Director-general, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Aziz, has identified seven key conditions necessary to unlock opportunities and potentials in Nigeria’s digital market.
In a paper he presented at the just concluded eNigeria conference, Engr. Aziz stated that Nigeria must establish “the right regulatory and industry policies to encourage infrastructure investment in digital infrastructure” such as “communications networks (broadband, mobile telecoms, Internet, online e-government and services) and smart cities.”
According to him, the government must “create a stable, predictable and sustainable policy/commercial environment that allows businesses to flourish” a step that will help in unlocking the country’s digital market thereby allowing the economy to grow.
Although Nigeria’s population currently at almost 200 million, presents a huge potential, Engr. Aziz argues that government needs to put in place focused programmes to “stimulate demand for digital solutions through the promotion of digital skills, digital local content and support for local digital applications” for the opportunities to be fully harnessed.
Speaking further, he said the government needs to “encourage and implement digital services across all sectors of the economy,” and “establish economy platforms such as e-commerce, online markets, and entrepreneurship ecosystem” thereby encourage “tech-enabled businesses to turn creativity into value-creating online businesses.
“We must introduce digital literacy in our school curriculum (primary, secondary, etc.) as this will bring about digital skill critical for digital interaction,” he said. Overall, Aziz said the provision of “digital identity to everyone in the country – thereby proving ‘who is who’ is “critical to accessing services physically or electronically.”
Stressing on identification, which is the main responsibility and mandate of NIMC, Aziz reminded the audience that one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the United Nations set out as blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, demands that nations provide legal identity for all including birth registration by the year 2030.
“From the above, it is very clear that identification plays an important role in enabling the achievement of other SDG targets, such as social protection, rights to economic resources, land and property as well as universal health coverage,” he stated.
As a strategy to fast-track the enrolment of citizens and provide them legal identification, NIMC has stepped up its operations, which has seen the enrolment figure with the unique National Identification Number (NIN) now at over 33 million, astronomically up from just seven million three years ago.
On September 12, 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the immediate commencement of the implementation of a strategic roadmap for Digital Identity Ecosystem in Nigeria, a step that will further boost enrolment across the country, more so as government has set the enforcement of the mandatory use of the NIN for January 1, 2019.
The Digital Identity Ecosystem is a framework that leverages on the existing capabilities and infrastructure of distinct government agencies and private sector organisations to carry out enrolment of Nigerians and Legal residents into the National Identity Database (NIDB) as well as issuance of the Digital identity, known as the NIN to give Nigeria a credible and robust identity management system.
This news follows the expiration of the tenure of the board appointed by the tenure of the former Board appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and in fulfillment of the consequential transfer of final ownership to the new investors, Teleology Nigeria Limited.
A statement by the company sent to COLOSSUS GISTS thanked all out-going members of the Board for helping to shepherd 9mobile through the critical transition phase it has passed through since July 2017 and wishes them the very best in their future assignments.
“For us, the composition of the new Board of Directors is another significant milestone, and this follows the issuance of final approval of no objection by the Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to the effect that the technical and financial bids Teleology submitted for 9mobile met and satisfied all the regulatory requirement,” the statement read.
The new board said it is the dawn of a new era in the evolution of the 9mobile brand in the Nigerian market. The new Board of Directors includes: Nasiru Ado Bayero (Chairman), Asega Aliga (Non-Executive Director), Adrian Wood (Non-Executive Director), Mohammed Edewor (Non-Executive Director), Winston Ndubueze Udeh (Non-Executive Director), Abdulrahman Ado (Executive Director) and Stephane Beuvelet (Acting Managing Director).
The statement signed by Mohammed Edewor said;
“the new Chairman of the Board, Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero welcomes the appointment stating, “as we begin this new epochal phase, we wish to thank all the employees who built this viable business.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the industry stakeholders have highlighted how digital technology is reshaping the banking industry and provided in-depth insights into various market trends and advances both locally and globally.
The apex bank was speaking at a forum organized by Inlaks, a leading system integrator in Sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with Temenos, the global banking software company, and HID, an American manufacturer of secure identity solutions in Lagos.
Presenting a keynote address at the forum with the theme “Banking in the Digital Age”, Deputy Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision (OFIS) Department, CBN, Adedeji Adesemoye identified fundamental approaches that banks can use to enhance their digital capabilities.
Adesemoye itemized financial inclusion and digitization as a means that can foster innovation across products, business models and allow straight-through processing that can automate and digitize a number of repetitive, low-value, and low-risk processes. He further stressed that the need for banks to have a vision of their future, technology, infrastructure and a well-defined corporate culture are major factors that determine whether a bank is successful in this age.
In a similar vein, Head of Sales – Microfinance & Saas (Africa), Temenos, Nehal Batavia shared that Temenos has been providing innovative solutions to financial institutions worldwide for 25 years. Batavia stated that over 3,000 financial institutions use Temenos software, and among those are 41 of the top 50 banks in the world. He further shared that over 500 million end-customers rely on Temenos software in over 150 countries of the world.
Batavia said at the event that Temenos also provides innovative software solutions to banks of all sizes, “all around the world, helping them to thrive in the digital banking age”. He added that Temenos has been involved in this by building, delivering and supporting financial institutions through the world’s best packaged, upgradeable and open banking software.
In a joint presentation made by the trio of Kingsley Oseghale, general manager, Enterprise Business; Tope Dare, executive director, Sales & Strategy (Infrastructure Business Division) and Adeyemi Ademiluyi, Cybersecurity Manager, Ademiluyi stated that there was no way that the issue of cybersecurity could be left unattended to when discussing banking in the digital age.
Ademiluyi said,
“There are opportunities in this digital era, but there are also real threats in digital banking and it is important that organizations stay safe. Every day, attacks are launched at digital companies and these attacks are becoming more sophisticated.
The ‘cyber thieves’ are becoming more creative and innovative in their approach. Organisations spend thousands and millions of dollars trying to put in place security software and infrastructure to limit these threats. We have been helping our clients to stay safe using multiple steps which will keep them ahead of cyber thieves.”
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