Nigeria is currently losing about N78billion annually to the activities of cyber criminals who target financial institutions and government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as their affiliates, the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, has said.
The minister added that recently, an agency under his ministry, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) informed the public that Nigeria lost about N159billion to cyber crime.
Mr Victor Oluwadamilare, Special Assistant for the Media to the Minister, made this known in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
He expressed the readiness of his Ministry to partner with other agencies to develop world-class human and institutional capacity in cyber security.
Shittu said this in an address delivered at the National Computer Science Conference on Cyber Security and the Emerging African Economies at the Igbinedion University, Okada in Edo.
The minister stressed the need for other frameworks across all strata of public and private sectors to arrest the spread of cyber crime.
Shittu said that the ministry started sensitising, raising awareness and impacting skills on cyber protection by creating the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to handle computer security incidents.
He said that the team was to also examine the implementation framework of the Cyber Security Act with amendments to be made where necessary in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The minister emphasised the need for the enactment and enforcement of policies to ensure cyber security within the ICT and financial institutions.
He said such policies should address the framework of cyber risk management, enforcing security through a “defence in-depth” strategy as well as enforcing vigilance through early detection and signaling system.
“Cooperative arrangements between law enforcement and communication service provider across the nation and a criminal justice system that facilitate the efficient prosecution of cases of cyber crime are very germane,” he said.
On the indispensability of the cyberspace to global development, Shittu said the internet and digital technologies remain the biggest transformation forces in the world.
He said that over five billion internet-connected devices globally generated over 10 billion dollars to the global economy in 2015.
In comparison to physical space, he noted that “cyberspace is virtually co-ubiquitous, operationally more efficient, socio-politically more vibrant, and economically as resourceful and information-wise more integrated and has become a fundamental feature.”
“The changing nature of economic and territorial threats has become a major concern. The growing role of cyberspace has opened up new threats as well as new opportunities as a country.
“We have to find ways to confront and overcome these threats if we are to remain functional as a sovereign entity in an increasingly competitive and globalised world,” he said.
He said the ministry was leveraging on the active support of the ICT stakeholders by building all requisite ICT and cyberspace capacities in the country.
According to him, this is in line with the repeated assertion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration that ICT is the envisaged bedrock of Nigeria’s Change Agenda.
He therefore, appealed to African countries to urgently scale up efforts to combat cyber crimes through a multi-stakeholders approach.
He said this approach should involve government, industry and civil society organisations within the context of the AU Convention on Cyberspace Security and Protection of Personal Data to stem the threats posed by cyber criminals to their national economic security.
Shittu, who was optimistic that effective strategies to curb the menace of cyber crime would evolve from the conference, said such strategies should include; cyber resilience by preparing for the known, unknown, predictable and unpredictable risks.
He urged organisers of the conference not to hesitate in furnishing him with a blueprint emanating from the conference for his dispassionate consideration and immediate implementation. (NAN)