From vision to reality: MSC’s role in Kaduna’s digital transformation

• Dec 28, 2023
• 1 min

Kaduna State wanted to create an interoperable, ubiquitous digital payments ecosystem by 2020. MSC conducted a feasibility study to explore collaborations and partnerships with private sector partners. We also conducted a digital readiness assessment to build contextual knowledge on digital payments and governance infrastructure.

Kaduna State envisaged the creation of an interoperable, ubiquitous digital payments ecosystem by 2020. MSC was commissioned to conduct the feasibility study to explore collaborations and partnerships on behalf of Kaduna State. The study also sought to reflect on potential business cases with private sector partners, which included payment service banks.

The MSC team conducted a digital readiness assessment to build contextual knowledge on the state of the digital financial ecosystem, payments, and digital governance infrastructure. We built contextual knowledge on best practices for global, national, regional, and local digital payments and governance infrastructure. It helped us formulate the vision for an interoperable, statewide digital payment infrastructure.

As a result, MSC developed the blueprint for an interoperable, state-wide digital payment infrastructure and formulated a pilot plan and implementation roadmap for the way forward. 5.2 million of the 9 million residents of the state (about 60 percent) are now enrolled in the digital ID database. The state has started to issue a readable multi-functional digital residency card that can be used for interoperable cash-in cash-out (CICO) transactions. Close cooperation between the federal government (National Identity Management Commission) and the state through an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) enabled this. The MoU enabled an interface to the national identity management database.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned this project on behalf of Kaduna state.