Buhari Registers For National ID
This is even as the Director General of NIMC, Mr. Chris Onyemenam, has said close to seven million Nigerians have so far been registered, adding that the number will quadrupled with the presidential directive of the harmonization of biometric data to all data collecting agencies in the country.
Buhari whow spoke briefly with State House correspondents shortly after he registered for the scheme at the lobby of the Presidential Villa’s Council Chambers, described the exercise as very important as it will help the nation know it’s exact population as well as know those eligible to vote, urging those yet to register to do so?.
He said, “?I think this exercise is very important to confirm our population and those who are entitled to vote, that is those who are 18 years and above. It will complement the exercise of the permanent voters card.
“So for those who want their votes to count from whichever party or constituency, they should ensure that they and their families are properly captured”.
He was later ?presented with his temporary identity card.?
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Onyemenam also told newsmen that the exercise has no terminal date as it was ongoing at all NIMC’s enrollment center nationwide.
He said more centered were being opened at local government areas, universities, hospitals and even primary schools, to ?bring them closer to the people.
The DG NIMC said, “This exercise is not a one off thing in the sense that there is no time limit. It is a continuous exercise. So every enrollment centre that we have established remain open forever, they are like branches of banks.
“We are taking deliberate steps to ensure that enrollment centres are opened in each local government. In collaboration with MDAs, we are now extending it to universities. It will also be extended to primary schools and hospitals”.
?Onyemenam said the NIMC was also collaborating with the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and the ?Nigerian Population Commission, in line with the presidential directive on harmonization of data collection in the country.
He said, ?”With the cooperation we expect from INEC, we are meeting INEC today (yesterday, it will be extended even further.
“Because of the records of births and deaths that are the primary responsibility of the Nigerian Population Commission, it will even become wider because there are more centres for the registration of births and deaths.
“Once a centre is established, it remains there and people can go their and enroll at their convenient time. They will do the pre-enrollment first before going to any centre for the biometric data capture”.
Asked the number ?of Nigerians captured so far, he said, “?On our data base, we have a record of seven million. In collaboration with other agencies, in the next three months or so, we hope to quadruple that number. In the past, the private sector was expected to perform that role, so government did not focus on that. The close to seven million that we have in our data base is the product of the pilot scheme that we embarked upon to demonstrate the value of the scheme.
“Now that the MDAs are going to step up the harmonization, the data base will be populated in a matter of weeks.
As a matter of fact, we are at the stage of migrating the data from the Bank Verification Number and that is about 20million.
“We are truly on course and appreciate Mr. President for that recent directive that biometrics data bases in government agencies should be expeditiously harmonised.
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The NIMC was ?established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007, and has the mandate to establish, own, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database in Nigeria, register persons covered by the Act, assign a Unique National Identification Number (NIN) and issue General Multi-Purpose Cards (GMPC) to those registered individuals, and to harmonize and integrate existing identification databases in Nigeria.
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