Population commission vows to deal with staff over ‘embarrassing misinformation’

The National Population Commission, on Monday, assured Nigerians that its server was in good condition and prepared to be used for the May 3-5 population and housing census.

This was revealed in a statement released by the commission on Monday and signed by Isiaka Yahaya.

The NPC‘s pledge followed a viral video in which one of its employees in Niger State, Sanusi Maigida, claimed that the NPC server had been hacked, causing the local government area training of the supervisors and enumerators for the census to be postponed.

In the statement, Yahaya said the information was untrue and stated that Maigida will be disciplined for spreading incorrect information.

He said, “The attention of the National Population Commission has been drawn to misleading and false information made by an uninformed staff of the commission and Comptroller of Chanchaga LG in Niger State, Sanusi Maigida, on the hacking of the NPC server, citing this development as the reason for the postponement of the LG level training of the supervisors and enumerators for the 2023 population and housing census.

“The statement made by Mr Sanusi Maigida is totally false and does not represent the true position of things as regards the commission’s server and the reason for the postponement of LG level training of the functionaries. As an official in the LG Office of the NPC, Mr Maigida has limited knowledge about the NPC server or its workability.

READ ALSO:Buhari charges population commission on accurate data in 2023 census

“He acted without directive and authorisation from the commission’s headquarters in Abuja and he’s currently facing disciplinary action for such embarrassing misinformation.

“For record purposes, the commission wishes to state that its server is solidly intact and ready to be deployed for the upcoming 2023 population and housing census exercise.”

The NPC further listed the measures taken in order to safeguard its servers ahead of the census.

“We have implemented comprehensive security measures to safeguard our servers, applications, and IT infrastructure. We deployed state-of-the-art technologies and industry best practices to protect our systems from potential security threats.

“These security measures include robust firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, regular security audits, encryption protocols, and multifactorial authentication for privileged accounts. We have also implemented strict access controls and user privileges and conducted continuous monitoring of our systems to detect and mitigate any potential vulnerabilities or incidents in real time.

“Accordingly, we wish to assure the public that the security of the data for the 2023 population and housing census is absolutely guaranteed. The commission is committed to upholding the highest standards of data protection and maintaining the trust placed in us by the Nigerian population.”

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