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.
