The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has issued a warning that fragmented cybersecurity defences across Nigeria’s ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) are creating significant vulnerabilities. This fragmentation could expose government digital infrastructure to sophisticated cyberattacks.
NITDA raised this alarm in a statement shared on its verified X account on Wednesday, referencing the Deloitte Nigeria Cybersecurity Outlook 2026. This outlook estimated that cybercrime cost Nigeria more than $3 billion between 2019 and 2025.
Dr. Ayodele Bakare, Assistant Director of NITDA’s Cybersecurity Department, delivered the warning at the opening of a two-day workshop. The workshop was themed “Securing Government Digital Infrastructure Through Capacity Building,” where Bakare represented NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
Bakare stated that Nigerian government platforms have experienced increasing attacks, including website defacements, account hijacks, ransomware, and data exfiltration. Stolen information from these attacks frequently appears on the dark web.
He cited a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime assessment that places Nigeria among Africa’s top three most targeted countries for cyberattacks. This trend is driven by the rapid growth of the country’s digital economy.
Bakare emphasized that the interconnected nature of government systems means a vulnerability in one agency can provide a pathway into others. He stressed that a unified defence strategy is a national security imperative, not an optional upgrade.
“The threat actors are organised, financially motivated, and politically driven. A weakness in one MDA becomes a doorway into another. Our defences cannot be fragmented; cybersecurity in government must be concerted,” he said.
Bakare also urged participants to view the workshop as a platform for intelligence sharing and policy input, not just training. He described the human element as central to effective prevention.
“Effective prevention depends on rigorous risk assessment, policy enforcement, and building a strong human firewall,” he emphasized.
Bakare reaffirmed that NITDA’s Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team remains the primary point of contact for cybersecurity incidents.
Key activities at the workshop include reviewing NITDA’s draft regulatory framework for government information security management. Participants will also analyze real-world case studies to strengthen incident response and institutional resilience across federal agencies.
NITDA’s warning follows weeks after intelligence agencies from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand jointly cautioned about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). These agencies, collectively known as the Five Eyes alliance, stated that AI is rapidly reshaping the global cyber threat landscape, making cyberattacks more sophisticated and harder to defend against.
In a coordinated advisory issued on Monday, the alliance noted that frontier AI models are poised to fundamentally enhance offensive cyber capabilities. They warned that organizations have only months, not years, to strengthen their cyber defences, as AI is already lowering the barriers to entry for cybercriminals. This technology is increasing the speed, scale, and complexity of attacks, while significantly reducing the time between the discovery of software vulnerabilities and their exploitation.
