Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, has revealed that he received several threats from some citizens following the National Identity Policy Implementation.
Also, Pantami disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari administration
has increased the National Identity Database by 150% in three years.
Pantami made this disclosure in his remarks at this year’s
National Identity Day commemoration titled, ‘Institutions as Critical
Stakeholders for Citizens’ Mobilisation’, in Abuja on Friday.
He lauded the success story of the policy despite stiff
opposition.
He added that the digital Economy sector remitted more money
to the FG government more than any other sector.
Explaining the importance of digital identity to
development, he noted that, “According to World Bank, one billion people don’t
have any legal identification, especially in Africa. That is why we have
uncountable challenges in Africa, because we don’t have data to plan for our
citizenry”.
He emphasized that Nigeria has captured more citizens into
her National Identity Database than other African countries.
The minister said that the essence of the event is to remind
citizens why digital identity is important.
“We can only get our digital economy right when we continue
to improve and encourage our citizens to enroll in our national database. By
the time I took supervision of NIMC, the total number of registration centres
were not up to 1,000 but today, we have over 5,000.
“Today our national database is on auto drive. We have
established over 19 national policies and all of them are being implemented.
This has never happened in the history of Nigeria.
“When we commenced the process, many people turned against
me.
“My life was threatened because of the introduction of NIN
and sim registration on BBC radio and many more and I resisted believing that
nobody can control my life in this world, only Almighty God. They have been
defeated.”
Earlier, the Director General/CEO, NIMC reiterated
commitment to partner traditional rulers, religious leaders and other
stakeholders to ensure that majority in rural communities are captured.
He further added that the commission has achieved
tremendously infrastructural development resulting in increased NIN enrolment
across the country in the last three years.
“NIMC has made great strides on so many fronts in the last
three years. From just over 1,000 enrolment centres and 2,000 enrolment devices
across the country, NIMC in partnership with its licensed enrolment partners
now has over 15,000 enrolment centres and over 29,000 enrolment devices
deployed nationwide. This is one of the reasons enrolments have increased
tremendously with over 89 million NINs generated successfully.
“On the international level, NIMC today has diaspora
enrolment centres in over 40 countries, with more centres and countries
scheduled to be added in the coming months. This gives Nigerians in the
Diaspora opportunities to enrol and have their national identity even while
outside the shores of Nigeria”, he stated.
Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir
Kwarra, Executive Chairman of the ID4Africa, Dr. Joseph Atick, Representatives
of National Information Technology Development Agency, Director IT
Infrastructure Solutions, Dr Usman Abdullahi, Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC) and other agencies were present.
Recall that in April Buhari directed the Implementation of
NIN-SIM Policy and ordered Telephone companies (Telcos) to bar all outgoing
calls on unlinked cell phone lines. Subsequently Government agencies such as
Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS), Federal Road Safety Corp(FRSC) and others
made NIN mandatory.
In 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria approved the
recognition and observance of September 16 of every year as National Identity
Day.
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