The World Bank is restructuring the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project to ensure the full disbursement of the $430 million pledged by the project’s financiers.
The restructuring has become necessary as the French Development Agency (AFD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have threatened to cancel their financing if the World Bank ceases to be the project implementor after June 30, 2024, the initial closure date. Under the financing plan approved by the International Development Association (IDA) in 2020, AFD is to contribute $100 million, EIB $215 million, and the IDA $115 million.
The World Bank emphasized the importance of extending the project’s closing date to maintain continuity across all co-financiers and avoid disrupting the progress made in enhancing Nigeria’s digital identity infrastructure. The project’s closure has now been extended by two years to June 30, 2026.
This extension aims to address the increasing demand for an inclusive and trusted digital ID system, which is crucial for improving the transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness of governance and public service delivery. Despite the enrolment target to issue 148 million National Identification Numbers (NINs) by June 2024, Nigeria has missed several technical benchmarks.
Key activities under Component 2, focused on establishing a robust and inclusive foundational ID system, have faced setbacks. For example, the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which handles all biometric data, is nearly at full capacity with 80 million records. The system needs to expand to accommodate 250 million enrollments, given Nigeria’s population of 210 million. The upgrade process for ABIS has started and is expected to be completed by March 2025.
The restructuring will also shift the project’s focus to align with the latest government priorities. Certain activities under subcomponent 2, considered unrealistic due to limited timelines, will be canceled. These include collaborating on digitized civil registration, conducting a capacity assessment and institutional mapping of the National Population Commission, creating a national civil registration database interoperable with the NIMS, and developing new mechanisms for continuous digital birth registration with NIN generation. The funding for these activities will be redirected to developing a new national identity management system (NIMS).
Additionally, indicators related to the number of Nigerian Government offices abroad equipped to register Nigerians for NIN will be removed. The government is now prioritizing issuing NIN within Nigeria to ensure access to services for the poor and vulnerable.
As of recent reports, the World Bank has disbursed $45.5 million, about 10.5% of the total project cost. However, one of three conditions for full fund disbursement remains unmet. The first condition was met with the enactment of the data protection law and the establishment of a data protection commission in June 2023. The second condition, related to the acceptability of NIMS, was fulfilled in March 2024. The final condition, amending the NIMC Act to promote an inclusive and non-discriminatory legal framework, is in progress, with amendments pending enactment by the National Assembly.
The ID4D project, approved by the IDA Board in 2020, aims to increase the number of persons with a national ID number issued by the NIMC to facilitate easy access to digital services. The project initially aimed to close on June 30, 2024, with targets including issuing NIN to 148 million Nigerians, 65 million females, and 50 million children under 16. Other targets included developing pro-poor functional public and private services using the foundational ID system for authentication and service delivery, NIN enrollments in rural areas, and training government personnel in best practices for legal and regulatory environments for foundational ID, including privacy and data protection.