Nigeria’s Cyberspace Will Not Be Secured by Enforcement Alone, Fagbemi Warns

•Seeks strengthening of anti-cybercrime agencies

Alex Enumah in Abuja

Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has warned that for the country’s cyberspace to be secured, efforts must go beyond enforcement, to include the enhancement of the capacity of agencies to prevent cybercrime and related offences.

According to Fagbemi, the menace of cybercrimes is global and increasingly complex, with losses estimated in trillions of dollars annually.

He spoke on Thursday in Abuja, during the opening of National Cascade Leadership Training, focused on cybercrime prevention.

The Train-the-Trainer Leadership Retreat was organised by Joint Case Team on Cybercrime (JCTC), with support from Commonwealth Secretariat and UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Represented by Director, Administration of Criminal Justice Reforms, Mrs Leticia Ayoola- Daniels, the minister observed that ransomware attacks had increased exponentially in recent years, and with online fraud schemes evolving with alarming sophistication.

He lamented that young people were being drawn into digital criminality at very early ages, with low barriers to entry; and sextortion, identity theft, cryptocurrency-enabled laundering, etc., continuing to test Nigeria’s enforcement architecture.

Fagbemi said, “It is imperative to note at this point that enforcement alone cannot address the challenge; prevention must be structured, messaging staying consistent, and capacity deliberately multiplied.”

He added, “Leadership in cybercrime prevention requires: discipline, humility, and consistency; that you speak clearly about risks and also about responsibility; and that you communicate about criminalized conducts to a 12-year-old in a language that can be understood while still preserving its authority.

“I, therefore, charge each participant to engage with seriousness of purpose, reflect deeply, commit fully, and turn learning into action.

“Our cyberspace will not be secured by enforcement alone, but by informed citizens, coordinated institutions, and principled leadership.”

Meanwhile, Ayoola-Daniels commended Commonwealth Secretariat for the Cyber Fellowship programme established to build a network of experts from Africa and the Caribbean to encourage cooperation, policy development, and capacity-building across the two regions.

She also commended the secretariat for awarding the fellowship to three Nigerians, including a member of Joint Case Team on Cybercrimes (JCTC), which, according to him, had translated into tangible benefit through the Ideas Incubator programme for the wider inter-agency team.

Ayoola-Daniels stated, “What is particularly compelling about this retreat is its deliberate structure: it begins with identity, moves to message, and culminates in system.

“It recognizes that knowledge without confidence is ineffective, coordination without standardisation is fragmented, and training without monitoring is unsustainable. This is leadership architecture in action.”

Earlier, Head, Joint Case Team on Cybercrime, and Commonwealth Africa Cyber Fellow, Jamila Akaaga Ade, said the work being done through the cyber fellowship was invaluable and so was the exchange within the network, which she said had recorded some wins, the most recent being the endorsement of the Africa Cyber Toolkit in Fiji by Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting.

Ade said, “This gathering is not accidental. It is intentional. It reflects a deliberate decision to pause from the urgency of case files, court schedules, intelligence reports, and inter-agency coordination, to strengthen the very foundation upon which all of that work rests, leadership, mind-set, and cohesion.

“The Joint Case Team on Cybercrime was born out of necessity identified by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.”

She added, “Cybercrime does not respect institutional boundaries. It does not wait for bureaucratic alignment. It evolves rapidly, crosses jurisdictions seamlessly, and exploits every gap in coordination.

“Our response, therefore, cannot be fragmented. It must be structured, disciplined, and united.”

Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, STRENGTHEN Africa Limited, Mr. Oluseye Adepoju, commended the Nigerian government and participating agencies for their continued commitment in strengthening countries’ response to cybercrime and protecting citizens in an increasingly digital society.

Adepoju said, “It is imperative to note that at point enforcement alone cannot address the cybercrime challenges but, stakeholders coming together like this to tackle the menace from the grassroots.”