Nigeria to Review Cybercrime Laws as AI-Driven Threats Grow

By: Tunji Okunlola

The Federal Government plans to review Nigeria’s cybercrime laws to deal with new threats linked to artificial intelligence. These include online fraud, digital surveillance and attacks on critical infrastructure.

Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi announced the plan on Tuesday in a message delivered by Rotimi Oyedepo, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation. It was read at the second International Cybersecurity Conference in Abuja, organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) under the theme “Cyber Resilience in the Age of AI: Defending Minds, Networks and Nations”.

Fagbemi said the Ministry of Justice has made progress on a draft executive bill to strengthen the legal framework. The bill would bring existing laws up to date with new technology, improve how electronic evidence is preserved and shared, and deepen cooperation between law enforcement agencies. He said the work builds on Nigeria’s accession to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, its engagement with the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime and continuing consultations on the Cybercrimes Act. Cybercrime, he noted, now goes well beyond ordinary internet fraud to cover cryptocurrency offences, sextortion, child exploitation and deception aided by AI. He also warned that tougher enforcement powers must not erode fundamental rights, and that security should protect liberty rather than serve as an excuse to undermine it.

NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said his agency is working with the Office of the National Security Adviser and the National Assembly on the review of the Cybercrimes Act to give the authorities stronger legal powers against evolving threats. The government is also weighing a national cybersecurity architecture that would set minimum protection standards for organisations. Abdullahi warned that criminals are increasingly going after people rather than systems, using AI-generated voices, videos and images, because that is easier than breaking into a network. He named digital sovereignty as another priority and pointed to the agency’s sovereign cloud regulatory instrument, which covers data, infrastructure, cloud computing and AI.

NCC Executive Vice-Chairman Aminu Maida gave the keynote through Sunday Oshadami, the commission’s Executive Commissioner for Technical Services. He warned that AI-powered attacks could disrupt telecommunications, financial services and government operations, and that criminals are using automated attacks, deepfakes and sophisticated malware. In his words, defenders now face machine learning systems working at far greater speed than any human hacker. He cited reported attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in France and spyware said to have targeted at least 45 devices belonging to journalists and media workers in the Middle East. The NCC has set up a Computer Security Incident Response Team and issued a cyber resilience framework with security standards for licensed telecom operators. Maida urged operators to adopt zero-trust security and to test their AI models regularly for weaknesses, and cautioned that attacks on telecoms infrastructure could threaten national security and economic activity.

Lawmakers also spoke. Shuaib Salisu, who chairs the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, proposed a national cybersecurity resilience index to measure how prepared organisations are. He called for a joint retreat of technology regulators, security agencies and legislators to improve coordination, and urged African governments to ease limits on cross-border business to support regional digital integration. Stanley Adedeji Olajide, who chairs the House of Representatives Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, said fast-moving technology is exposing the limits of current cybersecurity laws. He called for flexible legislation and stronger international cooperation, noting that cyberattacks could even threaten essential services such as food supply.

The review comes amid growing concern over whether existing laws and regulations can handle AI-enabled fraud, sophisticated cyberattacks and threats to essential infrastructure.