CYBER CRIME BILL PASSED INTO LAW
The plenary session of the Senate on Thursday, 23 October witnessed the passage into law
of “A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Prohibition, Prevention, Detection, Response,
Investigation and Prosecution of Cyber Crimes and for Other Related Matters, 2014â€. The
passage of the bill was sequel to the presentation of Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human
Rights and Legal Matters’ Report on the Cyber Crime Bill referred to it for further
legislative work by the Chamber a few weeks ago. The Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Umaru
Dahiru, presented the report before the Senate for clause by clause consideration and
passage.
According to Sen. Dahiru, the bill seeks to provide a legal framework for the
implementation and evaluation of response and preventive measures in the fight against
Cyber Crime as well as other related frauds in line with international best practices. It
also provides a legal framework for the prohibition and punishment of electronic fraud and
cybercrime whilst promoting e-government services, electronic communications and
transactions between public and private bodies as well as institutions and individuals.
The bill seeks to criminalize certain acts and omissions in line with regional and
international best practices and provide procedural guidelines for the investigation of
such offences. The legislation also intends to define the liability of service providers
and ensure that national interest of this country is not compromised by the use of
electronic communications.
Sen. Dahiru noted that during the bill’s public hearing,
stakeholders and the general public made some important contributions to the bill which
specifically seeks to secure computer equipment against unauthorized access and
modification, as well as against misuse in the following areas: (1) Unauthorized access
or modification of computer. (2) Unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate
commission of further offences. (3) Unauthorized access to computer or misuse of
electronic devices.
On receipt of the report, the Senate resolved into the Committee of the Whole and
considered and approved clauses 1 to 48 with the exception of clauses 7, 13, 14, 28 and 39
which were deleted and substituted.
Thereafter, the Chairman rendered progress report and
the Senate Leader moved that the bill be read the third time and was seconded by the
Senate Minority Leader.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the day’s sitting put the
question on the bill and it sailed through third reading and passed. Sen. Ekweremadu
congratulated distinguished Senators for achieving a major landmark by passing this very
important bill that not only seek to fight corruption to standstill but boost the image of
the country within and outside it as well as reduce to the barest minimum the rate of
cyber-crime in Nigeria.