The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has partnered with some cybersecurity stakeholders to launch a new cyber awareness campaign tagged “#NoGoFallMaga.”

The initiative was launched in collaboration with the Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of the Nigerian Financial Industry (CCISONFI) and Cybersafe Foundation (CSF).

Chairman of the CCISONFI, Abumere Igboa, announced the partnership on Monday during a Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign media parley held in Lagos.

“This initiative looks at tackling cybercrime that poses a threat to customers and the Nigerian citizenry in conducting reliable and safe financial services.

“Although the use of digital platforms has transformed the cyber and technology landscape, it also has its own risk, especially with sustaining trust in customers’ ability to transact securely within the financial ecosystem,” he said.

Mr Igboa said that a loss of such trust and confidence could undermine the benefits of CBN’s cashless economy or the ability to continually leverage technology.

He added that there was a constant need to address the related challenges of ensuring continuous cybersecurity and data privacy.

“We have also realised that only through concerted efforts by financial industry stakeholders and ensuring our customers remain cyber aware, can we then eliminate or take measures to reduce the activities of cybercriminals,” Mr Igboa said.

Also speaking, the executive director of Cybersafe Foundation, Confidence Staveley, said the partnership would enable them to join forces to reach the 40 million Nigerians who currently access financial services across the country.

“This will also help in raising mass cybersecurity awareness and consequently reduce the success of rate of cyberfraud attacks among customers.

“There is a need to include an aggressive cybersecurity awareness campaign to compliment other proactive and reactive measures being taken to curb cyber fraud.

“However, we must collaborate across the financial eco-system, consolidate resources, strengths and reach across the aisle to sectors like the media for support to drive cybersecurity awareness for significant impact,” Mr Staveley said.

Commenting, CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustafa, said that cybersecurity awareness was a key element in mitigating cyber risk.

Mr Mustafa, who was represented by Adedeji Sikiru, CBN Deputy Director, Banking Supervision, said that the bank was ready to partner with industry stakeholders to sustain efforts at educating staff and customers on fraud information and cybersecurity hygiene practices.

“It would also be beneficial to the industry if banks extend their cybersecurity awareness programme to their customers using various media in Nigerian languages such Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa, among others, for an improved ecosystem.

“Another area of focus is driving and integrating awareness programmes into the Nigerian education system,” Mr Mustafa said.

He said that the present generation of students was practically born with technology in their hands, noting that cybersecurity must be an integral part of their education.

Mr Mustafa said students, teachers, and administrators all needed access to the learning tools necessary to understand, detect and avoid cyber threats they might encounter in their daily activities.

“To this end, the CBN is ready to partner with industry stakeholders to develop an awareness programme that can be integrated into the education system in Nigeria to create a security culture for citizens from childhood,” he said.