NATIONAL IDENTITY NUMBER WILL BE MADE COMPULSORY SOON – NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT WARNS

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, has revealed that the National Identity Number (NIN) will soon be made mandatory for Citizens for accessing government services and interventions.

Minister in charge of the ministry, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), said this when he received a briefing from the Management team of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on their activities following the final transfer of the supervision of the commission to the ministry on the 7th October 2020.

He called on the commission to ensure a 500% increase in the number of monthly Citizens’ Digital Identity Enrolments-up from the current 500,000 monthly enrolments to 2.5million monthly enrolments.

The minister, however commended the Director-General of NIMC, Engr Aliyu A. Aziz, for his commitment, noting that there has been a considerable increase in enrolments since he became the Chief Executive Officer of NIMC but maintained that there is still a need to raise the bar even higher.

He said “This is imperative because the National Identity Number (NIN) will soon be made mandatory for accessing government services and interventions.”

He assured the NIMC team that he will do all he can, to address the challenges, especially those of funding, being faced by the commission.

According to his Spokesperson, Mrs. Uwa Suleiman, the minister also stated that he is “committed to ensuring that citizens easily obtain secure digital identity” and urged them to “enroll as soon as possible.”

He noted that “Digital Identity is one of the key requirements of any digital economy and it is captured under Pillar #6 of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.”