As cyber threats rise, bank auditors reposition to strategic advisors

Cyber threats and fast-changing technology are forcing Nigerian banks to abandon traditional audit checklists for real-time oversight and strategic controls.

At the 2026 Annual Retreat and Conference of the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria (ACAEBIN), hosted by Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and held March 24–25 in Lagos, industry leaders warned that legacy audit approaches are no longer fit for a rapidly evolving risk environment.

“The expectation has changed,” said Aina Amah, ACAEBIN chairperson. “Nobody is interested in reports on what has gone wrong. You have to make sure it does not happen at all.”

It is a sharp departure from how internal audit has historically operated in Nigerian banks, as a function that reviews processes after execution.

What is replacing it is a more embedded role, where auditors are expected to sit closer to decision-making, particularly around technology and new product deployment.

The driver of this shift is not one risk, but a convergence of pressures that are changing how risk behaves.

Cyber threats are the most immediate.

Chukwuemeke Igabari, an experienced technology risk and management professional and a guest speaker at the event, called it SPI: “Strategic. Proactive. Innovative.”

“As you advance in technology, bad actors are advancing as well,” Amah said. “You cannot wait.”

Read also: CBN gives banks three weeks to deploy cybersecurity self-assessment tools

Her warning goes beyond the usual cybersecurity narrative. It points to a system where risk is continuous, not periodic, and where vulnerabilities often lie outside what institutions are actively monitoring.

“If you are decommissioning a product, make sure it is fully taken out,” she said. “People are exploiting old servers and redundant systems.”

That insight is gaining traction across the sector. Banks are rapidly adding digital layers, mobile platforms, APIs, and fintech integrations.

Concurrently, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is moving from the margins into the core of risk conversations, reshaping what auditors are expected to measure and verify.

“ESG has come to stay,” Amah said. “You cannot ignore the environment or governance issues and expect there will be no consequences.”

The shift is not cosmetic. Investors, regulators and counterparties are beginning to treat ESG performance as a proxy for risk quality. Weak governance, poor disclosure or environmental exposure now carry financial implications.

Ibukun Beecroft, a partner in risk advisory at Deloitte Nigeria, said the real gap is in the data. “There is a lot of ESG data, but the question is whether it can be relied on,” she said.

This introduces a new layer of complexity for auditors. Unlike financial statements, ESG metrics are harder to standardise and often sit across multiple systems.

Yet the expectation is the same, assurance that the numbers are credible.

Overlaying both cyber and ESG is a broader shift in how quickly risk is forming.

Patrick Akinwutan said that “it is no longer big beating small. It is fast beating slow.”

That speed is compressing the window between exposure and impact. A system is launched, a vulnerability is found, an exploit follows, often before an audit cycle is complete.

Traditional audit timelines are misaligned with the pace of risk. This is forcing a pivot towards continuous monitoring, data analytics and earlier involvement in business processes.

“You have to be part of the journey,” Amah said. “When technology is being deployed, be there from the start.”

It is also changing how auditors are perceived inside institutions. From control enforcers to risk advisors, from the back office to the decision table.

The presence of policymakers, including Shola Phillips, special adviser to the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Ajibade Laolu-Adewale, chief partnership and ecosystems officer, Wema Bank; and Chairman, Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH), signals the intent that regulation is evolving alongside these changes.

But there is a growing expectation that institutions will move ahead of rules, not wait for them. Across sessions at the ACAEBIN retreat, one idea stood out.

The audit function is no longer being asked to explain the past. It is being pushed to secure the future, even as Nigeria’s banks are expanding balance sheets, deepening digital operations and navigating tighter regulatory expectations; that shift may prove decisive.