The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has called on the country's government to train civil servants in computer forensic technology as a way to fight e-commerce fraud in the country (Compare Forensics Tools).

NCS President Charles Uwadia made the call in a communiqué of the society's annual meeting. He also called for the establishment of computer forensic departments in all higher-education institutions in Nigeria.

"It has become imperative that the federal government pay particular attention to the devastating impact of cyber criminality and terrorism in the e-commerce and electronic fund transfer landscape to prevent possible loss of confidence in the deployment of IT as a veritable tool for accelerated development of the national economy," Uwadia said.

Uwadia said that failure to begin training selected government employees in computer forensic techniques could derail Nigeria's economic goals.

"There is a need to fortify e-commerce security and e-payment lapses to shore up confidence in the system," he said.

Besides calling for forensic training, NCS noted that indigenous software development remains one of the best routes to national wealth and that training students in reverse-engineering software could help accelerate software development for local consumption and export.

In particular, converting corporate legacy software applications to Web applications could save money otherwise spent outside the country and offer employment opportunities for young people, the society said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.