How BRISIN database will fight crime—Coordinator

By Ikenna Uwadileke

The Head, Basic Registry and Information System in Nigeria (BRISIN), Dr Anthony Uwa, on Sunday in Abuja said that effective implementation of the scheme was key in curbing crime in the country.

Uwa said this at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum.

BRISIN is an integrated system for the collection, storage and distribution of information to support the management of the country’s economy.

Uwa, however, explained that including every Nigerian into a central database would not only serve for the management of the country’s economy but provide needed information for security agencies to fight crime.

“Crime will become also impossible. Why do you go abroad and you hear they do crime you do time, it is because everybody is on a database.

“Why is it easy to trace criminals, because the moment you are registered on the BRISIN network, if you steal, all the police will need to do is to go and pick your finger print.

“If you touch any bank or touch any Automated Teller Machine (ATM) they know where you are; this is the magic of the white man that makes it seem as if their own country is working and our own is not,’’ Uwa said.

He urged Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to leverage on the integrated scheme, when implemented, to enhance their operations.

“It gives every government the power of data governance and when we talk of data governance, we talk about that instrument of monitoring and control,’’ Uwa added.

According to him, it will be an instrument that will guide government at all levels in providing infrastructure as well as creating jobs.

“This is what makes it seem as if things are working better in other countries.

“BRISIN will convert Nigerian masses to citizens because it is going to give everyone of us an identity,’’ he said.

Uwa emphasised that the system would provide real time data for government to work with.

“How many people are born everyday, how many die everyday and how many people enrol in schools everyday; these are the kind of things that BRISIN will help the government to resolve.

“We are talking of how many farmers do we have and what is the size of their farms and what are they producing.

“Someone will say we are about 100 million but people don’t understand the risk of using that to do planning because that 100 million is tied to our GDP.

“If you don’t have a proper understanding of how many people in Kano or Abuja, how do you plan infrastructure like hospitals, schools and transportation,’’ Uwa said.

NAN reports that recruitment of 5000 unemployed Nigerians is underway in FCT in the pilot phase of the scheme.