Nigeria Must Collaborate on Cybercrime Prevention

Dr. Sylvanus Ehikioya, director, New Media and Information Security, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that Nigeria must collaborate with other countries to check Internet crimes.

Ehikioya said at the weekend that cyber crime was not geographic specific, meaning that it cuts across geographical boundaries.

“Since it cuts across boundaries, that means that there are different governments having jurisdiction in cyber governance. `This implies that collaborative efforts must be put in place because of the cross jurisdictional issues involved.

He noted that the new international telecommunications union (ITU) law on cyber crime also calls for mutual collaboration between nations.

“Even the model cyber crime law being produced by the International Telecommunications Union, there is a section titled ‘International Collaboration Co-operations’. This means that countries must make provisions in their laws to collaborate with other countries.”

Ehikioya said measures were being taken to make appropriate frameworks and guidelines in Nigeria to facilitate collaborations with other countries against cyber crime.

“The critical ones are the several bills pending at the National Assembly on cyber crime in different formats. The most recent is the harmonised Cyber-Security Bill of 2011 which was done under the auspices of the late Gen. Andrew Azazi (former National Security Adviser). It is our hope that the particular bill, which harmonises all other bills and incorporates all best practices, is the one that will be passed,” said Ehikioya.

The NCC director said various agencies in the sector were creating policies and guidelines to secure and protect their services to consumers.

He said that when the frameworks were completed, Nigerians who committed cybercrime against citizens in some other countries like the U.S. could be extradited to America to face trial.

He said without collaborations, it would be difficult to fight a crime which had no geographic boundary like cyber crime.

The commission, which regulates telecommunications in Nigeria, interacts with other world bodies like the ITU, FCC in the USA and Malaysian Regulatory Authority.

He said Nigeria’s membership of organisations like the General Assembly Council of the Internet governance forum would ensure application of best practices in the sector for Nigerians.