The United Kingdom has reaffirmed its commitment to deepening cooperation with Nigeria in combating the surge of cybercrime and digital insecurity, pledging technical assistance, intelligence sharing, and policy support under a growing bilateral partnership.
Speaking at the inaugural Seminar on Anticipatory, Cyber, and Digital Diplomacy for Strengthening Nigeria’s Foreign Policy in Abuja on Tuesday, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Richard Montgomery, described cybersecurity as a defining challenge of modern diplomacy.
He emphasised that London was “very pleased” to partner with Abuja in advancing digital resilience, adding that both nations had already recorded “shared successes” in curbing cyber fraud and online scams.
Montgomery recalled that the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cybersecurity in 2024, which focuses on five priority areas:
Threat hunting and advanced cyber intelligence.
Building national capacity for cyber threat detection.
Identifying and protecting critical national infrastructure.
Developing digital forensic capabilities.
Strengthening incident response planning.
“These are fundamental to building government cyber capabilities and effective international cyber diplomacy,” Montgomery explained.
He also warned that emerging tools such as artificial intelligence could “turbocharge disinformation, cyber fraud, and hate speech,” stressing the importance of early collaboration between governments and private technology firms.
In his remarks, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, hailed the UK’s collaboration and revealed the creation of a Cyber Diplomacy Unit within the ministry to coordinate the country’s cyber engagements globally.
Tuggar said Nigeria must move beyond being a “passive observer” in global digital negotiations and instead position itself as a “principled, capable and forward-looking actor in the evolving global digital order.”
“We must lead Africa’s digital future,” Tuggar declared, citing plans to train a new generation of African cyber negotiators, expand regional incident response systems, and promote ethical digital governance.
He further stressed the need for anticipatory diplomacy, describing it as the ability to foresee systemic shocks in emerging fields like AI, data governance, and global supply chain restructuring.
Also speaking at the event, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), highlighted the urgent need for legal frameworks to back cybersecurity initiatives.
“Cyber threats pose a danger to national infrastructure and the rule of law.
A robust legal system is vital to deter cybercrime, enforce justice, and protect digital sovereignty,” Fagbemi said.
He added that diplomacy through digital platforms must be managed ethically, noting that Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice was working with security agencies, the private sector, and civil society to develop stronger cybersecurity laws.
Nigeria remains a major target of cybercriminals. A 2024 report by Nitroswitch, a cybersecurity firm, revealed that the country faced more than 4,000 cyberattacks daily, including phishing scams, ransomware, and identity theft schemes.
The consequences extend beyond financial fraud. Cybercrime has also been used to manipulate elections, spread ethnic hate speech, and undermine national security.
The 2021 suspension of Twitter by the Nigerian government after a post by then-President Muhammadu Buhari was deleted further exposed the delicate balance between digital sovereignty and freedom of expression in the country.
Across the globe, countries such as the United States, China, and members of the European Union have already developed comprehensive cyber diplomacy strategies.
These policies address cybersecurity, data privacy, artificial intelligence ethics, and the influence of tech companies in international politics.
Experts believe Nigeria’s active participation in global cyber diplomacy could help strengthen Africa’s collective bargaining power in the digital age, particularly within multilateral platforms like the African Union and the United Nations.
With the UK pledging deeper collaboration and Nigeria unveiling a structured cyber diplomacy roadmap, analysts say the partnership could serve as a model for other African nations.
“Cybersecurity is no longer just a technical issue; it’s now at the heart of foreign policy and national security,” said Dr. Ifeoma Nwankwo, a digital policy researcher at the University of Lagos.
“If Nigeria leverages this partnership effectively, it could transform from being a cybercrime hotspot into a leader in global digital governance.”
The seminar, attended by diplomats, foreign policy experts, legal practitioners, security agencies, and private sector players, marked a major milestone in Nigeria’s transition towards a proactive digital foreign policy.
As cyber threats intensify globally, Nigeria’s collaboration with the UK signals a recognition that digital security is national security—and that the battle for sovereignty in the 21st century will be fought as much in cyberspace as on land.