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IJMRI | International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Innovation
Published: August 30, 2026 | Vol. 1 Issue 3 | ISSN: 3139-5902
Research Article

CYBERSECURITY AND DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY IN NIGERIA: GLITCHES AND DIAGNOSIS

Mark, Kingsley Chinonso PhD1✉
1 Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria
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Abstract

Nigeria's rapid digital transformation, evidenced by a growing internet population, an expanding fintech sector, and increasing reliance on e-government platforms, has been matched by an equally rapid growth in cyber threats that now test the country's capacity to govern its own digital space. This paper examines cybersecurity and digital sovereignty in Nigeria as twin, mutually reinforcing challenges, using State Capacity theory (Mann, 1984; Migdal, 1988; Fukuyama, 2004) and Fragile State theory (Rotberg, 2004; Fund for Peace, 2024) as analytical lenses. It argues that Nigeria's difficulties in securing its cyberspace are not merely technical failures but symptoms of a deeper crisis of statehood: weak extractive, coercive, and infrastructural capacity; fragmented institutions; poor inter-agency coordination; and a widening gap between legislative ambition and enforcement reality .The paper diagnoses these problems as rooted in low institutional capacity, resource constraints, corruption, and poor legal precision, and situates them within the broader literature on state fragility in the developing world. It concludes that genuine digital sovereignty for Nigeria depends less on the proliferation of new legislation and more on building the administrative, coercive, and infrastructural capacity of the state to translate policy into enforceable practice.
Keywords: Cybersecurity, Digital sovereignty, e-governance, cyberspace, Nigeria

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🔓 Open Access | Published by AGSIR Publisher. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
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