Chief Executive Officer of Taxaide Technologies Limited, Bidemi Olumide, speaks with ARINZE NWAFOR on managing a technology-driven business, particularly in tax and compliance, and how leading Nigerian companies are leveraging advanced financial technology solutions to maintain a competitive edgeWhat sets a company that uses technology to address its data processing challenges apart from one that does not?The difference between a tech-enabled company and a non-tech-enabled company is their effectiveness and efficiency. It is in whether they are doing the right things and doing them well. A company that leverages technology in its data processing operations gains speed, accuracy, and strategic intelligence that a manual-process business simply cannot match.When you automate data handling, you eliminate the latency between a business event and your awareness of it. Decisions that would have taken days now happen in hours. Errors that were endemic to human processing become exceptional rather than routine.But the deeper advantage is insight. Technology does not just process data faster; it surfaces patterns, anomalies, and opportunities that no team of analysts working manually could reliably detect at scale.For firms in the compliance and tax space, this is the difference between reactive risk management and proactive governance.The companies we work with that have embraced data technology are not merely more efficient; they operate with a fundamentally different quality of management information. That is what ultimately separates high-performance organisations from those that are perpetually firefighting.How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. What sets a company that uses technology to address its data processing challenges apart from one that does not?The difference between a tech-enabled company and a non-tech-enabled company is their effectiveness and efficiency. It is in whether they are doing the right things and doing them well. A company that leverages technology in its data processing operations gains speed, accuracy, and strategic intelligence that a manual-process business simply cannot match.When you automate data handling, you eliminate the latency between a business event and your awareness of it. Decisions that would have taken days now happen in hours. Errors that were endemic to human processing become exceptional rather than routine.But the deeper advantage is insight. Technology does not just process data faster; it surfaces patterns, anomalies, and opportunities that no team of analysts working manually could reliably detect at scale.For firms in the compliance and tax space, this is the difference between reactive risk management and proactive governance.The companies we work with that have embraced data technology are not merely more efficient; they operate with a fundamentally different quality of management information. That is what ultimately separates high-performance organisations from those that are perpetually firefighting.How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The difference between a tech-enabled company and a non-tech-enabled company is their effectiveness and efficiency. It is in whether they are doing the right things and doing them well. A company that leverages technology in its data processing operations gains speed, accuracy, and strategic intelligence that a manual-process business simply cannot match.When you automate data handling, you eliminate the latency between a business event and your awareness of it. Decisions that would have taken days now happen in hours. Errors that were endemic to human processing become exceptional rather than routine.But the deeper advantage is insight. Technology does not just process data faster; it surfaces patterns, anomalies, and opportunities that no team of analysts working manually could reliably detect at scale.For firms in the compliance and tax space, this is the difference between reactive risk management and proactive governance.The companies we work with that have embraced data technology are not merely more efficient; they operate with a fundamentally different quality of management information. That is what ultimately separates high-performance organisations from those that are perpetually firefighting.How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. When you automate data handling, you eliminate the latency between a business event and your awareness of it. Decisions that would have taken days now happen in hours. Errors that were endemic to human processing become exceptional rather than routine.But the deeper advantage is insight. Technology does not just process data faster; it surfaces patterns, anomalies, and opportunities that no team of analysts working manually could reliably detect at scale.For firms in the compliance and tax space, this is the difference between reactive risk management and proactive governance.The companies we work with that have embraced data technology are not merely more efficient; they operate with a fundamentally different quality of management information. That is what ultimately separates high-performance organisations from those that are perpetually firefighting.How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. But the deeper advantage is insight. Technology does not just process data faster; it surfaces patterns, anomalies, and opportunities that no team of analysts working manually could reliably detect at scale.For firms in the compliance and tax space, this is the difference between reactive risk management and proactive governance.The companies we work with that have embraced data technology are not merely more efficient; they operate with a fundamentally different quality of management information. That is what ultimately separates high-performance organisations from those that are perpetually firefighting.How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. For firms in the compliance and tax space, this is the difference between reactive risk management and proactive governance.The companies we work with that have embraced data technology are not merely more efficient; they operate with a fundamentally different quality of management information. That is what ultimately separates high-performance organisations from those that are perpetually firefighting.How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The companies we work with that have embraced data technology are not merely more efficient; they operate with a fundamentally different quality of management information. That is what ultimately separates high-performance organisations from those that are perpetually firefighting.How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. How are leading Nigerian companies leveraging advanced financial technology tools to gain and sustain a competitive advantage?The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The leading Nigerian enterprises have moved well beyond simply digitising existing workflows. They are using real-time analytics platforms to monitor cash flow, tax exposure, and regulatory obligations on a continuous basis rather than periodically.They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. They are deploying API-driven integrations that connect Enterprise Resource Planning systems, banking platforms, and regulatory portals, so that financial data flows seamlessly from transaction to reporting with minimal manual intervention.We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. We are also seeing the most sophisticated firms use AI-assisted anomaly detection to surface compliance risks before they crystallise into penalties. Rather than waiting for an audit, they run continuous internal reviews against live data.In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. In the tax advisory space specifically, firms are using automation to handle high-volume routine filings, freeing their senior professionals to focus on higher-value advisory work.What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. What truly distinguishes the leaders, though, is not just the tools they have adopted; it is the data governance culture they have built around those tools. Technology without institutional discipline delivers very little long-term value.Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Taxtech has spent the past decade developing solutions for process automation and data security, including tools for automating tax and compliance functions. How has demand for these solutions evolved in Nigeria over that period?Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Ten years ago, when we began, the market was largely characterised by scepticism and inertia. The idea of automating tax filings or embedding process automation controls into enterprise workflows was, for most Nigerian businesses, an abstraction. The dominant conversation was about whether technology could be trusted, not how to implement it.We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. We spent a great deal of our early years justifying and educating rather than just selling. What has changed dramatically is the regulatory environment. The Nigeria Revenue Service and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service have both progressively moved toward mandatory electronic filing, real-time remittance monitoring, and digital taxpayer identification. That shift has forced the market to adapt.Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Companies that previously had the luxury of managing compliance manually no longer do.Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Simultaneously, the growth of financial services, fintech, and multinational expansion into Nigeria has created a sophisticated buyer who understands compliance risk and demands institutional-grade solutions.Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Today, the conversation is less about whether to automate and more about which solution to trust with mission-critical compliance infrastructure. That is a fundamentally better place to be, both for Taxtech and for the Nigerian economy.Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Our pipeline is stronger than it has ever been, and I believe we are still in the early stages of this market’s maturity.You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. You hosted the ‘6th Africa Data Security Conclave’ in November 2025 to mark a decade of Taxtech. How valuable is digital security, and what role will it play in the growth of firms in Nigeria’s next century of enterprise?Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Digital security is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset. That is the central message we sought to communicate at the 6th Conclave. For Africa’s enterprises entering their next century of growth, data security will be as fundamental to operational integrity as physical security was to the previous century.Related NewsApapa Customs record N323bn July revenue collectionTheparkpay unveils new appI’m not against Enyimba Economic City project — OttiThe difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The difference is that a breach today does not just disrupt operations; it can permanently destroy the customer trust and regulatory standing that took decades to build.We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. We are in an era where the value of an enterprise increasingly resides in its data: client records, intellectual property, financial models, and process intelligence. That data must be protected with the same rigour applied to physical and financial assets.For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. For firms in the financial services, tax, and professional services sectors, the stakes are even higher, because they are custodians of third-party data. A compromise is not just a corporate crisis; it is a betrayal of clients.The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The 6th Conclave was designed to elevate this conversation to the boardroom level across Africa, because too often data security remains siloed within IT departments.The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The firms that will thrive in Africa’s next century will be those that treat security governance as a board-level mandate, not a technical afterthought.What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. What emerging risks and opportunities should businesses anticipate as technology advances rapidly worldwide, particularly with the growth of artificial intelligence?The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The risks and opportunities arrive together, and companies that see only one side will be poorly positioned. On the opportunity side, AI is creating an unprecedented capacity for organisations to extract strategic intelligence from data at a fraction of the previous cost.In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. In tax and compliance, AI-assisted review can analyse thousands of transactions for regulatory risk markers in minutes. In financial management, predictive modelling can identify cash flow vulnerabilities well before they become critical.For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. For knowledge-intensive firms, AI is beginning to transform how expertise is packaged and delivered to clients.The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The risks, however, are equally significant. The same AI capabilities that benefit legitimate enterprises create new attack surfaces for fraud, data manipulation, and social engineering at scale.Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Deepfake-enabled authorisation fraud is already a documented threat in financial services globally. AI-generated disinformation can manipulate markets and regulatory perceptions.There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. There is also the risk of over-reliance – firms that automate processes without maintaining human oversight of the outputs can find that errors propagate at the same speed as the automation.My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. My counsel to business leaders in Africa is to approach AI adoption with structured intentionality: identify the specific business problems you are solving, build the governance frameworks before you scale the tools, and invest in the human capacity to interpret and challenge AI outputs, not just consume them.Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Drawing from your policy experience, what kind of government framework does Nigeria need to give local businesses a competitive advantage in enterprise technology?Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Nigeria needs a technology policy framework that is simultaneously enabling and structuring, not the false choice between heavy regulation and regulatory absence that has sometimes defined our approach.Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Let me be specific about three priorities. First, the government must accelerate data infrastructure investment. Reliable, affordable broadband connectivity and cloud infrastructure are the preconditions for enterprise technology adoption. Without that foundation, even the best applications cannot deliver their value. The government’s role here is both as a direct investor and as a facilitator of private sector deployment.Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Second, we need a modern, comprehensive data protection and cybersecurity framework with teeth. The Nigeria Data Protection Act is a meaningful step, but implementation and enforcement need pace. Nigerian firms competing globally need the credibility that comes from operating within a rigorously enforced regulatory environment.It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. It protects them commercially and signals to international partners that Nigerian data governance meets global standards.Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. Third, and this is perhaps the most strategic: the government must continue to invest seriously in technology talent development. We have extraordinary human capital in Nigeria and Africa.What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. What we need is a coordinated pipeline from secondary education through to postgraduate specialisation in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and AI.The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The firms that will define Nigeria’s enterprise technology leadership in 2050 will be built by people who are in high school today.The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them. The government, private sector, and institutions like ours have a shared obligation to equip them.