Senate Calls for Public Hearing on ICT & Cybercrime Act 2015

By Emmanuel Kwada

In a move to enhance the national cybersecurity programme in  Nigeria, the Senate Joint Committees on ICT & Cyber Security and National  Security & Intelligence have issued a Public Hearing notice inviting stakeholders and the general public to contribute to the amendment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act 2015.

The notice, signed by Senator Shuiab Afolabi Salisu, Chairman  Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime, working in close collaboration with Senator Shehu Buba Umar, Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, was published on Friday, November 17, 2023.

The joint committees are soliciting memoranda to be considered in the Upper Chamber’s efforts to improve the protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace and critical national economy infrastructure in line with extant national security and digital economy strategic policy directives.

The Cybercrime Act 2015 was enacted to ensure the protection of critical national information infrastructure, to promote cyber security, protect computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programmes, intellectual property and privacy rights.

The Act also establishes the procedural powers for cybercrime investigation and the collection of evidence in electronic format when probing criminal offences.

In the public notice, the Senate Committees said the hearing would hold in Conference Rom 301 of the Senate Building on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.

The Senate committee called on all stakeholders, among them government institutions, ICT and cyber security concerns, national and other security concerns should submit their memoranda to the Committee.

The statement said, “Memoranda, which should be submitted within one week in five (5) soft copies and forty-five (45) hard copies, should be addressed to the Clerk Senate Committee on ICT & Cyber Security, Room 3.8 White House Building, National Assembly Complex Abuja.”

The amendment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention, Etc) Act 2015  has become imperative in order to review its application over the last eight years since its implementation, to tackle computer-mediated crimes in the  country.