Jonathan Launches National ID-Card President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday directed all federal government ministries, agencies and agencies (MDAs) to unify their biometric data capture operations with the national electronic identity card (e-ID Card) scheme. Accordingly, he directed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to enrol and issue the card to all federal civil servants and pensioners for “speedy and safe payment of salaries and pensions.” Giving the directive when he launched the issuance process of the e-ID card at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the president asked the commission to work with the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPS) and Pension Department. Jonathan said, “The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) should also ensure immediate compliance. The regime of duplication of biometric data bases must now have to give way to harmonisation and unification with the e-ID scheme, which shall be the primary data base. “The secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), the attorney-general and minister of justice, and the governor of the CBN should immediately key in. They should, in conjunction with NIMC, reach modalities for the harmonisation of their biometric projects, including other ongoing projects in other MDAs, with the e-ID card scheme. “Proliferation and duplication of efforts is neither cost effective, nor security-smart. It is important to remove obstacles that may impede the NIMC from the discharge of its constitutional functions and statutory obligations.” The president lamented the absence of a national identification system which, he said, made it difficult for targets of government’s subsidy programmes and other social security services to be reached. He said it was for this reason that he considered the launch of the card as an important milestone which has brought his administration’s vision of a reliable national identity database to reality. He said: “I am particularly pleased about NIMC because a number of things we are supposed to do well as a nation, we are not doing well; and sometimes we blame governmen because of the failure of the system and the credibility of the process. He noted that the national electronic identity management system would go a long way in addressing this challenge. Jonathan added: “I’m quite pleased today that with the NIMC’s success story, we are moving forward as a nation. Everybody talks about change, and I always say that it is not possible to just wake up and change. A change is a vector quantity; you must have the magnitude and the direction. “I have taken keen interest in this project, primarily because of the pervasive impact it can have on every facet of the socio-economic fabric of our dear nation. This is in sync with the transformation agenda of my government”. NIMC director-general, Mr Chris Onyemenam, had earlier explained that the national e-ID Card was a multi-purpose card for identification, electronic signatures, biometric on-card verification and other applications.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:30:54 +0000
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