From Abubakar Y Ojima, Abuja
The Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Aliyu Aziz, says the commission has so far captured 89 million persons in the ongoing nationwide National Identity Number enrolment.
The DG disclosed this at a press conference in commemoration of the 4th Identity Day, which is to be celebrated on September 16, in Abuja
According to him, the total represented an additional 82 million when compared to the seven million he met when he assumed office in 2015.
He also noted that the commission was currently partnering with traditional institutions and their leaders to reach out to the grassroots people who were yet to be enrolled.
Aziz said: “The 89 million are the mainstream people. There are all the local people in the market, villages, nooks and crannies that have not been enrolled. So, we are partnering with the traditional institutions. We will be partnering with them throughout the year so that we can go to the nooks and crannies to enroll more people.”
Earlier in May, the NIMC had said that the commission’s database was at 80 per cent of its capacity with over 80 million unique NINs issued, stressing the need to upgrade it.
He noted that the Commission was in the process of upgrading the database. This means that the database is currently at 89 per cent capacity.
The Digital Token (DigiToken) is designed to replace the 11-digit NIN for everyday usage. Where until now, the NIN had been shared and stored by various entities mostly without the knowledge (or consent) of the ID Holder or the Custodian of ldentity in Nigeria, the NIMC.
