qubesense enables online life certificate for pensioners using an electronic verification of identity that requires only a selfie!

Background

The Military Pensions Board (MPB) is officially responsible for the management and payment of military retirees’ gratuities and pensions, as well as the distribution of death benefits to the Next-of-Kins (NOKs) of deceased Nigerian Armed Forces soldiers (AFN).

The MPB provides a monthly pension to officers who served in the military for at least ten years or who have been honorably discharged due to medical reasons. 

For the ones who qualify, the pension disbursed is based on the years of service, the last drawn salary, and the rank/grade at the time of retirement. These payments are made every month as long as the retiree is alive.

 

Key Facts :

Number of officers in the department: 120 officers

The number of pensioners on record: between Ninety Thousand (90,000) to One Hundred Thousand (100,000) pensioners. 

Challenge

The Nigerian military pension system depended on paper forms and manual processing. The mandatory manual verification of military veterans in Nigeria took place biennially at selected locations throughout the country. In addition, military pensioners outside the country were required to assemble at designated Embassies /High Commission to partake in the process.

The objective of the exercise was to discover the exact number of active military retirees on the MPB payroll and update the retirees’ personal information (in case of any changes).

Numerous challenges were encountered during the manual verification of identity. Therefore, given the numerous challenges, the last verification exercise of military pensioners was conducted in 2017. 

 

Pension Board Staff

Pension Board Management

Military Pensioners

The Electronic Identity Verification of Military Pensioners

To overcome the gaps in the existing manual approach of authenticating military pensioners, qubesense proposed electronic verification of identity.

The online identity verification system is a mobile application present on the Google and iOS stores and a web reporting portal to build the Electronic Verification Management System (EVMS) specifically designed for the Military Pension Board.

The EVMS is connected to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and is integrated with other 3rd party applications via an API. This connection allows the application to capture the retiree’s National Identification Number (NIN) and compare the selfie to the photo in the database confirming that the veteran is who he claims to be.

Using the mobile App and the established EVMS, the anti-spoofing system allows for simultaneous verification of military pensions in Nigeria and those in the diaspora.

The project is planned for completion in two phases:

Phase 1

Onboarding: The existing officers are onboarded into the EVMS by first authenticating their Bank Verification Number (BVN), a unique identification number validated across all Nigerian financial institutions. A customer’s BVN is linked to their biological characteristics, including ‘Fingerprint,’ ‘Signature,’ and ‘Facial Features’ photograph taken at the time of membership.

Once verified, the retiree is required to provide additional matching records on a government-issued document, for example, Driver’s License, International Passport, or National Identification Number (NIN).

These records are captured using the unique features of the smartphone’s camera and stored in the database.

The unique biometrics captured are:

  • Facial biometrics must match the facial biometrics on the government-issued document: Driver’s License or International Passport.
  • National Identification Number (NIN): The number supplied will be verified against the NIMC database. The photo on the NIMC must match with the selfie provided to enable the retiree to provide fingerprint identification.
  • All ten (10) fingerprints, 5-Left fingers, and 5-Right fingers are captured using fingerprint recognition technology.
  • A verification report is generated, which the retiree can keep on the phone, send via WhatsApp or to an email to be printed for record purposes,

Phase 2:

Authentication: In phase two, using biometric authentication technology, face or fingerprint biometrics is captured to authenticate the pensioner’s identity with records already captured in phase one.

Solution:

The custom-built solution by qubesense is an identity verification app using biometric authentication technology that allows pensioners to submit their liveliness proof periodically from the comforts of their homes using a smartphone.

This biometric facial recognition technology creates a biometric data app that uses third-party APIs to verify identification and liveliness. Thus, using artificial intelligence (AI) and custom algorithms, qubesense facilitated the generation of a digital life certificate for pensioners.

Benefits

Pensioners can now generate digital proof of existence using real-time digital identification solutions such as photo facial recognition software and fingerprint identification technology.

All they need to do is upload a selfie-and present their fingerprints using a smartphone app—the software will analyze face recognition and fingerprints, which will then be compared to the user’s database information. Then, based on the results of the biometrics match, the system releases the retiree’s pension payout.

No more painful long-distance traveling, pensioners can now submit their digital certificate of existence in under 60 seconds using the online life certification verification app.

Pension Board Staff

Pension Board Management

Military Pensioners

Conclusion

As of today, around 100,000 + retirees use this application, and new pensioners are being added daily as people retire from the active workforce.

The biometric technology created by qubesense focuses on a full-proof system that works and is tailored to the pensions board’s exact requirement. This is the first and only application now available in Nigeria. No other organization or government agency has produced a biometric capture and authentication system like what qubesense has developed and deployed for the Military Pension Board (MPB) of Nigeria.

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