Ahead of the new National Identity scheme planned by the Federal government, Nigerians are doubtful that the exercise though long overdue may not meet the expectations of over 170 million population of the country. CHIKA OKEKE reports that the buzz has persistently generated heated argument among Nigerians.
Mr Felix Unigwe resides in Mararaba Nasarawa state but works with one of the Federal ministries in Abuja. To him, plying the Abuja-Mararaba road daily is a herculean task but without the stress, it would be nearly impossible to get his daily bread. He, like many other Nigerians live in other places like Suleja, Masaka but ply daily to FCT in search of greener pasture.
Unigwe told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that his endless search for another National Identity card started when he was nearly robbed under the Mararaba Bridge as he alighted from a vehicle. Narrating his encounter with the robbers, he said, “It was exactly 10.30 pm when I alighted from the vehicle because I had a very busy schedule at work.
As I moved towards the narrow path to board a cyclist to my home, I met two men who tried to rob me but on noticing their movement, I ran and my National identity card slipped off my pocket.
Then, the search for another began. A friend advised me to report the incident to the National Identity card office in Abuja that I would be given another one but the day that I visited the office, the security men denied me access to the office.
He continued, “Since I needed it very badly, I travelled to my state and went to my local government secretariat to see if could obtain another one because that was where I registered but all to no avail. Since then, any transaction that I needed to make without the National Identity card would appear almost impossible because it has been measured side by side with our legal tender.
Unigwe noted that since the federal government has mapped out billions of naira for another Identity card, that adequate provisions should be made to enable people recover their missing card in case of theft or robbery.
He further stressed that, “with the rate of corruption in Nigeria, it has become almost impossible for agencies like banks to open an account for a customer without requesting for the National Identity card.
The same thing applies to Western union money transfer because such transactions cannot work without the customer presenting his or her National Identity card. This ID card is now a must in Nigeria, so the federal government and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) should do everything possible to ensure that every registered Nigerian can access the Identity anytime of the day whether stolen or missing.
In the beginning
Unigwe`s plight could be linked to over 5 million Nigerians that were unable to obtain? the National Identity card that is presumed to be a major means of identification even in foreign countries.
Recalled that NIMC, the commission saddled with the responsibility of registering eligible Nigerians was established under NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007 to foster the orderly development of an Identity sector and build a modern Identity Management System for Nigeria. To create, operate and manage a secure, sustainable National Identity Database likewise to build and manage an Identity Authentication and Verification Service Infrastructure.
Also to establish Permanent Registration Centres across the country, to enroll every Nigerian and legal resident at his/ her convenience? as well as to issue a chip-based, highly secure and user friendly multi applications Smart card.?
With this, the former president Olusegun Obasanjo led administration between 1999 and 2007 initiated the project.? But the huge scam that rocked the project cannot be forgotten in a hurry.
Ironically, the last attempt by the Federal Government to avail Nigerians that have attained the age of 18 and above the opportunity to access the National Identity card ended in a huge scam.
Apart from the fact that till date, substantial number of Nigerians was unable to obtain the identity cards; the old cards issued failed to meet the modern requirement for any electronic identity verification used in other developed countries.
Other Reactions from Nigerians
Mrs Folake Onabanjo, an international business woman also frowned at the inability of the Nigerian government to embark on any project without such work ending up as a scam after execution.
She however, was inquisitive about the fate of Nigerians who did not attain the compulsory age of 18 years as at the last registration but have come of age and needed to transact business with the national identity card when she stressed, “but the huge scam that rocked the project after the last registration is a serious one.
As I am talking to you, my two children could not open a savings account because they didn’t have the national identity card.
They registered in my state and relocated to the North, so, they could not collect their when it was distributed to them; even when they made attempts to retrieve it after few years, it ended up like a fairy tale.
A legal practitioner who pleaded anonymous added, ‘we learnt that the Federal Government allocated the sum of N30bn for new national identity card project in the 2012 budget. So we expect nothing less than perfection because considering the bulky money involved in the project, Nigerians should not for any reason complain of inaccessibility of the card.
To forestall multiple registration, the machines should be upgraded with the latest software and not such used in the 80`s. It’s a grievous offence for NIMC not to register people that have attained the age of 18 years and above without coming up with a cogent reason. Also the new identity card should be security inclined in such a way that the data capturing machine can detect multiple registration”, he concluded.
National Identity Management Commission’s stance
Reacting, the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr. Chris Onyemenam said that the reason for the paradigm shift from the old method of providing identity card was because the old system was prone to fraudulent activities and it was not put through.
According to him, “the current system is essentially rooted on what is obtainable in the most advanced countries like UK, India and United States of America on what the residents usually refer to as social security number. We are likely going to promote National Identity Number (NIN), so it goes beyond the card issue.
Once you register, a number will be generated from our back end technology to the front end and it will give you what is called NIN which will be an 11-digit numbers. It becomes yours for life until you die because no two individual will have the same number.
“You will obtain the NIN 7 days after your registration while ID card would be issued to you 30 days after the collection of NIN. The card will be chip-based with a more improved technology that is much better than the previous ones. It will have a minimum of 16 security feature in them.
On the amount approved for the forthcoming exercise, he added, the federal government approved the sum of N30.066bn but the money will be delivered to us in phases of three years from 2011 to 2014. So it’s a projected financial estimate that the government will use to support the project just to ensure that Nigerians are identified and they can assert their identification anywhere they go to.?
He continued, “Once your card is declared missing, stolen or even involved in fire incident, you should report to any of the NIMC offices nationwide. Since your data is stored in our database, your data cannot disappear; so the person will be required to pay some money (not yet determined) and we will produce a new one.
“Once the project kick-starts, it will run through our lifecycle and it might be even go beyond us that is; it will be a continuous project till infinity”, he concluded.