In my last article, I suggested that we are worsening the already difficult environment in our country. We now have a survivalist environment and mentality in which individualism is growing rapidly at the expense of the community. This is having serious impact on our country.

What one person does affects other people and the community. It does not take long to affect the entire country. This is why we must begin to deliberately build and organise an ecosystem of connected people. In which good Nigerians are made visible as champions to inspire. And the bad that some Nigerians do are identified early, prevented and sanctioned appropriately.

With a population estimated at about 200 million people, spread across over 350 ethnic groups and migration, our communities (and country) are becoming increasingly complex and diverse. Instead of blind policies, data on Nigerians would beam sunlight and inform the right policies and actions. It would provide the evidence base and facts for substantive policy and political debates. It would provide powerful insights into our weaknesses and strengths and inform what we should be doing to overcome real and present threats. It would also show us opportunities.

The power of data on development and the economy

For example, when a governor and the legislature can access (on a dashboard) with the click on a button real-time valid data on the number of children under 5 years old by each local community and local government in a state, this insight can be empowering. The governor and the legislature can work together with local governance, federal authorities, social and private sector partners to effectively and efficiently strengthen the demand-and supply-side factors of under-5 and primary healthcare services. Then, local authorities can access information on the number of children (reliable estimates) that should be enrolling in primary schools, year(s) in advance. Armed with this information, they can begin to plan and work with partners to provide adequate classrooms and to employ and train quality teachers, for the future, in line with policy guidelines.

When a governor can access real-time reliable estimates on the number of young people (by gender) aged 18 to 35 in each local community relative to the whole population, it empowers the governor. This pool of human assets can be organised into a flexible and dynamic labour force for the co-production and co-ownership of community objectives. If well-motivated and incentivised, they can be the drivers of a ‘rotary club-like’ development engine. Led by imagination, vision, purpose, and innovation (‘outside of the box’), they can be the architects and builders of local economic arteries. They can build a system of local roads and waterways for the movement of people and goods. They can be the ones who design and build local schools, health facilities and ensure the constant supply of energy off-grid.

Entire local economies can be built by and on this important demographic, creating value and supply chains based on relative local endowments. Data makes it much clearer and thus easier for local authorities to model local economies and make the business case for investments. The evidence makes it easier for the governor and the legislature to support the compelling case for the financial plumping of local economies by the financial services sector. As the social sector and corporate citizens increasingly play responsible roles, our communities become stable self-sustaining units that are integrated into the rest of the economy. States and federal governments can have more flexible fiscal space, and we can prosper together.

This is the foreseeable way out of our development and economic challenges. The way in which our “tired …and …poor huddled masses …can breathe free” to become positively active stakeholders as innovators and wealth creators. This is the way to build an inclusive society and a country where we measure performance and progress based on our real assets – today’s weakest links.

The Ministry of Interior

This is why the leadership of the Ministry of Interior is so important. To lead other institutions and organisations to build an ecosystem of interconnected Nigerians and visitors. Not islands. The current mandate of the Ministry of Interior borders largely on internal security. To keep Nigerians, residents, and visitors safe. Valid, reliable, complete and up-to-date data is important to the work of the ministry. Such data is also the source of information and intelligence for policies and investment decisions by government, private and social sector organisations. The right investments can result in inclusive economic growth and social stability. That is why our understanding of security should evolve to emphasise human development and the need for cross-government working and policy-integration.

We should be more strategic

The ministry of interior, just now, oversees some important services and agencies to deliver on its mandate. These services and agencies include the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigerian Correctional Service, the Nigerian Fire Service, the Federal Fire Service, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Service Board for Civil Defence, Immigration and Prisons Services. The Nigerian Police Force is currently under the Ministry of Police Affairs.

However, what if we can have the whole of the federal government in one online portal, managed by an overarching digital strategy office? Apart from the fragmentation (without central coordination and supervision) that currently exists, there will be efficiency-savings. Websites and portals would provide information and actual service to justify investments instead of the photo galleries of ministers and senior civil servants that currently characterise most websites of ministries. A consolidated federal government portal or website would serve as a single gateway to access information and services. It would set the boundaries and reflect the values and principles of the federal government of Nigeria. It would improve transparency and accountability.

Imagine, if we could have most of the federal institutions and organisations with the mandate of internal security under one ministry. There would be greater integration of policies and coordination of intelligence and actions to reduce crime and improve security. The private sector would invest more in the real sector. Jobs will be created to drive value and supply chains. This would increase economic prosperity for most Nigerians.

My recommendations

In view of the threats that Nigeria faces, we should consider adapting the UK Home Office and the US Department for Homeland Security models, plus, to the Ministry of Interior. Our goal should be to link improvement in security with the promotion of economic prosperity for all Nigerians. This might mean renaming the Ministry of Interior and pooling under it (in addition to Immigration, Correctional and Fire Services, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps) a restructured Police Service and its Commission and Inspectorate; the National Population Commission; the National Bureau of Statistics; the National Identity Management Commission; and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, and others.

By pooling together data-rich institutions of government, it would become easier to harmonise and share data, information, and intelligence. It would be easier to also promote integrated policy-making. Working closely with local and state governments the restructured Ministry of Interior can help to strengthen data registration systems and thus network the entire country. Obviously the Ministry of Interior would have a coordinating minister who will team with other deputies (ministers of state) within the ministry, under the direction of the President.

Deputies (ministers of state) will lead on different portfolios including immigration; prisons and correction; policing and civil defence; economic and financial crimes commission; independent corrupt practice commission; national drug law enforcement agency; national agency for the prohibition of trafficking in persons; fire and emergency services; cybersecurity; and humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development. Deputies will interface with other ministries that have overlapping functions, states, private and social sector stakeholders. Such collaboration would, for example, build community resilience; and mitigate, prepare, respond and quickly recover from any disasters.

The Ministry of Interior should have a digital strategy to safely and securely put big data into use. In addition to the immediate and ongoing security and across-government policy benefits of data, in the short to long term, it will become possible to provide big data in publicly available formats (downloadable from websites) for academic work. Such data would form the backbone of other sources of data for block-chain innovations and appropriate applications of artificial intelligence (given quantum computing and 5-G technology). The technologies that would transform the production of goods and services, and how we make payments.

In Conclusion

When the Ministry of Interior promotes data and a digital strategy in every policy across governments and the private sector, we continue to build a rich source of information for diverse applications.

Imagine what is possible if every Nigerian had a unique identifier with their social security (national insurance) number tagged onto every significant transaction as defined and mandated, and captured onto a safe and secure local, state and country database?

Imagine what is possible if criminal records checks were mandatory for employment into sensitive and regulated services and positions?

Imagine what is possible if we could check the credit history of every adult Nigerian when indicated?

We would make possible the activation of as many feedback loops. The impact on crime, national security, our economy, jobs and indeed our elections would be enormous. Investments in data would pay off and our country would be much better off. It takes a minister.

This article has been contributed towards promoting a better Nigeria for all. Our country is down. We should not be easily satisfied with quick-wins and short-term political gains for election cycles that push the cans down the road. This approach will cause long-term pains later. We should be far-sighted.

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