FG Invests N30b On Identity Management

The Federal Government has approved N30.066 billion for a new national identity management system, Mr. Chris Onyemenam, Director-General, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has said.

Onyemenam disclosed this at an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Sunday in Abuja.

“ What government approved is N30.066 billion and the approval is intended to accelerate the rollout of the national identity management system.

“About N5 billion of that amount is already part of the 2011 appropriation act.”

Onyemenam said the remaining part of the money would be part of the 2012 and 2013 fiscal year budget proposal.

This, he said, would be subject to review, adding that it was a laudable project that would go a long way to sanitise the identification system.

He added that government’s approval of fund could be well taken to mean an interest in helping to implement a project that had transformational potential.

“President Goodluck Jonathan’s position as you know is the transformation of the national economy for the citizenry both in terms of attitudinal disposition, employment creation of economic opportunities and also creation of conducive environment,” he said

Explaining the new strategies of the commission, he said the new cards to be issued would have facilities that could be verifiable unlike the former one that had no verification facility.

He added that the expected identity card would be like a smart card with a database that would be readable when slotted into any card acceptable device or reader.

“We are saying that this is a new way of confirming the identity of individuals as has not happened in the past.

“It is in this sense that we are saying there’s a shift away from the old way of doing things to the new way of doing things.

“The new way of doing things is the new paradigm and that is what we mean when we say we are moving from a focus on identity card issuance to identity management system.”

Onyemenam assured of the commission’s commitment to ensuring effective identity management system in the country,” he said.