The federal government has been urged to immediately halt the National Identity Card (ID) project and review the legal limits on use of data to be generated by the exercise because of the involvement of MasterCard Incorporated, an American firm in the scheme.
MasterCard and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) recently formed a partnership for the purpose of rolling out the new national identity cards in Nigeria as approved by the federal government.
But MasterCard had said that her synergy deal with NIMC involves provision of prepaid payment technology back-up for the National Identity card while the NIMC and other partners would handle the biometric aspect of the project.
A cross section of ICT experts and a lawyer at the weekend, argued that the partnership was wrong in the first place because of the involvement of the American company and the sensitivity of information to be gathered.
According to them, the project is a very vital national security tool that must be sovereign in every respect adding that it was careless of the government to involve MasterCard in such a delicate project that affects the security of the country.
Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) disassociated itself from the project, saying the partnership with MasterCard contravenes global guideline and standard.
Chris Uwaje, president, ISPON, said that the United Nations guidelines on the implementation of projects like national ID (that has to do with national security) stipulate that the scheme should be executed with open source software with indigenous people as primers.
“In the case of the national identity card project, none of the ISPON members were contacted neither is any indigenous firm involved in the implementation. We are not aware of any indigenous company working with them.” He said.
Elsewhere, Engr. Lanre Ajayi, president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said that the project should be stopped because trusting information about Nigerians in the hands of foreigners is a security risk.
According to him the involvement of a foreign company in the scheme is not in the interest of the country.
“The right thing would have been for the National Identity Management Commission to assemble Nigeria professionals, empower them and mandate them to implement the project; by this our confidential data will be secured, that will also bring about development to the country” Ajayi said.
In his opinion, Bob Okonyia, chairman, Bocal Limited, a card scheme, said that the project is not in line with expectations of Nigerians from regulators and policy makers.
“First of all, giving the national identity management project to MasterCard is opening our gateways to foreigners. Everybody with that card cannot feel at home. Everyone involved in this project should know better.
Even local companies with competence to implement the project were disregarded. What are they trying to achieve? The foreign company is not offering us free service; they are going to be paid in foreign currency, by that they are liquidating the economy. They are pretending as though they want to help us” Okonyia added.
John Owobokiri, a renowned legal practitioner based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said that the scheme is not likely to address the controversy that confronts it before it goes into full implementation.
Owobokiri warned of severe consequences if legal limits on use of data to be generated by the exercise are not reviewed.