National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), stormed the Card, ATM and Mobile Expo 2012 Africa's biggest Card and Payment exhibition, in Lagos last week, to demonstrate and enlighten people on the enrollment process and what the commission has to offer.
The NIMC, the commission saddled with the responsibility of establishing a national identity database, allocating national identity number and the harmonization and integration among others, was present at the event, showcasing and participating in the exhibition.
Abdul-hamid Umar, Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, said the commission came in liaison with its project partners including Chams Consortium, to showcase what they have and are making available to Nigerians and legal residents.
“The enrolment would actually be for Nigerians above the age of sixteen and legal residents” he said. “These are non-Nigerians who are legally residing in Nigeria. They would also be captured in our data base” he added.
“The reason why we are here is to demonstrate our state of preparedness and what we have.
Infact deployment of equipment for the Lagos enrolment has actually reached advanced stage. We have achieved like 95 per cent. There are just some I’s to dot and T’s to cross” he said.
“We have commenced enrolment in Abuja. That commenced in February, so we are bringing that to Lagos and when we saw an opportunity here we decided to make the best use of it, since this is a great event that has to do with cards and the technology-two very important ingredients for our business we therefore had to be physically present here" he said.
In the same vein ,Simon Ishaku, Deputy Project Manager, Project Management Office, NIMC said “responses at the event have been positive; expectations are high, people are eager for the project to kick off in full swing most people complain about the present ID cards we have, like the voters’ card and so on, not being acceptable in some banks, so it’s not all about the enrolment, a lot of people are actually interested in getting the card”.
“What we have been doing here is a Demo. We take them through the process and then work on it, to see that everything is in place. However, since this particular outlet is not certified, the enrolment done here are for enlightenment and demonstration”.
“We have done a certification of the Lagos Office which includes checking for the quality of images, very soon, we should be able to register the Lagos office at the back end. This means, depending on how fast we get the authorization, we can actually commence upper week”.
“The same goes for the other zones we are working on. The representative states of those zones are under verification stages for certification. Once they are successful, they get certified and enrolment can begin” he added.
Work in the National Identity Management System (NIMS) started in earnest in the third quarter of 2009, after the NIMC ascertained that it could not re-use most of the assets it inherited from the former Department of National Civil Registration (DNCR). In the next few months, it is expected that full enrolment of citizens and legal residents would commence in earnest..
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