Nigeria: Cybercrime Bill Scales Second Reading

A bill to provide for offences and penalties relating to cybercrime was yesterday passed for the second reading by the House of Representatives.

The bill which was sponsored by Rep. Aisha Bayero Ahmed (PDP, Adamawa) and was first read on September 27. It was seeking to amend the criminal code act, Cap C38 law of the federation of Nigeria 2004.

Leading the debate, Rep. Aisha argued that the biggest cybercrime of about $242 million in the US was perpetuated by Nigerians.

She lamented that even security agencies, National Assembly and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) among others have had their websites hacked leading to unauthorised persons having unlawful access to document.

She also lamented that Nigeria is ranked among the top 10 cybercrime offenders in the world.

After deliberations, the House referred the bill to the House Committee on Justice for further legislative inputs.