The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said the national identification database shows a low coverage and gender gap in the registration project, considering the notion that there are more women than men.
NIMC Director-General Aliyu Aziz said this during the Inclusion for All (I4ALL) dialogue yesterday in Lagos.
The event had the theme: Digital ID for the Last Mile – Enabling Access to Digital ID for Rural Female Agricultural Workers.
Aziz said over 101 million persons had registered for the National Identification Number (NIN) while only 44 per cent enrollees were females.
Aziz explained that a gender study conducted by NIMC and the World Bank identified some of the barriers to accessing ID as lack of awareness, placing no value on or use of ID, as well as accessibility issues.
Others are: time taken to register, lack of documentation, biometric capture issues, among others.
The NIMC boss said a robust, inclusive and responsible foundational ID system could be transformative for the poorest and most vulnerable population.
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He added that it would also enable the population to gain access to basic health care, education and social safety nets, facilitate financial inclusion and foster the empowerment of people, including women and girls.
Also, the Head of Capacity Development at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Zaina Sore, emphasised the essence of digital identity in empowering and deepening financial inclusion for rural women and transforming their livelihoods.
Sore presented the findings from the targeted research study on: Access to Identity, Empowerment, Livelihood, and Financial Inclusion of Rural Female Agricultural Workers and Traders in Nigeria.
She noted that many of the women engage in different agricultural activities and trading, particularly in the informal sector.
“It is important that we better understand their needs and challenges to tailor the services that will lead to greater inclusion and economic empowerment,” Sore said.
The study, commissioned to IITA by I4ALL, was carried out in the first quarter of the year in Kano, Oyo and Rivers states.
It revealed some new insights and validated pre-existing data insights from I4ALL’s analysis of the 2020 Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) A2F (Access to Finance) dataset.
“For instance, Kano State recorded higher levels of NIN ownership by 77 per cent among the respondent groups, compared to Oyo, which has 58.1 per cent, and Rivers with 46.6 per cent, contradicting our hypothesis of lower enrolment rates in the North.
“However, the research highlighted how socio-cultural norms can be used as a deliberate strategy to drive female enrolment in the North.
“The barriers to NIN enrolment remained consistent, from the cost of transportation to distance from enrolment centres and tedious enrolment processes,” Sore said.
Commenting on the findings, the Convener and Head of I4ALL, Chinasa Collins-Ogbuo, said universal access to formal identification requires an intentional focus on the most vulnerable Nigerians – likely to be poor female farmers in rural communities.
Collins-Ogbuo said NIMC had done a great job with the momentum achieved towards ID enrolment of Nigerians, stressing that it must be maintained.