According to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) insists the county’s identification database was not compromised.

In a statement made on Tuesday, January 11, the Director-General of NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz, stated that the organization’s servers had not been penetrated and that they are completely optimized at the highest international security levels as the guardian of Nigeria’s most important national database.

Aziz also stated that they have gone to great pains to ensure that the country’s database is appropriately secured and protected, particularly in light of recent cyber-attacks on networks around the world.

He said;

“Over the years, through painstaking efforts, NIMC has built a robust and credible system for Nigeria’s identity database. The Commission and its infrastructure are certified to the ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management System Standard which are revalidated annually.”

The NIMC DG who also assured the public that it will continue to uphold the highest ethical standards in data security on behalf of the Federal Government and ensure compliance with data protection and privacy regulations, added that the Commission does not use nor store information on the AWS cloud platform or any public cloud despite the usefulness of the NIMC Mobile App available to the public for accessing their NIN on the go.

Aziz said the NIMC MobileID application has no database within the app, nor does it store information in flat files. According to him, the commission has made this app available to the public to reduce and eliminate any delay or challenge(s) in accessing one’s NIN.

The NIMC DG added;

“The public should be aware that the possession of a NIN slip does not amount to access to the National Identity Database, but that the NIN slip is just a physical assertion of a person’s identity. Under the data protection regulations, no licensed partner/vendor is authorized to scan and store copies of individuals NIN slips but rather authenticate the NIN using the approved and authorized verification platforms/channels provided.

“As part of its policies to protect personally identifiable information stored in the National Identity Database, the public may recall that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy through NIMC launched the Tokenization features of the NIN verification service. This solution is to safeguard the personal data of individuals and ensure continuous user rights and privacy. ”

NIMC also commended the concerted efforts of several Federal Government agencies such as Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria Immigration Services, Pension Commission (PenCom), the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Correctional Service, the Nigeria Customs, and a host of others, who have streamlined their services in line with the use of National Identification Number (NIN) as the valid means of identification

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.