News Desk
IMF’s resident representative for Nigeria, Christian Ebeke has urged the Nigerian Government to come up with a “robust and adequate” framework to address cybercrime in the financial sector.
The statement was made during a virtual media briefing on the release of Nigeria’s article IV Consultation staff report this Thursday.
Ebeke indicated that cyber security is a serious issue that must be addressed as such to prevent potential financial instability repercussions. According to him, Africa is said to be losing $40 billion to cybercrime annually and is projected to surge to $12 trillion by next year.
“This is an issue that we take very seriously at the IMF and in fact, our global financial stability report in April highlighted the important of designing adequate frameworks and adequate regulations to tackle cyber security,” he said.
“In the case of Nigeria, I understand that the house of representatives voted a motion to pause the implementation of this cyber security levy that was a part of the Cybercrime act that was just adopted lately.”
- ATTENTION: Techrectory gives ₦5,000 monthly to our top readers, CLICK HERE to become a winner.
He mentioned that there had not been any discussion with the authorities about the issue and reiterated that they should work towards having an adequate framework for cyber security that is sufficiently efficient to tackle the issue at hand.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria mandated banks and other financial institutions, on the 6th of May, to implement a 0.5% cyber security levy on digital transactions. Labor groups and the House of Representatives have since raised concerns about the levy which culminated in the House ordering CBN to reverse the directive on the 9th of May.
Techrectory with Agency Report.
ADVERTISMENT
- —Are you looking for a professional website design company to build your website? Then, contact AGGITAL WORKS.
