FG Announces Plan To Establish National Cybersecurity Council

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The Federal
Government (FG), in the
first week of April,
2026, announced
its move to establish a  National Cybersecurity Coordination Council , reportedly first-of-its-kind.

FG noted
that the unified platform will bring government, the private sector, law
enforcement, cybersecurity professionals and civil society together under a
single roof, to defend
the country’s rapidly expanding digital economy against a new breed of highly
organised digital attackers.

The announcement was made by the Minister of Communications,
Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, who described the move as a
direct response to a wave of brazen cyberattacks that have in recent weeks
targeted major Nigerian banks, government payment systems and millions of
ordinary Nigerians.

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To drive the process, the minister directed the National
Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC), Galaxy Backbone Limited and the Nigeria Data Protection
Commission (NDPC), to
jointly establish a technical coordination secretariat.

He further
instructed the agencies to develop initial terms of reference for
stakeholder engagement, adding
that the secretariat will be domiciled within NITDA and
operate under the strategic coordination of the minister’s office.

“Protecting Nigeria’s digital economy requires strong
partnerships, trusted collaboration and collective vigilance across government,
industry, and civil society,” Tijani declared.

It was
reported that at Sterling Bank, a threat actor allegedly known as ByteToBreach, claimed to have breached
the bank’s systems, reportedly
exposing data linked to hundreds of thousands of customer accounts, raising
widespread concerns about identity theft and financial fraud risks.

It was
further reported that from Sterling Bank’s systems, the hacker gained
access to Remita, the payment platform that processes government salaries, tax
payments and a significant portion of Nigeria’s public-sector financial
transactions.

Reports circulating the internet suggest that the alleged breach may not be limited
to just the currently investigated entities, with claims indicating that data
linked to organisations such as Zenith Bank, Oyo State Government, Leadway
Assurance, Ahmadu Bello University and more than 30 other companies and
government institutions may have been exposed.

The incidents brought Nigeria’s data protection regulator
into the arena almost immediately.

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) launched a
formal investigation into Remita Payment Services Ltd. and Sterling Bank, following reports of the
potential large-scale data breach, confirming that a Notice of Investigation
was served to both organisations on the 1st of April, 2026.

The NDPC’s National Commissioner and CEO, Dr Vincent
Olatunji, directed that the investigation be broadened, warning that any
organisation found to have violated provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection
Act 2023, would face
regulatory sanctions.

Cybersecurity analyst, Chukwuemeka Nwosu says “If confirmed, the Remita and Sterling Bank incidents
could represent one of the largest financial data breaches in Nigeria’s
history. The exposure of KYC documents and transaction histories could have
severe implications for identity theft, fraud and public trust in digital
finance,” he said.

Fintech consultant, Bimbo Adeoye pointed to what the NDPC’s action signals for the
entire sector: “Financial institutions must prioritise robust
cybersecurity frameworks. NDPC’s active investigation sends a strong signal
that non-compliance will be met with regulatory consequences, which is critical
for the growth of fintech and digital banking in Nigeria.”

Research has
it that Nigeria ranked 12th among foreign countries, filing cybercrime complaints with the Federal Bureau on Investigation (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint
Centre in 2025, as losses worldwide crossed a record $20.877 billion.

Reports have
also stated that cybercrime is projected to cost the world over $10.5
trillion annually, just as
Cybersecurity Ventures and analysts said attacks are increasingly coordinated and sophisticated.

It was also
reported that this has made governments to
recognise that fragmented, institution-specific approaches can no longer manage
systemic cyber risks effectively.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has listed
Nigeria among Tier-3 countries in its Global Cybersecurity Index 2024.

President of
the Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), Ade Shoyinka described the organisation’s annual Nigeria Cyber Threat
Forecast as a wake-up call for all stakeholders to adopt a proactive and
collaborative approach to cybersecurity.

At a
Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference, Shoyinka emphasised that the National Cyber
Security Coordination Centre must become fully operational and led by a
proactive cybersecurity industry leader.

The CSEAN
and its Director of Research and Development, John Odumesi, says: “Cybersecurity is a shared
responsibility that requires the collective effort of every individual,
business and government entity,
to ensure a secure digital environment.“

According to the Federal Ministry of Communications,
Innovation and Digital Economy, the proposed council will serve as a
multi-stakeholder platform to enhance coordination, information sharing and
collaboration across public and private sector institutions.

The ministry
added that the platform will be a non-statutory body, bringing together Chief Information
Security Officers (CISOs), cybersecurity professionals, technology firms, law
enforcement agencies and relevant government institutions.

Report has
it that the stakeholders will collaborate on threat intelligence-sharing
mechanisms, sector-wide cyber defence protocols, capacity-building programmes
for Nigeria’s cybersecurity workforce, incident response and recovery
frameworks, as well as
governance and regulatory alignment.
 

Sources also
noted that it means that the National Cybersecurity Coordination Council, if built and operated well, the next time a hacker probes a Nigerian
institution for weaknesses, that intelligence will share such activity to the government and other
institutions, which will bring about a coordinated response.

This is just as Deloitte Nigeria noted
in its widely read 2025 Cybersecurity Outlook, that the increasing sophistication of
cybercriminals has left no sector immune.

Reports
have it that Nigeria is not the first to do this the United States built
the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) precisely to
coordinate national defence across sectors and the United Kingdom has its National Cyber Security Centre
(NCSC), while the
European Union has ENISA.

In a country where digital banking, mobile payments and
e-government services reportedly,
now touch tens of millions of lives daily, the move becomes a matter of urgent
national consequence.