Nigeria is safer and better under Tinubu - Ribadu

Ribadu, who spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at the National Cyber Security Conference 2025, with theme, ‘Building a Resilient Digital Future’, criticized critics of the Tinubu administration. 

He insisted that Nigeria is safer and better under Tinubu. Addressing the audience made up of foreigners and Nigerians, he said: “We have quality leadership today in our country. “Mr. President is a digital President and educated. Yes, he is very enlightened. 

He knows things. People under-estimate him at their own peril.” Continuing, Ribadu said: “Things are changing. We are stabilizing things. Don't pay attention to what some people are saying. Nigeria is improving and becoming safer by the day. Our economy is stabilizing. Things are getting better day by day. 

 “We have changed things. We are in control. We closely collaborate with major telecom providers. Nigeria is safe, forget about these people who are talking nonsense. The Nigerian Delta is safer than ever. South-East is beginning to be normal. Those who are creating problems there and are outside the country, we are going to jail them there. 

 “We will not allow the money they are sending to Nigeria. We are working and getting results. Many people don’t recognize these. "These are dying, desperate individuals who believe that their continued presence in the power corridors is an entitlement." “They think it is their right to be in power, to be in our spaces. They go to Channels or Arise TV, they are shouting. They're out of date. 

These are people who looted and plundered this country before, they believe in entitlement, that is for them to continue to do what they like. But Nigerians are more educated. They caused issues, including religious, ethnic, and political issues. We are attempting to communicate with them; they ought to give us a chance, please. 

The NSA therefore called on telecom companies and foreign investors to invest in the country, adding that Nigeria is the future of Africa. The National Cyber Security Conference, according to Ribadu, was a call to action for all stakeholders to construct a digitally robust future. He emphasized that a robust digital future is not created automatically but rather is constructed consciously, collectively, and effectively. 

He explained that public institutions, banks, schools, markets, among others, are targets of cyber attacks, adding that resilience is the bedrock of national security and economic stability. Ribadu assured that decisive steps have been taken to strengthen cyber security, following the operationalization of the National Cyber Crime Centre. 

In his opening remarks, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said as part of measures to strengthen and combat cyber attacks in the country, all processes in the Commission are being digitalized. 

 According to Olukoyede, all processes and operations, including petition submission, investigation, and prosecution, would be digitalized by the end of 2025. 

He announced that the Commission has recorded remarkable achievements in dealing with cyber threats to the economy in the last two years. Olukoyede said that 194 fraudsters were recently arrested in one sweep, despite the fact that some foreigners have been using Nigerian identities to commit fraud. He added that the Commission had recently secured conviction for 146 of the arrested fraudsters.