Privacy

What we ask for, and who can see it.

This competition asks for your NIN, your date of birth and a photograph of your face — and, if you win, your bank details. That is a lot to ask, so here is exactly what happens to each of them.

Privacy notice version 1.0 The version you accepted is recorded against your account.

The Review Panel never sees who you are — not your name, not your age, not your LGA.

The checking desk never sees your NIN, your phone number or your email address.

We do not sell, share or trade your details, and we do not add you to any mailing list.

Only your image is ever sent to a screening service — never your name or any identifier.

What we hold, one by one

Your National Identification Number

Why we need it: To confirm you are a real person old enough to enter, entering once.
Who can see it: Nobody but the Admin, on one screen, with every look recorded. The checking desk and the Review Panel never see it.
How it is protected: Encrypted. We also keep a one-way fingerprint of it so we can tell that two entries came from the same person without being able to read the number.

The photograph you supply at registration

Why we need it: Matched against the photograph on your NIN record by the State's verification service.
Who can see it: Nobody. It is used for the match and is not shown on any screen in the portal.
How it is protected: Encrypted, and deleted at the end of the retention period.

Your name, date of birth, gender and Local Government Area

Why we need it: Your name comes from your NIN record, not from what you typed. We use it to identify your entry, to pay a prize, and to report anonymous totals — how many entrants came from each LGA, for instance.
Who can see it: The Admin. The checking desk sees only "verified: yes, old enough: yes". The Review Panel sees none of it.
How it is protected: Held in the competition database, in Nigeria, in a region approved by the Ministry.

Your email address and phone number

Why we need it: To send you your one-time codes, your entry reference, and the outcome of your entry.
Who can see it: The Admin, and the help desk when you write to them.
How it is protected: Used for this competition only. We do not add you to any mailing list and we do not pass them to anyone else.

Your designs and everything you wrote about them

Why we need it: To judge them.
Who can see it: The checking desk, and the Review Panel with your identity removed.
How it is protected: Stored privately. Nothing is public unless you win or unless a gallery is published — and the copyright stays yours either way.

Your bank details and BVN — winners only

Why we need it: To pay your prize into an account we can confirm is yours.
Who can see it: The Admin, on the claim verification screen, with every look recorded.
How it is protected: Encrypted with the account number and BVN held separately from the rest. Asked for only after you have been told you have won.

How long we keep it

12 months after the results

Design files from entries that did not place. Deleted automatically, and the deletion is logged.

Kept

The winning designs and the record of what was decided about every entry — a competition must be able to show what it did and why.

12 months

Your registration record, including your encrypted NIN, unless you win.

7 years

Winners' payment records, because public money has to be accounted for.

Immediately after the match

The photograph you supplied at registration is used for the identity match and then held encrypted until the retention period ends.

About the screening services

To check for copying, we compare your design against other entries, against a reference set of well-known marks, and against images found online. Some of that uses services outside the State.

Only the image is ever sent. Never your name, your NIN, your email address, your entry reference or anything else that could identify you. The results of those checks are advisory: they are evidence a human officer weighs, and no entry is ever refused automatically because a service returned a match.

What you can ask us to do

Ask what we hold

Write to the help desk and we will tell you everything we hold about you, and where it came from.

Correct it

If your contact details are wrong, change them on your dashboard. If your name is wrong, that comes from your NIMC record — correct it with NIMC and tell us.

Withdraw

Withdraw an entry at any time before entries close. After the close an entry can be withdrawn from judging but the record of it is kept, because a competition has to be able to show what it decided and why.

Complain

To the help desk first, and to the Ministry's Data Protection Officer if we do not resolve it. You can also complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission.

Who to contact

The Ministry of Science and Digital Economy holds this information and is responsible for it. For anything about your own details, start with the help desk on 0800 300 4004 or logo@christmaslogo.akwaibomstate.gov.ng. If they cannot resolve it, ask for the Ministry's Data Protection Officer.

Privacy notice version 1.0. Issued by the Ministry of Science and Digital Economy, Akwa Ibom State, reference MSDE/ICU4/LOGO/SOP/001.