The Federal Ministry of Education has described as false and misleading reports that the Nigeria Education Management Information System (NEMIS) was hacked in a cyber attack.
The clarification was contained in a press statement issued by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Boriowo Folasade, on June 16, 2026.
The statement said the ministry was responding to a publication that suggested that the NEMIS education data platform had been hacked.
The platform was never hacked, breached or subject to any form of cyberattack at any time, the ministry said, adding that the integrity, confidentiality and availability of data on the system remain fully intact.
“The Ministry would like to state categorically that the report is incorrect and misleading. The NEMIS platform was never hacked, breached or subjected to any cyberattack at any time. The integrity, confidentiality and availability of data on the platform remain fully intact,” the statement read.
“The temporary warning message some users saw was caused by a Secure Sockets Layer, SSL, certificate configuration issue at the hosting level that affected secure access to the platform,” the ministry said.
The issue was technical in nature and did not involve unauthorised access to the system, data loss, data alteration or exposure of sensitive information, the statement said.
The ministry said its technical team, in cooperation with the hosting service provider, quickly fixed the problem and restored normal operations.
It said that browser security warnings and SSL certificate alerts shouldn’t be taken at face value as a sign of a cyberattack or data breach.
The ministry said the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure was the Federal Government’s framework to strengthen education data governance, integration and accessibility across the sector.
“NEMIS remains a critical digital platform for the collection, management and utilization of education data, while the Federal Ministry of Education is still implementing security measures, system monitoring and periodic assessments to protect the platform,” the statement further said.
“The Ministry thus calls on media organizations and members of the public not to transmit unverified information that could cause unnecessary alarm and erode public confidence in the digital platforms of the government,” the statement continued.
The ministry advised members of the public and stakeholders to disregard reports that the NEMIS platform had been compromised, claiming such reports were unfounded.
Hon. Dr. Philip “Okanga” Agbese, a transformative leader in Enone. Discover his achievements, community projects, and vision for 2027
