…as Royal Father drums support for NIMC
The on-going enrolment for the National Identification Number received a major royal boost as the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, called on Nigerians to troop out and enrol to obtain the NIN.
Sultan Abubakar made the call when the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Abubakar Aziz and his counterpart in the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Garba Abari, visited the Royal Father to brief him on the on-going collaboration between NIMC and NOA aimed at sensitising Nigerians and legal residents especially at the grassroots on NIN enrolment, its benefits, importance and the National Identity Management System (NIMS).
Speaking during the visit, Engr. Aziz informed the Sultan of the need to populate the national identity database to be able to manage individual’s identity as against card issuance which was the previous focus, as the world is moving towards digital identity, like the United States of America’s Social Security Number, the United Kingdom’s Social Insurance Number and India’s Aadhaar.
Engr. Aziz also emphasised the Commission’s commitment towards populating the National Identity Database with all citizens and legal residents including children, hence the ecosystem approach to be implemented beginning from July 2018, in which various government agencies and other private partners that are into data collection will be licensed to capture data and send back to the back-end of NIMC’s National Identity Database.
He also noted that enforcement of the mandatory use of the NIN will also shoot up enrolment.
Conveying the message of the D-G, NOA, Alhaji Balarabe Gambo, who represented Dr. Abari, expressed his gratitude to the Sultan for the reception and called on the royal father to use his influence and status to encourage his subjects to enrol for the NIN as it is of immense benefit to the citizens and legal residents.
He further stated that NOA is committed to ensuring that Nigerians and legal residents are fully sensitised and educated on the NIN and its benefits as well as the NIMS, being the Government agency saddled with the responsibility of publicising Government policies and activities, hence NOA is a natural partner to NIMC to drive this project especially at the grassroots level.
Responding, Sultan Abubakar commended NIMC and NOA for taking the initiative to collaborate in order to achieve success, and pledged to drive the message down to his subjects. He further assured the team of his support towards ensuring the success of the exercise, as it will be of immense benefit to not only the people of Sokoto State but the entire Nation.
Engr. Aziz expressed gratitude to the Sultan for his warm reception and support. The NIMC D-G presented the national electronic identity card to the Sultan.