The Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission

(NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Aziz, has identified seven key conditions

necessary to unlock opportunities and potential in Nigeria’s digital

market.

In a paper he presented at the just concluded eNigeria conference,

Engr. Aziz stated that Nigeria must establish “the right regulatory

and industry policies to encourage infrastructure investment in

digital infrastructure” such as “communications networks (broadband,

mobile telecoms, Internet, online e-government and services) and smart

cities.”

According to him, the government must “create a stable, predictable

and sustainable policy/commercial environment that allows businesses

to flourish” a step that will help in unlocking the country’s digital

market thereby allowing the economy to grow.

Although Nigeria’s population currently at almost 200 million,

presents a huge potential, Engr. Aziz argues that government needs to

put in place focused programmes to “stimulate demand for digital

solutions through the promotion of digital skills, digital local

content and support for local digital applications” for the

opportunities to be fully harnessed.

Speaking further, he said government needs to “encourage and implement

digital services across all sectors of the economy,” and “establish

economy platforms such as ecommerce, online markets, and

entrepreneurship ecosystem” thereby encourage “tech-enabled businesses

to turn creativity into value-creating online businesses.”

His words: “We must introduce digital literacy in our school

curriculum (primary, secondary, etc.) as this will bring about digital

skill critical for digital interaction.”

Over all, Engr. Aziz said the provision of “digital identity to

everyone in the country – thereby proving ‘who is who’ is “critical to

accessing services physically or electronically.”

Stressing on identification, which is the main responsibility and

mandate of NIMC, Engr. Aziz reminded the audience that one of the 17

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the United Nations set out as

blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all,

demands that nations provide legal identity for all including birth

registration by the year 2030.

“From the above, it is very clear that identification plays an

important role in enabling the achievement of other SDG targets, such

as social protection, rights to economic resources, land and property

as well as universal health coverage,” he stated.

As a strategy to fast-track the enrolment of citizens and provide them

legal identification, NIMC has stepped up its operations, which has

seen the enrolment figure with the unique National Identification

Number (NIN) now at over 33 million, astronomically up from just seven

million three years ago.

On September 12, 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved

the immediate commencement of the implementation of a strategic

roadmap for Digital Identity Ecosystem in Nigeria, a step that will

further boost enrolment across the country, more so as government has

set the enforcement of the mandatory use of the NIN for January 1,

2019.

The digital identity Ecosystem is a framework that leverages on the

existing capabilities and infrastructure of distinct government

agencies and private sector organisations to carry out enrolment of

Nigerians and Legal residents into the National Identity Database

(NIDB) as well as issuance of the Digital identity, known as the NIN

to give Nigeria a credible and robust identity management system.