The move underscores Interswitch’s ongoing contribution to strengthening public sector payment infrastructure and supporting Treasury Single Account (TSA) collections in Nigeria.

It also reflects the Federal Government’s sustained push to improve transparency, enhance revenue assurance, and enable real-time visibility into collections across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

Through its integration with the RevOP platform, Interswitch continues to enable secure, end-to-end processing of payments initiated via the portal.

Transactions are seamlessly routed into the TSA framework, ensuring compliance with Federal Government financial regulations while supporting efficient and accountable revenue management.

Leveraging its robust payment infrastructure, Interswitch facilitates multiple payment channels, including card and digital payments, delivering a seamless and reliable experience for citizens, businesses, and government agencies fulfilling their payment obligations.

Speaking on the development, Muyiwa Asagba, managing director, INCLUSIO at Interswitch, said the company remains committed to supporting government-led financial reforms through secure and efficient payment solutions.

“Interswitch is proud to continue supporting the Federal Government’s drive toward greater transparency and efficiency in public revenue management. Our role on the RevOP platform reflects our commitment to delivering secure, seamless, and compliant payment infrastructure that enables all stakeholders to meet their obligations with confidence,” he said.

Interswitch’s continued role on the platform builds on its longstanding experience in supporting critical national payment infrastructure and collaborating with regulatory and financial institutions to drive digital transformation across Nigeria’s public sector.

Its infrastructure is designed to ensure high transaction uptime, real-time processing, and secure data handling, all essential for effective public revenue collection.

By deepening its participation on the RevOP platform, Interswitch further strengthens its position as a trusted partner within Nigeria’s evolving digital payments ecosystem, while continuing to support initiatives that promote fiscal transparency, operational efficiency, and sustainable governance across government institutions.

Bada’s appointment follows Zedcrest’s acquisition of RMB Nigeria Stockbrokers and aligns with its strategic vision to deepen market capabilities as it continues to deliver innovative, client-focused solutions that drive growth and strengthen its market position.

Adedayo Amzat, the group managing director, Zedcrest Group who made the announcement at a media parley held at the Zedcrest Head Office in Lagos, noted that the appointment will now be vetted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to him,

“Bada’s appointment reflects Zedcrest’s commitment to deepening its expertise in securities trading and delivering superior execution, advisory, and wealth creation opportunities for our clients. It also reinforces our ambition to build a best-in-class stockbroking business that is responsive to evolving market dynamics.”

Also commenting, Babatunde Sanda, the chairman of the Zedcrest Board,  expressed confidence in the appointment, noting that Bada’s leadership will be instrumental in unlocking new opportunities and delivering sustained value for stakeholders.

He added,

“We are confident that Simbiat brings the discipline, professionalism, and strategic insight required to strengthen Zedcrest’s position in the equities market.”

Simbiat Bada is a certified investment professional with nearly a decade of experience spanning securities trading, asset management, sales, and business development. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the American University of Nigeria, Yola, and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Lagos. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) and a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAN).

Prior to joining Zedcrest Securities, she held key roles at Vetiva Securities and WSTC Financial Services Limited, where she leveraged her expertise in trading, operations, and wealth management to drive performance and support business growth.

As part of its long-term expansion strategy, Zedcrest had successfully acquired RMB Nigeria Stockbrokers in 2024, which was subsequently rebranded as its stockbroking arm, Zedcrest Securities.

This move strengthened the company’s presence in the equities market, enhanced its trading capabilities, and expanded its offerings across the capital markets value chain.

Founded in 2013, Zedcrest Group offers its diverse clientele a broad range of financial solutions, which include Asset Management, Investment Banking, Securities, and Financing. These services are provided through its subsidiaries: Zedcrest Investment Managers (Zedcrest Wealth), Zedcrest Global Markets, Zedcrest Securities, Zedcrest Capital, and Zedvance Finance.  

With over $360 billion committed, PIDA represents not just a pipeline of projects, but a blueprint to unlock regional integration, industrialisation, and long-term economic growth across Africa.

This unprecedented scale of ambition, however, places delivery capability under the microscope. As governments accelerate infrastructure investment, new research from Project Management Institute (PMI) warns that the region faces a 57% talent gap in construction project professionals by 2035, one of the highest growth rates globally.

Demand for construction project professionals across Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to rise from about 260,000 in 2025 to more than 410,000 by 2035, leaving a shortfall of nearly 150,000 professionals.

The challenge is part of a broader global trend, with PMI estimating that nearly 2.5 million additional construction project professionals will be needed worldwide by 2035 to meet growing infrastructure demand.

The report underscores a defining paradox in the region’s growth story: construction is one of the most powerful contributors to GDP expansion and job creation, yet it remains one of the most complex and waste-prone sectors of the economy.

PMI data shows that approximately 10% of global project investment is lost annually due to poor performance.

In a region deploying hundreds of billions of dollars into infrastructure, that inefficiency translates into billions in unrealised value.

“Construction sits at the heart of the region’s development ambitions,” says George Asamani, managing director, PMI Sub-Saharan Africa. “From transport corridors and energy infrastructure to housing, healthcare, and digital connectivity, projects are the vehicles through which we build our future. But without the right project management capabilities, we risk delays, cost overruns, rework, and, ultimately, lost value.”

That urgency is underscored by the pace of activity on the ground. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, large-scale infrastructure investment is accelerating, driven by demographic growth, urban expansion, and regional trade integration.

PMI’s research identifies the region as having the highest percentage growth in demand for construction project professionals globally.

Countries such as Ethiopia are leading this surge, with projected annual demand growth rates of 7.8%, among the highest worldwide.

Construction projects are inherently complex, involving one of the largest stakeholder mixes of any industry, including governments, regulators, contractors, financiers, communities, environmental bodies, and international partners, among others.

Misalignment among these groups can lead to inefficiencies, duplication, and costly rework. The report highlights that inadequate communication and collaboration remain persistent challenges, often resulting in financial waste and subpar outcomes.

In an industry where design and scope changes are common, poor coordination between on-site and off-site teams can quickly escalate into delays and budget overruns.

“Construction is highly visible and deeply scrutinised,” Asamani adds. “Every bridge, hospital, or power plant carries public expectations. When projects go wrong, the impact is felt not just financially, but socially and politically. That is why professional project management is not a luxury, it is what safeguards value, protects public funds and ensures infrastructure delivers its intended impact.”

While construction continues to fuel GDP growth across Sub-Saharan Africa, it has historically lagged behind other industries in productivity and technology adoption.

PMI’s research highlights digitalisation, including Building Information Modelling (BIM), digital twins, and artificial intelligence, as critical levers to unlock efficiency, improve transparency, and reduce costly rework and waste.

Employers report shortages in core project management competencies such as scheduling, planning, and resource optimisation, alongside essential power skills including communication, collaborative leadership, and stakeholder engagement.

At the same time, infrastructure financing is increasingly tied to ESG standards, carbon management, and responsible procurement, creating demand for project leaders who can integrate sustainability into delivery from day one.

Closing the construction talent gap will require more than accelerated recruitment; it demands a deliberate strategy to retain, develop, and elevate project professionals over the long term.

PMI’s research underscores that improving working conditions, investing consistently in professional development, and creating structured career pathways for emerging and mid-career professionals are essential to building a resilient talent pipeline.

Specialised training and certifications, such as Construction Professional (PMI-CP), are helping equip professionals with the skills required to manage the growing complexity of modern infrastructure projects, alongside thought leadership and professional networks that enable practitioners to continuously strengthen their capabilities.

“If we want infrastructure to be a true engine of GDP growth, we must professionalise the way we deliver it. We cannot afford to treat training as a cost. It is an investment in national competitiveness,” Asamani concludes.

The move is a strategic play to align Africa’s largest domestic card scheme with international best practices in cybersecurity, interoperability, and cross-border payment infrastructure.

Strengthening the Shield: The PCI SSC Alliance

By joining the PCI SSC – the global authority that sets the rules for protecting cardholder data, Verve is positioning itself at the table where global security standards are drafted.

The Goal: To ensure that banks, processors, and merchants using Verve meet the most stringent requirements to prevent fraud and data breaches.

The Impact: Beyond compliance, Verve will now provide an African perspective to the council, ensuring that global security protocols account for the unique dynamics of the continent’s digital economy.

Seamless Transactions: The NEXO Standards Integration

Verve’s entry into the NEXO Standards community focuses on technical “language.” NEXO provides universal messaging protocols that allow payment terminals, banks, and processors to communicate regardless of borders.

Interoperability: This membership will simplify how Verve cards interact with international payment systems.

Scalability: It accelerates the speed at which Verve can roll out new payment acceptance innovations for merchants and acquirers, particularly for cross-border trade.

Speaking on the dual membership, Vincent Ogbunude, managing director of Verve International, noted that the move reinforces the brand’s mission to provide “future-ready” solutions.

“Security, trust, and seamless interoperability remain central to Verve’s mission. Joining the PCI Security Standards Council and the NEXO Standards community strengthens our alignment with global best practices and enhances our ability to deliver secure, scalable, and future-ready payment solutions,” Ogbunude stated.

What This Means for the African Market

For issuers and merchants, Verve’s global alignment reduces technical barriers and operational risks. As Africa’s digital commerce landscape becomes increasingly integrated with global markets, having a homegrown scheme that speaks the “global language” of security and messaging is critical for long-term competitiveness.

Techeconomy’s perceptive is that Verve’s membership in these bodies is a clear signal that it is looking beyond being a local champion.

By adopting PCI and NEXO standards, Verve is removing the technical friction that often hampers domestic schemes when they try to scale internationally.

For the Nigerian fintech ecosystem, this raises the bar for security expectations and moves the industry closer to a unified, global standard of operation.

This milestone marks a strategic alignment between two industry giants united by one mission: to advance Africa’s digital transformation through homegrown innovation and world-class distribution.

With this partnership, Zinox Technologies will leverage TD Africa’s robust distribution network and regional expertise to expand the reach of its cutting-edge ICT products and enterprise solutions across Africa.

The collaboration underscores TD Africa’s commitment to bridging the gap between global standards and African innovation.

“This partnership isn’t just about distribution; it’s about redefining what African technology can achieve,” said Chioma Chimere, coordinating managing director, TD Africa. “By welcoming Zinox into our family of brands, we’re spotlighting the power of local innovation to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best in the world. Together, we’re building a new story for Africa, one of excellence, access, and empowerment.”

From Zinox’s perspective, the partnership represents both a strategic expansion and a homecoming.

“Collaborating with TD Africa gives Zinox the scale, reach, and synergy to transform how African businesses experience technology,” said Kelechi Eze-Okonta, managing director, Zinox Technologies. “TD Africa’s unrivalled network and reputation will help us take our solutions to every corner of the continent, enabling enterprises and individuals to harness the full power of digital technology made in Africa, for Africa.”

This alliance comes at a time of rising demand for resilient ICT infrastructure and locally driven innovation across Africa.

TD Africa, already a trusted partner to global brands such as HP, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Starlink and Cisco, continues to reinforce its position as the backbone of Africa’s technology ecosystem, empowering individuals and businesses with technology and innovation.

• Google builds on nearly two decades of partnership with infrastructure, learning and innovation and skills announcements, including: 
• Four strategic subsea cable connectivity hubs in the north, south, east and west regions of Africa – creating new digital corridors within Africa and between Africa and the world.
• Free one-year subscriptions to Google AI Pro plan for college students (18 or older) across the continent – starting with Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
• $9 million for the coming year for African universities and research institutions.

Google has just announced a new set of investments in Africa, reaffirming its nearly two-decade commitment to the continent’s digital transformation.

The latest commitments focus on empowering Africa’s next generation through AI, unlocking opportunities and expanding on the innovation capacity of young Africans.

They cover internet connectivity; youth-led learning and innovation; and skills training.

Connectivity

Google is announcing four strategic subsea cable connectivity hubs in the north, south, east and west regions of Africa.

This investment creates new digital corridors within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world – ultimately deepening international connectivity and resilience, as well as spurring economic growth and opportunity.

This is the latest addition to Google’s Africa Connect infrastructure program, which sees the company build vital connectivity across the continent: including the Google Cloud region in Johannesburg serving users across the continent, the Equiano cable running along the entire western seaboard of the continent, and Umoja, the first fiber optic route to directly connect Africa with Australia (running through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa).

Google’s investments to date have enabled 100 million Africans to access the internet for the first time, and the Equiano cable alone is expected to increase real GDP this year in Nigeria, South Africa and Namibia by an estimated $11.1 billion, $5.8 billion and $290 million, respectively.

Youth-led learning and innovation

Enabling Africa’s young people to learn, innovate and lead is critical to Africa’s development and economic growth.

That’s why Google is today also announcing free one-year subscriptions to Google AI Pro plan for college students (18 or older) across the continent – starting with Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

The subscription provides advanced AI to students – from Deep Research, which helps save time with custom research reports and in-depth information from hundreds of sources across the web, to Gemini 2.5 Pro, which provides help with assignments or writing.

Building skills and solutions

Equipping people with AI skills is critical. To date, Google has trained 7 million Africans and plans to train an additional 3 million students, young people, and teachers by 2030.

Google is also bolstering local capacity by providing African universities and research institutions with over $17 million in funding, curriculum, training and compute and access to advanced AI models over the past four years – with an additional $9 million planned for the coming year.

On the announcements, Alex Okosi, managing director for Google in Africa, said:

“Africa’s digital economy holds immense potential, and it will be driven by the talent and ingenuity of its next generation. Today’s announcements, spanning AI education, advanced tools for students, and expanded connectivity, are a unified investment into the upward trajectory of the continent. We are committed to providing the foundational infrastructure, the cutting-edge tools, and the financial support necessary for Africa’s youth to innovate, lead, and build a thriving digital world.”

Google’s long-term partnership

These announcements are the latest chapter in Google’s long-term investment in the continent, which has delivered on $1 billion of investment.

Google’s sustained commitment to Africa has included driving connectivity; training more than 7 million people across the continent in digital skills to support the future workforce; and supporting 153 startups from 17 African nations through the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa, helping them raise $300 million and create 3,500 jobs.

AI creates an unprecedented opportunity to benefit everyone, and Google is committed to making that a reality for people, businesses and communities across Africa.

Today’s announcements are another example of how Google is continuing to expand connectivity, increase product access and skills across the continent and enable African-led innovation – with more to come.

Against the backdrop of unprecedented demographic growth, transformative technological shifts, and Africa’s expanding role in global markets, Allison Worldwide; Black House Media (BHM), Africa’s leading public relations firm andThe King’s Trust is co-hosting the second edition of the exclusive Africa Breakfast Conversations on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80) in New York City.

Scheduled for Friday, 26 September 2025 at the World Trade Center, this high-level invite-only exclusive event will bring together heads of business, policymakers, innovators, philanthropists, and cultural leaders from across Africa and the diaspora.

The event will explore how African-led innovation, strategic partnerships, and inclusive growth strategies can accelerate progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

With the theme,  African Innovation: Building Together for Sustainable Development,  the event will feature panel discussions, thought-provoking keynote addresses, and high-impact networking sessions spotlighting the many dimensions of Africa’s growth story  – from big business and breakthrough technologies to the creative economy, pop culture, soft power, and geopolitics.

“Africa’s innovation story is no longer emerging, it’s here. This gathering at UNGA 80 is about moving from conversation to collaboration, ensuring that Africa’s youthful energy, creativity, and expertise are met with the resources and partnerships to build sustainable futures.” – Claudine Moore, managing director, Africa at Allison.

Following a successful inaugural edition, the second edition, in partnership with The King’s Trust, will also underscore the pivotal role of youth empowerment, skills development, and leadership opportunities in driving sustainable progress.

Bringing together African and diaspora leaders, innovators, and changemakers, the gathering will showcase expertise, innovation, and African-led solutions at the heart of global conversations.

“This is more than an event; it’s a platform for action. The Africa Breakfast Conversations harness the power of dialogue to create connections that lead to investment, innovation, and impact, bridging Africa and the global economy in meaningful ways ”- Ayeni Adekunle, founder of BHM. 

“We believe in the boundless potential of Africa’s young people. By working together to help young people gain skills and work experience, we can empower the next generation to find meaningful work and set up their own businesses, which will shape Africa’s – and the world’s – future.” – Will Straw, CEO, King’s Trust International.

The Africa Breakfast Conversations align with UNGA 80’s focus on multilateral solutions for sustainable development, placing Africa’s voices and visions at the center of global decision-making. Click here to register to attend

The grand launch event, held at the newly inaugurated office, featured a guided tour of the facility along with goodwill messages from partners and customers.

Located in Opebi, Ikeja, the new PalmPay office will provide a dedicated space for real-time customer assistance.

The center will serve as a hub for seamless issue resolution, product education, and swift customer service.

Customers can already access PalmPay’s customer service through multiple support channels including live chat within the app, phone calls, social media and email.

With the introduction of the experience center, PalmPay is taking customer service a step further by offering users a physical touchpoint where they can receive personalized support.

This milestone marks a significant step in PalmPay’s expansion strategy in Nigeria, with plans to launch additional customer experience centers in key states across the country, bringing PalmPay even closer to its users nationwide.

“At PalmPay, our customers are at the core of everything we do,” said Chika Nwosu, managing director at PalmPay. “The launch of our experience center reflects our commitment to deliver more support, more convenience, and more innovation to our customers. This office will ensure that every user has access to personalised support and a deeper understanding of our platform’s offerings.”

PalmPay was recently ranked among the top three fintech brands in customer experience, earning a score of 81.6 in KPMG’s 2024 West Africa Banking Industry Customer Experience Survey. This recognition further reinforces PalmPay’s position as a leader in the fintech industry.

PalmPay remains committed to fostering financial inclusion by ensuring its users enjoy secure, fast, and convenient financial services.

The launch of the office is a step towards strengthening customer relationships and driving digital adoption across Nigeria.

As 6G is the first AI-native generation of wireless communications, data sources such as a 6G city-scale digital twin will be vital for training other elements of the network such as the 6G AI-Native Air Interface.

6G City-Scale Digital Twin

In 2022, VIAVI announced support for research at the Institute for Wireless Internet of Things and the Open6G cooperative research center at Northeastern University, as part of the VIAVI 6G Forward Program.

A key aspect of the research was large-scale RF propagation channel modeling based on AI and ML technologies to develop a city-scale digital twin of a 6G network.

The digital twin research has expanded to include:

• Use of AI/ML to augment ray tracing for radio frequency (RF) propagation modeling to drive the digital twin
• Conducting real-world measurement campaigns in the Northeastern Boston campus using the VIAVI Ranger rugged RF capture and playback instrument
• Incorporating higher-layer KPIs in the digital twin, to more effectively model effects of network conditions on application performance.

“Our research collaboration with Northeastern University has led to breakthroughs in the use of AI/ML for radio propagation modeling,” said Dr. Ian Wong, CTO Office, VIAVI. “We believe this research is critical in enabling large-scale network digital twins, which VIAVI is well poised to deliver given our leading network emulation solutions in the lab and network monitoring and optimization solutions in the field, gathering data from actual operator networks.”

“At Northeastern’s Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT), we have been using VIAVI’s state-of-the-art testing and measurement equipment to model and deploy high-fidelity digital twins of real-world wireless networks on our Open RAN Digital Twinning platform, Colosseum,” said Professor Tommaso Melodia, Director of WIoT at Northeastern University. “This will facilitate the research, development, and experimentation of AI-driven solutions for 5G and beyond networks in a risk-free digital-twinned world with hardware in the loop.”

6G AI-Native Air Interface (AI-AI)

The AI-Native Air Interface (AI-AI) has appeared as a shift in the conventional methods of developing, standardizing, and commercializing communication technologies with the goal of effectively supplying data to applications while addressing communication problems and hardware limitations.

In the physical layer of wireless communications, the neural receiver concept suggests replacing traditional signal processing blocks with trained AI models.

To enable comprehensive testing of neural receivers, VIAVI has developed and demonstrated its own receiver as part of an end-to-end test and training environment.

The base station employs an AI-aided constellation design, where the modulation block is replaced with a neural network to design custom constellation for the receiver.

The VIAVI in-house developed neural receiver is generalizable over various channel models and modulations, delay and doppler, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and other conditions, which is vital for deployment in practical systems.

VIAVI used open-source and in-house libraries to implement the transceiver architecture.

“VIAVI continues to explore and develop groundbreaking future generations of wireless technology, and we are at the frontier of AI-native 6G,” said Dr. Stephen Wang, managing director, VIAVI Marconi Labs. “From neural receivers to rate-splitting multiple access for semantic networks, our 6G research helps the industry create networks that dynamically adapt to different environments and conditions. We look forward to working with research labs and network equipment manufacturers to accelerate development of these technologies.”

According to the 2023 Report on Access to Financial Services in Nigeria, financial inclusion continues to expand and has so far been fueled by marginal growth among the country’s banked population and major gains in non-bank formal adoption.

Although approximately 40 million adult Nigerians remain formally excluded, formal financial inclusion was said to have grown from 56% in 2020 to 64% in 2023.

In the last four years, fintech companies in Nigeria have played a vital role in closing this gap, bringing financial services to the country’s unbanked and driving economic growth. Their successes, however, have not come without challenges.

Following the penetration of digital payment platforms in Africa, a fraud epidemic has plagued the fintech ecosystem in Nigeria, with Mobile, Web and POS being the most exploited channels by fraudsters in the country in 2023.

According to the 2023 NIBSS Annual Fraud Landscape report, incidents of “Fraud loss via Internet Banking increased by 325% between 2022 and 2023.”

The rise of digital payment platforms in Nigeria has increased the potential for cyber fraud, with fintech companies now forced to balance between making payment apps user-friendly and prioritising users’ safety to stem increased cyber fraud.

Fintech Side of the Coin

To address the fraud epidemic, the Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR) plans to unveil a fraud reporting framework sometime this year, while fintech platforms such as PalmPay continue to take the initiative to reevaluate their in-app safety features to protect their users from the activities of fraudsters.

Since launching in Nigeria in 2019 under a Mobile Money Operator (MMO) licence by CBN, PalmPay has grown to over 30 million users as part of its payment ecosystem.

In building a user-friendly app, PalmPay has also sought to foster a secure financial ecosystem by integrating safety features into its app so that the millions of users who transact with the app do so in a safe and trusted environment.

In general, PalmPay employs a closed-loop risk management system that involves continuous monitoring, analysis, and response to fraud threats and allows it to detect and prevent security risks in real-time and reduce the potential impact of fraud.

In particular, to reduce incidents of fraud, protect their users from fraudsters, and provide a safe banking environment, PalmPay binds their users’ phones to the app and has an auto-logout and biometrics feature to confirm users’ identity.

PalmPay Safety Features

Chika Nwosu, managing director, PalmPay, said the reason why the fintech platform has witnessed astonishing growth in four years was because “We prioritise the safety and security of our users.” He said they’ve been able to achieve this by “marrying security and safety with the customer experience to create a balance.”

Because it understands that curtailing fraud is a two-way street, PalmPay runs a Wallet Safety Workshop to teach users of its app and POS machines various security topics covering payment security and common security issues in daily life, such as password management, fraud detection, phishing and risk identification.

The safety workshop underscores PalmPay’s understanding of user security as an important part of curtailing fraud and encourages its users to ensure that they always secure their wallets using the several built-in safety features in its app.

A recent example was a series of campaigns encouraging its users to link their wallets with their BVN or NIN, following the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for users of fintech platforms to link their wallets with their BVN or NIN.

To encourage the users to meet the CBN deadline of January 31, 2024, PalmPay introduced an incentive payment system where up to N500 was paid to users who got ahead of the deadline and validated their wallet information.

PalmPay users have several options for protecting themselves against fraudsters such as the two-factor verification process that makes it difficult for fraudsters to gain access to users’ apps without spooking them.

In the first half of 2023, millions of users linked their secure email addresses to their PalmPay app. With this feature, PalmPay users effortlessly receive OTPs for their in-app login.

The PalmPay app has a device management feature that allows users to manage trusted devices and remove untrusted devices. When logging in on an untrusted device, users complete a comprehensive security verification process that involves inputting an OTP and their PIN to ensure security.

Role of PalmPay Users

While fintech companies play a role in protecting users from cyber fraud, the rising fraud incidents in Nigeria can sometimes be due to poor digital and financial literacy, but most especially the failure of many victims to report an attack.

In a report last year, Temitayo Oduwole, head of IT and Payments, PalmPay, observed that customers do not take prompt action in incidents of fraud and that “Only 33 per cent report the same day or take the necessary right action on the same day.”

Effective investigation into incidents of fraud begins when the user reports to their bank that fraud has occurred. However, fraud, if not reported within the hour the crime occurred, allows criminals to move the stolen funds to ‘safe’ places.

Precaution remains the best remedy to protect oneself from cyber fraud. Anti-fraud expert Tosin Adenekan warned fintech users against trusting strangers with their personal information when performing digital transactions.

According to Mrs Adenekan, “Users of fintech platforms owe it to themselves to follow standard safety precautions to avoid being defrauded by cyber criminals.

“Do not allow strangers such as POS operators to handle personal ATM cards. This is because cybercriminals often posing as helpful POS operators can exploit this to observe PIN entries and distract card owners, ultimately swapping ATM cards.”

She urged fintech users to “take steps to reduce incidents of fraud on their wallets by creating strong passwords, enabling the two-factor authentication features on their fintech app, monitoring their wallets for unauthorised transactions, and protecting their personal login information when in public from prying eyes.”

Other steps to take include “regularly updating their apps, setting limits for their wallets, staying alert for phishing attempts, getting the proper financial education, using secure internet connection, being aware of pop-ups and fraudulent emails, and ensuring that operating systems and internet connections are up to date.”

To prevent falling victim to cyber fraud, Mrs Adenekan urged fintech users to adhere to these safety guidelines and “don’t trust everything on the internet.”