The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has reassured Nigerians that their data remains secure, following recent allegations of sensitive data exposure. 

The assurance came in a statement released on Saturday by the NIMC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke.

Concerns were raised by Paradigm Initiative, a pan-African social enterprise, which claimed that personal data of Nigerians, including National Identification Numbers (NINs) and Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), were being sold online for as low as N100. 

The organization specifically pointed to a website, ‘AnyVerify.com.ng,’ as being involved in the unauthorized distribution of this sensitive data.

Paradigm Initiative highlighted that numerous unauthorized websites purported to provide access to personal and financial data of Nigerian citizens for nominal fees, suggesting a widespread issue of data privacy violations.

In response to these alarming reports, the NIMC firmly denied authorizing any entity or website to sell or misuse NINs or other personal data. The commission identified several websites, including idfinder.com.ng, Verify.Ng/sign in, championtech.com.ng, trustyonline.com, and anyverify.com, as unauthorized data harvesters that illegally offer access to sensitive information.

“NIMC has not authorized any website or entity to sell or misuse the National Identification Number (NIN) amongst all the identities,” the statement read. “These data harvesters are not authorized by NIMC to access or manage sensitive data.”

The commission urged the public to disregard any claims or services offered by these websites, warning that they are potentially fraudulent. NIMC emphasized that data provided to such platforms are likely being collected and stored to illegally build their data services.

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