The World Bank has allocated $45.5 million to Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission as part of the Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project.
According to the World Bank’s implementation report, the money was disbursed in multiple tranches between December 2021 and April 2024, with the process still ongoing.
In February 2020, the Bretton Woods Institute approved $430 million for the project, with $45.5 million allocated, representing approximately 10.5% of the entire project cost, according to The Punch.
The project is co-funded by the World Bank’s International Development Association ($115 million), the French Agency for Development ($100 million), and the European Investment Bank ($215 million).
“This will enable people in Nigeria, especially marginalised groups, to access welfare-enhancing services. The project will also enhance the ID system’s legal and technical safeguards to protect personal data and privacy,” the World Bank said in a statement.
The effort intends to increase the number of Nigerians registered in the National Identification Number system.
Despite the project’s June 1, 2024 objective to enroll 148 million Nigerians in NIN, the country is lagging.
According to NIMC Director General Abisoye Coker-Odusote, the number of NINs has increased to 107.34 million in May, up from 104 million in December 2023.
The World Bank described the project’s success as ‘moderately satisfactory,’ with NIMC reporting that 107.3 million NINs had been issued by April of this year.
Recall it was reported in April that NIMC and IDEMIA Smart Identification, a digital identification startup, had decided to renew their long-term partnership to update NIMC’s biometrics.
This aims to have 200 million Nigerians enrolled in the National Identification Number system by 2025.
“As of today, over 105 million NINs have been issued to Nigerians and legal residents. We want to assure Nigerians that within the next one or two years, we will reach our target of enrolling all Nigerians,” the commission said in a statement.
According to Smile Identity’s KYC research, the average daily downtime for national ID databases in Africa in 2022 was 6%.
The digital ID project has potential, but obstacles remain in properly managing data and preserving the integrity of the identity system to prevent fraud and underage registrations.
