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Lagos State’s drive to automate government processes is bringing a new challenge into sharper focus: the more public institutions depend on digital systems, the more critical cybersecurity awareness becomes.
This was a key message from ESET Nigeria at the Lagos State Civil Service Commission Career Week 2026, where cybersecurity featured prominently in discussions around digital transformation, workplace readiness and the future of work.
The Career Week, organised around the theme of driving business process automation across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), examined how technology is changing the way government institutions operate.
Representing ESET Nigeria at the event, the company’s Managing Director, Olufemi Ake, delivered a cybersecurity awareness presentation, highlighting the need to place security alongside automation as Lagos accelerates its digital transformation agenda.
The issue goes beyond installing cybersecurity software.
As government workers increasingly rely on connected devices, online platforms, digital records and automated processes, employees themselves have become an important part of an organisation’s cybersecurity defence. A suspicious email, a compromised password, an unsafe link or an unusual request can potentially expose systems and information, making employee awareness an important complement to technological security measures.
For public-sector institutions, the stakes are particularly high.
Government agencies routinely depend on digital systems to deliver services, communicate with citizens, manage information and coordinate internal operations. A cyber incident that disrupts these systems can therefore become more than an IT problem, it can affect service delivery, institutional confidence and operational continuity.
This makes cybersecurity awareness an increasingly important component of digital transformation.
The conversation at the Career Week also highlighted a changing expectation for the modern workforce. Employees are no longer required only to understand how to use digital tools; they must also understand how to use them safely.
For Lagos State’s civil service, where automation is expected to reshape business processes across MDAs, this distinction could become increasingly important.
Digital transformation without adequate cybersecurity awareness could create new vulnerabilities even as it delivers greater efficiency.
ESET Nigeria’s participation therefore placed emphasis on the human side of cybersecurity, encouraging technology users to recognise suspicious activity, challenge unusual requests and make safer decisions when interacting with digital systems.
The engagement reflects ESET Nigeria’s broader cybersecurity education and awareness efforts aimed at helping organisations and communities better understand evolving digital risks.
For Lagos, the message is particularly timely. As one of Nigeria’s largest centres for technology, business and digital innovation, the state’s push towards greater automation means that cybersecurity will increasingly have to be treated as part of the infrastructure of digital government not an issue to be addressed only after an attack.
The future of work may be digital, but the resilience of that future will depend significantly on how securely people use the technology powering it.
ESET Nigeria’s contribution to the Lagos State Civil Service Commission Career Week reinforces a growing reality: automation may make government faster, but cybersecurity awareness will help ensure that digital government remains trusted, resilient and secure.
