Nigeria's digital policies can block $340m leakages, says World Bank

Nigeria’s digital identity policy if well-articulated will save the country $340m through solidifying fight against fraud and diversion of public funds, the World Bank has said.

The Nigeria Country Director of the World Bank Group, Shubham Chaudhuri said this during a monitored digital meeting of the country’s pre-summit event of the Nigerian Economic Summit.

The theme was focused on digital identity as a foundation for the digital economy and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Nigeria had rolled out a $2.3billion digital identity strategy called the National Identification Number.

World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri Chaudhuri said foundational ID is an enabler for more targeted access to services for the Nigerian public and private sectors.

He said a unique identification platform will drive the country’s development policies.

Chaudhuri said Nigeria stands the chance to attain a moderate level of financial inclusion with the country’s foundational ID like the National Identification Number.

The World Bank Country head cited Nigeria’s digital identity as a foundation for digitizing the country’s database and credentials.

Chaudhuri recognized that Africa’s economic powerhouse could save millions of dollars on fiscal savings, through the integration of NIN and voter registration.

“I think Nigeria right now with the roadmap that was introduced two or three years ago is to repositioned to have the last acceleration to rolling out this result nationwide.”

Chaudhuri acknowledged that with proper implementation, Africa’s most populous country’s digital ID strategy could impact the bottom line for social and economic planning.

“Nigeria could Combat fraud and minimize the diversion of public resources, leakages and ghost workers at a minimum of $340million in public savings”, he said.