The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has extended its support for the Nigerian Communications Commission to fight cybercrimes.
A cybercrime expert with the UN, Patrick Boismenu, said that the UNODC was willing to provide assistance in needed areas to ensure that the ISPs complied with requirements for data retention because of the crucial role of data in fighting cybercrimes.
He stated this during an interactive session with representatives of the NCC at the commission’s headquarters.
“Our goal is to ensure that cybercrime investigators have access to the tools they need to do their work,” Boismenu said.
A statement by the NCC said that the UNODC e-Learning Project Officer, Kamal Toure; and Boismenu were at the commission’s headquarters as part of their assessment mission to West Africa to gauge how well Nigeria, Senegal and the Gambia were able to fight cybercrimes.
At the meeting, the NCC pledged to continue to collaborate with other government agencies and international partners towards stemming the tide of cybercrimes.
The agency’s Executive Commissioner (Stakeholder Management), Mr. Sunday Dare, said that the commission performed its regulatory functions in a way that ensured that its licensees took the steps necessary to combat cybercrimes.
He said, “The role of the NCC here is to do an audit and make sure that we have all the ISPs with active database and meeting the six months (data retention requirement) as stipulated in the licence provision.”
