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Liberia’s National Identification Registry (NIR) is mobilizing teams to ensure the enrollment of employees from all government ministries, departments, and agencies into the National Biometric Identification System (NBIS) database. Additionally, the NIR teams will focus on replacing all expired ID cards nationwide, reports New Republic Liberia.
This initiative follows a recent directive from Liberian President Joseph Boakai, emphasizing the significance of legal identification and urging the ID issuing authority to fulfill its mandate by enrolling every eligible citizen into the NBIS.
During his State of the Nation address on January 29, President Boakai highlighted past challenges faced by citizens due to NIR inadequacies and pledged to empower the agency with necessary resources “to capture comprehensive biometric data required for all agencies, including the National Elections Commission.”
Building on the President’s directive, NIR Executive Director Andrew Peters affirms his commitment to registering more Liberians into the NBIS, crucial for enhancing democracy and economic development.
Peters announces the immediate deployment of NIR mobile enrollment teams to every government ministry and agency for employee enrollment and ID card renewal nationwide.
This proactive step by NIR to renew expired ID cards is expected to boost the renewal rate, which has previously been criticized for its low numbers.
Last year, Peters expressed concern over citizens’ lack of interest in renewing expired ID cards, warning that such behavior violates provisions of Liberia’s National Identification Act.
Despite a population of 5.2 million citizens, only 700,000 have been enrolled in the NBIS, representing less than 14 percent of the total population.
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