The Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of UrbanID Global, a digital identity and technology solutions company, Mr. Olatunji Durodola, has said Nigeria may find it difficult to issue physical ID to its citizens because the country currently lacks adequate infrastructure to support it.
Durodola stated this in an interview with Naijaonpoint, adding that issuing physical cards is a capital-intensive project.
According to him, while there is a need for physical identity tokens, “the support infrastructure is fragile and very capital intensive.
Recall that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) recently announced that Nigerians who have registered for the National Identification Number (NIN) would soon be able to request an e-ID card with payment functionality for all types of social and financial services.
Durodola, whose company designed the NIMC Mobile ID app noted that e-ID Cards and Payment Cards popularly known as ATM Cards may look alike, but their implementation, issuance, and lifecycle are very different.
The UrbanID CEO noted that in November 2013, the government had issued one of the most sophisticated e-ID Cards in the world but the lack of infrastructure led to its failure as NIMC was unable to maintain the issuance bureau or purchase much-needed high-performance card printing machines.
“The issuance of cards for free was also a challenge for companies who had installed capacity to personalize those cards. The sticky point was how they would be paid. So it eventually died.
“Between 2020 and 2024, Nigeria led Africa with the issuance of MobileIDs, taking advantage of the very enviable spread of Smartphones in the Country, and creating an enabling environment for their use. Alas, public awareness was lacking.
“That 23m MobileIDs were even issued is a testament to the power of word of mouth.
“All these developments were by 100% local talent – and it worked! Accolades around the world again. Yet, it would seem the trend is now to go back to physical cards,” he explained.
“Those foreign vendors with specialist skills will provide invoices to the Government in their native currency (USD or Euro). They want our money, but not our currency,” he added.
Speaking on the recent alleged breach of the NIN database, Durodola emphasized the importance of maintaining strict identity verification protocols to prevent unauthorized access and misuse of personal data.
Earlier in April this year, NIMC announced that it was launching a National ID card with payment functionality for all types of social and financial services.