The National Addressing Council (NAC), chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, has ratified the preliminary framework for the actualisation of a digitised and modern addressing system for Nigeria.
The decision was taken on Monday at a meeting of the council in Abuja attended by representatives of key government agencies and stakeholders from the public and private sectors.
Under the proposed arrangement, the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will serve as the secretariat of the council and coordinate technical implementation, systems integration, interoperability and standards.
Addressing the council, Shettima said the initiative was aimed at ensuring that every community, business and household could be located within a trusted national framework.
“Wherever a citizen lives, wherever a business operates, wherever help is required, Nigeria should find the address. This is the standard before us and I am confident that the council will deliver,” he said.
The Vice-President said a reliable addressing system was critical to planning, commerce, security and social protection, stressing that it must serve both rural communities and urban centres.
He said the digital addressing framework would also be linked with digital identity, government databases and other digital public infrastructure.
“When a verified identity can be linked securely to a verified address, the gains extend across financial inclusion, social interventions, logistics, planning and emergency response,” Shettima said.
He said the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) would be responsible for individual address verification and authentication, while the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) would support business address verification.
According to him, the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) will remain responsible for postcode administration and postal infrastructure, while state and local governments will drive implementation at the community level.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, described the initiative as fundamental to Nigeria’s economic transformation.
Tunji-Ojo said the initiative would help unlock opportunities for entrepreneurs and boost investor confidence.
“I think also that if the news of this initiative goes out, there will be a lot of incidents in terms of investors, knowing fully well that it’s no more business as usual but business unusual,” he said.
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kingsley Udeh, thanked the Vice-President for bringing relevant agencies together.
Udeh said the initiative had moved from “crisis management” to coordination and collaboration.
The Director-General of NIMC, Abisoye Coker, said the major challenge previously confronting the initiative was lack of coordination and disagreement among relevant agencies.
Similarly, the President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Bello Lawal, said the initiative would improve national security and citizen identification.
Lawal said it would also deepen financial inclusion, strengthen planning and enhance revenue generation at the local government level.
The Special Assistant to the President on ICT Policy, Salihu Ibrahim-Dasuki, said the National Addressing Policy 2017 had become obsolete due to institutional, statutory, constitutional and technological changes.
He said the existing policy focused largely on mail delivery, postcodes and postal infrastructure, adding that some of the responsibilities were no longer aligned with current governance realities.
The proposed framework is expected to provide a coordinated national system for digital addressing, with relevant government institutions working together to establish standards, verify addresses and facilitate implementation across the country.
