Daily Independent (Lagos)
Sule Lazarus
9 July 2009
Abuja — Members of the House of Representatives and Minister of Science and Technology, Alhassan Bako Zaku, have expressed divergent views on the bill for an Act to establish cyber security agency.
At the opening of the public hearing on the bill on Wednesday, Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole, urged banks, entertainment industry and the firm, Interswitch Nigeria, as well as its partners, to collaborate with the National Assembly in tackling cyber crimes in the country.
He regretted that the organisations and agencies whose businesses were greatly affected by the current spate of cyber crimes were not doing much in terms of collaborating with the legislature to have a legislative framework against the phenomenon.
But the minister, in his comments, dismissed the bill as highly disjointed, and without specific aims it sought to achieve.
Bankole urged the industries to cooperate "in exercising their rights to petition their government for the desired change, and in view of the huge economic stake they have, in creating appropriate legal framework around their businesses."
The Speaker was represented by his deputy, Usman Bayero Nafada, at the hearing.
The hearing which had in attendance, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders was organised by the Joint House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Science and Technology, and Justice.
In his own presentation, Zaku told the House to dump the bill in its entirety, describing it as highly disjointed.
The minister who was represented by the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Cleopas Angaye, said he was not clear, if the proposed agency, when created would not be duplicating the functions of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies.
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