IMPACT OF NIGERIA’S NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY POLICY ON REGIONAL SECURITY COOPERATION IN WEST AFRICA

Abstract

Cybersecurity threats have become a serious security challenge in West Africa, characterised by increasing transborder crime, weak institutional coordination, and fragmented national responses that weakens collective regional security efforts, with Nigeria playing fundamental roles as the region’s largest digital economy yet facing persistent gaps in harmonising cybersecurity governance with ECOWAS partners. To this end, this study examines the impact of Nigeria’s National Cybersecurity Policy on regional security cooperation in West Africa. The study is anchored on regional security complex theory as its appropriate framework of analysis. A sample size of 204 respondents was drawn from a population of 435 comprising selected departments of the FMoC, ONSA, NCC, NITDA, NPF, EFCC, and ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, using the Krejcie and Morgan statistical formula. The study utilised survey research design, using questionnaires to collect data. Quantitative data obtained from the questionnaires were analysed using simple percentages, while qualitative data obtained from secondary sources were analysed through content analysis. Finding from the study shows that Nigeria’s cybersecurity policy is strongly aligned with ECOWAS cybersecurity frameworks at conceptual and cooperative levels, particularly in information sharing and capacity building, although enforcement remains weak and inconsistent across institutions. The study equally discovers that the policy has improved intelligence exchange and facilitated more coordinated responses to cyber incidents across West Africa, but its broader regional effect is constrained by weak enforcement mechanisms, inadequate early warning systems, and limited legal harmonisation among member states. The study recommends that Nigeria should strengthen enforcement mechanisms by translating its strong conceptual alignment with ECOWAS cybersecurity frameworks into operational and legally binding actions across all relevant institutions, and deepen regional security cooperation by enhancing the effectiveness of its National Cybersecurity Policy through improved early warning systems and stronger institutional coordination within West Africa region.