According to EFCC, Nigeria as a nation till date has lost over $500m
due to Cybercrime.

This will suggest that the loss as of today’s date is likely to be at least 20% higher as
more sophisticated cybercrime tools are now available and because of the
advancement in artificial intelligence, audio spoofing etc.

Cybercrime is criminal activity that either targets or uses a computer, a computer
network, or a networked device to gain access to finances or to steal or ransomware
or to compromise sensitive data.

Cybercrime is also perpetuated to disrupt computer networks and blackmail an
organisation into paying out agreed sums to get their network, for political or
personal reasons and can be carried out by individuals or organizations.

As sophisticated as some western countries such as United States, Australia,
Germany, France, UK etc with tools such as Firewalls, Endpoint Detection Systems,
Zero Trust, 2-Factor authentication right now it still seems like a lost battle.

Traditional methods of protecting IT networks and data such as firewalls, zero trust
and two-factor authentication based on authenticating twice on the same device, etc.,
are failing to provide the required protection for our digital assets or IT landscape.

Imagine if we undertook an exercise (with written permission) to conduct a security
penetration test of most of the leading consumer software applications used daily by
most of our society, I believe the findings would be very revealing.

Nigeria is now gradually becoming a victim country, however there are ways,
methods, and techniques to impede data theft & ransomware crimes and provide
100% security for all data as follows.

3 or 4 -Factor encryption of all data, files of any kind, (text, images & video)
at rest to include biometrics such as facial recognition or using your
fingerprint to unlock access viewing all sensitive data.

Automatic back up of data at file or row data level, wherever the data resides
on a personal PC, in the cloud, on a server machine which now provides
100% recoverability.

Migrate or convert data held in spreadsheets to a secure encrypted database
application.

Using Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Software Robotics and
Powerful Programming Languages to write customised software applications
that can proactively detect, defend, and attack cyber criminals in their stride.

Cybersecurity Ventures estimated “global cybercrime costs to grow by 15 percent
per year over the next five years, reaching $10.5 trillion USD annually by 2025, up
from $3 trillion USD in 2015.

Cyber Crime represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, risks the
incentives for innovation and its growth rate is exponentially larger than the damage
inflicted from natural disasters in a single year, and will be more profitable than the
global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.”

The above statistics are clearly very concerning, industry practitioners, cybersecurity
product providers and practitioners certainly need to communicate more and
collaborate on research and development to discover, invent and establish new
products, services and techniques to combat cybercrime.

Current methods or complacency would result in many such new headliners, we
need to act fast and Nigeria as a nation is clearly no exception.

Author – Valentine Waturuocha
Valentine Waturuocha is the Chief Technology Officer/Founder of TEMSCONSU
(www.temsconsu.com) and is the inventor of Excelitte (www.excelitte.com – A Cyber Security
Toolset that has all the features mentioned in the article), PMPplanner – (www.pmpplanner.com – A Project Management Toolset that has features than none other has), Omnium Lite –
(www.temscorp.com – A DevOps TEM Toolset).

Valentine started his career over 25 years ago after completing an MSC degree in City University London, with a focused practical dissertation in Computer & Internet Security.

Valentine also completed a mini- business studies program at Harvard University Boston in 2007 and is a member of the Harvard Business Review Group.

Valentine has either led or been involved at a decision-making level in successfully delivering a combined value of over $300 million worth of project value to various organisations globally in the last 10 years or so.

In the past 5 years he has also consulted or advised federal, state & local government depts in Australia, the United States, EMEA regions, etc on Cybersecurity, DevOps, E-Government.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says it has uncovered the availability of substandard and unregistered sugar products in Nigerian markets.

The FCCPC said the products include smuggled brands from Brazil such as Grupo Moreno, Terous, USI S. Joao, Alvean, and Arapora Bionergia.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ondaje Ijagwu, director of corporate affairs at FCCPC, said the products, which failed to meet mandatory Vitamin A fortification requirements, pose serious health risks to consumers.

Ijagwu said the substandard products undermine the integrity of the local sugar industry and contribute to price manipulation that harms the market.

“Acting on a tip-off, FCCPC operatives conducted discreet investigations across the country, particularly in the South-West and the North-East,” the statement reads.

“The investigations revealed that many of the identified sugar products lacked normal labeling, including production and expiry dates, batch numbers, and the mandatory National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration.

“Even more concerning, most of the products were not fortified with Vitamin A, a critical nutrient essential for good vision, immune health, and overall well-being.

“The absence of this fortification exposes Nigerian consumers to serious health risks, including blindness and increased susceptibility to infections, particularly among vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women.

“The FCCPC is also deeply concerned about the economic impact of these products.”

According to Ijagwu, the influx of smuggled sugar undermines fair competition, placing undue pressure on compliant local producers who adhere to regulatory standards.

He said importers of the substandard products engage in price manipulation to the detriment of genuine producers and consumers while pretending that the products are genuine.

The director said this jeopardises the sustainability of the Nigerian sugar industry and also erodes consumer trust in the market.

“Smuggling, facilitated through porous borders, particularly from neighboring countries such as Cameroun and Benin Republic, further complicates enforcement efforts and hampers traceability,” Ijagwu said.

“FCCPC wishes to reassure the general public that, consistent with the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018, it is taking decisive steps to address this issue.

“The Commission is committed to educating consumers about the dangers of non-fortified and substandard sugar products through nationwide awareness campaigns.”

He urged Nigerian consumers to verify the authenticity of sugar products by ascertaining they carry proper labelling, including NAFDAC registration and evidence of Vitamin A fortification.

‘FCCPC COLLABORATING WITH NAFDAC, NCS TO TACKLE SMUGGLED SUGAR PRODUCTS’

Ijagwu also added that the FCCPC is intensifying enforcement and surveillance in collaboration with NAFDAC, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and other relevant agencies.

He said part of the commission’s efforts include enhanced surveillance and follow-up market inspections to disrupt the supply chain of smuggled sugar products.

The director said the FCCPC is also engaging with industry stakeholders to promote compliance with quality standards, protect local producers, and foster fair competition within the sugar market.

He advised customers to remain vigilant and report any suspected substandard or unregistered sugar products to the commission.

Ijagwu said reports can be made through the commission’s email: contact@fccpc.gov.ng, or its official social media channels.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has advised bank customers to be cautious about the use of fake SWIFT messages during foreign exchange (FX) remittances.

SWIFT messages are sent through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication network to facilitate financial transactions between banks and financial institutions.

The CBN gave the warning in a statement signed by Hakama Sidi-Ali, its acting director of corporate communications department, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The apex bank said it had been inundated with claims by some stakeholders about the conclusion of foreign currency transfer to their Nigeria bank accounts.

According to Sidi Ali, stakeholders like private entities, individuals, law firms, and government agencies complained that foreign currency funds allegedly transferred to them by foreign entities have yet to be credited to their accounts with Nigerian banks.

“In some instances, the claimants alleged that the funds were withheld by either the beneficiary bank in Nigeria or the CBN and requested assistance towards releasing the funds to them,” She said.

“The requests are usually supported with fake documents such as SWIFT MT103, SWIFT Ack copy, etc.

“It has become imperative to state that the SWIFT ack copy and SWIFT MT103 that these claimants usually attach as evidence of remittance to beneficiary banks in Nigeria are not reliable.”

Sidi Ali added that the SWIFT messages are always not traceable on the SWIFT platform and the funds are not received to enable their application to the beneficiary’s account.

“In a situation where a fund transfer beneficiary receiving bank claims non-receipt of funds remitted by the foreign entity, the standard practice is for the sending customer to contact the sending bank.

“The purpose for the sending bank to send a tracer to trace where the fund is hanging and recall it.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state emphatically that the CBN neither provides correspondent banking services for Nigerian banks in foreign payments nor maintains accounts for private business entities.

“Consequently, petitioners’ claim that the alleged expected inflows for onward credit into the accounts of private business entities are trapped in the CBN is not only spurious but deceitful.”

The CBN spokesperson urged the general public to be careful with such unauthentic SWIFT messages and documents containing spurious claims of non-application of substantial foreign currency funds allegedly transferred into the beneficiary’s account.

She also warned that the CBN would not hesitate to report any bank customer making unsubstantiated and illegitimate claims to law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution.