This call was made in Abuja by Dr. Martin Ikpehai, ISSAN’s vice president, when he led a three-man delegation on a courtesy visit to the EFCC’s headquarters.

According to him, the EFCC is doing a great work in putting a stop to cybercrimes.

He called for a more sustainable approach towards taking over cyberspace from internet fraudsters.

“Now, every business is conducted on digital space and as businesses are on cyber space, criminals are chasing them online.

“One important thing we have come to realise is that the EFCC, being a crime fighter, has done so much in this aspect of crime, especially fighting crime in the digital space and we are happy about it.  We are also happy to fight this crime and to let you know that there should be synergy between our organisation and the EFCC”, he said.

He expressed surprise at the prevalence of “yahoo schools” across the country, pointing out that such an anomaly demanded enhanced cooperation with ISSAN.

“EFCC is discovering yahoo schools in Nigeria and it surprises us that there are schools created to teach people to learn cybercrimes, that is why we have come to let you know that you should collaborate with us so that we can work hand in hand”.

He further explained that cyber security is so important that security officers of key institutions are working closely with ISSAN.

The Society, he says, offers a platform to teach secondary school children and University students and Nigerians in general about cyber security in schools and how to defend and safeguard against cyber- bullying, cyber-stalking and other forms of cyber security challenges.

He commended the EFCC on its Eagle Eye app, describing it as an excellent device in achieving success in the fight against internet fraud.

Responding, Ola Olukoyede, the executive chairman of the EFCC, appreciated ISSAN for its focus and mandate.

He stated that the EFCC greatly valued efforts geared towards cyber security and assured of better collaboration with the Society.

“We have a lot to do on cybercrime and security as it were and that is what we do. We must engage all stakeholders and ensure that we take drastic measures to stop criminals in cyberspace. “The more we come together, the better for the country to prosecute the war on cybercrime and security”, he stated.

He assured that the EFCC would always be ahead of cyber criminals, maintaining that “if crime is technology driven, the approach to fight it should also be technology driven”.

It would be recalled that the ISSAN Industry Roundtable had made a case for a’ Nigerian Identity’’ System.

According to the association the Integrated Identity Management System to be called ‘’The Nigerian Identity’’ would have international passport, phone number, BVN belonging to one individual grafted onto one composite interconnected file to easily detect and track perpetrators of cybercrime.

They 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.

Dr David Isiavwe, ISSAN President, stated the need for industry operators, law enforcement agencies and financial sector regulators to ensure they are steps ahead of the activities of cybercriminals.

According to him,

“the cybersecurity space is constantly evolving. As the cybercriminals do not sleep or relent, operators and regulators have a duty to not also sleep. Indeed, the protection of the cyberspace is the responsibility of all stakeholders”.

Dr. David Isiavwe also noted that financial institutions have a critical role to play in the future of financial services, noting that the more they innovate, the more they need to automate the attendant controls and ensure that they are strictly monitored.

ISSAN is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace.

It is also significantly involved in ensuring the security of Banking Systems.

It also provides a platform for information, collaboration, and ideas exchange for a safer payment ecosystem.

Distinguished guests, industry leaders, and technological visionaries congregated at the Oriental Hotel in Lekki, Lagos, for conversation about how emerging technologies are reshaping economies and offering unprecedented opportunities for progress and societal enhancement.

The Digital Agenda Forum 2023 was also a platform to celebrate innovators and technology enthusiasts across various fields of endeavour.

The event had in attendance leading tech innovators from the nation’s IT space, like Tony Emaekpore, President, Association of telecoms Companies of Nigeria, President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Dr Agada Apochi, group managing director, Unified Payments, Amos Emmanuel,, Founder, Innovationbed Africa, Femi Kalejaiye, Managing Director, Opolo, Wale Owoeye, Managing Director, Cedarview Communications, Ndidi Rita Amuchienwa, Partner Strategy Executive for EMEA, Intel and Harsh Gujarati founder C2S Innovation among others.

Dr. Agada Apochi, GMD of Unified Payments, was honoured with the prestigious “Financial Technology ICON of the Year award”, recognizing his significant contributions to the advancement of financial technology in Nigeria.

He has over 30 years of professional experience in banking and financial technology.  He is a Fellow, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Fellow, International Academy of Cards & Payments, Fellow, Institute of Credit Administration, Certified International Cards & Payments Professional (CICPP), Certified Associate of Capability Maturity Model Institute, Chartered Mediator and Conciliator, Barrister and Solicitor.

Tony Emoekpere was recognised with the “Outstanding Contribution to Telecom Development Award” for his long standing consistency in the nation’s Telecommunication Industry. He is a C-Level Executive and accredited Project Manager with over 23 years’ experience in Telecommunications Management, ICT Service Provisioning, Infrastructure Design, Implementation, and Maintenance.

He is a graduate in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, member of the International Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and member of the Project Management Institute.

Hajia Thaibat Adeniran was awarded with “Outstanding Contribution to Insurance Tech” for her exceptional contributions to the advancement of insurance technology.

“Blockchain Influencer of the Year” was bestowed upon Oluseyi Akindeinde Founder Hyperspace Technologies for his profound impact in shaping the blockchain landscape. With over two decades of expertise in the technology and information security sectors, he recently dedicated a significant portion of his professional journey to understanding and addressing the security challenges within Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and Financial Transaction Systems (FTS).

He has had the privilege to share the findings of his comprehensive research work at an array of esteemed conferences and with prestigious organisations such as the NSA, CBN, ISSAN, CCIBN, CIBN, EFCC, NSE, EPPAN, and the executive councils and senior management of numerous financial institutions across Nigeria.

The awards underscore the dedication and innovation of these individuals in driving Nigeria towards a future where technology plays a transformative role in societal progress.

In his welcome address, Don Pedro Aganbi, Country Partner of Technology Africa, expressed gratitude amidst the gathering of thought leaders and innovators. He emphasized the transformative power of emerging technologies such as AI, Cloud, Blockchain, 5G, IoT, digital payments, Metaverse, Renewable Energy, robotics, and big data analytics.

“With a commitment to steer our nation toward sustainable development through strategic integration of these transformative tools, we aim to unlock the full potential of technology for the benefit of all Nigerians,” stated Don Pedro Aganbi.

The Digital Agenda Forum 2023 encapsulated a collective commitment to innovation, collaboration, and progress. It brought together luminaries and pioneers to chart a course that transcends barriers and fosters inclusivity in harnessing the potential of technology for the betterment of Nigeria.

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 recently.

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.

Other highlights of the ISSAN Roundtable include the need for the regulators to encourage and reward whistleblowers and sanction wrong information; create a platform to generate a connectivity graph for every email a customer provides for account opening to serve as red flag; address the slow pace of action in Investigating funds transferred to wrong account and a more robust regulatory and legal framework for money transfer, including ethical guidelines.

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)

In his keynote address, Musa Jimoh, Director, Payment System Management, CBN, commended the efforts of ISSAN in promoting a safer cyber space for financial transactions in the county, stressing that it is the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure a robust payment ecosystem and a sound regulatory regime as the apex bank cannot do it alone. He further emphasized that banks and FinTechs should put adequate measures in place to protect their customers, stressing that it was the only way to embrace and trust the payment system.

“The banks should know the identity of the entity that is conducting transactions. Banks should invest and strengthen their KYC. They should monitor transactions and put adequate measures in place to trigger suspicious transactions They should continue to educate their customers and create more awareness. Consumer protection is dear to CBN. It is the obligation of the banks to protect customers who are vulnerable. Banks and FinTech’s should exhibit good market conduct to earn the trust of their customers,” he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr David Isiavwe, ISSAN President, stated the need for industry operators, law enforcement agencies and financial sector regulators to ensure they are steps ahead of the activities of cybercriminals.

According to him, “the cybersecurity space is constantly evolving. As the cybercriminals do not sleep or relent, operators and regulators have a duty to not also sleep. Indeed, the protection of the cyberspace is the responsibility of all stakeholders…”

“The increasing deployment of technology to optimize and ease financial transactions has not only revolutionized the payment space, but it has also broadened the attack surface for cybercrime. Thus, it has only become necessary that guidelines and principles that provide safety to these systems are continuously adopted locally and internationally as cyber-attacks are no more a matter of “if” but “when” they will occur,” he stated.

Dr. David Isiavwe who is also the Chief Compliance Officer of Ecobank Nigeria, noted that FinTechs have a critical role to play in the future of financial services, noting that the more they innovate, the more they need to automate the attendant controls and ensure that they are strictly monitored.

ISSAN is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace. It is also significantly involved in ensuring the security of Banking Systems.

It also provides a platform for information, collaboration, and ideas exchange for a safer payment ecosystem.

This was the consensus opinion of stakeholders and industry experts at the annual Information Security Society of Africa – Nigeria (ISSAN) Cybersecurity Conference in Lagos.

Ade Bajomo, President of FinTech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR), said to adequately address the rising rate of cyber-attacks, organizations should embrace collaboration and information sharing on cyber breaches.

According to him, keeping silence on the part of organizations that had been attacked would not help others, stressing that full disclosure, synergy and information sharing on reported cyber-attacks and how it was managed would guide other organizations to put preventive and counter measures in place.

He called on organizations to constantly upgrade their technology to counter cyber-attacks, urging them to have data backup.

Dr. Adewale Peter Obadare, the Co-founder/Chief Visionary Officer of Digital Encode, while expressing his views at the panel session, made case for collaboration amongst stakeholders, noting the need to strike the balance between the investments in people, technology, and processes to fight cyber-attack and fraud.

He further stated the need to build cybersecurity intelligence quotient, which will comprise of Augmented Intelligence to check what is happening on the system real time, Anticipatory Intelligence to analyse what could happen, and Assistive Intelligence to determine what needs to be done. He recommended that digitization, digitalization and digital transformation should be addressed.

In a paper titled:  Understanding and Addressing Data Privacy in the Banking and Financial Services World, Managing Director, CyberTechNX, Dr. Austine Ohwobete spoke about vendor risk assessment and individual management, while taking a holistic look at the organization’s environment as a means of identifying and curbing cyber threat incidences.

In his welcome address, ISSAN President, Dr. David Isiavwe said the conference was devoted to further expose the new threats and trends in the cyber security space and also offer practical steps on what businesses and individuals need to know and do to check the rising tide of the activities of cyber-criminals.

He observed that cyber attackers are getting more sophisticated globally, which is an aftermath of Covid 19 pandemic, stressing that greater awareness must be created to minimize attacks on businesses that may result in losses by various organizations.

Further, Dr. Isiavwe who is also General Manager at Ecobank made case for customer awareness as well as collaboration by all stakeholders. Other speakers at the conference include Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Digital Jewels Limited, Mrs Adedoyin Odunfa; Founder & CEO, Mint FT Innovative, Mr. Similolu Akinnusi; Chief Information Security Officer, First Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Harrison Nnaji and Managing Partner, Technology Advisors LLP, Basil Udotai, Esq; Others are Group Head, Customer Fulfillment Center, UBA, Mr. Prince Ayewoh; Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Financial Services Limited, Mr. Stanley Jacob; Sales Director (Africa), OneSpan Europe, Mr. Nicholas Poire and Field CTO, OneSpan Europe, Mr. Dan Mcloughin.

ISSAN is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace specifically and the entire cyberspace in Africa, generally.

Mr. Musa Jimoh, Director, Payments System Management Department of the CBN, in his keynote address at the annual Information Security Society of Africa – Nigeria (ISSAN) Cybersecurity Conference in Lagos, stated that the apex bank was firmly committed to building a sustainable payments ecosystem in the country.

He commended ISSAN for organizing the event, stressing that CBN will continue to collaborate with organisations that are committed to addressing the rising activities of cyber-attacks.

Also speaking, President of FinTech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR), Ade Bajomo said to adequately address the rising rate of cyber-attacks, organizations should embrace collaboration and information sharing on cyber breaches.

According to him, keeping silence on the part of organizations that had been attacked would not help others, stressing that full disclosure, synergy and information sharing on reported cyber-attacks and how it was managed would guide other organizations to put preventive and counter measures in place.

He called on organizations to constantly upgrade their technology to counter cyber-attacks, urging them to have data backup.

Dr. Adewale Peter Obadare, the Co-founder/Chief Visionary Officer of Digital Encode, while expressing his views at the panel session, made case for collaboration amongst stakeholders, noting the need to strike the balance between the investments in people, technology, and processes to fight cyber-attack and fraud.

He further stated the need to build cybersecurity intelligence quotient, which will comprise of Augmented Intelligence to check what is happening on the system real time, Anticipatory Intelligence to analyse what could happen, and Assistive Intelligence to determine what needs to be done.

He recommended that digitization, digitalization and digital transformation should be addressed.

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr. David Isiavwe ISSAN President, said the conference was devoted to further expose the new threats and trends in the cyber security space and also offer practical steps on what businesses and individuals need to know and do to check the rising tide of the activities of cyber-criminals.

He observed that cyber attackers are getting more sophisticated globally, which is an aftermath of Covid 19 pandemic, stressing that greater awareness must be created to minimize attacks on businesses that may result in losses by various organizations.

Further, Dr. Isiavwe who is also General Manager at Ecobank made case for customer awareness as well as collaboration by all stakeholders.

Other speakers at the conference include Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Digital Jewels Limited, Mrs Adedoyin Odunfa; Founder & CEO, Mint FT Innovative, Mr. Similolu Akinnusi; Chief Information Security Officer, First Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Harrison Nnaji and Managing Partner, Technology Advisors LLP, Basil Udotai, Esq; Others are Group Head, Customer Fulfillment Center, UBA, Mr. Prince Ayewoh; Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Financial Services Limited, Mr. Stanley Jacob; Sales Director (Africa), OneSpan Europe, Mr. Nicholas Poire and Field CTO, OneSpan Europe, Mr. Dan Mcloughin.

ISSAN is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace specifically and the entire cyberspace in Africa, generally.