NIMC begins identification number issuance to citizens in U.S., UK, 14 others

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has commenced enrolment and issuance of National Identification Numbers (NIN), to Nigeria citizens in 16 countries across five continents. The Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr Aliyu Aziz, said this in Abuja. He was speaking on: “Strategic Roadmap for ID Development’’ at an online zoom meeting with editors. Aziz said that as at March this year, capturing and issuance of NIN to Nigerians by the NIMC had taken place in the U.S., UK, China, South Africa, Austria, Germany and India.

According to him, the registration has also taken place in Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Togo, Canada, Benin Republic, Italy, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates. He, however, did not say the exact number of Nigerians in the diaspora so far captured in the identity registration but assured that Nigerians everywhere  would be registered eventually. The NIMC chief disclosed also that 11 million Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) had been harmonised by the organisation and that additional 25 million BVN holders would be harmonised in the second quarter of this year. Aziz said, however, that only about 41.5 million citizens and legal residents had been enrolled since 2012 when NIMC commenced the registration scheme, assuring that the NIMC had intensified efforts to register more people. He disclosed that 12 million people had registered in the 40 years to 59 years age bracket with 18 million people registered in the 25 years to 39 years age bracket, while five million people had been registered in the 20 years to 24 years age bracket.

According to him, two million people registered in the 15 years to 19 years age bracket with 800,000 people captured in the five years to 14 years age bracket while only 79,000 people are captured in the under five years age range. The chief executive officer said that only 3.4 million people were registered in the senior citizens cadre, whose ages ranged from 60 years and above.

Explaining details of the registrations, Aziz noted that more people were registering in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, compared to other cities, while residents of states in the South-East appeared to show little interest in the identity capturing. Aziz said that the NIMC had entered strategic partnerships with the News Agency of Nigeria, National Orientation Agency, Nigerian Television Authority and other media organisations  to sensitise Nigerians on the importance of identity registration.