ANTIC and the Ministry of of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that details the modalities of collaboration between the two institutions with regard to the securing of administrative documents issued by the ministry using the advanced electronic signature developed by ANTIC.

The Minister of Livestock, Dr Taiga and ANTIC’s Director General, Prof. Ebot Ebot Enaw, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions, 23 November 2022 in Yaounde.

The MuO would enable ANTIC to secure diplomas and other administrative documents issued by MINEPIA and its training institutes using a digital solution known as Doc@uthANTIC developed by the Agency as it seeks to stem the falsification of official documents and ease the authentication process.

The solution ensures the integrity of hard and soft copies of documents by affixing a two-dimensional barcode (QR Code) generated from an advanced digital signature and equally permits users to verify the authenticity of signed documents by scanning the QR Code using a smartphone. It is downloadable on Play Store.

Worthy of note is the fact that the advanced electronic signature has the same legal standing as a handwritten signature, in accordance with Article 17 of the Law on cybersecurity and cybercrime in Cameroon.

The signing of the agreement comes at a time marked by an upsurge in the circulation of fake documents fabricated by some malicious individuals with the intention to disinform public opinion or discredit public institutions.

Doc@uthANTIC would therefore spare the official documents of MINEPIA which are part of the documentary and informational heritage of the State from the challenge of document forgery which is aided by handwritten signatures. Unlike hand written signatures which are susceptible to falsification, Doc@uthANTIC is forgery proof and permits documents to be digitally signed
Speaking, the Minister of Livestock, Dr Taiga opined that the MoU “…reflects the common will of our two administrations to work together to fight against the falsification of documents that are harmful to the smooth running of our administrations, and therefore for cybersecurity”.

Thanks to Doc@uthANTIC, ANTIC seeks to guarantee the integrity and authenticity of official documents, combat document forgery, ease the verification process  and boost user satisfaction.

Doc@uthANTIC can used  by private companies, government ministries, universities and the likes of national examination boards to overcome the painstaking and time consuming exercise of manually signing or affixing scan signatures which are prone to falsification on huge volumes of documents.