DSS: Nigeria’s silent watchdog defending the nation’s economy from cyber predators
By: Zagazola Makama
In the dim corridors of Nigeria’s intelligence community, one agency has quietly expanded its mission beyond counter-espionage and internal security. The Department of State Services (DSS), long known for pre-empting threats to national stability, is now emerging as an unlikely yet formidable defender of Nigeria’s financial system.
Through intelligence-led operations, covert digital surveillance, and strategic collaboration with financial institutions, the DSS has become a critical line of defence against the growing menace of cyber-enabled financial fraud — a threat now recognised as one of the greatest risks to Nigeria’s economic security.
Cyber-fraud in Nigeria has evolved from a nuisance to a multi-billion-naira criminal industry. Industry data showed that Nigerian banks lost about N17.67 billion in 2023, with cumulative losses rising to over N52 billion in 2024 nearly triple the figures recorded four years earlier. Lagos and Abuja, the financial nerve centres of the nation, accounted for nearly half of the losses.
The sophistication of these crimes from phishing and cloned apps to insider collusion and crypto-based laundering has forced security agencies to rethink their response. While the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) focuses on prosecution, the DSS has quietly taken up the mantle of prevention, disrupting attacks before they cripple the system.
A senior intelligence officer who spoke to Zagazola Makama under anonymity said: “Our job is not to make headlines. It’s to stop economic collapse before it begins. We follow the digital trails, track suspicious movements, and identify insider threats before the banks even realise what’s happening.”
In 2024, DSS operatives in Abuja secured a court order freezing 12 bank accounts linked to two businessmen, Abubakar Sheu and Ibrahim Isyaku Mahuta, over allegations of large-scale advance-fee fraud and terrorism financing. The accounts, spanning Ecobank, FCMB, GTBank, and Sterling Bank, held hundreds of millions of naira traced to fraudulent transactions.
The Service, invoking the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022, treated the operation not merely as financial fraud but as a national-security issue, given its potential to fund extremist activities. In another case, DSS operatives in Lagos foiled a cyber heist targeting Fouani Nigeria Limited. The syndicate had successfully diverted N1.426 billion from the company’s Access Bank account into multiple accounts across five banks. Within hours, DSS cyber units secured a post-no-debit order on the implicated accounts, preventing the funds from being transferred offshore.
Such precision-driven interventions have become increasingly common, underscoring the Service’s transformation into a “financial intelligence powerhouse.”
The DSS’s success is anchored in inter-agency synergy. It works closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and the EFCC, sharing intelligence and coordinating rapid-response mechanisms to freeze suspicious accounts and apprehend suspects.
Between April and June 2024 alone, the Service participated in over 30 joint investigations that intercepted suspicious fund transfers linked to cyber syndicates operating in Lagos and Abuja. Several of these cases exposed networks attempting to launder funds through cryptocurrency exchanges and informal forex operators.
A cyber analyst familiar with the DSS’s financial monitoring operations told Zagazola that the Service’s intelligence fusion with commercial banks has been “transformational.”
“Banks now receive direct, real-time security briefings from the DSS. This has drastically reduced high-value fraud attempts, particularly in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt,” the analyst said. The DSS’s shift into financial protection illustrates a broader understanding of national security, one that recognises economic sabotage as a form of warfare.
Fraud networks have evolved into organised criminal enterprises with transnational reach, capable of destabilising the economy, weakening the naira, and eroding investor confidence. By expanding its intelligence lens to financial cybercrime, the DSS is effectively defending Nigeria’s economic sovereignty.
“The DSS doesn’t just protect people anymore it protects the naira,” remarked a retired intelligence director. “If the economy collapses due to unchecked cybercrime, national security collapses with it.”
Under the leadership of Director-General Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, the DSS has deepened its technological capabilities, investing in digital forensics, artificial intelligence-driven transaction monitoring, and advanced threat detection systems.
Ajayi’s tenure has also seen the institutionalisation of quarterly security dialogues between the DSS and the banking community, fostering a culture of trust and collaboration that is now paying dividends.
While the agency continues to shun publicity, its footprint in the battle against cyber-enabled fraud is unmistakable. Billions of naira have been saved from diversion, insider threats have been curtailed, and syndicates once considered untouchable are now on the run.
The DSS’s quiet operations exemplify the invisible side of national defence one waged not with rifles or tanks, but with algorithms, court orders, and human intelligence.”It’s a silent war,” said one cybercrime expert. “But without it, Nigeria’s financial system would be under siege.”
Though the agency’s role remains largely uncelebrated, its vigilance continues to shield the nation’s economy from collapse. In an age where money moves faster than bullets, the DSS has proven that intelligence not firepower is the ultimate weapon.
