Tinubu proposes closer cooperation to combat cybercrime, terrorism during a meeting with the FBI boss

In order to combat cybercrime, terrorism, and other associated crimes, President Bola Tinubu has asked for more cooperation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States and Nigeria’s law enforcement authorities.

In a statement released by his Special Advisor on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu advocated for this on Friday during a meeting with FBI Director Christopher Asher Wray at the State House in Abuja.

President Tinubu described the FBI Director’s and his team’s visit to Nigeria as evidence of the two countries’ long-standing cooperation in the fight against terrorism and financial crimes.

He declared that the administration is working hard to end cybercrimes, terrorism, and sextortion.

Tinubu also mentioned how happy he was to see so many organizations actively working to drastically lower these crimes, and he mentioned how well-represented they were at this meeting.

The statement read in part “It is an honour for me to receive Director Christopher Wray, the leader of an organisation that has demonstrated consistent procedural sophistication and a reputation for excellence over several years. Your visit conveys the importance of Nigeria and Nigerian partnership in the work of America’s law enforcement institutions and vice-versa. For us, it is a recognition of what stage we are at, who we are, and the level of interest both countries share in eliminating crimes locally and globally.

“We cannot achieve this important feat of eliminating crimes without collaboration. Incidentally, as the Chairman of ECOWAS, Nigeria is also collaborating with other West African countries to fight economic and other related crimes.”

President Tinubu briefed the FBI Director about the administration’s strong emphasis on education as a strategy to fight poverty, which is well acknowledged as a major factor to criminal activity.

It continued, “We are working hard to eliminate terrorism, cybercrimes, sextortion, and I am glad that we have a good number of agencies that are involved in reducing these crimes to the barest minimum, and they are also well represented at this meeting.”

President Tinubu emphasized that no country can combat financial crimes on its own and encouraged the US to support poor nations by giving them access to the knowledge and resources they need to fight sophisticated transnational crimes.

According to the statement, Wray expressed his intent to strengthen the “outstanding partnership” between the Nigerian and U.S. governments during his visit.

He complimented President Tinubu for approving the growing cooperation between the FBI and government agencies in order to protect the residents of both countries.

Wray recognized the President’s efforts in the fight against regional terrorism and said that it posed a serious threat to the US as well as the region.

It stated, “We appreciate your vision in re-engineering the role of the Office of the NSA to effectively coordinate efforts on counter-terrorism, and this has already started to bear fruits in terms of the success you are recording against ISIS in West Africa and other terrorist groups.

“We appreciate your support and collaboration on cyber-enabled crimes and sextortion, which has unfortunately resulted in a few tragic deaths in the United States.

“I want to assure you of our support whether it is on counter-terrorism, cyber-enabled crimes, kidnapping, joint investigations, and intelligence sharing. Our relationship with Nigeria is a very important one,” the FBI Director concluded.

The meeting was attended by several security chiefs, including the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), and Chief of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Major-General Emmanuel Undiandeye.

The others are Major-General Adamu Laka, the National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), and Olanipekun Olukoyede, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).