The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has cautioned that Nigeria’s cyberspace cannot be secured by law enforcement alone, stressing the need for informed citizens, coordinated institutions and principled leadership.
Fagbemi spoke on Thursday in Abuja at the National Cascade Leadership Training on Cybercrime Prevention, where he said the National Cascade Programme, as conceived by the Joint Case Team on Cybercrimes (JCTC), goes beyond routine training to serve as a strategic intervention.
According to him, the programme is designed to build a pool of certified trainers, establish national cascade capacity and embed sustainable prevention mechanisms across institutions.
Represented by the Director of Administration of Criminal Justice Reforms, Mrs Leticia Ayoola-Daniels, the minister assured stakeholders of the Federal Government’s readiness to take deliberate steps to strengthen institutional capacity within the cyber justice ecosystem.
He commended the Commonwealth Secretariat for its Cyber Fellowship Programme, which he said has helped build a network of experts from Africa and the Caribbean to deepen cooperation, policy development and capacity building.
Fagbemi described cybercrime as a fast-evolving global threat, with annual losses estimated in trillions of dollars, noting that enforcement alone cannot address the challenge.
“Prevention must be structured, messaging must remain consistent, and capacity must be deliberately multiplied,” he said, citing the surge in ransomware attacks, sophisticated online fraud schemes, early involvement of young people in digital crime, and the growing menace of sextortion, identity theft and cryptocurrency-enabled money laundering.
He also praised the JCTC and its partners — the Commonwealth Secretariat and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office — for their expertise in leadership facilitation and performance-based training, which he said is helping translate vision into measurable, long-term impact.
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The AGF recalled that the partnership culminated in the signing of a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding in April 2025, describing it as a turning point that moved stakeholders from institutional silos to a shared mission against cybercrime.
Fagbemi further appreciated the partners for awarding cyber fellowships to three Nigerians, including a member of the Joint Case Team on Cybercrimes, noting that the initiative has yielded tangible benefits through the Ideas Incubator Programme for inter-agency collaboration.
Earlier, the Head of the Joint Case Team on Cybercrimes and Commonwealth Africa Cyber Fellow, Jamila Akaaga Ade, said the retreat was intentionally designed to strengthen leadership, mindset and cohesion among agencies battling cybercrime.
“Cybercrime does not respect institutional boundaries. It evolves rapidly, crosses jurisdictions and exploits gaps in coordination. Our response must therefore be structured, disciplined and united,” she said.
Also speaking, the Commonwealth’s Senior Research Officer on Cyber Capability, Dr Nkechi Amobi, commended the Nigerian government and participating agencies for their commitment to protecting citizens in an increasingly digital society.
Other speakers at the retreat included Mr Akeem Lawal, Director of ICT at NAPTIP; a Deputy Commissioner of Police from the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre; Mr Olufemi Akinola; Dr Muhammad Jiya; and the Chief Operating Officer of the National Financial Intelligence Unit, among others.
