Okunoye, B. (2021). Digital Identity in Nigeria: Case study conducted as part of a ten-country exploration of socio-digital ID systems in parts of Africa<\/i> (Towards the Evaluation of Digital ID Ecosystems in Africa: Findings from Ten Countries) [Case study]. Research ICT Africa (RIA).<\/p>\n
Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n With the support of international partners such as the World Bank, the <\/span>French Agency for Development and the European Investment Bank, <\/span>Nigeria commenced its digital identity programme in 2007 with the <\/span>passage of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act. The <\/span>government had enrolled 56 million people by June 2021, with the stated <\/span>goals including improving security and harmonising existing databases <\/span>of government ministries, departments, and agencies towards increasing <\/span>government efficiency. Nevertheless, as with several other digital identity <\/span>projects in Africa, the implementation of Nigeria\u2019s digital identity project <\/span>has revealed gaps relating to the rights of people who enrol for the <\/span>digital identity, and whose digital identity data the system administers. <\/span>Considering potential rights infringements perpetuated by digital identity <\/span>programmes, this case study uses a Digital ID Evaluation Framework to <\/span>analyse and determine whether Nigeria\u2019s Digital ID programme upholds the <\/span>rights of enrolees in its implementation. The Evaluation Framework is used <\/span>to examine digital IDs with rule of law tests, rights-based tests, and risk-<\/span>based tests before making recommendations for stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n