Authorities at the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Police, ministry of communication and others opened talks last week on how to secure Nigeria’s cyberspace.
At the conference, held in Abuja, minister of communication and digital economy, Isaiah Pantami, said the high rate of cybercrime and its consequences on the Digital Economy informed the need to prioritise cybersecurity.
He was speaking at an annual cybersecurity conference organised by NCC, themed: ‘Strengthening the Security and Resilience of the nation’s communications infrastructure.’
“No digital economy can be implemented without securing the cyberspace of that country,” Pantami noted and recalled that in November 2019, President Buhari convened and launched national digital economy policy and strategy, which according to him, cannot be implemented without efforts at securing the cyberspace.
He also pointed to the need to secure confidence to convince Nigeria, which had informed the government’s commitment to ensuring cybersecurity.
The minister, while lamenting the prevalence of cybercrime and its economic impact, called for a collaborative effort and need to create awareness of online risks.
Narrating the enormity of the problem, he said, “Cybercrime is the fastest growing crime in the country. In America, in 2018 alone cybercrime industry generated a minimum of $1.5 trillion while social media associated crime generated a minimum of $3.25 billion. Bitcoin crime alone generated $76 billion.
“Today, we have a digital economy so cybercrime has what we call cyber Economist.
“When you look at the statistics of countries with the highest rate of cybercrime, the participation of government in the digital economy is getting lower by the day, while the countries that their cybersecurity is relatively string, you will find out people are more comfortable to partake in the digital economy.”
He raised the concerns that while a crime was at the speed of light, cybersecurity was at the speed of law, but “we must join our hands together to ensure that we work collaboratively to ensure our cyberspace is secured relatively.
Source :Business Day.
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