Group partners ONSA to combat crime, terrorism in cyberspace

Anon-governmental organisation, Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative also known as Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAM) is partnering the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to combat crime and terrorism being perpetrated in the cyberspace and mobile phones.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday during a one-day workshop on enhancing the use of ICT in Counter-terrorism policy and practice, the Coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre, (ONSA), Commodore Yem Musasaid, said that although the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has given statistics that Nigeria has 150 million active mobile phone subscribers for a population of 180 million which was a welcome development, the challenge was how to ensure that organised criminals and terrorists do not infiltrate the space.

Represented by Head, Preventing/ Counter Violent Extremism unit, Ms. Catherine Udida, he said there was the need to curb crimes and terrorism being perpetrated through ICT and telecommunications.

He said that the ONSA has been able to spearhead key reforms and strategies on public security and policy, some of which include the National Security Strategy (NSS) 2014, the National Counterterrorism Strategy (NACTEST 2016) and the National Cyber Security Strategy 2014 to monitor and protect the cyberspace from being infiltrated by cyber criminals.

He said that the process of development of the strategies over the past few years revealed urgent need for comprehensive, structural and procedural capabilities in mitigating terrorist attacks; curb cross-border crimes, monitoring financial crimes such as money laundry and advance-free fraud.

He called for an effective collaboration, cooperation and information sharing within and between security agencies, the private sector, government and the international community in combating the crimes, maintaining that the war cannot be fought alone by the government.

He hoped that the forum will give stakeholders the opportunity to access the achievements made so far, discuss challenges and proffer solutions for the short-, medium- and long-term so that at the end the forum would have an inclusive security sector on enhancing public safety and security through ICT.