Digital identity use case for Kaduna State pensioners: Case study

Abstract

Africa has the largest number of people living without any form of identity document, numbering 470 million in total. These people lack access to vital services, including health care, social protection, education, and finance. Closing the global identity gap requires a coordinated effort and tried and tested interventions aimed at accelerating progress towards target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals: “By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration”, and in line with indicator 17.19.2, which gives increased impetus for improving civil registration and vital statistics systems. The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has been working in close collaboration with the Kaduna State government, the Kaduna State Residents Identity Management Agency, and the Kaduna State Pension Bureau on the conduct of a digital identity use case, with a view to simplifying and digitalizing the process of establishing and verifying the identity of pensioners. ECA developed an application for the Pension Bureau to replace the physical verification exercise that the 16,651 State and local government pensioners had to undertake every 90 days. The Kaduna State Pension Bureau use case is one of the Centre’s signature projects in advancing the adoption of digital identity systems in Africa. The Kaduna State government requested the support of the ECA Digital Centre of Excellence to assist with the scoping, preparation and launch of a digital identity and electronic civil registration and vital statistics use case solution. The objective of the assessment was to enhance and demonstrate inclusiveness, to facilitate the development of a digital economy, consistent with and reflecting best practices, and to use the insights and learning from the pilot to develop a policy for the leveraging of digital identity in all aspects of governance in Kaduna State.