By Emeka Aginam

BArely three months after former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Cybercrime bill into Law to the admiration of the Information and Communications Technology, ICT industry, practitioners of same industry have picked holes in the law demanding amendment.

Worried by the growing rate of Cybercrimes in Nigeria, legal experts in the Nigerian information Communication Technology ecosystem and IT experts   have called for the urgent review of the Nigerian Cybercrime Law 2015, that was signed into law At the recently concluded   Technology Times Outlook 2015 , organized by Technology Times.

Cyber crime

Experts in the industry including technology lawyers pointed to some parts of the document that needed review, saying that if the government did not heed the call, cybercrimes will still remain unabated. They contended that with Nigeria currently ranked third in the list of countries with high rate of cybercrimes, amendment of the bill will go a long way in checkmating the growing rate of cybercrimes in the country.

Part of the people calling for this amendment included a seasoned technology lawyer and Managing Partner, Technology Advisor, Mr. Basil Udotai. Udotai claimed that after reviewing the Act, was not robust enough to help Nigeria fight advanced fee fraud which had turned out to become a global issue. However, he advised that should the government heed the call, there was need for inclusiveness and multi-stakeholders approach in the review of the bill.

According to him, government can   look at the existing cybercrime   laws in other organized economies so as to be in conformity with international best practice. He spotted challenges in the areas of   enforcement, compliance, among others,   which he said cannot be amended except by the constitution.

“It is interesting that, at last, Nigeria has been able to put in place the cybercrime law. The law does not recognize a single enforcement institution, which is an aberration and a development that may lead to confused legal strategy. The law is too heavy on the financial sector.   We do not need to be inventive. We just have to be creative,” he explained.

For the Ex-Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos Branch, Mr. Alex Muoka,   the Act is the most unclear piece of legislation ever seen because of certain flaws. He said that the law lacks   enforcement institutions, adding that he foresees big task for lawyers while applying the law. Similarly,   the Head, legal Services and Board Matters Unit, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Emmanuel Edet,   noted   there is a ‘very big gap that exists in the law.”

He said the   Cyvercrime   law   created funds to be generated   but did not   give direction on how the fund would be spent. “The law also dabbles into the consumer laws that ordinarily should not be a subject matter of the law.  The law is meant to prescribe punishments for anyone, who commits cybercriminal offences in the country. “Most of the provisions in the laws are too specific, whereas in law, we should be more generic so that the law will still be applicable in case the current variables specifically mentioned by the law, experiences alterations,” Edet added.