WorldStage– The Federal Government of Nigeria has called for stronger collaboration between public and private sector stakeholders to build a trusted, secure and inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
Dr Abisoye Coker-Odusote, Director-General, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the 2026 ITGOV summit organised by Tranter IT in partnership with ManageEngine.
The summit had its theme as: “Building Nigeria’s Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Growth, Security and Government Efficiency.”
Coker-Odusote said DPI built on trust would drive economic growth, strengthen national security and improve governance.
She described DPI as the foundation of modern economies, saying that a trusted digital identity system was central to its success.
“Without a professional DPI, governments will continue to struggle to deliver services effectively, financial institutions will face heightened risks.
“Businesses will suffer unnecessary costs and marginalised businesses may be excluded from the global economy,” she said.
She said the enactment of the NIMC Act of 2026 had created a shift in its responsibilities, adding that it empowered the commission to provide legal and institutional framework for secure authentication, electronic signatures and digital trust services across sectors.
She further said the country needed a comprehensive, interoperable and inclusive identity ecosystem that supported every Nigerian and enabled seamless access to public and private services, while ensuring privacy and security by design.
The NIMC chief said that a trusted digital identity system would improve transparency in governance by ensuring that government services and social intervention programmes reached the intended beneficiaries promptly.
According to her, a verified identity ecosystem is also one of the country’s strongest tools against identity theft, cybercrime, financial fraud and terrorism financing.
“It strengthens law enforcement through more precise investigations while safeguarding citizens’ privacy, supports intelligence gathering and improves national resilience against emerging digital threats,” she said.
Coker-Odusote said that countries with robust DPI attracted more domestic and foreign investments because businesses operated more efficiently and securely.
The NIMC DG stressed that building resilient digital public infrastructure could not be achieved by government alone.
“It requires collaboration among ministries, departments and agencies, financial institutions, telecommunications operators, development partners, academia, civil society and the private sector.
“It also requires sustained investment in cybersecurity, digital literacy and institutional capacity,” she said.
Executive Chairman of Tranter IT, Dr Emmanuel Olarewaju, said participants at the summit would examine strategies for implementing digital solutions in identity management, cyber security, network management, customer service and IT governance.
Olarewaju said digitising government services would significantly reduce processing time, eliminate unnecessary physical visits to government offices and improve citizens’ access to public services.
“When it comes to implementing solutions, the time to deliver service will be minimised, where you have some processes taking about three months, it would be reduced to one week because all the information will be collected online.
“Citizens do not have to queue up at different government offices but can simply go online and achieve the same objective,” he said.
According to him, the increased adoption of digital platforms also makes effective cyber security and robust data management essential to safeguarding citizens’ information and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.
He added that digital transformation would improve the ease of doing business, boost government revenue collection and support data-driven decision-making.
The Associate Director of ManageEngine, Mr Solomon Raj, said Nigeria remained one of Africa’s most important technology markets.
Raj said the company would support the implementation of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020–2030) through solutions that would strengthen cybersecurity, improve IT management and promote seamless collaboration across government institutions.
The ITGOV is ManageEngine’s flagship seminar series designed to help government organisations secure and manage their IT infrastructure amid evolving global technology challenges.Participants at the summit included Ministries, Departments and Agencies, policy makers, experts and the organised private sector.
