CBN, EFCC, Others Make Case for ’Nigerian Identity’ System

Kayode Tokede

As the world marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month, stakeholders in the Nigerian cyber space have made a strong case for an Integrated Identity Management System to be called ‘’The Nigerian Identity’’ whereby international passport, phone number, Biometric Verification Number (BVN) belonging to one individual are grafted onto one composite interconnected file to easily detect and track perpetrators of cybercrime.

They also called for regular update of regulatory guidelines and improved collaboration between the financial sector regulators, industry operators and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) to effectively manage emerging risks and achieve a secured digital ecosystem that facilitates safer transaction processing and customer experience.

This forms part of the submission of participants at the Information Security Society of Africa – Nigeria (ISSAN) Cybersecurity Roundtable with the theme: “Re-Thinking Corporate Governance Rules on Money Transfers,” held in Lagos.

The Stakeholders comprised representatives from Deposit Money Banks, FinTechs, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NIBBS, Internet Service Providers (Huawei), Tech Companies, Cybersecurity companies, Legal Practitioners, and the Press.

In a communique released at the end of the forum, they agreed that there was also the urgent need to create effective blacklists of criminals in the financial sector so that when they have committed any infraction anywhere within the industry, they should be blacklisted industry wide.

The participants identified human factor as the most critical element of a cybercrime, stressing that staff recruitment and customer on-boarding should be done with greater and continuing care and concern.

They raised concerns on non-compliance to Tier 1 account transactions limits, urging operators to review and improve their respective security architectures as well as ensure the implementation of the existing regulations by the industry operators. Thus, the need for a stronger regulatory attention for FinTechs was canvassed especially in relation to enforcing the limits for Tier 1 accounts.

They further urged banks to make extra effort to build trust in customers’ minds; improve data protection; emphasize financial literacy for financial inclusivity; exert more effort in educating their customers on the workings of the financial system and enhance security of their Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).