Kunle Azeez and Temitope Ogunbanke
Efforts at effectively dealing with cybercrime investigations may soon get a boost as the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has decided to establish an anti-cybercrimes unit (ACU).
This was disclosed in Lagos yesterday by the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer for both Lagos and Ogun states, Dolapo Badmos at the cyber security awareness programme organised by the United States Embassy in Nigeria in collaboration with the International Centre for Leadership Development Nigeria (ICLDNG).
According to Badmos, the new dimensions of cybercrimes in Nigeria had compelled the Nigerian policy authority to begin dialogue on how to tackle the cyber menace.
She said though there is already in place an anti-fraud unit, the complex nature of cyber criminal activities has necessitated the need to have a dedicated cybercrime unit equipped with operatives that would take nationally and abroad on how to investigate cyber criminal cases.
“Today, a whole lot of youths ranging from 19- 30 years are involved in cybercrimes. The truth is that the menace is going beyond the youths just getting involved in cybercrimes, terrorists are also leveraging access to the Internet to harvest information used to carry out their criminal activities and we need to prepare for this,” she said.
She noted that already, Nigeria has passed the Cybercrime Act into law in 2015 and “this law has become operational in the country with minimum of two years and option of fine and from our end, we don’t award punishment; it is the court that award punishment; we only investigate and we are ready to equip the operatives in the proposed unit with state-of-the-art technical skills for effective cybercrime investigation.”
Badmos also explained that the Police would strengthen collaborations with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the implementation of the Cybercrime Act, 2015, stressing that the few criminally-minder Internet users are bringing bad reputation to Nigeria.
“All over the world, when you talk of Nigeria, people think of us as Yahoo-yahoo country but this is not true. A whole of us use the Internet legitimately and we do everything to eschew involvement in cyber crimes and that is why we are creating the unit which, we believe, will help us on effective investigations,” he said.
Speaking earlier, US Consul General, Mr. John Bray, said cybersecurity is an important issue, as all around the globe we have seen individuals, companies, and governments become the victims of cyberattacks.
“So, every October is dedicated to creating national public awareness campaign as a collaborative effort between government and industry that encourages individuals to protect their computers and our nation’s critical cyber infrastructure,” he said.
He said a cyberspace security review by the US government in 2009 led to the annual ongoing cybersecurity awareness campaign tagged: ‘Stop.Think.Connect.’
“Stop.Think.Connect. is a national public awareness campaign designed to raise awareness of cybersecurity and to be more vigilant about practicing safe online habits.
“By joining the Stop.Think.Connect campaign you will have connections to partners and subject matter experts who are committed to increasing online safety; cybersecurity tips, messaging, articles, and presentations; monthly discussions highlighting current cyber issues and trends,” he said.
Bray added that growing dependence on technology, coupled with the increasing threat of cyber-attacks and risks to privacy, demands greater security in the online world.
“By adopting and joining the Stop.Think.Connect campaign people will better understand the risks that come with using the internet and the importance of practicing safe online behavior,” he said.
First Published 2017
