E-Business
Nigeria Loses N127Bn to Cyber Crime – Saraki
Dr Bukola Saraki, President of the Senate, has said that Nigeria has lost about N127 billion to cybercrime.
He disclosed this at Nigeria’s first Legislative Stakeholders Conference on ICT and Cyber security on Monday in Abuja.
Saraki, who was represented by Sen. Philip Aduda Saraki, Senate Minority Whip did not, however, specify the period within which the nation lost such an amount to cyber crime.
He said the loss was indicative of the hole created in the economy by cyber crime amounting to 0.08 per cent of the Gross Domestic product (GDP.
“It is indeed ironic that while internet penetration in Nigeria is tentative at best, hovering at just over the 90 million people mark, a percentage of 47.7 per cent, internet-facilitated crime seems to be growing.
“Our cyber borders are very porous, indeed,” Saraki said.
He said efforts to revive the economy must necessarily include counter-measures to minimise the losses and shore up the country’s cyber security architecture to better repel attacks.
Saraki further said that cyber attacks had in 2016 reached unprecedented level, globally with no sign of a downward trend.
“In recent times, we have seen the virulent use to which criminals and other shadowy agents have put the cyber space.
“The cyber ecosystem has been weaponised and manipulated to devastating effect to undermine democratic processes, influence voting in elections and whip up tension and divisions between societal groups.
“Over 200,000 cyber attacks were recorded in one single day earlier this year all over the world.
‘’Major international financial institutions have had their systems crippled for up to 48 hours after being targeted by criminals using Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), among other methods.”
He said such attacks threatened economic activities, adding that personal data of millions of people were compromised by cyber criminals, who demanded the payment of ransom before hijacked data could be released.
“Kidnapping, already a scourge in the Nigerian physical space, is also becoming a problem in the virtual realm as ‘cyber-kidnapping’ of encrypted data poses a clear and present danger to our economic viability.
The Senate President described cybercrime as an ever-mutating monster, constantly growing new tentacles and taking on new formations.
“Not so long ago, one web-based Ponzi scheme succeeded in entrapping thousands of Nigerians with promises of quick gains.
“Investors were left counting the costs when the bubble burst, while those responsible moved on to new pastures. There was no accountability anywhere.”
He said that it was in light of all these challenges that the Senate sounded the alarm with a motion in May and resolved to, amongst other things, convene a national conference.
“It is essential that we come up with effective cyber-security management strategies based on existing legislative frameworks, while building on the work already being done by bodies like the Cybercrime Advisory Council.
He noted that “The ‘Stop. Think. Connect’ campaign initiative of the United States Mission was aimed at reducing cybercrime in Nigeria.
According to him, the effort also points to the need to share ideas and collaborate with international partners to reduce the impact of the borderless crimes of cyber-space.
Sen. AbdulFatai Buhari, Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, said the advancement in Information and Communication Technology had accelerated the growth and penetration of mobile telephony and its associated multimedia services.
“It has led to increasing access to the internet and broadband services providing opportunities for finding detailed answers to millions of questions every day.
Buhari said it was estimated that cybercrime would cost businesses in the world over $2 trillion by 2019.
In his address, Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communication, said globally, ICT had become a veritable tool for advancing growth and economic diversification.
He said that a World Bank study carried out in 2014 showed that every 10 per cent in ICT investment generated a corresponding 1.38 per cent increase in GDP.”
Represented by Abdulaziz Abdullahi, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, the minister said government had put in place new ICT strategic road map to improve the communication sector.
The United States Supreme Court has upheld a law seeking to ban TikTok in the United States.
The court ruled that the law does not infringe upon free speech rights, citing the US government’s legitimate national security concerns about the Chinese ownership of the app.
Last week, the Supreme Court listened to the arguments from ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, claiming the law violated free speech.
“There is no doubt that TikTok provides a unique platform for expression, engagement, and community to over 170 million Americans,” the justices stated.
With this decision, the ban set for Sunday remains in place, despite calls from lawmakers and officials across the political spectrum for a delay.
Last year, Congress passed a law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or shut it down in the US by January 19, reflecting widespread concerns in Washington that the app could be exploited by China for espionage or propaganda.
On Friday, White House officials informed the media that the ban would not be enforced, leaving the final decision to President-elect Donald Trump, who assumes office the next day.
In December 2024, TikTok asked the US Supreme Court to temporarily block a law that would force its Chinese owner to sell the popular video-sharing platform or shut it down by January 19.
The appeal came the same day TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, CEO, met with US President-elect Donald Trump.
Federal government has plans to expand the national social register to 18.1 million names and to reach at least 70 million poor households across the country by the end of this year, according to Prof Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, minister, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD).
Federal government has been distributing cash assistance to poor citizens through a program that requires verification using the National Identification Number (NIN).
The rate of poverty in the country is alarming, the minister said in an interview with Arise News, reason why the federal government plans to extend the humanitarian outreach program to target more homes. Each household receives the sum of N75,000 ($45).
Giving update on the payments, the minister said the first tranche of the conditional cash transfers were paid to five million households between October and December 2024, while the second and third tranches were paid to 2.8 million households.
“The president has directed, based on CBN’s new regulations, that before any payment is made to an individual or household, they must have a digital identity we can trace. That is the NIN number,” the Yilwatda told Arise News.
The cash transfer enabled by digital ID was launched in 2023, and last year, the federal government said around 25 million Nigerians had already benefitted from the scheme.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has granted licence for the Nigerian Correctional Service, (NCoS) to register inmates in the over 252 custodial centres across the country for National Identity Numbers, (NIN).
The approval followed the request made by Sylvester Nwakuche, acting controller general of the NCoS, who paid a visit to Engr Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director general/chief executive Officer of NIMC, in her office.
The acting controller-general, said the licence to carry out registration of inmates for NIN would eliminate exclusion of inmates from the country’s National Development plans, ensure their safety and security and facilitate their smooth recapture in times of jailbreaks.
The NCoS boss said the visit to the headquarters of NIMC was in search of collaboration that would enable the Service carry out its mandate seamlessly following on going reforms of the Correctional Service system.
According to Nwakuche, there are lots of socio-economic developments within the Correctional Service systems which had led to a number of inmates obtaining University degrees, Masters Degrees and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in various fields.
He said such inmates should not be excluded from the national development plans of the country as they should be integrated into the society to become useful for their families and the country.
Nwakuche said inside the Correctional centres are those awaiting trials whose innocence and otherwise has to be decided by the Courts, but argued that in times of National planning, census and other critical national development issues, they should not be disallowed from participating.
Coker-Odusote who granted the licence said NIN has become critical and essential to the country’s national development plans, stressing that NIMC has gone far with the private sector, especially the banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as all banks accounts are now linked with the NIN.
Coker-Odusote said the Eight points Agenda of President Bola Tinubu are also anchored on the Country’s digital identity or National identity Number, stressing that for instance NIN was tied to students loans to eradicate duplicity and prevent ghost beneficiaries.
Coker-Odusote expressed delight in the partnership with the NCoS, saying that the Commission had already entered into partnership with the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS and other agencies in order to facilitate the smooth delivery of their constitutional mandates.
She commended Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of Interior, for his dynamic leadership and role in ensuring the delivery of dividends of democracy to Nigeria through various reforms.
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