The Federal
government has moved from national identification and registration of citizens
via the card-based version to strictly digital.
The Minister of
Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this to state house correspondents
today August 13 after he and Minister of Communications and Digital Economy,
Dr. Isa Pantami, had a meeting with President Buhari in the statehouse.
Aregbesola, Pantami
and the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC),
Engineer Aliyu A. Aziz, had met with President Buhari to submit the report of
the Committee on Citizens Data Management and Harmonisation which was presided
over by Aregbesola.
Briefing State House
Correspondents after the report submission, the Interior Minister said the new
direction in citizen identification will include individual DNA samples, adding
that the card-based would merely be for convenience.
“The card is just
for convenience. The real thing is the number you have, with that number you
are on the databank, everything about you is there. We are just upgrading it
such that your DNA too will be there very soon.
Even if you are in a
car, I will know if you are the one in the car with your DNA, it’s already
captured. You are already captured, you cannot run away anymore” he explained.
Giving further
explanation, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Pantami,
said the attention of the program would no longer be cards’ production, but
strengthening the digital platform.
“What the chairman
is saying now is that we are no more talking about cards, the world has gone
digital, so that card is no more. Our priority now is digital ID; it will be
attached to your database wherever you are.
So if you can
memorize it by heart, wherever you go that central database domiciled with NIMC
will be able to provide the number and every of your data will be provided.
Now, our focus is no
longer on producing cards, that card is only for record but what is important
is that the digital ID and if you notice we have started using the digital ID
on international passport. Once you have the digital ID but not the card, we
are 100 percent done with you,” Pantami said.
On his part, the
Director-General of NIMC, Engr. Aziz, said the production of identification
cards is strenuous as well as streaming the nation’s foreign exchange out of
the country.
“With your national
ID you are already identified, in the US is called social security number, the
same with UK and… they can control more than 1.3 billion people in about seven
minutes.
“So we have found
that this card is strenuous, it is forex that is going out of the country and
we are in 21st century and that is why we are focusing on national
identification number and other identifications by other agencies have been
linked to NIMC” he said
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