A Don, Dr Victor Odumuyiwa, on Monday urged the Federal Government to invest more in cyber security for a safer society.
Odumuyiwa, who is the Director of NITHUB, University of Lagos, a tech innovation within the University of Lagos campus, made this appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Odumuyiwa said that, though, the government was doing a lot in protecting the cyberspace, more improvements were still being expected.
He said that Nigeria was a country that could export technological talents to other countries, therefore, cybersecurity was an area in which the government should provide a framework or environment to raise more talents.
The director added that government needed to do more, in terms of investing in the nation’s cybersecurity apparatus.
“When people complain of cyber-fraud, it should not take time before action is carried out to nab the perpetrators with adequate infrastructure and knowledge in place.
“However, the reverse is presently the case. We have a situation wherein people are afraid of complaining of cyber-fraud, because they are not sure their cases are going to be treated or that they themselves might land in trouble.
“Government needs to create a lot of awareness to make the process seamless for people to register their complaints and crimes.
“The more they register their complaints, the better for us,” he said.
Odumuyiwa maintained that technology could help in the fight against insecurity and insurgency in the nation, however, adding that such intervention would involve a lot of capital to set up.
“There are so many things that can be done in using technology for surveillance.
“However, it calls for strong will on the part of the authority to employ technology in security, but once the willingness is there even the existing technology is enough.
“We must also be willing to reduce the compromise we have in the system,” he said.
On cybercrimes, Odumuyiwa urged Nigerians to be aware of cyber attacks and be observant, when in the cybersecurity space.
“It is a digital world and this is the space that will continue to grow bigger and bigger and there will be more and more cyber crimes.
“We need more cybersecurity experts to come on board.
“So, it is a space for those that say they do not have a job. They should come and start learning things because there are jobs that we don’t have people to fill up,” he said.
Odumuyiwa advocated for more training and retraining for the nation’s cybersecurity experts, saying they needed to be well trained for challenges in the sector.
“Crimes of today and the future are not just going to be physical crimes, they are going to be cyber crimes.
“So, the earlier we train all those people handling our cybersecurity on the skills and competence to handle such, the better it is for us,” he said.
The don called for implementation of punitive measures for cyber criminals to serve as deterrent to others, and to ensure safer society.
NAN reports that NITHUB is the NITDA Information Technology (IT) Hub located within the University of Lagos Campus.
The Hub’s vision is to be the number one research-driven IT hub in Nigeria, providing a platform for cross-fertilisation of ideas among academia, industries, entrepreneurs, startups and investors.
The ideas are to assist towards driving technological innovations and enhancing the digital economy of the nation. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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