2019 General Elections: NITDA Clarifies on Security Measures Taken.
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Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, NITDA DG/CEO |
This
was part of clarifications by the Agency’s Director General and Chief Executive
Officer, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami in a widely circulated press statement
signed by the Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Hadiza Umar and
a copy made available to Naij News Alert in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The
statement noted that the attention of the National Information Technology
Development Agency (NITDA) has been drawn to the news making the rounds in some
media outlets (Naij News Alert not included) ascribing certain statements to Dr.
Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the Director General/CEO of NITDA.
“The
statement, for all intent and purpose, is quoted out of context. The Director
General was invited to the ISACA Abuja Chapter event to speak on Security and Privacy: Towards the
Development of a Vibrant National IT Governance Structure. Due to other commitments,
the Director General was out of the country on official assignment and was
represented at the event by Dr Usman Gambo Abdullahi, Director IT
Infrastructure Solutions. The extant portion of the speech is reproduced below
for the public’s attention:
“If
proper IT security measures are not put in place, terrorists may disrupt the
national elections by hacking into INEC voter register database; they can
disrupt the banking system by hacking into and taking over the Bank
Verification Number (BVN) platform. They can critically disrupt the national
economy by cyber-jacking the Treasury Single Account (TSA) software etc”, it
said.
“This statement, made at an IT Security
Conference, was aimed at explaining the dangerous possibilities of a lax
national cybersecurity system. However, the way it was carried in the press
gave the impression that there was verifiable and imminent threat of terrorist
attack on the 2019 general election. This is sensationalism gone awry.
“Furthermore, the Agency is not aware of any
plan to disrupt the 2019 general election but is proactively working with INEC
and other stakeholders to ensure the security of election and voting IT
Infrastructure”, the Agency stressed.
NITDA, as the IT Sector Regulator, has
prioritized Cybersecurity as one of its seven strategic focus areas. In this
regard, public awareness through capacity building workshops for relevant
stakeholders in the states has so far been conducted in the North West, South
South and North East zones while the train moves on to other zones shortly. As
indicated earlier, the Agency has developed a strong partnership with relevant
agencies including INEC, CBN, NIMC, NIS, FIRS, CAC, ONSA, etc. for the purpose
of effectively securing Nigerian cyberspace.
Through
the efforts of the Agency, the country has formed profitable partnership with
global technology giants to improve our cybersecurity readiness. Our
Cybersecurity Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) has also been
gathering necessary information and intelligence to counter the activities of
devious cybercriminals. The efficient containment strategy of the Agency during
the global incidents of WannaCry and Petya virus attacks shows the country’s
growing readiness in cybersecurity.
Accordingly,
the Agency noted that, “our statement at the ISACA Abuja Chapter event is meant
to do only one thing; to show the far reaching impact of cybersecurity breach
and to challenge the professionals to come up with more options to help us
become better prepared as a nation in the days of global cyber warfare. We
therefore call on all Nigerians to discard the sensationalism and take the
message that cybersecurity is critical to national security.
The
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is a Federal
Government Agency created in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information
Technology policy and co-ordinate general IT development and regulation in the
country. Specifically, Section 6(j) of the Act mandates NITDA to advise the
Government on ways of promoting the development of information technology in
Nigeria including introducing appropriate information technology legislation
and ways of enhancing national security and the vibrancy of the industry.
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