Pantami emerges first African Fellow of CIISec

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has been conferred with a Fellowship status by the Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec).

With the award, Pantami becomes the first and the only African Fellow admitted into CIISec amongst 89 other Fellows.

CIISec Fellowship is awarded to individuals who have earned respect and authority within the Cybersecurity community and demonstrated a commitment to developing the profession.

Information from the website of the institute shows the minister’s name on the updated list of current fellows and the only African amongst 89 other Fellows.

According to the institute, “Pantami’s membership as a Fellow of CIISec will provide a continental vehicle for promoting the objectives of the institute especially in Africa, by way of entrenching professionalism, integrity and excellence within the information and cybersecurity community and furthermore, promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge in the field of information security for the benefit of the public.”

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It said: “Fellow is the highest level of attainment in the Chartered Institute of Information Security’s (CIISec) membership levels to among other reasons recognize industry leaders in the information/cyber security profession.

“The process for becoming a Fellow requires a nomination by either a CIISec Board Member, Full member, or a Fellow member, which is then followed by rigorous interviews and evaluations to determine a candidate’s suitability.”

“Professor Pantami, who is a passionate advocate of acquiring professional skills that meets the demand of the future work environment (he has authored a book on the topic) joins the league of top cybersecurity experts in the world, and the first from the African continent that is awarded the Fellowship of the chartered institute.

“The Fellowship status also grants Professor Pantami the authority to participate in the accreditation and validation of skills for new members while working alongside corporate members, the academia and government entities.

“In addition, Professor Pantami has developed several policies and regulations that are currently being implemented to promote cybersecurity.

“Amongst other policies, Professor Pantami developed and is implementing the Revised NIN-SIM Registration Policy and the National Policy for Unmasking SIMS and its enforcement, blocking of 2.4 million unregistered SIM cards in 2019, and secured enrolment process for over 87 million citizens and residents in Nigeria and the Diaspora, on the national identity database.”