In bringing the ICT initiatives initiated under the reform tenure of Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili and Dr Sayyadi Abba Ruma, previous articles have covered Converged examination Technology Platform and Student Line help line for molested students. I have also clarified that convergence of the technologies was what was always envisioned not the institutions who are creations of law. Talking about the law, I am somewhat bemused that the existence of a draft education bill hardly - if ever mentioned. This draft bill is a comprehensive document that captures all the legally related issues that the reform planned to tackle. The reform was not designed as an Oby and Abba matter, but a template that future administrations could implement once the bill had been passed into law.





To that extent, I wish to reiterate to the gentleman in the lobby (you know who you are) who verbally attacked the ministers as being lawless, that to the contrary, the reform leadership was process driven and intended the legally impacting initiatives to have the cover of the Education act. This week, I want to discuss a project that has the potential to dramatically reduce Government expenditure, and also serve as a reference point for highly impactful public- private sector partnerships.



One of the biggest problems facing the Ministry and infact the sector, is the lack of a top hierarchy identifier for employees and students under its jurisdiction. Whilst ID cards exist across different institutions and parastatals, there is no single view available to the Ministry. This affects data driven planning and exacerbates the problem of ghost workers, and indeed ghost students, who move from one institution to another without fear of detection. The problem was determined to be so fundamental to the point where we felt a significant proportion of the recurrent expenditure could be salvaged if a holistic identification scheme was in place. Of course, there was an extant challenge of how to fund such a potentially huge project that would potentially provide one million chip based cards to the Federal sector and serve as a template for the states to reproduce. The costs could easily exceed the N3 billion naira mark.



The reform team established the possibility of a combination card that served as identification and also functioned as an ATM card. This would eliminate financial burdens and ease logistical complexities as well. After all, the banks had retail outlets and were specialist in verification and identification processes, as a necessary component of their core function. They were also keen to have organized access to a huge student community that needed to be incorporated into economic activity early on, without the huge marketing expense that would otherwise be required. The data captured by the banks could then be ported to the proposed sector wide database and the chip based ATM card would carry a chip, the logo of the bank and the Federal Ministry of Education as well as the holder's picture and biodata. The reverse side would have a magnetic strip.



Despite the skepticism raised about the possibility of the banking sector funding such a scheme, the Minister set about selling the concept to the banks, using the platform of the Bankers Committee that usually meets in Lagos . I will never forget the horrific weather that prevailed as we waited to catch a flight to Lagos on the eve of the presentation to the Bankers Committee - chaired by the Governor of the Central Bank. Planes could not land; the storms evoked glances from those of us going to Lagos - unspoken thoughts praying that this stubborn Madam Minister would abort this trip so we could live to try another day. But that was not to be. We waited until circa 10 pm before boarding and rode out what was quite a scary and very very bumpy ride to Lagos .



The Bankers Committee showed great excitement about the possibility of their involvement in education. This was not only in respect of the Combo card but other relevant CSR driven schemes. What became discernable from that session was the gulf of disconnection that existed between education and the elites in Nigeria . People just did not realize that the state of education had reached a cataclysmic point of erosion. That presentation sparked off what was to be a series of meetings and presentations which culminated in a process to select participating banks and allocate them to geopolitical regions. All banks were invited to respond to an Initial Partner Selection criteria document that mapped retail reach of the Banks to our Federal institutions to enable use gauge for logistic ease. Questions were also asked in respect of funding commitment, e- focus and evidence of chip based technology card partners.



The initial findings and concept were presented to the heads of the budget office and Bureau of Public Sector Reforms to obtain their input, and ensure that there was synchronization with relevant initiatives and objectives of both organizations. A workshop was organized to provide a forum for interactive exchange of ideas and feedback to ensure that the project had the benefit of concrete organizational backing and complete consideration of issues. Following this phase, the FME issued a Final selection document, which captured additional outputs of the workshop. These included firm written commitment to provide 100% funding for production of FME co- branded biometric chip technology based ID cards for accounts they acquired, full funding for the neutral biometric comparison aggregator , who would ensure duplicate record did not find their way into the final database, and a clear description of the proposed data capture process.



Eleven banks scaled through the criteria laid down by the Ministry of Education and they were allocated parastatals and institutions which they would produce cards on behalf of , and consequently open accounts for the constituent students, lecturers and employees. The processes were mapped out by a committee that included the participating banks, the Federal Ministry of Education, and Technology providers; notably Secure ID, Socketworks and Chams. Following weeks of refinement, a memorandum outlining the rationale for the scheme, the participating banks, data capture process, the co-branded card concept and the technology aggregator was presented to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and approval - which was granted at the first presentation.



FirstBank actually produced the first Education Sector cards for NERDC (National Education Research and Development Council), before the baton of leadership changed on May 29, 2006 and one hopes that the Banks have not gone into a state of transition stupor where everyone thinks that administrative change necessarily implies redefinition of all Government initiatives. The incoming Minister needed time to understand the initiatives under implementation get legal context and accelerate work on those initiatives that could proceed without the passing of the Education bill into law.



Furthermore, it will be a poor testimony of the staying power of Nigerian Banks if the political process were to deem a project collectively adopted by 11 of them as unviable, especially when Government is not bringing one kobo to the table, and yet getting the benefits of holistic planning, ghost worker eradication and all the other benefits the scheme was programmed to deliver. I am also aghast at those who are suggesting that such zero kobo initiatives will be "killed" off by those who like to see government expend money. Haba!!! We have such a low opinion of our political class and civil service bureaucracy to the extent that we think they always have mischief up their sleeves. I believe there are good people in the system, and that together with the banks chosen to implement the WE CAN Combo card, this initiative will deliver the benefits it was designed to deliver, for the glory of the Nigerian education system.