…Calls for unified data market in Africa
Ogaga Ariemu
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ali Pantami said the present administration attaches much importance to the ongoing registration for the National Identity Number (NIN), because it is strategic to e-government and digital economy drive of government.
Pantami who spoke on Thursday in Abuja during the 2021 Global Privacy Day Celebrations.
While he called on Nigerians to take data protection, privacy very seriously, he stressed that NIN has been designed to correct the long existing lapses in the country’s database.
“The current efforts of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in encouraging Nigerians to register for the National Identity Number (NIN) is a strategic and critical national effort to ensure Nigerians have a credible, converged and consistent database for identity purposes.
“The value of this would become appreciated with the ease at which e-government services would be delivered, the reduction in crime, and general efficiency guaranteed by the database.
“Identifying every Nigeria is a soft infrastructure needed to achieve our digital economy objective”, Pantami said.
He further urged the African Union to pay more attention to data protection in the continent, saying that 1.3 billion people in Africa were great asset to its economic development.
He also called for the creation of an African Single Digital Market (ASDM) which he said was critical to having a data sovereignty.
“I implore the African Union Commission and our international partners to support Nigeria’s call for creating an African Single Digital Market (ASDM).
“This would enable the continent gain the advantage of economies of 1.3 billion people. The ASDM would also help us have data sovereignty in such a way as to protect data while also protecting the multinational technology investors”, he added.
Meanwhile, in his address at the webinar, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Kashifu Abdullahi, said the issue of identity, data collection and management were imperative and government must put in place the necessary mechanisms to get things right.
He said since the country started implementing digital economy policies, over 2,686 new jobs had been created.
He also said data protection sector which is valued at N2.3billion had been created.