The Chairman, House of Representatives
Committee on Justice, Mr. Ahmad Ali, said on Wednesday that fighting
cybercrime and data theft in Nigeria would remain ineffective so long as
the country did not have the relevant legal framework in place.
For example, he noted that when cyber
thieves hacked into a computer network in the country to commit a
financial crime, they could still get away even if they were arrested
because there were no appropriate laws to penalise them.
The All Progressives Congress lawmaker
from Kwara State was speaking in Cambridge at the 32nd International
Symposium on Economic Crime organised by the Jesus College, University
of Cambridge.
The text of his address, which he emailed to The PUNCH
in Abuja, indicated that the theme of this year’s symposium focused on
the “advantages and vulnerabilities that today’s information-oriented
society presents us with in fighting and protecting ourselves from
economic crime.”
Ahmad told the participants, drawn from
93 countries, about the Nigerian situation thus, “We do not have data
protection law or policy.
“For example, the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, last week, just arrested four people that tried to
hack into the computers of Enterprise Bank.
“Under what appropriate law do you prosecute them? Only conspiracy to defraud!”
To tackle the problem, the lawmaker made some suggestions.
He spoke further, “Nigeria must
immediately have policy, laws on the following: Data Protection, Witness
Protection, Lawful interception of Communication; and Ratification of
the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime 2001, to enable Nigeria to take
its position in the comity of nations in the global fight against
cybercrime.”
