This document discusses the various identity cards issued to Nigerian citizens by different government and private organizations, and the personally identifiable information contained in each card. It notes that this sensitive data is currently stored across different locations by disparate organizations, raising privacy, security and regulatory concerns. The document calls for enacting data protection laws, adopting international frameworks, and creating a centralized national database in Nigeria to properly manage citizen data and ensure reliable statistics.

1. GATHERING
SCATTERED DATA

2. On Saturday November 29, 2014; I went to the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) booth to collect my PVC.
On collection I examined my card, then it dawned on me
the amount of information the PVC holds and several
other Government issued cards that bear my identity.

3. NATIONAL IDENTITY
CARD
NATIONAL DRIVERS
LICENCE
NIGERIAN
PASSPORT
VOTE’S CARD TAX CARD
IDENTITY CARDS & ISSUERS
EMPLOYEE
IDENTITY CARD
HEALTH
MANAGEMENT
CARD
STUDENT
IDENTITY CARD
PAYMENT CARDS
PROFESSIONAL
MEMBERSHIP CARD
GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTITY CARDS
OTHER TYPES OF IDENTITY CARDS

4. UNFORTUNATELY, THESE CARDS ARE HELD
INDEPENDENTLY ACROSS DIFFERENT
STORAGE LOCATIONS AND DISPARATE
ORGANIZATIONS.

5. NATIONAL
IDENTITY CARD
NATIONAL
DRIVERS LICENCE
NIGERIAN
PASSPORT
VOTE’S CARD
TAX CARD
EMPLOYEE
IDENTITY CARD
HEALTH
MANAGEMENT
CARD
STUDENT
IDENTITY CARD
PAYMENT CARDS
PROFESSIONAL
MEMBERSHIP
CARD
National Identity
Management Centre
Federal Road Safety
Commission
Nigeria Immigration
Service
Independent National
Electoral Commission
Federal/State Inland
Revenue Service
Private Organizations
Health Management
Organizations
Formal/Non-formal
Institutions
Financial Institutions
Professional
Organizations
G O V E R N M E N T P R I V A T E

6. National Population
Commission
Pension Commissions
National Bureau of
Statistics
Primary, Secondary & Higher
Institutions (WAEC, NECO,
NABTEB, JAMB, NUC, NCCE, NBTE)
National Identity
Management Centre
Training & Research
Centres/Institutes
Hospitals & Teaching
Hospitals
Federal Civil Service
National Health Insurance
Scheme
Professional Associations Nigeria Prison Service
National Youth Service
Corps
Security Agencies – Police,
Defence, Civil, Custom, etc
Nigerian Communications
Commission
G O V E R N M E N T
PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS
Insurance Institutions Private Hospitals Telecommunications
Private Schools Faith-Based Organizations
OTHER SOURCES OF DATA

7. 5
ONE MAN, MANY CARDS

8. WHAT DATA DO THESE CARDS HOLD?
NAME
DATE OF BIRTH
GENDER
HEIGHT
BIOMETRIC
MEDICAL INFO
CONTACT ADDRESS
SIGNATURE
OCCUPATION
PASSPORT
NEXT OF KIN
FINANCIAL INFO

9. CONCERNS
PRIVACY
CONFIDENTIALITY
SECURITY
MISREPRESENTATION
ABUSE
LACK OF REGULATORY &
LEGAL PROTECTION

10. THESE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE
INFORMATION (PII) ARE TOO DELICATE TO
COLLECT WITHOUT APPROPRIATE
REGULATIONS AND ASSURANCE OF
PROTECTION!

11. …Answering a specific question on
Nigeria’s poverty rate, Devarajan said the
subject was very controversial and
suggested that the country should invest
more in the production of statistics that
were reliable.
“We (World Bank) don’t know Nigeria’s
poverty rate. We don’t know whether it is
going up or coming down. There is a lot
controversy surrounding it. There is need
to invest in data,”
Shantayanan Devarajan is
the Chief Economist of the
World Bank's Africa Region
THE COUNTRY SHOULD INVEST
MORE IN THE PRODUCTION OF
STATISTICS THAT WERE RELIABLE

12. If you ask for Nigeria Population today, the answer you will
get depends on who is providing the feedback. There is no
agreed population count, what we have is ESTIMATE!
The last Population Census held in 2006, and the
Population of Nigeria was put at 140,431,790. With an
unsteady population growth figure between 2.8% and
3.2% (I assumed a constant rate of 2.8%), it is assumed that
Nigeria population currently stands at over 170Million.
Nigeria does not currently have a centralized National
Database, that can be referred to for information on
citizens. This in a way have its downside on how
Government plan and implement its programmes. The
unavailability of reliable and centralized database leads to
decisions that are not supported with fact, in reality those
decisions eventually do not achieve their initial objectives.

13. W A Y F O R W A R D …

14. ENACT
INFORMATION
PROTECTION
LAWS
ADOPT-ADAPT
APPLICABLE
FRAMEWORKS
CREATE
AWARENESS
PROJECT-
MANAGE THE
IMPLEMENTATION
MONITOR
CONTINUOUS
COMPLIANCE

15. Are you having
issues with making
sense of your data? Analysis by: Wale Micaiah
e: walegate@yahoo.com
m: 08078001800
w: www.walemicaiah.com
w: www.statisense.com
Freely share, freely use and freely
acknowledge the source – © Wale Micaiah