Smartcomply Academy has achieved internationally recognised accreditation as a Personnel Certification Body under ISO/IEC 17024:2026, following assessment by the Nigeria National Accreditation System (NiNAS), Nigeria's national accreditation authority.

NiNAS operates within the international accreditation ecosystem as a Signatory Full Member of Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated — the global accreditation body that unified and assumed the roles previously performed by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). It is also a Full Member of the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC). These memberships connect NiNAS-accredited conformity assessment activities to a broader multilateral recognition framework designed to promote confidence, consistency and acceptance of accredited services across international markets.

The accreditation, issued under reference PC0001A, took effect on 7 September 2026 and remains valid through 6 September 2030, marking a significant milestone in the Academy's commitment to delivering professional certifications aligned with globally recognised standards for competence, impartiality and credibility. As of 22 September 2026, Smartcomply Academy is also the only body on the NiNAS register whose current accreditation certificate cites the 2026 edition of ISO/IEC 17024.

The accreditation is not an award for course attendance. ISO/IEC 17024 is the international standard setting requirements for bodies that certify the competence of individuals, addressing the competence, impartiality and consistency of the certification process itself. NiNAS assessed Smartcomply Academy's technical competence, impartiality and controls for certifying individuals against defined requirements. Employers can now distinguish an in-scope Smartcomply certification from a course-completion certificate and independently verify both the Academy's accredited status and the professional's credential.

Meaning for Certificate Holders and Employers

Certificates issued for certifications that fall within Smartcomply Academy's NiNAS-approved scope of accreditation will carry the official NiNAS accreditation symbol — Personnel No. P0003. This provides a clear and traceable link between each accredited credential and the independently assessed certification system under which it issued.

The Academy's accreditation is publicly recorded by NiNAS under reference PC0001A, providing independent confirmation that it has been assessed against the internationally recognised requirements applicable to personnel certification bodies.

Every certificate issued within the accredited scope is designed to support authenticity, transparency and verification. Each identifies the certificate holder and the certification achieved, states the issue and expiry dates, carries the authorised signature of the Academy Director, and includes a unique certificate identification number that can be verified online.

Smartcomply certifications are valid for three years, subject to the Academy's applicable surveillance, continuing competence and recertification requirements. This is intended to help ensure that certification represents not only achievement at the point of assessment but continued alignment with the requirements of the relevant certification scheme.

The presence of the NiNAS accreditation symbol does not mean that NiNAS trained, examined or directly certified the individual. Rather, it demonstrates that Smartcomply Academy has been independently assessed for the competence, impartiality and consistency required to conduct the certification activities covered by its approved accreditation scope. Accordingly, the symbol appears only on certifications that fall within that formally approved scope, giving employers, organisations, regulators and certificate holders greater confidence in the integrity, traceability and international-standard framework behind the credential.

Work Completed to Meet the Accreditation Standard

Smartcomply Academy began in 2024 as a learning platform. Becoming an accredited personnel certification body required it to build and operate a separate certification system in its own name. Training delivery is now separated from certification assessment and decision-making, meaning that completing a course does not by itself lead to certification.

Within the NiNAS-approved scope, Smartcomply Academy performs two distinct roles. For five scheme families — Cloud Security; Cybersecurity and Internet Security; Risk Management; Data Protection; and Privacy Governance — it is both the scheme owner and the accredited personnel certification body. This means the Academy is responsible not only for assessing and certifying candidates, but also for defining and keeping current the competence requirements, eligibility criteria, assessment methods, certification rules and recertification pathways governing those schemes.

For the other five scheme families, Smartcomply Academy operates as the accredited personnel certification body without claiming scheme ownership, applying the relevant scheme requirements impartially and consistently.

Across both roles, the Academy established Scheme, Certification and Impartiality Committees; documented conflicts-of-interest controls; and assigned qualified personnel to assessment, examination review and independent certification decisions. It also strengthened controls for candidate applications and identity verification, examination content, secure remote examinations, automated proctoring with human review, certificate issuance and verification, appeals and complaints, recertification, records, document control and oversight of external service providers.

"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. 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," said Gbemisola Osunrinde, MD/CEO of Smartcomply Group.

Approved Certification Scope

The NiNAS scope lists 27 certification designations across ten scheme families, covering competence in areas where African organisations face growing regulatory, security, resilience and governance demands:

• Information security management: ISO/IEC 27001 Foundation, Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor
• Business continuity management: ISO 22301 Foundation, Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor
• Cloud security: Certified Cloud Security Associate and Certified Cloud Security Professional
• Cybersecurity and internet security: Foundation, Professional and Manager
• Compliance management: ISO 37301 Foundation, Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor
• Risk management: Foundation, Professional and Senior Professional
• Artificial intelligence management: ISO/IEC 42001 Foundation, Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor
• Data protection: Foundation, Practitioner and Data Protection Officer
• Privacy governance: Privacy Lead Implementer and Privacy Lead Auditor
• Privacy information management: ISO/IEC 27701 Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor

"Across Africa, skilled professionals increasingly need credentials that employers can verify and trust. 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. It also places a continuing responsibility on us to keep the schemes we own current and relevant, apply every scheme within our approved scope consistently, recertify professionals fairly and demonstrate that an African certification body — and, in selected fields, an African scheme owner — can command confidence at home and across borders," said Oseyemi Ayegbusi, Head of Smartcomply Academy.

Public Verification and International Confidence

Employers, regulators, partners and certificate holders can verify Smartcomply Academy's current accreditation status and approved scope on the NiNAS public register. Individual Smartcomply certificates can be checked through the Academy's online certificate-verification service. Because Smartcomply certifications expire after three years and the accreditation itself runs through 6 September 2030, these verification routes give employers a standing way to confirm that both an individual credential and the accreditation behind it remain current.

NiNAS is Nigeria's national accreditation body and participates in regional and international mutual-recognition arrangements for conformity assessment. This framework supports wider confidence in accredited certification across markets and does not replace any profession-specific licence, regulatory approval or employer requirement.