Nigeria calls for global efforts to tackle cybercrime

The Nigerian  Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Professor Isa Pantami has called for international cooperation in tackling cyber crimes across the globe.

The Minister made the call while addressing the Forum of Technology Ministers at the Future Tech Forum in London, United Kingdom.

Pantami stressed the need for datafication as it takes the lead among global economies.

Addressing his counterparts on “The Future of the Internet: Trend and Opportunities” he noted that “the need for the collection of data is increasing daily and will continue to do so at a significant pace. According to research, from the dawn of civilisation to the early 200s, only five exabytes of data was collected. Today however, approximately 2.5 exabytes of data is collected within 24 hours. 
 
“By implication, the amount of data generated and collected  within 48 hours today, is the same as that which was generated  and collected over  five thousand years before. 
 
Again, research by the International  Data Corporation has indicated that in the next four years, 41.6 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices could be connected and inter connected and these devices are expected to generated around 79.6 billion petabytes of data” he said.

The Minister, who stated that datafication is on the rise and will continue to do so, also underscored the need for governments to prioritise the protection and judicious use of data.

According to Pantami, this had motivated him to author “The Datafication of Society to Foster an Internet Economy”. 

He said “Datafication is inevitable. Therefore, we must place the same importance on cybersecurity especially considering that a new malware is released every 4.6 seconds globally to compromise the cyber space and inevitably, generated data. 
 
“There is a clear indication that in the wake of the pandemic, the rate of cyber crime increased significantly due to an increased online presence. It is therefore necessary to give the same emphasis, priority and preference to the issue of cyber security,” the Minister noted.

He therefore called  for  international approach to cybersecurity as against the existing regional or national approach noting that “with cloud computing and cloud devices, national or regional regulation of data could be less relevant because as obtains in many situations, data may not be domiciled within a sovereign nation, therefore, border restrictions do not apply and are not respected” 

Nnenna.O