The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Nigeria currently ranks third globally in cyber crimes behind the UK and the U.S.

NCC's Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this at the 2017 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.

The conference' theme is: "African Business: Penetrating through Institution Building".

Danbatta, at a breakout session with the sub-theme: "The Business of Cyber Law, Internet Policy and Privacy Rights", moderated by Mr Augustine Alegeh (SAN) a former NBA President, said the number of internet users in Nigeria has hit 91.6 million.

"About N127 billion was the estimated loss to cybercrime in Nigeria in 2015; Nigeria ranks third in global internet crimes behind the UK and U.S.

"A critical factor militating against Africa's economic resurgence is the weakness of its institutions.

"Nigeria ranks 169 out of 199 on the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings; we are in a middle of a revolution and the rise of what we call the networked society.

"The NCC stipulates the laws of engagement that will make the cyberspace safe and ensure the confidence as well as the safety of the cyberspace," Danbatta, a panelist, said.

"There are benefits and risks of the use of cyberspace and both have to be properly managed."

NAN reports that other panelists at the breakout session were Mr Bayo Adekanmi, the Chief Transformation Officer of MTN and Ms Ibikun Abidoye, the legal counsel of Chocolate City Group.

Others are Ms Sascha Grimme, the Associate Solicitor of Cooley LLP, a UK-based Lawfirm; and Mr Bisi Adebutu of Premier Lotto, also known as 'Baba Ijebu.'

In his remarks, Adebutu gave insight into the challenges Premier Lotto faced in conducting transactions on the cyberspace.

"Premier Lotto has moved from the streets to the internet, we have faced certain challenges including paying those who do business with us.

"The cyber laws are not favourable to our business, Premier Lotto ranks as the fourth most visited site in the country.

"We have no easy way of verifying or identifying the owner of cards used to transact business.

"In Nigeria, the business of giving is just emerging, and it is important that we respect the privacy of our clients when they interact with us through the use of usernames and passwords.

"Gaming is very popular on the internet and fraud is one to the challenges we have; if we apprehend an individual trying to perpetuate fraud, we block their access to us.

"We also have challenges of having to discipline offenders and the cyber laws have to be properly identified and implemented to appropriately punish offenders," Adebutu said.