Exclusive: Nigeria on trail of syndicates linked with 10 data breaches, nation's data protection chief says - Technology Times

The Federal Government is on the trail of syndicates that have allegedly gained unlawful access into the nation’s identity databases and leaked the private information of Nigerians across online platforms, the nation’s data protection chief has told Technology Times exclusively.

Dr Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner/CEO, Nigeria Data Privacy Commissioner (NDPC), confirmed in an interview with Technology Times that the Federal data privacy protection agency is investigating 10 incidents of data privacy breaches that have been recorded across several online platforms.

“I can confirm to you that we are investigating 10 of such cases,” Olatunji told Technology Times , but in order not to compromise the investigations underway, he did not give specific details of the identity of the entities involved.

Dr Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner/CEO, Nigeria Data Privacy Commissioner (NDPC) Image credit: NDPC.

“I can confirm to you that we are investigating 10 of such cases,” Olatunji told Technology Times , but in order not to compromise the investigations underway, he did not give specific details of the identity of the entities involved.

However, the NDPC chief confirmed that his agency is working with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), a sister Federal agency responsible for the central National Identity Database, and regulator of national identity matters in Nigeria, led by Engineer Abisoye Coker-Odusote, its Director/General and CEO.

Data protection agency: Syndicates hiding behind shield of online anonymity

NDPC, he said, has been working with NIMC to raise awareness and promote sensitisation on the relevant provisions of the nation’s laws on data protection to deepen compliance among officials, agents and relevant stakeholders of the national identity management agency.

The data protection chief said that NDPC’s pace of cracking the syndicates involved in the data privacy breaches have been slowed down by the online anonymity of the alleged perpetrators of the data privacy breaches.

According to him, the agency has contacted the entities involved to notify them of the implications of their actions, and how their activities constitute breach of the privacy of data subjects who have not consented to their information being shared across some of the affected apps and websites.

Engineer Abisoye Coker-Odusote, Director/General and CEO, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). Image credit: NIMC.

The Federal Government had in the past implemented strict measures to identify Nigerian and residents of the country by linking mandatory identity registration requirements to the use of several essential services including banking, telecoms, among others, and a host of other government services.

According to Olatunji, the data privacy protector agency is employing other means to track down the syndicates involved since they have remained incommunicado, and have refused to deactivate their infringing online services involved in the leakages of private information.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu had on June 12, 2023 signed the Nigeria Data Protection Bill, 2023 into law as Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023. The Act which establishes the legal framework for the regulation of personal data in Nigeria and provides a number of provisions to safeguard data privacy in the country, further deepens the nation’s zero tolerance for misuse of private information in the digital age

Meanwhile, people conversant with the situation who spoke with Technology Times on condition of anonymity, regard the scale of data privacy breaches underway as potentially unprecedented.

According to government sources, investigators are working on several theories including possible collusion by officials of the respective custodians of the several silos of identity databases in the country.

The Federal Government had in the past implemented strict measures to identify Nigerian and residents of the country by linking mandatory identity registration requirements to the use of several essential services including banking, telecoms, among others, and a host of other government services.

As of Q1, 2024, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) posted that the nation’s active phone lines reached 219,304,281 used by subscribers to access services ranging from voice and data. Nigeria’s telecoms regulatory rules forbids activation of phone lines until their users have been captured under the SIM-NIN integration that mandates telecoms subscribers to link their SIM registration information with their respective service providers with their National Identity enrolment with NIMC.

It is the same with the banking industry where as of April 2, 2024, Nigeria’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments have reached 61,471,380 according to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), the provider of automated transactions and settlement services that is owned by the nation’s licensed banks including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

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The Nigerian banking sector had opted for the BVN, which adopted biometric technology with its “secure unique identifier to analyse human characteristics as an enhanced form of authentication for real-time security processes,” according to NIBSS.

Among its many promises, the unique BVN, which is accepted across all Nigerian banks, is its ability to give a unique identity that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry that is not peculiar to one bank, NIBSS said.

Customers’ bank accounts are protected from unauthorised access as “it will address issues of identity theft, thus reducing exposure to fraud.”

According to NIBSS, “the BVN will enhance the banking Industry chances of being able to fish out blacklisted customers.”

On its part, NIMC’s official data shows that NIN enrolment figures as at December 31, 2023 crossed 104.16 million unique records with the highest cumulative enrolment figure of over 11.4 million recorded in Lagos State.

Coker-Odusote, NIMC’s CEO said during a news conference in May that the NIN enrolment has since grown from the 2023 year-end figure of 104.16 million to 107.34 million, with the agency targeting to cross the 200 million mark upon the completion of its system upgrades.

“As of this morning,” the NIMC CEO was quoted as saying on May 10, 2024, “the total enrollment on our database is 107.34m which is more than half of the projected Nigerian population.