The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, on Wednesday 22nd March 2023 said that about 3,834,244 cyber attacks were recorded during the just concluded governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.

The attacks which originated from both within and outside the country were much lower during the gubernatorial and state Assembly elections compared to those of Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Below were the daily analysis of the attacks recorded;

1. Friday, March 17, 2023: 1,046,896;

2. Saturday, March 18, 2023: 1,481,847; 

3. Sunday, March 19, 2023: 327,718;

4 Monday, March 20, 2023: 977,783.

The Minister's statement reads:

“The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), wishes to bring to the attention of the digital economy stakeholders and the general public the Ministry’s activities before, during, and after the 2023 Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

“It may be recalled that on the 14th March 2023, the Office of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy released a Press Statement regarding the activities of the Ministry and its parastatals before, during, and after the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

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“As a follow up to that and in line with the Ministry’s mandate as well as in our efforts aimed at supporting the initiatives of securing the Nigerian cyberspace, the Honourable Minister directed the Ministerial Standing Committee on Advisory Role for the Protection of Nigerian Cyberspace and ICT Infrastructure to further enhance the cyberspace surveillance activities of the three cybersecurity Centres of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB).

“It may also be recalled that the Committee, inaugurated by the Honourable Minister on the eve of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, was charged with the following responsibilities, among others:

“monitoring of Telecommunication Infrastructure for the successful conduct of the 2023 General Elections;

“developing and implementing plans to enhance the resilience of critical digital infrastructure against cyber threats;

“designing procedures and using technologies to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber-attacks, as well as developing the ability to quickly recover from any damage that is done;

“Developing a comprehensive risk assessment, analyzing the nation’s current cybersecurity capabilities, and identifying gaps that need to be addressed; and

“providing professional advice to the Government on the effective utilization of digital technologies in the conduct of the 2023 General Elections.

“Based on Honourable Minister’s directives, the Committee provided close oversight on the activities of the cybersecurity Centres, from Friday 17th March 2023 to Monday 20th March 2023.

“It is interesting to note that the activities of cyber threat actors on Nigerian cyberspace during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections are much lower than those during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

“This is neither surprising nor unexpected as, Nigeria being Africa’s largest democracy, the Presidential and National Assembly elections are bound to attract much more attention of everyone, including cyber threat actors, than during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.

“Furthermore, the Honourable Minister is confident that the implementation of some recommendations as well as measures taken to fortify our cyber defense mechanisms might have helped in this.”