The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), has announced that a total of 1,481, 487 cyber threatswere recorded on Nigeria’s gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly election day, March 18, 2023.
The announcement was part of a report made by the Minister detailing the activities and achievements of the Ministerial Standing Committee on Advisory Role for the Protection of Nigerian Cyberspace and ICT Infrastructure . before, during and after the 2023 Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections
This number of attacks, is a sharp contrast, about 79% less than the 6.99m attacks posted by the same Committee on the day of the Presidential electionsFebruary, 25, 2023.
The Minister also noted the sharp disparity, explaining it thus: “It is interesting to note that the activities of cyber threat actors on the Nigerian cyberspace during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections are much lower than those during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.”
“This is neither surprising nor unexpected as, Nigeria being Africa’s largest democracy, the Presidential and National Assembly elections are bound to attract much attention of everyone, including cyber threat actors, than during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.”
“Furthermore, the Honourable Minister is confident that the implementation of some recommendations as well as measures taken to fortify our cyber defencemechanisms might have helped in this
It may be recalled that on the 14th March, 2023, the Office of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy released a Press Statement regarding the activities of the Ministry and its parastatals before, during and after the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
As a follow up to that and in line with the Ministry’s mandate as well as in our efforts aimed at supporting the initiatives of securing the Nigerian cyberspace, the Honourable Minister directed the Ministerial Standing Committee on Advisory Role for the Protection of Nigerian Cyberspace and ICT Infrastructure to further enhance the cyberspace surveillance activities of the three cybersecurity Centres of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB).