The federal government has set December 31, as deadline for all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), requiring identity verification and authentication services or are involved in data capture activities to align their activities with a view to switching over to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC ), infrastructure.
All necessary arrangement to achieve the set date, according to the Commission, has been put in place by the constitution of a Harmonisation and Integration Committee with membership from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communication Technology.
According to a release from NIMC, MDAs are thus to note that the Commission shall have the primary responsibility to deliver the processes and procedures for achieving a seamless integration of its National Identity Management System (NIMS) infrastructure with existing infrastructures of other Agencies within the timeframe set by Government.
“This, shall include without exception, all data capture related activities, development of Database, Identity authentication and verification, card issuance activities and related infrastructure.”
Also, all identity database-related projects and procurements, especially as they relate to Data capture, Development of Databases, Identity Authentication and Verification and related identity management infrastructure/issues shall be validated against the Harmonisation and Integration Programme in view of the set deadline to ensure seamless and timely compliance with the directive within this transition period.
As contained in the release, the Office of the SGF through the Governing Board of NIMC shall ensure periodic evaluation of Progress Report and convene Review Meetings as appropriate; and that Government will monitor the implementation of this harmonisation and integration programme at the appropriate time.
In addition, Government will publish the commencement date for the mandatory use of the National Identification Number, NIN, in line with Section 27 of the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007.