Nigeria loses N127billion to cybercrimes yearly

Nigeria loses N127billion to cybercrimes yearly, an expert with the Department for International Development (DFID) Prof. Olu Ogunshakin, said yesterday in Abuja.

Speaking at a workshop on Cybercrime and Forensic Investigation, Ogunshakin who represented the DFID, said the impact of cybercrime on the ecobnomy was monumental.

Ogunsakin said: “The impact of cybercrime on Nigeria is so vast that annually, we lose about N127billion to criminals that use the internet to sabotage the economy. I think this will continue to rise until the government and security agencies come together to find a way to curb the menace.

“We should make sure that the public is quite aware of the impact of cybercrime because it is something that is borderless and it affects everybody and somebody irrespective of location.

“This crime is borderless and it is something that affects the economy especially the infrastructure that we are trying to develop and in turn it affects everything.”

He said Nigeria can curb the menace if it develops cyber technique on how to eradicate the growing menace, adding that there is need to collaborate with countries that have strategies.

“All over the world, you will also realise that a lot of countries are suffering from it; so we need to collaborate with people because as of now, we do not have a national strategy on how to deal with this crime and we need to start from somewhere,” he said.

Also speaking, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris said the Force was also worried about the spate of the crime.

Represented by AIG Umaru Shehu, Idris said: “The criminals are constantly looking for ways to take advantage of the loopholes in the new cyber technology. They devote more energy and resources into committing national and international crime that are difficult to prevent and detect.

“These criminals are well organised and are willing to invest in modern technology so that they can commit identity theft and privacy invasion, fraudulent electronic transaction, cause havoc through insertion of computer virus and malware infections in personal and corporate computers to get upper hand or blackmail and distributed denial of service attack.

“More worrisome, is the radicalisation and violent extremism, terrorism perpetrated through cyberspace, website hacking and defacement.

“Compared to traditional crime where criminals can rob one or two banks in a day, ICT has made it possible to rob hundreds of banks in less than an hour, while the perpetrators sit comfortably in their homes or offices.”