Africa’s First Blockchain National Digital Identity System Launched

Financial service providers are now able to verify the identity of a potential customer

By Sylvester Samba

Sierra Leone is said to be the first Africa county to have launched a Blockchain and Decentralized National Digital Identity System. It was launched in the capital of Freetown Radisson Blu Hotel on Wednesday 21st August 2019 by the country's President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio.

At the Seventy-third Session of the UN General Assembly last year in New York, President Bio announced a partnership with the UN and KIVA, a US-based financial services international nonprofit organization, to launch a bold new initiative designed to give the country’s seven million citizens access to financial services.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals drafted by the United Nations proposes that for countries to ensure inclusive and sustainable development, they must provide their citizens with secure and verifiable identification instruments. In line with this, the government of Sierra Leone reaffirmed its full commitment to strengthening their National Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems using innovation and technology and with the assistance of their Development Partners.

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President Julius Maada Bio delivering his speech

In his keynote address, the President said this is the National Digital Identity Platform (NDIP) that has been developed by the NCRA with support from KIVA. He said it is digital infrastructure to help citizens gain access to approved institutions to assert and verify identity and also build credit histories.

A two steps implementation process:

• Digitize identities

• Use the digital identity unique nationally recognized identifier called the National Identification Number that is a non-replicating and non reusable source of reference for service delivery

Step 1 has been completed, and step 2, by year's end.

“Resilient, inclusive, and sustainable economic development lies in human capital development and in boosting private sector growth through entrepreneurship and investments. As a Government, we continue to be thoughtful and intentional about reducing poverty. To achieve that objective, we must first ensure that we develop all critical enablers such as human capital development and simultaneously dismantle structural barriers”

— President Julius Maada Bio

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Members of the audience seated with a cross-section of Government Ministers

Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies; private businesses (banks, telecommunications companies); and public service institutions National Digital Identity Platform (schools, hospitals, utility companies, courts, etc.) can now all know a citizen and refer to that citizen digitally, in the same way, using the unique identifier or number. With a unique digital identifier, citizens can now establish credit histories and improve their access to financial and other foundational services such as healthcare, education, and other eServices. Before now, lending institutions could only offer a poor farmer working on communal land or a petty trader in Freetown no loan or only high-interest loans partly because the bank had no way of establishing the identity or credit history of that person or small business entity.

With the new National Digital Identity System, financial service providers can verify the identity and the credit history of a customer wanting to open an account or access a loan. This reduces the risks for institutions associated with extending low-interest credit to “unknown” borrowers. And can now be done without the guarantee of unreasonable collateral.