CyberCrime : Lawmakers Shelf Bill, Seek Harmonization

The bill to address risks associated with the use of e-payment channels is back to the drawing board after lawmakers withdrew the all important document for harmonization leaving the industry still without legal teeth, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now report. Senator Bukola Saraki, PDP, Kwara Central and chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology ‏ informed through his twitter handle that the Bill was withdrawn for harmonization. He said that “Bill to provide for prohibition & punishment for Electronic Fraud and E-Transfer of Funds Crime in Nigeria was withdrawn for harmonization.” The Senate had in a motion by Senator Adegbenga S. Kaka, Ogun East ruled that “the Electronic Fraud and Electronic Transfer of Funds Bill 2012 (SB. 69): a Bill for an Act to provide for prohibition and punishment for Electronic Fraud and Electronic Transfer of Frauds Crime in Nigeria and for other Related Matters Bill 2012 be read the second Time.” However, when subjected to a debate, the Bill was ended as “By leave of the Senate Bill withdraw (Rule 89). Nigeria has been trying without success for the best part of the decade to enact enabling technology and computer crime legislation to tackle the growing risks, threats and vulnerabilities of the information age. But Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, chairman House Committee on ICT, said, in Lagos on Friday that the bill must be passed during the life of the current legislature. Gusau is worried that the current security measures in place cannot mitigate risks associated with the modern day economy particularly now that the Nigeria is transiting to the cashless mode. “Currently, there is no laws protecting electronic payment and that is why my committee has initiated a cyber security to protect e-payment. We want to avoid replacing physical thieves with electronic thieves” he said. Nigeria CommunicationsWeek however gathered that despite the enthusiasm expressed by the lawmakers, early passage of the bill is still far away because of the various roadblocks to the bill. For instance, so many government agencies including the office of National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) and so on all have one related bill or the other all seeking powers to protect the electronic transaction channels. Segun Agbabiaka, a lawyer said that the absence of legislation on electronic payment and cybercrime is a pointer to the fact that Nigeria is not serious about eradicating her image problem. Agbabiaka, welcome the decision by the National Assembly to harmonize the bill adding that electronic transaction governance legislation will take care of refraining cybercriminals, look for hackers, retrain them to be more useful in other techie areas and where possible punish cyber criminals. He is however happy that the CBN had led the way by institutionalizing fraud guard and prevention system with the establishment of an Automated Teller Machine Fraud Prevention Committee. This committee is coming on the heels of alarm raised by some information security experts who claimed that the entire infrastructure behind the cash-less policy being promoted by the CBN may be 60 per cent vulnerable to fraud. Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the CBN moved quickly to put together a Fraud Prevention Committee to address risks associated with the use of alternative e-payment channels. The members of the committee, which include banks, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, National Identity Management Commission, Interswitch and ValuCard, will meet monthly to make e-payment more secure for bank customers. The setting up of the committee had become imperative to address card frauds, especially the ones associated with the use of ATMs and Point of Sale terminals. It noted that ATM fraud was prevalent when magnetic strip cards were in use. “All Nigerian banks have migrated their cards to chip and PIN technology, which is more secured and has drastically reduced the fraud level in the industry”. In terms of security of platforms, it said that ATM fraud was prevalent when Nigeria was using magnetic stripe cards. But last year, Nigeria migrated, all their cards to chip and PIN, which is more secured, and drastically reduced the fraud level. With chip and PIN, the chances of fraud are reduced provided a customer keeps his PIN secret,” the Committee said.