A legal framework for the restitution of cyber-crimes victims in Nigeria

Abstract

This text examines the legal framework for the restitution of cybercrime victims in Nigeria. The tenure for cybercrime is recent in Nigeria, and although the Cybercrime Act dates back to 2015, only one case is recorded according to the Nigerian Weekly Law Report as having been prosecuted under the Act. Albeit, offenses executed vide the cyberspace has been prosecuted since 2004 by the EFCC Act and the Advanced Fee Fraud Act. This study analyses the existing framework for cybercrimes as a preliminary to determine what is crime on the cyberspace and what is not. It discovers that crime is what a written law states it to be, and addresses all the cybercrimes known under the Nigerian legal framework. The text further proceeds to discuss the rights of victims of crime under restorative justice, and discovers that some crimes attract restitution as of course, while some may only be upon an application of the prosecution, or suo motu by the court itself, in exercising its discretion. The text uses a thematic and grammatic qualitative methodology to define and interpret statutory provisions, and adopted a snowballing approach in identifying all relevant laws in the area. To avoid digression, only essays and research on cybercrime and restitution were analysed while case laws were sourced from the Nigerian Weekly Law Report online database. It concludes by determining the extent/ bandwidth of compensation a victim of cybercrime may enjoy, and suggests the inclusion of hacking as a standalone offence in the Nigeria Cybercrimes Act to strengthen data privacy and deter widespread hacking activities.