Digital identity will foster economic growth – Interswitch

Nigeria can unlock its full economic potentials if majority of its citizens have unique digital identity as proposed by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), founder and Group Managing Director, Interswitch Group, Mitchell Elegbe, has said.

Elegbe disclosed this during a webinar organised by TechCabal in partnership with VerifyMe themed: ‘Enabling Nigeria’s economic and social growth with digital identity’.

The Interswitch boss stated that the digital identity database will help Nigerian businesses fasten their growth trajectory where everyone involved across the transacting spectrum can be easily identified.

He emphasised the need for financial service providers to ensure due diligence in carrying out Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols. According to him, this will help businesses and their customers complete business transactions faster.

Elegbe also noted that having a single database would aid easy identification of citizens which is vital for development.

In order to drive up data acquisition to enable this desired growth, Elegbe advised that there is the need to offer incentives that will encourage people across board to get captured.

He also clarified the need for cross referencing of data to ensure that identities are not stolen. He explained that current data available are disparate and in silos, so cross referencing and electronic capturing will reduce these inconsistencies.