How would you rate Nigeria’s National Identity Database vis-à-vis data security and protection issues given the recent development?
Surprisingly, a lot has been done in a short space of time. Nigeria is actually at the forefront of enhancing Consent and Data Privacy. We just need to tidy up a few loose ends. We are currently, believe it or not, the envy of some developed economies, who wonder how Nigeria could have come up with a system that puts the NIN holder first. We just need to fine-tune some issues, and we will establish great relevance in the world of identity management and user consent.
How secure is the Nigeria digital identity database given the issues of ID authentication, consent management and verification?
That is a question for the government to answer. Any response I give may not be a fair one.
UrbanID is involved in ID systems globally but with key concerns for developing economies like Nigeria. What is UrbanID’s focus on getting Nigeria to be topmost in data privacy as a benchmark for other nations?
It’s about time Nigeria took the lead on a few positive things, especially in technology. What we have been privileged to have helped Nigeria accomplish, including Africa’s first MobileID ecosystem: last count 23 million users as well as one of the most advanced user consent systems based on Privacy by Design and zero-knowledge proof technologies, with a healthy dose of public key cryptography.
There is so much more work to be done, to get our functional IDs to work seamlessly with the foundational one, ensure strict one-person, one-identity compliance, and more. Are we there yet? No. Is Nigeria on the path? Absolutely! Let’s not relent or rollback.
How can Nigeria key into the digitalisation goal and implement full digitalisation of governance?
What governments need to do is focus on treating citizens and legal residents as customers whose needs come first.
No environment or country is perfect – there are always flaws and issues. But where we take customer service delivery as paramount, and self-last, a government will be so highly praised, that even where it has flaws, they will be overlooked.
Respect for citizens’ concerns, rights and privileges is so very important, just like fuel for a vehicle is. I also suggest that we adopt a system of rewarding public servants, who prioritise resolving customer’s needs. Nigeria is not unique in this regard.
We also advise several other governments, and see a varying degree of interaction between the general public and public servants. It is very doable. The Nigerian Government at the time of writing, is making great strides and effort to attend to these concerns and should be given a chance to erase any mistrust of the past.
Transformational projects such as the National Identity Scheme have an average of 30 per cent success rate, globally. How will you rate the Nigerian journey so far?
The journey of a thousand kilometres starts with the first step (or turn of the wheel). Let’s keep it up. Successive governments should take up the baton from the past one, and do better, rather than simply discard what was working and replace it. That’s like beginning a race all over again. The next folks will come in and repeat the process.
I wish the government well. Let the process be led by them, not by the interests of vendors. I would include myself in this. I am just speaking as a Nigerian!
The technology used in identity biometrics has evolved significantly over the years from smart cards to digital ID apps that can run on mobiles and blockchain systems. How swift is Nigeria in this area?
Technology should be an enabler for simplifying use cases. Whilst there is a need for physical identity tokens, the support infrastructure is fragile and very capital-intensive. eID cards and payment cards (popularly known as ATM Cards) may look alike, but their implementation, issuance and lifecycle are different.
Having designed Nigeria’s first eID Card back in 2012-13 and overseen the deployment of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to support it, I am acutely aware of the issues contained therein. The world (for good reason) is trending towards very secure MobileIDs and in increasing cases, mobile Drivers’ licence specifications (mDL), all to use technology to achieve a low total cost of ownership, simplify ID updates and features without the need to replace physical documents. I could give a myriad of examples, but I think the point is clear.
For now, if Nigeria opts to go back down the road of physical cards, I wouldn’t say it’s wrong. But simply discarding 23 million issued and functional mobileIDs and secure documents in favour of identity smartCards, when both can run in parallel, I think is not the way to go. I may be wrong, but I doubt it. Time will tell.
What should be the ideal ID system for an emerging economy like Nigeria?
There are international standards and best practices that it can tap into. A hybrid of digital IDs and physical cards with a proper public key infrastructure and card lifecycle management system are necessary technologies. Training and technology transfer are key to customer services.
With Nigeria’s population growth rate at an average 2.4 per cent, what is the concern about the country’s identity management system since the enrolment of citizens requires huge capital?
My short response: tighten enrolment systems, retrain enrolment staff, enhance identification of enrollees to reduce chances of a person obtaining multiple identities, and spend money where needed. The rest will sort itself out.
Will you consider BVN an appropriate tool for the national social register?
The BVN is a functional ID, designed for the fintech industry and has worked pretty well until now. Extending the BVN, however, beyond that sector, especially to rival the National Identification Number (NIN), is a recipe for trouble. The NIN is a foundational ID, which in itself needs to be protected. It is not meant to be shared willy-nilly under the umbrella of “mandatory use of the NIN”.
Likewise, for a national social register, a functional ID needs to be created, which will be linked directly to the NIN, but should not be the raw NIN and most certainly not the BVN.
Issues in payment and access to finance have been linked to poor national identification systems.
To what extent will you consider the new eID as the ultimate solution?
From the experience of Nigeria and other countries, physical ID Cards alone are not a solution. Certainly not where we have limited support infrastructure. I won’t say much on the topic. Time will tell.
What exactly is the difference between the current digital ID system and the eID?
Digital ID systems make heavy use of Smartphones and technologies that do not require physical cards to deploy credible tokens for personal identity. A very good case is the U.S. where most states have physical driver’s licences, but are now being integrated into Smartphones, adopting mobile driver’s licence standards such as ISO 18013-5.
eID is generally electronic ID smart cards containing a chip, and maybe contact, contactless or dual interface cards. The eID infrastructure is great, if properly deployed, very secure, but very, very capital intensive.
Why do you think it is so difficult to track criminals despite advances in our identity management system?
The answer is to adopt inter-agency cooperation and collaboration. Every problem has a solution. If we are ready to solve these challenges, it’s not hard. Some countries link healthcare, banking, property rental and purchase, and so much more, to the foundational ID. If Nigeria wishes to solve the problem, it’s not a theory that will solve it. All hands on deck, collaboration between agencies without one believing they are superior to the other, and the solution will magically appear.
But so long as turf protection exists, individuals within and without the country will continue to exploit our weaknesses.
There are challenges in our system with several silos collecting data on Nigerians; what will be your expert suggestion in eliminating this practice and harmonising the various databases?
As mentioned earlier, turf protection is our biggest challenge. A key outtake of this is the silos you mention. The establishment of an independent Government Cloud, and an enabling environment where stakeholder agencies contribute to its evolution, and we will get there.
How do you compare Nigeria’s National Identity Management System presently with that of other developing nations?
Over the past 12 years, Nigeria has taken very bold steps. Back in November 2013, it issued one of the most sophisticated eID Cards in the world. Alas, Government support for the infrastructure was missing, and eventually, the ID agency was not able to maintain the issuance bureau or purchase much-needed high-performance card printing machines.
The issuance of cards for free was also a challenge for companies that had installed the capacity to personalise those cards. The sticky point was how they would be paid. So, it eventually died.
Between 2020 and 2024, Nigeria led Africa with the issuance of MobileIDs, taking advantage of the very enviable spread of Smartphones in the Country, and creating an enabling environment for their use. Alas, public awareness was lacking. That 23m MobileIDs were even issued is a testament to the power of word of mouth. All these developments were by 100% local talent – and it worked! Accolades around the world again. Yet, it would seem the trend is now to go back to physical cards.
The World Bank had also advised against the issuance of physical cards, which were to a large extent, very reliant on foreign expertise. Nigeria does not produce components or the operating systems they rely on. Those foreign vendors with specialist skills will provide invoices to the government in their native currency (USD or Euro). They want our money, but not our currency. In other words, they want our naira, but not in naira. So, where the value of the naira since 2012 has dropped from N160: $1 to N1700: $1, the rest speaks for itself.
