The Presidency has said it will
be needing an extra $3.1bn to achieve digital national identity for all
citizens.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,
disclosed this at a stakeholders’ Workshop on Strategic Roadmap for Digital
Identity, Eco-system in Nigeria.
Represented by Mr Lanre Osibona,
his Senior Special Assistant to the President on ICT, Osinbajo said a World
Bank research of 2015 showed that Nigeria spent 1.2 billion US dollars since
the 1970s on the project
He explained that the digital
identity ecosystem was aimed at having a basic data of all Nigerians, which
could be built upon by the functional identity stakeholders.
“This is over two years of
relentless effort to get to where we are today, the issue and challenges to
ensuring a successful national identity are many and they must be addressed
collectively.
“However, one thing I can assure
you of is that funding has never been one of those challenges.
“According to World Bank research
in 2015, Nigeria spent 1.2 billion dollars since the late 1970s but much work
remains undone.
“We are projected to spend an
additional 3.1 billion US dollars, if we are to follow the existence approach
of developing identification in Nigeria.
“The incredible benefit of this
programme is at stake and we must get it right this time,’’ Osinbajo said.
The vice president said further
that the major challenge facing identity programme was the lack of a working
record system and practical approaches.
He said changes had been made to
the process of enrolling on the digital national identity to ease the
procedure, which included reduction of identity attributes from 75 to 10.
Osinbajo emphasised on the gains
of the digital identity number, stating that the Federal Road Safety Corps
(FRSC) would easily enforce traffic offences through unified identity system.
He added that bank transaction
would also become easier, saying that the benefit derivable from the technology
cannot be quantified.
He said: “it covers over all
security benefits in an environment of current anonymity’’.
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