NITDA Urges Stronger Collaboration to Tackle Rising Cyber Threats
By GLEBM News
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called for stronger collaboration, proactive risk management, and sustained capacity building across government institutions to combat the growing threat of cyber attacks targeting Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.
The call was made during the opening of a two-day cybersecurity workshop in Abuja themed “Building Capacity and Enhancing Cyber Resilience for Secure Digital Governance in Nigeria’s Public Sector.”
Speaking on behalf of the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the Agency’s Assistant Director in the Cybersecurity Department, Dr. Ayodele Bakare, warned that Nigeria’s expanding digital economy has significantly widened the country’s exposure to cyber threats.
He noted that the increasing adoption of digital technologies by government institutions, alongside Nigeria’s rapidly growing internet population, has made public sector platforms more attractive targets for cybercriminals.
According to Inuwa, government agencies have recently experienced a rise in website defacements, account hijackings, phishing attacks, and data breaches, with some sensitive government information reportedly stolen and advertised for sale on the dark web.
He stressed that as Nigeria accelerates its digital transformation through fintech innovation, artificial intelligence adoption, and expanded e-government services, strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity architecture has become a strategic necessity.
“It is a paradox. On one hand, we are improving in terms of digital transformation, while on the other hand, we are increasingly being attacked because our cyber attack surface continues to expand,” he said.
The NITDA Director-General emphasized that cybersecurity should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than a one-time achievement. He urged public institutions to conduct regular cyber risk assessments, implement preventive and detective security controls, strengthen resilience measures, and continuously improve their security frameworks.
He also highlighted the importance of collaboration among government institutions, the private sector, academia, civil society organizations, and international partners, describing cybersecurity as a shared national responsibility.
While assuring participants that NITDA’s Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) remains available to support government institutions during cyber incidents, Inuwa maintained that prevention remains the country’s strongest line of defence.
“The most effective cybersecurity measures include comprehensive risk assessments, strong policies, regular awareness programmes, effective security controls, incident response planning, and continuous improvement,” he added.
Also speaking at the workshop, cybersecurity expert and facilitator Mr. Hamza Lateef said the training was designed to expose participants to Nigeria’s evolving cyber threat landscape while equipping them with practical strategies to strengthen institutional resilience.
Lateef explained that although many cyber attacks are financially motivated, others are driven by political interests, ideological objectives, or digital activism. He noted that foreign threat actors are increasingly targeting Nigeria’s government digital infrastructure.
He warned that as government services become more interconnected through digital transformation initiatives, vulnerabilities within a single institution could expose multiple agencies to cyber risks.
“The goal is to build a secure ecosystem because government organisations are now interconnected. Cybersecurity is everybody’s responsibility. If one organisation fails to protect its systems, it can become a bigger problem for others,” he said.
The workshop forms part of NITDA’s broader efforts to strengthen cyber resilience across Nigeria’s public sector and promote secure digital governance as the country continues to expand its digital economy.
