Address by
His Excellency Olusegun
Obasanjo
At the Inauguration of the
Nigerian Cyber-crime Working Group (NCWG) Abuja, March 10, 2004
PROTOCOL
We
are gathered here today to inaugurate a Working Group whose assignment will
have far-reaching consequences on our efforts to fight crime in general, and
'419' crimes in particular.
The
creation of the Nigerian Cyber-crime Working Group (NCWG) was one of the
recommendations of the Committee on Internet 419, set up by this Administration
on November 26, 2003 to deliberate on and propose ways of tackling the malaise
of Internet 419 in the country.
The
group is an inter-agency body whose function is to address cyber-crime and
cyber-security matters in the Country for the meantime, until the National
Assembly passes the Nigerian Cyber-crime Act, which shall establish the
Nigerian Cyber-crime Agency to handle these matters on a permanent and
institutional basis.
Apart
from dealing frontally with the few fraudsters amongst us who utilize ICT
systems and infrastructure to commit crimes in cyber-space, it is imperative
that we begin now to take steps to protect the huge investments that this
Government and the private sector have committed into developing ICT in
Nigeria. Enacting a Cyber-crime Law and promulgating relevant regulations, are
key strategies provided in the National IT Policy for facilitating and
sustaining ICT growth and development in Nigeria. This is the only way we can
restore commercial trust in our system, with the consequence of sustaining
private sector interests in Nigeria and attracting the much needed Foreign
Direct Investment.
The
members of this Working Group have been carefully selected for their relevant
knowledge and experience, and we are counting on you to deliver on your terms
of reference which include:
q initiating public enlightenment campaign, to educate Nigerians on cyber-crime in general and the rational behind this Administration's Policy in seeking to confront cyber-crime and related issues in Nigeria;
q Undertaking international awareness programs for the purpose of informing the World of Nigeria's strict Policy on Cyber-crime and to draw global attention to the steps taken by the Government to rid the country of Internet 419 in particular and all forms of cyber-crimes, in general;
q Providing technical and legal assistance to the National Assembly on cyber-crime to promote general understanding of the concept, of cyber-crime amongst the legislators and engender speedy enactment of the proposed Draft Cyber-crime Act;
q Formulating technical and legal guidelines necessary for the immediate take off of the Nigerian Cyber-crime Agency upon successful enactment of the Bill;
q Carrying out institutional consensus building amongst law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies, for the purpose of easing any jurisdictional or territorial conflicts or concerns of duties overlap, in respect of the soon-to-be-established Cyber-crime Agency;
q Reviewing, in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, all multilateral and bilateral treaties between Nigeria and the rest of the world in respect of Cyber-crime.
The
task for the Nigerian Cyber-crime Working Group (NCWG) is enormous, but it can
- and must- be done to get this country out of this phase of cyber-embarrassment.
We must move with speed to the phase where ICT would be utilized safely, widely
and securely for government, business and personal purposes, as is done in
other countries, with tremendous social and economic benefits.
I
thank you.