National Identity Number to be mandatory for accessing government services and interventions – Pantami

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), has challenged the National Identity Management, NIMC to ensure a 500% increase in the number of monthly Citizens’ Digital Identity Enrolments- up from the current 500,000 monthly enrolments to 2.5million monthly enrolments. The Minister gave the charge when the Management team of the Commission came to brief him on their activities following the final transfer of the supervision of the commission to the ministry on the 7th October 2020. Pantami commended the Director-General of NIMC, Engr Aliyu Aziz, for his commitment and passion and a considerable increase in enrolments since he became the Chief Executive Officer of NIMC.

The Minister however stated that there is still a need to raise the bar even higher by ensuring that the enrolment rate is 5 times the current rate. “This is imperative because the National Identity Number (NIN) will soon be made mandatory for accessing government services and interventions. Dr Pantami who used the opportunity of the meeting to discuss the challenges militating against the success of NIMC’s activities, including the challenge of inadequate funds, assured the Commission’s team that he will do all he can, to address their challenges. He also stated that he will continue to meet with NIMC regularly until he is certain the performance of the Commission is enhanced significantly and efficient services are offered to Nigerians, saying that he is committed to ensuring that citizens easily obtain secure digital identity and urged them to enrol as soon as possible. The Minister further directed the Director-General of NIMC to set up complaint units in all the Commission’s Centres in order to ensure that the complaints of the citizens are promptly addressed.

He also directed the Commission to interface more with citizens and to also run awareness campaigns on all media channels and in Nigerian languages to encourage citizens to obtain their digital identity. The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is committed to supporting NIMC to ensure that Nigerians derive the benefits of a functional digital identity system. “Nigerians are encouraged to visit NIMC accredited centres soon for their digital identity,” he said. Digital Identity is one of the key requirements of any digital economy and it is captured under Pillar #6 of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.