World Bank country director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, says the multilateral lender is collaborating with the federal government to ensure the successful rollout and registration of digital national IDs for all Nigerians.
Chaudhuri spoke at a dinner, held in partnership with the ministry of communications and digital economy, in Abuja on Friday.
He said there is a huge potential in leveraging digital technologies that will go a long way in driving transformation.
“Our main mission here in Nigeria is to eliminate poverty, make lives better, create jobs for all Nigerian youth,” Chaudhuri said.
“One of the areas that we think have the greatest potential, is the area of using digital technologies to transform. Now, to do that, it begins with having this digital national ID.
“So, one of the main partnerships we have is working with National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure the rollout of the registration, so that all 220 million Nigerians have a digital national ID, beginning — of course — with all people of working age, and I think the target for that is at least 148 million people by the middle of next year.
“The second is helping Nigeria lead the broadband infrastructure for broadband connectivity because without broadband connectivity, digital technologies will lead to a digital divide.
“So, their support has been for good kinds of policies and regulations that will help invite private investment into this space and then fibre optic cables.”
Chaudhuri said the most challenging aspect in rolling out these infrastructures to all parts of Nigeria is for the fibre optic cables to have the right regulation so that private investors will see some return to service.
On his part, Bosun Tijani, minister of communications and digital economy, said the federal government has secured a $500 million loan for a local funding programme.
The minister said the initiative is aimed at boosting innovation and entrepreneurship within the country’s digital sector.
“We’ve got access to about half a billion dollars to start local funding,” he said.
Tijani said the government’s plan is to domicile local funding in Nigeria and ensure that it benefits true Nigerian businesses, adding that the ministry will be collaborating with the Bank of Industry (BoI).
He said by domiciling the funding locally, the government aims to foster the growth and development of homegrown enterprises, ultimately contributing to the country’s economic progress.
“We want to ensure that those businesses that will benefit are true, real Nigerian businesses,” the minister added.
“Part of my responsibilities is working with BOI to ensure that we domicile that funding locally in Nigeria, work with firms who manage and invest in businesses to ensure that those businesses that will benefit are true, real Nigerian businesses.
“What we are going to see is that the funding is available locally and in the coming months, it is going to become larger, and as these funds become larger, we want to leverage that money as well.
“So, the government is not just going to put half a billion and that’s it, it can actually bring more investors to heart as we have more money and more of our innovators can have access to resources.”