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Stakeholders are applauding the transfer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
The transfer followed the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari, this week.
The government said “the transfer is part of efforts to ensure that synergy and effective ministry supervisory mechanism is put in place to coordinate, monitor and track the progress of federal government’s digital transformation initiatives.”
Before now, the NIMC was directly under the presidency. It is mandated to create, manage, maintain and operate the National Identity Database established by the NIMC Act, 2007.
The transfer should bring tremendous benefits, said President of Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola.
His words: “Working together under one and the same ministry will ensure open access to API across heterogeneous data sets. Now that accountability is placed under one single supervising ministry, it will ensure that coupling of security, data protection and privacy are implemented in a manner that is based on latest technology and stored in data centers adhering to local content and data jurisdiction criteria.”
Reverend Sunday Folayan, immediate past President of Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NiRA), said the decision will heighten the sense of cooperation by the different bodies responsible for managing Nigeria’s data identity.
“We re hoping the minister can address the data islands. There are data all over, BVN, Immigration, subscribers, etc, but no sense of efficiency,” said Folayan. He believes with NIMC under the same ministry as NCC and NITDA, there would be higher drive to achieve the set goals for harmonized data. He advised that the transfer should be institutionalized so that it won’t be changed by another administration.
For Olumide Babalola, Managing Partner at Olumide Babalola LP: “This is a long awaited and welcome development. We should expect better synergy and harmony among these bodies. The silent power tussle between NIMC and NITDA [National Information technology Development Agency] with respect to data governance is expected to be curtailed since they are now under same ministry. The unity of purpose on the harmonization and integration of Nigerians’ database.”
Also, Tunde Balogun, CEO, Data Services Protection Limited (DSPL), one of the 70 licensed Data Protection Compliance Organizations (DPCOs) in Nigeria, said the transfer will help to thicken the value proposition of the country’s digital identity project.
“The announcement by the President for NIMC to come under the purview of Ministry of Communication & Digital Economy is very much welcomed. The management of Nigeria Identity Number (NIN) is the primary responsibility of NIMC and the entire value-chain of NIMC’s responsibilities in delivering this critical national mandate hinges on ‘digital technologies and governance,” said Balogun who is also one of the conveners of the Association of Licensed Data Protection Compliance Organisations of Nigeria (ALDAPCON).
In its official statement released in Lagos today, ALDAPCON described the decision as strategic to attaining the country’s dual goals for digital identity and digital economy.
ALDAPCON states: “This act by Mr. President to put NIMC under the supervision of Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy will augur well for the data protection ecosystem in Nigeria.
“No doubt data protection is base foundation of any digital economy and since most federal government agencies saddled with delivering the gains from digital economy have already been domiciled with Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and bringing NIMC into this fold is definitely the right step in the right direction.”
Ivan Anya of Business Intelligence Technologies Ltd thinks the decision is “long overdue and a welcome development.”
He added: “We should expect better synergy and harmony among these bodies.”
