Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) will focus more on increased awareness, vigilance and detection to reduce the cost of fraud in 2017.
Specifically, NeFF has commenced plans to organise a workshop that will highlight the challenges inherent in the Cyber-Crime Prohibition Act 2015 and its possible effect on e-commerce and use the recommendations to engage the attorney-general of the Federation and Office of the National Security Adviser on reviewing certain aspects that could affect the effective operationalisation of the Act.
The Forum has agreed to have the cyber crime workshop in Q1 2017 and communication to that effect has already been sent out.
Adelabu Adebayo, deputy governor, operations, CBN, said since 2011 when NeFF was created, technology had helped in increasing both speed and efficiency of banking operations, with payments being the most impacted. “New payment products have been introduced, which has changed the way we make our payments forever.
These new innovations makes the need for strong security measures clearly significant,” he said in Lagos at the NeFF dinner.
Represented by Oladimeji Taiwo, his special assistant, he said the challenge of securing the Nigerian Payments System would always be a daunting task, “for with ease of payments, comes greater adoption, and with increased adoption, the lure of cyber-criminals who seek to convert either digital assets or resources or both to their own becomes greater.
“NeFF has proven to be a formidable stakeholder in securing this ecosystem, through a unique and critically important role of creating a platform for collaboration amongst stakeholders in our Payments System.”
Speaking at the annual NeFF dinner co-hosted by Citi Bank, FCMB, Standard Chartered and Stanbic IBTC Bank in Lagos, Dipo Fatokun, director, banking and payments system, CBN, “believes these activities will join our other efforts to form our drive in the coming year.
“Speaking of our other efforts which are already in the pipeline, it is important that we rehash them so that our members can effectively key into them for the good of the entire payments ecosystem.”
Fatokun noted that the Steering Committee of NeFF went on a retreat in Calabar, Cross River State, last month and resolved on focusing on certain areas in order to ensure that the Forum continued to play its role in securing the payments space in Nigeria.
He said focus would be on consumer education and industry-wide awareness creation, enforcement of comprehensive fraud monitoring in compliance with existing regulation, monitor and control the risk posed to the national payment system by other financial institutions (OFIs), and forum to set up industry committee on block chain technology to monitor development and make necessary recommendation.
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