Decades after the Federal Government committed billions of naira into different national identity card schemes, it is a national embarrassment that millions of enrollees have no cards to officially identify themselves. Despite that millions of enrollees have managed to acquire the National Identification Number (NIN), they have no identity cards to tender. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the body responsible for the scheme, is yet to complete that last leg, which is to produce and distribute identity cards to citizens. Many still parade the old and outdated cards obtained in an earlier scheme under a past government.
  
It is regrettable that in this age of technology and data, Nigeria does not have a single national database for planning purposes. Instead, different agencies of government come up with different means to process and identify citizens. For example, to process a national driver’s licence, an applicant’s fingerprint is captured. The same fingerprint is captured for an international passport as well as for banking verification. The time to build a national database is now. Apart from cutting waste, a one-stop database will accelerate development and save money spent on bureaucracies. 
 
Therefore, it is high time the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) got its act right to provide citizens with identity cards as promised in the laws that set it up. The NIMC was established by Act No. 23 of 2007, with the mandate to establish, own, operate, maintain and manage the country’s national identity database. It is also the responsibility of NIMC to register and assign a unique national identification number to each person, to be followed by a General Multipurpose Card (GMPC). This card is expected to have features and information that are useful for national planning and security.
  
The NIMC should go and complete its statutory task. Abandoning that task for another experiment in national data management will mean another exercise to award contracts. Let the commission harvest the features already embedded in the current driver’s licence, with owners’ blood group and other medical details captured. Citizens’ banking details are well captured in their transactions with banks. Nigerians of voting age have their date saved in the systems of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
 
Without burdening citizens with any further laborious exercise, let NIMC gather data from sister agencies to make up a national database. Let the government save money and time. Whatever upgrading that is needed can be done gradually over time. And Nigeria must avoid repeating the experiences of corruption and lack of due process that characterised past efforts.
  
Notably, the idea of a national identity card scheme was mooted during the military regime under General Obasanjo in 1976. The civilian government under the late President Shehu Shagari signed the first national identity card contract in 1981 with Avant Incorporated at a cost of $100 million. That effort suffered funding, technical and integrity challenges, as it was denied due procedure in award and execution. Since then, different contractors with no proven capacity have worked on the scheme at different times.
 
Suffice to say that to date, the identity card scheme has gulped around N121 billion with little to show for the efforts and time. The failure to develop a national database as well as a national identity card has no doubt denied the country the opportunities derivable from such a scheme. A national database will improve security and help to verify identities, and ultimately reduce crime. A database boosts efficiency in service delivery and transparency in governance. With a reliable national database, a country’s electoral system could be enhanced.
 
Today, it is not easy to identify who is a Nigerian by mere facial looks. Some citizens of neighbouring West African countries are alleged to have access to NIN. No thanks to the numerous and unmanned national borders that pose a challenge to tackling cross-border crimes and terrorism.
  
Therefore, the NIMC should produce national identity cards for all enrollees. Millions have been assigned NIN numbers, but the challenge is for NIMC to produce the physical identity cards. The failure to produce the cards has led to enrollees ‘frustration and temptation to seek alternatives in the black market, where criminals produce and sell fake cards. This has the capacity to compromise the existing data. Some cyber criminals allegedly hack into NIMC’s databank to re-allocate NIN numbers. For a country with the level of insecurity prevailing, these compromises are unacceptable.
 
Notably, too, NIMC has challenges with inadequate infrastructure and having to contend with outdated equipment. The commission also complained of funding challenges. It is important that the government should not downplay the significance of national identity and the database in nation-building. In some countries, their NIN is a social security number. It is useful for many things.
 
It is recommended that previously separate data be harmonised into a single system for purposes of planning and policy execution. The country does not need to invest scarce resources in a new identity card scheme. Nigerians do not need fanciful or exotic schemes in the bid to carve out contracts for consultants. Let the government fine-tune its resources and make them safe and functional. It is equally imperative that NIMC staffers toe the line of honesty and patriotism.