CBN, Bankers Committee, others launch campaign against cybercrime

By Chinenye Anuforo

The Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigerian Financial Industry (CCISONFI), in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee has launched the ‘NoGoFallMaga, Confam Am Again’ campaign to sensitize the Nigerian public on the need to be cyber security conscious.

The anti-fraud campaign, which is sponsored by the latter trio partnership, is delivered leveraging local technical consultants named “Cybersafe Foundation” and “The Hook Media”.  The industry security awareness program is a comprehensive and innovative initiative aimed at promoting cyber security education among customers of commercial banks, payment service providers (PSPs) and the citizenry in Nigeria.

The campaign is also geared at propagating public insights on cyber security trends, in a bid to drastically reduce cybercrime and fraud losses in the country. This will also include promoting contents in all the major languages in Nigeria, including pidgin.

Speaking at the launch event, Chairman, Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigeria Financial Industry (CCISONFI), Mr. Festus Amede, while noting that the financial industry has witnessed increased adoption of digital technology in response to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financial inclusion initiatives and post Covid-19 pandemic crisis, said the rise in cybercrime and fraud may lead to increased loss in customer’s trust and confidence in the financial system.

“This increased innovation and use of digital platforms has greatly transformed the cyber and technology landscape thereby giving rise to new risks, especially with sustaining trust and confidence in customers’ ability to communicate and transact securely within the financial ecosystem.”

Mr. Amede disclosed that the CBN has realized that only through concerted efforts and collaboration by industry stakeholders to ensure that customers remain cyber-aware, can there be reduction and eventual elimination of the menace. “Collectively, we will continue to ensure adequate measures are taken to combat some of the cybersecurity challenges and reduce fraud losses from unscrupulous elements tagged cybercriminals” he assured.

Speaking on the motive for the campaign, former Chairman, CCISONFI, and Chief Information Security Officer of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr. Abumere Igboa noted that the campaign is aimed to guide Nigerians from falling victims to different tactics and methods fraudsters may attempt to come at them, including how to respond.

He pointed out that the “last man standing” is actually the target of the fraudsters, since the customer is the final authorizer. “A lot has been done behind the scene by the banks, and they are still doing more, but the most effective security lies with the customer, who is the last firewall.”

Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of Cybersafe Foundation, Dr. Peter Obadare, said the essence of the initiative is to build a human firewall in addition to the security firewall being built by the financial institutions to prevent fraud.

He maintained that there is no amount of investment put into people that will be too much. “We have built processes, and we have spent on technologies, but we also need to build the human firewall.

“When we talk about cybersecurity, most of the time, we know it’s about technology, it’s about the process, and then of course, it’s about the people and I usually say that there is no amount of investment that you put in the people side that can ever go wrong. What we’re doing today, is about increasing the cybersecurity intelligence quotient of the populace, which is very important. It’s about building the human firewall.

“Yes, we spend so much money building the technology. Yes, we standardize our processes but most of the time we find that the evil elements still find their way, especially from the customer side, hence the need to build a human firewall.

He opined that cybercriminals are succeeding because they leverage the ignorance of the populace, and believes that the ‘NoGoFallMaga, Confam Am Again’ initiative will go a long way to build that human firewall within Nigerian cyberspace.

Representative of the CBN from One Bankers Committee, Mr. Adebayo Adeyinka pointed out that the collaboration between the public and private bodies is as a result of the CBN’s resolve to tackle issues of cyber fraud from the peoples’ perspective. He noted that the CBN has put policies and programs in place to ensure that cybercrime is brought to the barest level in Nigeria.

In designing the campaign, Managing Director of The Hook creative agency, Mr. Sam Ochonma believes that the use of Broda Shaggi and other identifiable PR maneuvers is to capture the attention of Nigerians and pass the message of the campaign as smoothly and easily as possible.