All Nigerians and legal residents in the country will be captured in the national identity database within five years, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said. The Director General of NIMC, Engr Aliyu Aziz said this at the Pre-bid Conference for Prospective Data Collection Service Providers, in Abuja yesterday.
Engr Aziz said the commission had so far provided unique identities to about 38million Nigerians out of the country’s population of about 187m. He said proper identification of all Nigerians was needed for socio-economic planning and even distribution of resources across the country. According to him, every Nigerian is eligible for the issuance of the National Identity Number (NIN) free of charge irrespective of the age.
He said NIN was a prerequisite for every Nigerian and legal residents in order to access to certain government services. “Identity is one of the key point under the United Nations Development Goals, whereby each country is expected to ensure that they identify their citizens and legal residents within a particular period. He said the National Identification Number does not have expiry date, and that it is only when a person dies that the number will be rested in a soft database for such person.
While giving overview of the Ecosystem Project, a Deputy General Manager /special assistant to the DG, Ms Uche Chigo said with NIN, government would be able to determine the living people in the country and with that number government could plan effectively for better service delivery. She also noted that for the under-16 registration, parents and guardians must present their NIN and their children’s birth certificate before the children or wards could be enrolled and issued NIN.
“But the child’s biometrics will be tied to his or her parent biometrics until the child turns 16 years when he or she can now come for the biometric capturing,’’ she said.
