TEXEM UK Warns of Emerging Cyber-security Threats in Nigeria

Nigerian organisations have been warned of emerging cyber-security threats that may affect their organisational existence unless tackled with strategic data-driven solutions.

In a statement on TEXEM’s website, its Director (Special Projects), Caroline Lucas Wednesday, said the firm urged the organisations to avail themselves of its programme for effective and efficient solutions.

The programme comes up at The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, on July 20 and 21.
The statement identified 17 challenges facing Nigerian organisations while assuring the UK firm would make its expertise available in tackling these challenges.
It said the central focus of the coming programme would be ‘Data-Driven Decision Making For Effective And Efficient Achievement of Organisational Goals’ and will help optimise how organisations are led, compete, and ultimately unlock scarce value.

According to the statement, the programme is actionable and will proffer solutions to the contextual realities organisations currently face in Nigeria.
It said challenges organisations in Nigeria presently face include
the unprecedented worldwide pandemic occasioned by the novel coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine war.
TEXEM also mentioned the high level of physical and cyber insecurity, spiralling inflation, and supply chain disruption.
“Conventional organisational models are failing, and effectively inspiring a remote workforce remains challenging. The others are low national cohesion, dramatic forex fluctuations, low or negative real GDP (inflation-adjusted) and, by extension, low customer demand,” it explained.

It added, “Also, dwindling government and business revenue, higher costs, low morale of staff and the citizen, diminishing productivity and low level of national competitiveness when benchmarked with others.”
TEXEM listed additional challenges such as the high level of talent exodus and political unrest, the upcoming election in 2023 and likely changes in monetary and fiscal policies.

It said the forthcoming programme would equip leaders and participants with requisite strategic insights to stimulate innovative thinking further, encourage evidence-based decision-making and help organisations thrive despite Nigeria’s challenging operating context.
The outfit stressed that the programme was designed to meet the strategic leadership needs of executives rather than analysts looking to expand their technical skills.

“Through our services, TEXEM has collaborated with hundreds of organisations in the UK and Africa and helped them achieve their goals efficiently and effectively to overcome adversity and achieve prosperity,” the statement said.

Nigerian participants would overcome biases, make more confident decisions and have more successful organisational outcomes by availing themselves of opportunities to be derived through the programme, it stressed and added that the leaders would be more dynamic, responsive, and strategic and help their organisations outperform rivals.

TEXEM also mentioned that executives would learn to use data to do more with less.
“Nigerian leaders will optimise their leadership quotient through data-driven insights on how to inspire high-performance behaviour, facilitating retention and optimising performance. Leaders would learn from examples such as Google, Amazon and Starbucks, who have successfully harnessed data for effective and efficient achievement of goals,” the statement pointed out.

TEXEM further stated that participants would also learn the consequences of poor data utilisation, adding that “this programme aligns with the strategic intent of all Nigerian organisations’ goal of consistently achieving profitable growth. It would enhance all organisations’ ability to turn challenges into opportunities.”
A renowned faculty expected to deliver the two-day programme is Prof. Rodria Laline, the founding director of the Harvard University Maximise Your Board’s Potential Programme.

Laline is also a former visiting professor of Insead, IMD and IESE and the Co-Founder of Global Chipcard Alliance (the company that creates chips for ATM cards).
She is the former CEO Of Global Research And Development, an organisation that collaborated with IBM, ING, Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment Corporation, Honeywell Bull, Elsevier Science, Oracle Corporation, Siemens and Philips.

Laline is a board member of The Open Software Foundation and advised the prime minister of the Netherlands.
“My perspective about the programme is that it has been very interactive and timely considering the current economic landscape and the challenges organisations face presently. And one thing I also like about the programme is that it is very interactive,” said Mr Sunday Asade, Chief Operations Officer of AG LEVENTIS, regarding the programme.

He added, “We are having executives bring their experiences into the case study, and then we are looking at how we could benefit from this and apply them to our organisation. And in terms of interaction, I think it’s an opportunity to bring different executives from different organisations together to look at ways in which you could manage the current economic recession, especially effectively inspiring people because people are our critical assets. And for me, I think the programme has been able to fulfil the aspiration and objective I set out to gain from the programme. So overall, I think the programme is worth it.”

Seplat’s New Energy Director, Effiong Okon, added, “It is my first time doing a local programme in Nigeria, and it’s quite interesting. The first thing I liked about it is the diversity of the participants. I also like our edgy conversations with Prof Christian and Dr Alim Abubakre. It’s quite thought-provoking.”