Nigeria is targeting 250 million people in its new identity management database, the company working on the project says.
IDEMIA Smart Identity said it is implementing an upgrade of the country’s entire biometric identification system for the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and the system will accommodate 250 million records.
The project, supported by the World Bank through its ID4D initiative, will ensure that each citizen’s identity in the civil database remains unique, it said.
IDEMIA Smart Identity said it agreed with the NIMC to renew their longstanding collaboration on February 28. The company said it will upgrade NIMC’s biometric system to become the most advanced biometric system in the world, comparable only with Aadhaar in India.
The biometric matching system will be able to handle a million-identity verification searches a day, it said.
The initial system was designed to support 100 million records but has already reached around 90 million records and requires the extension to address the whole Nigerian population.
“Natural choice”
“The new powerful system is future-proof and will ensure that all Nigerians have access to a secured, trusted identity, enabling them to exercise their rights and responsibilities as a citizen,” said Olivier Charlanes, Senior Vice President of Middle East and Africa at IDEMIA Smart Identity.
“Moreover, this contract, in the most populous country in Africa, demonstrates IDEMIA’s capability to deploy its technologies on a very large scale.”
“Taking this next step in the enhancement of our system with IDEMIA Smart Identity was a natural choice for us,” said Abisoye Coker-Odusote, chief executive officer of NIMC.
“We wanted to ensure that we deliver the best-in-class solution to our fellow Nigerians, and the pure power of the biometric matching we will receive ensures that the solution is future-proof for our growing population.”
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Nigeria’s population is estimated at about 220 people. Last week, the NIMC announced its plan to launch of a multipurpose national ID card that will be used for identification, payments and to access government services.
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