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The federal government has begun implementation of the Basic Registry and Information System in Nigeria (BRISIN), more than 12 years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo initiated the project.

BRISIN, an integrated system for the collection, storage and distribution of information to support the management of the economy, was initiated by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2006, while the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration inaugurated a Technical Committee for its implementation.

Business Hilights gathered on Monday in Abuja that current administration approved the implementation of the project which would be carried out by Dermo Impex, an Italian based Information and Communication Technology group starting with pilot scheme in the Federal Capital Territory FCT .

Dr Anthony Uwa, National Coordinator of BRISIN, said the project will create no fewer than 10 million jobs if implemented by the present administration.

He said government revived the scheme as part of build up to strengthen the flow of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) as awareness campaigns on the project have shown strong acceptability.

Uwa averred that the “The second leg of the project is the official flag off. At the official flag off, the field work will start, that is the really implementation.

“All the necessary logistic needs to be prepared before the flag off, that it why we have met with stakeholders to make sure that BRISIN is implemented. “It the responsibility of the FCT to provide funding, then, they are going to provide provisional office for the flag off and implementation before BRISIN centres are built.

“The Federal Government has asked us to look at the possibility of seeking funds from Nigeria citizens and international organisations, mostly because of this aspect that has to do with the disability. “Disability is not an area that investors will put their money, they need a lot of donors and sympathetic help that comes,’’ the coordinator said.

While noting that the implementation team would mobilise resources to start the project, using private sector investors who are ready to support the project, he added that BRISIN will take over 10 to 15 years to cover the country.

Uwa disclosed further that “BRISIN will be inaugurated in FCT soon; by the end of year, we would have competed the implementation mostly the structure and building, if funds are readily available.

“We have held two strategic meetings; we will be working with three major agencies – National Population Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) first. “All the milestone needs to be determined by these people, real data on demographic and with the provision of security number.

“So, that is the reason we needed these agencies to be part and parcel of the implementation even with disability data bank.

“I am assuring you that immediately we start, we will not stop. FCT could take six months, if actually fully funded so we should get the FCT pilot project right.’’ In addition, he said that the two meetings held in May with the stakeholders were to re-strategise on the implementation as agreed by the Federal Government.

“Federal Government said that FCT should provide the structures, mostly operational office for flag off – where BRISIN will take off with disability data capture.

“Then, it will also provide land for BRISIN centres from the wards to council areas and to the states. “The second meeting took place and the result of the meeting was so impressing, it showed that it was time for us to move forward,’’ the official said. No fewer than 9,822 servers will be installed in all the wards, local governments and states in the country as part of the project implementation. The service provider will install one server in each of the 8,812 wards in Nigeria and move up to the 774 local governments’ headquarters.

It was if the implementation committee is aware that not every local government in the country had been covered by broadband infrastructure.