The NIN-SIM directive in a COVID-19 situation portends greater danger in an era of rapid technological advances filled by mobile technologies, artificial intelligence, blockchain among others. With the ongoing issue of data collection in the country, the federal government has announced that over 47 million national identity numbers (NIN) have been captured to date.
Yet, experts are worried that with the rising number of COVID-19 infections, the data collection process might require a change of strategy. One that will completely eliminate or at the very least reduce the need for large gatherings at the various NIN centers.
The technology community proffers better options to the government that will keep Nigerians safe especially with the health sector that is near comatose.
In my recent discussion on Tech Trends with Chris Uwaje, Founder, Mobile Software Solutions he shares his thoughts on ways to leverage tech for data collection so that Nigerians can register safely while ensuring data integrity and security.
CFA: The man we call the Oracle, welcome to tech trends today
Chris: Thank you. CFA, the super tech trend anchor.
CFA: So, how would you rate the Nigeria technology industry and even our advancement in technology in 2020?
Chris: Thank you very much. There are many ratings depending on which one you’re looking at. Globally, apart from the Kaspersky ratings and other statistical ratings, the one that is prominent is the ITU ratings.
Regrettably, if you’re really current, you’ll find out that resolution 131 of ITU, from the meeting held in Dubai, was able to scale down the 2020 global rating in the status agenda of ICT in general. The reason is because of the COVID-19 which we all agree is very reasonable because a lot of travels were restricted.
Apart from what’s set out on paper, these things need to be debated and even with the zoom, online, we were not able to have a concrete resolution. So, they’ve stepped it down to announce the 2020 global status.
Having said that, we should be concerned because previous ratings have really classified Nigeria below par in comparison with our resources, population, know-how, and of course, our standard in the global record of the knowledge domain.
CFA: Okay. I want to get your take on identity management in general. What do you think about it?
Chris: This issue has become a current decimal as we all know and there are many issues surrounding the identity management issue. If we’re able to get it in focus because it has really become evident that our data environment as it were, the global data environment, is overwhelming.
You can watch the full interview here
