Census: Server intact, ready for deployment, says NPC

The National Population Commission has said its Server is intact and ready to be deployed for the upcoming 2023 Population and Housing Census exercise.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Commission’s spokesperson, Isiaka Yahaya, on Monday.

The NPC’s assurance came following a viral video where its staff in Niger State, Sanusi Maigida, said the NPC server was hacked which led to the postponement of the Local Government Areas-level training of the Supervisors and
Enumerators for the census.

Yahaya, in the statement, however, said the information was false, adding that Maigida was facing a disciplinary action for such misinformation.

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 the Chanchaga LGA in Niger State, Sanusi Maigida, on the hacking of the NPC server, citing this development as the reason for the postponement of the LGA-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 the LGA-level training of the functionaries. As a
staff in the LGA office of the NPC, Mr. Maigida has limited knowledge about the NPC server or its workability.

“He acted without directive and authorisation from the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja and is 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 said as part of measures to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of data for the 2023 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.”