Nigeria to provide identification for all citizens in 5 years

The Federal Government has declared its determination to provide a lifelong unique identification for every individual physically residing in Nigeria and Nigerians in the diaspora within the next five years.

The Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Aziz, made the declaration, while speaking at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Identity for Africa (ID4Africa) Movement, holding in Johannesburg, South Africa, a statement from the Commission said Wednesday.

Addressing the over 1,500 delegates at the world’s largest identity for development gathering, Engr. Aziz stated that for Nigeria to enhance governance, help its people rise out of poverty, restore growth and participate in the digital economy, “we need a unique digital identification platform that is linked to functional ID registries for accessing services.”

In realisation of the demands to function in the digital economy for sustainable growth therefore, Engr. Aziz told the audience that Nigeria was executing a digital identity ecosystem project endorsed in September 2018 by the Federal Executive Council, the highest decision-making organ of government.

Laying bare the grand plan by the government in his paper titled ‘Digital Identity the Cornerstone to Effective Service Delivery’, Engr. Aziz revealed that the “Strategic Roadmap Vision is to reach universal coverage of robust digital identification in Nigeria” by applying an ecosystem approach of enrolling citizens of all ages and legal residents within the set timeframe.

“The ecosystem approach of enrolment will constitute trusted partners, and a pay-per-play model for successful enrolments,” Engr. Aziz said, adding that “the purpose of the ecosystem approach is to leverage existing capabilities and enrolment facilities of government agencies, partners and private sector operators in Nigeria, as opposed to building new ones.”