FOUNDATION FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Exactly 18 days after announcing the loss of its website to hackers, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has failed to recover and restore it.
FIJ earlier reported that the website had been hacked, after NBS’ confirmation on December 18.
“This is to inform the public that the NBS website has been hacked and we are working to recover it. Please disregard any message or report posted until the website is fully restored. Thank you,” the NBS posted.
The NBS is the Nigerian government’s primary data recording agency. Since the reported hack, it has not recovered the website through which reports of surveys, data analyses and insights into economic indices are published.
The time of the hack coincided with the time the NBS published the 2024 security data showing how Nigerians paid N2.23 trillion in ransom to kidnappers between May 2023 and April 2024.
The timing led to speculations that the website hack might have been caused by hired agents because the security report embarrassed the federal government.
SOME BELIEVE THE HACKING IS A LIE
Under the NBS’ X post, several netizens expressed differing opinions doubting the claim that the website was actually hacked.
Umfundisi Umem believed the claim was untrue. “Liars. Your ogas at Abuja are not happy with your last report on kidnapping/ ransom paid and you ran here to claim you were hacked. May your career be hacked in Jesus name if your website wasn’t hacked. Oya say Amen!” he commented.
Ogun Ajobo, another X user, also commented that the claim was to influence the NBS “to publish another data that says only 563 people were kidnapped in 2024 and some few millions paid as ransom”.
Quoting the post, Nigerian accountant Tobi Flink Dapo wrote, “So, instead of standing by your security perception survey, you’d rather tell a blatant lie? Keep allowing that degenerate in Aso Rock to undermine our institutions. Were your website and Twitter account hacked simultaneously? Cos you tweeted the survey, and now it’s been deleted.”
Esteem, another X user, quoted the post, saying, “You’ve been a joke of an institution since Dr Yemi Kale [immediate-past head of the agency] left. You’ve now resorted to the crudest means to try to do damage control on a report you posted because it didn’t quite sit well with the powers that be in the Villa. This is an institution that’s supposed to provide reliable data for both Nigerians and foreigners o. May God forgive all of you.”
The majority of people thought the website attack was connected to the recent security perception report and also doubted the sincerity of the agency’s claim. The NBS website remained inaccessible at press time.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN FOUNDATION FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Connect with us on our socials: