The technical glitch suffered by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has entered the eighth day, leaving many Nigerians and organizations trying to verify their National Identification Numbers (NIN) stranded.

The glitch has affected operations of mobile network operators, as thousands of telecommunication subscribers nationwide, who want to retrieve their lost SIM cards or acquire new lines cannot.

The National Identity Management Commission said that the challenge resulted from the maintenance service being carried out by one of the commission’s network service providers. According to the commission, all hands are on deck to ensure service is restored soon.

The hitch affecting the NIN portal was caused by a technical problem with the Hosting Service Platform of Galaxy Backbone Limited, a Federal Government agency that provides Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services.

Other ministries agencies including the Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigeria Police Force, and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), who use the same service are also affected.

The major technical glitch has forced down multiple government websites for weeks, halting the services and information provided by the platforms, which means over 95 percent of government agencies and establishments are currently affected, as they operate under the Galaxy Backbone shared service platform.

At least, six websites, including those of the presidential office and the NIMC, were affected as of Tuesday afternoon. All affected sites had an error message that said: “This site can’t be reached.”

Other affected sites were those of the Budget Office of the Federation, Open Treasury, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).

The Internet way back machine, which archives web pages, showed that the budget office website was last active on January 29. The police website and the State House site were last accessible on February 1, while the websites of the OSGF and the NCAA last functioned on January 20 and January 27 respectively.

Galaxy Backbone Limited, in a statement signed by its Head, Corporate Communications, Chidi Okpala, yesterday, appealed to Nigerians to bear with the company, saying the issue is getting the required attention.

The statement reads: “The management of Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) regrets the temporary outage of some of its services and the inconvenience being experienced by some of its customers across the country.

“Across the organisation, the highest priority classification has been assigned and all hands are on deck to ensure resolution is achieved within the shortest possible time.

“At the time of this statement, GBB has put together a highly skilled technical team of experienced engineers and applications experts to not just solve this current issue but put in place all the necessary structures to ensure that such an incident never occurs again in the future. While a good number of the services have been restored, efforts are being made to restore all the other services of its customers.

“In the meantime, and since this incident occurred, GBB has continued to notify and reach out to all its valued customers and will continue to do so to provide the necessary updates required until all the services affected are completely restored.”

The Federal Government had budgeted over N19 billion for software services in its 2022 budget. A project executive at the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID), Ijeoma Okereke-Adagba, said the failure of several government sites has seriously affected the functions of many public and private organizations. She criticized the government’s apparent unhurried response to the outage.

“The budget office website for example is one of the platforms many organizations like the CJID rely on to carry out their work. It’s barely a month since the 2022 national budget was uploaded before the site went down. Access to information is critical for any democratic government,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has said there is no justification for some commercial banks and telecommunication providers to fail attending to their customers over the breakdown of the country’s identity portal.

The government, through the NIMC, also said the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) had no reason for refusing to attend to international passport seekers on the ground that its officials could not access NIMC’s portal.

The government had made it compulsory for Nigerians to supply their unique identity numbers otherwise known as NIN before they can access certain services offered by some private companies and government agencies.

However, NIMC’s portal has been down since last week, and the development has affected the issuance of international passports, account opening at banks and access to telecommunication services.

But NIMC chided the banks and telcos, as well as the NIS, for blaming it for their inability to offer services to their customers. NIMC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Kayode Adegoke, said it was an unreasonable action for the organizations to shirk their duties.

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has continued to suffer technical glitch leaving many Nigerians and organisations stranded regarding verifications of their National Identification Numbers (NIN) and associated issues.

The glitch has affected some operations of mobile network operators, as thousands of telecommunication subscribers nationwide, who want to retrieve their lost Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards or acquire new lines are temporarily left stranded.

The NIMC, said on Monday that the challenge resulted from the maintenance service being carried out by one of the commission’s network service provider. According to the commission, all hands are on deck to ensure service is restored soon.

The hitch affecting the NIN portal was caused by a technical problem with the Hosting Service Platform of Galaxy Backbone Limited, a Federal Government agency that provides Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services.

However, Galaxy Backbone Limited, in a statement signed by its Head, Corporate Communications, Chidi Okpala, yesterday, appealed to Nigerians to bear with the company, saying the issue is getting the required attention.

The statement reads: “The management of Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) regrets the temporary outage of some of its services and the inconvenience being experienced by some of its customers across the country.

Galaxy Backbone PLC is an Information and Communications Technology Services provider, wholly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Galaxy Backbone PLC was established in 2006 by the Federal Government based on the need for Government to pursue a coordinated and harmonized approach to information and communications technology acquisition, operation and use in the public sector.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy said it is currently waiting for the National Assembly (NASS) to pass the Startup Bill currently with them.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, disclosed this to journalists on the sidelines of the LEAP 2022 technology and exhibition conference, organised by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications Technology, in Riyadh.

Pantami, who is optimistic about the development the bill would bring to the startup ecosystem in Nigeria when it becomes a law, said, “we are done with the Startup bill in the Federal Executive Council; it has been approved. I personally spoke with the Attorney General of the Federation after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting and used that opportunity to convey a letter to him that FEC has approved, even though he is a member, but that is the process.

“He told me that the bill has been conveyed to the National Assembly (NASS). It is now left for the NASS to stamp their proceedings on the bill. But we are optimistic and very committed that the bill is going to be approved by this administration so that we can start the implementation immediately.”

The Minister, who said the new bill, if passed into law, will create an enabling environment for Nigerian startups, further said that the bill contains provisions that allow easy access to grants including a Startup Investment Safe Fund for young innovators who can apply for government sponsorship of their ideas.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of a new government agency, the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB).  The establishment of the agency followed a request made by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Pantami.

In a statement issued on behalf of Pantami, Uwa Suleiman, his media aide, said the NDPB was established in line with global best practices and would focus on data protection and privacy for the country, among others.

He said the successful implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria has significantly increased the adoption of data platforms and accelerated the ‘datafication’ of the country.