric solution process for passports and visa applications to ease challenges associated with the process and curb corruption.

Tunji-Ojo while presenting a scorecard of his achievements within one year in office had explained that the contactless biometric system allows applicants to apply for passports or visas from the comfort of their homes or offices.

He added that they would do this without visiting any passport office, particularly for Nigeria’s consulates, where the number of applications often exceeds the daily capture capacity.

“With the contactless biometric solution, you won’t need to go to the embassies to book an appointment anymore because of the new system,” the minister explained.

“The era of resource wastage in the passport process is over. In Canada, for example, over 16,000 applications are received as against 260 captures per day.”

Tunji-Ojo was joined in the meeting with the UK Home Secretary, Cooper by key Nigerian officials including the Comptroller General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap and the Controller General of Fire Service, Engr. Abdulganiyu Olola Jaji.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery on Sunday announced a N20 reduction in the ex-refinery price to marketers, with prices moving from N990 to N970 per litre.

The Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, disclosed the new pricing in a statement, describing the development as a gesture of appreciation to Nigerians and the government for their unwavering support.

With the drop in the price of crude oil, the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) should slightly decrease, given that crude oil is a major determinant of the eventual price of petroleum products.

“As the year comes to an end, this is our way of appreciating the good people of Nigeria for their unwavering support in making the refinery a dream come true. In addition, this is to thank the government for their support, as this will complement the measures put in place to encourage domestic enterprise for our collective well-being,” Chiejina said.

The refinery, which commenced operations earlier this year, has been pivotal in reshaping Nigeria’s downstream petroleum landscape.

Chiejina assured that the Dangote Refinery would continue to maintain stringent quality standards for its products while working to address Nigeria’s fuel supply challenges.

“We are determined to keep ramping up production to meet and surpass our domestic fuel consumption, thus dispelling any fear of a shortfall in supply,” he added.

Gov. Bassey Otu of Cross River has appealed to labour unions in the state to shelve their planned industrial action over the implementation of the new minimum wage.

The governor said his administration remained committed to the implementation of the new wage of N70, 000 recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.

The governor made the appeal during the 5th edition of the State Solemn Assembly held Saturday night at U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Represented by his deputy, Dr Peter Odey, Otu said his government would continue to prioritise welfare of workers in the state.

It would be recalled that labour unions in the state had on Wednesday issued notice of 2-day warning strike scheduled to commence midnight of Sunday.

The unions attributed the planned action to the breakdown of negotiations between it and the government.

The organised labour threatened that after the warning strike the industrial action would continue with a December 1 panned nationwide strike.

“I appeal to the leadership of organised labor and all affiliates of the NLC (Nigeria Labour Congress) and TUC (Trade Union Congress) to suspend their planned strike.

“I enjoin them to support the government in the quest to improve the lots of our people,’’ Out said.

He urged the people of Cross River to sustain their support and prayers for the administration to achieve its ‘People First’ mantra.

Gov. Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi has ordered the arrest and prosecution of six state Ministry of Health members of staff for allegedly diverting materials meant for the ministry.

Nwifuru in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Dr Monday Uzor, on Sunday, ordered the arrest of one Ndukwe Ayansi and five others over the issue.

The statement indicated that the governor while inspecting projects cited an articulated vehicle loading registers, books and other materials from the warehouse of the Ministry of Health.

“Nwifuru stopped and made inquiries but not satisfied with answers given to him.

“The governor probed further and discovered that patients’ data registers, cards and other documents were being moved into the vehicle.

“He also discovered that all the documents had been sold without government approval,” Uzor said.

The governor, according to him, described the action as sabotage of  government’s efforts at repositioning the health sector.

“You are selling government documents without approval on a Saturday afternoon.

“The state’s hospitals in the rural areas are in need of registers data entry forms and hospital cards.

“Unfortunately, you are selling the ones produced by the government,” he said.

Uzor further said that the suspects had been handed over to the police while investigation continued

A recent research by Positive Technologies, a leader in result-driven cybersecurity, has revealed that over half of cyber attacks in Nigeria target the government sector and financial companies.

This was contained in the firm’s analysis of the current cyber threats on the African continent for 2023–2024.

According to the experts, these attacks are often carried out by organised hacker groups aiming for financial gain and espionage, as well as by hacktivists.

In Africa, government and financial institutions make up 29 cent and 22 cent of all successful attacks on organisations, respectively.

The analysis of messages on the dark web forums confirmed that these sectors attract cybercriminals the most: they account for 19 per cent and 13 percent of all the darknet listings.

Anastasia Bezborodko, an analyst from the International Analytics Group at Positive Technologies, noted: “The share of attacks against the government sector among all attacks on organisations in Africa is twice as much as was found in our previous research. “Most often, government institutions are targeted by APT groups (46 percent) aiming to collect data and perform cyberespionage, as well as by hacktivists (18 percent ).

” Cybercriminals primarily target government institutions in Nigeria (27 percent ), Algeria (17 percent ), Ethiopia (12 percent ), and South Africa (12 percent), according to dark web data.
“Attacks on the financial sector also increased, rising from 18 percent to 22 percent of all successful attacks.

“On the dark web, posts related to Africa’s government sector typically mention free distribution of information (66 percent), while those related to financial institutions focus on selling data and access (64 percent).”

According to Positive Technologies, more than half of the databases related to African countries are distributed for free on the dark web, while access to corporate networks can be bought for an average of $2,970.

One in 10 successful cyberattacks on organisations in the region targeted the industrial sector.
The main goal of these attacks was to disrupt production processes and steal confidential information.

Another 10 percent of attacks targeted telecommunications: cybercriminals are drawn to vast amounts of personal data and customer payment information. In attacks on organisations, criminals most often targeted computers, servers, and network equipment (65 cent).
This points to weak infrastructure protection, such as vulnerabilities.

The report covered the period from Q1 2023 to Q3 2024. network perimeters and poorly configured services that are accessible externally.

Attacks targeting web resources surged from 15 per cent to 27 percent with DDoS attacks accounting for half. Malware was the most common method used in cyberattacks, accounting for 43 percent of attacks on organisations and 53 percent of attacks on individuals. In almost one-third of successful attacks on companies, cybercriminals used ransomware, and in one out of every four attacks, they deployed spyware.

In 18 percent of attacks on organisations, hackers exploited vulnerabilities. The most common result of cyberattacks on organisations (61 percent ) and individuals (53 percent) was hackers accessing confidential information.

Another common issue was disruption of core business operations, which occurred in 18 percent of successful attacks.

According to open-source data, a significant share of cyberattacks happened in South Africa (22 percent ) and Egypt (13 percent). Meanwhile, analysis of posts on the dark web forums revealed that these messages primarily targeted South Africa (25 percent ), Nigeria (18 percent), and Algeria (13 percent ).

Most often, dark web listings feature databases (61 percent), and more than half of these databases (64 percent) are given away for free. Criminals also sell data for accessing the networks of major African companies (38 percent of all analysed dark web messages). Most of these posts (74 per cent) are about selling access, with an average price of $2,970.
In recent years, digital technologies have been implemented across various sectors in Africa, opening up new opportunities for cybercriminals.

To increase the region’s cybersecurity and thwart future cybercrimes, experts at Positive Technologies recommend adopting protective measures, such as developing and timely updating cybersecurity strategies and identifying critical information infrastructure, the disruption of which could cause non-tolerable events at industry and national levels.

To ensure cyber resilience, experts recommend that organisations conduct risk analysis, put together a list of events that could cause irreparable damage, regularly update systems and applications, and continuously check the effectiveness and relevance of security mechanisms and tools in place. Organisations should also host educational events to teach employees basic security rules and allocate budgets for training cybersecurity specialists. To improve cybersecurity, experts recommend forging strong partnerships between the government and private sectors.

Strengthening international collaboration, sharing knowledge, and exchanging experiences on current cyberthreats and protective measures are also crucial.

Positive Technologies is an industry leader in result-driven cybersecurity and a major global provider of information security solutions.

Our mission is to safeguard businesses and entire industries against cyberattacks and non-tolerable damage. Over 4,000 organisations worldwide use technologies and services developed by our company.

Positive Technologies is the first and only cybersecurity company in Russia publicly available on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX: POSI), with 205,000 shareholders and counting.

The Federal Government (FG) has expressed its readiness to diversify Nigeria’s economy through the development of the creative industry.

Vice President, Kashim Shettima made this known in a statement he shared on his official X account on Sunday morning.

“President Bola Tinubu yesterday (Saturday) identified the creative economy as a cornerstone of his administration’s economic diversification agenda,” Shettima said.

“Tinubu has also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to positioning Nigeria’s creative sector as a key driver of the country’s global influence.”

The president who was represented by his vice stated this during the launch of the 2024 Abuja International Carnival at the Eagle Square, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

“We are not here just to celebrate a carnival but to reaffirm the essence of who we are as Nigerians, a people of culture, a people of art, a people of colour and a people of shared values,” Shettima said on behalf of Tinubu.