The World Bank’s Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, has revealed plans to work with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure a smooth implementation and registration process for digital national IDs for all Nigerians.
Chaudhuri said the goal is to issue digital national IDs to at least 148 million working-age individuals by mid-2024, promoting inclusivity and accessibility.
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Chaudhuri made the announcement during a Friday dinner event with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in Abuja.
He further said the organisation’s commitment to eradicating poverty, improving lives, and creating job opportunities is for the country’s youth.
Chaudhuri emphasiseds the potential of leveraging digital technologies to drive transformation and outlined two key areas of partnership with Nigeria to achieve these goals.
He said: “Our main mission here in Nigeria is to eliminate poverty, make lives better, create jobs for all Nigerian youth. One of the areas that we think have the greatest potential is the area of using digital technologies to transform. Now to do that it begins with having this digital national ID.
“So one of the main partnerships we have is working with NIMC to ensure the rollout of the registration so that all 213/220million Nigerians have a digital national ID, beginning, of course, with all people of working age and I think the target for that is at least 148 million people by the middle of next year.
“The second is helping Nigeria lead the broadband infrastructure for broadband connectivity because Without broadband connectivity, digital technologies will lead to a digital divide.”
Also, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, revealed that the government has secured approximately half a billion dollars to initiate a local funding program.
This initiative, he said, aims to boost innovation and entrepreneurship within the country’s digital sector.
Tijani outlined the government’s plan to domicile local funding in Nigeria and ensure that it benefits genuine Nigerian businesses, adding that it will collaborate with the Bank of Industry.
The minister assured the public that the initial half a billion dollars announced for local funding is just the beginning.
He stressed that more investors will be on board, increasing the funds available to support Nigerian innovators.