NIMC to license organisations to capture data, issue NIN, says Aziz

The Federal Government’s mandate to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to enrol Nigerians and maintain a centralised National Identity Database is getting closer to being fully implemented as the Commission finalises arrangements to license private and public sector organisations for data capturing to speed up the enrolment process for issuing the National Identification Number (NIN). Director-General of NIMC, Aliyu Abubakar Aziz, fielding questions from journalists, including ADEYEMI ADEPETUN, spoke on this and other issues…

It’s been two years since you were appointed the Director General/CEO of NIMC. How will you describe the journey so far?
Well, the journey so far since I took over on November 23, 2015, has been quite demanding and challenging. This is expected of a critical agency like NIMC, which is saddled with the responsibility to interface with over 100 million Nigerians based on its mandate. Fortunately however, I have been part of the system and quite familiar with all the work that had been put in over the years. So, it is a transition, so to speak.

Many Nigerians have been complaining of their inability to receive their electronic, multi-purpose identity card after enrolment. Why is this so?
With the setting up of NIMC by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007, there was a paradigm shift from identity card issuance to identity management. So our focus is on enrolling people into the National Database and making sure that everybody has a unique identifier which is the National Identification Number (NIN) that enables them to be identified anytime and anywhere, just like the Aadhaar of India, and the Social Security Number of the United States of America, etc.

What are the main challenges hampering the delivery of the NIMC mandate as quickly as possible?
One of the major challenges we face in the enrolment or registration of citizens is power. We require clean, constant power supply to run our enrolment centres and be able to enrol Nigerians as quickly as possible and populate the database.
 
We are also mindful that we have not achieved national coverage; we should be in every corner of the country, so that people can easily reach us to get the service. So efforts are being made to ensure that this is done, thus we are working to partner with and license participants who can help NIMC capture data and populate the database.
 
Another significant challenge is funding, which is no doubt a general problem considering the financial situation in the country and the Federal Government is doing everything within its power to ensure that the economic situation improves nationwide.

How ready is NIMC for the upcoming mandatory use of the NIN for critical national services like the international passport?
Section 27 of the NIMC Act recognises the National Identification Number as the only unique identifier which must be presented by individuals for transactional purposes before services can be rendered.We also have in place, a robust NIN verification and authentication platform through which the NIN can be verified and authenticated by government agencies or private institutions offering services or involved in transactions requiring the identity of an individual.
  
Also, we have about 809 enrolment centres nationwide, and nothing stops anyone who doesn’t have a NIN from entering any of these NIMC offices to obtain theirs before they go to the Immigration office for their International Passport. So for Nigerians within Nigeria, there is no problem; it is only Nigerians in the diaspora that we will have problems with in the immediate future, because NIMC is yet to commence enrolment of Nigerians in the Diaspora.
  
However, we are concluding plans with NIS to allow them enrol Nigerians in the diaspora on behalf of NIMC and issue them the NIN upon successful completion of the de-duplication process and clearance from the NIMC backend, so that they will be able to exercise their rights come January, 2018.

There was a recent report that NIMC would license private companies to participate in the data capture.  When will this commence?
Registration of over 180 million Nigerians into the National Identity Database is a challenging task. And to deliver effectively and timely on this mandate, the Commission is willing to enter into partnership with private and public sector organisations through licensing, to capture the data and issue the unique identity number within the next two to three years. NIMC is at an advanced stage to commence the licensing.

After the gazette is approved and published, the framework for selecting the eligible companies will be published and it will contain the criteria, rules of engagement, terms of conditions, etc.

How prepared is NIMC for the centralized biometric national database?
The message to Nigerians is that the NIN bequeaths citizens with a lot of privileges and benefits. And like most modern economies where the national identity card is a national token that gives citizens access to government social interventions, it also grants citizens certain rights as regards financial access, credit facilities, among others.
 
However, the major advantages of the NIN include but not limited to: the facilitation of interactions between citizens, the government and private sector institutions thereby promoting socio-economic and political development.

Since citizens enjoy a “one-person-one-identity”, the NIN therefore enhances citizens’ participation in the political process, enables citizens to exercise their rights, and facilitates management of subsidies and safety net payments, IDPs management. It also facilitates service delivery in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, enhances the work of law enforcement agencies e.g. public safety, policing, national security and border protection, eliminates ghost and multiple identities, etc.
  
It also enhances the ability of citizens to assert their identity, have access to credit from financial institutions, protects citizens from identity theft – an antidote to identity theft driven frauds, which expands access to other financial services including insurance.

Recently the Federal Government re-constituted the NIMC Board. How will this help it to achieve its goals faster?
It is expected that the recently reconstituted NIMC Governing Board will help the Commission achieve the objective of populating the National Identity Database, which will ensure that NIMC is properly equipped to provide services to all sectors and aspects of the economy and nation. With this in mind, the Board of NIMC is acting decisively to increase investor confidence in the project in a professional way, so that various opportunities can be rapidly identified and exploited for the good of our economy.