The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned that the increasing deployment of artificial intelligence by cybercriminals is creating serious risks for Nigeria’s telecommunications networks, financial institutions and national security.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Dr Aminu Maida, raised the concern on Tuesday at the second International Cybersecurity Conference in Abuja, noting that AI enabled attacks were becoming more advanced and increasingly capable of breaching digital networks and compromising financial transactions.
Maida, who was represented by the NCC’s Executive Commissioner for Technical Services, Sunday Oshadami, identified AI-generated phishing messages, automated attempts to steal login credentials, deepfakes designed to defeat multi-factor authentication and self modifying malware as emerging cybersecurity threats.
“We now face AI-driven phishing tailored to individuals, automated credential attacks, deepfakes designed to bypass multi factor authentication, and malware that rewrites itself to evade detection,” he said.
The NCC chief explained that telecommunications networks had become an essential component of Nigeria’s digital economy, facilitating banking services, commercial activities, public administration and everyday communication.
He warned that a successful cyberattack on a telecommunications operator could have far reaching consequences for other critical sectors that depend on reliable digital connectivity.
“An attack on a telecom provider is an attack on the financial sector, national defence, and civil governance,” Maida stated.
According to him, artificial intelligence has changed the nature of cybercrime by allowing malicious actors to detect system weaknesses and carry out complex attacks at a speed that traditional security measures may struggle to match.
“We are no longer defending against human hackers operating at human speed; we are confronting machine learning systems operating at microsecond computational speed,” he said.
To illustrate the growing scale of the threat, Maida referenced reported cyber incidents involving supermarket refrigeration systems in France and a spyware operation that targeted at least 45 devices belonging to journalists and media workers in the Middle East between 2024 and 2025.
He stressed that protecting telecommunications infrastructure had become increasingly important following Nigeria’s classification of the sector as Critical National Information Infrastructure.
Maida disclosed that the NCC had established a Computer Security Incident Response Team to track emerging threats, facilitate intelligence sharing and ensure that cybersecurity incidents were reported appropriately.
He added that the commission had introduced a Cyber Resilience Framework to provide common security requirements for licensed telecommunications operators.
The NCC executive vice chairman urged operators to strengthen their defences by adopting zero-trust security systems, regularly testing artificial intelligence models for vulnerabilities and building networks capable of recovering from cyberattacks without prolonged service interruptions.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, warned that cybercriminals were increasingly exploiting human weaknesses to gain access to digital systems rather than relying solely on technological vulnerabilities.
Abdullahi disclosed that NITDA was working with the Office of the National Security Adviser and the National Assembly to review the Cybercrime Act.
He said the agency was also exploring the development of a national cybersecurity architecture and measures to strengthen Nigeria’s digital sovereignty.
Similarly, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, represented by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Rotimi Oyedepo, said the ministry was working on legislative reforms to address emerging cybersecurity challenges.
According to Fagbemi, the proposed reforms would strengthen the handling of electronic evidence, improve cybercrime investigations and prosecutions, and ensure that measures to combat digital offences respected fundamental rights.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, Shuaib Salisu, called for the introduction of a national cybersecurity resilience index to evaluate how well organisations were prepared to withstand digital attacks.
He also advocated closer cooperation among government institutions and stronger regional partnerships to improve cybersecurity and protect digital infrastructure.
The conference highlighted the growing need for coordinated action among regulators, security agencies, lawmakers and telecommunications operators as artificial intelligence continues to reshape the cybersecurity landscape.
