Members of the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria have been urged to up their games in enhancing the efficiency of cybersecurity to curb cyber attacks in the banking sector.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of TajBank, Hamid Joda, made the call while delivering a keynote address at the 61st quarterly general meeting of ACAEBIN held in Victoria Island, Lagos State, on Wednesday.
Joda, who was represented by the Chairman of the Board of Audit Committee of TajBank Limited, Adekunle Awe, stressed that the role of auditors has gone beyond the detection of financial anomalies to becoming a key player in the cybersecurity and information technology sector of their organisation.
Speaking on the theme ‘Strengthening Cyber Resilience: The Auditor’s Role in Preventing Financial System Breaches’, Awe noted that auditors are expected to be “a technology risk assessor, a cyber hygiene advocate, a data governance examiner, a business continuity watchdog, and, more importantly, a partner in digital trust.”
He added, “Today’s financial landscape is increasingly digital, borderless, and vulnerable. Cyber threats are no longer hypothetical; they are real, aggressive, and becoming more sophisticated. Whether it’s ransomware locking access to entire networks, phishing scams draining customers’ accounts, or insider breaches compromising sensitive customer data, the landscape has changed.
“Traditionally, the auditors’ toolkit was equipped to detect financial anomalies and ensure compliance. Today, however, these same auditors must interrogate firewall logs, assess system penetration vulnerabilities, audit the digital onboarding journey, and understand cloud risk profiles.
“Cyber resilience is not only a matter for IT departments. It is now a critical pillar of enterprise-wide risk management, and the internal audit functions are the conscience of that structure.”
In her address, the Chairperson of ACAEBIN, Aina Amah, noted that the theme of the general meeting was drawn from the reality that cyber threats in the banking sector were increasing, and it therefore becomes necessary for auditors in the sector to become more proactive in tackling the issue.
“Recall that just a few months ago, precisely on March 12 and 13, 2025, we gathered over a hundred participants, including regulators, law enforcement agents and other industry stakeholders, at our Annual General Meeting and Fraud Conference to discuss the need to strengthen institutional frameworks around fraud.
“That conference further underscored the hard truth, the rise in cyber threats and data breaches. As such, cyber resilience is not merely an IT issue; it is a governance, risk, and control issue. As audit executives, we are uniquely positioned to ensure that institutions not only comply with standards but also embed resilience into the core of their operations.
“Our role must evolve from retrospective assessment to proactive advocacy, anticipating vulnerabilities, challenging weak control environments, and ensuring that our organisations are not just compliant but genuinely protected.
She concluded that the association would continue to train its members in evolving trends in the cybersecurity space, adding that the “association has concluded plans with a world-class training institute for a one-week training for Chief Audit Executives in Port Louis, Mauritius.”
