The Committee of Directors of ICT of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions (ComDICT-NTI), has lamented the rise of cyberattacks on digital infrastructures in tertiary institutions.
Speaking during its 2026 annual conference, the Chairman of ComDICT-NTI, Daniel Inusa Yakmut, said universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are facing threats of theft of students data and finances.
He said the institutions should be prepared to tackle these issues before they become serious issues.
‘So this is the situation we are living in and that’s why we are thinking that we should be able to build networks that are resilient, adaptive and they can be able to sense such attacks and possibly repel them.
‘As directors of ICT we are the architects of making this reality happen on our campuses. I can assure you, you would think you don’t have anything to be attacked. Let me tell you two critical things that perpetrators look for. They go for the students’ results and the finances. They may not steal directly from your account but they will steal from the beneficiaries and users of your services like your student and so on and so forth,’ he said.
He added that the institutions also face a lot of network failure, thus the need to be adaptive in such a way that even if funding cuts occur they will be able to overcome it.
He added that their job in the educational environment is a thankless job as nobody appreciates them when the network or portal is going fine.
‘But as soon as there’s a glitch, that’s when they remember your name and rain all sorts of things on you. So let us recognize that but that should not deter us,’ he said.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arch Sonny Echono, urged the directors to build partnerships to be able to bring more productive outcomes to institutions.
He noted that the fund will spend more on ICT in schools as it is the future and urged them to bring more productive outcomes with the funding to encourage the fund to spend more on ICT.