National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commenced operations of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI).
The commencement of the national PKI operations was unveiled by NITDA director-general Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi in Abuja on Tuesday, at a Key Generation and Handover Ceremony for Root Certification Authority (RCA) for Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA) and Country Verification Certification Authority (CVCA) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It generation was performed by Veridos Germany and witnessed by director-general National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), managing-director Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) and representative of director-general Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), among others.
NITDA in a statement Wednesday generation as key to the rollout of digital economy services in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria (NDEPS), adding that the national PKI will guarantee secure communication for all online services, provide security against unauthorized access and disclosure of stored information by addressing the fundamentals of cyber security – confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation.
“Furthermore, the deployment of the national PKI will empower e-Government and digital economy transformations through the provision of: secure data exchange and authentication for electronic transactions protection which can be leveraged by the banking sector and its regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); accreditation and authorization of Web applications which can be utilized by startups, MSMEs and corporate organizations; local and cheaper digital certificates for Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) email signing and encryption for organizations; and trust, transparency, accountability and validation services in the issuance and authentication of digital identity, passports and travel documents, stamp duty, tax clearance certificates, health test results and vaccine certificates among others.”
