Nigeria’s digital birth, death registration platform to gulp N5.3 billion

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has said that N5.3 billion will be spent on developing an Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System (eCRVS), a platform that will effectively keep electronic records of birth and death registrations in Nigeria.

The concessionaire for the project, Messrs Barnksforte Technologies, would fund the project, while the National Population Commission would be the project grantor.

The ICRC disclosed this in a statement issued by Mr. Ifeanyi Nwoko, the Acting Head of Media and Publicity of the Commission. The statement also announced the approval of the project by the Federal Government.

More details about the project

The ICRC said the project seeks to capture and verify births and deaths in Nigeria and provide attestation and verification of certificates to end users on the platform. According to the Commission, before now, the registrations were being carried out manually, a process that has been characterized by low coverage and inadequate data.

Aviation Leasing Company

The concession agency also disclosed that the Federal Government approved the establishment of an Aviation Leasing Company (ALC) under a Public Private Partnership (PPP). He said the approval was in a bid to inject private sector funds into infrastructure development and boost the nation’s economic growth.

The commission said both approvals were given following the issuance of Full Business Case (FBC) compliance certificates by ICRC, the agency statutorily established to regulate PPPs.

The ICRC said the ALC, which would be executed by Messrs AJW Consortium as concessionaires, seeks to provide an opportunity for local leases of aircraft to both domestic and international carriers.

“It will also alleviate the problems of aircraft/engine leasing, costly lease rates, and high insurance premium charges to Nigerian airlines.

“It will facilitate the ease of doing business for foreign lessors with Nigerian domestic airlines being a one-stop-shop thereby limiting capital flight and the strong demand on forex,” the Commission said.

The commission said the ALC would provide leasing opportunities for Nigerian and African Airlines to boost their fleet size and alleviate the problems of aircraft leasing and high insurance premium charges.

The regulatory commission said it would also provide an alternative to foreign lessors and introduce competition which would relax the terms and conditions currently obtainable, thereby facilitating growth and development.

It said the project would also create employment opportunities for Nigerians which would have a multiplier effect on the economy.