Speaking at the third edition of the Payments Forum Nigeria (PAFON 3.0), Dr. Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun who is also the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of CreditRegistry, described the forum as more than a policy conversation, calling it “a defining moment” for economic inclusion, financial dignity, and independence for millions of Nigerians.

Addressing stakeholders at the event, through a representative Mr. Chinedu Onyia, Manager, Professional Service at CreditRegistry, she noted that Nigeria has witnessed remarkable growth in digital finance over the past decade, with instant payment transactions surpassing ₦600 trillion in 2024, according to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), positioning the country among the world’s most dynamic digital payment economies.

Dr Sharrieff-Ayedun also acknowledged improvements in financial inclusion, which has risen to about 64 per cent of Nigeria’s adult population, largely fuelled by mobile money, fintech innovation, and expanding agent banking networks.

However, she cautioned that these milestones should not obscure the reality that millions of Nigerians remain excluded or only partially integrated into the financial system.

“Progress must never be mistaken for completion,” she said, citing EFInA data showing that nearly 26 percent of Nigerian adults remain completely financially excluded, while many others operate at the margins of inclusion.

Describing this as Nigeria’s financial paradox, she argued that despite the country’s advanced payment infrastructure, inclusion remains uneven and vulnerable.

“Volume is not inclusion. Activity is not empowerment,” she stated, emphasizing that digital transactions that fail to create sustainable economic identity represent missed opportunities for growth and transformation.

Dr. Sharrieff-Ayedun stressed that fairness, rather than mere access, should be the central objective of Nigeria’s digital payment ecosystem.

“If digital payments are unreliable, unpredictable, or exclusionary, then they do not deepen inclusion; they erode it,” she warned.

According to her, fair digital payments are built on three essential pillars: transparency, where users understand all charges without hidden fees; reliability, where transactions are seamless and dependable; and accessibility, where systems are intentionally designed to serve all demographics, including underserved populations.

She said these pillars collectively foster trust, which she described as “the true currency of financial systems.”

Highlighting the growing significance of data in modern finance, she explained that every digital payment generates valuable financial footprints that can be transformed into structured identities and credit intelligence.

“This is the bridge between payments and credit. And this is where true financial inclusion is unlocked,” she said.

She underscored CreditRegistry’s role in converting transaction data into trust frameworks, financial behaviour into credit intelligence, and data into what she termed “dignity.”

“A decision without CreditRegistry is an incomplete decision,” she declared, reinforcing the company’s mission to provide deeper financial visibility that goes beyond transactional records to reveal character and creditworthiness.

Dr. Sharrieff-Ayedun maintained that inclusive financial systems must evolve beyond basic access to create pathways for credit, economic mobility, and generational wealth.

“We are not just building systems. We are building financial visibility for millions of Nigerians,” she said.

She concluded by urging policymakers, financial institutions, and industry stakeholders to prioritize systems that transform lives, rather than simply process payments.

“The future of Nigeria’s financial system will not be defined by how fast our payments are, but by how fair they are,” she said. “Because fairness builds trust. Trust drives inclusion. And inclusion unlocks prosperity.”

Sixty-Six percent (66%) of the organizations surveyed globally reported they were a victim of ransomware.

This volume of attack is similar in Nigeria.

In this interview, Jimi Falaiye speaks on best security approach to prevent ransomware and how Sophos helps organizations be a step ahead of the cyberattackers. Excerpt: 

What are the major issues organisations are facing regarding cybersecurity?

Today, cybersecurity is so complex and difficult and moving so fast that the vast majority of organizations shouldn’t even try to manage it themselves anymore. It’s just too hard. Our view is that they should turn to experts who can help provide cybersecurity as a service for them.

With the advances in technologies like cloud computing, cloud management, AI, big data, APIs and interoperability—we now have the ability to deliver cybersecurity as a service. We believe cybersecurity as a service is going to be the predominant way that organizations consume cybersecurity within the next several years.

We found out that a lot of organisations don’t have the right tools or staffing needed to stop or curb cyberattacks. Many in-house security teams simply can’t keep up with the fast pace of changing attacks, and this issue is not just in Nigeria. And, it is not just in West Africa.

It is a global issue whereby organizations need updated security tools along with an additional layer of detection and response services from experts who are trained to handle attacks at every step of the attack chain. Because attacks are a 24/7 operation, organizations need a team of trained analysts constantly monitoring and responding to their environment.

Now you are advocating that organisations should outsource their cybersecurity needs to compete with globally renowned firms like Sophos, the dearth in skills is mostly witnessed in Nigeria or is it a global issue?

Also, Sophos do release reports which atimes showcase scary figures, what are the yardsticks you use in measuring the cybersecurity incidents?

Yes, outsourcing gives organisations the opportunity to focus their staff on other sets of responsibilities and their core business We have a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service that fuses machine learning with human analysis for an evolved, innovative approach to proactive security protection, and combines Sophos’ top-rated endpoint protection and data-driven XDR with a world-class team of experts to counteract and prevent threats.

Sophos MDR is available to businesses of all sizes, including the small and mid-sized organizations that have struggled in accessing traditional services designed for enterprises.

Sophos Intercept X with XDR combines anti-ransomware technology, deep learning artificial intelligence, exploit prevention, and active adversary mitigations to stop attacks.

Like I mentioned earlier, 66% of organizations we surveyed globally for our 2023 annual report were hit by ransomware. Our global survey also shows that when organizations paid a ransom to get their data decrypted, they ended up additionally doubling their recovery costs ($750,000 in recovery costs versus $375,000 for organizations that used backups to get data back). Moreover, paying the ransom usually meant longer recovery times, with 45% of those organizations that used backups recovering within a week, compared to 39% of those that paid the ransom.

Nigeria is an emerging country with a dynamic economy. New enterprises are created every day. These organizations need to be supported against more and more sophisticated attacks using AI for instance. They don’t have necessary the experts internally. A skilled managed service team would be able to handle the situation and deploy the adapted tools in case of attacks.

​Comparing the figures from these reports what do you foresee as the future of IT firms in Africa?

In our recent Active Adversary Report for Business Leaders, published in April, we  analyzed data from more than 150 Sophos Incident Response (IR) cases. We found that the most common causes of attacks were unpatched vulnerabilities and compromised credentials. The threat environment has grown exponentially in volume and complexity. For most organizations, the days of going at it alone are well behind them. However, there are tools and services available to businesses that can alleviate some of the defensive burden, allowing them to focus on their core business priorities.

​Sophos has over time created ​awareness, statistics ​and warnings concerning cyber security, but emerging markets seem not to be catching up yet. Could it be that trust is lacking among these organisations? Can they trust Sophos?

​In Nigeria, we operate within the policies and regulations that guide cybersecurity solution provisioning in accordance to international standards.  So​,​ in terms of transparency, there are ​ ​standardized compliances by third parties that providers must abide by.

We comply to the ISO – International ​S​tandard Organisation’s guidelines. We are also GDPR compliant, and in Nigeria it’s called NDPR – which regulates the amount of user data we are allowed to interface with and to keep​.​ You mentioned a critical factor: the trust.

Trust is built over time. These compliance​ and enforcement regulations​ have helped to build trust. ​

How much investment has Sophos made in this regard? And what is the level of partnership you have with the regulators to ensure sensitization for understanding of developments in the cyber security​?

​We have done critical partnerships with some of the government agencies and we are still in talks with some of them. We are​ working to form strategic alliances to standardize​ frameworks ​that ​will ​impact,​ not just businesses​,​ ​but whole vertical markets. In some cases, we choose a blanket framework approach and in others we’ll have a strategic framework. 

​We are investing in these different kinds of partnerships because they help us to enhance industry compliance. ​For instance, we have a customer is developing a cyber​​security framework​ for the financial sector to better secure customers and the institutions themselves. ​We expect to have similar frameworks for the manufacturing and education sectors, or for any sector that is IT driven. 

​Can you tell us some of your solutions for the Nigerian market?

We have several solutions: Sophos endpoint security stops ransomware, phishing and advanced malware attacks in their tracks. Sophos combines the industry’s leading malware detection and exploit protection with extended detection and response (XDR) to secure customers.

Powerful AI using deep learning along with managed threat detection services will protect against both new and old threats. Sophos Endpoint has been named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) for the 13th consecutive year.

In addition, Sophos MDR provides advanced cybersecurity services from a team of Sophos experts 24/7. Sophos has 550,000 customers globally in different sectors: government, financial, education, manufacturing, services, and more. 

How affordable are your solutions? Can SMBs afford them?

We provide advanced cybersecurity solutions to organizations of all sizes, including cybersecurity-as-a-service to organizations needing fully-managed, turnkey security solutions.

Customers can also manage their cybersecurity directly with Sophos’ security operations platform or use a hybrid approach by supplementing their in-house teams with Sophos’ services, including threat hunting and remediation.