By Nana Dariem, Abuja/Nigeria.
Mr. Kashifu Abdullahi, D-G, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA,
As part of the proactive framework to curb cybercrimes, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Mr. Kashifu Abdullahi, has urged Nigerian youths to leverage on the opportunities provided by their talents for cyber scams.
Adullahi stated at the 2020 “International Legislative – Stakeholder Conference on Cybersecurity in Abuja.
He called on young Nigerians, who have technological expertise to join in the fight against cybercrime as the agency is providing thousands of jobs for technology experts in the Country.
He said: “When it comes to Cyber Security, collaboration is the future. This is because Cyber security is not something that one can do alone. It is something that requires information sharing. That sharing is very important because according to Cyber Security Ventures, by next year the cost of cybercrime to the world will be more that 6 trillion dollars annually.
“Also, fighting cybercrime will create 3.5 million jobs. So, we need to strike the balance between avoiding cybercrime and still creating the jobs. This is an opportunity for our talented youths to use their cyber expertise to fight cybercrime. So, youths should use their cyber expertise to make legitimate money rather than go into cyber criminality.
“We have started by creating the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and based on the NDPR report launched last week, we have licensed 70 data Protection compliance organizations which have created 2,686 direct jobs for youths who have ICT expertise. So, these are the directions that our youths should be directing their expertise towards.”
He said the Agency has established and upgraded a dedicated Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) to coordinate and guide Nigerians on what to do.
“we have also identified three strategies in Cybersecurity which are awareness, deploying state of art infrastructures, and strategies on restoration in case of any cyber attack and we are also working with other MDAs on Cybersecurity”.
In his keynote address, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, represented by the Executive Vice Chairman, Chief Executive of Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) said “This Conference is indeed timely as we celebrate Cyber Security Month. Cybersecurity awareness has become imperative due to the attendant risks that emanate from the appreciable migration of several transactions, meetings, lectures and other forms of interaction to online and digital platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic”.
He further stated that “The importance of cybersecurity is emphasized in Pillar #6 (Soft Infrastructure) of the National Digital Digital Nigeria. The Soft Infrastructure pillar aims to ensure that Nigerians are secure online”.
Dr. Pantami said “while congratulating the Senate Committee on ICT, Cybercrime for putting this together. I implore my colleagues in the legislative arm of government to support our drive for a diversified economy with relevant legislation in order to bequeath to Nigerians a legacy of a digitally transformed Nigeria”.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, Senator Yakubu Oseni, stressed the commitment of the Nigerian Senate to fight cybercrime. He also urged Nigerian youths to use their technology expertise for legitimate earning.
“If you follow the theme of the conference very well, you will know that the Senate is very much concerned about the cyber security threat in Nigeria. There are lots of issues that have been discussed in the Senate and that is why the motion was raised in November 2019 on the issue of cyber threat. We want to create more awareness on the damage that cybercrime has caused to the economy of Nigeria.
“We are also very particular about some of our youths” Oseni added.
