By Ibrahim Karim Bangura (Tanko) 

The West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) has launched five days regional training for staff of its member central banks on cyber security, digital and crypto currencies.

The program started on Monday, May 20th 2024 at New Brookfields Hotel in Freetown.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Baba Y. Musa, WAIFEM’s Director General, emphasized the significance of this year’s event hosted in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

He said, online landscape is fraught with security threats, ranging from cyber fraud and scams, financing terrorism to more sophisticated cyber-attacks that could threaten national and regional financial stability as well as national and regional stability.

Additionally, the regulatory frameworks within West Africa are still in developmental stages, which face challenges in creating harmonized approach to management of digital currency transaction.

Dr Musa noted that the objectives of the course are designed to empower the participants from various sectors across West Africa to be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle these emerging challenges in the sub-region.

Through a series of expert-led sessions, he intimated that,

“together, we will address the critical needs for a robust and regulatory framework, explore the role of cyber security in protecting digital infrastructures and discuss how to build resilience cyber threats.”

WAIFEM was set up as an effective and efficient platform to reach many more West Africa countries in terms of knowledge, skills and support base, providing standard and enriching programs in the future.

In his keynote address, Mr Sheikh A Y Sesay, who represented the Governor, Bank of Sierra Leone noted that, cyber security is no longer a pure computer security issues, but a national policy matter. He further stated that, the illicit use of cyberspace could hamper not only the success of an organization but also the economic, public health, safety and national security activities of a country, therefore, chief executive officers and national leaders should be accountable for cyber security to forestall the consequences of cyber-attacks across the globe at the moment.

He further outlined the consequences of inactions and cyber safety actions pointing that modern societies have a growing dependency on information, communications, technologies which are globally interconnected.

Mr. Sesay warned that the following cyber actions should be adopted always to prevent identity and such actions are to run anti-virus software, avoid spyware, back up important files, protect passwords, turn on personal firewalls etc.

In conclusion, Mr. Sesay informed the facilitators that “We as a nation, are honoured by the presence of colleague central banks within the sub-region and as a team in the fight against hacker at both national and international level.

Meanwhile, Omar Darboe, a participant of the training and attached to the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Bank of Gambia, said his expectations are many because of the innovation of WAIFEM for the first time in the history of the banking sector in West Africa.

In conclusion, it was noted that, the West Africa Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) is a collaborative sub-regional capacity building organization established in July 1996 by the central banks of five Anglophone West African countries.

The overall objective of WAIFEM is to strengthen capacity for debt, financial and economic management in the relevant institutions in Anglophone West African countries with particular attention to Liberia and Sierra Leone as post conflict countries.