The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) are set to investigate the alleged access to the data of registered Nigerians.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, announced this through his X handle amid the report of a private website having free course to the data of Nigerians.
The private website, XpressVerify.com, in a published report, was accused of having unrestricted access to the National Identification Numbers (NINs) and personal details of registered Nigerians.
According to the report, the website has since monetised the recovery of NINs and personal information on the Nigerian identification database.
“Anybody can retrieve details, such as phone numbers, full names, NIN, address and photographs of any Nigerian whose data is on the National Identity Database with as low as N200.
“The website does not confirm what type of person can check what type of information. There were no restrictions to the number of NIN-related data that could be fetched when FIJ checked.
“Vendors across different Nigerian cities have been checking the NINs and phone numbers of citizens from the same database NIMC ought to maintain and keep secure,” the report said.
Responding to the report, Tijani explained that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has ceased to be under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.
The minister said the primary legal institution responsible for identity management system and regulations of the identity sector would work closely with the nation’s data protection agency to probe the matter.
“NIMC is no longer under @FMCIDENigeria but our @ndpcngr will work with colleagues at @nimc_ng to investigate this immediately. Thanks for sharing,” Tijani said.
