A Critical Analysis of The Cybercrime Law in Nigeria

A Critical Analysis of The Cybercrime Law in Nigeria.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The rate of cybercrime has gone up considerably in the last 10 years since the inception of the internet and the digital age.

In Nigeria, the national security adviser (NSA) estimated the annual cost of cybercrime to the country’s GDP is 0.08% which represents N 127 billion.

There are various kinds of acts that would constitute an offense in the newly promulgated cybercrime Act 2015 such as unlawful access to computers, unlawful interceptions of communications, unauthorized modification of data, misuse of data, system interference,

intercepting electronic messages, emails, e-money transfer, tampering with critical infrastructure, computer-related fraud, computer-related forgery, among others, as offenses that are punishable under the Act.

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Theft of electronic devices, electronic signature, child pornography and related offences, racism and xenophobic offences are also punishable under the Act.

It also provided for cyber-stalking, cybersquatting and cyber-terrorism as offences; there are actually many valid reasons for the need of cybercrime laws in Nigeria.

The study takes a subjective look at the attributes of cybercrime laws and certain challenges the cybercrime act and laws face such as: what constitutes a cyber-crime, who do you call when a cybercrime occurs, who enforces this act-the police or a special force, and how prepared are these officials?.

It also takes a subjective look at certain controversial provisions of the cybercrime act of 2015 which are: cybercrime act and the registration of cybercafés, mandatory winding up and forfeiture of assets, lawful interception of communication, cyber security fund, cancellation of international passports.

During the course of this research, reference and credit would be given to each author that his or her work is used in this research to add to existing

This research work would raise certain contentious issues with the provisions of the cyber-crime act 2015, the enforcement mechanisms, officers, and how competent these officers are in combatting cyber-crime in Nigeria.

It would also look at the scope, significance, and research methodology used.

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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Humans over the past years and decades have evolved from one stage to another stage in life, always coming up with different and better ways in carrying out their activities of daily life which they refer to as development.

This can be traced back to the Stone Age down to the renaissance-the industrial revolution or the Iron Age. Humanity has passed through three (3) major stages of evolution which are; the hunter-gatherer, agricultural, and technological stages.

Human developments or improvements in information and communication technology (ICT) have led to the information being represented in electronic or digital format which has led to the rapid demand of free, open, and global access to information by its users.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS
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Smith and Hogan’s Criminal Law (David Ormerod, 13^th edition, 2011)
Kadish, Criminal Law: Adaptable to courses using materials (Legalines Eight Edition 2010)
K.S. Chukkol, The Law of Crimes in Nigeria (Ahmadu Bello University Press ltd, revised edition 2010)
JOURNALS
Harpreet Singh Dalla, Ms.Geeta, ‘Cyber-crime-a threat to persons, property, government, and societies’ [2013] (3) (5) International journal of advanced research in computer science and software engineering; 997
ONLINE JOURNAL ARTICLES
Olowu D, ‘Cybercrimes and the boundaries of domestic legal responses’ case for an inclusionary framework for Africa, journal of information, law and technology (JILT),’ (N.D), Accessed 05 January 2017
NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE ARTICLES
Patrick Scott, The Telegraph, ‘How much of a problem is cybercrime in the U.K’ (2016) Accessed 06 January 2017
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