Cyber security: Senator calls for single national infrastructure

The Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Cybercrime, Sen. Foster Ogola, has called for a single national infrastructure for gateway as a strategy to combat cybercrime.

Ogola made the call on Wednesday at the end of a two-day Indo-Africa ICT Expo 2018 with the theme: “One World, One Platform: Let’s Talk about Digital Transformation”.

“There must be a control structure for whatever data coming into Nigeria, and that is the duty of government and private sector because attack of a hacker in the country would affect them.

“Then, whatever you are protecting may not be as protected as you think.

“We have storage but what we are lacking is a single national infrastructure for gateway which we, in the Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Crime, are taking into cognisance,’’ he said.

The lawmaker urged participants and panels at the Expo to look into the issue and reflect it in the communique they would issue.

“We need a national infrastructure to ensure data are protected,” he said.

Ogola added that telecommunications companies in the country had critical infrastructure not nationally protected.

“A nation should be proud of her data and store it by herself and see it as a national asset.

“If MTN is storing its own in South Africa, Austell doing same in Arabian countries, and all the data not nationally secured, then we risk defeat in cyber war,” he said.

The senator said that, with a national infrastructure, security agencies could monitor activities of citizens to reduce crime.

“This is why Nigeria has partnered with India; data is critical to national security and should be taken very serious.’’

Mr Toyin Olaniteru, Chief Executive Officer, Spindlar Cyberlaw Centre, called for proper enlightenment of social media users on information security.

According to him, some information given on social media such as family functions and birthdays have been used to defraud.

About 1,400 delegates, 35 ICT companies from India and 15 ICT firms from Nigeria attended the event held at the at Eko Hotels and Suites on Victoria Island, Lagos.

The two-day event was organised to provide wider opportunities for African and Indian companies to stand out with their distinctive products through exhibition and networking.

It is also aimed at establishing strategic partnerships among key players of the ICT ecosystem.

The forum is expected to proffer practical steps and solutions that will assist relevant MDAs in formulating a robust roadmap toward a workable partnership in fostering local ICT content among some development partners.