Our middleware is an important building block in the Nigerian eID system

The challenge for Nigeria

With over 180 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. As part of an ambitious initiative, all adult Nigerians are currently receiving electronic ID cards. These eID cards are used for numerous applications: identification, border control, digital signing, payment and more.

As Nigeria has many inhabitants, the Nigerian eID card project is one of the largest of its kind in the world. In addition to eID, NIMC has launched several other identity management projects. The goal is to build a modern citizen database that will facilitate the governance of this vast country.

Our solution for Nigeria

cryptovision plays an important role in the Nigerian eID card project. The Gelsenkirchen-based company is responsible for setting up the public key infrastructure (PKI), which is used for the card itself as well as for the card infrastructure. It is one of the largest PKIs ever built. It includes at least eight certification bodies that issue certificates to more than 100 million cardholders. The product used to operate the CAs is CAmelot from cryptovision. NIMC chose CAmelot because this solution is also suitable for very large PKIs and is also extremely flexible. In particular, CAmelot supports the CV certificates which are indispensable for electronic ID cards.

Most applications of the Nigerian eID card are realized with the cryptovision product ePasslet Suite. Five card applications are used in the first step: identity verification, authentication and signature, travel document, fingerprint verification and payment. Five more applications are planned for the near future.

CAmelot

ePasslet Suite