Buhari sets up committee to create digital identity for all Nigerians

President Muhammadu Buhari has initiated a steering committee to drive the digital identification of Nigerians, which will be chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.

This was confirmed in a statement shared by a member of the committee, Dr. Joe Abah via his Twitter handle.

He added that the committee would seek to integrate other data held by the government including BVN, Driver’s License, passports and the National Identity Management Number.

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Mr President has appointed me into the Steering Committee to drive digital identification, chaired by the SGF. Our task is to give all Nigerians a digital identity within 5 years. We will integrate other data that govt holds, like BVN, drivers licence & passports, with NIMC’s NIN

— Dr. Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) July 17, 2020

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Last month, the government announced its push for the creation of a digital identity for development ecosystem. The aim of the project is to facilitate the development and implementation of a digital identity in Nigeria.

SGF, Boss Mustapha said the project, which was earlier approved by the FEC in 2018, is a compounding effort of collective works by government institutions and stakeholders since 2015, as Nigeria seeks to find a cost effective way to digital identity management.

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He added that the government merged a “three tier institutional arrangement” made up of a strategic unit, a steering committee, and a unit for implementation in the National Identity management Commission (NIMC), which will provide coordination and governance, working with stakeholders to implement a digital identification strategy.

The Digital identification drive will facilitate identity management in Nigeria and provide the government with data on Nigerians which would have been needed during the drive for palliatives for poor Nigerians during the pandemic and other areas of governance regarding data.