From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
As part of efforts to boost the Nigerian digital economy, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has begun operations of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI).
The commencement of the national PKI operations was unveiled by the Director General, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, on Tuesday in 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.
In a statement on Wednesday, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Mrs Hadiza Umar, said the national PKI would guarantee secure communication for all online services, provide security against unauthorized access and disclosure of stored information by addressing the fundamentals of cyber security which include confidentiality, integrity, authentication and non-repudiation.
She said the deployment of the new programme would 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).
Other benefits of the program according to Umar are; accreditation and authorization of Web applications which can be utilised by startups, MSMEs and corporate organisations, local and cheaper digital certificates for Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME).