National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has established card collection centres in all its state offices nationwide, a development, the commission said was part of the effort to improve the rate of card collection nationwide.
Investigations also revealed that plans were underway to open similar card collection centres in all the local government areas in the country.
Mr. Abdulhamid Umar, general manager, Corporate Communications, NIMC, said efforts were being made to ensure massive distribution of the cards to the card collection centres, with a view to also issuing the cards to Nigerians in the rural areas as directed by the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
It will be recalled that the President urged the commission to ensure that at least 100 million Nigerians are enrolled for the National Identification Number and issued their electronic identification cards, at the celebratory launch of the National e-ID Card on August 28, 2014, in Abuja.
According to the President, ordinary Nigerians must benefit from the use of the card. “The card builds a window to a social security benefit system and therefore, it is a card every Nigerian should get,” he said.
Umar further confirmed that although not all local government areas had enrolment centres, efforts were ongoing to ensure that enrolment and card collection centres were established in all the local government areas.
“The NIMC currently has over 400 enrolment centres nationwide and is working tirelessly to ensure that more of such centres are opened in all of the 774 local government areas.”
It was further gathered that some lucky Nigerians who had received their National e-ID cards were completely impressed and excited with the process of card issuance and activation.
An applicant, Mr. Emeka Ofo, who just received his card at the Alausa office, said, “I received an SMS from NIMC on Wednesday to report to the Alausa office for my card on Friday, February 20, 2015. I got to the office before 9:00am anticipating a crowd, but in less than 20 minutes, I had my card. No hassles, no crowd; very organised process.”
Ofo stressed that if the Independent National Electoral Commission had followed the NIMC step in the distribution of PVCs, then they wouldn’t have had the problem they are having now.
He added that the commission should have worked in collaboration with NIMC.