Victor Ezeja
Former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has queried claims by the management of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that its website was hacked by suspected fraudsters.
The Bureau in a statement posted on its official X handle on Wednesday, said the NBS website has been hacked and the team is working to recover it.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelA check on the website confirmed the breach, with the homepage displaying the message, “Page Hacked.” Further attempts to access the website resulted in a message “This site can’t be reached.”
NBS urged the public to disregard any reports shared on its behalf from unofficial sources until the website is fully restored.
Reacting to that Atiku through a statement from his Media Office in Abuja on Thursday, emphasised the importance of fidelity of data, and statistics for development purposes.
The former vice president from 1999 to 2007, remarked that such incident which is the first time in the history of the statistical body is an “unpleasant development.”
He raised concerns about possible underhand attempt to compromise the integrity of data produced by NBS that are mainly used for planning and development.
According to him, the announcement that the website has been hacked came shortly after the recent data published on the website on Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) in the country.
The report released by NBS on Tuesday disclosed that Nigerians paid an estimated total of N2.23 trillion as ransom to kidnappers between May 2023 and April 2024. The report showed that 65 per cent of households affected by kidnapping resorted to paying ransoms to secure the release of victims. According to the report, an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded across Nigerian households within the period under review.
It also showed that the North-west region had the highest incidence of crime, with 14.4 million cases reported. North-central followed with 8.8 million incidents.
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“The unprecedented claim that the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has been hacked is an unpleasant development that adds up to the bad tidings that have characterized the President Bola Tinubu administration,” part of Atiku’s statement read.
“The development, which is coming on the heels of the recent data published on the website of the @NBS_Nigeria on Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS), underscores the credibility crisis of the current administration.”
“These are strange times in Nigeria, and it is hoped that the situation at hand is not an underhand attempt to pigeonhole the integrity of data majorly used for planning and development and research purposes.”
Atiku warned that “Subjecting data and statistics such as those harvested, analysed, and released by the NBS to sexing up or political considerations is counterproductive.”
“That is why the claim that the website of the National Bureau of Statistics was hacked into, the very first time in its history, should be of concern to the fidelity of the stats it releases to the public.
“Moreover, the coincidence of this so-called hack coming only shortly after the release of damning stats on security is suspicious,” Atiku further stated.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
