Industry stakeholders across Nigeria’s telecommunications and cybersecurity ecosystem have called for a fundamental rethink of how organisations approach digital security, warning that compliance driven models are no longer adequate to protect the country’s rapidly expanding digital infrastructure.
Speaking at a cyber resilience session during the Nigeria Telecoms Forum, panelists stressed the need for a transition toward embedding security directly into systems from the design stage, rather than relying on reactive regulatory alignment.
The session, moderated by Gbemisola Osunrinde of Smartcomply, brought together experts from firms including Infratel, ipNX, ISN, Phillips Consulting, and Ethnos Cyber. Participants highlighted how the pace of evolving cyber threats is outstripping institutional responses, exposing vulnerabilities across sectors that rely heavily on digital platforms for operations and service delivery.
Representatives pointed to persistent gaps in how organisations interpret and implement data protection requirements, noting that compliance is often treated as a periodic obligation rather than an ongoing operational process. According to speakers, human factors remain the weakest link in cybersecurity, with inadequate awareness and training continuing to undermine even the most sophisticated systems.
Others drew attention to overlooked risks within physical infrastructure such as fibre networks and towers, arguing that true resilience requires an integrated approach that combines both cyber and physical security strategies, supported by regular simulation exercises and stronger organisational preparedness.
Further discussions underscored a growing governance gap at executive levels, where cybersecurity is still frequently viewed as a technical concern rather than a core business risk. Experts warned that this mindset is increasingly untenable as artificial intelligence accelerates the complexity and scale of cyber threats.
Panelists concluded that Nigeria must adopt a holistic, forward looking model that integrates governance, workforce development, and proactive threat intelligence into infrastructure planning, noting that embedding resilience into the foundation of digital systems will be critical to sustaining trust, economic growth, and long term stability in the country’s digital economy.