* Shettima: We’re building institutions that match energy, mobility of Nigerians under Renewed Hope Agenda
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
The National Addressing Council (NAC) has ratified the preliminary framework for the realisation of Nigeria’s vision to build a digitized and modern addressing system for the country.
Under the new arrangement, the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will serve as secretariat for greater efficiency and coordination, while other agencies will synergize efforts to achieve set objectives.
The decision was taken at the State House in Abuja at a meeting of the council chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shetima with key members and stakeholders in the public and private sectors in attendance.
Speaking while addressing the council, Shettima said: “Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, our duty is to build institutions that match the energy and mobility of our people. We must build a system that locate every community, support enterprise without barriers and stregthen government without compromising privacy.
“Our objective should be simple for Nigerians to understand. Wherever a citizen lives, wherever a business operates, wherever help is required, Nigeria should find the address. This is the standard before us and I am confident that the council will deliver.”
He explained that the task before the council is to build a national addressing system worthy of the scale and ambition of the nation, just as he maintained that the addressing system must serve the village as effectively as the metropolis.
According to the vice-president, “Address is more than just a description of where a person lives or where a business operates. It is a point of connection between the citizen and the state; between the enterprise and opportunity; between identity and service.
“A country that cannot consistently locate its people and businesses carries an avoidable weakness into planning, commerce, security and social protection.”
Shettima warned that while geography must never become a sentence of invisibility, every Nigerian household and every legitimate enterprise should be located within a trusted national framework.
“And the strength of a modern addressing system lies in its ability to speak to other public systems. Our digital addressing framework must connect intelligently with other digital identity, government databases and wider digital public infrasrutcure.
“When a verified identity can be linked securely to a verified address, the gains extend across financial inclusion, social interventions, logistics, planning and emergency response.”
On the mandate of members of the council, the vice-president said the ambition requires institutional discipline, just as he appointed the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to serve as secretariat of the NAC.
His words: “The Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is to serve as secretariat of the council. It must guide technical implementation, systems integration, interoperability and standards.
“NIMC has an essential responsibility in addressing individual verification and authentication, while CAC must support verification of business addresses. NIPOST remains indispensable for postcode administration and postal infrastructure.
“The success of this undertaking will also be decided, where Nigerians live. States and LGAs working through the NGF and ALGON must drive implementation at the community level through the local addressing and proof of address. NITDA, NDPC, ONSA, CBN, NCC and the OPS must bring their mandates to bear. No institution can own a system whose usefulness depends on participation across our federation.”
Earlier, Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said with the vice-president, who is also Chairman of the National Economic Council, serving as Chairman of the NAC, the addressing process is fundamental and quite foundational to Nigeria’s economic revolution.
Noting that it is about the foundation of harnessing the talent of the average Nigerian entrepreneur, he expressed confidence that news of the addressing process will restore confidence of foreign investors in Nigeria.
“I think also that if the news of this initiative goes out, there will be a lot of incidents in terms of investors, knowing full well that it’s no more business as usual but business unusual. I want to encourage all members of council; let’s give our best to this,” Tunji-Ojo added.
Also speaking, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh (SAN), thanked the vice-president for the leadership he has demonstrated in steering the sheep of the council from the point of crisis management to the point of synergy, collaboration and harmonious coordination among relevant agencies.
“Before now, it was sort of crisis management but with coordination, we are now working as one nation and one people focused on doing this very critical assignment that should have been done decades ago – standardising address, proof of address and digital address. Your Excellency and members of council, let me say that the onerous role you vested on me, I will discharge with discipline, sense of purpose and unity,” the minister stated.
On her part, Director-General, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Dr Abisoye Coker, who noted that the initial challenge confronting the successful execution of the initiative was the lack of coordination and disagreement among the agencies, thanked the vice-president, whose office, she said, was able to ensure harmonisation of all parties involved in the process.
Also, President of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Mr Bello Lawal, said the addressing initiative “will improve national security, improve citizen identification, deepen financial inclusion, change planning and revenue generation at the local level and ensure that every Nigerian is accounted for within their local communities”.
Explaining why the current framework needs revision, Special Assistant to the President on ICT Policy (Office of he Vice-President), Dr Saliu Ibrahim-Dasuki, noted that the National Addressing Policy 2017 had become obsolete in the face of institutional, statutory, constitutional and technological changes.
His words: “The existing framework focuses on mail delivery, postcodes and postal infrastructure. The framework also contains institutional misalignments. Responsibilities relating to citizen address verification are assigned to the National Bureau of Statistics.”
He explained that while business address verification had been excluded, “outdated council structures, anchored in former ministries, no longer reflect today’s governance realities”.
The technical team of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), NIMC, and ALGON also made their presentation at the meeting.
Also present at the meeting were the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji; Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi; Director General, Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Abdullateef Shittu; Managing Director, PalmPay/representative of Fintech Association of Nigeria, Mr Chika Reginald Nwosu; Managing Director of OPay/representative, Fintech Association of Nigeria, Dr Maxwell Loko; Vice-President of Opay, Olabode James, and Managing Director of Digital Addressing Platform, Dr Olusola Sayeed Ayoola, among others.