ICT Lawyer Wants Enforcement Of Cyber Crime Law

Four months after the passage of the Cyber Crime Act, a lawyer, Mr Basil Udotai, has urged the Federal Government to put in place modalities for its effective enforcement.
Udotai, who is the Managing Partner of Technology Advisors, a firm of ICT lawyers and consultants, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.
He said that the Cyber Crime Act 2015, which was passed into law by the last administration, was the best solution for tackling online offenses, if fully implemented.
The ICT lawyer stressed that though the cyber crime act was long in becoming a reality but that deliberate efforts had to be made by the government to join with stakeholders in realising its objective.
“For years, the Nigerian digital economy had carried on with the absence of a legal framework for cyber crime and security.
“There is a glaring gap in law enforcement, national security framework as well as a debilitating weak link in our digital economy value chain.
“The law should reflect current cyber crime and cyber-security challenges which would lead to effective and efficient enforcement of the act and facilitate ease of compliance,” he said.
Udotai said that the relevance of the law would be seen when fully implemented because it would protect and secure corporations and government institutions from being compromised.
He said that the principles surrounding cyber crime legislation required that the law should focus on computer, content-related offences and computer integrity offences.
The ICT lawyer urged that the jurisdiction, procedural issues and international harmonisation and relations should be clarified and included in the principles surrounding the Act.
Our correspondent reports that the Cyber Crime Act, signed into Law on May 15, stipulates that any crime or injury on critical national information infrastructure would be punishable.
It also stipulates punishments for sale of pre-registered SIM cards, unlawful access to computer systems and cyber-terrorism, among others.