Image credit: deloitte
Nigeria is set to collaborate with the United Kingdom to develop a robust national cybersecurity framework, aiming to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure against evolving cyber threats.
The strategic partnership will be driven by the UK/Nigeria Inward Cyber Trade Mission, facilitated by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Nigeria has been one of Africa’s targeted countries by cyber criminals and the numbers could tell:
- The country lost N52.26 billion to fraud in 2024, marking a 196% surge in five years.
- On average, the Nigerian banking and financial sector faces approximately 4,718 cyberattacks weekly.
- With African countries that attract the most interest from cybercriminals, Nigeria places 2nd according to a report by Positive Technologies.
The UK is committed to helping Nigeria tackle cybersecurity challenges and expand digital opportunities.
According to NITDA’s director-general, Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi, President Bola Tinubu’s administration prioritizes cybersecurity as part of economic transformation through digitalization.
He also outlined NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) 2.0 designed to enhance the country’s cybersecurity resilience as the focus remains on embedding cybersecurity measures across all sectors.
He stressed on the fact that 95% of cyber breaches happen as a result of human error and therefore there is a need to educate people to safeguard the country’s digital space.
“We need to educate both users and operators on cybersecurity, which is part of our mandate. Our target is to achieve 95 per cent digital literacy, ensuring that people are equipped with the knowledge to safeguard Nigeria’s digital space,” he said.
NITDA is investing in cybersecurity training and expertise development, emphasizing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, robotics, and additive manufacturing to achieve this goal.
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