BEVERLY HILLS, August 31, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government of Nigeria has effected the transfer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
The NIMC came into existence to create, manage, maintain and operate the National Identity Database as established by the NIMC Act, 2007. It is, therefore, tasked with the responsibility of operating and regulating all matters of national identity in the country and covers services for the legal enrolment, issuance and authentication of the National Identity Number (NIN) and e-ID cards. It is the only body that assigns a unique identity number to citizens and issues General Multi-Purpose Cards (GMPC) to those who are citizens as well as any legal resident in the country. A pivotal part of their mandate was the harmonisation and authentication of data collected on Nigerians by most government agencies but which were in disparate silos and therefore of not much use to the government. Since it began, around 41 million eligible Nigerians have enrolled into NIN and have been registered by the Commission. The administration has shown that it considers the NIN as both a social security number and a civil number. With the data gathered in the process, it hopes to implement its economic planning and social intervention plans where the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) is concerned.
In the statement effecting the transfer, the rationale for the action was specific: to ensure that synergy in data gathering and protection is maintained while effective ministry supervisory mechanism is put in place to coordinate, monitor and track the progress of the government’s digital transformation initiatives.
It has been the administration’s objective to attain a more digital and data-based economy. This was the basis for establishing the NDEPS for a Digital Nigeria which has seen the successful deployment of more than 250 digital projects across the length and breadth of the country.
However, due to the requirement for synergy among data-collecting parastatals of the government and the necessity for supervisory oversight, this move of NIMC became essential for the realisation of the government’s objectives. For instance, there are agencies of government which have data gathering roles that are related to the work of NIMC and which are under the direct supervision of the Ministry.
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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that is the independent national regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry and responsible for providing qualitative and efficient telecommunications services, has details of more than 191 million mobile subscribers in its database. Other agencies of government with data-intensive operations include the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) whose responsibility it is to create frameworks for planning, research, development, standardisation, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices in Nigeria. It is also the regulator for the Nigerian IT sector and the clearing house of IT projects in the country while developing local capacity in ICT. The NITDA has developed and implemented the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) which is the first codified data protection regulation in Nigeria. It has also reached an advanced stage of implementation of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) which is the framework of encryption and cybersecurity that protects communications between web servers and users in the country. Another agency is the Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) the information technology and shared services provider for the government. It is charged with providing a platform for connectivity and other infrastructure services for all government ministries, departments and agencies. It meets government’s need for Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service.
What this move by government in transferring the NIMC to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy sorts out is the need for these data-focussed agencies to work closely together under the supervisory capacity of the Ministry towards harnessing their collective responsibilities and roles in the direction of the objectives set out by government for a digital economy.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
