By Angeline Mgbele, Bureau Chief, Northern Nigeria
The Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has said that Nigeria is taking decisive steps to safeguard its digital future by strengthening cybersecurity, enhancing infrastructure, and building human capacity to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
This is contained in a press statement e-signed by the Director of Corporate Communications & Media Relations at NITDA, Hajia Hadiza Umar.
As per the statement,Mallam Abdullahi stated this while delivering a keynote address titled ‘Securing Digital Economy: Strengthening Infrastructure and Harnessing the Power of Artificial Intelligence’ at the Cyber Nigeria Summit, organised by the Cybersecurity Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN).
Abdullahi described the digital economy as the heartbeat of Nigeria’s development agenda, noting that while ICT contributed about 17 per cent to the country’s GDP, digital technologies influenced nearly every sector of the economy. The service sector alone, he said, accounted for about 58 per cent of national output, demonstrating the deep integration of digital tools into everyday life.
He cautioned that the rise of AI had further transformed cybersecurity dynamics. He said that while AI enhanced productivity and innovation, it also equipped cybercriminals with advanced tools to execute attacks with greater precision and scale.
“Cybercrime now costs the world over 10 trillion dollars annually, making it the most lucrative form of crime globally. The World Economic Forum ranks cybersecurity among the top five global threats, showing that our strategies must evolve beyond physical protection,” he said.
Abdullahi noted that securing Nigeria’s digital economy began with designing infrastructure that prioritised security from the foundation. Digital infrastructure, he said, now extended beyond servers and networks to include utilities, telecommunications, and even autonomous vehicles.
“If a hacker gains access to an autonomous car, the consequences could be disastrous,” he warned, emphasizing that AI systems depended on three critical elements: data, compute power, and algorithms, which must all be protected. “If any of these are compromised, the entire system becomes vulnerable,” he said.
The NITDA DG also pointed out that human error remained the leading cause of cyber incidents worldwide, accounting for 90 to 95 per cent of breaches adding despite two decades of global awareness efforts since Cybersecurity Awareness Month began in 2004, this figure had remained constant. “Cybercriminals exploit human weakness because it’s easier to manipulate behavior than to break through advanced systems,” he explained.
According to the NITDA boss, cybersecurity in Nigeria was built on four strategic pillars: governance, capacity building, incident management, and collaboration. Under the governance framework, he said, the Nigerian Cybercrime Act provided the foundation for coordination and accountability. Recently amended to reflect emerging digital realities, the Act is complemented by a Presidential Executive Order designating critical digital information infrastructure as part of Nigeria’s national assets. “This milestone allows our cyberspace to be recognised and protected as a national highway,” he said.
On capacity building, Abdullahi highlighted the growing global demand for cybersecurity professionals, with an estimated gap of 4.4 million workers worldwide and over 140,000 in Nigeria alone. He described this gap as an opportunity for national empowerment, given Nigeria’s youthful population. Through initiatives such as the 3 Million Tech Talent (3MTT) programme, he pointed out, the government aimed to train Nigerians in 12 high-demand digital skills, including cybersecurity.
He further cited the Digital Literacy for All initiative and the National Digital Literacy Framework (NDLF), which targeted 95 per cent digital literacy by 2030 and 70 per cent by 2027. Starting next year, according to Abdullahi, digital literacy, including cybersecurity, would be taught from kindergarten through tertiary institutions. This policy, he said, would nurture a digitally conscious and responsible generation.
The third pillar, incident management, according to the NITDA boss, focused on rapid response and coordination. He revealed that the National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCCC), established under the Office of the National Security Adviser, was now fully operational and coordinated responses to cyber incidents nationwide. Sectoral CERTs, he added, had also been established in key areas such as finance, communication, and law enforcement, ensuring a more unified national response.
He stressed that collaboration remained essential for success, as cybersecurity could not be managed in isolation. Nigeria, he said, worked closely with the African Union, Smart Africa, international CERTs, and major global technology companies to strengthen collective defense mechanisms.
The NITDA DG urged Nigerians to adopt good cyber hygiene, using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, and avoiding phishing scams. He also encouraged prompt reporting of cyberattacks, emphasising that transparency was vital for collective resilience.
In partnership with the Office of the National Security Adviser, NITDA is working to establish a National Cybersecurity Architecture that promotes accountability, information sharing, and unified national defense.
