The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), is tackling sophisticated fraud schemes in financial services sector, including cross-border ransomware attacks on governments and businesses.
This, it is doing, through its ‘ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference 2025’. FITC stated that the conference, with the theme, ‘Securing Tomorrow: Cyber Resilience, Intelligent Defence and the Architecture of Trust in a Borderless World,’ would commence on October 22, at Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The MD/CEO of FITC, Dr. Chizor Malize, said: “Cybercrime has become one of the most urgent threats facing Africa’s digital economy. From sophisticated fraud schemes in the financial services sector to cross-border ransomware attacks on governments and businesses, the cost of cyber insecurity is mounting at an alarming pace.”
This year’s theme, “Securing Tomorrow: Cyber Resilience, Intelligent Defense and the Architecture of Trust in a Borderless World,” reflects the critical need to strengthen Africa’s cyber defenses as digital transformation accelerates across every sector, she said.
The African digital economy is experiencing an unprecedented surge. Mobile payments, blockchain adoption, digital lending, and cross-border e-commerce are reshaping the financial and commercial landscape. Yet, this rapid expansion has come with staggering risks. According to the African Union’s Cybersecurity Outlook 2024, cybercrime costs the continent an estimated $4 billion annually, with Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa accounting for more than half of the losses.
Criminals are shifting from high-volume attacks to precision-targeted strikes that exploit systemic vulnerabilities. In Nigeria alone, industry reports reveal multi-billion-naira losses linked to phishing, insider collusion, ransomware, and large-scale fraud schemes that directly undermine trust in financial services.
“As Africa moves boldly into the digital age, its economic future depends on one word — trust. ThinkNnovation 2025 is not just another conference; it is a platform for urgent dialogue and concrete action. We must design cyber resilience into every layer of our systems — payments, identity, regulation, and infrastructure — if Africa is to secure its digital tomorrow,” she pointed out.
The ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference 2025 is designed as a response platform, bringing together regulators, CIOs, CISOs, CROs, bank executives, fintech founders, policymakers, and international experts to confront the continent’s most pressing cybersecurity challenges.
Unlike generic tech events, ThinkNnovation is structured as a solution-driven convening, with sessions curated to foster actionable strategies, policy frameworks, and collaborative defenses. Delegates will engage through high-level keynotes, dynamic plenary discussions, investigative panels, and simulation exercises that replicate real-world attack scenarios on financial networks.
The ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference 2025 builds on this momentum by providing a neutral platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and collaboration. It is designed to enable stakeholders to move beyond conversations and toward practical solutions—whether through the development of joint cybersecurity frameworks, the issuance of policy communiqués, or the creation of new public-private partnerships.
