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Uche Usim, Abuja
To insulate the nation’s economy from cyber attacks, the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAGF) and Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) are collaborating to secure all ICT infrastructure in the country.
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris made the disclosure in Abuja while hosting members of the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime
According to him, the OAGF, being the hub of government’s treasury, cannot toy with cyber security, especially now that the bulk of its operations have become fully digitized.
He noted that the collaboration with ONSA was to further fortify its ICT infrastructure and quickly close any identified gaps that can compromise its operations. .
Ahmed pointed out that the full embrace of ICT saves the country about N4 billion daily that would have been gulped in manual operations.
He said: “We’ve achieved substantial gross savings in the sum of about N21 billion in respect of the six hundred and two (602) MDAs paid on IPPIS.
“In recognition of the significant role played by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) in the automation of Public Financial Management (PFM), the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has
designated GIFMIS and IPPIS infrastructures as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).
Therefore, the OAGF and ONSA have been very engaged in an immense effort at protecting these infrastructure from cyber crimes in line with the vision and mission of Cybercrimes Act 2015, to this end, the following measures has been
put in place to mitigate risk and enhance national cyber security:
In his remarks, the Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, Senator Yakubu Oseni said that criminal elements around the world have chosen to turn ICT revolution into a nightmare, urging all ministries and agencies to IP their game.
“The gains of digital technology are being dampened by rapid evolution of cyber security threat landscape, with increased attacks in both sophistication and severity. Reports indicate that there is currently a dramatic rise in cybercrime such as the ransomeware epidemic, the refocusing of malware from personal computers (PCs) and laptops to smartphones and mobile devices, the deployment of billions of under-protected Internet of Things (loT) devices, the legion of hackers-for-hire and more sophisticated launching of attacks on governments, defence infrastructure, businesses, educational establishments, etc. Indeed, the invasion of the cyberspace comes with grave consequences, and is
already costing the world huge losses in trillions of dollars, and is posing serious danger to life.
“In Nigeria, concern is not only about the cybersecurity threat landscape, but also about weak systems. Oversight findings have revealed serious gaps in digital technology in Nigeria. The country still lags behind in infrastructure sophistication, data management and digital security and knowhow, which are critical to the development agenda. In some cases, funding on digital technology infrastructure is inadequate compared to the enormity of need and challenges therein.
“On the other hand, resources allocated are not properly utilised. In such cases, there is nothing much to show in spite of huge financial commitments into building ICT infrastructure. Manpower development in digital technology is equally a far cry. Even in Africa, Nigeria is at the bottom of cybersecurity manpower ratio to total population. Our institutions of learning do not seem to understand the world we live in today. Indeed, our cybersecurity consciousness and awareness rating does not come before that of any other country in the world”, Oseni explained.
He added that fresh experiences arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed rampaging threats to the digital ecosystem, and have further espoused the need for accelerated development in ICT.
He called for stronger collaboration between all interests and the legislature to galvanise rapid development in digital technology and cybersecurity ecosystem in our country is not needed any later than now.
“This Committee is organising an International Stakeholder Conference to be held in the month of October this year. The conference is ultimately expected to identify gaps inherent in the system and generate appropriate synergy in the relationships of stakeholders with a view to ensuring consistency and complementarity, and articulating a structured approach to resolving Nigeria’s digital technology shortfalls and cybersecurity challenges. You would be expected to support this noble course, and partner with the Committee in putting together this exercise” he added.
