Financial Inclusion Consultant, Femi Akande has asserted that Nigeria’s digital identity system will help address problems affecting the delivery ofgovernment cash transfers, arguing that the technology is designed to verify beneficiaries rather than process payments.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Akande said the system uses biometric identification to establish the identity of beneficiaries before governmentservices are delivered. He also said it can operate without an internet connection, addressing concerns about poorconnectivity and the reliability of existing payment systems.
“It will actually solve the problem. Because you’re thinking payment. It’s not a payment system. This is an identitysystem. So the first thing it does is that it queries your identity using your fingerprint before it delivers the services.”
He said the country had an identity crisis because the National Identification Number (NIN) was not being widely used,while the Bank Verification Number (BVN) had been treated as an identity document. “The second thing, to your point, is that we do have an identity crisis in the country, because even though we have theNIN, the NIN wasn’t being utilised by anybody. It was BVN. And the truth is, BVN is not an identity too. It’s simply a digital number that links you to your bank account.”
Akande explained that the BVN only connects customers to their bank accounts and does not establish who is carrying out atransaction.
“If you give me your bank card and you give me your PIN, and I give it to the POS to do the transaction, thesystem says that you have done the transaction, but in actual fact, I didn’t.”
He explained that the infrastructure needed to support the new identity system had recently been built and was expectedto be launched in December. “It’s just been built. And hopefully, sometime in December, it will be launched. It’s nearly enabled.”
Akande emphasised that the said the system would allow beneficiaries to use their NIN for identification and receive digital confirmation of thegrants they collect. “It’s nearly enabled. And what it does is that it allows you to use your NIN to be identified, and then also gives you adigital confirmation of whatever grantees that you are receiving.”
He also said the system would not depend on internet connectivity and that the people responsible for distributing thefunds would be registered within the same system. “And it doesn’t work with internet. It actually works without connectivity.”
Asked whether human involvement in the distribution process could still create opportunities for diversion. “Yes, but the person is also registered with their name. So within that ecosystem, name is the unique verifier. Nobodyprocesses any transaction without their name.”
Akande said the infrastructure was part of a wider digital public infrastructure initiative aimed at addressing the lack of trust ingovernment service delivery. “The primary focus of a digital public infrastructure is to address the digital trust issue, right? Without that infrastructure,we’re simply not going to trigger. We’re not going to find solutions. And we’re not going to have any type of process thathas traceability and transparency.”
The consultant also defended the progress made by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). “First thing is that before 2023, the back end was a hundred million back end. That was fully subscribed, and that backend was going to fall over.
So the new director general of NIMSY has done an incredible job by stabilising that back end and expanding it beyond200 million.”
He gave figures to illustrate the gap between the number of people registered for different forms of identification, sayingNigeria had 69 million BVNs and 140 million NINs. “Today, there are only 69 million BVNs. There’s 140 million NINs. And NIMSE has a target of 180 million BVNs. So ineffect, there’s 110 million people in this country.”
On concerns about the reliability of the new system, including reports of difficulties validating identification details, he said. “What we do need is a public key infrastructure, right? That allows you to use your digital signature to verify yourself.And on the other side, it decrypts that number without the person having access to that number. That is really where weneed to go.”
Akande acknowledged that the system still had limitations but expressed confidence that it would improve. “The system is not foolproof today, but it will be foolproof tomorrow.”
The consultant also argued that Nigeria should prioritise building digital records of its population before conductinganother national census. “Personally, I don’t believe we need a census.
“What I believe we do is to digitally identify as many people as we can. Once we have a digital record of those people,even if it’s only 50 million, then in five years, we then go to those digital records and then do a census. I think doing thecensus before doing a digital count is putting the cart before the horse.”
Akande said the Auditor-General’s report cited during the discussion covered 2021 and 2022, before the currentadministration took office.
“So the Auditor General’s report was a 2023 report, which was speaking to 2022 and 2021. It has nothing to do with 2023and beyond. It was pre-this government.”
He acknowledged that the previous administration had problems with the management of humanitarian programmes. “And we do know that there was a lot of mismatch and mismanagement under the previous government, right?”
The consultant agreed that the government needed to provide clear information about who receives the funds and howthey are distributed.
“So whatever government does, unless and until the matter is resolved, Nigerians will still be sceptical.” And until government is able to present on a very discreet, who is receiving, where they’re receiving, howthey’re receiving, the public trust will still be very discreet.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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