Mr Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of Police yesterday said that the Nigeria Police Force was open to partnering with other security agencies to fight cybercrime in the country.

Idris said this at a Conference on Cyber Security for Government Institutions in Abuja, with the theme: `Cyber Defence, Tool for Economic Development and National Security’.

Idris was represented by CP Joseph Agaji of the Force Communications section.
 
The conference was organized by the police in collaboration with the New Horizons Nigeria. He said that the police as a lead security agency in the country, had been at the forefront of campaign and fight against cybercrime.

The inspector-general said that concerted efforts were being made to tackle all forms of criminality both national and international, adding that cyberspace had ushered in a new dimension in security challenges.

He said that the police over the years, had put up structures to checkmate this emerging trend which were yielding results.

The police boss said that more needed to be done in the area of orientation and information dissemination to the public on ways to avoid cyber- attacks.

He implored the participants to start the fight against the menace from their homes by advising their wards on the types of Internet sites to visit.

Mrs. Asmau Idris, President of Police Officers’ Wives Association ( POWA), said that the association was committed to the fight against cybercrime.

“POWA is fully dedicated to contributing its quota to the fight against cybercrime in the country,” she said.

She said that it was important to take precautions against cyber security breaches, adding that cybercrime was on the increase.

Mr Yusuf Kazaure, Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, in a paper he presented, called on indigenous companies to create Internet sites for Nigerians to domesticate their information.

The paper is entitled: “Effect of Network Security for Government Institutions.” Kazaure said when this was done, Nigerians would have the opportunity to have their data at home rather than having them in foreign nations that owned Internet sites.

He also called for the enactment and enthronement of cyber security laws and policies to guide its operations.

He called on government to be proactive and resilience to issues of cyber security to avoid its sites being hacked into by criminals.

The conference was aimed at sensitising personnel of government institutions on cyber security.

Retired Maj.Gen. Babagana Monguno, National Security Adviser, said at a forum that Nigeria was losing over N127 billion annually to cybercrime.