Nigeria to strengthen digital ID enrollment operations to ease access to govt services

The acting director general of Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, has expressed her determination to improve conditions under which Nigerians register for the National Identification Number (NIN), saying a strengthened and streamlined system will increase the number of registrants and ease the way government and private sector services are delivered.

In a recent statement cited by This Day, Odusote said she was ready to fix the problems associated with issuance of the NIN, the national e-ID, along with identity verification and data harmonization and authentication services.

Shortly after she was appointed to the role last month, there were overwhelming calls for the new NIMC head to swing into action by not only removing the hurdles facing digital ID enrollment, but by also expanding the biometric registration process to many hard-to-reach communities in the country.

In her recent outing, Odusote also stressed the importance of a unified digital ID system, which she says is capable of driving Nigeria’s digital economy ambitions.

“Integrated identity is the backbone of e-governance initiatives as it provides an enabling environment for key government programmes of social safety net, financial inclusion, as well as for companies that want to provide innovative products and services to people,” said Odusote as quoted by This Day.

She noted that such an integrated system will not only enhance the federal government’s fiscal management policy, it will equally “promote good governance and transparency through inclusivity and social equality, as it ensures that marginalised and vulnerable populations are not excluded from government services.”

While assuring Nigerians that the NIMC will deliver on its promise of accompanying President Bola Tinubu in his poverty alleviation efforts, Coker reiterated the fact that the issuance of the NIN is free of charge.

Odusote also pledged, among other things that, the hitherto long processing periods and administrative bottlenecks and errors related to the NIN issuance, will henceforth be a thing of the past.

The assurances from the NIMC CEO come just days after the ID-issuing authority revealed that the number of digital ID enrollments had climbed to 102.39 million as of August 28.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  digital government  |  digital ID  |  identity management  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria