A director and head, business development and commercial services, at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), World Bank, has disclosed that the Commission depend on the World Bank’s Nigeria Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project to pay frontend partners (FEPs).
She said this at the two-day roundtable with online publishers in Abuja on Wednesday, noting that “All our frontend partners get to be paid by the facility that the World Bank is providing.”
The NIMC director further explained that the delay in getting some funds from the World Bank impacted the payment to FEPs.
She said: “The World Bank facility is supposed to come in to help us pay our frontend partners. However, before that happened, our frontend partners have been engaged. We were privileged to get some funds under the former minister. So, we were able to pay…”
She added that with the final condition for the project met, payments will begin as soon as possible.
Two out of three conditions met
Nairametrics recently reported that the Bank had disbursed a total of $45.5 million, which represents about 10.5% of the total project’s cost. However, the World Bank said the country has one out of three conditions yet to be met to guarantee full disbursement of funds for the project.
It noted that the first condition was met following the enactment of the data protection law in June 2023 as well as the establishment of the data protection commission.
“Fulfilling this disbursement condition also unlocked access to financing from the two other project co-financiers (AFD and EIB). The second disbursement condition pertained to the acceptability of the National Identity Management System (NIMS). This condition was fulfilled in March 2024 following improvements made to the NIMS.
“One final disbursement condition which has yet to be met is the amendment of the NIMC Act to promote an inclusive and non-discriminatory legal and regulatory framework,” it said.
The Bank, however, noted that significant progress has been made toward fulfilling this condition as the amendments have been drafted and enactment is pending with the National Assembly.
A Bill to repeal and reenact the National Identity Management Bill, 2027 passed second reading at the Senate on Tuesday.
The Bill seeks to enact a new regulatory regime for the National Identity Management Commission, and was sponsored by Barau Jibrin, the Deputy Senate President.
The objectives of the Bill include expanding the Scope of Registrable Persons by broadening the eligibility criteria for registration under the Nigeria ID System to ensure inclusivity and universal coverage.
Frontend partners get higher pay for hard-to-reach regions
Folami also disclosed that FEPS, who are able to register Nigerians in conflict areas or any hard-to-reach areas will get higher pay.
She said: “The FEPS, their payment is also structured around how to reach those hard-to-reach places. In the sense that if you can go there and register Nigerians, you will be paid much higher than someone who is in the urban area like Abuja, for instance. The difference is pretty big in as in how much you will get if you go to perhaps the conflict areas.”
Also, speaking, Chike Walter Duru, Manager, Internal Communications (Project Implementation Unit), Nigeria Digital Identification For Development (ID4D) Project, noted that although payments are ongoing to FEPs, NIMC does not have all the resources. He, however, noted that the NIMC management is committed to clearing every legitimate claim.
What you should know
Nairametrics earlier reported that the World Bank is restructuring the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project to guarantee complete disbursement of the $430 million pledged for the project by the financiers. Under the financing plan for the project, which was approved by the International Development Association (IDA) in 2020, French Development Agency (AFD) is to release $100 million and the European Investment Bank (EIB) is to fund it with the sum of $215, while the IDA, an arm of the World Bank is to add $115 million.
The Director-General of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, earlier noted some of the partners are being engaged in a discussion to settle fines for infractions before the debts will be paid, although NIMC had said it would clear outstanding debts to front-end partners in the first quarter of 2024,
A total of 36 licenses have been issued to new frontend NIN enrollment partners (FEPs) as part of enrollment readiness.
Four mobile network operators (MNOs) have also been authorized to enroll for NINs to support the ongoing World Bank-funded National Social Safety Net Program-Scale Up (NASSP-SU) project.