Nahimah Ajikanle Nurudeen
The Centre for Cyber Awareness Development (CECAD) has convened a one day all-embracing talk where heads of key industry parastatals are expected to lead discussions that will usher the country into a proper consciousness of tackling the growing menace of cyber insecurity.
The event slated to hold in Lagos on December 8, 2016, hopes to influence adoption of October as an annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) in Nigeria.
The Director General of NITDA, Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami, the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Director General of Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NigComSat) and 24 others be brainstorm on the way forward.
According to the Executive Director of CECAD, a non-profit ICT coalition agency, Dr Bayero Agabi, the dialogue themed “Cyber security: a Shared Responsibility” seeks to collaborate with NCC, NITDA, NigComSat and other stakeholders to midwife a multi-stakeholders awareness campaign across, “government, corporate institutions and private citizens through the principles of the Public Private Partnership (PPP).”
He said with this event, Nigeria would be aligning with some countries that have earlier adopted October every year as awareness campaign month. These countries include the USA, UK, Brazil and others.
He informed that initial efforts by some stakeholders such as the Nigerian Internet Registration Agency (NIRA) are a precursor to the goal of declaring every October of the year as “cyber security awareness campaign month in line with global trend”.
This collaboration, Agabi said, would yield multiplier effect across public and private sector, as the growing threats of cyber security, “is more real than imagined. Nigeria can no longer afford to allow discrete access to its vital assets and the privacy of its citizens be compromised because of the low awareness index on cyber security among its citizens and corporate establishments”.
He said that NCC, NITDA and NigComSat are key players in the cyber security environment with laudable existing structures and vision to help Nigeria achieve a stable and secured cyber space usage and experience.
The EVC, NITDA DG and DG of NigComSat would deliver keynotes that would stir robust discussions by a team of cyber security architects and lawyers, new media management experts and top security agencies among others.
Already, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, has expressed its organisation’s readiness “to help the current administration to succeed in its drive to ensure a safe cyber space in the country”.
