The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Tayo Aduloju, says electricity distribution companies and the public sector are still lagging behind in terms of digital adoption.
Aduloju stated this in Lagos on Tuesday at a biennial lecture organised by the Chartered Institute of Directors in honour of its President and Chairman of the Governing Council, Tijjani Borodo.
According to him, while those in the private sector are doing better in terms of digital resilience, the power utility companies, as well as ministries and agencies of the government, are still dragging their feet.
Touching on the topic ‘Building Digital Resilience: Governance, Risk and Compliance’, Aduloju expressed concerns that after about 25 years of digitisation in Nigeria, the DisCos and the private sector are still behind in digital adaptation.
He stated that despite digital energy, Nigeria is still struggling with smart meter installation.
He noted, “When you look at the urgency to become digitally resilient, what you find is that those of us operating in what you call companies that are more under digital stress tend to be more resilient. And then you find that companies that basically are playing in banking, consumer, media, and other sectors tend to show, at least, a medium to high level of resilience.
He continued, “The ones that don’t come along quickly—the public sector and power utilities, tend to be dragging their feet. Even though, for example, digital payment systems and digital energy systems have been here for 25 years, we are still discussing smart meters around the country.
“So there seems to be a challenge where government is the slowest actor in terms of digital resilience. This is a problem because the government is under attack. As I said, 58 per cent of government operations are under constant attack in the world by cyber threats.
This is not good, advocating that the government should fully digitise its operations,” added Adepoju.
The NESG boss told chief executive officers and boards to pay attention to cyber risks: As we move towards this new digital world, where we are connecting every sector of the economy to digital, we must be ready for securing the future, for strategic cybersecurity response, and for our capabilities to match the state of the threats…
“Generally, organisations are showing a lower level of strategic readiness and capability to respond when these major threats happen. And this is a cause for worry if we are unprepared for what now looks like the inevitable.”
Aduloju stressed cyber threats had increased, especially with artificial intelligence, asking companies to train their veterans and incorporate the new generation into their boards.
The Chairman of the occasion, Anthony Idigbe, posited that digital resilience could help to serve society and customers without the involvement of middlemen.
Idigbe stressed that artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming boards’ accountability to shareholders, saying boards building digital resilience is also a way to be accountable.
At the event, the CIOD President, Borodo, unveiled the institute’s new logo while presenting awards of honour to deserving individuals and organisations.
Borodo, whose tenure expires in a few weeks, said he and his team had succeeded in promoting the Chartered Institute of Directors, urging the coming executive to raise the bar.
