By BONIFACE AKARAH

The Director-General/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, has described digital identity as a critical foundation for building trust and expanding access to Nigeria’s digital economy.

Abdullahi spoke during the high-level panel session, “Identity in Action and Access to the Digital Economy,” convened by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as part of discussions on “The Digital Public Ecosystem: Identity, Trust & Inclusive Access” at the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81).

The NITDA boss joined Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President; Aderemi Adebowale, National Coordinator of the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme; and Olugbenga Agboola, Co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave. The session was moderated by Diwura Oladepo, Executive Director of Technology for Social Change and Development (Tech4Dev).

Abdullahi said digital identity should be viewed as more than a card or identification number, stressing its role in creating trusted infrastructure for digital services.

“Digital identity is the trust layer of the digital economy,” he said.

According to him, trusted digital identity can allow authorised innovators and service providers to build on foundational identity infrastructure instead of repeatedly creating separate and fragmented identification systems.

He said such interoperability could accelerate customer onboarding, reduce verification costs and expand trusted digital services across sectors including fintech, health, education, agriculture, insurance and government services.

Using a practical example, Abdullahi explained how interoperable digital infrastructure could enable a farmer to establish his identity through the National Identification Number (NIN), verify eligibility on an agricultural platform, receive support through a payment system and access authorised government services through trusted data exchange without repeatedly submitting the same information.

The NITDA DG said Nigeria's next challenge was to transform the growing scale of digital identity into practical and trusted utility.

“Digital identity is not the destination; it is the doorway,” Abdullahi said.

He explained that the objective was not merely to identify Nigerians but to develop a secure and interoperable digital ecosystem through which citizens could access services, participate safely in the digital economy and benefit from new opportunities.

He said such an ecosystem should serve Nigerians regardless of their geographical location, gender or economic status.