The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali-Pantami has inaugurated the Nigeria Communications Commission’s Computer Emergency Response and Readiness Team, CERRT.
Speaking during the inauguration ceremony on Tuesday in Abuja, the minister said that the establishment of the CERRT will reduce cyber-attacks and make Nigeria’s cyberspace safer.
According to him, the project was strategically built-in line with Digital Economy Policy and Strategy of President Muhammadu Buhari for a Digital Nigeria.
Mr Pantami added that the facility was initiated and executed in accordance with International best practices and meets the needs of the present reality of mitigating and reducing further attacks on the country to a bearable minimum.
This, he said, “will go a long way in complementing the efforts of the administration in tackling the high wave of insecurity in the country and put the economy on a better footing as well as boosting the anti-corruption war.
“The CERRT is in alignment with the three priority areas of President Muhammadu Buhari which is to promote security.”
He stated further that: “Today there are many challenges with regards to security based on what is happening online.
“With CERRT Teams, we will be able to be the watchdog of the Federal Government, monitor and protect cybercrime attacks on our country.
“What we want to achieve with these projects is to ensure that these key areas are in tandem with President Buhari’s Digital transformation policy.
He added that: “Part of what we agreed with stakeholders is to build Digital Economy. The journey started in October 2019, which led to the approval for the launching of the Digital Economy Policy for Digital Nigeria. Now it is no longer about ICT but Digital Transformations,” Mr Pantami stated.
“For us, there is need to rebrand all parastatals because they are key to our goals. It gives impression and projects the vision and mission of the organizations.
“Prior to this, NCC and NITDA were mandated to create independent department for Digital Economy.
“With the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, we are trying to fast-track the entire policy and see how we will be able to attain them by 2025 rather than 2030 as earlier scheduled, though, some had already been attained but we are optimistic that they are achievable.”
Earlier in his address the Executive Vice Chairman Nigeria Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta alluded to the importance of the Centre to the nation’s security measures, the digitalisation of the country’s economy and the rebranding of the Commission.
Mr Danbatta said with establishment of the Centre, the Cyber space will be insulated from frequent attacks and save the country from loss of huge resources.
In his goodwill messages, the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu InuwaAbdullahi, stressed that there would never a more perfect time of this digital center than now.
He said: “Last year, there was a disruption to the country’s journey to digital economy, as COVID-19 sent us off the streets, we rushed to our systems and smart phones to keep in touch with loved ones for education, entertainment and any other transaction we cannot do physically.
“The new normal made us to understand how convenient the online life is,” he pointed out.
Mr Abdullahi noted that the most important thing is to secure our digital space so that people will have trust in it.
He added that the Centre has the kind of facility that will help in achieving that.
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