How the national ID card can be done 30 billion cheaper
The nigerian government is about to start a national ID card system. This system would cost N30 billion and would apparently be a way of gathering the information of all Nigeria. This is an unnecessary expenditure, it can be done much cheaper.
Step 1: Collecting the data. Most of the data needed for the ID card program is already available. The data set from the INEC excercise, the data set from the SIM card registration excercise, the drivers license data-set and passport registration data-set can be handed over to an IT consulting firm, who can do data analysis on the data-set and generate a data set of about 40-60 million nigerians. This will contain all of the details needed for the ID card scheme
Step 2: Text messages are sent to everyone who registered with their phone number informing them that their data has been collated to create them an ID card, and they can go pick up their ID card at their convenience. This text message would also inform them that those who have not received such a message should proceed to apply for an ID card.
Step 3: Federal Road Safety offices, which are in every town, and have card printing machines as well as computers, will be used to print out the I.D cards. Those who do not have the cards can simply search for their name within the existing database (which will be a simple website), and if it’s there, update their data or add new data.
Because the infrastructure for this already exists, it would not cost close to the billions being advocated. It would mostly be a data-mining tasks, which is relatively cheap. If spread out over a period of three years (or make it a constant on-going effort, just like drivers license), it would hardly cause a blip on the nations budget.
