Nigeria Lost 127bn naira To Cyber Crime (saraki)

The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola
Saraki, says Nigeria has lost about N127
billion to cybercrime.
He made this known at Nigeria’s first
Legislative Stakeholders Conference on
ICT and Cyber security on Monday in
Abuja.
Saraki, who was represented by Senate
Minority Whip Sen. Philip Aduda Saraki
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.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT
and Cybercrime, Sen. AbdulFatai Buhari,
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, the Minister of
Communication, Adebayo Shittu, 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 the Permanent Secretary
in the Ministry, Abdulaziz Abdullahi, the
minister said government had put in
place new ICT strategic road map to
improve the communication sector.