37m Nigerians Captured In Central Identity Data Base – VP Osinbajo

BY UKANDI ODEY, JOS – Following the harmonization of processes within government bodies and the federal government’s commitment to digital capture of all its citizens and legal residents, 37 million Nigerians have so far been captured in the Central Identity Data base.
Speaking as the special guest of honour during the graduation ceremony of the Senior Executive Course 41 of the elite National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, in Jos, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, also said that the aggregation of information from various sources and its use in predicting consumer behaviour or the present and future needs of communities is crucial to planning.
He said; “For us as government, we recognise the potential benefits to government from the capacity for better forecasting, to greater accuracy with budgetary planning, enhanced security by overcoming the challenges of anonymity, and especially for citizen empowerment through the ability to bring more of the excluded populace into an inclusive economic participation through digital identification,” Osinbajo further explained.
Pointing out that Government’s efforts will culminate in civil registration of births and deaths, the Vice President also noted that Government has planned to adopt an approach similar to “the Indian Adhaaar Model” which aims to provide all Nigerians with a unique identity by leveraging on the existing enrolment facilities of Government agencies such as the Immigration, to enforce the enrolment of all Nigerians for the National Identity Number (NIN).
According to Osinbajo, “with a reliable data base of all Nigerians, we are positioned to attain our aspirations for financial inclusion, delivery of social programmes to the remotest parts of the country, and the creation of more effective e-commerce opportunities”.
Osinbajo also said that President Buhari’s vision for the Nigeria’s youth population is clear and simple, adding that all Nigerians can access a range of opportunities to improve their skills and meaningfully participate in productive and gainful existence, either in employment or entrepreneurship.
Osinbajo said that the emerging global economy is driven by digital technology and information, adding that this realisation is the basis for why the primary school curriculum has been revised to include technology, engineering, science, mathematics, and arts to encourage in-class skills development.
Vice President Osinbajo, who congratulated the members of the NIPSS Senior Executive Course 41 for their quality, generally urged the Institute to move away from being a “think-tank” and become a
“do-tank”.
The one-year Senior Executive Course 41 was supported by the development Research and Projects Centre, under the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale.