THE Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu on Tuesday urged the National Assembly to provide strategic coordination and synergy to successfully implement the national goal of curbing cyber fraud.

Shittu made the call in Abuja, while delivering a keynote address at the Legislative Stakeholders conference on Cyber Security organised by Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime.

He said the ministry of communications and other Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) would popularise, mainstream and support the senate committee in its most invaluable efforts to fight cyber crime.

“We must therefore learn to build synergy, strengthen the policy framework and agree on targets.

“We believe that these strategies and initiatives can be effectively achieved.

“I wish to thank the Senate Committee for their foresight, leadership and commitment towards this noble course of working toward ensuring cyber safety for all and sundry,’’ he said.

Shittu disclosed that the ministry in conjunction with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) it will establish a network of “cyber diplomats’’.

Cyber diplomacy is the use of traditional diplomatic instruments to address cyber issues such as cyber crime, cyber security or internet governance.

He said the diplomats would help to build trust so that Nigerians could agree on norms for online conduct.

“Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari is poised to adopt cyber diplomacy to limit the threat that the internet and the flow of information may pose to domestic stability and regime legitimacy.

“And shape cyberspace to extend political and economic influence; and counter foreign advantages in cyber space.

“Like its efforts in more traditional areas of foreign policy, Nigerian cyber diplomacy will be rooted in non-interference in the internal affairs of the nations,’’ he said.

Mr Abdul-Hakin Ajijola, the Executive Chairman, Consultancy Support Services Ltd. in his lecture titled: “Social Networking, Profiling, Fake News and Impact on elections said internet voting was venerable to cyber crime and fraud.

Ajijola represented by Mr Adewale Ajao, the Chairman, Internet Society, Nigerian chapter said these crimes were inherent in current cyber software and hardware as well as the basic manner the internet was organised.

“It unlikely that this possibility will be eliminated in near future.

“While e-voting has potential, there are several structural and technical and human challenges that we must resolve before we implement it on the national scale.

The two day conference has the theme: Cyber Security: Implication of disruptive Technologies on National Security and Economy. (NAN)

– Jun. 26, 2018 @ 18:59 GMT |