A bill seeking to amend the cyber crimes act 2015 has scaled 2nd reading in the Senate.
This followed the consideration of the bill at plenary yesterday.
Presenting the bill Sen Shehu Buba (APC -Bauchi) said it was read for the first time on Oct 18.
Buba said the bill seeks to amend section 44 and the long title to insert some consequential omissions from the act.
He said the digital and information technology age has created new avenues and tools for committing traditional crimes and new forms of crimes.
According to him, the architecture of the digital world challenges law enforcement institutions and the criminal justice system to devise measures and procedures to contend with digital or cybercrimes.
“In Nigeria, there has been a significant increase in internet-based advance fee fraud, there are cases of hacking into emails, websites and infringement on privacy rights of persons and institutions which call for urgent solutions.”
He said legislation on advance fee fraud was among the earliest intervention by the Nigerian Government on cybercrimes, adding that the law was inadequate to meet the intricacies of technological development.
“The most recent statute on cybercrimes in Nigeria is the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015.
“The vaunted objectives of this act include the provision of an effective and unified legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of cybercrimes in Nigeria.”
He said the act was designed to ensure the protection of critical national information infrastructure and to promote cyber security, protect computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programs, intellectual property and privacy rights.
“This bill seeks to address all anomalies that has hindered the effective implementation of the act.”
He said there was a need to realign legislative efforts with the objectives of the current national security strategy 2019.
He said the national strategy has expressly defined and embedded cyber security as one of the major components of a comprehensive national security architecture to help safeguard, protect, defend national economic, political, and security infrastructures.
He said the bill was also designed to realign with National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy on Nigeria Cyber Threat Profile .
He noted that over seven major cyber threats are classified as inimical to national security and economy.
Following second reading of the bill, Deputy President of Senate, Sen Barau Jibrin, who presided plenary referred the bill to Committee on Cyber crime and national security for further legislative input and report back in four weeks.
