Okino Ezekwesili David
U10MM1081
The need to establish and regulate a reliable and sustainable
system of national identity management, that enables a citizen or legal
resident assert his identity in line with international best practices for the
country gave rise to the establishment of the National Identity Management
Commission (NIMC).
The NIMC was established by Act No. 23 of 2007 to basically
foster the orderly development of a modern and universally acceptable identity
management infrastructure in the country. This implied that it was to
establish, manage, regulate and effectively secure Identity Assurance System,
that would facilitate the harmonization and integration of identity databases
in government agencies, ensure sustainability, reliability and acceptance
across diverse points and contexts and application of the verification and
authentication services within and outside the country.
In pursuant to the mandate of the commission and section 27
(1) and (2) of the NIMC Act, 2007, the commission listed the transactions that
must be validated by the National Identity Number (NIN) to include; application
for, and issuance of an International Passport, opening of individual and/or
group bank accounts, all consumer credits, purchase of insurance policies, the
purchase, transfer and registration of land by any individual, National Health
Insurance Scheme, such transactions that have social security implications,
registration of voters, payment of taxes, and pensions etc.
Sequel to the these, the commission had urged all Nigerians
to avail themselves the opportunity and be enrolled into the National Identity
Database upon which they will be issued a National Identification Number; the
single version of truth and foundation identity.
The NIMC had asked Nigerians to appreciate the full import of
the body's mandate and understand that three decades old problem of identity
management in Nigeria and the subsequent launch of the National e-ID Card
scheme in 2014. It added that, "clearly most people are unable to
appreciate the shift in paradigm from 'card issuance', their familiar turf, to
'identity management', the current global trend, which explains the reason why
they insist on getting the physical card even after they have been enrolled and
issued their NIN".
But were Nigerians really to be blamed for this when the
institutions offering services and or involved in transactions have no regard
for the NIN; which is the single version of truth and foundation identity? A
situation where an individual approaches a bank for instance, with a temporary
National Identity Slip containing the NIN as mandated by the NIMC which states
that, "any government agency/institution, bank, insurance company and all
other institutions offering services and or involved in transactions requiring
the identity of an individual must first demand for the NIN", and the
banks vehemently refuses, insisting on the card, who is to be blamed?
It was therefore heartwarming when the news broke that most of
the cards of people that enrolled from 2011 to May 2017 were ready. But to the
utter disappointment of many, a check on the status of their cards reveals the
contrary. A common response is "card not ready, check back in a week
time".
As a foremost body charged with the management of foundation
identity upon which every other type of identity should rely or depend on, why
can't the operations of the NIMC be decentralized to a situation whereby they
run a functional office in at least the 744 Local Government Areas in the
country, where cards can be produced instantly, like the bank's Automated
Teller Machine (ATM) cards, after every successful enrollment? Why must the
Nigerian factor always play out in every policy or initiative that is supposed
to drive the country forward?
The suffering Nigerians go through daily as occasioned by the
non acceptance of their NIN by individuals and institutions providing services,
whereby they insist on the card, must stop forthwith. It is high time the NIMC
reviews its operations and ensure that Nigerians are spared the current
hallowing experiences they go through daily for no fault of theirs. It is not
just enough for the body to adopt global best practices of identity management
from card issuance, without adequate groundwork to ensure that the masses at
the receiving end of the policy.
In that direction, it is quite laudable that the Nigerian
Immigration Service(NIS) has decided to key into the national identity data by
making the NIN compulsory for the issuance and reissuing of International
Passports from January 1, 2018. More individuals and institutions should take a
clue and key into the NIN and integrate it to its operations.
If card issuance by means of decentralization of its offices
and operations is obsolute, then adequate information as well as sanctions must
be meted out to individuals and institutions (private and government), who are
a clog in the wheel of progress,
by their continuous demand for "card" instead of
the NIN. Development and progress can not be recorded in a place of conflicting
and uncoordinated directives, therefore the NIMC must rise to the occasion and
assert itself on this issue as the foremost identity body in the country. The
time for that is nigh.
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