The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) are partnering to promote digital identity in strengthening governance, enhancing security, and accelerating reforms in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
In a statement on Sunday in Abuja, the minister’s special assistant on media, Mrs. Lara Owoeye-Wise, said the ministry and NIMC were partnering to promote digital identity in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
She said the partnership was aimed at strengthening governance, enhancing security, and accelerating reforms across the sector.
Speaking while receiving the director-general and management of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja, Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake described the commission as pivotal in Nigeria’s development architecture.
According to Alake, effective governance is impossible without a credible identity management system, stressing that technology and reliable data have become indispensable tools for planning, regulation, investment, and national security.
“In the solid minerals sector, we need effective tracking of both legal and illegal operations. A credible identity ecosystem will strengthen regulation, improve enforcement, and support our efforts to sanitise the sector,” he said.
He emphasised that technology, statistics, data gathering, and digital identity were critical enablers for evidence-based policymaking, improved regulatory oversight, efficient licensing, investment promotion, and national development.
Alake said that the ongoing reforms in the solid minerals sector required robust collaboration with institutions such as NIMC to strengthen transparency and accountability across the mining value chain.
He described the commission as pivotal in Nigeria’s development architecture.
According to Alake, effective governance is impossible without a credible identity management system.
Technology and reliable data, he emphasised, had become indispensable tools for planning, regulation, investment, and national security.
“NIMC occupies a critical position in translating policy into reality. It is pivotal to the development of any nation because governance today is driven by data, technology, and credible identity systems,” he said.
On her part, the director general of NIMC said that the newly enacted NIMC Act had positioned Nigeria to fully embrace a digital governance ecosystem.
Coker-Odusote explained that deeper integration of identity management into the solid minerals sector would facilitate database integration across government institutions, enhance regulatory compliance, and strengthen security and law enforcement.
She added that the initiative would also improve the monitoring of operators and provide stronger support for the implementation of Community Development Agreements (CDAs) in mining host communities.
According to her, the commission’s digital identity infrastructure will enable government agencies to build more reliable databases, improve service delivery, and foster greater transparency in public administration.
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
