The World Bank has expressed satisfaction with Nigeria’s performance in the competition to guarantee the digital identification of its citizens via the Nigeria Identity for National Development (ID4D) initiative.
In a report released yesterday, the bank stated that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is making progress and that the country’s current state of affairs in Nigeria is adequate.
By June 2024, NIMC is anticipated to have provided 148 million Nigerians with their National Identification Number (NIN) as part of the ID4D initiative. According to the most recent data provided, 104.16 million Nigerian individuals have received NINs from the Identity Commission.
“NIMC is making satisfactory progress,” the World Bank stated in a report released on March 29. It was mentioned that the project’s development goal is to raise the number of people who have a national ID number that is provided by a strong, inclusive foundational ID system that makes it easier for them to access services.
The bank stated that in response to the data protection law’s passage, NIMC is presently striving to fulfill the two disbursement requirements that remain, which should be completed by January 2024 and June 2024, respectively.
According to the report, on February 18, 2020, the World Bank approved the ID4D project in Nigeria, and it went into force on December 14, 2021.
The actual mid-term review date was October 2, 2023, whereas the scheduled date was September 29, 2024. The amended closing date and the original closing date are June 30, 2024.
The World Bank noted that NIMC has updated its Android enrollment software, which would cut the enrollment period, and highlighted some of the project’s milestones.
According to the newspaper, “Among other features of the upgrade, updates include the reduction of the enrolment fields to 10 minimal fields and the introduction of two-factor authentication for enrolment officers.”
The project has shortened the registration period and forged partnerships with civil society and humanitarian organizations to guarantee the inclusive recruitment of women.
“Enrollment figures increased to 45 million from 15 million at the project’s inception, representing 59.4% of the intended female enrollment.”
A child enrollment use case and school-based enrolment campaigns, which were tested during test phase enrolments, are features of the finished upgrade.
“The total child enrollment reached 16 million, which is 31.1% of the targeted child enrolment, from almost nothing at the project’s inception.”
The 2019-started ID4D project is funded in part by a $115 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA), in addition to co-financing of $215 million from the European Investment Bank and $100 million from the French Agency for Development.
As of April 30, 2023, $35.6 million has been disbursed for the project’s implementation, according to the World Bank, which oversaw the project and handled the loans. In the meantime, Nigerians must pay the fees established by NIMC to change the information on their National Identity Number (NIN). Nigerians must now spend up to N16,000 to update their date of birth on the NIN. This came after NIMC released a mobile application that allowed Nigerians to update their NIN profiles, including their name, date of birth, and phone numbers.
Over the weekend, NIMC disclosed via its official X handle that customers can now update phone numbers, dates of birth, and incorrectly registered names using a recently released mobile app. Users can join up for the service via the app or the website. After that, before using the data modification tool, users must provide their email address, last name, and NIN.
Seven days after users complained about technical difficulties with the mobile app, NIMC announced different fees for different self-service options to change data, including name, age, date of birth, phone number, and email address connected to the NIN. Previously, NIMC had not specified a fee for data modifications.
As of right now, you have to spend N1,522.5 for Name Correction, N16,340 for Date of Birth Correction, N1,522.5 for Address Correction, and N1,522.5 for Email Correction to correct personal data on the NIMC App.
