A uniquely designed electronic national identity card that would put paid to all the problems related to the identifications of Nigerians is now being perfected by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the agency established by government to register all Nigerians in a database.
If everything goes according to plan, the commission may even start the issuance of the new e-card before the year runs out as its completion has come to an advance stage.
In an exclusive chat with THE STATEPOST yesterday, the NIMC's Ogun State Coordinator, Mr. Shotayo Olusola revealed that the new identity card will not only carry the national identification number (NIN) of a person, it will also carry a chip with many applets embedded in it to meet other needs.
Mr Shotayo spoke to THE STATEPOST on the occasion of the National Identity Day which is celebrated annually on the 16th of September.
NIMC celebrated the 2024 edition yesterday in Ogun State with a road walk which took the commission's workers and other participators from Oke Mosan to Okelewo, Kuto Market and other places in Abeokuta, the state capital.
This years celebration of the National Identity Day which had as its theme: "Digital Public Infrastructure: Enabling Access To Services" was celebrated with fanfare as the commission's staffers paraded the streets of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital in a motorcade while many danced along on foot.
During the chat with the Coordinator, Shotayo said some of the obligations the new e-card could be used for include financial transactions, voting, international travels and health insurance.
The new I.D card will also put paid to government's incessant dilemmas on how to reach appropriate portions of the citizenry with palliatives or other dividends as it now has the inclusion of government Social Safety Net.
The card will also be tagged to individual's other identity codes like the Bank Verification Number (BVN), Voters' Number and driver's license number, among others.
Shotayo explained to the THE STATEPOST that this multipurpose card would however be issued on request and at a token.
He said NIMC had issued such card with chip in the past but this free service is no longer sustainable as many of such cards issued in the past remained in the office uncollected.
He noted that age barriers no longer exist for the issuance of the national identity card as all Nigerians and non Nigerians staying in the country for over six month has to be registered for easy monitoring.
After the road walk, staff of the commission and other participators later congregated at the office to cut a cake to mark the Day amidst other merriments lined up for the momentous celebration.
On the occasion, Shotayo noted that it afforded NIMC to continue to create awareness among the general public that the national identity card program is not a one off thing but an unending program and to stress its relevance.
Cake was later cut to celebrate the Day.
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