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Smartcomply Academy has secured accreditation from the Nigeria National Accreditation System (NiNAS) as a personnel certification body, allowing it to certify professionals in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, privacy and other fields under ISO/IEC 17024:2026.
The academy said in an email on Monday that the accreditation, referenced as PC0001A, took effect on September 7, 2026, and remains valid until September 6, 2030. As of September 22, Smartcomply said it was the only body listed on the NiNAS public register whose current accreditation certificate referenced the 2026 edition of ISO/IEC 17024.
Accreditation strengthens professional certification framework
The accreditation followed an assessment of Smartcomply Academy’s personnel certification system, including its technical competence, impartiality and controls for assessing individuals against defined certification requirements.
The accreditation is separate from course completion. According to the academy, professionals who complete its training programmes are not automatically awarded certification.
Certificates issued within the academy’s NiNAS-approved scope will carry the NiNAS accreditation symbol and Personnel No. P0003. Each certificate will identify the holder and certification achieved, include issue and expiry dates, carry the authorised signature of the academy director and feature a unique identification number that can be verified online.
“An accredited certificate should tell an employer more than that someone completed a course. It should show that competence was tested through a governed, impartial and secure process,” said Gbemisola Osunrinde, managing director and chief executive officer of Smartcomply Group.
“We invested in the people, committees, technology, procedures and evidence needed to meet that standard. The NiNAS accreditation symbol on our in-scope certificates now gives professionals a visible link to the independently assessed system behind what they have earned.”
Certification goes beyond training completion
Smartcomply certifications are valid for three years, subject to the academy’s surveillance, continuing competence and recertification requirements.
The academy clarified that the presence of the NiNAS symbol on a certificate does not mean NiNAS trained, examined or directly certified the individual. Rather, it indicates that certification activities conducted by Smartcomply Academy within the approved scope have been assessed against requirements applicable to personnel certification bodies.
Smartcomply Academy began operations in 2024 as a learning platform before establishing a separate certification system designed to meet accreditation requirements.
Certification covers cybersecurity, privacy and risk management
Within its approved scope, Smartcomply Academy operates as both scheme owner and accredited personnel certification body for five scheme families: cloud security, cybersecurity and internet security, risk management, data protection and privacy governance.
As scheme owner, the academy is responsible for defining and maintaining competence requirements, eligibility criteria, assessment methods, certification rules and recertification pathways for those schemes.
For another five scheme families, the academy operates as an accredited personnel certification body without owning the certification schemes.
The academy said it established Scheme, Certification and Impartiality Committees to meet accreditation requirements and introduced controls covering conflicts of interest, candidate applications, identity verification, examination content, secure remote examinations and automated proctoring supported by human review.
Additional controls cover examination review, independent certification decisions, certificate issuance and verification, appeals and complaints, recertification, records management, document control and oversight of external service providers.
NiNAS-approved scope covers 27 professional designations
The approved certification scope covers 27 designations across 10 scheme families.
These include information security management certifications covering ISO/IEC 27001 Foundation, Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor; business continuity management certifications covering ISO 22301 Foundation, Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor; and cloud security certifications including Certified Cloud Security Associate and Certified Cloud Security Professional.
Oseyemi Ayegbusi, head of Smartcomply Academy, said the accreditation responds to growing demand for professional credentials that employers can independently verify.
“Across Africa, skilled professionals increasingly need credentials that employers can verify and trust,” Ayegbusi said.
“This accreditation confirms that Smartcomply Academy assesses competence through a system built on impartiality, examination integrity and independent certification decisions, in line with ISO/IEC 17024:2026.”
Ayegbusi said the academy would continue updating the certification schemes it owns, applying the requirements within its approved scope and recertifying professionals in accordance with its established procedures.
Accreditation aligns certification with international standards
NiNAS operates within the international accreditation system as a signatory full member of Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated, which brought together and assumed the roles previously performed by the International Accreditation Forum and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation.
For Smartcomply Academy, the accreditation places greater emphasis on independently assessed competence, secure certification processes and verifiable professional credentials as organisations across Africa strengthen their cybersecurity, data protection and technology-risk capabilities.
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