The federal government has inaugurated the National Ministerial Advisory Council to coordinate cybersecurity mitigation efforts across critical sectors in the country.

The council, inaugurated on Wednesday in Abuja, consisted of multi-stakeholder agencies of relevance, the private sector, and the academia, among other institutions, to ensure coordination and response towards cyber threats.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said that with 163 million internet users, 157 million mobile lines and 84 per cent 4G population coverage, cyber threats were increasing.

Mr Tijani said the country was facing about 4200 cyber attacks every week targeted at government organisations and other institutions across sectors.

He said that increased digitalisation and the drive towards a digital economy would inevitably lead to more cyber threats.

“The stronger your digital economy becomes, the more cyber attacks you will experience.

“The question is not whether attacks will happen, but whether Nigeria is prepared to respond with coordinated national resilience,” he said.

Mr Tijani said the advisory council would provide a platform for stakeholders to identify emerging risks, improve policy alignment, strengthen public-private collaboration and enhance coordinated national response.

According to him, the council will not duplicate any efforts already ongoing but align its strategies.

The minister also said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu was committed to building a one trillion-dollar economy, adding that such ambition required widespread and meaningful digital connectivity.

According to him, Nigeria is investing about $2 billion in 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic network nationwide to deepen connectivity across all states and geopolitical zones.

He further said that the government was investing in 3,700 telecommunications towers to expand coverage from about 92 per cent to nearly 98–99 per cent of the population.

The minister said that cyberattacks were always predictable, on the increase and systemic.

Mr Tijani said that the pillars of the national cyber resilience would require continuous accountability, intelligence sharing, national coordination and strategic risk foresight.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, said artificial intelligence (AI) was reshaping the cybersecurity landscape and increasing the complexity of threats.

“In today’s environment, attacks can be on AI systems or driven by AI, and we are seeing zero-click phishing, AI-generated malware, automated ransomware and sophisticated social engineering attacks,” he said.

Mr Inuwa warned that AI-powered threats, including deepfake audio and video, were becoming harder to detect and could be deployed in virtual communications and financial systems.

He stressed that cybersecurity could not be addressed in isolation, noting that “no one is protected alone in a connected ecosystem.”

“We are only as strong as our weakest link, and collaboration and information sharing between government and the private sector are critical,” he said.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy, Nagungu Gagare, called for the development of a robust national cybersecurity response framework and stronger institutional collaboration.

He emphasised the need for real-time threat intelligence sharing, local cybersecurity capacity development and the adoption of predictive, rather than reactive, approaches.

The Executive Director, Digital Exploration and Technical Services, Galaxy Backbone, Olambe Akinkugbe, while speaking on the protection of data centres, said they were working with security outfits to ensure security.

Mr Akinkugbe emphasised that cybersecurity was not limited to technology alone but began with human factors, adding that it identified personnel as the first line of defence in any organisation, both in public institutions and private enterprises.

The coordinating team, led by NITDA, also has as its members the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Galaxy Backbone, and the Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria, among others. 

(NAN)