Less than 20 per cent of Nigerians are registered in the National
Identity Database of the National Identity Management Commission
(NIMC), an official has said.
This is despite the registration and collection of the ID cards being
free, Hadiza Dagabana, the Acting Director-General of NIMC said in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007, the agency, according to
its website, 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 who are
citizens of Nigeria as well as others legally residing within the
country.”
Since its establishment, however, and despite several years of trying
to convince Nigerians to register, only over 37 million Nigerians of
the estimated 200 million population are registered, Dagabana said.
This number of registered is less than half the 84 million who
registered for the 2019 general elections. This is despite that unlike
the voter registration, the NIMC registration is not restricted to
people 18 years and above.
Dagabana also said that of those who have registered, over 700,000 are
yet to collect their National e-ID cards.
She urged all concerned applicants, who are yet to collect their
cards, to request for their Identity card nationwide, or request for
its transfer if they have moved to a new location.
She called on enrolees, who have changed location in which they
registered for the National Identification Number (NIN) to apply for
the transfer of their National e-ID card.
The official said that the process allows successful enrolees to
request for the transfer of their National e-ID Card to any NIMC
Registration and Card Collection Centre of their choice for
collection.
Dagabana said that the transfer request could be made from any of the
NIMC Registration and Card Collection Centres nationwide, other than
where the individual enrolled for the National Identification Number.
Speaking on possible reasons for non-collection of the e-ID Cards, the
official explained that some people who have registered either
relocated from the locations where they enrolled, or have changed the
phone numbers they provided at the point of enrolment into the
National Identity Database (NIDB).
“As I’m telling you now, we have over 700,000 cards that are lying
there in our offices, that the owners have not come to claim.
“Because when you registered with us you provide a contact number and
email address.
“We have spent money sending SMS to the numbers that were provided for us.
“Some people have moved, some have changed their numbers, they have
not come to our database to update their numbers, so how are we going
to know that you have changed your numbers?’’ she said.
Dagabana, therefore, called on such persons to visit any NIMC office
closest to them to request for a card transfer form, which they would
fill and submit to the state coordinator or local government
supervisor for processing.
She listed the World Bank and European Union (UN) to be among other
key development agencies under the UN Sustainable Development Goals
assisting the commission.
“Identity management is one of the key points in development goals,
and we are working towards achieving targets,” she said.
Curbing Exam Malpractice
Dagabana also said the adoption of the National Identification Number
(NIN) as criteria for all examinations in the country will tackle
malpractices such as impersonation.
She said although registration for NIN has already started at the
Primary School level of education across the country, it should be
encouraged to further enhance confidence in the nation’s examination
system.
According to her, doing so will help to stop impersonation, adding
that registration processes for NIN should become mandatory before
enrolment for public examinations.
