National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has formally received global certification that stamped its system as secured and protected.
At a ceremony in Abuja, the British Standard Institute (BSI) issued INMC the ISO/IEC27001, which is said to be the first time a Nigerian institution would be receiving such certification.
BSI, which performed the audit around ISO/IEC27001, is described as having over 100 years of experience on global best practice.
Shahs Barhom, general manager, Training of BSI in charge of Middle East and Africa, presenting the certification to NIMC management, said, “today I have the great pleasure to announce that NIMC has been satisfied to be world well-known standard for information security, ISO/IEC 27001. I offer my sincere congratulations to every member of staff for being part of this.
“Congratulations for becoming the first national authority in Nigeria to achieve this world class certification. This certification is a visible demonstration that NIMC is competent, leading to increased stakeholders and customers’ confidence in its operations.”
Chris Onyemenan, director general of NIMC, who received the certification from the British Standard Institute, described ISO/IEC27001 as one amongst a family of standards, which has to do with the security and protection of information.
He said the certification was the last hurdle, as the Commission was now ready for roll out of the new National Identity Cards. We are ready.”
He spoke further on the significance of the certification. “What you are seeing today is an attempt to see that we are doing the right thing based in global best practices. That is what the BSI certification is all about.
“This certification is saying that the National Identity Management Commission has out in place an information security management system, control access procedures, processes, and policies that meet best global practice.
On whether the card could be used for election 2015, he said, “what we are giving is a system that enables you to assert your identity. That can be put to any issue. Whatever institutional use apart from identity affirmation that you would then need to do will be worked out between us and the institution that wants to use it, but what we guarantee is a single version of truth concerning the identity of individuals and we can defend that.”