IF the reports of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) are anything to go by, more than 100 million Nigerians have no official identification in the agency’s database.
Director-General of the commission Dr. Chris Onyemenam disclosed this in Lagos at the 4th West Africa Information Communications Technology (WAFICT) Congress 2012.
The theme of the congress is; ‘’The National Identity Database: The Dependence on ICT Infrastructure ‘’.
He said the figure constituted about 66.67 per cent of the 150 million Nigeria population, adding that only 44.33 per cent have been captured in the database.
Onyemenam, who was represented by Mr Emmanuel Ogungbe, a deputy director in NIMC, said a reliable national identity database was important to checkmate security threats.
According to him, national identity will be useful in handling issues of national security.
He said that about 75 per cent of identity documents of individuals, corporate and government bodies were fake and self-issued.
His words: “The commission presently has a new reform mandate to provide unique identification numbers for citizens and legal residents to guarantee uniqueness through biometric duplication.
Onyemenam said: “To enable individual to prove their identity in a dependable manner by providing on-line and off-line cost effective verification and authentication infrastructure.
“We will ensure the new identity card is integrated with the existing ID schemes, provide standardised identity attributes and foster the orderly development of an identity sector. “
He said the commission would ensure that Nigerians had trusted National Identity Card System from time to time.
TheNation