Educational · Cybercrime & Digital Rights
Impersonation, fraudulent transfers, harassment: what the Act addresses, and the practical habits that keep ordinary users out of trouble.
Published · 7 min read
The Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 is Nigeria's principal statute on offences committed through computers and networks. Much of it addresses conduct most people would recognise as crime: unauthorised access to systems, interfering with critical national infrastructure, and fraud carried out electronically.
But parts of it reach ordinary daily internet use, and those are the parts worth understanding.
The Act criminalises electronic fraud and computer-related forgery, and it addresses identity theft and impersonation online — including using another person's identity to obtain a benefit.
Practical consequence: opening an account or a page in someone else's name, even as a joke or to make a point, is not a grey area.
Provisions dealing with messages sent through computer systems, including cyberstalking and threatening communications, have been the most litigated and the most criticised part of the Act, on the ground that they can reach speech protected by Chapter IV of the Constitution.
This is a live and developing area. Anyone facing a charge under these provisions, or considering a complaint under them, should take advice on the current state of the law rather than rely on a general summary.
The Act places obligations on service providers and on financial institutions, including record retention and cooperation with lawful investigations, and it addresses the interception of communications under judicial authorisation.
Businesses handling customer data should read these alongside their data protection obligations rather than as a separate subject.
Preserve evidence before doing anything else: screenshots showing the account and the timestamp, transaction references, the full message rather than a crop. Report to the police or the relevant agency, and to the platform and your bank where money moved.
Acting quickly matters more than acting perfectly. Funds are easiest to trace in the first hours.
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