Nigeria loses N127bn to cyber crime

President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has said that Nigeria has lost about N127 billion to cybercrime.He disclosed this at Nigeria’s first Legislative Stakeholders Conference on ICT and Cyber security in Abuja.

Saraki, who was represented by Sen. Philip Aduda Saraki, Senate Minority Whip did not, however, specify the period within which the nation lost such an amount to cyber crime.

He said the loss was indicative of the hole created in the economy by cyber crime amounting to 0.08 per cent of the Gross Domestic product (GDP).“It is indeed ironic that while internet penetration in Nigeria is tentative at best, hovering at just over the 90 million people mark, a percentage of 47.7 per cent, internet-facilitated crime seems to be growing.

Our cyber borders are very porous, indeed,” Saraki said.He said efforts to revive the economy must necessarily include counter-measures to minimise the losses and shore up the country’s cyber security architecture to better repel attacks.

Saraki further said that cyber attacks had in 2016 reached unprecedented level, globally with no sign of a downward trend.“In recent times, we have seen the virulent use to which criminals and other shadowy agents have put the cyber space.

He said such attacks threatened economic activities, adding that personal data of millions of people were compromised by cyber criminals, who demanded the payment of ransom before hijacked data could be released.

Not so long ago, one web-based Ponzi scheme succeeded in entrapping thousands of Nigerians with promises of quick gains.

He noted that “The ‘Stop. Think. Connect’ campaign initiative of the United States Mission was aimed at reducing cybercrime in Nigeria.