The Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Aminu Maida, has outlined Nigeria’s strategy for securing digital public infrastructure, around a single asset: the mobile phone number.
This, he said has evolved from a communications tool into the access key for banking, government services, healthcare, education and commerce.
Maida made the remarks during a contribution to the WSIS 2026 Leaders’ TalkX session on building secure and trusted digital public infrastructure.
He said Nigeria’s approach rests on three pillars, trusted identities, trusted networks and trusted markets, which together determine the resilience of the country’s digital economy.
Trust in Identity
On identity verification, Maida pointed to the NCC’s Telecommunications Identity Registration Management System (TIRMS), which he said allows authorised institutions to securely verify the identity behind any phone number.
“Through our TIRMS platform, authorised institutions can securely verify who is behind every phone number, helping to strengthen accountability and reduce fraud,” he said.
Trust in Networks
On network resilience, Maida cited the Communications Sector Cyber Resilience Framework and the implementation of the Presidential Order designating telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII), both of which he said are driving coordinated work between government, industry and other stakeholders to strengthen the security of Nigeria’s communications infrastructure.
Trust in Markets
On markets, Maida said consumer confidence and investor confidence depend on different but related conditions.
“Consumers need reliable, affordable services and effective redress, while investors need transparent, predictable and consistent regulation that gives them confidence to invest,” he said.
He summarised the framework as a single dependency chain: resilient digital public infrastructure, he said, ultimately rests on trusted identities, trusted networks and trusted markets working together.
