The Director-General Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) yesterday disclosed that Nigeria loses about N3.133Trn annually to cybercrime and foreign software.
The Director-General who was represented by a Director in the Agency, Dr. Vincent Olatunji made the startling revelation at the stakeholders’ engagement on Nigeria software testing guidelines and the guidelines for information systems audit held in Abuja said, the development was due to the inability to adequately secure Nigeria’s information systems.
Pantami said securing Nigeria’s information systems was mandatory to guarantee safe delivery of services.
He said: “There is an urgent need to continually protect the country’s information system from being compromised. Today, most business processes are carried out electronically, and large amounts of information are stored, processed and transmitted over IT networks, which means businesses, administrations and citizens depend on proper operations of the information technology used.
“Nigeria loses about N127 billion to cybercrimes yearly. This is caused in part by our inability to adequately secure our Information Systems (IS). Therefore, securing our IS is a must, if we want to guarantee the safe delivery of our services.”
Pantami, who lamented the huge loss by the country, noted that the indigenous software market in Nigeria loses about $10 billion (N3.06trn) annually to stiff competition from foreign off-the-shelf software used to meet local needs, where indigenous software could have provided the appropriate solutions.
“Our indigenous software market has not been left out of the challenges of growth trend with stiff competition from foreign software. This trend has affected the growth of the local software sector, which is now in excess of $10 billion, if well harnessed.
“The importance of software testing cannot be overemphasized in today’s rapidly growing technological environment as the global IT industry may reach $5trillion this year,’’ he said.
In line with the federal government’s effort to ensure that government services go online and digital, Pantami said NITDA came up with two regulatory guidelines, NSTG and GISA, for professional inputs of stakeholders with the aim of arriving at a joint and successful implementation of the drafts.
