The management of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has been commended over the registration of over 88 million Nigerians.
Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba (Dr) Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, gave the commendation when the management of the NIMC paid him a courtesy visit in his Alarere, Ibadan residence.
The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer (DG/CEO), NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz Abubakar disclosed that the commission has so far registered the figures.
The Olubadan however charged the Federal Government not to look back in its determination to ensure that Nigeria ranks well among the comity of nations with an accurate database across the globe.
Oba Balogun said the commission had proved its ability and capability as far as its core mandates are concerned and deserve all the necessary encouragement to do more.
Oba Balogun also noted that “we still have a long way to go, looking at our over 200 million population.”
The Olubadan, in a press statement by his Assistant (Media), Oladele Ogunsola, described the activities of the NIMC as very crucial and strategic to the growth, progress and development of the country.
He stressed that the country might not have been so overwhelmed by the current challenges of insecurity if the country had gotten an up-to-date database.
He acknowledged the role of the traditional institutions in the mobilization of the citizens for every masses-oriented programme of the government.
The Olubadan charged the NIMC team to ensure that the expected awareness, especially at the grassroots level, is created to make the mobilization responsibility seamless.
The NIMC DG/CEO, through the commission’s head of the delegation to the palace, Mr Akinola Abolaji, said: “So far, NIMC has registered and issued over 88 million NIN to Nigerian Citizens and other legal residents.”
He said the visit was in commemoration of 2022 ID Day with the theme, “Traditional Institutions, Critical Stakeholders for Citizen Mobilization”.
Elaborating on the identity day (2022 ID Day), the NIMC DG/CEO said: “the Identity Day (ID Day) Campaign is the ongoing call for government authorities in all countries around the world to officially recognize 16 September as Identity Day.
“The choice of the date was concerning sustainable development goals that call for a legal identity for all, including birth registration by 2030.”
“The ID-Day Campaign was initiated by ID4Africa at the 4th Annual Meeting of the ID4Africa Movement on 24 April 2018, in Abuja, Nigeria.
“The initiative was met with strong support whereby over 1500 individual signatures across the globe endorsed the proposition.
“The Federal Government approved the recognition of the date in 2020 as National Identity Day in Nigeria, otherwise called ID-Day, to raise awareness about the role identity plays in empowering individuals to exercise their right and responsibility fairly and equitable in a modern society.”
The NIMC boss used the occasion to authenticate the activities of some private individuals’ involvement in the registration for the National Identification Number (NIN).
He note that it was to increase the number of enrolment and to ensure that all Nigerians are captured into the NIDB that the commission issued a license to private partners (Front End Partners FEPs) who are saddled with the responsibility of enrolling the Nigerian Citizens with a token funded by the Federal Government.
The licensed partners, according to him, “are representatives of NIMC and their license allows them to provide Front End Services and not allowed to do any modification on the existing data.
“However, more emphasis has been placed on the issuing of NIN, as we are moving towards digitization of the economy”, he said. “The commission was recently transferred to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
“We all agreed that Nigeria needs an effective identity management system more than ever before to curb the menace of security challenges in the country and identity problems being faced daily by Nigerians living in the Diaspora.
“It is imperative and important at this stage of the growth of our NIDB and recognition of ID-Day to move to the grassroots for the enrolment of individuals where the traditional institution has a key role to play in citizen mobilization for NIN issuance,” he added.
