Former Postmaster General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Postal Service, Bisi Adegbuyi, has urged the Federal Government to integrate Nigeria’s digital identity infrastructure with verified physical location data to improve the delivery of public services and social interventions.

Adegbuyi made the call in a statement issued on Tuesday ahead of the 2026 International Identity Day, observed annually on September 16.

He argued that the growing investment in digital identity, electronic payments, tax administration and other digital systems would have limited impact if the government could not translate the infrastructure into tangible benefits for citizens.

According to him, Nigeria’s next phase of digital transformation should focus on ensuring that government services and interventions reach the people and communities for whom they are intended.

Adegbuyi proposed a “phygital” last-mile delivery system that would connect a person’s digital identity with a verified physical location.

He explained that such an approach would enable government agencies and businesses to establish not only who a person is but also where the individual, household or business is located.

He said this could significantly improve the delivery of social protection programmes, healthcare, food, medicine and logistics services.

“Identity is fundamental. It establishes the person, enables recognition, and underwrites trust and participation in modern life,” Adegbuyi said.

The former NIPOST boss noted that Nigeria had recorded significant progress in developing foundational identity systems, digital payments, electronic transactions and tax administration.

However, he said the focus should now shift towards converting those digital systems into practical benefits that make life easier and services more accessible to Nigerians.

“Amid today’s cost-of-living pressures, Nigerians are entitled to ask: what does our growing digital infrastructure actually do to make everyday life easier, cheaper and more accessible?” he asked.

Adegbuyi said the proposed framework should not involve the creation of another centralised database containing information on every Nigerian.

Instead, he advocated for the integration and interoperability of existing institutions responsible for identity management, addressing, payments, taxation and social protection.

He said such an arrangement would allow each institution to retain its statutory responsibilities while enabling their systems to exchange trusted information under appropriate privacy and security safeguards.

“None of this argues for one giant database holding everything about everybody; that would trade one danger for another.

The better doctrine is to federate, resolve, interoperate and protect privacy, with each institution performing its own statutory function while systems interoperate around trusted assertions,” he said.

Poor Location Data Creates Economic Friction
Adegbuyi identified inadequate location information as an often-overlooked factor increasing the cost of doing business and accessing public services in Nigeria.

He described the additional time and resources spent because of inaccurate or incomplete addresses as the “cost of friction”.

He cited situations where delivery riders struggle to locate customers, government field officers repeatedly verify addresses, and public interventions fail to reach beneficiaries because their locations cannot be accurately established.

“Each of these looks small in isolation. Multiplied across two hundred million people and billions of transactions, they become enormous. And it is ordinary Nigerians who ultimately pay,” he said.

According to him, linking digital identity to verified location information could help government agencies better identify and target beneficiaries of social protection programmes.

He noted that citizens living in different circumstances would have different needs and should not necessarily receive identical interventions.

For example, Adegbuyi said an elderly person living in a flood-prone rural community would have different needs from a young informal-sector worker in Lagos.

He argued that reliable location data would allow government programmes to better reflect such differences and improve the targeting of interventions.

Potential Benefits for Food, Healthcare Supply Chains
Adegbuyi further said integrating identity and location data could strengthen food and healthcare supply chains.

He explained that reliable location information could help government and businesses track the movement of essential goods from farms and pharmaceutical suppliers to markets, healthcare facilities and verified dispensing points.

He said this could improve efficiency, reduce delays and help ensure that critical supplies reach the locations where they are most needed.

The former NIPOST chief therefore urged policymakers to broaden the definition of digital transformation beyond the creation of digital platforms and databases.

He said the ultimate measure of Nigeria’s digital transformation should be whether those systems deliver measurable improvements in the physical lives of citizens.

Adegbuyi stressed that the objective should be to build digital infrastructure capable of producing practical outcomes, reducing the cost of accessing services and improving the efficiency of government and private-sector delivery systems.

He said stronger interoperability between identity, location and other digital systems could provide an important foundation for a more efficient and citizen-focused service delivery system in Nigeria.