Interview with Elder Bassey Etim

He is the only cyber security expert in the National Assembly. Currently, he is the coordinator, Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition and the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Narcotics, Drugs and Financial Crimes. Elder Bassey Etim who represents Uyo Federal Constituency spoke with Pioneer Newspaper’s political correspondent, DOMINIC AKPAN, on issues of cyber security.


Few weeks ago, you led a delegation of National Assembly members to the 15th International conference on Anti- money Laundering in USA. What were the major issues discussed at the conference?

Thank you. Yes, I led a delegation of members of the National Assembly Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition to the 15th International Conference on Anti-Money Laundering organized by the Anti-Money Laundering dotcom, at Miami, Florida.
At the conference, issues of international concerns were discussed. The major issues or highlights of the conference were Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
Looking at the larger perspective of money laundering and terrorist financing, we considered the aspect and environment of our national life that could be susceptible to money laundering and terrorist financing.
At a quick glance, one could look at the free trade zone, which has been a topical issue all over the world. The free trade zones are susceptible to terrorist financing, because the laws in the free trade zones are relaxed. And this is a general weakness in the world economy. Terrorist, having seen the obvious weaknesses in the enabling laws guiding the operations of the free trade zones, now resort to use the zones for their nefarious activities.
It had been discovered that most of the fake and counterfeit drugs in circulation in European countries originate from the Dubai Free Trade Zone. Now, the laws in the customs treaty are not comprehensive and strong enough. Because of the weaknesses in the FTZ laws, their enforcement is not always effective. The free trade zone is an area within a particular country carved out by law for international trade. The major feature of this zone is that all the activities, including trading and manufacturing are tax free.

Because of this, people with fraudulent intention go there to establish business. So a careful study of these developments revealed that people who do not have genuine business intention go to the free trade zone to engage in illegal activities such as drug trafficking, trade base money laundering. It is a mistake. And now that every country of the world has realized the vulnerability of free trade zone, we are now moving to amend all the enabling laws. Because there is need for specialization in lawmaking; the Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition was put together. When we talk about lawmaking, we are talking about a general phenomenon, universality of lawmaking, but there must be a specialization.
In recognition of this need, members of the National Assembly from the two chambers, the Senate and House of Representatives, came together to enhance their experiences on issues relating to economic and financial criminality. And as I speak, we are about 72 from the House of Representatives and about 15 from the Senate who are members of the coalition.
We are promoting issues of national importance. For sometime now, this body has recorded great events, which had led to the realization of the critical national issues that have re-awakened the consciousness in areas concerning a strong economic and financial system.
What are these areas the consciousness of Nigerians have been re-awakened?
Few years back, during the life of this administration, the current legislative house, we have been able to conduct successfully the national conference on cyber security, entitled, innovative Strategy to Combat Money Laundering. And this was collaborated with the office of the National Security Adviser.
The national security adviser attended the conference and gave a keynote address which formed the basis of the entire interaction. We have successfully organized a special legislative briefing on e-payment and cyber security. This was collaborated with the office of the accountant general of the federation and the Policy.
And to tackle the menace of cyber crime and terrorism, we are looking at a holistic approach; as part of our strategy to stem cyber crime and terrorism in tertiary institutions, we intend to set up anti-cyber crime and terrorism bodies in tertiary institutions.
Analysis and Research Project (PARP) in the National Assembly. It was a successful outing.
That afforded not just members of this coalition, but the entire National Assembly Members and staff the opportunity of having an insight into the proposed electronic payment systems, which is merely the policy framework of the executive arm of government. And being such a serous issue, which will impact on the welfare of Nigerian workers, government ought to have come before the National Assembly with a serious legal framework so that government could be held accountable.
But having failed to do that, the coalition decided to take this up by way of special legislative briefing and roundtable, which, to a great extent, has given both the executive and legislative arms of government the platform to now work towards raising the legal framework. As I speak, the executive arm of government is now considering a bill to be represented before the National Assembly.
Apart from these, we have updates of event on electronic evidence in court. We are collaborating with the National Judicial institute, where all the judicial officers, from Justices of the Supreme Court to the Magistrates are going to be engaged in a serious discussion of understanding how electronic data could be collected, preserved and tendered in court for admissibility. The issue of electronic evidence is a sophisticated issue. Every one, the judicial officers, lawyers and policemen and women must understand for the purpose of administration of justice, otherwise, ignorance of law could become a serious plank to perpetuate injustice. So, the starting point of implanting the issue of electronic evidence in court is creating awareness.
And this is obtained in any advance democracy in the world. It is the best practices Nigerians must adopt. That was the reason the international body had set up an international electronic evidence system.
Could you throw more light on what the electronic payment system is all about?
By electronic payment system, we are looking at a cashless society. We are talking about using computers to transfer money. This is one of the best methods of checking corruption in an indiscipline society like Nigeria. In a country like Brazil which had started the e-payment system, so much money, in terms of savings and fraud proofs has been realized. And the state of our nation needs this kind of instrument to stem the tide of corruption.

The problem of electricity or epileptic power supply is not far from corruption. It is not far from indiscipline. It is not far from the dwindling situation in the country today. But I see it as a challenge for us to come together and build a robust nation; a nation that our future generations will be proud of.
This could be done, only if we fight the monster called corruption. It was in this realization that we came up with the initiative the Anti Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition, to tackle the issue of corruption through a sophisticated means. And that is going after the turbulent electronic transfer, which is equivalent to electronic payment system.
How far has the coalition gone with its awareness campaign on cyber security in tertiary institutions?
Currently, the Anti Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition is planning to host the world on cyber crime and terrorism challenge. At the proposed conference, resource persons from the United States of America, Europe and other parts of the world will be there, because terrorism and cyber crime are all foreign criminalities imposed on us by the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT).
We, therefore, need experts to work with us. Currently, the Microsoft is planning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with this body, so that we could set up a standard in battling cyber criminality. Plans have reached advanced stage. By the end of this month, we are going to stage a serious international conference on cyber crime and terrorism. We are already working with many organizations, including the Petroleum Tax Found (PTF) National University Commissioner (NUC) among other bodies. These are part of my Initiative.
And to tackle the menace of cyber crime and terrorism, we are looking at a holistic approach; as part of our strategy to stem cyber crime and terrorism, we are looking at a holistic approach; as part of our strategy to stem cyber crime and terrorism in tertiary institutions, we intend to set up anti-cyber crime and terrorism bodies in tertiary institutions.
Why we are taking the campaign to tertiary institutions is that the youths are the active segment of the population that are engaged in cyber crimes. The abuse of computer by youths goes beyond cyber crimes. For an example, a greater number of youths use the computer to watch pornographic materials, while others use it to perpetuate crime, writing up a going to name after eminent Nigerians in the IT and those involved in the fight against cyber crime. We are going to have Elder Bassey Etim Centre of Excellence for cyber security. One of the centers will be named after Ernest Ndukwe.
Without sounding boastfully, I say here that I am the only cyber expert in the National Assembly and I have explored the length and breadth of the world to see how we can find solution to this problem. So, I think I deserve to be remembered. This legacy is such that it needs our future generations to come and continue.
On the other hand, we are planning a symposium, where lecturers in higher institutions will take a research work on cyber security. We are going to consult with all the stakeholders and come up with a robust position where our laws, will either be amended, established or re-enacted. That so far have been our efforts.
As deputy chairman of the House Committee on Narcotics, Drugs and Financial Crimes, would you say that the war against corruption has succeeded?
The war against corruption is becoming more intriguing. That is why various agencies of government should rise to tackle this menace. The disposition of Nigerians and government agencies is rather disturbing. I am asking, what is the National Orientation Agency (NOA) are doing? I ask this question because it is not all the wars that must be fought with guns. Some wars need to be fought with persuasion.