Citing the economic benefits of having a robust unified national identity card management, President of Dangote group, Aliko Dangote has called on Nigerians to get enrolled in the on-going registration for National Identity cards being carried out by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The business mogul made the call just as the NIMC disclosed that it has enrolled till date 30 million Nigerians and that efforts are on to capture the entire population within the next three years.
Dangote spoke when the management of the Commission visited him in his office in Lagos and presented him with his Identity slip as well as a draft report of the Strategic Roadmap for Developing Digital Identification in Nigeria
He explained that the national identity management policy of the federal government is pivotal to the economic growth strategy being implemented by the government, saying key government services would be delivered efficiently and effectively when government knows the categories of Nigerians in need of such services.
According to him, critical government programmes relating to social safety net, education, financial inclusion, insurance cover as well as credible elections depend heavily on proper identification.
Dangote told the NIMC management to copy from the India with a larger population and which had also successfully carried out Digital Identification of all its citizens and that with collaboration with partners and adequate awareness campaign, the Commission can successfully accomplish the task of enrolling all Nigerians within the shortest possible time.
The business man commended the Commission management for its foresight in tapping into the Indian strategy and seeking collaborative efforts to carry out its assignment
Speaking earlier, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Engr. Aliyu Aziz said the Commission is adopting an Eco system just as india to liberalize the enrolment process by licensing state and local governments, business organizations, bodies and agencies to enroll the citizens while the Commission only regulate their activities.
He stated that after the enrolment, the NIMC would then pay the organizations on performance based taking into consideration the number of citizens enrolled successfully. The Commission, he added was in the final stage of the system.
Engr. Aziz explained that the system is programmed to start in July and when followed through the entire population could be captured within the next three years while noting that the national identity card would be a multi-purpose one that could be used to access a lot of services that the people depend on daily.
Said he: ”we are trying to do Eco system as adopted in India the simplify the process of capturing the citizens. NIMC will license state, local governments, business organizations and agencies who will do the registration and the NIMC will only regulate their activities.
“At the end of their exercise, the NIMC will pay them on performance basis, we are in the final stage of approval. We intend to start in July and when implemented, we plan to conclude the registration of all Nigerians within three years.
“The card is a multi-purpose one as it will help in the allocation of many resources. Since we started, we have been harmonizing the people’s data with the Bank Verification Number (BVN). The card we are issuing would be second to none in quality because of the multi-purpose nature”, Engr. Aziz stated.
The NIMC boss said his Commission has stepped up its registration drive over the years revealing that from the Seven million peoples registered in 2015, the commission has captured 30 million Nigerians till date. “The Identity card number is similar to the United States Social security number and the Britain’s Insurance number, and Nigeria’s card will carry all the features too”
Engr. Aziz disclosed that already the Commission has 900 registration centers across the country for enrollment and called on Nigerians to avail themselves of the center near to them.
