NBA-AGC 2017: Nigeria is Third in Global Cyber Crimes- Danbatta

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Nigeria
currently ranks third globally in cyber crimes behind the UK and
the U.S.

NCC’s Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed
this on Tuesday at the ongoing 2017 Annual General Conference of
the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference’
theme is: “African Business: Penetrating through Institution
Building”.

Danbatta, at a breakout session with the sub-theme: “The
Business of Cyber Law, Internet Policy and Privacy Rights”,
moderated by Mr Augustine Alegeh (SAN) a former NBA President, said
the number of internet users in Nigeria has hit 91.6 million.

“About N127 billion was the estimated loss to cybercrime in
Nigeria in 2015; Nigeria ranks third in global internet crimes
behind the UK and U.S.

“A critical factor militating against Africa’s economic
resurgence is the weakness of its institutions.

“Nigeria ranks 169 out of 199 on the World Bank’s ease of doing
business rankings; we are in a middle of a revolution and the rise
of what we call the networked society.

“The NCC stipulates the laws of engagement that will make the
cyberspace safe and ensure the confidence as well as the safety of
the cyberspace,” Danbatta, a panelist, said.

“There are benefits and risks of the use of cyberspace and both
has to be properly managed.”

NAN reports that other panelists at the breakout session were Mr
Bayo Adekanmi, the Chief Transformation Officer of MTN and Ms
Ibikun Abidoye, the legal counsel of Chocolate City Group.

Others are Ms Sascha Grimme, the Associate Solicitor of Cooley
LLP, a UK-based Lawfirm; and Mr Bisi Adebutu of Premier Lotto, also
known as ‘Baba Ijebu.’

In his remarks, Adebutu gave insight into the challenges Premier
Lotto faced in conducting transactions on the cyberspace.

“Premier Lotto has moved from the streets to the internet, we
have faced certain challenges including paying those who do
business with us.

“The cyber laws are not favourable to our business, Premier
Lotto ranks as the fourth most visited site in the country.

“We have no easy way of verifying or identifying the owner of
cards used to transact business.

“In Nigeria, the business of giving is just emerging, and it is
important that we respect the privacy of our clients when they
interact with us through the use of usernames and passwords.

“Gaming is very popular on the internet and fraud is one to the
challenges we have; if we apprehend an individual trying to
perpetuate fraud, we block their access to us.

“We also have challenges of having to discipline offenders and
the cyber laws have to be properly identified and implemented to
appropriately punish offenders,” Adebutu said.

In her contributions, Grimme said:“Threats and perpetrators of
cyber crimes and the motives behind the cyber attacks have to be
properly identified.

“There are challenges in identifying perpetrators of cyber
crimes; even when identified, there have been instances where they
stay in different jurisdictions making prosecution difficult.”

Adekanmi, while speaking, noted that there is an ongoing online
revolution happening in modern times, and that online security was
very important.

“There is going to be what I call a technology apocalypse, you
will wake up one day and someone is living your life somewhere.

“Someone once said that identity theft is worse than kidnapping,
there is a thin line between privacy and security in modern
business,” the MTN executive said.

On his part, Abiloye, who discussed copyright challenges in the
nation’s music industry, said the general perception of copyright
is that its incentive is to encourage people to create.

“There is a public slant to copyright; there are a lot of cases
about unfair use of copyright.”

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Nigeria
currently ranks third globally in cyber crimes behind the UK and
the U.S.

NCC’s Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed
this on Tuesday at the ongoing 2017 Annual General Conference of
the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference’
theme is: “African Business: Penetrating through Institution
Building”.

Danbatta, at a breakout session with the sub-theme: “The
Business of Cyber Law, Internet Policy and Privacy Rights”,
moderated by Mr Augustine Alegeh (SAN) a former NBA President, said
the number of internet users in Nigeria has hit 91.6 million.

“About N127 billion was the estimated loss to cybercrime in
Nigeria in 2015; Nigeria ranks third in global internet crimes
behind the UK and U.S.

“A critical factor militating against Africa’s economic
resurgence is the weakness of its institutions.

“Nigeria ranks 169 out of 199 on the World Bank’s ease of doing
business rankings; we are in a middle of a revolution and the rise
of what we call the networked society.

“The NCC stipulates the laws of engagement that will make the
cyberspace safe and ensure the confidence as well as the safety of
the cyberspace,” Danbatta, a panelist, said.

“There are benefits and risks of the use of cyberspace and both
has to be properly managed.”

NAN reports that other panelists at the breakout session were Mr
Bayo Adekanmi, the Chief Transformation Officer of MTN and Ms
Ibikun Abidoye, the legal counsel of Chocolate City Group.

Others are Ms Sascha Grimme, the Associate Solicitor of Cooley
LLP, a UK-based Lawfirm; and Mr Bisi Adebutu of Premier Lotto, also
known as ‘Baba Ijebu.’

In his remarks, Adebutu gave insight into the challenges Premier
Lotto faced in conducting transactions on the cyberspace.

“Premier Lotto has moved from the streets to the internet, we
have faced certain challenges including paying those who do
business with us.

“The cyber laws are not favourable to our business, Premier
Lotto ranks as the fourth most visited site in the country.

“We have no easy way of verifying or identifying the owner of
cards used to transact business.

“In Nigeria, the business of giving is just emerging, and it is
important that we respect the privacy of our clients when they
interact with us through the use of usernames and passwords.

“Gaming is very popular on the internet and fraud is one to the
challenges we have; if we apprehend an individual trying to
perpetuate fraud, we block their access to us.

“We also have challenges of having to discipline offenders and
the cyber laws have to be properly identified and implemented to
appropriately punish offenders,” Adebutu said.

In her contributions, Grimme said:“Threats and perpetrators of
cyber crimes and the motives behind the cyber attacks have to be
properly identified.

“There are challenges in identifying perpetrators of cyber
crimes; even when identified, there have been instances where they
stay in different jurisdictions making prosecution difficult.”

Adekanmi, while speaking, noted that there is an ongoing online
revolution happening in modern times, and that online security was
very important.

“There is going to be what I call a technology apocalypse, you
will wake up one day and someone is living your life somewhere.

“Someone once said that identity theft is worse than kidnapping,
there is a thin line between privacy and security in modern
business,” the MTN executive said.

On his part, Abiloye, who discussed copyright challenges in the
nation’s music industry, said the general perception of copyright
is that its incentive is to encourage people to create.

“There is a public slant to copyright; there are a lot of cases
about unfair use of copyright.”