Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Authority (NITDA) and partner organisations will set up a regional centre in order to reposition the country as a major global force in the fight against cybercrime.
NITDA is partnering with the International Multilateral Partnership against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), the United Nations (UN) and Nigeria’s First Lady Patience Jonathan to set up an ITU-IMPACT Advanced Regional Centre for Cyber Security office in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja.
Cleopas Angaye, director general of NITDA, speaking in Abuja, said the centre would enjoy expert support from the private sector thus making it self-sustaining and strong enough to survive for years to come.
He said: ‘‘It is my pleasure to address you on the new steps which NITDA is taking with a few partners to making the cyberspace of Nigeria become more secured, which is part of the Act setting up NITDA.
‘‘The recent appointment of the Nigerian First Lady as the UN-ITU IMPACT Global Champion for Child Online Protection by the leadership of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a big call on Nigeria to serve and lead the world not only on Child Online Protection, but also the entire gamut of cyber security,’’ he said.
Tim Akano, Nigeria’s link to the ITU, said cyber safety had become an essential aspect of national security due to threats from cyber criminals.
He added: ‘‘The proposed ITU-IMPACT Regional Cyber Security Centre is going to provide an end-to-end Cyber security solution to federal government, states, national assembly, 774 local governments, government agencies, the entire manufacturing sector, financial sector, telecoms among others.
“This new organisation is being created to address the growing essential needs of government to protect ICT and overcome the flaws in commercially available solutions.”
