‘Investigation ongoing’ — Bosun Tijani speaks on alleged NIMC data breach

Tijani, who neither confirmed nor denied the data breaches
in the X post, said the agencies “are on top of the matter”.

“First, I have engaged my colleague, the Minister of
Interior, who supervises the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and
I am aware that his ministry and the agency are on top of the matter,” Tijani
said.

 “Second, the NDPC, a
year-old agency under my supervision as minister, has over the last few months
created data compliance mechanisms for all MDAs and has since started a
thorough investigation as to the circumstances surrounding this alleged
breach.”

Speaking further, Tijani highlighted measures his ministry
has put in place to reinforce technology application in government.

The measures, the minister said, have been part of the
proactive steps he took upon appointment to help strengthen technology
application in government, despite the historical siloed approach to
procurement and development.

“For context, in October 2023, a few weeks after my
appointment, I released a whitepaper (which you can find here –
b.link/NigeriaDPI), elucidating my position on technology application within
the public service and our proposed approach to leveraging existing investment
in technology to accelerate economic prosperity through improved government
processes,” he said.

 “The very last
paragraph of the whitepaper speaks clearly to how our approach will address and
mitigate against issues around data breaches and make our systems secure.

“Since the release of that document, we have initiated the
following: Presentation to kick off an alignment with all permanent secretaries
highlighting the importance of a structured digital public infrastructure (DPI)
approach and the need for data exchange across MDAs to strengthen Nigeria’s
cybersecurity oversight for critical DPI

“A 2-day workshop with directors of ICT across all MDAs to
enlighten and initiate a plan to strengthen DPI in Nigeria.

“Launched the #DevsInGovernment – a community of practice
for all civil servants responsible for technology within the government which
serves as a platform for enlightening and securing buy-in across the ICT
cadre.”

‘IMPLEMENTATION
ROADMAP FOR DPI IN NIGERIA’

Tijani also said the ministry launched the responsible data
management course for civil servants (a partnership between the NDPC and
Datadotorg) to improve data handling and protection across government
institutions.

 “Workshop with the
centre for digital public infrastructure, to assess the status quo and agree on
an implementation roadmap for DPI in Nigeria,” he added.

“Conducted deep dives and knowledge exchange workshops on
DPI and data exchange with Finland and Estonia as part of the design process
for our data exchange system.

 “Finally, we have
submitted a request for a presidential declaration to enable us to align all
ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) behind our goal to implement a data
exchange system in Nigeria.”

Tijani also said he anticipates that by the end of the year,
the initial pilot of the system should be in place and cover a minimum of five
MDAs with oversight for supporting Nigerians through critical “life events”