Nigerian government denies claims of a cyberattack on its education data platform.

The Federal Ministry of Education has denied claims that the Nigeria Education Management Information System (NEMIS) was hacked, calling the allegation “inaccurate and misleading.”

The statement was released on June 16, 2026 by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Boriowo Folasade, in response to a publication that suggested the NEMIS education data platform had been breached.

According to the ministry, the platform was never hacked, breached, or subjected to any cyberattack. It said the integrity, confidentiality and availability of the data on the system remain fully intact.

“The Ministry wishes to categorically state that the report is inaccurate and misleading. At no time was the NEMIS platform hacked, breached, or subjected to any cyberattack. The integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data on the platform remain fully intact,” the statement read.

The ministry explained that the temporary warning message seen by some users was due to a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate configuration issue at the hosting level, which affected secure access to the platform.

It added that the problem was technical and did not involve unauthorised access, data loss, data alteration or exposure of sensitive information.

The ministry said its technical team, working with the hosting service provider, quickly resolved the issue and restored normal operations.

It cautioned that browser security warnings and SSL certificate alerts should not automatically be taken as evidence of a cyberattack or data breach.

The ministry noted that the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure is the Federal Government’s framework for strengthening education data governance, integration and accessibility across the sector.

The statement added that NEMIS remains a critical digital platform for the collection, management and utilisation of education data, and that the ministry continues to implement security measures, system monitoring and periodic assessments to safeguard the platform.

“The Ministry therefore urges media organisations and members of the public to refrain from disseminating unverified information capable of creating unnecessary concern and undermining public confidence in government digital platforms,” the statement added.

The ministry advised the public and stakeholders to disregard reports suggesting that the NEMIS platform had been compromised, insisting that such claims were unfounded.