By Nnamdi Ojiego

Adewale Jones

The need for the government of the federation to invest massively in the Information and Communications Technology, ICT sector, is once again re-echoed; this time, by a legal practitioner and IT laws advocate, Mr. Adewale Jones. According to him, the future of Nigeria does not rest on oil receipts which is currently the situation but on the massive development, deployment and use of technology to generate economic prosperity.

He said he took up IT laws because there was absolutely nothing one could do that would not involve one form of technology or the other. In this interview with Vanguard Cyber Life, Mr. Jones who is the 2nd Vice President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies, ATCON, member of the Advocacy Committee of the E-Payment Association of Nigeria and Country Representative of the International Technology Law Association, Itechlaw, revealed that Nigeria was lagging behind in technology advancement due to lack of the necessary regulatory laws in critical areas and the absence of synergy among the regulatory agencies in the sector. He advocated the convergence of NITDA, NBC and NCC into one regulatory body for the Communications Industry, among others. Excerpts:

Why did you choose ICT law/advocacy as an area of interest?

First of all, the legal profession is becoming more specialized and it is no longer fashionable to be a generalist in the practice of law. People started specializing in some particular areas of law. This pattern has been institutionalized and has become the vogue today. So, in my own case, I developed the interest while working in a technology based company. I also discovered that technology is very important in any human endeavour aimed at achieving maximum success. This informed my decision to study for another Master of Laws degree (LL.M) in IT and Telecommunications Law in the UK some years ago. Also I took up IT and Telecom laws because, there is absolutely nothing you can do at this time and age that does not have some form of technology undertone. Technology is the main driver of everything. It is the most profitable driver of the economy and the future of our country. I say convincingly that the future of Nigeria does not rest on oil receipts but on technology and the earlier we wake up to this realization, the better for all of us.

You are a legal practitioner, how has the ICT aided law practice in Nigeria?

In so many ways; however, it is not only the legal profession that has benefitted from it but all professions have enjoyed some advantages using ICT. Data storage for example, is no longer manually done. Also there are software programmes specifically designed to suit the activities of law firms in terms of data capture, storage etc. Again, unlike in the past when one checks cases from only physical law reports, information form books and journals, some of these are now available electronically. This makes for efficiency, quick service delivery, easy access to information, and so on.

How do you handle cases of ATM fraud, on-line crimes, especially, as we do not have laws on ground to prosecute such criminal acts?

First of all, we should understand that a crime is a crime whether it is online or offline. When you take what does not belong to you and convert to your use, you should be prosecuted based on the provisions of the criminal code. Ordinarily, we should be able to prosecute on-line fraud based on the provisions of the criminal code since it does not talk of the method of stealing. It only talks about you taking what does not belong to you, that is, conversion. But the main challenge is how to adduce evidence in the court to prove the weight of the offence unlike the physical cases where you can easily get enough evidences to nail the culprit. And that is one of the reasons a lot of people including lawyers have been advocating for the passage of an amendment to the Evidence Act to make electronic generated evidence acceptable in court. Though, without the passage of the bill, the court is beginning to accept electronic statements and evidence in line with the requirement that its role is to ensure justice. So, it’s a bit difficult to prosecute where there are no clear laws but it does not mean that you cannot prosecute. What we need is to clarify the necessary body of laws to accommodate current electronic developments.

Another dimension to this discussion is the issue of computer forensics which does not exist in this country. I know somebody who is trying to build a computer forensic laboratory in Lagos. This is very commendable but these are some of the things the Government should be doing or at least, taking the lead on. However, I am convinced that at some point in time, Nigeria will be forced to join the queue in terms of putting these structures in place.

How has the lack of regulatory policies affected the e-business, e-payment system in Nigeria?

When you talk about e-payment fraud, it’s about inadequate protection of information and the security of information. If one’s information is not secured, it provides an opportunity for those who want to be fraudulent to succeed; but if the necessary security is in place, for example, there is the installation of the required security in the system and it is certified under Information Security Certification, ISO 27001. The system will have in place the necessary firewalls for ensuring that an unauthorized person does not have access to the system. I am happy the people and organizations in the financial sector including the CBN, the E-Payment Association of Nigeria, E-PAN, and the body on Risk Management are pushing to ensure organizations take this step.

What role should the government, IT stakeholders and professionals play in this regard?

In my own opinion, Government should provide the necessary financial and regulatory framework to strengthen the ICT sector. The first steps that must be taken simultaneously are the emplacement of the required laws and regulations and massive investment to enable the country take advantage of what technology has to offer. Unfortunately, in respect of laws and regulations, we are very much behind. In Africa, for example, Ghana passed the Electronic Communications Act, ECA 2008 to address the issue of convergence. South Africa has had a similar Act since 2005. It is time for Nigeria to embrace convergence. We have so many bills in the National Assembly concerning technology and nobody is doing anything about them. The Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Bill, the Electronic Signature Bill, Electronic Commerce Bill, the Privacy and Data Protection Bill among others are yet to be passed; although some of them are overlapping and would require streamlining. The passage of a law on electronic communications transactions should largely address issues bothering on electronic businesses. Ghana passed the Electronic Communications Transactions Act in 2008 while South Africa has had it since 2002.

I believe that Nigerian universities should begin to offer courses in ICT laws. There is nobody in this country who knows about ICT laws today who acquired the qualification or training from any Nigerian university. And this is also very unfortunate. I expect the Government to take particular interest in the study of ICT laws. There is also a need for synergy between the regulatory agencies like NITDA, NBC, NCC and others. They should come together as one body. What is happening today is that each of them is moving in different directions to achieve one purpose. There is no synergy.