The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed Telecoms operators to invest in robust infrastructure, employ state-of-the-art security measures, and conduct regular audits to identify vulnerabilities and address them promptly.
Speaking at the second quarter of the NCC Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) held in Lagos, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta said Nigeria has witnessed remarkable growth in the digital economy, revolutionizing the way transactions are done, with the telecoms sector playing a pivotal role in enabling the transformation.
Professor Danbatta, however, noted that these advancements have come with new challenges, one of which is the rising tide of e-fraud and cybersecurity concerns.
” The legal framework must focus on data protection, privacy and incident response, ensuring that operators are held accountable for any lapses in security on their respective networks,” he said.
Addressing concerns about personal data protection, Professor Danbatta highlighted the importance of Nigeria’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, 2020 – 2030 (NDEPS).
Pillar No 6 of the NDEPS, which focuses on soft infrastructure, addresses cybersecurity standards, frameworks, and guidelines.
Earlier, the Chairman, Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF), Mazi Emeka Akpa said the evolution of fraud threats has undermined the effectiveness of a reactive approach to combating fraud, which essentially focuses on stopping schemes one-by-one through manual reviews.
He pointed out that the 2023 2nd quarter open forum of ICAF, with the theme “Combating E-fraud on Telecom Platforms and building consumer confidence in the digital economy”, decided to bring the issue to the limelight given its massive effects on consumers; hence the need to propose a new approach on Combatting E-Fraud.
The lead presenter, Non-Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, FutureSoft, Nkemdilim Uwaje-Begho, said key challenges of EFraud include evolving threat landscape; increased risk; lack of awareness; lack of collaboration and limited regulations.
To mitigate the threats, Mrs Uwaje-Begho continued, there was need to build consumer confidence in the digital economy.
She added that regulators must implement policies that facilitate collaboration, establish formal mechanism for information sharing, encourage public-private partnerships within the telecoms industry as well as cross-sector to leverage expertise.
RN
