By Mohammed Baba Busu
Alhaji Yahya Abubakar, the Etsu Nupe and Chairman, Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers, has urged his subjects and Nigerians to strive to acquire the National Identification Number through the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) because of its importance.
The Etsu Nupe spoke when Mr. Olumoh Habeeb, the North Central Regional Director of NIMC, led the staff of the commission in the state on a courtesy visit to his palace on Saturday the 10th of September 2022.
Abubakar said Nigerians needed to register under the commission with the view to getting the National Identification Number (NIN).
The royal father explained that it would be much easier to conduct all government and non-governmental engagements when the numbers were acquired.
According to him, such numbers will be useful in the recruitment of citizens into the various armed forces, security agencies, and public services.
He said that effective capturing of Nigerians by the NIMC would ensure ease in doing a lot of things in the country.
The traditional ruler assured that he would create an awareness campaign for the people of his domain to know the importance of identification numbers.
He called for an aggressive awareness campaign by the Commission and government to ensure that more Nigerians were captured.
Etsu Nupe commended the Director General/CEO of NIMC for carrying out an advocacy visit to his palace through the North Central Regional Director, to key into their activities.
Speaking earlier, Habeeb said the DG asked him to deliver his message to the royal father.
The North Central Regional Director said even though the number of records in the National Database has reached an appreciable level, a lot still needs to be done, hence the need to seek the support of traditional rulers to achieve our goal of registering all Nigerians and legal residents.
According to him, the commission has brought in some licensed front-end partners under the ID ecosystem platform which has increased the enrollment centers across the country.
He said with this development, the commission felt it is appropriate for them to liaise with traditional institutions to mobilize their subjects to register.
“We shall be partnering with the traditional institutions so that the mandate of the commission, which is enrolling Nigerian citizens and legal residents to the national database would be achieved quickly”, Habeeb said.
