Advancing digital identity in Africa while safeguarding sovereignty
Experts at IGF stress balance between identity and sovereignty.
A pivotal discussion on digital identity and sovereignty in developing countries unfolded at the Internet Governance Forum 2025 in Norway.
The session, co-hosted by CityHub and AFICTA (Africa ICT Alliance), brought together experts from Africa, Asia, and Europe to explore how digital identity systems can foster inclusion, support cross-border services, and remain anchored in national sovereignty.
Speakers emphasised that digital identity is foundational for bridging the digital divide and fostering economic development. Dr Jimson Olufuye, Chair of AFICTA, stressed the existential nature of identity in the digital age, noting, ‘If you cannot identify anybody, it means the person does not exist.’ He linked identity inclusion directly to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action lines and the Global Digital Compact goals.
Several national examples were presented. From Nigeria, Abisoye Coker-Adusote, Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), shared how the country’s National Identification Number (NIN) has been integrated into banking, education, telecoms, and census services. ‘We’ve linked NINs from birth to ensure lifelong digital access,’ she noted, adding that biometric verification now underpins school enrolments, student loans, and credit programmes.
Representing Benin, Dr Kossi Amessinou highlighted the country’s ‘It’s Me’ card, a digital ID facilitating visa-free travel within ECOWAS. He underscored the importance of data localisation, asserting, ‘Data centres should be located within Africa to maintain sovereignty.’
Technical insights came from Debora Comparin, co-founder of CityHub, and Naohiro Fujie, Chair of the OpenID Foundation Japan. Comparison called for preserving the privacy characteristics of physical documents in digital forms and stressed the need for legal harmonisation to build trust across borders.
No digital identity system can work without mutual trust and clarity on issuance procedures,’ she said. Fujie shared Japan’s experience transitioning to digital credentials, including the country’s recent rollout of national ID cards via Apple Wallet, noting that domestic standards should evolve with global interoperability in mind.
Tor Alvik, from Norway’s Digitisation Agency, explained how cross-border digital identity remains a challenge even among closely aligned Nordic countries. ‘The linkage of a person’s identity between two systems is one of the hardest problems,’ he admitted, describing Norway’s regional interoperability efforts through the EU’s eIDAS framework.
Panelists agreed on key themes: digital identities must be secure, inclusive, and flexible to accommodate countries at varying digital readiness levels. They also advocated for federated data systems that protect sovereignty while enabling cooperation. Dr Olufuye proposed forming regional working groups to assess interoperability frameworks and track progress between IGF sessions.
As a forward step, several pilot programmes were proposed—pairing countries like Nigeria with neighbours Cameroon or Niger—to test cross-border digital ID systems. These initiatives, supported by tools and frameworks from CityHub, aim to lay the groundwork for a truly interoperable digital identity landscape across Africa and beyond.
Track all key moments from the Internet Governance Forum 2025 on our dedicated IGF page.