A security expert, Dr. Uche Henry, on Friday warned that if Nigeria failed to respond decisively, cybercrime can become one of the country’s biggest security threats within the next decade.

Mr Henry, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, spoke at the Adhere Compliance Frontline Forum 2026, organised by Smartcomply, a smart security solutions company in Lagos.

He said at the forum, which had the theme, “The Trust Frontier,” that cybercrime potentially surpassed many traditional forms of crime.

Mr Henry highlighted that, particularly, financial crime was no longer just a banking issue but a national security and economic challenge.

“Fraud proceeds can finance terrorism, kidnapping, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and other organised crimes, making cybercrime a threat to national stability,” he said.

He underscored the importance of trust in the financial system, saying that it was the “currency” that kept financial systems functioning.

He added that when trust was lost, the economic cost extended far beyond stolen money.

“Financial crime erodes public confidence in banks, law enforcement and the wider economy. Financial crime has evolved from physical bank robberies to sophisticated cyber-enabled attacks.

“Criminals now rely on laptops, smartphones, Artificial Intelligence (AI), ransomware, deepfakes, insider collaboration, SIM swap fraud, and social engineering rather than guns.

“As a result, banks and law enforcement must also adopt AI-driven technologies to detect and prevent fraud,” the security expert said.

He identified insider threats within financial institutions and telecommunications companies as a major concern, noting that some employees assisted cybercriminals by compromising banking and telecom systems.

Mr Henry stressed that stronger collaboration between banks, telecom operators, regulators, and law enforcement was essential to combating cybercrimes.

He also highlighted bureaucratic delays as slowing investigations, explaining that law enforcement agencies often required lengthy court processes before suspicious accounts could be frozen.

He noted that delays allowed criminals time to move stolen funds and called for more efficient legal and regulatory processes to improve response times.

To address the challenge, he recommended greater adoption of AI-powered fraud detection and cybersecurity solutions and stronger collaboration between banks, telecom operators, regulators, and law enforcement.

He advised improved transparency, accountability, and faster enforcement processes, increased public awareness to reduce social engineering and other fraud tactics, and building public trust through effective investigations, prosecutions, and dispute resolution.

Mr Henry stressed that financial crime was not only about monetary losses but also about protecting public confidence, national security, economic growth, and social stability.

He said that restoring trust required a collective effort from government, financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, businesses, and citizens.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer, Smartcomply and the Organiser of the forum, Gbemisola Osunrinde, said that institutions faced growing cyber threats, stricter regulatory requirements and increased global scrutiny

She highlighted that financial institutions could no longer treat compliance as a routine regulatory obligation but must adopt it as the foundation of operational resilience and customer confidence.

Ms Osunrinde said the forum was organised to highlight the rising sophistication of cybercriminals, noting that Artificial Intelligence and deepfake technology were enabling fraudsters to carry out more complex and large-scale attacks.

She cited industry data showing that while successful cyberattacks had declined, the financial impact remained significant, with losses exceeding ₦100 billion across 30 major incidents.

She noted that deepfake attacks targeting identity verification in Africa had also increased sharply.

She also spoke on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new baseline standards, which required financial institutions to implement 17 regulatory measures within 14 months.

Ms Osunrinde emphasised the need for integrated, real-time compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) systems capable of detecting and responding to threats as they occurred.

She further noted that following Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, financial institutions had a greater responsibility to maintain global compliance standards and sustain investor confidence.

She urged banks, regulators, and other financial institutions to strengthen collaboration and share information on emerging threats, warning that operating in silos gave cybercriminals opportunities to exploit multiple organisations.

The conference was about implementing the CBN’s new compliance framework, combating AI-driven cybercrime and strengthening real-time compliance systems.

These are alongside the unveiling of a joint financial compliance report produced in partnership with TechCabal Insights. 

(NAN)