The inability of the Nigerian government to enact a law outlawing the increasing number of cybercrimes in the country has become a growing concern for stakeholders in the Nigerian communications industry, says David Isiavwe, a member of the Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG).
According to Isiavwe, it is rather unfortunate that eight years after his group made the draft, Nigeria is yet to have a cyber law.
The unfortunate incidence, Isiavwe said, is not unconnected to the inability of the Nigerian government to forge harmony for all the drafted bills on the subject of cybercrimes.
He stated that the pace at which the government is going about it is very slow and asked the government to speed things up since the nation is now relying more on ICT than it did eight years ago.
“Everyone who uses the Internet is a stakeholder and is affected one way or the other; we must look towards having a legislature to protect ourselves because the chances of people experiencing cyber bullying and becoming victims to online crimes increase daily,” he said.
Paradigm Initiative’s executive director Gbenga Sesan told the media that vacuums and catastrophe are unavoidable if the current lawlessness in cybercrimes is allowed to go on unabated.
He described the implications of the non-availability of cybercrimes laws, which according to him means that “cybercrime is not exactly considered as a crime in this country.”
He hinted that if a young cybercriminal can hack to harm millions of people, then it becomes expedient for governments and institutions to protect Nigerians using cyberspace against local and foreign cyber-attacks.
“With various stakeholders making input, supported by an enabling environment that encourages positive use of technology skills a better environment will be easier to achieve,” Sesan added.
