Social security:

With the ID cards comes a unique number that can be used as the national security number for every individual, this number can be used to pay taxes, collect government grants and scholarships, obtain training and assistance and to avail of government infrastructure development programs.

 

Employment:

Nigeria has a high rate of unemployment but the biggest obstacle is finding out what skills and education our unemployed possess, and of course creating ways to use these skills in government programs that require them.

Suppose government now armed with a database stating the skills of registered Nigerians wants to build or maintain new roads in a local government but does not have enough budgetary allocation to do so, the project can be handled by the plethora of jobless graduates and other skilled individuals who can be given food stamps and some social security allowances in return for helping to develop their nations infrastructure, as supposed to sitting at home blaming leadership for their unplanned birth and current state of despair.

 

Healthcare:

Not only can Government ensure adequate grassroots health centres are provided by demography but it can also use the many jobless trained nurses and doctor for cheaper social welfare programs that will ensure these professionals have a place to go daily, gain more experience for use locally or in Diaspora. The average citizen will also benefit from grassroots’ healthcare. Government can also use the systems to collect information on STD, HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

 

Education:

Schools can be built by demography to accommodate the number of people in any given ward or local government; again jobless graduates used in schemes aimed at providing them jobs, pocket money and skills while education is provided to those who require it, in a well planned system.

 

Budget:

Financial allocations will be done this time based on population and requirement for development, it will no longer be the case that local governments will be created simply for the sake of additional budgetary allocations to the detriment of other regions. A good headcount using biometrics reduces the trend of guessing just by peoples say so. No traditional ruler can influence government’s decision on budget and allocation because they have influence over leadership; it will be done simply using the evidence collected by a well organised system.

 

Crime:

The most effective way to prevent and investigate crime is using biometrics, currently Nigeria does not have a system for doing this, with almost all committed crimes going unpunished because the wrong people are investigated and detained. In the UK drivers who get stopped by the police using a handheld devic

e could have their fingerprints checked against a national database at the roadside, under a new plan to help officers check people's identities and control crimes, Nigeria can adopt this policy.

The police can check a vehicle's number plates if they are registered against a person who is on the national database, if the car is subject to an offence, like being uninsured or stolen.

If the driver does not convince police he is giving them a correct name, they will fingerprint him and verify his identity on the spot, instead of taking him to the police station.

Biometric technology will speed up the time it takes for police to identify individuals anywhere, enabling them to spend more time on the frontline and reducing any inconvenience for innocent members of the public. Road blocks and unnecessary mobile police manhandling of innocent citizens must stop if you give them the tools to reduce their inhumane practices.

The information on the database can be shared with some international organisations to prevent Nigerian criminals abroad from holding public office in the country or committing further crimes on Nigerian soil. It will also help identify fraudsters, drug dealers and child/immigration traffickers who continue to soil the image of Nigeria. It will also help identify those Africans (especially Ghanaians) who brandish Nigerian passports to commit crimes, thereby helping to debase the citizenship of Nigeria while saving their own countries from the same desecration.

Population Control:

There are too many people in Nigeria; the population of the country has increased due to a backward mentality and lack of proper education and parent responsibility coupled with retro tribal and cultural practices found in many 3^rd world countries. People produce children for the fun of it, with full or part knowledge that these young ones may die of starvation or not have the means to have a sustainable future.

Government must ensure the population is consumerate with the economic and social means of the country, currently there are no ways of enforcing a strict control of the population by reducing the birth rate. The practice has sometimes been voluntary; it has to be government-mandated. This generally must be conducted to improve quality of life for the society and as a solution to overpopulation. A biometric database will help collect, record and monitor the trend.

The introduction of a system for biometric information I described above is only in a summary format of what government can do to change the fortunes of Nigeria in a long road beginning by providing basic services for its citizen while expecting some information and input from then, it is not too much to ask from both sides.

Nigeria claims to have some of the best brains in the world, including a nobel laureate, countless professionals home and abroad, writers, economists in the world bank and beyond, individuals educated to the hilt yet the country cannot come together to organize simple programs, not rocket science inventions but basic down to earth systems one will find in places like south America and eastern Europe. 

The Nigerian project has been started and stopped too many times to the detriment of all Nigeria.

Government should engage all Nigerians to come up with suggestion for development and positive change, since the Government itself is in limbo as to what development means. People live in places were the systems work and they can help Nigeria incorporate such practices into the nations modus operandi.

Don’t always ask what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.

Nigeria needs citizens and people who can sacrifice for its development, and not always those who continue to rob the nation blind in the mentality of “cut your own share of the national cake”.