Agency Plans Advanced Regional Cyber Security Centre

An advanced regional cyber security centre is to be established in Nigeria before the end of the year, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) said in Abuja, recently.

The Director-General of NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, said at a news conference that the centre would be located in Abuja and would make the cyber space more secure.

It will be known as International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (ITU-IMPACT) West Africa Advanced Regional Cyber Centre.

It was reported that IMPACT is an arm of the United Nations with 145 nations as members, including Nigeria.

ITU-IMPACT is the largest global cyber security alliance in the world.

Angaye said the aim of establishing the regional centre was to make Nigeria and the entire African countries to enjoy cyber space security.

He said establishment had become necessary following a recent letter from Geneva, Switzerland appointing the Nigerian First Lady as the UN- ITU-IMPACT Global Champion, Child Online Protection.

The director-general said the appointment was a significant call on Nigeria to serve and lead the world not only in child online protection but also the entire cyber security.

He said Nigeria’s recent ranking as a country with significant abuse of internet was a confirmation that cyber threat had become a serious economic and security challenge in the country.