Cybersecurity and Risk Mitigation in Ecobank Nigeria Limited

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between cybersecurity policies, regulatory compliance, technological infrastructure, employee awareness, and customer engagement in mitigating cyber risks at Ecobank Nigeria Limited. Anchored on the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and supported by the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Cyber Resilience Frameworks, the study explored how motivation, perception, and institutional controls interact to shape cybersecurity behavior and outcomes within a complex financial ecosystem. A quantitative research design was adopted, using structured questionnaires administered to staff and customers of Ecobank Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency distribution) and inferential techniques (correlation and multiple regression analysis) to test the research hypotheses. The results revealed that while cybersecurity policies and regulatory compliance frameworks (Mean = 4.10; R = 0.247) provide a structured foundation for security governance, and technological infrastructure (Mean = 3.57; R = 0.239) enhances operational defense, their individual predictive contributions were relatively weak when other variables were controlled. In contrast, employee cybersecurity awareness and training (Mean = 4.65; R = 0.631; β = 0.672, p < 0.05) and customer education and engagement (Mean = 3.70; R = 0.627; β = 0.328, p < 0.05) emerged as the most significant predictors of effective cyber risk mitigation. The overall model explained 39.3% of the variance (R² = 0.393) in risk mitigation effectiveness, confirming that human-centric interventions are pivotal to building a resilient cybersecurity posture. The study concludes that Ecobank’s cybersecurity resilience is driven more by behavioral and motivational factors than by policy or technology alone. It recommends that Nigerian banks strengthen their employee training programs, customer cybersecurity awareness campaigns, and continuous technology upgrades while ensuring alignment with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Risk-Based Cybersecurity Framework. Theoretically, the research extends the Protection Motivation Theory to the Nigerian financial context, demonstrating that perceived vulnerability, response efficacy, and self-efficacy significantly shape both staff and customer security behaviors. Empirically, it offers evidence that effective cybersecurity requires the synergy of policy compliance, technological innovation, and motivated human engagement.