All Nigerians Must Have National ID Number By Dec 2014..Goodluck Orders

All eligible Nigerians must be enrolled for the issuance of a National Identification Number (NIN) by December 31 next year, President Goodluck Jonathan has directed.

Performing the formal launch of the enrollment for the issuance of the NIN at the State House, Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, he emphasised the importance of  safety of identity documentation as a critical social infrastructure for national development.

He said by this same date, all government agencies requiring identity verification and authentication services or involved in data capture activities must align their activities with a view to switching over to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) infrastructure.

Jonathan regretted that valuable time and resources expended in the past, at delivering an effective identity platform, had been met with limited success, noting, therefore, that “as we recalibrate our efforts, we must avoid the pitfalls of the past, and stay focused on achieving results.”

He said Nigeria could not be an exception to the global trend towards identity management and centralised national identity database, observing that already, there was a growing quest for specific databases and identity verification by several government institutions and private sector organisations in the country.

While noting that aside from being unwieldy, the cost of operating multiple discordant databases and infrastructure was unsustainable, he stressed that the government could not afford the continued proliferation of data capture activities, adding that the proliferation would neither grant any advantage in efficiency, nor does it make good economic sense.

According to him, “the growing identity verification needs, therefore, calls for harmonisation and integration of identity databases and the development of a universal service infrastructure.

“To achieve this goal, the National Identity Management Commission should ensure that by December 31, 2014, all persons eligible for registration as provided for in Section 16 of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act No. 23, of 2007 are enrolled into the national identity database.

“By this same date, all government agencies requiring identity verification and authentication services or involved in data capture activities must align their activities with a view to switching over to the NIMC infrastructure.”

The president directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure that these objectives, which he said, were aimed at streamlining biometrically-linked databases and optimising scarce resources, were accomplished on record time.