CYBERCRIME AND DIGITAL EVIDENCE:
THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE IN PERSPECTIVE
Olusoji Abraham Obideyi*

I. INTRODUCTION
Cybercrime refers to various forms of attacks against computers, digital devices and network systems
which connect the cyberspace, whereas cyberspace is the interactive domain of digital networks that isessential for the effective running and operations of critical infrastructure sectors such as health, transportation,
finance, energy, agriculture and food processing, including security. Cybercrime is notably a big challenge in
Nigeria and all over the world, notwithstanding the criminal justice systems in existence. For any successful
apprehension and prosecution of cybercrime in the society, a professional approach to finding, preserving,collecting, analysing and utilizing digital evidence is crucial.
Cybercrime is an act that violates the law, and it is perpetrated using Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) to facilitate a crime or target networks, systems, data, websites and/or technology. Europol
differentiates cybercrime into cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled crimes. The key distinction between thesecategories of cybercrimes is the role of ICT in the offence. When an ICT device is the target of the offence,the cybercrime negatively affects the confidentiality, integrity and/or availability of computer data orsystems.1
The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) in Nigeria, among other security outfits
within Nigeria, regularly churns out data on the trends of cybercrimes within Nigeria. These crime
measurement tools and victimization surveys vary based on the types of cybercrime data collected andanalysed, and the methods used in collecting and analysing the data.
Cybersecurity businesses and other private organizations that focus on security, business risk and/or
threat analysis around the world publish cybercrime and/or cybersecurity trends reports based on historicalcybersecurity incidents, and their types, frequency and impact. With the advent of new technologies – theInternet of things, drones, robots, self-driving cars and lots more – new cybercrime trends will definitely beunmasked.
A. Categories of Cybercrimes in Nigeria
There are diverse classifications and categorizations of cybercrime globally, for example, Maitanmi et al.
(2013) classified cybercrimes into three main categories namely: Target Cybercrime (computer as target),Tool Cybercrime (computer as tool of cybercrime) and Computer Incidental (computer playing minor role inthe crime).2 However, the most common categorization of cybercrimes, and of course which was adopted bythis paper, is as follows:
i. Cybercrime against people (individuals): These are activities targeted against individuals, their persons
and property, and they include harassment via e-mails, cyberstalking, distribution of obscene materials,
defamation, unauthorized control or access over a computer system, indecent exposure, e-mail spoofing,cheating and fraud, computer vandalism, transmitting viruses, net-trespass, intellectual property
crimes, and internet time thefts.
ii. Cybercrime against Property: These are activities targeted against computer/digital infrastructures*

Staff Officer-TO-IGP (ICT/TS), IGP Secretariat, The Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria.
https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/cybercrime/module-1/key-issues/cybercrime-in-brief.html
2
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327111080_Impact_of_Cyber_Crimes_on_Nigerian_Economy
1

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such as routers, communication masts and base stations (or BTS), database systems and corporate
digital facilities. These crimes include DDOS attacks, hacking, virus transmission, cyber and typosquatting, computer vandalism, copyright infringement and IPR violations.
B. Cybercrime against Government3
Nigeria is made up of multiple and diverse ethnic groups, which by default, creates its own challenging
social problems. After several pressing calls from business and civil society, legislators enacted the Cybercrime
Act 2015, which created, among other provisions, laws related to the use and misuse of computer orelectronic devices. But to date, yet to be identified is any breakthrough case that the Act has helped toconclude. This might not be unconnected to the lack of expertise required for law enforcement agencies andother stakeholders to convincingly prosecute offenders in the Courts of Law. So many times, court proceedings
have had to rely on previous judgments to adjudicate on computer crime offences. This was the practice
before the amendment of the Nigerian Evidence Act of 2011, which now provides for the admissibility ofdigital evidence. Out of all the hurdles against global works on stemming the threat of cybercrime remains
the mysterious character of the identity of cybercriminals as noted by Ajayi (2016).4
It is instructive to note that even where there is legislation on cybercrime, the provisions of the said
extant laws are not severe enough to deter cybercriminals from their illegal acts.5 Also, a considerable
number of law enforcement personnel do not really have an interest in technology; some of whom do noteven care to surf the Web. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have advanced levels equal to, if not surpassing theskills of law-abiding technology professionals.
It is an established fact that cybercrime cases in Nigeria are mainly prosecuted by the Nigeria Police
Cybercrime Units and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) using documentary evidencecollected during search and seizure raids carried out by the law enforcement agents. With the way cybercrime
evidence is bring collected in Nigeria, all options must, therefore, be duly explored during digital evidence
acquisition from collection through processing to preservation to ensure that when tendered in court, thesuspect(s) related to the crime is/are undeniably and positively linked to the evidence for admissibility
purposes during legal proceedings.

II. EFFECTS OF CYBERCRIMES AND GLOBALIZATION TO NIGERIA
Cybercrimes have inflicted severe consequences and loss to national economies in many respects.
Governments world over, therefore, have engaged this monster in a serious fight in a bid to eradicate it.
Serious and coordinated efforts have been made by governments, individuals and organizations on many
continents of the world, including America, Asia, Europe and Africa, but the fight in Nigeria seems
uncoordinated because the root causes of cybercrimes have not been unearthed or tackled. Consequently,
the crimes seem to still be booming notwithstanding the pockets of efforts made by the government.
A. Effects of Cybercrimes on the Nigerian Economy
i. Capital flight and loss of foreign investments: capital which was supposed to have come to Nigeria isdiverted to other African countries as a result of lack of confidence on Nigeria as a result of prevalentcybercrimes in the country.
ii. Bad national image and reputation: This creates lack of confidence in Nigeria and on Nigerians.  
Foreigners avoid dealing with Nigerians like lepers and this leads to lack of direct foreign investments.
Also, many legitimate Nigerian online entrepreneurs are denied the opportunity to do business withnationals of other countries.

3

Governments, firms, companies, and corporate bodies. These include hacking, accessing confidential information, cyber
warfare, cyber terrorism against governments and corporations, operation/use of pirated software, espionage and so on.
4https://academicjournals.org/journal/JIIS/article-full-text-pdf/930ADF960210
5
Ibid.

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iii. Rejection of certain countries by e-commerce communities or platforms: This is one of the most visible
and biggest challenges to genuine legitimate business personalities in Nigeria. Several e-commerce
platforms or e-payment providers such as PayPal, eBay, MoneyGram, prohibit Nigeria, and somecountries notorious to be safe havens for cybercriminals, from the use of their payment gateways.
iv. Loss of revenue by banks, private individuals, government organizations to the activities of cybercriminals,
especially in Nigeria:  This destroys confidence in the system and creates unnecessary fear in people
having anything to do with online transactions.
B. Challenges in Cybercrime Investigation
With escalations in reports of serious cybercrimes, one would expect to see a corresponding increase inconviction rates. However, this has not been the case with many investigations and prosecutions failing to
get off the ground. The chief causes of this outcome may be attributed to trans-jurisdictional barriers,subterfuge and the inability of key stakeholders in criminal justice systems to grasp fundamental aspects oftechnology-aided crime.6
Cybercrime has been on the agenda of the Nigerian Government for many years. Investigations – inparticular of fraud-related cybercrime – have been carried out in particular by the Nigeria Police Cybercrime
Unit, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). The Federal Government of Nigeria adopted the
National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy otherwise known as “The Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention,Etc) Act, 2015”.
Gaps between the laws used for prosecution of cybercriminals and enforcement procedures in the
Cybercrime Act, 2015 are often exploited by defence counsels when evidence tendered are found to be
tainted and inconclusive to be admissible for successful prosecution of cases. When cybercriminals areapprehended, they have unfettered access to renowned private attorneys who charge very high legal fees.
This is not a problem for the cybercriminals as they can readily afford to pay high professional fees to thebest lawyers who specialize in cybercrime practice.
Similarly, presentation of digital evidence in legal proceedings is another important issue. Because lawyers
and judges may have limited technical knowledge, the presentation of digital evidence must be done in aclear, easily understandable manner. It is noted that most legal professionals have a limited understandingof technology and tend to lack confidence in the ability of technical specialists to produce evidence that is
admissible in a court of law. Judges should have some understanding of the underlying technologies andapplications from which digital evidence are derived in order to justly evaluate the merit of such evidence.7
Other serious challenges that are worth mentioning are the issues concerning best practices, testing ofdigital forensic tools, and expert witnesses. Numerous digital forensic techniques are used by investigatorsand examiners; however, no best practice guides are currently available.
Laws and legislation regulating cyberspace tend to result in few prosecutions due to the jurisdictionaldifficulties and additional resources required in tracking down cybercriminals in different countries. The
current legislation on cybercrime in Nigeria needs to be reviewed to meet the standards in developed
countries. Nigeria was a country sorely challenged by weak forensic capacity, but it now has a state-owned,
high-powered DNA Forensic Laboratory Centre which was described as the first in the whole of West
Africa, known as the Lagos State DNA Forensic Centre (LSDFC) in addition to the EFCC’s Digital Forensic
Lab equipped by the UK government.

6

Brown, C.S.D. (2015). Investigating and prosecuting cyber crime: Forensic dependencies and barriers to justice. International
Journal of Cyber Criminology 9(1), doi: 10.5281/zenodo.22387
7
Kessler, G. C. (2011). Judges’ awareness, understanding, and application of digital evidence. Journal of Digital Forensics,
Security and Law, 6(1). Retrieved from http://commons.erau.edu/db-security -studies/25

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III. RECOMMENDATIONSHaving examined the various aforementioned concepts on this subject matter, below are some suggestions
to ameliorate the already exacerbated situation on cybercrimes in Nigeria:
1. Cooperation, awareness and enlightenment campaigns: The existence of a suitable legal framework is
not enough to fight criminality, such as cybercrime. An effective implementation based on the practiceof the legal framework is also crucial. This can be achieved by, among other things, cooperation among
investigative agencies and digital forensic laboratories (e.g. sharing information about procedures forpreservation and collection of digital evidence, cooperation to obtain the results of analysis promptly,etc.).
2. Computer technology curriculum: Most law enforcement actors are not equipped with the necessary
technological knowledge, whereas Internet criminals are experts in computer technology. To combat
these crimes, it is necessary to educate and develop human resources as one of the most reliablestrategies. In addition, universities, schools of higher education and academic institutions should open
special courses designed to allow future generations of judges, prosecutors and lawyers to be trainedin this very vital area.
3. Capacity-building programmes for stakeholders: There must be an improvement in the operational
capacity and response of law enforcement authorities against cyberattacks. In this context, it isnecessary to increase the number of experts in the field of investigating and prosecuting cybercrime.
This is possible by frequently organizing specialized trainings and sending relevant officials abroad forspecialization training. The specialization of experts in the field of cybercrime, as well as increasing
their knowledge of domestic and international legislation in the field, and on the methods and ways of
implementing this legislation in the most adequate and effective ways can be achieved through thesetrainings.
4. Forensic expert qualification: The reviewer of a forensic expert report should scrutinize the qualificationsof a forensic examiner to avoid the unfortunate scenario wherein an unqualified forensic examiner
produces a flawed or unreliable report. While no uniform set of standards exists to gauge thecompetency of a digital forensic examiner, reviewers should consider the most appropriate combinationof certification, education and real-world experience, given the case at hand.
5. Establishing reporting channels for individuals and public- and private-sector organizations: Reports
may trigger law enforcement investigations, provide intelligence for a better understanding of thescope, threat and trends of cybercrime, and allow for collating data to detect patterns of organizedcriminality.

IV. CONCLUSION
There is broad consensus that cybercrime investigations are hindered by insufficient knowledge and askill gap of law enforcement officers as well as the relevant actors in the judiciary. This paper highlighted
cybercrime trends in Nigeria, enumerates the effects of cybercrime and globalization on the economy of thenation, the challenges encountered by actors in criminal justice response to cybercrimes and other related
offences. It concluded by discussing ways on how to bridge the gap that exists among legislators, investigators,
and prosecutors in Nigeria, and furnished recommendations to address the peril of cybercrime threats.
Certainly, as digital evidence grows in both volume and importance in criminal and civil courts, judges
need to fairly and justly evaluate the merits of the offered evidence. To do so, judges need a general
understanding of the underlying technologies and applications from which digital evidence is derived. Inorder to meet the needs of stakeholders in a concerted, complementary and sustainable manner, awarenessmust be created among the key stakeholders (i.e., legislators and law enforcement officers).

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