E-Business
Enrolling for NIN, a National Call – Aziz, NIMC Boss
Perhaps never before in the history of nations has the issue of identity been as crucial as it is today. From Africa to America, Australia to Asia and Europe, how well or badly each country in each region has fared has depended largely on citizenship identity management. Stressing that Nigeria stands on the threshold of a new epoch in its identity management, ALIYU ABUBAKAR AZIZ, director-general, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), responded to journalists’ questions on the Commission’s current focus aimed at delivering a world-class identity ecosystem for Nigeria:
Why is NIMC pushing the National Identification Number now more than the ID card?
Aziz: The focus of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for the next three to five years is on the National Identification Number and not on the National e-ID Card.
We want to make the NIN understandable, acceptable, applicable and appreciated by Nigerians, as an important and intrinsic aspect of their entire life, rather than a physical card, which can be discarded while the number is for life.
Before now, we were focused on the Card but after the country went into recession, we decided to emulate other developed countries like the United States, which issues the Social Security Number, the United Kingdom, with the National Insurance Number; and India where they recently enrolled about 1.4 billion people, and issued them the Aadhaar.
In all these cases, the emphasis – or perhaps I should say the only thing in focus – is the number.
However, this does not mean that we won’t issue the cards, because it is there in our Act (NIMC Act, 2007) that we should issue a general multipurpose card to all registered Nigerians; therefore, we recently gazetted some regulations that will ensure participation of private partners in the Card personalisation services in order to handle the printing of the outstanding cards; but funding is a challenge.
Also, the intention of the Commission is to develop the identity ecosystem with all data collecting government agencies and licensed private agencies, in order to capture additional 50 million records by the end of 2018.
What advantages, if any, does having the NIN confer on a citizen?
Aziz: The NIN bequeaths citizens with a lot of privileges and benefits. And like most modern economies where the national identity number is a national token that gives citizens access to government social interventions, the NIN also grants citizens certain rights as regards financial access, credit facilities etc. Mind you, in the case of the US, UK and India I mentioned earlier, like other advanced economies, a citizen can’t access any social services such as health, insurance and so on, without the requisite social security number; the number is indispensable.
So, here in Nigeria, the NIN facilitates interactions between citizens, the Government and private sector institutions thereby promoting socio-economic and political development.
Since citizens enjoy a “one-person-one-identity” for life, the NIN therefore enhances citizens’ participation in the political process, enables citizens to exercise their rights, facilitates management of subsidies and safety net payments, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) management and facilitates service delivery in Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
It also enhances the work of law enforcement agencies, e.g. public safety, policing, national security and border protection, and eliminates ghost and multiple identities, etc.
It also enhances the ability of citizens to assert their identity, have access to credit from financial institutions, protects citizens from identity theft – an antidote to identity theft driven frauds which expands access to other financial services including insurance.
The NIN enhances e-commerce by providing a means of payment as it is a tool for non-repudiation and security for financial transactions. It facilitates financial inclusion, hence the advancement of a cashless economy.
In security circles, the NIN is an important tool for the fight against corruption and terrorism; and finally helps launder Nigeria’s image abroad, amongst many others. So you can see that the NIN is multifaceted in utility.
What role does the NIN play in Nigeria’s planning and security situation?
Aziz: With the NIN, all citizens enjoy a “one-person-one-identity”, which allows the government to search for an individual and all of his/her details either for planning and or for security purposes.
Government can query the database to ascertain how many unemployed individuals are in the system at Federal and State levels, the genders of those individuals, their occupation, skillset, age bracket, location, etc.
This will assist in planning for resources and benefit administration. As you know President Muhammadu Buhari has just signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill into Law; the NIN is a very useful and powerful instrument in assisting the governments – at all levels – budget appropriately for the citizenry, in the proper and effective allocation and spread of scarce resources.
On security, the relevant government security agencies are part of the National Identity Management System (NIMS) project from inception and have access to query the system using biometrics, etc to confirm individual’s identity.
Therefore, as soon as the National Identity Database is fully populated, all federal, state, and local government agencies as well as the private sectors can access the verification platform of the Commission, for different purposes, depending on the level of access granted to them by NIMC.
With the national elections of 2019 almost here, how useful will the NIN be for INEC and the electorate?
Aziz: As I said earlier, we are still harmonising data with all data collecting government agencies, as well as concluding plans to start the ecosystem approach which will see all government agencies and some licensed private sector companies collecting data and sending to the NIMC as the sole repository of biometric data.
This is expected to shoot up the record in the NIMC database by a huge percentage. Once we have a good figure, then INEC can leverage on the NIMC Database for electoral purposes.
The plans already on ground for this year include accelerated deployment of enrolment Centres in all Local Government Areas across the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, and enrolment of all Nigerians and legal residents including children.
Perhaps you know that children from birth can now be enrolled; this is a point that Nigerians should be aware of, especially with several babies being born across the country daily.
Parents will do well to avail themselves for the benefit of the new-borns of this window of enrolment opportunity that is now uniquely available.
What are those social services that the NIN has become mandatory for?
Aziz: Pursuant to section 27 (1) and (2) of the NIMC Act, 2007, transactions including, applications for, and issuance of an International Passport; opening of individual and/or group bank accounts, all consumer credits; purchase of insurance policies; the purchase, transfer and registration of land by any individual; National Health Insurance Scheme, such transactions that have social security implications, registration of voters, payment of taxes, and pensions, etc., will be done with the NIN.
With the recent gazette and publication of the Mandatory Use of the National Identification Number (NIN) Regulations, 2017, the Commission will on a later date, begin enforcement of the NIN for these transactions and more.
Our advice to Nigerians is: do not wait till you have to, go out there and be enrolled before you have to through enforcement, because then you will have to experience crowds and delays.
NIMC has enrolled just 30 million Nigerians so far; with a population of 180 million to 198 million, what is NIMC doing to fast track enrolment?
Aziz: We currently have about 30.5 million data in the database with the figures growing daily. The gradual acceptance of the NIN as a means of identification by our partners and stakeholders is also driving up the numbers by the day.
For examples, organisations like the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), etc have all made the NIN a mandatory requirement for service delivery. Others are expected to follow suit.
On our part however, we have commenced aggressive and massive awareness campaign in all the states and the FCT to mobilise people for enrolment.
We are also working closely with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and other media partners with a special target on the grassroots, and it will continue for a long time, particularly with the ecosystem approach being canvassed by the World Bank and its allies.
Also, we have the mobile enrolment equipment which goes to some of the riverine and difficult terrains in the grassroots areas; and a good number will be rolled out by the end of this year.
Is there any hope that the entire Nigerian population will be enrolled into the National Database?
Aziz: Yes, of course! However, enrolment of eligible citizens and legal residents into the National Identity Database (NIDB) is an on-going and continues process.
In other words, there is no limited or specific time frame for all citizens to be enrolled and issued the NIN, because even after enrolling all citizens, there will always be new ones such as new born babies, etc.
According to a recent World Bank report, Nigeria adds seven million into the population every year; that is the size of Rwanda as a country. This means that there will always be enrolment year in, year out. So it is a continuous exercise and the Commission is poised to carry out its mandate to the letter.
NIMC, by design has offices in all the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and maintains active presence with enrolment centres in over 930 locations across these LGAs. More so, we are working to open more enrolment centres and take enrolment closer to the people, especially the grassroots.
What are the challenges that could delay the quick enrolment of the remainder of the population which is obviously the greater number?
Aziz: Well, the cynicism from the experience of the past was/and is still a big challenge.
However, we are gradually moving away from that problem as more Nigerians understand the difference between Card issuance and Identity Management.
Secondly, the high cost of opening and managing the Enrolment Centre because of needed stable power supply, active internet connection, low morale on the part of staff because of poor salary structure, the ‘expectation gap’ of “Card” issuance, are other challenges.
However we are slowly moving past these challenges as we ramp up more data into the database.
As citizens, what is the responsibility of Nigerians in ensuring they are enrolled?
Aziz: It is a National call, and all Nigerians are obliged to respond. The government has provided the opportunity, this platform for enrolling into the National Identity Database, to make life better in a modern, well managed and planned manner; the NIN gives the citizens that assurance.
So, if the government has done so much, and all the citizens are required to do is to go out and answer the national call, does anyone have any excuse not to answer the call?
According to Kaspersky telemetry, almost every second email – 44.99% of global traffic – was spam in 2025. Spam consists not only of unsolicited emails, but can also include various email threats such as scam, phishing and malware.
In 2025, individuals and corporate users encountered over 144 million malicious and potentially unwanted email attachments, representing a 15% increase compared to the previous year figures.
In 2025, APAC had the largest share of email antivirus detections: it reached 30%, followed by Europe with 21%. Next came Latin America (16%) and the Middle East (15%), Russia and CIS (12%) and Africa (6%). As for individual countries, China had the highest rate of malicious and potentially unwanted email attachments, with the share of email antivirus detections of 14%. Russia ranked second (11%), followed by Mexico (8%), Spain (8%) and Turkey (5%).
Email antivirus detections peaked moderately in June, July and November.
Key trends in email spam and phishing
Kaspersky’s annual analysis has also identified several persistent trends in the email spam and phishing threat landscape that are expected to continue into 2026:
- Combination of various communication channels. Attackers lure email users into switching to messengers or calling fraudulent phone numbers. For instance, scam investment mailings may redirect victims to fake websites, where they are asked to provide their contact information, and then cybercriminals will follow up with a phone call.
- Usage of diverse evasion techniques in phishing and malicious emails. Threat actors frequently try to disguise phishing URLs, for example, with the help of link protection services and QR codes. These QR codes are often embedded directly in email bodies or within PDF attachments, which not only conceals phishing links but also encourages users to scan them on mobile devices, potentially exploiting weaker security measures than corporate PCs.
- Mailings exploiting diverse legitimate platforms. For example, Kaspersky experts discovered a fraudulent tactic that abuses OpenAI’s organisation creation and team invitation features to send spam emails from legitimate OpenAI addresses, potentially tricking users into clicking scam links or dialing fraudulent phone numbers. Additionally, a calendar-based phishing scheme, which originated in the late 2010s, resurfaced last year with a focus on corporate users.
- Refining tactics in business email compromise (BEC) attacks. In 2025 attackers attempted to become even more persuasive by incorporating fake forwarded emails into their correspondence. These emails lacked thread-index headers or other headers, making it difficult to verify their legitimacy within an email conversation.
“Email phishing shouldn’t be underestimated. Our report reveals that one in ten business attacks starts with phishing, with a significant proportion being Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). In 2025, we saw an increase in the sophistication of targeted email attacks. Even the smallest details are meticulously crafted in these malicious campaigns, including the composition of sender addresses and the tailoring of content to real corporate events and processes.
“The commodification of generative AI has significantly amplified this threat, enabling attackers to craft convincing, personalised phishing messages at scale with minimal effort, automatically adapting tone, language and context to specific targets,” comments Roman Dedenok, anti-spam expert at Kaspersky.
The Cybersafe Foundation has collaborated with Google in strengthening cybersecurity resilience among Critical Community Institutions across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa with the launch of Resilio Africa.
Speaking at the event in Lagos, Confidence Staveley, Executive Director of the Cybersafe Foundation, noted that while many organizations recognize the risks posed by cyber threats, conversations often stall when it comes to implementation.
“Across Africa, Critical Community Institutions are facing an increase in cyberattacks often without the capacity to defend themselves. Sub-Saharan Africa is now experiencing some of the most aggressive cyber activity globally. According to a threat report by Kaspersky, the region recorded over 42 million web attacks and 95 million malware-based, on-device attacks in just the first half of 2025.
“What’s especially concerning is the nature of these attacks: spyware, password stealers, and backdoor tools dominate, with password-stealing malware increasing by more than 60%.
“In East Africa, the scale is even more stark. Kenya alone recorded 2.5 billion cyber-threat events in Q1 2025, driven largely by phishing, mobile money fraud, and misconfigured cloud services,” she stated.
According to her, the primary barrier is not a lack of willingness but limited financial capacity to fund adequate cybersecurity measures.
“The conversation drops off at the point of taking action,” she said, explaining that many institutions lack the budgets required to implement robust security systems.
She disclosed that the programme’s provision of 10,000 hours of expert cybersecurity consultation—offered at no cost to participating institutions would ordinarily represent services valued at over one million dollars. The support, funded through a grant from Google.org, will be delivered by specialists across four participating countries.
Staveley reaffirmed that the Cybersafe Foundation remains a non-profit organization focused on supporting vulnerable communities and institutions, and described Resilio Africa as a strategic intervention aimed at strengthening digital trust across the continent, ensuring that commerce and essential public services can operate securely in an increasingly digital society.
Although the programme currently covers Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa, Staveley acknowledged that the cybersecurity challenges extend far beyond those countries, and expressed hope that demonstrated impact from the initial phase would attract additional funding to scale the initiative to more than the 200 critical community institutions currently targeted, including underserved Francophone nations.
“This work is free to the organizations we serve, but it is not free to deliver,” she noted, underscoring the need for sustainable funding.
Explaining her personal motivation, Staveley said she views Africa’s cybersecurity challenges as opportunities for impact. Despite her engagements on global platforms, she emphasized her commitment to Nigeria and the broader African continent, describing the region as both home and a priority.
She pointed to a growing mismatch between rising cyber threats and limited investment in cybersecurity infrastructure, arguing that bridging this gap is central to the Foundation’s mission.
Staveley also clarified that Resilio Africa will not collect or own user data from participating institutions. Instead, the programme will focus on strengthening internal controls, building capacity and guiding organizations toward improved data protection practices.
With Resilio Africa now underway, the Cybersafe Foundation aims to demonstrate how targeted support for critical community institutions can enhance digital security and build long-term resilience across Africa’s rapidly expanding digital economy.
Kaspersky has announced a major update to its Threat Intelligence Portal (TIP), introducing a new Hunt Hub section alongside an enhanced MITRE ATT&CK coverage map and a significantly expanded vulnerabilities database.
The update strengthens organisations’ ability to investigate threats, understand adversary behaviour, and proactively monitor the most relevant risks across their environments.
According to the Kaspersky Security Bulletin 2025 report, Kaspersky’s detection systems discovered an average of 500,000 malicious files per day in 2025, marking a 7% increase compared to the previous year. As cyberattacks become more sophisticated and frequent, security teams need more than alerts – they need clarity.
The newly launched Hunt Hub is designed to address growing market demand for greater transparency and deeper insight into how modern detection technologies work. Integrated into the Threat Landscape section of the Threat Intelligence Portal, Hunt Hub provides centralised access to Kaspersky’s threat hunting expertise and detection knowledge.
Hunt Hub includes Kaspersky Next EDR Expert hunts, also known as indicators of attack (IoA) or detection rules. All portal users can explore the catalogue of hunts and their descriptions, while Kaspersky Next EDR Expert customers gain extended access to detailed recommendations and detection logic presented in a convenient, SIGMA-like format. Each hunt is mapped to relevant MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques and linked to known threat actors, giving analysts clear context behind every detection.
By making detection logic visible and structured, Hunt Hub effectively removes the “black box” from threat detection. It allows security teams not only to respond to alerts, but also to understand why a detection was triggered and which threat it is designed to uncover – improving trust in security technologies and increasing the efficiency of threat investigation processes.
As part of the update, the MITRE ATT&CK coverage map within the Threat Landscape has been significantly enhanced. The portal now brings together product coverage across SIEM, EDR, NDR and Sandbox solutions, MITRE ATT&CK techniques with scoring, coverage percentages, and related Kaspersky Next EDR Expert hunts in a single, unified view. This enables organisations to assess how well their security stack covers relevant attack techniques and identify potential gaps in protection.
The Vulnerabilities section has also been expanded, with the CVE database now covering nearly 300,000 vulnerabilities. In addition, the portal provides more detailed information on vulnerabilities that have been exploited in real-world attacks, helping organisations prioritise remediation efforts based on actual threat activity.
“With the launch of Hunt Hub in the Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal, we are opening up our detection expertise and giving analysts clear visibility into how and why threats are detected. This transparency helps organisations move from reactive alert handling to informed threat hunting and proactive risk management,” comments Nikita Nazarov, Head of Threat Exploration at Kaspersky.
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