Ahead of the forthcoming National Identity Registration exercise, the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr. Chris Onyemenam has advised Nigerians to douse their fears, saying that the current exercise was targeted at capturing the identity of all Nigerians from infancy to adulthood till infinity.
The DG who gave the assurance in Abuja during an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY yesterday stressed that the pilot programme was to register people from 16 years and above as against the previous minimum of 18 years .
“Once the project kick-starts, it will run through our lifecycle and it might even stretch beyond us that is; it will be a continuous project till infinity but for the pilot programme, we want to register people that are 16 and above but pressure will not be on us to register the underage; though is our mandate to register everybody from birth to death.
According to him, “we want to capture a minimum of one hundred million Nigerians (100, 000, 000) within the next three years because statics obtained from the National population Commission shows that we have adults of 16 and above up to 90, 000, 000.
However, people that are below 16 will not be disenfranchised because registration will be done from birth till death including infants and children. The underage (less than 16) can register and obtain their NIN but cannot demand for card until their 16 years.