Director-General, National Identity Management Commission, Dr. Chris Onyemenan
The
National Identity Management Commission has commenced the enrolment of
Nigerians in Mexico as part of its grand plan to register all the
nation’s citizens in Diaspora.
The Director-General and the Chief
Executive Officer, NIMC, Mr. Chris Onyemenam, said this at the
Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum in Lagos.
A statement by the commission on Friday
quoted the DG as saying from inception till date, about 5.5 million
people had been registered on the NIMC database, adding that there were
plans to make the enrolment mandatory for every citizen.
He said the harmonisation of the identity
management system with 14 government agencies had been achieved by
ensuring that the executives of the agencies were members of the board
of directors of the NIMC.
The director-general said after an
identity card with 13 applets had been issued, five of the applets would
be activated immediately.
According to him, the electronic identity
card will have its e-ID, international travel, biometrics, payment
solution and the Electronic Public Key Infrastructure applets activated
when issued to owners.
He added that agencies such as the
National Pension Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigerian
Police Force, Nigerian Communication Commission, National Health
Insurance Scheme, and National Population Commission had formed
partnership with the NIMC.
In the financial services sector, he said
an agreement had been reached with the Central Bank of Nigerian and
modalities and processes were already in place to use the national
identity number as a requirement for obtaining a Bank Verification
Number.
Onyemenam said that the agency had been
able to provide a virtual payment solution that guaranteed security of
funds through its partnership with MasterCard, Visacard and Verve.
The DG said, “It also means that
financial credit institutions can lend credit facilities to individuals,
and what that means is a gradual shift from emphasis and focusing on
cash to credit, which is expected to drive the economy.
“Another important one is the financial
inclusion strategy. If you have no financial inclusion strategy based on
a unique identity, you will never get it right. To get it right,
therefore, we need a national identity management that can guarantee
security and infrastructure to confirm the identity. We have not only
provided that infrastructure, we have provided a virtual payment
solution.”
Highlighting the benefits of the
harmonisation with the government agencies, Onyemenam said terrorism,
money laundering, crime could easily be detected.
He explained, “Harmonisation can help law
enforcement agencies to focus on trends and undergo more accurate
criminal profiling and drug trafficking trends. The duplication process
provided by the NIMC solution ensures transport infrastructure, the
identification of every individual can be leveraged by the government.”
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