The Imperativeness of a Harmonized National Identity Management System in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria's identity management ecosystem has long been fragmented, with multiple agencies issuing various forms of identification. This leads to duplication and inefficiencies that may give rise to security vulnerabilities. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) was established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007 to, among other things, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database in Nigeria. Specifically, Section 5(a) of the NIMC Act, 2007, empowers the Commission to harmonise and integrate all databases in government institutions in Nigeria. Despite the efforts of the government to achieve this objective, it is observed that various agencies of governments, such as the National Population Commission, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the National Pension Commission, among others, still maintain disparate databases and are yet to be fully harmonised or linked. A central concern is the huge expenditure incurred annually by the several agencies in repeated data collection when it can be effectively served by a centralised system. Consequently, this policy brief provides insights on the need to harmonise and integrate all identity databases into a centrally-managed identity management system. The brief concluded by recommending that: i. The National Assembly may, as part of its oversight function, summon the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to account for the weak implementation of Section 5(a) of it Act (NIMC Act, 2007) which mandates the Commission to harmonise and integrate all databases across all agencies of government; and ii. The National Assembly may amend the NIMC Act extending the Commission’s powers from not only harmonising and integrating all the available databases but to also warehouse the harmonised and integrated database on a platform that can be accessed by other relevant agencies like the Nigeria Immigrations Service, NPC, NHIA, FIRS, National Pension Commission, INEC, FRSC and CBN etc.