SIM cards: NIN policy and Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem

The financial institutions and information and telecommunication sectors recorded a 28.4% growth this year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. These are by far, the healthiest parts of our economy with a sizable contribution to the country’s GDP and employment.

However, with Nigeria’s worsening insecurity situation (epitomised by the ever-expanding kidnapping economy) and a new resolve to drive digital identity, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced that all SIM cards without an associated National Identity Number (NIN) will be deactivated after 30th December 2020. This announcement came to me as both shocking and absurd for two reasons. One is the clear impracticability of the deadline, and the other is the sheer economic damage this enforcement will cause.

• Nigerians decry suffering at NIN registration centres
• SIM cards: NIN policy and Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem

We must note that according to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), only 42 million Nigerians have their National Identification Numbers (NIN). Even if we argue that all these 42 million NIN carriers are active and unique mobile subscribers, that number is still hard of half of the 100 million unique mobile subscribers of a total 200 million active lines in the country.  This essentially means that over 50 million Nigerians will have to be enrolled in the National Identity register in two weeks. From a logistical point of view and with a resurging COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the imminent festive season, meeting this deadline is not only impossible but delusional.

On the other hand, what do you reckon will be the economic effect of blocking half the 200 million active GSM lines in the country? The telecommunications sector could be looking at up to N1 billion in revenue loss, every day. That 28.4 per cent growth in the fin-tech and telecommunications sector will certainly plummet to nothing within such a short period. This is not counting the softer, socio-economic costs of this abrupt policy, which will see further millions of lives adversely affected including unforeseen levels of the digital divide and access to finance.

The issue of identification is a global issue, with over a billion people in the developing world lacking any form of identification whether paper or digital. This is a major cause of issues like financial exclusion because without a way to authenticate or verify a person, in most countries a person may be unable to open a bank account among many other financial services.  In Nigeria, the idea for a unified identification system has recently taken centre stage in our national and economic discussions and policies. But even now, you register to get a bank account and you register again, afresh, to vote in an election, or to buy a SIM card for your mobile and to access healthcare services where that is available. This poor identification system not only spells hardship for citizens but also makes it difficult for Nigeria to collect taxes and ensure security or deploy social programs.

Being a digital technology entrepreneur myself, and grappling with the challenges of digital identity in the majority of my customers who are smallholder farmers, I am fully aware of the miracle inclusive development, safety and ease that could be brought about by stronger National Identification numbers whether paper or digital but especially digital. Digital identities refer to a set or collection of electronic attributes that uniquely describe a person within a given context, especially used for electronic transactions. A digital identity system connotes the various processes and micro-systems that manage the lifecycle of individual digital identities. The attributes in a digital identity of a person may vary ranging from biographic data to biometric data and other pieces of information relating to work, income or public knowledge.  Together, these attributes tell us who a person is and enable us to authenticate who a person claims to be.

The hard truth to face is that addressing the identity gaps in most countries is essential for inclusive development. The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations reflects this need for a sustained effort of the countries of the world, especially the developing ones in addressing the identity gap. Moreover, because of the national security aspect of digital identity, a large extent of the work must be undertaken by national governments with the inevitable involvement of private companies because of their role as the major drivers of the digital economy. Besides, private companies constantly need to validate the identities of their users usually with official, national forms of identification.

Thus, it is in the interest of both private firms and governments to promote robust digital identity systems and for effective identification and authentication of people for various applications, functions and services.  Also, there usually exists some kind of interdependency where governments for instance outsource some parts of their identity management to private firms like systems development. This public-private collaboration usually results in a digital identity ecosystem.

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has a formidable Digital Identity Ecosystem framework, detailing how the commission will work with public and private service-providing partners to create an enabling environment for the effective and efficient mass enrolment of Nigerians and legal residents in Nigeria into a centralised, secure National Identity Database where digital identities are issued to everyone in the form of the National Identification Number (NIN). According to NIMC’s website, “The initiative aims to improve identity authentication of citizens and make all identity-related transactions safe within and outside the country.”

According to the World Bank, stakeholders must consider the existing identity landscape, the capacity of government systems, and the ability of the private sector to provide the required level of security and privacy protection when choosing an appropriate model for digital identity infrastructure and services. I don’t believe NCC’s new two-week ultimatum, (which is fast elapsing) is compliant with these or any other standards for that matter, not to talk of the devastating economic and social implications it may cause. I hope the NCC extends this deadline and helps implement the more realistic and practical (already existing) NIMC Digital Identity Ecosystem programme.

Mahmud Jega is unavoidably absent this week.