By Yahaya Umar
Federal government will harvest data of Nigerians on the Nigerian Interbank Settlement
System ,NIBBS, National Identity Number ,NIN, issued by the National Identity Management Commission ,NIMC, for the development of the Digital Public Infrastructure ,DPI.
This was revealed in a document titled, ‘Nigerian Digital Public Infrastructure ,DPI, framework which was made available to AljazirahNigeria .
DPI refers to a set of digital systems established by the Nigerian government to enable citizens to access essential public services online securely and efficiently, including key components like digital identity verification and payment systems.
The document disclosed that the National Information Technology Development Agency ,NITDA, will issue regulations and guidelines for coherent access to Nigeria’s national DPI and Data Exchange.
It also said that the DPI will use NIN, Interbank Settlement System ,NIBBS, and the Shared Services Infrastructure of Galaxy Backbone ,GBB, Ltd” as its backbone.
The document said, “In Nigeria today, the Nigerian National Identification Number ,NIN, can be accessed through standard APIs provided by NIMC.
“The NIN APIs are used for e-KYC and are generally acknowledged as Nigeria’s most comprehensive and trusted citizens database.
“The NIN is mandatory for consuming several e-government services, such as issuing a Nigerian passport, driver’s licence, and SIM cards to access mobile telecom networks in Nigeria, etc.
“The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System ,NIBSS, offers a robust payment infrastructure that leverages the Bank Verification Number ,BVN, and other infrastructure to facilitate payments in Nigeria”.
The document further disclosed that to achieve the objective of functional DPI in Nigeria, an implementing mechanism and framework must be set up.
It said the Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy ,FMCIDE, will
establish a Nigerian Digital Public Infrastructure Centre ,Ng-DPIC, as Nigeria’s implementing hub for DPI.
According to the framework, the centre will coordinate, educate, communicate and liaise with Federal, State and sub-federal agencies to achieve coordinated implementation and harmonisation of DPI systems in Nigeria.
