Tech tools, stakeholder collaborations key to fighting financial crimes: Maida, NCC EVC

*Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission gets inducted into Hall of Fame

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said effective application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is critical in combating financial crimes.

The Commission stated this involves enabling real-time surveillance, regulatory compliance, and secure data processing, while advocating multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder collaborations to address the issue of illicit financial flows in the West African country.

Mr. Reuben Muoka, Director of Public Affairs at NCC (seated, middle), representing Dr. Maida at the event in Lagos

Dr. Aminu Maida, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC, states this in his presentation Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at the 11th Anniversary Lecture Series of RealNews Magazine in Lagos.

Maida, who was also inducted into the RealNews Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding contribution as Guest of Honour at the event, said robust ICT systems are critical in preventing and investigating financial crimes, or mitigating the risks associated with virtual assets in the financial markets.

Represented at the forum by Mr. Reuben Muoka, Director of Public Affairs at the Commission, the EVC/CEO described financial crimes as “criminal activities that involve transactions, abuse, misuse, deception, or manipulation of financial systems for personal gain.”

The crimes, he noted, also include a wide range of offences, such as insider abuse, money laundering, terrorism financing, embezzlement and all kinds of fraud.

According to Maida, though financial crimes do not only have a huge economic and social impact, they can also be linked to violent crimes that lead to loss of lives, they also threaten the integrity, trustworthiness, stability, security, safety, and future of an entity such as a country, enterprise or an individual.

Maida told the audience at the event, which comprised representatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), among other stakeholders, that the scope of financial crimes had broadened and created further concerns as a result of increasing adoption of digital technologies, the emergence of new technologies, and the often-transnational nature of the crimes.

The Nigeria’s chief telecoms regulator said though, as ICT systems get more complex, so do cybercriminal activities, just as criminal actors take advantage of the inherent and emerging flaws identified in the ICT systems exploiting these flaws and causing harm, the same technology has to be positioned to track movement of illicit movement of funds in and out of the country.

The NCC Executive Vice-Chairman stated: “Nigeria’s telecoms sector has grown significantly, resulting in massive amounts of data being generated on a daily basis, the advent of advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) provides a gateway to identify suspicious digital patterns indicative of crime.

“Through partnerships with financial institutions data can be filtered to identify these suspicious patterns and nip them in the bud.

“These technologies provide real-time transaction monitoring, allowing for a proactive approach to crime prevention.”

Maida further said in combating financial crimes, innovative solutions, such as Blockchain, instant payments, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, data analytics, regulatory technology solutions, and automated procedures are being deployed.

The use of technological tools has made it significantly easier to deal with financial crimes while building a long-term strategy for combating them.

Objectives of NCC-Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT)

Meanwhile, Maida stated that, aside from ensuring increased access to telecommunications services, the Commission has established the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT).

The NCC has described the CSIRT as a group of experts in the Commission to handles security incidents that can affect the operations of organisations and individuals; incorporated biometric authentication in the use of telecoms services and financial transactions on telecom carriers with strict enforcement of compliance by the licensees; as well as enabling digital forensics, among others.

In addition to the need for public education and understanding of internet safety, which are important in limiting the risks linked with the spread of criminality via technology, Maida emphasised the need for increased collaboration and international cooperation to effectively tackle financial crime.

He also stressed that “continued investment in ICT solutions, as well as a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder strategy, combining technology specialists, legal professionals, and legislators, as a critical approach in keeping up with emerging criminal methods.”