NPC server not hacked – Official

The Federal Commissioner of the National Population Commission in Kogi State, Prof. Habibat Isah, has assured that no one would ever be able to hack into the server of the commission being prepared for use for the 2023 Population and Housing census.

He also debunked the rumours that the server was hacked even though there were several attempts by hackers to do so.

“As against the lies and rumours that have been peddled, the National Population Commission server has never been hacked because we have never rested and we won’t rest until the programme becomes successful,” he said.

Isah in a press conference to update journalists on the ‘journey so far’ in Lokoja on Tuesday said the level of security being put in place to secure the server would make it difficult for anyone no matter how intelligent the person may be to be able to break into the server.

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“We at the NPC are fast learners, we quickly learned from the experience of the Independent National Electoral Commission, in the last elections and we have put additional security measures in place such that not even our staff can crack”, the Federal Commissioner noted.

Isah said the server is one of the most important aspects of the census and the need to protect it from being hacked is of great importance.

According to him, “In the time past, censuses had been conducted using paper and pen but this time, the census will be conducted using Android devices such that once the information is got, it will go directly to the server”.

“Apart from our actions against hackers and intruders, we have been able to conduct a series of training for different stakeholders of the commission including the Federal Commissioners.

The recent training for Federal Commissioners was held in Port Harcourt while the state directors and other officials of the commission are undergoing continuous training”.

Isah explained that the need to take the census seriously became important because it is a tool for national development.

“No serious government is supposed to take census as a joke. Any serious-minded government should take the population and housing census as an issue of key interest,” he said.

Isah revealed that the leadership of the commission would also be meeting with the Federal Government at the Federal Executive Council meeting to brief the executive arm of the government about the level of preparedness.