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and, two, to steal valuable information contained in that system that is normally available to

only authorized individuals. Both are unethical intrusions prohibited by law in many
countries.

The Role of the Nigeria Police in Combating Cybercrime in Nigeria

By the power vested on the Nigeria Police force to deal with all forms of crimes (as enshrined

in the Police Act, 2004, as amended), the organization invariably is duty bound to investigate
cybercrimes and fortify the Nigerian cyberspace. Furthermore, section 42 of the Cybercrime

(Prohibition, Prevention, etc. Act) 2015 includes the Nigeria Police force as a member of the
Cybercrime Advisory Council, alongside 24 others, representatives of various ministries,

departments and agencies. Ina bid to enforce Nigerian cybercrime laws aimed at ensuring the

security of Nigerian cyberspace, Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG) was created
in 2006, which includes within its composition the Nigeria police force.

It is therefore vindicated that the place of the Nigeria police force in the fight against

cybercrime is indispensable. While Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has

been at the forefront of investigating cybercrimes, most especially online advanced fee fraud,
the Nigeria Police Force is currently making giant strides in their efforts to deal with cyber

criminality in Nigeria. Cybercrime Units within the Department of Investigations in almost
all police headquarters across the country have been set up to handle cybercrime

investigations, and some officers manning the units are scheduled for special training on how
best to conduct cybercrime investigations.

Cyber Policing in Nigeria

Policing cyber crime is significantly different from policing crimes involving a physical

crime scene in a neighborhood or office building. The digital crime scene cannot be marked

with yellow crime-scene tape, which contains a specific physical area where the crime
occurred (Marcum, Higgins, Freiburger & Ricketts 2010). Policing the cyberspace in modern

society is perhaps the most herculean tasks of law enforcement (Ndubueze, 2014). It is often
the case that a cybercriminal tries to destroy evidence on a system before the police move in.

Therefore, it will be necessary to involve a computer expert at the initial stages of
investigation in order to determine whether any files have been deliberately eliminated before

the investigator took charge of the system. If this has occurred, it is usually possible to

recover such files and thereafter examine them for relevant evidence. In line with this, Kurian

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