The National Identity Management Commission has started the physical production of national identification cards.
The Director-General, NIMC, Mr. Chris
Onyemenam, confirmed this in a telephone interview with our
correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday.
Onyemenam, who spoke through the Deputy
Director, Corporate Communications, NIMC, Mr. Abdulhamid Umar, said the
organisation had also achieved the personalisation of the identity
cards.
He said, “We were told that
personalisation of cards was not possible. However, I am happy to report
that we have now achieved the personalisation of cards. The card
carries chips that can be used to effect banking transactions.
“The personalisation of cards also
means that it can be verified. If a card claims to represent a person,
it can be taken to the backend to verify the details of the person that
it identifies. There is a database on which the details can be verified.
This means that the card cannot be forged.”
Onyemenam said although the agency had
planned to start the issuance of the identity cards to those that had
enrolled this month, this, would no longer happen because it had to be
done in a formal ceremony when President Goodluck Jonathan would be
available.
“The President is the first person that should be issued a card,” he added.
The NIMC had in April 2013 deployed
equipment for the registration of citizens eligible for the issuance of
identity cards in pilot registration centres. It has since been
expanding the registration centres across the country.
Onyemenam said the agency was now
recording more than 100,000 enrolments a day, adding that efforts were
on to ensure that the exercise covered the 774 local government areas in
the country.
The Federal Government had in 2001
awarded a contract worth $214m to a consortium led by a French firm,
Sagem, for the production of identity cards for all Nigerian citizens.
The contract was marred by allegations
that Nigerian officials collected more than $2m in bribes to influence
the award of the contract in 2003.
The NIMC was established by the NIMC Act
of 2007 to take over the functions, assets and liabilities of the
Department of National Civil Registration, which handled the tainted
identity registration process.
The NIMC is charged with the
responsibilities of registering every individual in Nigeria,
establishing and maintaining a national identity database as well as
issuing of unique identification numbers to citizens and a general
multi-purpose identity card.
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