Rwanda digital ID initiative advances with 1.5 million enrollments

Almost 1.5 million citizens have completed every stage of the ongoing registration for Rwanda’s digital ID. Officials of the National Identification Authority (NIDA) disclosed the figures recently.

In addition to the nearly 1.5 million people who have completed the registration, there are more than 1.69 million others who are yet to complete the biometric capture stage, many of them children, The New Times reports.

For children below 16, authorities require the consent of their parents or guardians before full enrollment can be done. The biometrics collected include face, iris and fingerprints.

Enrolment for the digital ID started in October last year, but the exercise unfolded mostly in the southern parts of the country. By November, NIDA said more than 300,000 people had completed the registration process.

On February 6, NIDA wrote on its X account that the exercise was to commence in Kigali on February 7, and will run for weeks. “Let us all gather at the designated sectors allocated providing these services,” the ID authority urged citizens. Enrollment is taking place at several designated cell and sector offices of NIDA.

Apart from Rwandan citizens, legal residents, other minority groups such as forcibly displaced and stateless persons, are also participating in the digital ID enrollment.

The government says it wants to build an inclusive digital ID system that will not only extend legal and digital ID to every person on its territory, but also make it easier for them to have access to all the important services they need in their daily lives.

For citizens, the document required during digital ID enrollment is a physical copy of their current physical ID, birth certificates for children, a valid residence permit and passport for foreigners living in the country, an administrative letter signed by three witnesses for migrants and stateless persons, and a refugee ID for refugees who have one, or a proof of registration for those in the process of obtaining it.

Part of the Rwanda Digital Acceleration Project (RDAP), the digital ID project is estimated at $57 million, is a major aspect of the country’s digital transformation journey.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  National Identification Authority (NIDA)  |  Rwanda