The Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigerian Financial Industry (CCISONFI) in partnership with Cybersafe Foundation and the Hook, today in Lagos launched a campaign targeted at reducing the menace of cybercrimes in Nigeria through awareness creation.
Tagged ‘#NoGoFallMaga Confam Am Again Campaign’, the campaign aimed at promoting general public awareness of cybersecurity which ultimately will dovetail to reducing cybercrimes and financial fraud in the country.
Speaking at the launch of the programme, Mr. Festus Amede, Chairman, Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigeria Financial Industry (CCISONFI), believes that the campaign, which will be carried out in all the major languages in Nigeria, including pidgin, will in no doubt tackle cybercrime that poses a huge threat to customers and the Nigeria citizenry in conducting reliable and safe financial services.
“We look forward to a rewarding partnership and successful achievement of our targeted objectives which include reaching more than 40 million customers in the first two years of this launch and finally delivering awareness contents and messages in major Nigerian Languages including Pidgin English,” he said.
According to him, this increased innovation and use of digital platforms has greatly transformed the cyber technology landscape thereby giving rise to new risks, especially with sustaining trust and confidence in customers’ ability to communicate and transact securely within the financial ecosystem.
A loss of such trust and confidence, Mr. Festus argued could undermine the benefits of the CBN’s financial inclusion &cashless economy or the ability to continually leverage technology as an enabler of social and economic development. Hence there is a need to constantly address the related challenges of ensuring continuous cybersecurity and data privacy.
“We have also come to the realization that only through concerted efforts/collaboration by financial industry stakeholders to ensure that our customers remain cyber-aware, can we then reduce, and eliminate the menace. Collectively, we will continue to ensure adequate measures are taken to combat some of the cybersecurity challenges including preventing customer financial losses unscrupulous elements tagged cybercriminals” he assured.
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the Cybersafe Foundation, Dr. Peter Obadare, Chairman of the Foundation, noted that the human element in the cybercrime process must be addressed to avoid the process from falling victim to cybercrimes.
“Human element is important in the fight against cybercrime. We must build human firewalls so that many people do not fall victim.
He argued while the cybersecurity awareness is a key element in mitigating cyber risk, educating staff and customers on fraud information and cybersecurity hygiene practices must be sustained for the effort to get desired results.
The “NoGoFallMaga Confam Am Again Campaign’ will serve as an aggressive cybersecurity awareness campaign to complement other proactive and reactive measures being taken to curb cyber fraud.
