Developing a National Cybersecurity Capacity Index for Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory, Measurement, and Nigerian Benchmarking

The measurement of national cybersecurity capacity in Africa is currently dominated by global indices developed without adequate attention to the structural constraints, institutional configurations, and developmental contexts of Sub-Saharan states, limiting their diagnostic utility for African policymakers. This study develops an original National Cybersecurity Capacity Index specifically designed for Sub-Saharan African states, grounded in a systematic review of existing cybersecurity capacity measurement frameworks and a Delphi study involving 35 cybersecurity policy experts from 12 African countries. The Index encompasses five capacity dimensions: legal and regulatory frameworks, technical infrastructure, organisational capacity, skills and competencies, and cooperation and norms, each operationalised through contextually validated indicators. The Index development process employs structural validity testing through confirmatory factor analysis and inter-rater reliability assessment. Nigeria is used as a benchmarking case, with index scores calculated using data from government documents, regulatory reports, and expert assessments across all five dimensions. Nigeria scores moderately on technical infrastructure and legal frameworks but significantly below the developed-country benchmark on skills and cooperation dimensions. The study applies the Index comparatively to five other Sub-Saharan states, identifying regional patterns and peer-learning opportunities. An original contribution to cybersecurity measurement scholarship, the Index is designed for adoption by the African Union Cyber Security Expert Group and national cybersecurity agencies. Keywords: cybersecurity capacity, Sub-Saharan Africa, national cybersecurity index, Nigeria, Delphi method.