Nigeria’s Identity and Banks at Risk: Can AI Stop Hidden Cyber Threats?
In June 2024, Paradigm Initiative exposed a digital scandal: AnyVerify.com.ng was selling National Identification Numbers (NINs) and Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) for just ₦100, visited over 567,000 times that February alone. Weeks earlier, The ICIR revealed telecoms’ lax SIM recycling let fraudsters hijack dormant numbers, accessing bank accounts linked via NIN. One trader reportedly lost ₦4 million after a recycled SIM reset his Wema Bank credentials, part of a ₦52 billion fraud crisis.
These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re symptoms of Nigeria’s fragile digital infrastructure.
The proliferation of fintech and ID—eNaira, NIN, BVN, mobile banking—has empowered millions. But it’s built on interconnected, under-secured systems. A flaw in NIN verification can unlock BVN-protected bank accounts, as shared APIs amplify risks. With over 40 million mobile money users and a booming digital economy, the stakes are sky-high.
Yet Nigeria’s cybersecurity lags. Agencies like NIMC, CBN, and NITDA operate in silos, often denying breaches—like NIMC’s 2024 XpressVerify rebuttal—until damage is done. Worse, new “zero-day” threats exploit undiscovered code flaws, striking before defenses catch up.
For a nation digitizing everything from bank accounts to identity databases, this is a ticking time bomb. To protect our digital backbone, Nigeria must shift from reacting to predicting. That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) steps in.
AI as Nigeria’s Digital Guard”
Traditional cybersecurity measures like firewalls, antivirus, even two-factor authentication are designed to catch known threats but fail against zero-day attacks exploiting undiscovered flaws. For Nigeria’s NIN and banking systems, this gap is dangerous.
Put simply, zero-day attacks are hacks exploiting hidden software flaws in cybersecurity systems before these flaws have been publicly identified. Thus, they cannot be thwarted by traditional measures. It is this very fact that makes AI a potential solution to their threat.
AI can process real-time data and detect unusual behavior before a breach occurs. If someone tries to spoof a NIN login on a third-party site like AnyVerify.com.ng or triggers an unusual BVN transaction on a platform like OPay, AI can flag that pattern. It does this by analyzing a mix of behavior, network traffic, and file signatures using what’s called ensemble machine learning—multiple algorithms working in tandem.
But raw computing power isn’t enough. AI’s edge comes from global situational awareness. Open-source threat intelligence platforms like AlienVault OTX and MISP distribute attack data across borders. If integrated properly, they could help Nigeria monitor systems like the CBN’s upcoming NRBVN platform, which ties NIN to banking identity. Right now, agencies like ngCERT and NITDA are not equipped to use these feeds effectively. That leaves critical systems exposed.
Public trust matters. Especially in a country where digital identity systems are tied to politics, security, and economic access. Explainable AI models—like SHAP—help security teams justify why a transaction or login was flagged. This transparency ensures that legitimate users aren’t wrongly penalized and that platforms stay compliant with Nigeria’s Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
AI is not surveillance. It’s infrastructure. Properly deployed, it strengthens organizations like ngCERT and helps protect citizens’ personal data and savings. But AI alone won’t fix the problem.
Nigeria’s cyber vulnerabilities are no longer hypothetical. From breached identity databases to AI-powered banking fraud, the threat landscape is real and expanding. But the good news is that solutions already exist, what is missing is the political will and institutional coordination to implement them.
First and most pertinently, we must recognize that central coordination is critical. Nigeria needs a single authority that can oversee cyber resilience across sectors. This body should have the power to manage threat intelligence, deploy AI tools, and force collaboration between NITDA, NDPC, ngCERT, and regulators like the CBN. Fragmented efforts won’t work.
Next, there must be a priority set on localizing data. Imported AI models won’t detect Nigerian-specific fraud patterns. Fintech scams, telecom vulnerabilities, and local government hacks each have distinct fingerprints. That’s why we need partnerships between banks, telcos, and tech companies—to share anonymized data and train smarter, homegrown models, all within NDPR boundaries.
Moreover, Nigeria also needs to drive towards skilling up the experts that would be involved in managing these systems. Tools don’t secure systems; people do. Nigeria needs more analysts, engineers, and data scientists who understand both cyber threats and the Nigerian environment. Institutions like the National Institute for Security Studies must be scaled up and I’ll use this opportunity to say NASH BIS is doing a lot of work in helping organizations achieve their cybersecurity resilience goals.
Finally, the private sector must innovate. Local cybersecurity firms should focus less on importing foreign tools and more on developing solutions suited to Nigeria. This would not only lower costs but also grow the economy and reduce strategic dependence.
As we move toward the 2027 elections and deeper digital integration, the time to act is now. Nigeria’s digital sovereignty cannot be outsourced. Our economy, public safety, and national credibility are at stake.
We have a choice: wait for the next major breach and scramble once again — or invest now in predictive, ethical, AI-driven defense that protects every Nigerian, from the roadside vendor using mobile money to the electoral officer counting digital votes.
The tools are ready. Are we?
