Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act 2015 has been described as socially deficient by lawyers and stakeholders in the ICT industry who were at the latest Technology Outlook Series held in Lagos.
Signed into law on May 15, Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act of 2015 which aims to stop cybercrimes in Nigeria is extensively described as a milestone since it is the first law that regulates the cyberspace in the country.
Barrister Basil Udotai noted that one of the legal shortcomings in the law is its decentralized and distributed enforcement framework; he also raised concerns over compliance, how the law affects the National Security Adviser (NSA) act, and the doubtful impact of the cyber security fund.
According to him, the law also has several “unnecessarily transactional in certain areas and special provisions on the financial sector and dangerous tendency for shifting focus.”
The law categorizes as punishable offences actions such as any crime or injury on critical national information infrastructure, sales of pre-registered SIM cards, unlawful access to computer systems, Cyber-Terrorism, among others, are punishable offences.
He said: “The cybercrime Act though long in coming and beset with certain challenges components, it may be applied to effectively tackle Nigeria’s cybercrime and cyber security challenges. But deliberate efforts have to be made by the key players working with stakeholders to make this reality.
“While the act provides a sigh of relief to telecoms subscribers and operators, there remains the need for all the stakeholders to work together to protect the internet link in the country against fraudsters.”
In his remark, the Head of Legal Service of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Emmanuel Edet, said with the law, Nigerian government would be able to tackle cybercrimes.
“The law should take cognizance of all definitions as there were lots of interest in the system but certain fundamental flaws in the act should be addressed to meet international standard,” he said.
