Nigeria's power sector needs tighter cybersecurity measures and closer cooperation among industry players to counter evolving digital threats, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said. The NERC Chairman, Dr. Musiliu Oseni, warned that cyber risks have spread beyond the financial sector and now threaten electricity infrastructure globally, with the interconnected nature of power systems making even minor vulnerabilities dangerous to entire networks.
Speaking through the NERC Vice Chairman, Dr. Yusuf Ali, at a cybersecurity awareness seminar, Oseni stressed that digitisation of electricity infrastructure has made cybersecurity central to power sector operations and national development. "Cybersecurity threats are no longer confined to the financial sector alone. They have become a major concern for the electricity sector and continue to expand globally. We are only as strong as our weakest point because a cyberattack does not need to target a major node before it affects the entire system," he said.
Oseni emphasised that all stakeholders must take deliberate steps to improve cybersecurity compliance and build sector-wide resilience. He noted that cyber resilience should no longer be treated as purely an information and communications technology issue but must be integrated across all business operations and strategic decision-making within the power sector.
The NERC chairman also called for establishing a sector-wide emergency cyber response mechanism to improve preparedness, speed up incident response, and enable information sharing between industry players. The seminar included expert presentations on critical cybersecurity challenges facing the sector.
For electricity consumers and businesses relying on stable power supply, stronger cybersecurity in the sector means reduced risk of service disruptions from cyberattacks that could otherwise cascade through interconnected power networks.