World Bank to partner Nigerian govt on digital national IDs

The World Bank will collaborate with the Federal Government to roll out digital national identity cards for Nigerians.

The World Bank Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, disclosed this at a dinner organised with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy on Friday in Abuja.

He said: “Our mission here in Nigeria is to eliminate poverty, make lives better, and 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.

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“So, one of the main partnerships we have is working with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure the rollout of the registration, so that all 220 million 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.”

In his remark, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said the federal government has secured a $500 million loan to support businesses in the digital sector.

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