…As proceeds from global cybercrime hit $8trn

By Emmanuel Elebeke

Proceeds from global cyber crime is currently $8 trillion and would hit $10.5 trillion by 2025, Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi, has said.

He also said his agency was partnering the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, to promote cyber security insurance in the country.

According to him, the rise in proceeds from cyber crime globally signals the urgent need for insurance covers.

The NITDA boss,who disclosed this when he led his agency’s management team to NAICOM on a courtesy visit in Abuja, quoted experts as saying that in 2021 global cyber crime reached $6 trillion and had grown to $8 trillion this year.

He said the figure had been estimated to grow further to $10.5 trillion by 2025.

He said:  “Cybercrime, if you can quantify it as a nation, will be the third largest economy, and it is bigger than all crimes combined together in terms of cost.

“In view of this, we need to institutionalise cyber insurance because Nigeria loses about N200 bilion to cybercrime annually, imagine that just 0.0% of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, is worth more than N200 billion.”

The NITDA boss stressed the importance of securing the insurance, averring that whereas the commission had the primary mandate of insurance, the agency also had certain mandates relating to cyber insurance, including development of information technology in Nigeria, of which cyber security was an integral part.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for NAICOM, Olorundare  Thomas, aligned with the NITDA boss that it had become expedient to have an insurance cover that addressed risks associated with the technology industry.

He said: “Looking at the volume of data that are driven daily, cost associated with data, magnitude and impact of the economy of nations, if there should be any economy that should be more concerned about cybercrime, it should be Nigeria.

“The more we look forward to using technology to resolve many problems, we must also seize the opportunity to increase our workforce.”