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Lagos, Lagos State – By Prime Brief Media

Artificial intelligence will become the dominant cybersecurity threat facing Nigeria within the next five years, drastically reducing the time it takes for malicious actors to breach systems and increasing the scale of potential damage, a leading information technology consultant has predicted.

Speaking at a tech policy forum organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday, Olumide Adeyinka, Managing Partner at CyberShield Nigeria, said the emergence of generative AI tools had transformed the threat landscape. “Until recently, it could take months for a hacker to scan a network, identify a vulnerability, and craft an exploit. Now, AI can do that in hours, sometimes minutes. We are seeing the weaponisation of AI for highly personalised phishing campaigns, deepfake-enabled fraud, and automated vulnerability scanning,” he said.

Adeyinka noted that while Nigerian businesses and government agencies are beginning to pay attention to cybersecurity, the adoption of AI-powered defence systems remains very low. He warned that “the asymmetry between attackers armed with AI and defenders relying on manual or basic automated systems will soon become a national economic security problem,” unless there was a concerted push to build capacity.

The consultant called for government, academia, and industry to collaborate on a national AI and cybersecurity skills strategy. He recommended the establishment of a dedicated cybersecurity research fund, the mandating of AI-based intrusion detection for critical sectors, and the fast-tracking of a national policy on the use of AI for public sector data protection.

The event also heard that the majority of Nigeria’s cyber workforce remains concentrated in Lagos and Abuja, leaving state government networks especially vulnerable.

Prime Brief Media is monitoring digital security channels and will report on any additional breaches or advisories.

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