ANST warns as Nigeria’s digital vulnerabilities deepen

The President of the Association of Nigeria Software Testers, Demola Adesina, alongside other stakeholders and participants at the 8th Annual Conference in Lagos on Saturday.

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Nigeria’s leading software testing professionals have issued renewed warnings over the country’s growing digital vulnerabilities, calling for stronger standards, disciplined testing practices, and a national commitment to quality as the country deepens its shift toward technology-driven systems.

This message reverberated throughout the 8th Annual Conference of the Association of Nigeria Software Testers in Lagos, where stakeholders from across the technology ecosystem gathered under the theme “Testing Nigeria Forward: Building Trust. Powering Progress. Shaping the Future.”

Addressing participants, ANST President, Demola Adesina, said software quality can no longer be treated as a technical afterthought but must be recognised as a matter of national interest that affects every major sector from banking and fintech to telecoms, healthcare, education, logistics, energy, manufacturing, and public services. He stressed that Nigeria’s future competitiveness depends on building digital trust.

“Quality is no longer just a function,” ANST President, Demola Adesina, said. “It is the foundation of trust, safety, innovation, and national competitiveness. If Nigeria is going to move forward, we must build digital trust and the assurance that anything delivered through technology works as intended.”

Adesina cautioned that quality assurance must not end once an application is deployed. He noted that with scores of new applications of varying sizes and complexities being built weekly, Nigeria is increasingly exposed to system failures that disrupt services, frustrate users, and diminish confidence in homegrown solutions.

Throughout the event, industry leaders underscored the dangers of neglecting software testing. One of the strongest warnings came from Chief Technology Officer of Afripie Technology, Oladipo Olasemo, who described Nigeria’s cybersecurity situation as a ticking time bomb.

Speaking with urgency, he revealed that the country lost N53.4bn to cybercrime in 2024 alone, with cumulative losses of N1.1tn recorded between 2017 and 2023. Cyberattacks on Nigerian institutions surged by an alarming 1,047 per cent this year, one of the highest spikes globally. “If we do nothing, losses could exceed N2tn by 2026,” he warned.

Olasemo blamed chronic underinvestment in cybersecurity, weak regulatory enforcement, and a pervasive culture of complacency. Many organisations, he argued, are more focused on fulfilling compliance paperwork than securing their systems. “Security is not a cost,” he declared. “Complacency is the real cost.”

The conversation then shifted toward the future of software development, with a dynamic keynote by Director, Testing Academy Nigeria, Soji Ononuga. He explored the growing influence of artificial intelligence on quality assurance, asking whether AI would replace testers or revolutionise the profession. According to him, testers must evolve with technology or risk being left behind.

“Software testing professionals have always been the guardians of trust,” Ononuga said. “But today, the world is changing faster than ever. Do not fear AI. Learn, adapt, innovate, and lead. The tools of yesterday will not build the systems of tomorrow.”

Ononuga urged organisations to invest in upskilling rather than downsizing and encouraged testers to develop new competencies in AI-assisted testing, data engineering, model evaluation, and risk assurance. He described AI-driven testing as a catalyst for faster innovation, fewer defects, and long-term profitability.

The need for disciplined software development also resonated strongly in the keynote delivered by Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Sterling Financial Holdings, Olayinka Oni. Drawing from Sterling’s digital transformation journey, Oni argued that quality must be built into systems from the foundation.

“Anything that will stand the test of time must be built with quality and integrity,” Oni said. “Leadership matters. Quality must not be bypassed. When trust is broken, rebuilding it is almost impossible.”

Oni warned that organisations often pursue speed at the expense of quality, a tendency he described as dangerous. “We believe in speed,” he said, “but not speed without discipline. Speed without discipline becomes reckless. Every change must be questioned: what will it affect? What might break? What are the risks?”

Beyond the heavyweight discussions, the conference also highlighted Nigeria’s rising capacity for homegrown innovation. Attendees were introduced to two indigenous testing solutions gaining traction in the market: Scandium Systems’ Rova AI, a machine-learning exploratory testing tool, and TimeToTest, an autonomous no-code AI testing agent that generates and executes end-to-end tests from a single website link. The presentations drew enthusiastic applause, with participants praising the tools as evidence that Nigeria’s engineering talent is maturing rapidly.

In a bid to strengthen the next generation of testing professionals, ANST awarded 50 free training scholarships through a live raffle, underscoring the association’s commitment to expanding the country’s software testing capacity.

The conference ended with the ANST Community Awards, which honoured individuals and organisations that have significantly contributed to software quality and digital trust in Nigeria. Among those recognised were Director-General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa; MTN Nigeria; Senior Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Students’ Union Affairs – Tertiary Education, Kappo Samuel Olawale; and philanthropist and Chairman of Oceanwave Group, Peter Omoh Dunia, alongside other contributors shaping the nation’s quality engineering landscape.

As the conference drew to a close, one point stood out unmistakably: Nigeria’s digital future will be determined not merely by innovation, but by the reliability of the systems that support it. And in the view of those who gathered in Lekki, Lagos, at the 8th Annual ANST Conference, quality is no longer optional; it is the backbone of national progress.

Justice has over three years experience spanning digital and print media. At The PUNCH, he currently covers the automobile sector with special interest in features and industry analysis.

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