Insights · Industry research
Independent technology research in Nigeria, led by PhD researchers
Get evidence you can act on, and defend to a board, a funder or a regulator. Our PhD researchers run qualitative and quantitative studies on technology, cybersecurity and digital policy in Nigeria and beyond. Every report shows its method and cites sources you can check.
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Who commissions independent research from us?
Anyone who needs an answer they can defend to a board, a funder, a regulator or an investor, from researchers with no stake in the result.
Banks, fintechs and regulated finance
Where staff behaviour, controls and third parties create cyber risk, and which fixes to fund first. Evidence for board risk committees and supervisory conversations.
Enterprises and SMEs
Which security, IT or digital investment to make next, and in what order, based on how your people and systems actually work today.
Development partners, NGOs, government programmes and policy makers
Baseline and end-of-programme evidence, whether a digital or cyber programme reached its goals and for whom, and what the evidence says before a policy is written or revised.
Technology companies entering or growing in Nigeria
Whether people and businesses will adopt your product, what stands in the way, and which channels and partners matter.
See all 6
Universities, polytechnics and training providers
How IT laboratories, digital skills teaching and technology training work in practice, and what improves outcomes for students and staff.
Founders, investors and professionals
An individual who needs an independent study: a founder testing an idea, an investor checking a market, or a professional preparing a case.
What do our researchers study?
Technology questions where people, processes and policy matter as much as the tools.
Cyber resilience and security posture
How well an organisation or sector can prevent, detect and recover from attacks and outages, measured against recognised frameworks.
Human factors and security behaviour
Security culture, awareness, phishing susceptibility, password practices and why staff follow or bypass controls.
IT governance, policy and regulation
NDPA 2023 readiness, NITDA guidelines, sector rules and how organisations put them into practice.
IT audit, risk and assurance
Whether IT controls work as designed and where the risk sits, assessed the way IT auditors and risk professionals do.
See all 10
Cloud security and Zero Trust
How cloud environments and access controls are actually designed and run, and the gap between security frameworks and what teams can implement.
AI governance and ethics
How companies start using AI tools, and what goes wrong with data, security and responsibility.
Technology adoption and digital transformation
Why systems are adopted or abandoned, what slows digital change, and what helped where it worked.
Market and user research for technology products
Demand, user needs, willingness to pay and barriers to use, for products launching in or expanding across Nigeria.
Evaluation of programmes
Digital skills, cybersecurity awareness and technology programmes evaluated against the indicators agreed at the start.
Comparative and desk studies
Nigeria compared with other markets, and structured reviews of published research, reports and policy documents.
Which type of research do you need?
The method follows the question. If you are not sure, the scoping call settles it.
| Type | Answers questions like | What you get | Typical length (indicative) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualitative | Why do staff work around our security policy? What do users struggle with? | Interviews or focus groups, thematic findings with anonymised quotes | 4–8 weeks |
| Quantitative | How many, how often, how strongly, and what is linked to what? | Survey or data analysis, statistical results, cleaned dataset | 6–10 weeks |
| Mixed methods | What is happening, how widely, and why? | Both of the above, with findings that explain each other | 8–14 weeks |
| Policy and document review | What do the law, standards and published studies say, and where are the gaps? | Structured review and gap analysis, every point cited | 2–6 weeks |
| Programme evaluation | Did the programme reach its goals, for whom, and why? | Baseline and end-line measures, evaluation report against agreed indicators | 6–16 weeks, or staged across the programme |
Lengths are indicative for a single-country study of moderate size. Your proposal gives the real timeline after scoping. Access to participants, sample size and ethics review are what usually move it.
How does a study run?
The same six stages every time, with your sign-off before fieldwork starts.
Scoping call
We agree the question, who the findings are for, what decision they support, and what is in and out of scope.
Proposal and ethics
You get a proposal with the method, sample, timeline, lead researcher and a fixed price before we start. We plan consent, anonymity and data handling here, with ethics review where the study needs it.
Instruments
Survey questionnaires, interview guides or review protocols, drafted and shared with you, then piloted before use.
Fieldwork
Interviews, focus groups, surveys or document collection, in person or remote, with progress reported to you as it goes.
Analysis
We code and theme qualitative data, and run statistical analysis on quantitative data in tools such as Python, SQL and Power BI. We record each step, and anyone can check it.
Report and briefing
The report, executive summary and data, then a briefing for your managers or board where we walk through the findings and answer questions.
What will you receive?
Included
- A full research report: question, method, findings, limitations and recommendations
- An executive summary for leadership, in plain language
- Data tables and the anonymised dataset
- A methodology appendix with instruments, sampling and analysis steps
- A presentation and a briefing session with the research team
- Optional: a publishable brief or article version of the findings
Not included
- Academic coursework, projects, dissertations or theses for students
- Findings agreed before the data is collected
- Any study that identifies participants without their consent
Every report states its limitations: what the data can show, what it cannot, and how confident the findings are.
Who are our researchers?
Our PhD researchers in information technology lead every study. They share one field and bring different specialisations. The researcher whose specialisation fits your question leads your study, and larger studies draw on more than one.
The lead researchers have 15 years of experience across IT consulting for SMEs and large organisations, higher education and digital financial services. Credentials across the team include ISACA’s CISA, CISM and CRISC certifications. That keeps the questions practical and the recommendations usable: what a board, a manager or a programme team can do with the findings.
Before a study starts, you know who will lead it and their qualifications. Other specialisations within information technology join the team as studies need them.
Specialisations across the team
Cyber resilience and information security
How organisations prepare for, withstand and recover from attacks and outages, and which controls actually reduce risk.
Human factors in security
Staff behaviour, security culture and awareness: why people follow or work around security controls, and what changes that.
IT governance, policy and regulation in Nigeria
How policies, laws and standards such as the NDPA 2023 and NITDA guidelines are applied in practice, and where organisations fall short.
IT audit, risk and assurance
Whether IT controls work as designed, where the risk sits, and whether security spending reduces it. Led by a researcher who holds ISACA’s CISA, CISM and CRISC certifications.
Web application and cloud security
How web applications and cloud environments are attacked and defended, including how Zero Trust is designed and run under real operating constraints.
AI governance, security and ethics
How organisations adopt AI tools safely: data protection, security controls, accountability and ethical use.
Technology in education
Information systems, IT laboratories and digital skills in higher education, from a researcher with 15 years in IT and teaching at a Nigerian polytechnic.
Fintech and digital financial services
How security, regulation and growth interact in regulated financial apps, from experience leading digital growth for a remittance fintech.
How do we keep research rigorous, ethical and confidential?
Documented methods
We write down the method, sample and analysis before fieldwork and report them in full. Another researcher could check how we reached each finding.
Cited, verifiable sources
Every claim from published work is cited to a source you can open, and every statistic is traceable to the data behind it.
Consent and personal data
Participants give informed consent, and we anonymise them in the report. We collect as little personal data as we can, limit access to the research team, and handle it with NDPA 2023 in mind.
Confidentiality
We sign a non-disclosure agreement before you share sensitive detail. Your findings stay confidential unless you choose to publish them.
Independence
We report what the data shows, including findings you may not expect. Commissioning a study buys the research, not the conclusion.
Why does this kind of research matter in Nigeria?
Published studies keep finding that technology risk in Nigerian organisations depends as much on people, culture and governance as on tools. Two peer-reviewed examples:
A review of the human factors behind successful cyber attacks, applied to Nigerian banks: social engineering, weak security culture, risky password practices, stress, burnout and security fatigue. The authors note how little research had targeted the sector.
Ajufo, G. and Qutieshat, A. (2023). An Examination of the Human Factors in Cybersecurity: Future Direction for Nigerian Banks. Indonesian Journal of Information Systems, 6(1), 1–16.
A survey of public-sector IT organisations in Nigeria found that cybersecurity knowledge and employee beliefs significantly influenced staff intention to follow security procedures, and that leadership worked through cultural values.
Onumo, A., Ullah-Awan, I. and Cullen, A. (2021). Assessing the Moderating Effect of Security Technologies on Employees Compliance with Cybersecurity Control Procedures. ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, 12(2), 1–29.
Questions about industry research
How much does a research study cost?
We price each study after a free scoping call. The cost depends on the method, the sample size, the number of locations and whether fieldwork is in person. You get a proposal with a fixed price and timeline before any work starts.
How long does a study take?
As a guide, a policy or document review takes about 2–6 weeks, a qualitative study 4–8 weeks, a survey 6–10 weeks and a mixed-methods study 8–14 weeks. These are a guide. Your proposal gives the timeline for your study.
Is our information kept confidential?
Yes. We sign a non-disclosure agreement before you share sensitive detail. We anonymise participants and handle personal data with NDPA 2023 in mind. Your findings stay private unless you decide to publish them.
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative research explains why and how, through interviews, focus groups and case studies. Quantitative research measures how many and how much, through surveys and data analysis. Mixed methods combine the two when you need both the scale of a problem and the reasons behind it.
Do you only research Nigeria?
Our focus is Nigeria, and we also take studies beyond it: other African markets, comparisons between countries, and desk research on any market. Fieldwork outside Nigeria is planned case by case in the proposal.
Can the results be published?
Yes, if you choose to. Findings are confidential by default. We can prepare a publishable brief or article version, with participants kept anonymous and the findings unchanged.
Do you write theses or assignments for students?
No. We do not take academic coursework, projects, dissertations or theses for students. If you are a student, your supervisor and institution are the right place for help with your own research.
Who leads the research?
PhD researchers in information technology, matched to your question by specialisation: cyber resilience, human factors in security, IT governance and policy in Nigeria, IT audit and risk, web and cloud security, AI governance, technology in education, and fintech. You know who will lead your study before it starts.
Tell our researchers what you need to find out
A few lines about your question is enough. A researcher replies within one business day to arrange a scoping call.
Have a question that needs independent evidence?
Start with a scoping call with our PhD researchers. Or WhatsApp RESEARCH to +234 817 188 5917.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. We reply within one business day.