On CCPU to Fight CyberCrime

Nigeria, Africa's largest telecom market by investment and subscription has also earned notoriety as cybercrime haven.
This unsavory reputation is scaring further investment in the country and the government for the first time now look worried.
Cyber crime refers to illegal activities that take place online, including fraud, spam, identity theft, computer viruses and worms, cyber stalking, drug trafficking, sexual predators, malware or spyware, phishing schemes and the like.
But as the government fret over the consequences, reports say that Nigeria has the highest number of cybercrime incidents in Africa and is right behind the U.S. and the U.K. - which have larger populations.
The publicity surrounding Nigerian cybercrime is raising fears that the country may face a slowdown in international investment in the telecom as well as the financial sectors.
As more Africans use the Internet for their banking needs, the number of fraudsters eyeing people's bank accounts and online financial transactions has also multiplied.
The United Nations Office on drugs and crimes estimates that Nigeria has lost millions of dollars through cybercrime.
But the federal government launched a fight back last week as it approved the setting up of a Computer Crime Prosecution Unit (CCPU) to prosecute those involved in cyber crimes.
Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), said cyber crimes cannot be prosecuted successfully without adequate capacity and necessary structure.
"Nigeria needs to have a robust cyber security and cyber crime prevention and prosecution structure to be able to drive issues related to the crime," Adoke said.
To put bite to the latest effort, government must make sure that the officers to man the new unit are properly trained given the dynamism of cybercrime.
We are however happy that the ministry of Justice is taking the right step by harmonizing the CCPU,  which will be under the public prosecution unit of the ministry, into appropriate policies and legislation, the various efforts so far made by some sectors like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the telecoms and banking sector in addressing the issue.
On the grass root level efforts must be made to redirect the energies of young and restless Nigerians by moral reorientation, job creation and rebuilding of the country’s infrastructure.